to the species cannot therefore be said to be done to the body and blood of Christ itself. If, for instance, the former are divided or broken, the body of Christ is not thereby divided or broken. But as the body of Christ exists permanently under the species, and is really present wherever the species are, it is actually borne from place to place, as are the species. We may rightly say, however, that the sacrament is broken (fracto demum sacramento); for the species are an essential part of the sacrament. From the fact that Christ is permanently present with His humanity and divinity in the Blessed Sacrament, not merely at the moment of communion, it follows that we are bound to adore Him under the sacramental species. For the duty of adoration arises from the fact, not from the manner, of His presence. We adore Christ in the Holy Eucharist as He iswith His godhead and manhood. Both are alike the object of our adoration, whilst the divinity alone is the reason of our adoration (133). The Church's object in publicly exposing the Blessed Sacrament, bearing it in procession, and commemorating the real presence in special feasts, is to promote the adoration of Jesus Christ, who is truly present in the Eucharist as the dispenser of all graces.

176. Bishops and priests only have the power to change bread and wine into the body and blood of Christ.

1. It was only to the apostles that Christ gave the charge: "Do this for a commemoration of Me." That the bishops, the successors of the apostles (148), possess this power is manifest. But priests also have received it. For Our Lord by those words ordained the apostles priests by the very fact that He gave them the power to offer sacrifice, which is the func tion peculiar to priests (Trid. Sess. XXII. can. 2). Hence it follows that since others besides the bishops have received the sacerdotal character in the Church the words of Christ also apply to them. Tradition removes every doubt on the matter, as it shows that from the earliest times both in the East and in the West priests as well as bishops offered the Holy Sacrifice, and thus acted as ministers of this sacrament.

2. Bishops and priests are the only ministers of this sacrament. For the words above cited were addressed only to the apostles and their successors in the priesthood, not to the faithful at large. It is only the apostles, not the faithful, who are "the dispensers of the mysteries of God" (1 Cor. iv. 1). That same tradition which teaches that a layman or woman can validly baptize teaches also that only bishops and

priests can validly consecrate the Holy Eucharist. Moreover, the reasons for which Christ gave all without exception the power validly to administer baptism (145) do not exist in the case of the Blessed Eucharist, since it is not of the same necessity as baptism. Deacons may with the permission of the ordinary administer the sacrament after it is consecrated -distribute the Holy Communion-but they have not the power to consecrate the body and blood of Christ.

177. The matter of the sacrament of the Eucharist is wheat bread and genuine wine of the grape; the form consists in the words of Christ: "This is My body; this is My blood."

1. That Christ instituted wheat bread and wine of the grape as the matter of this sacrament is manifest from the gospels, which speak simply of bread and wine, and describe the latter, moreover, as the "fruit of the vine" (Matt. xxvi. 29); while in the Oriental idioms bread without further qualification signifies wheat bread. Leavened bread, which is used in the Greek Church, as well as unleavened bread, which is employed in the Latin Church-Christ Himself consecrated unleavened bread, it being the day of the pasch (Matt. xxvi. 17) -is valid matter; for both are substantially bread (Florent. decr. union.). This twofold matter of bread and wine, however, constitutes but one sacrament, just as food and drink make up but one meal.

Bread and wine were chosen to signify that as food and drink nourish the body so the Eucharist nourishes the soul. These elements at the same time illustrate the mystery of transubstantiation; for, since the food we take is changed into our substance, there is no repugnance that bread and wine should by the power of God be changed into the body and blood of Christ.

2. The form of the sacrament regarded as a transient action consists of the words: "This is My body; this is My blood." In virtue of these words the priest, assuming the person of Christ and using the same ceremonies, changes the bread and wine into the body and blood of Christ. For it was in virtue of those same words that Christ changed the bread and wine into His own body and blood. It is these words, therefore, that give efficacy to the action. Moreover, these words

are sufficiently expressive as form; for the form need only signify that which takes place. Now, the words "This is My body," etc., indicate, first, the presence of the body and blood of Christ, and, secondly, that the bread and wine are changed into His body and blood; for it is only by a change of substance that the body and blood of Christ can be present. Therefore these words must be regarded as the form (cf. Florent. decret. union. ; Trid. Sess. XIII. c. 2).

178. The chief effects of the Holy Eucharist are: increase of sanctifying grace, special actual graces, remission of venial sins, preservation from grievous sin, and the confident hope of eternal salvation.

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The sacraments effect those graces signified by the outward signs under which they have been instituted (Trid. Sess. VII., de sac. in gen. can. 6). The principal effects of the Eucharist, therefore, must be analogous to the natural effects of food and drink-the spiritual nourishment of the soul. My flesh is meat indeed and My blood is drink indeed" (John vi. 56). This general effect of spiritual nourishment is various, since in the nourishment of the soul diverse functions may be distinguished (cf. Florent. decr. pro Armen.; Trid. Sess. XIII. c. 2).

1. The Holy Eucharist increases sanctifying grace. For, sanctifying grace being the foundation of the spiritual life, every increase of the spiritual life implies an increase of sanctifying grace itself. The increase of grace received in the Eucharist is unlike that imparted by the other sacraments; for in this sacrament it is Christ Himself, the source of all graces, who becomes the food of our souls.

2. The Holy Eucharist gives us those actual graces necessary to maintain the spiritual life. It gives us the grace to practise the various virtues which insure our advancement in the spiritual life.

3. It remits venial sins. For, since it increases the spiritual life and incites us to the practice of virtue, it disposes and enables us to perform those acts by which venial sins are remitted-acts of charity and contrition.

4. It preserves us from mortal sin; for it strengthens us against that languor and lukewarmness which leads to mortal

sin; it secures for us abundant graces to resist temptations and a special protection of God in all dangers of the soul 5. It gives us a pledge of eternal life and of a glorious resur rection. "He that eateth My flesh and drinketh My blood hath everlasting life; and I will raise him up in the last day (John vi. 55). Everlasting life is the outcome and reward of the life of grace on earth; therefore, since the Holy Eu charist confers grace in such abundance it gives us the assurance of eternal salvation, provided we do not hinder its effects.

179. The obligation of receiving the Holy Eucharist rests on a necessity, not of means, but of precept.

1. The Holy Eucharist is not, like baptism, necessary as a means of salvation. (a) Baptism alone of the sacraments has been declared by Christ to be necessary as a means of salvation for all. "He that believeth and is baptized shall be saved" (Mark xvi. 16). "He saved us by the laver of regeneration, and the renewal of the Holy Spirit" (Tit. iii. 5; cf. 163). (b) A thing is necessary as a means of salvation only when it confers a necessary qualification for salvation. This baptism certainly does, since it confers sanctifying grace, without which it is impossible to enter upon the way of salvation; but the case is different in regard to the Holy Eucharist, which indeed, like the other sacraments, preserves and increases the supernatural life, but does not, like baptism, produce the first grace in the soul. (c) This is manifestly the conviction of the Church, which, though it sometimes administers the Holy Eucharist to children under the age of discretion, never doubted of the salvation of those who have received only the sacrament of baptism (Trid. Sess. XXI. c. 4; cf. can. 4).

2. There exists, however, the obligation of receiving the Holy Eucharist in virtue of a divine precept. "Amen, Amen say to you: Except you eat the flesh of the Son of man, and drink His blood, you shall not have life in you” (John vi. 54). These words distinctly show the obligation of receiving the

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Eucharist; but it is an obligation arising only from a divine command, since, as we have shown, it cannot be understood to be a necessary means of salvation. All who have come to the use of reason are, therefore, bound by divine precept to avail themselves of this powerful means of preserving and increasing the spiritual life of their souls. The law of the Church commands all who have attained to the use of reason, and are sufficiently instructed, to receive the Holy Eucharist at least once a year, and that at Easter time.

180. The divine precept is fulfilled by receiving the Blessed Sacrament under one species.

1. Those who receive the Holy Sacrament without celebrating the holy sacrifice of the Mass satisfy the divine precept by receiving it under one kind. (a) Christ speaks sometimes of the reception of His body and blood-under two kinds-and sometimes of the reception of His body only-under one kind—and to both manners of receiving He attaches the same graces: "He that eateth this bread shall live forever" (John vi. 59). Hence the celebration of the Eucharist is described in the Scriptures simply as the breaking of bread (Acts ii. 42; Luke xxiv. 30). (b) It by no means follows from the nature of the sacrament that it is necessary to partake of both kinds; but rather the contrary. For Christ is wholly present under ither species, and both species signify the full effect of the sacrament—the nourishment of the soul. (c) Even in the earliest ages the Holy Eucharist was for good reasons given under one kind, especially when administered outside the church or the celebration of Mass; and in times of persecution, when it was kept in the houses of the faithful, and when preserved in the cells of hermits in the desert, it was received under the species of bread only.

The Hussites-followers of John Huss-insisted on communion under both kinds; whence they were also called Calixtines or Utraquists. A chalice was the badge of their sect. Protestants in practice followed their example; but they differed from them in doctrine, for the Hussites believed in the real presence by transubstan tiation, which Protestants denied