\ -"V^^^ # \ ^5'i^^ •^« .^ « <%• <§^ \y ^ <^ . «> ^'fe rm '-^^ ./ v^ ■■fe. .•*' PETER LOMBARD AND THE SACRAMENTAL SYSTEM ELIZABETH FRANCES ROGERS, M.A. SUBMITTED IN PARTIAL FULFILLMENT OF THE REQUIREMENTS FOR THE DEGREE OF DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY, IN THE FACULTY OF POLITICAL SCIENCE, COLUMBIA UNIVERSITY NEW YORK 1917 Copyright, 19 17, by ELIZABETH FRANCES ROGERS TO MY FATHER PROFESSOR ROBERT WILLIAM ROGERS r>k M I. r\ CONTENTS CHAP. PAGE Preface vii I. The Conception of Sacrament in the Early Fathers i 11. The Formulation of the Definition of Sacrament. . 25 III. The Eucharistic Controversy 30 IV. Efforts After Codification 39 V. Predecessors of the Lombard 46 VI. Peter Lombard and His Text-Book 58 Appendix Translation of Book IV, Distinctions I-XXVI, of the Quatuor Libri Sententiarum of Peter the Lombard 79 Bibliography 247 PREFACE Erasmus once complained that there were as many commen- taries on Peter Lombard's "Sentences" as there were theologians. But here is a commentary by one who is not even a theologian but only a student of history. It is fortunate that Erasmus — and the Lombard himself — did not live to see this evil day. This is not work which would have won the coveted degree of "Bachalarius Sententiarius" in a medieval university — I can only lay claim to have won to an interest in the subject equal to that of most of those medieval bachelors. My first interest in Medieval Church History I owe to my college professor, Annie Heloise Abel, and my interest in this particular phase of it to Seminars on the Medieval Church with Professor Shotwell at Columbia. The subject was assigned to me — I should never have had the courage to venture on it otherwise — and as I finish my study of it, I can only say in the Lombard's own words, "If any- one can explain it better, I am not envious." I have had courtesies in many libraries, but I wish especially to speak gratefully of the Bodleian Library in Oxford, of the Library of Columbia University, and of that of Union Theolog- ical Seminary. I am particularly indebted to Professor Rockwell of Union Seminary for his invaluable help and training in bibli- ography. I wish here to express my gratitude to Professor Shotwell for the most interesting work in the Social History of the Middle Ages; to Professor Woker of the University of Bern, "ein ge- borener Lehrer, der glaubt.dass jeder Student ein Genie ist," as a colleague said of him, for fascinating lectures on the Political History of medieval times, and for kindness to a foreigner; and to Professor Annie Heloise Abel, now of Smith College, not only for inspiring teaching in my undergraduate days, but for con- stant interest, friendship and encouragement in my graduate study. Elizabeth F. Rogers. Madison, New Jersey, January 2, 191 7. CHAPTER I The Conception of Sacrament in the Early Fathers One should not expect to find a definition of the sacraments, much less a developed sacramental system in the writings of the early Church.^ In the history of religion, cult frequently develops before dogma. It is in many instances a determining element in the formulation of doctrine, even where the doctrine, on the face of it, seems to furnish the very basis for the cult. In the Chris- tian Church we find a long development of the form of worship, and the beginnings of formal liturgy, before we come to any dis- cussion of the meaning of these ceremonies. It is controversy which brings precision in people's ideas. In the early Church, there were the long struggles with the pagans, which we see reflected in the apologetic literature of the time, and then the innumerable controversies over the heresies which arose in the Church itself, and called forth the formulation of the ortho- dox belief. In the "Apologies" against the pagans, and in the ''Defences" against Christian heretics, we may look for the be- ginnings of that long and slow development of the doctrine of the sacraments, which only attained its final form more than a thou- sand years later in the writings of the Scholastic theologians. To trace this development is extremely difficult because the idea of sacrament matures in silence while other subjects are monopolizing discussion. The earlier Fathers are far more con- cerned with the great doctrines of faith than with the sacraments. They are discussing the resurrection of the Lord and its bearing upon the resurrection of believers. They are laboring to convince ^ For obvious reasons this study in the history of the medieval church does not go into the problems of the interpretation of New Testament texts or that of the conception of sacrament held in the apostolic age; for such considerations carry one into quite a different field, that of New Testament exegesis iand com- parative religion. 2 ' ' PETER LOMBARD unbelievers, to establish the wavering, to stimulate love and good works. It is among the multifarious interests of the church that here and there a spark is struck with some light upon the sacra- ments. It is, however, fascinatingly interesting to see how the spark kindles larger masses of material, and to observe the grow- ing flame. It has seemed well worth while to single out from the writ- ings which are so multiform, and so rich, the passages which relate to the sacraments, and to set them down, closely following a chronological order. It will be observed that the passages quoted are much longer in the earlier than in the later writers. The rea- son is that the earlier Christians give only hints, suggestions, allu- sions to the sacraments, and to make these clear we must have before us the whole of the context. Later, as the minds of men were more clearly focussed upon the sacraments, and definitions of them had become matter of controversy the citations are brief, specific and on that account at times arid. JUSTIN MARTYR (c. I I4-C. 165) In the literature of Apology, the earliest detailed and from many points of view the most interesting reference to the Chris- tian cult is that of Justin Martyr, who died A. D. 165. He gives a picture of the worship, including a description of its central ceremony, the celebration of the Eucharist, which later apologists did not dare to do owing to the persecutions and the resultant Discipline of the Secret.^ But it is significant of the general character of the early Christian doctrine, that one finds in the long exposition of Justin almost no light upon the doctrines involved. He does not define sacraments. Baptism and the Eucharist, it is true, do stand out very clearly as essential to Christianity; but there is an equal emphasis upon prayer. This does not mean that Justin lacked the conception of sacrament. He had been too ^The obligation to keep secret from the pagans and the iinbaptized, the formula of the three-fold name, the Creed, and the Lord's Prayer. This was a following of the pagan mysteries, and is akin to the scruple among primitive peoples, against revealing the knowledge of a powerful name. Cf . Bonwetsch. THE EARLY FATHERS 3 familiar with the Mysteries for that. For, although he does not use any special term for the sacraments, he refers to their effects in language which implies an acquaintance with the mystery rites=^ We can see an instance of this in his description of Baptism. *'I will also relate the manner in which we dedicated ourselves to God when we had been made new through Christ. ... As many as are persuaded and believe that what we teach and say is true, and undertake to be able to live accordingly, are instructed to pray and to entreat God with fasting, for the remission of their sins that are past, we praying and fasting with them. Then they are brought by us where there is water, and are regenerated in the same manner in which we were ourselves regenerated.^ For, in the name of God, the Father and Lord of the universe, and of our Saviour Jesus Christ, and of the Holy Spirit, they then receive the washing with water.^ . . . And this washing is called illumination, because they who learn these things are illuminated in their understandings. . . . " "* His appreciation of the analogy to the mystery rites is inter- esting, but he draws no doctrinal conclusions which would make clearer the kind of ceremony employed. "And the devils, indeed, having heard this washing published by the prophet, instigated those who enter their temples, and are about to approach them with libations and burnt-offerings, also to sprinkle themselves; and they cause them also to wash themselves entirely, as they depart [from the sacrifice], before they enter into the shrines in which images are set."^ ^ It is not hereby implied that the early Christians confused sacraments with mysteries. They regarded these rites as instituted by Christ and loathed those of the heathen. The modem view that mysteries influenced the development of sacraments is right, but the Christians of A. D. 150 were ignorant of this. ^"Eireira Ayom-ai ixp'' rj/xdv ivda vdojp icrrlj kuI rpbirov dvayevv/iffeojs, 8p Kal ij/xeis a&rol dveyepyifidrjfiev, dpayevvuprai. 8 First Apology, c. LXI. * Ibid. KaXerrat 5^ tovto rb \ovrpbv (fxarKrfjLdSj ws (fxaTi^ofxivuiv ttjv 8t.dvot.av tQv raOra fMvdavdvrtav. This word "illumination" or "enlightenment" is borrowed straight from the Greek mysteries, and comes to be the constant technical term. See Hatch, The Influence of Greek Ideas and Usages upon the Christian Church, p. 295. Also Harnack, "History of Dogma," vol. I, pp. 207-8. German Edition, vol. I, pp. 229-230. ^ Ibid. c. LXII. 4 PETER LOMBARD To Justin we are indebted for the first description of the cele- bration of the Eucharist following Baptism in the early Church. The service begins with prayers for the illuminated person and for the others, already members of the Christian community. ''Having ended the prayers, we salute one another with a kiss. There is then brought to the president of the brethren bread and a cup of wine mixed with water; and he taking them, gives praise and glory to the Father of the universe, through the name of the Son and of the Holy Ghost, and offers thanks at considerable length for our being counted worthy to receive these things at his hands. And when he has concluded the prayers and thanksgivings, all the people express their assent by saying Amen. . . . And when the president has given thanks, and all the people have expressed their assent, those who are called by us deacons give to each of those pres- ent to partake of the bread and wine mixed with water over which the thanksgiving was pronounced, and to those who are absent they carry away a portion.^ *'And this food is called among us Evxagiaria [the Eucharist], of which no one is allowed to partake but the man who believes that the things which we teach are true, and who has been washed with the washing that is for the remission of sins, and unto regeneration, and who is so living as Christ has enjoined. For not as common bread and common drink do we receive these; but in like manner as Jesus Christ our Saviour, having been made flesh by the Word of God, had both flesh and blood for our salvation, so likewise have we been taught that the food which is blessed by the prayer of his word, and from which our blood and flesh by transmutation are nour- ished, is the flesh and blood of that Jesus who was made flesh." ^ . . . Here again he sees the resemblance to the sacred meals of the mysteries. "Which the wicked devils have imitated in the mysteries of 1 Ibid. c. LXV. Called the Eulogia — it was also sent by the bishops, notably those of Rome, to their daughter churches, and to foreign bishops and churches, as a symbol of Christian love and brotherhood. The practice seems to have been universal, but tended to degenerate into irreverence and superstition, and was forbidden by the Council of Laodicasa, A. D. 365. * Ibid. C. LXVI. ... 0^ yhp fjt.a Xpurrod, » Ibid. V. II. 3. THE EARLY FATHERS 9 as an indication to us. For as we are lepers in sin, we are made clean, by means of the sacred water and the invocation of the Lord, from our old transgressions; being spiritually regenerated as new- born babes, even as the Lord has declared: 'Except a man be born again through water and the Spirit, he shall not enter into the king- dom of heaven/ " ^ We are now come to the end of our review of the contribu- tions of Irenaeus to the sacramental system, and there needs only to point to the difference between him and his forerunner Justin Martyr. The contrast between the two men is a contrast of back- ground. The analogies which Justin finds are to the "sacred meals of the mysteries," to "the mysteries of Mithras," to "mys- tic rites," and his language is full of allusions to "sacred meals," to the "initiated" or to "incantations." The background is unmis- takably Greek. This is significant and it could not be without influence upon the man's whole thinking and upon its outcome in dogma. To all this Irenaeus presents a vivid contrast. His dis- cussion is freighted with the imagery, the phraseology, and the theological conceptions of the Old Testament. It is the "law and the prophets," "the sacrifices" of the Jewish dispensation, "the lepers," — all of them and many more from this single source, and the analogies and illustrations are of the same mould. With Ire- naeus it is not Mithras but Naaman, who points his moral. Herein lies the explanation of many of the differences in the conclusions of the two men. As we go forward now to Latin instead of Greek we shall do well to bear in mind the differences between Justin and Irenaeus, the while that we carry forward the results of their thinking and disputing upon the sacramental system. TERTULLIAN (c. I50 Or l6o-220 Or 240) The Latin tongue is singularly lacking in the terminology either of philosophy or of religion, a characteristic which corre- sponds, so it has often been claimed, with the temper of the Roman people as exhibited in their history. When the first Latin Father, Tertullian, at the opening of the third century attempted to frame 1 Fragments. XXXIV. lo PETER LOMBARD the conceptions of Christian theology in Latin he was unable to translate the Greek literally since the languages had no exact par- allels, and so he boldly adapted terms, which were formerly used in a different connection, to the uses of Christian theology. In the legal Latin familiar to a man trained, as Tertullian was, in the Roman law, the word sacramentum had several different meanings. In the first place it meant the sum which the two parties to a suit deposited — so-called perhaps because it was deposited in a sacred place. ^ Then, by metonymy, it meant a civil suit or process. Finally, it was the military oath of allegiance, and so any solemn obligation. Tertullian uses this term in various ways.^ In the first place we have the literal application of it as he draws a parallel be- tween the neophyte's promises on entering the Church by baptism and the soldier's oath of allegiance. The Christian, like the sol- dier, must be faithful and obedient even to death, for "Who wished this fatal issue to his soldier, but he who sealed him by such an oath?"^ The military life, then, is incompatible with that of the Christian, for "there is no agreement between the divine and the human sacrament." * In the second place, Tertullian chooses sacramentum as a parallel to the Greek theological term fivaTijgtoif^ a mystery or secret doctrine. In the New Testament it means a divine secret, something above human intelligence.^ Tertullian uses it in this ^ Or perhaps so-called because the money deposited by the losing party was used for religious purposes, especially for the sacra publica (divine worship). 2 See also R^ville, Albert, Du sens du mot "sacramentum" dans Tertullien. Paris — Ecole pratique des hautes etudes — Section des Sciences rehgieuses. Etudes de critique et d'histoire. v. I. pp. 195-204. 3 Scorp. 4. Quis hunc militi suo exitum voluit, nisi qui tali eum sacramento consignavit. * De Idol. 19. Non convenit sacramento divino et humano. This tract of Tertullian's, as also the De Spectaculis, affords an interesting glance into the author's mind. No less than his hatred of heathen religion is his hatred of heathen art and culture. The teaching of literature he thinks incom- patible with the Christian profession, and to him the well-spring and stimulus of Art is lust. ^Matt. 13, II. THE EARLY FATHERS ii sense when he speaks of a sister who "converses with angels and sometimes even with the Lord; she both sees and hears mysterious communications.'' ^ In another place he speaks of fasting as an aid to this ''recognition of mysterious communica- tions/' ^ In addition to these two uses of the word, however, Ter- tullian seems as well to use ''sacrament" in the sense to which we are accustomed, for he speaks of the "sacrament of baptism"^ and of the "sacrament of the Eucharist." Of the Eucharist he gives only a short description : "We take also, in congregations before day-break, and from the hand of none but the presidents,^ the sacraments of the Euchar- ist, which the Lord hath commanded to be eaten at meal-times, and enjoined to be taken by all alike." ^ From Tertullian there seems much less to be learned con- cerning the Eucharist than of Baptism. There is discernible a growing reverence concerning the elements, witnessed, for ex- ample, by the scrupulous care to prevent even a drop or a crumb from falling to the ground.^ Beside this it should, perhaps, be ^ De Anima. 9. Conversatur cum angelis, aliquando etiam cum Domino, et videt et audit sacramenta. 2 De Jejuniis. 7. Verum etiam sacramentorum agnitionem jejunia de Deo merebuntur. It might be queried why Tertullian chose sacramentum to translate ixvariipiav. It would seem that the parallel word in Latin, taken directly from the Greek, mysteriutn, could have been better used — its meanings and uses were the same. In the next century Ambrose used it of the Lord's Supper. (Comment, in I Cor. II, 27 — Mysterium celebrat.) In the plural, the Latin, as the Greek, meant the pagan "mysteries," but the singular had the more general meaning. There was also the Latinized Greek word symbolum, which might have been used. In the middle of the third century, symbolum was used of the formula of baptism: the "symbol of the Trinity" [Ep. Firmil. ad Cypr. 11]; the "symbol in which we baptize" [Ep. S. Cypriani ad Magnum 7 — Eodem Symbolo quo et nos baptizare]. This formula grew into the Roman Creed, and Rufinus, c. 400, called it the "symbol of the apostles." [Comment, in Symbolum Apostolo- rum.] ' De Bapt. 9. In baptismi sacramento. 4 Nee de aliorum manu quam praesidentium. ° De Corona. 3. 12 PETER LOMBARD noted that in Tertullian's day another evidence of growing rever- ence for the elements is to be discerned. In the passage just quoted it is provided that these are to be received "from the hand of none but the presidents," whereas in the time of Justin the elements were blessed by the president and then by him delivered to the deacons who, in their turn, passed them on to the faithful. They are now, in other words, to pass direct from the president, and are thus less likely to fall or suffer any other accident. The ritual develops to such a point the prohibitions attached to the sacramental act as to indicate a distinct growth in consciousness of its importance. Yet when Tertullian develops his doctrine in words carefully weighed there is no sign of excessive reverence, much less of superstition. Thus he speaks of the bread as the figure of his body,^ and as representing his body.^ To baptism, however, Tertullian devotes an entire treatise, which also gives us much of his general conception of sacraments. "All waters, therefore, ... do, after invocation of God, attain the sacramental power of sanctification ; for the Spirit imme- diately supervenes from the heavens, and rests over the waters, sanc- tifying them from himself, and being thus sanctified, they imbibe at the same time the power of sanctifying." ^ "It is not to be doubted that God has made the material sub- stance which he has disposed throughout all his products and works, obeying him also in his own peculiar sacraments; that the material substance which governs terrestrial life acts as agent likewise in the celestial. . . . " * In the water "we are cleansed and prepared for the Holy Spirit." "Thus, too, does the angel, the witness of baptism, 'make the ^ Figura corporis. Adv. Marcion. III. 19. 2 Panem quo ipsum corpus suum representat. Ibid. I. 14. 3 De Bapt. 3. Licet eo plenius docerem non esse dubitandum, si materiam, quam in omnibus rebus et operibus suis Deus disposuit, etiam in sacramentis propriis parere fecit; si quae vitam terrenam gubemat, et in coelesti procurat. * De Bapt. 4. Ita de Sancto sanctificata natura aquarum, et ipsa sanctifi- care concepit. THE EARLY FATHERS 13 paths straight' for the Holy Spirit, who is about to come upon us, by the washing away of sins, which faith, sealed in (the name of) the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Spirit, obtains. . . . More- over, after the pledging both of the attestation of faith and the promise of salvation under 'three witnesses,' there is added, of necessity, mention of the Church; inasmuch as, wherever there are three, (that is, the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit,) there is the Church, which is a body of three.^ . . . After this, when we have issued from the font, we are thoroughly anointed with a blessed unction. . . . The unction runs carnally, (i.e., on the body,) but profits spiritually; in the same way as the act of baptism itself too is carnal, in that we are plunged into water, but the effect spiritual, in that we are freed from sins. 2 . ... 'Tn the next place the hand is laid on us, invoking and inviting the Holy Spirit through benediction." ^ Clause after clause of these passages show Tertullian's appreciation of the sacramental principle. ''All waters, . . . after invocation of God attain the sacramental power of sancti- fication." The waters are sanctified by the Spirit and at the same time imbibe the power of sanctifying those who shall be baptized in them.^ He emphasizes the distinction between the simple cere- mony of baptism, and its spiritual significance. ''The act of bap- tism itself ... is carnal, in that we are plunged into water, but the effect spiritual, in that we are freed from sins. . . . " ^ So Tertullian not only gives the word sacrament but even, when one analyzes closely the thought in this extract, we see in it a fore- shadowing of the real definition. A part of his great work in this line we shall see influenced Cyprian to a marked degree, and espe- cially Cyprian's uses of the word sacramentum. CYPRIAN (200-258)^ Cyprian, Bishop of Carthage in the middle of the third cen- 1 De Bapt. 6. 2 De Bapt. 7. Quomodo et ipsius baptismi carnalis actus, quod in aqua mergimur; spiritalis effectus, quod delictis liberamur. 3 De Bapt. 8. < De Bapt. 4. ^ De Bapt. 7. 8 See also, Edward White Benson, Cyprian, his Life, his Times, his Work. London, 1897, especially pp. 331, ff. 14 PETER LOMBARD tury, puts a personal stamp on his work, but borrows much from TertulHan, whose tractates he read assiduously.^ "Cyprian did little more in literature than to adapt the style of Tertullian. . . Intellectually Tertullian was an originator, Cyprian a populariser." Nearly all his uses of the word sacrament can be paralleled in Tertullian. The bent of his mind was more practical than speculative, and so it is not surprising that he used words only in the signification that usage had already given them.^ In this, he is in marked contrast to Tertullian, with his bold adapta- tion of terms. It is interesting therefore to see that this first great student of Tertullian does not fasten upon any one of the various sig- nifications attached to the term sacrament by Tertullian, but uses it in a broad, often extremely vague sense, to convey the general sense of what we to-day mean by sacrament. The unity of the Church is a sacrament,^ and anyone who departs from the one church impugns **the sacrament of the divine tradition." * In his treatise on the Lord's prayer, he says, "But to us, beloved brethren, besides the hours of prayer observed of old, both the times and sacraments of praying have now increased." ^ As in Tertullian, sacramentum is used as the equivalent of fftvffTTjpiov: a prophetic figure. The giving of the manna in the Exodus is a sacrament of the equality with which "Christ the sun and true day in his church" gives the light of eternal life.^ "Also in the priest Melchizedek we see prefigured the sacrament of the 1 "At Concordia in Italy, I saw an old man named Paulus. He said that in his youth he had met with an aged secretary of the blessed Cyprian, who told him that Cyprian never passed a day without reading some portion of Tertul- lian's works, and used frequently to say, *Da magistrum,' 'Give me my master,' meaning Tertullian." Jerome. Catal. c. 3. cf. Jerome, Ep. 41. 2 J. B. Poukens, Sacramentum dans les oeuvres de saint Cyprien. Etude lexicographique. Bulletin d'ancienne litt^rature et d'arch^ologie chr^tiennes. Oct. 1912. 3 Ep. ad Pompeium contra Ep. Stephani. XL 4 Ibid. XI. 6 Lib. de Oratione Dominica. XXXV. « Ep. LXVIII. 14. THE EARLY FATHERS 15 sacrifice of the Lord/ according to what divine Scripture testifies, and says, 'And Melchizedek, King of Salem, brought forth bread and wine.' . . . For who is more a priest of the most high God than our Lord Jesus Christ, who offered a sacrifice to God the Father, and offered that very same thing which Melchizedek had offered, that is, bread and wine, to wit, his body and blood ?" ^ He sees another prophetic figure in Noah's ark. "Moreover, Peter himself, showing and vindicating the unity, has commanded and warned us that we cannot be saved, except by the one only baptism of one Church. Tn the ark,' says he, *of Noah, few, that is, eight souls, were saved by water, as also baptism shall in like manner save you.' In how short and spiritual a summary has he set forth the sacrament of unity! For as, in that baptism of the world in which its ancient iniquity was purged away, he who was not in the ark of Noah could not be saved by water, so neither can he appear to be saved by baptism who has not been bap- tized in the Church which is established in the unity of the Lord according to the sacrament of the one ark." ^ Moses, to bring victory to the Israelites in battle, has his arms outstretched *'in the sign and sacrament of the cross." * Here, sacrament is not so much a prophetic figure as it is a symbol.^ The classical meaning of sacrament as a military oath is still found in the writings of Cyprian. In his attack on those who would accept the baptism given among heretics he says : "If glory is thus given to God, if the fear and the discipline of God is thus preserved by his worshippers and his priests, let us cast away our arms ; let us give ourselves up to captivity ; ... let the 1 Notice the phrase "sacrament of the sacrifice of the Lord." An idea some- what similar has already been above in the discussion of Irenaeus' views of the sacrament as a sacrifice. See above, p. 22 fl. 2 Ep. LXIII. 4. 3Ep. LXXIV. II. * Ad Fortunatum, 8. 6 Poukens Sacramentum dans les oeuvres de saint Cyprien. i6 PETER LOMBARD sacraments of the divine warfare be loosed ; let the standards of the heavenly camp be betrayed . . . " ^ We have stated above that cult, i.e., religious practice, often determines dogma. In Cyprian's case a situation developed which put great emphasis upon the validity of that sacrament which Ter- tullian had most clearly defined — Baptism. There is much discus- sion of baptism, because of the two difficult questions of the valid- ity of the baptism of heretics, and of the re-baptism of those who, having lapsed during the severe Decian persecutions, were after- wards repentant and wished to return to the church. True baptism is only in the one church. "... How can he who baptizes give to another remission of sins, who himself, being outside the church, cannot put away his own sins ? ^ . . . We mean that remission of sins is not granted except in the Church, and that among heretics where there is no church, sins cannot be put away." ^ Cyprian's problem was how to treat those who had defiled themselves after purification in baptism, by sacri- ficing to the pagan gods during the persecutions. The power of the divine grace in the water (as Tertullian had said) had been given them in baptism, and this they could not lose. Re-baptism of those who had lapsed was therefore not necessary, but only the lay ing-on of hands in penance. "It is sufficient to lay hands in penance upon those who are known to have been baptized in the Church, and have gone over from us to the heretics, if, subsequently acknowledging their sin and putting away their error, they return to the truth . . . " ^ This laying-on of hands he also calls a sacrament. "For then finally can they be fully sanctified, and be the sons of God, if they be born of each sacrament." ^ On their return to the Church, the lapsed were to make public confession and do penance, but Cyprian does not specifically refer to this as a sacrament. 1 Ep. LXXIV. 8. 2 Ep. LXX. I. (LXIX in translation — only the argument is given in Migne). 3 Ep. LXX. 2. * Ep. LXXI. Ad Quintum. « Ep. LXXII. Ad Stephanum. THE EARLY FATHERS 17 "For although in smaller sins sinners may do penance for a set time, and according to the rules of discipline come to public confession, and by imposition of the hand of the bishops and clergy receive the right of communion i^ now with their time still unful- filled, while persecution is still raging, while the peace of the Church itself is not yet restored, they are admitted to communion, and their name is presented ; and while the penance is not yet performed, con- fession is not yet made, the hands of the bishop and clergy are not yet laid upon them, the eucharist is given to them." ^ The obvious conclusion from such a passage is that Cyprian thought of penance as a ceremony in which divine grace was given to the penitent, through the laying-on of hands, and if so, penance was really to him a sacrament, though he does not call it so. Especially interesting is Cyprian's treatment of the sacra- ment of the Eucharist. Again, as in baptism, the practical exigencies of church administration bring the bishop of Car- thage, through directions for ritual, to a statement which reveals his conception of the sacramental efficacy of this central Chris- tian rite. One of his epistles is devoted to the ''sacrament of the cup of the Lord." ^ This is an argument for the mixed chalice, and especially against offering water alone in the cup, a practice which, as Cyprian's letter shows, had spread throughout Africa generally and as modern scholars have demonstrated, even wider in the early Church.* Cyprian argues that the sacrament would not be complete if water only were offered. "We see that in the water is understood the people, but in the wine is showed the blood of Christ. But when the water is mingled in the cup with wine, ^ Nam, cum in minoribus peccatis agant peccatores poenitentiam justo tempore, et, secundum disciplinae ordinem, ad exomologesim veniant, et^per manus impositionem episcopi et cleri jus communicationis accipiant .... 2 Ep. IX. Ad Clemm. 3 Ep. LXIII. Ad Caeciliimi de sacramento Dominici calicis. * Cyprian (ibid. c. 15.), quoting Tertullian (Ad Uxor. II. 5.), intimates that they drank water owing to the fact that had they partaken of wine in the morn- ing, they would have been detected by informers and suffered persecution owing to the scent of wine on the breath. i8 PETER LOMBARD the people is made one with Christ. . . . For if anyone offer wine only, the blood of Christ is dissociated from us; but if the water be alone, the people are dissociated from Christ ; but when both are mingled, and are joined with one another by a close union, there is completed a spiritual and heavenly sacrament." ^ Cyprian's plea for the orthodox ritual shows, almost uncon- sciously, the attitude which he assumes toward sacraments as such. In developing his point Cyprian uses language which at first glance might seem like a detailed exposition of the doctrine of sacraments. But upon second examination one sees that we have here simply an instance of that rhetorical and apologetic device so common in the Fathers — namely allegory. He concludes his explanation of the mixed chalice with a repeated emphasis on the Lord's commandment concerning the Eucharist. "But if we may not break even the least of the Lord's com- mandments, how much rather is it forbidden to infringe such impor- tant ones, so great, so pertaining to the very sacrament of our Lord's passion and our own redemption, or to change it by human tradition into anything else than what was divinely appointed." ^ His realization of the importance of the sacraments comes out quite clearly elsewhere. It seems inexpedient to quote further definite references, but perhaps the following passage will be suffi- cient as an example. He speaks of "those divine teachings wherewith the Lord has condescended to teach and instruct us by the Holy Scriptures, that, being led away from the darkness of error, and enlightened by his pure and shining light, we may keep the way of life through the saving sacraments." -^ It will be clear from the above discussion that Cyprian, em- phasizing on the one hand the figurative aspect, and on the other the effective grace of sacrament as a means of salvation, supplies the two "essential elements of the definition of sacrament, as it was to be established in the following centuries." * 1 Ep. LXIII. 13. 2 Ibid. 14. 3 Treatise XII. (Introd.) 4 Poukens, Sacramentum dans les oeuvres de saint Cyprien. THE EARLY FATHERS 19 HILARY OF POITIERS (c. 3OO-367) In the works of Hilary, Bishop of Poitiers, writing about a century later than Cyprian, in the middle of the fourth century, we still find quite frequently the vague use of the word sacrament. As in earlier writers, for instance, he speaks of Samuel as show- ing the ''sacrament of anointing," both of a prophet and of a king.^ Also, in his Commentary on Matthew, he says that Christ has promised to bear the burden of those who will take his yoke upon them, that is, receive the precepts of his commands, and approach him ''by the sacrament of the cross." ^ Again, he speaks of all mankind being called "to the sacrament of the passion of the Lord." ^ The whole of the practical side of Christianity as a system of life is taken for granted by Hilary, and his only references to baptism and the Eucharist are incidental to his discussion of doc- trinal problems, such as that of Christology. But his Chris- tological problem was that of the Divinity of Christ, not that of the nature of Christ which had been a subject of dispute at the Council of Nicaea, for we know from himself* that he was not acquainted with the Nicene symbol, and that he had never heard of the homoousion and homoiousion. This shows how little the theology of the West was influenced by the East in this period. Following St. Paul's Epistle to the Colossians, he says that as we are buried with Christ in his baptism, "we must die to the old man, because the regeneration of baptism has the force of resurrection. . . . For we rise again in him through faith in God, who raised him from the dead ; wherefore we must believe in God, by whose working Christ was raised from the dead, for our faith rises again in and with Christ." ^ Hilary's mention of the Eucharist is only in support of his argument "that Christ is God and man, and that through this 1 Tract, in Ps. CXVIII. n. 5. 2 Comment, in Matt. c. XI. n. 13. 3 Ibid. c. XXXIII. n. 5. ^De syn. 91, II, 518 A. 6 De Trinitate. IX. 9. 20 PETER LOMBARD union must come the union of man with God." ^ The Eucharist is a means to this union. Hilary proceeds to make this point by an emphasis upon the Incarnation. The Word became flesh ; that flesh is offered to us in the sacrament; therefore we partake of the Word. This is a natural line for Christian thought, based largely upon Pauline teaching; but as stated by Hilary it makes one aware of the fact that the Incarnation itself had a sacramental aspect, — that it was the union of God and man, as the Eucharist symbolized the union of man with God, and although the Logos was spirit rather than merely grace, the difficulty of grasping that fact by even the theo- logical imagination is apparent in the very emphasis the doctrine received. Moreover, as one traces the history of the chief Chris- tian sacrament, the Eucharist, through the Middle Ages, the doc- trine of the Incarnation is seen to be a prerequisite to its formula- tion.^ As Hilary puts it — "For if in truth the Word has been made flesh and we in very truth receive the Word made flesh as food from the Lord, are we not bound to believe that he abides in us naturally, who, born as a man, has assumed the nature of our flesh now inseparable from him- self, and has conjoined the nature of his own flesh to the nature of the eternal Godhead in the sacrament by which his flesh is com- municated to us ?" 3 "For as to what we say concerning the reality of Christ's nature within us, unless we have been taught by him, our words are foolish and impious. For he says himself, 'My flesh is meat indeed, and my blood is drink indeed. He that eateth my flesh and drinketh my blood abideth in me, and I in him.' As to the verity of the flesh and blood there is no room left for doubt. For now both from the declaration of the Lord Himself and our own faith, it is verily flesh and verily blood. And these when eaten and drunk. ^ Cf . E. W. Watson, Post-Nicene Fathers, Introduction, p. v. 2 On this see further the influence of John of Damascus. Compare Harnack, History of Dogma, IV, pp. 265, 301 ff. and Goetz, Die Abendmahlsafrage, p. 2. 3 De Trin. VIII. 13. THE EARLY FATHERS 21 bring it to pass that both we are in Christ and Christ in us. . . . " 1 "Now how it is that we are in him through the sacrament of the flesh and blood bestowed upon us, He Himself testifies, saying, 'And the world will no longer see me, but ye shall see me ; because I live ye shall live also; because I am in my Father, and ye in me, and I in you.' . . . He would have us believe that he is in us through the mystery of the sacraments. . . . ^ "I have dwelt upon these facts because the heretics falsely main- tain that the union between Father and Son is one of will only, and make use of the example of our own union with God, as though we were united to the Son and through the Son to the Father by mere obedience and a devout will, and none of the natural verity of com- munion were vouchsafed us through the sacrament of the Body and Blood ; although the glory of the Son bestowed upon us through the Son abiding in us after the flesh, while we are united in him cor- poreally and inseparably, bids us preach the mystery of the true and natural unity." ^ In other words, there are heretics who believe that Chris- tianity is not essentially a sacramental religion, who insist that the ceremony of the Eucharist — the central sacrament — is merely a symbol, conveying no effective grace. Hilary denounces these on the solid basis of orthodoxy. He adds nothing to the accepted belief, but on the contrary he receives it with such emphasis that his testimony is all the sounder as an historical document, as to what the Church in his day in the West was holding. AMBROSE (c. 340-397.) Ambrose, Bishop of Milan at the close of the fourth century, is the first of the Western Fathers to devote an entire treatise to the subject of the sacraments. The references in Irenaeus, Ter- tullian and Hilary were only incidental to their discussion of other matters. Ambrose is also important because of his very evident influence on his younger contemporary and pupil, Augustine. Ambrose's book, ''Concerning the Mysteries" ^ was written 1 Ibid. VIII. 14. 2 Ibid. VIII. 15. 3 Lib. de Mysteriis. 22 PETER LOMBARD for the instruction of the newly baptized. Because of the Dis- cipHne of the Secret, which we have mentioned above, this teaching was not even given to the catechumens. The catechu- mens heard the lessons read from the Scriptures, and were in- structed in morals, until their baptism. As Ambrose puts it in the introduction, "The season now warns us to speak of the Mysteries, and to set forth the purport of the sacraments, which if we had thought it well to teach before baptism to those who were not yet initiated, we should be considered rather to have betrayed than to have por- trayed the mysteries." ^ In this book, Ambrose treats of baptism, and the ceremonies that followed it, including confirmation, and the Eucharist. We find here the basis of much of the sacramental teaching of later centuries, but even so, Ambrose gives us no definition of just what he understands by the term sacrament. Perhaps the following passage sums up the essential elements of his teaching on the sacrament of baptism. "The reason why you were told before not to believe only what you saw, was that you might not say perchance. This is that great mystery 'which eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, neither has it en- tered into the heart of man.' 2 i see water, which I have been used to see every day. Is that water to cleanse me now in which I have so often bathed without ever being cleansed? By this you may recognize that water does not cleanse without the Spirit.^ "Therefore read that the three witnesses in baptism, the water, the blood, and the Spirit, are one, for if you take away one of these, the Sacrament of Baptism does not exist. For what is water with- out the cross of Christ? A common element, without any sacra- mental effect. Nor, again, is there the Sacrament of Regeneration without water: 'For except a man be born again of water and of the Spirit, he cannot enter into the kingdom of God.' Now, even the catechumen believes in the cross of the Lord Jesus, wherewith he too is signed; but unless he be baptized in the name of the Father, ^ Lib. de Myst. c. I. 2. 2 I Cor. ii. 9. 3 Lib. de Myst. c. IV. 19. THE EARLY FATHERS 23 and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit, he cannot receive remission of sins, nor gain the gift of spiritual grace." ^ One passage, in the general discussion of baptism and its attendant rites, evidently refers to confirmation. ''And then remember that you received the seal of the Spirit, the spirit of wisdom and understanding, the spirit of counsel and strength, the spirit of knowledge and godliness, and the spirit of holy fear, and preserved what you received. God the Father sealed you, Christ the Lord strengthened you, and gave the earnest of the Spirit in your heart,^ as you have learned in the lesson from the Apostle." 3 Confirmation is here rather a part of the sacrament of bap- tism, than a separate sacrament. He compares the sacraments of the Church with those of the synagogue, to show that those of the Church "are both more an- cient than those of the synagogue, and more excellent than the manna." "* ''But yet all those who ate that food died in the wilderness, but that food which you receive, that living Bread which came down from heaven, furnishes the substance of eternal life; and whosoever shall eat of this Bread shall never die, and it is the Body of Christ." ^ Ambrose writes further of the Eucharist : "For that sacrament which you receive is made what it is by the word of Christ But if the word of Elijah had such power as to bring down fire from heaven, shall not the word of Christ have power to change the nature of the elements ?" ^ "The Lord Jesus himself proclaims : 'This is my Body.* Before the blessing of the heavenly words another nature is spoken of, after the consecration the Body is signified. He himself speaks of his Blood. Before the consecration it has another name, after it is called Blood. . . ."^ ^ Lib. de Myst. c. IV. 20. 2 2 Cor. V. 5. 3 Lib. de Myst. c. VIL 42. * Ibid. c. VIII. 44. 6 Ibid. c. VIII. 47. « Ibid. c. IX. 52. ' Ibid. c. IX. 54. 24 PETER LOMBARD "Christ, then, feeds his Church with these sacraments, by means of which the substance of the soul is strengthened." ^ Though we have still no attempt at a definition of the term sacrament, we have in these passages a very clear exposition of the sacramental idea, which was bound to have its influence on the theology of the later Church. In short, Ambrose, like Cyprian and Hilary, was an ecclesi- astic with a definite and practical problem. Even the teaching, therefore, which he embodies in his manual deals not with general concepts but with separate and detailed facts arising naturally in the exercise of his office as bishop. Definitions and philosophical conceptions originate in another setting, when the mind that sees the daily problem is either forced by controversy to larger form- ulations or is, on the contrary, set free to interpret the facts with a certain detachment of mind. In Ambrose's great pupil Augus- tine we find both of these apparently antagonistic prerequisites, and with him we come to a new turn in the development — a dis- cussion of the term itself along with the discussion of the Euchar- ist and baptism — and to this advance in clarification we must devote another chapter. 1 Ibid. c. IX. 55. CHAPTER II The Formulation of the Definition of Sacrament st. augustine (354-43o.) In the works of St. Augustine, we find the first attempt at a definition of sacrament. He does not develop the subject, and gives only incidental references scattered through his many epis- tles, sermons and commentaries. Indeed his ideas on sacrament seem very vague, and he comes back again and again to add some- thing to his definition. A sacrament is a "sacred sign,'* ^ or "signs, when they per- tain to divine things, are called Sacraments." ^ In another place he says that "A sacrament is moreover in any celebration, when a commemoration of a thing done is so made, that something else is understood to be signified, which must be accepted devoutly." ^ In a further explanation, Augustine says that sacraments must have a likeness of the things of which they are sacraments, else they are in no wise sacraments, and from their likeness to these things they receive their names. So according to this, the sacrament of the body of Christ is the body of Christ.^ Therefore they are called sacraments, because in them one thing is seen, another is understood.^ But perhaps a clearer understanding of his meaning may be secured from a passage in his Commentary on the Gospel of John. " *Now you are clean through the word which I have * De Civitate Dei. X. c. 5. * Ep. 138. (alias 5.) « Ep. 55 (alias 1 19.) .... Sacramentum est autem in aliqua celebratione, cum rei gestae commemoratis ita fit, ut aliquid etiam significari intelligatur, quod sancte accipiendum est * Ep. 98 (alias 23.) * Sermon 272. 25 26 PETER LOMBARD spoken unto you.' Why does he not say, you are clean through the Baptism with which you are cleansed, but he says, 'through the word which I have spoken unto you' ; unless because in the water also it is the word that cleanses ? Take away the word, and what is water but water? Add the word to the element, and there results a sacrament, as if itself also a kind of visible word.; For certainly also he said this when he washed the disciples' feet: 'Whoever has bathed does not need but to wash his feet, but is clean every whit.' Whence is such virtue of the water, that it touches the body and cleanses the heart, unless it is done by the word, not because it is spoken but because it is believed? For also in the word itself, part is passing sound, part the virtue remaining." ^ He repeats this definition in another work, and adds, "The virtue of the Word has cleansed us by water, because he walked on the waters." ^ With such varied ideas making up his definition of sacra- ment, it is not surprising that his uses of the word should also be very vague. He speaks of Easter^ as a sacrament, as well as the allegory of sacred numbers which he sees in the twenty-first chapter of John's Gospel.* Marriage,^ Ordination,^ circumcision, the Sabbath, and other observances of days are sacraments.'^ He is not quite consistent when he calls Noah's ark a sacrament, because of its likeness to baptism.^ He even uses it in the old sense of a mystery.^ * In Joannem Tract. LXXX. n. 3 . . . . Detrahe verbum, et quid est aqua nisi aqua? Accedit verbum ad elementum, et fit Sacramentum, etiam ipsum tanquam visibile verbum Unde ista tanta virtus aquae, ut corpus tangat et cor abluat, nisi faciente verbo: non quia dicitur, sed quia creditur? Nam et in ipso verbo, aliud est sonus transiens, aliud virtus manens. 2 De Cataclysmo. 3 Ep. 55. (alias 119.) *Ep. 55 (ad Januarium). c. 17. *De Bono Conjugali. c. 24. « Contra Epistolam Parmeniani. II. c. XIII. 28. ' De Spiritu et Littera. Lib. I. c. XXI. « Contra Faustimi. Lib. XIX. c. XII. » Ep. 140. c. 14. Profundum sacramentum nos intelligere yoluit. » FORMULATION OF THE DEFINITION 27 To the sacraments of Baptism and the Eucharist^ he devotes more attention and discusses their effect.^ The sacraments of the Old Testament were "shadows'^ ^ of those of the New Testament. Those of the New Testament give salvation, those of the Old promised a Saviour.* "Accord- ingly the first sacraments which were observed and celebrated under the Law, foretold the coming Christ: which when at his advent Christ fulfilled, were destroyed; and destroyed on this account, because fulfilled . . . and others were instituted of greater virtue, better utility, easier of performance, fewer in number." ^ Perhaps the most important contribution Augustine made to the development of the sacramental theory was the distinction that he so carefully drew between "sacraments".^ The sacraments may be common to all, but not the grace, which is the virtue of the sacraments.'' Without this sanctification of invisible grace, the visible sacraments profit nothing.^ However, the visible sacra- ment is not to be scorned, for the one who scorns it cannot be •" invisibly sanctified. It is this distinction which he follows in his discussion of the validity of the sacraments of heretics and other wicked persons. "Not so are they therefore not Sacraments of Christ and the I * Ep. 98. 9. (alias 23.) 2 De Peccatorum Meritis et Remissione. Lib. I. c. XXIV. 34. ^ 3 Ep. 82. (alias 19). 14. * Enarratio in Ps. LXXIII, 2. ^ Contra Faustum. Lib. XIX. c. 13. •In Joannis Evang. Tract. XXVI. c. VI. 11 Nam et nos hodie accipimus visibilem cibum: sed aliud est Sacramentum, aliud virtus Sacra- menti .... ' Enarr. in Ps. LXXVII. 2. . . . . Et cum essent omnia communia sacra- menta, non communis erat omnibus gratia, quae sacramentortun virtus est. .... 8 Quaestionum in Heptateuchum. Lib. III. q. 84. Nam sine ista sanctifica- tione invisibilis gratiae, visibilia Sacramenta quid prostmt? .... Proinde col- ligitur invisibilem sanctificationem quibusdam affuisse atque profuisse sine visibilibus Sacramentis, .... visibilem vero sanctificationem, quae fieret per visibilia Sacramenta, sine ista invisibili posse adesse, non posse prodesse. Nee tamen ideo Sacramentimi visibile contemnendum esti nam contemptor ejus invisibiliter sanctificari nullo modo potest i ... 28 PETER LOMBARD Church, because they use them wrongly, not only heretics, but also all the wicked and impious. But they ought however to be either corrected or punished." ^ The sacraments, which those separated from the unity of the body of Christ celebrate, can show the form of piety, but the invisible and spiritual virtue of piety cannot be in them. 2 In the good, the sacraments are unto salvation, in the evil unto damnation.^ It is by this virtue of the sacraments, grace, that "the mem- bers of the Body of Christ are regenerated with their Head." * Baptism he calls the laver of regeneration.^ In the baptism of an infant, "who has not yet the effect of faith, it is answered that he has faith on account of the sacrament of faith, and that he is converted to God on account of the sacrament of conversion, be- cause also the very response pertains to the celebration of the sacrament." ® Sins are remitted by the strength of the sacra- ments.^ To sum up, St. Augustine gives us our first definitions of sacrament, and the distinction between the sacrament and the virtue of the sacrament, which is of so much importance in the later development of the sacramental system. But although his conception of sacrament as such is more clarified than that of his predecessors, he makes no effort to delimit the scope. He does definitely refer to Baptism and the Eucharist as sacraments, but is also vague in that he does not enumerate what ceremonies are or are not sacraments. ISIDORE OF SEVILLE (c. 560-636) It is not until the beginning of the seventh century that the sacraments became again a subject of even a brief discussion. Through all this time of ignorance and barbarism the rites of the ^ De Bapt. contra Donatistas. Lib. III. c. X. 13. »SerraoLXXI. c. XIX. ' Contra Donat. Ep. (viilgo, De Unitate Ecclesiae.) Lib. I. c. XXI. 57. * Enarr. in Ps. LXXVII. 2. * Enarr. in Ps. LXXVII. 2. •Ep. XCVm. 9. (alias 23.) ' De Bapt. contra Donat. Lib. IV. c. IV. 5. FORMULATION OF THE DEFINITION 29 Church were undoubtedly of more significance than its theology, and the usages of the Middle Ages were being consecrated by the vastly extended clergy, spread by missionary effort through the northern peoples. No one, therefore, was likely seriously to spec- ulate concerning the validity of what all took for granted. So it is rather as a matter of antiquarian interest than as a discussion of a live issue that the first encyclopaedist of the Dark Ages, Isidore of Seville, writing in Spain, at the beginning of the seventh century takes up the definition of sacrament, as a part of his encyclopaedic survey. The task he set himself was to gather together all the available learning of his day, in his "Origines" or "Etymologies." ^ In the section devoted to the sacraments, he quotes Augustine's definition, that a sacrament is in any celebration, which signifies something holy. The sacra- ments then are "baptism and chrism, the body and blood." ^ In the next paragraph, however, Isidore says that "they are called sacraments on this account, because under cover of material things the divine virtue works salvation secretly, whence also from secret virtues, or from sacred, they are called sacraments." ^ This definition is a notable one, because it again brings the em- phasis on mystery in the sacrament. Isidore is certainly not an original thinker, but so far any source for this definition seems unknown. It is not from TertuUian, from whom Isidore learned so much.* ^On Isidore, see further Ernest Brehaut, An Encyclopedist of the Dark Ages: Isidore of Seville; who does not, however, translate chapter XIX. 2 Etymologies. Bk. VI. cap. XIX. n. 39. ^ Etymologies. Bk. VI. cap. XIX. n. 40. Quae ob id sacramenta dicuntur, quia sub tegumento corporalium rerum virtus divina secretins salutem (eorum- dem sacramentorum) operatur, imde et a secretis virtutis, vel a sacris sacramenta dicuntur. I have omitted the words in parentheses, because these seem interpolated from n. 41. See Heinrich Schwarz — "Observationes criticae in Isidori His- palensis Origenes." * Maximilian Klussmann, "Excerpta Tertullianea in Isidori Hispalensis Etymologiis collegit et explanavit." CHAPTER III The Eucharistic Controversy^ We now enter upon a period of reflection and controversy concerning the Eucharist, which engaged the attention of theo- logians for almost two centuries till it reached a climax in the condemnation of Berengar in 1079. This controversy was opened by the work of Paschasius Radbertus,^ monk of Corbey and abbot about 842. He was versed in the theology of the Eastern Church, especially in the work of Cyril of Alexandria and John of Damascus, and from them and yet more from Augustine did he draw his inspiration, though in the main his treatment follows that of Ambrose. His book "Of the Body and Blood of the Lord" was the first to elaborate for western Europe the doctrine of the miraculous conversion of the elements in the Eucharist, which in the twelfth century received the name of transubstantiation.^ Paschasius* doctrine of the miraculous change of the ele- ments into the real body and blood of Christ, after the consecra- tion by the priest was also linked up with the mystical conception of the spiritual character of the Lord's presence in the Euchar- ist, For instance, he says, "These mysteries are not carnal, though they are flesh and blood, but are rightly understood as spiritual." * In this he preserved an important element in the teaching of Augustine.^ But the more literal conception domi- nated. Radbertus' book was immediately challenged by Rabanus * On this whole subject, see Goetz, "Die Abendmahlsfrage," pp. 15-22. * On Paschasius Radbertus, see further, de Ghellinck, Le mouvement theo- logique, passim, and Ernst, Die Lehre des hi. Paschasius Radbertus von der Eucharistie, Freiburg, 1896. Goetz, op. cit. pp. 3-10. 'See Gore, Dissertations on Subjects connected with the Incarnation, p. 236. "Paschasius appears beyond all reasonable question to teach a doctrine of transubstantiation." * Ep. ad Frudegardum. (MSL 120. 1356.) 5 Darwell Stone, A History of the Doctrine of the Holy Eucharist. I, p. 217. 30 THE EUCHARISTIC CONTROVERSY 31 Maurus (c. 776-856), Archbishop of Mainz, and later, at the request of King Charles the Bald, by Ratrammus (d. c. 868). These, as later Berengar, upheld the view that the change in the elements in the Eucharist was not a material one, but only spir- itual. This whole controversy over the nature of the conversion of the elements is of interest to us here only because it brought a new emphasis and importance to the conception of sacrament. For a long time however there was no real change in the expres- sions used in the definitions of the term. The phrases used by Augustine and Isidore are repeated again and again by all the writers of the period, and it is only with Berengar that we find a really new definition — and this he attributed to St. Augustine. Paschasius Radbertus himself, who began this great contro- fversy by the publishing in 831 of his book "Of the Body and Blood of the Lord," takes his definition from Isidore — "The ^sacraments of Christ in the Church are baptism and chrism, and [so the body and blood of the Lord, which are called sacraments on this account, because under their visible form, which is seen, the flesh is secretly consecrated by the divine virtue." ^ There is nothing original in this definition of sacrament, for it is taken almost word for word from Isidore.^ It is a very definite use of the term, but alongside it, in the very same passage, we find that Paschasius uses it in the old vague sense, when he speaks of our redemption "by the sacrament of Christ's nativity and hu- manity." ^ Rabanus Maurus' rejection of the theory of a miraculous conversion of the elements naturally had an effect on his concep- tion of the term sacrament. He begins his discussion by quoting * Lib. de Corpore et Sang. Domini, c. III. 2. Sunt autem sacramenta Christi in Ecclesia baptismus et chrisma, corpus quoque Domini et sanguis, quae ob hoc sacramenta vocantur, quia sub eorum specie visibili, quae videtur, secretius virtute divina caro consecratur. 2 See p. 29. ' Ibid. Sacramento vero nativitatis et humanitatis ejus, et nos redimimur ad veniam \\ 32 PETER LOMBARD Augustine's definition and adds to it Isidore's, giving also his enumeration of the sacraments. He adds, however, that "in Greek it is called a mystery, because it has a hidden dispensa- tion." ^ "Yet there are more forms of baptism, which purge a man of sins and confer an increase of sanctity." Besides the baptism of water, there are the baptisms of the Holy Spirit and of martyr- dom.^ In the same passage he says, "For souls are believed to be saved from the chains of sins through confession and through true penance^ with the sting of tears," but he seems to find noth- ing sacramental in this, and does not include penance in his list of sacraments. The significant point for us, here, is that he bases his belief in a spiritual rather than a material change in the Eucharistic ele- ments on Augustine's distinction between the sacrament and the virtue of the sacrament. "The sacrament indeed is received in the mouth, the inner man is satisfied with the virtue of the sacra- ment. Therefore because bread strengthens the body, so it is fitly called the body of Christ: wine moreover, because it affects the blood in the flesh, so it is referred to the blood of Christ. These moreover while they are visible, sanctified then through the holy Spirit are changed into the sacrament of the divine body." * This view, that the elements are changed "into the sacra- ment of the divine body" is a contrast to the view of Paschasius, that the elements are changed into the real flesh and blood of Christ, and which therefore maintains the identity of the Euchar- istic and historical body of Christ. The opposition of the views of Rabanus Maurus and others * De Universo. Lib. V. c. 11. Also in De Clericonim Institutione. Lib. I. c. 24. and De Ecclesiastica Disciplina. Lib. II. Unde et graece mysterium dicitur, quod reconditam habeat dispensa- tionem. * De Universo. ibid. ■""^ « Poenitentia. De Universo. Lib. V. c. II. * De Universo. Lib. V. c. 11. THE EUCHARISTIC CONTROVERSY 33 seems to have impelled Paschasius Radbertus to send a second edition of his book, with a letter to King Charles the Bald, request- ing him to have the question decided. King Charles sent the book to another monk of Corbe, Ratramnus, giving him two questions to answer, concerning this controversy about the Eucharist, (i) Is the Eucharist the body of Christ in a mystery or in reality? (2) What is the relation of the Eucharistic to the natural body? These questions of course rather limited the scope of his "Of the Body and Blood of the Lord," and he was not at liberty to develop the subject as he might otherwise have done. Paschasius had maintained that after the consecration by the words of Christ, his body and his blood were present on the altar. ^ To Ratramnus the bread and wine became, not palpably, but figuratively the body and blood of Christ.^ He defends his position by quoting from some of the same authorities as Paschasius had used, and from several passages we learn how his idea of sacrament was based upon these. He gives Augustine's definition that sacra- ments must have the likeness of the things of which they are the sacraments.^ To this he adds the distinction between the "sacra- ment" * and the "thing of the sacrament." "We confess that in the sacrament of the body and blood of the Lord, what is received without, is applied to the nourishment of the body: the Word of God moreover, which is the bread invisibly existing in this sacra- ment, invisibly by its participation, feeds the minds of the faith- ful by vivifying them." ^ From Isidore he quotes Augustine's "A sacrament is moreover in any celebration when a commemora- tion . . . is so made, that something else is understood to be signified . . ." "Saying this he shows that every sacrament * Goetz, Die Abendmahlsfrage, pp. 3-10. ^Goetz, p. II. 3 De Corpore et Sanguine Domini. XXXV. * Ibid. XXXVI. *Ibid. XLIV. Ista dicendo confitemur quod in sacramento corporis et sanguinis Domini, quidquid exterius sumitur, ad corporis refectionem aptatur: Verbum autem Dei, qui est panis invisibiliter in illo existens sacramento, invisi- biliter participatione sui fidelium mentes vivificando pascit. 34 PETER LOMBARD in divine things contains some secret; and there is something which appears visibly, something else in truth — which must be accepted invisibly." ^ He follows Isidore still farther, that "under the cover of material things, the divine virtue works salva- tion secretly." ^ The sacraments are baptism, chrism, the body and blood — the enumeration which Isidore gave.^ "Therefore they are called sacraments, because in them something is seen, something else is understood : what is seen, has a corporeal form ; what is understood, has spiritual fruit." ^ The teaching of Ratramnus had considerable currency in the later period. It reappears even in the "Homilies" of the English Aelfric (c. 955-1020?), and as we shall see shortly figured prom- inently in the Berengarian controversy, but later, as the views it advanced were definitely branded as heretical, it dropped from sight until, again at the Protestant reformation, it interested the Protestant theologians.^ BERENGAR OF TOURS (d. IO88) The training of Berengar was unusual for his day. His •earlier interests were in dialectic and the Roman Classical authors, from whom he derived a freer method than had been common. Later he came to a study of the Bible and of the Church Fathers, •especially Gregory the Great and Augustine, but also Ambrose » De Corp. et Sang. Dom. XLV. « Ibid. XCIII. ' An instance of this is seen in the fact that it was translated into English by Humfrey Linde in 1549, imder the title "The Book of Bertram the Priest,