BOOK THE FIRST

ON THE VENERABLE

SACRAMENT OF THE EUCHARIST

IN GENERAL

CHAPTER ONE.

1. The Name of the Venerable Sacrament, and its institution.

The Foundation: Now as they were eating, Jesus took bread, and blessed it, and broke it, and gave it to his disciples, and said: take and eat: This is my body. Matthew chapter 26, verse 26. Our adversaries In the context of 1655, "adversaries" refers to Protestant Reformers, such as followers of Luther or Calvin, who disagreed with Catholic interpretations of the sacraments. ignorantly misuse this passage; they infer from the quoted words that the Sacrament of the body and blood of Christ should be called "the Supper," rather than the "Eucharist" as all Catholics do. For it is certain from Holy Scripture that that supper—meaning the eating of the Paschal lamb The "Paschal lamb" refers to the Jewish Passover meal, which commemorates the Israelites' liberation from Egypt. and the common meal that customarily followed it—was a Jewish ceremony. However, the distribution or communion of the Eucharist belongs to Christians. Therefore Christ, although on the night before He suffered he celebrated both the eating of the Paschal lamb and the common Jewish supper usually joined to it, and finally the Christian communion; nevertheless, He instituted only this last one at that time, not the former one to which He put an end. Nor does it matter that Christ is said to have taken bread and blessed it while the Apostles were eating, etc. For it is only shown that He joined the eating of His body with the eating of the Paschal lamb and the common meal; yet in such a way that by the institution of the former The Eucharist., this eating of the Paschal lamb was abolished. Nor does it even matter,

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