Note 1820 — Chapter XXVIII · (continued 4)

Ibid.: “Quamvis autem semel oblatus est Christus in aperta carnis effigie, offertur nihilominus quotidie in altari velatus,” etc. Of the numerous witnesses to the ancient belief of the Church, Joh. Ernest Grabe notes in his Oxford edition of Irenæus (1702) with regard to a statement of his on this subject (4 c. 17, al. 33): “What Irenæus here teaches of the sacrificial character of the Eucharist, Ignatius and Justin taught before him, and Tertullian and Cyprian after. It is clearly vouched for in Clement of Rome’s Epistle to the Corinthians.” “There is no doubt that Irenæus and the other Fathers, both those who had seen the Apostles, as well as their immediate successors, regarded the Eucharist as the Sacrifice of the New Law, and ... presented at the altar the consecrated elements of Bread and Wine to God the Father in order to figure the bloody Sacrifice which He Himself had offered on the cross in His flesh and Blood, and in order to obtain the fruits of His death for all for whom it was offered.” Gregory the Great taught with antiquity (Hom. 37 in Evang. c. 7): “Quoties ei (Deo) hostiam suæ passionis offerimus, toties nobis ad absolutionem nostram passionem illius reparamus,” and in his Dialogues, which contributed greatly to the high esteem of Masses for the dead (we are here considering the doctrine, not the legends), he says of the Sacrifice of the Mass: “Hæc singulariter victima ab æterno interitu animam salvat, quæ illam nobis mortem Unigeniti per mysterium reparat.... Pro nobis iterum in hoc mysterio sacræ oblationis immolatur” (“Dial.,” 4, 58; cf. 59). The well-known Lutheran theologian Martin Chemnitz wrote in his “Examen concilii Tridentini” (1565-1573), that it could not be denied that the Fathers, when speaking of the celebration of the Supper, make use of expressions descriptive of Sacrifice, such as “sacrificium,” “immolatio,” “oblatio,” “hostia,” “victima,” “offerre,” “sacrificare,” “immolare” (t. 2, p. 782). Cp. J. Döllinger, “Die Lehre von der Eucharistie in den ersten drei Jahrh.,” 1826. J. A. Möhler, “Symbolik,” §§ 34 and 35.