1
Concerning the Eucharist
ARTICLE 2: On the prefiguration of this
sacrament.
Utrum huic sacramento figurae assignari
debeant
Sed contra,
On the contrary:
Respondeo
Response:
On the contrary:
Endnotes
1. tantum gratiam continentia (return to text)
2. gratiam conferentia. What Thomas seems to be saying is that confirmation and extreme
unction add to grace already possessed, whereas one receives grace for the first time in baptism,
and Christ who is the fullness of grace is present in the Eucharist. Hence there are three
categories here: the sacraments that are sacraments as well as something else; the pure
sacraments that contain grace as in its root; and the pure sacraments that confer additional grace.
(return to text)
3. Note that aureola, which is almost impossible to translate ("crownlet"?), is a diminutive form of
aurea, "gold crown." (return to text)
4. That is, the blood shed physically on the cross, and mixed with water from Christ's side,
signified the nourishment of the Church with Christ's blood present in the Eucharist. (return to text)
Peter Kwasniewski
(pak@wyomingcatholiccollege.com)
My thanks to Joseph Bolin for his careful review of an earlier draft of this translation
The Aquinas Translation Project
(http://www4.desales.edu/~philtheo/loughlin/ATP/index.html)