Bellarmine · De Controversiis · On the Sacrament of the Eucharist · Book II: On the Real Presence, from the Testimonies of the Fathers
Chapter 5: The Testimony of Pope St. Pius I
Our translation, from the Latin of the Opera Omnia (Paris: Vivès, 1870–74), vol. IV, De Sacramento Eucharistiae, Book II: On the Truth of the Body of the Lord in the Eucharist, from the Testimonies of the Fathers. The Latin source text is public domain; this English rendering is released with the site. Scripture quotations follow Bellarmine's Vulgate citations, rendered in Douay-Rheims wording where he quotes exactly. Click “Show the Latin” for the original (raw OCR of the scan; scanning errors remain — the scan itself is the authority).
Now Pope Pius I, who sat in the Pontificate at the same time in which Justin flourished, established a sufficiently grave penalty against those by whose negligence anything of the Lord’s blood should fall to the ground, or even upon the altar; and he ordered the place to be licked, scraped, and so forth, as is clear from Gratian, On Consecration, distinction 2, canon Si per negligentiam, and from Book 1 of the decree of Ivo, and Book 5 of Burchard. Although we do not now have the epistle of the Pontiff itself, yet this testimony is rendered probable enough, both by the authority of Ivo, Burchard, and Gratian; and also because we read in Tertullian, Origen, Cyril, and others, who were nearest to those times, that the greatest diligence was wont to be used in the Church, lest anything of this Sacrament should in any way fall to the ground. The testimonies of Tertullian, Origen, and Cyril will be set down below in their place.
Now this caution is an evident argument of the faith of the ancients. For if the bread of the Eucharist were not the body of Christ except representatively, no greater diligence would have to be used lest it fall to the ground than that which we use lest the sacred Bible fall to the ground, or some image of Christ, or the water of Baptism, or that which the Hebrews used in preserving the manna or the paschal lamb. But who ever heard that the ground must be licked or scraped where a codex of the Gospel, or an image, or the manna, or the water of Baptism had fallen? To this testimony I have not read an answer of the adversaries.
Show the Latin (Vives edition, OCR)
CAPUT V. Testimonium S. Pii 1 Papse. Jam vero Pius Papa I. qui eodem tempore sedit in Pontificatu, quo Justinus florebat, statuit poenam satis gravem in cos, quorum negligontia aliquid dominici sanguinis in ter¬ ram, vel etiam super altare decideret : jus- sitque locum lambi, radi etc. ut patet ex Gra¬ tiano de Consecratione distinet. 2. canon. Si per negligentiam, etcxlib i. decreti Yvonis, et lib. v. Burchardi. Quamvis autem non ha¬ beamus nunc epistolam ipsam Pontificis, ta¬ men satis probabile reddit hoc testimonium, ’Q) Joan YT, 5u. CAPUT VT. G9 tum auctoritas Y vonis,Buichardi, ct Gratiani; tum etiam, quod legamus in Tertulliano, Ori- gene, Cyrillo, et aliis, qui proximi fuerunt iis temporibus, summam diligentiam adhiberi solitam in Ecclesia, ne quid Sacramenti hu¬ jus ullo modo in terram decideret. Testimo¬ nia Tertulliani, Origcnis, ctCyrilli, infra suo loco ponentur. Porro ista cautio argumentum est evidens fidei antiquorum. Si enim panis Eucharistia) non esset corpus Christi, nisi repraesentati ve, non esset adhibenda major diligentia, ne ca¬ deret in terram, quam ea sit, quam adhibe¬ mus, ne sacra Biblia in terram cadant, aut imago aliqua Christi, aut aqua Baptismi, aut quam adhibebant Tlebran in conservando manna, aut agno paschali. Quis autem audi¬ vit unquam debere lambi, aut radi terram, ubi cecidisset codex Evangelii, aut imago, aut manna, aut aqua Baptismi ? Ad hoc te¬ stimonium, non legi adversariorum respon¬ sum.