Bellarmine · De Controversiis · On the Sacrament of the Eucharist · Book II: On the Real Presence, from the Testimonies of the Fathers
Chapter 21: The Testimony of St. Gaudentius (Fifth Age of the Church)
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).
Blessed Bishop Gaudentius flourished at the beginning of the fifth century, as is clear from his sermon On the Dedication of the Basilica of the Council of Martyrs, where he says that he received certain relics from two granddaughters of Saint Basil; and he relates that a few years before the bodies of the Saints Gervasius and Protasius were found by Saint Ambrose. This notable author, then, in treatise 2 On Exodus, says that in the Old Testament the paschal lamb was not the same for all the Jews, but many; since each family slew and ate its own; for that lamb was a figure, not the truth. But in our truth he affirms that one and the same is immolated and eaten in all the Churches. Which comparison manifestly indicates that in our Sacrament the true body of Christ is present in itself, not in a symbol alone; for otherwise the Jews too would have had one and the same lamb, since all those lambs of theirs signified the one Christ.
Then the same author speaks thus: “The very Creator and Lord of natures, who produces bread from the earth, from bread again (because He both can, and promised) makes His own body; and He who made wine from water, made His own blood from wine.” And below: “O the depth of the riches of the wisdom and knowledge of God. It is the Pasch of the Lord, that is, the passage of the Lord. Do not think that earthly which has been made heavenly by Him who passes into it, and made it His own body and blood.” And below: “Believe what has been announced, that what thou receivest is the body of that heavenly bread, and the blood of that sacred vine. For when He held out the consecrated bread and wine to His disciples, He said thus: This is my body, This is my blood. Let us believe Him in whom we have believed; the truth knows not falsehood.” And below: “Let us not break down that most solid utterance: This is my body, This is my blood. But if anything still remain, even now, in the mind of any one, which this exposition has not grasped, let it be burned up by the ardor of faith.” To these passages the adversaries have not answered, nor could they answer.
Show the Latin (Vives edition, OCR)
CAPUT XXI. QUINTA jETAS ECCLESLE AB ANNO DO¬ MINI 400. ad 500. Testimonium S. Gaudentii. Beatus Episcopus Gaudentius ad initium quinti saeculi floruit, ut patet ex serm. ipsius de dedicatione Basilicos Concilii Martyrum , ubi dicit, se accepisse reliquias quasdam a duabus neptibus S. Basilii et ante paucos annos refert inventa fuisse corpora Sancto¬ rum Gervasii , et Protasii a S. Ambrosio. Hic igitur insignis auctor tract. n de Exodo , dicit, in veteri Testamento agnum pascha¬ lem non fuisse eumdem omnium Judaeorum, sed multos ; siquidem unaquaeque familia suum occidebat, et manducabat : ille enim agnus figura erat, non veritas. At in nostra veritate unum, et eumdem in omnibus Ec¬ clesiis immolari, et manducari affirmat. Qua: comparatio manifeste indicat in nostro Sa¬ cramento verum Christi corpus in seipso, non in solo symbolo adesse : alioqui etiam Judaei, unum et eumdem agnum habuis¬ sent , cum omnes illi eorum agni unum Christum significarent. Deinde idem auctor sic loquitur : t' Ipse naturarum Creator, et Dominus, qui producit de terra pan^m, de pane rursus (quia et potest, promisit), efficit proprium corpus : et qui de aqua vinum fecit, et de vino san¬ guinem suum ». Et infra : « 0 altitudo divi¬ tiarum sapientiae, et scientiae Dei. Pascha est Domini, hoc est transitus Domini. Ne terre¬ num putes, quod coeleste effectum est, per eum, qui transit in illud, et fecit illud suum corpus, et sanguinem. » Et infra : « Quod annuntiatum est credas, quia quod accipis, corpus est illius panis coelestis, et sanguis est illius sacrae vitis. Nam cum panem con¬ secratum, et vinum discipulis suis porri¬ geret, sic ait : Hoc est corpus meum, Hic est sanguis meus. Credamus cui credidimus : nescit mendacium veritas». Et infra : «Non infringamus os illud solidissimum : Hoc est corpus meum : Hic est sanguis meus. Si quid autem superfuerit et jam nunc in unius cu- jusque sensu, quod expositione ista non coe¬ perit, ardore fidei concremetur ». Ad haec loca adversarii non responderunt, nec re¬ spondere possenl.