Bellarmine · De Controversiis · On the Sacrament of the Eucharist · Book II: On the Real Presence, from the Testimonies of the Fathers
Chapter 36: Testimonies of the Fathers of the Eleventh Age: St. Anselm and Oecumenius
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 in the eleventh age, the Berengarian heresy having arisen, very many wrote of set purpose on the truth of the body of the Lord in the Eucharist, as Saint Anselm, Lanfranc, Guitmund, Adelmann, Alger, Hugo of Langres, and others, who flourished from the year 1000 to 1100. In the same century Oecumenius the Greek is believed to have written. But it will be enough in this place to set down the testimonies of Saint Anselm, who shone above the rest in holiness and erudition, and of Oecumenius.
Saint Anselm, then, on chapter 11 of the first to the Corinthians, expounding that, This is my body: “Eat,” he says, “what I give, because this is my body. To the exterior senses it seems indeed to be bread, but know by the senses of the mind that this is my body—not another, but the same substantially, which shall be delivered to death for your redemption.”
Oecumenius, on chapter 11 of the first to the Corinthians: “Since he often,” he says, “mentions the body and blood, he indicates that by no means is he a slight man who is sacrificed, but the very Lord and Creator of all.” And below: “If we knew how great He is who is set before us (on the altar), we should need no other thing, but this very thing would make us sober.”
Show the Latin (Vives edition, OCR)
CAPUT XXXVI. Testimonia Patrum XI. vetatis Ause Imi et OEcumenii. Jam vero fetale XI. exorta haeresi Beren- gariana plurimi ex professo scripserunt de veritate corporis Domini in Eucharistia, ut S. Anselmus, Lantfraneus , Guitmundus, Adelrnannus, Algerus, Hugo Lingonensis, et alii, qui floruerunt ab anno, 1000. ad 1100. Eodem sfeculo scripsisse creditur QEcuinc- nius Graecus. Satis vero hoc loco erit S. An- selmi, qui sanctitate, et eruditione praeter eaeteros claruit, et OEcumenii testimonia po¬ nere. Igitur S. Anselmus in cap. xi. primae ad Corinthios exponens illud: Hoc est- corpus meum ; « Manducate, inquit, quod tribuo, quia hoc est corpus meum. Sensibus quidem exterioribus videtur esse panis, sed sensi¬ bus cognoscite mentis, quia hoc est corpus meum non aliud, sed idem substantialiter, quod pro vobis redimendis tradetur ad mor¬ tem. » OEeumenius in cap. xli. prioris ad Coriuth. « Cum sfepe, inquit, corpus, et sanguinem memoret, indicat, nequaquam exilem esse hominem, qui sacrificatur, imo ipsum Do¬ minum omnium creatorem. : « Et infra » Si sciremus quantus sit, qui appositus est (in altari) nullo alio indigeremus, verum hoc ipsum sobrios nos redderet. »