Bellarmine · De Controversiis · On the Sacrament of the Eucharist · Book V: On the Sacrifice of the Mass (First)
Chapter 13: The Sacrifice of the Mass Is Proved from Chapter 13 of the Acts
Our translation, from the Latin of the Opera Omnia (Paris: Vivès, 1870–74), vol. IV, De Sacramento Eucharistiae, Book V: On the Sacrifice of the Mass (First Book). 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).
The seventh argument is taken from those words which Saint Luke sets down in the Acts, where he relates the ordination of Paul and Barnabas: As they were ministering to the Lord, he says, and fasting, the Holy Spirit said: Separate me Saul and Barnabas for the work whereunto I have taken them. For that ministry exhibited to the Lord does not seem to have been able to be anything other than a sacrifice, and the sacrifice of the Mass: for either this sacrifice is in the Church, or there is none.
But that by that word, ministering, a sacrifice is signified, is proved first from the Greek word [leitourgounton]. For first, even the adversaries confess, and especially the Apology of the Confession in the article on the Mass, that that word [leitourgia] does not signify any ministry whatever, but a public one. And so in this place it does not signify something private and internal, but public, and accordingly external. Nor can it signify the ministry of the word or of the Sacraments: because these are indeed public, but are not exhibited to God. For we do not preach to God, nor dispense the Sacraments to the Lord, but to the people. But here it is said: As they were ministering to the Lord.
You will say: Those who preach, or offer the Sacraments to the people, can be said to minister to the Lord, because they do it for His honor. But if this were the cause why Luke wrote, ministering to the Lord, he would not have added, and fasting; for to fast also is in that manner to minister to the Lord. For those who fast well, fast for the honor of God: according to that of Romans 14: He that eateth, eateth to the Lord, and he that eateth not, to the Lord he eateth not.
Moreover that word [leitourgeo], although it can be accommodated to sacred and profane ministries, yet when it is accommodated to sacred things and set absolutely in the Scriptures, is everywhere taken for the ministry of sacrifice, as is clear from chapter 1 of Luke, and the Epistle to the Hebrews, chapters 2, 8, 9, 10. Wherefore in this place Erasmus, who is wont to be in esteem among the adversaries, dared to translate: As they were sacrificing to the Lord; and hence also it came to pass that the Greeks call the celebration of the Mass [leitourgia].
Show the Latin (Vives edition, OCR)
CAPUT XIII. Probatur sacrificium Missie ex cap. xjii. Actorum. Septimum argumentum sumitur ex iilis verbis, quae S. Lucas in Actis ponit, ubi re¬ fert ordinationem Pauli, et BarnabcC : Mini¬ strantibus, inquit, illis Domino, et jejunantibus, dixit Spiritus sanctus : Segregate mihi Sau- lum , ei B amabam, in opus, ad quod assumpsi cos (1). Ministerium enim illud Domino exhi¬ bitum, non videtur aliud esse potuisse, quam sacrificium, et sacrificium Missae : aut enim hoc sacrificium est in Ecclesia, aut nullum. Significari autem illa voce : Ministrantibus , sacrificium, probatur Primo ex voce Grieca XsivoypYouvTMv.Namin primis etiam adversarii confitentur, et potissimum Apologia Confes¬ sionis Augustanae in articulo de Missa, vocem illam AsiToupvsM, non significare quodeumque ministerium, sed publicum. Itaque hoc loco non significat aliquid privatum, et internum, sed publicum, et proinde externum. Neque significare potest ministerium verbi, aut Sacramentorum : quia ista publica quidem sunt, sed non exhibentur Deo. Non enim condonamur Deo, neque Sacramenta Domino dispensamus, sed populo. Hic autem dicitur : Ministrantibus illis Domino. Dices: Qui condonantur, aut Sacramenta populo praebent. Domino ministrare dici pos¬ sunt, quia ad ejus honorem id faciunt. At si ista esset causa, cur Lucas scripserit, Minis¬ trantibus Domino, non addidisset, ct jejunan¬ tibus ; nam etiam jejunare, est eo modo Do¬ mino ministrare. Qui enim bene jejunant, ad honorem Dei jejunant : juxta illud Roman. xiv : Qui manducat, Domino manducat, ct qui non manducat, Domino non manducat. Prceterea verbum illud Xeiroopygw, licet pos¬ sit accommodari ad sacra, et profana mi¬ nisteria, tamen cum accommodatur ad sacra, et absolute ponitur in Scripturis, ubique ac¬ cipitur pro ministerio sacrificii, ut patet ex cap. i. Lucie, et epistola ad Hebrieos, cap. ii. viii. ix. x. Quare hoc loco Erasinus, qui apud adversarios in pretio esse solet, vertere ausus est : Sacrificantibus illis Do- (I) Act.Xlll, 2. CAPUT XIV. mino; et Jiine etiam factum est, ut Graeci Missa} celebrationem XsiTouoyetav appellent.