Bellarmine · De Controversiis · On the Sacrament of the Eucharist · Book V: On the Sacrifice of the Mass (First)
Chapter 16: A Sacrifice Properly So Called Is Proved from the Rite of Altars
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 second head, whence the opinion of the ancient Fathers can be known, is taken from the rite of erecting altars for the celebration of this sacrifice. For that altars were not wont to be erected except for sacrifices properly so called, the adversaries do not deny. For therefore Calvin, Book 4 of the Institutes, chapter 18, § 12, thus speaks of the difference between the Sacrament of the Eucharist and a sacrifice properly so called: “He gave us a table,” he says, “at which to feast, not an altar upon which a victim is to be offered.” And Peter Martyr, in his book against Gardiner, part 3, in the answer to the sixteenth objection, page 710, writes that there ought to be no altar in the Church. And finally there is no other cause why at this time the adversaries everywhere demolish altars, and substitute banqueting tables for altars, except that they understand altars to be most evident signs of a sacrifice properly so called. Add what we said above in chapter 2, where from Scripture and the Fathers, and from the very Hebrew, Greek, and Latin word, we showed the same thing. Wherefore if we can demonstrate that the ancient Fathers always had altars for celebrating the Eucharist, it will at the same time be demonstrated that the Eucharist, according to their opinion, is a sacrifice truly and properly so called.
And first, in the Canons of the Apostles, 3 and 4, there is open mention of an altar erected for offering the Eucharist. Dionysius too, chapter 3 of the Ecclesiastical Hierarchy, makes mention of an altar. Tertullian, in his book on Penance, among other signs of the humility of penitents numbers to grovel before the presbyters, to kneel at the altars of God; and in his book on prayer, in the last words: “Thy station will be more solemn,” he says, “if thou hast also stood at the altar of God.” Cyprian, Book 1, letter 9, commands that sacrifice be not offered for a certain deceased Christian who had left a presbyter as procurator of temporal affairs, and gives the reason, because he is not worthy that sacrifice be offered for him, who drew away the priest of God from the altar. Eusebius, Book 1 of the Demonstration of the Gospel, chapter 6, says many things about the altar of the Church. Optatus of Milevis, Book 6 against Parmenian: “What is so sacrilegious,” he says, “as to break the altars of God, on which at some time you too offered?” And in the same place he says the altar is the seat of the body of Christ. Ambrose, Book 5, letter 33: “The soldiers vying to announce, and irreverent, to signify peace by a kiss at the altars.” Saint Antony, as Athanasius writes in his life, when he foresaw the future Arian heresy, seemed to himself to see certain fierce mules overturning the altars of Christ with their hoofs. Gregory Nazianzen, in his oration on Gorgonia, writes that she prostrated herself at the altar and invoked Him who is wont to be worshipped upon the altar. Gregory of Nyssa, in his book on Baptism, says that the altar is a stone by its own nature, but by consecration becomes holy, etc. Chrysostom, homily 53 to the people: “If anyone,” he says, “wished to overthrow this altar, would you not overwhelm him with stones?” And homily 20 on Second Corinthians: “Thou,” he says, “honorest the altar which receives the body of Christ.” Jerome in his book against Vigilantius. Augustine, Book 8 of the City of God, last chapter, and Book 22, chapter 8, and other Fathers, and also the ancient Councils, most frequently make mention of the altar.
But perhaps someone will object Minucius Felix, who in the dialogue which is entitled Octavius brings in the heathen Caecilius thus speaking with the Christian Octavius: “Why have they (the Christians) no altars, no temples, no images?”
But the solution is easy. For the Christians in those times, for a twofold cause, most diligently took care that no heathen should be present at our sacred rites. First, because they were not fit to behold such great mysteries. Then, from fear of the persecutors, for which cause also they were frequently compelled to perform the divine service secretly in crypts and caverns, or certainly in private houses: wherefore the Christians were commonly esteemed plainly atheists, because they were seen to sacrifice openly to no gods. But that the Christians had altars not only in the time of Minucius Felix, but even long before, is clear from the cited places of Tertullian, Dionysius, and Clement, who are all more ancient than Minucius, and from Cyprian, who was contemporary with Minucius.
Show the Latin (Vives edition, OCR)
CAPUT XV r. Probatur sacrificium proprie dictum ex ritu altarium. Alterum caput, unde agnosci potest sen¬ tentia veterum Patrum, sumitur ex ritu al¬ tarium erigendorum ad hujus sacrificii ce¬ lebrationem. Nam altaria non consuevisse erigi nisi ad sacrificia proprie dicta, adver¬ sarii non negant. Nam ideo Calvinus lib. n . Institut. cap. 18. §. 12. ita loquitur de dif¬ ferentia Sacramenti Eucharistia), ct sacrificii proprie dicti : « Mensam, inquit, nobis dedit, in qua epulemur, non altare, super quod offeratur victima. » Et Petrus Martyr lib. cont. Gardinerum par. 3. in responsione ad objectum 16. pag. 710. scribit, nullum esse debere altare in Ecclesia. Et denique non alia causa est, cur hoc tempore adversarii altaria ubique demoliantur, et pro altaribus mensas conviviales substituant, nisi quod intelligant altaria signa esse evidentissima sacrificii proprie dicti. Adde qua) supra diximus cap. n. ubi ex Scriptura, et Patri¬ bus, et ex ipso vocabulo Hebrum, Grano, ct Latino id ipsum ostendimus. Quare si veteres Patres ad Eucharistiam celebrandam altaria semper habuisse demonstrare poterimus, demonstratum simul erit, Eucharistiam ex eorum sententia sacrificium esse vere ac pro¬ prie dictum. Ac primum in Canonibus Apostolorum 3. et i. aperta est mentio altaris ad Euchari¬ stiam offerendam erecti. Dionysius quoquo cap. 3. Ecclesiastica} hierarchia), altaris me¬ minit. Tertullianus in lib. de Poenitentia, in¬ ter alia signa humilitatis pernitentium nume¬ rat, presbyteris advolvi, aris Dei aggeriicu- lari, et in lib. de oratione in ultimis verbis: <( Solemnior, inquit, erit statio tua, si et ad aram Dei steteris.» Cyprianus lib. i. epist. 9. jubet, ut non offeratur sacrificium pro quo¬ dam Christiano defuncto, qui reliquerat pres¬ byterum rerum temporalium procuratorem, et causam reddit, quia non est dignus ut pro illo sacrificetur, qui sacerdotem Dei ab altari abstraxit. Eusebiuslib. i. domonstr. Evangel. cap. 6. multa dicit de altari Ecclesite. Opta¬ tus Milevitanus lib. vi. contra Parmcnianum ; « Quid est, inquit, tam sacrilegum, quam alta¬ ria Dei, in quibus aliquando et vos obtulistis, 350 LIBER V. frangere ? » Et ibidem altare esse dicit sedem corporis Christi. Ambrosius lib. v. epist. 33: « Certatim, inquit, milites nuntiare, et irre¬ verentes in altaria osculo pacem significare.» S. Antonius, ut in ejus vita scribit Athanasius, cum praevidit futuram hseresim Arianam, vi¬ dere sibi visus est, feroces quosdam mulos calcibus evertentes Christi altaria. Gregorius Nazianzenus oratione in Gorgoniam, scribit eam ad altare procubuisse, et invocasse illum, qui super altare coli solet. Gregorius Nysse- nus in lib. de Baptismo dicit, altare esse lapi¬ dem natura sua, sed consecratione fieri san¬ ctum etc. Chrysostomus hom.53. ad populum: « Si quis, inquit, vellet hoc altare subruere, nonne illum lapidibus obrueretis? » Et liom. 20 in posteriorem ad Corinth. : « Tu, inquit, altare honoras quod accipit corpus Christi. » Hieronymus inlib. contra Vigilantium. Augu¬ stinus lib. vili. Civit, cap. ult. et lib. xxn. cap. 8. et alii Patres, et etiam antiqua Con¬ cilia frequentissime altarium meminerunt. Sed forte objiciet aliquis Minutium Feli¬ cem, qui in Dialogo, qui inscribitur, Octa¬ vius, inducit Caecilium ethnicum ita loquen- tem cum Octavio Christiano : « Cur nullas aras habent (Christiani), nulla templa, nulla simulacra ? » Sed facilis est solutio. Nam Christiani illis temporibus duplici de causa diligentissime cavebant; ne ulli ethnici interessent sacris nostris. Primum, quia non erant idonei ad tanta mysteria intuenda. Deinde, ob metum persecutorum, propter quam causam etiam frequenter in cryptis, et cavernis, vel certe in privatis domibus furtim rem divinam face¬ re cogebantur : quare vulgo existimabantur Christiani plane athaei, quod nullis Diis pa¬ lam sacrificare cernerentur. Caeterumnon so¬ lum tempore Minutii Felicis, sed etiam mul¬ to ante habuisse Christianos altaria, perspi¬ cuum est ex locis citatis Tertulliani, Diony¬ sii, et Clementis, qui sunt omnes Minutio an¬ tiquiores, et ex Cypriano, qui fuit aequalis Minutii.