Bellarmine · De Controversiis · On the Sacrament of the Eucharist · Book V: On the Sacrifice of the Mass (First)
Chapter 19: The Same Is Proved from Those for Whom the Sacrifice of the Mass Is Offered
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 last head, whence we know the opinion of the Fathers so clearly that no way of escape lies open to the adversaries, unless they altogether reject the Fathers, is taken from those for whom the ancients offered the sacrifice. For if the Eucharist were nothing else but a Sacrament, certainly it would profit none but him who takes and eats it: just as Baptism profits none but those who are baptized. Which indeed the adversaries do not deny: nay Philip, Calvin, Kemnitz, and others say that the whole controversy between us and them is this: Whether the Eucharist ought not only to be distributed to those who eat, but also to be offered for the salvation of others, both the living and the dead: for this latter they do not doubt pertains to a most true sacrifice.
Now the Fathers not only in the cited Liturgies offered the Eucharist for the sins of the living and the dead, for peace, for safety, and finally for all necessities both spiritual and temporal: but also in other books teach passim that this ought to be done; which testimonies must be brought below in their place, when we come to that question, whether this sacrifice is propitiatory. Meanwhile one or another of the Fathers will suffice.
John Chrysostom, homily 79 to the people of Antioch: “The priest,” he says, “standing at the altar, is bidden to offer to God for the whole world, for the bishops, for the Church, for those who govern the Church.” And homily 72 on Matthew he adds that it is offered also for the sick, for the healthy, for the fruits of the earth. Homily 21 on the Acts, and Book 6 on the priesthood, and elsewhere, he adds also for the dead. Augustine, Book 22 of the City of God, chapter 8, writes that the sacrifice of the Eucharist was offered by his presbyters for a house to be freed from the vexation of demons; and Book 9 of the Confessions, chapter 12, writes that the sacrifice was offered for his deceased mother. And lest we think it a mere ceremony to offer for the dead, the same in the Enchiridion, chapter 110, writes that this host is a propitiation for those who are not very evil. But of these things enough. But if anyone desires a heap of testimonies, let him read John Garetius.
Show the Latin (Vives edition, OCR)
CAPUT XIX. Idem probatur ex iis, pro quibus sacrificium Missx o f fertur. Ultimum caput, unde Patrum sententiam adeo perspicue cognoscimus, ut nullus pateat adversariis exitus, nisi Patres omnino reji¬ ciant, sumitur ex iis, pro quibus sacrificium veteres offerebant. Nam si Eucharistia nihil esset aliud, nisi Sacramentum, certe non prod¬ esset nisi sumenti, et manducanti: quem¬ admodum Baptismus non aliis prodest, quam iis, qui baptizantur. Quod quidem ad¬ versarii non negant : imo Philippus, Cal¬ vinus, Kemnitius, et alii totam controversiam inter nos, et ipsos esse dicunt : An Euchari¬ stia non solum debeat distribui manducanti¬ bus, sed etiam offerri pro salute aliorum, tum viventium, tum mortuorum : id enim poste¬ rius ad verissimum sacrificium pertinere non dubitant. Jam vero Patres non solum in Liturgiis ci¬ tatis, o lierunt Eucharistiam pro peccatis vi¬ vorum, et defunctorum, pro pace, pro inco¬ lumitate, pro omnibus denique necessitatibus tum spiritualibus, tum temporalibus : sed e- tiam in aliis libris passim docent, id fieri de¬ bere ; quae testimonia infra suo loco addu¬ cenda erunt, cum ad eam quaestionem vene¬ rimus, sitne hoc sacrificium propitiatorium. Intcrim autem unus, aut alter ex Patribus sufficient. Joannes Chrysostomus hom. 79. ad popu¬ lum Antiochenum : « Altari, inquit, assistens sacerdos, pro terrarum orbe, pro Episcopis, pro Ecclesia, pro gubernantibus Ecclesiam jubetur Deo offerre. Et homil. 72. in Matth. addit offerri etiam pro infirmis, pro sanis, pro terree fructibus. Homil. 21. in Acta, et lib. vi. de sacerdotio, et alibi addit etiam pro mortuis, Augustinus lib. xxii de Civita¬ te Dei cap. 8. scribit a suis presbyteris obla¬ tum sacrificium Eucharistiae pro domo libe¬ randa a daemonum vexatione, et lib. ix Con¬ fessionum cap. 12. scribit, sacrificium pro matre sua defuncta oblatum. Et ne putemus meram esse caeremoniam pro defunctis offer- le, ipse idem in Enchiridio cap. 110. scribit, hostiam hanc pre^non valde malis propitia¬ tionem esse. Sed de iis satis. Si quis autem velit testimoniorum farraginem, legat Joan- nem Garetium.