Works › The Book on the Sacrifice of the Mass
Volume 38 · pp. 157–160
Chapter XXI. On the breaking of the body of Christ, on peace, and on the fact that Agnus Dei is sung three times
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CAPUT XXI.
De fractione corporis Christi, de pace, ac de hoc quod ter Agnus Dei cantatur.
1. De fractione autem corporis Christi hic aliqua breviter dicemus: quia in fine de ipsa in tractatu de Corpore Domini cum studio disseremus. Dicimus autem, quod fractio haec a Papa Sergio est instituta, a quo etiam ter cantandum esse, Agnus Dei, inter communicandum est statutum. Haec autem fractio non est in corpore Domini, sed in formis solis sacramentalibus: corpus autem integrum et sanum et perfectum est sub qualibet parte. In tres autem partes frangi est institutum: quia corpus mysticum quod in ipso incorporatur, est triforme: quaedam enim pars ipsius cum capite suo regnat et triumphat in coelis, quaedam autem adhuc in labore militat in terris, et quaedam in purgatorii poenis.
Instituit ergo beatus Papa Sergius, ut pars una statim acciperetur a perfectore sanctitatis qui loco Christi stat in altari, quae signat partem in coelis triumphantem, quae jam plene in Christum transivit. Statuit etiam ut secunda mitteretur in calicem: quia calix signat hujus vitae passionem, quae significat partem in laboribus et poenis hujus vitae adhuc laborantem, et ideo immissam in calicem. Psal. CXV, 13: Calicem salutaris accipiam, et nomen Domini invocabo. Statuit etiam ut tertia in altari remaneret in fine post omnia mysteria sumenda, quae signat eos qui in sepulcris sunt, et in purgatorio, in fine cum Christo vivendos fore per spiritualem incorporationem. Sed modo diminuta ipsa devotione Christi fidelium, et crescente circa altare indevotione frequentantium, sumitur simul a sacerdote, et pars quae signat triumphantes et pars quae signat in sepulcris quiescentes, et in purgatorio a poenis spe felici liberationem exspectantes. De fractura autem illa et masticatione et contritione multa in sequentibus dicemus, quae usque illuc differemus 1: quia hic sine magno dispendio hujus tractatus dici non possent. Haec ergo de fractura Dominici corporis dicta sufficiant.
2. His dictis, perfector sanctitatis stans ad aram alta voce pronuntiat: Pax Domini sit semper vobiscum, signans hoc quod dicit Augustinus in libro XIV de Civitate Dei, quod pax coelestis civitatis est concordia fruendi Deo et invicem in Deo. Et quia jam omnes ora porrigunt fideles ad fruendum corpore Domini, ideo pax Dei in ista concordia publice omnibus a perfectore sanctitatis pronuntiatur, signans quoniam in pace factus est locus ejus qui sumitur: et qui pacem Christi non habet, communionem non habet cum Christi corpore. Joan. XVI, 33: Haec locutus sum vobis, ut in me pacem habeatis. In mundo pressuram habebitis: sed confidite, ego vici mundum.
Dicendo autem, Pax Domini, etc., tres facit cruces super calicem, ut triplicem quam jam saepius diximus, significet pacem. Super calicem facit: quia calix, sicut diximus, significat eos qui adhuc in militia belli istius vitae sunt constituti, qui maxime pace indigent. Isa. XXVI, 12: Domine, dabis pacem nobis. Pacem, quia in te speramus: nihil enim ita mortalibus desideratum est sicut pax: et ideo super calicem significatur per crucem, quod in eos a primo perfectore sanctitatis pax procedat.
CHAPTER XXI.
On the breaking of the body of Christ, on peace, and on the fact that Agnus Dei is sung three times.
1. But concerning the breaking of the body of Christ we shall briefly say some things here, because at the end we shall discuss it with care in the treatise On the Body of the Lord. But we say that this breaking was instituted by Pope Sergius, by whom it was also decreed that Agnus Dei should be sung three times during communion. But this breaking is not in the body of the Lord, but only in the sacramental forms; for the body is entire and sound and perfect under any part. But it was instituted to be broken into three parts because the mystical body which is incorporated in him is threefold: for one part of it reigns and triumphs with its head in heaven, another still fights in labor on earth, and another is in the punishments of purgatory.
Therefore blessed Pope Sergius instituted that one part immediately be received by the perfecter of sanctity who stands in Christ's place at the altar, which signifies the part triumphing in heaven, which has now passed fully into Christ. He also decreed that the second be put into the chalice, because the chalice signifies the passion of this life, which signifies the part still laboring in the labors and punishments of this life, and therefore put into the chalice. Psalm 115:13: I shall take the chalice of salvation, and I shall invoke the name of the Lord. He also decreed that the third remain on the altar, to be consumed at the end after all the mysteries, which signifies those who are in the sepulchers and in purgatory, who in the end will live with Christ through spiritual incorporation. But now, with the devotion itself of Christ's faithful diminished, and with lack of devotion increasing among those frequenting the altar, both the part which signifies the triumphant and the part which signifies those resting in sepulchers and awaiting liberation from punishments in purgatory by happy hope are consumed together by the priest. But concerning that breaking and chewing and crushing we shall say many things in what follows, which we defer until that place 1, because here they could not be said without great loss to this treatise. Let these things, therefore, which have been said concerning the breaking of the Lord's body suffice.
2. When these things have been said, the perfecter of sanctity, standing at the altar, pronounces with a loud voice: The peace of the Lord be always with you, signifying what Augustine says in book XIV of The City of God, that the peace of the heavenly city is the concord of enjoying God and one another in God. And because now all the faithful stretch out their mouths to enjoy the body of the Lord, therefore the peace of God is publicly announced to all by the perfecter of sanctity in this concord, signifying that the place of him who is received has been made in peace; and one who does not have the peace of Christ does not have communion with Christ's body. John 16:33: These things I have spoken to you, that in me you may have peace. In the world you will have pressure, but have confidence, I have conquered the world.
But in saying, The peace of the Lord, etc., he makes three crosses over the chalice, so that he may signify the threefold peace of which we have already often spoken. He makes them over the chalice because the chalice, as we have said, signifies those who are still established in the military service of the war of this life, who chiefly need peace. Isaiah 26:12: O Lord, thou wilt give peace to us. Peace, because we have hoped in thee; for nothing has been so desired by mortals as peace. And therefore it is signified over the chalice through the cross that peace proceeds into them from the first perfecter of sanctity.
Respondet autem chorus: Et cum spiritu tuo: quia optat, quod omnia quae a perfectore sanctitatis istius fiunt, in spiritu et non in carne perficiantur, sicut dicit Apostolus, ad Roman. VIII, 14: Quicumque Spiritu Dei aguntur, ii sunt filii Dei. Et Dominus, Joan. VI, 64: Spiritus est qui vivificat: caro non prodest quidquam. Verba quae locutus sum vobis, spiritus et vita sunt. Haec sunt igitur quae citra fracturam hostiae perficit perfector sanctitatis per omnia.
3. Hoc facto, chorus alte clamat secundum Sergii Papae instituta, Agnus Dei. Et quidem primo in Ecclesia in tertio Agnus Dei non dicebatur, dona nobis pacem, sed sicut in aliis dicebatur, miserere nobis: quae consuetudo adhuc tenetur in Ecclesia sancti Joannis in Laterano: sed postea malis undique crebrescentibus, multae Ecclesiae per se sine omni statuto assumpserunt, ut in tertio Agnus Dei terminando dicerent, Dona nobis pacem: eo quod pax sit bonum cunctis mortalibus exoptatum, sicut dicitur, Esther, XIII, 2 2.
Quod autem ter dicitur Agnus Dei, non puto aliam esse causam, nisi quod triplex malum pronuntiatum fuit a perfectore sanctitatis, scilicet perpetratum quod dolebamus esse commissum, tentatum quod timebamus fore committendum, et subortum ad meritum impediendum a quo petebamus omnem hominem esse liberandum, et ideo ter dicimus Agnus Dei: et quia tertium suboritur ad turbationem omne bonum impedientem, ideo in tertio diximus: Dona nobis pacem. In primis autem duobus dicimus, miserere nobis: quia nec culpa perpetrata dimittitur, nec culpa de qua tentatur nisi per misericordiam omnipotentis. Unde dicit Psalmista, Psal. LVIII, 11: Misericordia ejus praeveniet me, a cavendo scilicet a culpa de qua tentatur. Et, Psal. XXI, 6: Et misericordia tua subsequetur me, liberando me a culpa quam me doleo commisisse. Haec igitur causa est, quod Agnus Dei cantatur: quia sicut dicitur, Isa. LIII, 6: Omnes nos quasi oves erravimus, unusquisque in viam suam declinavit: et posuit Dominus in eo iniquitatem omnium nostrorum. Verba autem quae cantantur, dixit Joannes Baptista, Joan. I, 29.
Agnus autem dicitur vel ab ἁγνόν Graece, quod sonat purum Latine, vel ab agnitione, quia in magno grege quilibet agnus cognoscit matrem suam ad auditum balatus et odorem uteri. Joan. X, 11: Cognosco meas, et cognoscunt me meae. De pietate autem dicitur, Jerem. XI, 19: Ego quasi agnus mansuetus, qui portatur ad victimam.
Dicitur autem tollere, hoc est, auferre peccata mundi triplicia, sicut diximus: quia sicut dicitur, I Petri, II, 24: Qui peccata nostra ipse pertulit in corpore suo super lignum. Isa. LIII, 12: Ipse peccata multorum tulit, et pro transgressoribus rogavit, scilicet ut non perirent.
But the choir answers: And with thy spirit, because it wishes that all things which are done by this perfecter of sanctity be perfected in spirit and not in flesh, as the Apostle says, Romans 8:14: Whoever are led by the Spirit of God, they are sons of God. And the Lord, John 6:64: It is the Spirit who gives life; the flesh profits nothing. The words which I have spoken to you are spirit and life. Therefore these are the things which the perfecter of sanctity perfects in every way on this side of the breaking of the host.
3. When this has been done, the choir cries aloud, according to the institutes of Pope Sergius, Agnus Dei. And indeed at first in the Church, in the third Agnus Dei, Give us peace was not said, but as in the others, Have mercy on us was said; and this custom is still kept in the Church of Saint John Lateran. But afterward, when evils were everywhere becoming frequent, many Churches of themselves, without any statute, took up that in ending the third Agnus Dei they would say, Give us peace, because peace is the good desired by all mortals, as is said, Esther 13:2 2.
But as to the fact that Agnus Dei is said three times, I do not think there is any other cause except that a threefold evil was pronounced by the perfecter of sanctity: namely the perpetrated evil which we grieved had been committed, the tempted evil which we feared would be committed, and the evil arisen to impede merit, from which we sought that every human being be freed. And therefore we say Agnus Dei three times; and because the third arises to a disturbance impeding every good, therefore in the third we say: Give us peace. But in the first two we say, Have mercy on us, because neither perpetrated fault, nor the fault concerning which one is tempted, is forgiven except through the mercy of the omnipotent one. Hence the Psalmist says, Psalm 58:11: His mercy will go before me, namely in keeping me from the fault concerning which one is tempted. And Psalm 21:6: And thy mercy will follow me, freeing me from the fault which I grieve that I have committed. Therefore this is the cause why Agnus Dei is sung, because, as is said, Isaiah 53:6: We all have wandered like sheep; each one has turned aside into his own way; and the Lord has placed upon him the iniquity of us all. But the words which are sung were spoken by John the Baptist, John 1:29.
But lamb is said either from the Greek ἁγνόν, which sounds as pure in Latin, or from recognition, because in a great flock any lamb recognizes its mother by hearing the bleat and by the odor of the womb. John 10:11: I know mine, and mine know me. But concerning piety it is said, Jeremiah 11:19: I as a gentle lamb, which is carried to the victim.
But he is said to take away, that is, remove, the threefold sins of the world, as we have said; because as is said, 1 Peter 2:24: He himself bore our sins in his body upon the tree. Isaiah 53:12: He bore the sins of many and prayed for the transgressors, namely that they might not perish.
Miserere nobis. Dicta jam est a nobis causa quare dicatur, Miserere nobis. Similiter causa dicta est quare in tertio Agnus Dei dicatur: Dona nobis pacem. Quod autem quidam hic dicunt, quod dicitur Agnus Dei quia ab agnoscendo, et quia Christus in cruce agnovit Patrem cum dixit, Luc. XXIII, 46: Pater, in manus tuas commendo spiritum meum. Et quia Christus in cruce agnovit matrem, cum dixit ad discipulum: Ecce mater tua. Et quia agnovit suos, quando dixit ad matrem: Ecce filius tuus 3. Et quando dixit, Luc. XXIII, 28 et 31: Filiae Jerusalem, nolite flere super me, sed super vos ipsas flete, et super filios vestros. Quia si in viridi ligno haec faciunt, in arido quid fiet? bona quidem, et vera sunt, sed ad propositum nihil facientia: et ideo non curamus ea.
Et hoc est quod dictum est de Agnus Dei.
4. Interim autem dum haec cantantur, sacerdos in silentio dicit: Haec sacrosancta commixtio 4, et corpus Domini in calicem mittit. Commixtionem autem dicit tantum propter formarum sacramentalium commixtionem: et dicitur sacrosancta, quia prae aliis sancta et sanctificans omnes communicantes: haec enim aspersio sanguinis omnibus inducit sanctificationem, sicut dicitur, ad Hebr. XII, 24: Accessistis ad aspersionem sanguinis melius loquentem quam Abel. Sanguis enim Abel loquitur vindictam. Genes. IV, 10: Ecce vox sanguinis fratris tui Abel clamat ad me de terra. Christi autem sanguis loquitur emendationis peccati remissionem.
Et hoc est quod dicit: Haec sacrosancta commixtio corporis et sanguinis Domini nostri Jesu Christi, qui remissionem omnibus in sanguine suo impetravit, fiat mihi, quia sicut diximus, perfector sanctitatis, sive sit sacerdos, sive pontifex, offert pro sua et populi ignorantia, sicut dicitur, ad Hebr. I, 5. Et ideo addit: Omnibus sumentibus, sive servitute sumant ut clerus, sive voto ut populus, sive spirituali sive sacramentali manducatione sumentibus, salus aeterna mentis per virtutem, et corporis, ut possit esse instrumentum animae ad salutem promerendam. Psal. LXXXIII, 3: Cor meum et caro mea exsultaverunt in Deum vivum. Psal. LXII, 2: Sitivit in te anima mea: quam multipliciter tibi caro mea! Et hoc est in corpore et anima secundum praesentem justitiam et gratiam in praesenti.
Et ad vitam aeternam, secundum gratiam finalem in futuro, quae vocatur perseverantiae donum, promerendam, ex operibus gratiae et virtutum, et capescendam per effectum, praeparatio salutis aeternae, quia hoc sacramentum per hoc quod significat qualiter in vita aeterna percipiemus Deum in rerum veritate, praeparat ad vitam aeternam, Joan. VI, 52: Si quis manducaverit ex hoc pane, vivet in aeternum: et panis quem ego dabo, caro mea est pro mundi vita.
Per eumdem Christum Dominum nostrum. Hoc saepius expositum est.
5. Hoc dicto, sacerdos sive perfector sanctitatis ad aram stans dat pacem, osculans prius altare, vel calicem, vel ut melius alii dicunt, corpus Domini: quia sicut dicit Innocentius II: "Haec pax signat omnium consensum ad ea quae acta sunt in mysterio totius consecrationis." Primum enim institutum fuit, quod omnes in Ecclesia convenientes omni die communicarent. Cum autem hoc excrescente multitudine fidelium non satis idonee servari posset, constitutum est ut communicarent in diebus Dominicis. Cum autem et hoc rite non servaretur, constitutum est ut communicarent tribus vicibus in anno juxta legem Domini, Exod. XXXIV, 23, quae dicit, quod tribus temporibus anni apparebit omne masculinum in conspectu omnipotentis Domini, scilicet in Pascha, et Pentecoste, et Scenopegia, et loco ejus quod dixit Scenopegia, constituit Ecclesia, quod communicarent in Nativitate Christi. Cum autem nec hoc rite servaretur, nuper in consilio Lateranensi constituit Ecclesia, quod semel in anno, in Pascha scilicet, quilibet peccatis suis apud proprium sacerdotem confessis, communicet, et loco ejus quod communicare deberent, pax daretur, in qua significetur, quod in corde communicent, quamvis a communione abstineant propter indignitatem et humilitatem: sicut enim etiam dicit Apostolus, I Petri. V, 14: Salutate invicem in osculo sancto. Et sponsa in Canticis, I, 1: Osculetur me osculo oris sui.
Have mercy on us. The cause why Have mercy on us is said has already been stated by us. Similarly the cause has been stated why in the third Agnus Dei it is said: Give us peace. But what some here say, that Agnus Dei is said because from recognizing, and because Christ on the cross recognized the Father when he said, Luke 23:46: Father, into thy hands I commend my spirit; and because Christ on the cross recognized his mother, when he said to the disciple: Behold thy mother; and because he recognized his own, when he said to his mother: Behold thy son 3; and when he said, Luke 23:28 and 31: Daughters of Jerusalem, do not weep over me, but weep over yourselves and over your sons. Because if they do these things in the green wood, what will be done in the dry? These things are indeed good and true, but they do nothing for the proposed matter, and therefore we do not take care about them.
And this is what has been said about Agnus Dei.
4. But meanwhile, while these things are sung, the priest says in silence: This sacrosanct commixture 4, and he puts the body of the Lord into the chalice. But he says commixture only on account of the commixture of the sacramental forms; and it is called sacrosanct because it is holy before other things and sanctifying all who communicate. For this sprinkling of blood brings sanctification upon all, as is said, Hebrews 12:24: You have come to the sprinkling of blood speaking better than Abel. For the blood of Abel speaks vengeance. Genesis 4:10: Behold, the voice of the blood of thy brother Abel cries to me from the earth. But the blood of Christ speaks the remission of the sin of amendment.
And this is what he says: This sacrosanct commixture of the body and blood of our Lord Jesus Christ, who obtained remission for all in his blood, may it be for me, because as we have said, the perfecter of sanctity, whether he is a priest or a pontiff, offers for his own ignorance and for the people's ignorance, as is said, Hebrews 1:5. And therefore he adds: For all receiving, whether they receive by service as the clergy, or by vow as the people, whether receiving by spiritual or sacramental eating, eternal salvation of mind through virtue, and of body, so that it can be an instrument of the soul for meriting salvation. Psalm 83:3: My heart and my flesh have exulted in the living God. Psalm 62:2: My soul has thirsted in thee; in how many ways my flesh for thee! And this is in body and soul according to present justice and grace in the present.
And unto eternal life, according to final grace in the future, which is called the gift of perseverance, to be merited from works of grace and virtues, and to be seized by effect, a preparation of eternal salvation, because this sacrament, through the fact that it signifies how in eternal life we shall perceive God in the truth of things, prepares for eternal life. John 6:52: If anyone has eaten from this bread, he will live forever; and the bread which I shall give is my flesh for the life of the world.
Through the same Christ our Lord. This has been expounded often.
5. When this has been said, the priest or perfecter of sanctity, standing at the altar, gives peace, first kissing the altar, or the chalice, or, as others say better, the body of the Lord, because, as Innocent II says: "This peace signifies the consent of all to those things which have been done in the mystery of the whole consecration." For it was first instituted that all those coming together in the Church should communicate every day. But when, with the multitude of the faithful increasing, this could not be observed suitably enough, it was established that they should communicate on the Lord's days. But when even this was not duly observed, it was established that they should communicate three times in the year according to the law of the Lord, Exodus 34:23, which says that three times of the year every male shall appear in the sight of the omnipotent Lord, namely at Passover, and Pentecost, and Scenopegia; and in the place of what it called Scenopegia, the Church established that they should communicate at the Nativity of Christ. But when even this was not duly observed, recently in the Lateran council the Church established that once in the year, namely at Easter, each one, having confessed his sins to his own priest, should communicate; and that in place of the fact that they ought to communicate, peace should be given, in which it is signified that they communicate in heart, although they abstain from communion because of unworthiness and humility. For even as the Apostle says, 1 Peter 5:14: Greet one another with a holy kiss. And the bride in Canticles 1:1: Let him kiss me with the kiss of his mouth.
Dando autem pacem secundum quosdam dicit: "Habete vinculum pacis et charitatis:" quia pax oritur ex charitatis vinculo, et sumitur ex illo. Ad Ephes. IV, 3: Solliciti servare unitatem spiritus in vinculo pacis. Osee, XI, 4: In funiculis Adam traham eos, in vinculis charitatis: "ut apti sitis" per charitatem "sacrosanctis mysteriis" Christi: quia sacramentum est charitatis, et nemo est dignus sacramento nisi per charitatem. Unde, Cantic. V, 1, dicitur: Comedite, amici, et bibite: et inebriamini, charissimi.
Quidam autem alii dicunt: Pax Christi, sicut auctoris pacis. Ad Ephes. II, 14: Ipse est pax nostra, qui fecit utraque unum: et medium parietem maceriae solvens, inimicitias in carne sua.
Et Ecclesiae, sicut cui data est pax per Christum. Ad Ephes. II, 17: Et veniens evangelizavit pacem vobis qui longe fuistis, et pacem iis qui prope.
Abundet in cordibus vestris. Sumitur de Psalmo CXXI, 7, ubi dicitur: Fiat pax in virtute tua, et abundantia in turribus tuis. Pax autem abundat, quando etiam usque ad inimicos ostenditur.
Per Spiritum sanctum qui datus est nobis. Isa. IX, 7: Et pacis non erit finis. Spiritus sanctus enim facit hanc pacem, quia ipse est nexus amoris: et ideo in ipso non potest esse discordia: unde in columba significatur, cujus est osculum columbinum, quod significatur, Genes. VIII, 11, ubi cum signo pacis, hoc est, cum ramo virentis olivae reversa est ad arcam, hoc est, ad Ecclesiam. Ad Philip. IV, 7: Pax Dei, quae exsuperat omnem sensum, custodiat corda vestra et intelligentias vestras, in Christo Jesu.
But in giving peace, according to some, he says: "Have the bond of peace and charity," because peace arises from the bond of charity and is taken from it. Ephesians 4:3: Careful to preserve the unity of the spirit in the bond of peace. Hosea 11:4: I shall draw them in the cords of Adam, in the bonds of charity: "that you may be fit" through charity "for the sacrosanct mysteries" of Christ, because the sacrament is of charity, and no one is worthy of the sacrament except through charity. Hence, Canticles 5:1, it is said: Eat, friends, and drink, and be inebriated, dearest ones.
But certain others say: The peace of Christ, as of the author of peace. Ephesians 2:14: He is our peace, who has made both one, and dissolving the middle wall of partition, the enmities in his flesh.
And of the Church, as of her to whom peace has been given through Christ. Ephesians 2:17: And coming, he evangelized peace to you who were far off, and peace to those who were near.
May it abound in your hearts. This is taken from Psalm 121:7, where it is said: Let peace be in thy virtue, and abundance in thy towers. But peace abounds when it is shown even unto enemies.
Through the Holy Spirit who has been given to us. Isaiah 9:7: And of peace there will be no end. For the Holy Spirit makes this peace, because he is the bond of love; and therefore in him there cannot be discord. Hence he is signified in the dove, whose is the dove-like kiss, which is signified, Genesis 8:11, where with the sign of peace, that is, with the branch of a green olive, it returned to the ark, that is, to the Church. Philippians 4:7: May the peace of God, which surpasses every sense, guard your hearts and your understandings in Christ Jesus.
Notes
- Compare the following treatise, On the Eucharist. (Cf. Tract. sequentem, De Eucharistia.) ↩
- Esther 13:2: I wished that... the subjects, namely, might enjoy peace desired by all mortals. (Esther, XIII, 2: Volui ut... optata cunctis mortalibus pace fruerentur subjecti scilicet.) ↩
- John 19:26. (Joan. XIX, 26.) ↩
- In the restored Roman Missal this prayer has itself thus: "May this commixture and consecration of the Body and Blood of our Lord Jesus Christ be for us who receive it unto eternal life. Amen." (In Missali Romano restituto sic se habet haec oratio: "Haec commixtio et consecratio Corporis et Sanguinis Domini nostri Jesu Christi fiat accipientibus nobis in vitam aeternam. Amen.") ↩
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