Whether Wheaten Bread Is Required for the Matter of This Sacrament?
Objection 1: It seems that wheaten bread is not requisite for the
matter of this sacrament, because this sacrament is a reminder of our
Lord's Passion. But barley bread seems to be more in keeping with the
Passion than wheaten bread, as being more bitter, and because Christ
used it to feed the multitudes upon the mountain, as narrated in John
6. Therefore wheaten bread is not the proper matter of this sacrament.
Obj. 2: Further, in natural things the shape is a sign of species.
But some cereals resemble wheat, such as spelt and maize, from which
in some localities bread is made for the use of this sacrament.
Therefore wheaten bread is not the proper matter of this sacrament.
Obj. 3: Further, mixing dissolves species. But wheaten flour is
hardly to be found unmixed with some other species of grain, except
in the instance of specially selected grain. Therefore it does not
seem that wheaten bread is the proper matter for this sacrament.
Obj. 4: Further, what is corrupted appears to be of another species.
But some make the sacrament from bread which is corrupted, and which
no longer seems to be wheaten bread. Therefore, it seems that such
bread is not the proper matter of this sacrament.
_On the contrary,_ Christ is contained in this sacrament, and He
compares Himself to a grain of wheat, saying (John 12:24): "Unless
the grain of wheat falling into the ground die, itself remaineth
alone." Therefore bread from corn, i.e. wheaten bread, is the matter
of this sacrament.
_I answer that,_ As stated above (A. 1), for the use of the
sacraments such matter is adopted as is commonly made use of among
men. Now among other breads wheaten bread is more commonly used by
men; since other breads seem to be employed when this fails. And
consequently Christ is believed to have instituted this sacrament
under this species of bread. Moreover this bread strengthens man, and
so it denotes more suitably the effect of this sacrament.
Consequently, the proper matter for this sacrament is wheaten bread.
Reply Obj. 1: Barley bread serves to denote the hardness of the Old
Law; both on account of the hardness of the bread, and because, as
Augustine says (Q. 83): "The flour within the barley, wrapped up as
it is within a most tenacious fibre, denotes either the Law itself,
which was given in such manner as to be vested in bodily sacraments;
or else it denotes the people themselves, who were not yet despoiled
of carnal desires, which clung to their hearts like fibre." But this
sacrament belongs to Christ's "sweet yoke," and to the truth already
manifested, and to a spiritual people. Consequently barley bread
would not be a suitable matter for this sacrament.
Reply Obj. 2: A begetter begets a thing like to itself in species,
yet there is some unlikeness as to the accidents, owing either to the
matter, or to weakness within the generative power. And therefore, if
there be any cereals which can be grown from the seed of the wheat
(as wild wheat from wheat seed grown in bad ground), the bread made
from such grain can be the matter of this sacrament: and this does
not obtain either in barley, or in spelt, or even in maize, which is
of all grains the one most resembling the wheat grain. But the
resemblance as to shape in such seems to denote closeness of species
rather than identity; just as the resemblance in shape between the
dog and the wolf goes to show that they are allied but not of the
same species. Hence from such grains, which cannot in any way be
generated from wheat grain, bread cannot be made such as to be the
proper matter of this sacrament.
Reply Obj. 3: A moderate mixing does not alter the species, because
that little is as it were absorbed by the greater. Consequently,
then, if a small quantity of another grain be mixed with a much
greater quantity of wheat, bread may be made therefrom so as to be
the proper matter of this sacrament; but if the mixing be notable,
for instance, half and half; or nearly so, then such mixing alters
the species; consequently, bread made therefrom will not be the
proper matter of this sacrament.
Reply Obj. 4: Sometimes there is such corruption of the bread that
the species of bread is lost, as when the continuity of its parts is
destroyed, and the taste, color, and other accidents are changed;
hence the body of Christ may not be made from such matter. But
sometimes there is not such corruption as to alter the species, but
merely disposition towards corruption, which a slight change in the
savor betrays, and from such bread the body of Christ may be made:
but he who does so, sins from irreverence towards the sacrament. And
because starch comes of corrupted wheat, it does not seem as if the
body of Christ could be made of the bread made therefrom, although
some hold the contrary.
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