Whether Christ's Body Is in This Sacrament As in a Place?
Objection 1: It seems that Christ's body is in this sacrament as in a
place. Because, to be in a place definitively or circumscriptively
belongs to being in a place. But Christ's body seems to be
definitively in this sacrament, because it is so present where the
species of the bread and wine are, that it is nowhere else upon the
altar: likewise it seems to be there circumscriptively, because it is
so contained under the species of the consecrated host, that it
neither exceeds it nor is exceeded by it. Therefore Christ's body is
in this sacrament as in a place.
Obj. 2: Further, the place of the bread and wine is not empty,
because nature abhors a vacuum; nor is the substance of the bread
there, as stated above (Q. 75, A. 2); but only the body of Christ is
there. Consequently the body of Christ fills that place. But whatever
fills a place is there locally. Therefore the body of Christ is in
this sacrament locally.
Obj. 3: Further, as stated above (A. 4), the body of Christ is in
this sacrament with its dimensive quantity, and with all its
accidents. But to be in a place is an accident of a body; hence
"where" is numbered among the nine kinds of accidents. Therefore
Christ's body is in this sacrament locally.
_On the contrary,_ The place and the object placed must be equal, as
is clear from the Philosopher (Phys. iv). But the place, where this
sacrament is, is much less than the body of Christ. Therefore
Christ's body is not in this sacrament as in a place.
_I answer that,_ As stated above (A. 1, ad 3; A. 3), Christ's body is
in this sacrament not after the proper manner of dimensive quantity,
but rather after the manner of substance. But every body occupying a
place is in the place according to the manner of dimensive quantity,
namely, inasmuch as it is commensurate with the place according to
its dimensive quantity. Hence it remains that Christ's body is not in
this sacrament as in a place, but after the manner of substance, that
is to say, in that way in which substance is contained by dimensions;
because the substance of Christ's body succeeds the substance of
bread in this sacrament: hence as the substance of bread was not
locally under its dimensions, but after the manner of substance, so
neither is the substance of Christ's body. Nevertheless the substance
of Christ's body is not the subject of those dimensions, as was the
substance of the bread: and therefore the substance of the bread was
there locally by reason of its dimensions, because it was compared
with that place through the medium of its own dimensions; but the
substance of Christ's body is compared with that place through the
medium of foreign dimensions, so that, on the contrary, the proper
dimensions of Christ's body are compared with that place through the
medium of substance; which is contrary to the notion of a located
body.
Hence in no way is Christ's body locally in this sacrament.
Reply Obj. 1: Christ's body is not in this sacrament definitively,
because then it would be only on the particular altar where this
sacrament is performed: whereas it is in heaven under its own
species, and on many other altars under the sacramental species.
Likewise it is evident that it is not in this sacrament
circumscriptively, because it is not there according to the
commensuration of its own quantity, as stated above. But that it is
not outside the superficies of the sacrament, nor on any other part
of the altar, is due not to its being there definitively or
circumscriptively, but to its being there by consecration and
conversion of the bread and wine, as stated above (A. 1; Q. 15, A. 2,
sqq.).
Reply Obj. 2: The place in which Christ's body is, is not empty; nor
yet is it properly filled with the substance of Christ's body, which
is not there locally, as stated above; but it is filled with the
sacramental species, which have to fill the place either because of
the nature of dimensions, or at least miraculously, as they also
subsist miraculously after the fashion of substance.
Reply Obj. 3: As stated above (A. 4), the accidents of Christ's body
are in this sacrament by real concomitance. And therefore those
accidents of Christ's body which are intrinsic to it are in this
sacrament. But to be in a place is an accident when compared with the
extrinsic container. And therefore it is not necessary for Christ to
be in this sacrament as in a place.
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