Transubstantiation: 10 Questions on the

Substance of the Holy Eucharist

by HHAMBROSE on 2012-10-15 4:00 am http://spl.link/88sbg9 Comments
Listers, the following lesson is taken from the Baltimore Catechism. The Baltimore Catechism
was the standard catechism of teaching the faith and catechizing children from 1885 to Vatican II. Its
basic question-and-answer approach is the most natural learning style for the human mind and
simplifies even the most complex theological questions. SPL has also reproduced 29 Questions
Explaining Indulgences, 46 Questions to Help Explain the Sacraments,and What Is Meant By the
End of Man and 10 other Questions.
The following list is the second installment of questions explaining the Eucharist. The first collection
of questions can be found in the list: This Is My Body: 10 Questions to Help Explain the Holy
Eucharist.

Baltimore Catechism No. 3

LESSON TWENTY-SECOND
On the Holy Eucharist 878-887

Q. 878. How do we know that it is possible to change one substance into

another?
A. We know that it is possible to change one substance into another, because:
God changed water into blood during the plagues of Egypt.
Christ changed water into wine at the marriage of Cana.
Our own food is daily changed into the substance of our flesh and blood; and what God does
gradually, He can also do instantly by an act of His will.

Q. 879. Are these changes exactly the same as the changes that take place in
the Holy Eucharist?
A. These changes are not exactly the same as the changes that take place in the Holy Eucharist, for
in these changes the appearance also is changed, but in the Holy Eucharist only the substance is
changed while the appearance remains the same.

Q. 880. How do we show that Christ did change bread and wine into the
substance of His body and blood?
A. We show that Christ did change bread and wine into the substance of His body and blood:
From the words by which He promised the Holy Eucharist;
From the words by which He instituted the Holy Eucharist;
From the constant use of the Holy Eucharist in the Church since the time of the Apostles;
From the impossibility of denying the Real Presence in the Holy Eucharist, without likewise denying
all that Christ has taught and done; for we have stronger proofs for the Holy Eucharist than for any
other Christian truth.

Q. 881. Is Jesus Christ whole and entire both under the form of bread and
under the form of wine?
A. Jesus Christ is whole and entire both under the form of bread and under the form of wine.

Q. 882. How do we know that under the appearance of bread we receive also
Christs blood; and under the appearance of wine we receive also Christs
body?
A. We know that under the appearance of bread we receive also Christs blood, and under the
appearance of wine we receive also Christs body; because in the Holy Eucharist we receive the
living body of Our Lord, and a living body cannot exist without blood, nor can living blood exist
without a body.

Q. 883. Is Jesus Christ present whole and entire in the smallest portion of the
Holy Eucharist, under the form of either bread or wine?
A. Jesus Christ is present whole and entire in the smallest portion of the Holy Eucharist under the
form of either bread or wine; for His body in the Eucharist is in a glorified state, and as it partakes of
the character of a spiritual substance, it requires no definite size or shape.

Q. 884. Did anything remain of the bread and wine after their substance had
been changed into the substance of the body and blood of our Lord?
A. After the substance of the bread and wine had been changed into the substance of the body and
blood of Our Lord, there remained only the appearances of bread and wine.

Q. 885. What do you mean by the appearances of bread and wine?

A. By the appearances of bread and wine I mean the figure, the color, the taste, and whatever
appears to the senses.

Q. 886. What is this change of the bread and wine into the body and blood of
our Lord called?
A. This change of the bread and wine into the body and blood of Our Lord is called
Transubstantiation.
Q. 887. What is the second great miracle in the Holy Eucharist?
A. The second great miracle in the Holy Eucharist is the multiplication of the presence of Our Lords
body in so many places at the same time, while the body itself is not multiplied for there is but one
body of Christ.