WINE IN THE HOLY SACRIFICE

New Zealand Tablet, 8 July 1915, Page 45

WINE IN THE HOLY SACRIFICE

- A correspondent, writing to America, asks the following questions;- Is ordinary wine (a beverage containing several per cent, of alcohol) absolutely necessary for the celebration of the Mass? Why could not unfermented grape juice be used ? If for some good and sufficient reason wine could not bo obtained, would the Holy Father, or the Church Universal, have the power to eliminate wine from the Holy Sacrifice and make use of some other liquid ? Is there any conceivable condition in which Mass might be celebrated without wine?” To answer our correspondent, whose letter is onlyone of many similar inquiries occasioned by recent prohibition legislation, it will be necessary (says the RevJ. Harding Fisher, S.J., in America) to divide his query into two parts, and it will be more convenient to discuss these parts in the reverse order to that in which he has proposed them. First, therefore, we shall inquire whether wine is necessary for the Mass, and secondly what the Church understands by wine ? The answer to the first question is a categorical affirmative. There is no conceivable condition under which Mass might be celebrated without the use of wine. The reason is not far to seek. Without wine there can be no transubstantiation of wine into the Blood of Christ. Without the transubstantiation of wine into the Blood of Christ there can be no Mass, because the two fold consecration is essential to the sacrifice. The Mass is a sacrifice that of its very essence represents the Passion of Christ. It is the carrying out' of our Lord’s command, 1 Do this in commemoration of Me/ On the cross Christ shed His Blood ; at the Last Supper, according to His own statement, His Blood was poured out. Clearly, therefore, in the Mass also the Blood of Christ must be shed. In no other way, however, is the Blood of Christ shed in the Mass, except in so far as by the words of consecration the Precious Blood is placed under a species different from that under which the Body of Christ is constituted ; that is, under the species of wine. From this it follows that the consecration of both species is necessary for the essence of the sacrifice. Otherwise there would be no shedding of the Blood of Christ. In reality the Blood of Christ is not separated in the Mass from His Body, because Christ is present, whole and entire", under each species. There is, however, a mystical separation of the Blood ’when the species, which by the woi'ds of consecration contains the Blood of Christ, is placed apart from the species, which by the words of consecration contains the Body of Christ. If a priest, therefore, either through malice or mistake, should consecrate the bread and

not the wine, the bread would indeed be changed into the adorable Body of Christ, but there' would not be Mass, for the simple reason that one of X. » The Essential Elements of the Mass

would be lacking. Our correspondent asks if wine might, by Papal authority, be eliminated from the Holy Sacrifice. The question has already been answered. Such an elimination would do away with the very essence of the Holy Sacrifice. Perhaps, however, he means to inquire whether the Church would ever permit the single consecration of the bread, knowing at the same time such 'a consecration would not constitute- a Mass. The answer to this question is perfectly clear. . It is strictly for*bidden by both ecclesiastical and divine law for any priest, under any circumstances, to consecrate the species of bread without also consecrating the species of wine. To do so would be to commit a grave sacrilege. The Church has never

given a dispensation to consecrate one species without consecrating the other;'she will never give .such a dispensation ; and Suarez gives it as his opinion that not even the Pope could validly give such a dispensation. The reason he assigns for his statement is, that by so doing the Pope would change the institution of Christ. * M 4" *

That some liquid other than wine might be used for the Mass is simply unthinkable. Suarez scouts the very idea of such a thing. Christ’s command was, ‘Do this in commemoration of me.’ He not only commanded the sacrifice, but prescribed the manner in which it was to be offered. If, therefore, it can not be offered in the manner He prescribed, it must be omitted altogether. Christ took wine and changed it into His Blood, and lie said, ‘Do this.'’ The great High Priest gave His priests power to do what He had done. lie gave them power to celebrate Mass, as IT© had celebrated it. They have lio power to do anything else. Ceremonies and prayers may, indeed, be changed, but the essence of the Mass is fixed forever; to change or modify this, neither priests nor bishops, nor even the Pope, have any power whatever. Wine, and wine alone, can and must be used in the Holy Sacrifice. Such is Christ’s law, and the Church has insisted jealously on its observance. As early as the time of St. Augustine there had .been heretics who wished to change what Christ had instituted, and to substitute other substances for wine. Thus, for instance, some wished to use cheese, others blood, others water, others milk, and still others grapes. Against them all the Church set her face, and strictly observed the command of her Founder. Nor has lie Church been content to prescribe merely the use of wine ; she has 'been more scrupulous in her interpretation of the words, ‘Do this.’ The wine used by Christ at the Last Supper was wine of the grape, the Church insists that the only wine that may be used for the Mass-shall be Wine of the Grape. She has excluded, therefore, not only all those concoctions which are not derived from the grape, although they are so cleverly made as to deceive even the connoisseur and to defy detection by chemical analysis, but such also as are. not purely artificial but are derived not from the grape, but from berries and fruits of various kinds. By the word wine she also excludes those beverages which come from the grape, but are not wine, vinegar, for example, which is a corruption of wine, and the liquid which has been made from grapes that have not yet ripened. What the Church requires for The Licit Celebration of the Mass is perfect wine, that is to say, pure juice pressed from the grape, and naturally and properly fermented. This fermentation, which is essential for the making of what the Church calls wine, takes place when the natural sugar of the grape turns to ethylic alcohol. A greater or less proportion of alcohol is therefore necessary in the wine that the Church declares to be licit for use in the Mass; and non-alcoholic wines, as they are termed, are not valid matter for consecration. It is true that

in cases of necessity the Church does not. insist that the process of fermentation shall have been completed, but permits the use of must, or of the pure juice that has recently been pressed from the grape. Must, however, is truly wine, though' 1 not perfect wine. But for ordinary cases the Church demands that the sacrificial wine shall be perfect, that is properly and naturally fermented, and she prohibits under pain of mortal sin, the use of any other. This makes it clear why unfermented grape- juice can not be used in the Holy Sacrifice. It is not the perfect wine which the Church requires. The commercial grape-juice is probably not wine at all Unless it were certain that it was pure unadulterated juice of the grape, it could not be used under any circumstances ; and even if this fact were ascertained beyond all doubt, it would -still be Illicit for use in the Mass, for the sole -reason that it is unfermented. Many canons of the Church deal with the subject, and leave no doubt on the matter. Nor would any say. at present that the difficulty about obtaining suitable wine, which has been

created by the passage: of prohibition laws in certain States, falls within; the exceptions allowed by eccleteiastical discipline for the use of unfermented wine. Until the Holy See has changed its legislation on the matter j * and any change is extremely unlikely, the use of unfermented grape-juice for the Holy Sacrifice would involve grave sin. Indeed it is inconceivable that it should occur to any Catholic to ask for such a change in what has been the uninterrupted practice .of the Church from the very . beginning. That a Catholic, influenced by the fanaticism of a few’ ignorant legislators, should advocate the prohibition of perfect wine in the Holy Sacrifice is a deplorable scandal.