Dist. 11, Part 2, Art. 1, Q. 4
by St. Bonaventure
Source text: Public Domain Mark 1.0. English translation/apparatus/encoding: CC BY-NC 4.0, Wroot Press.
https://bonaventure.wrootpress.com/browse/4/d/11/q/bon-sent-IV-d11-p2-a1-q4
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### Question IV. *Whether the sacrament of the Eucharist can be confected in every bread and wine.*

Fourthly it is asked whether this sacrament can be confected in every bread and wine. And that it can, it seems:

1. Because it is a common food: therefore it ought to be made in a common matter, like baptism, for the relief of the poor: therefore in every bread and in every wine, which have the character of refreshing and of being drunk.

2. Likewise it is shown that it can be confected in corrupt bread and wine, because Innocent says: "Although the best wine is to be sought with diligent care, yet a defect of the wine does not stain the cleanness of the Sacrament"; by the same reasoning neither does [a defect of] the bread: therefore, etc.

3. Likewise it is shown [that it can be made] in mixed bread and wine: because, just as water is mingled with wine, so other grains can be mingled with grains of wheat; but in mixed wine the Sacrament is made and ought to be made: therefore likewise it can [be made] in wheat.

4. Likewise, that [it can be made] in every water, it seems: because every water can be converted into wine, and when converted it can be converted into blood: therefore, etc.

**On the contrary:**
1. Because, just as the Lord by baptizing gave a regenerative power to the waters, so by consecrating he instituted the matter of this Sacrament; but he consecrated in bread of wheat, because that alone is the paschal food, and in wine of the vine: therefore, etc.

2. Likewise, that [it can] not [be made] either in wine or in corrupt bread, it seems: because corrupt wine is not wine, just as a dead man is not a man — whence "vinegar," as the Philosopher says in the eighth book of the *Metaphysics*, "is neither wine nor can it be" — similarly of bread: therefore, etc.

3. Likewise, that [it can] not [be made] of a mixture, it seems: because "a mixture is the union of mixable things that have been altered," whence in a mixture the forms of the mixed things are transmuted, and a third thing results: therefore mixed wine is not wine, and similarly [mixed] bread [is not bread]: therefore, etc.

4. Likewise, that [it can] not [be made] in non-natural water, it seems: because baptism, which is a Sacrament of necessity, cannot [be made in it]: therefore neither can that which ought to be made more solemnly.

> **Conclusion.** The Sacrament of the Eucharist cannot be confected except in no other bread than of wheat, nor in any other wine than of the vine.

**Respondeo:** It must be said that the matter suited to this Sacrament is by its nature bread of wheat and wine of the vine; on account of this, that this food among all foods, and that drink among all drinks, is the more fitting, more efficacious, more wholesome, and more common. And therefore the Lord compared himself to a grain of wheat, in John 12; and to the wood of the vine, in John 15; and for this reason he confected, and in confecting instituted, [the Sacrament] in these two species. Therefore in another bread than of wheat, or in another wine than of the vine, it cannot be confected; and this the Council of Carthage determined. But in every bread of wheat, just as in every wine of the vine, whether there be there an accidental difference, or a specific one, as some say, it can be confected, the species of that bread and that wine being preserved.

**To the arguments:**

1. To that, then, which is objected concerning every bread on account of [its] commonness; it must be said that not only commonness, but also suitability, is here to be considered. Moreover, baptism is a Sacrament of necessity, but this [Sacrament] is not; therefore it is not alike. Moreover, "every water is naturally of the same species as every [other] water," not so every grain.

2. To that which is asked concerning corruption, it must be said that there is a certain corruption from the best state, yet not from being absolutely, as for instance when wine becomes turbid or sour; [and] there is a certain corruption from being absolutely, as when it absolutely ceases to have the form of bread and wine, as when it is perfectly turned into vinegar. The first corruption does not take away the power of confecting, but the second does take it away. Now this corruption can be discerned by taste by those who know the natures of things.

3. To that which is objected concerning mixture, it must be said that mixture is spoken of in two ways, namely commonly and properly: commonly, when something is mingled with something else of another nature, which however does not have a proportion [to it], but the latter, as predominant, dissolves the species and converts it into itself; and then it is not mixture properly, and such [mixture] can be in this Sacrament. And of this it is said at the end of the first book *On Generation*, that if "a drop of water be mingled with an amphora of wine, it is not a mixture, because the species is dissolved." — There is a second, other mixture, properly so called, "the union of mixable things that have been altered"; and this is incompatible [with the Sacrament]. Whence so many grains can be mingled with grains of wheat, and so much water with wine, that they alter [them] from their natural flavors; and this mixture takes away the power of confecting. And therefore the grains of wheat are to be diligently separated out, and very little water is to be added, especially when the wine is weak.

4. To that which is asked lastly concerning water, it must be said that not rose-water, nor artificial [water], but only natural [water], which is called living water, is to be added; and if another water be added, [such] that it pass into the wine, the Sacrament is made; but he who adds it sins, just as he who omits to put in water. For that water signifies the people, this is by reason of multitude; and such is the water that is not artificial, but natural.