Dist. 8, Part 1, Art. 1, Q. 2
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/8/q/bon-sent-IV-d8-p1-a1-q2
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### Question II. *On the number and sufficiency of the four figures.*

Secondly it is asked concerning the number and sufficiency of the figures of this Sacrament; and the Master assigns four, namely the paschal lamb, manna, the sacrifice of Melchisedech, and the blood which flowed from the side of Christ. But it seems that the Master assigns them insufficiently:

1. For other figures preceded in the sacrifices and oblations of various persons, as in the kid which Manoah offered, *Judges* the thirteenth, and the honeycomb, *first of Kings* the fourteenth.

2. Likewise, he seems to be mistaken in assigning manna as a figure: because it had *every* savor; but the eucharist does not have this, because then the other Sacraments would be superfluous.

3. Likewise, an objection is raised concerning the *oblation of Melchisedech*: because he himself offered and gave it to Abraham; but the Sacrament of the eucharist is offered to God: and so it does not seem to be a figure.

4. Likewise, an objection is raised concerning the *paschal lamb* and its blood: since it preceded the crossing of the Red Sea; therefore [it was] a figure of baptism; and so it seems that, if it was a correct figure, the eucharist too existed before baptism; which is absurd.

5. Likewise, an objection is raised concerning the *blood* which flowed from the side of Christ: because that very same [blood] is in this Sacrament according to *truth* and is the *thing signified* in this Sacrament: therefore the same thing is a figure of itself, and the same thing is sign and thing-signified with respect to the same thing; which is altogether unfitting.

### Conclusion.

> *The four figures of the eucharist are sufficiently assigned by the Master.*

**Respondeo:** It must be said that the Master sufficiently assigns the figures in this Sacrament, with respect had to all the laws. For in the law of nature he sets as a figure the sacrifice of Melchisedech, and in the law of Moses likewise the lamb and the manna, and in the law of grace the blood of the passion. — Likewise the figures are sufficient if we attend to the things which are prefigured. For in this Sacrament there is a *visible form*, and this was prefigured in the sacrifice of Melchisedech; and there is the *thing contained*, and this [was prefigured] in the paschal lamb; and the *thing signified* only, and this in the manna; and the *power giving efficacy*, and this in the blood which flowed from the side of Christ. — Hence the first three hold the character of a figure, but the last rather holds the character of a cause; nonetheless it has the character of a figure, the circumstances being weighed, namely that from one suffered and already dead there flowed *blood and water*.

1. As for what is objected concerning sufficiency, it is now plain: because the other figures are reduced to these; for all oblations and all sacrifices can be reduced to the paschal lamb, and all foods to the manna.

2. To that which is objected concerning the manna, it must be said that *every* is worth as much as saying "perfect"; or if *every* be taken distributively, it is understood with respect to the thing contained; or if it be understood with respect to the effect, stress is to be laid on the savor with respect to the act of feeding; and then the others are not superfluous.

3. To that which is objected concerning the sacrifice of Melchisedech, it must be said that the Sacrament of the eucharist was most excellently prefigured both there and in the manna: since this Sacrament is set before us for eating and is offered to God for worship; and therefore it is given to us from God, and we offer it to God; and this was signified in the manna, which was laid up in the urn before the Lord, because it was given from heaven for eating, and again laid up before the Lord; in such a manner is this Sacrament given, if one looks more diligently: because it is given to us from heaven, and we take it, yet nonetheless we offer it to God.

4. To that which is objected concerning the paschal lamb, it must be said that that lamb properly signified the passion of Christ, which was the root and foundation

furnishing power to all the Sacraments, and therefore it preceded all things. And although all the Sacraments have their efficacy from the passion; because in this Sacrament Christ who suffered is truly contained, therefore the eating and use of that lamb signified this Sacrament especially, and therefore it preceded the figure of baptism, not by the reason by which that Sacrament prefigured, but by the reason by which it prefigured the passion.

5. To the last it must be said that the blood of Christ, which flowed from the side of Christ, did not have, properly speaking, the character of a figure, because there was the truth there; yet by reason of the manner of its flowing forth, because it flowed from the side of the dead one, it had in a certain way the character of prefiguring, especially by reason of what was annexed, namely the water; and this was better treated at the beginning of this book. And thus the solution of the objections is plain.

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