Blood of Christ

Blood of Christ, also known as the Most Precious Blood, in

Cross, and the salvation which Christianity teaches was accomplished thereby, or the sacramental blood (wine) present in the Eucharist

or Lord's Supper, which some Christian denominations believe to be the same blood of Christ shed on the Cross.

The

Anglicans, know this as the real presence of Christ in the Eucharist. The Catholic Church uses the term transubstantiation to describe the change of the bread and wine into the body and blood of Christ. The Eastern Orthodox Churches used the same term to describe the change, as in the decrees of the 1672 Synod of Jerusalem,^[1] and the Catechism of St. Philaret (Drozdov) of Moscow.^[2]

The Lutheran churches follow the teaching of Martin Luther in defining the presence of Christ in the eucharistic elements as sacramental union (often misconstrued as consubstantiation), meaning that the fundamental "substance" of the body and blood of Christ are literally present alongside the substance of the bread and wine, which remain present. Lutherans too believe in and teach the Real Presence. Other Protestant churches reject the idea of the Real Presence; they observe eucharistic rites as simply memorials.

History

In the early Church, the

Incarnation

.

The tradition continued in the Church in the East to commingle the species of bread and wine, whereas in the West, the Church had the practice of

Protestant Reformation.^[3] As a consequence, the Catholic Church first wanted to eliminate ambiguity, reaffirming that Christ was present both as body and as blood equally under both species of bread and wine.^[3] As time went on, the chalice was made more available to the laity. After the Second Vatican Council, the Catholic Church gave a full permission for all to receive communion from the chalice at every Mass involving a congregation, at the discretion of the priest.^[4]

Theology

Catholic

Santa Maria della Scala, Siena

.

The Catholic Church teaches that the bread and wine, through transubstantiation, become the body, blood, soul and divinity of Christ—in other words, the whole Christ—when consecrated.

Devotion to the Precious Blood was a special phenomenon of

Holy Wounds of Christ. The image, which was the subject of numerous Flemish paintings, was in part spurred by the renowned relic of the Precious Blood, which had been noted in Bruges at least since the twelfth century,^[5] and which gave rise, from the late thirteenth century, to the observances, particular to Bruges, of the procession of the "Saint Sang" from its chapel.^[6]

Various prayers are part of the Catholic devotion to the Precious Blood. Those that mention the Blood include the

Chaplet of Divine Mercy

.

Eastern Orthodox

The

Epiklesis, the change has been completed. The Eastern Orthodox also do not use the Latin theological term Transubstantiation to define the conversion from bread and wine into the Body and Blood of Christ, they use the word metousiosis

without the precise theological elaboration that accompanies the term transubstantiation.

Devotion

In the Eastern Orthodox churches, and those

Holy Communion

.

When receiving Holy Communion, the clergy (deacons, priests and bishops) will receive the Body of Christ separately from the Blood of Christ. Then, the remaining portions of the consecrated

liturgical spoon (see also Intinction

).

Artistic depictions

The blood shed by Christ was a common theme in early modern Italian art. Paintings of Christ depicted on the cross and as the Man of Sorrows have consistently been some of the bloodiest images in Christian art. The blood of Christ was a compelling artistic symbol of his incarnation and sacrifice. As a theme for contemplation, it provided worshippers with a means to articulate their devotion.^[7]

Relics of the Blood around the world

Basilica of the Holy Blood, Bruges, Belgium
Weingarten Abbey, Germany
Abbey of the Holy Trinity, Fécamp, France
St. James's Church, Rothenburg ob der Tauber, Germany
Basilica di Sant'Andrea di Mantova, Mantua, Italy

The Sudarium of Oviedo
The Shroud of Turin
The Relic of the Holy Blood, Westminster, England

References

^ "In the celebration (of the Eucharist) we believe the Lord Jesus Christ to be present, not typically, nor figuratively, nor by superabundant grace, as in the other Mysteries, nor by a bare presence, as some of the Fathers have said concerning Baptism, [...] but truly and really, so that after the consecration of the bread and of the wine, the bread is transmuted, transubstantiated, converted and transformed into the true Body Itself of the Lord, Which was born in Bethlehem of the ever-Virgin, was baptized in the Jordan, suffered, was buried, rose again, was received up, sitteth at the right hand of the God and Father, and is to come again in the clouds of Heaven; and the wine is converted and transubstantiated into the true Blood Itself of the Lord, Which as He hung upon the Cross, was poured out for the life of the world" (Decree XVII Archived 2011-09-27 at the Wayback Machine).
^ "The bread and wine are changed, or transubstantiated, into the very Body of Christ, and into the very Blood of Christ" (question 339).
^ ^a ^b Toner, Patrick (1908). Communion under Both Kinds. Vol. 4. New York: Robert Appleton Company. Retrieved 28 December 2022. {{cite book}}: |website= ignored (help)
^ Wedig, Mark E (2013). "Reception of the Eucharist Under Two Species". www.pastoralliturgy.org. Liturgy Training Publications. Retrieved 28 December 2022.
^ Evelyn Underhill, "The Fountain of Life: An Iconographical Study," The Burlington Magazine 17:86 (May 1910, pp. 99–101 [100]).
^ The first historian of the "Saint Sang" was the Abbé Carton, "Essai sur l'histoire du Saint Sang," Bruges, 1857. (noted Underhill 1910: 100 note).
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Further reading

Faber, Frederick William. The Precious Blood: or, The Price of Our Salvation. 5th ed. 1860. London: Burns & Oates; Baltimore: John Murphy. Reprint: Rockford, Ill.: TAN Books, 1979.
ISBN 0-895-55075-X

Sollier, J.F. (1913). "Precious Blood" . In Herbermann, Charles (ed.). Catholic Encyclopedia. New York: Robert Appleton Company.

Vincent, Nicholas (2001). The Holy Blood: King Henry III and the Westminster Blood relic. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
ISBN 0-521-57128-6
.

Heinlen, Michael (1998). "An Early Image of a Mass of St. Gregory and Devotion to the Holy Blood at Weingarten Abbey". S2CID 194506325
.

Bynum, Caroline Walker (2002). "The Blood of Christ in the Later Middle Ages". Church History. 71 (4): 685–71.
S2CID 163081233
.

External links

Precious Blood devotions

Missionaries of the Precious Blood

Retrieved from "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Blood_of_Christ&oldid=1214472628"

[1] "In the celebration (of the Eucharist) we believe the Lord Jesus Christ to be present, not typically, nor figuratively, nor by superabundant grace, as in the other Mysteries, nor by a bare presence, as some of the Fathers have said concerning Baptism, [...] but truly and really, so that after the consecration of the bread and of the wine, the bread is transmuted, transubstantiated, converted and transformed into the true Body Itself of the Lord, Which was born in Bethlehem of the ever-Virgin, was baptized in the Jordan, suffered, was buried, rose again, was received up, sitteth at the right hand of the God and Father, and is to come again in the clouds of Heaven; and the wine is converted and transubstantiated into the true Blood Itself of the Lord, Which as He hung upon the Cross, was poured out for the life of the world" (Decree XVII Archived 2011-09-27 at the Wayback Machine).

[2] "The bread and wine are changed, or transubstantiated, into the very Body of Christ, and into the very Blood of Christ" (question 339).

[Toner1908-3] Toner, Patrick (1908). Communion under Both Kinds. Vol. 4. New York: Robert Appleton Company. Retrieved 28 December 2022. {{cite book}}: |website= ignored (help)

[4] Wedig, Mark E (2013). "Reception of the Eucharist Under Two Species". www.pastoralliturgy.org. Liturgy Training Publications. Retrieved 28 December 2022.

[5] Evelyn Underhill, "The Fountain of Life: An Iconographical Study," The Burlington Magazine 17:86 (May 1910, pp. 99–101 [100]).

[6] The first historian of the "Saint Sang" was the Abbé Carton, "Essai sur l'histoire du Saint Sang," Bruges, 1857. (noted Underhill 1910: 100 note).

[7] Academic OneFile
(subscription required)

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