The Eucharist: Realist Implications in St. Augustine

No reasonable voice would contest that St. Augustine of Hippo did not believe the Sacraments to be efficacious. It is ceded even by Protestant historians that he believed them to communicate saving, sanctifying grace, and the Eucharist is among them. But what is the nature, in his mind, of the Sacrament itself? No doubt, St. Augustine devoted much of his expositions on the Eucharist to its symbolic nature -- but, is that as far as his own belief actually goes? Or does he go further?

Here are provided some quotes I seldom see quoted by either the Catholics or the Protestants in the debate surrounding his Eucharistic theology. They, I believe, demonstrate a view which far transcends the notion of mere symbolism concerning the Lord's Supper, for they speak on not only the efficacy and grace of the Sacrament, but the Sacrament itself. I believe it is not unreasonable to ascribe to St. Augustine an actual belief in the Real Presence.

On the Remission on Sin, and on the Baptism of Infants 34
The Christians of Carthage have an excellent name for the sacraments, when they say that baptism is nothing else than Salvation, and the sacrament of the body of Christ nothing else than Life. Whence, however, was this derived, but from that primitive, as I suppose, and apostolic tradition, by which the Churches of Christ maintain it to be an inherent principle, that without baptism and partaking of the supper of the Lord it is impossible for any man to attain either to the kingdom of God or to salvation and everlasting life? ...We therefore ought not to doubt that even for infants yet to be baptized was that precious blood shed, which previous to its actual effusion was so given, and applied in the sacrament, that it was said, "This is my blood, which shall be shed for many for the remission of sins."


From Ennarations on the Psalms, 33[34]:1
"And was carried in His Own Hands: how carried in His Own Hands? Because when He commended His Own Body and Blood, He took into His Hands that which the faithful know; and in a manner carried Himself, when He said, This is My Body."

From The Confessions 8:23
"For He judges and approves what He finds right, but disapproves what He finds amiss, whether in the celebration of those sacraments by which are initiated those whom Your mercy searches out in many waters; or in that in which the Fish Itself is exhibited, which, being raised from the deep, the devout earth feeds upon…"

From Sermon 228B*

"No longer is a victim sought from the flocks for a blood sacrifice, nor is a sheep or a goat any more led to the divine altars, but now the sacrifice of our time is the body and blood of the priest himself."

"So Christ our Lord, who offered by suffering for us what by being born he had received from us, has become our high priest for ever, and has given us the order of sacrifice which you can see, of his body that is to say, and his blood. When his body, remember, was pierced by the lance, it poured forth the water and the blood by which he cancelled our sins. Be mindful of this grace as you work out your salvation, since it is God who is at work in you, and approach with fear and trembling to partake of this altar. Recognize in the bread what hung on the cross, and in the cup what flowed from his side."

"And therefore receive and eat the body of Christ, yes, you that have become members of Christ in the body of Christ; receive and drink the blood of Christ.

"You were able to read or to hear this in the gospel before, but you were unaware that this eucharist is the Son. But now, your hearts sprinkled with a pure conscience, and your bodies washed with pure water, approach him and be enlightened, and your faces will not blush for shame (Ps 34:5). Because if you receive this worthily, which means belonging to the new covenant by which you hope for an eternal inheritance, and if you keep the new commandment to love one another, then you have life in yourselves. You are then, after all, receiving that flesh about which Life itself says, The bread which I shall give is my flesh for the life of the world; and Unless people eat my flesh and drink my blood, they will not have life in themselves.