Aquinas’s Summa Theologiae and Eucharistic Sacrifice in the Early Modern Period Changing Paradigms in Historical and Systematic Theology Series, Sarah Coakley and Richard Cross, eds. (Oxford University Press, 2023) 

General Abstract: 

This book is focused on the reception history of Thomas Aquinas’ account of Eucharistic sacrifice during the sixteenth and early seventeenth centuries.  Although the sacrificial character of the Eucharist has been of interest to theologians throughout the Church’s history, during the early sixteenth century renewed attention was given to this subject, in part because of disputes that arose between Reformed and Catholic theologians about the relationship between the Eucharistic liturgy and Christ’s sacrifice on the cross.  Does the Eucharistic presence itself have a sacrificial quality?  Can aspects of the liturgy or dimensions of the moral life be considered a sacrifice, and if so in what way?  

Although itself a product of the Middle Ages, as a received text the Summa is in many ways a creature of the early modern period.  Interpreting the reception of this text therefore requires one to consider not only the Summa in its original environment, but the life of this same text as it was received in new interpretive contexts.  

On the subject of Eucharistic sacrifice specifically, the early modern reception history of the Summa is particularly rich, and underexplored.  In addition to those questions raised by Reformed theologians, during this period the text of the Summa came to be intertwined with a variety of new problems, concerns and contexts.  These include the place of humanist biblical scholarship in the study of theology, the concern for human rights and international law in the Americas, and the relationship between Aquinas’ natural anthropology of sacrifice and pre-Christian accounts of the socio-political context for sacrifice.  

This book begins by first studying the textual structure and contents of Aquinas’ presentation of Eucharistic sacrifice in the Summa theologiae.  Using the text of the Summa as a backdrop, subsequent chapters explore the early modern textuality of the Summa by studying a series of influential theologians such as Cajetan, Vitoria and the Salamanca School, the early Jesuits and John of St. Thomas.  

Keywords: Eucharistic sacrifice, Aquinas, early modern theology, historical theology, sixteenth century Catholic theology 

Individual chapter abstracts:

1) The Summa theologiae on Eucharistic Sacrifice

The first chapter of this book traces the connection between the concepts of sacrifice and the Eucharist primarily in the Tertia pars of Aquinas’Summa theologiae, beginning with Christ’s sacrifice and working towards Aquinas’ understanding of the Eucharist in light of this.  Secondarily, relevant material from the Prima secundae and the Secunda secundae are studied as well.  In light of the overall focus of the book, as a starting point for this investigation this first chapter provides important information about the texts of Aquinas themselves, charting the way in which Aquinas articulates the relationship between the concept of sacrifice and the Eucharist in the Summa.  Subsequent chapters, which study the reception of Aquinas on these subjects, rely on the background that this first chapter provides.  

Keywords: Thomas Aquinas, Eucharist, Sacrament, Christ, sacrifice, priesthood 

2) Cajetan and the Catholic Reformation

The second chapter studies the initial development of Catholic approaches to Eucharistic sacrifice in the first decades of the sixteenth century, focusing on the contribution of Thomas de vio Cajetan.  In analyzing Cajetan’s thought, his commentary on the Summa, his treatise on the sacrifice of the Mass and relevant sections from his biblical commentaries are examined in chronological order.  In light of the focus of the overall book, chapter two conveys important aspects of the initial history of the Catholic response to the Protestant Reformers that contribute to a broader understanding of the context in which aspects of Aquinas’ teaching were initially received in Catholic circles, and those other hermeneutical responses to the Reformation (such as biblical criticism) that played an important role in Catholic theology at this time.  Additionally, this chapter also shows that several decades after Cajetan’s death, his approach to Eucharistic sacrifice strongly influenced the teaching of the Council of Trent on the sacrificial character of the Mass. 

Keywords: Cajetan, humanism, biblical commentary, sacrifice of the Mass, Eucharist

3) The Salamanca School

The third chapter follows the development of the Salamanca school from Francis de Vitoria to Domingo Bañez.  This chapter begins by studying the relationship between Cajetan and the Salamancans, assessing the role that Cajetan—and certain of his texts—played in the Salamancan approach to Aquinas.  Subsequently, the teaching of Vitoria, Cano, Soto, and Bañez is examined, paying particular attention to the way in which the Salamancan approach to Eucharistic sacrifice is shaped by the hermeneutical primacy of Aquinas’ Secunda pars for the Salamanca school, the influence of classical Roman authors, and questions surrounding the ‘Indes’ controversy.  When compared with Cajetan, this school offers a fundamentally different approach to Eucharistic sacrifice that is distinct in its hermeneutical method, in its interpretation of Aquinas’ teaching, and in the lexicon of Thomistic texts used to support this teaching.  In different ways, both Cajetan and the Salamancans would continue to play influential roles in Catholic Eucharistic theology after the Council of Trent, and their perspectives would intertwine in the work of some later theologians, even within the post-Trindentine Salamanca school itself.  

Keywords: Vitoria, Cano, Soto, Bañez, ‘Indes’ controversy, Salamanca School

4) The Jesuit School: interior and exterior sacrifices

Chapter four examines the contributions of three influential early modern Jesuits and one Dominican: Robert Bellarmine, Francisco Suárez, Gabriel Vásquez, and John of St. Thomas.  As the earliest of these thinkers, Bellarmine considers Aquinas in the context of the continued polemics with second and third generation Protestant Reformers he encountered at Louvain.  As later sixteenth century approaches to Eucharistic sacrifice, the writings of Suárez and Vásquez are in dialogue with a variety of previous contributions to this subject, particularly those of Spanish origin. However, both of these thinkers also represent new and innovative approaches to the question of Eucharistic sacrifice that would prove influential for subsequent interpretations of Aquinas.  Initially a student at the Jesuit school at Coimbra, John of St. Thomas critically engages Suárez and other members of the Jesuit school, developing the connections made by Suárez between sacrifice, moral act, and sign in continued dialogue with Aquinas’ Summa theologiae.  In this regard, John’s understanding of the relationship between sign and moral act allows him to describe the sacrificial aspect of the Eucharistic liturgy in a way that intersects with the work of previous thinkers, such as Cajetan and the Salamancans. 

Keywords: Bellarmine, Suárez, Vásquez, John of St. Thomas, sign, moral act, sacrifice 

Reviews: 

"In this study, Reginald Lynch, OP, fills a significant lacuna in historical theology by analyzing the treatment and use that Thomas Aquinas’s Summa Theologiae received in early modern Catholic theology, bringing a sharper focus to the issue than the more general studies of Marius Lepin and Francis Clark...as a work of historical theology this volume is a valuable asset in understanding just what Aquinas and these early modern theologians taught. I would judge it a “must read” for anyone seriously interested in the theology of eucharistic sacrifice." 

John F. Baldovin, SJ, Theological Studies 85.4 (2025) 

"The book is a thorough presentation of the theology of the Mass as a sacrifice by Thomas Aquinas and how that theology was received by a series of theologians in the early modern period. It presents a careful reading of each author and some judicious comments on the original text of Thomas and how the new context of the Protestant Reformation and the Catholic response to it simultaneously conveys Thomas’s theology and reshapes it to the needs of new theological needs." 

Michael Witzak, Catholic Historical Review 110.3 (2024)