After consecration,
does the substance of the bread or wine continue to exist?
Answer / Resources:
[click link(s) below, as applicable]
No. According to the
Catechism of the Council of Trent...
"...the
substance of the bread and wine does not continue to exist in the Sacrament
after consecration... If, after consecration, the true body of Christ is present
under the species of bread and wine, since it was not there before, it must have
become present either by change of place, or by creation, or by the change of
some other thing into it. It cannot be rendered present by change of place,
because it would then cease to be in heaven; for whatever is moved must
necessarily cease to occupy the place from which it is moved. Still less can we
suppose the body of Christ to be rendered present by creation; nay, the very
idea is inconceivable. In order that the body of our Lord be present in the
Sacrament, it remains, therefore, that it be rendered present by the change of
the bread into it. Wherefore it is necessary that none of the substance of the
bread [or wine] remain."
While none of the
substance of bread or wine still exist after
Transubstantiation, the accidents still exist (e.g. appearance of bread and
wine)...
"After the
substance of the bread and the substance of the wine have been converted into
the Body and Blood of Christ at the consecration at Mass the accidents of bread
and wine remain and are discernible by the senses. The fundamental accident is
that of quantity, and in it inhere the shape, colour, brittleness or liquidity,
taste and smell of the original substances." (Catholic Dictionary)
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