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A LETTER OF POPE INNOCENT III
« on: May 21, 2014, 04:56:37 AM »
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  • http://sedevacantist.com/newmass/qtvjmcn.htm
     
    APPENDIX 6

    A LETTER OF POPE INNOCENT III

         When asked about the origin of certain words in the form for the Consecration of the Wine, Pope Innocent III replied by means of a letter in which he stated, "Therefore, we believe that the form of words, as is found in the canon, the apostles received from Christ, and their successors from them."

         But the form of words, as is found in the new, vernacular "canons," the present-day successors of the Apostles are willing to receive from the International Committee on English in the Liturgy!

    Excerpts from Pope Innocent's letter follow:
    [From the letter "cuм Marthae circa" to a
    certain John, Archbishop of Lyons, Nov. 29, 1202]

         You have asked (indeed) who has added to the form of the words which Christ Himself expressed when He changed the bread and wine into the body and blood, that in the Canon of the Mass which the general Church uses, which none of the Evangelists is read to have expressed ...  In the Canon of the Mass that expression, "mysterium fidei," is found interposed among His words ...  Surely we find many such things omitted from the words as well as from the deeds of the Lord by the Evangelists, which the Apostles are read to have supplied by word or to have expressed by deed ...  From the expression, Moreover, concerning which your brotherhood raised the question, namely "mysterium fidei," certain people have thought to draw a protection against error, saying that in the sacrament of the altar the truth of the body and blood of Christ does not exist, but only the image and species and figure, inasmuch as Scripture sometimes mentions that what is received at the altar is sacrament and mystery and example.  But such run into a snare of error, by reason of the fact that they neither properly understand the authority of Scripture, nor do they reverently receive the sacraments of God, equally "ignorant of the Scriptures and the power of God"  [Matt. 22:29] ...  Yet "mysterium fidei" is mentioned, since something is believed there other than what is perceived; and something is perceived other than is believed.  For the species of bread and wine is perceived there, and the truth of the body and blood of Christ is believed and the power of unity and of love ...
     

         We must, however, distinguish accurately between three things which are different in this sacrament, namely, the visible form, the truth of the body, and the spiritual power.  The form is of the bread and wine; the truth, of the flesh and blood; the power, of unity and of charity.  The first is the "sacrament and not reality."  The second is "the sacrament, and reality."  The third is "the reality and not the sacrament."  But the first is the sacrament of a twofold reality.  The second, however, is a sacrament of one and the reality (is) of the other.  But the third is the reality of a twofold sacrament.  Therefore, we believe that the form of words, as is found in the Canon, the Apostles received from Christ, and their successors from them ...
    "I receive Thee, redeeming Prince of my soul. Out of love for Thee have I studied, watched through many nights, and exerted myself: Thee did I preach and teach. I have never said aught against Thee. Nor do I persist stubbornly in my views. If I have ever expressed myself erroneously on this Sacrament, I submit to the judgement of the Holy Roman Church, in obedience of which I now part from this world." Saint Thomas Aquinas the greatest Doctor of the Church