Of Mice and Manna: Quid Mus Sumit as a Pastoral Question
This paper attempts to demonstrate that the question of what a mouse might eat if it consumed a consecrated host arose not only from a theological interest in the metaphysics of the Eucharist. There seems to be at least two other reasons for such an interest, both arising from pastoral concerns. Fir...
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Format: | Electronic Article |
Language: | English |
Check availability: | HBZ Gateway |
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Published: |
Peeters
1991
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In: |
Recherches de théologie ancienne et médiévale
Year: 1991, Volume: 58, Pages: 157-166 |
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Volltext (lizenzpflichtig) |
Parallel Edition: | Non-electronic
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Summary: | This paper attempts to demonstrate that the question of what a mouse might eat if it consumed a consecrated host arose not only from a theological interest in the metaphysics of the Eucharist. There seems to be at least two other reasons for such an interest, both arising from pastoral concerns. First, there appears to have been cases where hosts were so eaten, and given the strong insistence in the period on the presence of the Lord in the sacrament, this would have caused concern to some of the faithful. More importantly, the Cathars and perhaps other heretical groups were reported to have used the fact that a mouse might eat the host as a weapon which which to refute the teaching of the Church on the Eucharist. Theologians would have felt that there was a pastoral necessity to respond to these arguments. Given this background, the question appears not so much a needless exercise in logic, and more a genuine theological attempt to respond to the pastoral needs of the day. |
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ISSN: | 2593-2896 |
Contains: | Enthalten in: Recherches de théologie ancienne et médiévale
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