Sacramentum and the Eucharist in St. Augustine

1 This study was presented as the presidential address at the meeting of the Academy of Catholic Theology in Washington, D.C. in May 2012. It has been revised for publication. 2 F. van der Meer, Augustine the Bishop: The Life and Work of a Father of the Church, trans. Brian Battershaw and G. R. Lamb (London and New York: Sheed and Ward, 1961), 277. 3 See especially sermons 227, 272, and 277. 4 See especially tractates 25, 26, and 80 (particularly the last). 173 The Thomist 77 (2013): 173-92 SACRAMENTUM AND THE EUCHARIST IN ST. AUGUSTINE JOSEPH T. LIENHARD, S.J. Fordham University Bronx, New York S AINT AUGUSTINE’S TEACHINGS on sacramentum and the Eucharist are scattered throughout his writings.1 He never devoted a treatise specifically to the Eucharist (nor did any other Father of the Church; the first such treatise, by Radbertus of Corbie, dates from the ninth century). My intention here, drawing on previous, more complex studies, is to present his teachings on sacramentum and the Eucharist in a concise and ordered fashion, to the extent that such order is possible, using the thesis form as an organizing principle. Some passages on sacraments and the Eucharist in Augustine’s writings have become classic. Frederick van der Meer calls letters 54 and 55 to Januarius “Augustine’s most important liturgical document.”2 Augustine’s mystagogical sermons, preached to the newly baptized after Easter, contain significant statements on the Eucharist.3 Some of the Tractates on the Gospel of John deal with the Eucharist.4 The tenth book of the City of God includes Augustine’s well-known treatment of sacrifice. And several of the JOSEPH T. LIENHARD, S.J. 174 5 Enarratio 99 is especially important. 6 The most complete bibliography on Augustine is maintained by the Zentrum für Augustinusforschung in Würzburg, at www.augustinus.de. 7 Karl Adam, Die Eucharistielehre des hl. Augustin, Forschungen zur christlichen Literaturund Dogmengeschichte 8/1 (Paderborn: F. Schöningh, 1908). 8 Fritz Hofmann, Der Kirchenbegriff des hl. Augustinus in seinen Grundlagen und in seiner Entwicklung (Munich: Max Hueber, 1933). 9 C. Couturier, “‘Sacramentum’ et ‘mysterium’ dans l’œuvre de saint Augustin,” Études augustiniennes, ed. H. Rondet and others, Théologie 28 (Paris: Aubier, 1953), 161-334. The author collects every instance of these words in Augustine’s writings, and classifies and analyzes them. 10 Joseph Ratzinger, Volk und Haus Gottes in Augustins Lehre von der Kirche, Münchener theologische Studien 2/7 (Munich: Karl Zink, 1954). 11 Johannes Betz, Eucharistie in der Schrift und Patristik, Handbuch der Dogmengeschichte 4/4a (Freiburg: Herder, 1979). 12 For example, Eugene TeSelle’s Augustine the Theologian (London: Burns 8 it includes an extensive treatment of the Eucharist. In 1953, Charles Couturier published an exhaustive word-study of sacramentum and mysterium in Augustine.9 Another foundational book on Augustine’s ecclesiology is the dissertation written by Joseph Ratzinger at the University of Munich and published in 1954.10 The German Handbuch der Dogmengeschichte has a concise treatment of Augustine’s thought on this topic.11 Although some articles on sacraments and the Eucharist in Augustine have been published in recent decades, general studies of Augustine’s thought have taken a different direction, often towards social history.12 SACRAMENTUM AND THE EUCHARIST IN...