The Priest as Sacramental Sign of Christ

The Eucharist is an image of Christ’s Passion

“The celebration of this sacrament is called a sacrifice for two reasons. First, because, as Augustine says (Ad Simplician. ii), "the images of things are called by the names of the things whereof they are the images; as when we look upon a picture or a fresco, we say, 'This is Cicero and that is Sallust.'" But, as was said above (79, 1), the celebration of this sacrament is an image representing Christ's Passion, which is His true sacrifice. Accordingly the celebration of this sacrament is called Christ's sacrifice. Hence it is that Ambrose, in commenting on Heb. 10:1, says: "In Christ was offered up a sacrifice capable of giving eternal salvation; what then do we do? Do we not offer it up every day in memory of His death?" Secondly it is called a sacrifice, in respect of the effect of His Passion: because, to wit, by this sacrament, we are made partakers of the fruit of our Lord's Passion . . . ” Summa Theologica III qu. 83, art. 1.

The altar is an image of the cross

[Objection 2. ‘Further, Christ's sacrifice was made upon the cross, whereon "He delivered Himself for us, an oblation and a sacrifice to God for an odor of sweetness," as is said in Eph. 5:2. But Christ is not crucified in the celebration of this mystery. Therefore, neither is He sacrificed.’]
Reply to Objection 2. “As the celebration of this sacrament is an image representing Christ's Passion, so the altar is representative of the cross itself, upon which Christ was sacrificed in His proper species.” Summa Theologica III qu. 83, art. 1, ad 2.

The priest is an image of Christ

[Objection 3. ‘Further, as Augustine says (De Trin. iv), in Christ's sacrifice the priest and the victim are one and the same. But in the celebration of this sacrament the priest and the victim are not the same. Therefore, the celebration of this sacrament is not a sacrifice of Christ.’]
Reply to Objection 3. “For the same reason (cf. Reply to Obj. 2) the priest also bears Christ's image, in Whose person and by Whose power he pronounces the words of consecration, as is evident from what was said above (82, 1,3). And so, in a measure, the priest and victim are one and the same.” Summa Theologica III qu. 83, art. 1, ad 3.

Documents on St. Thomas Aquinas
Women and procreation	Inferiority of women	Arguments	Overview	The priest as sign	Women and holy orders	If Thomas had known

For related online Libraries see:
The ORDINATION OF WOMEN in the Catholic Church	Catherine of Siena VIRTUAL COLLEGE
THE BODY IS SACRED	MYSTERY AND BEYOND

We hope that you have found this document helpful. It costs our small charity on average £10 / $20 / Euro15 to make such a document freely available to you. This is because we have to identify the best scholarship available, retrieve texts, obtain permissions, scan, edit, link and convert documents to html format and run a small office base to make this all possible. We can do this only because we are run almost entirely by volunteers. Please help us build our online library of resources so that more people can access the debate and make up their own minds about women priests. Having benefited from the online library, any donation, small or large, that you can make to support our work would be gratefully appreciated. Click here to learn how to make a donation now.

Please, credit this document
as published by www.womenpriests.org!