The Trinitarian Dimensions of Cistercian Eucharistic Theology Author: Nathaniel Nashamoies Landon Peters Persistent link: http://hdl.handle.net/2345/bc-ir:107313 This work is posted on eScholarship@BC, Boston College University Libraries. Boston College Electronic Thesis or Dissertation, 2017 Copyright is held by the author, with all rights reserved, unless otherwise noted. The Trinitarian Dimensions of Cistercian Eucharistic Theology Nathaniel Nashamoies Landon Peters A dissertation submitted to the Faculty of the department of Theology in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy Boston College Morrissey College of Arts and Sciences Graduate School March 2017 © Copyright 2017 Nathaniel Nashamoies Landon Peters The Trinitarian Dimensions of Cistercian Eucharistic Theology Nathaniel Nashamoies Landon Peters Advisor: Boyd Taylor Coolman, Ph.D. William of Saint-Thierry, Isaac of Stella, and Baldwin of Forde created a distinctly Cistercian body of Eucharistic theology in the twelfth century. But despite one article that examines none of the Eucharistic treatises and omits Isaac and Baldwin, there is no scholarly account of Cistercian Eucharistic theology. Nor is there more generally a historical work that examines the connection between medieval Trinitarian and Eucharistic theology. This dissertation seeks to fill both lacunae. The introduction of the dissertation sets the historical and scholarly context for investigation. Chapter 1 examines the thought of William of Saint-Thierry, who has the most developed understanding of Eucharistic presence, conversion, and reception. It also treats the connections William draws between Eucharistic reception and meditation on scripture and the passion of Christ. Chapter 2 treats Isaac of Stella, who uses more intellectualist imagery and imagery of the mystical body of Christ. Chapter 3 studies Baldwin of Forde, who argues that the term transubstantiation best describe Eucharistic conversion. Baldwin emphasizes reception by faith in the truth about Christ. Chapter 5 offers a brief conclusion. These Cistercian authors thought that the character of God as a Trinity of persons united in essence provides the form or structure of the economy of salvation—especially its turning point or climax, the Eucharist. This emphasis on Trintiarian dimensions is the hallmark of Cistercian Eucharistic theology. They saw the Eucharist as an analogue to the Incarnation, a site where the economic missions of the Trinity take place. In the Eucharist, God the Father draws those who receive to himself by uniting them to the body and blood of the Son. This unity brings an increase of unity with the Holy Spirit. Once united to the Son and Spirit, the faithful are united to the Father and to the unity that all three persons share. The Eucharist is, then, not only a site of God’s movement toward human beings, but of human movement back toward God. It acts as a kind of pivot point in the economy of salvation: the moment where the outpouring of the Son and Spirit join most deeply with the faithful and draw them back to the Father. The Eucharist also binds the members of the Church, the body of Christ, to each other and to their Head in his act of self-offering to the Father. It connects the meditation, sacrifices, and offering of their own lives to that of Christ, with which they are offered to the Father. Table of Contents Table of Contents…………………………………………………………..i Acknowledgments…………………………………………………………iv Introduction…………………………………………………………….…..1 I. The Trinity, the Eucharist, and the Economy of Salvation ………………..…...1 II. Historical Review of Eucharistic Theology……………………………............7 III. Review of Scholarship on Eucharistic Theology and Practice……………....16 Chapter 1: The Eucharistic Theology of William of Saint-Thierry…...20 I. Introduction……………………………………………………………………20 II. Biography……………………………………………………………………..22 III. Literature Review…………………………………………………….............24 IV. William’s Trinitarian Theology………………………………………….......30 V. Why Christ’s Physical Body Must be Present in the Eucharist………………37 VI. Metaphysics of Presence…………………………………………………......44 VII. Bodily Reception of the Eucharist…………………………………………..49 VIII. Spiritual Reception of the Eucharist……………………………………….52 IX. Meditation, Memory, and Eucharistic Reception……………………………57 X. Sacrifice………………………………………………………………………63 XI. The Eucharist as the Body of Christ, the Church……………………………66 XII. The Eschatological End of the Eucharist……………………………….......68 XIII. Imagery of the Kiss……………………………………………...…………70 XIV. Conclusion……………………………………………………….………...76 Chapter 2: Isaac of Stella’s Eucharistic Theology……………………...79 I. Introduction……………………………………………………………………79 II. Biography……………………………………………………………………..80 III. Literature Review…………………………………………………………….85 IV. Isaac of Stella’s Trinitarian Theology and Anthropology…………………...89 V. The Mystical Body of Christ………………………………………………….98 VI. Isaac’s Eucharistic Theology in the Sermons………………………………104 VII. Commentaries on the Mass During the Twelfth Century………………….108 VIII. The Eucharistic Theology of the De officio missae………………………112 IX. Conclusion………………………………………………………………….121 Chapter 3: Baldwin of Forde’s Eucharistic Theology………………...124 I. Introduction…………………………………………………………………..124 II. Biography…………………………………………………………………....125 III. Literature Review…………………………………………………………..125 IV. Faith and Reason…………………………………………………………....131 V. Introduction to Baldwin’s Eucharistic Theology……………………………135 i VI. Eucharistic Metaphysics of Presence and Change…………………………139 VII. Eucharistic Reception……………………………………………………...143 VIII. Obedience and Imitation………………………………………………….150 IX. The Fruit of the Eucharist, Eschatological and Ecclesiological……………157 X. The Trintiarian Dimensions of the Eucharist………………………………..163 XI. Conclusion………………………………………………………………….170 Conclusion……………………………………………………..173 Bibliography…………………………………………………...177 ii Jesu quem velatum nunc aspicio Oro fiat illud quod tam sitio Ut te revelata cernens facie Visu sim beatus tuae gloriae iii Acknowledgements My theological studies began at the University of Notre Dame, where I benefited from the guidance of Joseph Wawrykow, Cyril O’Regan, Fr. Brian Daley, S.J., and Sr. Ann Astell. The Boston College Department of the Theology has been my home now for six years. My colleagues and professors offered me much along the way, especially Fr. Robert Imbelli, Stephen Pope, Dominic Doyle, Fr. Khaled Anatolios, Fr. John Paris, S.J., Jessica Coblentz, Kate Ward, Aaron Taylor, Clifton Stringer, Ty Monroe, and Katherine Wrisley Shelby. Special thanks go to Jonathan Bailes for great groomsmanship and even greater friendship. Burke Thompson and Gregory Floyd provided philosophical and domestic support. The staff of the BC libraries, especially the intrepid office for interlibrary loans, made my research possible. For the past year, Marquette University’s Department of Theology has been a welcome place to work, and I thank my new neighbors there for their hospitality. Throughout my doctoral studies I received fellowships from Boston College, the H.B. Earhart Foundation, the Rumsfeld Foundation, the Intercollegiate Studies Institute, and the Bradley Foundation, for which I remain deeply grateful. The late Fr. Richard John Neuhaus has been a source of inspiration and encouragement. Sr. Diana Marie of Christ Jesus, O.P., and the nuns of the Dominican Monastery of Our Lady of the Rosary offered many prayers for me and my work. Stephen Brown and Ian C. Levy’s assistance as readers and mentors helped refine the manuscript. None of this work could have happened without the guidance of Boyd Taylor Coolman, who has been a superb adviser and mentor. My parents, Eric Peters and Elizabeth C. Peters, offered much encouragement along the way. Last, I thank my wife Jane for her love, support, and delight in my work and in me. iv Introduction I. The Trinity, the Eucharist, and the Economy of Salvation Three lancet windows sit in the western wall of Chartres Cathedral. Having survived the fire of 1194 that destroyed most of the building, they contain some of the best stained glass that remains from the twelfth century. The Incarnation Window in the center recounts the story of Christ’s life from the Annunciation through his baptism in the Jordan and culminates in his entry into Jerusalem on Palm Sunday. The third panel of the window, in the bottom right corner, depicts the Nativity. Joseph sleeps on the side, and Mary reclines on a bed in the front, pointing up to the Christ Child, guarded by ox and ass, visible through drawn curtains while the star of Bethlehem shines above. It is a conventional depiction in every respect except one: Christ lies not in a manger, but on an altar. The same depiction is found on a fragment from a thirteenth-century choir screen, now in the cathedral’s museum. Here Christ’s bed has straw, which the ass has begun to eat, but the bed’s resemblance to an altar is unmistakable. A similar image appears in a thirteenth century Missal made for the Cathedral of Noyon, now in Harvard’s Houghton Library.1 The illuminated R of the Easter introit “Resurrexi et adhuc tecum sum” depicts the resurrected Christ stepping forth from the tomb and unto an altar. These works of devotional art represent a profound connection that their medieval creators recognized between the Eucharist and the events of Christ’s life. The Eucharist was not simply a reenactment or memorial supper, but an important event in the economy of salvation like the Incarnation, Passion, and Resurrection—the