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Bibliography

McNamara, Martin, “The inverted eucharistic formula Conversio corporis Christi in panem et sanguinis in vinum: the exegetical and liturgical background in Irish usage”, Proceedings of the Royal Irish Academy 87 C (1987): 573–593.

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Citation details
Contributors
Article
“The inverted eucharistic formula Conversio corporis Christi in panem et sanguinis in vinum: the exegetical and liturgical background in Irish usage”
Volume
87 C
Pages
573–593
Description
Abstract (cited)
In the Leabhar breac bilingual homily (probably of eleventh-century origin) entitled 'In cena Domini' we find the curious expression Conuersio corporis et sanguinis [Christi] in panem et uinum, the exact opposite of what one would have expected. Since the Irish translation of this is quite different, and for us traditional ('the pure mysteries of his own Body and Blood under the species of bread and wine'), a simple scribal error might be suspected. This, however, is rendered less likely by the presence of the same unexpected formulation in Irish in another more or less contemporary composition in the Leabhar breac, the 'Instruction on the Sacraments'. The Irish Latin formula is probably best explained as a later development of such earlier Latin formulations as Transfiguratio [or transformatio] corporis Christi in panem et sanguinis in uinum, used in liturgical (with transformatio) and non-liturgical (with transfiguratio) texts. Early Hiberno-Latin exegetical and homiletic texts, in particular, make frequent use of the transfiguratio formula, and in contexts closely related with the Leabhar breac homily 'In cena Domini'. The present paper studies the general use of the liturgical formula and the Hiberno-Latin texts, and goes on to suggest ways in which this could have developed to give us the Leabhar breac Latin and Irish formulation.
Related publications
Other editions or printings
McNamara, Martin, The Bible and the apocrypha in the early Irish church (A.D. 600–1200), Instrumenta patristica et mediaevalia, 66, Turnhout: Brepols, 2015.  
abstract:
The twenty-one essays in this volume, published from 1971 onwards, together with the introductions and conclusion, treat of the Bible and apocryphal works in Ireland during the pre-Norman period, from A.D. 600 to 1200. The essays cover developments during the period from Professor Bernhard Bischoff’s seminal 1954 essay ("Wendepunkte"), on new evidence for Irish contributions in the field, down to the present day. After an initial survey of research during this period, attention is paid to the texts of the Latin Bible, in particular the Psalms and the Four Gospels, and to the Antiochene influence on Psalm interpretation, as well as to the rich corpus of Irish apocryphal writings, some of them very early (Transitus Mariae, so-called Infancy Narrative of Thomas, texts on the Magi and a related Infancy Narrative). Special attention is paid to the creative biblical interpretation of the Psalms in the early Irish Church A.D. 600-800, and also to what appears to be an early Irish (early eighth-century) commentary on the Apocalypse. It is hoped that these essays will contribute to a renewed examination of early Irish exegesis in this the sixtieth year of the publication of Dr Bischoff’s 1954 essay.
Subjects and topics
Contributors
Dennis Groenewegen
Page created
September 2019