Annotatio III §.II close: Augustine / Prosper ‘carried in His hands’; QUASI / QUODAMMODO; Picherellus; de Marca / Whitaker
Augustine (Serm. 1 on Ps. 33): Christ was carried in His own hands when He said ‘This is My Body’; Prosper parallels Him bearing His body in the sanctified bread.
Such hyperboles aimed to exalt the mystery and turn communicants from outward symbols to the things signified — yet some took them too properly, missing the softening of 'as if' or 'in a way' (Picherellus).
More samples: de Marca’s posthumous Eucharist dissertation (pontifical abuse) — vindicated by Whitaker.
Latin
Ex Latinis, eloquentissimi AUGUSTINI verba hæcce adduxisse suffecerit Conc. 1. in Ps. 33. Ferebatur, inquit, Christus in manibus suis, quando, commendans ipsum corpus suum, ait: Hoc est Corpus meum; Ferebat enim illud corpus in manibus suis. Quibus omninò parallelum PROSPERI AQUITANICI de promis. & prædicat. part. 2. cap. 25. assertum: Dominus ait, suum corpus in sanctificato pane gestans manibus suis, dixit: Hoc est corpus meum. Hæc aliaque hujus farinæ Patrum hyperbolice satis enunciata, quibus una ex parte mysterii dignitatem amplificare atque extollere; Ex parte altera verò communicantes ab externorum symbolorum contemplatione ad res significatas tantò devotiùs meditandas convertere allaborarunt, nonnulli propriè nimis acceperunt, non attendentes, quibus iidem Patres hyperbolas suas haud rarò per restrictivas particulas QUASI, QUODAMMODO similesque, mitigarunt ac emolliverunt, annotante id ipsum perquam accuratè pontificio Autore eruditissimo Petro Picherello Opusc. Theol. à pag. 19. in fin. Si cui volupe est, plures Patrum hyperbolicas expressiones legere, haud frustra fuerit famigeratissimum Petrum de Marca Dissert. Posthuma de Euchar. Sacrament. p. 15. evolvere, quanquam in usum suum pontificium, i. e. abusum attractas, ideoque à B. Witakero vindicatas Tom. I. pag. 9.