Priestly Intention

[Micki]

Does priestly intention affect the concecration of the bread and wine. In other words, if the priest does not intend to change the bread and wine into the body and blood of Jesus, yet he still uses valid matter and correclty reads the prayers, are the elements chagned. I am not referring to his belief in the real presence or the state of his soul at the time of concecration but rather his intent to concecrate.

Micki

 

[jmm08]

I’m Baptist and signed up for RCIA / RCIC.
If I am incorrect, I hope somebody will correct me.

It is written about in “The Summa Theologica” of St. Thomas Aquinas. See the Catholic Encyclopedia link newadvent.org/summa/406408.htm
Note “Objection 2” (like saying Question #2) and “Reply to Objection 2” (the answer to Question #2).

I think a short answer to your question is “Yes” as long as the liturgy is correct and the priest looks like he is doing his job. The answer would be “No” if the priest says (expresses) that he does not have the intent.

The paragraph that I think best addresses the question is:

“Consequently, others with better reason hold that the minister of a sacrament acts in the person of the whole Church, whose minister he is; while in the words uttered by him, the intention of the Church is expressed; and that this suffices for the validity of the sacrament, except the contrary be expressed on the part either of the minister or of the recipient of the sacrament.”

Of course, I wonder who the “others with better reason” were, since the writer was St. Thomas Aquinas (a doctor of the Church).

 

[Br.Rich_SFO]

Micki:

Does priestly intention affect the concecration of the bread and wine. In other words, if the priest does not intend to change the bread and wine into the body and blood of Jesus, yet he still uses valid matter and correclty reads the prayers, are the elements chagned. I am not referring to his belief in the real presence or the state of his soul at the time of concecration but rather his intent to concecrate.

Micki

If a priest Consecrates at Mass his intention is presumed, until he makes it otherwise known.

For instance a priest has two full ciborium’s of hosts placed on the altar by the Deacon. Realizing that he does not need to Consecrate both. That the contents of one would be more than sufficient. He places the one off the Corporal to the right and does not intend to Consecrate it. He may go on and Consecrate the other and Consecrate the Wine. The remaining ciborium of hosts is not Consecrated and would not be used for Communion or placed in the tabernacle.

 

[Della]

To add to what others have provided here is a quote from DE DEFECTIBUS: Papal Bull decreed by Pope Saint Pius V in ratifying the Council of Trent which reaffirmed the serious sin of omitting or changing the Form of the Sacrament at the Consecration…:

VII - Defect of intention

1. The intention of consecrating is required. Therefore there is no consecration in the following cases: when a priest does not intend to consecrate but only to make a pretense; when some hosts remain on the altar forgotten by the priest, or when some part of the wine or some host is hidden, since the priest intends to consecrate only what is on the corporal; when a priest has eleven hosts before him and intends to consecrate only ten, without determining which ten he means to consecrate. On the other hand, if he thinks there are ten, but intends to consecrate all that he has before him, then all will be consecrated. For that reason every priest should always have such an intention, namely the intention of consecrating all the hosts that have been Placed on the corporal before him for consecration.

 

[jmm08]

Reading further down in the same reference that Della gives.

Aside from various physical anomalies (24 and 25), it seems that the only way the Mass can be invalidated (from the cause of a priest’s intention) is if the priest does not intend to consecrate but only to make a pretense (23). I suppose a common situation of pretense may be a training exercise. When a Priest is presenting Mass as normally scheduled in a Catholic Church, I don’t think (23) is practically possible – it is not a situation to make a pretense. So I think what St. Thomas Aquinas wrote is still correct.

VII - Defect of intention
…
“26. It may be that the intention is not actual at the time of the Consecration because the priest lets his mind wander, yet is still virtual, since he has come to the altar intending to do what the Church does. In this case the Sacrament is valid. A priest should be careful, however, to make his intention actual also.”

VIII - Defects of the disposition of soul
27. If a priest celebrates Mass in a state of mortal sin or under some ecclesiastical penalty, he does celebrate a valid Sacrament, but he sins most grievously.