CHEFFONTAINES (Lat. a Capite Fontium), CHRISTOPHE de. - A Franciscan theologian, born c. 1532 at St-Pol-Léon (Brittany), died at Rome in 1595. From his early youth a Minor Observant, he devoted himself to preaching, combating the Calvinists. In 1571 he was elected Minister General of the Order, and upon relinquishing that office became auxiliary bishop to Cardinal de Pellevé, Archbishop of Sens.
He wrote in French and translated into Latin the following works: *Fidei maiorum defensio, qua haereticorum saeculi nostri stratagemata deteguntur* (Antwerp 1575); *De libero arbitrio et meritis bonorum operum* (ibid. 1575); *Defensionis fidei maiorum* Book II, in which the truth of the real presence of Christ in the Eucharist is proved by more than 350 arguments (Rome 1576; more complete edition, Cologne 1587); *Defensio perpetuae virginitatis B. V. s. Joseph* (Lyons 1578), and other minor works. All were placed on the Index *donec expurgentur*. His singular opinions rendered him suspect: summoned to Rome in 1586, he was imprisoned in the jail of the Holy Office. The outcome of his trial is not well known. However, three works were absolutely condemned and inserted in the appendix to the Tridentine Index: *Novae illustrationes christianae fidei contra impios* etc. (Paris 1583); *Varii tractatus et disputationes de necessaria correctione theologiae scholasticae* (ibid. 1586); *De missae Christi ordine et ritu* (ibid. 1586), because they taught that when Jesus said, “This is my body,” the consecration had already taken place through the external gesture of blessing (*benedixit*). Likewise, these words in the canon of the Mass have a narrative value, though they must be repeated as commanded. The true form of consecration is given by the words of the epiclesis. In the Roman Rite the epiclesis is found in the *Quam oblationem* which precedes the narrative of the Supper, while in the Greek Rite it is one of the prayers following the narrative (v. EPIGLESI).
This doctrine had been clearly formulated in another work: *De la vertu des paroles par lesquelles se fait la consécration* (Paris 1585). Recently all the works of C. have been expunged from the Index.