CHEFFONTAINES (Lat. a Capite Fontium), CHRISTOPHE de. — Franciscan theologian, born c. 1532 at St-Pol-Léon (Brittany), died in Rome in 1595. An Observant Friar from his earliest youth, he devoted himself to preaching, combating the Calvinists. In 1571, elected Minister General of the Order, upon relinquishing that office he became auxiliary bishop to Cardinal de Pellevé, Archbishop of Sens.
He wrote in French and translated into Latin the following works: Fides maiorum defensio, qua haereticorum sacculi nostri stratagemata deteguntur (Antwerp 1575); De libero arbitrio et meritis bonorum operum (ibid. 1575); Defensionis fidei maiorum l. II, in quo veritas corporis Christi in Eucharistiae sacramenta plusquam 350 rationibus probatur (Rome 1576, more complete edition Cologne 1587); Defensio perpetuae virginitatis B. V. s. Ioseph (Lyons 1578), and other minor works. All were placed on the Index “domec expurgentur.” His singular opinions had made him suspect: summoned to Rome in 1586, he was confined in the prison of the Holy Office. The outcome of his trial is not well known. Instead, the three works Novae illustrationes christianae fidei contra impian etc. (Paris 1583); Varii tractatus et disputationes de necessaria correctione theologiae scholasticae (ibid. 1586); De missae Christi ordine et ritu (ibid. 1586) were absolutely condemned and inserted in the appendix to the Index Tridentinus, because they taught that when Jesus said: “Hoc est corpus meum,” the consecration had already taken place through the external gesture of blessing (benedixit). In the same way, these words, in the canon of the Mass, have a narrative value, although they are necessary, given the explicit command to repeat them. The true consecratory form is supplied by the words of the epiclesis. In the Latin Mass the epiclesis is found in the Quam oblationem, which precedes the account of the Supper; in the Greek Mass it is one of the prayers that follows the narrative (v. EPICLESI).
This doctrine had been clearly formulated in the other work: De la vertu des paroles par laquelle se fait la consécration (Paris 1585). Recently all C.’s works have been expunged from the Index.