« MIRA E CARITATIS ». — The opening words of the encyclical of LEO XIII, issued on 28 May 1902, on the Eucharist (Acta Leonis XIII, 22 [1903], pp. 115-36).
The Pope, now on the eve of his death, concentrates his manifold teachings into the mystery that encompasses them all. The Eucharist is examined in its three aspects—real presence, Sacrifice, and Sacrament—showing their close relationship with faith, hope, and charity; the three virtues, nourished at the heavenly banquet, suppress social differences, uniting men in a divine solidarity and lifting their spirits from fleeting goods to immortal hopes.
The encyclical, composed in robust and concise Latin, constitutes a masterly synthesis of the Church’s ordinary teaching on the Eucharistic dogma.