"MIRAE CARITATIS." - The words with which the encyclical of Leo XIII begins, dated 28 May 1902, on the Eucharist (Acta Leonis XIII, 22 [1903], pp. 115-36).

The Pontiff, now on the eve of his death, concentrates his many teachings in the mystery that sums them all up. The Eucharist is studied in its three aspects—of real presence, of Sacrifice and of Sacrament—whose close relationship with faith, hope and charity is shown; the three virtues, nourished in the heavenly banquet, abolishing social differences, unite men in a divine solidarity and raise their spirits from ephemeral goods to immortal hopes.

The encyclical, dictated in a robust and pithy Latin, constitutes a masterly synthesis of the Church's ordinary teaching on the Eucharistic dogma.

Bibliography3 works

BIBL.: anon., Atti di Leone XIII, 3rd ed., Mondovì 1910, pp. 658-66 (Italian translation of the text); E. Ruffini, Scritti ascetici di mons. Vincenzo Tarozzi, Rome 1938, p. VII (Tarozzi collaborated directly in the drafting of the document); E. Hocedes, Histoire de la théologie au XIXe siècle, III, Brussels-Paris 1947, p. 393.

Antonio Piolanti

@incollection{ec8_mirae_caritatis, author = {Piolanti, Antonio}, title = {Mirae Caritatis}, booktitle = {Enciclopedia Cattolica}, volume = {VIII}, pages = {1078}, note = {Cited by column}, publisher = {Ente per l’Enciclopedia Cattolica e per il Libro Cattolico}, address = {Città del Vaticano}, year = {1952}, url = {https://azioneromana.com/article/mirae-caritatis} }

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