MICHELE MARIA NANNARONI. - Dominican theologian, b. at the beginning of the 18th century, d. in 1771. By decrees of 18 Aug. 1775 and 22 Apr. 1776 the Holy Office condemned various anonymous or pseudonymous works of an eucharistic nature that actually belonged to him.
These works relate to the controversy over liturgical Communion that was hotly debated among Italian theologians in the 18th century and found in Nannaroni its systematic exponent. The matter concerns a little-known dispute, called the controversy of Crema. The question was whether there exists a real and formal distinction between Communion received *infra Missam* (to which one has assisted and with particles consecrated therein) and Communion *extra Missam*; whether Jesus in the ciborium remains as a victim and, as such, produces its effects in those who receive Him, or remains as food with the relative effects recalled by the Council of Trent. Nannaroni appears to distinguish a threefold Communion: a “spiritual” Communion, by which the faithful unite themselves to Jesus the victim in faith and love; a mere *communio sacramentalis* (*per modum Sacramenti*), which the faithful receive outside Mass with particles consecrated; and a “liturgical” Communion (*per modum sacrificii*), which is received with particles consecrated therein. Only the liturgical Communion is a real participation in the Sacrifice, a true Communion because it alone repeats and completes the sacrificial action of the Eucharistic Supper; it alone corresponds to ancient tradition, interrupted by the decline of faith and morals. Priests and faithful stand on the same footing as ministers of the sacrifice, with the difference that only the priest is the minister of consecration and, as offerer and consumer, is therefore the dispenser of the divine mysteries. This common participation in the sacrifice, grounded in the Mystical Body, derives from the common, though unequal, priesthood affirmed by St Peter and St John in the Apocalypse. The faithful are true priests, not metaphorically; hence the liturgical Communion of both priests and faithful is of divine-ecclesiastical precept. The faithful, “except in cases of grave necessity,” are bound to receive Communion *infra Missam*, and priests “would incur grave sin if they did not uphold this right.” This doctrine, defended by Traversari (q.v.) and Tamburini, was propagated in Tuscan Jansenist literature by Scipione De’ Ricci, and was treated at length by Nannaroni in the two large volumes condemned: *Del pubblico divini diritto alla Comunione eucaristica nel sacrificio della Messa* (Lugano 1774).