There can
be no doubt that St. Ambrose held what is known as the Real Presence in
the Sacrament of the Eucharist, and is here asserting the custom of his
day, viz., that Christ was worshipped as indivisibly God and Man in
that Sacrament. Similar expressions are to be found in other
Fathers, and in St. Ambrose elsewhere; e.g. De Fide, V.
10; De Mysteriis, §§ 52–54, 58. Bishop
Andrewes, formerly of Winchester (ob. a.d.
1626), refers to St. Ambrose as follows: “Nos vero et in
Mysteriis Carnem Christi adoramus cum Ambrosio, et non id, sed eum qui
super altare colitur. Nec Carnem manducamus quin adoremus prius
cum Augustino.…El Sacramentum tamen nulli
adoremus.” Resp. ad Bellarmin, p.
195.