The Real Presence and the Manducatio Impiorum

Here's an offing for all those who love suprascholastic theology. I personally prefer Holy Mystery...

Following the teaching of Saint Augustine, a dog which happens to consume the Blessed Sacrament would consume:

1. The sacramentum, the outward and visible sign.
2. The Res sacramenti, the glorified Body of Christ, the Divine Thing signified, which inheres in the outward sign permanently by eucharistic consecration.The dog would not consume:
3. the virtus sacramenti, the effect or benefit of the Blessed Sacrament.

On this subject I would agree with the original teaching of that Augustinian theologian Father Martin Luther, who taught what classical theology calls the Manducatio Impiorum, or 'communication of the wicked.' This doctrine was later altered and reinterpreted by Philip Melanchthon, but the original understanding is still upheld in the Augsburg Confession and the Book of Concord. Sinners receive the Res sacramenti, or in this case an animal receives It, because Our Lord is always present in the Blessed Sacrament to be given as supernatural nourishment by virtue of His institution and covenantal promise. So long as the species remain bread and wine, Our Lord remains, by His institution and covenant, present and available to be received by all who receive the outward sign. Otherwise, we would never know who receives or does not receive Our Lord in the Sacred Mysteries - and it could not thus be an objective gift. I firmly believe Martin Luther was right because Our Lord's Real Presence in the Holy Sacrament, graciously given to poor sinners, of which I am one, depends not upon my interior faith, my motions of will, intellect, or affection, or my supposed election, but upon the power and will of Christ in the Incarnation and sacramental order. The 'communication of the wicked' therefore guarantees that the Sacrament is a Sacrament, and always a Sacrament. The Real Presence is an objective gift, given to be received by a living faith. But the Presence of Christ, objectively present apart from and outside of my personal belief, no more depends on my faith in It than does the existence of God, for God simply is, whether or not I believe. So it is with the Blessed Sacrament, which is Christ's Body and Blood objectively present in sacramental form and subjectively received in personal faith. Ironically, here Article XXIX seems to disagree, at least to some extent, with Article XXVI. We must always receive the Blessed Sacrament with faith, hope, love, and repentance for it to be fruitful in our souls, but the Presence of Christ does not depend on our interior or subjective faith - only on the objective covenantal means of grace given by Christ Himself. Here, I believe the Lutheran formularies, because they are clearer, are actually superior to our own. The dog receives the sacramental sign of Christ and the objective presence of Christ which remains in the sacramental sign, but does not receive the virtue of the Sacrament, for it does not have a soul.