transubstantiation

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transubstantiation Belief accepted by the Roman Catholic Church that, during the prayer of consecration at the Mass (the Eucharist), the ‘substance’ of the bread and wine is changed into the ‘substance’ of the body and blood of Jesus Christ, while the ‘accidents’ (the outward forms of bread and wine) remain unchanged. The doctrine was defined at the Lateran Council of 1215. The definition involving ‘substance’ and ‘accidents’ was rejected by the architects of the Reformation.

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