transubstantiation

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transubstantiation the conversion of the substance of the Eucharistic elements into the body and blood of Christ at consecration, only the appearances of bread and wine still remaining. The belief was defined at the Lateran Council of 1215, based on Aristotelian theories on the nature of ‘substance’, and is the official doctrine of the Roman Catholic Church; the word itself has been used from the mid 16th century. It was rejected by Luther, Zwingli, and other Protestant reformers.

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