St .Thomas Aquinas’ Spiritual Exegesis of the Mass - Fr. John Saward

Fr. John Saward presents Aquinas's Summa III, q.83 as a "spiritual exegesis" of the Mass, showing how the Angelic Doctor reads the rites, words, and ceremonies of the Mass as signs that both signify and make present the saving mysteries of Christ's passion, grounded in the real presence and in the priest's acting in persona Christi.

This lecture was given on May 18th, 2026, at University of Oxford.

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About the Speaker:

Fr. John Saward is a Senior Research Fellow of Blackfriars Hall. He was formerly Professor of the International Theological Institute at Gaming, Austria, and at St. Charles Borromeo Seminary, Wynnewood, Pennsylvania.

Fr. Saward’s publications include Redeemer in the Womb (1993); The Beauty of Holiness and the Holiness of Beauty (1997); Cradle of Redeeming Love (2002); and Sweet and Blessed Country (2005).

Keywords: Aquinas, Concomitance, In Persona Christi, Liturgical Exegesis, Real Presence, Roman Canon, Sacramental Realism, Signs Of The Cross, Summa Theologiae, Transubstantiation