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transubstantiation

 - 4 dictionary results

tran⋅sub⋅stan⋅ti⋅a⋅tion

  [tran-suhb-stan-shee-ey-shuhn]
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–noun
1. the changing of one substance into another.
2. Theology. the changing of the elements of the bread and wine, when they are consecrated in the Eucharist, into the body and blood of Christ (a doctrine of the Roman Catholic Church).

Origin:
1350–1400; ME transubstanciacioun < ML trānssubstantiātiōn- (s. of trānssubstantiātiō). See transubstantiate, -ion
Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2009.
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tran·sub·stan·ti·a·tion   (trān'səb-stān'shē-ā'shən)   
n.  

  1. Conversion of one substance into another.

  2. In many Christian churches, the doctrine holding that the bread and wine of the Eucharist are transformed into the body and blood of Jesus, although their appearances remain the same.

tran'sub·stan'ti·a'tion·al·ist n.
The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
Copyright © 2009 by Houghton Mifflin Company.
Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.
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Cultural Dictionary

transubstantiation

According to the traditional teaching of the Roman Catholic Church, the presence of Jesus in the sacrament of Communion. Through transubstantiation, the bread and wine consumed by worshipers become the body and blood of Jesus when a priest, acting on Jesus' behalf, speaks the words “This is my body” and “This is my blood” over them.

Note: Transubstantiation was the focus of a great controversy during the Reformation, because most other groups of Christians do not maintain this doctrine. They usually hold that the body and blood of Jesus are only symbolically present in the bread and wine or that the bread and wine are the body and blood of Jesus and bread and wine at the same time.
The American Heritage® New Dictionary of Cultural Literacy, Third Edition
Copyright © 2005 by Houghton Mifflin Company.
Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.
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Word Origin & History

transubstantiation 
1398, "change of one substance to another," from M.L. trans(s)ubstantiationem (nom. trans(s)ubstantio), noun of action from trans(s)ubstantiare "to change from one substance into another," from L. trans- "across" + substantiare "to substantiate," from substania "substance" (see substance). Ecclesiastical sense in reference to the Eucharist first recorded 1533.
Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2001 Douglas Harper
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