ABSTRACT
One way to bring Christ more convincingly to the altar of the eucharist was to bring his mother there too. In the medieval West, transubstantiationalist theologians tended to link the eucharistic elements with Mary. The numerous texts and images that represent the bread of the eucharist as a child only sometimes involve Mary directly. But, it is always understood that the child is Mary's child, and Mary herself occasionally participates in the action represented. One Western category of tales about the child in the host has a distinctly anti-Jewish message. Here, too, Mary participates in the action represented. Miri Rubin, who has conducted some revealing investigations of the eucharist in late medieval culture, examines this particular category at the beginning of her book, Gentile Tales: The Narrative Assault on Late Medieval Jews. The most important sacramental manifestation of the relationship between Mary and her son is the eucharist.
