ABSTRACT
The Amadeus of Lausanne who, in a homily in praise of Mary, compares her to "the tree planted in the midst of paradise." This can only be the Tree of Life, for it "brings forth the fruit of salvation, the fruit of glory, the fruit of life, and he who eats of it will live forever. This is a eucharistic formulation which makes it clear that the "fruit" that Mary produces is edible. The second oral concern is eucharistic. For the adult Christ to be hanging on the cross means that he himself will eventually be offered to the faithful for oral consumption – not literal consumption of his bloodied body on the cross, but consumption of the communion host and wine. The eucharist was moving from mere commemoration of Christ's original sacrifice in ara crucis to a literal repetition, or a reenactment, of that sacrifice at the church altar.
