Before St. Thomas Aquinas set quill to parchment to write the Summa Theologiae — one of the most influential works of theology and philosophy ever composed — he wrote a prayer to the Eucharist that the Church still prays today: O Sacred Banquet (O Sacrum Convivium).
In his new book, O Sacred Banquet: Exploring the Eucharistic Mystery with Saint Thomas Aquinas (Our Sunday Visitor, 2026) Dominican Father Patrick Mary Briscoe, who serves as general promoter of social communication for the Dominican Order, relates that Aquinas wrote this prayer, in part, because he was at the right place and the right time.
In 1263, Aquinas was an instructor of theology for Dominican friars in the town of Orvieto, Italy, when a Eucharistic miracle took place. Tradition tells us, Father Briscoe writes, that a German priest, Peter of Prague, who was experiencing doubts about the doctrine of transubstantiation — the belief that the bread and wine truly become the Body and Blood of Christ during Mass — went to Rome on pilgrimage in the hope of strengthening his faith.
While celebrating Mass along the way, in the town of Bolsena, Father Peter saw all of his doubts removed in an instant
