The Blood of Christ in the Later Middle Ages
Caroline Walker Bynum
In one of our earliest descriptions meditation on the crucifix, Aelred Rievaulx (d.1166) described body cross, pierced by soldier's lance, as food and urged female recluses for whom he wrote not only to contemplate it but also eat in gladness: “Hasten, linger not, honeycomb with your honey, drink wine milk. The blood is changed into inebriate you, water milk nourish you.” Marsha Dutton, who has written so movingly Cistercian piety, speaks this a eucharistic interpretation literal, physical reality crucifixion points parallel Berengar Tours' oath at synod Rome 1079: “The bread which are placed altar … substantially true proper vivifying Jesus Christ Lord after consecration there was born virgin flowed from his side their real nature substance.”
Church History