ere any deception there, as occurs in the feats of
magicians, because such species is divinely formed in the eye in
order to represent some truth, namely, for the purpose of showing
that Christ's body is truly under this sacrament; just as Christ
without deception appeared to the disciples who were going to Emmaus.
For Augustine says (De Qq. Evang. ii) that "when our pretense is
referred to some significance, it is not a lie, but a figure of the
truth." And since in this way no change is made in the sacrament, it
is manifest that, when such apparition occurs, Christ does not cease
to be under this sacrament.

But it sometimes happens that such apparition comes about not merely
by a change wrought in the beholders, but by an appearance which
really exists outwardly. And this indeed is seen to happen when it is
beheld by everyone under such an appearance, and it remains so not
for an hour, but for a considerable time; and, in this case some
think that it is the proper species of Christ's body. Nor does it
matter that sometimes Christ's entire body is not seen there, but
part of His flesh, or else that it is not seen in youthful guise, but
in the semblance of a child, because it lies within the power of a
glorified body for it to be seen by a non-glorified eye either
entirely or in part, and under its own semblance or in strange guise,
as will be said later (Suppl., Q. 85, AA. 2, 3).

But this seems unlikely. First of all, because Christ's body under
its proper species can be seen only in one place, wherein it is
definitively contained. Hence since it is seen in its proper species,
and is adored in heaven, it is not seen under its proper species in
this sacrament. Secondly, because a glorified body, which appears at
will, disappears when it wills after the apparition; thus it is
related (Luke 24:31) that our Lord "vanished out of sight" of the
disciples. But that which appears under the likeness of flesh in this
sacrament, continues for a long time; indeed, one reads of its being
sometimes enclosed, and, by order of many bishops, preserved in a
pyx, which it would be wicked to think of Christ under His proper
semblance.

Consequently, it remains to be said, that, while the dimensions
remain the same as before, there is a miraculous change wrought in
the other accidents, such as shape, color, and the rest, so that
flesh, or blood, or a child, is seen. And, as was said already, this
is not deception, because it is done "