Where to begin? It took me a year to read The Hidden Manna: A Theology of the Eucharist by James T. O'Connor. This wonderful book is a comprehensive study on the Catholic Theology of the Eucharist. It is the kind of book that does not allow you to fly through. On almost every page I high-lighted a gem of information. This is not to say it is a difficult read. On the contrary. This book is just loaded with detailed and wonderful information. It is a history book and a theology primer.

Starting with the New Testament and Early Church Fathers Fr. O'Connor takes the reader on a wonderful journey showing how Catholic Eucharistic thought has developed. He discusses consistancy in teaching, heresies, and how the Doctors of the Church viewed and added to this wonderful Theology.

The book shows the reader how the Eucharist is really the center of Church thought and teaching. What is really wonderful is that this book ends in the 20th century, but it shows how throughout Catholic Church history there has been a consistancy of thought when it comes to the Eucharist. This is not to say that all theologians were in agreement. But even in disagreement the reader is lead to understand how they built upon one and other's theology.

As a 21st Century Catholic I saw that as I focus on this primary of all Sacraments I am in unison with those 1st Century Christians. I recommend this book for Roman Catholics and all others who seek to understand why the Eucharist plays such an important part in Catholic thought and theology. This book is an anchor of Eucharistic study.

Probably the most comprehensive work in English on the historical development of the theology of the Eucharist now in print. It is scholarly and nonpolemical, though definitely written by one who is strongly committed to a traditional Roman Catholic understanding of transubstantiation and the sacrifice of the Mass. O'Connor notes the diversity of expression in the early Church, yet insists that underneath the various presentations there existed a common faith in the sacramental identity of the consecrated elements and the body and blood of Christ.
O'Connor covers all the majors players from the Patristic period through the medieval period and the Reformation, often providing lengthy citations from their works. He also has a chapter devoted to the teachings of the Popes and the Council of Trent. He concludes with a very length chapter in which he provides his own reflections on the Sacrifice of the Mass and the Real Presence. It is so very clear that O'Connor loves the Mass and the Eucharistic Christ that he encounters in the liturgy.

If O'Connor whets your appetite, then borrow from the library Darwell Stone's massive *History of the Doctrine of the Holy Eucharist*. If only somebody would reprint this invaluable survey of eucharistic doctrine!

[This review is copied from that given by another Amazon.com user to a previous edition of this book.]