Amalarius

Amalarius a priest of Metz in the 9th century. He wrote a treatise, De Divinis Officiis libri quatuor, giving an account of the church services, and a rationale of their meaning. Some passages in it favor the idea that he was free from the superstitions of his times as to the Lord's Supper. He also wrote De ordine Antiphonarii. Both this and the former treatise are given in Bibl. Max. Patr. 14, He wrote many Letters, to be found in D'Achery, Spicileg. 3, 330. The sixth letter is occupied with a curious discussion, arising from the notion of our Lord's body being actually present in the sacrament. Amalarius was consulted about a person who had spit immediately after receiving the sacrament, whether he had thus spit away some of our Lord's body and blood, and whether he could be saved after such an act; he does not decide whether the person had voided some particles of Christ's body, but says that the health of the soul will not be endangered by this act which was done for the health of the body. — Clarke, Sac. Lit. 2, 471; Cave, Hist. Lit. anno 812.

⇒See also the International Standard Bible Encyclopedia.