In this in-depth study, Fr. O'Connor lets the breadth and richness of the Church's Tradition speak for itself. He presents and comments on substantial excerpts from the major sources of the Church's Tradition extending all the way back to apostolic times. Focusing on the doctrine of the Real Presence, he follows the earliest witnesses through the challenges in the Middle Ages of Berengarius through the Protestant Reformation and modern disputes. In a chapter on "Peter and the Eucharist" he shows how the integrity of this doctrine has been preserved primarily by the successors of Peter when it was endangered.

Both historically and theologically, the author treats the Real Presence, Transubstantiation, the Eucharist as pledge and foretaste of heaven, as sacrifice, as the Sacrament of Sacraments. He also shows the relationship between the Eucharist and the Church and the Eucharist and Our Lady. The great theologians and Fathers of the Church that O'Connor draws upon include St. Ignatius of Antioch, St. Justin Martyr, St. Irenaeus, St. Jerome, St. Augustine, St. John Chrysostom, St. Ambrose, St. Thomas Aquinas, Duns Scotus and Paul VI. Father James O'Connell gives us nothing less than a comprehensive study of the Church's meditation on the Mystery of the Eucharist from the first centuries to our own times ... For the lay reader who wants a rich understanding of the Eucharist, for either teacher or student of the theology of the Eucharist, for the preacher who, as in my own case, is always seeking deeper insight to share with God's People, The Hidden Manna is a superb work." - John Cardinal O'Connor From the Foreword Fr. James T. O'Connor is a professor of theology at St. Joseph's Seminary, Dunwoodie, New York.