After the Fourth Lateran Council (1215) officially
recognized the doctrine of transubstantiation, many
more Christians came to believe that the communion
wafer, or Host, was the actual body of Christ. In
this Spanish painting, the wafer is shown spouting
blood after being tortured by a group of Jews.
Christians often believed that Jews mutilated the
wafer to cause Christ to suffer, a notion made all
the more absurd by the fact that Jews considered the
wafer no more than unleavened bread. Jews were nevertheless
falsely charged with this fictitious crime throughout
the Middle Ages.
