bilocation
Derived from
- Latin: bis, twice; locatio, place
Article
The actual presence of the same finite being in two totally different places at the same time.
A physical body is said to be in place circumscriptively, every exterior part juxtaposed with Its corresponding part of the environing surfaces. A spiritual being is said to be in place definitely, entire in every part of space occupied. A mixed mode of location is that of a being circumscriptively in one place and definitely elsewhere, as is Christ in heaven and in the Sacred Host. This latter mode of bilocation is pertinent to the Catholic doctrine of the Holy Eucharist.
All the physical laws of matter known to natural science contradict the bilocation of a material body as physically possible. As an absolute or metaphysical impossibility involving an intrinsic, essential contradiction, Catholic philosophers maintain that there is no intrinsic repugnance to a mixed mode of location. Since local extension is not an essential note of material substance, but merely a relation, bilocation does not involve the multiplication of a body’s substance but only the multiplication of its local relations to other bodies.
Additional Information
MLA Citation
- “bilocation”. New Catholic Dictionary. CatholicSaints.Info. 4 March 2009. Web. 29 April 2024. <>