a name given by ecclesiastical writers to the opinion of those who deny the truth and reality of the body and blood of Christ in the eucharist. The denomination took its rise from Berengarius, archdeacon and scholasticus of the church of St Mary at Anjou about the year 1035, who maintained, that the bread and wine, even after consecration, do not become the true body and blood of our Lord, but only a figure and sign thereof.

Berengarianism was strenuously opposed by Lanfranc, Guittaud, Adelmannus, Albericus, &c. Divers synods were held, wherein the author was condemned at Rome, Verailles, Florence, Tours, &c. He retracted, and returned again more than once; signed three several Catholic confessions of faith; the first in the second council of Rome, the second in the third, and the third in the fourth council of the same city. But he still relapsed to his former opinion when the storm was over; though Mabillon maintains he soon recovered from his fourth fall, and died an orthodox Catholic in 1088.