Question I: What a sacrifice is

HERE we treat of sacrifices in general; for on the sacrifices of the old Law I treated in the first part of the second part, Tract. de legibus, Disputat. 10. quaest. 8. De lege veteri. But on the Most August Sacrifice of the Mass, and at the same time on the shadowy sacrifices, I shall treat in the third part, Tract. de Eucharistia, disp. 2. at the beginning.

OBSERVE, following D. Bonaventure, in 3. dist. 9. dub. 1., that "sacrifice" is taken in many ways. First, it is taken commonly for anything done for the glory of God: and it signifies a sacred action, or some deed consecrated to the Divine majesty. Second, sacrifice is taken for an external office, which is performed and modified by a fixed rite for the glory of God, for acknowledging His majesty, for exhibiting internal devotion, and for professing servitude toward God as the Lord of all things; as when an animal is slaughtered or burned; or bread is broken and eaten.

Scriptures express that common notion of Sacrifice when they call the acts of the virtues sacrifices, as in Psalm 49, where the holy Doctor observes that in the Old Testament there were four kinds of sacrifices. For there was there a sacrifice which was not wholly burned: there was the holocaust, which was entirely consumed by fire: there was the oblation of solid things, such as bread and incense: the libation of liquids, wine, oil, etc. To these, he says, four sacrifices correspond. The Sacrifice of Justice, of which Psalm 4: Sacrifice a sacrifice of justice; the Sacrifice of penance, A contrite spirit to God, Psalm 50; third, the Sacrifice of praise, of which there Psalm 49; and fourth, of mortification, of which Rom. 12: Present your bodies a living host, holy, etc.

AND on Psalm 50, on the words Sacrifice, I would give, he says that in every Sacrifice there are three things: Devotion, Oblation, and Signification; and God loves the first two, not the last; and this is what is meant by: With holocausts you will not be delighted.

THIS distinction the holy Doctor acknowledges in sermon 5. Hexaëmer., where he divides the worship of God into praise and Sacrifice. Sacrifice was instituted by Abel Genesis 3 and used by Noë Genesis 9. It is likely, however, that he had learned it from Adam, as Suarez tract. 2. lib. 1. cap. 1. ex Angelico art. 1. ad 5 notes.

SO also the holy Doctor divides Sacrifice in 3. dist. 9. art. 2. quaest. 2. ad 2, saying that there is a Sacrifice of good operation, of devout prayer, and of immolation; and this third he says pertains to Latria, although prayer also, insofar as it is ordered to the worship of God as its preeminent act, is an act of Religion. In lib. 2. de profectu Religiosi he says there are given sacrifices of good will, of good action, of good speech, of sacred meditation, and of pious affection.