CHAPTER I: ON THE DEFINITION, NUMBER, AND DIVISION OF THE SACRAMENTS

1206. - I. Definition. A Sacrament is a sensible sign instituted by Christ for signifying and conferring grace.

Hence three things are necessarily required in every Sacrament, namely: 1° a sensible sign; 2° divine institution; 3° the power of producing the grace promised by Christ.

All Sacraments are perfected by three things: 1° by things as matter; 2° by words as form; 3° by the person of the Minister confecting the Sacrament with the intention of doing what the Church does. - This is clear from the Council of Florence in the Decree of Union.

Sacraments, besides sanctifying grace, produce grace which is called sacramental, i.e. they confer, if due conditions are not lacking, helps for obtaining the special end for which each Sacrament was instituted. Sacraments operate ex opere operato, i.e. by force of the divine institution independently of the work of the one operating, namely of the Minister and subject of the Sacraments.

1207. - II. Number. The Sacraments are seven, as is clear from Trent:¹ If anyone shall have said that the Sacraments of the New Law were not all instituted by our Lord Jesus Christ, or that there are more or fewer than seven, namely Baptism, Confirmation, Eucharist, Penance, Extreme Unction, Order, and Matrimony; or that even some one of these seven is not truly and properly a Sacrament, let him be anathema.

III. Division. Sacraments according to various properties are thus distinguished:

1° Necessary, or not necessary. Again, necessary Sacraments are necessary either by necessity of means, or by necessity of precept. By necessity of means, at least in implicit vow, Baptism is necessary, which is the gate of the Church and of the kingdom of heaven; Penance is necessary for those who have fallen into mortal sin after Baptism; and, according to St. Alphonsus,¹ probably also the Eucharist, both on account of the words of Christ:² Unless you shall have eaten, etc., you shall not have life in you; and because the Eucharist is the end of all the Sacraments. - By necessity of precept all the others are necessary, with the last two excepted, which are not necessary for private persons, but only for the community.

2° Imprinting, or not imprinting, character in the soul. Baptism, Confirmation, and Order imprint character; the others do not imprint. - Trent.³

3° Formed, or unformed, according as they produce grace while they are received, or, with an obstacle intervening, suspend their effect until the obstacle is removed.

4° Sacraments of the living or of the dead, according as they already suppose sanctifying, or first, grace, and only increase it; or, from their primary institution, confer that same grace.

1208. Questions. - Query 1° Can the Sacraments of the dead confer second grace?

Resp. Affirmatively. But this can happen in a twofold case: 1° when venial sins alone are subjected to the keys, which frequently

happens; 2° when a penitent, guilty of mortal sin, approaches the Sacrament of Penance with perfect contrition; because perfect contrition with the vow of the Sacrament, even before reception of the same, justifies a man: therefore then the Sacrament confers not first grace, but second grace only.

Query 2° Can Sacraments of the living sometimes avail to confer first grace?

Resp. Affirmatively, more probably; not indeed per se, as is clear from their institution, but per accidens, or by means of Charity infused by force of the Sacrament in a subject not voluntarily opposing an obstacle. The case would be if someone of good faith, about to approach a Sacrament of the living, approaches in mortal sin, either because he is ignorant of this, or because he thinks himself contrite, or because he thinks that he approaches licitly in that state; now, in these circumstances the Sacrament of the living infuses grace into the soul, and therefore blots out the sin. For Sacraments always confer grace on those not placing an obstacle.¹ But an obstacle is not placed by him who approaches thus in good faith.²

1209. - Query 3° Is attrition required or does it suffice, that Sacraments of the living may confer first grace?

Resp. Affirmatively to each: 1° indeed it is required, because first grace cannot be infused except by the destruction of mortal sin; but the destruction of mortal sin cannot happen without detestation of the same, namely without contrition or at least attrition; 2° it suffices, because from the things said Sacraments of the living can sometimes confer first grace: but this could not happen if attrition did not suffice, since a sinner justified by perfect contrition would always approach the Sacrament.³

Query 4° Is original sin blotted out in Baptism valid indeed, but unformed because of defect of disposition in the adult baptized?

Resp. Negatively. The reason is, because no sin dissolving from the friendship of God is forgiven except through reconciliation with God, i.e. through justification. But this cannot happen unless first grace is infused; but this first grace is not infused if dispositions are lacking. Therefore. But once the obstacle has been removed, whether by perfect contrition with the vow of the Sacrament, or by the Sacrament with attrition, the sacramental grace of Baptism revives, or its suspension ceases, and it blots out original sin, and at the same time all actual sins committed before Baptism. But the Sacrament of Penance blots out sins committed after Baptism, and, according to the sentence which St. Alphonsus¹ calls most common, but whose foundation does not seem convincing to him, the sin of fiction, or of depraved disposition, with which the Sacrament of Baptism was received. Yet insofar as this depraved disposition persevered after Baptism, it is certainly blotted out through the Sacrament of Penance.

1210. - Definitions. Matter is a sensible thing to be determined to the notion of a Sacrament through form. Hence matter is that which in the Sacrament is more indifferent, and has a less perfect signification; and therefore it must be determined through another thing for signifying.

Matter is twofold: one remote, and another proximate. The former is the sensible thing itself, which is employed in the Sacrament, or the thing about which the sacramental action is exercised. The latter is the very application, or use, of the remote matter in the sacramental action. Thus in Baptism water is the remote matter, ablution the proximate matter.

But form is the part of the Sacrament which determines the matter for effecting the Sacrament, and which ordinarily (n. 1554. II.) consists in words uttered by the Minister.

1211. Principles. - I. Matter and form are altogether necessary for the validity of a Sacrament; therefore, with either one lacking, Sacraments cannot be confected. The reason is, because a Sacrament cannot be confected except in that mode in which Christ instituted it, who alone is the author of the Sacraments. It is of faith. It is clear besides from dogmatic definitions, especially from the Council of Florence in the Decree of Union, etc.¹

II. In confecting a Sacrament, outside the case of necessity, matter and form ought to be employed morally certain. The reason is, because, unless necessity urges, it is not lawful to use probability which does not remove the danger of invalidity. Cf. n. 60. I.

III. Matter and form ought to be united, or applied, by the same Minister and toward the same subject. "The reason is, because if one should place the matter, and another the form, the words of the form would not be verified; for the Minister, who, for example, should say: I baptize thee, while another pours out the water, would utter what is false, since he himself would not baptize.

IV. That a Sacrament be valid, there ought to be so great a conjunction or simultaneity between matter and form that one affects the other. The reason is, because otherwise the words would not fall upon such a thing, nor therefore with it constitute one total sign.

1. In the Eucharist physical simultaneity is required between matter and form; for the demonstrative pronoun THIS and HERE cannot be verified unless the matter is present.

2. In the other Sacraments moral simultaneity suffices, and that diverse according to the diverse nature of the individual Sacraments. Hence:

a) In Penance absolution can be deferred for some little time, for example for an hour; for it was instituted in the manner of a forensic judgment, in which sentence is not always immediately pronounced.

b) In Matrimony the consent of one party can follow the consent of the other for as long as this is morally judged to endure, as happens in contracts, whose nature Matrimony imitates.

c) In the other Sacraments, for validity, it suffices that the matter be applied immediately (i.e. within a space less than one Pater) before the form is pronounced, or immediately after it has been uttered. - In practice, however, as safer, the sentence of Cajetan is to be advised, which requires that the form be begun before the application of the matter is completed, or conversely.¹

1212. - There is given a twofold change both in matter and in form, namely substantial and accidental.

The change will be substantial in matter, if according to the use and estimation of men this cannot be called the same as that which was determined by Christ, as if in Baptism you should employ wine instead of water; but in form, if the sense of the words intended by Christ is changed into another, as if in Baptism you should say: I anoint thee in the name, etc. But the change is called accidental which is concerned only with the qualities of the thing, as if you baptize with water not blessed; or which does not change the sense of the words, as if in place of: I baptize, you should say: I wash.¹

Principles. - I. Every substantial change in the matter and form of a Sacrament invalidates the Sacrament, because it is no longer the rite instituted by Christ; and, if it is voluntary, constitutes grave sin, because it inflicts grave injury upon the author of the rite.

II. No accidental change in the matter and form invalidates a Sacrament; yet it induces grave or light sin, according as it is, or is not, notable.

The form of the Sacraments can be changed substantially in many ways:

1° By subtraction of an essential syllable or words, as if you say: I baptize, omitting that word thee; but not of accidental words, as if in Latin you say: I baptize thee, omitting that word I.

2° By addition, by which the truth of the Sacrament is taken away, as: I baptize thee in the name of the greater Father, of the lesser Son; but not by that addition by which only the error of the Minister is expressed, in a separate proposition, and not as an explicit or implicit condition, as: by the authority conferred upon me by Calvin, I, etc.

3° By variation of words through others not synonymous, as if in place of: I absolve, you say: I change.

4° By transposition of words, which ordinarily is only accidental, as: Thee I baptize.

5° By corruption of the same, for example by changing letters, which will more easily be substantial at the beginning than at the end of the words; because more easily for hearers the sense will be changed, for example in "in the name of the mother" for "of the father," than in "of the chalice" for "of the cup."

6° By interruption, by which the unity of the sentence is taken away, as if, after having said: This is, you should recite a Psalm or delay long; but not if, after having said: I thee, you should cough, impose silence, saying: Be silent, chatterers, and then at once conclude: baptize, etc.

1213. - A threefold rule must be established:

I. Sacraments can be repeated whenever there is a prudent doubt concerning their value. The reason is, because if perchance the Sacrament were not valid, those who approach to receive it would be deprived of its fruit. But that a prudent fear of so great an inconvenience is a sufficient reason why the Sacrament should be repeated is clear from the very well-known axiom: Sacraments are on account of men.

II. Sacraments generally cannot be repeated without grave sin, when there is no prudent doubt concerning their value. The reason is, because without cause they would be repeated, and therefore a grave injury would be inflicted upon them.

III. Sacraments ought to be repeated whenever, a prudent doubt concerning their value having arisen, charity, justice, or religion demands this; that is, whenever from justice, charity, or religion they ought to have been confected or administered. The reason is, because the nullity of the Sacrament, if perchance it were present, would turn to the harm of the neighbor, and sometimes to contempt or irreverence of Religion. But then they are to be repeated only conditionally, that reverence for the Sacrament may be provided for.¹

1214. Resolves. - 1° The Sacraments more necessary, and those which are conferred only once, namely Baptism and Order, are more easily to be repeated, even if a much greater probability makes for the value of the Sacrament against doubtful or only slightly probable reasons in the opposite direction. - Thus commonly.

2° Absolution is to be repeated with a penitent guilty of mortal sin, if there is prudent doubt concerning the due utterance of the form. But if the penitent is not in the state of mortal sin, it will not be necessary to repeat the form, since Communion can be permitted to him even without absolution.

3° The Minister who doubts lightly, and does not know why he fears, or only does not reflexively remember that he pronounced the words of the form, sins mortally per se if he repeats the form, or even one word three or four times. The reason is, because he changes the form, and introduces a new rite concerning the gravest action of all. Moreover he exhibits Christ, whom he represents, as speaking ridiculously. In practice, however, the scrupulous who repeat the form are for the most part excused from mortal sin, indeed often also from venial sin, because, too much agitated by scruples, from perplexity or without advertence, they act so foolishly. - Thus Voit.¹

4° If in Mass after the Consecration a doubt arises for you concerning the due utterance of the form, or concerning its total omission, you ought not, nor can you, repeat anything, since otherwise you are not accustomed to omit these things; for one must judge from things commonly occurring, unless nevertheless you doubt very probably, as the Rubric speaks. - See St. Alphonsus.²