Chapter III: On the Subject of the Sacraments

1431. The SUBJECT of a Sacrament is he who receives the Sacrament and is capable of the effect of the Sacrament.

That only man as wayfarer is the subject of a Sacrament is established both from Sacred Scripture and from the perpetual tradition of the Church; for he alone is capable of first grace or of its increase. Yet not every man as wayfarer is capable of all Sacraments. Thus infants are incapable of Penance and Matrimony; women, of Order; the healthy, of Extreme Unction.⁸

In this chapter we must treat: 1. of the requisites for valid reception of a Sacrament; 2. of the requisites for licit reception.