The Recipient of the Sacraments; Requisites for Valid Reception

Requirements for a Valid Sacrament in Reference to the Recipient.—(a) The Person of the Recipient.—Since the Sacraments were instituted as means of salvation, they can be given only to those who are still wayfarers in the present mortal existence, and hence a Sacrament administered to a brute animal or a corpse would be invalid, or, in the case of Communion, would not be received sacramentally. As Baptism is the preparation for the other Sacraments, but need not presuppose personal sinfulness, its subject is any and every unbaptized person, infant or adult, male or female. The other six Sacraments presuppose Baptism, and only those who have been initiated into the Church by Baptism can receive them validly. As to these six Sacraments only males are capable of Orders, which is for the rulers of the Church; only adults are capable of Penance, Extreme Unction and Matrimony, which suppose personal sin or personal contract. Further, the impotent and impeded are incapable of Matrimony, and those who are not in danger of death from sickness are incapable of Extreme Unction. Finally, those who have been baptized, confirmed, or ordained, cannot be rebaptized, reconfirmed, or reordained, since these three Sacraments can be given but once; he who is married cannot marry again while his wife lives and the bond endures; he who has been anointed cannot be reanointed during the same danger.

(b) The Acts of the Recipient.—If the recipient is an infant, no disposition on his part is necessary, since he does not understand. If the recipient is an adult, it is necessary in the performance of every Sacrament (on the Eucharist see 2664) that he have some intention or willingness to receive the Sacrament, since Christ does not wish to confer benefits or impose certain grave burdens on those who are unwilling. A forced Sacrament to which the subject yielded no internal consent would be a null Sacrament. Further, since an essential part (namely, the matter, or according to others a conditio sine qua non) of Penance is the faith and repentance of the recipient, these dispositions are necessary in that Sacrament.

Qualities of the Recipient’s Intention.—(a) Objectively, the recipient should intend to receive what the Church confers, and hence intentions that are not serious, or are mistaken or external (e.g., Baptism received for the sake of rehearsal, or in the belief that it is a profane ablution, or accepted as a pure formality), do not seem sufficient (see 2666).

(b) Subjectively.—The recipient must positively will the Sacrament, for it seems that the so-called neutral intention—in which the subject neither consents nor dissents internally, but is passive and indifferent, and acquiesces externally only to please another—is not a true desire. But the strength or influence of the recipient’s intention need not be so great as the minister’s, since the role of the minister is to perform the rite, that of the subject only to receive the rite (see 2665).

When a Virtual Intention Is Necessary.—It is generally agreed, therefore, that while the interpretative intention does not suffice, the actual intention and even, for the most part, the virtual intention are not necessary. But about the virtual intention the following should be noted; (a) a virtual and explicit intention is necessary in Matrimony if a party be considered, not precisely as recipient, but as minister of the Sacrament (see 2666) and as maker of the contract (see 1883); (b) a virtual and at least implicit intention is necessary in Penance, if a penitent is considered precisely as positing the requisite matter or condition of the Sacrament, since this consists in repentance, and repentance includes either an express or an implied desire of sacramental absolution.

When an Habitual Intention Suffices.—The habitual intention is found in those who are not conscious (see 2165), but it suffices for the reception of a Sacrament, since the recipient does not affect the Sacrament, and it is enough that he had the good will to accept it and has not retracted that will.

(a) An habitual and explicit intention suffices for the three Sacraments that impose special obligations, namely, Baptism, Orders, and Matrimony. Hence, he who has asked for Baptism is validly baptized after he becomes delirious; he who has asked for Orders is validly ordained even when unconscious; he who has sent his consent to a marriage by proxy receives the Sacrament during his sleep, if the other party’s consent closing the contract is given at that time.

(b) An habitual and implicit intention included in a particular will to do a good act on which the Sacrament follows in natural course, suffices for the other three Sacraments which do not impose special obligations. Hence, a person who purposed to live as a Catholic is validly confirmed while unconscious; a person who intended to die as a Catholic is validly absolved and anointed, as far as intention is concerned, at the moment of death, even though he be out of his mind. Further, if an unbaptized person has resolved to become a Catholic but has no knowledge of Baptism itself, he is validly baptized in virtue of his implicit desire, even though he be unconscious.

(c) An habitual and implicit intention included in a general will to do all that is necessary for salvation or a good life is taught by some authors, and is by them considered sufficient for Baptism, since it is the most necessary Sacrament, and the Sacraments are for men. An unbaptized person of good will who has supernatural contrition or charity is justified through Baptism of desire, but if he has only supernatural attrition the Sacrament itself is necessary for him. Hence, in case of urgent need conditional Baptism should be given a dying and unconscious infidel who was well disposed; but, as the intention is not certain, the Baptism should be repeated in case of recovery. The same principle is extended by some moralists to the administration of Penance and Extreme Unction to schismatics and heretics who are in danger of death.