Article — Merkelbach, Summa Theologiae Moralis
Article I: On the Principal Minister
S. Th. III, q. 78, a. 1 and 4; q. 82, a. 1, 5 and 7, ad 3; q. 83, a. 1, ad 3.
326. Christ is the priest of the New Testament, highest and supreme, constituted by God forever with an oath, pontiff of heavenly things, anointed in the incarnation itself by the grace of hypostatic union, when, entering the world made man, He was destined to offer Himself in the sacrifice of redemption and by His human will accepted this office.
Thus in the Epistle to the Hebrews V-XI. Whence Augustine, on Ps. 26: "In the assumption of flesh that Christ was anointed as king and priest."
But He is priest according to His human nature: for as God, just like the Father and the Holy Spirit, He has no superior to whom He may sacrifice, but He Himself is the one to whom sacrifice is offered; but as man, according to the nature proper to Himself, He is the servant of God, to whom He can and ought to submit Himself, and according to this nature He sacrifices to the divine nature, i.e., to the Father, the Holy Spirit, and Himself as God. This He perfectly fulfilled by one act of infinite dignity and value, in the sacrifice of the cross, as we suppose proved in the treatise on Redemption.
But it is asked whether, as on the cross, so also on the altar Christ is priest or minister.
It is proved: 1. From the Scriptures: Christ, in Ps. CIX, 4, is called priest according to the order of Melchisedech, which according to tradition was interpreted because He sacrificed in bread and wine; and priest forever, which would not be true unless He were priest of the sacrifice which is always repeated. Likewise in Heb. VII, 24, He is called priest of the New Testament, to whom no one else succeeds, having an everlasting priesthood; therefore He Himself sacrifices in the Mass, otherwise someone would succeed Him, since the same victim is present as on the cross.
- From Tradition, namely from the Fathers, such as Irenaeus, adv. haer. IV, 17-18; Cyprian, ep. 63; Chrysostom, hom. 50 in Matt. 3; 17 in Heb. 3; and I de prod. Iud.; L. de Sacr. IV, 4, 14; Theodoret, in Ps. 109; Eusebius of Caesarea, dem. ev. V, 3; Augustine, de Civ. D. XVII, 20; the Liturgies; and the Councils, Lateran IV, c. 1, Florence, decree for the Armenians, and Trent, sess. 22, c. 1 and 2.
- From the words of consecration: priests do not consecrate except by acting in the person of Christ and using His words; therefore they offer sacrifice in the name of Christ, and therefore they are only secondary ministers, while Christ is the principal minister.
- By reason of fittingness, both a) on account of the excellence of the sacrifice, which, according to Mal. I, is a clean oblation, which always presents great honor to God; but dignity especially depends upon the dignity of the one offering; therefore it is required that the offerer always be most holy, which most of all befits Christ; - and b) on account of the dignity of the thing offered, which is a thing of infinite dignity and most pure, and therefore ought to be offered by a similar offerer, Christ.
328. In what way Christ is the principal minister. - Sacrifice is not perfected by a merely material immolation of the victim; otherwise every change or destruction made by a priest would be a sacrifice; but by a moral religious action, by which from the intention of honoring God the immolation is offered to Him. Whence it is required: 1. that the immolation of the victim depend in some way upon the will of the priest; 2. that it be directed by him in honor of God.
These two things are verified concerning Christ in the Mass:
- Christ not only instituted the sacrifice, which would not suffice for Him to be priest in it, but by His human will He willed that it be perpetually offered in His name by priests as by His legates, to whom He granted this power, so that priests execute nothing except the will of Christ, and the action of priests is morally the action of Christ and is attributed rather to Him than to the priests, just as the action of a legate is attributed more to the king than to himself.
- At the last supper Christ, foreseeing all and each of the future sacrifices, even then willed all and each to be done in honor of God, and offered them to Him; which will habitually perseveres, not revoked.
In this way Christ is a true priest. With many theologians it can be added: since Christ Himself is present in the sacrifice with His will, it is impossible that He direct it in honor of God not only habitually but also by an actual will.
329. It is objected: The sacrificial action ought to be from a priest as from a principal cause. But consecration is a supernatural action, which has no principal cause except God, and of which Christ as man is merely the instrument. Therefore Christ as man is not priest.
It is answered by distinguishing: the sacrificial action, formally as it is a moral and religious action, i.e., as a testimony of interior reverence and honor toward God, ought to be from a priest as from a principal cause, I concede; as it is a physical action, I deny; for a priest, for example, can command the killing of a victim, which is carried out by others. But consecration as a physical action has no principal physical cause except God, I concede; as a moral and religious action, or as a testimony, it has no principal moral cause except God, to the exclusion of Christ as man, I deny. Namely Christ as man, by the human will proper to Himself, willed to use His power of performing miracles, for causing transubstantiation in honor of God; and He did this not as an instrument of the divinity, but as a principal cause, although the execution of the work does not pertain to Him except as to an instrumental cause. Therefore Christ as man is the principal moral cause in the sacrifice, and the instrumental efficient cause.