Article — Merkelbach, Summa Theologiae Moralis
Article II: On the Existence of the Sacrament Itself
S. Th. III, q. 84, a. 1 and 7.
427. Catholic doctrine. - Against the Protestants, among whom many deny that Penance is a sacrament, or at least that it is distinct from Baptism, while generally all deny that it is necessary, the Council of Trent, sess. 14, teaches three things:
1° that Christ the Lord instituted the sacrament of Penance, and indeed chiefly after His resurrection by the words: Receive the Holy Spirit; whose sins you shall forgive, they are forgiven them... (c. 1);
2° that this sacrament differs from Baptism in many ways, which it then explains (c. 2);
3° that the sacrament of Penance is necessary for salvation to those fallen after Baptism, as Baptism itself is necessary to those not yet regenerated (ibid.).
428. Thesis. The rite by which the power of forgiving sins is exercised is a true sacrament of the New Law distinct from Baptism. - This is of faith from the Council of Trent, sess. 14, l.c., can. 1 and 2.
It is proved:
1° From the Scriptures, John XX, 23, where all the elements of a sacrament are indicated: a) a sensible sign, for the power of remitting sins is exercised by a judicial act, which act, since it is exercised toward men, must be carried out in a human and external manner, and therefore imports at least two things: namely, the sensible manifestation of sins and contrition, and the external sentence of the judge absolving the penitent; b) conferring grace, for without the infusion of grace sins cannot be blotted out; c) instituted by Christ, as was already proved, and indeed permanently, because this power was given to the Church on account of perpetual necessity; whence it was perpetually claimed and exercised by the Church, as we have already said (n. 424).
But it is a sacrament distinct from Baptism. For a) this latter is conferred by the washing of water, Penance under the form of a forensic judgment; - b) in Penance the minister is a judge, not so in Baptism, but any man, even a simple member of the faithful, indeed an unbeliever; - c) in Baptism the subject is a man not yet belonging to the Church, but the contrary holds in Penance; - d) the grace of Penance is remissive and therefore can be granted several times, but on the contrary the grace of Baptism, because it is regenerative, is granted only once.
Remission directly signifies release from the bond of guilt insofar as it is an offense of God; whence formally it is the forgiveness of an imputable offense. Washing signifies directly cleansing from a stain and is a cause taking away sin as it is a defilement of the soul; whence formally it is wiping away. Remission restores grace insofar as it converts to God and takes away aversion from the end; wiping away restores grace insofar as it is the beauty and due perfection of the soul.
2° From Tradition. From the beginning the Fathers distinguish Penance from Baptism, such as Ignatius, Hermas, Tertullian (n. 424); yet they compare it with Baptism and assert that by both sins are truly remitted and grace conferred, although in a different way. Thus, for example, Athanasius, on Matt. XVI, 19; Jerome, dialogue against Pelagius I, 23; Ambrose, On Penance I, 1-8; Augustine, On Adulterous Marriages II, 16; ep. 128; On Baptism V, 28; Pacian, ep. 1 to Sympronianus (ap. Jerome, On Illustrious Men, 106).
3° By reason of fittingness: Just as divine mercy instituted the sacramental remedy of Baptism against original sin, so it was fitting that it should provide another against actual sins committed after Baptism, by which men would be rendered equally certain concerning the remission of their guilt.
- The matter and form are diverse: in Baptism, washing by water under the express invocation of the Most Holy Trinity; in Penance, the acts of the penitent and the words of absolution.
- Baptism is the enrollment of a stranger as a member of the Church; Penance is the judicial act of a minister of the Church upon a guilty subject.
- Baptism cannot be repeated on account of the character impressed; Penance can be repeated as often as the subject of the Church has declared sins.
- The effect of Baptism is washing from every sin, even original sin, from every guilt and punishment; the effect of Penance is absolution from actual sin, but not from every punishment, at least ordinarily.
- Baptism, because it is cleansing through washing, does not require laborious works; Penance requires these because it is the remission of an offense through a judicial sentence.
- Baptism is necessary for salvation to all; Penance only to the fallen.
430. Observation. - In the sacrament of Penance, as in the other sacraments, three things are distinguished, as St. Thomas notes, a. 1, ad 1:
1° The sacrament only, namely, the external sacred sign which signifies and is not signified, and this in Penance is the absolution of the minister together with the external acts of the penitent.
2° The reality of the sacrament, namely, the fruit which is signified and does not signify, and here it is the remission of sins and grace formally converting to God, which sometimes peace and serenity of conscience with vehement consolation of spirit are accustomed to follow, as the Council of Trent says, sess. 14, c. 3.
3° The reality and sacrament, the medium between both, which is signified by the external sign and at the same time signifies the internal fruit of the sacrament; it is effected by the external sign and at the same time is the cause demanding and conferring the infusion of grace. This is interior penance, which is signified by external acts and by the power of absolution becomes, even if it is imperfect, a sufficient title for obtaining ex opere operato grace remissive of sin.
This perhaps can be explained thus: Judgment or a judicial sentence produces right, which is affixed to that on which it is founded, for example, in forensic judgment, so that those things which were alleged in the process are a juridical title that the crime is no longer imputed or that someone is freed from prison; so that if the things alleged are false, by that very fact the right vanishes or the judicial sentence becomes invalid. But in the tribunal of penance, that which founds absolution is nothing other than penance, or interior contrition juridically known through the external acts of the penitent. Therefore the sentence of absolution makes this interior penance a juridical title for the remission of sin.1
1 Cf. John of St. Thomas, Cursus theol., on the Sacraments, disp. 33, a. 5; Ledesma, Th. M. on the Sacraments, on Penance, concl. 4; Billot, On the Sacraments of the Church II, th. 4. Somewhat otherwise Horvath, Die Sundenvergebung im sakramentalen Geschehen, in Divus Thomas Fr. 1939.