Question Three: On the Sacraments Which Imprint Character

St. Thomas III, q. 63, a. 6.

65. Thesis. Three sacraments imprint character. - This is of faith from the Council of Trent, sess. 7, can. 9, defining the doctrine already explicitly affirmed by the Council of Florence, decree for the Armenians.

It is proved:

1. From Tradition, which acknowledges only Baptism, Confirmation, and Order as altogether unrepeatable, because these sacraments inhere in us and remain; but the external sacrament does not remain nor is it in man; therefore the res et sacramentum remains. But the res et sacramentum which perpetually signs man is character. Therefore.

2. From theological reason: Character is imprinted by those sacraments by which man is deputed to a special office of public worship. But this is not done by Penance and Extreme Unction, which are instituted against the accidental defect of sin; nor in Matrimony, which deputes to a domestic office; nor in the Eucharist, which does not order man to something more perfect, but is itself the end and consummation of all things. Therefore only in Baptism, Confirmation, and Order, by which man is deputed to divine things from office, either to receive them, or to defend them, or to minister them.

66. Observation. - Through the character of Baptism, man is consecrated as a servant of Christ and a member of the Church, and receives the passive power of sacramentally receiving all sacred things whatsoever.

Through the character of Confirmation he is consecrated as a soldier of Christ, and receives a power partly active, of professing the faith of Christ from office, partly passive, of more fittingly receiving other sacraments and especially Order.

Through the character of Order he is consecrated as a priest of Christ and leader in the Church, and receives the active power of confecting and ministering the sacraments.

Whence, just as Christ is king, prophet, and priest, so in the Church of Christ endowed with the threefold power of Christ, through Baptism we are configured to Christ the king, insofar as we are made His servants; through Confirmation we are configured to Christ the teacher and prophet, when we are marked as soldiers of the faith which He Himself taught; through Order we are formally configured to Christ the priest and are made His ministers and dispensers of the mysteries of God.