Article III. On The Sensible Sign, Or On The Matter And Form Of The Sacraments

Preliminary note. In this article the discussion concerns only the sacraments of the New Law, because the sacraments of the Old Law no longer exist, nor were they constituted by matter and form.²⁹ For nowhere is it read, for example, that determinate words necessarily had to be pronounced in circumcision or in the eating of the paschal lamb. Since this article is rather long, for the sake of clarity it is divided into seven paragraphs: 1. on the notion and necessity of matter and form; 2. on their immutability; 3. on their union; 4. on their certitude; 5. on the application of form to matter; 6. on the repetition of matter or form; 7. on a conditional form.

²⁹ Cf. S. theol. 3, q. 60, a. 6 ad 3.