Prologue

Connection of the matter to be treated. After we treated human acts and the virtues in the first part of this Manual insofar as they are ordered to attaining the supernatural end, it remains to treat the proximate and supernatural aids without which it is impossible to obtain this end. These aids indeed are divine grace, which is conferred upon us principally in the sacraments instituted by Christ. Therefore, in this second part of this Manual we must now treat the sacraments and all those things that affect their administration or reception (censures, indulgences, irregularities, etc.).

1. The usefulness of this treatise is very great. Hence the Roman Catechism¹ wisely says: "As every part of Christian doctrine requires knowledge and diligence, so the discipline of the sacraments, which is both necessary by God's command and most abundant in usefulness, demands singular ability and industry from the parish priest, so that, by an accurate and frequent understanding of it, the faithful may become such that the most excellent and most holy things can be imparted to them worthily and salutarily, and that priests may not depart from that rule of the divine prohibition: 'Do not give that which is holy to dogs, neither cast your pearls before swine.'"² And truly! For although the sacraments are not the sole means of attaining grace and glory, since graces may also be merited by prayer and the exercise of other virtues, nevertheless the Council of Trent³ rightly calls them the greatest aids, "through which all true justice either begins, or, once begun, is increased, or, once lost, is restored." For through the sacraments graces are conferred more certainly and more abundantly. But nearly the whole priestly life is spent in administering and receiving the sacraments. Would not a priest, therefore, completely fail in his office if he did not perfectly know the doctrine and discipline of the sacraments? Perhaps from insufficient knowledge, but certainly from an insufficient spirit of faith, proceeds that detestable quasi-mechanical administration of the sacraments which is practiced by certain priests to the scandal of the people. Therefore, in this Manual, while indeed striving for brevity, we endeavor to hand down a sufficiently complete doctrine concerning this matter.

The division of this part is seen so clearly from the very nature of the matter that it has been the same among all authors for centuries, namely, the sacraments are treated first in general and then the individual sacraments in particular.

¹ Part 2, 1, q. 1.

² Matt. 7:6.

³ Session 7, Decree on the Sacraments.