PART THE SECOND.
CHAPTER I. On the Sacraments in general.
I. The doctrine of the sacraments is to be handed on by the parish priest before all else.
Since every part of Christian doctrine requires knowledge and diligence, the discipline of the sacraments especially, which is both necessary by God's command and most abundant in utility, demands of the parish priest singular ability and industry, so that, through their careful and frequent reception, the faithful may become such as are worthy to have imparted to them things most excellent and most holy, worthily and for their salvation, and so that priests may not depart from that rule of the divine prohibition: "Give not that which is holy to dogs, neither cast ye your pearls before swine."
II. What the word "sacrament" means.
At the outset, therefore, since we are to treat universally of the whole genus of sacraments, we must begin from the force and notion of the very name, and explain its ambiguous signification, so that what is the proper meaning of this word in this place may be more easily understood. Wherefore the faithful must be taught that the name "sacrament," as it pertains to the matter proposed, has been received differently by profane writers than by sacred writers. For other authors wished the name "sacrament" to signify that obligation whereby, being sworn, we are bound by some bond of servitude; whence the oath by which soldiers pledge that they will render faithful service to the commonwealth was called the military sacrament. And this seems to have been the most frequent signification of this word among them. But among the Latin Fathers, who have handed down divine matters in their writings, the name "sacrament" declares some sacred thing which lies hidden in secret, just as the Greeks, to signify the same thing, have used the word "mystery." We understand that the word "sacrament" is to be taken in this sense when it is written to the Ephesians: "That he might make known unto us the sacrament of his will;" then to Timothy: "Great is the sacrament of piety;" moreover in the book of Wisdom: "They knew not the sacraments of God." In which places and in many others one may observe that "sacrament" signifies nothing other than a sacred thing, hidden and secret.
III. The name "sacrament," as applied by the Fathers to signify sacred signs, is most ancient.
Wherefore the Latin doctors have judged that certain signs subject to the senses, which at once both effect the grace they declare and as it were place it before the eyes, may fittingly be called sacraments; although, as it pleases St. Gregory, they can be called sacraments because the divine power secretly works salvation under the coverings of corporeal things. Nor let anyone suppose that this word was recently introduced into the Church; for whoever has read Sts. Jerome and Augustine will easily perceive that the ancient writers of our religion, to designate the matter of which we speak, very often used the name "sacrament," and sometimes also the word "symbol," or "mystical sign," or "sacred sign." And let this suffice concerning the name "sacrament"; which indeed also applies to the sacraments of the old law, concerning which there is no need for pastors to hand down precepts, since these have been taken away by the law and grace of the Gospel.
IV. What sacrament properly denotes for Catholic writers.
But besides the notion of the name, which has been thus far declared, the force and nature of the thing itself must also be diligently investigated, and what a sacrament is must be made plain to the faithful. For no one can doubt that the sacraments are of the kind of things by which salvation and justice are obtained. But although there are many definitions which seem apt and suitable to explain this matter, none nevertheless demonstrates it more plainly and clearly than the definition handed down by St. Augustine, which afterwards all the scholastic doctors followed. "A sacrament," says he, "is a sign of a sacred thing," or, as it has been said in other words but to the same sense: "A sacrament is a visible sign of invisible grace, instituted for our justification."
V. Division of sensible things, and what is to be understood by the name of "sign."
That this definition may become more manifest, its individual parts must be expounded to pastors, and in the first place it will be necessary to teach that of all things which are perceived by the senses there are two genera. For some have been devised for this, that they may signify something; others have been made not for the signifying of another thing, but for their own sake only, among which number almost all things that exist by nature may be reckoned. But in the former genus must be placed the words of things, writing, banners, images, trumpets and very many others of this kind. For if you take away from words the force of signifying, the cause for which words would be instituted seems to be removed. These, therefore, are properly called signs. For St. Augustine testifies that that is a sign which, besides the thing it presents to the senses, also effects that we conceive from it the knowledge of another thing, just as from a footprint which we behold impressed in the earth, we easily know that someone has passed by, whose footprint appears.
VI. It is shown how the sacraments in the genus of signs are to be placed.
Since these things are thus, it is evident that a sacrament is to be referred to this kind of things that have been instituted for the purpose of signifying; inasmuch as by a certain species and likeness it declares to us that which God by His power, which cannot be perceived by the senses, works in our souls. For baptism (that what is taught may become more known by example), when with certain and solemn words we are outwardly washed with water, signifies that by the power of the Holy Spirit every stain and foulness of sin is inwardly washed away, and that our souls are increased and adorned with that illustrious gift of heavenly justice; and at the same time that ablution of the body, as will hereafter be explained in its place, effects in the soul what it signifies.
VII. The same is also demonstrated from the Scriptures.
But it is also plainly gathered from the Scriptures that a sacrament is to be numbered among signs. For the Apostle, concerning circumcision, the sacrament of the old law, which had been given to Abraham, the father of all believers, so writes to the Romans: "And he received the sign of circumcision, a seal of the justice of the faith." And in another place, when he affirms that all we who "are baptized in Christ Jesus, are baptized in his death," one may know that baptism has the signification of this matter, namely, as the same Apostle says, "we are buried together with him by baptism into death." Nor indeed will it profit little, if the faithful people have understood that the sacraments pertain to signs; for thus it will come to pass, that they may more easily persuade themselves that those things which are signified, contained, and effected by them are holy and august, and that, their sanctity being known, they may be the more stirred up to cultivate and venerate the divine beneficence toward us.
VIII. How many kinds of signs there are.
It follows now that those words, "of a sacred thing," which is the other part of the definition, be explained. Which indeed may be conveniently done, if the things which St. Augustine has acutely and subtly disputed concerning the variety of signs are to be taken up from a little higher. For some signs are called natural, which, besides themselves, produce in our minds the knowledge of another thing (which has been shown before to be common to all signs), as smoke, from which fire is at once understood to be present. And this sign is for this cause to be called natural, because smoke does not signify fire by will, but the experience of things effects that, if anyone should see only smoke, he perceives by mind and thought that the nature and force of fire, which as yet lies hidden, is underneath. But certain signs do not exist by nature, but have been constituted and devised by men, that they might both converse among themselves, and explain to others the sentiments of their mind, and in turn might know the opinion and counsels of others. How various and multiple these are, one may observe from the fact that some pertain to the sense of the eyes, most to the sense of the ears, the rest to the other senses. For when we make a sign to someone, and, for example, declare something by a raised banner, it is sufficiently established that this signification refers to the eyes only, just as the sound of trumpets, flutes, or cithara, which is produced not only for delighting but most often for signifying, pertains to the judgment of the ears; by which sense especially words are also received, which have the greatest force for expressing the innermost thoughts of the soul.
IX. On signs instituted by God both in the Old and the New Testament.
But besides those signs, which we have hitherto said were constituted by the consent and will of men, there are certain others divinely given, of which nevertheless all agree that there is not one kind. For some signs have been commended by God to men for this reason alone, that they might signify or admonish something; of which kind were the purifications of the law, unleavened bread, and many others, which pertained to the ceremonies of Mosaic worship. But other signs God instituted, which would have not only the force of signifying, but also of effecting; and that in this latter genus of signs are to be numbered the sacraments of the new law, plainly appears. For they are signs divinely handed down, not devised by men, which we with certainty believe contain in themselves the efficacy of some sacred thing that they declare.
X. In what manner the sacred thing in the definition of sacrament is to be understood.
But as we have shown that signs exist in a manifold variety, so also a sacred thing is not to be considered of one kind. But as concerns the proposed definition of sacrament, the writers of divine things by the name "sacred thing" designate the grace of God, which makes us holy, and adorns us with the habit of all the divine virtues. For to this grace they have rightly thought that the proper appellation of sacred thing should be attributed, since by its benefit our soul is consecrated and joined to God.
XI. A fuller definition of sacrament, and by what reason it differs from the other sacred signs.
Wherefore, that it may be more explicitly declared what a sacrament is, it must be taught that it is a thing subject to the senses, which by God's institution has the force both of signifying and of effecting sanctity and justice; whence it follows that anyone may easily understand that images of the Saints, crosses and other things of that kind, although they are signs of sacred things, are not therefore to be called sacraments. The doctrine of this truth it will be easy to prove by the example of all the sacraments, if what we have previously noted concerning baptism, when we were saying that that solemn ablution of the body is a sign and has the efficacy of a sacred thing, which is wrought inwardly by the power of the Holy Spirit, anyone should wish to exercise also in the other sacraments.
XII. The sacraments signify not only one thing, but many.
Moreover, to these mystical signs, which have been instituted by God, this also especially belongs, that from the Lord's institution they signify together not some one thing, but many. Which may be recognized in the individual sacraments, which declare not only our sanctity and justice, but moreover two other things most united with sanctity itself, namely the Passion of Christ the Redeemer, which is the cause of sanctity, and eternal life and heavenly beatitude, to which our sanctity ought to be referred as to its end. Which, since it may be perceived in all the sacraments, the sacred doctors have rightly handed down that a threefold force of signifying inheres in each of the sacraments: both because it brings the memory of some past thing, and because it judges and demonstrates another present thing, and because it foretells another future thing. Nor indeed is it to be thought that this is so taught by them that it is not also proved by the testimony of the Holy Scriptures. For when the Apostle says: "Whosoever of us are baptized in Christ Jesus, are baptized in his death," he plainly shows that baptism is therefore to be called a sign, because it admonishes us of the Lord's Passion and death. Then when he says: "For we are buried together with him by baptism into death, that as Christ is risen from the dead by the glory of the Father, so we also may walk in newness of life:" from these words it is evident that baptism is a sign by which the heavenly grace infused into us is declared; by whose bounty it is given to us that, instituting a new life, we may easily and with a willing mind carry out all the duties of true piety. Lastly, when he adds: "For if we have been planted together in the likeness of his death, we shall be also in the likeness of his resurrection:" it appears that baptism also gives no obscure signification of eternal life, which through it we shall attain.
XIII. A sacrament designates not only one present thing, but many.
But besides these various genera and reasons of signifying that we have mentioned, it often also happens that a sacrament demonstrates and notes not only one present thing, but many. This indeed is easy for those beholding the most holy sacrament of the Eucharist to understand, by which the presence of the true Body and Blood of the Lord is designated, as also the grace which those who take the sacred mysteries not impurely receive. From the things therefore that have been said, pastors will not lack arguments by which to show how great a power of divinity, how many hidden miracles inhere in the sacraments of the new law, so that they may persuade all that these must be worshipped and received with the highest religion.
XIV. Why it was fitting that the sacraments be instituted among Christians.
But for teaching the right use of the sacraments nothing can seem more fitting than diligently to expound the causes why the sacraments had to be instituted. Several are usually enumerated, the first of which is the weakness of human nature; inasmuch as we see it so ordered by nature that it is allowed to no one to aspire to the knowledge of those things which are comprehended by mind and intelligence, except through those things which are perceived by some sense. That therefore we might more easily understand what is effected by the hidden power of God, the same supreme artificer of all things most wisely did it, that He might declare that very power by some signs that fall under sense, according to His benignity toward us. For as was excellently said by St. Chrysostom, if man had lacked the concretion of a body, those bare goods themselves would have been offered to him not wrapped in those coverings; but since the soul is joined to the body, it was altogether necessary that it should use the aid of the things that are perceived by sense to understand them. But the second cause is,
- Rom. 6, 5. 2) Homil. 82. in Mat.
that our soul is not easily moved to believe the things that are promised to us. Wherefore God from the beginning of the world has most frequently been wont to indicate by words what He had determined to do; but sometimes, when He was establishing some work the greatness of which might take away faith in the promise, He joined to words other signs also, which sometimes had the appearance of miracle. For when God sent Moses for the liberation of the Israelite people, but he, not trusting even in the help of the commanding God, feared lest a burden be imposed upon him heavier than he could sustain, or lest the people not give faith to the divine oracles and words: the Lord confirmed His promise by the manifold variety of signs. As therefore in the Old Testament God had done, that He might witness the constancy of some great promise by signs: so also in the new law Christ our Saviour, when He promised us the forgiveness of sins, heavenly grace, the communication of the Holy Spirit, instituted certain signs subject to the eyes and senses, by which we might hold Him as it were bound by pledges, and thus we could never doubt that He would be faithful in His promises. The third cause was, that those, as St. Ambrose writes, as remedies, and as the medicaments of the evangelical Samaritan, might be at hand for the recovery or preservation of the health of souls. For it behooves that the power which flows from the Passion of Christ, that is, the grace which He merited for us on the altar of the Cross, be derived through the sacraments, as through some channel, into ourselves; otherwise no hope of salvation can remain to anyone. Wherefore the most clement Lord willed to leave the sacraments, sanctioned by His word and promise, in the Church, through which we might believe without doubt that the fruit of His Passion is really communicated to us, if only each of us should piously and religiously apply that cure to himself. But a fourth cause also is added, why the institution of the sacraments might seem necessary, namely that they might be certain marks and symbols by which the faithful might be distinguished among themselves; especially since no assembly of men, as has been handed down by St. Augustine, can be fastened together as it were into one body, whether in the name of true or of false religion, unless they be joined by some covenant of visible signs. Therefore the sacraments of the new law perform both, which both distinguish the worshippers of the Christian faith from the unbelievers, and connect the faithful themselves among one another by a certain sacred bond. Moreover, that there was another most just cause also for instituting the sacraments, can be shown from those words of the Apostle:
"With the heart we believe unto justice, but with the mouth confession is made unto salvation." For by the sacraments we seem to profess our faith in the sight of men, and make it known. Wherefore when we approach baptism we openly testify that we believe that by the power of that water with which we are washed in the sacrament, a spiritual purgation of the soul is effected. Furthermore, the sacraments have great force not only to excite and exercise faith in our souls, but also to inflame that charity by which we ought to love among ourselves, when we remember, from the communion of the sacred mysteries, that we are bound together by the closest bond and made members of one body. Lastly, which in the zeal of Christian piety is to be esteemed most highly, they tame and suppress the pride of the human mind, and exercise us to humility, while we are compelled to submit ourselves to sensible elements, that we may obey God, from whom we had before impiously fallen away, that we might serve the elements of the world. These are the things which have seemed chiefly to be handed down to the faithful people concerning the name, nature, and institution of the sacrament; after which have been accurately expounded by the pastors, it will be necessary next to teach of what things the individual sacraments consist, what their parts are, and moreover, what rites and ceremonies have been added to them.
XV. The parts necessary for constituting each sacrament.
First, therefore, it must be explained that the sensible thing, which was placed above in the definition of sacrament, is not one only, although it must be believed that one sign is constituted. For there are two from which any sacrament whatsoever is fashioned, of which one has the nature of matter, and is called the element, the other has the force of form, and is commonly called the word. For so we have received from the Fathers. In which matter that testimony of St. Augustine is known and widespread among all: "The word is added to the element, and it becomes a sacrament." By the name of the sensible thing, therefore, they understand both the matter or element, as in the sacrament of baptism water, in confirmation chrism, and in extreme unction oil, all of which fall under sight; and besides, the words, which have the nature of form, and pertain to the sense of the ears. The Apostle indeed openly indicated both, when he said: "Christ loved the Church, and delivered himself up for it, that he might sanctify it, cleansing it by the laver of water in the word of life." In which place the matter and form of the sacrament is expressed.
Catechismus, Conc. Trid.
XVI. Why words have been added to the element.
Moreover, words had to be added to the matter, so that a more open and clearer signification of the thing which was being done might come about. For it is evident that words have the greatest force among all signs, and, if these are lacking, it will be altogether obscure what the matter of the sacraments designates and demonstrates. For, as one may see in baptism, when water has the force no less of cooling than of washing, and may be a symbol of either thing, unless words be added, which of these it signifies in baptism someone perhaps will judge by some conjecture, but no one will dare to affirm anything certain on that matter; but when words are employed, we immediately understand that it has the force and signification of washing.
XVII. The excellence of the sacraments of the new law.
But in this our sacraments far surpass the sacraments of the ancient law, that in their administration no definite form, so far as we have received, was observed; whence also it came to pass that they were very uncertain and obscure; but ours have the form of words so prescribed that, if by chance one depart from it, the nature of the sacrament cannot stand, and for this reason they are most clear, and leave no room for doubt. These therefore are the parts which pertain to the nature and substance of the sacraments, and from which each sacrament is necessarily constituted.
XVIII. What is the force and nature of the ceremonies in the sacraments.
To these are added the ceremonies, which, although they cannot be omitted without sin, unless necessity itself compels one to do otherwise, nevertheless, if at any time they are omitted, since they do not touch the nature of the thing, it must be believed that nothing of the true nature of the sacrament is diminished. And deservedly indeed from the very first times of the Church it has always been observed, that the sacraments be ministered with certain solemn ceremonies. For first it was most fitting to render to the sacred mysteries that worship of religion, that we might seem to handle holy things in a holy manner. Moreover, the ceremonies themselves more clearly declare and as it were place before the eyes what is effected by the sacrament, and more deeply impress the sanctity of those things upon the souls of the faithful. Then indeed they raise the minds of those who behold and diligently observe them to the contemplation of sublime things, and excite in them faith and charity; whence the greater care and diligence must be used, that the faithful may have known and understood the force of the ceremonies by which the individual sacraments are fashioned.
XIX. How many are the sacraments of the Catholic Church.
It follows that the number of the sacraments also be explained, which knowledge indeed brings this utility, that the people with the greater
piety will turn all the forces of their mind to praising and proclaiming God's singular beneficence toward us, the more aids of salvation and of the blessed life they shall have understood to be prepared for us divinely. The sacraments of the Catholic Church, therefore, as is proved from the Scriptures, and has come down to us by the tradition of the Fathers, and as the authority of the councils testifies, have been defined in the septenary number.
XX. Why the sacraments are concluded in neither a greater nor a lesser number.
But why neither more nor fewer are numbered, from those things also which are transferred by similitude from natural life to spiritual, can be shown by a certain probable reason. For to man, for living, and preserving life, and conducting it from his own and the commonwealth's utility, these seven seem necessary, namely that he be brought into the light, that he be increased, that he be nourished; if he fall into sickness, that he be healed; that the weakness of his strength be restored; then, as concerns the commonwealth, that magistrates never be lacking, by whose authority and command it may be ruled; and lastly, that he preserve himself and the human race by the lawful propagation of offspring. All which, since it appears sufficiently to correspond to that life by which the soul lives to God, from these the number of the sacraments will be easily gathered.
XXI. That there are seven sacraments is demonstrated from the Scriptures.
For the first is baptism, as the gate of the others, by which we are reborn to Christ. Then confirmation, by whose power it is wrought, that we be increased and strengthened by divine grace; for when the Apostles had already been baptized, as St. Augustine testifies, the Lord said: "Sit in the city, until you be endued with power from on high." Then the Eucharist, by which as by truly heavenly food our spirit is nourished and sustained. For it has been said by the Saviour: "My flesh is meat indeed, and my blood is drink indeed." There follows in the fourth place penance, by whose aid the health that has been lost is restored, after we have received the wounds of sin. Afterwards extreme unction, by which the remains of sins are taken away, and the virtues of the soul are restored; inasmuch as St. James, when he was speaking of this sacrament, so testified: "And if he be in sins, they shall be forgiven him." There follows order, by which the power of exercising perpetually in the Church the public ministries of the sacraments, and of carrying out all sacred functions, is handed on. Lastly matrimony is added, that from the lawful and holy conjunction of male and female children may be procreated for the worship of God and the preservation of the human race, and religiously educated.
XXII. There is not an equal necessity, or dignity, of all the sacraments.
But this is to be noted most of all, that although all the sacraments contain in themselves a divine and admirable power, yet not all have equal necessity, or dignity, or one and the same force of signifying. And of these there are three which, though not in the same manner, yet before the others are said to be necessary. For that baptism is necessary to every one without any adjunction, the Saviour has declared by these words: "Unless a man be born again of water and of the Holy Spirit, he cannot enter into the kingdom of God." But penance is necessary only to those who have bound themselves after baptism by some mortal sin; for they will not be able to escape eternal perdition, unless they have duly repented of the sin committed. Order, moreover, although not to individual faithful, yet to the whole Church is altogether necessary. But if dignity in the sacraments be considered, the Eucharist in sanctity and in the number and greatness of its mysteries far surpasses the others. All which will be more easily understood, when in their place those things that pertain to each sacrament shall be explained.
XXIII. From whom these sacred and divine mysteries have been received, and by whom they are principally dispensed.
Next it must be seen from whom we have received these sacred and divine mysteries; for it is not to be doubted that the dignity of some eminent gift is greatly increased by the dignity and excellence of him from whom "the gift itself" has proceeded. But this question cannot have a difficult explanation. For since it is God who makes men just, and the sacraments themselves are certain wonderful instruments for obtaining justice: it is plain that one and the same God in Christ is to be acknowledged as the author of justification and of the sacraments. Moreover, the sacraments contain that force and efficacy which penetrates to the inmost soul. But since it is proper to the power of one God alone, to glide into the hearts and minds of men, from this also it is clear that the sacraments were instituted by God Himself through Christ, as also that they are inwardly dispensed by Him, is to be held with certain and constant faith. For St. John affirms that he received this testimony concerning Him, when he says: "He who sent me to baptize in water, said to me: He upon whom thou shalt see the Spirit descending and remaining upon him, he it is that baptizeth with the Holy Spirit."
XXIV. What ministers God uses in dispensing the sacraments.
But although God is the author and dispenser of the sacraments, yet
He willed that they be ministered in the Church not through angels, but through men; for it has been confirmed by the perpetual tradition of the holy Fathers that the office of ministers is no less needful for fashioning the sacraments than matter and form.
XXV. The minister by his own depravity cannot impede the power of sacramental grace.
And these ministers indeed, since in that sacred function they bear not their own person but Christ's, it comes about that, whether they be good or evil, provided they use that form and matter which by Christ's institution the Catholic Church has always observed, and that they purpose to do what the Church does in that administration, truly fashion and confer the sacraments, so that nothing can impede the fruit of grace, unless those who receive them wish to defraud themselves of so great a good, and to resist the Holy Spirit. That this has always been the certain and well-known opinion in the Church, St. Augustine most clearly demonstrated in those disputations which he wrote against the Donatists. But if we also seek the testimonies of Scripture, let us hear the Apostle himself speaking in these words: "I," says he, "have planted, Apollo watered; but God gave the increase. Therefore neither he that planteth is any thing, nor he that watereth; but God that giveth the increase." From which place it is sufficiently understood, that just as nothing hinders trees by the wickedness of those by whose hand they have been planted: so no vice can be contracted by another's fault by those who are grafted into Christ through the ministry of evil men. Wherefore, as our holy Fathers have taught from the Gospel of St. John, even Judas Iscariot baptized many, of whom nevertheless we read that no one was baptized again, so that St. Augustine excellently left in writing: "Judas gave baptism, and there was no baptism after Judas, John gave baptism, and there was baptism after John, because, if it was given by Judas, it was 'the baptism of Christ'; but that which was given by John, was 'John's'; we rightly prefer not Judas to John, but the baptism of Christ, even given by the hands of Judas, to the baptism of John, even given by the hands of John."
XXVI. What is to be thought of those who administer the sacraments with an impure conscience.
Nor indeed let pastors or other ministers of the sacraments, when they hear these things, think it enough, if, setting aside integrity of morals and cleanness of conscience, they think only of this,
in what manner the sacraments may be duly ministered by them; for although this must be diligently seen to, yet all the things that pertain to that function are not placed in this. They must always remember, that the sacraments indeed never lose the divine power which is in them, but bring eternal perdition and death to those who minister them impurely. For holy things, as must be admonished once and again and more often, must be handled holily and religiously. "To the sinner," as it is in the Prophet, "God said: Why dost thou declare my justices, and take my testament in thy mouth? but thou hast hated discipline." But if it is less lawful to one contaminated with sins to treat of divine things, how great a crime must be thought to be conceived by him, who is conscious to himself of many crimes, and yet does not fear to fashion the sacred mysteries with a polluted mouth, or to take them into foul hands, to handle them, and to offer and minister them to others? Especially since in St. Dionysius it is written, that it is not permitted to the wicked even to touch the symbols (for so he calls the sacraments). Therefore let the ministers of sacred things before all things pursue sanctity, let them approach purely to administering the sacraments, and so exercise themselves in piety that, from their frequent handling and use of them, they may, with God's help, obtain more abundant grace from day to day.
XXVII. On the two principal effects of the sacraments.
But now, these things having been explained, it will be necessary to teach what is the effect of the sacraments; for this seems to bring no little light to the definition of sacrament, which has been handed down above. And two are chiefly enumerated. And the principal place indeed is deservedly held by that grace, which by the name customary among the sacred doctors we call "justifying"; for thus the Apostle most plainly taught us, when he said that Christ loved the Church, and delivered Himself up for her, that He might sanctify her, cleansing her by the laver of water in the word of life. But in what manner so great and so admirable a thing is effected through a sacrament, that, as has been celebrated by the opinion of St. Augustine, the water washes the body, and touches the heart: this indeed cannot be comprehended by human reason and intelligence. For it must be established that no sensible thing by its own nature is endowed with such force, that it can penetrate to the soul. But by the light of faith we know, that the power of omnipotent God is in the sacraments, by which they effect that which natural things themselves by their own force cannot perform.
«0. in Io.
XXVIII. How the effects of the sacrament at the beginning of the nascent Church were wonderfully designated.
Wherefore, that no doubt of this effect might ever remain in the souls of the faithful, when the sacraments began to be ministered, the most clement God willed to declare, by the significations of miracles, what they were inwardly effecting, that we might most constantly believe that the same things are perpetually wrought inwardly, however far removed they be from our senses. Therefore, to pass over that, when our Saviour was baptized in the Jordan, the heavens were opened, and the Holy Spirit appeared in the form of a dove, that we might be admonished that His grace, when we are washed in the salutary font, is infused into our soul; to pass over this, I say (for it pertains more to the signification of baptism than to the administration of the sacrament): do we not read, that when on the day of Pentecost the Apostles received the Holy Spirit, by whom thereafter they became more alacritous and valiant for preaching the truth of the faith and for encountering dangers for the glory of Christ, then "there came suddenly a sound from heaven, as of a mighty wind coming, and there appeared to them parted tongues as it were of fire?" From which it was understood, that by the sacrament of confirmation the same Spirit is bestowed upon us, and those strengths are added, by which we may valiantly fight back and resist the flesh, the world, and Satan, namely our perpetual enemies. And these miracles, as often as the Apostles ministered these sacraments, were seen for some time at the beginning of the nascent Church, until, when the faith had now been firmly established and corroborated, they ceased to be done.
XXIX. How great is the excellence of the sacraments of the new law above the sacraments of the old law.
From these things therefore, which have been demonstrated concerning the first effect of the sacraments, namely justifying grace, this also plainly is established, that a more excellent and more outstanding force inheres in the sacraments of the new law, than the sacraments of the old law once had, which, since they were weak and needy elements, sanctified the defiled to the cleansing of the flesh, not of the soul. Wherefore, they were instituted only as signs of those things which were to be effected by our mysteries. But the sacraments of the new law, flowing forth from the side of Christ, "who through the Holy Spirit offered himself unspotted unto God, cleanse our conscience from dead works, to serve the living God," and thus work by the power of Christ's blood that grace which they signify. Wherefore, if we compare them with the ancient sacraments, besides that they have more efficacy, they will be found both more abundant in utility and more august in sanctity.
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XXX. Which sacraments imprint a character, and what a character is.
But another effect of the sacraments, not indeed common to all, but proper only to three, baptism, confirmation, and holy order, is the character which they imprint upon the soul. For when the Apostle says: "God hath anointed us, who also hath sealed us, and given the pledge of the Spirit in our hearts," by that word "hath sealed" he has not obscurely described the character, whose property it is to mark and note something. But a character is, as it were, a certain insignia impressed upon the soul, which can never be effaced, and which perpetually inheres in it, of which it is thus written in St. Augustine: "Can perhaps the Christian sacraments be less than this corporal mark, by which namely a soldier is marked? For to the soldier returning to the warfare which he had deserted, that is not newly imprinted, but the old is recognized and approved."
XXXI. What is the effect of the character, and how the sacraments imprinting a character must not be repeated.
Now the character brings this about, both that we are made apt for receiving or performing something sacred, and that by some mark one may be distinguished from another. And by the character of baptism indeed we obtain both, that we are rendered fit for perceiving the other sacraments, and that moreover the faithful people is distinguished from the nations which do not cultivate the faith. The same may be recognized in the character of confirmation and of sacred order; by the one of which, as soldiers of Christ, we are armed and equipped for the public confession and defense of His name, and against our ingrained enemy and the spirits of wickedness in high places, and at the same time we are distinguished from those who, newly baptized, are like new-born infants; but the other both has joined with it the power of fashioning and ministering the sacraments, and shows the distinction of those who are endowed with such power, from the rest of the assembly of the faithful. Therefore the rule of the Catholic Church must be held, by which we are taught, that these three sacraments imprint a character, nor are they ever at any time to be repeated.
XXXII. By what reasons pastors will obtain that the people venerate the sacraments, and use them religiously.
These are the things which are generally to be handed down concerning the sacraments. In explaining which argument pastors should with all zeal endeavor to effect chiefly two things. The first is, that the faithful understand with how great honor and worship and veneration these divine and
heavenly gifts are worthy; the other, that, since by the most clement God they have been proposed for the common salvation of all, they use them piously and religiously, and thus are inflamed with desire for Christian perfection, that, if they especially lack for some time the most salutary use of penance and the Eucharist, they deem themselves to have done themselves very great harm. These things pastors will easily attain, if they frequently inculcate into the ears of the faithful what has been said above concerning the divinity and fruit of the sacraments: first, that they have been instituted by our Lord and Saviour, from whom nothing save the most perfect can proceed; furthermore, that when they are ministered, the most efficacious power of the Holy Spirit permeating the inmost part of our heart is at hand; then, that they are endowed with an admirable and certain power for curing souls; further, that through them those immense riches of the Lord's Passion are derived to us. Lastly let them show, that the whole Christian edifice is indeed supported by the most firm foundation of the corner-stone, but, unless it be propped up on every side by the preaching of the word of God and the use of the sacraments, it must greatly be feared lest, being for the most part shaken, it fall; for as through the sacraments we are received into life, so by this as by food we are nourished, preserved, and increased.
CHAPTER II. On the Sacrament of Baptism.
I. Why it is expedient that the doctrine of baptism be frequently inculcated upon the faithful peoples.
From those things indeed which have been hitherto handed down universally concerning the sacraments, it can be known how necessary it is, for perceiving the doctrine of the Christian religion or for exercising piety, to understand those things which the Catholic Church proposes to be believed concerning each of them; but if anyone shall have more diligently read the Apostle, he will without doubt so determine, that a perfect knowledge of baptism is greatly required of the faithful, so greatly and not only frequently, but with weighty words full of the Spirit of God, does he renew the memory of this mystery, commend its divinity, and sets before our eyes in it the death, burial, and resurrection of our Redeemer, both for contemplation and for imitation. Wherefore let pastors never think that they have bestowed sufficient labor and zeal in the treatment of this sacrament.
II. When especially the parish priest ought to deliver a sermon on baptism.
But besides those days on which, after the custom of the ancestors, the divine mysteries of baptism ought especially to be expounded, on the great Sabbath
of Easter and of Pentecost, at which time the Church was accustomed to celebrate this sacrament with the highest religion and the greatest ceremonies, let them seize opportunity on other days also of discoursing on this subject. And this especially will seem a most opportune time for the matter, if sometimes, when baptism is to be ministered to someone, they shall notice that a multitude of the faithful people has gathered; for then it will be much easier, if it be not allowed to pursue all the heads that pertain to this sacrament, to teach at least one or another, when the faithful, who perceive with their ears the doctrine of those things, at the same time also see it expressed in the sacred ceremonies of baptism, and with a pious and attentive mind contemplate it. From which it will then come to pass, that each one, admonished by those things which he sees being done in another, may recall within himself, by what pledge he has bound himself to God, when he was initiated by baptism; and at the same time let him consider whether in life and morals he shows himself such as the very profession of the Christian name promises. Therefore, that the things which are to be taught may be clearly expounded, what is the nature and substance of baptism must be opened up, if however first the signification of the very word be explained.
III. What the name of baptism properly denotes.
And that baptism is a Greek name, no one is ignorant; which, although in the sacred letters signifies not only that ablution which is conjoined with the sacrament, but also every kind of ablution, which at some time has been transferred to the Passion: nevertheless among the writers of the Church it declares not any ablution whatsoever of the body, but that which is conjoined with the sacrament, nor is ministered without the prescribed form of words; in which signification indeed the Apostles, from the institution of Christ the Lord, most frequently used it.
IV. By what other names the Fathers have expressed the sacramental ablution.
Other names also the holy Fathers have employed to signify the same thing. For St. Augustine testifies that it is called the sacrament of faith, because those receiving it profess the entire faith of the Christian religion. But others, because by faith our hearts are illuminated, which we profess in baptism, have called this sacrament illumination. For the Apostle also so says: "Call to mind the former days, wherein, being illuminated, ye endured a great fight of afflictions;" plainly signifying that time in which they had been baptized. Chrysostom moreover in the discourse which he delivered to those to be baptized, names it both expurgation, we expurgate by baptism the old leaven, that we may be a new sprinkling, and burial, and planting, and the cross of Christ; the cause of all which appellations one may gather from the epistle written to the Romans. But why St. Dionysius has called it the principle of the most holy commandments, is evident, since this sacrament is as it were the gate, by which we enter into the society of Christian life, and from it we make the beginning of obeying the divine precepts. And let these things be briefly expounded concerning the name. V. What is the definition of baptism.
As for the definition of the thing, although many can be drawn from the sacred writers, that one nevertheless seems more fitting and suitable which may be gathered from the words of the Lord in John and of the Apostle to the Ephesians; for when the Saviour says: "Unless a man be born again of water and the Holy Ghost, he cannot enter into the kingdom of God," and the Apostle, when he spoke of the Church: "Cleansing it by the laver of water in the word": it thus comes about that it is rightly and aptly defined that baptism is the sacrament of regeneration by water in the word. For by nature we are born of Adam as sons of wrath, but through baptism we are born again in Christ as sons of mercy; since "he gave men the power to be made the sons of God, to them that believe in his name, who are born, not of bloods, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God."
VI. In what manner the sacrament of baptism is accomplished.
But whatever words may be used to explain the nature of baptism, the people must be taught that this sacrament is accomplished by an ablution to which, by the institution of the Lord and Saviour, certain and solemn words are necessarily applied; as the holy Fathers have always taught. This is demonstrated by that most evident testimony of the divine Augustine 5): "The word is added to the element, and a Sacrament is made." This, indeed, must be the more diligently pointed out, lest perhaps the faithful be led into that error of supposing, as is commonly said, that the water itself which is kept in the sacred font for accomplishing baptism is the sacrament. For then is it to be called the sacrament of baptism, when we actually use the water for washing someone, with the addition of the words which were instituted by the Lord. Now since we said at the beginning, when we treated generally of all Sacraments, that individual sacraments are constituted of matter and form, therefore it must be declared by pastors what each of these is in baptism.
VII. What is the proper matter of baptism.
The matter, then, or element of this sacrament is every kind of natural water, whether it be of the sea, of a river, of a marsh, of a well, or of a spring, which without any addition is commonly called water. For the Saviour also taught: "Unless a man be born again of water and the Holy Ghost, he cannot enter into the kingdom of God;" and the Apostle says: that the Church was cleansed by the laver of water; and in the epistle of blessed John we read: "There are three who give testimony on earth, the Spirit, the water, and the blood." This is also proved by other testimonies of Sacred Scripture.
VIII. The passage of St. Matthew on baptism of fire is explained.
But what was said by John the Baptist, that the Lord would come who would baptize "in the Holy Ghost and fire," this indeed is in no way to be understood of the matter of baptism, but must be referred either to the inmost effect of the Holy Ghost, or certainly to the miracle that appeared on the day of Pentecost, "when the Holy Ghost" came down from heaven upon the Apostles "in the appearance of fire;" concerning which in another place Christ our Lord foretold: "For John indeed baptized with water, but you shall be baptized with the Holy Ghost, not many days hence."
IX. By what figures and prophecies the power of the waters of baptism was demonstrated.
But that the same thing was signified by the Lord both by figures and by the oracles of the Prophets, we observe from the divine Scriptures; for the flood, by which the world was purged, because there was much malice of men upon the earth, and all the thought of the heart was bent upon evil, bore the figure and likeness of this water, as the prince of the Apostles shows in his former epistle (3, 21.). And that the passage of the Red Sea had the signification of the same water, St. Paul writing to the Corinthians expounded. To pass over for the present both the washing of Naaman the Syrian, and the wonderful power of the sheep-pool, and many other such things, in which it is easy to see that the symbol of this mystery is contained. And as for the predictions, no one can doubt that "those waters, to which" the prophet Isaias so liberally invites all that thirst, or those which Ezechiel saw in spirit issuing forth from the temple; and moreover "that fountain, which" Zacharias foretold was prepared "for the house of David and for the inhabitants of Jerusalem, for the washing of the sinner and of the unclean woman," pertain to signifying and expressing the saving water of baptism.
X. Why God willed water rather than any other matter to be used for accomplishing baptism.
How consonant it was with the nature and power of baptism that water should be instituted as its proper matter, St. Jerome demonstrated with many reasons in writing to Oceanus. But as regards this place, pastors will be able first to teach that since this sacrament was necessary for all without any exception in order to obtain life, therefore the matter of water, which is never not at hand, and which can easily be procured by all, was most suitable. Next, water most greatly signifies the effect of baptism. For as water washes away dirt, so also does it best demonstrate the power and efficacy of baptism, by which the stains of sins are washed away. There is added this, that as water is most apt for cooling bodies, so by baptism the ardour of the passions is in great part extinguished.
XI. Why chrism is added to simple and natural water.
It is to be observed, however, that although simple water, which has nothing else mixed with it, is fitting matter for accomplishing this sacrament, whenever, namely, the necessity of administering baptism arises, nevertheless by the tradition of the Apostles it has always been observed in the Catholic Church that, when baptism is accomplished with solemn ceremonies, sacred chrism is also added, by which it is clear that the effect of baptism is more declared. The people are also to be taught that although it may sometimes be uncertain whether this or that is true water, such as the perfection of the sacrament requires, yet this must be held as certain, that the sacrament of baptism can in no way be accomplished from any other matter than from the liquor of natural water.
XII. Why the perfect form of baptism is to be clearly set forth indifferently to all the faithful.
But of the two parts of which baptism must consist, after the one, that is, the matter, has been diligently explained, pastors will strive with the same diligence to hand on also the form, which is its other most necessary part. In the explanation of this sacrament they will think that they must labour with the greater care and study, because the knowledge of so holy a mystery can not only greatly delight the faithful of itself, which indeed commonly happens in every knowledge of divine things, but is also most exceedingly to be sought for nearly daily uses. For since times often arise, as will be more plainly said in its place, in which baptism must be administered both by others from among the people, and most often by poor women: it thus comes about that indifferently
12&
to all the faithful those things which pertain to the substance of this sacrament must be known and perceived.
XIII. What is the perfect and absolute form of this sacrament.
Wherefore with clear and plain words, which can easily be understood by all, Pastors will teach that this is the perfect and absolute form of baptism: "I baptize thee in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost." For so it was handed down by our Lord and Saviour, when he commanded the Apostles in Matthew '): "Going, teach ye all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost." From the word "baptizing," the Catholic Church, divinely taught, has very well understood that in the form of this sacrament the action of the minister is to be expressed; which indeed is done when it is said: "I baptize thee." And since, besides the ministers, the person of him who is baptized, as well as the principal cause which effects baptism, needed to be signified, therefore the pronoun "thee" and the distinct names of the divine persons are added, so that the absolute form of the sacrament is concluded with those words which have just been set forth: "I baptize thee in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost." For not only the person of the Son, of whom it is written by John: "This is he that baptizeth," but at the same time all the persons of the Holy Trinity operate in the sacrament of baptism. And the fact that it is said "in the name," not "in the names," this plainly declares the one nature and divinity of the Trinity. For in this place the name is not referred to the persons; but signifies the divine substance, power, and authority, which is one and the same in the three persons.
XIV. Whether in the form of baptism all the words are equally necessary.
But in this form, which we have shown to be whole and perfect, it is to be observed that certain things are altogether necessary, which if omitted, the sacrament cannot be accomplished; but others are not so necessary that, if they are lacking, the essence of the sacrament does not stand; of which kind is that word "I," whose force is contained in the word "baptize." Nay rather in the churches of the Greeks, with a varied manner of speaking, it is wont to be omitted, because they judged that no mention ought to be made of the minister; whence it has come about that in baptism they commonly use this form: "The servant of Christ is baptized in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost." Yet that the sacrament is perfectly administered by them, appears from the sentence and definition of the Council of Florence,
since by those words is sufficiently explained that which pertains to the truth of baptism, namely the ablution, which is then in fact carried out.
XV. In what manner the Apostles baptized in the name of Christ.
But if it must be said that there was also at some time when the Apostles baptized only in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ, it must be held as certain by us that they did this by the breathing of the Holy Ghost, so that at the beginning of the nascent Church the preaching might be rendered more illustrious by the name of Jesus Christ, and his divine and immense power more celebrated. But then, looking deeply into the matter, we easily understand that none of those parts is lacking in that form which were prescribed by the Saviour himself; for he who says "Jesus Christ" signifies at the same time also the person of the Father, by whom he was anointed, and the Holy Ghost, by whom he was anointed.
XVI. It must be believed that the Apostles never baptized in the name of Christ, with the other two persons
of the Trinity being passed over silently. Although it may perhaps seem doubtful to some whether the Apostles baptized anyone with such a form, if we wish to follow the authority of Ambrose") and Basil, most holy and most weighty Fathers, who so interpreted baptism in the name of Jesus Christ, as to say that by those words is signified baptism, not which was handed down by John, but which was handed down by Christ the Lord; although the Apostles did not depart from the common and customary form, which contains the distinct names of the three persons. And Paul also seems to have used this manner of speaking in the epistle to the Galatians, when he says: "For as many of you as have been baptized in Christ, have put on Christ," so as to signify that they were baptized in the faith of Christ, yet in no other form than that which the same our Saviour and Lord had commanded to be observed. Thus far, therefore, it will suffice to teach the faithful about the matter and form, which pertain most of all to the substance of baptism.
XVII. In what manner the ablution ought to be performed in this mystery of regeneration.
Since in accomplishing this sacrament the manner of the legitimate ablution must also be observed: therefore the doctrine of that part too must be handed down by pastors, and briefly explained by them, that it has been received by the common manner and custom of the Church, that baptism may be accomplished in any one of three ways. For those who are to be initiated with this sacrament are either immersed in water, or water is poured upon them, or they are dipped by sprinkling of water. But whichever of these rites is observed, it must be believed that baptism is truly accomplished; for water is employed in baptism to signify the ablution of the soul, which it effects. Wherefore baptism is called by the Apostle ') "the laver." But the ablution is no more effected when someone is immersed in water, which we note was long observed in the Church from the earliest times, than either by the pouring of water, which we now see placed in frequent use; or by sprinkling, as is gathered to have been done by Peter, when he led "three thousand men in one day" to the truth of the faith, and baptized them.
XVIII. Whether a single ablution is required, or a threefold one.
But whether a single or a threefold ablution is made, it must be thought to make no difference. For by either method both previously in the Church baptism was truly accomplished, and now can be accomplished, as sufficiently appears from the epistle of St. Gregory the Great written to Leander. Yet that rite is to be retained by the faithful, which each one shall have observed to be kept in his own church.
XIX. Why the head here especially is washed.
And it is especially to be pointed out that not any part of the body, but especially the head, in which all the interior as well as the external senses are vigorous, is to be washed, and at the same time that by him who baptizes, not before or after the ablution, but at the very same time at which the ablution itself is performed, the words of the sacrament, which contain the form, are to be pronounced.
XX. Whether Christ instituted baptism before or after the passion.
These things being set forth, it will be fitting furthermore to teach and to recall to the memory of the faithful that baptism, as also the other sacraments, was instituted by Christ the Lord. Pastors, therefore, will frequently teach and explain this, that two different times of baptism are to be noted, the one, when the Saviour instituted it, the other, when the law concerning its reception was enacted. As regards the first, it is seen that this sacrament was then instituted by the Lord, when, being himself baptized by John, he bestowed the power of sanctifying upon the water. For the holy Gregory Nazianzen 3) and Augustine attest that at that time the power of generating unto spiritual life, that is, was given to water. And elsewhere he has left it thus written: "From the time Christ is immersed in the water, from that time the water washes away all sins." And elsewhere: "The Lord is baptized, not needing to be cleansed, but by the touch of his clean flesh cleansing the waters, that they might have the power of washing." And to that matter this could be a most great argument, that then
Aug. Serm. 135. in App. e) ib.
the most Holy Trinity, in whose name baptism is accomplished, manifested its deity as present. "For the voice ') of the Father was heard, the person of the Son was present, and the Holy Ghost descended in the appearance of a dove;" moreover "the heavens were opened," whither it is now lawful for us to ascend through baptism. But if anyone should desire to know by what reason so great and so divine a power was attributed to the waters by the Lord, this indeed surpasses human understanding. But this can be sufficiently perceived by us, that baptism having been received by the Lord, the water was consecrated by the touch of his most holy and most pure body for the saving use of baptism; yet so that this sacrament, although it was instituted before the passion, must be believed to have drawn its power and efficacy from the passion, which was, as it were, the end of all Christ's actions.
XXI. When the law of baptism began to bind men.
But concerning the other also, namely at what time the law of baptism was enacted, no place is left for doubting. For it is agreed among the sacred writers that after the resurrection of the Lord, when he commanded the Apostles 2): "Going, teach ye all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost," from that time all men who were to obtain eternal salvation began to be bound by the law concerning baptism. This indeed is gathered from the authority of the prince of the Apostles, when he says: "He hath regenerated us unto a lively hope, by the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead;" and the same may be known from that passage of Paul: "He delivered himself up for it, that he might sanctify it" (when he spoke of the Church), "cleansing it by the laver of water in the word;" for each seems to have referred the obligation of baptism to the time which followed the death of the Lord, so that it is in no way to be doubted that those words also of the Saviour 5): "Unless a man be born again of water and the Holy Ghost, he cannot enter into the kingdom of God," looked to that very time which was to be after the passion.
XXII. In how great veneration the sacrament of baptism is to be held.
From these things, therefore, if they are accurately treated by pastors, there can be no doubt that the faithful will recognize the greatest dignity in this sacrament and venerate it with the highest piety of mind: especially when they shall have considered that those illustrious and most ample gifts which, when Christ the Lord was baptized, were declared by signs of miracles, are bestowed and imparted to each of them, when they are baptized, by the inmost power of the Holy Ghost. For
Catechism, Council of Trent
just as, if, as befell the boy of Eliseus, our eyes were so opened to us that we could behold heavenly things, no one would be thought so deprived of common sense that the divine mysteries of baptism should not move him to the greatest admiration: why should we not think the same will also happen, when by the pastors the riches of this sacrament shall have been so set forth that the faithful, if not with the eyes of the body, at least with the keenness of the mind, illuminated by the splendour of faith, are able to contemplate them?
XXIII. How many kinds of men can administer baptism.
Now indeed, by what ministers this sacrament is accomplished,
it seems to be handed down not only usefully, but necessarily, both that those to whom this office is chiefly committed may strive to attend to it holily and religiously; and that no one, as having gone beyond his bounds, may untimely enter into another's possession or proudly break in, since in all things the Apostle 2) admonishes that order must be kept. Let the faithful therefore be taught that there is a threefold order of these; and that in the first place bishops and priests are to be placed, to whom it is given that by their own right, not by any extraordinary power, they may exercise this office. For it was commanded by the Lord to them in the Apostles: "Going, baptize ye;" although bishops, lest they be compelled to desert that graver care of teaching the people, were accustomed to leave the ministry of baptism to the priests. That priests exercise this function by their own right, so that they can administer baptism even in the presence of a bishop, is clear from the doctrine of the Fathers and the usage of the Church. For since they were instituted to consecrate the Eucharist, which is the sacrament of peace and unity: it was fitting that power be given them to administer all those things through which anyone could necessarily be made a partaker of this peace and unity. But if sometimes the Fathers said that the right of baptizing was not permitted to priests without the leave of the bishop: this seems to be understood of that baptism which used to be administered on certain days of the year with solemn ceremony. The second place of ministers is held by deacons, to whom, as very many decrees of the holy Fathers attest, it is not lawful to administer this sacrament without the permission of a bishop or priest.
XXIV. Who may confer the sacrament of baptism in the case of necessity.
The last order is of those who, when necessity compels, can baptize without solemn ceremonies; in which number are all, even of the people, whether males or females, whatever
sect they may profess. For to the Jews also, and to infidels and heretics, when necessity compels, this office is permitted; provided, however, that they have the intention of effecting that which the Catholic Church effects in that kind of administration. And these things, since many decrees of the ancient Fathers ') and of councils have confirmed them, moreover by the sacred Tridentine Synod let him be anathema was pronounced against those who dare to say that the baptism, which is also given by heretics in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost, with the intention of doing what the Church does, is not true baptism. In which indeed the highest goodness and wisdom of our Lord is to be admired. For since this sacrament must be necessarily received by all, just as he instituted water as its matter, than which nothing can be more common: so also he willed that no one be excluded from its administration; although, as has been said, it is not lawful for all to employ the solemn ceremonies, not indeed because the rite or ceremonies have more dignity, but because they have less necessity than the sacrament.
XXV. What order is to be kept by the faithful in baptizing.
Nor let the faithful think that this office is so indifferently permitted to all, that it would not be most seemly to establish some order of ministers. For a woman, if men are present, likewise a layman in the presence of a cleric, then a cleric before a priest, ought not to take to themselves the administration of baptism. Although midwives, who have been accustomed to baptize, are not to be disapproved, if sometimes in the presence of some man who is not at all skilled in accomplishing this sacrament, which otherwise would seem to be more properly the office of a man, they themselves carry it out.
XXVI. Why besides those who baptize, godparents are employed in the mysteries of regeneration.
To those ministers, who, as has hitherto been declared, accomplish baptism, there is added yet another kind of ministers, who from the most ancient custom of the Catholic Church are wont to be employed for celebrating the sacred and saving ablution. These are now called godparents, of old they were commonly called by the writers of divine things susceptors, sponsors, or fideiussores. Concerning whose office, since it pertains to nearly all the laity, there must be accurate treatment by pastors, so that the faithful may understand what are especially necessary for its rightful performance. First of all, it must be explained what was the cause why besides the ministers of the sacrament, godparents and
susceptors were also adjoined to baptism. That this was indeed done with excellent right will appear to all, if they remember that baptism is a spiritual regeneration, through which we are born as sons of God. For concerning it St. Peter speaks thus: "As newborn babes, rational, without guile, desire ye milk." Therefore, just as, after someone has been brought forth into this light, he needs a nurse and teacher, by whose aid and work he may be educated, and instructed in doctrine and good arts: so it is also necessary that those who begin to live a spiritual life from the font of baptism be committed to someone of faith and prudence, from whom they may be able to draw the precepts of the Christian religion, and be instructed in every manner of piety, and thus grow up gradually in Christ, until at length they come forth as perfect men, with the help of the Lord; especially since there is not so much time left over to pastors, who are set over the public care of the parishes, that they can undertake that private care of instructing the boys in the faith. Of this most ancient custom we have an illustrious testimony from St. Dionysius, when he says!'): "It came into the mind of our divine leaders" (for thus he calls the Apostles) "and it seemed good to receive infants according to this holy manner, that the natural parents of the boy should deliver him to someone learned in divine things as it were a teacher, under whom as under a divine father and susceptor of holy salvation, the boy should pass the rest of his life." The same sentence is confirmed by the authority of Hyginius.
XXVII. Spiritual kinship contracted in baptism impedes and dissolves marriage.
Wherefore it has been most wisely established by the holy Church, that not only he who baptizes, with the one baptized, but also the susceptor with him whom he receives, and with his true parents, are bound by affinity in such a way that legitimate covenants of marriage cannot be entered among all these, and if entered are dissolved.
XXVIII. What are the duties of godparents, and what is required of them.
Moreover, the faithful must be taught what are the duties of the susceptor. For this office is so negligently treated in the Church that only the bare name of this function remains; but what sanctity it contains, men do not even seem to suspect. Let the susceptors therefore universally always consider this, that they are bound chiefly by this law, that they hold their spiritual sons perpetually commended, and in those things which pertain to the instruction of the Christian life, let them diligently take care that those show themselves such in all their lives, as they have by solemn ceremony promised them to be.
Let us hear what St. Dionysius writes on that matter, expressing the words of the sponsor '): "I promise that I will induce the boy, when he shall come to sacred intelligence, by my careful exhortations, that he may renounce contrary things altogether, profess, and perform the divine things which he promises." Likewise the divine Augustine 2): "You," he says, "above all things, both men and women, who have received sons in baptism, I warn, that you know, that you have stood as fideiussores before God for those whom you are seen to receive from the sacred font." And it becomes most of all that he who has undertaken some office should never be wearied in diligently executing it, and he who has professed himself the teacher and guardian of another, should by no means suffer him to be deserted, whom once he has received into his faith and clientship, until he shall have understood him to have no need of his work and protection. But what things are to be handed on to spiritual sons, St. Augustine briefly comprehended, when he spoke of this very office of susceptors; for he says: "They ought to admonish them, that they keep chastity, love justice, hold charity, and above all teach them the Symbol and the Lord's Prayer, the Decalogue also, and what are the first rudiments of the Christian religion."
XXIX. Not everyone indifferently is to be admitted to the office of susceptor.
Since these things are so, we easily understand to what kind of men the administration of this holy tutelage is not to be committed; namely to those who either are unwilling faithfully to carry it out, or are unable to do so carefully and accurately. Wherefore besides the natural parents, to whom it is not lawful to undertake that care, that it may more appear from that, how far this spiritual education differs from the carnal, heretics in the first place, Jews, infidels are to be altogether prohibited from this office, as those who are always engaged in that thought and care, to obscure the truth of faith with lies, and to overthrow every Christian piety.
XXX. What ought to be the number of godparents.
Moreover, that not several should receive the baptized from baptism, but only one, whether man or woman, or at the most one man and one woman, has been established by the Council of Trent; both because the order of discipline and instruction could be disturbed by a multitude of teachers, and because it was fitting to provide against several such affinities being joined, which would hinder the society of men among men from being more widely diffused by the legitimate bond of matrimony.
XXXI. Baptism is necessary for salvation for all.
But while the knowledge of the other matters which have hitherto been set forth must be held as most useful to the faithful: nothing, however, can seem more necessary than that they be taught that the law of baptism has been prescribed by the Lord for all men in such a way that, unless they be born again to God by the grace of baptism, they are begotten by their parents, whether these be faithful or infidel, unto everlasting misery and destruction. Therefore it must often be explained by pastors what is read in the evangelist: "Unless a man be born again of water and the Holy Ghost, he cannot enter into the kingdom of God."
XXXII. Infants are altogether to be baptized.
That this law is to be understood not only of those who are of adult age, but also of infant boys, and that the Church has received this from apostolic tradition, the common sentiment and authority of the Fathers confirms. Furthermore, it is to be believed that Christ the Lord was unwilling to deny the sacrament of baptism and grace to boys, of whom he said: "Suffer the little ones, and forbid them not to come to me; for of such is the kingdom of heaven;" whom he embraced, upon whom he laid hands, whom he blessed. Then, when we read that "an entire family was baptized by Paul," it sufficiently appears that boys also, who were in the number of those, were washed in the saving font. Next, circumcision, which was a figure of baptism, especially commends this custom. For no one is ignorant that boys were accustomed to be circumcised on the eighth day. And to those to whom circumcision made by hand profited "in the stripping of the body" of the flesh 5), to the same it is clear that baptism profits, which is "the circumcision of Christ not made by hand." Lastly, as the Apostle teaches: "if by one man's offence death reigned through one: much more they who receive abundance of grace, and of the gift, and of justice, shall reign in life through one Jesus Christ." Since therefore through Adam's sin boys have contracted guilt from their origin, much more through Christ the Lord can they obtain grace and justice, that they may reign unto life; which indeed can in no way be done without baptism. Wherefore pastors will teach that infants must altogether be baptized, and then gradually the tender age must be formed to true piety by the precepts of the Christian religion. For as it was splendidly said by the Sage: "The young man according to his way, even when he shall be old, will not depart from it."
XXXIII. Infants in baptism receive spiritual grace.
Nor is it lawful to doubt that the sacraments of faith, when they are washed, are received; not because they believe by the assent of their own mind, but because they are fortified by the faith of their parents, if the parents be faithful, but if not, by the faith (that we may speak in the words of St. Augustine) of the whole society of the saints. For we rightly say that they are offered for baptism by all those to whom it is pleasing that they be offered, and by whose charity they are joined to the communion of the Holy Spirit.
XXXIV. The baptism of infants is not to be deferred.
The faithful are greatly to be exhorted, that they take care to bring their children, as soon as this can be done without danger, to the church, and to have them baptized with solemn ceremonies. For since to infant boys no other means of obtaining salvation, unless baptism be granted them, is left: it is easily understood by how grave a fault those bind themselves, who suffer them to be deprived of the grace of the sacrament longer than necessity demands; especially since on account of the weakness of age almost infinite dangers of life hang over them.
XXXV. How adults are to be instructed before baptism.
But that a different method is to be kept in those who are of adult age, and have the perfect use of reason, namely those who are born of infidels, the custom of the ancient Church declares. For to them indeed the Christian faith is to be proposed, and they are to be exhorted, allured, and invited with all zeal to receive it. But if they be converted to the Lord God, then indeed they must be warned not to defer the sacrament of baptism beyond the time prescribed by the Church. For since it is written: "Delay not to be converted to the Lord, and defer it not from day to day:" they are to be taught that perfect conversion is placed in the new generation by baptism; moreover, that the later they come to baptism, the longer they must be without the use and grace of the other sacraments, by which the Christian religion is cultivated, since without baptism no access to them can lie open; furthermore also that they are deprived of the greatest fruit which we receive from baptism, since the water of baptism not only utterly washes away and takes away the stain and defilements of all the crimes which were previously committed, but adorns us with divine grace, by whose aid and help we can avoid sins also in the future, and preserve justice and innocence, in which matter all easily understand that the sum of the Christian life consists.
XXXVI. It is demonstrated that baptism must be deferred for adults.
But although these things are so, the Church has nevertheless not been accustomed to grant the sacrament of baptism to this kind of men at once; but has determined that it must be deferred to a certain time. For this delay has not the danger joined with it, which indeed we said above hangs over boys, since to those who are endowed with the use of reason, the purpose and intention of receiving baptism, and repentance for the ill-spent life, will be sufficient for grace and justice, if some sudden mishap hinder them, so that they cannot be washed by the saving water. On the contrary this delay seems to bring some utilities. First, because it must be diligently provided by the Church, that no one approach this sacrament with a feigned and simulated mind, the will of those who seek baptism is more explored and perceived. For which cause we read it decreed in the ancient councils, that those who come from the Jews to the Catholic faith, before baptism is administered to them, should be among the catechumens for several months; then they should be more perfectly instructed in the doctrine of the faith, which they ought to profess, and in the institutions of the Christian life. Moreover, greater veneration of religion is given to the sacrament, if they receive baptism with solemn ceremony only on the appointed days of Easter and Pentecost.
XXXVII. Baptism is not always to be deferred for adults.
But sometimes nevertheless the time of baptism is not to be deferred for some just and necessary cause, as if the danger of life appears to be at hand, and especially if those are to be washed who have already fully perceived the mysteries of the faith. That Philip and the prince of the Apostles did this is sufficiently established, when the one baptized the eunuch of Queen Candace (Acts 8, 36. 10, 47.), the other Cornelius, with no delay interposed, but as soon as they professed to embrace the faith.
XXXVIII. How those who are to be baptized ought to be affected.
It must furthermore be taught and explained to the people, how those who are to be baptized ought to be affected. First of all, therefore, it is necessary that they wish, and have it as their purpose, to receive baptism; for since every one in baptism dies to sin, and receives a new rule and discipline of life: it is just that baptism be granted not to anyone unwilling or refusing, but only to those who of their own accord and with willing mind receive it. Wherefore we note that it has always been kept from holy tradition, that baptism be administered to no one, unless he has first been asked whether he wishes to be baptized. Nor indeed is that will to be thought to be lacking even in infant boys, since the will of the Church, which pledges for them, cannot be obscure.
XXXIX. When the insane can or cannot be baptized.
Moreover, the insane and furious, who, when at some time they were masters of their minds, afterwards fell into madness, as having at that time no will of receiving baptism, unless the danger of life be imminent, are not to be baptized; but when they are in peril of life, if, before they began to rave, they gave signification of that will, they are to be washed; but if not, the administration of baptism is to be abstained from. And the same judgment must be made of those sleeping. But if they have never been in the power of their minds, so that they have had no use of reason, they are to be baptized in the faith of the Church, just as boys who lack reason, as the authority and custom of the Church sufficiently declare.
XL. What else is required for receiving baptism.
But besides the will for baptism, faith also, in the manner in which it was said of the will, is most necessary for obtaining the grace of the sacrament. For the Lord and our Saviour taught: "He that believeth and is baptized, shall be saved." Next, that one should repent of any crimes committed and of a life ill spent, and that the same should determine to abstain from all sins in the future, is necessary. Otherwise indeed, he who should so seek baptism, that he would nevertheless not wish to amend the habit of sinning, must altogether be repelled. For nothing is so opposed to the grace and power of baptism, as the mind and counsel of those who set themselves no end of sinning at any time. Since therefore baptism is to be sought for this cause, that 2) we may put on Christ and be joined with him: it is plainly established, that he is rightly to be rejected from the sacred ablution who has set himself the purpose of persevering in vices and sins; especially, because nothing of those things which pertain to Christ and the Church is to be received in vain, and we understand sufficiently that baptism will be empty in him, if we regard the grace of justice and salvation, "who thinks to walk according to the flesh, not according to the spirit"; although, as far as pertains to the sacrament, he obtains its perfect essence without any doubt, if only, when he is rightly baptized, he has it in mind to receive that which is administered by the holy Church. Wherefore the prince of the Apostles to that great multitude of men, who, as the Scripture says, "compunct in heart," had asked of him and of the rest of the Apostles what they should do, answered thus: "Do penance, and be baptized every one of you," and in another place: "Be penitent," he says, "and be converted, that your sins may be blotted out." Likewise the blessed Paul, writing to the Romans, openly shows that he who is baptized must altogether die to sins; wherefore he admonishes us, not to exhibit "our members as instruments of iniquity unto sin," but to exhibit ourselves to God, "as alive from the dead."
XLI. How much it contributes to hold discourse on these things.
But if the faithful shall have often meditated on these things, first indeed they will be compelled greatly to admire the supreme goodness of God, who, moved by his mercy alone, bestows so singular and divine a benefit of baptism on those who merit nothing of the kind; then, when they shall set before their eyes, how far from every crime the life of those ought to be, who are adorned with so great a gift: they will also easily understand that this is above all required of a Christian man, that daily they study to lead so holy and religious a life, just as if they had on that very day received the sacrament and grace of baptism. However, nothing will be of more avail for inflaming souls with the zeal of true piety, than if pastors shall have explained with an accurate discourse, what are the effects of baptism.
XLII. What is the chief effect of baptism.
Concerning these things therefore, since they must often be treated, that the faithful may more perceive that they have been placed in the highest degree of dignity, and should never, at any time, suffer themselves to be cast down from it by any snares of the adversary or by any attack: this must first be handed on, that sin, whether contracted in its origin from our first parents, or committed by ourselves, although it be also so wicked, that it seems not even able to be thought of, is remitted and pardoned by the admirable power of this sacrament. This indeed was foretold long before by Ezechiel, through whom the Lord God speaks thus: "I will pour upon you clean water, and you shall be cleansed from all your filthiness." And the Apostle to the Corinthians, after a long enumeration of sins, subjoined: "And such some of you were indeed, but you are washed, but you are sanctified." And that this doctrine has been perpetually handed down by the holy Church, is manifest. For holy Augustine in the book which he composed concerning the Baptism of little ones, thus attests: "By the flesh only generating is original sin contracted, but by the spirit regenerating there takes place the remission not only of original, but also of voluntary sins." And holy Jerome to Oceanus: "All," he says, "crimes are forgiven in baptism." And lest it be lawful for anyone any longer to doubt of that matter, after the definition of other councils the sacred Tridentine Synod also declared the same, when it decreed let him be anathema against those who should dare to feel otherwise, or who should not hesitate to assert, that although sins are remitted in baptism, yet they are not altogether taken away or plucked out by the roots, but in a certain manner are scraped off, so that the roots of sins still remain fixed in the soul. For, to use the words of the same holy synod, in those born again God hates nothing, because there is nothing of damnation to those who are truly buried together with Christ through baptism into death; who walk not according to the flesh, but putting off the old man, and putting on the new, who is created according to God, are made innocent, immaculate, pure, harmless, and beloved of God.
XLIII. Whether concupiscence in the baptized is sin.
And it must indeed be confessed, as was decreed in the same place by the authority of the synod itself, that concupiscence or the fomes remains in the baptized; but this truly has not the essence of sin. For according to the sentence also of the divine Augustine: "In little ones baptized the guilt of concupiscence is absolved, but it is left for the struggle." And the same elsewhere attests: "The guilt of concupiscence is loosed in baptism, but the infirmity remains." For concupiscence, which is from sin, is nothing other than the appetite of the soul, by its nature repugnant to reason; which motion, however, if it have not the consent or conjoined negligence of the will, is far from the true nature of sin. But when St. Paul says: "I had not known concupiscence, if the law did not say: Thou shalt not covet:" by these words he wished to be understood not the very force of coveting, but the vice of the will. The same doctrine is handed down by St. Gregory writing thus: "If there are any who say that sins are dismissed in baptism only on the surface: what is more unfaithful than this preaching? since through the Sacrament of faith the soul, absolved from sins by the roots, adheres to God alone." And to demonstrate this thing he uses the testimony of our Saviour, when he says in St. John: "He that is washed, needeth not but to wash his feet, but is clean wholly."
XLIV. That all sins are taken away by baptism is again demonstrated.
But if anyone wishes to behold an express figure and image of this thing, let him propose to himself to contemplate the history of Naaman 6) the Syrian leper, who, when he had washed himself seven times in the water of the Jordan, was, as Scripture attests, so cleansed of leprosy, that his flesh appeared as the flesh of a boy. Wherefore the proper effect of baptism is the remission of all sins, whether they be contracted by the vice of origin, or by our own fault; the cause of which our Lord and Saviour instituted, as the prince of the Apostles explained in most clear words, to pass over other testimonies, when he says: "Do penance, and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins."
XLV. As guilt, so also all punishment is remitted by baptism.
Now indeed in baptism not only are sins remitted, but all the punishments also of sins and crimes are graciously pardoned by God. For although it is common to all sacraments, that through them the power of the passion of Christ the Lord is communicated: yet of baptism alone is it said by the Apostle 2), that through it we die together with Christ and are buried; from which the holy Church has always understood, that it cannot be done without the greatest injury to the sacrament, that on him who is to be cleansed by baptism, such duties of piety, which with the usual name the holy Fathers called works of satisfaction, be imposed. Nor indeed are the things here handed down opposed to the custom of the ancient Church, which formerly commanded the Jews, when they were baptized, to fast for forty continuous days. For that institution did not pertain to satisfaction, but those who had received baptism were by that reason admonished, that, venerating the dignity of the sacrament, they should for some time without intermission apply themselves to fastings and prayers. XLVI. The newly baptized is not immediately freed from civil penalties. Although it must be held as certain that in baptism the penalties of sins are remitted, nevertheless no one is freed from that kind of penalty which must be paid before civil tribunals on account of some grave crime, in such a way that one who is worthy of death should, through baptism, be snatched away from the penalty established by the laws; although the religion and piety of those princes would be vehemently praiseworthy who, that the glory of God might be made more illustrious in His sacraments, would remit and pardon this punishment also to the guilty.
XLVII. The penalties which are wont to be inflicted after this life are remitted in baptism.
Moreover, baptism effects, after the course of this life, the liberation from all the penalties which follow upon original sin; since it came to pass by the merit of the Lord's death that we could obtain these things; and in baptism, as has been said above, we die together with Him. "For if," as the Apostle says, "we have been planted together in the likeness of his death, we shall be also in the likeness of his resurrection."
XLVIII. Why the state of integral nature is not immediately restored through baptism.
But if anyone should ask why, immediately after baptism, even in this mortal life, we are not free from these inconveniences, and why by the power of the sacred ablution we are not transferred to that perfect state of life in which Adam, the first parent of the human race, had been placed before sin: it will be answered that this has come about for two principal reasons. The first of these is that to us, who through baptism have been joined to the body of Christ and made His members, no greater dignity was to be attributed than had been attributed to our Head Himself. Since therefore Christ the Lord, although from the beginning of His birth He had the fullness of grace and truth, nevertheless did not lay aside the frailty of human nature, which He assumed, before He endured the torments of the Passion and death, and then rose again to the glory of immortal life: who should be astonished when he sees the faithful, who have already obtained the grace of heavenly justice through baptism, nevertheless still clothed with a perishable and frail body, so that, after they have undergone many labors for Christ, and having met death are called back again to life, they may at last be worthy to enjoy with Christ eternal ages? The second reason, however, why infirmity of body, disease, sense of pains, and the motions of concupiscence are left in us after baptism, is that we might have, as it were, a seed-bed and matter of virtue, from which we might afterwards obtain a more abundant fruit of glory and ampler rewards. For when with patient mind we tolerate all the inconveniences of life, and subject the depraved affections of our mind to the command of reason with divine help, we ought to rely on certain hope that, if with the Apostle (II Tim. 4, 7 ff.) we shall have fought the good fight, finished the course, kept the faith, the Lord, a just judge, will render to us also on that day the crown of justice laid up. Thus indeed the Lord seems to have acted also with the children of Israel, whom, although He freed from the servitude of the Egyptians by drowning Pharaoh and his army in the sea, nevertheless He did not straightway lead into that blessed land of promise, but first exercised them in many and varied trials; and afterwards, when He had sent them into the possession of the promised land, He drove the other inhabitants indeed from their ancestral seats, but left some nations remaining, whom they could not destroy, so that the people of God might never lack occasion for exercising warlike virtue and fortitude. To this is added the fact that if, through baptism, besides the heavenly gifts with which the soul is adorned, the goods of the body also were conferred, it could rightly be doubted that many would come to baptism pursuing rather the conveniences of the present life than the hoped-for
glory of the future; whereas not these false and uncertain things, which are seen, but the true and eternal things, which are not seen, ought always to be set before the Christian man as goods.
XLIX. The reborn are not deprived of solid delight of soul amid the miseries of this life.
But in the meantime nevertheless the condition of this life, which is full of miseries, is not without its pleasures and joys. For what can be more pleasant or more desirable for us, who have already through baptism been grafted as branches into Christ, than, with the cross lifted upon our shoulders, to follow Him as leader, neither wearied by any labors nor delayed by any dangers, that we may with all zeal strive toward the prize of the supernal vocation of God, some about to receive from the Lord the laurel of virginity, others the crown of doctrine and preaching, others the palm of martyrdom, others other ornaments of virtues? These illustrious insignia of praise would indeed be given to none, unless we had first exercised ourselves in the stadium of this toilsome life, and stood unconquered in the battle line.
L. What, besides the remission of guilt and penalty, is bestowed on man by baptism.
But that our discourse may return to the effects of baptism, it will have to be explained that by the power of this sacrament we are not only freed from evils, which truly must be called the greatest, but are also enriched with excellent goods and gifts. For our soul is filled with divine grace, by which, being made just and sons of God, we are also made heirs of eternal salvation. For, as it is written: "He that believeth and is baptized, shall be saved;" and the Apostle testifies that the Church has been cleansed by the laver of water in the word of life. Now grace is, as the Synod of Trent decreed under pain of anathema as to be believed by all, not only that by which the remission of sins is made, but a divine quality inhering in the soul, and as it were a certain splendor and light which blots out all the stains of our souls, and renders the souls themselves more beautiful and more splendid. And this is openly gathered from the sacred writings, since they say grace is poured out, and they are wont to call it the pledge of the Holy Spirit.
LI. To divine grace, which is infused in baptism, are added as handmaids the virtues.
To this, however, is added the most noble retinue of all the virtues, which are infused into the soul together with grace divinely. Wherefore
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when the Apostle says to Titus: "He saved us by the laver of regeneration and renovation of the Holy Spirit, whom he hath poured forth upon us abundantly through Jesus Christ our Saviour," St. Augustine, explaining those words "hath poured forth abundantly," says: "Namely, for the remission of sins and the abundance of virtues."
LII. Through baptism we are incorporated into Christ.
Now indeed through baptism we are also coupled and connected to Christ the Head as members. As therefore from the head flows that power by which the individual parts of the body are moved to carry out their proper functions aptly: so also from the fullness of Christ the Lord divine power and grace is diffused into all who are justified, which renders us capable for all the duties of Christian piety.
LIII. How it comes to pass that those endowed with so many virtues in baptism so slowly exercise piety.
Nor indeed ought it to seem a wonder to anyone if, though we are furnished and adorned with so great an abundance of virtues, nevertheless not without great difficulty and labor we begin, or certainly complete, pious and honest actions; for this does not happen because the virtues, from which the actions themselves proceed, have not been given to us by the gift of God, but because after baptism a most fierce struggle of concupiscence against the spirit has been left, in which contention, however, it does not become the Christian man to be broken or weakened in soul, since relying on the kindness of God we ought to lean on the best hope, that by daily exercise of right living whatever things are chaste, whatever are just, whatever are holy, these same things may also seem easy and pleasant. Let us willingly think of these things, let us perform them with eager soul, that the God of peace may be with us.
LIV. In baptism an indelible character is imprinted.
Moreover, through baptism we are sealed with a character, which can never be blotted out from the soul; concerning which there is nothing that would require many things to be discussed in this place, since it is permitted to transfer to this place from those things which have been said above, when the sacraments were treated in general, enough that pertains to this topic.
LV. It is demonstrated that baptism can never be repeated.
But since from the force and nature of the character it has been defined by the Church that the sacrament of baptism is by no means to be repeated: on this matter, lest the faithful at some time be led into errors, they must be often and diligently admonished by pastors. This indeed the Apostle taught, saying: "One Lord, one faith, one baptism." Then when he exhorts the Romans, who had died through baptism in Christ, to take care lest they lose the life which they had received from Him, when he says: "For in that he died to sin, he died once;" this seems openly to signify that, just as He cannot die again, so it is not permitted to us to die anew through baptism. Wherefore the holy Church also openly professes that she believes in one baptism. That this indeed is vehemently consonant with the nature and reason of the thing is understood from this, that baptism is a certain spiritual regeneration. Just therefore as by natural power we are generated only once and brought forth into the light, and, as St. Augustine says, the womb cannot be repeated: so also there is one spiritual generation, nor is baptism ever to be repeated at any time.
LVI. Those are not baptized anew who are washed with a certain condition interposed.
Nor let anyone think that he is being repeated by the Church when, using a formula of words of this kind, she washes someone concerning whom it is uncertain whether he was previously baptized: "If thou art baptized, I do not baptize thee again; but if thou art not yet baptized, I baptize thee in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit." For thus it must be said that baptism is not impiously repeated, but holily administered with a condition.
LVII. Conditional baptism is not to be used always without any discernment.
In this matter, nevertheless, certain things must be diligently provided for by pastors, in which almost daily there is sin, not without the greatest injury to the sacrament. For there are not lacking those who think that no crime can be committed if they baptize anyone whatsoever indiscriminately with that condition; wherefore if an infant be brought to them, they think that absolutely nothing is to be inquired whether he was previously washed, but immediately bestow baptism upon him; nay, even, although they have it ascertained that the sacrament has been administered at home, they nevertheless do not hesitate to repeat the sacred ablution in the church with solemn ceremony employed under the condition, which they certainly cannot do without sacrilege, and they contract that stain which writers of divine matters call irregularity. For that form of baptism is permitted, by the authority of Pope Alexander, only in those concerning whom, the matter being diligently investigated, it remains doubtful whether they have duly received baptism; otherwise it is never lawful to administer baptism again to anyone, even with a condition.
¹) Rom. 6, 2 ff. ²) ib. 10. ³) Tract. 11. in Ioann. ⁴) c. 2. X. de bapt. III. 42.
LVIII. What is the final fruit which is conferred on men by the power of baptism.
Besides the other things, however, which we obtain from baptism, this is as it were the last, to which all the rest seem to be referred, namely that it opens to each one of us the approach of heaven, previously closed on account of sin. These things, however, which are effected in us by the power of baptism, can plainly be understood from those things which the authority of the Gospel has confirmed to have occurred at the Savior's baptism. For the heavens were opened, and the Holy Spirit appeared descending upon Christ the Lord in the form of a dove. By which it was signified to those who are baptized, that the charisms of the divine Godhead are imparted, and the gate of the heavens is unlocked; not indeed that as soon as they are baptized, but that at a more opportune time they may enter into that glory, when, free from all miseries which cannot fall into blessed life, they shall attain immortality for their mortal condition. And these indeed are the fruits of baptism; which, if we consider the power of the sacrament, cannot be doubted to pertain equally to all; but if we consider with what disposition of soul each one has approached to receive it: it must altogether be confessed that more or less of heavenly grace and fruit reaches to one than to another.
LIX. What is the force and utility of the ceremonies of baptism.
It now remains that the things which must be handed down concerning the prayers, rites and ceremonies of this sacrament be openly and briefly explained. For what the Apostle (I Cor. 14, 11.) admonished concerning the gift of tongues, when he says that it is without fruit if what someone speaks is not understood by the faithful: the same can nearly be transferred to rites and ceremonies. For they bear before them the image and signification of those things which are performed in the sacrament. But if the faithful people should be ignorant of the force and power of those signs, the utility of the ceremonies will seem to be going to be not very great. Therefore pains must be taken by pastors that the faithful may understand them, and may be persuaded for certain, that if they are less necessary, they are nevertheless to be made much of, and ought to be held in great honor. This indeed is sufficiently taught both by the authority of those instituting them, who without controversy were the holy Apostles, and by the end for the sake of which they wished the ceremonies to be employed. For thus it is evident that the sacrament is administered with greater religion and holiness, and, as it were, those excellent and extraordinary gifts, which are contained in it, are set before the eyes, and the immense benefits of God are more impressed on the souls of the faithful.
Catechismus, Conc. Trid.
LX. How many kinds are the rites of baptism.
But all the ceremonies and prayers which the Church uses in the administration of baptism must be reduced to three heads, so that in explaining them a certain order may be preserved by pastors, and the things which shall have been handed down by them may more easily be retained in the memory of the hearers. And first indeed that kind of them is which is observed before coming to the font of baptism; second, those which are employed when it has come to the font itself; third, those which are wont to be added when baptism has already been performed.
LXI. At what time the water necessary for baptism is to be consecrated by common rite.
First therefore the water must be prepared, which is to be used for baptism. For the font of baptism is consecrated, with the oil of mystical unction added. Nor is it permitted that this be done at every time, but according to the custom of our forefathers, certain festive days are awaited, which by the best right must be held as the most celebrated and most holy of all, on whose vigils the water of the sacred ablution is prepared, on which days also alone, unless necessity compelled otherwise, it was placed in the custom of the ancient Church that baptism should be administered. But although the Church at this time, on account of the dangers of common life, has not judged that this custom should be retained: nevertheless she has still observed with the greatest religion those solemn days of Easter and Pentecost, on which the water of baptism is to be consecrated.
LXII. Why those to be baptized are not immediately admitted into the church.
After the consecration of the water, the other things which precede baptism must next be explained. For those who are to be initiated into baptism are brought or even led to the doors of the church, and are entirely prohibited from entering it, because they are unworthy to enter the house of God, before they have thrown off from themselves the yoke of most shameful servitude, and have wholly devoted themselves to Christ the Lord and His most just empire.
LXIII. Why those to be baptized are asked and instructed about what they seek.
Then indeed the priest inquires of them what they seek from the Church. Which being known, he first instructs them in the doctrine of the Christian faith, which they must profess in baptism; and this is done by the catechism, whose custom of instruction no one can doubt flowed from the precept of the Lord Savior, since He Himself commanded the Apostles (Matt. 28, 19.): "Go ye into the whole world, and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost, teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you." From which it is permitted to know that baptism is not to be administered before the chief heads at least of our religion are expounded.
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LXIV. In what manner, according to the ancient institution of the Church, the rougher sort must be catechized.
Since however the method of the catechism consists of many interrogations, if he who is instructed be of adult age: he himself answers by himself to the things which are asked; but if he be an infant, the sponsor answers duly for him, and makes a solemn pledge.
LXV. What is the use of the exorcism.
The exorcism follows, which is performed with sacred and religious words and prayers for expelling the devil and breaking and weakening his forces. Thereupon the priest breathes thrice into the face of him who is to be initiated, that he may expel the power of the ancient serpent, and obtain the breath of the lost life.
LXVI. Why salt is put into the mouth of him who is baptized.
Other ceremonies accede to the exorcism, each of which, since they are mystical, has its own and illustrious signification. For when salt is placed in the mouth of him who is to be brought to baptism, it is clearly signified by this that he is going to obtain by the doctrine of the faith and the gift of grace, that he may be freed from the putrefaction of sins, and perceive the savor of good works, and be delighted with the food of divine wisdom.
LXVII. What the sign of the cross applied to many parts of the body means.
Moreover, the forehead, eyes, breast, shoulders, ears are marked with the sign of the cross; all of which declare that by the mystery of baptism the senses of the one to be baptized are opened and strengthened, that he may be able to receive God, and to understand and to keep His precepts.
LXVIII. Why the nostrils and ears of the one to be baptized are anointed with saliva.
Afterwards his nostrils and ears are anointed with saliva, and immediately he is sent to the baptismal font, so that just as that "blind man" (John 9, 6.) of the Gospel, whom the Lord had commanded with eyes smeared with mud to wash in the water of Siloe, recovered his light: so we also may understand that the power of the sacred ablution is such that it brings light to the mind for perceiving heavenly truth.
LXIX. What the renunciation of Satan teaches, followed by the profession of faith made by him who is offered to be baptized.
These things being performed, they come to the font of baptism, and there other ceremonies and rites are employed, from which it is permitted to know the sum of the Christian religion. For the priest thrice with prescribed words interrogates him who is to be baptized: "Dost thou renounce Satan, and all his works, and all his pomps?" And he, or the godfather in his name, answers to each of the interrogations:
"I renounce." Therefore he who is about to give his name to Christ ought first to promise this holily and religiously, that he will forsake the devil and the world, and that no time shall ever be in which he shall not detest each as a most loathsome enemy.
LXX. The one to be baptized is anointed with the oil of catechumens on the breast and between the shoulders; what that anointing means.
After these things the one to be baptized is anointed with the oil of catechumens on the breast and between the shoulders. On the breast indeed, that through the gift of the Holy Spirit he may cast aside error and ignorance, and receive right faith; because "the just man liveth by faith." Between the shoulders however, that the grace of the Holy Spirit may shake off negligence and torpor, and may exercise good working, because "faith without works is dead."
LXXI. How the one to be baptized makes the profession of his faith.
Then standing at the baptismal font itself, he is interrogated by the priest in this manner: "Dost thou believe in God the Father Almighty?" To whom he answers: "I believe." And so thereafter, asked concerning the remaining articles of the symbol, he professes his faith with solemn religion. By which two pledges, assuredly, it is evident that all the force and discipline of the Christian law is contained.
LXXII. Why he, who is about to be dipped in the saving water, is asked whether he wishes to be baptized.
But when it is now necessary to administer baptism, the priest asks him who is to be baptized: Whether he wishes to be baptized? To which, either by himself, or in his name, if he be an infant, with the godfather assenting, he immediately washes him with the saving water in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. For just as man, obeying by his own will the serpent, was deservedly condemned: so the Lord has willed that no one be enrolled in the number of His own, except a willing soldier, so that spontaneously obeying the divine commands he might attain eternal salvation.
LXXIII. Wherefore the head of the one baptized is immediately anointed with chrism.
Now after baptism has been completed, the priest anoints the highest crown of the baptized with chrism, that he may understand that from that day he is joined as a member to Christ the Head, and grafted into His body, and that for this reason a Christian is named from Christ, and Christ from chrism. What chrism moreover signifies, is sufficiently to be understood from those things which the priest then prays, St. Ambrose testifies.
LXXIV. What the white garment, or white little cloth, with which the baptized is presented, designates.
Afterwards the priest clothes the baptized in a white garment, saying: "Receive the white garment, which thou mayest carry unspotted before the tribunal of our Lord Jesus Christ, that thou mayest have eternal life." To infants, however, who do not use clothing, with the same words a white little cloth is given. By which symbol the holy Fathers teach that there is signified both the glory of the resurrection, to which we are born through baptism; and the brightness and beauty with which, the stains of sins being washed away, the soul is adorned in baptism; and the innocence and integrity which the baptized must preserve in all his life.
LXXV. What is the reason of the burning taper, which is held by the baptized.
And then a burning taper is delivered into his hand, which shows that the faith inflamed with charity, which he has received in baptism, must be nourished and increased by the zeal of good works.
LXXVI. Why, and of what sort, a name is to be imposed on the baptized.
Finally a name is imposed upon the baptized, which indeed must be taken from someone who on account of excellent piety of soul and religion has been reckoned into the number of the Saints. For thus it will easily come to pass that anyone may be excited by the similarity of the name to the imitation of virtue and sanctity, and moreover, that he may pray to him whom he strives to imitate, and may hope that he will come as his advocate for defending the salvation of both soul and body. Wherefore those are to be rebuked who so diligently pursue the names of the gentiles, and especially of those who were the most wicked of all, and impose them on boys, since from this it can be understood how much they think the zeal of Christian piety must be made of, who seem so greatly delighted by the memory of impious men, that they wish the ears of the faithful to resound everywhere with profane names of this kind.
LXXVII. A summary of those things which have been handed down concerning the mysteries of baptism.
If these things concerning the sacrament of baptism shall have been explained by pastors, scarcely any of those things which must be considered as pertaining most to this knowledge will seem to have been omitted. For it has been demonstrated what the very name of baptism signifies, what is its nature and substance, and moreover of what parts it consists. It has been said by whom it was instituted, what ministers are necessary for performing the sacrament, or whom one ought to employ as tutors, as it were, for sustaining the weakness of the baptized. It has also been handed down to whom and with what disposition of soul baptism must be administered; what is its power and efficacy; lastly, what rites and ceremonies are observed,
as much as the proposed plan demanded, has been sufficiently copiously explained. All which things pastors will remember must be taught chiefly for this reason, that the faithful may perpetually be engaged in this care and thought, that in those things which they so holily and religiously pledged, when they were initiated into baptism, they may keep the faith, and may institute that life which corresponds to the most holy profession of the Christian name.
CHAPTER III.
On the Sacrament of Confirmation.
I. Why today the virtue of confirmation must most especially be explained.
If the diligence of pastors was ever required in explaining the sacrament of confirmation, now certainly there is need that it be illustrated as much as possible, since in the holy Church of God this sacrament is altogether passed over by many, and very few indeed are those who strive to take from it the fruit of divine grace which they ought. Wherefore the faithful must be taught concerning the nature, force, dignity of this sacrament, both on the day of Pentecost, on which day it is especially wont to be administered, and on other days also, when pastors shall have judged that it can conveniently be done, so that they may understand that it is not only not to be neglected, but must be received with the greatest piety and religion, lest through their own fault and greatest evil it come to pass that this divine benefit seem to have been conferred on them in vain.
II. Why the Church has called this sacrament confirmation.
But that a beginning may be taken from the name, it must be taught that this sacrament is called confirmation by the Church for this reason, that he who has been baptized, when he is anointed by the bishop with sacred chrism, with those solemn words added: "I sign thee with the sign of the cross, and I confirm thee with the chrism of salvation, in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit," unless anything else impede the efficacy of the sacrament, begins to be stronger in the vigor of new virtue, and thus to be a perfect soldier of Christ.
III. Confirmation is truly a sacrament of the new law.
In confirmation, however, the Catholic Church has always acknowledged the true and proper nature of a sacrament, which both Pope Melchiades and several other most holy and most ancient Pontiffs openly declare. And St. Clement could not approve the doctrine of this truth with a weightier sentence. For he says: "All must hasten without delay to be reborn
Part II. Chapter III.
to God, and finally to be sealed by the bishop, that is, to receive the sevenfold grace of the Holy Spirit, since otherwise he can by no means be a perfect Christian who by injury and will, not compelled by necessity, shall have omitted this sacrament, as we have received from Blessed Peter, and the other Apostles by the Lord's command taught." This same faith, however, have confirmed by their doctrine those who, filled with the same spirit, shed blood for Christ, Urban, Fabian, Eusebius, Roman Pontiffs, as it is permitted to perceive from their decrees.
IV. The holy doctors who have made mention of this sacrament.
There is added moreover the consentient authority of the holy Fathers, among whom Dionysius the Areopagite, bishop of Athens, when he said by what method this sacred unguent ought to be prepared and used, thus says: "The priests clothe the baptized with a garment befitting cleanness, that they may lead him to the pontiff; he however, signing the baptized with the sacred and altogether divine unguent, makes him a partaker of the most sacred communion." Eusebius also of Caesarea attributes so much to this sacrament, that he did not hesitate to say that Novatus the heretic could not merit the Holy Spirit, because, when he had been baptized in grave sickness, he was not signed with the seal of chrism. But we have most clear testimonies of this matter both from St. Ambrose in that book which he inscribed concerning those who are initiated, and from St. Augustine in the books which he published against the letters of Petilian the Donatist, each of whom considered that nothing could be doubted concerning the truth of this sacrament, so that he also teaches and confirms it from places of Scripture. Wherefore the one indeed has testified that those words of the Apostle: "Grieve not the Holy Spirit of God, whereby you are sealed," and the other, what is read in the Psalms: "Like the ointment on the head, which ran down upon the beard, the beard of Aaron," and also that of the same Apostle: "The charity of God is poured forth in our hearts by the Holy Spirit who is given to us," is to be referred to the sacrament of confirmation.
V. What is the difference between confirmation and baptism.
Although it has been said by Melchiades that baptism is most greatly joined to confirmation: nevertheless it must not be thought the same sacrament, but far disjoined from the other. For it is clear that the variety of the grace which individual sacraments bestow, and of the thing subject to the senses, which signifies the grace itself, makes that the sacraments also are various and diverse.
bishop of the Spaniards.
Since therefore by the grace of baptism men are begotten to a new life, and by the sacrament of confirmation, those who have already been begotten come forth as men, "the things that were of a little one being done away": it is sufficiently understood how much in natural life generation differs from growth, by so much also do baptism, which has the power of regenerating, and confirmation, by whose virtue the faithful grow and take on perfect vigor of soul, differ among themselves. Moreover, since a new and distinct kind of sacrament must be constituted, where the soul runs into some new difficulty: it can easily be perceived that just as by the grace of baptism we have need for the mind to be informed by faith, so also it is most conducive that the souls of the faithful be confirmed by another grace, so that by no peril or fear of penalties, torments, death, they may be deterred from the confession of the true faith. Which indeed, since it is effected by the sacred chrism of confirmation, it is openly gathered from this, that the nature of this sacrament is diverse from baptism. Wherefore Pope Melchiades pursues the distinction of each with accurate speech, writing thus: "In baptism man is received into the militia, and in confirmation he is armed for the fight. In the font of baptism the Holy Spirit bestows the fullness unto innocence; in confirmation however he ministers perfection unto grace. In baptism we are regenerated to life; after baptism we are confirmed for the fight. In baptism we are washed; after baptism we are strengthened. Regeneration by itself saves those receiving baptism in peace; confirmation arms and equips for contests." But these things have now been handed down not only by other councils, but have been especially decreed by the sacred Synod of Trent, so that concerning them now it is not permitted not only to feel otherwise, but not even to doubt in any way.
VI. Who is the author of the sacrament of confirmation.
Since moreover it has been demonstrated above how necessary it is to teach in common concerning all the sacraments, from whom they had their origin: the same must also be handed down concerning confirmation, so that the faithful may be more affected by the holiness of this sacrament. Therefore it must be explained by pastors that Christ the Lord not only was its author, but, with St. Fabian Roman Pontiff as witness, commanded the rite of chrism and the words which the Catholic Church uses in its administration. Which indeed he will easily be able to prove to those who confess that confirmation is a sacrament, since all sacred mysteries exceed the powers of human nature, and cannot be instituted by any other than God. Now indeed, what are its parts, and first indeed concerning the matter it must be said.
VII. What is the matter of this sacred mystery.
This however is called chrism, by which name received from the Greeks, although profane writers signify any kind of unguent whatever, nevertheless those who hand down divine matters by common custom of speaking have accommodated it only to that unguent which is made from oil and balsam by solemn consecration of the bishop. Wherefore two corporeal things mixed supply the matter of confirmation; which indeed composition of diverse things, as it declares the manifold grace of the Holy Spirit, which is given to the confirmed, so also sufficiently shows the excellence of the sacrament itself. That this however is the matter of this sacrament, both the holy Church and the councils have perpetually taught, and it has been handed down by St. Dionysius and very many other most grave Fathers, and especially by Pope Fabian, who testified that the Apostles received the preparation of chrism from the Lord, and left it to us.
VIII. What oil in the matter of confirmation signifies.
Nor indeed could any other matter than that of chrism seem more apt for declaring that which is effected by this sacrament. For oil, which is fat, and by its nature remains and flows, expresses the fullness of grace, which through the Holy Spirit from Christ the Head redounds and is poured out into others, "like the ointment which runneth down upon Aaron's beard, as far as to the hem of his garment;" for "God" anointed him "with the oil of gladness above his fellows;" and "of his fullness we have all received."
IX. What balsam mixed with the oil here advises.
Balsam, however, whose odor is most pleasant, what else signifies, than that the faithful, when they are perfected by the sacrament of confirmation,
pour forth that sweetness of all virtues, so that they can say that of the Apostle: "We are the good odor of Christ unto God?" Balsam has moreover this power, that whatever shall have been smeared around with it, it does not suffer to rot; which indeed seems very accommodated for signifying the virtue of this sacrament, since it plainly is clear that the souls of the faithful, prepared by the heavenly grace which is bestowed in confirmation, can easily be defended from the contagion of crimes.
X. Why it is necessary that chrism be consecrated by the bishop.
Chrism, moreover, is consecrated with solemn ceremonies by the bishop; for thus Fabian, pontiff, most illustrious for sanctity and the glory of martyrdom, has handed down that our Savior taught at the last supper, when he commended the method of preparing chrism to the Apostles;
²) Counc. Laodic. c. 48. Carthag. 2. c. 3. ³) eccles. hier. c. 4. ⁴) in the same ep.
Catechismus Romanus
although why it ought to be done thus, can also be shown by reason. For in most other sacraments Christ so instituted their matter, that he also attributed sanctity to it; for he not only willed that water should be the element of baptism, when he says: "Unless a man be born again of water and the Holy Spirit, he cannot enter into the kingdom of God:" but, when he himself was baptized, he effected that thereafter it might be endowed with the power of sanctifying. Wherefore it has been said by St. Chrysostom: "The water of baptism would not be able to cleanse the sins of believers, unless it had been sanctified by the touch of the Lord's body." Since therefore the Lord did not consecrate this matter of confirmation by use itself and handling, it is necessary that it be consecrated by holy and religious prayers, nor can the preparation of it pertain to any other than to the bishop, who is instituted as the ordinary minister of the same sacrament.
XI. What is the form of this Sacrament.
But moreover the other part, from which the sacrament is constituted, must be explained, namely the form and the words which are employed in the sacred unction; and the faithful must be admonished that in receiving this sacrament, then especially, when they notice these things being pronounced, they should excite their souls to piety, faith and religion, lest anything might be able to be an impediment to the heavenly grace. With these words therefore the form of confirmation is completed: "I sign thee with the sign of the cross, and I confirm thee with the chrism of salvation, in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit." But nevertheless, if we recall reason also to the truth, the same can easily be proved. For the form of the sacrament ought to contain all those things which explain the nature and substance of the sacrament itself.
XII. That this is the perfect form of this sacrament, in what manner it is confirmed.
Now these three things above all must be observed in confirmation: the divine power, which operates as the principal cause in the sacrament; then the vigor of soul and spirit, which through the sacred unction is bestowed on the faithful for salvation; then the sign, by which is marked he who is about to descend into the contest of the Christian militia. And first indeed those words: "In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit," which are placed in the last place; the second those: "I confirm thee with the chrism of salvation," which are in the middle; the third, which are located in the beginning of the form: "I sign thee with the sign of the cross," sufficiently declare; although, if it cannot be proved by any reason, that this is the true and absolute form of this sacrament, the authority of the Catholic Church, by whose magisterium we have always been so taught, does not suffer that we doubt anything about this matter.
XIII. Who is the proper minister of the sacrament of confirmation.
Pastors must also teach to whom chiefly the administration of this sacrament is committed. For since there are many, as it is with the Prophet, who run, and nevertheless are not sent: it is necessary to hand down who are its true and legitimate ministers, so that the faithful people may be able to obtain the sacrament and grace of confirmation. Therefore the sacred writings show that the bishop alone has the ordinary power of performing this sacrament. For in the Acts of the Apostles we read that when Samaria had received the word of God, Peter and John were sent to them, who prayed for them, that they might receive the Holy Spirit; for he had not yet come upon any of them, but they were only baptized. In which place it is permitted to see that he who had baptized, since he was only a deacon, had no power of confirming: but that office was reserved to more perfect ministers, that is to the Apostles. Nay even, wherever the sacred scriptures make mention of this sacrament, the same can be observed.
XIV. The same is also shown by the decrees of the supreme pontiffs.
Nor are there wanting for demonstrating this matter the most clear testimonies of the Holy Fathers and Pontiffs, Urban, Eusebius, Damasus, Innocent, Leo, as is evident from their decrees. St. Augustine also gravely complains about the corrupt custom of the Egyptians and Alexandrians, whose priests dared to administer the sacrament of confirmation. And that this was done rightly, that such an office should be assigned to the bishops, pastors can declare by this similitude. For as in erecting buildings, although the workmen, who are inferior ministers, prepare and compose the cement, lime, timber, and the rest of the material, nevertheless the completion of the work pertains to the architect: so also this sacrament, by which as it were a spiritual building is perfected, it was needful to be administered by no other than the supreme priest.
XV. Why in confirmation godparents are taken, and what affinity is contracted in confirmation.
Moreover a godparent is also added, as has been shown to be done in baptism. For if those who undertake a gladiatorial contest need someone by whose art and counsel they may be taught, by what strokes and thrusts, themselves being safe, they may finish off the adversary: how much more shall the faithful, when they by the sacrament
of confirmation, as if covered and fortified with the firmest armor, descend into the spiritual contest, for which eternal salvation is set forth, have need of a leader and monitor! Rightly therefore godparents must be summoned for the administration of this sacrament also, with whom the same spiritual affinity is joined, which impedes legitimate bonds of marriage, as we have taught before, when we treated of the godparents who must be employed for baptism.
XVI. The sacrament of confirmation is not absolutely necessary,
nevertheless it is not to be omitted.
But since it often happens that the faithful, in receiving this sacrament, use either over-hasty haste, or a certain dissolute negligence and delay, (for about those who have come to that grade of impiety, that they dare to contemn and spurn it, there is nothing to be said): it must also be opened up by pastors who, at what age, endowed with what zeal of piety ought to be those to whom one must give confirmation. And this firstly must be taught, that this sacrament is not of such necessity that anyone cannot be saved without it. Although indeed it is not necessary, nevertheless it must be omitted by no one, but rather one must most greatly beware lest in a matter full of sanctity, through which divine gifts are so largely imparted to us, any negligence be committed. For what God has set forth for all commonly for sanctification, must also be sought by all with the greatest zeal.
XVII. It is demonstrated that the sacrament of confirmation must be received by all.
And St. Luke indeed, when he described that admirable outpouring of the Holy Spirit, thus says (Acts 2, 2.): "And suddenly there came a sound from heaven, as of a mighty wind coming, and it filled the whole house;" then a few words interposed: "And they were all filled with the Holy Spirit." From which words it is permitted to understand that, since that house bore the figure and image of the holy Church, the sacrament of confirmation, whose beginning was drawn from that day, pertains to all the faithful. And this is also easily gathered from the nature of the sacrament itself; for those must be confirmed with the sacred chrism, who need spiritual increase, and who must be led to the perfect habit of the Christian religion. But there is none to whom this does not most convene; for as nature looks to this, that those who are brought forth into the light may grow up, and come to perfect age, even if sometimes less of what it wills is attained: so the common mother of all, the Catholic Church, greatly wishes that in those whom she has regenerated through baptism, the form of the Christian man may be perfectly completed. This
however, since it is effected by the sacrament of mystical unction, it is evident that it equally pertains to all the faithful.
XVIII. At what age Christians are to be admitted to this Sacrament.
In which it must be observed that after baptism the sacrament of confirmation can indeed be administered to all, but it is less expedient nevertheless that this be done, before boys have had the use of reason. Wherefore if the twelfth year does not seem to have to be awaited, it is most fitting to defer this sacrament certainly until the seventh. For confirmation was not instituted for the necessity of salvation, but that by its power we might be found best equipped and prepared, when we must fight for the faith of Christ; for which kind of contest indeed no one would judge boys apt, who still lack the use of reason.
XIX. How those who are already more advanced in age must prepare themselves for this sacrament.
From these things therefore it follows that those who are to be confirmed at adult age already, if indeed they desire to obtain the grace and gifts of this sacrament, it behooves not only to bring faith and piety, but also to grieve from soul for the graver sins which they have committed. In which matter one must labor, that they should also confess their sins first, and be incited by the exhortation of the pastors to undertake fasts and other works of piety, and be admonished that that laudable custom of the ancient Church must be renewed, that only when fasting they should receive this sacrament. Which indeed must be considered to be easily persuaded to the faithful, if they have understood the gifts and admirable effects of this sacrament. XX. What are the effects of confirmation.
Therefore pastors shall teach that confirmation has this in common with the other sacraments, namely, that unless some impediment be introduced on the part of him who receives it, it bestows new grace. For it has been shown that these sacred and mystical signs are such as both signify and effect grace; from which it follows that it also pardons and remits sins, since we are not even permitted to imagine grace together with sin. But besides these effects which are to be deemed common with the others, the first indeed that is properly attributed to confirmation is that it perfects the grace of baptism. For those who have been made Christians through baptism, like infants newly born, still have a certain tenderness and softness, and afterwards through the sacrament of chrism become stronger against all the assaults of the flesh, the world, and the devil, and their soul is wholly confirmed in the faith for confessing
and glorifying the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, from which circumstance no one will doubt that the very name itself has been derived.
XXI. Whence the name of confirmation is drawn.
Nor indeed, as some have invented no less ignorantly than impiously, is the word confirmation derived from the fact that formerly those who had been baptized as infants, when they were now adults, were brought to the bishop that they might confirm the Christian faith which they had received in baptism, so that confirmation would seem to differ in nothing from catechesis; of which custom no approved testimony can be brought forward. But the name has been imposed on the thing from the fact that by the power of this sacrament God confirms in us that which He began to work in baptism, and leads us to the perfection of Christian solidity. Nor indeed does He only confirm, but also increases, concerning which Melchiades thus testifies: "The Holy Spirit, who descended upon the waters of baptism with a salvific inflow, in the font bestows fullness unto innocence, in confirmation grants an increase unto grace." Then He does not only increase, but increases in a certain admirable manner. Now this Scripture has most beautifully signified and expressed by the transference of the term of clothing; for the Lord Savior, when speaking of this sacrament, says: "Stay in the city, until you be clothed with power from on high."
XXII. The power of confirmation to be declared from what happened to the Apostles.
But if the pastors shall wish to show the divine efficacy of this sacrament (and it cannot be doubted that this will have the greatest power for moving the souls of the faithful), it will suffice to explain what happened to the Apostles themselves. For they, before the passion, or at the very hour of the passion, were so weak and remiss that, when the Lord was seized, they straightway betook themselves to flight; and Peter indeed, who had been designated the rock and foundation of the Church, and who had shown the highest constancy and greatness of an exalted soul, terrified by the voice of a single little woman, denied that he was a disciple of Jesus Christ, not once or twice, but three times; and after the resurrection all, from fear of the Jews, kept themselves shut up at home. But truly on the day of Pentecost they were filled with such power of the Holy Spirit that, while they boldly and freely spread the gospel which had been committed to them, not only in the region of the Jews, but throughout the whole world, they thought that nothing more happy could happen to them than that they should be "counted worthy" (Act. 5, 41.) to bear "reproach," chains, torments, and crosses "for the name of Christ."
XXIII. Confirmation imprints a character, and cannot be repeated.
Confirmation has moreover this power, that it imprints a character;
from which it comes about that it can in no way ever be repeated, which was also observed above in baptism, and concerning the sacrament of order will also be more plainly expounded in its place. These things therefore, if they shall be often and accurately explained by the pastors, it will scarcely be able to happen that the faithful, the dignity and utility of this sacrament being known, shall not strive to receive it holily and religiously with the greatest diligence. It now remains that some things also be briefly touched on concerning the rites and ceremonies which the Catholic Church uses in administering this sacrament; how much this explanation will be useful, the pastors will understand, if they shall wish to repeat what was said before, when this place was treated.
XXIV. Why the forehead of those who are confirmed is anointed in the manner of a cross.
anointed.
Those therefore who are confirmed with the sacred chrism are anointed on the forehead. For by this sacrament the Holy Spirit pours Himself into the souls of the faithful, and increases in them strength and fortitude, that they may be able to fight manfully in the spiritual combat, and to resist the most wicked enemies. Wherefore it is declared, that they are by no fear or shame, of which affections the signs are wont to appear especially on the forehead, to be deterred from the free confession of the Christian name. Moreover that mark, by which a Christian is distinguished from others, as a soldier by certain insignia from others, had to be imprinted on a more illustrious part of the body.
XXV. At what time chiefly this sacrament is to be conferred.
But this also has been observed with solemn religion in the Church of God, that this sacrament should be administered chiefly at Pentecost, because on this day the Apostles were strengthened and confirmed by the power of the Holy Spirit, by the remembrance of which divine deed the faithful might be admonished, what and how great mysteries were to be pondered in the sacred unction.
XXVI. Why the bishop gives a slap, and imprecates peace upon the one confirmed.
Then indeed he who has been anointed and confirmed, that he may remember that he ought to be ready like a strong athlete to bear with invincible soul all adversities for the name of Christ, is struck lightly by the bishop with the hand upon the cheek. Finally, however, peace is given to him, that he may understand that he has obtained the fullness of heavenly grace and peace, "which (Phil. 4, 7.) surpasseth all sense." And let this be the sum of those things which are to be explained by the pastors concerning the sacrament of chrism, not so much by bare words and speech, as by a certain inflamed zeal of piety, that they may seem to insert them into the souls and inmost thoughts of the faithful.
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CHAPTER IV.
On the Sacrament of the Eucharist.
I. Why the mysteries of the Eucharist ought to be treated and received with the greatest reverence.
Just as of all the sacred mysteries which our Lord Savior has commended to us as the most certain instruments of divine grace, there is none that can be compared with the most holy sacrament of the Eucharist: so also no more grievous chastisement of any crime is to be feared from God, than if a thing full of all holiness, or rather, which contains the very author and source of holiness itself, be treated neither holily nor religiously by the faithful. This indeed the Apostle both wisely saw, and openly admonished us of it. For when he had declared with how great a crime those were bound who did not discern the body of the Lord, he immediately added: "Therefore are there many infirm and weak among you, and many sleep." Therefore, that the faithful people, when they shall have understood that divine honors are to be given to this heavenly sacrament, may both take abundant fruits of grace, and escape the most just wrath of God, all those things will have to be most diligently expounded by the pastors, which may seem able to illustrate more clearly its majesty.
For what cause and when the sacrament of the Eucharist was instituted.
In this matter it will be necessary that, following the method of Paul the Apostle, who professed that he had delivered to the Corinthians what he had received from the Lord, the pastors explain to the faithful in the first place the institution of this sacrament. That the thing was done in this way is clearly gathered from the Evangelist. "For when the Lord had loved His own, He loved them unto the end," and that He might give a certain divine and admirable pledge of which love, knowing that the hour had now come that He should pass from this world to the Father, lest at any time He should be absent from His own, by an inexplicable counsel, which surpasses every order and condition of nature, He accomplished it. For indeed, having celebrated the supper of the paschal lamb with His disciples, that figure might yield to truth, shadow to body, "He took bread, and giving thanks to God blessed and broke it, and gave it to His disciples, and said: Take and eat: This is my body, which shall be delivered for you: do this in commemoration of me. In like manner also the chalice, after he had supped, saying: This chalice is the new testament in my blood. Do this, as often as you shall drink, for the commemoration of me."
III. Why this sacrament is called Eucharist.
Since then the sacred writers understood that it could in no way come about that the dignity and excellence of this admirable sacrament be shown by a single word, they strove to express it by several names. For sometimes they call it Eucharist; which word we can render in Latin either as good grace, or as the giving of thanks. And rightly indeed it must be called good grace, both because it prefigures eternal life, of which it is written: "The grace of God is life everlasting," and because it contains in itself Christ the Lord, who is true grace and the fount of all charisms. Nor indeed do we less aptly interpret it as the giving of thanks; since, when we immolate this most pure host, we daily render immense thanks to God for all the benefits bestowed upon us, and chiefly for that so excellent good of His grace, which He bestows upon us by this sacrament. But this very name also agrees most fittingly with those things which we read were done by Christ the Lord in instituting this mystery. For indeed "taking bread He broke it, and gave thanks." David also, when he contemplated the greatness of this mystery, before he pronounced that song: "The merciful and compassionate Lord hath made a remembrance of His wonderful works, He hath given food to them that fear Him:" he thought that the giving of thanks should be placed first, when he says: Confession and magnificence is His work.
IV. Why this sacrament is called communion, and the sacrament of peace and charity.
Frequently also it is declared by the name of sacrifice; concerning which mystery it will have to be spoken more at length a little later. It is moreover called communion; which word it is clear has been taken from that passage of the Apostle where he says: "The chalice of benediction, which we bless, is it not the communication of the blood of Christ? and the bread, which we break, is it not the partaking of the body of the Lord?" For, as Damascene has explained, this sacrament joins us to Christ, and makes us partakers of His flesh and divinity, and reconciles and joins us among ourselves in the same Christ, and cements us as it were into one body. Whence it has come about that it is also called the sacrament of peace and charity, that we might understand, how unworthy of the Christian name are those who exercise enmities, and that hatreds, dissensions, and discords, as the most foul pests of the faithful, are altogether to be exterminated, especially since by the daily sacrifice of our religion we profess to preserve nothing more zealously than peace and charity.
. i. c. 13.
Catechism, Counc. Trid.
V. In what manner the same sacrament is called viaticum and supper.
But viaticum also is it frequently called by the sacred writers, both because it is spiritual food by which we are sustained in the pilgrimage of this life, and because it fortifies us with strength unto eternal glory and happiness. Wherefore by the ancient institution of the Catholic Church we see it observed, that no one of the faithful should depart from life without this sacrament. And the most ancient Fathers indeed, following the authority of the Apostle, sometimes called the sacred Eucharist also by the name of "supper," because in that salutary mystery of the last supper it was instituted by Christ the Lord.
VI. The Eucharist cannot be confected and received after food or drink taken.
Nor is it for that reason lawful to confect or receive the Eucharist after food or drink, because the custom salutarily introduced by the Apostles, as the ancient writers have handed down to memory, has been perpetually retained and preserved, that it be received only by those who are fasting.
VII. The Eucharist is a sacrament of true name.
But the reason of the name being explained, it will have to be taught, that this is a true sacrament, and one of those seven which the holy Church has always religiously cultivated and venerated. For when the consecration of the chalice takes place, it is called the mystery of faith. Moreover, to omit the almost infinite testimonies of the sacred writers, who have perpetually judged that it must be numbered among the true sacraments, from the very reason and nature of a sacrament the same is proved. For in it there are external signs subject to the senses. It has then the signification and efficacy of grace. Moreover concerning the institution of Christ neither the Evangelists nor the Apostle leave room for doubt. All of which things, when they converge into one to confirm the truth of a sacrament, it is evident that no other arguments are needed.
VIII. That there are many things in this sacrament to which the name of sacrament applies.
applies.
But this must be diligently observed by the pastors, that in this mystery there are many things, to which sometimes the sacred writers have attributed the name of sacrament. For sometimes both the consecration and the reception, but frequently also the very body and blood of the Lord which is contained in the Eucharist, have been accustomed to be called the sacrament. For St. Augustine says that this sacrament consists of two things, namely of the visible species of the elements, and of the invisible flesh and blood of our same Lord Jesus Christ. And in the same manner we affirm that this sacrament is to be adored, understanding namely the body and blood of the Lord. But it is evident that all these things are less properly called sacraments. The very species of bread and wine, however, have the true and absolute reason of this name.
IX. How the Eucharist differs from all the other sacraments.
But how much this sacrament differs from all the others, is easily gathered. For the other sacraments are perfected by the use of the matter, while namely it happens to be administered to someone. For baptism then acquires the nature of a sacrament, when a man is actually washed with water; but for the perfection of the Eucharist the consecration of the matter itself is sufficient; for it does not cease to be each sacrament, although it be kept in the pyxis. Then in the confecting of the other sacraments no change of matter and element into another nature takes place; for the water of baptism, or the oil of chrism, when those sacraments are administered, do not lose the prior nature of water and oil: but in the Eucharist, what was bread and wine before the consecration, the consecration being accomplished, is truly the substance of the body and blood of the Lord.
X. The double matter of the Eucharist does not constitute two sacraments.
Although there are two elements, namely bread and wine, of which the whole sacrament of the Eucharist is confected, yet that there are not several sacraments, but only one, we confess, taught by the authority of the Church; for otherwise the septenary number of the sacraments, as has always been handed down, and been decreed by the Councils of Lateran, Florence, and Trent, could not stand. For since by the grace of this sacrament one mystical body is effected, that the sacrament itself may agree with the thing which it effects, it must be one, and one indeed, not because it is individual, but because it has the signification of one thing. For just as food and drink, which are two different things, are applied to one thing only, namely that the strength of the body may be restored: so also it was congruous that two different species of the sacrament should correspond to these, which might signify the spiritual food by which minds are sustained and refreshed. Wherefore it was said by the Lord Savior (Jn. 6, 56.): "My flesh is meat indeed, and my blood is drink indeed." But it must be diligently explained, what the sacrament of the Eucharist signifies, that the faithful, beholding the sacred mysteries with their eyes, may at the same time also feed their soul with the contemplation of divine things.
XI. What things are included in the signification of this sacrament.
Three things indeed are indicated to us by this sacrament. The first is the passion of Christ the Lord, which has already passed; for He Himself
taught: "Do this in commemoration of me," and the Apostle testified: "As often as you shall eat this bread, and drink the chalice, you shall show the death of the Lord, until he come." The second is the divine and heavenly grace, which is bestowed present for nourishing and preserving the soul by this sacrament. For as by baptism we are begotten to a new life, by confirmation we are strengthened, that we may be able to resist Satan, and openly profess the name of Christ: so by the sacrament of the Eucharist we are nourished and sustained. The third is that it prefigures what is to come, the fruit of eternal joy and glory, which we shall receive in our heavenly country from the promise of God. These three therefore, which it is clear are distinguished by the variety of present, past, and consequent time, are so signified by the sacred mysteries, that the whole sacrament, although it consists of different species, is referred to the declaring of each of these as to the signification of one thing.
XII. What is the matter of this sacrament, and what kind of bread is to be consecrated.
But in the first place the matter of this sacrament must be known by the pastors, both that they may be able duly to confect it, and also that the faithful may be admonished, of what thing it is the symbol, and may burn with zeal and desire for that thing which it signifies. There is therefore a double matter of this sacrament: one is bread made of wheat, of which first it shall be treated; of the other it shall be spoken afterwards. For, as the Evangelists Matthew, Mark, and Luke teach, Christ the Lord took bread in His hands, blessed, and broke it, saying: "This is my body." In John also the same our Savior called Himself bread, when He said: "I am the living bread, which came down from heaven." Since, however, there are various kinds of bread, either because they differ in matter, as when one is made of wheat, another of barley, or of legumes and the other fruits of the earth, or because they are endowed with different qualities (for to one leaven is added, and another can be altogether without leaven): as regards the first, the words of the Savior show that bread must be made of wheat; for by the common custom of speaking, when bread is spoken of absolutely, it is sufficiently established that bread of wheat is understood. This is also declared by a figure of the Old Testament. For it had been commanded by the Lord, that "the loaves of proposition," which signified this sacrament, should be made "of fine flour."
165 Part II. Chapter IV. 165
XIII. It is fitting that the bread, from which the Eucharist is confected, be unleavened.
But just as no bread, except that of wheat, is to be thought fit matter for the sacrament (for this the apostolic tradition has taught us, and the authority of the Catholic Church has confirmed): so also from those things which Christ the Lord did, it is easily understood that it ought to be unleavened. For He himself "on the first day of the azymes," on which it was not lawful for the Jews to have anything leavened in the house, confected and instituted this sacrament. But if anyone should oppose the authority of John the Evangelist, who records that all these things were done "before the festival day of the Pasch": that reason can easily be resolved. For indeed, the first day of the azymes which the other Evangelists called so, because on Thursday evening the festival days of the azymes began, at which time our Savior celebrated the Pasch; this very day John describes as being the day before the Pasch, as one who thought that the space of the natural day, which begins from the rising of the sun, should chiefly be noted. Wherefore St. Chrysostom also interprets the first day of the azymes as that day, on which at evening the azymes were to be eaten. But how much the consecration of unleavened bread is fitting to the integrity, and purity of mind, which the faithful ought to bring to this sacrament, we are taught by the Apostle, when he says: "Purge out the old leaven, that you may be a new paste, as you are unleavened. For Christ our pasch is sacrificed; therefore let us feast, not with the old leaven, nor with the leaven of malice and wickedness, but with the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth."
XIV. Unleavened bread is not altogether necessary for the Eucharist.
Yet that quality must not be thought so necessary, that, if it be lacking in the bread, the sacrament cannot be confected; for either kind of bread has the true and proper reason and name of bread, although it is lawful for no one by private authority or rather rashness to change the laudable rite of his church. And this is the less permitted to Latin priests to do, to whom moreover the Supreme Pontiffs have prescribed, that they should confect the sacred mysteries only from unleavened bread. And let these things that have been expounded concerning the other matter of this sacrament suffice; in which however this must be remarked, that it has not been defined how much matter must be used to confect the sacrament, since also a fixed number of those who either can, or ought to receive the sacred mysteries cannot be defined.
*) c. 14. X. de celebr. miss. III. 41.
Catechism of Rome
XV. What matter is to be employed for the consecration of the blood of the Lord.
Lord.
It remains that we speak of the other matter and element of this sacrament. It is wine pressed from the fruit of the vine, to which a small amount of water has been mixed. For that the Lord Savior used wine in the institution of this sacrament, the Catholic Church has always taught, since He Himself said: "I will not drink from henceforth of this fruit of the vine until that day." In which place Chrysostom says: "Of the fruit of the vine, which certainly produced wine, not water," so that he seemed so long before to refute the heresy of those who thought that water alone should be used in these mysteries.
XVI. Water is to be mixed with the wine in the sacrament.
But the Church of God has always mixed water with the wine; first, because this was done by Christ the Lord, as is approved by the authority of councils and the testimony of St. Cyprian; then, because by this mixture the memory of the blood and water, which came forth from His side, is renewed. Moreover "waters," as we read in the Apocalypse, designate the people, wherefore water mixed with the wine signifies the conjunction of the faithful people with Christ the Head. And this the holy Church has perpetually preserved from apostolic tradition.
XVII. It is not absolutely necessary that water be used, and the quantity of water should be less than that of wine.
But although the reasons for mixing water are so grave, that it is not permitted to omit it without mortal sin: yet if it be lacking, the sacrament can stand. But this must be observed by priests, that just as in the sacred mysteries water must be applied to the wine, so also it must be poured in modestly. For, according to the opinion and judgment of ecclesiastical writers, that water is converted into wine. Wherefore Pope Honorius thus writes concerning this: "A pernicious abuse has grown up in thy parts, namely that a greater quantity of water than of wine is used in the sacrifice; whereas according to the reasonable custom of the universal Church far more wine than water must be used." Therefore of this sacrament these are the only two elements, and deservedly has it been sanctioned by several decrees, that nothing other besides bread and wine, which some were not afraid to do, may be offered. But now it must be seen, how apt these two symbols of bread and wine are for declaring those things, of which we believe and confess them to be sacraments.
c. 7. *) Apoc. 17, 15. 6) c. 13. X. de celebr. miss. III. 41. e) c. 1. de consecr disi. i.
XVIII. How many and how great things the symbols of bread and wine represent in this sacrament.
First indeed they signify Christ to us, as He is the true life of men; for the Lord Himself says: "My flesh is meat indeed, and my blood is drink indeed." Since then the body of Christ the Lord offers them the nourishment of eternal life, who receive His sacrament purely and holily, rightly is it confected with those things chiefly in which this life is contained, that the faithful may easily be able to understand, that the mind and soul is satiated by the communion of the precious body and blood of Christ. These very elements also avail somewhat for this, that men may receive this knowledge, that in the sacrament of the body and blood of the Lord there is truth. For since we observe that bread and wine are daily by the power of nature changed into human flesh and blood: we can more easily be led by this similitude, to believe that the substance of bread and wine is converted by a heavenly benediction into the true flesh, and the true blood of Christ. This admirable change of the elements also brings some aid for shadowing forth what takes place in the soul. For as, although no change of bread and wine appears externally, yet their substance truly passes into the flesh and blood of Christ: so also, although nothing seems to be changed in us, yet interiorly we are renewed to life, while we receive true life by the sacrament of the Eucharist. There is added to these things, that, since one body of the Church is composed of many members, by no thing does that conjunction more shine forth than by the elements of bread and wine. For bread is made of many grains, and wine arises from a multitude of clusters of grapes; and thus they declare that we, since we are many, are most tightly bound together by the bond of this divine mystery, and are made as it were one body.
XIX. What form must be used for consecrating the bread.
It now follows that we treat of the form, which must be used for consecrating the bread; not indeed for the reason that these mysteries should be delivered to the faithful people, unless necessity compels (for it is not necessary that those who have not been initiated into the sacred rites be instructed concerning these things), but lest by ignorance of the form in confecting the sacrament priests most foully sin. Therefore by the holy Evangelists Matthew and Luke, and likewise by the Apostle, we are taught, that this is the form: "This is my body." For it is written: "Whilst they were at supper, Jesus took bread, and blessed, and broke, and gave to his disciples, and said: Take and eat, this is my body." Which form of consecration indeed since
it was kept by Christ the Lord, the Catholic Church has perpetually used it. The testimonies of the holy Fathers, which it would be endless to enumerate, are to be passed over in this place, and the decree of the Council of Florence, which is open to all, and is at hand; since especially from those words of the Savior: "Do this in commemoration of me," the same may be known. For what the Lord commanded to be done, must be referred not only to that which He had done, but also to those things which He had said; and it must be understood to pertain chiefly to the words, which had been brought forth for the cause not less of effecting, than of signifying. But this can also easily be persuaded by reason. For that is the form, by which that is signified which is effected in this sacrament. Since moreover these words signify and declare what takes place, that is the conversion of the bread into the true body of our Lord: it follows that the form must be constituted in those very words; in which sense also what was said by the Evangelist "He blessed" may be taken. For it seems to be understood just as if He had said: "taking bread He blessed, saying: This is my body."
XX. Not all the words, which are employed by the custom of the Church for the consecration, are necessary.
Although the Evangelist has placed those words before: "Take and eat": yet by these not the consecration of the matter, but only the use is signified, is evident. Wherefore by the priest indeed they ought altogether to be pronounced, but they are not necessary to confect the sacrament; just as the conjunction "for" (enim) is also pronounced in the consecration of the body and the blood; otherwise it will happen that, if this sacrament be administered to no one, it ought not to be confected, or indeed could not; whereas it cannot be doubted that the priest, the words of the Lord being pronounced according to the custom and institution of the holy Church, truly consecrates fitting matter of bread, although it should then happen, that the sacred Eucharist should never be administered to anyone.
XXI. What is the form for confecting the blood.
Now indeed, as regards the consecration of the wine, which is the other matter of this sacrament, for the same cause which we have mentioned above, it is necessary that the priest have its form known and clearly understood. This therefore must certainly be believed to be comprehended in these words: "For this is the chalice of my blood, of the new and eternal Testament, the mystery of faith, which shall be shed for you and for many unto the remission of sins." From which
*) I. Cor. 2, 25.
IG9
words indeed several are gathered from the sacred Scriptures, but some have been preserved in the Church from apostolic tradition. For what is said: "This is the chalice," was written by St. Luke and by the Apostle; but what follows: "Of my blood," or "my blood of the new Testament, which shall be shed for you and for many unto the remission of sins," was said partly by St. Luke, partly by St. Matthew. But those words: "eternal" and "mystery of faith," holy tradition, the interpreter and guardian of Catholic truth, has taught us.
XXII. That this is the true form of consecration is shown.
But concerning this form no one will be able to doubt, if what was said before concerning the form of consecration which is applied to the element of bread, be here also attended to. For it is established that in those words, which signify that the substance of the wine is converted into the blood of the Lord, the form of this element is contained. Wherefore, since those words clearly declare this, it is evident that no other form is to be constituted. They express moreover certain admirable fruits of the blood shed in the passion of the Lord, which pertain most to this sacrament. One is the access to the eternal inheritance, which comes to us by the right of the new and eternal Testament. Another is the access to justice through the mystery of faith; for God has set forth Jesus through faith in His blood as a propitiator, that He Himself may be just, and justifying him who is of the faith of Jesus Christ. The third is the remission of sins.
XXIII. The form of the consecration of the blood is expounded.
Since however these very words of consecration are full of mysteries, and most aptly agree with the thing, it is proper to weigh them more diligently. For what is said: "This is the chalice of my blood," must be understood thus: This is my blood, which is contained in this chalice. And rightly and fittingly, while this blood, as it is the drink of the faithful, is consecrated, mention must be made of the chalice; for neither would blood seem sufficiently to signify this kind of drink, unless it had been received in some vessel. There then follows: "of the new Testament," which indeed was added for this reason, that we might understand, that the blood of Christ the Lord is handed over to men not as a figure, as happened in the old Testament (for concerning that we read in the Apostle to the Hebrews, that the Testament was "not" dedicated "without blood"), but truly and in reality; which pertains to the new Testament. Wherefore the Apostle says: "Therefore" Christ "is the mediator of the new Testament: that by means of his death, they that are called may receive the promise of
eternal inheritance." But the word: "eternal," must be referred to the eternal inheritance, which by the death of Christ the Lord the eternal testator has come to us by right. What is subjoined: "mystery of faith," does not exclude the truth of the thing, but signifies that what lies hidden, and is most remote from the sense of the eyes, must be believed with certain faith. But a different meaning from that which they have when they are also attributed to baptism is here subjoined to these words. For because we discern with faith the blood of Christ, hidden under the species of wine, it is called the mystery of faith. But baptism, because it embraces the entire profession of the Christian faith, is by us rightly called the sacrament of faith, by the Greeks the mystery. Although also for another reason we call the blood of the Lord the mystery of faith, namely because in it human reason experiences the most difficulty and trouble, when faith proposes to us to believe, that Christ the Lord, the true Son of God, at once God and man, has borne death for us; which death indeed is designated by the sacrament of the blood.
XXIV. Why mention is made of death chiefly in the consecration of the blood.
Wherefore fittingly in this place, rather than in the consecration of the body, the Lord's passion is commemorated in these words: "Which shall be shed for the remission of sins." For the blood, consecrated separately, has greater power and weight for placing before the eyes of all the passion of the Lord, and death, and the kind of passion. But those words which are added: "for you and for many," were taken each from each by Matthew and Luke; which however the holy Church, instructed by the Spirit of God, joined together; they pertain, moreover, to the declaring of the fruit and utility of the passion. For if we consider its power, it must be confessed that the blood was shed by the Savior for the salvation of all; but if we think of the fruit, which men have perceived from it, we shall easily understand that this utility comes not to all, but to many only. Therefore, when He said "for you," He signified either those who were present, or those chosen from among the Jewish people, such as were the disciples, with the exception of Judas, with whom He was speaking. But when He added: "for many," He wished that the rest of the elect from among the Jews or gentiles be understood. Rightly therefore was it done, that it was not said "for all," since in this place the discourse was only of the fruits of the passion, which brought the fruit of salvation to the elect alone. And to this pertain those words of the Apostle: "Christ was offered once, to exhaust the sins of many." And what the Lord says in John: "I
Part II. Chapter IV.
pray for them, I pray not for the world, but for these whom thou hast given me, for they are thine." Very many other mysteries lie hidden in the words of this consecration, which pastors will easily attain by assiduous meditation and study of divine things, with the Lord Himself assisting.
XXV. It is not expedient to employ the judgment of the senses in this sacrament.
But now let the discourse return to the explanation of those things,
which, that they should be unknown to the faithful, must in no way be permitted. And since the Apostle admonishes, that a most grave crime is committed by those, "who (I Cor. 11, 29.) do not discern the body of the Lord:" this let the pastors teach in the first place, that the mind and reason must with every study be called away from the senses. For if the faithful shall have persuaded themselves that only those things are contained in this sacrament, which they perceive by the senses, they must necessarily be brought to the highest impiety, when, perceiving nothing else besides the species of bread and wine by the eyes, touch, smell, taste, they shall judge that there is only bread and wine in the sacrament. Care must therefore be taken, that the minds of the faithful be drawn off, as much as possible, from the judgment of the senses, and be excited to the contemplation of the immense power and might of God.
XXVI. What is chiefly effected in this sacrament by the power of the mystical consecration.
consecration.
For there are three things chiefly to be admired and to be looked up to, which in this sacrament by the words of consecration are effected, which the Catholic faith without any doubt believes and confesses. The first is, that the true body of Christ the Lord, that same which born of the Virgin sits in the heavens at the right hand of the Father, is contained in this sacrament. The second is, that no substance of the elements remains in it, although nothing can seem more alien and remote from the senses. The third is, which is easily gathered from both, although the words of consecration express this chiefly, that the accidents, which are either discerned with the eyes, or perceived by the other senses, are without any subject thing, by a truly admirable and inexplicable reason. And indeed all the accidents of bread and wine may be seen, which however do not inhere in any substance, but stand by themselves; since the substance of bread and wine is so changed into the very body of the Lord, that the substance of bread and wine wholly ceases to be.
XXVII. It is certain that the same body of Christ, which was born of
the Virgin Mary, is contained in the Eucharist.
But that the first may be treated first, let the pastors try to explain, how perspicuous and clear are the words of our Savior, which demonstrate the truth of His body in the sacrament. For when He says: "This is my body, this is my blood:" no one, who is but of sound mind, can be ignorant what must be
understood by us, especially since the discourse is about the human nature, which was truly in Christ, the Catholic faith allows no one to doubt; as that most holy and most learned man Hilary has excellently written, that concerning the truth of the flesh and blood of Christ, since both by the profession of the Lord Himself and by our faith His flesh is truly food, no room has been left for doubt.
XXVIII. How likewise the true body of Christ is in the Eucharist
is proved.
But another passage moreover must be unfolded by the pastors, from which it is openly permitted to know, that the true body and blood of the Lord is contained in the Eucharist. For the Apostle, after he has mentioned, that the bread and wine was consecrated by the Lord, and the sacred mysteries administered to His Apostles, subjoins: "But let a man prove himself, and so let him eat of that bread, and drink of the chalice. For he that eateth and drinketh unworthily, eateth and drinketh judgment to himself, not discerning the body of the Lord." But if, as the heretics say, nothing else were to be venerated in the sacrament besides the memory and sign of the passion of Christ: what need was there to exhort the faithful with such grave words, that they should prove themselves? For by that grave voice of judgment the Apostle declared, that some nefarious crime is committed by him, who, impurely receiving the body of the Lord, which lies hidden in the Eucharist, does not distinguish it from another kind of food; which above in the same epistle also the Apostle more abundantly explained with these words: "The chalice of benediction, which we bless, is it not the communication of the blood of Christ? and the bread, which we break, is it not the partaking of the body of the Lord?" These words indeed demonstrate the true substance of the body and blood of Christ the Lord. These passages of Scripture therefore will have to be explained by the pastors, and it will have to be taught in the first place, that nothing doubtful or uncertain has been left in them, especially since the most sacred authority of the Church of God has interpreted them.
XXIX. The opinion of the Church of Christ concerning the sense of the Scriptures, and the truth of the body of the Lord in the Eucharist, how it is to be sought out.
To the knowledge of this opinion we can arrive by a twofold way and reason. The first is, when we consult the Fathers, who from the beginning of the Church and every succeeding age have flourished, and are the best witnesses of ecclesiastical doctrine. These indeed with the greatest consensus all have most openly handed down the truth of this dogma; to bring forward each of whose testimonies, since it would be a laborious toil, it will be enough to note, or rather to indicate, a few, from which judgment concerning the rest may easily be made. Therefore first
let St. Ambrose bring forth his faith, who in the book on those who are initiated into the mysteries, testified, that the true body of Christ is received in this sacrament, just as the true one was received from the Virgin; and that this must be held with most certain faith. And in another place he teaches, that before consecration bread is there; after consecration, however, the flesh of Christ. Let there be added another witness, St. Chrysostom, of no less faith and weight, who indeed, when in many other places he professes and teaches this very truth, but then especially in homily 60 on those who receive the sacred mysteries impurely; and likewise homilies 44 and 45 on St. John; for he says: "Let us obey God, and not contradict, although what is said should seem to be contrary either to our thoughts or to our eyes; for His word is infallible, our sense is easily deceived." With these things indeed from every side agree those things which St. Augustine, the most acute defender of the Catholic faith, has always taught, and chiefly in expounding the title of Psalm 33; for he writes: "For a man to bear himself in his own hands is impossible, and can belong to Christ alone; for He was borne in His own hands, when commending His very body He said: This is my body." And Cyril (I pass over Justin and Irenaeus) so openly in book 4 on John affirms that the true flesh of the Lord is in this sacrament, that his words cannot be obscured by any fallacious and captious interpretations. But if the pastors should require also other testimonies of the Fathers, it will be easy to add the holy Dionysius, Hilary, Jerome, Damascene, and innumerable others, whose most grave sentences on this matter, gathered together by the industry and labor of learned and pious men, we read everywhere.
XXX. How often the contrary opinion has been condemned in the councils of the Church.
The other way remains, by which it is allowed to investigate the judgment of the holy Church in those things which pertain to faith, namely the condemnation of the contrary doctrine and opinion. But truly it is established, that the truth of the body of Christ in the holy sacrament of the Eucharist has always been so diffused and disseminated throughout the universal Church, and received by all the faithful with consenting will, that, when five hundred years ago Berengarius dared to deny this, and to assert that it was only a sign, he was straightway at the Council of Vercelli, which had been convoked by the authority of Leo IX., condemned by the judgments of all, and himself condemned his heresy by anathema; who afterwards, when he returned to the same madness of impiety, was condemned by three other councils, those of Tours and two Roman ones,
l) c. 9. 2) de sacr. 4, 4.
of which one Nicholas II., the other Gregory VII., Supreme Pontiffs, convoked. Afterwards Innocent III. confirmed that judgment in the great Lateran Council; and thereafter by the Florentine and Tridentine synods the faith of the same truth has been more openly declared and established. These things therefore, if pastors shall have diligently expounded, (that we say nothing of those, who blinded by errors hate nothing more than the light of truth,) they shall be able both to confirm the weak, and to affect the minds of the pious with a certain great joy and delight.
XXXI. How in the Creed the dogma of the truth of the body of Christ
in this sacrament is included. Especially since the faithful are not permitted to doubt that among the other articles of faith the faith of this dogma is also comprised. For when they believe and confess that God has supreme power over all things, it is necessary that they also believe that the power was not lacking in Him to accomplish this greatest of works, which we admire and venerate in the sacrament of the Eucharist. Next, when they believe in the holy catholic Church: it necessarily follows that they also believe her to be, as we have explained, the truth of this sacrament.
XXXII. How great is the dignity of the Church militant, shown from the majesty of this mystery.
But there is truly nothing that can be added to the joy and fruit of the pious, when they contemplate the dignity of this most exalted sacrament. For first they understand how great is the perfection of the evangelical law, to which it has been granted to possess in reality that which under the Mosaic law was only adumbrated by signs and figures. Whence it was divinely said by Dionysius that our Church is the middle between the Synagogue and the supreme Jerusalem, and therefore shares in both. And indeed the faithful can never sufficiently marvel at the perfection of the holy Church, and the height of her glory, since between her and the heavenly beatitude only one single step seems to intervene. For this we have in common with the heavenly ones, that both have Christ, God and man, present; but, by that one step by which we are distant from them, they present enjoy Him by the blessed vision, while we venerate by firm and constant faith Him who is present yet removed from the sense of our eyes, hiding Himself beneath the admirable covering of the sacred mysteries. Moreover, in this sacrament the faithful experience the most perfect charity of Christ our Saviour; for it most befitted His goodness never to withdraw from us the nature which He had taken from us, but, as far as could
be done, to wish to be and to dwell with us; so that at all times that saying (Prov. 8, 31) might truly and properly be spoken: "My delights were to be with the children of men."
XXXIII. The bones, sinews, and whatever pertains to the perfection of a man, together with the divinity, are truly present here.
Now in this place it must be explained by the pastors that not only the true body of Christ, and whatever pertains to the true reason of a body, such as bones and sinews, but the whole Christ is contained in this sacrament. It must be taught, moreover, that Christ is the name of God and man, namely of one person, in which the divine and human natures are conjoined. Wherefore He comprises both substances, and the consequences of both substances, namely the divinity and the whole human nature, which consists of the soul and all the parts of the body and also the blood, all of which must be believed to be in the sacrament. For since in heaven the whole humanity is conjoined to the divinity in one person and hypostasis, it would be impious to suspect that the body which is in the sacrament is separated from the same divinity.
XXXIV. The blood, soul, and divinity are not in the Eucharist in the same manner as the body of Christ.
In which, however, it is necessary that the pastors observe that not all things are contained in this sacrament in the same manner or by the same power. For there are certain things which we say are in the sacrament by force and efficacy of the consecration; for since those words effect whatever they signify, the writers on divine things have called that which is expressed by the form of the words to be in the sacrament ex vi sacramenti (by the force of the sacrament): so that, if it should happen that something were wholly separated from other things, only that which the form signifies would be in the sacrament, and they taught the rest would not similarly be there. But certain things are contained in the sacrament because they are conjoined to those things which are expressed by the form; for since the form which is employed to consecrate the bread signifies the body of the Lord, when it is said: "This is my body": the very body of Christ the Lord will be in the Eucharist ex vi sacramenti. But because the blood, the soul, and the divinity are conjoined to the body: these also will all be in the sacrament, not indeed by the force of the consecration, but as things which are conjoined to the body. And these are said to be in the sacrament by concomitance, by which reckoning it is manifest that the whole Christ is in the sacrament. For if any two things are really conjoined between themselves, where one is, there the other also must be. It follows therefore that the whole Christ is so contained as much under the species of bread as under that of wine, that, just as under the species of bread there is truly present not only the body, but also the blood, and the whole
Christ, so conversely under the species of wine there is truly present not only the blood, but also the body, and the whole Christ.
XXXV. Why a double consecration takes place in the Eucharist.
But although it ought to be certain and most firmly persuaded to all the faithful that these things are so, it was nevertheless established with the best right that two consecrations should be made separately. For first, that the Passion of the Lord, in which the blood was divided from the body, might be more represented; for which cause we remember that in the consecration the blood was said to be shed. Then it was most consonant that, since we were to use the sacrament for nourishing the soul, it should be instituted as food and drink, from which it is manifest that perfect nourishment of the body is composed.
XXXVI. The whole Christ is present in any particle of either species.
Nor indeed is that to be omitted, that not only in each species, but in any particle of either species the whole Christ is contained. For thus Augustine left in writing: "Individuals receive Christ the Lord, and in each portion He is whole; nor is He diminished in individuals, but He offers Himself whole in each one." And this moreover can easily be gathered from the Evangelists. For it is not to be believed that individual pieces of bread were consecrated by the Lord with a proper form of words, but that the same words simultaneously consecrated all the bread which would be sufficient for confecting the sacred mysteries, and for distributing to the Apostles; which appears to have been done concerning the chalice, when He Himself said: "Take, and divide it among you." What has been explained thus far tends to this, that the pastors show that the true body and blood of Christ are contained in the sacrament of the Eucharist.
XXXVII. After the consecration no substance of the matter of this sacrament remains.
Now, which was the other proposition, they will also teach that the substance of bread and wine does not remain in the sacrament after the consecration. This indeed, although it may deservedly possess the greatest admiration, nevertheless is necessarily conjoined with what was previously demonstrated. For if the true body of Christ is under the species of bread and wine after the consecration, it is altogether necessary, since it was not there before, that this was done either by change of place, or by creation, or by conversion of another thing into itself. But it is manifest that it cannot be that the body of Christ is in the sacrament because it has come from one place into another; for thus it would come about that it would be absent from its seat in heaven, since nothing is moved unless it leave the place from
*) cf. c. 75, 77. Dist. II. de cons. *) Luc. 22, 17.
which it is moved. And that the body of Christ is created is less credible, and this cannot even fall into consideration. It remains therefore that the body of the Lord is in the sacrament because the bread is converted into it; wherefore it is necessary that no substance of bread remain.
XXXVIII. Transubstantiation, approved by the Councils, has its foundation in the Scriptures.
Moved by this reasoning, the Fathers and our elders confirmed the truth of this article by open decrees in the Great Lateran and Florentine Councils; but by the Tridentine synod it was more explicitly defined thus: "If anyone shall say that in the most holy sacrament of the Eucharist the substance of bread and wine remains together with the body and blood of our Lord Jesus Christ, let him be anathema." This indeed was easy to gather from the testimonies of the Scriptures; first, because in the institution of that sacrament the Lord Himself said: "This is my body"; for the force of the word "This" is such that it demonstrates the whole substance of the thing present. But if the substance of the bread remained, it would in no way seem truly to be said: "This is my body." Next Christ the Lord in John says: "The bread," says He, "which I will give, is my flesh, for the life of the world"; namely calling the bread His flesh. And a little after He added: "Unless you eat the flesh of the Son of man, and drink his blood, you shall not have life in you"; and again: "My flesh is meat indeed, and my blood is drink indeed." Since therefore with words so clear and perspicuous He named His flesh bread and true food, and likewise His blood true drink: He seems sufficiently to have declared that no substance of bread and wine remains in the sacrament.
XXXIX. How the Fathers recognized transubstantiation in this sacrament.
And that this was the perpetually consenting doctrine of the holy Fathers, he who unfolds them will easily understand. The Lord Ambrose indeed thus writes: "You perhaps say: My bread is ordinary; but this bread is bread before the words of the sacraments; when the consecration has been applied, from bread it becomes the flesh of Christ"; which indeed that he might more easily prove, he then brings forward various examples and similitudes. Elsewhere, however, when he was interpreting those words: "All things whatsoever the Lord hath willed, he hath done in heaven and in earth": "Although," he says, "the figure of bread and wine appears, nothing other however than the flesh and blood of Christ is to be believed after the consecration." l) Sess. 13. de euchar. c. *. ») Io. 6, 52. ») de sacram. l. 4. c. 4. 4) cf. c. 74. Dist. II. de cons. Ps. 134, 6.
Catechismus, Conc. Trid.
And with almost the same words S. Hilary expounding the same opinion taught, that although externally bread and wine may appear, nevertheless it is truly the body and blood of the Lord.
XL. In what manner the Eucharist after the consecration is also called bread.
But let the pastors here admonish that it is not to be wondered at, if after the consecration it is also called bread; for the Eucharist has been accustomed to be called by this name, both because it has the species of bread, and because it still retains the natural force of nourishing and feeding the body, which is proper to bread. That however it is the custom of the sacred letters to call things as they seem to be, is sufficiently shown by what is said in Genesis, that "three men appeared to Abraham," who nevertheless were three angels, and "those two," who appeared to the Apostles as Christ the Lord was ascending into heaven, though they were angels, are called "men."
XLI. In what manner so admirable a conversion of substances takes place.
The explanation of this mystery is altogether most difficult, but nevertheless the pastors will endeavor, to those who have advanced more in the knowledge of divine things (for it would be to be feared that those who are still weaker would be overwhelmed by the magnitude of the matter), they will endeavor, I say, to transmit the manner of this admirable conversion, which takes place in such a way that the whole substance of the bread is converted by divine power into the whole substance of the body of Christ, and the whole substance of the wine into the whole substance of the blood of Christ, without any change of our Lord. For neither is Christ generated, nor changed, nor increased, but He remains whole in His substance; which mystery when the Lord Ambrose declares: "You see," he says, "how operative is the word of Christ. If therefore there is so great power in the word of the Lord Jesus, that those things began to be which were not, namely the world: how much more operative is it, that those things which were, should be, and be changed into another?" In which opinion other ancient and most grave Fathers also left in writing. The Lord Augustine indeed: "We confess that before the consecration there is bread and wine, which nature formed, but after the consecration the flesh and blood of Christ, which the benediction consecrated." Damascene: "The body is in truth united to the divinity, the body from the holy Virgin; not that the very body assumed descends from heaven, but that the bread itself and the wine are transmuted into the body and blood of Christ."
<) Gen. 18, 2. *) Act. 1, 20. ») de sacram. l. 4. c 4. *) cf. c. 41. Dist. II. de cons. *t lib. i. c. 13. de orthod. fide.
XLII. To this stupendous conversion the name "transubstantiation" has been fittingly imposed.
This admirable conversion therefore has been suitably and properly named transubstantiation by the holy catholic Church, as the sacred Tridentine synod taught. For as natural generation, because the form is changed in it, can rightly and properly be called transformation: so because in the sacrament of the Eucharist the whole substance of one thing passes into the whole substance of another thing, the word of transubstantiation was rightly and wisely invented by our elders.
XLIII. The mode of transubstantiation and of the place in which Christ is in this sacrament is not to be inquired into too curiously.
But the faithful are to be admonished of that which has been most often repeated by the holy Fathers, that they should not inquire too curiously in what manner that change can take place; for neither can it be perceived by us, nor do we have any example of such a thing in natural changes or in the very creation of things. But what this thing is, is to be known by faith; how it is done is not to be inquired into too curiously. No less caution however must the pastors employ also in explaining that mystery, how the body of Christ the Lord is contained whole even in the smallest particle of bread; for scarcely ever will such disputations be instituted; but nevertheless, when Christian charity shall demand this, first they should remember to protect the minds of the faithful with that word: "No word shall be impossible with God."
XLIV. The body of Christ is not in the Eucharist as in a place.
Then they should teach that Christ the Lord is not in this sacrament as in a place; for place follows the things themselves, as they are endowed with some magnitude; but we do not say that Christ the Lord is in the sacrament in such a manner as He is great or small, which pertains to quantity, but as substance. For the substance of bread is converted into the substance of Christ, not into magnitude or quantity. No one, however, doubts that substance is equally contained in a small and in a large space; for the substance of air and its whole nature must be thus in a small as in a large part of air, and likewise the whole nature of water must be no less in a small vessel than in a river. Since therefore the body of our Lord succeeds to the substance of the bread, it must be confessed that it is in the sacrament plainly in the same manner as the substance of the bread was before the consecration; but whether that was under a great or a small quantity, pertained in no way to the matter.
0 Sess. 13. Can. 4. ») Luc. 1, 37.
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XLV. In this sacrament there is no substance in which the accidents of the bread and wine inhere.
There remains the third, which may seem to be the greatest and most admirable in this sacrament, which indeed, the other two having now been explained, may be considered as more easily treated by the pastors: namely that the species of bread and wine in this sacrament stand without any subject thing. For since it was shown before that the body and blood of the Lord are truly in the sacrament, so that no substance of bread and wine any longer subsists, since those accidents cannot inhere in the body and blood of Christ: it remains that, above all the order of nature, they sustain themselves, leaning on no other thing. This has been the perpetual and constant doctrine of the catholic Church, which also can easily be confirmed by the authority of those testimonies, by which it has previously been made plain, that no substance of bread or wine resides in the Eucharist.
XLVI. Why Christ willed to deliver His body and blood under the species of bread and wine.
But nothing is more suitable to the piety of the faithful than, setting aside the more subtle questions, to venerate and cultivate the majesty of this admirable sacrament; and then to look up to the supreme providence of God in this, that He instituted the most sacred mysteries to be administered under the species of bread and wine. For since the common nature of men most greatly abhors feeding on food of human flesh, or on the drink of blood: He most wisely acted, that the most holy body and blood should be administered to us under the species of those things, namely of bread and wine, with whose daily and common food we are most greatly delighted. There are adjoined moreover those two benefits, of which the first is, that we are freed from the calumnies of the unbelievers, which we could not easily escape, if we were seen to eat the Lord under His proper species; the other is, that, while we receive the body and blood of the Lord in such a way that, what truly is, cannot be perceived by the senses, this avails very much for increasing the faith in our souls; which indeed, as the opinion of S. Gregory (hom. 26. in Evang.) is commonly known, "does not have merit there, where human reason furnishes experiment." These things however, which thus far have been set forth, must be explained only with great caution applied, according to the capacity of the audience and the necessity of the times.
XLVII. What goods those obtain who have worthily communicated in the body and blood of the Lord.
But concerning the admirable virtue and fruits of this sacrament which can be said, there is no kind of faithful to be considered to whom the knowledge of these things does not pertain, and to whom it ought not to seem most necessary. For that the faithful may understand the utility of the Eucharist, chiefly on that account must those things be known, which are discussed concerning this sacrament in so many words. But since its immense utilities and fruits cannot be explained by any speech, one or another place will be to be treated by the pastors, to show how great an abundance and affluence of all goods is enclosed in those most sacred mysteries. This, however, they will in some part obtain, if, the force and nature of all the sacraments having been laid open, they compare the Eucharist to a fountain, the others to streams. For it is truly and necessarily to be called the fountain of all graces, since it contains in itself in an admirable manner Christ the Lord, the very fountain of heavenly charisms and gifts, and the author of all the sacraments; from whom, as from a fountain, whatever of good and perfection the other sacraments have, is derived. From this fountain therefore of divine grace the most ample gifts, which are imparted to us by this sacrament, can easily be gathered.
XLVIII. The benefits which bread and wine afford to the body, those the Eucharist affords to the soul in a more excellent manner.
It will also seem to be done fittingly, if the nature of bread and wine, which are the symbols of this sacrament, be weighed. For whatever uses bread and wine afford to the body, all those the sacrament of the Eucharist offers for the salvation and joy of the soul, and indeed in a better and more perfect manner. For this sacrament is not changed into our substance, as bread and wine are; but we are in some manner converted into its nature, so that rightly that saying of D. Augustine can be transferred to this place: "I am the food of the grown; grow, and you shall eat me; nor shall you change me into you, as the food of your flesh, but you shall be changed into me."
XLIX. In what manner grace is conferred through this sacrament.
But if "grace and truth were made through Jesus Christ," it is necessary that it also flow into the soul, when it purely and holily receives Him who said of Himself: "He that eateth my flesh, and drinketh my blood, abideth in me, and I in him." For those who, affected by zeal of piety and religion, receive this sacrament, it ought to be doubtful to no one that they thus admit the Son of God into themselves, that they are inserted into His body as living members; since it is written: "He that eateth me, the same also shall live by me;" likewise: "The bread that I will give, is my flesh, for the life of the world." Which passage when Cyril was interpreting, he says: "The Word of God uniting Himself to His own flesh, made it life-giving. Him therefore it befitted in some wondrous manner to be united
l, 4. c. 3.
to bodies through His sacred flesh and precious blood, which we receive in a life-giving benediction in bread and wine."
L. A man defiled and dead by sins is not vivified by the reception of the Eucharist, even though this sacrament is said to confer grace.
But as to what is said, that grace is bestowed by the Eucharist, the pastors should admonish that it is not to be understood in such a way as if it were not necessary that he who is actually to receive this sacrament profitably should have attained grace beforehand. For it is established that, just as natural nourishment is of no profit to dead bodies, so too the sacred mysteries are of no profit to the soul which does not live by the Spirit; and therefore they have the species of bread and wine, that it may be signified that they were instituted not indeed for recalling the soul to life, but for preserving it in life. But this has been said because even the first grace (with which all must be endowed, before they dare to touch the sacred Eucharist with their mouth, lest they eat and drink judgment to themselves) is granted to no one, unless he receive this very sacrament by desire and vow. For it is the end of all the sacraments, and the symbol of ecclesiastical unity and conjunction; nor can anyone outside the Church obtain grace.
LI. In what manner the soul is refreshed and increased by this spiritual food.
Then, since, just as the body is not only preserved by natural food, but also increased, and the taste daily perceives a new pleasure and sweetness from it: so also the food of the sacred Eucharist not only sustains the soul, but adds strength to it, and brings it about that the spirit is more moved by the delight of divine things. For this cause it comes about that grace is rightly and most truly said to be bestowed by this sacrament; for rightly can it be compared to "manna," from which "the sweetness of every savor" was perceived.
LII. Through the Eucharist lighter sins are remitted.
That lighter sins, which are commonly called venial, are remitted and forgiven by the Eucharist, is not a thing to be doubted. For whatever the soul has lost through the heat of cupidity, while it has slightly offended in some light matter, the Eucharist, wiping away those very smaller faults, wholly restores; just as also (for it does not seem that we should depart from the proposed similitude), what by the force of innate heat is daily taken away and perishes, we feel to be gradually added and restored by natural food. Whence rightly was it said by D. Ambrose concerning this heavenly sacrament: "This daily bread is taken as a remedy for daily infirmity."
But these things are to be understood of those sins, by whose sense and delight the soul is not moved.
LIII. By this sacrament likewise the soul is preserved from future evils.
There is moreover this force in the sacred mysteries, that it preserves us pure and whole from crimes, and unharmed from the onset of temptations, and as by a heavenly medicament prepares the soul, lest it easily be infected and corrupted by the poison of any deadly perturbation. And for this cause also, as divus Cyprian testifies, when formerly the faithful were commonly seized by tyrants to torments and slaughter on account of the confession of the Christian name, lest they perhaps conquered by the bitterness of pains should fail in the saving combat: there was an ancient custom in the catholic Church, that the sacraments of the body and blood of the Lord were offered to them by the bishops. But it also restrains and represses the lust of the flesh; for while it inflames the souls more by the fire of charity, it necessarily extinguishes the ardor of concupiscence.
LIV. In what manner through this sacrament an entrance to eternal glory is opened.
Lastly, that in one word all the utilities and benefits of this sacrament may be comprehended, it must be said that there is the greatest force of the sacred Eucharist for obtaining eternal glory; for it is written: "He that eateth my flesh, and drinketh my blood, hath everlasting life, and I will raise him up in the last day." By the grace of this sacrament namely the faithful, while they pass this life, enjoy the highest peace and tranquility of conscience; then by its virtue refreshed, not otherwise than Elias, "who walked in the strength of the hearth-cake unto the mount of God Horeb," when the time comes to depart from life, they ascend to eternal glory and beatitude. All these things will be very amply explained by the pastors, if they take up to treat either D. John chapter 6, in which the manifold effects of this sacrament are laid open; or running through the admirable deeds of Christ the Lord, they show, that since we justly and deservedly consider those most blessed, under whose roof He was received as mortal, or who by the touch of His garment or of the hem recovered health: much more blessed and happy are we, into whose soul He does not disdain to enter endowed with immortal glory, that He may heal all its wounds, and adorned with most ample gifts may conjoin it to Himself.
LV. In how many ways we communicate in the body and blood of the Lord.
But it must be taught, by whom those vast fruits of the sacred Eucharist, which were just commemorated, can be received;
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and that there is not only one manner of communicating, that the faithful people may learn to emulate the better charisms. Rightly therefore and wisely our elders, as we read in the Tridentine synod, distinguished three manners of receiving this sacrament. For some receive only the sacrament, like sinners, who do not fear to receive the sacred mysteries with impure mouth and heart, whom the Apostle says "eat and drink the body of the Lord unworthily." Concerning these D. Augustine writes thus: "He who does not remain in Christ, and in whom Christ does not remain, without doubt does not eat His flesh spiritually, though carnally and visibly he presses with his teeth the sacraments of the body and blood." Those therefore who thus affected receive the sacred mysteries, not only take no fruit from these, but, by the testimony of the Apostle himself, "eat and drink judgment to themselves." Others are said to take the Eucharist only in spirit; these are those who by desire and vow eat that proposed heavenly bread, kindled by "a living faith, which worketh by charity"; from which, if not all, certainly they obtain the greatest fruits of utility. Others finally there are, who receive the sacred Eucharist by sacrament and by spirit; who since according to the doctrine of the Apostle having "first proved themselves," and adorned with the nuptial garment have approached this divine table, take from the Eucharist those most abundant fruits which we said before. Whence it is manifest that those deprive themselves of the greatest and heavenly goods, who, although they could be prepared to receive also the sacrament of the body of the Lord, are content to receive the sacred communion only in spirit.
LVI. Before anyone approaches the Eucharist, it is shown that the mind must be prepared.
But now it must be taught, in what manner the minds of the faithful ought to be prepared, before they come to the sacramental reception of the Eucharist. And first indeed, that it may be plain, that this preparation is most necessary, the example of our Saviour is to be proposed. For before He gave to the Apostles the sacraments of His precious body and blood, "although they were already clean, he washed their feet," that He might declare, that all diligence must be employed, lest anything be lacking to us for the highest integrity and innocence of soul, when we are about to receive the sacred mysteries. Then let the faithful understand, that just as, if someone with a most well-affected and prepared mind takes the Eucharist, he is adorned with the most ample gifts of heavenly grace: so on the contrary, if he receive it unprepared, he not only takes no benefit, but also the greatest
inconveniences and detriments. For it is proper to the best and most salutary things, that, if we use them in due time, they greatly profit; if employed at an improper time, they bring ruin and destruction. Wherefore it is not to be wondered at, that the huge and most splendid gifts of God, when they are received with a well-disposed mind, are of the greatest aid to us for obtaining heavenly glory; but truly, when we offer ourselves unworthy of them, they bring eternal death. This indeed is proved by the example of the ark of the Lord. "For the ark of the covenant," than which the Israelite people had nothing more excellent, to whom also through it the Lord had conferred the greatest and innumerable benefits, "having been carried off by the Philistines" brought upon them the greatest pestilence and calamity joined with eternal disgrace. So also foods, which received by mouth fall into a well-disposed stomach, nourish and sustain bodies; but those which are wont to be poured into a stomach full of vicious humors, cause grave diseases.
LVII. In what manner the mind is to be prepared for the Eucharist.
Let the faithful therefore apply this first preparation, that they may discern table from table, this sacred one from other profane ones, this heavenly bread from the common. And this takes place, when we certainly believe that the true body and blood of the Lord is present, whom the Angels adore in heaven; "at whose nod the pillars of heaven tremble and are afraid; of whose glory heaven and earth are full." This indeed is "to discern the body of the Lord," which the Apostle admonished; the magnitude of which mystery however it is more fitting to venerate, than to inquire too curiously into the truth of it in disputations. The other indeed that preparation is most greatly necessary, that each one ask of himself, whether he has peace with others, whether he truly and from the heart loves his neighbors. For Matthew says: "If therefore thou offer thy gift at the altar, and there thou remember that thy brother hath any thing against thee, leave there thy offering before the altar, and go first to be reconciled to thy brother, and then coming thou shalt offer thy gift." Then we ought diligently to scrutinize our conscience, lest perhaps we are contaminated by some deadly sin, of which it is necessary to repent, that it be first washed away by the medicament of contrition and confession.
For it has been defined by the holy Tridentine synod, that it is permitted to no one, whom the consciousness of mortal sin urges, if the faculty of a priest has been given, before he has purged himself by sacramental confession, however contrite he may seem to himself, to receive the sacred Eucharist. Moreover let us silently think with our minds, how unworthy we are, to whom this divine benefit is bestowed by the Lord. Wherefore that saying of the Centurion, of whom the same Saviour Himself testified, "that he had not found so great faith in Israel," must be said from the heart: "Lord, I am not worthy that thou shouldst enter under my roof." Let us also inquire of ourselves, whether that saying of Peter is lawful for us to usurp: "Lord, thou knowest that I love thee." For it must be remembered, that he, "who without the nuptial garment reclined in the banquet of the Lord, was cast into a dark prison" and condemned to eternal punishments.
LVIII. Some reckoning of the body also must be undertaken by him who wishes to communicate.
Nor indeed is preparation only of the mind needed, but also of the body. For we must approach the sacred table fasting, such that at least from the middle of the preceding night until that point of time at which we receive the sacred Eucharist, we have eaten or drunk nothing at all. The dignity of so great a sacrament also demands, that those who are joined in matrimony abstain for some days from the embraces of their wives, admonished by the example "of David," who, when "he was to receive the loaves of proposition from the priest, professed himself and his boys to be pure from the intercourse of wives these very three days." These are almost the things which must be observed by the faithful, that they may prepare themselves beforehand for receiving the sacred mysteries profitably. For the rest, which in this matter may seem to need to be provided, can easily be reduced to these very heads.
LIX. All Christians are bound to take the Eucharist at least once in a year.
But lest perhaps some may be rendered more sluggish for receiving this sacrament, because they deem it rather grave and difficult to apply so great a preparation: the faithful are often to be admonished, that this law has been set forth for all, that they receive the sacred Eucharist. Moreover it has been established by the Church, that he who shall not at least once in each year communicate at Paschal time, is to be kept away from the Church.
LX. How often and at what times the Eucharist is to be received.
Nor, however, should the faithful have this as enough, that, obeying the authority of this decree, they receive the body of the Lord only once each year; but let them consider that the communion of the Eucharist is to be repeated more often. But whether it is more expedient to do this every month, or every week, or every day, no certain rule can be prescribed to all. Nevertheless that is the most certain norm of holy Augustine: "So live, that you may be able to take daily." Wherefore it will be the part of the parish priests, to exhort the faithful frequently, that, just as they think it necessary to supply nourishment to the body every day: so also they should not cast aside the care of nourishing and feeding the soul by this sacrament daily; for it is manifest that the soul needs spiritual food no less than the body needs natural food. It will however greatly profit, in this place, to repeat those greatest and divine benefits, which, as was shown before, we obtain from the sacramental communion of the Eucharist. That figure will also be to be added, that "on each day it was necessary to refresh the strength of the body with manna;" and likewise the authorities of the holy Fathers, which greatly commend the frequent reception of this sacrament. For not only of the one holy Father Augustine was this the opinion: "You sin daily, take daily": but, if anyone shall diligently attend, he will easily find the same to have been the sense of all the Fathers, who wrote on this matter.
LXI. It is shown that the custom of communicating was once frequent in the Church.
And indeed that there was a time once, when the faithful received the Eucharist daily, we understand from the Acts of the Apostles. For all, who then professed the Christian faith, so burned with true and sincere charity, that, since they gave their labor without intermission to prayers and other offices of piety, they were daily found prepared to receive the sacred mysteries of the body of the Lord. That custom afterwards, which seemed to be interrupted, Anacletus, most holy martyr and pontiff, in some part renewed; for he ordered, that the ministers, who were present at the sacrifice of the Mass, should communicate, which he affirmed had been established by the Apostles. For a long time also there was this custom in the Church, that the priest, the sacrifice having been performed, when he had taken the Eucharist, turned to the people who were present, and with these words invited the faithful to the sacred table: "Come, brethren, to communion"; then those who were prepared, took the most sacred mysteries with the greatest religion. But since afterwards charity and zeal for piety had so grown cold, that the faithful approached communion but rarely: it was sanctioned by Pope Fabian, that three times a year, at the Birth of the Lord, and the Resurrection, and Pentecost, all should receive the Eucharist; which afterwards was confirmed by many councils, especially by the first Council of Agde. Finally, since the matter had come to this, that not only that holy and salutary reception was not observed, but even the communion of the sacred Eucharist was deferred for many years: it was decreed in the Lateran council, that at least once in each
year at Paschal time all the faithful should receive the sacred body of the Lord; those however who should neglect this, were to be prohibited from access to the Church.
LXII. It is not fitting to administer the Eucharist to children not yet using reason.
But although this law, sanctioned by the authority of God and the Church, pertains to all the faithful: it must nevertheless be taught, that those are excepted, who do not yet have the use of reason because of the weakness of age. For these neither know to discern the sacred Eucharist from profane and common bread, nor can they bring piety of soul and religion to receiving it. And this also seems most alien to the institution of Christ the Lord; for He says: "Take, and eat." That infants, however, are not suitable to receive, and to eat, is sufficiently manifest. There was indeed in certain places an ancient custom, that the sacred Eucharist should be offered also to infants; but nevertheless both because of those reasons, which were said before, and because of others most consonant to Christian piety, long since by the authority of the same Church this has ceased to be done.
LXIII. At what age the sacred mysteries are to be given to children.
But at what age the sacred mysteries are to be given to children, no one will be able better to determine than the father, and the priest to whom they confess their sins; for it pertains to them to examine, and to ask of the children, whether they have received some knowledge of this admirable sacrament, and have a taste of it.
LXIV. It is permitted sometimes to admit the insane to communion.
Moreover, to the mad, who then are alien from the sense of piety, it is in no way fitting to give the sacraments; although, if, before they fell into insanity, they showed a pious and religious will of soul, it will be permitted to administer the Eucharist to them at the end of life, according to the decree of the Council of Carthage, provided that there is no danger of vomiting, or of another indignity and inconvenience to be feared.
LXV. The laity are not to communicate under both species.
But as to what pertains to the rite of communicating, let the parish priests teach, that it is interdicted by the law of the holy Church, that anyone, apart from the priests who confect the body of the Lord in the sacrifice, without the authority of the Church herself, should receive the sacred Eucharist under both species. For, as has been explained by the Tridentine synod, although Christ the Lord at the Last Supper instituted this most exalted sacrament in the species of bread and wine, and delivered it to the Apostles: yet it does not follow from that, that this law was established by the Lord Saviour, that the sacred mysteries must be administered to all the faithful under both species. For the same our Lord, when He spoke of this sacrament, made more frequent mention of only one species, as when He says: "If anyone shall eat of this bread, he shall live for ever," and: "the bread which I will give is my flesh for the life of the world," and: "he who eats this bread shall live for ever."
LXVI. The reasons for which the Church has conceded the use of only one species.
It is evident that the Church has been moved by many and indeed most grave reasons, that she not only approved this custom of communicating chiefly under one species, but also confirmed it by the authority of a decree. For first, it was most greatly to be avoided, that the blood of the Lord be poured upon the earth; which indeed did not seem possible easily to be avoided, if it had been necessary to minister it in a great multitude of people. Moreover since the sacred Eucharist must be available to the sick, it was greatly to be feared, lest, if the species of wine were kept longer, it should turn sour. There are moreover very many, who can by no means bear the taste of wine, nor even the smell. Wherefore lest what must be given for the sake of spiritual salvation should harm the health of the body, it was most prudently sanctioned by the Church, that the faithful should receive only the species of bread. There is added to the other reasons, that in several provinces there is labored under the greatest scarcity of wine, nor can it be brought in from elsewhere without the greatest expenses, and only by the longest and most difficult journeys. Then, which pertains most of all to the matter, the heresy of those was to be uprooted, who denied that the whole Christ is under both species, but asserted that only the bloodless body is contained under the species of bread, and the blood alone under the species of wine. That therefore the truth of the catholic faith might be more set before the eyes of all, by a most wise counsel the communion of the other species, that is, of bread, was introduced. There are also other reasons gathered by those who treat on this argument; which, if it shall seem necessary, can be brought forward by the parish priests. Now concerning the minister, although it can be ignored by almost no one, it must be treated, lest anything be omitted, which seems to pertain to the doctrine of this sacrament.
LXVII. The proper minister of this sacrament is the priest.
Therefore it must be transmitted, that to priests alone the power has been given to confect the sacred Eucharist, and to distribute it to the faithful. And that this custom has always been observed in the Church, that the faithful people should receive the sacraments from the priests, while the priests performing the sacred things should communicate themselves, the sacred Tridentine synod explained, and showed that this custom, as proceeding from Apostolic tradition, must be religiously
l) Io. 6, 52. 59. *) Sess. 13. de Euch. can. 10.
retained, since especially Christ the Lord left us an illustrious example of this thing, who both consecrated His most holy body, and extended it with His own hands to the Apostles. But, that by every means the dignity of so great a sacrament might be consulted, not only has the power of administering it been given to priests alone, but also by law the Church has forbidden, that anyone, unless he be consecrated, should dare to handle or to touch the sacred vessels, linens, and other instruments, which are necessary for its confection, unless some grave necessity should befall.
LXVIII. The Eucharist can be either consecrated or administered through wicked priests.
From which both the priests themselves, and the rest of the faithful, can understand, with how great religion and sanctity those ought to be endowed, who approach to consecrate, or to administer, or to receive the Eucharist; although, what was said before concerning the other sacraments, that they are no less administered through wicked ministers, if those things which pertain to their perfect reason are rightly observed, the same holds in the sacrament of the Eucharist. For it is not to be believed that all these things rest upon the merit of the ministers, but it is to be believed that they are performed by the virtue and power of Christ the Lord. These are the things which must be explained concerning the Eucharist, as it is a sacrament. Now, what remains to be said, as it is a sacrifice, must be expounded, that the parish priests may understand, what things they must chiefly transmit concerning this mystery, as the holy synod decreed, to the faithful people on Sundays and feast days.
LXIX. The Eucharist, the peculiar sacrifice of the New Testament, is most acceptable to God.
For this sacrament is not only a treasury of heavenly riches, which if we use well, we conciliate to ourselves the grace and love of God: but in it there is a certain principal reason, by which we may be able to render some thanks to Him for the immense benefits conferred upon us. But indeed how grateful and acceptable this victim is to God, if it be rightly and legitimately immolated, is gathered from this. For if the sacrifices of the old law, concerning which it is written: "Sacrifice and oblation thou didst not desire"; and again: "If thou hadst desired sacrifice, I would indeed have given it: with holocausts thou wilt not be delighted," so pleased the Lord, that the Scripture testifies "God smelled a sweet savor," that is, they were grateful and acceptable to Him: what is to be hoped by us concerning that sacrifice, in which He Himself is immolated and offered, concerning whom the heavenly voice was twice heard: "This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased"? *) Mt 5, 17.
Therefore the parish priests shall diligently expound this mystery, so that when the faithful have gathered for divine worship, they may learn to meditate attentively and religiously upon those sacred things in which they take part.
LXX. What are the causes for which the Eucharist was instituted by Christ the Lord.
In the first place, they shall teach that the Eucharist was instituted by Christ for two reasons. The first is that it might be the heavenly food of our soul, by which we might preserve and maintain the spiritual life; the second, that the Church might have a perpetual sacrifice, by which our sins might be expiated, and our heavenly Father, often gravely offended by our crimes, might be turned from wrath to mercy, from the severity of just punishment to clemency. A figure and likeness of this may be noted in the paschal lamb, which was customarily offered and eaten by the sons of Israel both as sacrifice and sacrament. Nor indeed, when our Saviour was about to offer Himself to God the Father on the altar of the cross, could He have given any more illustrious token of His immense love towards us than when He left us a visible sacrifice, by which that bloody one, which shortly afterward was to be immolated but once upon the cross, might be renewed, and its memory celebrated daily with the greatest profit by the Church spread throughout the whole world until the end of the age.
LXXI. How the sacrament is distinguished from the sacrifice.
These two aspects differ very greatly from each other; for the sacrament is accomplished by consecration, whereas the whole force of a sacrifice lies in its being offered. Wherefore the sacred Eucharist, while it is contained in the pyx, or is borne to the sick, has the character of a sacrament, not of a sacrifice. Moreover, inasmuch as it is a sacrament, it confers the cause of merit, and all those benefits which have been mentioned above, upon those who receive the divine Host; but inasmuch as it is a sacrifice, it contains the efficacy not only of meriting but also of satisfying. For as Christ the Lord in His passion merited and made satisfaction for us, so those who offer this sacrifice, by which they communicate with us, merit the fruits of the Lord's passion and make satisfaction.
LXXII. At what time this sacrifice of the New Testament was instituted.
Now concerning the institution of this sacrifice, the holy Tridentine Synod has left no room for doubt; for it declared that it was instituted by Christ the Lord at the Last Supper, and at the same time condemned with anathema those who assert that a true and proper
sacrifice is not offered to God, or that to offer is nothing else than to give Christ to be eaten.
LXXIII. It is not lawful to offer sacrifice to the Saints or to any creature.
Nor indeed did it omit to explain diligently that sacrifice is offered to God alone. For although the Church has sometimes been accustomed to celebrate Masses in memory and honour of the Saints, yet it taught that sacrifice is not offered to them, but to God alone, who has crowned the Saints with immortal glory. Wherefore the priest is never accustomed to say: "I offer sacrifice to thee, Peter, or Paul;" but, while he immolates to God alone, he gives Him thanks for the signal victory of the most blessed Martyrs, and implores their patronage, so that they may deign to intercede for us in heaven, whose memory we keep on earth.
LXXIV. Whence this doctrine of the sacrifice and priesthood of the new law
is to be drawn.
Now these things which have been handed down by the Catholic Church concerning the truth of this sacrifice were received from the words of the Lord, when on that last night, commending these very sacred mysteries to the Apostles, He said, "Do this in remembrance of me." For then, as defined by the holy Synod, He instituted them as priests, and commanded that they, and those who were to succeed them in the priestly office, should immolate and offer His body. And this is sufficiently shown also by the words of the Apostle written to the Corinthians, when he says: "You cannot drink the cup of the Lord and the cup of devils; you cannot be partakers of the table of the Lord and of the table of devils." For as by the table of devils is to be understood the altar on which sacrifice was offered to them, so likewise (so that, by a probable argument, what the Apostle proposes may be concluded) the table of the Lord can signify nothing other than the altar on which sacrifice was made to the Lord.
LXXV. By what chief figures and prophecies this sacrifice was of old signified.
But if we seek from the Old Testament the figures and oracles of this sacrifice, first of all Malachias most openly prophesied of it in these words: "From the rising of the sun even to the going down, my name is great among the Gentiles, and in every place there is sacrifice, and there is offered to my name a clean oblation: for my name is great among the Gentiles, saith the Lord of hosts." Moreover this victim, both before and after the giving of the law, was prefigured by various kinds of sacrifices. For all the good things which were signified in those sacrifices, this one victim, as
the perfection and consummation of all, has embraced. Yet in no instance may its image be seen more expressly than in the sacrifice of Melchisedech. For the Saviour Himself, declaring Himself to be constituted for ever a priest according to the order of Melchisedech, at the Last Supper offered His body and blood under the species of bread and wine to God the Father.
LXXVI. The same sacrifice which was offered on the cross is performed in the Mass.
We confess therefore, and it must be held, that the sacrifice which is performed in the Mass and that which was offered on the cross is one and the same; just as there is one and the same victim, namely Christ our Lord, who offered Himself in a bloody manner but once on the altar of the cross. For the bloody and the unbloody victim are not two victims, but only one; whose sacrifice, after the Lord commanded thus: "Do this in remembrance of me," is renewed daily in the Eucharist.
LXXVII. The priest is also one and the same on both sides.
But the priest also is one and the same, Christ the Lord; for the ministers who perform the sacrifice do not bear their own person but that of Christ, when they consecrate His body and blood. This is shown also by the very words of the consecration. For the priest does not say: "This is the body of Christ," but: "This is my body;" bearing, that is, the person of Christ the Lord, he converts the substance of bread and wine into the true substance of His body and blood.
LXXVIII. The Mass is a sacrifice of propitiation as well as of praise.
Since these things are so, it must be taught without any doubt, as the holy Synod also explained: the most holy sacrifice of the Mass is not only a sacrifice of praise and thanksgiving, or a mere commemoration of the sacrifice which was made on the cross, but truly also a propitiatory sacrifice, by which God is rendered placable and propitious to us. Wherefore, if with a pure heart and kindled faith, and affected with the innermost sorrow for our sins, we immolate and offer this most holy Host, it is not to be doubted that "we shall obtain mercy from the Lord, and find grace in seasonable aid;" for the Lord is so delighted by the fragrance of this victim that, bestowing upon us the gift of grace and repentance, He pardons our sins. For which reason also that solemn prayer of the Church is made: "As often as the commemoration of this Host
4, 16. 4) Secret. Dom. IX. post Pentec.
Catechismus, Conc. Trid.
is celebrated, so often is the work of our salvation exercised;" for assuredly the most abundant fruits of that bloody victim flow down to us through this unbloody sacrifice.
LXXIX. The fruit of the sacrifice of the Mass extends also to the dead.
Then the parish priests shall teach that the force of this sacrifice is such that it avails not only to him who offers and him who receives, but also to all the faithful, whether they live with us on earth, or having died in the Lord are not yet fully expiated. For no less, according to the most certain tradition of the Apostles, is it profitably offered for these than for the sins, punishments, satisfactions, and any calamities and distresses of the living.
LXXX. No Mass, celebrated according to the common use of the Church, is to be called private.
From this it is easily seen that all Masses are to be considered common, as pertaining to the common utility and salvation of all the faithful. (Conc. Trid. sess. 22. c. 6. can. 8.)
LXXXI. To what end the ceremonies of this sacrifice pertain.
This sacrifice has many, and those most notable and solemn, rites, none of which is to be deemed superfluous or empty; but all of them aim at this: that the majesty of so great a sacrifice may shine forth more, and that the faithful, by contemplating the saving mysteries, may be stirred to the contemplation of those divine things which are hidden in that sacrifice. But there is no need to say more about these things, both because this subject seems to require a longer explanation than befits the proposed instruction, and because priests have at hand almost innumerable little books and commentaries, which have been written on this matter by pious and most learned men. Thus far therefore it will have sufficed, with the Lord's help, to have expounded the chief points of those things which pertain to the Eucharist, both as sacrament and as sacrifice.
CHAPTER V. On the Sacrament of Penance.
I. The doctrine of penance must be accurately and frequently instilled into Christian ears.
Just as the frailty and weakness of human nature is known to all, and each one easily experiences it in himself, so no one can be ignorant of how great a necessity the sacrament of penance has. And if the diligence which parish priests must bring to each subject should be measured from the
magnitude and weight of the matter they are treating: we shall altogether confess that they will never be so diligent in the explanation of this topic that it may seem sufficient; indeed, this sacrament must be treated more accurately than baptism, for this reason, that baptism is administered only once and cannot be repeated: but the necessity of penance is imposed as often as it happens that anyone sins after baptism. For it was said by the Tridentine Synod that the sacrament of penance is no less necessary for salvation for those who have lapsed after baptism than baptism itself is for those not yet regenerated. And that well-known saying of St. Jerome is greatly approved by all who have since handed down sacred matters, that penance is "the second plank." For as, when a ship is wrecked, one refuge remains for saving life, if perchance one can seize some plank from the shipwreck: so after the innocence of baptism has been lost, unless one flees to the plank of penance, there is undoubtedly to be despaired of his salvation. These things, moreover, are said not only to rouse the pastors, but also the rest of the faithful, lest perhaps in them negligence be reproved in a most necessary matter. For first, mindful of the common frailty, they must desire with all zeal that, aided by divine help, they may be able to proceed in the way of the Lord without fall or any lapse. But if sometimes they should stumble, then beholding the supreme kindness of God, who as a good shepherd is accustomed to bind up the wounds of his sheep and to heal them, they will consider that this most salutary medicine of penance is never to be put off to another time.
II. How manifold is the meaning of the word "penance."
Now, in order to approach the matter itself, the various force and notion of this name must first be explained, lest anyone be led into error by the ambiguity of the word. For some take "penance" for "satisfaction." Others, most far removed from the doctrine of the Catholic faith, since they think that penance has no reference to past time, define it as nothing other than a new life. It must therefore be taught that the signification of this name is manifold. For first, penance is spoken of those to whom something displeases which before had pleased, without regard to the consideration whether it was good or evil. All those repent whose sorrow is according to the world, not according to God; such penance does not bring salvation, but death. Another is penance, when from
a crime committed, which indeed had previously pleased, one conceives sorrow not on God's account, but on his own. A third is, when not only on account of the crime committed we grieve with innermost feeling of soul, or even give some external sign of that sorrow, but indeed we are in that grief on God's account alone. And to each of the kinds of penance which have been mentioned, the word "penance" properly applies. For when in Sacred Scripture we read that "God repents," it is clear that this is said by way of transference; for sacred Scripture uses that manner of speech which is accommodated to human customs, when it declares that God has resolved to change something; which He does not appear to do otherwise than men, who, if they repent of some matter, labour with all zeal to change it. Thus therefore it is written: "That He repented that He had made man;" and in another place, "that He had made Saul king."
III. What the distinction is among the meanings of "penance."
But among these significations of "penance" a great distinction must be observed. For the first is to be placed among vice; the second is a certain affection of a moved and perturbed mind; the third we say both to pertain to virtue and to be a sacrament; and this meaning is proper to this place. And first, indeed, we must treat of it as a part of virtue, not only because the faithful people must be instructed by the pastors in every kind of virtue, but also because the actions of this virtue furnish, as it were, the matter in which the sacrament of penance is engaged; and unless first what the virtue of penance is is rightly understood, the force of the sacrament too must needs be ignored.
IV. What interior penance is.
Wherefore in the first place the faithful must be warned and exhorted, that with every effort and zeal they labour in interior penance of the soul, which we call a virtue; without which that which is applied outwardly will profit very little. Now interior penance is this, when we turn to God from our soul, and detest and hold in hatred the crimes we have committed; and at the same time it is certain and deliberate with us to amend the evil habit of life and corrupt morals, not without hope of obtaining pardon from the mercy of God. Upon this there follows as a companion, joined to the detestation of sins, sorrow and sadness, which is a perturbation and affection, and by many is called a passion. Wherefore, among many of the holy Fathers, the definition of penance is declared by a torment of soul of this kind.
V. Faith is not a part of penance.
Truly in him who repents, faith must precede penance; for no one can turn himself to God who lacks faith. From which it follows that in no way can it rightly be called a part of penance. (Conc. Trid. sess. 14. c. 3. can. 4. on penance.)
VI. Interior penance of the soul is to be reckoned a virtue.
Now that this interior penance, as we said before, pertains to virtue, is openly shown by the many precepts which have been handed down concerning penance. For the law commands only of those actions which are undertaken with virtue. Moreover no one can deny that to grieve when, how, and to the extent that is fitting, is of virtue. And that this be rightly done, the virtue of penance provides. For sometimes it happens that men take from the crimes committed less sorrow than is fitting; nay even, as it has been written by Solomon, some there are who, when they have done evil, rejoice: again some so give themselves over to the grief and sickness of the soul that they even utterly despair of their salvation; such perhaps Cain may be seen to be, who said: "My iniquity is greater than that I may deserve pardon;" and such certainly was Judas, who, "being led by penance," lost his life and soul by hanging. That therefore we may be able to keep measure in grief, we are aided by the virtue of penance.
VII. How he who truly repents ought to be disposed.
But the same can also be gathered from those things which he who truly repents of sin sets before himself as an end. His first purpose is this, that he may abolish sin, and wipe away all guilt and stain of the soul. The second is, that he may make satisfaction to God for the crimes committed; which indeed clearly pertains to justice. For although between God and men the proper ratio of justice cannot intervene, since they stand at so great an interval from each other, yet it is certain that there is some justice, of the kind which is between father and sons, between master and servants. The third is, that man may return into the grace of God, into whose offence and hatred he has fallen on account of the foulness of sin. All these things sufficiently declare that penance pertains to virtue.
VIII. By what steps, as it were, one ascends to that divine virtue of penance.
But it must also be taught by what degrees one may ascend to this divine virtue. First, therefore, the mercy of God forestalls us, and turns our hearts to Himself; which when the Prophet prayed for, he said: "Convert us, O Lord, to
198 Catechismi Romani 198
thee, and we shall be converted." Then, enlightened by this light, we tend to God in mind through faith. "For he that cometh to God," as the Apostle testifies, "must believe that he is, and is a rewarder to them that seek him." Moreover, a movement of fear follows, and, the bitterness of punishments being set before, the mind is called back from sins. And hither seem to look those words of Isaias: "As a woman with child, when she draweth near the time of her delivery, is in pain, and crieth out in her pangs: so are we become." Hither then accedes the hope of obtaining mercy from God, by which being raised up we resolve to amend life and morals. Finally our hearts are enkindled with charity, from which arises that generous fear worthy of upright and noble sons; and so, fearing that one thing only, lest in any matter we wound the majesty of God, we altogether desert the habit of sinning. By these steps, as it were, one arrives at this most excellent virtue of penance.
IX. What the chief fruit of the virtue of penance is.
This virtue is altogether to be esteemed divine and heavenly, to which, namely, the sacred Scriptures promise the kingdom of heaven. For in St. Matthew it is written: "Do penance, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand;" and in Ezechiel: "If the wicked do penance from all his sins, which he hath wrought, and keep all my commandments, and do judgment and justice, he shall live the life;" then in another place: "I desire not the death of the wicked, but that the wicked turn from his way, and live." And that this is indeed to be understood of eternal and blessed life, is plainly evident.
X. What is to be thought of external penance, and for what cause Christ willed it to be referred to the number of sacraments.
Now concerning external penance, it must be taught that it is that in which the ratio of the sacrament consists, and that it has certain external things subject to the senses, by which are declared those things which are done interiorly in the soul. And first of all it seems that it must be explained to the faithful why it came about that Christ the Lord willed penance to be referred to the number of sacraments. Now the cause of this matter was altogether this, that we might less doubt concerning the remission of sins, which God has promised, when He said: "If the wicked do penance, etc." For it would be necessary to be vehemently suspended in mind concerning interior penance, since as to each one's own judgment in the things which he does, there is cause rightly to fear. That therefore the Lord might come to the aid of this our anxiety, He instituted the sacrament of penance, by which, through the absolution of the priest, we might be confident that our sins have been remitted, and our consciences, on
account of the faith which is rightly to be had in the power of the sacraments, might be rendered more peaceful. Nor indeed is the voice of the priest lawfully condoning our sins to us to be received otherwise than that of Christ the Lord, who said to the paralytic: "Be of good heart, son, thy sins are forgiven thee." Then indeed since no one can obtain salvation, except through Christ and through the benefit of His passion: it was consonant and most useful to us that a sacrament of this kind should be instituted, by whose force and efficacy the blood of Christ flowing down to us should wash away the sins committed after baptism, and so we should profess to refer the benefit of reconciliation to that one Saviour of ours.
XI. How penance is truly a sacrament of the new law.
That penance is a sacrament, pastors may easily show thus. For as baptism is a sacrament, because it blots out all sins, and especially that which was contracted by origin: by the same reasoning, penance, which takes away all sins undertaken by will or action after baptism, is truly and properly to be called a sacrament. Then, what is the chief point, since those things which are done externally both by the penitent and by the priest declare those things which are effected interiorly in the soul: who denies that penance is endowed with the true and proper ratio of a sacrament? seeing that a sacrament is a sign of a sacred thing, while the sinner who repents plainly expresses, by signs of things and words, that he has withdrawn his mind from the foulness of sin; likewise from those things which are done and said by the priest, we easily recognise the mercy of God remitting the sins themselves. Although those words of the Saviour openly show this: "I will give to thee the keys of the kingdom of heaven, and whatsoever thou shalt loose upon earth, it shall be loosed also in heaven." For the absolution, enunciated by the words of the priest, signifies that remission of sins which it effects in the soul.
XII. The sacrament of penance can be repeated.
Nor indeed are the faithful only to be taught that penance is to be held in the number of sacraments, but also in the number of those which can be repeated. For when Peter asked whether pardon of a sin must be given seven times, the Lord replied: "I say not to thee till seven times, but till seventy times seven times." Wherefore if one has to deal with men of such a kind, who seem to distrust the supreme goodness and clemency of God: their mind is to be confirmed, and raised to the hope of divine grace. Which indeed they will easily obtain, both by the treatment of this passage and of others, of which very many will occur in the sacred Scriptures, and indeed by those reasonings and arguments
which may be drawn from the book of Saint Chrysostom on the fallen and from the books of Ambrose on penance.
XIII. What and of what kind is the matter of penance.
Now since nothing should be better known to the faithful people than the matter of this sacrament: it must be taught that this sacrament chiefly differs from others in this, that the matter of other sacraments is some thing natural or made by art; but the matter, as it were, of the sacrament of penance are the acts of the penitent, namely contrition, confession, and satisfaction, as was declared by the Tridentine Synod; which, inasmuch as they are required in the penitent for the integrity of the sacrament, and for the full and perfect remission of sins by the institution of God, are for this reason called parts of penance. Nor indeed are these acts called "quasi matter" by the holy synod because they do not have the ratio of true matter; but because they are not matter of that kind which is applied externally, like water in baptism and chrism in confirmation. But what is said by others, that sins themselves are the matter of this sacrament, will seem in no way different, if we diligently attend. For as we say that wood is the matter of fire, which is consumed by the force of fire: so sins, which are blotted out by penance, can rightly be called the matter of this sacrament.
XIV. What the form of the sacrament of penance is.
But the explanation of the form also must not be omitted by pastors, because the knowledge of this matter excites the minds of the faithful to perceive the grace of this sacrament with the greatest religion. Now the form is: "I absolve thee;" which may be gathered not only from those words: "Whatsoever you shall loose upon earth, shall be loosed also in heaven:" but we have received it from the same doctrine of Christ the Lord handed down by the Apostles. And since the sacraments signify what they effect, and those words: "I absolve thee," show that the remission of sins is effected by the administration of this sacrament; it is plain that this is the perfect form of penance. For sins are as bonds by which souls are held bound, and from which they are loosed by the sacrament of penance. This indeed the priest pronounces no less truly also of that man who, previously by the force of the most ardent contrition, joined however with the vow of confession, has obtained pardon of sins from God.
XV. With what fruit other prayers are added to the form of the sacrament.
Moreover many prayers are added, not indeed necessary to the form, but so that those things may be removed which could impede the force and efficacy of the sacrament by the fault of him to whom it is administered.
XVI. How greatly the power of the priests of Christ in judging the leprosy of sin differs from the power of the priests of the old law.
Wherefore let sinners give immense thanks to God, who has attributed so great a power to priests in the Church. For not, as of old in the old law, did priests merely by their testimony announce that someone had been freed from leprosy: so now in the Church this power alone has not been given to priests, that they should declare someone to have been absolved from sins, but they truly absolve as ministers of God; which God Himself, the author and parent of grace and justice, effects.
XVII. With what disposition, and with what rites, penitents ought to commend their action.
The faithful shall also diligently observe the rites which are employed in this sacrament; for thus it will come about that those things which they have obtained through this sacrament may cling more firmly to the mind, namely that they have been reconciled as servants to a most clement Lord, or rather as sons to a most good parent, and at the same time they may more easily understand what they ought to do, who wish (and all ought to wish) to prove themselves grateful and mindful of so great a benefit. For he who repents of his sins casts himself with humble and lowly mind at the feet of the priest, so that, since he bears himself so humbly, he may easily recognise that the roots of pride must be torn out, from which all the crimes which he bewails have taken their origin and sprung forth. In the priest, moreover, who sits over him as a legitimate judge, he venerates the person and power of Christ the Lord. For the priest, just as in other sacraments, so in administering the sacrament of penance, executes the office of Christ. Then the penitent enumerates his sins in such a way that he confesses himself worthy of the greatest and most bitter punishment, and suppliantly asks pardon for his offences. All these things indeed have most certain testimonies of their antiquity from Saint Dionysius.
XVIII. What chief fruits men derive from the sacrament of penance.
But nothing assuredly will profit the faithful so much, nor bring them greater eagerness for undertaking penance, than if it has often been explained by the parish priests how great a utility we derive from it. For they will truly understand that it can be said of penance that its roots are indeed bitter, but its fruits are most sweet. Thus the whole force of penance is in this, that it restores us to the grace of God, and joins us to Him in the greatest friendship. This reconciliation indeed in pious men, who receive this sacrament in a holy and religious manner, is sometimes wont to be followed by the greatest peace and tranquillity of conscience with the highest
Lev. 13. 3. *) cf. Dion. Ar. ep. 8. §. 1.
pleasantness of spirit. For there is no sin so grave and nefarious that it may not be blotted out by the sacrament of penance, not indeed once, but again and more often. Concerning which the Lord speaks thus through the Prophet: "If the wicked do penance from all his sins, which he hath wrought, and keep my commandments, and do judgment and justice: he shall live the life, and shall not die; I will not remember all his iniquities which he hath wrought." And Saint John: "If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins," and a little later: "If any man sin," he says, plainly excluding no kind of sin, "we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the just; and he is the propitiation for our sins; and not for ours only, but also for the whole world."
XIX. In what way certain sins are said not to be able to be remitted.
Now that we read in the Scriptures that certain men did not obtain mercy from the Lord, although they implored it vehemently:
this we understand to have come about for this reason, that they truly did not repent of their offences from their soul. Wherefore when such sentences occur in the sacred Scriptures, or among the Holy Fathers, by which they seem to affirm that certain sins cannot be remitted: they must be so interpreted, that we may understand the obtaining of pardon to be very difficult. For as some disease is said to be incurable for this reason, that the sick man is so affected that he hates the force of salutary medicine: so there is a certain kind of sin which is not remitted nor pardoned, for this reason, that it repels the proper remedy of salvation, the grace of God. To this effect it was said by D. Augustine: "So great is the stain of that sin, when after the knowledge of God through the grace of Christ one attacks the brotherhood, and is driven against that very grace by the torches of envy, that he cannot undergo the humility of deprecation, even though he is compelled by an evil conscience to acknowledge and to proclaim the sin."
XX. No one can obtain the pardon of sins apart from penance.
But to return to penance, this is so peculiarly its force, that it blots out sins, that without penance it is in no way permitted to obtain or even to hope for the remission of sins. For it is written: "Unless you do penance, you shall all likewise perish." Which indeed was said by the Lord of the graver and deadly sins, although
monte c. 22. *) Luc. 13, 3.
the lighter sins also, which are called venial, stand in need of some kind of penance. For Saint Augustine says: "Since there is a certain penance, which is daily performed in the Church for venial sins, that indeed would be in vain, if venial sins could be dismissed without penance."
XXI. How many integral parts of penance there are.
But since concerning those things which in some manner fall into action, it is not sufficient to speak universally: the pastors shall take care to deliver singly those things from which the ratio of true and salutary penance may be perceived by the faithful. Now it is proper to this sacrament that, besides matter and form, which are common to all sacraments, it has also parts, as we said before, which as it were constitute the whole and integral penance, namely contrition, confession, and satisfaction; of which D. Chrysostom speaks in these words: "Penance compels the sinner to bear all things willingly; in his heart contrition, in his mouth confession, in his work complete humility or fruitful satisfaction." Now these parts are said to be of that kind of parts which are necessary for the constitution of some whole, since, just as a man's body consists of many members, hands, feet, eyes, and other parts of this kind, some of which if lacking, it rightly appears imperfect, but perfect if none is wanting: in the same way also penance is constituted from these three parts, so that, although, as pertains to its nature, contrition and confession, by which a man is made just, are enough: yet unless the third part also, that is satisfaction, accedes, something must needs be lacking to its perfection. Wherefore these parts are so connected with one another, that contrition has the counsel and purpose of confessing and satisfying included, confession has contrition and the will of satisfying, and satisfaction is preceded by the other two.
XXII. How these three parts of penance are joined together.
Now we can render this reason of these three parts, that sins are committed against God in mind, in words, and in deed itself. Wherefore it was consonant that, submitting ourselves to the keys of the Church, by those things by which the most holy name of God had been violated by us, by the same also we should try to placate His anger, and to obtain from Him the pardon of our sins. But the same can also be confirmed by another argument. For penance is as it were a certain compensation for offences, proceeding from the will of him who has offended, and constituted at the judgment of God, against whom the sin has been
committed. Wherefore both the will of compensating is required, in which contrition chiefly consists, and it is necessary that the penitent submit himself to the judgment of the priest, as one who bears the person of God, so that he may be able to constitute upon him a punishment for the magnitude of his crimes; from which is seen the reason and necessity both of confession and of satisfaction.
XXIII. What contrition properly is in this matter.
But since we must hand on to the faithful the force and nature of these parts: we must begin first from contrition, and explain it diligently; for at no moment of time, when past sins come back to memory, or when we offend in anything, ought the soul to be void of contrition. The Fathers in the Council of Trent define this thus: "Contrition is sorrow of the soul and detestation for the sin committed, with the purpose of not sinning thereafter." And a little later, concerning the motion of contrition it is added: "Thus at last it prepares for the remission of sins, if it be joined with confidence in the divine mercy and with the vow of performing the other things which are required for rightly receiving this sacrament." From this definition therefore the faithful shall understand that the force of contrition is placed not only in this, that someone cease to sin, or that he have a purpose of instituting a new manner of life, or that he already institute it: but in the first place, hatred of life badly lived and expiation must be undertaken. This indeed is greatly confirmed by those cries of the holy Fathers, which we read to have been poured forth frequently in the sacred Scriptures. "I have laboured," says David, "in my groaning; I shall wash my bed every night," and: "The Lord hath heard the voice of my weeping;" and again another: "I will recount to thee all my years in the bitterness of my soul." These indeed and other voices of this kind have expressed a certain vehement hatred of the life formerly led and detestation of sins.
XXIV. Why contrition has been named "sorrow" by the Fathers of the council.
Now that contrition has been defined as sorrow, the faithful must be warned not to think that this sorrow is perceived by the sense of the body. For contrition is an act of the will. And Saint Augustine testifies that sorrow is a companion of penance, not penance itself. But the Fathers signified the detestation and hatred of sin by the word "sorrow;" both because the sacred Scriptures so use it, for David says: "How long shall I take counsels in my soul, sorrow in my heart by day?" and because sorrow in the lower part of the soul, which has the power of concupiscence, arises from contrition itself, so that
*> Ps. 12, 2.
Pars II. Caput V.
not inconveniently was contrition defined as sorrow, because it effects sorrow, and that in order to declare it penitents were also accustomed to change their garments. Concerning which the Lord in Saint Matthew says: "Woe to thee Corozain! woe to thee Bethsaida! because if in Tyre and Sidon had been wrought the miracles that have been wrought in you, they had long ago done penance in sackcloth and ashes."
XXV. Why detestation of sin is commonly called by theologians "contrition."
Now rightly has the name of contrition been imposed on the detestation of sin, of which we are speaking, to signify the force of sorrow; a similitude being drawn from corporeal things, which bit by bit are broken up by a stone or some harder material, so that by that word it might be declared that our hearts, which have been hardened by pride, are crushed and broken by the force of penance. Wherefore no other sorrow, whether undertaken on account of the death of parents or children, or for the cause of any other calamity whatsoever, is called by this name, but the name is proper only to that sorrow by which we are affected for lost grace of God and innocence.
XXVI. By what other words the same detestation of sin is wont to be declared.
But by other words also the same thing is wont to be declared; for it is called "contrition of heart," because the sacred Scriptures frequently employ the name of "heart" for "will." For as from the heart the beginning of the motions of the body is taken: so the will moderates and rules all the other powers of the soul. It is also called by the holy Fathers "compunction of heart," who preferred to inscribe books written about contrition as concerning "compunction of heart." For just as swollen ulcers are lanced with iron, that the enclosed poison may be able to break out: so hearts are cut, as it were by the scalpel of contrition being applied, that they may be able to cast out the deadly poison of sin; wherefore it has also been called "rending of the heart" by the Prophet Joel: "Be converted," he says, "to me with all your heart, in fasting, and in weeping, and in mourning; and rend your hearts."
XXVII. Why the sorrow for sins, included in the word "contrition,"
ought to be the greatest and most vehement.
That the highest and greatest sorrow must be undertaken from the sins which have been committed, such that no greater can be imagined, will easily be shown by these reasonings. For since perfect contrition is an act of charity, which proceeds from that fear which is of sons: it is clear that the same measure of charity and contrition must be set. But since charity, by which we love God, is the most perfect love: hence it comes that contrition
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has joined to it the most vehement sorrow of soul. For as God is to be loved in the highest degree, so the things which alienate us from God must be detested in the highest degree. In which also this is to be observed, that in the same manner of speech the greatness of charity and contrition is signified in the sacred Scriptures. Concerning charity it is said: "Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with thy whole heart." Again, as regards contrition, the Lord cries through the Prophet: "Be converted with your whole heart." Moreover, if, as God is the highest good among all things which are to be loved, so also sin is the highest evil among all things which men must hate: it follows that, for the same cause for which we confess God is to be loved supremely, for the same the highest hatred of sin must needs take hold of us. That indeed the love of God must be preferred to all things, so that it is not lawful to sin even for the preservation of life, those words of the Lord openly teach us: "He that loveth father or mother more than me, is not worthy of me;" and: "He that will save his life, shall lose it." But this too must be noted, that, just as by the testimony of Saint Bernard no end and measure is prescribed to charity (for the measure, says he, of loving God is to love Him without measure): so no measure is defined for the detestation of sin. Moreover, let it be not only the greatest but also the most vehement and indeed perfect, excluding all sloth and sluggishness. For in Deuteronomy it is written: "When thou shalt seek the Lord thy God, thou shalt find him; yet so, if thou seek him with thy whole heart, and all the affliction of thy soul;" and in Jeremias: "You shall seek me, and shall find me, when you shall seek me with all your heart; and I will be found by you, saith the Lord."
XXVIII. True contrition does not cease to be such, even if sensible sorrow for sins has not been complete.
Yet if we be less able to attain this, that it be perfect, contrition can still be true and efficacious. For it often happens by custom that those things which are subject to the senses affect us more than spiritual things. Wherefore some sometimes take a greater sensation of sorrow from the death of children than from the foulness of sin. The same judgment also must be made, if tears do not follow the bitterness of sorrow; which nevertheless in penance are greatly to be desired and commended. For there is an excellent saying of S. Augustine on this matter. "There are not," says he, "in thee the bowels of Christian charity, if thou mournest the body from which
the soul has departed, but dost not mourn the soul, from which God has departed." And hither look those words of our Saviour, which were cited above: "Woe to thee Corozain, woe to thee Bethsaida! because if in Tyre and Sidon had been wrought the miracles that have been wrought in you, they had long ago done penance in ashes and sackcloth." Although to prove this matter, the most illustrious examples of the Ninivites, of David, of the sinful woman, of the prince of the Apostles, ought to suffice, who all, imploring the mercy of God with very many tears, obtained pardon of their sins.
XXIX. Capital sins must be detested singly in contrition.
Now the faithful must be especially exhorted and warned, that they endeavour to apply the proper sorrow of contrition to each mortal crime. Thus Ezechias describes contrition, when he says: "I will recount to thee all my years in the bitterness of my soul." For to recount all the years is to examine sins singly, that we may grieve for them from our soul. But in Ezechiel too we read it written: "If the wicked do penance from all his sins, he shall live the life." And to this effect Saint Augustine says: "Let the sinner consider the quality of the crime in place, in time, in variety, in person."
XXX. It suffices sometimes to detest one's sins universally.
Nor yet in this matter let the faithful despair of the supreme goodness and clemency of God; for He, since He is most desirous of our salvation, interposes no delay to granting us pardon, but embraces the sinner with fatherly charity, as soon as he has collected himself and, having detested his sins universally, then at another time, if there be opportunity, has in mind to call to memory each one and detest them, has turned himself to the Lord. For thus He bids us hope through the Prophet, when He says: "The impiety of the wicked shall not hurt him, in whatsoever day he shall be converted from his impiety."
XXXI. What is especially necessary to true contrition.
From these things therefore may be gathered what are most necessary to true contrition; concerning which the faithful people must be accurately taught, that each one may understand in what way he can acquire it, and may have a rule by which to judge how far he is from the perfection of that virtue. For first it is necessary to hate and grieve for all the sins which we have committed, lest, if we grieve only for some, the penance undertaken by us be feigned and simulated, and not salutary. For as Saint James the Apostle said, e. 14. 6) Ez. 33, 12. «) Iac. 2, 10.
is: "Whosoever shall keep the whole law, but offend in one point, is become guilty of all." The second is that this very contrition have joined to it the will to confess and to make satisfaction; of which things afterwards, in their proper place, we shall treat. The third is that the penitent take up a firm and settled purpose of amending his life. This indeed the Prophet has plainly taught us in these words: "If the wicked do penance for all his sins which he hath committed, and keep all my commandments, and do judgment and justice, living he shall live, and shall not die; I will not remember all his iniquities which he hath wrought;" and a little after: "When the wicked turneth himself away from his wickedness which he hath wrought, and doeth judgment and justice, he shall quicken his own soul;" and, a few verses being interposed: "Be converted," he says, "and do penance for all your iniquities, and iniquity shall not be your ruin; cast away from you all your transgressions by which you have transgressed, and make to yourselves a new heart and a new spirit." The same also Christ our Lord prescribed to the woman who was taken in adultery; "Go," he said, "and now sin no more." Likewise to that paralytic whom he had healed at the Probatic pool, "Behold," he says, "thou art made whole; sin no more."
XXXII. It is shown that sorrow for past sin and a purpose of avoiding it for the future are necessary for contrition.
But nature itself and reason plainly show that those two things are especially necessary for contrition; namely, sorrow for the sin committed, and a purpose and precaution lest anything of this kind be committed hereafter. For he who wishes to be reconciled to a friend whom he has injured in some way must both grieve that he has been injurious and insulting toward him, and diligently take care in the remaining time that he should not seem in any matter to have wounded the friendship; and these two things must necessarily have obedience joined to them. For it is fitting for man to obey the law, whether natural and divine, or human, to which he is subject. Wherefore if the penitent has taken anything from another by force or fraud, he must restore it; and likewise by compensation of some benefit or service he must make satisfaction to him whose dignity or life he has violated by word or deed. For it is a commonplace in everyone's speech what we read in St. Augustine: "The sin is not remitted unless what has been taken away is restored."
XXXIII. We must be indulgent to others if we wish to be indulged ourselves.
Nor indeed among the other things which pertain most to contrition must it be less diligently and necessarily seen to, that
whatever injuries you have received from another, all of them should be remitted and pardoned. For thus our Lord and Saviour admonishes and declares: "If you will forgive men their offences, your heavenly Father will also forgive you your offences; but if you will not forgive men, neither will your Father forgive you your sins." These are the things that are to be observed by the faithful in contrition. The other things, which concerning this matter can easily be gathered by pastors, will indeed bring it about that contrition in its kind be more perfect and absolute; but they are not to be judged so necessary that without them the nature of true and saving penance could not stand.
XXXIV. What is the proper power and utility of contrition.
But since it ought not to be enough for pastors if they teach what seems to pertain to salvation, unless they also labour with every care and industry that the faithful should direct their life and actions to that very pattern which has been prescribed for them: it will greatly profit to set forth the power and utility of contrition more frequently. For whereas most other works of piety, such as beneficence toward the poor, fastings, prayers, and other holy and honourable works of this kind, are sometimes rejected by God because of the fault of the men from whom they proceed: contrition itself certainly can never fail to be pleasing and acceptable to Him. For the Prophet says: "A contrite and humbled heart, O God, thou wilt not despise." Nay, that the remission of sins is granted us by God the moment we have conceived it in our minds, those words of the same Prophet in another place declare: "I said, I will confess against myself my injustice to the Lord; and thou hast forgiven the wickedness of my sin." And a figure of this matter we observe in the "ten lepers," who, being sent by our Saviour to the priests, before they reached them were freed from their leprosy. From which we may know that the power of true contrition, of which we have spoken above, is such that by its benefit we obtain straightway from the Lord pardon of all our offences.
XXXV. By what method one comes to the perfection of contrition.
It will also avail very much to stir up the minds of the faithful, if pastors deliver some method by which each may exercise himself to contrition. It is, however, proper to admonish all to examine their consciences frequently, that they may see whether they have kept those things which have been commanded either by God or by ecclesiastical sanctions. And if anyone shall know himself to be guilty of some crime, let him straightway accuse himself, and as a suppliant beg pardon of the Lord, and ask that a space both for confessing and for making satisfaction be given him,
Catechismus, Conc. Trid.
and especially let him ask that he be aided by the help of divine grace, that he may not hereafter commit those same sins which he vehemently regrets having committed. Pastors shall, moreover, take care to arouse in the faithful the greatest hatred against sins, both because of their utmost foulness and baseness, and because they bring upon us the gravest losses and calamities. For they alienate from us the good will of God, from whom we have received the greatest goods, and could expect and obtain still far greater; and they consign us to eternal death, to be everlastingly tormented with the torments of the greatest sufferings. Thus far concerning contrition; now let us come to confession, which is the second part of penance.
XXXVI. What is the excellence of confession, and how necessary was its institution for the salvation of Christians.
How much care and diligence pastors ought to put into explaining it: they will easily understand from this, that it is the persuasion of almost all pious persons, that whatever of sanctity, piety, and religion is at this time preserved in the Church by the great benefit of God, is in great part to be attributed to confession, so that it should be no wonder to anyone that the enemy of the human race, when he plots to overthrow the Catholic faith from its foundations, has endeavoured through the ministers and satellites of his impiety to assail with all his might this, as it were, citadel of Christian virtue. First therefore it must be taught that the institution of confession has been exceedingly useful to us, and indeed necessary. For although we should grant that sins are blotted out by contrition: who does not know that this must be so vehement, keen, and ardent, that the bitterness of the sorrow may be equated and compared with the greatness of the crimes? But since very few would arrive at this degree, it also came about that by very few the pardon of sins could be hoped for by this way. Wherefore it was necessary that the most merciful Lord should provide for the common salvation of men by an easier method; which indeed He accomplished by an admirable counsel, when He delivered to the Church the keys of the kingdom of heaven.
XXXVII. Confession perfects contrition.
For from the doctrine of the Catholic faith it must be believed by all and constantly affirmed; that if anyone be so affected in mind as to grieve for sins committed, and at the same time resolve not to sin in the future, even though he be not affected with such sorrow as may suffice to obtain pardon, nevertheless, when he shall have duly confessed his sins to a priest, by the power of the keys all his crimes are remitted and pardoned, so that it is rightly celebrated by most holy men, our Fathers, that by the keys of the Church access to heaven is opened. Of which it is permitted to no one to doubt, since we read in the decree of the Council of Florence that the effect of penance is absolution from sins. But moreover it is permitted to know from this how much utility confession brings, that for those whose habit of life has been corrupted, we experience that nothing is so profitable for amending morals, as if they at times lay open the hidden thoughts of their soul, their deeds and words, to a prudent and faithful friend, who can help them with work and counsel. Wherefore by the same reasoning it is to be judged most salutary for those who are agitated by consciousness of crimes, that they should open to a priest, as to the vicar of Christ the Lord, upon whom the most severe law of perpetual silence is imposed, the diseases and wounds of their soul; for they will straightway find remedies prepared for themselves, which not only for healing the present ailment, but for so preparing the soul have a certain heavenly power, that it will not easily come to pass afterwards that they should relapse into that kind of disease and vice. Nor indeed is that utility of confession to be passed over, which greatly pertains to the society and fellowship of life. For it is established that, if you remove sacramental confession from Christian discipline, all things will be full of hidden and nefarious crimes, which afterwards, and others far graver still, men depraved by the habit of sin will not fear to commit openly. For indeed the shame of confessing throws as it were a bridle upon the desire and licence of sinning, and restrains wickedness. But now, the utility of confession having been set forth, its nature and power must be delivered by pastors.
XXXVIII. Description and nature of sacramental confession.
They therefore define it to be an accusation of sins, such as pertains to the genus of sacrament, undertaken in order that by the power of the keys we may obtain pardon. It is rightly called an accusation, because sins are not to be mentioned as though we were displaying our crimes, as those do who rejoice when they have done evil; or to be at all narrated, as if we were setting forth some deed to idle listeners for the sake of delighting them. But they are to be enumerated with an accusatory disposition, such that we should desire also to punish them in ourselves. And we confess sins for the sake of obtaining pardon, because this judgment is very unlike the forensic inquiries into capital matters, in which punishment and penalty are appointed for confession, not deliverance from guilt and pardon of the error. In nearly the same sense, though in other words, the most holy Fathers seem to have defined confession; as when St. Augustine says: "Confession is that by which a hidden disease is disclosed in hope of pardon;" and St. Gregory: "Confession is the detestation of sins;"
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each of which definitions, because what is contained in the higher definition, can easily be referred to it.
XXXIX. For what cause, and when, was confession instituted by Christ.
But now, which is to be done most of all, the parish priests shall teach and shall without any doubt deliver to the faithful, that this sacrament was instituted by Christ the Lord, who did all things well and for the sake of our salvation alone, on account of His utmost goodness and mercy. For upon the Apostles, gathered together in one place after the resurrection, He breathed, saying: "Receive ye the Holy Ghost; whose sins you shall forgive, they are forgiven them, and whose sins you shall retain, they are retained."
XL. From what other passages of Scripture it is gathered that confession was instituted by Christ.
And the Lord seemed to signify the same thing, when He gave to the Apostles this charge, that they should loose Lazarus, raised from the dead, from the bindings by which he was bound. For St. Augustine explains that passage thus: "The priests themselves," he says, "can now more avail, can more spare those who confess, to whom they remit the crime. The Lord indeed, through the Apostles themselves, presented Lazarus, whom He had already raised, to the disciples to be loosed, showing that the power of loosing was granted to the priests." To this also pertains what He had commanded those who had been healed from leprosy on the way, that they should "show themselves to the priests," and submit to their judgment.
XLI. How from the words of the Lord it is necessarily gathered that confession is to be made to a priest, and that the judges are successors of the Apostles.
Since therefore the Lord granted to the priests the power of remitting and retaining sins: it is clear that they were also constituted judges in this matter. But since, as the Sacred Tridentine Synod has wisely admonished, a true judgment concerning any matter cannot be made, nor in exacting punishments for crimes can the manner of justice be kept, unless the cause shall have been plainly known and examined: from this it follows that all sins must be laid open to the priests singly by the confession of the penitents. These things therefore pastors shall teach, which have been decreed by the Sacred Tridentine Synod, and have been perpetually handed down by the Catholic Church. For if we read the most holy Fathers attentively, nowhere will the most manifest testimonies fail to occur, by which it is confirmed that this sacrament was instituted by Christ the Lord, and that the law of sacramental confession, which they call by the Greek word exomologesis and exagoreusis, is to be accepted as evangelical. But if we also seek out the figures of the Old Testament, without doubt those various kinds of sacrifices, which were made by the priests for expiating sins of various kinds, seem to pertain to the confession of sins. 7 14. 6) Sess. 14. de poenitent. cap. 5.
XLII. With what fruit the Church has added certain ceremonies to sacramental confession.
But just as the faithful are to be taught that confession was instituted by the Lord Saviour, so also must they be admonished that certain rites and solemn ceremonies have been added by the authority of the Church; which, although they do not pertain to the essence of the sacrament, nevertheless set its dignity more before our eyes, and prepare the minds of those confessing, kindled with piety, to obtain the grace of God more easily. For when, with head uncovered, cast down at the feet of the priest, with face lowered to the earth, with suppliant hands extended, and giving other signs of Christian humility of this kind, which are not necessary to the essence of the sacrament, we confess our sins: from these things we plainly understand, both that a heavenly power is to be acknowledged in the sacrament, and that divine mercy is to be sought and implored by us with the greatest zeal.
XLIII. Those who are liable to capital sins cannot recover salvation without confession.
Now let no one think that confession was indeed instituted by the Lord, but yet in such a way that He did not declare its use to be necessary. For thus let the faithful hold, that it behoves him who is weighed down by mortal crime to be called back to spiritual life by the sacrament of confession; which indeed we see openly signified by the Lord through a most beautiful figure, when He called the power of administering this sacrament the key of the kingdom of heaven. For as no one can enter into any place, without the work of him to whom the keys have been committed: so do we understand that no one is admitted into heaven, unless the doors be opened by the priests, to whose trust the Lord has delivered the keys. Otherwise, no use of the keys in the Church will seem to exist at all, and in vain will he to whom the power of the keys has been given forbid anyone the entrance of heaven, if nevertheless entry could lie open by another way. This was plainly known by St. Augustine, when he says: "Let no one say to himself, — I do penance secretly before the Lord; God knows, who will pardon me, what I do in my heart. Was it then said in vain: What ye shall loose on earth, shall be loosed in heaven? were then the keys given in vain to the Church of God?" And to the same effect St. Ambrose left written in his book on Penance, when he was overthrowing the heresy of the Novatians, who asserted that the power of remitting sins was to be reserved to the Lord alone:
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"Who," he says, "venerates God more; he who obeys His commands, or he who resists? God commanded us to obey His ministers; by obeying whom we pay honour to God alone."
XLIV. At what age and time of year one ought to confess.
But since it cannot in the least be doubted that the law of confession has been enacted and established by the Lord Himself: it follows that we must see who, and at what age and time of year, ought to obey it. First therefore from the canon of the Lateran Council, whose beginning is: "Omnis utriusque sexus" (Every one of both sexes), it is clear that no one is bound by the law of confession before that age at which he can have the use of reason. Yet this age is not defined by any certain number of years, but this universally seems to be established: that confession has been enjoined on a boy from that time when he has the power of discerning between good and evil, and when deceit can fall upon his mind. For when anyone has come to that time of life in which deliberation about eternal salvation is to be made, then first he ought to confess his sins to a priest, since otherwise it is permitted to no one to hope for salvation who is weighed down by conscience of crimes. As to the time at which especially one ought to confess, holy Church has decreed by that canon of which we spoke before; for she commands that at least once every year all the faithful confess their sins.
XLV. How often Christians ought to use this benefit.
But if we consider what the matter of our salvation demands, surely as often as either danger of death impends, or we undertake to handle some matter the handling of which does not suit a man contaminated by sins, such as when we administer or receive the sacraments: so often is confession not to be omitted. And we ought altogether to observe the same, when we fear lest forgetfulness of some fault which we may have committed should seize us. For we can neither confess sins which we do not remember, nor obtain from the Lord pardon of sins, unless the sacrament of penance blot them out by confession.
XLVI. All sins are to be disclosed singly in confession.
But since many things are to be observed in confession, some of which pertain to the nature of the sacrament, others are not likewise necessary: these things will have to be dealt with accurately. For there are not lacking booklets and commentaries, from which it is easy to draw forth an explanation of all these things. But this especially let the parish priests teach, that care must be taken in confession that it be integral and absolute; for all mortal sins must be laid open to the priest. For
venial sins, which do not sunder us from God's grace, and into which we more frequently fall, though we rightly and usefully confess them, as the practice of pious persons shows: yet can be passed over without fault, and expiated by many other means. But mortal sins, as we have already said, are to be enumerated each by each, even though they lie most hidden and are of that kind which are forbidden by the two last precepts alone of the Decalogue. For it often happens that these wound the soul more gravely than those which men are accustomed to commit openly and publicly. Thus indeed it was defined by the sacred Tridentine Synod, and always handed down by the Catholic Church, as the testimonies of the holy Fathers declare. For there is in Saint Ambrose after this manner: "No one can be justified from sin unless he shall have confessed the sin." Saint Jerome also on Ecclesiastes plainly confirms the same; for he says: "If the serpent, the devil, shall have secretly bitten anyone, and with no one conscious of it shall have infected him with the poison of sin, if he keep silent and do not penance, and be unwilling to confess his wound to a brother or a master: the master, who has a tongue to heal, will not be able to profit him." Moreover St. Cyprian in his sermon on the lapsed most openly teaches this in these words: "Although they be bound by no wrongdoing of sacrifice or libellus, yet because they have thought of it, even this same, dolefully and simply confessing before the priests of God, they make an exomologesis of conscience, they lay bare the burden of their soul, they seek a saving remedy for wounds even small and slight." Finally, this is the common voice and judgment of all the doctors of the Church.
XLVII. The circumstances of sins, while one is confessing, are to be laid open.
But in confession that utmost care and diligence must be applied, which we are accustomed to give in the gravest matters, and all effort must so be directed to this, that we may heal the wounds of the soul, and root out the roots of sin. Nor indeed is it only necessary to explain grievous sins by narrating them: but also those things which surround each sin, and greatly augment or diminish its depravity. For certain circumstances are so grave that the very essence of mortal sin consists of them alone; wherefore all these things must always be confessed. For if anyone shall have slain a man, it must be explained whether he was initiated into holy orders, or a layman; likewise if he has lain with a woman, he must necessarily disclose whether she is free by law of matrimony, or the wife of another, or a kinswoman, or consecrated to God by the pledge of some vow. For these constitute diverse kinds of sins,
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so that the first is called simple fornication, the second adultery, the third incest, the fourth sacrilege, by the teachers of divine things. Theft also is to be numbered among sins; but if anyone steal a gold coin, he sins altogether more lightly than he who steals a hundred, or two hundred, or some huge sum of gold, but most especially one who has taken sacred money. This reasoning also pertains to place and time, examples of which are more widely known from many books than that they need be mentioned by us. These things therefore, as we have said, are to be enumerated; but those which do not greatly increase the depravity of the matter can be omitted without crime.
XLVIII. A confession in which something graver is knowingly kept back is to be repeated.
But it is so necessary for confession, as we have said before, that it be integral and absolute, that if anyone deliberately leaves out some of those things which ought to be explained, and confesses only others: not only does he gain no benefit from that confession, but he also binds himself with a new crime. Nor is such an enumeration of sins to be called by the name of confession, in which is the essence of the sacrament; rather it is necessary for the penitent to repeat the confession, and to make himself guilty of that sin, because he has violated the sanctity of the sacrament by the pretence of confession.
XLIX. A confession in which through forgetfulness or slight carelessness something has been omitted is not to be repeated.
But if for some other cause it seems that something has been lacking to the confession, either because the penitent has forgotten some crimes, or because he has not so accurately searched the hiding-places of his conscience, even though he had it in mind to confess all his sins wholly: he will need to do no repeating of the confession; but it will be enough, if at any time when he recalls to memory the sins he had forgotten, he confesses them to the priest at another time. In which, however, it must be considered, lest perhaps we have scrutinised our conscience too loosely and remissly, and have so negligently endeavoured to recollect by memory the sins committed, that we can rightly seem not even to have wished to remember them; for if this has been done, it will be altogether necessary to repeat the confession.
L. Confession must be plain, simple, and open.
Moreover care must be taken that confession be plain, simple, and open, not artificially composed, as is done by some, who
seem rather to be setting forth the account of their life, than confessing their sins; for that confession ought to be such as lays us open to the priest such as we know ourselves to be, and which represents certain things as certain, and
doubtful things as doubtful. But if either sins are not recounted, or discourses foreign to the matter which we are treating are inserted: it is clear that the confession lacks this virtue.
LI. Confession ought to be prudent and modest.
Those also are to be vehemently commended who apply prudence and modesty in explaining matters. For neither is one to go on with too many words, but the things which pertain to the nature and character of each sin are to be laid open in a brief discourse which has modesty joined with it.
LII. Confession cannot be made by a messenger or by letters.
But this must be chiefly taken care of, both by the one confessing and by the priest, that their speech in confession be kept secret. Whence it comes about that it is lawful for no one whatsoever, neither through a messenger nor through letters, to confess sins, because in this manner nothing can now be done secretly.
LIII. It is expedient for a Christian man to confess more often.
But no matter ought to be of such care to the faithful, as that they should endeavour to cleanse the soul by frequent confession of sins; for when anyone is pressed by mortal crime, nothing can be more saving to him, on account of the many perils of life that impend, than straightway to confess his sins; for, so that anyone might promise himself a long space of life, it is surely shameful, when we are so diligent in cleansing the filth of the body or clothes, not to take care with at least the same diligence, that the splendour of the soul should not grow dim with the foulest stains of sin.
LIV. With how manifold a power the minister ought to be endowed.
But now concerning the minister of this sacrament something must be said. That he should be a priest, who has ordinary or delegated power of absolving, sufficiently appears from the ecclesiastical sanctions; for he who ought to exercise this office must have not only orders, but also power of jurisdiction. An illustrious testimony to this ministry is afforded by those words of the Lord in Saint John (20, 23.): "Whose sins you shall forgive, they are forgiven them; and whose sins you shall retain, they are retained;" for it is certain that these words were not spoken to all, but to the Apostles alone, in whose place in this function the priests succeed. And this also is most consonant; for since every kind of grace, which is granted in this sacrament, is derived from Christ the head to the members: rightly ought those to administer it to the Mystical Body of Christ, that is, to the faithful, who alone have the power of confecting the true Body of the same, especially since the faithful are rendered fit and apt by this very sacrament of penance to receive the sacred Eucharist. But with how great religion in the most ancient Church
the right of the ordinary priest was preserved, is easily understood from the ancient decrees of the Fathers, by which it is provided, that no bishop or priest should dare to do anything in another's parish, without the authority of him who presided over it, or unless great necessity seemed to compel. So indeed it was sanctioned by the Apostle, when he commanded Titus, that he should appoint priests in each city, who namely should nourish and rear the faithful with the heavenly food of doctrine and of the sacraments.
LV. Any priest can absolve any sinner in necessity.
However, if danger of death impends, and the faculty of the proper priest is not given, lest on this occasion anyone should perish, the Council of Trent teaches that it was preserved in the Church of God, that it should be lawful for any priest not only to pardon sins of every kind, of whatever power they be, but also to loose from the bond of excommunication.
LVI. What sort of minister of confession each one solicitous for his own salvation ought to choose.
Now besides the power of orders and of jurisdiction, which are altogether necessary, it is especially required, that the minister of this sacrament be endowed both with knowledge and learning, and with prudence; for he bears at once the person of a judge and of a physician. And, as to the first, it is sufficiently evident, that no common knowledge is necessary, by which he can both investigate sins, and judge of the various kinds of sins, which are grave, which light, according to the order and kind of each man. But inasmuch as he is a physician, he also stands in need of the greatest prudence. For it is to be diligently provided that such remedies be applied to the sick man, as may seem the fitter for healing his soul, and for fortifying it in future against the force of the disease. From which the faithful can understand that every man must take the greatest care to choose for himself a priest whom integrity of life, learning, and prudent judgment commend; who may know best both how great weight and moment there is in the office over which he presides, and what penalty befits each crime, and who are to be loosed or bound.
LVII. Never is it lawful to disclose by word or sign what has been heard during confession.
But since there is no one who does not vehemently desire that his crimes and baseness should be hidden: the faithful are to be admonished, that there is nothing they should fear lest the things which they themselves have disclosed in confession should ever be indicated to anyone by the priest, nor that any kind of peril
could ever be created for themselves by it. For sacred sanctions have willed that those priests should be most severely punished, who have not kept pressed down by perpetual and religious silence all the sins which anyone shall have confessed to them. Wherefore in the great Lateran Council we thus read: "Let the priest altogether beware, lest by word, or by sign, or by any other way, he in any measure betray the sinner."
LVIII. What things are especially to be observed by the priest receiving the confessions of others.
But now the order of things demands, after the minister has been treated of, that certain chief points should be explained, which are not little accommodated to the use and handling of confession. For a great part of the faithful, to whom commonly nothing seems longer than that those days, which by ecclesiastical law have been appointed for confession, should flow by, are so far from Christian perfection, that they scarcely remember their own sins, which ought to be laid open to the priest, much less do they diligently attend to the other things which it is clear have the greatest force for conciliating divine grace. Wherefore, since we must come to the aid of their salvation with every zeal, the priests will first carefully observe this in the penitent: whether he has true contrition for his sins, and whether it is certain and deliberated in his mind, to abstain from sins for the future. And if they shall have perceived him to be thus disposed in mind, let them admonish and vehemently exhort him, to give the greatest thanks to God for so great and so singular a benefit, and never to cease to ask from Him the help of heavenly grace, fortified and covered by which he will easily be able to resist and repel depraved desires. He is also to be taught, to permit no day to pass, in which he does not meditate something of the mysteries of the passion of our Lord, and stir and inflame himself to imitate Him and to love Him with the greatest charity. For by this meditation he will attain this, that from day to day he may feel himself safer from all the temptations of the demon. Nor is there any other cause why we so quickly or so lightly succumb in soul and in strength when assailed by the enemy, than that we do not strive to conceive the fire of divine love from meditation on heavenly things, by which the mind can be refreshed and raised up. But if the priest shall understand that he who wishes to confess is so far from grieving for his sins, that he is to be called truly contrite: let him endeavour to affect him with a great desire of contrition, so that thereafter, inflamed with a longing for this excellent gift, he may resolve to seek and implore it from the mercy of God.
LIX. How the confessor ought to conduct himself toward those who excuse their sins.
In the first place, however, the pride of certain ones is to be repressed, who strive either to defend their crimes by some excuse, or to make them less.
For, by way of example, when someone confesses, that he has been moved to anger too vehemently: straightway he transfers the cause of this disturbance to another, by whom he complains that an injury was first done to him. He is therefore to be admonished, that this is a sign of a proud mind and of a man either despising, or plainly ignoring the greatness of his sin; and that a kind of such excuse pertains rather to augmenting, than to lessening the sin. For he who strives thus to approve his own deed, seems to profess this, that he will then use patience, when he is injured by no one; than which nothing indeed can be more unworthy of a Christian man. For when he ought to have grieved greatly for the lot of him who did the injury: yet he is not moved by the depravity of the sin, but is angry with his brother, and, when an excellent occasion has been offered him, by which he can both worship God with patience, and correct his brother with his own meekness, he turns the matter of salvation into his own destruction.
LX. How the confessor shall counsel those who blush to confess their sins, or approach him unprepared.
But the fault of those is to be esteemed more pernicious, who, hindered by a certain foolish shame, do not dare to confess their sins. These therefore must be encouraged by exhorting; and they must be admonished, that there is nothing in which they should fear to lay open their vices, nor should it seem strange to anyone, if he should understand that men sin; which indeed is the common disease of all, and properly falls within human weakness. There are others, who, either because they are wont to confess their sins rarely, or because they have bestowed no care and thought in searching out their crimes, neither know how to expedite a completed confession, nor sufficiently know whence the beginning of this duty should be drawn; whom indeed it is necessary to reprove more sharply, and especially to teach, that before anyone approach a priest, every effort must be taken, that he be moved by contrition for his sins; and that this can in no way be accomplished, unless he strive to recognise them singly by remembering. Wherefore if the priest shall have known men of this kind to be altogether unprepared, he shall dismiss them from himself with most humane words, and shall exhort them, to take some space for thinking upon their sins, and then to return. But if perhaps they shall have affirmed, that they have bestowed every zeal and diligence in this matter (since the priest ought most of all to fear, that once dismissed they may return no more:) they are to be heard, but especially, if they show some zeal of amending their life, and if they can be brought to accuse their negligence, which they shall promise to make up for at another time by diligent and careful meditation; in which, however, great caution must be used. For if, after having heard the confession, he judges that neither diligence in enumerating the sins,
nor grief in detesting them has been altogether lacking in the penitent, he can be absolved. But if he shall have perceived that both are lacking in him, he will be his adviser and persuader, to apply greater care, as has been said before, in examining his conscience, and shall dismiss the man, treated as kindly as he can.
LXI. How one should deal with the shame of some persons.
But since it sometimes comes to pass, that women, having forgotten some crime in an earlier confession, do not dare to return again to the priest, because they fear either that they may come under suspicion of great wickedness among the people, or that they may be thought to be seeking praise of singular piety: it must often be taught, both publicly and privately, that no one has so great a memory, as can remember all his deeds, words, and thoughts; wherefore the faithful ought to be deterred by nothing from returning to the priest, if they have come to the memory of some crime which had previously been omitted. These things therefore, and many other things of this kind, will have to be observed in confession by the priests. Now we must come to the third part of penance, which is called satisfaction.
LXII. What in general, and what in the matter of confession, does satisfaction signify.
First therefore the name and power of satisfaction must be set forth. For from this the enemies of the Catholic Church have seized an ample occasion of dissension and discord with the greatest ruin of the Christian people. Satisfaction, moreover, is the full payment of what is owed; for what is enough seems to lack nothing. Wherefore when we speak of the conciliation of grace, "to satisfy" means the same thing, as to perform for another as much as can suffice to an angry mind for avenging an injury. And thus satisfaction is nothing other, than compensation for an injury inflicted upon another. But as far as pertains to this place, the teachers of divine things have used the name of satisfaction for declaring that compensation, when a man pays something to God for the sins committed.
LXIII. How many degrees there are of that satisfaction which includes some compensation for sin.
In which genus, since there can be many degrees, hence it comes about that satisfaction is variously accepted; and the first indeed and most excellent is that, by which for the reckoning of our crimes, even if God should wish to deal with us by strictest right, whatever is owed by us has been most fully paid. This is said to be of such a kind as has rendered God propitious and appeased to us, and we render acceptance of it to Christ the Lord alone, who on the cross, with the price paid for our sins, most fully satisfied God. For
no created thing could be of such value, as could free us from so heavy a debt, and, as St. John testifies, "He is the propitiation for our sins; and not only for ours, but also for those of the whole world." This therefore is the full and accumulated satisfaction, answering equally and alike to the reckoning of all the crimes, which have been committed in this age; by the weight of which the actions of men avail most before God, and without it would be held worthy of no estimation at all. And to this the words of David seem to look, who, after he had, reflecting with himself, set forth this: "What shall I render to the Lord, for all the things that he hath rendered to me?" could find nothing worthy of so many and so great benefits beyond this satisfaction, which he expressed by the name of the chalice; wherefore he added: "I will take the chalice of salvation, and I will call upon the name of the Lord." The second kind of satisfaction is that which is also called canonical, and is completed by a certain defined space of time. Wherefore it has been received by the use of the most ancient Church, that, when penitents are loosed from sins, some penalty is inflicted upon them, the payment of which penalty has been customarily called satisfaction. And by the same name is signified also any kind of penalty, which for sins, not indeed appointed by the priest, but of our own accord taken up, and repeated by ourselves, we sustain.
LXIV. What is this satisfaction, which pertains to the sacrament of penance.
But these things pertain by no means to penance as a sacrament, but that alone is to be considered the part of the sacrament, which we have said is paid to God by the precept of the priest for sins; with this added, that we hold as settled and deliberated in mind, to avoid sins hereafter with every zeal. For thus some have defined: To satisfy is to render to God the due honour. But that no one can render due honour to God, unless he who resolves to avoid sins altogether, sufficiently appears. And to satisfy is to cut out the causes of sins, and to give no entrance to their suggestion. In which opinion others have felt, that satisfaction is a purging, by which is washed out whatever of filth has settled in the soul by reason of the stain of sin, and we are absolved from the punishments set by definite time, by which we were held. Which things being so, it will be easy to persuade the faithful, how necessary it is, that penitents should exercise themselves in this zeal of satisfaction.
LXV. The temporal penalty is not always remitted along with the remission of the eternal penalty, which follows upon the pardon of the guilt.
For they are to be taught, that two things follow sin: the stain and the penalty; and although the guilt being remitted, at the same time
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also the punishment of eternal death appointed in hell is pardoned: yet it does not always come about, as has been declared by the Tridentine Synod, that the Lord remits the remains of sins, and the penalty defined by a certain time, which is due to sins. Of which matter there are clear examples in the sacred writings, in the third chapter of Genesis (v. 17.), Num. 12, 14. and 20, 12., and in very many other places. But we behold that most clear and most illustrious example of David; to whom, although Nathan had said: "The Lord also hath taken away thy sin; thou shalt not die:" he nevertheless voluntarily underwent the gravest penalties, imploring the mercy of God day and night with these words: "Wash me yet more from my iniquity, and cleanse me from my sin; for I know my iniquity, and my sin is always before me." By which words it was asked from the Lord, that He would pardon not only the crime, but the penalty owed to the crime, and, having purged him from the remains of sin, would restore him to the former state of comeliness and integrity. And although he asked these things with the greatest prayers, yet the Lord punished him both by the defection and death of the son conceived in adultery, and of Absalom, whom he loved singularly, and afflicted him with other penalties and calamities, which He had previously threatened against him. In Exodus also, although the Lord, entreated by the prayers of Moses, had spared the idolatrous people, nevertheless He threatened, that He would exact grave penalties for so great a wickedness; and Moses himself testified, that the Lord would avenge it most severely unto the third and fourth generation. That these things have always been handed down by the holy Fathers in the Catholic Church, is most openly proved by their own authority.
LXVI. Why God does not forgive man as much through the sacrament of penance, as through baptism.
But for what cause it has come about that not all penalty is pardoned by the sacrament of penance, as by baptism, has been excellently explained by the sacred Tridentine Synod in these words: "The reason of divine justice seems to require, that they should be received into grace in one way, who before baptism have sinned through ignorance; in another way indeed those who, once freed from the servitude of sin and the demon, and having received the gift of the Holy Ghost, have knowingly not feared to violate the temple of God, and to grieve the Holy Ghost. And it befits divine clemency, that sins should not be so remitted to us without any satisfaction, that, opportunity being seized, we, thinking lighter sins to be of little account, as if injurious and contumelious to the Holy Ghost, should slip into graver ones, treasuring up to ourselves wrath in the day of wrath. Without doubt indeed
these satisfactory penalties greatly call back from sin, and as by a certain bridle restrain, and make penitents more cautious and more vigilant for the future." Added to this is, that they are as it were certain testifications of the sorrow which we take from sins committed; by which reason satisfaction is made to the Church, which has been gravely offended by our crimes. For, as St. Augustine says: "A contrite and humbled heart God does not despise. But because often the sorrow of one heart is hidden to another, nor does it proceed into the knowledge of others through words, or any other signs whatever: rightly by those who preside over the Church, times of penance are appointed, that satisfaction may be made to the Church, in which the sins themselves are remitted." LXVII. How others are helped by the punishments inflicted upon us. Moreover, the examples of our penance teach others how they themselves ought to order their lives and follow piety. For when the rest of men behold the punishments inflicted upon us for our sins, they understand that the greatest caution must be exercised in all of life, and that their former morals must be corrected. Wherefore this was most wisely observed by the Church: that when some disgraceful deed had been publicly committed by anyone, a public penance was also enjoined upon him, so that the others, struck with fear, might thereafter more diligently avoid sins; which custom was also wont to be observed at times in secret crimes, when these were more grievous. But, as we have said, this was perpetual in public ones: that those who had committed them were not absolved before they had undertaken public penance. Meanwhile the pastors were beseeching God for their salvation, and did not cease to exhort them, that they themselves, being penitents, should do the same. In this kind, the care and solicitude of St. Ambrose was supreme, by whose tears it is related that very many, who had approached the sacrament of penance with a hardened soul, were so softened that they conceived the sorrow of true contrition. But afterwards so much of the severity of the ancient discipline was relaxed, and charity so grew cold, that now very many of the faithful deem no interior sorrow of soul and groaning of heart necessary for obtaining pardon of sins, but judge it sufficient if they have only the appearance of one who grieves.
LXVIII. Through penance we are made like unto Christ. Next, by the enduring of punishments of this kind, we obtain that we may bear the likeness and image of our Head, Jesus Christ, in whom He Himself suffered and was tempted. For nothing, as it was said by St. Bernard, can appear so unseemly as that a delicate member be under a thorn-crowned Head. For, as the
to all the Saints.
Apostle testifies, we are "co-heirs with Christ; yet so, if we suffer with Him;" and what he wrote in another place: "If we be dead with Him, we shall live also with Him; if we suffer, we shall also reign with Him."
LXIX. How, after God's mercy, there is place in sin for justice.
Divine Bernard also affirms that two things are found in sin: the stain of the soul and the wound; and that the foulness itself is indeed removed by God's mercy, but that for healing the wounds of sins, that care which is applied in the remedy of penance is exceedingly necessary. For just as, when a wound is healed, certain scars remain which themselves must also be treated: so in the soul, when the guilt is pardoned, remnants remain to be purged. The same is plainly confirmed by the sentence of St. Chrysostom, when he says: "It is not enough that the arrow be drawn out of the body, but the wound also, inflicted by the arrow, must be healed: so too in the soul, after pardon for sin has been received, the wound left behind must be healed by penance." For we are most frequently taught by St. Augustine that these two things are to be observed in penance: God's mercy and justice; mercy, by which He pardons sins and the eternal punishments due to them; justice, by which He punishes man with punishments limited in time.
LXX. Through penance we escape the punishments prepared for us by God.
Lastly, the pain of penance undertaken by us forestalls God's chastisement and the punishments appointed against us. For thus the Apostle teaches when he says: "If we judged ourselves, we should not indeed be judged; but whilst we are judged, we are chastised by the Lord, that we be not condemned with this world." When these things have been explained to the faithful, it will scarcely be possible that they be not most greatly stirred up to the works of penance.
LXXI. Whence our works are both meritorious and also satisfactory.
Now how great its power is, is gathered from this, that it depends wholly on the merit of the Passion of Christ our Lord. From whom also, by honorable actions, we obtain those two greatest goods: one is that we may merit the rewards of immortal glory, so that even a cup of cold water, which we shall have given in His name, shall not lack its reward; the other, that we may satisfy for our sins.
LXXII. Our satisfaction does not obscure the satisfaction and merit of Christ.
Nor indeed does this obscure the most perfect and most abundant satisfaction of Christ our Lord, but rather the contrary comes about,
Catechism, Council of Trent,
namely, that it renders it much more clear and more illustrious. For the grace of Christ seems to be the more copious, in that not only those things are communicated to us with Him, which He alone did, but also those which, as Head in His members, He merited and paid for His saints and just men. By this reason it is made clear that the just and honorable actions of the pious have so much weight and dignity. For Christ the Lord, as Head into the members and as the vine into the branches, continually diffuses His grace into those who are joined to Him by charity. Which grace indeed always precedes, accompanies, and follows our good works; and without which we can in no way merit or satisfy God. And thus it comes about that nothing seems to be wanting to the just, since by the works which they perform by the power of God, they can both satisfy the divine law according to human and mortal condition, and merit eternal life, which, if adorned with God's grace they depart from life, they shall obtain. For that saying of the Savior is well known: "But he that shall drink of the water that I will give him, shall not thirst for ever; but the water that I will give him, shall become in him a fountain of water, springing up into life everlasting."
LXXIII. What things are chiefly necessary in order that a work may have true power of satisfying.
But two things are principally required in satisfaction. The first is that he who satisfies be just, and a friend of God; for works which are done without faith and charity can in no way be pleasing to God. The other is that such works be undertaken as, by their nature, bring pain and trouble; for since they are compensations for past crimes, and, as St. Martyr Cyprian says, redemptresses of sins, it is altogether necessary that they have some bitterness. Although it does not always follow that those who exercise themselves in those troublesome actions have a sense of pain. For often either the habit of suffering, or a charity kindled toward God, brings it about that those things which are most grievous to endure are not even felt. Nor does it therefore come about that those very works lose their force of satisfying; since this is proper to the sons of God, to be so inflamed with His love and piety, that, tormented by most bitter labors, they either feel almost no inconvenience, or bear all with a most joyful soul.
LXXIV. How many are the works of satisfaction.
But the pastors will teach that every kind of satisfaction is to be referred chiefly to these three: prayer, fasting, and almsgiving, which indeed correspond to the three goods of the soul, the body, and those which are called external goods, all of which we have received from God. Nothing indeed can be more fitting and more suitable for uprooting the roots of all sins. For since "all that is in the world is the concupiscence of the flesh," "of the eyes, or the pride of life," no one does not see that to these three causes of disease, three remedies are most rightly opposed: namely, to the first, fasting; to the second, almsgiving; to the third, prayer. Moreover, if we also consider those who are offended by our sins, it will be easy to understand why all satisfaction is referred chiefly to these three. But these are: God, neighbor, ourselves. Wherefore we appease God by prayer, we satisfy our neighbor by almsgiving, and we chastise ourselves by fasting.
LXXV. Are afflictions which are sent upon men from without satisfactory?
But since many and various afflictions and calamities press upon us while we are in this life: the faithful are especially to be taught that those who bear with a patient soul whatever laborious and troublesome thing God sends, have obtained ample matter of satisfying and meriting; but those who endure punishment of this kind unwillingly and resisting, are deprived of all fruit of satisfaction; but endure only the chastisement and punishment of God avenging sins by a just judgment.
LXXVI. One can satisfy for another, but cannot confess or be contrite.
In this, indeed, the supreme goodness and clemency of God is to be proclaimed with the greatest praises and thanksgivings, who granted to human weakness that one might satisfy for another; which indeed is most proper to this part of penance. For as, with respect to contrition and confession, no one can grieve or confess for another: so those who are endowed with divine grace can, in another's name, pay what is owed to God. Whereby it comes about that, in a certain manner, one is seen to "bear the burdens of another." Nor is room left for any of the faithful to doubt of this, who in the Apostles' Creed confess the communion of saints. For since we are all, washed by the same baptism, reborn to Christ, are partakers of the same sacraments, and above all are refreshed by the food and drink of the same Body and Blood of Christ our Lord: this most clearly demonstrates that we are all members of the same body. Therefore, as the foot performs its office not only for its own benefit, but also for the benefit of the eyes; and again, what the eyes see is to be referred not to their own, but to the common benefit of all
members: so the offices of satisfaction ought to be deemed common among us.
LXXVII. Not every virtue of satisfaction can be communicated to others.
Nor yet is this true without any exception, if we consider all the benefits that are derived from it; for the works of satisfaction are also certain medicines and cures, which are prescribed to the penitent for healing the depraved affections of the soul; and of which fruit of usefulness it is evident that those who do not satisfy through themselves are wholly deprived. These things, therefore, concerning the three parts of penance, contrition, confession, and satisfaction, must be copiously and clearly explained.
LXXVIII. Absolution is not to be granted to him who does not promise to restore the thing taken away.
But this must be observed by priests above all: that, having heard the confession of sins, before they absolve the penitent from sins, they diligently take care that, if he has perhaps taken anything from the property or reputation of his neighbor, of which sin he seems deservedly to be condemned, he compensates with full satisfaction; for no one is to be absolved unless he first promises to restore what has belonged to each. But since there are many who, although they profusely promise that they will make sufficient satisfaction for their duty, yet it is certain and determined that they will never fulfill their promises: they must by all means be compelled to restore; and that saying of the Apostle (Eph. 4, 28.) must often be inculcated in them: "Let him that stole, steal no more; but rather let him labor, working with his hands the thing which is good, that he may have something to give to him that suffereth need."
LXXIX. What kind of satisfaction is to be imposed on the penitent.
Now in inflicting the penalty of satisfaction, priests will judge that nothing is to be determined by their own arbitrament, but that all things are to be directed by justice, prudence, and piety. And that they may be seen to measure sins by this rule, and that the penitents may more acknowledge the gravity of their crimes: it will be worthwhile sometimes to signify to them what penalties have been established for certain offenses by the prescript of the ancient canons, which are called penitential. Therefore the measure of all satisfaction will be tempered by the reckoning of the fault. But out of every kind of satisfaction, it is most fitting to command the penitents to devote themselves to prayer on certain determined days, and to make prayers to God for all, and especially for those who have departed from this life in the Lord. They should also be exhorted to often undertake and repeat of their own accord the same works of satisfaction enjoined by the priest, and so to order their morals that, when all those things which pertain to the sacrament of penance
have been diligently fulfilled, they nevertheless never intermit the pursuits of the virtue of penance; and if sometimes, also on account of public offense, a public penance shall have had to be prescribed, although the penitent should shrink from it and beg it off, he should not easily be heeded: but it will be necessary to persuade him that those things which will be salutary then for himself and for others, he should undertake with a willing and ready soul. These things concerning the sacrament of penance and its several parts are to be so taught, that not only may the faithful perfectly understand them, but also, with the Lord's help, they may bring their soul to perform them piously and religiously in actual fact.
CHAPTER VI. Of the Sacrament of Extreme Unction.
I. Why pastors of souls ought more often to treat before the people of the sacrament of extreme
unction.
Since the sacred oracles of the Scriptures so teach (Ecclus. 7, 40.): "In all thy works remember thy last end, and thou shalt never sin:" pastors are tacitly admonished that no time should be let pass for exhorting the faithful people to dwell in assiduous meditation of death. But since the sacrament of extreme unction cannot but have the memory of that supreme day conjoined with it: it is easily understood that it must often be treated of, not only for this reason, that it is most fitting to open and explain the mysteries of those things which pertain to salvation, but also because the faithful, repeating in their soul that the necessity of dying is set before all, will restrain their depraved desires; whereby it will come about that in the very expectation of death they will feel themselves less disturbed, but will render immortal thanks to God, who, as by the sacrament of baptism He opened to us the entrance to true life, so also, that departing from this mortal life we might have a more unimpeded way to heaven, instituted the sacrament of extreme unction.
II. Why this sacrament is called extreme unction.
Therefore, in order that those things which are more necessary for its explanation be set forth in almost the same order which has been observed in the other sacraments: first it will have to be handed down that this sacrament was called extreme unction for this reason, that this is the last of all the sacred unctions which the Lord our Savior commended to His Church, to be administered. Wherefore this very unction was by our ancestors also called the sacrament of the unction of the sick, and
the sacrament of those departing; by which terms the faithful can easily recall to mind that last time.
III. How the proper character of a sacrament fits extreme
unction.
That the proper character of a sacrament fits extreme unction must be explained first of all. This indeed will become most clear, if we attend to the words by which St. James the Apostle promulgated the law of this sacrament: "Is any man sick among you?" he says, "let him bring in the priests of the Church, and let them pray over him, anointing him with oil in the name of the Lord; and the prayer of faith shall save the sick man, and the Lord shall raise him up; and if he be in sins, they shall be forgiven him." For in that the Apostle affirms that sins are pardoned, he declares the force and nature of a sacrament. That this has been the perpetual doctrine of the Catholic Church concerning extreme unction is testified by several councils, and by the Synod of Trent it has been so declared that it has constituted the penalty of anathema against all those who should dare to teach or think otherwise. And Innocent I also most greatly commends this sacrament to the faithful.
IV. Since here several unctions are made, whether also several sacraments should be said to be
there.
It must therefore be constantly taught by pastors that it is a true sacrament, and not several but one, though it be administered by several unctions; for each of which its proper prayers and a peculiar form must be employed. But it is one, not by the continuation of parts, which cannot be divided, but by perfection; such as are all other things which consist of several things. For just as a house, which is composed of many and diverse parts, is perfected by one form only: so this sacrament, although it is constituted of many things and words, is nevertheless one sign, and has the efficacy of that one thing which it signifies. Pastors shall moreover teach what are the parts of this sacrament: the element, I say, and the word; for these were not omitted by St. James; in each of which one may observe its own mysteries.
V. What is the matter of extreme unction.
Its element, therefore, or matter, as the councils, and chiefly the Tridentine, decreed, is oil consecrated by the bishop; that is, a liquid not from any fat and thick matter, but pressed only from the berries of olives. Most aptly does this matter signify that which is effected inwardly in the soul by the force of the sacrament; for as oil greatly avails to mitigate
the pains of the body, so the virtue of the sacrament diminishes the sadness and sorrow of the soul. Oil moreover restores health, brings cheerfulness, and provides, as it were, fuel for light; and is most suited to restoring the strength of a wearied body. All which things declare what is wrought in the sick by divine power through the administration of this sacrament. Let these things suffice concerning the matter.
VI. By what form this sacrament is perfected. The form of the sacrament is the word and that solemn prayer which the priest employs at each unction, when he says: "Through this holy unction may God pardon thee whatever thou hast transgressed by fault of sight, or of smell, or of touch." That this is the true and proper form of this sacrament, St. James the Apostle (5, 14. 15.) signifies, when he says: "and let them pray over him, and the prayer of faith shall save the sick man." From which it is permitted to know that the form is to be uttered in the manner of a prayer; although by what words in particular it is to be conceived, the Apostle did not express. But this has come down to us by the faithful tradition of the Fathers, so that all churches retain that manner of form which the mother and teacher of all, the holy Roman Church, uses; for although some change certain words, since for "May God pardon thee," they put, "May He remit," or "May He spare," sometimes also: "May He heal, whatever thou hast committed": yet because no change of meaning is made, it is established that the same form is religiously preserved by all.
VII. Why the form of this sacrament is contained in the manner of a prayer.
Nor should anyone wonder why it has come about that the form of the other sacraments either absolutely signifies what it effects, as when we say: "I baptize thee," or: "I sign thee with the sign of the cross"; or is pronounced as by those commanding, as when in administering the sacrament of order it is said: "Receive the power"; but this one form alone of extreme unction is accomplished by a certain prayer. For this is established by the best right; for since this sacrament is employed for this reason, that besides the spiritual grace which it bestows, it also restore health to the sick: yet, because it does not always follow that the sick recover from their diseases, for this cause the form is fashioned by prayer, that we may obtain from God's kindness what the force of the sacrament is not wont to effect by a constant and perpetual order. Proper rites are employed also in the administration of this sacrament, but the greatest part of them contains prayers, which the priest uses to obtain the health of the sick; for there is no other sacrament which is performed with more prayers, and rightly indeed, since at that especially the faithful are to be aided by pious supplications. Wherefore all others also, who shall then chance to be present, and especially the parish priests, ought to pray to God from the heart, and commend the life and salvation of the sufferer with all zeal to His mercy.
VIII. Who is the author of this sacrament. But since it has been demonstrated that extreme unction is truly and properly to be counted in the number of the sacraments: this too follows, that its institution proceeded from Christ the Lord; which was afterwards set forth and promulgated to the faithful by St. James the Apostle. Although the same Savior seems to have given a certain specimen of this unction, when He sent His disciples two by two before His face; for concerning them it is thus written in the Evangelist (Mark 6, 12.): "Going forth they preached that men should do penance; and they cast out many devils, and anointed with oil many that were sick; and healed them." Which unction indeed is to be believed not to have been invented by the Apostles, but commanded by the Lord; not endowed with some natural virtue, but mystical, instituted rather for healing souls than for curing bodies. Which matter Saints Dionysius, Ambrose, Chrysostom, and Gregory the Great assert, so that it is in no way to be doubted that this one of the seven sacraments of the Catholic Church must be received with the greatest religion.
IX. To whom extreme unction is to be administered. But the faithful are to be taught that, though this sacrament pertains to all, certain kinds of men are excepted, to whom it is not to be administered. And first are excepted those who are of sound and firm body; for extreme unction is not to be bestowed on them, and the Apostle teaches this when he says: "Is any man sick among you?" and reason shows it; since it was instituted for this purpose, not only that it bring medicine to the soul, but also to the body. Since therefore only those who labor under disease need treatment: therefore also to those who are seen to be so dangerously ill that it is to be feared that the last day of their life is imminent, this sacrament ought to be given. In which matter, however, they sin most grievously who are wont to observe that time for anointing the sick, when now, all hope of salvation being lost, he begins to be deprived of life and senses; for it is clear that for perceiving a more abundant grace of the sacrament, it avails very much if the sick man, while mind and reason yet vigorously flourish in him, and he can bring faith and religious will of soul, is anointed with the sacred oil. Wherefore parish priests must take heed to apply the heavenly medicine at that time especially, which is indeed always most salutary by its own force, when they shall have understood that, by the piety and religion also of those who are to be tended, it will profit them more. To no one therefore who is not affected by a grave illness is it lawful to give the sacrament of unction, even though he come into danger of life, either because he is preparing a perilous voyage, or because he is about to enter a battle from which certain death threatens him; or even if, condemned to death, he be being dragged to punishment. All moreover who lack the use of reason are not suited to receive this sacrament; and children, who commit no sins, whose remnants there is need of the remedy of this sacrament to heal; likewise the mentally unsound and the furious, unless they sometimes had the use of reason, and at that time above all gave signs of a pious soul, and asked to be anointed with the sacred oil. For he who from his very birth never was possessed of mind and reason is not to be anointed; but otherwise if the sick man, when his mind was yet whole, had wished to be made partaker of this sacrament, and afterwards fell into insanity and fury.
X. What parts of the body ought here to be anointed.
But not all parts of the body are to be anointed, but only those which nature has assigned to man as instruments of the senses, as it were; the eyes for sight, the ears for hearing, the nostrils for smell, the mouth for taste or speech, the hands for touch; which, though diffused equally throughout the whole body, nevertheless flourishes most in that part. And this rite of anointing is retained by the universal Church, and also befits the nature of this sacrament best; for it is as a medicament. And since in bodily illnesses, although the whole body is ill-affected, yet only to that part is treatment applied from which, as from a source and origin, the disease flows: therefore not the whole body, but those members in which the power of sensing chiefly eminates, the loins also, as the seat of pleasure and lust, are anointed; and then the feet, which are for us the beginning of entering and of moving to a place.
XI. Extreme unction can be repeated.
In which things it behooves to observe this: that in one and the same illness, when the sick man is placed in the same danger of life, he is to be anointed only once. But if, after having received this unction, the sick man shall have recovered: as often as he shall afterwards fall into that crisis of life, so often may the aid of the same sacrament be applied to him. From which it is clear that it must be placed in the number of those sacraments which are wont to be repeated.
XII. With what religion and preparation this sacrament ought
to be received.
But since with all zeal care must be taken that nothing impede the grace of the sacrament, and nothing is more opposed to it than
the consciousness of some mortal sin: the perpetual custom of the Catholic Church must be preserved, that before extreme unction the sacrament of penance and of the Eucharist be administered. And thereafter let the parish priests strive to persuade the sick man to offer himself to be anointed by the priest with that faith with which of old, those who were to be healed by the Apostles, were wont to offer themselves. But in the first place the salvation of the soul, then the health of the body, with this addition: "if it shall be conducive to eternal glory," must be sought. Nor indeed ought the faithful to doubt that those holy and solemn prayers are heard by God, which the priest, bearing not his own, but the person of the Church and of our Lord Jesus Christ, uses. By which one matter especially they are to be exhorted, to take care that the sacrament of this most salutary oil be administered to them in a holy and religious manner, since both a sharper combat is at hand, and the strength of both soul and body seems to fail.
XIII. By whose ministration this sacrament is to be received. Now who the minister of extreme unction is, we have learned from the same Apostle who promulgated the law of the Lord; for he says: "Let him bring in the priests"; by which name he does not signify those who are more advanced in age, as the Synod of Trent (Sess. 14. de extr. Unct. cap. 3. can. 4.) wisely expounded, nor those who hold the chief place among the people: but the priests who have been duly ordained by the bishops themselves through the imposition of hands. To the priest, therefore, the administration of this sacrament is entrusted. Nor yet is it lawful, by the decree of the holy Church, for any priest whatsoever to administer this sacrament, but for the proper pastor, who has jurisdiction, or for another to whom he has given the power of performing that office. But this is to be most especially observed, that the priest in that administration, just as also in the other sacraments is done, bears the person of Christ our Lord and of the holy Church, His spouse.
XIV. What fruits return to men from the use of this sacrament.
The benefits which we derive from this sacrament must also be more accurately explained, so that if nothing else can allure the faithful to its use, at least by its very benefit they may be led, since it is so arranged that we measure almost all things by our own advantages. Pastors therefore will teach that by this sacrament grace is bestowed which remits sins, and especially indeed the lighter ones, and, as they are commonly called, venial ones; for deadly faults are removed by the sacrament of penance. Nor indeed was this sacrament instituted in the first place for the remission of graver crimes, but baptism only and penance by their own force effect this. An-
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other benefit of the sacred unction is that it frees the soul from the languor and infirmity which it has contracted from sins, and from all the other remnants of sin. But the time most opportune for this healing must be deemed to be when we are afflicted with grave illness, and danger of life impends. For it is implanted in man by nature, that he dreads nothing in human affairs so much as death; and the memory of past crimes greatly increases this fear, especially when a most grievous accusation of our conscience urges us; for as it is written (Wisd. 4, 20.): "They shall come with fear at the thought of their sins, and their iniquities shall stand against them to convict them." Next, that care and thought vehemently torments, that a little after one must stand before the tribunal of God, from whom a most just sentence concerning us is to be pronounced, according as we shall have deserved. But it often happens that the faithful, struck by this terror, feel themselves marvelously agitated. But nothing conduces more to the tranquillity of death, than if we cast off sadness, and with joyful soul await the coming of the Lord, and are prepared to render willingly our deposit, whenever He wishes to demand it back from us. That, therefore, the minds of the faithful may be freed from this solicitude, and the soul may be filled with pious and holy joy, the sacrament of extreme unction effects.
XV. How in the departure of the soul demons lie in wait for us. Moreover, we obtain another thing from it also, which may deservedly seem the greatest of all. For though the enemy of the human race, as long as we live, never ceases to plot our destruction and ruin: yet at no time does he more vehemently strain all his sinews, that he may utterly destroy us, and, if it can be done, snatch from us the hope of divine mercy, than when he shall have observed the supreme day of life approaching. Wherefore by this sacrament arms and strength are furnished to the faithful, whereby they may be able to break the force and impetus of the adversary and stoutly resist him; for the soul is lifted up and raised by the hope of divine goodness, and, confirmed by it, bears all the inconveniences of disease more easily, and more easily eludes the art and cunning of the demon himself lying in wait at the heel.
XVI. How from this sacrament health may also accrue to the body.
There is added, lastly, if indeed it shall be profitable, also bodily health. But if the sick at this time less obtain it, this must indeed be believed to happen not from a defect of the sacrament, but rather for this cause, that a great part of them, whether those who are anointed with the sacred oil, or those by whom it is administered, have a weaker faith.
For the Evangelist testifies that the Lord did not work many miracles among His own "because of their unbelief." Although it may also be rightly said that the Christian religion, from the time it has driven its roots more deeply, as it were, into the souls of men, now has less need of supports of miracles of this kind than, at the beginning of the nascent Church of old, they seemed to be necessary. But yet in this place faith must be greatly aroused, for howsoever, as regards the health of the body, it may have fallen out by the counsel and will of God, the faithful ought to rely on a certain hope that by the virtue of this sacred oil they will obtain spiritual health, and that it will come about, if they chance to depart from life, that they perceive the fruit of that glorious saying, by which it is written: "Blessed are the dead who die in the Lord." These things concerning the sacrament of extreme unction have indeed been said briefly, but if these very heads of things shall be explained by pastors more broadly, and with that diligence which is fitting: it must not be doubted but that the faithful shall perceive the greatest fruit of piety from this doctrine.
CHAPTER VII. Of the Sacrament of Order.
I. Why parish priests ought with great diligence to expound to the people the doctrine of the sacrament of order.
If anyone shall diligently consider the nature and character of the other sacraments, he will easily perceive that all of them so depend on the sacrament of order that without it they partly can in no way be performed and administered, and partly seem to lack solemn ceremony and a certain religious rite and cult. Wherefore it is necessary that pastors, pursuing the instituted doctrine of the sacraments, deem that they must the more diligently treat also of the sacrament of order. But this explanation will most greatly profit, first indeed those very men; next, others who have entered upon the manner of ecclesiastical life; lastly, the faithful people also. Those themselves, because, while they are engaged in the treatment of this argument, they are more moved to arouse that grace which they have obtained by this sacrament; others, who have been called into the lot of the Lord, partly, that they may be affected with the same zeal of piety, partly indeed, that they may perceive the knowledge of those things with which, being instructed, they may more easily prepare for themselves the way to further grades; but to the rest of the faithful, first indeed, that they may understand with what honor worthy
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are the ministers of the Church, then because it often happens that many are present, either who in hope have destined their children yet infants to the ministry of the Church, or who of their own accord and will wish to follow that manner of life; whom it is by no means fitting to be ignorant of those things which chiefly pertain to this matter.
II. No dignity on earth more excellent than the order of priesthood.
First therefore it must be delivered to the faithful how great is the nobility and excellence of this institution, if we regard its highest grade, that is, the priesthood. For since bishops and priests are, as it were, interpreters and a kind of internuncios of God, who in His name teach men the divine law and the precepts of life, and bear the person of God Himself on earth: it is clear that that is their function, than which none greater can be thought; wherefore rightly are they called not only angels, but also gods, because they hold among us the force and power of the immortal God. But although in every age they have obtained the highest dignity, yet the priests of the New Testament far excel all others in honor; for the power of both consecrating and offering the Body and Blood of our Lord, and of remitting sins, which has been conferred on them, surpasses also human reason and intelligence, nay, something equal and like to it cannot be found on earth.
III. Who are to be judged called by God to the priesthood and ecclesiastical ministries.
Next, however, just as our Savior was sent by the Father, and the Apostles and disciples into the whole world by Christ the Lord: so daily priests, endowed with the same power as they, are sent "unto the consummation of the saints, for the work of the ministry, for the edification of the body of Christ." Therefore the burden of so great an office must not be rashly imposed on anyone, but only on those who can sustain it by holiness of life, doctrine, faith, prudence. Nor indeed does anyone take the honor to himself, but "he that is called by God, as Aaron was." But those are said to be called by God who are called by the lawful ministers of the Church; for concerning those who arrogantly thrust and intrude themselves into this ministry, it must be taught that the Lord understood them, when He says: "I did not send prophets, yet they ran;" than which kind of men nothing can be more unhappy and miserable, nothing more calamitous for the Church of God.
IV. Who are to be judged to approach sacred orders wrongly,
and to enter the Church from elsewhere. But since in every action to be undertaken it greatly matters what end each one sets for himself (for, the best end being set, all things rightly follow): concerning this above all those who wish to be initiated into sacred orders must be admonished, that they propose to themselves nothing unworthy of so great an office; which indeed passage must be treated the more diligently, by how much the more grievously at this time the faithful are wont to sin in this matter. For some turn themselves to this manner of living with this design, that they may prepare what is necessary for victuals and clothing; so that apart from gain they seem to regard nothing else in the priesthood, just as commonly other men regard other things in any kind of sordid craft. For though, according to the Apostle's judgment, nature and divine law command that he who serves the altar, live from the altar: yet to approach the altar for the sake of gain and lucre is the greatest sacrilege. Others the desire of honors and ambition leads to the sacerdotal order; but others wish to be initiated that they may abound in riches. Of which matter this is the argument, that unless some opulent ecclesiastical benefice be offered them, they have no thought of sacred order. But these are those whom our Savior calls "hirelings," and whom Ezechiel called "those feeding themselves, and not the sheep;" whose foulness and wickedness has not only cast great darkness upon the sacerdotal order, so that now scarcely anything can be held more contemptible and abject by the faithful people: but also brings it about that they themselves obtain nothing more from the priesthood, than Judas from the office of the apostolate, which brought him everlasting destruction. But those are rightly said to enter into the Church by the door, who, lawfully called by God, undertake ecclesiastical offices for this one cause, that they may serve the honor of God.
V. In what part those who through sacred orders have dedicated themselves to the Church ought to surpass and excel others of the people.
Nor yet is this so to be taken, as if the same law were not equally imposed on all. For men were made for this cause, that they should worship God; which the faithful above all, who have obtained the grace of baptism, ought to render from their whole heart, from their whole soul, and from their whole strength. But those who wish to be initiated with the sacrament of order must propose to themselves this work: that they not only seek the glory of God in all things (which indeed is agreed to be common to all, but most especially to the faithful): but also, being addicted to some certain ministry of the Church, serve Him in holiness and justice. For as in an army all the soldiers indeed obey the laws of the commander, yet among them one is centurion, another is prefect, others perform other offices: so, though all the faithful ought with all zeal to follow piety and innocence, by which things especially God is worshipped, yet those
who have been initiated with the sacrament of order must perform certain particular offices and functions in the Church. For they both offer the sacred things for themselves, and for all the people, and hand down the force of the divine law, and exhort and instruct the faithful to observe it with ready and eager soul, and administer the sacraments of Christ the Lord, by which all grace is imparted and increased, and, to comprise it in one word, segregated from the rest of the people, they exercise themselves in by far the greatest and most excellent ministry of all. Therefore, these things having been explained, parish priests will come to the delivering of those things which are proper to this sacrament, that the faithful may understand, they who wish to be co-opted into the ecclesiastical order, unto what kind of office they are called, and how great a power has been divinely bestowed upon the Church herself and upon her ministers.
VI. How manifold is ecclesiastical power. But this is twofold: of order and of jurisdiction. The power of order is referred to the true Body of Christ the Lord in the most holy Eucharist. But the power of jurisdiction is occupied wholly in the mystical Body of Christ. For it pertains to govern and regulate the Christian people, and to direct them to eternal and heavenly beatitude.
VII. To what the power of order extends. But the power of order contains not only the force and power of consecrating the Eucharist, but prepares and renders fit the souls of men for receiving it, and embraces all other things which can in any manner be referred to the Eucharist. But of this, many testimonies can be brought from the sacred writings, but those are outstanding and most weighty which are read in St. John and Matthew; for the Lord says: "As the Father hath sent me, I also send you. — Receive ye the Holy Ghost; whose sins you shall forgive, they are forgiven them, and whose you shall retain, they are retained;" and: "Amen I say to you, whatsoever you shall bind upon earth, shall be bound also in heaven, and whatsoever you shall loose upon earth, shall be loosed also in heaven." Which places indeed, expounded by pastors from the doctrine and authority of the holy Fathers, will be able to bring the greatest light to the truth.
VIII. The priesthood of Christ is more sublime than the priesthood of the law of nature or even of Moses.
But this power is far greater than that which in the law of nature was bestowed on certain men who were to care for sacred things. For even that age which preceded the written law must necessarily have had its priesthood and its spiritual power,
since it is sufficiently established that it had a law. For these two are so conjoined, as the Apostle testifies, that when one of them is transferred, the other must also necessarily be transferred. Since therefore men recognized by natural instinct that God must be worshipped: it followed that in every commonwealth some were set over the care of sacred things and divine worship, whose power was in some manner called spiritual. With the same power also the people of Israel was not without; which, though it was superior in dignity to that with which priests in the law of nature were endowed, yet must be deemed far inferior to the spiritual power of the evangelical law. For this is heavenly, and surpasses also every virtue of the angels; and takes its origin not from the Mosaic priesthood, but from Christ the Lord, who "was a priest, not according to Aaron, but according to the order of Melchisedech." For He, who was endowed with the supreme power of bestowing grace and remitting sins, left this power, although limited in virtue and bound to the sacraments, to His Church, wherefore for exercising it certain ministers were instituted, and consecrated by solemn religion; which consecration indeed is called the sacrament of order, or sacred ordination.
IX. What order is, and why an ecclesiastical function is called order. Now it pleased the holy Fathers to use this word, which has the widest signification, that they might indicate the dignity and excellence of God's ministers. For order, if we take its proper force and notion, is a disposition of higher and lower things which are so fitted among themselves that one is referred to another. Since therefore in this ministry there are many grades and various functions, but all are distributed and placed by a certain reason, rightly and fittingly the name of order seems to be imposed upon it.
X. Order properly so called is a sacrament. But that sacred ordination must be numbered among the other sacraments of the Church, the holy Synod of Trent, by that reason which has been more often repeated, has approved; for since a sacrament is a sign of a sacred thing, and that which is done externally by this consecration signifies the grace and power which is given to him who is consecrated: it altogether follows clearly that order must be truly and properly called a sacrament; wherefore the bishop, handing to him who is ordained a priest the chalice with wine and water, and the paten with bread, says: — "Receive the power of offering sacrifice, etc." By which words the Church has ever taught that, while the matter is presented, the power of consecrating the Eucharist is conferred by the character is imparted with a character impressed upon the soul, to which grace is joined, for the due and lawful discharge of that office; which the Apostle declares in these words: "I admonish thee that thou stir up the grace of God which is in thee by the imposition of my hands; for God hath not given us the spirit of fear, but of power, and of love, and of sobriety."
XI. Why in the Church there are instituted several orders of ministers.
Now, to use the words of the sacred Synod, since the administration of so great a priesthood is a divine thing, it was fitting that, in order that it might be exercised more worthily and with greater veneration, there should be in the most orderly disposition of the Church several and diverse orders of ministers, who might by office serve the priesthood; and these indeed so distributed that those who had already been marked with the clerical tonsure should ascend through the lesser to the greater.
XII. How many are the orders of ministers of the Church, and in what way they are commonly distributed.
It must therefore be taught that all these orders are contained in the number seven, and that they have always been so handed down by the Catholic Church; whose names are these: porter, lector, exorcist, acolyte, subdeacon, deacon, priest. That this number of ministers is rightly so defined can be proved from those ministries which seem necessary for the most holy sacrifice of the Mass, and for the confecting or administering of the Eucharist, for the sake of which they were chiefly instituted. Of these, some are major, which are also called sacred, others are minor. The major or sacred are: the order of priesthood, the diaconate, and the subdiaconate; to the minor are referred: acolytes, exorcists, lectors, porters; concerning each of which a few things must be said, that pastors may have means whereby they may chiefly instruct those whom they know are to be initiated into some order.
XIII. What the clerical tonsure and the name of cleric signify.
We must begin then with the first tonsure, which indeed must be taught to be a certain preparation for receiving orders. For as men are wont to be prepared for baptism by exorcisms, for matrimony by espousals, so, when with hair shorn they are dedicated to God, as it were an entrance to the sacrament of order is opened to them. For it is declared what manner of person he ought to be who desires to be imbued with sacred things; for the name of cleric, which is then first imposed upon him, is derived from this, that he begins to have the Lord as his lot and inheritance, like those who among the Hebrew people were dedicated to divine worship; to whom the Lord forbade any portion of fields in the land of promise to be distributed, when He said: "I am thy part and inheritance." And although this is common to all the faithful, yet for a special reason it must needs befit those who have consecrated themselves to the ministry of God.
XIV. Why clerics are marked with a round crown upon the head.
The hairs are shorn in the shape and likeness of a crown, which must be perpetually preserved; and as each one is placed in a higher grade of order, so the form of his circle must be drawn broader; which indeed the Church teaches was received from the tradition of the Apostles, since of this manner of shaving the holy Dionysius the Areopagite, Augustine, Jerome, most ancient and weighty Fathers, have made mention. They report that the prince of the Apostles was the first of all to introduce this custom in memory of the crown which, woven of thorns, was placed upon the head of our Saviour, so that what the impious devised for the ignominy and torment of Christ, the Apostles might use for honour and glory, and at the same time might signify that care must be taken by the ministers of the Church that in all things they should bear the image and figure of Christ our Lord. Although some assert that by this mark royal dignity is declared, which seems especially to befit those who are called into the lot of the Lord. For what the Apostle Peter attributes to the faithful people (1 Pet. 2, 9.): "You are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, a holy nation," we easily understand, by a peculiar and more proper reason, to pertain to ecclesiastical ministers; although there are not wanting those who think that either the profession of a more perfect life taken up by clerics is signified by the figure of the circle, which is the most perfect of all, or that the contempt of external things, and the emptiness of the mind from all human cares, is declared, in that the hair, something superfluous in the body, is shorn.
XV. What is the function of porters.
After the first tonsure, the ascent was wont to be first to the order of porter. His office is to guard the keys and the door of the temple, and to bar from the entrance of the temple those who were forbidden to enter. He also assisted at the holy sacrifice of the Mass, taking care that none should approach nearer than was fitting to the sacred altar, and interrupt the priest performing the divine service. Other ministries also were committed to him, as can be perceived from the rites used in his consecration. For the bishop, handing over to him whom he wishes to institute porter the keys received from the altar, says: "So act, as about to render an account to God for those things which are shut up by these keys." That the dignity of this order was great in the ancient Church is understood from what we observe preserved in the Church in these times. For the office of treasurer, who was the same as the keeper of the sacristy, which pertained to the porters, is still now reckoned among the more honourable functions of the Church.
XVI. What is the office of lector in the Church.
The second grade of order is the office of lector. To him it pertains to recite in the Church with clear voice and distinctly the books of the Old and New Testament; especially those which are wont to be read during the nocturnal psalmody. His parts were also to hand on the first rudiments of the Christian religion to the faithful. The bishop therefore, in the presence of the people, at his ordination, handing over to him the book in which are written the things which pertain to this function, says: "Receive, and be a relator of the word of God, about to have, if thou shalt have faithfully and usefully fulfilled thy office, a part with those who have well ministered the word of God from the beginning."
XVII. What by office devolves upon exorcists.
The third is the order of exorcists, to whom the power is given of invoking the name of the Lord upon those who are besieged by unclean spirits; wherefore the bishop, when he institutes them, hands over to them the book in which the exorcisms are contained, using this form of words: "Receive, and commit to memory, and have the power of laying hands upon energumens, whether baptized or catechumens."
XVIII. What are the parts of the acolyte.
The fourth grade is that of acolytes, and the last of all those who are called minor and not sacred. Their office is to attend the greater ministers, subdeacons and deacons, in the ministry of the altar, and to give them aid. Moreover they carry and keep the lights when the sacrifice of the Mass is celebrated, especially when the Gospel is read; whence also they have been called by another name, ceroferarii. When therefore they are ordained, this rite is wont to be observed by the bishop. First indeed, after he has diligently admonished them of their office, he hands over the lights to each of them in this manner: "Receive the candlestick with the candle, and know that thou art dedicated to lighting the lamps of the Church in the name of the Lord." Then also the empty cruets, by which water and wine are served in the sacrifice: "Receive the cruets, for supplying wine and water for the Eucharist of the blood of Christ in the name of the Lord."
XIX. What is the ministry of the subdeacon, and what rites are employed in his consecration.
From the minor orders, likewise not sacred, of which has hitherto been spoken, a lawful entrance and ascent lies open to the greater and sacred. In the first grade of these the subdeacon is placed, whose office is, as the name itself declares, to serve the deacon at the altar; for he must prepare the sacred linens, vessels, bread and wine necessary for the use of the sacrifice. Now he offers water to the bishop and priest when they wash their hands in the sacrifice of the Mass. The Epistle also, which formerly was recited by the deacon in the Mass, the subdeacon reads, and as a witness assists at the sacred rite, and prevents the priest performing the sacred functions from being disturbed by anyone. These things, which pertain to the ministry of the subdeacon, may be known from the solemn ceremonies which are employed in his consecration. For first the bishop admonishes that the law of perpetual continence is imposed upon this order, and declares that no one is to be co-opted into the order of subdeacons who has not willingly purposed to accept this law; then, after the solemn supplication of the litanies, he enumerates and expounds what are the duties and functions of the subdeacon. These things accomplished, each of those who are ordained receives from the bishop the chalice and the sacred paten, but from the archdeacon, that it may be understood that the subdeacon is subservient to the office of the deacon, the cruets full of wine and water, together with a basin and the towel with which the hands are wiped, while the bishop says: "See what manner of ministry is delivered to you; therefore I admonish you so to conduct yourselves that you may be able to please God." Other prayers also are added. Finally, when the bishop has adorned the subdeacon with the sacred vestments, for each of which proper words and ceremonies are used, he hands over to him the book of epistles, and says: "Receive the book of epistles, and have the power of reading them in the holy Church of God both for the living and for the dead."
XX. What is the office of the deacon.
The second grade of sacred orders the deacon obtains, whose ministry extends more widely, and has always been held more holy; for it pertains to him perpetually to follow the bishop, to guard him while preaching, and to be at hand to him and to the priest while performing sacred functions or administering other sacraments, and to read the Gospel in the sacrifice of the Mass. Formerly indeed he often aroused the minds of the faithful to attend to the sacred rites; he also ministered the blood of the Lord, in those churches where the custom was that the faithful should take the Eucharist under both species. To the deacon moreover was committed the dispensation of the ecclesiastical goods, that he might supply to each what was necessary for sustenance. To the deacon it pertains also, as the eye of the bishop, to investigate who in the city live piously and religiously, or who otherwise conduct their life, who come together at stated times for the sacrifice and sermon, who again do not come, so that, when he has informed the bishop about all these things, he may either exhort and admonish each one privately, or openly correct and rebuke him, as he shall have understood that he will profit more. He must also recite the names of the catechumens, and place before the bishop those who are to be initiated with the sacrament of order. It is lawful to him moreover, if the bishop and priest be absent, to explain the Gospel, yet not from a higher place, that it may be understood that this is not his proper office.
XXI. What manner of deacons are to be chosen.
How great diligence must be employed, lest any one unworthy of that office ascend to this grade of order, the Apostle shows, when to Timothy he set forth the morals, virtue, and integrity of "the deacon." This same thing also is sufficiently declared by the rites and solemn ceremonies by which he is consecrated by the bishop. For the bishop uses more and holier prayers for the ordination of a deacon than for that of a subdeacon, and adds other ornaments of the sacred vestments. Moreover he lays his hand upon him. Which indeed we read was often done by the Apostles when they instituted the first deacons. Finally he hands over to him the book of the Gospels with these words: "Receive the power of reading the Gospel in the Church of God both for the living and for the dead, in the name of the Lord."
XXII. What is the dignity and greatness of the priesthood.
The third and highest grade of all sacred orders is the priesthood. Those indeed who are endued with it, the ancient Fathers are wont to call by two names; for sometimes they call them "presbyters," which in Greek signifies "elders," not only on account of the maturity of age which is most necessary to this order, but much more on account of gravity of morals, doctrine, and prudence; for, as it is written: "Venerable old age is not that of long time, nor counted by the number of years; but the understanding of a man is grey hairs, and a spotless life is old age." At other times indeed they call them "sacerdotes," both because they are consecrated to God, and because it pertains to them to administer the sacraments, and to handle sacred and divine things.
XXIII. How manifold is the priesthood both of the new and of the old Law.
But since a twofold priesthood is described in the sacred letters, the one interior, the other exterior: each must be distinguished, that of which is understood in this place may be able to be explained by pastors. As to what, therefore, pertains to the interior priesthood, all the faithful, after they have been washed by the saving water, are called priests; but especially the just, who have the spirit of God, and by the benefit of divine grace have been made living members of Jesus Christ the supreme Priest; for these, by faith which is inflamed by charity, offer spiritual victims to God upon the altar of their mind; in which kind all good and honourable actions, which they refer to the glory of God, must be numbered. Wherefore in the Apocalypse we read thus: "Christ hath washed us from our sins in his own blood, and hath made us a kingdom, and priests to God and his Father." In which sense it was said by the prince of the Apostles: "Be you also as living stones built up, spiritual houses, a holy priesthood, to offer up spiritual sacrifices, acceptable to God by Jesus Christ." And the Apostle exhorts us: "that we present our bodies a living sacrifice, holy, pleasing unto God, our reasonable service." David likewise had said long before: "A sacrifice to God is an afflicted spirit; a contrite and humbled heart, O God, thou wilt not despise." All which things may easily be understood to pertain to the interior priesthood.
XXIV. That besides the internal priesthood there is another, namely the external, is demonstrated.
The external priesthood, however, befits not the whole multitude of the faithful, but certain men, who by the lawful imposition of hands, and by the solemn ceremonies of holy Church instituted and consecrated to God, are ascribed to some proper and sacred ministry. This distinction of priesthood can be observed also in the old law; for that David spoke of the interior was shown a little before; but of the exterior no one can be ignorant how many precepts the Lord gave to Moses and Aaron. Moreover He ascribed the whole Levitical tribe to the ministry of the temple, and provided by law that no one from another tribe should dare to thrust himself into that function; wherefore King Ozias, smitten with leprosy by the Lord because he had usurped the priestly office, paid the most grievous penalties of his arrogance and sacrilege. Since therefore the same distinction of priesthood may be observed in the evangelical law: the faithful must be taught, that now the discussion is of the external priesthood, which is attributed to certain men; for this alone pertains to the sacrament of order.
XXV. What are the proper functions of priests.
The office of the priest therefore is to offer sacrifice to God, and to administer the ecclesiastical sacraments, as is seen from the rites of consecration. For the bishop, when he institutes anyone priest, first indeed lays his hand upon him together with all the priests who are present, then fitting the stole to his shoulders, composes it before his breast in the form of a cross; by which it is declared that the priest is endued with strength from on high, whereby he may be able to bear the cross of Christ the Lord, and the sweet yoke of the divine law, and to hand it on not only by words, but by the example of a most holy and upright life. Afterwards he anoints his hands with sacred oil, then indeed he hands over the chalice with wine and the paten with the host, saying: "Receive the power of offering sacrifice to God, and of celebrating Masses both for the living and for the dead." By which ceremonies and words he is constituted interpreter and mediator of God and men, which is to be esteemed the chief function of the priest. Finally, with his hands again laid upon his head: "Receive," he says, "the Holy Spirit; whose sins thou shalt forgive, they are forgiven them, and whose thou shalt retain, they are retained"; and to him is granted that heavenly power, which the Lord gave to His disciples, of retaining and forgiving sins. These indeed are the proper and chief offices of the sacerdotal order.
XXVI. Although the order of priesthood is one, yet there is not one grade of priests.
Which although it is one, yet has various grades of dignity and power. The first is that of those who are called priests simply, whose functions have hitherto been declared. The second is that of bishops, who are set over particular bishoprics, that they may govern not only the other ministers of the Church, but the faithful people, and provide for their salvation with the greatest vigilance and care. Wherefore in sacred letters they are often called pastors of sheep, whose office and duty Paul described, as we read in the Acts of the Apostles, in that discourse which he had to the Ephesians; likewise by Peter the prince of the Apostles a certain divine rule of the episcopal ministry has been handed down, to which if bishops study to direct their actions, there will be no doubt that they both are and shall be held good pastors. But these same are called bishops and pontiffs, by a name received from the heathen, who were wont to call the chiefs of priests pontiffs. The third grade is that of archbishops, who are set over several bishops, who are also called metropolitans, because they are the prelates of those cities which are held as mothers of that province. Wherefore they have a higher place than bishops and a broader power, although they differ in nothing from bishops in ordination. In the fourth grade are placed patriarchs, that is, first and supreme fathers.
XXVII. Of the ancient sees of the patriarchs.
Formerly in the universal Church, besides the supreme Roman Pontiff, there were numbered only four patriarchs, nor all, however, equal in dignity; for the Constantinopolitan, although this honour was conferred upon him after all the others, yet on account of the majesty of the empire obtained a higher place. Next is the Alexandrian, whose church Mark the Evangelist founded at the command of the prince of the Apostles. The third is the Antiochene, where Peter first placed his seat. The last grade the Jerusalemite has, which church James the brother of the Lord ruled.
XXVIII. The Roman Pontiff is the greatest of all bishops, and that by divine right.
Beyond all these the Catholic Church has always venerated the Supreme Roman Pontiff, whom in the Synod of Ephesus Cyril of Alexandria called archbishop, father and patriarch of the whole world. For since he sits in the chair of Peter, prince of the Apostles, in which it is agreed that Peter sat until the end of his life: it acknowledges in him the supreme grade of dignity and the amplitude of jurisdiction, not indeed given by any synodal or other human constitutions, but given by God. Wherefore, as father and moderator of all the faithful and bishops, and of the other prelates, with whatever office and power they be endued, he presides over the universal Church, as successor of Peter, and true and lawful vicar of Christ the Lord. From these things therefore pastors will teach both what are the chief offices and functions of the ecclesiastical orders and grades, and who is the minister of this sacrament.
XXIX. Who is the lawful minister of the sacrament of order.
For it is agreed, that this administration pertains to the bishop, which also by the authority of the sacred letters, by most certain tradition, by the testimony of all the Fathers, by the decrees of councils, by the use and custom of holy Church, will easily be able to be proved. Although however it has been permitted to some abbots, that they may at times administer the minor and not sacred orders, yet that this is the proper office of the bishop no one doubts; to whom alone out of all, besides, to no one else, is it lawful to initiate into the remaining orders, which are called major and sacred. For subdeacons, deacons and priests only one bishop ordains; bishops, from the tradition of the Apostles, which has perpetually been kept in the Church, are consecrated by three bishops.
XXX. Why in those to be promoted to orders singular probity is required.
It now follows, that it be explained, who are fit for this sacrament, and chiefly for the sacerdotal order, and what things are chiefly required in them; for from this it will not be difficult to determine what must be observed in giving other orders according to the office and dignity of each. That the greatest caution must be employed in this sacrament, is so gathered, because the others confer grace to the sanctification and use of those by whom they are received; but truly they who are initiated in sacred things, for this reason become partakers of heavenly grace, that by their ministry provision be made for the Church and indeed the salvation of all men; from which we understand it has come about, that only on stated days, on which also solemn fasts from the most ancient custom of the Catholic Church are appointed, ordinations take place, so that namely the faithful people may obtain from God by pious and holy prayers ministers of such sacred things, who may seem more fit to exercise the power of so great a ministry rightly and with profit to the Church.
XXXI. How great integrity of life and morals is required in the one to be ordained.
First therefore in him who is to be made a priest, integrity of life and morals must be greatly commended, not only because, if one conscious of any mortal sin should take care to be initiated, or even suffer it, he binds himself with a new and greatest crime, but also because he ought to carry before others the light of virtue and innocence. Concerning which matter, what the Apostle enjoins to Titus and Timothy, must be declared to pastors, and at the same time this must be taught, that those vices of the body, which in the old law by the Lord's prescription excluded a man from the ministry of the altar, are in the evangelical law chiefly to be transferred to the vices of the soul. Wherefore we observe that holy custom kept in the Church, that those who are to be initiated in sacred things, first diligently endeavour to cleanse the conscience with the sacrament of penance.
XXXII. What and how great learning is required in a priest.
Moreover in a priest not only is that knowledge to be required which pertains to the use and handling of the sacraments, but he must also be so instructed in the science of sacred letters that he may be able to hand on to the people the mysteries of the Christian faith and the precepts of the divine law, to incite to virtue and piety, to recall the faithful from vices. For of the priest there are two offices, of which the one is, that he duly confect and administer the sacraments, the other, that he instruct the people committed to his faith in those things and institutions which are necessary for salvation. For Malachias thus testifies: "The lips of the priest shall keep knowledge, and they shall seek the law at his mouth, because he is the angel of the Lord of hosts." Therefore, that in one of these, if he be furnished with moderate knowledge, he may be able to perform what he ought: the other certainly requires not a vulgar, but rather an exquisite doctrine; although equally from all priests the highest knowledge of recondite things is not exacted, but such as can be sufficient to each for the function of the office and ministry undertaken.
XXXIII. Who are not to be admitted to the dignity of priesthood.
But to boys and to the furious or insane, because they lack the use of reason, this sacrament is not to be given; although, if it should be administered to them also, it must be certainly believed that the character of the sacrament is impressed on their soul. But what year of age in each order must be awaited, will easily be known from the decrees of the sacred Council of Trent. Slaves also are excepted; for he ought not to be dedicated to divine worship, who is not of his own right, but in the power of another. Moreover men of blood and homicides, because they are repelled by ecclesiastical law, are likewise irregular. Also illegitimate persons, and all those who are not procreated from lawful nuptials. For it is fitting, that those who are devoted to sacred things, should have nothing in themselves, by which they may seem able deservedly to be despised and scorned by others. Finally also those ought not to be admitted, who are deformed or maimed by any notable defect of the body; for that foulness and debility both has offence, and indeed must necessarily impede the administration of the sacraments.
XXXIV. What are the chief effects of this sacrament.
But now, these things having been set forth, it remains that pastors teach, what are the effects of this sacrament. It is agreed however, that although the sacrament of order, as has been said before, chiefly regards the utility and beauty of the Church, yet it also effects in the soul of him who is initiated in sacred things the grace of sanctification; by which he is rendered fit and apt to rightly discharge his office and administer the sacraments; just as also by the grace of baptism anyone is rendered fit to receive the other sacraments. That another grace also is conferred by this sacrament is plain: namely a special power, which is referred to the most holy sacrament of the Eucharist; in the priest indeed full and perfect, as who alone is able to confect the body and blood of our Lord; but in other ministers of the inferior orders greater or less, according as each by his ministry accedes more or less to the sacraments of the altar. And this also is called a spiritual character, because those who have been imbued with sacred things are distinguished from other faithful by a certain interior mark impressed on the soul, and are dedicated to divine worship; to which the Apostle seems to have regarded, when he says to Timothy: "Neglect not the grace that is in thee, which was given thee by prophecy, with imposition of the hands of the priesthood." And elsewhere: "I admonish thee that thou stir up the grace of God which is in thee by the imposition of my hands." Let these things suffice concerning the sacrament of Order; for we have professed to hand on to pastors only the chief heads of matters, that they may supply to them the arguments for teaching the faithful people and instructing them in Christian piety.
CHAPTER VIII.
Of the Sacrament of Matrimony.
I. Why parish priests ought diligently to watch, that the Christian people may have the nature and sanctity of matrimony known.
Since to pastors the blessed and perfect life of the Christian people ought to be set forth, it would indeed be chiefly to be desired by them, what the Apostle wrote to the Corinthians that he desired in these words: "I would that all men were even as myself," namely, that all should follow the virtue of continence; for nothing more blessed can befall the faithful in this life, than that the mind, distracted by no care of the world, and with every lust of the flesh calmed and extinguished, may rest in the sole zeal of piety and the contemplation of heavenly things. But since, as the same Apostle testifies, "every one hath his proper gift from God; one indeed after this manner, and another after that," and matrimony is adorned with great and divine goods so that among the other sacraments of the Catholic Church it is truly and properly numbered, and the Lord honoured the solemnity of nuptials by His presence: it is sufficiently apparent that its doctrine must be handed down, especially since we may observe both that Saint Paul and the Prince of the Apostles left accurately written in many places those things which pertained not only to the dignity, but also to the duties of matrimony. For inspired by the divine Spirit they best understood, how many and how great advantages could come to Christian society, if the faithful had the sanctity of matrimony known, and kept it inviolate; but on the contrary, that when these were unknown or neglected, most and the greatest calamities and detriments were brought into the Church. First therefore the nature and force of matrimony must be explained; for since vices often bear the likeness of the honest, care must be taken lest the faithful, deceived by the false appearance of matrimony, defile the soul with turpitude and nefarious lusts; for the sake of declaring which matter we must begin from the signification of the name.
II. Wherefore that holy union is expressed by the names of matrimony, coniugium, or nuptiae.
"Matrimony" is so called from this, that the female ought therefore to marry chiefly, that she may become a mother; or because to conceive, bring forth, and educate offspring is the office of a mother. "Coniugium" also is called from joining together, because a lawful woman is bound as it were by one yoke with the man. Moreover "nuptiae," because, as Saint Ambrose says, for the sake of modesty the maidens covered themselves; by which also it seemed to be declared that they ought to be obedient and subject to their husbands.
III. What is matrimony.
It is thus defined by the common opinion of theologians: "Matrimony is the marital conjunction of a man and a woman between lawful persons, retaining an undivided habit of life." That the parts of which definition may be more plainly understood, it must be taught that, although all these things are contained in a perfect matrimony, namely interior consent, external contract expressed in words, the obligation and bond which is effected from that contract, and the conjunction of spouses, by which matrimony is consummated: yet none of these properly has the force and nature of matrimony, except that obligation and nexus, which is signified by the word of conjunction. But "marital" is added, because other kinds of contracts, by which men and women are bound to render each other mutual service for the sake of a price or some other thing, are altogether foreign to the nature of matrimony. Then follows "between lawful persons," because those who are altogether excluded by the laws from the union of nuptials, cannot enter into matrimony, nor, if they do enter, is it ratified. For example, those who are joined in kinship within the fourth degree, and a boy before his fourteenth year, or a girl before her twelfth, which age is fixed by the laws, cannot be apt for entering into the lawful covenants of matrimony. But what is placed in the last place: "retaining an undivided habit of life," declares the nature of the indissoluble bond, by which husband and wife are bound together.
IV. Wherein the chief force of matrimony consists.
From these things therefore it is plain that the nature and essence of matrimony consist in that bond. For because other definitions of the most illustrious men seem to attribute this to consent, as when they say, that marriage is the consent of a male and a female: this is so to be taken, that consent itself is the efficient cause of matrimony; which the Fathers in the Council of Florence taught. For the obligation and nexus cannot arise, except from consent and contract.
V. What manner of consent is required in matrimony, and in what way it must be declared.
But this is most especially necessary, that consent be expressed by words, which signify present time: for matrimony is not a simple donation, but a mutual contract; and so it comes about, that the consent of one only cannot be sufficient for joining matrimony, but it must be mutual between two. But that words are needed to declare mutual consent of mind, is evident; for if matrimony could consist from interior consent alone without some external signification: it would also seem to follow, that, when two, who were in most disjoined and very diverse places, consented to nuptials, before one had declared his will to the other either by letters or by messengers, they would be joined by the law of true and stable matrimony; which however is foreign to reason and to the custom and decrees of holy Church.
VI. Mutual consent, expressed by words of future time, does not make matrimony.
It is rightly said, therefore, that it behoves consent to be expressed by words, which have the signification of present time; for those which indicate future time do not join matrimony, but promise it. Then, it is evident that things which are future, are not yet; but that things which are not, have little or nothing firm or stable is to be esteemed. Wherefore no one has yet the right of marriage over that woman, whom he promises that he will take in matrimony; nor is it immediately fulfilled by him, what he promised he would do, although he ought to keep faith; which if he does not, he is convicted guilty of violated faith. But he who is joined to another by the covenant of matrimony, although he afterwards repent, yet what has been done he cannot change or render void and undone. Since therefore the obligation of marriage is not a naked promise, but such an alienation, by which the man in fact delivers the power of his body to the woman, and in turn the woman to the man: therefore it is necessary that matrimony be contracted by words which designate present time; whose force of words, after they have been also uttered, remains, and holds husband and wife bound by an indissoluble bond.
VII. If through modesty or other impediment consent is not expressed in words, nods and signs take the place of words.
But in the place of words, both nods and signs which openly indicate interior consent, can suffice for matrimony, and even silence itself, when the maiden on account of bashfulness does not reply, but the parents speak for her.
VIII. For true matrimony concubitus is not required.
From these things therefore parish priests will hand down to the faithful that the nature and force of matrimony is placed in the bond and obligation, and that besides consent, expressed in the manner that has been said, in order that true matrimony exist, concubitus is not necessarily required; for it is plainly agreed that even our first parents before sin, at which time no fleshly copulation had come between them, as the Fathers testify, were joined in true matrimony. Wherefore it was said by the holy Fathers, that matrimony is effected not by concubitus, but by consent; which also we read repeated by Saint Ambrose in the book On Virgins.
IX. In how many ways matrimony is to be considered.
Now indeed these things having been explained, this must be taught, that matrimony has a twofold aspect. For it must be considered, either as a natural conjunction (for marriage was not invented by men, but by nature), or as a sacrament, whose force exceeds the condition of natural things. And since grace perfects nature (nor "that which is spiritual first, but that which is animal, then that which is spiritual"): the order of the matter requires, that concerning matrimony, as it consists by nature, and pertains to the office of nature, must be treated first; then indeed, those things which befit it, as it is a sacrament, must be expounded.
X. Who is the author of matrimony, as it signifies the office of nature.
First therefore the faithful must be taught, that matrimony was instituted by God; for it is written in Genesis: "Male and female he created them, and God blessed them, and said: Increase and multiply"; and: "It is not good for man to be alone; let us make him a help like unto himself"; and a little after: "But for Adam there was not found a helper like himself. The Lord God therefore cast a deep sleep upon Adam, and when he was fast asleep, he took one of his ribs, and filled up flesh for it. And the Lord God built the rib which he took from Adam into a woman, and brought her to Adam. And Adam said: This now is bone of my bones, and flesh of my flesh; she shall be called woman, because she was taken out of man. Wherefore a man shall leave father and mother, and shall cleave to his wife; and they shall be two in one flesh." Which things, with the Lord Himself as author in Saint Matthew, show that matrimony was divinely instituted.
XI. Matrimony, considered as the office of nature, and most of all as a sacrament, cannot be dissolved.
Nor indeed did God only institute matrimony, but, as the holy Tridentine Synod declares, He also added to it a perpetual and indissoluble knot; since the Saviour says: "What God hath joined together, let no man put asunder." For although it befits matrimony, inasmuch as it is the office of nature, that it cannot be dissolved: yet this comes to pass most of all, inasmuch as it is a sacrament; from which cause also in all things which by the law of nature are proper to it, it attains the highest perfection. Yet both the zeal of educating offspring, and the other goods of matrimony, are repugnant to its bond being dissoluble.
XII. The law of contracting is not imposed upon all men.
But what was said by the Lord: "Increase and multiply," has this bearing, that it declares the reason for which matrimony was instituted, not that it imposes a necessity upon individual men; for now, the human race having been increased, not only does no law compel anyone to take a wife, but rather virginity is most highly commended, and is urged upon every one in the sacred letters, as being more excellent than the state of matrimony, and containing in itself a greater perfection and sanctity. For the Lord our Saviour thus taught: "He that can take, let him take"; and the Apostle says: "Concerning virgins I have no commandment of the Lord; but I give counsel, as having obtained mercy of the Lord, to be faithful."
XIII. Why man and woman ought to be joined.
But for what causes man and woman ought to be joined, must be explained. The first therefore is this same society sought out by the instinct of nature of diverse sex, procured by the hope of mutual aid, that one aided by the help of the other may more easily bear the incommodities of life, and sustain the weakness of old age. The second is the appetite of procreation, not so much indeed for this reason, that heirs of goods and riches may be left, as that worshippers of true faith and religion may be educated; which indeed was chiefly set forth to those holy patriarchs, when they took wives, as sufficiently appears from the sacred letters. Wherefore the Angel, when admonishing Tobias, in what manner he could repel the force of the evil demon: "I will show thee," he said, "who they are, over whom the demon can prevail. For these, who so take matrimony upon themselves, that they exclude God from themselves and from their mind, and so give themselves up to their own lust, as the horse and mule, which have no understanding, the demon has power over them." Then he added: "Thou shalt receive the virgin with the fear of the Lord, led more by love of children than by lust, that in the seed of Abraham thou mayest obtain a blessing in children." And this also was one cause, why God from the beginning constituted matrimony. Wherefore it comes that theirs is a most grievous crime, who joined in matrimony either prevent conception by medicaments, or drive out the offspring; for this must be esteemed the impious conspiracy of homicides.
XIV. After sin why matrimony was instituted.
The third is, which after the fall of the first parent was added to the other causes, when on account of the loss of justice, in which man was founded, the appetite began to rebel against right reason; so that namely, he who is conscious of his own weakness, and is unwilling to bear the battle of the flesh, may use the remedy of matrimony for avoiding the sins of lust. About which the Apostle so writes (1 Cor. 7, 2.): "For fear of fornication, let every man have his own wife, and let every woman have her own husband." And a little after, when he had taught that sometimes for the sake of prayer abstinence from the matrimonial debt must be maintained, he added: "And return together again, lest Satan tempt you for your incontinency." These therefore are the causes, some one of which each man ought to propose to himself, who piously and religiously, as becomes the sons of the saints, would contract nuptials. But if to those causes others also accede, by which men induced enter into matrimony, and in the choice of a wife prefer her for this reason, as the desire of leaving an heir, riches, beauty, splendour of lineage, likeness of morals: such reasons surely are not to be condemned, since they are not repugnant to the sanctity of matrimony. For in sacred letters the Patriarch Jacob is not reproved, because, allured by her beauty, he preferred Rachel to Lia. These things concerning matrimony, as it is a natural conjunction, must be taught.
XV. Why matrimony has been raised by Christ to the dignity of a sacrament.
But that it is a sacrament, it must be explained that its nature is much more excellent, and wholly referred to a higher end. For as matrimony, as a natural conjunction, was instituted from the beginning for propagating the human race: so afterwards, in order that a people might be procreated and educated for the worship and religion of the true God and of our Saviour, Christ, the dignity of a sacrament was attributed to it. For when Christ the Lord wished to give some certain sign of that most close relationship which subsists between Him and the Church, and of His immense charity towards us: He chiefly declared the dignity of so great a mystery by this holy union of male and female. Which indeed was done most fittingly, it may be understood from this, that of all human necessities none binds men among themselves more than the bond of matrimony, and husband and wife are bound among themselves by the greatest charity and benevolence; and therefore it comes about, that frequently the sacred letters, by the similitude of nuptials, set before our eyes this divine union of Christ and the Church.
XVI. How matrimony is a true sacrament of the evangelical law.
But now that matrimony is a sacrament, the Church, confirmed by apostolic authority, has always held certain and proved; for thus it writes to the Ephesians: "Husbands ought to love their wives, as their own bodies. He that loveth his wife loveth himself; for no man ever hated his own flesh, but nourisheth and cherisheth it, as also Christ the Church; because we are members of his body, of his flesh, and of his bones. For this cause shall a man leave his father and mother, and shall cleave to his wife; and they shall be two in one flesh. This is a great sacrament; but I speak in Christ and in the Church." For as he says: "This is a great sacrament," no one ought to doubt, that it must be referred to matrimony; namely that the conjunction of man and woman, of which God is the author, is the sacrament, that is the sacred sign of that most holy bond, by which Christ the Lord is joined with the Church.
XVII. How matrimony is a sacrament, from S. Paul be convinced by words.
And that this is the true and proper meaning of these words, the ancient holy Fathers, who interpreted that passage, show; and the same the holy Council of Trent explained. It is therefore established that the husband is compared by the Apostle to Christ, the wife to the Church; that the husband is the head of the wife, as Christ is of the Church; and by this reason it comes about that the husband must love his wife, and in turn the wife must love and honor her husband. For Christ loved the Church and delivered Himself up for her; and again, as the same Apostle teaches, the Church is subject to Christ. But that grace also is signified and conferred by this sacrament, in which the very nature of a sacrament most consists, those words of the Council declare: "Grace indeed, which would perfect that natural love, and confirm the indissoluble unity, and sanctify the spouses, Christ Himself, the institutor and perfecter of the venerable sacraments, has merited for us by His Passion." Wherefore it must be taught that by the grace of this sacrament it is brought about that the husband and wife, joined by the bond of mutual charity, rest each in the benevolence of the other, and seek not foreign and unlawful loves and unions, but may in all things have "honorable marriage and the bed undefiled."
*5. 24. *) Hebr. 13, 4.
Catechismus, Conc. Trid.
258XVIII. How greatly the marriage of the Gospel differs from the marriage of the law of nature or
of Moses.
But how greatly the sacrament of matrimony surpasses those marriages which were wont to be contracted before or after the Law, one may know from this, that, although the Gentiles considered marriage to contain something divine, and for that reason judged that indiscriminate unions alien to the law of nature, and likewise fornications, adulteries, and other kinds of lust, were to be punished: nevertheless their marriages had absolutely no force of a sacrament. Among the Jews indeed the laws of marriage were accustomed to be observed altogether more religiously, nor is it to be doubted that their marriages were endowed with greater sanctity. For since they had received the promise that at some time all the nations should be blessed in the seed of Abraham, it rightly seemed a duty of great piety among them to procreate children, to propagate the offspring of the elect people, from which Christ the Lord our Saviour, as concerns His human nature, was to have His origin; but those unions also lacked the true nature of a sacrament.
XIX. Marriage in the law of nature after sin or in the law of Moses did not retain the comeliness of its origin, which it had from God.
To this is added, that whether we regard the law of nature after sin, or the law of Moses, we easily perceive that matrimony had fallen from the comeliness and honor of its first origin. For while the law of nature was in force, we find that there were many among the ancient Fathers who took several wives at the same time. Then afterwards in the law of Moses it was permitted, a bill of divorce being given, if there had been a cause, to make a divorce with the wife; both of which have been abolished by the evangelical law, and matrimony has been restored to its pristine state. For that polygamy was foreign to the nature of matrimony (although some of the ancient Fathers are not to be accused, who, not without God's indulgence, took several wives), Christ the Lord showed by those words: "For this cause shall a man leave father and mother, and shall cleave to his wife; and they two shall be in one flesh." And then He adds: "Therefore now they are not two, but one flesh." By which words He made plain that matrimony was so instituted by God as to be defined by the conjunction of two only, not of more. Which He also elsewhere most openly taught; for He says: "Whosoever shall put away his wife, and shall marry another, committeth adultery against her; and if the wife shall put away her husband, and be married to another, she committeth adultery." For if it were lawful for a husband to take several wives, there would seem to be no reason whatever why he should rather be said to be guilty of adultery when besides the wife whom he had at home, he took another, than when, having dismissed the former, he joined himself with another. And on this account we understand that it comes about that, if any infidel, after the manner and custom of his people, had taken several wives, when he has been converted to the true religion, the Church commands him to leave all the others, and to hold only the first as his just and lawful wife.
XX. The bond of matrimony cannot be broken by divorce. But by the same testimony of Christ the Lord it is easily proved that the bond of matrimony cannot be dissolved by any divorce. For if after a bill of divorce the woman were loosed from the law of the husband, it would be lawful for her without any crime of adultery to marry another man. But the Lord openly declares: "Every one that putteth away his wife, and marrieth another, committeth adultery." Wherefore it is clear that the bond of marriage is broken by nothing but death; which indeed the Apostle also confirms, when he says: "A woman is bound by the law as long as her husband liveth; but if her husband sleep, she is at liberty; let her marry to whom she will, only in the Lord;" and again, "To them that are joined in matrimony, not I, but the Lord commandeth, that the wife depart not from her husband; but if she depart, that she remain unmarried, or be reconciled to her husband." And this choice the Apostle offered to the woman who had left her husband for a just cause, that she should either remain unmarried, or be reconciled to her husband. For neither does the holy Church permit husband and wife, without graver causes, that one should depart from the other.
XXI. Why it is expedient that matrimony should be dissolved by no means.
And lest perhaps to anyone the law of matrimony should seem too harsh, because it can never by any means be dissolved: it must be taught what advantages are joined with it. For first, men understand that in contracting marriages virtue and similarity of morals, rather than riches and beauty, are to be regarded; which indeed no one can doubt is chiefly for the good of common society. Moreover, if matrimony could be dissolved by divorce, there would scarcely ever be lacking to men causes of dissension, which would be daily set before them by the ancient enemy of peace and chastity. But now, when the faithful consider with themselves that, although they lack even the cohabitation and intercourse of marriage, they are nevertheless held bound by the bond of matrimony, and all hope of taking another wife is cut off from them: for this reason it comes about that they have been accustomed to be slower to anger and dissensions. But if sometimes they even make a divorce,
1 Cor. 5. 7.
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and can no longer bear the longing for the spouse, and easily through friends are reconciled, they return to her company.
XXII. Those separated by bill of divorce can be joined again. But in this place the salutary admonition of St. Augustine is not to be passed over by pastors; for he, in order to show the faithful that it should not be done grudgingly, that with wives whom they had dismissed for the cause of adultery, if they should repent of the fault, they should be restored to favor: "Why," he says, "should a faithful husband not receive a wife whom the Church receives? or why should a wife not pardon an adulterous but penitent husband, whom Christ also has pardoned?" For that which Scripture calls "foolish," "who keepeth an adulteress": it means of her who, having sinned, refuses to repent and to desist from the wickedness begun. From these things therefore it is clear that the marriages of the faithful far surpass in perfection and nobility both the marriages of the Gentiles and those of the Jews.
XXIII. What goods are those which from this sacrament return
to the married.
The faithful are moreover to be taught that there are three goods of matrimony: offspring, fidelity, sacrament; by the compensation of which those inconveniences are mitigated, which the Apostle indicates in these words: "Such shall have tribulation of the flesh," and it comes about that the unions of bodies, which outside of matrimony would rightly be condemned, are joined with honorableness. The first good therefore is "offspring," that is, children, who are received from a just and lawful wife; for this the Apostle esteemed so highly, that he said: The woman "shall be saved through childbearing." Nor indeed is this to be understood of procreation alone, but also of education and discipline, by which children are instructed in piety. Thus at once the Apostle adds: "If they continue in faith." For Scripture warns: "Hast thou children? instruct them, and bow down their neck from their childhood." The same Apostle also teaches this, and of such instruction Tobias, Job, and other most holy Fathers give most beautiful examples in the sacred writings. But what are the duties of parents and children will be more fully explained in the fourth precept.
XXIV. What fidelity in matrimony is, and how it is to be kept. There follows "fidelity," which is the second good of matrimony; not that habit of virtue with which we are imbued when we receive baptism; but a certain faithfulness, by which mutually the husband to the wife, and the wife to the husband, so bind themselves, that one delivers to the other the power over his own body, and promises that he will never violate that holy covenant of marriage. This is easily gathered from those words which were uttered by the first parent, when he received Eve as his wife; which afterwards Christ the Lord in the Gospel confirmed: "Wherefore a man shall leave father and mother, and shall cleave to his wife, and they shall be two in one flesh;" also from that passage of the Apostle: "The woman hath not power of her own body, but the husband; and in like manner the husband hath not power of his own body, but the wife." Wherefore with very good right the most grave punishments by the Lord against adulterers, because they break this marital fidelity, were established in the old law. Matrimonial fidelity demands moreover that husband and wife be joined by a certain singular and holy and pure love, neither that they love each other as adulterers, but as Christ loved the Church; for the Apostle prescribed this rule, when he said: "Husbands, love your wives, as Christ also loved the Church," whom certainly with that immense charity, not for His own advantage, but setting before Himself only the utility of the spouse, He embraced.
XXV. What the Sacramentum is, when it is numbered among the goods of matrimony.
The third good is called "sacramentum," namely the bond of matrimony, which can never be dissolved; for, as it is in the Apostle: "The Lord" commanded, "that the wife depart not from the husband; but if she depart, to remain unmarried, or to be reconciled to her husband: and let not the husband put away his wife." For if matrimony, as it is a sacrament, signifies the union of Christ with the Church: it is necessary that, as Christ never separates Himself from the Church, so the wife, as far as pertains to the bond of matrimony, cannot be separated from the husband. But in order that this holy society may more easily be preserved without complaint, the duties of husband and wife, which have been described by St. Paul and by Peter the prince of the Apostles, must be handed down.
XXVI. What are the principal duties of the husband.
Therefore it is the duty of the husband to treat his wife liberally and honorably; in which matter it is fitting to remember that Eve was called by Adam a companion, when he said: "The woman whom thou gavest me to be a companion;" for which reason some Fathers have taught that it was done that she was formed not from the feet, but from the side of the man; as also she was not made from the head, that she might understand that she was not the mistress of the man, but rather subject to the man. It is fitting moreover that the husband be always occupied in the pursuit of some honorable matter, both that he may provide those things which are necessary for sustaining the family,
and lest he grow languid in idle leisure, from which almost all vices have flowed; and then that he rightly order the family, correct the morals of all, and keep each one in his duty.
XXVII. What the duty of the wife requires. Again, the wife's parts are those which the prince of the Apostles enumerates, when he says: "Let wives be subject to their husbands, that if any believe not the word, they may be won without the word by the conversation of the wives, considering your chaste conversation with fear. Whose adorning let it not be the outward plaiting of the hair, or the wearing of gold, or the putting on of apparel; but the hidden man of the heart, in the incorruptibility of a quiet and a meek spirit, which is rich in the sight of God. For after this manner heretofore the holy women also, who trusted in God, adorned themselves, being in subjection to their own husbands: as Sara obeyed Abraham, calling him lord." Let their chief zeal also be to educate their children in the worship of religion, diligently to care for domestic affairs. At home let them willingly keep themselves, unless necessity compels them to go out; and let them never dare to do this without the husband's permission. Then, in which chiefly the marital union consists, let them always remember, that, after God, no one is to be loved more than the husband, and no one to be esteemed more than he; to whom also in all things which are not contrary to Christian piety, they ought to conform themselves and obey with the greatest alacrity of soul.
XXVIII. What is to be thought of the rites of matrimony.
After the explanation of these matters it will follow that pastors also teach the rites which ought to be observed in contracting matrimony; concerning which it is not to be expected that precepts should be handed down in this place, since by the holy Council of Trent, what is to be most observed in this matter, has been copiously and accurately established, nor can that decree be unknown to pastors. It is therefore enough to admonish them that, as regards this part, they should study to know from the doctrine of the sacred council, and diligently expound these things to the faithful.
XXIX. Clandestine marriages are not valid.
But chiefly, lest young men and girls, in which age there is the greatest weakness of judgment, being deceived by the false name of marriage, incautiously enter into covenants of shameful loves: they will very often teach, that those marriages are to be held neither true nor valid, which are not contracted in the presence of the parish priest, or of another priest with the license of the parish priest himself or of the ordinary, and with a certain number of witnesses.
XXX. It is fitting also to hand down the impediments of matrimony. But those things also which impede matrimony will have to be explained; in which subject many grave and most learned men, who have written on vices and virtues, have been so diligently engaged, that it will easily be possible for all to transfer to this place what they have handed down in their writings; especially since pastors have need never to lay those books out of their hands. Therefore both those precepts, and those things which have been decreed by the holy synod concerning the impediment, which arises either from spiritual kinship, or from the justice of public propriety, or from fornication, they will attentively read, and take care to hand down to the faithful.
XXXI. With what disposition of mind they ought to be affected who approach
matrimony.
From which it can be perceived with what disposition of mind the faithful ought to be affected when they contract matrimony; for they must not think that they are undertaking some human thing, but a divine one, in which a singular integrity of mind and piety must be employed, as the examples of the Fathers of the old law sufficiently show; whose marriages, although they were not endowed with the dignity of a sacrament, yet they always considered that these were to be cultivated with the greatest religion and sanctity.
XXXII. The consent of parents is required for the solidity of matrimony.
Among other things, moreover, children of families are chiefly to be exhorted, that to parents and those in whose faith and power they are, they should render that honor, that without their knowledge, much less against their will and opposition, they should not enter into marriages. For in the Old Testament it may be observed that sons were always placed in matrimony by their fathers; in which matter very much deference is to be paid to their will, the Apostle also seems to indicate by these words: "He that giveth his virgin in marriage doth well; and he that giveth her not doth better."
XXXIII. What is to be prescribed concerning the conjugal act. That last part remains, which pertains to the use of matrimony, concerning which pastors are so to treat, that no word escape from their mouth, which may seem unworthy of the ears of the faithful, or may be able to wound pious minds, or excite laughter. For as the words of the Lord are chaste words: so it especially becomes the teacher of the Christian people to use such a kind of speech as displays a certain singular gravity and integrity of mind. Wherefore those two things must especially be taught
Catechismi Romani
to the faithful: first indeed, that matrimony is not to be engaged in for the sake of pleasure or lust, but it is to be used within those bounds which, as we have shown above, have been prescribed by the Lord. For it is fitting to remember that the Apostle exhorts: "They that have wives, let them be as though they had none," and then that it was said by St. Jerome: "A wise man ought to love his spouse by judgment, not by affection; he will govern the impulses of pleasure, nor be carried headlong to intercourse. Nothing is more foul than to love one's wife as an adulteress."
XXXIV. Spouses are sometimes to abstain from the duty of matrimony.
But since all good things are to be obtained from God by holy prayers, the other thing is which it behooves to teach the faithful, that for the sake of praying to and beseeching God they should sometimes abstain from the duty of matrimony; and especially let them know that this is to be observed by them, at least for three days before they receive the sacred Eucharist, but more often, when the solemn fasts of Lent are celebrated, as our Fathers rightly and holily prescribed. For so it will come to pass, that they will feel the very goods of matrimony increased day by day with a greater accumulation of divine grace, and following the pursuits of piety, they may not only pass through this life tranquilly and peacefully, but may also lean upon the true and stable hope, which "confoundeth not," of obtaining the eternal benignity of God.