Aquinas, Summa Theologica

III.60-90: Sacraments

objections: not a sign -- signs are open, not hidden or mysterious; sacraments can be oaths, and oaths are not signs -- but a cause: from sacro, to cause to be holy, to consecrate

• yet it's the outward showing of an inner sanctity; in this way it's a "sacred secret"

"Signs are given to men, to whom it is proper to discover the unknown by means of the known. Consequently a sacrament properly so called is that which is the sign of some sacred thing pertaining to man; so that properly speaking a sacrament, as considered by us now, is defined as being the "sign of a holy thing so far as it makes men holy.""

sacrament is "that which is ordained to signify our sanctification"; consider the cause, form and end of our sanctification

both a reminder of the past and a foretelling of future glory

sensible objects used to signify the spiritual, just as Divine Scriptures present divine wisdom in the sensible object of a book

words used to signify concepts within the sacraments, turning sensible objects into spiritual instruments; words can be changed by intentions of person saying them; slight alterations do not destroy the sense or intentions of the words

Augustine: impossible to keep men together in one religion without sacraments; necessary that men be united in one true religion; therefore, sacraments are necessary for man's salvation

• man must be lead to things spiritual through things corporeal/sensible; God, knowing man's nature, provides sacraments to lead man to the spiritual

sacraments are spiritual remedies to wounds of sin; weren't necessary when man lived without sin

some sacraments before Christ's coming -- men were saved by faith in his coming before he came

are sacraments mere signs of grace of signs that cause grace?

• related causally by form, like fire by its own heat causing heat in other things
• related causally by instrument, through God

sacraments confer more than the grace of the virtues on the gifts, because even those who have the virtues and the gifts can/should take sacraments

character printed on man's rational soul

Baptism: door to sacraments, opens way for man to receive all others

the power of the sacrament comes from he who institutes it; therefore God institutes the sacraments; Christ produces inward sacramental effect both as God (power of authority) and as man (power of excellence)

ministers of the church work as instruments in the sacraments, acting by the power of one who moves them (God); so the ministers can be wicked, so long as they're acting like instruments (however, ministers can be acting wickedly by being irreverent to God)

"even an unbeliever can confer a true sacrament, provided that the other essentials be there"

however, can take away the truth of the sacrament by perverting it, e.g. performing it in mockery