Moral Theology / A Complete Course Based on St. Thomas Aquinas and the Best Modern Authorities

by John A. McHugh; Charles J. Callan

(b) The external efficient cause or instituter of the Sacraments is Christ, the founder of the New Testament religion and the productive and meritorious author of grace as our God and Saviour.

(c) The external final cause or purpose of the Sacraments is to symbolize outwardly by their rite and to work inwardly by their instrumental virtue the application of Christ’s redemption in the soul of properly disposed recipients. It is the nature of Baptism and Penance (Sacraments of the Dead) to produce first grace or forgiveness, of the others to produce second grace or increase of holiness (Sacraments of the Living). Furthermore, three of the Sacraments (Baptism, Confirmation, Orders) have a second effect, since they sign the soul with the indelible character of member or soldier or minister of Christ, and hence these Sacraments cannot be repeated.

2655. Rules on the Invalid Use of the Matter and Form of the Sacraments.—(a) Since the matter and form are essential constituents without which the Sacraments are not had, it is sacrilegious to invalidate a Sacrament by substantial changes in either of these parts. The matter is changed substantially when it is so modified as currently to be considered and called something different from the element appointed by Christ. Thus, wine is unfit for the Eucharist if corrupted into vinegar, or made unsuitable as a drink (e.g., probably as long as it remains frozen), or notably adulterated (e.g., when it is mixed half and half with water). The form is changed substantially when it is so modified that to a listener it no longer conveys the sense intended by Christ. This happens when the changed form does not express the chief ideas of the correct form, as when it does not determine who is the minister of Penance (e.g., “You are absolved”), or who is the subject of Baptism (e.g., “Ego baptizo in nomine, etc.”), or what is the effect of the Eucharist (e.g., “Hoc non est corpus meum,” “Hoc est corpus,” “Hic meum est corpus”), or the action of the minister of Penance (e.g., “Ego abluo te a peccatis”), or the profession in Baptism of faith in the Trinity (e.g., “Ego te baptizo, Amen”).

(b) Since the matter and form are parts of a single composite sign, it is sacrilegious to invalidate a Sacrament by substantial separations, which destroy the continuity or unity of signification. There is a substantial separation within the form when such long intervals occur between the pronunciation of its syllables or words that it is not in common estimation a united sentence or proposition; for example, if the celebrant says, “Hoc est cor-,” then sneezes two or three times, and (instead of repeating the words) concludes “-pus meum,” or says “Hoc est corpus” and after an interruption of several minutes (instead of repeating) finishes with: “meum.” There is substantial separation between the matter and form, if the former is applied by one minister and the latter is spoken by another, although the form declares that the matter is applied by the speaker of the form: for example, if Titus pours the water while Claudius says: “I baptize thee, etc.” Even when the same minister applies both matter and form, there is a substantial separation between these parts when the form is not spoken at the same time or for the same time that the matter is posited, and thereby, from the special character of the Sacrament, leaves the signification of the sacramental matter unsettled. This happens when the form is spoken too long before or too long after the presence or application of the matter, or when the form is limited by a future condition which will not be verified during the continuance of the matter (see 2668).

2656. Simultaneity of Matter and Form.—The simultaneity of matter and form which validity requires must be either moral or physical according to the character of the Sacrament.

(a) There is physical simultaneity when matter and form are present in the same instants of time. This kind of union is demanded in the Eucharist, for it has the character of a transubstantiation of bread and Wine present at the moments the words of consecration are said over them. There would be no Sacrament if the bread were absent even during a part of the consecration.

(b) There is a moral simultaneity like to the physical contemporaneousness when the matter and form are partly present in the same instants of time, and perhaps also (as some hold) when one follows the other with such close succession that not more than a Pater or Ave could be said between them. This kind of union is the maximum in Penance and Matrimony, for absolution must follow after confession, and conjugal acceptance must follow after conjugal offer. It suffices in Baptism, Confirmation, Extreme Unction, and Orders; for these four Sacraments do not consecrate the matter (and hence some little separation is allowed), but they do signify in the present tense the bestowal of grace through the application of the matter (and hence any separation must be of the slightest).

(c) There is a purely moral simultaneity when the form follows the matter after a somewhat considerable interval of time has elapsed, but with a connection between the two based on human usage which carries the matter on in human estimation over to the time the form is employed. This suffices in Penance and Matrimony. Penance has the character of a judicial process, whose unity is not destroyed by some little delay between the discussion and the sentence; and hence it seems that absolution could be given validly an hour after confession. Matrimony has the character of a contract, whose unity is preserved even in spite of a long interval between the date of consent of the first party and the date of consent of the second party.

2657. Lawfulness of Moral Simultaneity in the Sacraments Other than the Eucharist.—(a) In Baptism, Confirmation, Extreme Unction, and Orders, it would seem on account of the danger of nullity to be a serious sin to exclude all physical simultaneity between matter and form (e.g., to pour all the water and then to begin the words: “I baptize thee, etc.,” or vice versa). In practice the Rubrics should be followed.

(b) In Penance and Matrimony it is more or less sinful to make needless, though not invalidating, delays. In ordinary practice the confessor should absolve as soon as the confession has been heard and the penance accepted, and the bride should express her consent immediately after the bridegroom has expressed his.