Thomas Aquinas, Summa Theologiae

Objection 1: It seems that faith is required of necessity in the minister of a sacrament. For, as stated above (Article 8), the intention of the minister is necessary for the validity of a sacrament. But "faith directs in intention" as Augustine says against Julian (In Psalm xxxi, cf. Contra Julian iv). Therefore, if the minister is without the true faith, the sacrament is invalid.

Objection 2: Further, if a minister of the Church has not the true faith, it seems that he is a heretic. But heretics, seemingly, cannot confer sacraments. For Cyprian says in an epistle against heretics (lxxiii): "Everything whatsoever heretics do, is carnal, void and counterfeit, so that nothing that they do should receive our approval." And Pope Leo says in his epistle to Leo Augustus (clvi): "It is a matter of notoriety that the light of all the heavenly sacraments is extinguished in the see of Alexandria, by an act of dire and senseless cruelty. The sacrifice is no longer offered, the chrism is no longer consecrated, all the mysteries of religion have fled at the touch of the parricide hands of ungodly men." Therefore a sacrament requires of necessity that the minister should have the true faith.

Objection 3: Further, those who have not the true faith seem to be separated from the Church by excommunication: for it is written in the second canonical epistle of John 10.: "If any man come to you, and bring not this doctrine, receive him not into the house, nor say to him; God speed you": and (Titus 3:10): "A man that is a heretic, after the first and second admonition avoid." But it seems that an excommunicate cannot confer a sacrament of the Church: since he is separated from the Church, to whose ministry the dispensation of the sacraments belongs. Therefore a sacrament requires of necessity that the minister should have the true faith.

On the contrary, Augustine says against the Donatist Petilian: "Remember that the evil lives of wicked men are not prejudicial to God's sacraments, by rendering them either invalid or less holy."

I answer that, As stated above (Article 5), since the minister works instrumentally in the sacraments, he acts not by his own but by Christ's power. Now just as charity belongs to a man's own power so also does faith. Wherefore, just as the validity of a sacrament does not require that the minister should have charity, and even sinners can confer sacraments, as stated above (Article 5); so neither is it necessary that he should have faith, and even an unbeliever can confer a true sacrament, provided that the other essentials be there.

Reply to Objection 1: It may happen that a man's faith is defective in regard to something else, and not in regard to the reality of the sacrament which he confers: for instance, he may believe that it is unlawful to swear in any case whatever, and yet he may believe that baptism is an efficient cause of salvation. And thus such unbelief does not hinder the intention of conferring the sacrament. But if his faith be defective in regard to the very sacrament that he confers, although he believe that no inward effect is caused by the thing done outwardly, yet he does know that the Catholic Church intends to confer a sacrament by that which is outwardly done. Wherefore, his unbelief notwithstanding, he can intend to do what the Church does, albeit he esteem it to be nothing. And such an intention suffices for a sacrament: because as stated above (Article 8, ad 2) the minister of a sacrament acts in the person of the Church by whose faith any defect in the minister's faith is made good.

Reply to Objection 2: Some heretics in conferring sacraments do not observe the form prescribed by the Church: and these confer neither the sacrament nor the reality of the sacrament. But some do observe the form prescribed by the Church: and these confer indeed the sacrament but not the reality. I say this in the supposition that they are outwardly cut off from the Church; because from the very fact that anyone receives the sacraments from them, he sins; and consequently is hindered from receiving the effect of the sacrament. Wherefore Augustine (Fulgentius, De Fide ad Pet.) says: "Be well assured and have no doubt whatever that those who are baptized outside the Church, unless they come back to the Church, will reap disaster from their Baptism." In this sense Pope Leo says that "the light of the sacraments was extinguished in the Church of Alexandria"; viz. in regard to the reality of the sacrament, not as to the sacrament itself.

Cyprian, however, thought that heretics do not confer even the sacrament: but in this respect we do not follow his opinion. Hence Augustine says (De unico Baptismo xiii): "Though the martyr Cyprian refused to recognize Baptism conferred by heretics or schismatics, yet so great are his merits, culminating in the crown of martyrdom, that the light of his charity dispels the darkness of his fault, and if anything needed pruning, the sickle of his passion cut it off."

Reply to Objection 3: The power of administering the sacraments belongs to the spiritual character which is indelible, as explained above (Question 63, Article 3). Consequently, if a man be suspended by the Church, or excommunicated or degraded, he does not lose the power of conferring sacraments, but the permission to use this power. Wherefore he does indeed confer the sacrament, but he sins in so doing. He also sins that receives a sacrament from such a man: so that he does not receive the reality of the sacrament, unless ignorance excuses him.

Articulus 9

Argumentum 1

Ad nonum sic proceditur. Videtur quod fides ministri sit de necessitate sacramenti.

Sicut enim dictum est, intentio ministri est necessaria ad sacramenti perfectionem. Sed fides intentionem dirigit, ut Augustinus dicit, contra Iulianum.

Ergo, si desit vera fides in ministro, non perficitur sacramentum.

Argumentum 2

Praeterea, si minister ecclesiae veram fidem non habeat, videtur esse haereticus. Sed haeretici, ut videtur, non possunt sacramenta conferre.

Dicit enim Cyprianus, in epistola contra haereticos, omnia quaecumque faciunt haeretici, carnalia sunt et inania et falsa, ita ut nihil eorum quae illi gesserint, a nobis debeat probari.

Et leo Papa dicit, in epistola ad leonem augustum, manifestum est per crudelissimam et insanissimam vesaniam in Alexandrina sede omnium caelestium sacramentorum lumen extinctum. Intercepta est sacrificii oblatio, defecit chrismatis sanctificatio, et paricidalibus manibus impiorum omnia sese subtraxere mysteria.

Ergo vera fides ministri est de necessitate sacramenti.

Argumentum 3

Praeterea, illi qui non habent veram fidem, videntur esse per excommunicationem ab ecclesia separati, dicitur enim in secunda canonica ioannis, si quis venit ad vos et hanc doctrinam non affert, nolite recipere eum in domum, nec ave dixeritis ei; et Tit. III, haereticum hominem, post primam et secundam correctionem, devita.

Sed excommunicatus non videtur conferre posse ecclesiae sacramentum, cum sit ab ecclesia separatus, ad cuius ministerium pertinet sacramentorum dispensatio. Ergo videtur quod vera fides ministri sit de necessitate sacramenti.

Sed Contra

Sed contra est quod Augustinus dicit, contra petilianum donatistam, mementote sacramentis dei nihil obesse mores malorum hominum, quod illa vel non sint, vel minus sancta sint.

Corpus

Respondeo dicendum quod, sicut supra dictum est, quia minister in sacramentis instrumentaliter operatur, non agit in virtute propria, sed in virtute christi. Sicut autem pertinet ad propriam virtutem hominis caritas, ita et fides. Unde, sicut non requiritur ad perfectionem sacramenti quod minister sit in caritate, sed possunt etiam peccatores sacramenta conferre, ut supra dictum est; ita non requiritur fides eius, sed infidelis potest verum sacramentum praebere, dummodo cetera adsint quae sunt de necessitate sacramenti.

Ad 1

Ad primum ergo dicendum quod potest contingere quod aliquis patiatur defectum fidei circa aliquid aliud, et non circa veritatem sacramenti quod exhibet, puta si aliquis credat iuramentum esse in omni casu illicitum, et tamen credat baptismum efficaciam habere ad salutem. Et sic talis infidelitas non impedit intentionem conferendi sacramentum. Si vero patiatur fidei defectum circa ipsum sacramentum quod exhibet, licet credat per id quod agitur exterius nullum sequi interiorem effectum, non tamen ignorat quod ecclesia catholica intendit per huiusmodi quae exterius aguntur, sacramentum praebere. Unde, non obstante infidelitate, potest intendere facere id quod facit ecclesia, licet existimet id nihil esse. Et talis intentio sufficit ad sacramentum, quia, sicut supra dictum est, minister sacramenti agit in persona totius ecclesiae, ex cuius fide suppletur id quod deest fidei ministro.

Ad 2

Ad secundum dicendum quod haereticorum quidam in collatione sacramentorum formam ecclesiae non servant. Et tales neque sacramentum conferunt, neque rem sacramenti. Quidam vero servant ecclesiae formam. Et tales conferunt quidem sacramentum, sed non conferunt rem sacramenti. Et hoc dico, si sunt manifeste ab ecclesia praecisi. Quia ex hoc ipso quod aliquis accipit sacramenta ab eis, peccat, et per hoc impeditur ne effectum sacramenti consequatur.

Unde Augustinus dicit, in libro de fide ad Petrum, firmissime tene, et nullatenus dubites, extra ecclesiam baptizatis, si ad ecclesiam non redierint, baptismo cumulari perniciem.

Et per hunc modum dicit leo Papa in sede Alexandrina sacramentorum lumen esse extinctum, scilicet, quantum ad rem sacramenti, non autem quantum ad ipsum sacramentum.

Cyprianus autem nec sacramentum conferre haereticos credebat, sed in hoc eius sententia non tenetur.

Unde Augustinus dicit, martyrem Cyprianum, qui apud haereticos vel schismaticos datum baptismum nolebat cognoscere, tanta merita, usque ad triumphum martyrii, secuta sunt, ut caritatis qua excellebat luce obumbratio illa fugaretur, et, si quid purgandum erat, passionis falce tolleretur.

Ad 3

Ad tertium dicendum quod potestas ministrandi sacramenta pertinet ad spiritualem characterem, qui indelebilis est, ut ex supra dictis patet.

Et ideo per hoc quod aliquis ab ecclesia suspenditur vel excommunicatur, vel etiam degradatur, non amittit potestatem conferendi sacramentum, sed licentiam utendi hac potestate. Et ideo sacramentum quidem confert, sed tamen peccat conferendo. Et similiter ille qui ab eo accipit sacramentum, et sic non percipit rem sacramenti, nisi forte per ignorantiam excusetur.