Dist. 13, Art. 1, Q. 2
Book IV: On the Sacraments · Distinction 13
Quaestio II. Utrum soli sacerdotes possint conficere.
Secundo quaeritur, utrum soli sacerdotes possint conficere. Et quod sic, videtur:
1. Quia dicit Hugo1: «Ad istud Sacramentum concurrit ordo, intentio et actio». Et hoc etiam dicit Magister, et habet consuetudo sanctae Ecclesiae.
2. Item, ratione videtur: quia in veteri testamento, ex quo templum est factum, solis sacerdotibus licebat offerre sacrificium2: ergo si figura fuit vera, et debet ei veritas respondere: patet etc.
3. Item, hoc Sacramentum est habendum in magna reverentia: ergo eius dispensatio non omnibus debuit concedi, ergo aliquibus est concessa, ergo alii non habent potestatem; sed illos quibus haec potestas data est, dicimus sacerdotes: ergo etc.
4. Item, Apostolus ad Hebraeos quinto3 dicit, quod pontifex constituitur, ut offerat dona et sacrificia pro peccatis: ergo qui non est sacerdos constitutus non potest.
4. Item, in omni gente, etiam inter idololatras, in quibus ponitur cultus, aliquibus personis specialiter committitur potestas offerendi, qui sacerdotes dicuntur4: ergo si Ecclesia est ordinatissima, ergo videtur, quod Christus aliquibus hoc officium debuit dare. Sed distributio officiorum in Ecclesia debet esse ordinata ad unum: ergo hi solum hoc possunt, qui ad hoc per principes et pontifices Ecclesiae ordinantur; sed hi sunt sacerdotes: ergo etc.
Contra: 1. Etsi solis sacerdotibus ex officio competat baptizare, tamen si laicus baptizat, baptizatum est5: ergo similiter, si conficit, confectum est.
2. Item, magis dignus est ministrare Deo bonus laicus quam impius sacerdos: ergo si ad sacerdotis mali invocationem Dominus convertit panem in corpus, multo fortius ad verbum laici boni6.
3. Item, sicut Dominus solis discipulis dixit7: Accipite, et: Quotiescumque feceritis etc., ita dixit: Docete omnes gentes baptizantes; sed potestas baptizandi est concessa omnibus: ergo a simili et potestas conficiendi.
4. Item, beatus Petrus, primae Canonicae secundo capitulo8: Vos estis gens sancta, regale sacerdotium; loquitur ad omnes bonos: ergo etc.
Conclusio. Soli sacerdotes possunt conficere eucharistiam.
Respondeo: Dicendum, quod soli sacerdotes possunt conficere, et si alii faciunt, nihil omnino faciunt. Et hoc quidem docet nostra fides, quam ab Apostolis percepimus, et ipsi a Domino; unde ordinaverunt Ecclesiam secundum Dei institutionem. Et quia Apostoli et eorum postmodum successores potestatem conficiendi personis specialibus contulerunt, quos et sacerdotes appellaverunt; ideo solum illis tenet fides licitum esse9.
Huic consonat ratio: quia Sacramentum illud, quod in magna reverentia habendum fuit, specialibus personis commissum est et committi debuit; aut ergo ratione sanctitatis, aut ratione auctoritatis. Si sanctitatis, ut dicunt haeretici; tunc ergo nemo est certus, utrum conficiat, et salus nostra pendet ex aliena bonitate. Si auctoritatis; et auctoritas potest tam bonis quam malis concedi, et hanc vocamus ordinem sacerdotii: constat ergo, quod illi soli possunt.
1. Ad illud quod obiicitur de baptismo, dicendum, quod non est simile: quia illud est Sacramentum primum et necessarium10 nec in tanta veneratione habendum.
2. Ad illud quod obiicitur, quod bonus laicus est magis dignus; dicendum, quod non consideratur in potestate conficiendi dignitas, sed tantum auctoritas, quae est in sacerdotibus ratione characteris.
3. Ad illud quod obiicitur, quod solis Apostolis dictum est: Accipite et comedite; similiter: Ite et baptizate; patet responsio: sicut enim ipsi exposuerunt facto, aliter est hoc commissum, aliter illud. Sicut enim in Ecclesia instituerunt, patet, quod indifferenter baptizari11 permiserunt, et specialem potestatem et auctoritatem personis specialibus contulerunt, maxime ad hoc Sacramentum conficiendum; hanc autem dicimus ordinem, et personae potestatem illam habentes vocantur sacerdotes.
4. Ad illud quod obiicitur, quod Sancti dicuntur sacerdotes; dicendum, quod non dicuntur sacerdotes ab oblatione corporis Domini, sed sui, quia unusquisque corpus suum offert hostiam viventem, ad Romanos duodecimo12.
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Question II. Whether only priests can confect [the Eucharist].
Secondly it is asked, whether only priests can confect. And that they can, it seems:
1. Because Hugh says1: "For this Sacrament there concur order, intention, and action." And the Master also says this, and the custom of holy Church holds it.
2. Likewise, it seems by reason: because in the Old Testament, from the time the temple was built, it was permitted to priests alone to offer sacrifice2: therefore if the figure was true, truth must also correspond to it: this is clear, etc.
3. Likewise, this Sacrament is to be held in great reverence: therefore the dispensing of it ought not to have been granted to all, therefore it has been granted to some, therefore others do not have the power; but those to whom this power is given, we call priests: therefore etc.
4. Likewise, the Apostle in Hebrews, chapter five3, says that a high priest is appointed to offer gifts and sacrifices for sins: therefore one who is not appointed a priest cannot.
4. Likewise, in every nation, even among idolaters, among whom worship is established, the power of offering is specially committed to certain persons, who are called priests4: therefore if the Church is most well-ordered, therefore it seems that Christ ought to have given this office to certain persons. But the distribution of offices in the Church ought to be ordered to one [end]: therefore only those can do this who are ordained to it by the princes and pontiffs of the Church; but these are priests: therefore etc.
On the contrary: 1. Although it befits priests alone by office to baptize, nevertheless if a layman baptizes, [the one] is baptized5: therefore likewise, if he confects, [the thing] is confected.
2. Likewise, a good layman is more worthy to minister to God than an impious priest: therefore if at the invocation of an evil priest the Lord converts bread into [His] body, much more strongly [would He do so] at the word of a good layman6.
3. Likewise, just as the Lord said to the disciples alone7: Take, and: As often as you do [this] etc., so He said: Teach all nations, baptizing [them]; but the power of baptizing has been granted to all: therefore by similarity also the power of confecting.
4. Likewise, blessed Peter, in the first Canonical [epistle], chapter two8: You are a holy nation, a royal priesthood; he speaks to all the good: therefore etc.
Conclusion. Only priests can confect the Eucharist.
I respond: It must be said that only priests can confect, and if others do [it], they do nothing at all. And this indeed our faith teaches, which we have received from the Apostles, and they from the Lord; whence they ordered the Church according to God's institution. And because the Apostles and afterward their successors conferred the power of confecting upon special persons, whom they also named priests; therefore faith holds it lawful for those alone9.
To this reason is consonant: because that Sacrament, which had to be held in great reverence, was committed and ought to have been committed to special persons; either therefore by reason of holiness, or by reason of authority. If by holiness, as the heretics say; then therefore no one is certain whether he confects, and our salvation depends on another's goodness. If by authority; and authority can be granted to good and evil alike, and this we call the order of the priesthood: it is established therefore that those alone can [do it].
1. To the objection which is raised concerning baptism, it must be said that it is not similar: because that is the first and necessary Sacrament10 and is not to be held in such great veneration.
2. To the objection which is raised, that a good layman is more worthy; it must be said that in the power of confecting worthiness is not considered, but only authority, which is in priests by reason of [their] character.
3. To the objection which is raised, that it was said to the Apostles alone: Take and eat; likewise: Go and baptize; the response is clear: for just as they themselves expounded by deed, the one was committed in one way, the other in another. For just as they instituted in the Church, it is clear that they permitted [people] to be baptized indifferently11, but conferred special power and authority upon special persons, especially for confecting this Sacrament; and this we call the order, and the persons having that power are called priests.
4. To the objection which is raised, that the Saints are called priests; it must be said that they are not called priests from the offering of the Lord's body, but of their own, because each one offers his own body as a living host, in Romans, chapter twelve12.
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- 1Sum. Sent. tr. 6. c. 4, ubi textus originalis necessaria sunt pro concurrit. — Magister hoc insinuat hic in lit. c. 1.Summa Sententiarum tr. 6, c. 4, where the original text [reads] necessaria sunt ["are necessary"] for concurrit ["there concur"]. — The Master intimates this here in the text, c. 1.
- 2Libr. II. Paralip. 26, 18, seqq., ubi sacerdotes regi Oziae restiterunt atque dixerunt: Non est tui officii, Ozia, ut adoleas incensum Domino, sed sacerdotum etc. Cfr. ibid. 23, 18; 29, 21; 30, 16, et Hebr. 5, 4.Second [Book of] Chronicles 26, 18ff., where the priests resisted king Uzziah and said: It is not your office, Uzziah, to burn incense to the Lord, but [that] of the priests etc. Cf. ibid. 23, 18; 29, 21; 30, 16, and Hebrews 5, 4.
- 3Vers. 1.Verse 1.
- 4Cfr. C. In novo Testamento post (2.), d. 21.Cf. the Canon In the New Testament, after (2.), d. 21.
- 5Ut ostensum est supra d. 5. a. 1. q. 1.As was shown above d. 5, a. 1, q. 1.
- 6Vide Alan. ab Insulis, II. contra Haereticos, c. 8: Dicunt [Waldenses], etiam se posse consecrare, ligare et solvere, quia meritum dat potestatem, non officium... Itaque non solum is qui sacerdotium sortitus est, sed quicumque Christum [cuius virtute consecratio fit] in se ipso habet et eius figuram gerit per conversationem bonam, sicut Moyses, idoneus est, ut benedictionem praestet.See Alan of Lille, Against the Heretics II, c. 8: They [the Waldensians] say that they too can consecrate, bind, and loose, because merit gives the power, not office... And so not only he who has obtained the priesthood, but whoever has Christ in himself [by whose power the consecration is made] and bears His figure through a good manner of life, like Moses, is fit to bestow the blessing.
- 7Matth. 26, 26. — Seq. textus est I. Cor. 11, 23. seq.; cfr. Luc. 22, 19; tertius est Matth. 28, 19.Matthew 26, 26. — The following text is I Corinthians 11, 23ff.; cf. Luke 22, 19; the third is Matthew 28, 19.
- 8Vers. 9: Vos autem genus electum, regale sacerdotium, gens sancta.Verse 9: But you [are] a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, a holy nation.
- 9Cod. H supplet conficere. Quoad praecedentia cfr. Ioan. 20, 21; Matth. 28, 18.19; Act. 20, 28; II. Cor. 13, 10.Codex H supplies conficere ["to confect"]. As to what precedes, cf. John 20, 21; Matthew 28, 18.19; Acts 20, 28; II Corinthians 13, 10.
- 10Vide supra d. 5. a. 1. q. 1. ad 2.See above d. 5, a. 1, q. 1, reply to 2.
- 11Codd. O U baptizare. In fine solut. pro potestatem illam codd. F G illum [ordinem], plures alii usum illum.Codices O U [read] baptizare. At the end of the solution, for potestatem illam ["that power"] codices F G [read] illum [order], several others usum illum ["that use"].
- 12Vers. 1. Cfr. Ambros., V. in Luc. 6, 3. n. 33, IV. de Sacram. c. 1. n. 3; et August., XX. de Civ. Dei, c. 10, nec non Beda, in I. Petr. 2, 9. — Vide scholion ad praecedentem quaest.Verse 1. Cf. Ambrose, On Luke V, 6, 3, n. 33; On the Sacraments IV, c. 1, n. 3; and Augustine, City of God XX, c. 10; as well as Bede, On I Peter 2, 9. — See the scholion to the preceding question. ---