Dist. 13
Book IV: On the Sacraments · Distinction 13
Cap. I. Si hoc Sacramentum conficiatur ab haereticis, vel excommunicatis.
Solet etiam quaeri, utrum pravi sacerdotes hoc Sacramentum conficere queant. Ad quod dici potest, quod aliqui, licet sint pravi, consecrant vere, scilicet qui intus sunt nomine et Sacramento, etsi non vita; quia non in merito consecrantis, sed in verbo efficitur Creatoris. Unde Augustinus1: « Intra catholicam Ecclesiam in mysterio corporis et sanguinis Domini nihil a bono maius, nihil a malo minus perficitur sacerdote, quia non in merito consecrantis, sed in verbo perficitur Creatoris et virtute Spiritus sancti. Credendum est enim, quod in verbis Christi Sacramenta conficiantur. Sicut ipse est qui baptizat, ita ipse est qui per Spiritum sanctum suam efficit carnem et sanguinem ». Item Gregorius2: « Putant quidam, communionem corporis minus esse sanctificatam, si illorum fiat officio, quorum vita eorum oculis videtur ignobilis. Heu, in quam magnum laqueum incidunt, ut divina et occulta mysteria plus ab aliis sanctificata posse fieri credant, cum unus idemque Spiritus sanctus in tota Ecclesia invisibiliter ea mysteria et operando sanctificet et sanctificando benedicat! Mysterium ideo dicitur, quod secretam et reconditam habeat dispensationem; sacrificium vero, quasi sacrum factum, quia prece mystica consecratur pro nobis in memoriam dominicae passionis. Sacramentum est in aliqua celebratione, cum res ita fit, ut aliquid significatae rei accipiamus. Sacramenta sunt: baptisma, chrisma, corpus Christi, quae ideo Sacramenta dicuntur, quia sub tegumento visibilium rerum divina virtus secretius salutem eorundem Sacramentorum operatur; unde a secretis virtutibus vel sacris Sacramenta dicuntur. Panis et calicis Sacramentum Graece eucharistia dicitur, latine bona gratia interpretatur; et quid melius corpore et sanguine Christi? Sive ergo per bonos, sive per malos ministros intra Ecclesiam dispensetur, Sacramentum tamen est, quia Spiritus sanctus vivificat; nec bonorum dispensatorum meritis ampliatur nec malorum attenuatur. Hoc de corpore Domini, hoc etiam de baptismate et chrismate dicendum est et tenendum; quia virtus divina secretius operatur in eis, et divina solummodo est haec virtus sive potestas, non humanae efficaciae ».
Illi vero, qui excommunicati sunt, vel de haeresi manifeste notati, non videntur hoc Sacramentum posse conficere, licet sacerdotes sint; quia nemo dicit in ipsa consecratione offero, sed offerimus, quasi ex persona Ecclesiae. Et ideo, cum alia Sacramenta extra Ecclesiam possint celebrari, de hoc non videtur. Quod etiam Augustinus3 tradere videtur dicens: « Recolite nomen et advertite veritatem! Missa enim dicitur, eo quod caelestis missus ad consecrandam vivificum corpus adveniat, iuxta dictum sacerdotis dicentis: « Omnipotens Deus, iube haec perferri per manus sancti Angeli tui in sublime altare tuum » etc. Idcirco, nisi Angelus venerit, Missa nequaquam iure vocari potest. Nunquid enim, si hoc mysterium haereticus ausus fuerit usurpare, Angelum de caelis Deus oblationem eius consecrare; maxime cum eisdem per Prophetam comminatus sit dicens: Maledicam benedictionibus ve-
stris. Quod si benedictionibus eorum se asserit maledicturum Veritas, quid erit de hostia? Ergo dicemus, illam posse benedici ab illo quem scimus a Deo fore maledictum cum sua benedictione? Si enim Deus maledixerit4, et simoniacus benedixerit; quis eorum praevalebit? Nunquid benedictio maledicti ad nihilum poterit redigere verba verissima comminantis Dei »?
Ex his colligitur, quod haereticus a catholica Ecclesia5 praecisus nequeat hoc Sacramentum conficere, quia sancti Angeli, qui huius mysterii celebrationi assistunt, tunc non adsunt, quando haereticus, vel simoniacus hoc mysterium temerarie celebrare praesumit. Non enim dubitari licet, ubi corporis dominici et sanguinis mysteria geruntur, supernorum civium adesse conventus. In huius autem mysterii expletione sicut formam servari, ita ordinem haberi, scilicet ut sit sacerdos, et intentionem adhiberi oportet, ut illud facere intendat. — Sed si non credit de illo mysterio, sicut veritas habet, nunquid potest intendere illud conficere? Et si non intendit, nunquid conficit? — Aliqui dicunt, etiam non recte de illo mysterio sentientem posse intendere, non quidem illud conficere, quod iam esset recte credere, sed id agere, quod geritur ab aliis, dum illud conficitur, et sic adhibetur intentio; etsi intentio dicatur deesse conficiendi illud mysterium, tamen, ex quo intendit ea dicere et agere, quae ab aliis geruntur, impletur mysterium. — Illud etiam sane dici potest, quod a brutis animalibus corpus Christi non sumitur, etsi videatur. Quid ergo sumit mus, quid manducat? Deus novit. — De hoc caelesti mysterio aliqua perstrinximus, a Catholicis fideliter tenenda; qui enim his contradicit, haereticus iudicatur.
Cap. II. Quid faciat haereticum, et quid sit haereticus.
Ne autem ignores, quid haereticum faciat, vel quid sit haereticus; audi breviter, quid inde sancti Doctores tradant. Hilarius6 ait: « Exstiterunt plures, qui caelestium verborum simplicitatem, non veritatis ipsius absolutionem, susceperunt, aliter interpretantes, quam dictorum virtus postularet. De intelligentia enim haeresis, non de Scriptura est; et sensus, non sermo, fit crimen ». Idem libro septimo: « Intelligentiae sensus in crimine est ». Hieronymus7 dicit, quod « ex verbis inordinate prolatis incurritur haeresis ». Augustinus definiens, quid sit haereticus, ait: « Haereticus est qui pro alicuius temporalis commodi, et maxime gloriae principatusque sui gratia falsas ac novas opiniones vel gignit, vel sequitur8 ».
Notula 1. « Maledicam benedictionibus vestris — id est, his quae eis benedictionibus possidetis, vel quidquid a vobis benedicitur — vel quoniam non benedicunt sanctis ex vero corde, vel quia qui inique agunt benedicuntur ab eis, adulanturque peccatoribus, dummodo divites sint ». Item: « Maledicam benedictionibus vestris, id est, quidquid a vobis benedicetur, per me erit maledictum ».
Notula 2. Gregorius super Ezechielem: « Qui in expositione sacri Eloquii, ut auditoribus placeat, aliquid fingit, sua verba loquitur, non Dei; qui autem in verbis dominicis aliter, quam is qui protulit, senserit, etsi sub alio intellectu, tamen aedificationem caritatis tendit »; Domini sunt verba, quae dicit.
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Chap. I. Whether this Sacrament is confected by heretics, or by the excommunicate.
It is also wont to be asked whether wicked priests can confect this Sacrament. To which it can be said that some, although they be wicked, truly consecrate — namely those who are within in name and Sacrament, even if not in life; because it is brought about not by the merit of the one consecrating, but by the word of the Creator. Whence Augustine1: « Within the catholic Church, in the mystery of the body and blood of the Lord, nothing more is brought about by a good priest, nothing less by a bad one, because it is brought about not by the merit of the one consecrating, but by the word of the Creator and the power of the Holy Spirit. For it is to be believed that the Sacraments are confected in the words of Christ. As he himself is the one who baptizes, so he himself is the one who through the Holy Spirit makes his flesh and blood ». Likewise Gregory2: « Some suppose that the communion of the body is less sanctified if it be done by the office of those whose life seems to their eyes ignoble. Alas, into how great a snare they fall, that they believe the divine and hidden mysteries can be made more sanctified by some than by others, when one and the same Holy Spirit invisibly in the whole Church both sanctifies those mysteries by his working and blesses them by his sanctifying! It is therefore called mystery because it has a secret and hidden dispensation; but sacrifice, as it were a sacred thing done, because by mystical prayer it is consecrated for us in memory of the Lord's passion. Sacrament is in some celebration, when the thing is so done that we receive something of the signified reality. The Sacraments are: baptism, chrism, the body of Christ, which are therefore called Sacraments because under the covering of visible things the divine power more secretly works the salvation of those same Sacraments; whence they are called Sacraments from secret powers or sacred things. The Sacrament of the bread and the chalice is in Greek called eucharistia, in Latin interpreted good grace; and what is better than the body and blood of Christ? Whether therefore it be dispensed by good or by evil ministers within the Church, it is nonetheless a Sacrament, because the Holy Spirit gives life; nor is it enlarged by the merits of good dispensers nor diminished by those of bad ones. This is to be said and held concerning the body of the Lord, this also concerning baptism and chrism; because the divine power works in them more secretly, and this power or might is divine alone, not of human efficacy ».
But those who are excommunicate, or manifestly noted for heresy, do not seem able to confect this Sacrament, although they be priests; because no one says in the consecration itself I offer, but we offer, as if in the person of the Church. And therefore, since the other Sacraments can be celebrated outside the Church, concerning this one it does not seem so. Which Augustine3 also seems to hand down, saying: « Recall the name and attend to the truth! For it is called Missa (Mass) because the heavenly messenger comes to consecrate the life-giving body, according to the saying of the priest who says: « Almighty God, bid these things to be carried up by the hands of thy holy Angel to thy sublime altar » etc. Therefore, unless the Angel come, it can in no way rightly be called Missa. For if a heretic shall have dared to usurp this mystery, would God send an Angel from heaven to consecrate his oblation; especially since he threatened those same by the Prophet, saying: I will curse your blessings.
For if the Truth asserts that he will curse their blessings, what will become of the victim? Shall we then say that it can be blessed by him whom we know is to be cursed by God along with his blessing? For if God shall have cursed4, and a simoniac shall have blessed; which of them will prevail? Can the blessing of the cursed reduce to nothing the most true words of the threatening God »?
From these things it is gathered that a heretic cut off from the catholic Church5 cannot confect this Sacrament, because the holy Angels, who assist at the celebration of this mystery, are then not present, when a heretic, or a simoniac, presumes rashly to celebrate this mystery. For it cannot be doubted that, where the mysteries of the Lord's body and blood are performed, an assembly of the citizens above is present. But in the carrying-out of this mystery, just as the form must be observed, so the order must be kept — namely that there be a priest — and the intention must be applied, so that he intend to do it. — But if he does not believe concerning that mystery as the truth holds, can he intend to confect it? And if he does not intend, does he confect it? — Some say that even one who does not think rightly concerning that mystery can intend, not indeed to confect it — for that would already be to believe rightly — but to do that which is performed by others while it is confected, and thus the intention is applied; and even if the intention be said to be lacking of confecting that mystery, nevertheless, since he intends to say and do the things which are performed by others, the mystery is fulfilled. — This too can soundly be said, that the body of Christ is not taken by brute animals, even if it seem so. What then does a mouse take, what does it eat? God knows. — Concerning this heavenly mystery we have touched on a few things, to be faithfully held by Catholics; for whoever contradicts these is judged a heretic.
Chap. II. What makes a heretic, and what a heretic is.
But lest you be ignorant what makes a heretic, or what a heretic is, hear briefly what the holy Doctors hand down concerning it. Hilary6 says: « There have arisen many who took up the simplicity of the heavenly words, not the absoluteness of the truth itself, interpreting otherwise than the force of the sayings required. For heresy is of the understanding, not of Scripture; and the sense, not the word, becomes the crime ». The same, in book seven: « The sense of the understanding is in the crime ». Jerome7 says that « by words uttered without order heresy is incurred ». Augustine, defining what a heretic is, says: « A heretic is one who for the sake of some temporal advantage, and especially for the glory and primacy of himself, either begets or follows false and new opinions8 ».
Note 1. « I will curse your blessings — that is, those things which you possess by those blessings, or whatever is blessed by you — or because they do not bless the holy with a true heart, or because those who act unjustly are blessed by them, and they flatter sinners, provided they be rich ». Likewise: « I will curse your blessings, that is, whatever shall be blessed by you, by me shall be cursed ».
Note 2. Gregory on Ezekiel: « He who in the exposition of the sacred Word, in order to please his hearers, invents something, speaks his own words, not God's; but he who in the words of the Lord has thought otherwise than he who uttered them, even if under another understanding, nevertheless tends toward the edification of charity »; the words which he speaks are the Lord's.
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- 1Can. Intra catholicam (77.), C. 1. q. 1, et apud Algerum, III. de Sacram. c. 8. — Superius post nomine codd. A B C D et edd. 1, 6 omittunt et. Supple: sacerdotes.The canon Intra catholicam (77), C. 1, q. 1, and in Alger, bk. III on the Sacrament, c. 8. — Above, after nomine, codd. A B C D and edd. 1, 6 omit et. Supply: priests.
- 2Can. Multi saecularium (81.), ibid. — Maior pars huius loci invenitur apud Isidor., VI. Etymolog. c. 19. n. 38. seqq., ordine vero immutato.The canon Multi saecularium (81), ibid. — The greater part of this passage is found in Isidore, Etymologies VI, c. 19, n. 38 ff., but with the order changed.
- 3Non est Augustini, qui potius cum communi sententia contrarium docet. Unde Magister sumserit hunc locum, non invenimus. Oratio citata habetur in canone Missae post consecrationem; locus Scripturae Mal. 2, 2.It is not Augustine's, who rather with the common opinion teaches the contrary. Whence the Master took this passage we have not found. The prayer cited is had in the canon of the Mass after the consecration; the Scripture passage is Mal. 2:2.
- 4Cod. B et edd., excepta 1, subiungunt benedictionibus haereticorum, deinde sola Vat. schismaticus pro simoniacus. — Plures edd. hic interserunt notulas in fine distinctionis positas.Cod. B and the editions, except 1, add benedictionibus haereticorum, then the Vatican alone has schismaticus for simoniacus. — Several editions here insert the notes placed at the end of the distinction.
- 5Cod. A unitate, ed. 1 fide catholica. Porro ante praesumit codd. et edd. 1, 2, 3, 7 omittunt celebrare, ed. 6 temerare praesumit. — De seqq. cfr. Beda, super Lucam 24, 4.Cod. A has unitate, ed. 1 fide catholica. Further, before praesumit the codd. and edd. 1, 2, 3, 7 omit celebrare, ed. 6 temerare praesumit. — On what follows cf. Bede, on Luke 24:4.
- 6Libr. II. de Trin. n. 3. — Seq. locus est eiusdem in VII. n. 83, ubi ipsa verba inveniuntur; codd. et edd. citant VIII, (n. 4. et 11.), ubi similis sententia est. Iam cod. Erf. correxit numerum librorum.Bk. II On the Trinity, n. 3. — The following passage is from the same, in bk. VII, n. 83, where the very words are found; the codd. and edd. cite bk. VIII, (n. 4 and 11), where there is a similar sentence. Already the Erfurt codex corrected the number of the books.
- 7In Glossa ad Osee 2, 16, apud Lyranum; in Comment. mi non invenitur. Locus August. est in libro de Utilitate credendi, c. 1. n. 1.In the Gloss on Hosea 2:16, in Lyra; in the Commentary it is not found. The passage of Augustine is in the book On the Usefulness of Believing, c. 1, n. 1.
- 8Cod. C hic ponit duas notulas, quae in plerisque edd. et nonnullis codd. ponuntur ad marginem, attamen non ab omnibus eodem loco. — In 1. notula locus 1. sumtus est ex C. Multi saecularium, supra pag. 300, nota 2. citato § 5, et seq. locus ex Hieron. in Mal. 2, 2. — Notula 2. sumta est ex Gregor., in Ezech. hom. 10. n. 14.Cod. C here places two notes, which in most editions and some codices are placed in the margin, yet not by all in the same place. — In the 1st note the 1st passage is taken from the canon Multi saecularium, cited above, p. 300, note 2, § 5, and the following passage from Jerome on Mal. 2:2. — Note 2 is taken from Gregory, on Ezekiel, homily 10, n. 14.