Dist. 16, Part 2, Art. 1, Q. 2
Book IV: On the Sacraments · Distinction 16
Quaestio II. Utrum adultum, accedentem ad baptismum cum actuali peccato, necesse sit antea Sacramentum poenitentiae accipere.
Secundo quaeritur, utrum adultum, accedentem ad baptismum cum actuali, necesse sit ante Sacramentum poenitentiae accipere quam baptismum. Et quod sic, videtur.
1. Actuum secundo1: Poenitemini, et baptizetur unusquisque vestrum; Glossa: « Dicturus de baptismate praemisit lamenta poenitentiae, ut prius se aqua afflictionis perfunderent et post Sacramento baptismatis lavarent ».
2. Item, Matthaei tertio2: Exibant ad illum etc.; Glossa: « Iam tunc exemplum baptizandis dabatur confitendi peccata et promittendi meliora »: ergo si debent confiteri, similiter et conteri et satisfacere.
3. Item, ratione videtur: quia Dominus et beatus Ioannes inceperunt praedicationem suam a poenitentia3; sed ab eo debuerunt incipere, quod est salutis initium: ergo si ita inceperunt, patet, quod primo debet accipere poenitentiam.
4. Item, primo persona corrupit naturam4; sed actuale est corruptio personae, et originale naturae, et contra actuale est poenitentia: ergo praeit baptismum.
5. Item, parvulus non habet nisi originale, sed adultus actuale cum originali; sed qui habet ampliorem morbum debet habere amplius remedium: cum ergo baptismus necessarius sit parvulo, aliquid ultra baptismum erit necessarium adulto. Sed hoc non est nisi poenitentia: ergo etc.
Contra: 1. Baptismus est ianua Sacramentorum5; sed ianua est primo, et ante ipsam nihil debet praemitti: ergo etc.
2. Item, « poenitentia est secunda tabula post naufragium », ut dicit Hieronymus, et habetur in littera supra distinctione decima quarta6; sed secunda dicitur respectu baptismi: ergo haec non praecedit ipsum.
3. Item, baptismus omnem culpam delet, sicut supra7 monstratum est — unde Augustinus ad Valerium: Lavacro regenerationis omnia peccata hominum mundantur atque sanantur — sed superfluum est facere per plura quod potest fieri per unum: ergo ad emundationem non est necessaria poenitentia.
Conclusio. Poenitentia, prout est virtus et contritio, in adultis praecedere debet baptismum, sed non, prout est Sacramentum et absolutio et satisfactio; confessio autem de congruo praemitti potest.
Respondeo: Dicendum, quod est loqui de poenitentia, ut est virtus et ut est Sacramentum. Si loquamur de poenitentia, ut est virtus, cuius actus est contritio; necesse est, quod praecedat baptismum in adulto, qui habet actuale peccatum; « nemo enim inchoare potest novam vitam, nisi poeniteat eum veteris vitae8 ». — Si autem loquamur de poenitentia, ut est Sacramentum, secundum quod homo confitetur et recipit absolutionem; dico, quod non est necesse praecedere, sed de congruo potest. Fit
enim confessio sacerdoti, ut homo erubescat et peccata sua recognoscat et de eorum remissione Deo ingratus non existat, et quantum ad hoc congruum est; sed non oportet nec debet sequi absolutio nec ligatio, quia omnino solvitur in baptismo. — Igitur poenitentia quantum ad contritionem praecedit necessario; quantum ad confessionem de congruo; quantum ad absolutionem et satisfactionem neutro modo. Et quia Sacramentum completum est in absolutione, quia ibi est remedium; ideo dico, quod poenitentia, secundum quod Sacramentum est Ecclesiae, sequitur, non praecedit.
Ad oppositorum solutionem: Ad 1, 2. Ad illud ergo quod obiicitur primo, quod lamenta poenitentiae debent praecedere; dicendum, quod istud concedendum est; similiter, quod exemplum dabatur confitendi, non quia necessarium, sed quia congruum.
Ad 3. Ad illud quod obiicitur, quod praedicatio incepit a poenitentia; dicendum, quod incepit a poenitentia-virtute, non Sacramento.
Ad 4. Ad illud quod obiicitur, quod prior est corruptio personae; dicendum, quod verum est in primis parentibus, sed post fuit e converso; et quia Sacramenta currunt secundum cursum necessitatis nostrae; ideo patet, quod prius debuit esse baptismus.
Ad 5. Ad illud quod obiicitur, quod amplius remedium debet habere; dicendum, quod verum est, scilicet contritionem; sed non oportet, quod aliud Sacramentum, quia baptismus ad utrumque valet; et ideo non requiritur aliud Sacramentum, sed sufficit actus mentis, per quem se praeparat ad effectum baptismi, alioquin accederet fictus. Et sic patet illud.
---
Question II. Whether one who is an adult, approaching baptism with an actual sin, must first receive the Sacrament of penance.
Secondly it is asked whether one who is an adult, approaching baptism with an actual [sin], must receive the Sacrament of penance before baptism. And that it must be so, it seems.
1. In Acts, chapter two1: Repent, and let each one of you be baptized; the Gloss: « About to speak of baptism, he set before it the laments of penance, that they might first be drenched with the water of affliction and afterward be washed in the Sacrament of baptism ».
2. Likewise, in Matthew, chapter three2: They went out to him etc.; the Gloss: « Even then an example was given to those to be baptized, of confessing their sins and promising better things »: therefore if they must confess, likewise also they must have contrition and make satisfaction.
3. Likewise, it seems by reason: because the Lord and the blessed John began their preaching from penance3; but they ought to have begun from that which is the beginning of salvation: therefore if they so began, it is plain that one must first receive penance.
4. Likewise, the person first corrupted the nature4; but the actual [sin] is a corruption of the person, and the original of the nature, and against the actual is penance: therefore it goes before baptism.
5. Likewise, the little child has only the original [sin], but the adult the actual together with the original; but he who has the greater illness ought to have the greater remedy: since therefore baptism is necessary for the little child, something beyond baptism will be necessary for the adult. But this is nothing other than penance: therefore etc.
On the contrary: 1. Baptism is the gate of the Sacraments5; but the gate is first, and before it nothing ought to be set: therefore etc.
2. Likewise, « penance is the second plank after shipwreck », as Jerome says, and it is held in the text above, in the fourteenth distinction6; but it is called second in respect of baptism: therefore this does not precede it.
3. Likewise, baptism wipes away every fault, as was shown above7 — whence Augustine to Valerius: By the washing of regeneration all the sins of men are cleansed and healed — but it is superfluous to do through many what can be done through one: therefore for cleansing penance is not necessary.
Conclusion. Penance, insofar as it is a virtue and contrition, ought in adults to precede baptism, but not insofar as it is a Sacrament and absolution and satisfaction; confession, however, may fittingly be set before.
I respond: It must be said that one may speak of penance as it is a virtue and as it is a Sacrament. If we speak of penance as it is a virtue, whose act is contrition; it is necessary that it precede baptism in the adult who has actual sin; « for no one can begin a new life unless he repents of his old life8 ». — But if we speak of penance as it is a Sacrament, according to which a man confesses and receives absolution; I say that it is not necessary that it precede, but it may fittingly do so. For
confession is made to a priest, that a man may blush and recognize his sins and not be ungrateful to God for their remission, and as to this it is fitting; but neither ought absolution nor binding to follow, because [the sin] is wholly loosed in baptism. — Therefore penance as to contrition precedes necessarily; as to confession fittingly; as to absolution and satisfaction in neither way. And because the Sacrament is completed in absolution, since there is the remedy; therefore I say that penance, according as it is the Sacrament of the Church, follows, it does not precede.
To the solution of the opposing arguments: To 1 and 2. To that, then, which is objected first, that the laments of penance ought to precede; it must be said that this is to be granted; likewise, that the example was given of confessing, not because it was necessary, but because it was fitting.
To 3. To that which is objected, that preaching began from penance; it must be said that it began from penance-as-virtue, not as Sacrament.
To 4. To that which is objected, that the corruption of the person is prior; it must be said that this is true in the first parents, but afterward it was the reverse; and because the Sacraments run according to the course of our necessity; therefore it is plain that baptism had to be first.
To 5. To that which is objected, that he ought to have the greater remedy; it must be said that this is true, namely contrition; but it is not necessary that [he have] another Sacrament, because baptism avails for both; and therefore another Sacrament is not required, but the act of the mind suffices, by which one prepares oneself for the effect of baptism, otherwise he would approach feignedly. And so that is plain.
---
- 1Vers. 38: Poenitentiam, inquit [Petrus], agite, et etc. — Glossa, quam refert Lyranus, sumta est ex Beda, qui in hunc loc. ait: Dicturus baptisma, praemisit poenitentiae lamenta, ut Ecclesiae more prius se aqua suae afflictionis infunderent et postmodum Sacramento baptismatis lavarent. Non pauci codd. effunderent.Verse 38: « Do penance, » he says [Peter], etc. — The Gloss, which Lyra reports, is taken from Bede, who on this passage says: « About to speak of baptism, he set before it the laments of penance, that, after the manner of the Church, they might first pour over themselves the water of their affliction and afterward be washed in the Sacrament of baptism. » Not a few codices read effunderent.
- 2Vers. 5: Tunc exibat ad eum Ierosolyma et omnis Iudaea etc. — Glossa est ordinaria apud Strabum et Lyranum ex Beda, in Marc. 1, 4. seq.Verse 5: « Then there went out to him Jerusalem and all Judea » etc. — The Gloss is the Ordinary one, in Strabo and Lyra, from Bede, on Mark 1, 4 seq.
- 3Cfr. Matth. 3, 1. seq. et 4, 17.Cf. Matthew 3, 1 seq. and 4, 17.
- 4Ut docet Anselm. verbis supra pag. 37, nota 3. allegatis. — Cod. H persona corrupta corrupit naturam, natura corrupta corrupit personam. Inferius post poenitentia codd. R S T addunt contra originale baptismus.As Anselm teaches in the words cited above on page 37, note 3. — Codex H reads a corrupted person corrupted the nature, a corrupted nature corrupted the person. Below, after penance, codices R S T add against the original [sin], baptism.
- 5Vide supra d. 1. p. II. dub. 1. et d. 3. p. I. a. 1. q. 3. in corp.See above d. 1, p. II, dub. 1, and d. 3, p. I, a. 1, q. 3, in the body.
- 6Cap. 1. Cfr. ibid. Comment. p. I. dub. 1.Chapter 1. Cf. there the Commentary, p. I, dub. 1.
- 7Dist. 4. p. I. a. 1. q. 1. — Verba August. habentur in l. de Nuptiis et concupisc. ad Valerium comitem, c. 33. n. 38, ubi ostendit, baptismo omnem peccatorum remissionem plenamque in resurrectione sanationem acceptam referri debere. Sic, inquam, hoc [Eph. 5, 23-27.] accipiendum est, ut eodem lavacro regenerationis et verbo sanctificationis omnia prorsus mala hominum regeneratorum mundentur atque sanentur, non solum peccata, quae omnia nunc remittuntur in baptismo, sed etiam quae posterius humana ignorantia vel infirmitate contrahuntur etc. Pro ad Valerium cod. aa ad Valerianum, alii codd. et edd. ad Valentinum. — De axiomate superfluum est facere per plura etc. cfr. tom. III. pag. 277, nota 1. — In fine arg. pro emundationem multi codd. et edd. emendationem (plures codd. addunt necessariam).Dist. 4, p. I, a. 1, q. 1. — The words of Augustine are found in the book On Marriage and Concupiscence, to Count Valerius, c. 33, n. 38, where he shows that to baptism is to be referred all remission of sins and full healing received in the resurrection. « Thus, I say, this [Eph. 5, 23–27] is to be understood: that by the same washing of regeneration and the word of sanctification all the evils of regenerated men whatsoever are cleansed and healed, not only the sins, which are all now remitted in baptism, but also those which are afterward contracted by human ignorance or weakness, » etc. For ad Valerium codex aa reads ad Valerianum, other codices and editions ad Valentinum. — On the axiom it is superfluous to do through many etc., cf. tom. III, p. 277, note 1. — At the end of the argument, for emundationem many codices and editions read emendationem (several codices add necessariam).
- 8Ut dicit August. allegatus hic in lit. Magistri, c. 4.As Augustine says, cited here in the text of the Master, c. 4.