Dist. 3, Part 1, Art. 1, Q. 2
Book IV: On the Sacraments · Distinction 3
Quaestio II. Utrum expressio verbi vocalis sit de integritate baptismi.
Secundo quaeritur, utrum expressio verbi vocalis sit de integritate baptismi. Et quod sic, patet:
1. Ex ipsa Domini institutione, Matthaei ultimo1: Baptizantes eos in nomine Patris et Filii et Spiritus sancti: ergo necesse est, ibi Trinitatem nominari. Si dicas, quod debet nominari in corde, et non oportet, quod voce; contra: in baptismo, quod est Sacramentum fidei, necesse est esse professionem fidei: ergo cum sit perfectum Sacramentum, debet habere perfectam professionem; sed haec est in verbo, quia dicitur ad Romanos decimo2: Corde creditur ad iustitiam, ore autem etc.: ergo necesse est, verbum exprimi.
2. Item, Augustinus dicit, et habetur in littera3: «Verbo baptisma consecratur; detrahe verbum, et quid est aqua nisi aqua»? Aut ergo intelligit de verbo creato, aut increato. Si de increato; sed illud non potest detrahi, quia semper adest: ergo cum intelligat de verbo, quod potest accedere et recedere, et hoc est verbum vocale; videtur, quod sit de integritate baptismi.
Contra: 1. Hugo4: «Decuit per Verbum, per quod omnia sunt creata, omnia recreari», ideo verbum consonat Sacramento; sed illud fuit Verbum increatum tantum: ergo non requiritur ad essentiam Sacramenti verbum vocale sive creatum.
2. Item, et si creatum; non videtur, quod vocale: quia Augustinus dicit, et habetur in littera5, quod «virtus aquae est a verbo, non quia dicitur, sed quia creditur»: ergo sufficit verbum mentale.
3. Item, si verbum vocale est necessarium: cum Patris et Filii et Spiritus sancti sint tria nomina vocalia, debet ergo baptizari non in nomine, sed in nominibus.
4. Item, quod non verbum vocale, videtur: quia verba vocalia non sunt eadem apud omnes, ergo nec Sacramentum; et hoc falsum est, quia una fides et unum baptisma, ad Ephesios quarto6.
Conclusio. In baptismo necesse est exprimi verbum vocale.
Respondeo: Dicendum, quod necesse est, exprimi verbum vocale, quia Deus contulit vim verbo; unde sine verbo nullius est efficaciae7. — Ratio autem, quare voluit exprimi, est perfecta fidei professio, ut sit in facto et verbo. Est etiam perfecta signatio; quia enim facta est regeneratio per Verbum incarnatum; et Verbum incarnatum optime signatur per verbum voce indutum8: ideo voluit et instituit, quod esset ibi verbum vocale.
Ad opposita: 1. Ad illud ergo quod obiicitur primo, quod omnia sunt creata per Verbum increatum; dicendum, quod per illud, secundum quod incarnatum est, omnia sunt recreata sufficienter, sed efficienter per fidem et professionem huius; et quia in Sacramento est efficientia, ideo est ibi expressio in verbo vocali9.
2. Ad illud quod obiicitur: non quia dicitur, sed quia creditur; intelligendum est cum praecisione, non quia dicitur tantum, sed etiam, quia creditur.
3. Ad illud quod obiicitur, quod deberet dici in nominibus; dicendum, quod nomen dicitur tripliciter: uno modo vox imposita ad significandum aliquem, ut Petrus. Alio modo nomen dicitur notitia, ut cum dicitur10: Deus, in nomine tuo salvum me fac, quia, si esset vox tantum, iam non esset salus muto. Tertio modo nomen dicitur notitia voce expressa, ut in Psalmo: Notus in Iudaea Deus, in Israel magnum nomen eius; ille enim dicitur magni nominis, cuius nominis fama percrebuit; et sic accipitur in proposito. Et quoniam una est notitia Patris et Filii et Spiritus Sancti, quia una fides; ideo dicitur in nomine, non in nominibus.
4. Ad illud quod obiicitur, quod voces sunt diversae; dicendum, quod etsi diversae sint linguae, tamen conveniunt in intellectu et modo intelligendi, id est significatione et modo significandi; et quia non requiritur nomen secundum quod vox tantum, sed secundum quod vox sit significans et talem intellectum generans et tali modo; et hoc est idem apud omnes: ideo Sacramentum est idem, sicut homo et anthropos11.
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Question II. Whether vocal expression of the word belongs to the integrity of baptism.
Secondly it is asked whether vocal expression of the word belongs to the integrity of baptism. And that it does is plain:
1. From the Lord's own institution, in the last [chapter] of Matthew1: Baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit: therefore it is necessary that the Trinity be named there. If you say that it must be named in the heart, and need not be [named] by the voice; on the contrary: in baptism, which is the Sacrament of faith, there must be a profession of faith: therefore since it is a perfect Sacrament, it must have a perfect profession; but this is in the word, because it is said in Romans the tenth2: With the heart one believes unto justice, but with the mouth etc.: therefore it is necessary that the word be expressed.
2. Likewise, Augustine says, and it is found in the text3: «By the word baptism is consecrated; take away the word, and what is water but water»? Therefore he understands either of the created word, or the uncreated. If of the uncreated; but that cannot be taken away, because it is always present: therefore since he understands of a word that can come and go, and this is the vocal word; it seems that it belongs to the integrity of baptism.
On the contrary: 1. Hugh4: «It was fitting that through the Word, through whom all things were created, all things should be re-created», and so the word accords with the Sacrament; but that was the uncreated Word alone: therefore a vocal or created word is not required for the essence of the Sacrament.
2. Likewise, even if [it be] created; it does not seem [to be required] that [it be] vocal: because Augustine says, and it is found in the text5, that «the power of the water is from the word, not because it is spoken, but because it is believed»: therefore a mental word suffices.
3. Likewise, if a vocal word is necessary: since "of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit" are three vocal names, one ought therefore to be baptized not in the name, but in the names.
4. Likewise, that [there should] not [be] a vocal word seems [the case]: because vocal words are not the same among all peoples, therefore neither [would] the Sacrament [be the same]; and this is false, because there is one faith and one baptism, [as it says] in Ephesians the fourth6.
Conclusion. In baptism it is necessary that a vocal word be expressed.
I respond: It must be said that it is necessary that a vocal word be expressed, because God has conferred power on the word; whence without the word it is of no efficacy7. — But the reason why he willed it to be expressed is the perfect profession of faith, so that it might be in deed and in word. There is also a perfect signation; for since regeneration was wrought through the incarnate Word; and the incarnate Word is best signified through a word clothed with voice8: therefore he willed and instituted that there should be a vocal word there.
To the objections: 1. To that, then, which is objected first, that all things are created through the uncreated Word; it must be said that through it, insofar as it is incarnate, all things are re-created sufficiently, but efficiently through faith and the profession of this; and because in the Sacrament there is efficiency, therefore there is there an expression in the vocal word9.
2. To that which is objected: not because it is spoken, but because it is believed; it is to be understood with precision, not [as if] only because it is spoken, but also because it is believed.
3. To that which is objected, that it would have to be said in the names; it must be said that a name is spoken of in three ways: in one way [it is] a voice imposed to signify someone, as "Peter." In another way a name is called knowledge, as when it is said10: God, in thy name save me, for if it were only a voice, there would now be no salvation for the mute. In a third way a name is called knowledge expressed by the voice, as in the Psalm: God is known in Judah, in Israel his name is great; for he is said to be of a great name whose name's fame has spread abroad; and so it is taken in the matter at hand. And since the knowledge of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit is one, because the faith is one; therefore it is said in the name, not in the names.
4. To that which is objected, that the voices are diverse; it must be said that although the tongues be diverse, yet they agree in the understanding and in the mode of understanding, that is, in the signification and the mode of signifying; and because a name is not required insofar as it is voice only, but insofar as the voice is signifying and generating such an understanding and in such a mode; and this is the same among all peoples: therefore the Sacrament is the same, just as homo and anthropos11.
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- 1Vers. 19.Verse 19. [Matthew 28:19]
- 2Vers. 10.Verse 10. [Romans 10:10]
- 3Hic c. 1. — Inferius post cum intelligat de verbo cod. U addit creato.Here, c. 1. — Below, after cum intelligat de verbo ("since he understands of the word"), codex U adds creato ("created").
- 4Libr. 1. de Sacram. p. VIII. c. 6. et II. p. VI. c. 2, nec non Sum. Sent. tr. 1. c. 1-5.Book 1 of On the Sacraments, part VIII, c. 6, and part II, part VI, c. 2; and also the Summa Sententiarum, treatise 1, cc. 1–5.
- 5Hic c. 1. — Superius post creatum cod. Z supplet verbum requiritur. In fine arg. edd. addunt non ergo vocale.Here, c. 1. — Above, after creatum ("created"), codex Z supplies verbum requiritur ("the word is required"). At the end of the argument the editions add non ergo vocale ("therefore not vocal").
- 6Vers. 5. — Superius respiciuntur verba Aristot., I. Periherm. c. 1: Et quemadmodum nec litterae omnibus eaedem sic nec eaedem voces.Verse 5 [Ephesians 4:5]. — Above, reference is made to the words of Aristotle, On Interpretation I, c. 1: "And just as letters are not the same for all, so neither are the [spoken] sounds the same."
- 7Supple: baptismus.Supply: baptism.
- 8Vide I. Sent. d. 27. p. II. q. 4, et III. Sent. d. 1. a. 2. q. 3.See Sentences I, d. 27, part II, q. 4, and Sentences III, d. 1, a. 2, q. 3.
- 9Cfr. III. Sent. d. 19. a. 1. q. 2. ad 1. et 2.Compare Sentences III, d. 19, a. 1, q. 2, ad 1 and 2.
- 10In Ps. 53, 3. — Seq. textus est Ps. 75, 2. De multiplici nominis acceptione cfr. Hugo a S. Vict., II. de Sacram. p. VI. c. 2, et Alan. ab Insulis, Distinct. dictionum theolog. — Superius pro aliquem edd. cum pluribus codd. aliquid, et post notitia cod. X supplet rei significatae. Mox post quia, si esset vox supplevimus ex codd. F H N O X tantum. Subinde pro muto codd. F H Y in ipso, edd. mundo.On Psalm 53:3. — The following text is Psalm 75:2. On the manifold acceptation of "name" compare Hugh of St. Victor, On the Sacraments II, part VI, c. 2, and Alan of Lille, Distinctions of Theological Terms. — Above, for aliquem ("someone") the editions, with several codices, [read] aliquid ("something"), and after notitia ("knowledge") codex X supplies rei significatae ("of the thing signified"). Next, after quia, si esset vox ("for if it were a voice") we have supplied from codices F H N O X the word tantum ("only"). Then, for muto ("for the mute") codices F H Y [read] in ipso, the editions mundo.
- 11Graece ἄνθρωπος. — Cfr. Aristot., I. Periherm. c. 1, ubi docet, nec litteras nec voces omnibus esse easdem, et subiungit: «Quarum tamen haec primum notae sunt, eaedem omnibus passiones animae sunt; et quarum hae similitudines, res etiam eaedem». — Post Sacramentum supplevimus ex codd. F G H est. — Vide scholion ad praecedentem quaest.Greek ἄνθρωπος ["man"]. — Compare Aristotle, On Interpretation I, c. 1, where he teaches that neither the letters nor the [spoken] sounds are the same for all, and adds: «Yet the affections of the soul, of which these [sounds] are first the signs, are the same for all; and the things of which these [affections] are the likenesses are also the same». — After Sacramentum ("the Sacrament") we have supplied from codices F G H the word est ("is"). — See the scholion on the preceding question.