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Dist. 4, Part 1, Art. 2, Q. 3

Book IV: On the Sacraments · Distinction 4

Textus Latinus
p. 103

Quaestio III. Utrum fictus recipiat rem post Sacramentum, recedente fictione.

Tertio quaeritur, utrum fictus recipiat rem post Sacramentum, recedente fictione. Et quod sic, videtur:

1. Quoniam Augustinus dicit, et habetur in littera6: «Tunc incipit valere baptismus ad salutem, quando illa fictio veraci confessione de corde recesserit».

2. Item, fictio erat sola causa, quare Sacramentum non habebat efficaciam: ergo illa remota, habet effectum7.

3. Item, si non haberet effectum; cum Sacramentum non possit iterari8, et nullus sine efficacia baptismi possit salvari, non pateret huic via salutis.

Contra: 1. Opera mortua non vivificantur9; sed iste recipit baptismum extra caritatem; et ita est opus mortuum.

2. Item, necesse est, causam esse coniunctam effectui, alioquin, si causa praeterit et non est, ergo nihil facit10; sed ita est in hoc: ergo etc.

3. Item, si aliquis indigne recipit corpus Domini, recedente indignitate, non propter hoc aliquid efficit: ergo etc.

4. Item, quid erit de eo qui medio tempore peccavit? Si enim cum remittat omnem culpam, remittetur fictio et alia peccata; sed hoc non fieret ei, nisi fuisset fictus: ergo reportat commodum de malitia11.

p. 104
Conclusio. Character in baptismo impressus, recedente fictione, praecedentia peccata remittit quoad culpam et poenam.

Respondeo: Dicendum breviter, quod Sacramentum baptismi, cum non sit iterabile, imprimit characterem; et ille habet omnem efficaciam, recedente fictione, quam habuisset ante, unde peccata illa remittit quantum ad poenam et culpam, quae praecesserunt; quae autem post commisit, virtute poenitentiae remittuntur, et pro illis est poenitentia imponenda. — Ex his patent omnia.

1. Ad illud ergo quod primo obiicitur, quod opera mortua etc.; dicendum, quod baptismus non est opus hominis, sed Dei, et ideo nunquam potest esse mortuum. Illud autem, quod dicitur de operibus mortuis, intelligitur de operibus nostris1.

2. Ad illud quod obiicitur, quod causa debet esse coniuncta effectui; dicendum, quod character semper manet et illud efficit, quod faceret gratia, fictione recedente.

3. Ad illud quod obiicitur de Sacramento eucharistiae, patet responsio, quod non valet: tum quia transit et nihil relinquit gratis datum disponens ad gratiam gratum facientem, tum etiam quia est iterabile.

4. Ad illud quod obiicitur de eo qui medio tempore commisit; dicendum, quod omnia remittuntur ei: sed non reportat commodum, quoniam tam de fictione quam de peccatis postea perpetratis est ei poenitentia imponenda. — Et sic patet totum2.

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English Translation
p. 103

Question III. Whether the feigner receives the reality after the Sacrament, when the feigning departs.

Thirdly it is asked whether the feigner receives the reality after the Sacrament, when the feigning departs. And that he does, seems to be the case:

1. Because Augustine says, and it is contained in the text [of the Master]6: «Then baptism begins to avail unto salvation, when that feigning has withdrawn from the heart through a truthful confession».

2. Likewise, the feigning was the sole cause why the Sacrament did not have efficacy: therefore, that being removed, it has its effect7.

3. Likewise, if it did not have its effect; since the Sacrament cannot be repeated8, and no one can be saved without the efficacy of baptism, there would lie open no way [of salvation] for such a one.

On the contrary: 1. Dead works are not brought to life9; but this man receives baptism outside of charity; and so it is a dead work.

2. Likewise, it is necessary that the cause be conjoined to its effect, otherwise, if the cause passes away and is not, then it does nothing10; but so it is in this case: therefore, etc.

3. Likewise, if someone receives the body of the Lord unworthily, when the unworthiness departs, he does not on that account effect anything: therefore, etc.

4. Likewise, what will be the case of him who has sinned in the meantime? For if, when it remits all guilt, the feigning and the other sins are remitted; but this would not happen to him, unless he had been a feigner: therefore he draws a benefit from his malice11.

p. 104
Conclusion. The character impressed in baptism, when the feigning departs, remits preceding sins as to guilt and punishment.

I respond: It must be said briefly that the Sacrament of baptism, since it is not repeatable, impresses a character; and that [character] has every efficacy, when the feigning departs, which it would have had before, whence it remits as to punishment and guilt those sins which preceded; but those which he committed afterward are remitted by the power of penance, and for those penance is to be imposed. — From these things all is plain.

1. To that, then, which is first objected, that dead works etc.; it must be said that baptism is not a work of man, but of God, and therefore can never be dead. But what is said of dead works is understood of our works1.

2. To that which is objected, that the cause ought to be conjoined to its effect; it must be said that the character always remains and effects that which grace would effect, when the feigning departs.

3. To that which is objected concerning the Sacrament of the eucharist, the answer is plain, that it does not hold: both because it passes away and leaves nothing freely given that disposes toward sanctifying grace, and also because it is repeatable.

4. To that which is objected concerning him who has committed [sin] in the meantime; it must be said that all things are remitted to him: but he does not draw a benefit, since penance is to be imposed on him both for the feigning and for the sins afterward perpetrated. — And so the whole is plain2.

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Apparatus Criticus
  1. 6
    Hic c. 2.
    Here, c. 2 [the text of the Master, d. IV, c. 2].
  2. 7
    Cap. Etsi Christus (20.) X. (lib. II. tit. 24.) de Iureiurando: Cessante causa, cessat effectus. Cfr. supra pag. 102, nota 3.
    Chapter Etsi Christus (20), [Decretals of Gregory IX] X (bk. II, tit. 24), on Oath-taking: The cause ceasing, the effect ceases. Cf. above, p. 102, note 3.
  3. 8
    Ut ostenditur infra d. 6. p. I. q. 6.
    As is shown below, d. 6, p. I, q. 6.
  4. 9
    Cfr. infra d. 15. p. I. q. 4.
    Cf. below, d. 15, p. I, q. 4.
  5. 10
    Aristot., II. Rhetor. c. 30. (c. 23.): Alius locus est a causa, ut si causa exstiterit, factum esse dicatur, si non exstiterit, non esse factum; nam simul est causa cum eo cuius est causa, et sine causa nihil est.
    Aristotle, Rhetoric II, c. 30 (c. 23): Another commonplace is from the cause: as, if the cause existed, the deed is said to have been done; if it did not exist, not to have been done; for the cause is simultaneous with that of which it is the cause, and without a cause nothing exists.
  6. 11
    Cap. Intelleximus (7.) X. (lib. II. tit. 1.) de Iudiciis: Ne videatur de sua malitia commodum reportare. — Superius pro remittetur fictio cod. I remittit fictionem.
    Chapter Intelleximus (7), [Decretals] X (bk. II, tit. 1), on Judgments: Lest he seem to draw a benefit from his malice. — Above, for remittetur fictio codex I [reads] remittit fictionem.
  7. 1
    Vide infra d. 15. p. I. q. 4. ad 2.
    See below, d. 15, p. I, q. 4, ad 2.
  8. 2
    Vide scholion ad 1. huius articuli quaest.
    See the scholion to the first question of this article.
Cited by

4 places in the Opera Omnia citethis question. Derived from Quaracchi’s own apparatus, never tagged by hand.

Whether this sacrament has efficacy in some sinner
Book IV: On the Sacraments · Distinction 12 · 2×
supra d. 4. p. I. a. 2. q. 3.
What is the efficacy of this Sacrament
Book IV: On the Sacraments · Distinction 12 · via ibid.
ibid.
Whether satisfactory works done outside charity are vivified when charity comes, and ought to be counted to one's account
Book IV: On the Sacraments · Distinction 15 · 2×
supra d. 4. p. I. a. 2. q. 3.
Whether baptism can and ought to be repeated
Book IV: On the Sacraments · Distinction 6
supra d. 4. p. 1. a. 2. q. 3.

13 further references address the article or printed page this question belongs to, rather than the question itself.

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