Dist. 5, Art. 2, Q. 1
Book IV: On the Sacraments · Distinction 5
Articulus II. De intensione sive efficacia potestatis baptizantibus collatae.
Quantum ad secundum articulum quaeritur consequenter de potestate baptizantium per comparationem ad effectum, et circa hoc quaeruntur duo.
Primo quaeritur, utrum mali ministri, licet catholici, dent Sacramentum et rem.
Secundo quaeritur, utrum haeretici et praecisi ab Ecclesia dent rem Sacramenti, ut Catholici.
Quaestio I. Utrum mali ministri dent Sacramentum et rem Sacramenti.
Et quod mali ministri dent rem Sacramenti:
1. Probatur multis auctoritatibus, quae habentur in littera1, maxime illa: «Si quos baptizavit ebriosus, homicida, adulter, si baptismus Christi est, Christus baptizat»; sed Christus baptizat sanctificando: ergo et malus minister similiter.
2. Item, ratione videtur: quia, si baptismus mali hominis non daret gratiam, tunc salus nostra penderet ex aliena vita; quod si nefarium est dicere et iniustum, patet, quod mali ministri conferunt rem Sacramenti2.
3. Item, plus pertinet doctrina ad doctorem, quam baptismus ad baptizantem; sed malus doctor dat doctrinam bonam et sanam, quam Dominus praep. 125cipit accipere Matthaei vigesimo tertio3: ergo multo fortius ille qui baptizat, quamvis malus, potest dare bonum baptismum sive effectum baptismi.
Contra: 1. Malachiae secundo4: Maledicam benedictionibus vestris, dicitur malis sacerdotibus; et Glossa Hieronymi: «Quidquid a vobis benedictum fuerit, a me maledicetur»: ergo qui baptizatur a malo sacerdote maledictus est: non ergo recipit per eius ministerium gratiam.
2. Item, Ecclesiastici trigesimo quarto5: Ab immundo quid mundabitur? Sed sacerdos malus est immundus: ergo ab ipso vel per ipsum non confertur in baptismo gratia, quae mundat animam.
3. Item, ratione videtur: quia, sicut sensus et motus fluunt a capite in membra corporalia et ab uno membro in aliud, ita et in corpore mystico: ergo si membrum aridum non defert sensum, sacerdos, qui est in mortali peccato, baptizando non confert gratiam baptizato6.
4. Item, oratio vitiatur ex vitio orantis, et potius meretur homo iram quam gratiam — unde Gregorius7: «Cum is qui displicet, ad intercedendum mittitur, irati animus ad deteriora provocatur» — ergo baptismus vitiatur ex vitio baptizantis; aut si non vitiatur; cum Deus iudicet de operibus secundum interiora, et sacerdos sit mortuus, et opus eius mortuum, mortuus autem non vivificet: patet, quod malus sacerdos conferre non potest gratiam vivificantem.
Item, quaeritur, utrum peccet is qui accedit ad sacerdotem malum. Et videtur, quod sic: quia in Lege8 praeceptum erat fugere immundum corporaliter: ergo spiritualiter illud debemus observare.
Item, esto quod sacerdos petat pretium pro baptismo, nunquid est ei dandum? Si sic, cum emat Sacramentum, est simonia. Si non, aut9 remanebit non baptizatus, et hoc est periculum; aut baptizatus sine sacerdote praeter necessitatem.
Conclusio. Malus sacerdos confert non tantum Sacramentum, sed etiam rem Sacramenti.
Respondeo: Dicendum, quod malus sacerdos non tantum Sacramentum, sed etiam rem dat, non ipse, sed Deus, cuius Sacramenta sunt bona et impolluta. In baptismo enim non mundat neque interius baptizat minister, sed Deus. — Sed cum Deus lavet interius, praecedente lotione exteriori, et exterior displiceat, quia lavans displicet; quomodo consequens est, ut, lavante malo sacerdote exterius, Deus lavet interius?
Et ad illud est notandum, quod est quoddam opus, quod habet virtutem a caritate interna solum; quoddam, quod habet ab institutione divina. Primum opus est virtutis et vitii et a Deo pensatur secundum qualitatem voluntatis10. Secundum est opus Sacramenti, et hoc pensatur secundum meritum et dignitatem Christi instituentis; tale semper remanet efficax et impollutum nec potest aliquo modo pollui, sicut nec meliorari. Habet enim virtutem a Christo, non a ministro; sicut semen iactum in terram aequaliter fructificat, sive sit bonus qui seminat, sive malus; et sic hic.
Ex his patent obiecta: nam Sacramenta sunt benedictiones Dei, non malorum. — Similiter patet sequens, quia immundus ibi non mundat. — Similiter ad illud quod obiicitur de simili a corporali nutrimento11, patet responsio, quod non est simile, quia Deus immediate dat gratiam baptizato.
Ad illud quod quaeritur, utrum peccet qui accedit ad malum sacerdotem; dicendum, quod non, immo magis peccat ille qui eum recusat, credens, Sacramentum per ipsum dispensatum esse vitiatum quia facit iniuriam Sacramento12. — Nec valet quod obiicit, quia illud intelligitur de tactu per imitationem et consensum in malum; non sic autem tangit qui baptismum recipit.
Ad illud quod obiicitur de simoniaco, dicunt quidam, quod prius13 debet quis se baptizari facere a laico. Sed esto quod non esset alius; dicunt, quod non potest dare pretium, ut sacrum emat, sed ut emat aquam. Sed esto, quod aqua sit consecrata: tunc dicunt, quod ante debet dimittere, parvulum mori sine baptismo, quia non sunt facienda mala, ut eveniant bona14. — Melius tamen est dicere, quod dari potest pretium non ad emendum Sacramentum vel aquam, sed ad redimendam vexationem iuris sui15. Et hoc magis videtur consonare pietati et rationi et etiam iuri.
I. Res Sacramenti intelligitur hic gratia cum remissione peccatorum. De duabus huius articuli quaestionibus a pluribus simul tractatur. Principia iam in praecedenti art. tacta sunt. De utraque quaestione: Alex. Halens., S. p. IV. q. 8. m. 6. — Scot., in utroque Scripto hic q. 1. et de casibus q. 2. — S. Thom., hic q. 2. a. 2, d. 6. q. 1. a. 3. quaestiunc. 3. — B. Albert., hic a. 2. 3. — Petr. a Tar., hic q. 3. a. 1. quaestiunc. 2, d. 6. q. 1. a. 1. quaestiunc. 2. — Richard. a Med., hic a. 3. q. 1, d. 6. a. 1. q. 1. — Durand., hic q. 1. — Dionys., Carth., hic q. 1.
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Article II. On the intensity or efficacy of the power conferred on those who baptize.
As to the second article, it is asked consequently concerning the power of those who baptize, by comparison with the effect, and concerning this two things are asked.
First it is asked whether wicked ministers, although catholic, give the Sacrament and the reality.
Secondly it is asked whether heretics and those cut off from the Church give the reality of the Sacrament, as catholics [do].
Question I. Whether wicked ministers give the Sacrament and the reality of the Sacrament.
And that wicked ministers do give the reality of the Sacrament:
1. It is proved by many authorities which are found in the [Master's] text1, especially that one: «If a drunkard, a murderer, an adulterer has baptized any, if it is the baptism of Christ, [it is] Christ [who] baptizes»; but Christ baptizes by sanctifying: therefore the wicked minister likewise.
2. Likewise, it seems [so] by reason: because, if the baptism of a wicked man did not give grace, then our salvation would depend on another's life; and since to say this is wicked and unjust, it is plain that wicked ministers confer the reality of the Sacrament2.
3. Likewise, teaching pertains more to the teacher than baptism to the one baptizing; but a wicked teacher gives good and sound teaching, which the Lord commands [us] to receive in Matthew, the twenty-third [chapter]3: therefore much more strongly can he who baptizes, although wicked, give a good baptism or the effect of baptism.
On the contrary: 1. In Malachi, the second [chapter]4: I will curse your blessings, it is said to wicked priests; and the Gloss of Jerome: «Whatever shall have been blessed by you shall be cursed by me»: therefore he who is baptized by a wicked priest is cursed: therefore he does not receive grace through his ministry.
2. Likewise, in Ecclesiasticus, the thirty-fourth [chapter]5: What shall be made clean by the unclean? But a wicked priest is unclean: therefore from him or through him there is not conferred in baptism the grace which cleanses the soul.
3. Likewise, it seems [so] by reason: because, just as sense and motion flow from the head into the bodily members and from one member into another, so also in the mystical body: therefore if a withered member does not convey sense, the priest who is in mortal sin, in baptizing, does not confer grace on the one baptized6.
4. Likewise, prayer is vitiated by the vice of the one praying, and a man rather merits wrath than grace — whence Gregory7: «When he who is displeasing is sent to intercede, the mind of the angry one is provoked to worse things» — therefore baptism is vitiated by the vice of the one baptizing; or, if it is not vitiated; since God judges of works according to the inward things, and the priest is dead, and his work dead, but the dead does not give life: it is plain that a wicked priest cannot confer life-giving grace.
Likewise, it is asked whether he sins who approaches a wicked priest. And it seems that [he does]: because in the Law8 it was commanded to flee the unclean bodily: therefore we ought to observe that spiritually.
Likewise, suppose that the priest asks a price for the baptism, must it be given to him? If yes, since he buys the Sacrament, it is simony. If no, either9 he will remain unbaptized, and this is a danger; or [he will be] baptized without a priest beyond necessity.
Conclusion. A wicked priest confers not only the Sacrament, but also the reality of the Sacrament.
I respond: It must be said that a wicked priest gives not only the Sacrament, but also the reality — not he himself, but God, whose Sacraments are good and unpolluted. For in baptism the minister does not cleanse nor baptize inwardly, but God [does]. — But since God washes inwardly, the outward washing preceding, and the outward [washing] is displeasing because the one washing is displeasing; how does it follow that, when a wicked priest washes outwardly, God washes inwardly?
And to that it must be noted that there is a certain work which has its power from inward charity alone; [and] a certain [work] which has [its power] from divine institution. The first work is [a work] of virtue and of vice and is weighed by God according to the quality of the will10. The second is the work of the Sacrament, and this is weighed according to the merit and dignity of Christ who institutes it; such [a work] always remains efficacious and unpolluted, nor can it in any way be polluted, just as neither [can it] be bettered. For it has its power from Christ, not from the minister; just as seed cast into the earth bears fruit equally, whether he who sows be good or wicked; and so here.
From these things the objections are clear: for the Sacraments are blessings of God, not of the wicked. — Likewise the next [objection] is plain, because the unclean does not there cleanse. — Likewise to that which is objected from the likeness to bodily nourishment11, the answer is plain, that it is not alike, because God immediately gives grace to the one baptized.
To that which is asked, whether he sins who approaches a wicked priest; it must be said that [he does] not, nay rather he sins more who refuses him, believing that the Sacrament dispensed through him is vitiated, because he does injury to the Sacrament12. — Nor is the objection valid, because that [precept] is understood of touching by way of imitation and consent in evil; but he who receives baptism does not so touch.
To that which is objected concerning the simoniac, some say that first13 one ought to have oneself baptized by a layman. But suppose there were no other; they say that he cannot give a price in order to buy the sacred thing, but in order to buy the water. But suppose the water be consecrated: then they say that he ought rather to let the little one die without baptism, because evils are not to be done that goods may come of them14. — Yet it is better to say that a price can be given not to buy the Sacrament or the water, but to redeem the harassment of one's [own] right15. And this seems more in accord with piety and reason and also with law.
I. The reality of the Sacrament is here understood as grace with the remission of sins. The two questions of this article are treated together by several [authors]. The principles have already been touched on in the preceding article. On both questions: Alexander of Hales, Summa p. IV, q. 8, m. 6. — Scotus, in both the Scriptum (here, q. 1) and the de casibus, q. 2. — St. Thomas, here q. 2, a. 2, [and] d. 6, q. 1, a. 3, subquestion 3. — Bl. Albert, here a. 2 [and] 3. — Peter of Tarentaise, here q. 3, a. 1, subquestion 2, [and] d. 6, q. 1, a. 1, subquestion 2. — Richard of Mediavilla, here a. 3, q. 1, [and] d. 6, a. 1, q. 1. — Durandus, here q. 1. — Dionysius the Carthusian, here q. 1.
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- 1Hic c. 1. — Seq. auctoritas est August., In Ioan. Evang. tr. 5. n. 18.Here, c. 1 [of the Master's text]. — The following authority is Augustine, Tractates on the Gospel of John, tr. 5, n. 18.
- 2Cfr. infra dub. 4.Cf. below, dub. 4.
- 3Vers. 3: Omnia ergo quaecumque dixerint [Pharisaei] vobis, servate et facite.Verse 3 [Matt. 23]: All things therefore whatsoever they [the Pharisees] shall say to you, observe and do.
- 4Vers. 2. — Verba Hieronymi, hunc sunt: Quidquid a vobis benedicetur, me maledictum erit.Verse 2. — The words of Jerome are these: Whatever shall be blessed by you, shall be cursed by me.
- 5Eccli. 34, 30: Qui baptizatur a mortuo, et iterum tangit eum, quid proficit lavatio illius?Ecclus. 34, 30: He that washeth himself after touching the dead, and toucheth him again, what doth his washing avail?
- 6Vers. 4. — In fine arg. cod. Z quae mundat hominem vel animam.Verse 4. — At the end of the argument cod. Z [reads] which cleanses the man or the soul.
- 7Regul. pastoral. p. I. c. 10. Cfr. Gratian. initium dist. 49. — Inferius respicitur I. Reg. 16, 7: Nec iuxta intuitum hominis ego iudico... Dominus autem intuetur cor.Pastoral Rule, p. I, c. 10. Cf. Gratian, the beginning of dist. 49. — Lower down there is a reference to 1 Kings [1 Samuel] 16, 7: Nor do I judge according to the look of man... but the Lord beholdeth the heart.
- 8Levit. 5, 2. seq., Num. 19, 11. seqq., ubi etiam (v. 22.) dicitur: Quidquid tetigerit immundus, immundum faciet.Leviticus 5, 2, and following, Numbers 19, 11, and following, where also (v. 22) it is said: Whatsoever the unclean shall touch, he shall make unclean.
- 9Codd. F H L addunt ergo.Codices F H L add ergo ("therefore").
- 10Cfr. II. Sent. d. 29. a. 1. q. 1, d. 38. a. 1. q. 1. seq. et d. 40. a. 1. q. 1. seq. — Cod. Z caritatis, codd. K M aa bb caritatis et voluntatis, codd. S T U caritatis pacis. Superius post a caritate [in cod. E a secunda manu a qualitate] edd. subiungunt vel voluntate. Subinde verbis a Deo cod. Z praemittit hoc.Cf. II Sent. d. 29, a. 1, q. 1; d. 38, a. 1, q. 1, and following; and d. 40, a. 1, q. 1, and following. — Cod. Z [reads] caritatis ("of charity"); codices K M aa bb caritatis et voluntatis ("of charity and of will"); codices S T U caritatis pacis ("of the charity of peace"). Above, after a caritate ("from charity") [in cod. E by a second hand a qualitate, "from the quality"] the editions add vel voluntate ("or from the will"). Then, before the words a Deo ("by God") cod. Z prefixes hoc ("this").
- 11Ita codd. et edd. Vocabulum hoc largiori sensu intelligendum est.Thus the codices and editions. This word [nutrimento, "nourishment"] is to be understood in a broader sense.
- 12Vide supra a. 1. q. 2. fundam. 2.See above, a. 1, q. 2, fundamentum 2.
- 13Id est potius, quod edd. substituunt. Inferius pro alius cod. C laicus, et pro potest cod. P posset.That is, potius ("rather"), which the editions substitute. Lower down, for alius ("another") cod. C [reads] laicus ("a layman"), and for potest ("he can") cod. P [reads] posset ("he could").
- 14Rom. 3, 8. Cfr. infra lit. Magistri, d. XXV. c. 4. — Paulo ante pro debet codd. A O V deberet.Romans 3, 8. Cf. below in the Master's text, d. XXV, c. 4. — Shortly before, for debet ("he ought") codices A O V [read] deberet ("he should").
- 15Vide tom. III. pag. 833, nota 11. Cfr. de hac et seq. quaest.See tome III, p. 833, note 11. Cf. on this and the following question.