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Dist. 7, Art. 3, Q. 2

Book IV: On the Sacraments · Distinction 7

Textus Latinus
p. 173

Articulus III. Quoad usum.

Quaestio II. Utrum gratia confirmationis sit de necessitate salutis.

Secundo quaeritur de huius Sacramenti necessitate, et quaeritur, utrum gratia confirmationis sit de necessitate salutis; et quod sic, videtur.

1. Rabanus1: « Omnes fideles per manus impositionem episcoporum accipere debent Spiritum sanctum, ut pleni Christiani inveniantur »; sed nullus salvatur, nisi sit plenus Christianus: ergo similiter nullus salvatur sine Sacramento confirmationis.

2. Item, Hugo2: « Quid prodest, quod per baptismum a lapsu erigeris, nisi etiam per confirmationem ad standum confirmeris »? quasi dicat: nihil.

p. 174

3. Item, Hugo3: « Omnino periculosum esset, si ab hac vita sine confirmatione migrare contingeret »; sed non esset omnino periculosum, nisi necessarium ad salutem: ergo etc.

4. Item, ad Romanos decimo4: Corde creditur ad iustitiam, ore autem confessio fit ad salutem, utrumque ergo est ad salutem necessarium; sed nullus salvatur, nisi credat, vel habeat fidei Sacramentum: ergo nullus salvatur, nisi confiteatur, vel habeat Sacramentum ad hoc ordinatum.

Contra: 1. Baptismus delet culpam5, ergo dat gratiam; sed habens quantulamcumque gratiam habet quod sibi necessarium est ad salutem: ergo non est ulterius necessaria sibi confirmatio, vel aliquid aliud. Si dicas, sufficere ad salutem, si moritur, sed non ad pugnandum, si vivit; contra: in baptismo datur gratia cum omnibus virtutibus, sicut dicit Magister distinctione prima6; sed qui habet virtutes habet arma sufficientia ad pugnam: ergo etc.

2. Item, nullus cadit nisi volens: ergo ex quo habet gratiam ipsum statuentem, potest stare: ergo non necesse est cadere7: ergo gratia confirmationis non est necessaria.

3. Item, magna caritas sufficit ad tolerandam mortem; sed possibile est, eum qui baptizatur, antequam hoc Sacramentum percipiat, per bona opera ad caritatem magnam pervenire: ergo sine hoc Sacramento est salus pugnantibus.

Conclusio

Sacramentum confirmationis est necessarium non simpliciter, sed ex conditione; qui autem negligendo illud contemnit periculo se exponit.

Respondeo: Dicendum, quod est necessitas simpliciter, et est necessitas conditionata8. Simpliciter non est gratia confirmationis necessaria, sed necessaria ex conditione, scilicet pugnanti et vincere volenti, sicut comedere necessarium est vivere volenti. Unde Melchiades papa dicit, et habetur de Consecratione distinctione quinta9: « In hoc mundo tota aetate victuris inter hostes invisibiles et pericula gradiendum est; et baptismo regeneramur ad vitam, post baptismum confirmamur ad pugnam »; quia omnes viventes in pugna vivunt, quia militia est vita hominis super terram10.

Ex institutione ergo Ecclesiae est, quod nullus ab hoc Sacramento excipitur, sed omnes suscipere debent, ut sint strenui pugnatores; et ideo, si quis, cum habet locum et tempus et opportunitatem, negligendo contemnit, periculo se exponit.

1. 2. 3. Rationes igitur probantes, quod simpliciter necessarium sit, non valent. Et primo, auctoritas Rabani intelligitur de plenitudine copiae, non sufficientiae, vel de plenitudine non in esse, sed in robore11. Auctoritas Hugonis intelligitur de eo qui vivere debet in pugna. Sequens auctoritas intelligitur ratione negligentiae et contemptus institutionis Ecclesiae.

4. Ad illud quod obiicitur de confessione fidei, dicendum, quod illud non est simile: quia credere necessarium est cuilibet12, ex quo est adultus; sed confiteri non tenetur nisi pro loco et tempore.

1. Ad illud quod obiicitur ad oppositum, quod non est necessaria simpliciter; verum est, quia morienti et non contemnenti sufficit gratia baptismalis.

2. Ad illud vero quod obiicitur, quod non est necessaria ad pugnam; dicendum, quod quamvis liberum arbitrium non cogatur, tamen ita infirmatum est pusillanimitate, quod nunquam staret, nisi gratia fortificante sustentaretur, et illa infirmitas curaretur: et ideo necessaria est ad statum13 non propter impellentem tantum, sed propter interiorem debilitatem.

3. Ad illud quod obiicitur, quod magna caritas potest augeri; dicendum, quod sicut in baptismo contingit, quod homo bene se praeparando habet gratiam, quae datur in baptismo, antequam baptizetur; sic potest esse in gratia confirmationis; et tamen Sacramentum baptismi est necessarium, non superfluum, quia illam gratiam efficacius dat14 et illis dat, qui non per se poterant se sufficienter disponere sine Sacramento: per hunc igitur modum intelligendum est in confirmatione. — Est igitur necessaria gratia confirmationis, non sine qua simpliciter non sit salus, sed sine qua, vel per Sacramentum, vel alias accepta, pugnando non pervenitur ad salutem15.

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English Translation

Article III. On the use.

Question II. Whether the grace of confirmation is necessary for salvation.

Secondly, inquiry is made about the necessity of this Sacrament, and it is asked whether the grace of confirmation is necessary for salvation; and that it is, seems to be the case.

1. Rabanus1: « All the faithful ought to receive the Holy Spirit through the imposition of the bishops' hands, that they may be found full Christians »; but no one is saved unless he be a full Christian: therefore likewise no one is saved without the Sacrament of confirmation.

2. Likewise, Hugh2: « What does it profit that through baptism you are raised up from the fall, unless you are also confirmed through confirmation so as to stand »? as if to say: nothing.

3. Likewise, Hugh3: « It would be altogether dangerous, if one should happen to depart from this life without confirmation »; but it would not be altogether dangerous, unless it were necessary for salvation: therefore etc.

4. Likewise, to the Romans, chapter ten4: With the heart one believes unto righteousness, but with the mouth confession is made unto salvation, therefore both are necessary for salvation; but no one is saved unless he believes, or has the Sacrament of faith: therefore no one is saved unless he confesses, or has the Sacrament ordained for this.

On the contrary: 1. Baptism blots out guilt5, therefore it gives grace; but one having grace, however little, has what is necessary for him for salvation: therefore confirmation, or anything else, is not further necessary for him. If you say that it suffices for salvation, if he dies, but not for fighting, if he lives; on the contrary: in baptism grace is given with all the virtues, as the Master says in the first distinction6; but one who has the virtues has arms sufficient for the fight: therefore etc.

2. Likewise, no one falls except willingly: therefore from the fact that he has the grace establishing him, he can stand: therefore it is not necessary to fall7: therefore the grace of confirmation is not necessary.

3. Likewise, great charity suffices for enduring death; but it is possible that he who is baptized may, before he receives this Sacrament, come through good works to great charity: therefore without this Sacrament there is salvation for those who fight.

Conclusion

The Sacrament of confirmation is necessary not absolutely, but from a condition; but he who, by neglecting it, despises it exposes himself to peril.

I respond: It must be said that there is an absolute necessity, and there is a conditioned necessity8. Absolutely, the grace of confirmation is not necessary, but it is necessary from a condition, namely for one who fights and wills to conquer, just as eating is necessary for one who wills to live. Hence Pope Melchiades says, and it is found in On Consecration, distinction five9: « In this world one must walk all one's life amid invisible enemies and dangers; and by baptism we are regenerated unto life, after baptism we are confirmed for the fight »; for all who live, live in a fight, because warfare is the life of man upon the earth10.

From the institution of the Church, therefore, it is that no one is excepted from this Sacrament, but all ought to receive it, that they may be vigorous fighters; and therefore, if anyone, when he has the place and time and opportunity, despises it by neglecting it, he exposes himself to peril.

1. 2. 3. The reasons, therefore, proving that it is absolutely necessary, are not valid. And first, the authority of Rabanus is to be understood of the fullness of abundance, not of sufficiency, or of fullness not in being, but in strength11. The authority of Hugh is to be understood of him who must live in the fight. The following authority is to be understood by reason of negligence and contempt of the institution of the Church.

4. To that which is objected concerning the confession of faith, it must be said that this is not similar: because to believe is necessary for everyone12, from the time he is an adult; but one is not bound to confess except according to place and time.

1. To that which is objected on the opposite side, that it is not necessary absolutely; it is true, because for one who is dying and not despising it, baptismal grace suffices.

2. But to that which is objected, that it is not necessary for the fight; it must be said that, although free choice is not coerced, nevertheless it is so weakened by faint-heartedness that it would never stand, unless it were sustained by a strengthening grace, and that infirmity were healed: and therefore it is necessary for [maintaining] the state13 not only on account of the one impelling, but on account of the interior weakness.

3. To that which is objected, that great charity can be increased; it must be said that, just as it happens in baptism, that a man by preparing himself well has the grace which is given in baptism, before he is baptized; so it can be in the grace of confirmation; and yet the Sacrament of baptism is necessary, not superfluous, because it gives that grace more efficaciously14 and gives it to those who could not of themselves dispose themselves sufficiently without the Sacrament: in this manner, therefore, it is to be understood in confirmation. — Therefore the grace of confirmation is necessary, not as that without which there absolutely is no salvation, but as that without which, whether received through the Sacrament or received otherwise, one does not by fighting arrive at salvation15.

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Apparatus Criticus
  1. 1
    Haec sententia communiter a Scholasticis tribuitur Rabano; occasionem forsan praebuit Magister, hic in lit. c. 3. Gratianus, C. Omnes fideles (I.), de Consecrat. d. 5, allegat pro ipso Urbanum.
    This sentence is commonly attributed by the Scholastics to Rabanus; the Master perhaps gave occasion for it, here in the text, c. 3. Gratian, in the canon Omnes fideles (1), On Consecration, dist. 5, cites Urban for it.
  2. 2
    Libr. II. de Sacram. p. VII. c. 3.
    Book II, On the Sacraments, part VII, c. 3.
  3. 3
    Loc. cit. Cfr. supra pag. 172, nota 9. — Inferius post nisi cod. H (Lb a secunda manu) bene supplet esset.
    In the place cited. Cf. above, p. 172, note 9. — Below, after nisi, codex H (Lb in a second hand) rightly supplies esset.
  4. 4
    Vers. 10.
    Verse 10.
  5. 5
    Ut ostensum est supra d. 4. p. 1. a. 1. q. 1. — De connexione inter deletionem culpae et gratiam cfr. supra d. 1. p. II. a. 2. q. 3. in corp., et C. Per aquam (9.), de Consecrat. d. 4, ubi ex Ambrosio (l. de Sacram. c. 4. n. 12.) habetur: Per aquam baptismi transitus est a terrenis ad caelestia... a peccato ad vitam, a culpa ad gratiam etc.
    As was shown above, d. 4, p. 1, a. 1, q. 1. — On the connection between the blotting out of guilt and grace cf. above, d. 1, p. II, a. 2, q. 3, in the body, and the canon Per aquam (9), On Consecration, d. 4, where from Ambrose (book On the Sacraments, c. 4, n. 12) it is held: Through the water of baptism there is a passage from earthly to heavenly things... from sin to life, from guilt to grace, etc.
  6. 6
    Cap. 9. in fine.
    Chapter 9, at the end.
  7. 7
    Codd. F G I eum cadere.
    Codices F G I [read] eum cadere [for him to fall].
  8. 8
    Cfr. Aristot., II. Phys. text. 87. seqq. (c. 9.), et V. Metaph. text. 6. (IV. c. 5.).
    Cf. Aristotle, Physics II, text 87 ff. (c. 9), and Metaphysics V, text 6 (IV, c. 5).
  9. 9
    Can. Spiritus sanctus, qui (2.). Cfr. Isidor. Mercator. (ed. Migne, Patrol. Lat. tom. 130. col. 241). Pro et baptismo textus originalis et edd. in baptismo.
    The canon Spiritus sanctus, qui (2). Cf. Isidore Mercator (ed. Migne, Patrologia Latina, vol. 130, col. 241). For et baptismo the original text and the editions read in baptismo.
  10. 10
    Iob 7, 1. — Mox post sed cod. R suplet hoc.
    Job 7:1. — Soon after sed codex R supplies hoc.
  11. 11
    Melchiad., loc. cit., ait: Spiritus sanctus... in fonte plenitudinem tribuit ad innocentiam, in confirmatione augmentum praestat ad gratiam... Et quamvis continuo transituris sufficiant regenerationis beneficia, victuris tamen necessaria sunt confirmationis auxilia etc.
    Melchiades, in the place cited, says: The Holy Spirit... at the font bestows fullness unto innocence, in confirmation furnishes increase unto grace... And although for those who are about to pass on immediately the benefits of regeneration suffice, yet for those who are to go on living the aids of confirmation are necessary, etc.
  12. 12
    Non pauci codd. alicui.
    Not a few codices [read] alicui [for someone].
  13. 13
    Vat. standum.
    The Vatican edition [reads] standum [for standing firm].
  14. 14
    Vide supra lit. Magistri, d. I. c. 9. in fine et d. IV. c. 5. seqq. — Inferius pro poterant edd. possunt.
    See above, the Master's text, d. 1, c. 9, at the end, and d. 4, c. 5 ff. — Below, for poterant the editions [read] possunt.
  15. 15
    Vide scholion ad praecedentem quaest.
    See the scholion on the preceding question. ---
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