Folia Canonica 11. (2008)
PROCEEDINGS OF TENTH INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE. "Questioni attuali intorno al Battesimo" Budapest, 4th February 2008 - Michael Carragher: Intention of the Minister as Substantive Element of Baptism
212 MICHAEL CARRAGHER be recognized as such only by faith since they are supernatural. Likewise the reference of sacramental rites performed by the Church to the institution of Christ and to his salvific will can be made only by faith; and without this reference the rites cannot be sacramental, cannot, that is exist as signs. The faith of the Church which imposes this relation of signification on individual ceremonies is based on the faith of the apostles to whom Christ revealed his intention. St. Thomas states the following.13 The apostles and their successors are God’s vicars in governing the Church which is built on faith and the sacraments of faith. Wherefore, just as they may not institute another Church, so neither may they deliver another faith, nor institute other sacraments: on the contrary, the Church is said to be built up with the sacraments “which flowed from the side of Christ while hanging on the Cross. Again.14 Consequently, others with better reason hold that the minister of a sacrament acts in the person of the whole Church, whose minister he is; while in the words uttered by him, the intention of the Church is expressed; and that this suffices for the validity of the sacrament, except the contrary be expressed on the part either of the minister or of the recipient of the sacrament. St. Thomas’ insistence on the intervention of the faith of the Church demonstrates beyond any doubt that he regards the intentions of those concerned in the sacraments as pertaining directly and immediately to the order of signification — they impose or cause the signification of an individual ceremony. Efficient causality comes after this as a consequence, an entirely gratuitous complement granted by God, not essentially (though infallibly) connected with the ceremonial of the Church. It is precisely for the perfection of the ceremonial of the Church, as applied to an individual adult, (therefore for the perfection of a concrete sacramental sign), that the intention of the subject is essential. The subject must signify genuine acceptance of what the Church offers. Otherwise the sacrament is not a concrete practical sign; it is merely a speculative sign of the divine will to save all human beings. Faith is not required of the subject. He simply accepts the sign of the Church’s faith. 13 Summa Theologiae: 111. q. 64, a. 2 ad 3. Ad tertium dicendum quod apostoli, et eorum successores, sunt vicarii dei quantum ad regimen ecclesiae institutae per fidem et fidei sacramenta. Unde, sicut non licet eis constituere aliam ecclesiam, ita non licet eis tradere aliam fidem, neque instituere alia sacramenta, sed per sacramenta quae de latere christi pendentis in cruce fluxerunt, dicitur esse fabricata ecclesia christi. “ Summa Theologiae 111, q. 64, a. 8 ad 2. Et ideo alii melius dicunt quod minister sacramenti agit in persona totius ecclesiae, cuius est minister; in verbis autem quae proferuntur, exprimitur intentio ecclesiae; quae sufficit ad perfectionem sacramenti, nisi contrarium exterius exprimatur ex parte ministri et recipientis sacramentum.
