21 July 2020

The Douai Catechism, 1649 - CHAPTER XI. Of the Sacraments in general.

Of the Sacraments in general.
    
Q. HOW many Sacraments are there?
    A. Seven.
    
Q. How call you them?
    A. Baptism, Confirmation, Eucharist, Penance, Extreme Unction, Holy Order, and Matrimony. See the Council of Trent, Sess. 7. Can. 1.
    
Q. Is there any cause why the number of Sacraments should be seven?
    A. Yes; a probable cause is the proportion which is between spiritual and corporal life.
    
Q. In what consists this proportion?
    A. In this; that as in a corporal and nature life, there be seven principle or chief necessities, so are there likewise seven spiritual, to which the seven Sacraments correspond.
    
Q. What is our first corporal necessity?
    A. To be born into this world: to this baptism corresponds, by which we are regenerated unto God, and born the heirs of God and co-heirs of Christ.
    
Q. What is the second corporal necessity?
    A. To be confirmed in our strength and growth, without which we can never be made men: to this answers confirmation, by which we are made strong and perfect Christians, able to profess our faith before our enemies.
    
Q. What is our third corporal necessity?
    A. That (being now made men) we have a competence of daily food and sustenance; to which the blessed Eucharist corresponds, by which our souls are fed with divine grace as often as we worthily receive it, or offer it with the priest on the altar.
    
Q. What is the fourth necessity of the body?
    A. That we have physic when we are sick and wounded; to this the sacrament of penance answers; by which our maladies and sores of sin are healed.
    
Q. What is our fifth necessity of the body?
    A. That we have the necessary helps against the agonizing pangs of death; to this corresponds extreme unction, by which our soul is strengthened in her last agony, against the violent assaults of the devil.
    
Q. What is the sixth corporal necessity?
    A. "That we be governed by laws and magistrates, so to avoid injustice and confusion:" to this Holy Order corresponds, by which we are provided with spiritual magistrates to guide and govern us.
    
Q. What is the seventh corporal necessity?
    A. That we be multiplied in a lawful manner; and to this matrimony corresponds, by which we are not only multiplied in a natural, but in a holy and sacramental way.
    
Q. What is a Sacramental in general?
    A. It is a visible sign of invisible grace, divinely instituted by Christ, for our sanctification.
    
Q. How prove you that Christ ordained them all?
    A. Because it is not in the power of any pure creature to give infallible virtue, causing grace, to sensible and material things, such as the sacraments are; according to the council of Trent, Sess. 7. Can. 1.
    
Q. From what have the Sacraments their force and efficacy?
    A. From the blood and passion of Christ, which they apply to our souls.
    
Q. How prove you that?
    A. Rom. vi. 3. "Know you not that all that we who are baptized in Christ Jesus, are baptized in his death?" Rom. v. 9. "Much more therefore, now being justified in his blood, shall we be saved from wrath by him."
    
Q. For what end did Christ ordain the Sacraments?
    A. To be external and visible marks and professions of his holy faith, by which the faithful might be known from Infidels and Heretics; and also to be effectual means of our salvation, and certain remedies against sin.
    
Q. What things are essential to a Sacrament?
    A. Matter and form.
    
Q. Do all the seven Sacraments give grace?
    A. They do, according to the council of Trent, Sess. 7.
    
Q. What is grace?
    A. It is a supernatural quality produced in our souls and inherent in them, by which we are made the adopted children of God, special partakers of the divine nature, and like to God, in some degree; as iron is made like to fire by heat.
    
Q. How many of these Sacraments give character?
    A. Three: Baptism, Confirmation, and Holy Order.
    
Q. What is a sacramental character?
    A. It is a supernatural mark in the soul, whereby be are marked for God's servants, which can never be blotted out.
    
Q. In what manner do the sacraments give and cause grace?
    A. As a means or instruments only; for God is always the principal cause thereof.
    
Q. Who is the ordinary minister of a Sacrament?
    A. A priest; excepting Holy Orders and Confirmation, which are referred to the Bishops alone.
    
Q. Why did Christ confine the administration of the Sacraments to the Hierarchy and to the priests only?
    A. "O the depth of the riches, of the wisdom and of the knowledge of God! How incomprehensible are his judgments, and how unsearchable his ways! For who hath known the mind of the Lord? Or who hath been his counsellor?" Rom. xi. And we know from St. Paul, Ephes. iv. 11, that "Christ gave indeed some to be apostles, and some prophets, and others evangelists, and others pastors and teachers. That we may not now be children, tossed to and fro, and carried about with every wind of doctrine, in the wickedness of men, in craftiness by which they lie in wait to deceive." Hence, St. Paul, speaking of the Sacraments, says, 1 Cor. iv. 1. "So let them consider us as the ministers of Christ and dispensers of the mysteries of God." "And we are (2 Cor. v. 20.) therefore ambassadors of Christ: God, as it were, exhorting by us."
    
Q. Is the intention of the ministers to do what Christ ordained, a condition, without which the Sacraments subsist not?
    A. It is; also the intention of the receiver to receive what Christ ordained, if he be at the years of understanding?
    
Q. Why say you, If he be at the years of understanding?
    A. Because for infants in the Sacraments of baptism the intention of the Church sufficeth.

Next - The Douai Catechism, 1649 - CHAPTER XI. Baptism Expounded.

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