Breviloquium

But concerning the dispensation of the Sacraments this is to be held: that the power of dispensing the Sacraments regularly belongs solely to the human race. — In dispensing all the Sacraments, moreover, intention is necessary in the dispenser. — In some, priestly order¹ or pontifical order is also necessarily required together with intention; pontifical order, I say, is necessary for the dispensation of confirmation and order; priestly order for the dispensation of the eucharist, penance and extreme unction. Baptism and matrimony, although they pertain to priests, can nevertheless in fact be dispensed outside priestly order, especially in the case of necessity. — With these conditions in place, the Sacraments can be dispensed by the good and the bad, by the faithful and by heretics, within the Church and outside it, but within according to truth and for utility, while outside not for utility, although they are dispensed according to truth.²

The reason for understanding the aforesaid is this: because our reparative principle, namely, the incarnate Word, because³ insofar as God and man he instituted the Sacraments for the salvation of men, ordained, as was also fitting, that they be dispensed to men through the ministry of men, in order to preserve the conformity of the dispenser to Christ the Savior and to the man himself who is to be saved. Since therefore Christ the Savior saved the human race according as the equity of law, the dignity of order and the security of salvation required—for he worked our salvation⁴ in a right, ordered and certain manner—hence it is that, according to the exigency of these three, he entrusted the Sacraments to men for dispensing. — First, therefore, since the rectitude of law requires that the works of man, insofar as he is man, not be done precipitately; and that the works of man as minister of Christ be referred in some way to Christ; and that the works of man as minister of salvation be referred in some way to salvation, either in general or in particular; and the dispensation of the Sacraments is the work of man as rational, as minister of Christ and as minister of salvation: hence it is necessary that it be done with intention; and with intention⁵ by which one intends to do what Christ instituted for human salvation, or at least to do what the Church does, in which the aforesaid intention is contained in general, because the Church itself, just as it received the Sacraments from Christ, so dispenses them for the salvation of the faithful.

Again, since the order of dignity requires that greater things be committed to greater persons, lesser things to lesser persons and middle things to middling persons; and there are certain Sacraments which chiefly regard excellence of virtue or dignity, as the Sacrament of confirmation and of order; certain others which regard the need of necessity, as baptism and matrimony, one of which generates and the other regenerates to due existence; and certain others which are middling, as the eucharist, penance and extreme unction: hence it is that the first, as supreme, cannot be dispensed except by bishops and pontiffs, insofar as this is a matter of common law; while the others, as lowest, can be dispensed by any orders and inferior persons, especially in the case of necessity, which I say with respect to baptism; and the middling ones by priests alone, who, between bishops and inferior persons, are constituted as it were in the middle.⁶

Lastly, since the security of salvation requires that the thing be done in such a way that it not fall into doubt; and no one is certain of the goodness and trustworthiness of the dispenser, nor is he himself certain about himself, whether he is worthy of love or hatred:⁷ therefore, if the Sacraments could be dispensed only by the good, no one would be certain of receiving the Sacrament; and thus it would always be necessary to repeat it, and the malice of one would prejudice another's salvation; nor would there be any stability in the grades of the hierarchy of the Church militant, which especially consists in the dispensing of the Sacraments. And therefore it was fitting that the dispensation of the Sacraments be committed to man, not on account of sanctity, which varies according to the will, but on account of authority, which always remains insofar as it is of itself; and thereby it was necessary that it extend to the good and the bad, to those who are within and to those who are outside the Church. — Yet, because outside the unity of faith and charity, which makes us sons and members of the Church, no one can be saved, therefore, if the Sacraments are received outside, they are not received for salvation, although they are true Sacraments; but they can become useful if one returns to holy mother Church, the one bride of Christ, whose sons alone Christ the bridegroom considers worthy of eternal inheritance. Hence Augustine, against the Donatists: "The Church, compared to paradise, indicates to us that people can indeed receive its baptism even outside, but no one outside it can either receive or retain the blessedness of salvation. For the rivers from the fountain of paradise, as Scripture testifies, also flowed abundantly outside; they are expressly mentioned, as are the lands through which they flow, and it is known to all that they are situated outside paradise; yet in Mesopotamia or in Egypt, whither those rivers came, there is not the felicity of life that is commemorated in paradise. Thus it comes about that, while the water of paradise is outside paradise, blessedness is nevertheless nowhere but within paradise. Thus, then, the baptism of the Church can be outside the Church, but the gift of blessed life is found only within the Church, which is founded even upon the rock that received the keys of binding and loosing. This is the one that holds and possesses all the power of her bridegroom and Lord; through this conjugal power she can even bear sons from handmaids, who, if they are not proud, will be called to the lot of the inheritance, but if they are proud, will remain outside. Therefore, since we fight for the honor and unity of the Church, let us not attribute to heretics whatever of her we recognize among them; rather, reproving them, let us teach that what they have from the unity does not avail for salvation unless they come to that same unity."⁸