Chapter V.
On the Dispensation of the Sacraments.
Concerning the dispensation of the Sacraments, this must be held: that the power of dispensing the Sacraments regularly pertains to the human race alone. — Moreover, in the dispensing of all Sacraments, intention on the part of the one dispensing is necessary.
In some, moreover, along with intention there is necessarily required the sacerdotal or pontifical order: the pontifical, I say, is necessary for the dispensation of confirmation and orders; the sacerdotal, however, for the dispensation of the Eucharist, penance, and extreme unction. Baptism, however, and matrimony, although they pertain to priests, can nevertheless apart from the sacerdotal order be dispensed in fact, especially in the case of necessity.
Moreover, these things being present, the Sacraments can be dispensed by the good and the wicked, by the faithful and by heretics, within the Church and outside it; but within, according to truth and unto profit; outside, however, not unto profit, although they are dispensed according to truth.
Now the reason for understanding the aforesaid is this: because our restorative principle, namely the incarnate Word, inasmuch as He is God and man, instituted the Sacraments for the salvation of men and ordained, as was also fitting, that they should 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 to what the equity of right, the dignity of order, and the security of salvation required — for He wrought our salvation in a right, ordered, and certain manner — hence it is that according to the requirement of these three He committed the Sacraments to men to be dispensed.
First, therefore, because the rectitude of right requires that the works of man, insofar as he is man, not be done precipitately; and that the works of man as a minister of Christ be in some way referred to Christ; and that the works of man as a minister of salvation be in some way referred to salvation, either in general or in particular; and the dispensation of the Sacraments is the work of man as rational, as a minister of Christ, and as a minister of salvation: hence it is that it must be done with intention: and with an intention 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 herself, just as she received the Sacraments from Christ, so she dispenses them for the salvation of the faithful.
Again, because the order of dignity requires that greater things be entrusted to the greater, lesser things to the lesser, and middle things to those of middle rank: and certain Sacraments especially regard the excellence of power or dignity, such as the Sacrament of confirmation and orders: certain ones regard the want of necessity, such as baptism and matrimony, of which one generates and the other regenerates unto due existence: and certain ones are middle, such as the Eucharist, penance, and extreme unction: hence it is that the first, as being supreme, cannot be dispensed except by bishops and pontiffs, as far as common law is concerned; the others, as being lowest, can be dispensed by any orders and inferior persons whatsoever, especially in the article of necessity, which I say by reason of baptism; but the middle ones by priests alone, who between bishops and inferior persons are established as it were in the middle.
Finally, because the security of salvation requires that the matter be so effected that it not fall into doubt; and there is no one who is certain of the goodness and faith of the minister, and even the same person is not certain concerning himself whether he is worthy of love or of hatred: therefore, if the Sacraments could be dispensed only by the good, no one would be certain of the reception of the Sacrament; and so it would be necessary always to repeat them, and the malice of one would prejudice the salvation of another; nor would there be any stability in the grades of the hierarchy of the Church militant, which consists especially in the dispensing of the Sacraments. And therefore it was fitting that the dispensation of the Sacraments be entrusted to man not by reason of holiness, which varies according to the will, but by reason of authority, which always remains, as far as it is of itself; and through this it was necessary that it extend to the good and to the wicked, to those who are within, and to those who are outside the Church.
But because outside the unity of faith and charity, which makes us children and members of the Church, no one can be saved: therefore, if the Sacraments are received outside [her], they are not received unto salvation, although they are true Sacraments; but they can become useful if one returns to holy mother Church, the sole bride of Christ, whose children alone Christ the bridegroom considers worthy of eternal inheritance. Whence Augustine against the Donatists: "The Church, compared to paradise, shows us that people can indeed receive her baptism even outside, but that no one can either obtain or retain the salvation of blessedness outside her. For the rivers from the fountain of paradise, as Scripture testifies, also flowed abundantly outward: for they are mentioned by name, and through which lands they flow, and that they are situated outside paradise, is known to all; nor yet in Mesopotamia or in Egypt, where those rivers reached, is there the happiness of life that is spoken of in paradise. Thus it happens that, although the water of paradise is outside paradise, blessedness nevertheless is not found except within paradise. So therefore the baptism of the Church can exist outside the Church, but the gift of the blessed life is found only within the Church, which was also founded upon the rock, which received the keys of binding and loosing. This is the one Church which holds and possesses all the power of her bridegroom and Lord, through which conjugal power she can even bear children from handmaids, who, if they are not proud, will be called to the lot of inheritance; but if they are proud, they will remain outside. Therefore, rather, because we fight for the honor and unity of the Church, let us not attribute to the heretics whatever of hers we recognize among them, but let us reprove them and teach that what they have from her unity does not avail unto salvation unless they come to that same unity."