Chapter VII.
On the constitution and integrity of baptism.
Now in the seventh place it remains to consider the integrity of each Sacrament; and since these are sevenfold in number, we must first speak of the integrity of baptism, which is the door of the other Sacraments.
Concerning the integrity therefore of the Sacrament of baptism, this is to be held: that in order for someone to be baptized truly and fully, there is required the expression of the vocal form instituted by the Lord, which is this: I baptize you in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, Amen: without omission of any word and without insertion of any word, without transposition of the aforesaid order and without alteration of the prescribed name.
There is also required immersion or washing with the element of water over the whole body, or at least over its nobler part, such that the expression and the immersion are performed by one and the same person and at the same time.
When these concur, if there is no pretense in the one being baptized, there is given to him grace that regenerates, rectifies, and purifies from all fault.
That this may be done more efficaciously, catechism and exorcism are set forth beforehand as preparatory, both in infants and in adults: yet in such a way that in adults one's own faith is required, but in infants the faith of another suffices.
Now the reason for understanding the aforesaid is this: since our restorative principle, namely the incarnate Word, as the most perfect and most sufficient principle, has to restore the human race through the medicines of the Sacraments, in such a way that nothing in them is superfluous, nothing disordered, and nothing diminished; so He had to dispose that the Sacrament of baptism and the others be made whole according to what was required by His power, our salvation, and also our disease.
Since therefore the power that restores us is the power of the whole Trinity, which holy mother Church believes in the mind, confesses in word, and professes in sign, under the distinction and property, order and natural origin of the three persons: it is also the power of the passion of Christ, who died and was buried and rose again on the third day: hence it is that for the expression of these things in the Sacrament which is the first of all Sacraments, and in which this power operates firstly and principally, there ought to be an expression of the Trinity in a distinct, proper, and ordered naming, as regards the common form, although in the time of the primitive Church it could be done in the name of Christ, in which the understanding of the Trinity is enclosed. There ought also to be a proper and ordered pronouncing of the baptizing word with a triple immersion for the expression of the death of Christ and his burial and resurrection accomplished after three days, as regards congruity. And because both powers operate simultaneously and in the one Christ the Savior, both of these ought to be done by one and the same person simultaneously and at the same time, for the sake of preserving unity in the Sacrament and signifying unity in our Mediator.
Again, since our salvation required to be begun through regeneration or renewal in the being of grace conferring spiritual being, by cleansing uncleanness, driving out darkness, and cooling concupiscence, which universally weakens every human being descending seminally from Adam: hence it is that the first Sacrament, which is regenerative, ought to be performed in an element that would have conformity through natural representation to the threefold effect aforesaid of the grace that begins our salvation. Since therefore water by its purity cleanses, by its transparency is a conveyor of light, by its coldness cools, and is the most common of all liquids to all people: hence it is that the Sacrament of our regeneration ought to be accomplished in the element of water without distinction, because "all water is the same in species as every other water," and also lest anyone on account of a lack of the element should be able to incur danger to salvation.
Finally, since our disease, against which baptism is principally directed, is original sin, which deprives the soul of the life of grace and of the rectifying capacity of all the virtues and in a certain way renders it prone to every kind of fault, and is transmitted from another and "makes the infant inclined to concupiscence and the adult actually concupiscent," and also reduces one to diabolical servitude and to the power of the prince of darkness: hence it is that, in order that through this Sacrament a sufficient medicinal remedy may be applied by way of contrariety, it is fitting that there be given in it a grace that regenerates against the privation of the gratuitous life, a grace that rectifies in sevenfold virtue against the privation of the capacitating virtue, a grace that purifies from all fault against the proneness to every vicious disorder. And since original sin is contracted from another and makes the infant inclined to concupiscence and the adult actually concupiscent, one's own faith and repentance are necessary for the adult, but for the infant the faith of another suffices, namely that which is in the universal Church. But since baptism ought to rescue from the servitude of the devil and from the power of the prince of darkness infants as well as adults, hence it is that both must be exorcized for the expulsion of the opposing power, and both must also be catechized: adults, so that, with the darkness of error expelled, they may be formed in the faith; infants, however, so that the sponsors may know what they ought to teach them, lest through human deficiency the Sacrament of baptism be hindered from achieving its end.