A5: What Is Grace? | Saint School

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Grace is God's love creating a special quality in the centre of our souls, elevating us to know and love as the Trinity knows and loves. Three types: Sanctifying grace (permanent state of friendshi...

Grace is God's love creating a special quality in the centre of our souls, elevating us to know and love as the Trinity knows and loves. Three types: Sanctifying grace (permanent state of friendship with God), Actual grace (temporary divine help for specific moments), Charismatic grace (gifts given for serving others, not for personal holiness). (Ep 205)

To appreciate the full significance of this teaching, it helps to situate it within the broader framework of the Catholic spiritual tradition. The great masters of the interior life — Teresa of Avila, John of the Cross, Francis de Sales, and Ignatius of Loyola — each brought their distinctive charism and experience to bear on questions like this one. Their convergent testimony, spanning centuries and diverse vocations, gives this teaching a depth and authority that goes far beyond any single author's perspective.

Understanding "what is grace?" requires attending to both its doctrinal foundations and its practical implications. The Catholic tradition insists that authentic spiritual knowledge is never merely theoretical — it must be tested in prayer, refined through experience, and ultimately verified by its fruits in the life of the soul. This is why the Church's greatest teachers on the spiritual life are not only theologians but saints — men and women who lived what they taught, and whose writings carry the authority of verified experience.

At the same time, the tradition is careful to anchor experiential testimony in sound doctrine. The Doctors of the Church do not simply report their own experiences; they interpret those experiences in light of Scripture, the Fathers, and the Church's magisterial teaching. This integration of experience and doctrine is one of the defining characteristics of Catholic spiritual theology, and it is what gives the tradition its remarkable combination of depth and reliability.

The richness of the tradition becomes apparent when we listen to the voices of the masters themselves. Each brings a distinctive perspective to this teaching, yet all converge on its essential truth.

St. Thomas Aquinas writes:

But you say, the Father is called God with the addition of the article, the Son without it. What say you then, when the Apostle writes, The great God and our Savior Jesus Christ; and again, Who is over all, God; and Grace be unto you and peace from God our Father; without the article?

(Source: catena_aurea_john.txt)

St. Teresa of Avila writes:

Teresa. The seeds of discord are sown between the old friars and the reformed. In May S. John of the Cross made confessor to the nuns of the Incarnation. Great graces bestowed on the Saint while in the monastery of the Incarnation: the mystical betrothal : and the ecstasy in the parlour while speaking to S.

(Source: book_of_foundations.txt)

St. John of the Cross writes:

How joy in them is to be directed unto God ., . . ° + 331 The evils resulting from the will’s rejoicing in this kind of goods, - 334 The benefits of self-denial in the joy of supernatural graces + 329 ° . . 349 x CONTENTS, PAG o The sixth kind of goods in which the will ae Their nature.

(Source: ascent_of_mount_carmel.txt)

St. Francis de Sales writes:

The notes are the special feature, the special disgrace, of this edition.

(Source: 03_catholic_controversy.txt)

St. Ignatius of Loyola writes:

Ignatius, as he lay wounded in his brother's house, read the lives of the saints to while away the time. Touched by grace, he cried, "What St. Francis and St. Dominic have done, that, by God's grace, I will do."

(Source: autobiography_oconor_1900.txt)

The Church Fathers writes:

Thy handmaid, Thy servant.” But this I knew not; and rushed on headlong with such blindness, that amongst my equals I was ashamed to be less shameless, when I heard them pluming themselves upon their disgraceful acts, yea, and glorying all the more in proportion to the greatness of their baseness; and I took pleasure in doing it, not for.

(Source: Confessiones_english.txt)

The Catechism (PD) writes:

"I congratulate you on the good which it is likely to do." Most Rev. William Henry Elder, D.D., Archbishop of Cincinnati: "I think the work will be a very serviceable one. I hope it will meet with great success." Most Rev. Thomas L. Grace, D.D., Archbishop of Siunia: "Your book entitled An Explanation of the Baltimore Catechism supplies a want which is generally felt by the clergy and others.

(Source: baltimore_catechism.txt)

St. Thomas Aquinas writes:

As Esaias was sent on his commission, not from any place out of the world, but from where he saw the Lord sitting upon His high and lofty throne; in like manner John was sent from the desert to baptize; for he says, He that sent me to baptize with water, the same said to me, Upon Whom you shall see the Spirit descending, and remaining on Him, the same is He which baptizes with the Holy Ghost.

(Source: catena_aurea_john.txt)

The Church's doctrinal tradition provides authoritative grounding for this teaching. Proposition T2.O.001 (de_fide) states:

Adam, the first man, transgressed the commandment of God and by his sin lost the original holiness and justice in which he had been constituted. This sin of Adam is transmitted to all his descendants by propagation, not by imitation, so that it is proper to each.

Scripture: ['Wherefore as by one man sin entered into this world, and by sin death; and so death passed upon all men, in whom all have sinned.', 'For as in Adam...
Aquinas: ['Original sin is the privation of original justice, and besides this, the inordinate disposition of the parts of the soul. Hence original sin is not...
Councils: ['If any one does not confess that the first man, Adam, when he had transgressed the commandment of God in Paradise, immediately lost the holiness...

Additionally, proposition T2.O.003 (de_fide) affirms: By his sin Adam lost sanctifying grace and the preternatural gifts — not for himself alone but for all his posterity. All human beings born of Adam by natural descent are deprived of original justice and subject to death, suffering, ignorance, and concupiscence.

For the engaged learner, understanding "what is grace?" opens a path to deeper prayer and more fruitful cooperation with grace. The sources cited above show that this is not abstract theology but a lived reality that has shaped the spiritual lives of countless saints and ordinary Christians across two millennia.

The practical challenge is to take this teaching into one's own prayer and daily life. This might begin with reflective reading of one or more of the sources quoted above, followed by prayerful consideration of how this teaching applies to one's current spiritual situation. The tradition consistently emphasises that spiritual growth comes not from accumulating information but from allowing truth to penetrate the heart through prayer, sacramental life, and faithful practice.

As St. Francis de Sales reminds us, the devout life is possible in every state — what matters is not extraordinary circumstances but extraordinary love applied to ordinary duties. This teaching invites precisely that kind of response: a deepening of one's relationship with God through understanding and practice, sustained by the rich resources of the tradition.

Doctrinal Foundation

T2.O.001 (De fide (defined dogma)): Adam, the first man, transgressed the commandment of God and by his sin lost the original holiness and justice in which he had been constituted. This sin of Adam is transmitted to all his descendants by propagation, not by imitation, so that it is proper to each.

Scripture: Wherefore as by one man sin entered into this world, and by sin death; and so death passed upon all men, in whom all have sinned.
Aquinas: Original sin is the privation of original justice, and besides this, the inordinate disposition of the parts of the soul. Hence original sin is not pure privation, but is an inordinate disposition.
Fathers: Sin came from the will of one man, Adam, and spread to the whole human race... not by imitation but by propagation.

T2.O.003 (De fide (defined dogma)): By his sin Adam lost sanctifying grace and the preternatural gifts — not for himself alone but for all his posterity. All human beings born of Adam by natural descent are deprived of original justice and subject to death, suffering, ignorance, and concupiscence.

Scripture: For as by the disobedience of one man, many were made sinners.
Aquinas: The first man being the principle of human nature, original justice flowed from him to all his descendants.
Fathers: Through one man sin entered the world... and no one of his posterity, not even the infant whose life has been but a day upon the earth, is free from that sin.

T2.O.004 (De fide (defined dogma)): Original sin is transmitted from Adam to all his descendants by way of natural generation, not by imitation. Every human being conceived naturally inherits original sin by the very fact of descent from Adam.

Scripture: Behold I was conceived in iniquities; and in sins did my mother conceive me.
Aquinas: Original sin is transmitted by the act of generation... because all who are born of Adam may be considered as one man, inasmuch as they have one common nature received from the first parent.
Fathers: It is not by imitation that the whole human race has derived sin from Adam; but by propagation. For the Apostle says, 'In whom all have sinned,' not 'in imitation of whom all have sinned.'

From the Sources

St. Thomas Aquinas (catena_aurea_john.txt):

But you say, the Father is called God with the addition of the article, the Son without it. What say you then, when the Apostle writes, The great God and our Savior Jesus Christ; and again, Who is over all, God; and Grace be unto you and peace from God our Father; without the article? Besides, too, it were superfluous here, to affix what had been affixed just before. So that it does not follow, though the article is not affixed to the Son, that He is therefore an inferior God.

St. Thomas Aquinas (catena_aurea_john.txt):

As Esaias was sent on his commission, not from any place out of the world, but from where he saw the Lord sitting upon His high and lofty throne; in like manner John was sent from the desert to baptize; for he says, He that sent me to baptize with water, the same said to me, Upon Whom you shall see the Spirit descending, and remaining on Him, the same is He which baptizes with the Holy Ghost. AUG. What was he called? whose name was John?

St. Teresa of Avila (book_of_foundations.txt):

Teresa. The seeds of discord are sown between the old friars and the reformed. In May S. John of the Cross made confessor to the nuns of the Incarnation. Great graces bestowed on the Saint while in the monastery of the Incarnation: the mystical betrothal : and the ecstasy in the parlour while speaking to S. John of the Cross. The spiritual challenge from the friars of Pastrana.

St. Teresa of Avila (book_of_foundations.txt):

It may be held for certain that everything will be truly told, without any exaggeration whatever, to the.

Doctrinal Foundation

Scripture: Wherefore as by one man sin entered into this world, and by sin death; and so death passed upon all men, in whom all have sinned.
Aquinas: Original sin is the privation of original justice, and besides this, the inordinate disposition of the parts of the soul. Hence original sin is not pure privation, but is an inordinate disposition.
Fathers: Sin came from the will of one man, Adam, and spread to the whole human race... not by imitation but by propagation.

Scripture: For as by the disobedience of one man, many were made sinners.
Aquinas: The first man being the principle of human nature, original justice flowed from him to all his descendants.
Fathers: Through one man sin entered the world... and no one of his posterity, not even the infant whose life has been but a day upon the earth, is free from that sin.

Scripture: Behold I was conceived in iniquities; and in sins did my mother conceive me.
Aquinas: Original sin is transmitted by the act of generation... because all who are born of Adam may be considered as one man, inasmuch as they have one common nature received from the first parent.
Fathers: It is not by imitation that the whole human race has derived sin from Adam; but by propagation. For the Apostle says, 'In whom all have sinned,' not 'in imitation of whom all have sinned.'

From the Sources

St. Thomas Aquinas (catena_aurea_john.txt):

But you say, the Father is called God with the addition of the article, the Son without it. What say you then, when the Apostle writes, The great God and our Savior Jesus Christ; and again, Who is over all, God; and Grace be unto you and peace from God our Father; without the article? Besides, too, it were superfluous here, to affix what had been affixed just before. So that it does not follow, though the article is not affixed to the Son, that He is therefore an inferior God.

St. Thomas Aquinas (catena_aurea_john.txt):

As Esaias was sent on his commission, not from any place out of the world, but from where he saw the Lord sitting upon His high and lofty throne; in like manner John was sent from the desert to baptize; for he says, He that sent me to baptize with water, the same said to me, Upon Whom you shall see the Spirit descending, and remaining on Him, the same is He which baptizes with the Holy Ghost. AUG. What was he called? whose name was John?

St. Teresa of Avila (book_of_foundations.txt):

Teresa. The seeds of discord are sown between the old friars and the reformed. In May S. John of the Cross made confessor to the nuns of the Incarnation. Great graces bestowed on the Saint while in the monastery of the Incarnation: the mystical betrothal : and the ecstasy in the parlour while speaking to S. John of the Cross. The spiritual challenge from the friars of Pastrana.

St. Teresa of Avila (book_of_foundations.txt):

It may be held for certain that everything will be truly told, without any exaggeration whatever, to the.

Extended Doctrinal Analysis

T4.G.001 (De fide (defined dogma)): There exists a supernatural intervention of God in the faculties of the soul which precedes the free act of the will. This is called actual grace.

T4.G.002 (De fide (defined dogma)): Sanctifying grace is a permanent supernatural quality of the soul, a habitual gift infused by God, by which the justified person is made holy and pleasing to God and a partaker of the divine nature.

T4.G.003 (De fide (defined dogma)): Fallen man cannot, by his natural powers alone and without divine grace, perform salutary acts which lead to eternal salvation. Grace is absolutely necessary for the beginning of faith and for every salutary act.

T4.G.004 (De fide (defined dogma)): Justification is a true interior transformation of the sinner, not merely an external imputation of Christ's righteousness. The justified person is truly made righteous and holy by the infusion of sanctifying grace.

T4.G.005 (De fide (defined dogma)): The grace of justification can be lost through mortal sin. The justified person is not assured of final perseverance without a special privilege of God.

T4.G.006 (De fide (defined dogma)): The human will remains free under the influence of efficacious grace. Grace does not destroy or suppress freedom but perfects it. Man cooperates freely with grace.

T4.G.007 (De fide (defined dogma)): God gives sufficient grace to all the just for the observance of the divine commandments. God does not command the impossible, but by commanding admonishes us to do what we can and to pray for what we cannot.

T4.G.009 (De fide (defined dogma)): The justified person can truly merit an increase of sanctifying grace, eternal life, and an increase of heavenly glory by good works performed in the state of grace and under the influence of actual grace.

T4.G.015 (sententia_certa): Grace which confers the power to perform a salutary act but with which the act may not follow is called sufficient grace. Grace which infallibly produces the free salutary act is called efficacious grace. All who receive sufficient grace are truly enabled to act, but not all cooperate with it.

T4.G.017 (De fide (defined dogma)): Through sanctifying grace, the Holy Trinity dwells in the soul of the just person in a special manner. The justified soul becomes a living temple of the Holy Spirit, and this indwelling is a real, not merely metaphorical, divine presence.

T4.G.018 (De fide (defined dogma)): Through sanctifying grace, the just person is constituted an adoptive child of God and an heir of eternal life. This divine adoption is not a mere legal fiction but a real participation in the divine nature.

T4.G.019 (De fide (defined dogma)): Sanctifying grace can be increased in the soul by good works performed in the state of grace and by the worthy reception of the sacraments. The just person grows in holiness by cooperating with divine grace.

T4.G.020 (De fide (defined dogma)): Together with sanctifying grace, God infuses into the soul the three theological virtues of faith, hope, and charity. These supernatural habits are not acquired by natural effort but are freely given by God as part of the gift of justification.

T4.G.021 (De fide (defined dogma)): Faith is the theological virtue by which the intellect, moved by grace and under the command of the will, firmly assents to all that God has revealed — not because of the intrinsic evidence of the truths but on the authority of God Himself who reveals and who can neither deceive nor be deceived.

T4.G.022 (De fide (defined dogma)): Hope is the theological virtue by which the will, trusting in the divine promises and relying on the help of grace, confidently expects eternal life as the happiness God has prepared for those who love Him, and the graces necessary to attain it.

T4.G.023 (De fide (defined dogma)): Charity is the theological virtue by which we love God above all things for His own sake, and our neighbour as ourselves for the love of God. Charity is the form of all the virtues, the bond of perfection, and the greatest of the theological virtues.

T4.G.024 (De fide (defined dogma)): The theological virtue of faith can exist without charity, in which case it is called unformed or dead faith (fides informis). Such faith, though truly supernatural, is not sufficient for justification. Only faith informed by charity (fides formata) justifies.

T4.G.025 (De fide (defined dogma)): The virtue of charity can be lost through mortal sin. When charity is lost, sanctifying grace is also lost, since charity is the form of grace. However, faith and hope may remain even after the loss of charity, unless they too are destroyed by sins directly opposed to them.

T4.G.026 (sententia_certa): The seven gifts of the Holy Spirit — wisdom, understanding, counsel, fortitude, knowledge, piety, and fear of the Lord — are infused into the soul together with sanctifying grace. They perfect the virtues and render the soul docile to the movements of the Holy Spirit.

T4.G.028 (sententia_certa): The entire supernatural order — sanctifying grace, the theological virtues, and the vision of God — is absolutely gratuitous. No creature, whether angelic or human, has any natural right or exigency to grace. The supernatural exceeds the capacity and demands of every created nature.

T4.G.030 (De fide (defined dogma)): The formal cause of justification is the justice of God — not that by which He Himself is just, but that by which He makes us just — namely, sanctifying grace inhering in the soul. The meritorious cause is the Passion of Christ. The instrumental cause is the sacrament of Baptism.

T4.G.031 (De fide (defined dogma)): The justified person truly possesses interior holiness, not merely an external declaration of righteousness. Justification is ontological — a real interior transformation of the soul — not merely forensic or extrinsic.

T4.G.032 (De fide (defined dogma)): No one can merit the initial grace of conversion or the first justification. Merit in the strict sense presupposes the state of grace. The beginning of faith, the call to repentance, and the first movements toward God are themselves gifts of grace, not earned by prior works.

T4.G.033 (sententia_certa): The just person can merit de condigno — that is, in strict justice before God — an increase of grace, eternal life, and an increase of heavenly glory. The just person can also merit de congruo — that is, by a certain fittingness — temporal graces for himself and spiritual graces for others.

T4.S.001 (De fide (defined dogma)): The sacraments of the New Law were all instituted by Jesus Christ. They are seven in number: Baptism, Confirmation, Eucharist, Penance, Anointing of the Sick, Holy Orders, and Matrimony.

T4.S.002 (De fide (defined dogma)): The sacraments of the New Law confer grace by the very performance of the sacramental action (ex opere operato), not merely by the faith or devotion of the recipient.

T4.S.003 (De fide (defined dogma)): Three sacraments — Baptism, Confirmation, and Holy Orders — imprint an indelible spiritual character on the soul and therefore cannot be received more than once.

T4.S.004 (De fide (defined dogma)): The sacraments of the New Law truly contain the grace they signify and confer it on those who do not place an obstacle in the way.

T4.S.005 (De fide (defined dogma)): The sacraments are necessary for salvation, though not all are necessary for each individual. Baptism is necessary for all; Penance is necessary for those who have fallen into mortal sin after Baptism.

T4.S.006 (De fide (defined dogma)): For the valid administration of a sacrament, the minister must intend at least to do what the Church does, even if he does not personally believe in the sacrament's efficacy.

T4.S.007 (De fide (defined dogma)): The validity of a sacrament does not depend on the faith or moral worthiness of the minister, provided that the minister uses the proper matter and form and intends to do what the Church does.

T4.S.008 (sententia_certa): Every sacrament consists of two elements: a material or sensible element (the matter) and the prescribed words (the form). The union of both, applied by an authorised minister, constitutes the sacramental sign.

T4.S.009 (De fide (defined dogma)): The sacraments of the New Law are superior to the sacraments of the Old Law. The rites of the Old Covenant only signified grace and prefigured it; the sacraments of the New Covenant truly contain and confer grace.

T4.S.010 (De fide (defined dogma)): Baptism is the sacrament of spiritual regeneration by which a person is incorporated into Christ and His Church, receives the remission of all sins (both original and personal), and is made a new creature through the infusion of sanctifying grace.

T4.S.012 (De fide (defined dogma)): The matter of Baptism is true and natural water. The form consists in the words "I baptize thee in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost." Both elements are essential for validity.

T4.S.013 (De fide (defined dogma)): In a case of necessity, any person — even one who is not baptized — can validly baptize, provided the person uses the proper matter and form and intends to do what the Church does.

T4.S.014 (De fide (defined dogma)): Baptism remits all sins — both original sin and all actual sins committed before Baptism — together with all punishment due to sin, whether eternal or temporal.

T4.S.015 (De fide (defined dogma)): Baptism imprints an indelible spiritual character on the soul, which configures the baptized person to Christ and permanently deputises him for Christian worship. Because of this character, Baptism can never be repeated.

T4.S.017 (De fide (defined dogma)): Infants can and should be baptized. The Baptism of infants is valid and licit, and the Church has always held this practice by apostolic tradition.

T4.S.018 (sententia_certa): Baptism incorporates the recipient into the Church — the Mystical Body of Christ — and confers the right to receive the other sacraments. Without Baptism, no other sacrament can be validly received.

T4.S.019 (sententia_certa): The three modes of Baptism — immersion, infusion (pouring), and aspersion (sprinkling) — are all valid. The essential requirement is the application of true natural water to the person together with the Trinitarian formula; no particular mode of application is necessary for validity.

T4.S.020 (De fide (defined dogma)): In the most holy sacrament of the Eucharist, the Body and Blood, together with the Soul and Divinity, of our Lord Jesus Christ are truly, really, and substantially present under the appearances of bread and wine.

T4.S.021 (De fide (defined dogma)): By the consecration of the bread and wine, the whole substance of the bread is converted into the substance of the Body of Christ, and the whole substance of the wine into the substance of His Blood. This change the Catholic Church fittingly calls transubstantiation.

T4.S.022 (De fide (defined dogma)): The Mass is a true and proper sacrifice, not merely a commemoration or representation of the sacrifice of the Cross, but a real propitiatory sacrifice offered to God for the living and the dead.

T4.S.023 (De fide (defined dogma)): Christ is present whole and entire under each Eucharistic species — under the appearance of bread alone and under the appearance of wine alone. By the force of natural concomitance, where the Body of Christ is, there also are His Blood, Soul, and Divinity; and where His Blood is, there also are His Body, Soul, and Divinity.

T4.S.024 (De fide (defined dogma)): After the breaking of the consecrated bread, Christ is present whole and entire in every fragment and in every part of each species, so that the division of the species does not divide Christ.

T4.S.025 (De fide (defined dogma)): The Real Presence of Christ in the Eucharist endures as long as the Eucharistic species (the appearances of bread and wine) remain. It does not cease after the celebration of the Mass.

T4.S.026 (De fide (defined dogma)): The Eucharist is to be worshipped with the supreme adoration of latria — the worship due to God alone — because Christ our Lord and God is truly, really, and substantially present in the sacrament. This worship includes adoration, exposition, and procession of the Blessed Sacrament.

T4.S.027 (De fide (defined dogma)): The essential form of the Eucharist consists in the words of consecration spoken by a validly ordained priest acting in the person of Christ: over the bread, "This is My Body," and over the wine, "This is the chalice of My Blood."

T4.S.028 (De fide (defined dogma)): Only a validly ordained priest possesses the power to consecrate the Eucharist. No deacon, religious, or layperson can confect this sacrament, regardless of sanctity or learning.

T4.S.029 (De fide (defined dogma)): Communion under one species alone — that is, under the appearance of bread only — is sufficient for salvation. The faithful who receive under one kind receive Christ whole and entire, and are not deprived of any grace necessary for salvation.

T4.S.030 (De fide (defined dogma)): Christ instituted the Sacrament of Penance for the reconciliation of the faithful who have fallen into sin after Baptism. Sacramental confession of mortal sins is necessary for salvation by divine law for all who have fallen after Baptism.

T4.S.031 (De fide (defined dogma)): The acts of the penitent — contrition, confession, and satisfaction — are the quasi-matter of the Sacrament of Penance. Perfect contrition, arising from the love of God, reconciles the sinner to God even before the actual reception of the sacrament, provided it includes the desire to confess.

T4.S.032 (De fide (defined dogma)): The minister of the Sacrament of Penance is a priest who holds jurisdiction (faculties) from the Church. No deacon or layperson can validly absolve sins.

T4.S.033 (De fide (defined dogma)): The absolution given by the priest in the Sacrament of Penance is a true judicial act, not merely a declaration or announcement that sins have been forgiven. The priest acts as judge, with the power to bind and to loose.

T4.S.034 (De fide (defined dogma)): The confession of all mortal sins according to their species and number, so far as they are remembered after diligent examination of conscience, is required by divine law and is necessary for salvation.

T4.S.037 (De fide (defined dogma)): Satisfaction — the penance imposed by the confessor — is a true part of the Sacrament of Penance. Through works of satisfaction (prayer, fasting, almsgiving, and other pious works), the temporal punishment due to sins already forgiven as to guilt is remitted in whole or in part.

T4.S.039 (sententia_certa): The Sacrament of Penance can be received repeatedly and as often as a Christian falls into sin. Unlike the sacraments that imprint a character, Penance imposes no limit on the number of times it may be received, and the faithful are encouraged to confess frequently.

T4.S.040 (De fide (defined dogma)): Confirmation is a true and proper sacrament of the New Law, distinct from Baptism, instituted by Christ our Lord.

T4.S.041 (De fide (defined dogma)): Confirmation confers the Holy Spirit in a special manner, strengthening the baptized person for the public profession, confession, and defence of the faith, and perfecting the grace received in Baptism.

T4.S.042 (De fide (defined dogma)): The ordinary minister of Confirmation is a bishop. By special delegation or by law, a priest may also validly and licitly confirm.

T4.S.043 (De fide (defined dogma)): Confirmation imprints an indelible spiritual character on the soul, distinct from the baptismal character. On account of this character, the sacrament of Confirmation cannot be received more than once.

T4.S.044 (sententia_certa): The matter of Confirmation is chrism — oil mixed with balsam, consecrated by the bishop. The form includes the invocation of the Holy Spirit with the laying on of hands or anointing, according to the rite approved by the Church.

T4.S.045 (Sententia communis (common teaching)): Confirmation increases sanctifying grace in the soul, confers the gifts of the Holy Spirit in fuller measure, and binds the confirmed person more perfectly to the Church and her mission of bearing witness to Christ.

T4.S.070 (De fide (defined dogma)): Holy Orders is a true and proper sacrament of the New Law, instituted by Christ our Lord. It is not merely a rite for choosing ministers of the Word and of the sacraments.

T4.S.071 (De fide (defined dogma)): The Sacrament of Holy Orders has three degrees: the episcopate (bishop), the presbyterate (priest), and the diaconate (deacon). These three constitute the divinely instituted hierarchy of the Church.

T4.S.072 (De fide (defined dogma)): Only a baptized male (vir) can validly receive the sacrament of Holy Orders. The Church has no authority to confer ordination on women, as this pertains to the substance of the sacrament as received from Christ.

T4.S.073 (De fide (defined dogma)): The bishop is the ordinary minister of the Sacrament of Holy Orders. He alone can confer all three degrees of the sacrament: the episcopate, the presbyterate, and the diaconate.

T4.S.074 (De fide (defined dogma)): Holy Orders imprints an indelible spiritual character on the soul of the ordained. By reason of this character, ordination at the same degree cannot be repeated, and the ordained person is permanently configured to Christ as priest.

T4.S.075 (De fide (defined dogma)): The ordained priest possesses the power to consecrate the Eucharist and to absolve sins in the Sacrament of Penance. These powers belong to the priesthood alone and cannot be exercised by any layperson.

T4.S.076 (De fide (defined dogma)): Episcopal consecration confers the fullness of the Sacrament of Holy Orders. The bishop possesses not only the power to offer the Eucharist and absolve sins, but also the power to ordain priests and deacons and to administer the Sacrament of Confirmation as its ordinary minister.

T4.S.077 (De fide (defined dogma)): The validity of an ordination does not depend on the personal holiness or moral state of the ordaining bishop or of the ordinand. It depends on the proper matter (imposition of hands), form (consecratory prayer), and intention to do what the Church does.

T4.S.078 (De fide (defined dogma)): The matter of the Sacrament of Holy Orders is the imposition of hands by the ordaining bishop. The form is the consecratory prayer by which the Holy Spirit and the grace proper to each degree of Orders are invoked upon the ordinand.

T4.S.080 (De fide (defined dogma)): The sacrifice of the Mass is not a new or different sacrifice from that of the Cross, but is the sacramental re-presentation of the one sacrifice of Calvary offered in an unbloody manner. Christ the Victim is one and the same; only the manner of offering differs.

T4.S.081 (De fide (defined dogma)): The Mass is a truly propitiatory sacrifice, offered for the living and the dead. Through it, God grants the grace of repentance and remits sins and temporal punishments due to sin. It may be lawfully offered for the relief of the souls in Purgatory.

T4.S.082 (De fide (defined dogma)): In the sacrifice of the Mass, Christ is both the Priest and the Victim. The ordained priest who celebrates Mass acts in the person of Christ (in persona Christi). Christ offers Himself through the ministry of His ordained priests.

T4.S.083 (sententia_certa): The fruits of the sacrifice of the Mass, though infinite in themselves by reason of the dignity of the Victim, are applied in a special manner to those for whom it is offered, to the celebrant, and to the faithful who participate. The Mass also benefits the whole Church, both militant and suffering.

T4.S.084 (De fide (defined dogma)): The Canon (Eucharistic Prayer) of the Mass does not contain error and has been composed under the guidance of the Holy Spirit. The traditional rites and ceremonies used in the celebration of Mass foster devotion and convey the mystery of the sacrifice; they are not to be condemned or carelessly abandoned.

T4.S.085 (De fide (defined dogma)): Masses in which the priest alone communicates sacramentally (so-called private Masses) are true, legitimate, and praiseworthy sacrifices. They are not merely communions of the priest alone but public acts of Christ and the Church, offered for the benefit of all the faithful.

T4.S.090 (sententia_certa): The Eucharist is the most excellent of all the sacraments, because it contains Christ Himself substantially, whereas the other sacraments contain only an instrumental power derived from Christ. The Eucharist is the end and consummation to which all the other sacraments are ordered.

T4.S.091 (De fide (defined dogma)): An unworthy reception of the Eucharist — that is, receiving Holy Communion in the state of mortal sin with knowledge and deliberation — is a grave sacrilege. The communicant eats and drinks judgement to himself by failing to discern the Body of the Lord.

Additional Sources

St. John of the Cross (ascent_of_mount_carmel.txt):

How joy in them is to be directed unto God ., . .

CHAPTER XXX. The evils resulting from the will’s rejoicing in this kind of goods, - 334 CHAPTER XXXI. The benefits of self-denial in the joy of supernatural graces

° . . 349

x CONTENTS,

PAG CHAPTER XXXII. o

The sixth kind of goods in which the will ae Their nature. The first division ofthem . : . ee + 342 CHAPTER XXXIII. Of the spiritual goods distinctly cognisable by the understanding and the

St. John of the Cross (ascent_of_mount_carmel.txt):

The ‘Ascent’ deals with the active purgation of the senses, the intellect and the will, that is with the need for, and the manner of, the complete mortification of these, as far as under the grace of God it depends on the power of man. The ‘Obscure Night’ treats of the passive purgation of the same faculties, brought about by Divine intervention which steps in where human endeavours fail.

St. Francis de Sales (03_catholic_controversy.txt):

The notes are the special feature, the special disgrace, of this edition.

St. Francis de Sales (03_catholic_controversy.txt):

What he did for a part we have done, in an English version, for the whole.

xvi Translator s Preface.

printed and which had the grace to omit the Gallican notes, but otherwise the text remained the same as in the previous editions, no serious attempt apparently being made to follow up Blaise's discovery. Even

St. Ignatius of Loyola (autobiography_oconor_1900.txt):

Ignatius, as he lay wounded in his brother's house, read the lives of the saints to while away the time. Touched by grace, he cried, "What St. Francis and St. Dominic have done, that, by God's grace, I will do." May this little book, in like manner, inspire its readers with the desire of imitating St.

St. Ignatius of Loyola (autobiography_oconor_1900.txt):

Ignatius, as he lay wounded in his brother's house, read the lives of the saints to while away the time. Touched by grace, he cried, "What St. Francis and St. Dominic have done, that, by God's grace, I will do." May this little book, in like manner, inspire its readers with the desire of imitating St.

Church Fathers (Confessiones_english.txt):

To shake and rob this some of us wanton young fellows went, late one night (having, according to our disgraceful habit, prolonged our games in the streets until then), and carried away great loads, not to eat ourselves, but to fling to the very swine, having only eaten some of them; and to do this pleased us all the more because it was not permitted.

Catechism sources (PD) (baltimore_catechism.txt):

"I congratulate you on the good which it is likely to do." Most Rev. William Henry Elder, D.D., Archbishop of Cincinnati: "I think the work will be a very serviceable one. I hope it will meet with great success." Most Rev. Thomas L. Grace, D.D., Archbishop of Siunia: "Your book entitled An Explanation of the Baltimore Catechism supplies a want which is generally felt by the clergy and others engaged in teaching Catechism.

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Doctrinal Foundation

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Doctrinal Foundation

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