Bellarmine · De Controversiis · On the Sacraments in General · Book I: On the Nature and Causes of the Sacrament
Chapter 23: That Christ alone is the author of the Sacraments
Our translation, from the Latin of the Opera Omnia (Paris: Vivès, 1870–74), vol. III, De Sacramentis in Genere, Book I: On the Nature and Causes of the Sacrament. The Latin source text is public domain; this English rendering is released with the site. Scripture quotations follow Bellarmine's Vulgate citations, rendered in Douay-Rheims wording where he quotes exactly. Click “Show the Latin” for the original (raw OCR of the scan; scanning errors remain — the scan itself is the authority).
Concerning the efficient cause of the Sacraments there are four controversies, as many also as there are canons on this matter in the Council of Trent session 7. But that these may be more easily understood, it is to be observed that a threefold efficient cause in the Sacraments is considered by the Theologians. One principal and altogether independent, in which they say there is the power of authority. Another instrumental, but of a conjoined instrument, in which they say there is the power of excellence. A third instrumental, but of a separated instrument, in which they say there is the ministerial power. The first cause, by the consent of all, is God; for he alone from his authority can give grace, and accordingly institute Sacraments which effect grace, or even infallibly signify it. The second cause is Christ as man; for the humanity of Christ is an instrument conjoined to the divinity hypostatically, and therefore to Christ as man is attributed a certain power — ministerial indeed, because it is derived from the divinity, yet it is called a power of excellence, because it belongs to Christ alone. The third cause is any other minister of the Sacraments. Of the first cause there is no question; of the second there is one controversy; of the third, three.
The first question, then, is whether the author of the Sacraments of the new law is Christ alone. The adversaries teach two things. First, that the Sacraments which alone they think true Sacraments were instituted by Christ alone — namely Baptism and the Eucharist — the rest not instituted by Christ. So teach Calvin in the Antidote to the Council session 7 canon 1, and Kemnitz in the second part of the Examen page 13. And Kemnitz cites Cyprian in the sermon On the washing of the feet; likewise Hugh, book 2 On the Sacraments part 15 chapter 2, and Peter Lombard, book 4 distinction 23, who deny that all the Sacraments were instituted by Christ. He could have added Alexander of Hales, who part 4 question 24 member 1 says that the Sacrament of Confirmation was instituted after the death of the Apostles by the Church in the Council of Meaux. The same St. Bonaventure seems to hold, in book 4 distinction 7 article 1 question 1. Besides, the same Alexander, question 59 member 3, and Bonaventure distinction 17 article 1 question 3, and Marsilius in book 4 question 14, say that the Sacrament of Penance was instituted not by Christ, but by the Apostles.
Against this error the Council of Trent set, session 7, canon 1, which is such: “If anyone shall say that the Sacraments of the new law were not all instituted by Jesus Christ our Lord, let him be anathema.” Which canon ought not to be so understood as though the Council would have the Sacraments instituted by Christ either immediately or mediately, but only immediately; for otherwise the Council would have set that canon in vain, since no one ever doubted that at least mediately the Sacraments were instituted by God. Besides, the same Council, session 14 canon 1, treating of the Sacrament of Extreme Unction, explains itself, when it says that that Sacrament was instituted by Christ himself, but promulgated by blessed James the Apostle. Finally, if Christ had instituted the Sacraments only mediately, the same could be said of the Sacraments and of all other Ecclesiastical ceremonies; for all are instituted by Christ mediately, since, namely, he gave the Church the power of instituting, and inspired her to institute, and assisted her lest she err in instituting; and yet the same Council does not speak in the same way of the Sacraments and of the other ceremonies. For session 21 chapter 2 it says that the Church has the power of changing and instituting concerning the Sacraments, their substance however being safe.
This most true opinion of the Council, then, can be confirmed by these reasons. First, in the Scriptures the Apostles are called nothing but dispensers and ministers of the mysteries of God, as 1 Corinthians 4: Let a man so account of us as of the ministers of Christ, and the dispensers of the mysteries of God. They did not, then, themselves institute, but only promulgated and ministered the Sacraments instituted by Christ. Second, the Sacraments of the old law were instituted immediately by God, but only promulgated by Moses, as is plain from the books of Exodus and Leviticus, where always, when something new is instituted, we read: The Lord spoke to Moses; much more, then, was it fitting that the more excellent Sacraments of the new law be instituted by God himself. Third, the Fathers affirm this. Cyprian, or whoever is the author, in the sermon On the washing of the feet: “He himself,” he says, “the high priest, is the institutor and author of his own Sacrament; in the rest men had the Holy Spirit as their teacher.” Where you see not Sacraments (as Kemnitz falsely cited) but certain other rites instituted by men, on Cyprian's authority. Ambrose book 4 On the Sacraments chapter 4: “Who is the author of the Sacraments,” he says, “but the Lord Jesus?” Augustine book 3 On Christian doctrine chapter 9 says that first the Lord himself, then the Apostolic discipline, handed down the Sacraments to the Churches. The same in epistle 118 chapter 1 makes God the author of the Sacraments.
But to the testimonies which Kemnitz alleges we answer: Cyprian has the contrary, as we showed above. And that Hugh and Lombard by “institution” meant to understand promulgation; in the way that the old law too is called the law of Moses, when yet Moses did not properly institute it, but only promulgated it. The same can be answered to the testimonies of those who say that the Sacrament of Penance was instituted by the Apostles. For the same men say that Christ instituted Absolution and intimated Confession; wherefore they leave to the Apostles not so much the institution as the declaration, though they themselves call it institution. But what Alexander and Bonaventure say of the Sacrament of Confirmation cannot be defended. For it is established, by the testimony of Pope Fabian, of Dionysius the Areopagite, of Cyprian, Tertullian, and other ancients, that the Sacrament of Confirmation was long before the times of the Council of Meaux. See Dionysius On the ecclesiastical hierarchy, chapter On Baptism; Tertullian in the book On the resurrection of the flesh; Fabian in the epistle to the Orientals; Cyprian book 2 epistle 1 and in the sermon On Chrism. But neither did that Council decree anything else than that those who approach the Sacrament of Confirmation be fasting, as is plain from Gratian, canon Ut Episcopi, On consecration distinction 5; for nothing else exists from this Council. On this whole question more will be said when the several Sacraments are treated.
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CAPUT XXIII. Auctorem Sacramentorum solum esse Christum. De causa efficiente Sacramentorum, qua- tuor sunt controversiae, quot sunt etiam canones de hac re in Concilio Tridentino sess. VII. Ut autem ha;c facilius intelligan- tur, observandum est triplicem causam ef¬ ficientem in Sacramentis a Theologis consi¬ derari. L nain principalem, et omnino inde- pendentem, in qua dicunt esse potestatem auctoritatis. 398 LIBER I. Alteram inslmmentalem, sed instrumenti conjuncti, in qua dicunt esse potestatem ex¬ cellentia?. Tertiam instrumentalem, sed in¬ strumenti separati; in qua dicunt esse po¬ testatem ministerialem. Prima causa omnium consensu est Deus, ipse enim solus ex auctoritate gratiam dare potest, et proinde Sacramenta instituere, quse gratiam efficiunt, aut etiam infallibili— ter significant. Secunda causa est Christus ut homo; Christi enim humanitas est instru¬ mentum conjunctum divinitati hypostatice, et ideo Christo ut homini tribuitur quaedam potestas ministerialis quidem, quia derivata est a divinitate, tamen excellentiae potes¬ tas dicitur, quia soli Christo convenit. Ter¬ tia causa est quilibet alius minister Sacra¬ mentorum. De t . causa nulla est quaestio, de 2. una controversia est, de 3. tres. Prima igitur quaestio est; An auctor Sa¬ cramentorum novae legis sit solus Christus. Adversarii duo quaedam docent. Primo, Sa¬ cramenta, quae sola ipsi vera Sacramenta putant, a solo Christo esse instituta , nimi¬ rum Baptismum , et Eucharistiam , caetera non a Christo instituta. Ita docent Calvinus in Antidoto Concilii, sess. VII, can. 1. et Kemnitius in 2. part. Examinis, pag. 13. Ci¬ tat autem Kemnitius Cyprianum, in sermo- mone de ablutione pedum ; item Hugonem, lib. II de Sacramentis, part. 15, cap. 2. et Petrum Lombardum, lib. IV, dist. 23. qui negant omnia Sacramenta a Christo institu¬ ta fuisse. Poterat addere Alexandrum Alen- sem , qui IV. part. qusest. 2-4. membro 1. dicit, Sacramentum Confirmationispost mor¬ tem Apostolorum institutum esse ab Eccle¬ sia in Concilio Meldensi. Idem sentire vide¬ tur S. Bonaventura, in IV. dist. 7 , art. 1, qusest. 1. Praeterea idem Alexander, qua;st. 59, memb.3. et Bonaventura dist. 17, art. 1, qua?st. 3. et Marsilius in IV. qusest. 14. di¬ cunt, Sacramentum Pcenitentiae non fuisse a Christo institutum, sed ab Apostolis. Adversus errorem -hunc posuit Concilium Trident. sess. VII, canonem 1. qui talis est: «Si quis dixerit, Sacramenta nova? legis, non esse omnia a Jesu Christo Domino nos¬ tro instituta, anathema sit. » Qui canon non debet ita intelligi, quasi Concilium velit Sa¬ cramenta instituta esse a Christo immediate, vel mediale; sed solum immediate : nam alioqui Concilium frustra canonem istum posuisset; cum nemo unquam dubitaverit, quin saltem mediate Sacramenta a Deo sint instituta. Pra?terea idem Concilium, sess, XIV. can. 1. agens de Sacramento Unctionis extremse, seipsum explicat, cum ait: Sacra¬ mentum illud ab ipso Christo institutum fuisse, sed a B. Jacobo Apostolo promulga¬ tum. Denique , si tantum mediate Christus Sacramenta instituisset, idem dici posset de Sacramentis , et de aliis omnibus cseremo- niis Ecclesiasticis : omnes enim sunt aChris- to mediate instituta?, quia nimirum dedit Ecclesia? potestatem instituendi, et inspira¬ vit, ut institueret, et astitit ne erraret in in¬ stituendo; et tamen idem Concilium non eo¬ dem modo loquitur de Sacramentis , et de aliis ca?remoniis. Nam sess. XXI, cap. 2. di¬ cit, Ecclesiam habere potestatem mutandi, et instituendi circa Sacramenta, salva tamen eorum substantia. Hsec igitur verissima Concilii sententia confirmari potest his rationibus. Primo, in Scripturis Apostoli non vocantur nisi dispen¬ satores, et ministri mysteriorum Dei , ut I. Corinth. IV : Si nos existimet homo, ut minis¬ tros Christi , et dispensatores mysteriorum Dei (I). Non igitur instituerunt ipsi, sed so¬ lum promulgarunt , et ministrarunt Sacra¬ menta a Christo instituta. Secundo, Sacramenta legis veteris a Deo immediate sunt instituta, a Moyse autem so¬ lum promulgata, ut patet ex libris Exodi, et Levitici, ubi semper cum aliquid novi insti¬ tuitur, legimus : Locutus est Dominus ad Moysem ; multo igitur magis par erat, ut Sa¬ cramenta novse legis praestantiora ab ipso Deo instituerentur. Tertio , id Patres affirmant. Cyprianus, sive quicumque est auctor , in sermone de ablutione pedum : « Ipse, inquit, summus sacerdos sui est Sacramenti institutor , et auctor : in cmteris homines Spiritum sanc¬ tum habuere doctorem. » Ubi vides non Sa¬ cramenta (ut Kemnitius falso citabat) sed quosdam alios ritus ab hominibus institutos, auctore Cypriano. Ambrosius lib. IV de Sa¬ cramentis cap. 4 : « Auctor, inquit, Sacra¬ mentorum quis est , nisi Dominus Jesus ? » Augustinus lib. III. doctiin. Cbrist. cap. 9. dicit primo ipsum Dominum, deinde Apusto- licam disciplinam tradidisse Ecclesiis Sacra¬ menta. Idem in epist. M8, c. i. Sacramen¬ torum auctorem Deum facit. (1) I. Cor. IV, 1.