The Configuration of the Sacramental Character

THE CONFIGURATION OF THE SACRAMENTAL CHARACTER IN THE Council of Trent the Church has solemnly defined that three sacraments, Baptism, Confirmation and Holy Orders, impress on the soul an indelible mark, by reason of which these sacraments cannot be repeated.1 In virtue of this definition, therefore, it is necessary to believe in the existence of a sacramental character. It is also necessary to believe, in virtue of this same definition, that the mark impressed by the sacraments, and called a character, is a spiritual and supernatural quality inhering in the soul, distinct from divine grace.2 In regard to the indelibility of the sacramental character mentioned in the definition of the Church, it is a matter of faith that the character remains at least during the earthly life of the one receiving it. The doctrine that the character endures forever, that is, in the souls both of the glorified and the damned, is at least theologically certain, if not a matter of faith.8 Theologians have for a long time investigated the nature of the sacramental character to determine its precise nature as a quality and its immediate subject of inherence. Nothing has been defined by the Church in regard to these questions, but the doctrine of St. Thomas that the sacramental character effects in the soul a participation in the priesthood of Christ can be said to be theologically certain by reason of common accep1 Sessio VII, can. 9: Si quis dixerit in tribus sacramentis, baptismo, scilicet, confirmatione et ordine, non imprimi characterem in anima, hoc est signum quoddam spirituale et indelibile, unde ea iterari non possunt; A. S. Cf. Denzinger, Enckiridion Symbolorum, 852. • Cf. B. Durst, "De Characteribus Sacramentalibus," in Xenia Thomistica, IT, p. 551. 8 Ibid. 458 CONFIGURATION OF THE SACRAMENTAL CHARACTER 459 tance by theologians. The question, however, as to the precise way in which this participation in the priesthood of Christ is effected by the sacramental character is again a matter of free discussion. Since the twelfth and thirteenth centuries, when theologians began to scrutinize minutely the nature of the character, it has been described as a sign that is distinctive, configurative, dispositive and obligatory. What particular meanings these terms have depends largely upon the particular theologian's views concerning the nature of the character (that is, the category of being to which it belongs) and the function exercised by the character in the causation of grace. The main points of St. Thomas' doctrine regarding the sacramental character can be reduced to the following statements. The sacramental characters are impressed by the sacraments of Baptism, Confirmation and Holy Orders. The characters are either active or passive instrumental potencies which effect in the soul various configurations to Christ the Priest. The immediate subject of the character is the intellect, since the function of the character is exercised in the reception or administration of the sacraments, which are protestations of the faith. Since faith resides in the intellect, so does the character. Furthermore , since the intellect is incorruptible and the priesthood of Christ eternal, the character is indelible. The purpose of the present study is to investigate the nature of the configuration to Christ effected by the sacramental character .. It will be assumed in this study that the doctrine of St. Thomas is true, not only as it regards the sacramental character directly, but also as it concerns the physical causation of grace by the sacraments. There will be no discussion, then, as to the merits and demerits of other systems which variously assign the nature (i.e., the category) of the character, its subject of residence , or the cause of its impression. Since St. Thomas usually employs the term configuration to signify the likeness impressed in the soul by the sacramental character, that usage will be observed in the following pages. 460 S'l'EPHEN MCCORMACK This study will serve, it is hoped, to establish a basis for contrasting the likeness to Christ effected in the soul by the sacramental character and that effected by grace, referred to by St. Thomas as a conformity.4 The question of sacramental configuration is properly a Scholastic problem. Although the teaching of the Scholastics regarding the nature of...