THE SACRAMENTS (in common)

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1 THE SACRAMENTS (in common)

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3 THE SACRAMENTS (in common) AUSTIN MALONEY WOODBURY SM EDITED BY ANDREW FRANCIS WOOD DONUM DEI PRESS SYDNEY AUSTRALIA

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5 Original Manuscript: Austin Maloney Woodbury. The Sacraments in Common. Sydney: Aquinas Academy, Copyright 2016 All Rights Reserved Woodbury Family Trust Cover art: Baptism of Christ with Mary and Saint Dominic by Fra Angelico ( ) San Marco Monastery Florence (Upper Storey, Dormitory, Cell no.24) Cover design by Claudia Harb Grafikdesignfx Published in 2016 by Donum Dei Press, Sydney Australia 7 Boundary Street Berowra 2081 ISBN-13: ISBN-10: Printed in Australia

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7 CONTENTS Foreword v A Short Biography of Austin Maloney Woodbury v The Publication of Dr Austin Maloney Woodbury s Opera Omnia v About this Volume Error! Bookmark not defined. Introduction 1 Book One: The Sacraments in Common 3 Section One: Fittingness and Existence of Sacraments 4 Question One: Fittingness of Sacraments 5 Chapter One: Fittingness of Sacraments Given Adam s Sin 5 Question Two: Existence of Sacraments 9 Chapter Two: Existence of Sacraments Before Christ s Coming 9 Article One: Existence of Sacraments Under the Unwritten Law 10 Dissertation One: A True Sacrament Against Original Sin 13 Dissertation Two: Other Sacraments of the Unwritten Law 15 Article Two: Existence of Sacraments Under the Mosaic Law 15 Chapter Three: Existence of Sacraments after Christ s Coming 18 Article One: The Number of Sacraments of the New Law 19 Article Two: Order of the Sacraments of the New Law 35 Section Two: The Essence of the Sacrament 39 Chapter Four: The Essence of Sacraments Considered Metaphysically 40 Chapter Five: Essence of the Sacraments Considered Physically 64 ~ i ~

8 CONTENTS Article One: Matter and Form of the Sacraments 66 Article Two: Christ s Determination of the Matter and Form 75 Article Three: Union of Matter and Form in the Sacraments 86 Article Four: Changing of Matter and Form of the Sacraments to be Avoided 90 Section Three: Efficacy of the Sacraments 93 Chapter Six: Existence of Efficiency of the Sacraments 94 Chapter Seven: Nature of the Efficacy of the Sacraments 110 Article One: Nature of this Causality Outside Reviviscence 110 Dissertation One: Opinions of Theologians 111 Topic One: Moral Causality 111 Topic Two: Disposing Causality 115 Topic Three: Perficient Physical Causality 119 Dissertation Two: Solution of the Question 124 Topic One: Occasionalism 124 Topic Two: Moral Causality 125 Topic Three: Mysteries-Presence Theory 126 Topic Four: Physical Disposing Causality 127 Topic Five: Intentional Disposing Causality 128 Topic Six: Juridic Disposing Causality 131 Topic Seven: Perficient Physical Causality 131 Article Two: Nature of this Causality in Reviviscence 142 Article Three: Causality of the Sacraments of the Old Law 151 Section Four: Effects of the Sacraments 152 Chapter Eight: The Primary Effect, Which is Grace 152 Article One: The Grace Produced by the Sacraments 153 ~ ii ~

9 AUSTIN MALONEY WOODBURY Article Two: The Nature of Sacramental Grace 156 Article Three: The Measure of Sacramental Grace 161 Chapter Nine: The Secondary Effect, Which is the Character 164 Article One: Existence of the Character 164 Article Two: Essence of the Character 169 Article Three: Subject of the Sacramental Character 182 Article Four: Permanence of the Character 186 Section Five: Cause of the Sacraments 187 Question One: The Author of the Sacraments 187 Chapter Ten: The Author of the Sacraments 187 Question Two: Minister of the Sacraments 192 Chapter Eleven: Person of the Minister 192 Chapter Twelve: Qualities of the Minister 197 Article One: Qualities Required for Valid Administration 198 Article Two: Qualities Required for Lawful Administration 202 Chapter Thirteen: Intention Required in the Minister for Validity 208 Chapter Fourteen: Obligations of the Minister 217 Article One: Obligation to Confer Sacraments 217 Dissertation One: Obligation from Justice 218 Dissertation Two: Obligation from Charity 221 Article Two: Obligation of Refusing Sacraments 223 Article Three: Simulation and Dissimulation of Sacraments 229 Question Three: Subject of the Sacraments 231 Chapter Fifteen: Person of the Subject 231 Chapter Sixteen: Intention of the Subject 234 Chapter Seventeen: Qualities of the Subject 239 ~ iii ~

10 CONTENTS Article One: For Valid Reception of the Sacraments 240 Article Two: For Licit Reception of Sacraments 241 Appendix 245 Chapter Eighteen: The Sacramentals 245 Bibliography 248 General Index 254 Index of Names 259 ~ iv ~

11 FOREWORD In 1993 I received a grace which would change my life. I was invited by a friend to attend classes in philosophy and theology at Sydney s Centre for Thomistic Studies. I was nineteen years of age at the time, and although I had been raised in a good Catholic family, I knew relatively little about the teachings and thought of Saint Thomas Aquinas ( ). With my attendance at these classes all that would change! On that first night I attended a class on Metaphysics and another in an Introduction to Philosophy course. Both of which intrigued me greatly because of their ability to stimulate my mind, especially Alice Nelson s Metaphysics class. I was immediately drawn by the profound notes Alice distributed to her students. I had never seen anything like them. I later enquired of my friend if Alice had in fact written them herself; if not, who did? My friend was astonished at my question, a question which to me seemed quite logical. With a certain nonchalance he answered that they were written by The Doc. Who was this man they all called, The Doc, I asked? Was he alive or deceased? What was his life story? Dr Austin Maloney Woodbury ( ) was in fact a Marist Catholic priest who had taught Alice and many of her colleagues for over twenty years. These students of Woodbury, whom I met that night, would go on to teach me for the next thirteen years. And, as I later discovered, the notes Alice distributed that night, and in all her classes were, in fact, abridged versions of Woodbury s own writings. A Short Biography of Austin Maloney Woodbury Austin Maloney Woodbury was born on 2 March 1899 in the Woodbury family home of West View, 1 in the small hamlet of Spencer on the banks of the Hawkesbury River just north of Sydney, Australia. 2 He was a descendant of two convicts sent to Australia from England: the famous Matthew James Everingham 1 See Plates 8. and 9. on page xxiv below. 2 See Plate 3. on page xxi below. ~ v ~

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13 INTRODUCTION 1. ORDER OF PROCEDURE: In approaching the treatise on the sacraments of the Church, it befits us first to show the connection of this treatise with preceding treatises, so that a better understanding may be had of the doctrine to be explained. A. Thus St. Thomas Aquinas ( ), beginning his exposition on the sacraments writes, After the consideration of those things which pertain to the mysteries of the Incarnate Word, consideration is to be given to sacraments of the Church, which have their efficacy from the Incarnate Word himself. And the first consideration will be of the Sacraments in common. The second, of each sacrament in special. 1 a. Accordingly, the treatise on the sacraments is really nothing else than the continuation and a certain complement of the treatise on Christ the Saviour, as also indeed are the treatises of Mariology, and that of the Church, for the sacraments are certain divine relics of the Incarnation. 2 b. The sacraments, such as they exist in the Catholic Church, although they are deservedly called badge s, bonds, channels of grace, spiritual medicines, nevertheless are to be considered principally as separated instruments by which Christ himself infuses his grace into us. b1. It is, therefore, Christian grace which is conferred on us through the sacraments and it is, so to speak, the spiritual form of Christ which the sacrament causes within us, since they derive their institution and efficacy from the Incarnate Word: for every agent tends towards an effect specifically like itself. 1 See Sancti Thomae de Aquino, Opera omnia: iussu impensaque, Leonis XIII. P.M. edita (Romae: Ex Typographia Polyglotta S. C. de Propaganda Fide, ), Summa theologiæ, III, q.60, prologue. Editor s Note: For English translation see: Thomas Aquinas, Summa theologiæ, trans., Fathers of the English Dominican Province, Vols. 1-5 (Westminster, Merryland: Christian Classics, 1981). 2 Sancti Thomæ Aquinatis, Opera Omnia: Ad Fidem Optimarum Editionum Opuscula: Alia Dubia, ed., Ad Hannibaldum Hannibaldensem Romanum (Volumen Primum), t.xxii (Parmæ: Typis Petri Fiaccadori, 1868), De Sacramentiss: Prologus In IV Sent., (page 324). ~ 1 ~

14 THE SACRAMENTS IN COMMON b2. Therefore the countenance of the Church which takes its supernatural life, vigor and perfection from the sacraments of Christ, is the very countenance of her own Mystical Spouse: who loves the Church and gave himself up for her that he might sanctify her, cleansing her by bathing her in the water to which his word gave life that he might summon her into his own presence: the Church in all her beauty, no stain, no wrinkle, no disfigurement, but holy and without blemish. 3 c. Thus it is clear why the treatise on the sacraments is placed, not immediately after the treatise on grace, but after that on Christ the Saviour. c1. For divine grace would equally have been imparted to men, given their ordination to the end which is eternal life, even if Christ and his sacraments had not existed; the sacraments take their existence, nature, efficacy, and variety of graces from the Word of God made man for the repairing of the human race. c2. In them, and through them, the Saviour of the world lives and acts in his Mystical Body according to the promise made to the apostles: Going therefore teach ye all nations, baptising them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost, teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you; and behold I am with you all days even to the consummation of the world. 4 B. The office of the sacraments in Christ s Mystical Body has been, in our own time, most eloquently extolled by Pope Pius XII ( ) in these words: The human body, finally, has its own means for fostering the life, health, and growth of itself and each of its members. And the Saviour of the human race in his infinite goodness has in like manner admirably equipped his Mystical Body by endowing it with the Sacraments, making available for its members a progressive series of graces to sustain them from the cradle to their last breath and abundantly providing also for the social needs of the whole Body. 5 C. But since those things which are common to the sacraments are rightly considered before those things which are proper to each of them, this treatise will consider: 3 Eph. 5: Matt. 28: Mystici corporis Christi, encyclical of Pope Pius XII, 29 June 1943, in Acta Apostolicae Sedis 35 (1943): n.18 (Denzinger, n.2289; ES. 3812). Editor s Note: For English translation see: Pope Pius XII, Mystici Corporis Christi: Encyclical Letter on the Mystical Body of Christ (Mahwah, NJ: Paulist Press, 1943). ~ 2 ~

15 AUSTIN MALONEY WOODBURY a. First, the Sacraments in Common, b. Secondly, the Sacraments in Special. 6 D. Hence the following order: In Common Book One. On the Sacraments In Special on Baptism Book Two. on Confirmation Book Three. on Eucharist Book Four. on Penance Book Five. on Extreme Unction Book Six. on Orders Book Seven. on Matrimony Book Eight. BOOK ONE: THE SACRAMENTS IN COMMON 2. ORDER OF PROCEDURE: The treatment of the sacraments in common: A. Will consider: a. First, the fittingness and existence of sacraments. b. Secondly, the essence of the sacraments. c. Thirdly, the efficacy of the sacraments. d. Fourthly, the effects of the sacraments. e. Fifthly, the cause of the sacraments. f. Appendix on the Sacramentals. B. Hence the following order: 6 Editor s Note: Although Woodbury s intention was for this treatise to consider each sacrament in special, books two through eight were never completed. ~ 3 ~

16 THE SACRAMENTS IN COMMON On the Sacraments in common Fittingness and Existence of Sacraments Section One. The Essence of the Sacraments Section Two. Efficacy of the Sacraments Section Three. Effects of the Sacraments Section Four. Cause of the Sacraments Section Five. The Sacramentals Appendix. SECTION ONE: FITTINGNESS AND EXISTENCE OF SACRAMENTS 3. ORDER OF PROCEDURE: God wills all men to be saved, and to come to acknowledgement of the truth. 7 But salvation cannot be attained without habitual grace which is the sole formal cause of our justification. Accordingly man, who is born the son of wrath, 8 does not attain eternal life to which he is divinely called and ordered, without the grace which remits sins. A. Therefore the question arises regarding the ways whereby man can the more fittingly obtain grace and salvation. a. But it is proper to human nature that man be led through corporeal and sensible things to spiritual and intelligible things. 9 b. Therefore it is highly befitting that we reach knowledge and possession of grace and of eternal life through sensible means. B. But sacraments are nothing else than sensible signs sanctifying men on which account theologians enact the consideration of the fittingness of sacraments. 7 1 Tim. 2:4. 8 Eph. 2:3. 9 Summa theologiæ, III, q.61, a.1. ~ 4 ~

17 AUSTIN MALONEY WOODBURY a. But this fittingness being given, an easy way is opened up for proof of their existence, because it pertains to divine Providence that he provide for each thing according to the manner of its condition. 10 b. Therefore there is no more accurate manner of beginning the treatment of the existence of sacraments than by enquiring about their fittingness. C. Accordingly this section: a. Will consider: a1. First, the fittingness of sacraments. a2. Secondly, the existence of sacraments. b. Hence the following order: Of Sacraments Their fittingness Question One. Their existence Question Two. QUESTION ONE: FITTINGNESS OF SACRAMENTS CHAPTER ONE: FITTINGNESS OF SACRAMENTS GIVEN ADAM S SIN 4. PREAMBLES: St. Thomas treats the fittingness of the existence of sacraments in speaking of the necessity of their institution not indeed an absolute or strict necessity, but moral: after the fall of man, he says, sacraments were not necessary by absolute necessity, as it is necessary that God be, since they have been instituted from benignity alone, but by necessity which is from the supposition of an end; not in such wise however, that without them God cannot heal man, because he did not tie 10 Summa theologiæ, III, q.61, a.1. ~ 5 ~

18 THE SACRAMENTS IN COMMON up his power to sacraments but because the repairing of man is more fittingly effected through sacraments. 11 A. Hence according to the harmonious governance of things by God and the proper condition of fallen man, it is most highly fitting that God institute sacraments or sensible rites significative of, and causative of, sanctifying grace. B. Therefore we are dealing here only with the fittingness of the institution of sacraments after Adam s sin. a. For we are not dealing here with the use of sacraments or the necessity of using sacraments once they are instituted. b. The necessity of this will be treated in dealing with the sacraments in special, since this necessity differs for the diverse sacraments. C. But since reasons of the befittingness of the institution of sacraments have regard chiefly to the state of fallen nature which is still ordered to a supernatural end, Thomists commonly maintain that sacraments were not befitting to the state of original innocence. a. Therefore there were no sacraments before the fall, and there never would have been if that happy condition of the first man had endured always. For to obtain sanctity or an increase of grace through sensible signs is contrary to the perfection of that state where man did not depend on lower things for the achievement of his perfection both spiritual and supernatural. 12 b. St. Thomas concludes: and, therefore, in the state of innocence man had no need of sacraments, not only forasmuch as sacraments are ordered to the remedying of sin, but also forasmuch as they are ordered to the perfecting of the soul. 13 D. Wherefore it must needs be that fallen man alone have grace and salvation through sensible rites, and this both before and after Christ s coming. Therefore the following conclusion is to be understood of the befittingness of sacraments indifferently of the Old Law or of the New Law. 11 Sancti Thomæ Aquinatis, Opera Omnia: Ad Fidem Optimarum Editionum: Commentum in Quatuor Libros Sententiarum, t.vii (Parmæ: Typis Petri Fiaccadori, 1857), In IV Sent., dist.1, q.1, a.2, sol See Summa theologiæ, I, q.100, a.1; q.94, a Summa theologiæ, III, q.61, a.2. ~ 6 ~

19 AUSTIN MALONEY WOODBURY 5. CONCLUSION: AFTER ADAM S SIN, THE INSTITUTION OF SACRAMENTS HAS BEEN MOST HIGHLY BEFITTING. A. THEOLOGICAL NOTE: This conclusion is theologically CERTAIN DOCTRINE. B. The reasons why it is most fitting that fallen man be justified, supernaturally perfected, and ultimately saved through sensible signs or sacraments appear on several heads which will be now considered (nn.6-8). 6. ON THE PART OF CHRIST THE REDEEMER: A. Once Adam sinned, there is not given either justification or salvation, save through protestation of faith in Christ either yet to suffer or having already suffered. a. For neither is there salvation in any other. For there is no other name under Heaven given to man whereby we must be saved. 14 b. For there is one God: and one mediator of God and man, the man Christ Jesus who gave himself a redemption for all. 15 B. But Christ the Redeemer is the eternal Word united to sensible flesh, and he merited grace for us by a bodily suffering. C. Therefore, given Adam s sin, it became highly fitting that man, through sensible signs, profess faith in Christ whether as yet sensibly to come and suffer, or as having already suffered, and thus be sanctified and saved. D. But the sensible signs whereby is made protestation of faith in Christ (whether yet to suffer or having already suffered), and therefore, sanctifying and saving man, are sacraments. E. Therefore, given Adam s sin, it became highly befitting that, whether before or after Christ s coming, sacraments be instituted to sanctify and save men. 14 Acts 4: Tim. 2:5-6. ~ 7 ~

20 THE SACRAMENTS IN COMMON 7. ON THE PART OF THE CHURCH: A. The religious society, to which the faithful belong, whether under the Old or the New Law, is an external and visible organism, therefore embracing visible and sensible means, whereby its members are conjoined into unity of the same faith and worship, and progress towards their common end, and are distinguished from non-members. B. But the more efficacious means whereby the members of a religious society are conjoined into unity of the same faith and worship, and progress towards their common end and are distinguished from non-members, are nothing else than sacraments: thus St. Austin ( ) writes: into no religion, whether true or false, can man be conjoined, unless they are gathered together by some common possession of visible signs or sacraments. 16 C. Therefore for the effecting and maintaining unity of faith and worship, and for the attaining of the end of the Church (which must not differ from the sanctity and salvation of men, or from man s ultimate end), and also to distinguish the believers from the unbelievers, the institution of sacraments both of the Old and of the New Law is highly befitting. 8. ON THE PART OF MAN: A. For man s instruction: a. How much weaker is an intellect, so much the more does it need to be led by sensible things to the understanding of intelligible, and above all, of supernatural things. b. But the intellect of fallen man has been greatly weakened through the wound of ignorance due to Original Sin. c. Therefore in order that supernatural things, whereby fallen man is sanctified and saved, be accommodated the more to fallen man s intellectual grasp, it was highly befitting that they be conferred through sensible and corporeal means; accordingly, given Adam s sin, the institution of sacraments became highly befitting. B. For man s spiritual healing: a. Where there is disease, there ought to be a remedy. 16 Augustini, Contra Faustum Manichæum, Lib. XIX, cap. 11 (PL 42:355). ~ 8 ~