Question Three. Whether the Sacrament of Confirmation could be Repeated61. Third the question is asked whether this sacrament could be repeated. 62. It seems that it could: Because the sickness that it is against is repeated; because someone can after confirmation again become cowardly; therefore the remedy against this sickness can be repeated. 63. To the contrary: The master in the text [Lombard Sent. IV d.7 ch.5 nn.1-2]. 64. Gratian, Decretum p.3 d.5 ch.8. I. To the Question65. I reply: this sacrament should not be so repeated that it is done knowingly, because he who repeats it knowingly sins mortally; but neither can it be so repeated that it have, when iterated, its proper efficacy. 66. The principal reason is divine institution. 67. There is a congruity, because someone is by this sacrament instituted in a determinate rank in the Church, namely in the rank of a warrior; and a sacrament that puts one in a determinate rank is not repeated. 68. And next to this is adduced another congruence, that it impresses an indelible effect, namely a character. II. To the Initial Argument69. To the argument [n.62]: the sickness as what this cure is against is not repeated, though it could be repeated in another way. |