Question Three. Whether the Sacrament of Confirmation could be Repeated

61. 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 Question

65. 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 Argument

69. To the argument [n.62]: the sickness as what this cure is against is not repeated, though it could be repeated in another way.