Excerpt from A Manual of Moral Theology for English-Speaking Countries, Vol. 2

The sacraments were instituted by Christ as so many channels or conduits by which he might convey to the souls of men the fruits of His passion and death. They are administered in His name and by His authority, and so Christ Himself is the principal minister Of the sacraments. However, He deigns to make use of men as His instruments for administering them, and it is of these secondary min isters who make the sacraments in the namp of Christ that we have here to treat. In Matrimony, as we shall see, the parties to the contract themselves are the ministers to each other of the sacrament, and any one who has the use of reason may confer Baptism. Validly. The minister of the other sacraments, at least for their lawful administra tion, must have the twofold spiritual power of order and jurisdiction which was given by Christ to His Church. We shall see when treating of the several sacraments how far order and jurisdiction are also required for their valid ministration. In the following sections we will lay down the conditions and dispositions which a minister of the sacraments should have to perform his office worthily.

About the Publisher

Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com

This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully, any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.