Who Can Administer the Sacraments?

Lesson 10 – Who Can Administer the Sacraments?

Because the minister of a sacrament is an instrument, a minister’s unfortunate spiritual state does not frustrate the power of the sacrament.

Christ’s divine power is the principal cause of the grace that comes through the sacraments.

If the legitimate minister really intends to celebrate a sacrament—as long as he intends to perform his sacramental role as an instrument—the sacrament is truly celebrated, and Christ really imparts the grace of the sacrament to those who receive it worthily.

Course Reading

Summa Theologiae III, q. 64, a. 5 | St. Thomas Aquinas

Summa Theologiae III, q. 64, a. 7 | St. Thomas Aquinas

Excerpt from The Light of Christ, p. 193 | Fr. Thomas Joseph White, O.P.

From the Summa Theologiae III, q. 64, a.5, ad. 1:

The ministers of the Church do not by their own power cleanse from sin those who approach the sacraments, nor do they confer grace on them: it is Christ Who does this by His own power while He employs them as instruments. Consequently, those who approach the sacraments receive an effect whereby they are enlikened not to the ministers but to Christ.