and fortitude in the combat against the enemies of salvation. Therefore it imprints a character which marks the recipient as the soldier of Christ (162). These effects are signified both by the matter and the form.

In holy Scripture oil symbolizes abundance and gladness. Unction signifies strength and activity; for combatants anointed themselves with oil before entering the arena. Balsam, with which the oil is mixed, implies the preservation of the soul from corruption or sin, and the sweet odor of sanctity imparted to the soul. The repeated use of the sign of the cross points to the characteristic virtue of the soldier of Christ, that is, patience in the endurance of insults for Christ's sake, which is also indicated by the blow on the cheek. By the imposition of the bishop's hand is signified the communication of the sacramental graces, as well as the reception into the ranks of the soldiers of Christ.

169. The ordinary minister of confirmation is the bishop by papal delegation, however, a priest may become its extraordinary minister.

1. The apostles alone, whose successors the bishops are, as we may see from Holy Scripture, administered confirmation to those who had been baptized by inferior ministers (Acts viii. 14). The earliest synods mention only bishops as the ministers of this sacrament. And, indeed, it seems reasonable that soldiers should be received and enrolled in the ranks by the leaders under whose banner they are to fight. The Council of Florence (decret. pro Armen.) calls the bishop the ordinary minister of confirmation; and the Council of Trent (Sess. VII. de conf. can. 3) anathematizes those who assert that "the ordinary minister of confirmation is not the bishop alone, but any simple priest."

2. A simple priest by papal delegation may be the extraordinary minister of confirmation. The priest, not possessing the fulness of sacerdotal power, requires the delegation of him who has received all power from Christ. The Council o Florence (ib.) in reference to this fact declares that by dispen sation of the Apostolic See, for reasonable and urgent causes, a simple priest may sometimes administer the sacrament of confirmation with chrism consecrated by the bishop. In the Greek Church priests ordinarily administer confirmation;

but although they receive this power directly through their bishops, yet it is granted by papal delegation, as the pope has long sanctioned, or at least tolerated, this custom among the Greeks.

170. Every one who is baptized can receive confirmation validly; to receive it worthily, however, the state of grace is required.

1. Why baptism should precede confirmation as well as all the other sacraments has been already explained (157). That confirmation can be validly administered to any one who is baptized follows from the fact that no act of preparation is necessary on the part of the recipient.

Since the sacraments operate of their own inherent virtue (ex opere operato), and since confirmation, unlike matrimony, which being a contract requires mutual consent, and, unlike penance, the matter of which are the acts of the penitent, requires no particular act on the part of the recipient for its validity,-even a child under the age of discretion can validly receive it. In the early ages the custom of confirming infants was common in the Church, as it still is among the Greeks. The now prevailing custom, however, to defer this sacrament to the age of discretion is a laudable one, as thus the recipient is better prepared and disposed to reap its fruits; and, on the other hand, it is at this time that its special graces begin to be necessary for Christian life.

All are, in virtue of a divine precept, bound to receive confirmation. The very institution of this sacrament by Christ is proof sufficient that He wishes the faithful to receive it. This obligation is all the more urgent for such as, on the one hand, can fulfil it without great difficulty, and, on the other hand, are exposed to the danger of losing their faith.

2. As confirmation is a sacrament of the living (160), in order to receive it worthily one must be in the state of grace. He who would present himself knowingly in the state of grievous sin would forfeit the effects of confirmation until he should again be reconciled to God (160), and at the same time make himself guilty of a sacrilege by the unworthy reception of the sacrament.

Sponsors in confirmation incur the same obligation towards those for whom they stand as do the sponsors in baptism (160); they contract also a similar spiritual relationship (205).

C. The Holy Eucharist.

171. The Holy Eucharist was instituted both as a sacrament and a sacrifice.

This sacrament is peculiar in this, that it is at the same time a sacrifice. It is a sacrament because it sanctifies the soul of its own efficacy; it is a sacrifice inasmuch as it is an obla tion of a visible gift to God's honor and glory.

The Holy Eucharist as a sacrament differs from the other sacra ments in this, that it consists not only in a passing action, but in a permanent state or existence. Considered in its permanent state it is the true body and the true blood of Jesus Christ, truly, really, and substantially present under the appearances of bread and wine for the nourishment of our souls. Regarded as an action, or in the instant of its origin, it is the changing of bread and wine into the body and blood of Jesus Christ. In this change, in which Christ presents Himself a victim to His heavenly Father, consists the sacrifice. In its permanent state the Eucharist (good gift, thanksgiving) is sometimes called the Sacrament, by way of excellence, the Sacrament of the Altar, the Last Supper, Holy Communion, the body of Christ, etc. Considered as an action, we call it the Holy Sacrifice, or the Sacrifice of the Mass. The names Sacrament of the Altar and Eucha rist point also to its sacrificial character.

Christ instituted the Blessed Sacrament together with th Sacrifice of the New Law (promised John vi.) when, on th eve of His passion, He took bread and blessed it and gave i' to His disciples, saying: "Take ye and eat, this is My body;" and in like manner taking a chalice with wine, He blessed it and gave it to His disciples, saying: "Drink ye all of this: for this is My blood of the New Testament, which shall be shed for many unto remission of sins." "Do this for a commein oration of Me" (Matt. xxvi. 26-28; Mark xiv. 22-24; Luk xxii. 19, 20; 1 Cor. xi. 23, sq.).

a. The Eucharist as a Sacrament.

172. Jesus Christ is truly, really, and substantially present in the most Holy Sacrament of the Eucharist.

Truly, really, and substantially (vere, realiter, et substantialiter) are the words of the Council of Trent (Sess. XIII. can. 1). He is truly present, not, as Zwingli and other heretics asserted, under a sign or symbol. He is really present, not, as Calvin and his followers as serted. merely in virtue of our belief, or imagination. He is substan

tially present, not, as Calvin and other heretics likewise taugut, merely by His works, or effects.

Ι

I. Scripture offers abundant proofs of the real presence. 1. Christ promised it in express terms: "Amen, amen, say unto you: Except you eat the flesh of the Son of man and drink His blood, you shall not have life in you. He that eateth My flesh and drinketh My blood hath everlasting life " (John vi. 54, 55). Our Lord does not here mean to inculcate the necessity of faith in Himself, or a figurative eating and drinking. For to eat the flesh of another had not, among the Jews, this figurative meaning: if used figuratively it signified to inflict injury. Therefore these words cannot be taken in a figurative, but in their literal, sense; for Christ certainly did not wish His disciples to inflict an injury upon Him.

The Jews and the disciples themselves understood the words in their literal sense; and Christ confirmed them in this opinion by appealing to His divinity, to which all things are possible (John vi. 63), and by rebuking their unbelief and their carnal views, which were unwilling to understand what is spirit and life—what is spiritual and supernatural (John vi. 64).

2. The words which refer to the institution itself of the Holy Eucharist are no less evident: "This is My body, this is My blood." These words, since they cannot be taken in a figurative sense, must have been meant literally. If Christ had not, in virtue of these words, given us His body and blood for the nourishment of our souls, but merely bread and wine, as a symbol of His body and blood, He would have been he cause of universal idolatry for centuries. Therefore, as from the simple fact that He called Himself the Son of God we conclude His divinity, because He could not have invincibly led His followers into idolatry (25), we must believe that He gives us His true body and blood-that He is really present in the Holy Eucharist.

3. The words referring to the reception of the body and blood of Jesus Christ are likewise an invincible evidence of His real presence. "The chalice of benediction, which we bless, is it not the communion of the blood of Christ? And the bread which we break, is it not the partaking of the body

of the Lord? Behold Israel according to the flesh; are not they that eat of the sacrifices partakers of the altar ?" (1 Cor. x. 16-18.) As truly, therefore, as the Israelites partook of their sacrifices, which were only types of the sacrifice of Christ, so truly do we partake of the body and blood of Christ. Again: "Whosoever shall eat this bread, or drink the chalice of the Lord, unworthily, shall be guilty of the body and the blood of the Lord. But let a man prove himself, and so let him eat of that bread and drink of the chalice" (1 Cor. xi. 27, 28). As the Israelites if they ate the manna in the deser in the state of mortal sin, although it was a figure of Christ, would not thereby commit a sin, neither would the faithful be guilty of the body and the blood of the Lord by receiving this spiritual food in the state of mortal sin if what they received were only a figure of the body and blood of Christ.

II. The tradition of the Church is no less explicit on the real presence of Christ in the Blessed Sacrament.

1. The earliest fathers bear witness to the real presence of Christ in the Eucharist. St. Ignatius (ep. ad Smyrn. n. 7) says: "[The Docetae] abstain from the Holy Eucharist and prayer because they do not believe that the Eucharist is the flesh of Our Lord Jesus Christ, who suffered for our sins, and whom the Father raised to life again These heretics, therefore, differed in this point from the universal belief of the Church. Therefore the universal belief of the Church was that the flesh of Jesus Christ was really present. St. Justin in his Apology (I. 66) declares that the Christians in their meetings do not, as the pagans falsely accused them, eat the flesh of a child, but that the consecrated food they receive is the flesh and blood of Jesus, God made flesh. St. Irenæus (adv. hæres. v. c. 2) writes: "Christ declares that the chalice, which is but earthly, is His own precious blood. Since, then, the chalice and the bread by the word of God become the Eucharist of the body and blood of Christ, how dare they [the heretics] deny that that flesh which partakes of the flesh and blood of Christ, and is a member of Him, will receive the gift of God, i.e., life everlasting?" Tertullian proposes the Church's teaching on this point in several passages of his writings (cf. 166) St. Augustine (in ps. 33., enair. I. 10), not to mention many other fathers, says: "Who can hold himself in his own hands? A man may be held in the hands of another; but no man can hold himself in his own hands." He answers: "Christ held Himself in His own hands when He gave His body to His disciples, saying: This is My body; for that was the body which He held in His hands." If Christ had borne only the figure of His body in His hands, St. Augustine could not doubt that another could do the same.