WRONG SACRAMENTAL SUMS

In 384 AD, St Jerome translated the four gospels into Latin.  Whenever the word mystery appeared meaning a symbol of something spiritual he translated it as sacrament.

Many used the word to mean a symbolic rite representing the activity of God in the soul and many more added the notion that such rites actually caused God to act.

Even as late as the twelfth century, some, notably Hugh of St Victor held that there were thirty sacraments.

The sign of the cross, making a cross on your body and saying, “In the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit.  Amen, “ was sometimes considered to be a sacrament.

The first to give the same list of sacraments as the Roman Church now does was Peter Lombard in the twelfth century (page 88, The Lion Concise Book of Christian Thought).  His theology accepting the seven sacraments was approved at the Fourth Lateran Council of 1215 AD which silenced the factions believing in between two and twelve sacraments.  The number of sacraments in Catholicism was irrevocably and infallibly set at seven in 1439 by the Council of Florence which was repeated infallibly at the Council of Trent.  The number seven had been made official as well  in 1439 by Pope Eugene IV.  The Popes and bishops who decreed this had no head for maths or were understandably half-asleep after saying Mass. 

In Baptism the person receives the grace to live as a Christian.

In confirmation this grace is strengthened.  Confirmation is the completion of baptism.  It gives us the Holy Spirit in a bigger dose. 

The Eucharist gives all sorts of graces.

Penance forgives sins and prevents them happening again. 

Extreme unction does the same thing with the addition of the grace to get holier through sickness.  The sacrament of sick and of penance seem to be the same.  But they are not for the latter sacrament does not require oil.

Marriage helps the couple to live together in holiness.

Ordination gives the grace to give grace and to be dedicated to this work.

There are really nine sacraments in the Church if these are really sacraments.  Theologians say that ordination to the diaconate and priesthood and episcopate are all separate stages in the sacrament of holy orders.  When ordained the deacon receives the grace to minister in some ways but not the power to give any sacraments.  The priest receives all this power except the power to give holy orders which is only bestowed on the bishop and gets additional grace to live up to being a worthy minister of the sacraments.  The Bishop gets the grace to respect the power to ordain.  Yet Rome says that “holy” orders is one sacrament though we have three here.  The grace to be a deacon is not the same grace needed to be a priest or a bishop.  Baptism gives the ordinary Catholic the power to be a priest and offer Mass with the priest.  Yet it is a separate sacrament from ordination.

The fact that the Church teaches that the sacramentals like holy water and scapulars are not sacraments but only have power through prayer and that there are only seven sacraments proves that grace is largely limited to the rituals.

Top of the Document

BOOKS CONSULTED 

A GREAT LEGACY, Rev RJ Coates, Irish Church Mission, Dublin

A PATH FROM ROME, Anthony Kenny Sidgwick & Jackson, London, 1985

A ROMAN CATECHISM WITH A REPLY THERETO, John Wesley Protestant Truth Society, London 

A WOMAN RIDES THE BEAST, Dave Hunt, Harvest House, Eugene, Oregon, 1994

ALL ONE BODY – WHY DON’T WE AGREE?  Erwin W Lutzer, Tyndale, Illinois, 1989

AN ACCOUNT OF ARCHBISHOP JAMES USHER 1581-1656, ND Emerson MA PhD, Townsend Street, Dublin  

APOSTOLICAL SUCCESSION, James Heron, Outlook Press, Belfast 

BIBLICAL EXEGESIS AND CHURCH DOCTRINE, Raymond E Brown, Paulist Press, New York, 1985 

BUT THE BIBLE DOES NOT SAY SO, Rev Roberto Nisbet, Church Book Room Press, London 1966

CATECHISM OF THE CATHOLIC CHURCH, Veritas, Dublin, 1995

CATHOLICISM AND CHRISTIANITY, Cecil John Cadoux, George Allen & Unwin Ltd, 1928

CATHOLICISM AND FUNDAMENTALISM, Karl Keating, Ignatius Press, San Francisco, 1988

CHRISTIANS GUIDE TO ROMAN CATHOLICISM, Bill Jackson, Colonial Baptist Press, Louisville, Kentucky, 1988

CITY OF GOD, St Augustine, Penguin Books, Middlesex, 1986 

DAWN OR TWILIGHT? HM Carson, IVP, Leicester, 1976 

DEAR CATHOLIC FRIEND, John R Rice, Sword of the Lord, Murfreesboro, Tennessee, 1989

DIFFICULTIES, Mgr Ronald Knox and Sir Arnold Lunn, Eyre & Spottiswoode, London, 1958

DOCUMENTS OF THE CHRISTIAN CHURCH, edited by Henry Bettenson, Oxford University Press, Oxford, 1979 

ENCHIRIDION SYMBOLORUM ET DEFINITIONUM, Heinrich Joseph Denzinger, Edited by A Schonmetzer, Barcelona, 1963

EVANGELICAL CATHOLICS A NEW PHENOMENON, Stanley Mawhinney, Christian Ministries Incorporated, Dundrum, Dublin, 1992

FUTURIST OR HISTORICIST? Basil C Mowll, Protestant Truth Society, London 

HANDBOOK TO THE CONTROVERSY WITH ROME, Karl Von Hase, Vols 1 and 2, The Religious Tract Society, London, 1906

HOW SURE ARE THE FOUNDATIONS?  Colin Badger, Wayside Press, Canada

HOW TO CHOOSE YOUR VOCATION IN LIFE, Thomas Artz C.SS.R, Liguori Publications, Missouri, 1976

INFALLIBILITY IN THE CHURCH, Patrick Crowley, CTS, London, 1982

IS THE CATHOLIC CHURCH A BIBLE CHURCH?  John Hamrogue, C.SS.R, Liguori, Missouri, 1983  

IS THERE SALVATION OUTSIDE THE CATHOLIC CHURCH?  Fr J Bainvel SJ, TAN, Illiniois, 1979 

LETTERS TO A ROMAN CATHOLIC PRIEST, H A Ironside, Loizeaux Brothers, New Jersey, 1982 

LION CONCISE BOOK OF CHRISTIAN THOUGHT, Tony Lane, Lion, Herts, 1984 

LIVING IN CHRIST, A Dreze SJ, Geoffrey Chapman, London-Melbourne 1969  

LOOK!  THE DOUAY BIBLE AGAINST ROME, Connellan Mission, Dublin 

MORAL PHILOSOPHY, Joseph Rickaby SJ, Stonyhurst Philosophy Series, Longmans, Green and Co, London, 1912 

NEW CATHOLIC ENCYCLOPEDIA, The Catholic University of America and the McGraw-Hill Book Company, Inc., Washington, District of Columbia, 1967 

OUGHT I TO SEND MY CHILD TO A CONVENT SCHOOL? Rev Walter H Denbow, Protestant Truth Society, London, 1969 

ROMAN CATHOLIC CLAIMS, Charles Gore MA, Longmans, London, 1894 

ROMAN CATHOLIC OBJECTIONS ANSWERED, Rev H O Lindsay, John T Drought Ltd, Dublin 

ROMAN CATHOLIC TEACHING CONTRASTED WITH BIBLE TEACHING, Bernard Burt, The Bible Student Press, Coventry

ROMAN CATHOLICISM TESTED BY THE SCRIPTURES, John A Coleman, New Litho Pty. Ltd, Victoria, 1987

ROMAN CATHOLICISM WHAT IS FINAL AUTHORITY?  Harold J Berry, Back to the Bible, Nebraska, 1974 

ROMAN CATHOLICISM, Lorraine Boettner, Presbyterian and Reformed Publishing Company, Phillipsburg, NJ, 1962 

ROMANISM AT VARIANCE WITH THE BIBLE, Rev James Gardner, Protestant Truth Society, London, 1987

ROME HAS SPOKEN, A GUIDE TO FORGOTTEN PAPAL STATEMENTS AND HOW THEY HAVE CHANGED THROUGH THE CENTURIES, Maureen Fiedler and Linda Rabben (Editors), Crossroad Publishing, New York, 1998

ROME THE GREAT PRIVATE INTERPRETATOR, Peter S Ruckman Penascola Bible Press, Palatka, Florida, 1969

SALVATION, THE BIBLE AND ROMAN CATHOLICISM, William Webster, Banner of Truth, Edinburgh, 1990

SECRETS OF ROMANISM, Joseph Zacchello, Loizeaux Brothers, New Jersey, 1984

THE ADVANCE OF ROMANISM, S M Houghton, Cotswold Bible Witness, 1964 

THE BIBLE OR THE CHURCH? Ken Camplin, Printland Publishers, India, 1996 

THE BIBLE REFUTES ROMANISM Philip H Rand Protestant Truth Society, London 

THE CATHOLIC CHURCH HAS THE ANSWER, Paul Whitcomb TAN, Illinois, 1986

THE CHURCH AND INFALLIBILITY, BC Butler, The Catholic Book Club, London, undated

THE CHURCH OF ROME AND THE WORD OF GOD, Rev Eric C Last, Protestant Truth Society, London

THE DEVELOPMENTS OF ROMAN CATHOLICISM, John A Bain MA, Oliphant Anderson & Ferrier, Edinburgh and London, undated 

THE EARLY CHURCH, Henry Chadwick, Pelican, Middlesex, 1987

THE GREAT MEANS OF SALVATION AND OF PERFECTION, St Alphonsus De Ligouri, Redemptorist Fathers, Brooklyn, 1988

THE MOTHER OF GOD AND OUR INTERIOR LIFE, Reginald Garrigou-Lagrange, OP, TAN, Illinois, 1993

THE PRIMITIVE FAITH AND ROMAN CATHOLIC DEVELOPMENTS, Rev John A F Gregg BD, APCK, Dublin, 1928 

THE RICHES OF ROME AND THE UNSEARCHABLE RICHES OF CHRIST Robert D Browne, Protestant Truth Society, London 

THE STUDENT’S CATHOLIC DOCTRINE, Rev Charles Hart BA, Burns & Oates, London, 1961 

THE TRUE CHURCH AND THE FALSE, The National Union of Protestants, Suffolk 

THE VATICAN PAPERS, Nino Lo Bello, New English Library, Kent, 1982 

TRADITIONAL DOCTRINES OF THE ROMAN CATHOLIC CHURCH EXAMINED, Rev CCJ Butlin, Protestant Truth Society, London

TREASURES FROM GOD’S STOREHOUSE, Dr Bill Jackson, Colonial Baptist Press, Louisville, Kentucky, 1991

VICARS OF CHRIST, Peter De Rosa, Corgi Books, London, 1993 

WHAT HAPPENED!  Francisco Lacueva, Evangelical Protestant Society, Belfast 

WHY BE A CATHOLIC?  Fr David Jones OP, Catholic Truth Society, London, 1996 

WHY I AM NOT A ROMAN CATHOLIC, Rev Canon McCormick DD, Protestant Truth Society, London, 1968 

YOU CAN LEAD ROMAN CATHOLICS TO CHRIST, Wilson Ewin, New England Mission, Nashua 1980 

Top of the Document