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Dogmas of the Catholic Church

With Christ and the Apostles General Revelation concluded. (Sent. certa.)

The Unity and Trinity of God

The Existence of God

The Natural Knowability of the Existence of God

God, our Creator and Lord, can be known with certainty, by the natural light of reason from created things. (De fide.)
The Existence of God can be proved by means of causality. (Sent. fidei proxima.)

The Supernatural Knowability of the Existence of God

God's existence is not merely an object of natural rational knowledge, but also an object of supernatural faith. (De fide.)

The Nature of God

The Knowledge of the Nature of God

Our natural knowledge of God in this world is not as immediate, intuitive cognition, but a mediate, abstractive knowledge, because it is attained through the knowledge of creatures. (Sent. certa.)
Our knowledge of God here below is not proper (cognitio propia) but analogical (cognitio analoga or analogica). (Sent. certa.)
God's Nature is incomprehensible to men. (De fide.)
The blessed in Heaven posses an immediate intuitive knowledge of the Divine Essence. (De fide.)
The Immediate Vision of God transcends the natural power of cognition of the human soul, and is therefore supernatural. (De fide.)
The soul, for the Immediate Vision of God, requires the light of glory. (De fide. D 475.)
God's Essence is also incomprehensible to the blessed in Heaven. (De fide.)

The Attributes or Qualities of God

The Attributes of God in General

The Divine Attributes are really identical among themselves and with the Divine Essence. (De fide.)

The Attributes of the Divine Being

God is absolutely perfect. (De fide.)
God is actually infinite in every perfection. (De fide.)
God is absolutely simple. (De fide.)
There is only One God. (De fide.)
The One God is, in the ontological sense, The True God. (De fide.)
God possesses an infinite power of cognition. (De fide.)
God is absolute Veracity. (De fide.)
God is absolutely faithful. (De fide.)
God is absolute ontological Goodness in Himself and in relation to others. (De fide.)
God is absolute Moral Goodness or Holiness. (De fide.) D 1782.
God is absolute Benignity. (De fide.) D1782.
God is absolute Beauty. D1782.
God is absolutely immutable. (De fide.)
God is eternal. (De fide.)
God is immense or absolutely immeasurable. (De fide.)
God is everywhere present in created space. (De fide.)

The Attributes of the Divine Life

God's knowledge is infinite. (De fide.)
God's knowledge is purely and simply actual.
God's knowledge is subsistent
God's knowledge is comprehensive
God's knowledge is independent of extra-divine things
The primary and formal object of the Divine Cognition is God Himself. (Scientia contemplationis)
God knows all that is merely possible by the knowledge of simple intelligence (scientia simplicis intelligentiae). (De fide.)
God knows all real things in the past, the present and the future (Scientia visionis). (De fide.)
By knowledge of vision (scientia visionis) God also foresees the free acts of the rational creatures with infallible certainty. (De fide.)
God also knows the conditioned future free actions with infallible certainty (Scientia futuribilium). (Sent. communis.)
God's Divine will is infinite. (De fide.)
God loves Himself of necessity, but loves and wills the creation of extra-Divine things, on the other hand, with freedom. (De fide.)
God is almighty. (De fide.)
God is the Lord of the heavens and of the earth. (De fide.) D 1782.
God is infinitely just. (De fide.)
God is infinitely merciful. (De fide.)

Dogmatic Formulation and

Positive Foundation of the Dogma of the Trinity

The Antitrinitarian Heresies and the Doctrinal Decisions of the Church

In God there are Three Persons, the Father, the Son and the Holy Ghost. Each of the Three Persons possesses the one (numerical) Divine Essence. (De fide.)

The Triple Personality of God

In God there are two Internal Divine Processions. (De fide.)
The Divine Persons, not the Divine Nature, are the subject of the Internal Divine processions (in the active and in the passive sense). (De fide.)
The Second Divine Person proceeds from the First Divine Person by Generation, and therefore is related to Him as Son to a Father. (De fide.)
The Holy Ghost proceeds from the Father and from the Son as from a Single Principle through a Single Spiration. (De fide.)

Speculative Explanation of the Dogma of the Trinity

Speculative Explanation of the Internal Divine Processions

The Son proceeds from the Intellect of the Father by way of Generation. (Sent. certa.)
The Holy Ghost proceeds from the will or from the mutual love of the Father and of the Son. (Sent. certa.)
The Holy Ghost does not proceed through generation but through spiration. (De. fide.)

The Divine Relations and Persons

The Relations in God are really identical with the Divine Nature. (De fide.)
The Three Divine Persons are in One Another. (De fide.)
All the ad extra Activities of God are common to that Three Persons. (De fide.)
The Father sends the Son: the Father and the Son send the Holy Ghost. (Sent. certa.)

The Relation of the Trinity to Reason

The Trinity of God can only be known through Divine Revelation. (Sent. fidei proxima.)

God the Creator

The Divine Act of Creation

The Beginning or Creation of the World

All that exists outside God was, in its whole substance, produced out of nothing by God. (De fide.)
The world is the work of the Divine Wisdom. (Sent. certa.)
God was moved by His Goodness to create the world. (De fide.)
The world created for the Glorification of God. (De fide.)
The Three Divine Persons are one single, common Principle of the Creation. (De fide.)
God created the world free from exterior compulsion and inner necessity. (De fide.)
God was free to create this world or any other. (Sent. Certa.)
God has created a good world. (De fide.)
The world had a beginning in time. (De fide.)
God alone created the World. (De fide.)
No Creature can, as Principal Cause (causa principalis) that is, from its own power, create something out of nothing. (Sent. communis.)

The Continuous Preservation and Governing of the World

God keeps all created things in existence. (De fide.)
God co-operates immediately in every act of His creatures. (Sent. communis.)
God through His providence, protects and guides all that He has created. (De fide.)

The Divine Work of Creation

The Doctrine of Revelation Regarding Man or "Christian Anthropology"

The first man was created by God. (De fide.)
The whole human race stems from one single human pair. (Sent. certa.)
Man consists of two essential parts--a material body and a spiritual soul. (De fide.)
The rational soul is per se the essential form of the body. (De fide.)
Every human being possesses an individual soul. (De fide.)
Every individual soul was immediately created out of nothing by God. (Sent. Certa.)
A creature has the capacity to receive supernatural gifts. (Sent. communis.)
The Supernatural presupposes Nature. (Sent communis.)
God has conferred on man a supernatural Destiny. (De fide.)
Our first parents, before the Fall, were endowed with sanctifying grace. (De fide.)
The donum rectitudinis or integritatis in the narrower sense, i.e., the freedom from irregular desire. (Sent. fidei proxima.)
The donum immortalitatis, i.e., bodily immortality. (De fide.)
The donum impassibilitatis, i.e., the freedom from suffering. (Sent. communis.)
The donum scientiae, i.e., a knowledge of natural and supernatural truths infused by God. (Sent. communis.)
Adam received sanctifying grace not merely for himself, but for all his posterity. (Sent. certa.)
Our first parents in paradise sinned grievously through transgression of the Divine probationary commandment. (De fide.)
Through the sin our first parents lost sanctifying grace and provoked the anger and the indignation of God. (De fide.)
Our first parents became subject to death and to the dominion of the Devil. (De fide.) D788.
Adam's sin is transmitted to his posterity, not by imitation, but by descent. (De fide.)
Original Sin consists in the deprivation of grace caused by the free act of sin committed by the head of the race. (Sent. communis.)
Original sin is transmitted by natural generation. (De fide.)
In the state of original sin man is deprived of sanctifying grace and all that this implies, as well as of the preternatural gifts of integrity. (De fide in regard to Sanctifying Grace and the Donum Immortalitatus. D788 et seq.)
Souls who depart this life in the state of original sin are excluded from the Beatific Vision of God. (De fide.)

Revelation Concerning the Angels or "Christian Angelology"

In the beginning of time God created spiritual essences (angels) out of nothing. (De fide.)
The nature of angels is spiritual. (De fide.)
The angels are by nature immortal. (Sent. communis.)
God set a supernatural final end for the angels, the immediate vision of God, and endowed them with sanctifying grace in order that they might achieve this end. (Sent. Certa.)
The angels were subjected to a moral testing. (Sent. certa. as regards the fallen angels, Sent. communis as regards the good.)
The evil spirits (demons) were created good by God; they became evil through their own fault.
The primary task of the good angels is the glorification and the service of God. (Sent. certa.)
The secondary task of the good angels is the protection of men and care for their salvation. (De fide on the ground of general teaching.)
Every one of the faithful has his own special guardian angel from baptism. (Sent. certa.)
The Devil possesses a certain dominion over mankind by reason of Adam's sin. (De fide.)

The Doctrine of God the Redeemer

The Doctrine of the Person of the Redeemer

The True Divinity of Christ

Jesus Christ is the True God and True Son of God. (De fide.)

Christ's True Humanity

Christ assumed a real body, not an apparent body. (De fide.)
Christ assumed not only a body but also a rational soul. (De fide.)
Christ was truly generated and born of a daughter of Adam, the Virgin Mary. (De fide.)

The Union of His Two Natures in the one Person, Christ

The Divine and the human natures are united hypostatically in Christ, that is, joined to each other in one Person (De fide.) (a) Christ Incarnate is a single, that is, a sole Person. He is God and man at the same time. (b) The God-Logos is connected with the flesh by an inner, physical or substantial unification. Christ is not the bearer of God, but is God really. (c) The human and the divine activities predicated of Christ in Holy Writ and in the Fathers may not be divided between two persons or hypostases, the Man-Christ and the God-Logos, but must be attributed to the one Christ, the Logos become Flesh. It is the Divine Logos, who suffered in the flesh, was crucified, died, and rose again. (d) The Holy Virgin is the Mother of God since she truly bore the God-Logos become Flesh.
In the Hypostatic Union each of the two natures of Christ continues unimpaired, untransformed and unmixed with the other. (De fide.)
Each of the two natures in Christ possesses its own natural will and its own natural mode of operation. (De fide.)
The Hypostatic Union of Christ's human nature with the Divine Logos took place at the moment of conception. (De fide.)
The Hypostatic Union was never interrupted. (Sent. certa.)
The Hypostatic Union will never cease. (De fide.)
The Blood in the Living Body of Jesus Christ is an integral constituent part of human nature, immediately, not merely mediately, united with the Person of the Divine Logos. (Sent. certa.)

Theological-Speculative Discussion on the Hypostatic Union

The Hypostatic Union was effected by the Three Divine Persons acting in common. (De fide.)
Only the Second Divine Person became Man. (De fide.)
Not only as God but also as man Jesus Christ is the natural Son of God. (De fide.)
The God-Man Jesus Christ is to be venerated with one single mode of Worship, the absolute Worship of Latria which is due to God alone. (De fide.)
Just as Latria is due to the whole Human nature of Christ, so is it due to the individual parts of His nature. (Sent. Certa.)
Christ's Divine and Human characteristics and activities are to be predicated of the one Word Incarnate. (De fide.)

Inferences from the Hypostatic Union

The two natures of Christ exist in the closest union (Sent. communis.)

The Attributes of Christ's Human Nature

The Prerogatives of Christ's Human Nature

Christ's soul possessed the immediate vision of God from the first moment of its existence. (Sent. certa.)
Christ's human knowledge was free from positive ignorance and from error. (Sent. certa.) D2184 et seq.
From the beginning of Christ's life, His soul possessed infused knowledge (scientia infusa). (Senta. communis.)
Christ's soul possessed also an acquired knowledge or experimental knowledge (scientia acquisita, sc. experimentalis). (Sent. communis.)
Christ was free from all sin, from original sin as well as from all personal sin. (De fide.)
Christ has not merely not actually sinned, but also could not sin. (Sent. fidei proxima.)
By reason of the Hypostatic Union, Christ's human nature, through the Uncreated Holiness of the Word, is substantially Holy. (Sent. communis.) Cf. Luke 1,35.
By reason of His endowment with the fullness of created habitual grace, Christ's soul is also accidentally holy. (Sent. certa.)
Sanctifying Grace overflows from Christ, the Head, to the members of His mystical Body. (Sent. communis.)
Christ's humanity, as instrument of the Logos, possesses the power of producing supernatural effects. (Sent. certa.)

The Defects or the Passibility of Christ's Human Nature

Christ's human nature was passible. (De fide.)
Christ's soul was subject to sensual emotions. (Sent. certa.)

The Work of the Redeemer

The Redemption in General

The Son of God became man in order to redeem men. (De fide.)
Fallen man cannot redeem himself. (De fide.)
God was not compelled to redeem mankind by either an internal or an external compulsion. (Sent. certa.)
Even on the presupposition of the Divine Resolve of Redemption, the Incarnation was not absolutely necessary. (Sent. communis.)
If God demanded a full atonement the Incarnation of a Divine Person was necessary. (Sent. communis.)

The Realisation of the Redemption through the Three Offices of Christ

Christ is the Supreme Prophet promised in the Old Covenant and the absolute teacher of humanity. (Sent. certa.)
The God-Man Jesus Christ is a High Priest. (De fide.)
Christ offered Himself on the Cross as a true and proper sacrifice. (De fide.)
Christ by His Sacrifice on the Cross has ransomed us and reconciled us with God. (De fide.)
Christ, through His Suffering and Death rendered vicarious atonement to God for the sins of man. (Sent. fidei proxima.)
Christ's Vicarious Atonement is adequate or of full value, by reason of its intrinsic merit. (Sent. communior.)
Christ's Vicarious Atonement is superabundant, that is, the positive value of the expiation is greater than the negative value of the sin. (Sent. communis.)
(a) [i] Christ did not die for the predestined only. (De fide.)
[ii]Christ died not for the Faithful only, but for all mankind without exception. (Sent. fidei proxima.)
(b) Christ's Atonement does not extend to the fallen angels.
Christ, through His Passion and Death, merited reward from God. (De fide.)
Christ merited for Himself the condition of exaltation (Resurrection, Transfiguration of the body, Ascension into Heaven). (Sent. certa.)
Christ merited all supernatural graces received by fallen mankind. (Sent. certa.)

The Glorious Conclusion of Christ's Work of Redemption

After His Death, Christ's soul, which was separated from His Body, descended into the underworld. (De fide.)
The underworld is the place of detention for the souls of the just of the pre-Christian era, the so-called vestibule of hell (limbus Patrum).
On the third day after His Death Christ rose gloriously from the dead. (De fide.)
Christ ascended Body and Soul into Heaven and sits at the right hand of the Father. (De fide.)

The Mother of the Redeemer

Mary's Motherhood of God

Mary is truly the Mother of God. (De fide.)

The Privileges of the Mother of God

Mary was conceived without stain of Original sin. (De fide.)
From her conception Mary was free from all motions of concupiscence. (Sent. communis.)
In consequence of a Special Privilege of Grace from God, Mary was free from every personal sin during her whole life. (Sent. fidei proxima.) She was immune from all sin mortal and venial.
Mary was a Virgin before, during and after the Birth of Jesus Christ.
Mary conceived by the Holy Ghost without the co-operation of man. (De fide.)
Mary bore her Son without any violation of her virginal integrity. (De fide on the ground of the general promulgation of doctrine.)
Also after the Birth of Jesus Mary remained a Virgin. (De fide.)
Mary suffered a temporal death. (Sent. communior.)
Mary was assumed body and soul into Heaven. (De fide.)

Mary's Co-operation in the Work of the Redeemer

Mary gave the Redeemer, the Source of all graces, to the world, and in this way she is the channel of all graces. (Sent. certa.)
Since Mary's Assumption into Heaven no grace is conferred on man without her actual intercessory co-operation. (Sent. pia et probabilis.)
Mary is the Mediatrix of all graces by her co-operation in the Incarnation. (Mediatio in universali.)
Mary is the Mediatrix of all graces by her intercession in Heaven. (Mediatio in speciali.)
Mary, the Mother of God, is entitled to the Cult of Hyperdulia. (Sent certa.)

The Doctrine of God the Sanctifier

Actual Grace

The Nature of Actual Grace

Actual Grace internally and directly enlightens the understanding and strengthens the will. (Sent. certa.)
There is a supernatural intervention of God in the faculties of the soul, which precedes the free act of the will. (De fide.)
There is a supernatural influence of God in the faculties of the soul which coincides in time with man's free act of will. (De fide.)

The Necessity of Actual Grace

For every salutary act internal supernatural grace of God (gratia elevans) is absolutely necessary. (De fide.)
Internal supernatural grace is absolutely necessary for the beginning of faith and of salvation. (De fide.)
The justified also require actual grace for the performance of salutary acts. (Sent. communis.)
Without the special help of God the justified cannot persevere to the end in justification. (De fide.)
The justified person is not able for his whole life long to avoid all sins, even venial sins, without the special privilege of the grace of God. (De fide.)
Even in the fallen state, man can, by his natural intellectual power, know religious and moral truths. (De fide.)
For the performance of a morally good action Sanctifying Grace is not required. (De fide.)
The Grace of faith is not necessary for the performance of a morally good action. (Sent. certa.)
Actual Grace is not necessary for the performance of a morally good action. (Sent. certa.)
In the state of fallen nature it is morally impossible for man without Supernatural Revelation, to know easily, with absolute certainty and without admixture of error, all religious and moral truths of the natural order. (De fide.)
In the condition of fallen nature it is morally impossible for man without restoring grace (gratia sanans) to fulfil the entire moral law and to overcome all serious temptations for any considerable period of time. (Sent. certa.)

The Distribution of Actual Grace

Grace cannot be merited by natural works either de condigno or de congruo. (De fide.)
Grace cannot be obtained by petitions deriving from purely natural prayer. (Sent. Certa.)
Man of himself cannot acquire any positive disposition for grace. (Sent. certa.)
Despite men's sins God truly and earnestly desires the salvation of all men. (Sent. fidei proxima.)
God gives all the just sufficient grace (gratia proxime vel remote sufficiens) for the observation of the Divine Commandments. (De fide.)
God gives all the faithful who are sinners sufficient grace (gratia saltem remote sufficiens) for conversion. (Sent. communis.)
God gives all innocent unbelievers (infideles negativi) sufficient grace to achieve eternal salvation. (Sent. certa.)
God, by His Eternal Resolve of Will, has predetermined certain men to eternal blessedness. (De fide.)
God, by an Eternal Resolve of His Will, predestines certain men, on account of their foreseen sins, to eternal rejection. (De fide.)

The Relation between Grace and Freedom

The Human Will remains free under the influence of efficacious grace, which is not irresistible. (De fide.)
There is a grace which is truly sufficient and yet remains inefficacious (gratia vere et mere sufficiens. (De fide.)

Habitual Grace

The Process of Justification

The sinner can and must prepare himself by the help of actual grace for the reception of the grace by which he is justified. (De fide.)
The justification of an adult is not possible without Faith. (De fide.)
Besides faith, further acts of disposition must be present. (De fide.)

The State of Justification

Sanctifying Grace is a created supernatural gift really distinct from God. (Sent. fidei proxima.)
Sanctifying Grace is a supernatural state of being which is infused by God, and which permanently inheres in the soul. (Sent. certa.)
Sanctifying grace is not a substance, but a real accident, which inheres in the soul-substance. (Sent. certa.)
Sanctifying grace is really distinct from charity. (Sent. communior.)
Supernatural grace is a participation in the divine nature. (Sent. certa.)
Sanctifying grace sanctifies the soul. (De fide.)
Sanctifying grace bestows supernatural beauty on the soul. (Sent. communis.)
Sanctifying grace makes the just man a friend of God. (De fide.)
Sanctifying grace makes the just man a child of God and gives him a claim to the inheritance of Heaven. (De fide.)
Sanctifying grace makes the just man a Temple of the Holy Ghost. (Sent. certa.)
The three Divine or Theological Virtues of Faith, Hope and Charity are infused with Sanctifying grace. (De fide)
The moral virtues also are infused with sanctifying grace. (Sent. communis.)
The Gifts of the Holy Ghost also are infused with sanctifying grace. (Sent. communis.)
Without special Divine Revelation no one can know with the certainty of faith, if he be in the state of grace. (De fide.)
The degree of justifying grace is not identical in all the just. (De fide.)
Grace can be increased by good works. (De fide.)
The grace by which we are justified may be lost, and is lost by every grievous [mortal, serious] sin. (De fide.)
The loss of sanctifying grace always involves the loss of Charity.

The Consequences or Fruits of Justification or the Doctrine Concerning Merit

By his good works the justified man really acquires a claim to supernatural reward from God. (De fide.)
A just man merits for himself through each good work an increase of sanctifying grace, eternal life (if he dies in a state of grace) and an increase of heavenly glory. (De fide.)

The Church

The Divine Origin of the Church

The Church is the Mystical Body of Jesus Christ. (Sent. certa.)
The Church was founded by the God-Man Jesus Christ. (De fide.)

The Constitution of the Church

Christ founded the Church in order to continue His work of redemption for all time. (De fide.)
By reason of her purpose and the means she uses to effect it the Church is a supernatural spiritual society. (Sent. certa.)
The Church is a perfect society. (Sent. certa.)
Christ gave His Church an hierarchical constitution. (De fide.)
The powers bestowed on the Apostles have descended to the bishops. (De fide.)
Christ appointed the Apostle Peter to be the first of all the Apostles and to be the visible head of the whole Church, by appointing him immediately and personally to the primacy of jurisdiction. (De fide.)
According to Christ's ordinance, Peter is to have successors in his Primacy over the whole Church and for all time. (De fide.)
The successors of Peter in the Primacy are the bishops of Rome. (De fide.)
The Pope possesses full and supreme power of jurisdiction over the whole Church, not merely in matters of faith and morals, but also in Church discipline and in the government of the Church. (De fide.)
The Pope is infallible when he speaks ex cathedra. (De fide.)
By virtue of Divine Right the bishops possess an ordinary power of government over their dioceses. (De fide.)
The individual bishop receives his pastoral power immediately from the Pope. (Sent. probabilior.)

The Internal Constitution of the Church

Christ founded the Church. (De fide.)
Christ is the Head of the Church. (De fide.)
Our Redeemer Himself conserves with divine power the society founded by Him, the Church. (Pius XII)
Christ is the Divine Redeemer of His Body, the Church. (Pius XII.)
The Holy Ghost is the Soul of the Church. (Sent. communis.)

The Properties or Essential Attributes of the Church

The Church is indefectible, that is, she remains and will remain the Institution of Salvation, founded by Christ, until the end of the world. (Sent. certa.)
In the final decision on doctrines concerning faith and morals the Church is infallible. (De fide.)
The primary object of the Infallibility is the formally revealed truths of Christian Doctrine concerning faith and morals. (De fide.)
The secondary object of the Infallibility is truths of the Christian teaching on faith and morals, which are not formally revealed, but which are closely connected with the teaching of Revelation. (Sent. certa.)
The Pope is infallible when he speaks ex cathedra. (De fide.)
The totality of the Bishops is infallible, when they, either assembled in general council or scattered over the earth, propose a teaching of faith or morals as one to be held by all the faithful. (De fide.)
The Church founded by Christ is an external visible commonwealth. (Sent. certa.)
The Church founded by Christ is unique and one. (De fide.)
The Church founded by Christ is holy. (De fide.)
Not only those members who are holy but the sinners also belong to the Church. (Sent. certa.)
The Church founded by Christ is catholic. (De fide.)
The Church founded by Christ is apostolic. (De fide.)

The Necessity of the Church

The members of the Church are those who have validly received the Sacrament of Baptism and who are not separated from the unity of the confession of the Faith, and from the unity of the lawful communion of the Church. (Sent. certa.)
Membership of the Church is necessary for all men for salvation. (De fide.)

The Communion of Saints

The members of the Kingdom of God on earth and in the other world sanctified by the redeeming grace of Christ are united in a common supernatural life with the Head of the Church and with one another. (Sent. certa.)
By intercessory prayer the Faithful on earth can procure gifts from God for one another. (Sent. certa.)
By good works performed in the state of grace the Faithful on earth can merit de congruo gifts from God. (Sent. probabilis.)
The faithful on earth can, by their good works performed in the state of grace, render atonement for one another. (Sent. cert.)
It is permissible and profitable to venerate the Saints in Heaven, and to invoke their intercession. (De fide.)
It is permissible and profitable to venerate the relics of the Saints. (De fide.)
It is permissible and profitable to venerate images of the Saints. (De fide.)
The living Faithful can come to the assistance of the Souls in Purgatory by their intercessions (suffrages). (De fide.)
The Saints in Heaven also can come to the help of the Souls in Purgatory by their intercession. (Sent. communis.)
The Souls in Purgatory can intercede for other members of the Mystical Body. (Sent. probabilis.)
Suffrages are of no profit to the damned in Hell as they do not belong to the Mystical Body of Christ. (Sent. communis.)

The Sacraments

The Nature of the Sacraments

The Sacraments of the New Covenant are effective signs of grace instituted by Christ.
The outward sign of the sacraments is composed of two essential parts, namely, thing and word (res et verbum or elementum et verbum). (Sent. fidei proxima.)

The Efficacy and the Effects of the Sacraments

The Sacraments of the New Covenant contain the grace which they signify, and bestow it on those who do not hinder it. (De fide.)
The Sacraments work ex opere operato. (De fide.)
All the Sacraments of the New Covenant confer sanctifying grace on the receivers. (De fide.)
Each individual sacrament confers a specific sacramental grace. (Sent. communis.)
Three Sacraments, Baptism, Confirmation and Holy Orders, imprint a character, that is, an indelible spiritual mark, and for this reason cannot be repeated. (De fide.)
The Sacramental Character is a spiritual mark imprinted on the soul. (De fide.)
The Sacramental Character confers the full power for the performance of acts of Christian Worship. (Sent. communis.)
The Sacramental Character continues at least