A Painting of Thomas Aquinas

A Painting of Thomas Aquinas

A painting of Thomas Aquinas enthroned between the doctors of the Old and New Testaments.

Other important scholastic theologians such as Bonaventura, Duns Scotus, and William of Ockham extended and developed Thomas’s teachings in different directions. None of them could ignore the contribution he had made.

The Seven Sacraments

One of the most enduring contributions of scholastic theology was the systematizing of the seven sacraments of medieval Catholicism. Peter Lombard was the first theologian to insist that there were only seven sacraments. Other thinkers such as Hugh of St. Victor and Thomas Aquinas discussed the meaning of these sacraments and their role in the Christian life.

Two of the sacraments were for a restricted group within Christendom: ordination or holy orders for those who were called to a priestly ministry in the church and marriage for those who were wedded as husband and wife. The other five sacraments—baptism, confirmation, the Eucharist, penance, and extreme unction—were intended for everyone. The sacraments were believed to have a direct affect on salvation; they not only signified grace, but they contained and conferred it. Not all of the sacraments were of equal necessity. Baptism, the Eucharist, and penance contributed most directly to the process of salvation.

By the Middle Ages the rite of infant baptism had become almost universally practiced throughout the church. Augustine’s doctrine of original sin, which implied that unbaptized babies dying in infancy went to limbo, the outer region of hell, contributed to this practice. It was believed that baptism removed the taint of original sin and disposed the one baptized to receive the grace of the other sacraments. The high rate of infant mortality   p 867  prompted the practice of baptism by midwives when newborn infants were in danger of death. The doctrine of baptism was reflected in the structure of certain cemeteries: a section of hallowed ground for those dying in the state of grace, unconsecrated soil for those dying unrepentant of mortal sin, and a third parcel of ground for those infants dying without benefit of baptism.

The Eucharist or sacrament of the altar was called the crown of the sacraments and received extensive theological treatment. The Fourth Lateran Council in 1215 approved the dogma of transubstantiation. This teaching held that at the moment of consecration the bread and wine of the Eucharist became the actual body and blood of Christ. This doctrine gave rise to new forms of Eucharistic piety in the late Middle Ages: the saying of private masses, the veneration of the consecrated hosts outside the context of the Lord’s Supper, and the denial of the cup to the laity (to prevent the spilling of the transubstantiation wine).

Baptism and the Eucharist were supplemented by the sacrament of penance, which was the means of removing the penalty of sin and preparing oneself for the full benefits of the sacrament of the altar. Penance consisted of four stages: (1) contrition, that is, being sorry for one’s sin; (2) confession, the making known of sin to a priest, an act required at least once a year by the Fourth Lateran Council; (3) satisfaction, an act of compensation to God for offenses done against Him; (4) absolution, pronounced by the priest who, it was believed, had the authority of Christ to formally remit sins. During the late Middle Ages the sacrament of penance was continually threatened by the abuse of indulgences, that is, the promise of forgiveness in exchange for a sum of money. In effect, this meant that absolution could be attained without contrition, confession, or satisfaction. It was Luther’s protest against the abuse of the penitential system that triggered the Reformation in 1517.

Dockery, David S., Trent C. Butler, et al. Holman Bible Handbook. Nashville, TN: Holman Bible Publishers, 1992. Print.