THE SACRAMENTS Consequently, heretics and schismatics, separated from the unity of this Body, are able to receive the same Sacrament, but with no benefit to themselves; indeed, more to their own harm, in that they are judged the more severely rather than being liberated. - St. Augustine For he who touches the Body of Christ unworthily receives his damnation. - St. Peter Chrysologus The Sacraments are the salvation of those who use them rightly, and the damnation of those who misuse them. - St. Augustine Cut off from the Body into which alone the graces of Christ flow, you are deprived of the benefit of all prayers, sacrifices, and Sacraments. - St. Edmund Campion It is better to be cured in the Church than to be cut off from this Body as incurable ... for, as long as the member is still attached to the Body, his cure is not beyond hope, but when he has been cut off, he can neither be treated nor cured. - St. Augustine Anyone who is outside this Church ... is walking a path not to Heaven but to Hell. He is not getting closer to the home of eternal. life; on the contrary, he is hurrying to the torment of eternal death. And this is the case not only if he remains a pagan without Baptism, but even if he continue as a heretic after having been baptized. - St. Fulgentius Wicked sons do not have the Holy Ghost in the same way as do beloved sons, and yet they do have Baptism. So, too, heretics do not have the Church as Catholics have, even though they have Baptism. - St. Augustine Although the Gentiles have Scriptures, and churches, and sacrifices, and teachers, and books, and a partial knowledge of God, and some good actions, and feast-days, and changing of garments, and prayers, and watchings, and priests, and many other things; nevertheless, no one on earth possesses the grace and operation of the Holy Spirit except those who have been rightly Baptized by faith in the Father, Son, and Holy Ghost. - Bl. Jerome of Jerusalem The Lord withdraws when He is denied, and what is taken by the undeserving does not avail them unto salvation, since the saving grace is turned into ashes and holiness departs. - St. Cyprian Hold most firmly and never doubt in the least that the Sacrament of Baptism is able to exist not only within the Catholic Church but also among heretics ... but outside the Catholic Church it cannot be of any profit; nay, just as within the Church salvation is conferred through the Sacrament of Baptism upon those who believe rightly, so too, outside the Catholic Church, ruin is heaped up for those who were Baptized by the same Baptism if they do not return to the Church. For it is the unity as such of this ecclesiastical society tht avails unto salvation, so that a man is not saved by Baptism if it were not given in that place where it is necessary to be administered. - St. Fulgentius I do not doubt that all those who have received Baptism anywhere and from whomever do have Baptism, as long as it was consecrated with the words of the Gospel and they received it without pretence on their part and with some degree of faith. However, it would not avail them for their spiritual salvation if they were lacking in that charity by which they might be implanted in the Catholic Church. - St. Augustine Baptism pertains to the Church alone. - St. Cyprian No one is sanctified except him who is united to the Church. - St. Prosper of Aquitaine "It is said that there is no salvation outside the Church. Who denies this? And therefore whatever things of the Church are had outside the Church do not avail unto salvation. - St. Augustine Peter, in showing that the Church is one and that only those who are in the Church can be saved, said: "In the Ark of Noah certain persons, numbering only eight, were saved by water, which Baptism effects in like manner for you" (1 Peter 3:20). He proves and demonstrates that the solitary Ark of Noah was the figure of the One Church. If, at the time of this Baptism of the world anyone could have been saved without having been in the Ark of Noah, then he who is outside the Church could now be brought to life by Baptism. - St. Cyprian Anyone who receives the Sacrament of Baptism, whether in the Catholic Church or in a heretical or schismatic church, receives theSacrament; however, salvation, which is the strength of the Sacrament, he will not have if he has had that Sacrament outside the Catholic Church. He must, therefore, return to the Church, not to receive the Sacrament of Baptism again, which no one dare repeat in any Baptized person, but so that, being now in Catholic society, he might receive eternal life, which can never in any way be obtained by anyone who, with the Sacrament of Baptism, remains a stranger to the Catholic Church ... Hold most firmly and never doubt in the least that no person Baptized outside the Catholic Church can become a partaker of eternal life if, before the end of this earthly life, he has not returned and been incorporated in the Catholic Church. - St. Fulgentius "If any man thirst, let him come and drink from the rivers of living water" (cf. John 7:38). Where shall he who thirsts come? To heretics where the fountain and river of water is in no way life-giving? Or to the Church, which is One? - St. Cyprian The Church gives us to understand that some men can receive even Baptism outside her, but that no one can either receive or possess salvation outside her. Thus, the Baptism of the Church can exist outside the Church, but the gift of a blessed life is not found except within the Church which was founded on a Rock and received the keys of binding and loosing. It is she who keeps and possesses every power of her Spouse and Lord. For the water of the Church is salutary and holy for those who use it well, but outside the Church no one can use it well ... It may be that someone may have Baptism apart, but that it should do him good is impossible ... This man says: "I have Baptism!" Yes, you have it, but Baptism without Charity profits you nothing, because without Charity you are nothing (1 Corinthians 13:2). For outside the Church you would have Baptism to destruction. If you have it inside, Baptism begins to profit you towards salvation. - St. Augustine Since the baptismal rebirth takes place only with the one Bride of Christ, where could he be born who is not a son of the Church? - St. Cyprian He indeed possesses the Character imposed on him, but he wanders as a renegade. - St. Augustine Baptism is the Sacrament of Faith. Now, dead faith does not suffice for salvation .. .Therefore, the Sacrament of Baptism cannot give salvation to a man whose will ... expels the form of faith. - St. Thomas Aquinas What is more insane than to be partakers of the Sacraments of the Lord and not partakers of the words of the Lord? These men truly have to say: "In Thy Name we have eaten and drunk," and they will have to hear: "I do not know you!" (Luke 13:26-27). They eat and drink His Body and Blood in the Sacrament and do not recognize in the Gospel His members spread over the whole world, and for this reason they are not numbered among them at the Judgment. - St. Augustine Knowing that there is one Baptism, we who hold the head and root of the One Church know for certain that to him who is outside the Church nothing is lawful. - St. Cyprian Baptism is not to be conferred on a man who is unwilling to give up his other sins, so neither should Baptism be given to one who is unwilling to renounce his unbelief. Nevertheless, each of them receives the Sacrament if it is conferred on him, although not unto salvation. - St. Thomas Aquinas For he who says simply "O Lord," does not administer Baptism, but rather he who, with the Name, also has the right faith ... There are many other heresies, too, which use the words only, but not in a right sense, nor with sound faith, and in consequence the water which they pour is unprofitable, deficient in piety, so that he who is sprinkled by them is polluted rather than redeemed. - St. Athanasius Although among heretics and schismatics there is the same Baptism, nevertheless, the remission of sins is not operative among them because of the very rottenness of discord and wickedness of dissension ... Baptism was in them, but it did not profit them outside the Church ... Outside the Church, Baptism works death because of discord. - St. Augustine Whereas there can be but one Baptism, they think they can Baptize; they have abandoned the fountain of life, yet promise the life and grace of the waters of salvation. It is not cleansing which men find there, but soiling; their sins are not washed away, but only added to. That being "born again" does not bring forth sons to God but to the Devil. Born of a lie, they cannot inherit the things which Truth has promised; begotten by the faithless, they are deprived of the grace of faith. - St. Cyprian A person may be Baptized, and yet not born again to grace, in consequence of not having the necessary dispositions at Baptism. - St. Alphonsus Maria Liguori Just as those who are conscripting soldiers examine the age and physical condition of those being drafted, so also the Lord, in enlisting souls, examines their dispositions. If anyone harbors hypocrisy, even in secret, He rejects that man as unfit for true service. Holy things He does not give to dogs. He who is Baptized with water, but is not found worthy of the Spirit, does not receive the grace in perfection. - St. Cyril of Jerusalem Right faith is of necessity required for Baptism, since it is said: "the justice of God is by faith in Jesus Christ" (Romans 3:22) ... Therefore, Baptism without faith avails nothing and thus we must recall that without faith no one is acceptable to God. - St. Thomas Aquinas These three things God requires of all the Baptized: right faith in the heart, truth on the tongue, temperance in the body. - St. Gregory Nazianzen If anyone without the right faith receives Baptism outside the Church, he does not receive it unto salvation ... From the comparison of the Church to Paradise, we learn that men can receive her Baptism even outside her fold, but that out there no one can receive or keep the salvation of the blessed. - St. Thomas Aquinas Baptism does not profit a man outside unity with the Church ... For many heretics also possess this Sacrament but not the fruits of salvation ... The benefits which flow from Baptism are necessarily fruits which belong to the true Church alone. Children Baptized in other communions cease to be members of the Church when, after reaching the age of reason, they make formal profession of heresy, as, for example, by receiving communion in a non-Catholic Church. - St. Augustine In like manner, everyone who has received from God the power of distinguishing and yet follows an unskillful pastor and receives a false opinion for the truth shall be punished ... Be not deceived: if any man follows him who separates from the truth, he shall not inherit the kingdom of God; and if any man does not stand aloof from the preacher of falsehood he shall be condemned to Hell. - St. Ignatius of Antioch The Church is built on the rock of Peter, and he who eats the Lamb outside this holy dwelling is reprobate .. .He who eats the Lamb outside this Apostolic See has no part with God! - Bl. Pope Pius IX Whoever eats the Lamb outside this House is profane. - St. Jerome DOWNLOAD THE FULL IMAGE OF THE TRIUMPH OF ST. 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