Pars 6, Cap. 8
by St. Bonaventure
Source text: Public Domain Mark 1.0. English translation/apparatus/encoding: CC BY-NC 4.0, Wroot Press.
https://bonaventure.wrootpress.com/browse/5/d/6/q/bon-brev-p6-c8
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### Chapter VIII. *On the integrity of confirmation.*

Concerning the Sacrament of *confirmation* this must be held: that for its integrity there is required a vocal form, which according to the more common usage is this: I sign thee with the sign of the cross, I confirm thee with the chrism of salvation, in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen. — There is required also *chrism*, which is compounded of the oil of olives and of balsam, with which, when through the hands of the bishop the sign of the cross is imprinted upon the forehead under the aforesaid form of the words of confirmation, the Sacrament is received; through which a man is confirmed as a *champion* for confessing the name of Christ boldly and publicly.

Now the reason for the understanding of the aforesaid is this: since our reparative principle, the Word namely incarnate, just as it was eternally conceived in the heart of the Father and temporally appeared to man sensibly in the flesh, so repairs no one unless he both conceive it by believing with the heart and bring forth what he has believed outwardly by con-

fessing it with the confession that is due; and of this kind is a truthful confession full of truth, which is not only speculative truth but also practical. And this is that in which there is not only « the adequation of intellect, of speech and of the thing », but also that in which the whole man is conformed to truth according to the understanding of *reason*, according to the complacency of the *will* and according to the adherence of *virtue*, so that it be *from the whole heart, the whole soul and the whole mind*, be *from a pure heart, a good conscience and faith unfeigned*; and such a confession is *entire, pleasing* and *intrepid*; so that it be *entire* by reason of that of which it is; *pleasing* by reason of him before whom it is made; *intrepid* by reason of him by whom that confession has to be made. Since therefore for this the pusillanimous man is not fit, unless he be confirmed through the hand of supernal grace; therefore for this the Sacrament of confirmation was divinely instituted as immediately following baptism.

But because « the end imposes necessity upon those things which are unto the end »; therefore this Sacrament ought to be made entire according to the exigency of the aforesaid confession and of its conditions, namely of the three aforesaid. First then, since this confession ought to be *entire*; and there is no integrity of confession unless one confess Christ as true man crucified for men, and the same as true Son of God incarnate, in the Trinity coequal in all things with the Father and with the Holy Spirit: hence it is that in the vocal form there is made not only the expression of the act of confirming, but also of the sign of the cross itself and of the name of the most blessed Trinity.

Further, since the confession ought to be *pleasing* by reason of him before whom it is made, and it has to be made before God and men; and it cannot please God unless there be present *the light of understanding* and *the brightness of conscience*, nor the neighbour unless there be present *the odor of good repute* and *of an honorable life*: therefore for the designation of these there is mingled in the outward element the *oil* of olives, which is bright, and *balsam*, which is fragrant; that by this it may be signified that the confession, to which this Sacrament orders and disposes, ought to have joined to it the *brightness* of conscience and of understanding together with the sweet *odor* as much of life as of repute, lest there be any contrariety between the tongue and the conscience, or between the tongue and repute, on account of which such a confession would not be accepted by man nor approved by Christ.

Lastly, since such a confession ought to be *intrepid*, so that neither by shame nor by fear may anyone forbear to speak the truth, nor in the time of persecution may anyone dread or blush to confess publicly the ignominious death of Christ upon the cross, chiefly shuddering to fall into a like penalty and ignominy of the passion; and fear and shame of this kind appear most of all in the face and most especially on the forehead: therefore for the driving away of all bashfulness and dread *a potestative hand* also is imposed, which may confirm, and *the cross* is imprinted upon the forehead, that he may not blush to confess it publicly nor dread, for the confession of the name of Christ, to sustain, if there be need, however great a penalty or ignominy, as a true champion anointed for the battle and as a strenuous soldier, bearing on his forehead the sign of his king and the triumphal standard of his cross, with which he may be ready to penetrate the wedges of the enemy in security. For the glory of the cross cannot freely be preached if the penalty and ignominy of the cross be dreaded, according to what Saint Andrew said: « I, if I dreaded the ignominy of the cross, would not preach the glory of the cross ».

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