Dist. 3, Part 1, Art. 1, Q. 1
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/4/d/3/q/bon-sent-IV-d3-p1-a1-q1
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### Article I. *On the things that pertain to the integrity of the Sacrament of baptism.*
### Question I. *What baptism is on the side of the element, whether it is water, or the dipping in water.*

First, then, it is asked what baptism is according to its essence, whether it is water, or a dipping in water. And that it is water seems [so]:

1. By the definition of Hugh: « Baptism is water sanctified for the washing away of sins ». Likewise by the definition of its *genus*: « A Sacrament is an element representing by likeness » etc.: therefore if water is the element, the Sacrament of baptism is water. *If you say* that he assigns both definitions by the *material cause*, not by the *essence*; *on the contrary*: this is [stated] by essence: baptism is a Sacrament; and this: a Sacrament is a sign; and this: « A sign is a sensible species, making something else come into knowledge »: therefore this is true according to substance: baptism is a visible species or form of an invisible thing; but this form or species is nothing but water: therefore etc.

2. Likewise, the species of bread is the Sacrament in the eucharist, not the eating of the bread itself, but rather the use; and this, because it has a likeness to the thing signified and contained therein: therefore if in baptism the washing grace is signified through the washing water, then the washing water is the Sacrament; but [it is] nothing other than baptism: therefore etc.

But that water is not baptism, but rather the *dipping*, seems [so]:

1. By that which the Master says in the text, defining baptism: « Baptism is the exterior washing of the body done under the prescribed form of words »; and he adds: « When the word comes to the element, the Sacrament is made; the element itself does not become the Sacrament, but the washing done in the element »: therefore it is clear that baptism is not water, but the washing in water.

2. Likewise, this same thing is clear by *reason*, because, if baptism were water, since water is always water, it would always be baptism; which is false, because it is not [baptism]

except while someone is being baptized. And *again*, when someone were baptized in the sea, then the sea would be baptism, and the river [also]; which is not reasonable.

3. Likewise, to the Sacrament of baptism there concur word and element: therefore if the word is necessary, inasmuch as it signifies, that is properly baptism to which the word refers; but the word refers to the act of washing, when it is said *I wash thee*, not to the water: therefore baptism is not water.

4. But that it is neither *water* nor a *dipping* in water seems [so]: because baptism *remains* in the baptized when the water and the washing have withdrawn: therefore etc. That it remains seems [so], because it always denominates and is never repeated.

### Conclusion

> Both, namely the washing water and the washing, are the Sacrament, yet one [Sacrament].

**I respond:** For the understanding of the foregoing it must be noted that *baptizare* in Greek is worth as much as *lavare* (to wash) in Latin; whence Judith twelve: *He was going down into the valley of Bethulia and baptizing himself.* Now from that which is *to wash* arises *lavacrum* (laver/washing-place) and *lotio* (washing). A *lavacrum* is water set apart for washing, just as a bath is water set apart for bathing by human craft. But *lotio* is the use or effect of water. — Baptism therefore is taken for the *lavacrum*, as in Canticles four: *Thy teeth as flocks of the shorn, which came up from the washing*; the Gloss: « Washed in baptism ». And conversely, to Titus three: *Through the laver of regeneration and renewal.* — It is also taken for the *lotion*, Mark seven: *Holding the tradition of men, the washings of cups and pitchers*, that is, washings; likewise *ablution* for baptism, John thirteen: *He that is washed needeth not* etc.: *washed*, that is, baptized.

Since therefore the name of baptism is equivalent to *lavacrum* and also to *lotion*, some have said that baptism, insofar as it is the name of the Sacrament, is the same as the *lavacrum*; others, that it is the same as the *dipping*. Of the first opinion master Hugh seems to have been, but of the second the Master. I believe, however, that it is said in both ways, because insofar as it is *lavacrum*, it is the sign of a sacred thing; for the washing water is the sign of the grace inwardly cleansing, and the washing is the sign of interior cleansing; and so each is a Sacrament, yet not two Sacraments, because one is on account of the other. For water is not a Sacrament except inasmuch as washing; and the washing is not a Sacrament except because [it is] a washing of water or in water; and therefore [there is] only one Sacrament.

If, however, you ask, by which is the Sacrament said *more first and more properly*, whether baptism for the *lavacrum*, or for the *lotion*; a distinction must be made, [namely] that baptism is called the *sanctifying* Sacrament, and thus it is said more principally of the washing, because it more immediately regards the interior effect and the word; it is also called the *signifying* Sacrament, and thus it is said principally of the lavacrum, because the thing signified inwardly, properly and more first, is the cleansing grace, and consequently the washing itself. — And there is an example: a hoop displayed before a tavern is a sign of wine to be sold, and the displaying of the hoop is a sign of the selling; yet the hoop is *more* properly a sign than the displaying; so [too] the water more than the washing. — And the reasons proving this are to be conceded.

**To the arguments to the contrary:**

*To 1.* As for that which is objected to the contrary concerning the Master, it must be said that he was of another opinion; nonetheless it must be conceded that yet from this it follows that baptism is a washing; and it is not the case that it is not washing water. But as for what he says, that the element does not become the Sacrament: it is to be understood, not according to that which it *is*, but according to the act, which is *to wash*.

*To 2 and 3.* By this also the following is clear: that water is not the Sacrament insofar as it is water alone,

but according to the *act of washing*, just as grace heals according to the act of purging; and therefore it does not follow that water is always the Sacrament, nor that all water [is], but the water which washes and which is set apart for this; and this is not the whole sea or river, but that [part] of the water which is most immediately joined to the body to be washed. — From this also the following is clear, that the word refers to the water insofar as [it is] Sacrament in act, and thus it is [Sacrament] inasmuch as washing.

*To 4.* As for that which is objected, that it *remains*; it must be said that baptism properly, insofar as it names the exterior Sacrament, does not remain in itself, but in its effect, and by reason of that it is said to remain. For the effect of baptism is sometimes called baptism.

Whence it must be noted that since in baptism there are three things: one, which is Sacrament only, as the visible element; one, which is the thing (*res*) only, as the healing grace; one, which is Sacrament and *res* of the Sacrament, as the character. Of the *res* of the Sacrament it is said commonly; of the *res*-and-Sacrament it is said properly; of the Sacrament, however, it is said more properly; but of the washing still more properly; and of the element under such an act most properly. — And according to these four acceptations it is defined fourfold. Insofar as baptism is the name of the element signifying and sanctifying by the power of the word, it is defined by Hugh: « Baptism is water sanctified for the washing away of sins ». — Insofar as [it is taken] for the act or use of the element, by the Master: « Baptism is the exterior dipping of the body done under the prescribed form of words ». — Insofar as it is taken for the Sacrament-and-*res* of the Sacrament, which is the character, thus by Damascene: « Baptism is the principle of the spiritual life, a seal and a guard and an illumination of the mind ». And a fourfold condition of the character is touched upon: for because it prepares for grace, it is therefore the principle of life; because it distinguishes the flock of the Lord, thus [it is] a seal; because it perseveres indelibly, thus [it is] a guard; because it specially disposes for faith, it is called an illumination of the mind. — Insofar as it is taken for the *res* of the Sacrament, it is defined by Dionysius: « Baptism is the Sacrament of regeneration, insofar as it first subsists in the soul, spiritually forming the animal motions toward an aptitude for the divine words and actions, and making a way toward the anagogy of the heavenly rest ». In this definition is touched upon the *res* of this Sacrament, which is the grace vivifying the soul, when he says: « insofar as it first subsists in the soul »; there is also touched upon the enabling of the power through virtue, first toward the active, when he says: « forming the animal motions »; secondly toward the contemplative, when he says: « toward the anagogy of the heavenly rest ».