f this, if such a power were incommunicable.
Therefore Christ could communicate His power to ministers.

_I answer that,_ As stated above (A. 3), Christ had a twofold power
in the sacraments. One was the power of _authority,_ which belongs to
Him as God: and this power He could not communicate to any creature;
just as neither could He communicate the Divine Essence. The other
was the power of _excellence,_ which belongs to Him as man. This
power He could communicate to ministers; namely, by giving them such
a fulness of grace--that their merits would conduce to the
sacramental effect--that by the invocation of their names, the
sacraments would be sanctified--and that they themselves might
institute sacraments, and by their mere will confer the sacramental
effect without observing the sacramental rite. For a united
instrument, the more powerful it is, is all the more able to lend its
power to the separated instrument; as the hand can to a stick.

Reply Obj. 1: It was not through jealousy that Christ refrained from
communicating to ministers His power of excellence, but for the good
of the faithful; lest they should put their trust in men, and lest
there should be various kinds of sacraments, giving rise to division
in the Church; as may be seen in those who said: "I am of Paul, I am
of Apollo, and I of Cephas" (1 Cor. 1:12).

Reply Obj. 2: This objection is true of the power of authority, which
belongs to Christ as God. At the same time the power of excellence
can be called authority in comparison to other ministers. Whence on 1
Cor. 1:13: "Is Christ divided?" the gloss says that "He could give
power of authority in baptizing, to those to whom He gave the power
of administering it."

Reply Obj. 3: It was in order to avoid the incongruity of many heads
in the Church, that Christ was unwilling to communicate to ministers
His power of excellence. If, however, He had done so, He would have
been Head in chief; the others in subjection to Him.
_______________________

FIFTH ARTICLE [III, Q. 64, Art. 5]

Whether the Sacraments Can Be Conferred by Evil Ministers?

Objection 1: It seems that the sacraments cannot be conferred by evil
ministers. For the sacraments of the New Law are ordained for the
purpose of cleansing from sin and for the bestowal of grace. Now evil
men, being themselves unclean, cannot cleanse others from sin,
according to Ecclus. 34:4: "Who [Vulg.: 'What'] can be made clean by
the unclean?" Moreover,