nister of a
sacrament acts in the person of the Church by whose faith any defect
in the minister's faith is made good.

Reply Obj. 2: Some heretics in conferring sacraments do not observe
the form prescribed by the Church: and these confer neither the
sacrament nor the reality of the sacrament. But some do observe the
form prescribed by the Church: and these confer indeed the sacrament
but not the reality. I say this in the supposition that they are
outwardly cut off from the Church; because from the very fact that
anyone receives the sacraments from them, he sins; and consequently
is hindered from receiving the effect of the sacrament. Wherefore
Augustine (Fulgentius, De Fide ad Pet.) says: "Be well assured and
have no doubt whatever that those who are baptized outside the
Church, unless they come back to the Church, will reap disaster from
their Baptism." In this sense Pope Leo says that "the light of the
sacraments was extinguished in the Church of Alexandria"; viz. in
regard to the reality of the sacrament, not as to the sacrament
itself.

Cyprian, however, thought that heretics do not confer even the
sacrament: but in this respect we do not follow his opinion. Hence
Augustine says (De unico Baptismo xiii): "Though the martyr Cyprian
refused to recognize Baptism conferred by heretics or schismatics,
yet so great are his merits, culminating in the crown of martyrdom,
that the light of his charity dispels the darkness of his fault, and
if anything needed pruning, the sickle of his passion cut it off."

Reply Obj. 3: The power of administering the sacraments belongs to
the spiritual character which is indelible, as explained above (Q.
63, A. 3). Consequently, if a man be suspended by the Church, or
excommunicated or degraded, he does not lose the power of conferring
sacraments, but the permission to use this power. Wherefore he does
indeed confer the sacrament, but he sins in so doing. He also sins
that receives a sacrament from such a man: so that he does not
receive the reality of the sacrament, unless ignorance excuses him.
_______________________

TENTH ARTICLE [III, Q. 64, Art. 10]

Whether the Validity of a Sacrament Requires a Good Intention in the
Minister?

Objection 1: It seems that the validity of a sacrament requires a
good intention in the minister. For the minister's intention should
be in conformity with the Church's intention, as explained above (A.
8, ad 1). But the intention of the Church is