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![[Sacrements like a productive waterfall.]](waterfall_high_compressed.jpg "Waterfall of Red-confluence, on river Orhon, Mongolia.")
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Sacraments are effective (but not magic) signs of God. There are 7 of them.
One can receive no other sacrament before baptism (canon 842).
A sacrament cannot be denied to a person who seek it at appropriate time, is properly disposed (by his/her faith and life) and is not prohibited by the canon law from receiving it (canon 843), but pastors (parish priests etc.) have to take care that those who seek the sacraments are well prepared to receive them (same canon). Of course, someone who refuses to prepare himself appropriately is not properly disposed to receive it, so it's possible to deny it to him.
Catholics, as a rule, have to receive a sacrament only from a Catholic servant (bishop, priest, deacon…).
In addition to general conditions, there are particular conditions to receive each sacrament.
When a sacrament has really been received, it's said to be valid. When the rules of the Church has been abode by, the sacrament, the ceremony or the act are legal (or licit). Validity and legality (or liceity) of a sacrament are thus to be distinguished.
For instance, if a Catholic baptise himself his newborn child without necessity,
it's illegal (he should have ask the parish priest to baptise him in the church), but valid (the child is really baptised).
If Mr Smith forces his daughter to marry the young Soandso against her will, its illicit (Mr Smith is not allowed to force his daughter to marry) and non valid: despite the ceremony and the words said, Miss Smith and Mr Soandso are not married, the contract is void, there has been no sacrament (and no matrimony),
even if the whole assembly and the two young people themselves think they are married from then on. Because, to marry, one must be free.
The difference between validity and legality is not specific to sacraments: if Mr Smith gets a child with his neighbour's spouse, the conception is valid (it's a real child), but illicit (or illegal): it's adultery.
Every person not yet baptised, and only such a person, is capable of baptism. (canon 864). One can receive baptism only once in one's life. Baptism conferred by anyone in the Christian faith, with water, in the Name of the Father, of the Son and of the Holy Spirit is valid (canon 849 and Directory for the application of principles and norms on oecumenism, # 95 a). Specifically, baptism given by oriental Orthodoxes, Orthodoxes, Copts, Protestants, Anglicans, Lefevrians is valid. Jehovah's witnesses are not Christians (they don't believe that Jesus is God), and Mormons' baptism is neither valid, probably because the person they call Jesus is a mixture of the real Jesus and a fictitious personage said to have preached and act in America.
To baptise an infant, are required (canon 868)
Baptism has to be prepared appropriately. If the one seeking baptism is an adult, a teenager of a child having have attained the use of reason, he must follow the catechumenate (long preparation to baptism) except if he is not responsible for himself . If it's an infant, his parents must be prepared to baptism, specially by prayer (canon 851 and 852).
The baptism name cannot foreign to Christian sensibility. The parents, sponsors and parish priest have to take care of that. (canon 855)
A sponsor is required as far as possible. It can be a godfather, a godmother, or both.
The sponsors must have had received the sacrament of Confirmation (canon
874). There is only one exception to this rule:
the sponsor may be a non-Catholic baptised Christian, but then he'll only be regarded by the Church as a witness. In this case, two sponsors are required, and it's compulsory that the other one is a confirmed Catholic (canon
874).
Moreover, the sponsors have to lead a life of faith (canon 874). At last, the sponsor must be at least 16 years old, except dispensation (canon 874).
The godfather and godmother must be prepared. (canon 851)
Baptism has to be given by a Catholic deacon or, if a deacon is absent, by an other person designated by the bishop. Nevertheless in case of necessity (in danger of death, or in a few other cases), any Christian, even non baptised can baptise with water: In the Name of the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit, I baptise you, Such. (canon 861). In this case, it's not essential to use blessed water (canon 853). In danger of death, preparation is cut down to the minimum: it's enough to check, if the person seeking baptism is at least 7 years old, if he has some knowledge of the principal truths of the faith (God become man in Jesus, dead then rose again and delivers us this way from death and sin.) and intends to observe the Christian commandments (canon 865).
§1. Parents are obliged to take care that infants are baptised in the first few weeks; as soon as possible after the birth or even before it, they are to go to the pastor to request the sacrament for their child and to be prepared properly for it.
§2. An infant in danger of death is to be baptised without delay. (canon 867)
As a rule an adult is to be baptised in his or her parish church and an infant in the parish church of the parents unless a just cause suggests otherwise. (canon 857, §2)
The sacrament of confirmation is given by the bishop or his representative (canon 882).
The conference of bishops (assembly of bishops of a country or several countries together) may decide a minimum age to receive confirmation. The conference of bishops of France has decided that each bishop could decide this minimum age for his diocese (territory a bishop is in charge of), between 12 and 18 years old.
As far as possible, the confirmation candidate chooses a sponsor (canon 892). It's desirable to choose as sponsor the sponsor of one's baptism, or one of the two baptism sponsor, but it's not obligatory (canon 893). The requirements to be the confirmation sponsor are the same than those to be a baptism sponsor (canons 893 and 874).
As a rule, baptised Catholics have the right-duty to receive communion (canon 912). The first time (1st communion), one has to prepare oneself very well (canon 913). The baptised Catholics who made their 1st
communion are obliged to receive communion at least once a year during Easter season, except if the canon law or their bishop forbids it (canon 915 and canon 920). A Catholic who is conscious of grave sin must not receive communion (canon 916). About the communion of a Catholic to a non-Catholic mass, or the opposite, see: oecumenism.
One has to abstain from any food and drink (except water and medicine) for one hour before communion, except if one is infirm, elderly or if one cares for them (canon 919).
The matrimony is a covenant between a man and a woman, who share their whole life (canon 1 055 §1). the Church distinguishes the natural marriage (who existed even before Jesus) and the sacrament of marriage (sacramental matrimony). This distinction is not always the same as the distinction between church wedding and civil wedding. A matrimony between two baptised people is always a sacrament by that fact (canon 1 055 §2), even if the spouses don't know it, and even if they are not Catholics. Therefore, if 2 non Catholics are married outside the Church and become Catholic, there is no such possibility as a church (second) wedding: they have already received the sacrament of marriage. It's nevertheless possible to bless their marriage. If they were not baptised, it's also possible to celebrate the sacrament of marriage the day they receive it, i.e. the day of their baptism. Celebrating a sacrament long after it would have been received would mislead the faithful. The canon law doesn't give a verdict on the sacramentality of the marriage between a baptised person and a non-baptised one, so it seems the pastor has to follow his own theological interpretation. The canon law doesn't give a verdict on the matrimony's servant (or minister) (the person who gives the sacrament). According to the traditional Western theology, the ministers are the bride and groom themselves. According to the traditional Eastern theology, the minister is the (sub)deacon who receives the consents.
To be valid (i.e. to be really a marriage), the marriage of a Catholic must be celebrated before the parish priest of the parish one of the spouses lives or before his representative (canons 1 108 and canon 1 115), in the Catholic liturgical form (canon 1 117). Therefore, if 2 Catholics thought they married at a registry office without going before the parish priest, they are not married at all. Nevertheless, exceptions exist:
In these cases, the marriage is a sacrament (even if it didn't took place before a deacon either in a church by impossibility). If one of the spouses is a non-Catholic oriental Christian (oriental Orthodox, Orthodox, Copt), the marriage is only valid if it took place before a sacred servant (at least a subdeacon). In all cases, it's forbidden to make two religious celebrations of a one marriage (in the Catholic church then in the protestant church, for instance). Cf. canon 1 127.
A Catholic is not allowed to marry a non-Catholic without express permission from the bishop (canon 1 124). If the non-Catholic is not baptised, the attempted marriage is even invalid (i.e. there is no marriage.) except dispensation from the bishop (canon 1 086).
An invalid attempted marriage can be validated afterwards without new public celebration if has stopped what had made it invalid and that are then satisfied all the requirements for a valid marriage (canons 1 156 and 1 157).
The marriage concluded but non consummated (if there has never been any sexual intercourse between the spouses) may be dissolved by the pope (canon 1 142). The marriage concluded and consummated is only dissolved by death (canon 1 141).
The bishop or the pope (according to the case) can release from all impediments to marriage (i.e. see to it that a marriage can be validly celebrated), except from impediments between ascendants and descendants, and between brother and sister (canon 1 078).
Catholics who have not yet received the sacrament of confirmation are to receive it before they are admitted to marriage if it can be done without grave inconvenience. (canon 1 065)
Once become a Catholic, even if one leaves the Church later, one is still bound by the canon law (canon 11), so that, for examples, the marriage with no catholic liturgy of a Catholic who has become protestant is not valid, except in the above mentioned cases, or the marriage between a Catholic having lost his faith with a non-Catholic is not valid.
From 1983-11-27 to 2010-04-08, this principle admitted 3 exceptions: the marriage of a Catholic having left the Church was valid (without the need for a dispensation) even without catholic liturgy (old canon 1 117) and even if the spouse was not baptised (old canon 1086); and the marriage of a Catholic having left the Church with a non catholic Christian was allowed without the need for a dispensation (old canon 1124). The condition was that the Catholic having left the Church had carried out, before the marriage, a formal act of leaving the Church, as he wishes, as having written to his baptism parish to ask that his leaving the Church be registered on the register of baptisms. Of course, this condition of a formal act of leaving the Church used to add to the other conditions for a valid marriage (spouses' liberty, no other matrimony etc.). Therefore the marriage with no catholic liturgy, of a baptised person having left the Church, if it took place during that period, is not invalid for that. The marriage with no dispensation of a Catholic having left the Church, with a non-Catholic is also valid under the same conditions: that it took place during that period and that the concerned person had left the Church by a formal act.
These three exceptions have been abrogated and so henceforth the rules of the canon law still apply to Catholics having left the Church, even for marriages if the have taken place after the 2010-04-08 or before the 1983-11-27. This is a legal clause, not necessarily a moral obligation: someone having lost his faith may well consider that in all conscience he is going to "marry" without going through the service of the Church he doesn't believe in any longer. But the Church says what he does is not a marriage.
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