STATE OF GRACE. —
I. DOCTRINE
S. di G. signifies the permanent and supernatural condition or mode of being of the soul, cleansed of every mortal sin and adorned with Grace. It entails sanctifying Grace, an entitative habit or quality inherent in the essence of the soul; the virtues, operative habits; and the gifts of the Holy Spirit, infused into the spiritual faculties.The s. di G. is acquired through the Sacraments of the dead, that is, Baptism and Penance, or contrition (v.), explicitly or implicitly joined to the desire for the Sacrament, and is lost through grave sin. For the state of aversion to God induced by sin is opposed to, and cannot coexist in the same subject with, the friendship and union with God signified by Grace. Venial sins do not cause the s. di G. to be lost; nevertheless, if frequent and deliberate, they can dispose one to lose it through mortal sin, by diminishing fervor in the practice of good.
II. NECESSITY
1. The state of grace, at the moment of death, is necessary for salvation with absolute necessity of means; that is, it cannot be supplied. Indeed, it is impossible for a soul to attain the beatific vision if it ends its state of pilgrimage in aversion and enmity toward God.2. The state of grace is required for merit de condigno (cf. Conc. Trid., sess. VI, can. 32), since, in order to produce good fruits, one must be incorporated into Christ, as the branch into the vine (Io. 15), and only one who has attained, through Grace, divine adoptive sonship has a right to eternal life. Moreover, since eternal life is superior to human nature, man cannot, by his natural powers alone, perform meritorious acts proportionate to II. Nor can one conceive of a right to goods proper to God in one who is His enemy through sin.
3. The state of grace is not necessary for the validity of the Sacraments (cf. Conc. Trid., sess. VII, can. 12). This was clarified in the controversy iteration of the Sacraments (v.) administered by heretics. Against those who maintained the invalidity of such Sacraments, the holy Fathers, especially St. Agostino in his works against the Donatists, defended their validity by distinguishing between the ministerial cause and the principal cause, which is Christ. The Scholastics subsequently took up this doctrinal point, elucidating the office of the minister, who, since he acts almost as an instrument of Christ, does not cause the Sacrament to lose its value even when he is in sin. The state of grace, however, is required for the licit administration of the Sacraments (cf. Rituale rom., tit. I, nn. 3-4), because sacred things must be handled in a holy manner, but especially because the minister represents Christ, acts in His name, and has been consecrated to this office. Moral theologians commonly hold that this state of grace is required of the minister sub gravi, at least when it concerns the solemn celebration and administration of a Sacrament to whose conferral he has been deputed by Holy Orders. Thus he commits a grave sin if he is not in a state of grace: an ordained minister who celebrates and administers a Sacrament, that is, as a public minister of the Church, according to the prescribed rite, outside a case of necessity. It is disputed whether, when one of these conditions is lacking, there is still a grave sin. An unworthy minister who confers a Sacrament on many people simultaneously probably commits only one sin.
The state of grace required in the administration of the Sacraments need not necessarily be acquired through Confession; contrition is sufficient, except in the Mass (v.), for which, if the minister is in sin, he must place himself in a state of grace through Confession, unless there is a necessity to celebrate and no confessor is available. In that circumstance contrition is sufficient; the minister, however, is thereafter bound to go to confession as soon as possible (cf. Conc. Trid., sess. XIII, c. 7; CIC, can. 807). In order to receive the Sacraments of the living licitly and fruitfully, the subject must be in a state of grace, which can be acquired through perfect contrition. For the Eucharist, however, Confession is required by a special precept, unless there is a necessity to receive Communion and no confessor is available (cf. Conc. Trid. sess. XIII, c. 7, can. 11; CIC can. 856 e V. COMUNIONE EUCAMISTICA). Knowingly receiving a Sacrament of the living without being in a state of grace sacrilege (v.), because a sacred thing is profaned.
4. The state of grace is necessary in the subject for obtaining indulgences (v. INDULGENZE), at least when the final prescribed work is performed. Indeed, there can be no remission of the punishment as long as the guilt remains. It is disputed whether the state of grace is also required for indulgences to be gained on behalf of the deceased.
BISL: Sum. Theol., 1°-2°, q. 109, a. 5; q. 110, 113, a. 1-2, 114; and the theological texts of dogmatic and moral theology in the treatises on Grace and the Sacraments. Vincenzo Carbone