The Seven Sacraments

What a sacrament is

The Catechism teaches that sacraments are efficacious signs of grace, instituted by Christ and entrusted to the Church, by which divine life is dispensed to us. Their visible rites signify and make present the graces proper to each, and they bear fruit in those who receive them with the required dispositions (CCC 1131).

The seven sacraments

• Baptism: the sacrament of regeneration, reception of the Holy Spirit, and incorporation into the Church.
• Confirmation: strengthens and completes the grace of baptism.
• Eucharist: offers anew the one sacrifice of Calvary, the New Covenant Passover, and includes receiving Christ in Holy Communion. Christ is really present, body, blood, soul and divinity.
• Reconciliation (Confession, Penance): forgives sins committed after baptism through contrition, confession and absolution.
• Anointing of the Sick: gives strength, forgiveness of sins and healing grace in serious illness or in preparation for death.
• Holy Orders: the sacrament of apostolic ministry, in three degrees: deacon, priest and bishop, in whom the fullness of the sacrament is lived (CCC 1555-1561; 1594).
• Matrimony: the covenant uniting husband and wife as a sign of Christ's union with the Church.

A historical note

The Church's definitive teaching that there are seven sacraments was articulated at councils such as Lyons and Florence and reaffirmed at Trent. Earlier use of the word "sacrament" varied, but the sevenfold list is settled doctrine.