17 The Sacraments

In the Middle Ages, seven specific rites came to be called “sacraments,” which means (for the Roman Catholic church) that they are “means of grace,” external signs which not only signify but confer an inner gift of divine grace. Most important are Baptism, by which people are born again in Christ, and the Eucharist, in which the life-giving flesh of Christ is made present through transubstantiation, which means that the substance of bread and wine is changed to the substance of Christ’s body and blood. Penance, popularly called “confession,” is the means by which mortal sins committed after baptism are absolved. Confirmation is a laying on of hands to confer a special gift of the Holy Spirit to those who have been baptized. The other sacraments are Extreme Unction (now called “Anointing of the Sick”), Holy Orders (that is, ordination of priests), and Matrimony (which is a sacrament only when practiced by Christians).