The Reformation

Issues: Sacraments

Whereas all reformers were agreed that the pope had no authority over Christians, they disagreed significantly over the matter of the sacraments. This was an area where doctrine met practice, for most of the sacraments had some outward manifestation in ritual.

You might have the idea that there are seven sacraments, and that is the case for modern Catholicism. It was not, however, the case in the Middle Ages. For quite a long time, the Church made no statement regarding the number of sacraments, and there were some significant variations between places and over time. The definitions were made clearer at the Fourth Lateran Council in the early 13th century, and by the 15th century there was widespread consistency in the matter. In addition to the sacraments were other rituals that were regarded as having special status without being necessary to salvation. These were known as sacramentals. It seems a small difference in the word, but doctrinally the difference was major.

The seven "standard" sacraments (finally made official at the Council of Trent) were: baptism, confirmation, ordination, penance, the Eucharist, marriage, and extreme unction. Of these, ordination was rejected almost at once, for the reformers having rejected priesthood they naturally rejected the ceremony by which one became a priest.

Penance was recognized as being part of Christian life, but not as a sacrament. Extreme unction, also known as last rites, was rejected more or less out of hand by all reformers.

This left baptism, confirmation, marriage, and most especially the Eucharist (the key ceremony of the mass) as areas of debate. Some reformers rejected all sacraments, holding that they had value as symbolic acts, as rituals of reverence, but no more. Others demoted this or that sacrament to the status of a sacramental. There were arguments over when baptism should take place (though all reformers held it to be necessary), over what sort of miracle (if any) took place during the ceremony of the Eucharist, and even over the nature of marriage.

How any one sect dealt with the matter of sacraments went far toward determining the nature of their religious assemblies. Some, like the Church of England, were fairly reminiscent of Catholic ceremonies, with ministers in special garb and plenty of ritual. Others, like certain Anabaptist groups, were very plain assemblies of the faithful sharing a Bible reading.