Opus Operatum

Opus Operatum (Lat., literally 'the work wrought') is the phrase employed in the Catholic theological schools to describe the manner of operation of the sacramental rites in the production of grace. It is intended to imply that the ministration of the rite (opus) is in itself, through the institution of Christ, an efficient cause of grace, and that, although its operation is not infallible, but requires and presupposes certain dispositions on the part of the recipient, yet these dispositions are but conditiones sine qua non, and do not of themselves produce the grace. Hence, when the sacraments are administered to dying persons in a state of apparent insensibility, this is done in the hope and on the presumption that the dying person may, though seemingly unconscious, be nevertheless really disposed to receive the sacrament; but it is by no means held that if these dispositions be wanting the sacrament will itself justify him.—The phrase Opus Operantis is frequently used as denoting that the effect of a particular ministration or rite is primarily and directly due, not to the rite itself (opus), but to the dispositions of the recipient (operans). Thus, in the act of kissing or praying before a crucifix, of sprinkling one's self with holy water, of telling the prayers of the rosary upon blessed beads, the fervour and personal piety of the supplicant, and not the material object of the religious use, is held to be the efficient cause of the grace which is thereby imparted.