What do sacraments mean?

Answer 1

There are seven sacraments.

1. Baptism
2. Confession
3. Holy Communion
4. Confirmation
5. Marriage
6. Holy Orders
7. Anointing of the Sick

The sacraments are major religious rites or stepping stones in the Catholic church.

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Catholic AnswerA sacrament, in the Catholic religion, is a visible means of invisible grace, THE Sacrament in the Catholic religion usually refers to the Eucharist, which is the actual Body and Blood, Soul and Divinity of Our Blessed Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. All other sacraments are oriented towards it.

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from The Catechism of the Catholic Church, second edition, English translation 1994

1114 "Adhering to the teaching of the Holy Scriptures, to the apostolic traditions, and to the consensus . . . of the Fathers," we profess that "the sacraments of the new law were . . . all instituted by Jesus Christ our Lord." (Council of Trent {1547}: Denzinger-Schönmetzer, Enchiridion Symbolorum, definitionum et declarationum de rebus fidei et morum {1965} 1600-1601)

1115

Jesus' words and actions during his hidden life and public ministry were already salvific, for they anticipated the power of his Paschal mystery. They announced and prepared what he was going to give the Church when all was accomplished. The mysteries of Christ's life are the foundations of what he would henceforth dispense in the sacraments, through the ministers of his Church, for "what was visible in our Savior has passed over into his mysteries." (St. Leo the Great, Sermo. 74, 2: J.P. Migne, ed., Patrologia Latina {Paris: 1841-1855} 54, 398

Answer 2

Roman Catholic AnswerBefore Vatican Council II, there were three volumes of the Baltimore Catechism which you learned by memorizing the questions and answers - memorizing them exactly by rote and repeating them back, exactly. Below are the relevant questions from Volume III of the Baltimore Catechism:

Q. 574. What is a Sacrament?

A. A Sacrament is an outward sign instituted by Christ to give grace.

Q. 575. Are these three things, namely: An outward or visible sign, the institution of that sign by Christ, and the giving of grace through the use of that sign, always necessary for the existence of a Sacrament?

A. These three things, namely: 1.An outward or visible sign, the institution of that sign by Christ, and the giving of grace through the use of that sign, are always necessary for the existence of a Sacrament, and if any of the three be wanting there can be no Sacrament.

from Pocket Catholic Dictionary by John A. Hardon, S.J. Image Books c 1980, 1985

Sacrament. A sensible sign, instituted by Jesus Christ, by which invisible grace and inward sanctification are communicated to the soul. The essential elements of a sacrament of the New Law are institution by Christ the God-man during his visible stay on earth, and a sensibly perceptible rite that actually confers the supernatural grace it symbolizes. In a broad sense every external sign of internal divine blessing is a sacrament. And in this sense there were already sacraments in the Old Law, such as the practice of circumcision. But, as the Council of Trent defined, these ancient rites differed essentially from the sacraments of the New Law, they did not really contain the grace they signified, nor was the fullness of grace yet available through visible channels merited and established by the Savior.

Answer 3

Roman Catholic AnswerFrom the Catechism of the Catholic Church, paragraph 1084:The sacraments are perceptible signs (words and actions) accessible to our human nature. by the action of Christ and the power of the Holy Spirit they make present efficaciously the grace that they signify.