Our word "sacrament" comes from the Latin “sacramentum”. Sacramentum is an interesting word with a couple of meanings that are important to Catholics.
Sacramentum in Latin means “oath”. The sacramentum was sworn by the soldiers or Rome’s Legions to bind them to their duty. It was also used much as we use an oath today in court. Two litigants would swear the sacramentum when they deposited money prior to resolving a case in court.
Over time, the word sacramentum took on another meaning as well. It can also mean “mystery”. It was used in this sense by St. Paul in his letters. In his translation of the Vulgate Bible, St. Jerome used sacramentum where the original Greek uses μυστηÏ?ιον (mus-tay-ri-on). The mystery here is not the same as the genre of fiction we know today. We’re looking at St. Paul’s use of the word, not Dashiel Hammett’s use of it. This mystery far bigger. It is something that is beyond our human understanding, and reason alone will not suffice to grasp it in all its glory. We must have faith to grapple with this kind of mystery.
It’s not much of an exaggeration to say that our English word "Sacrament" is an oath shrouded in mystery.
Keep this in mind as we explore the Sacraments in upcoming posts.
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