Note 20 — Chapter VIII

Certa testimonia, efficacia signa (Art. xxv.). It is worth the while to point out that a "sign" is "effectual" when it effectually does the work of a sign, not some quite different work. A seal is an effectual seal, not because, conceivably, its matter could be used as a powerful medicine, but because, attached to its document, it effectually seals the document's validity. A seal is in this respect a special sort of "effectual sign." And so are the Sacraments.