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The Seven Sacraments

And because of the transgression of the first man, the whole stock of the human race was tainted; no one can be set free from the state of the old Adam save through Christ's sacrament of Baptism.

- St. Leo I the Great, Letter 15, July 21, 447

Since God is the knower of the heart, at no time must penance be denied to him who asks for it.

- St. Celestine I, Letter to the Bishops of Vienne and Narbonne, 428

There is a difference between the food of the body and that of the soul (Holy Eucharist), that whereas the former is changed into our substance, the latter changes us into its own.

-Leo XIII, Mira Caritatis, May 28, 1902

Jesus Christ gave to those who held authority in the Church the power to grant the discipline of penance to those who confess and, after they have been purified through salutary satisfaction, to admit them to the Communion of the Sacraments through the door of Reconciliation.

- St. Leo I the Great, Letter to Theodore, Bishop of Forum Julii, June 11, 452

The Sacrament of Penance is the masterpiece of God's goodness.

- Pius XII, Menti Nostrae, September 23, 1950

The Christ who calls us to the Eucharist banquet is always the same Christ who exhorts us to penance.

- John Paul II, Redemptor Hominis, March 4, 1979

Among the weapons against the prince of this world...the most potent is...a frequent partaking of the Lord's Body.

- St. Gregory VII, Letter to Matilda of Tuscany, February 16, 1074

The effect of this sacrament [the Eucharist] which He operates in the soul of him who takes it worthily is the union of man with Christ.

- Eugenius IV, Exultate Deo, November 22, 1439

There is a difference between the food of the body and that of the soul, that whereas the former is changed into our substance, the latter changes into its own.

- Leo XIII, Mira Caritatis, May 28, 1902

Be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of your sins: and you shall receive the gift of the Holy Ghost.

- St. Peter, Acts of the Apostles 2:38, c. 30

We also desire that babes who for their youth are not able to speak and persons in any extremity who need the sacred wave of baptism should be succored with all speed, lest we risk the destruction of our own souls by denying the font of salvation to those who seek it.

- St. Siricius, Letter to Bishop Himerius of Tarragona, 385

Through the sacrament of baptism the guilt [of original sin] is remitted and one also reaches the Kingdom of Heaven, whose gate the blood of Christ mercifully opened to His faithful.

- Innocent III, Letter to Humbert, Archbishop of Arles, 1201