Is Feeneyism Catholic? - Society of St. Pius X

34 IS F EENEYISM C ATHOLIC?
To confirm that such is the meaning of the Council of Trent,
let us read Cornelius a Lapide, the great exegete shortly after the
Council of Trent, precisely in his commentary of John 3:5:
Reborn of water, must be here understood either in fact or in
desire [vel reipsa vel voto]. He who is contrite over his sins, wants
baptism, and cannot receive it because of lack of water or minister,
is reborn through the resolution and desire of baptism. The
Council of Trent explains this verse expressly so in Session 7,
Canon 4 about the sacraments in general. 40
The Fathers have relied on these words of Our Lord to prove
the necessity of the sacrament of baptism; but often without precisely
saying what kind of necessity or within what limits. One
ought not to interpret the Fathers in a manner opposed to the
Council of Trent. Yet, we do find these precisions explicitly in
some of the Fathers. St. Augustine explains how baptism of blood
is not against these words, and supports his teaching with the
Holy Scripture itself. It is essential to point out that the Fathers
explicitly state “even without the water,” “before they were baptized,”
“without baptism…” He says in the City of God:
All those who, even without having received the laver of regeneration
(Tit. 3:5), died for the profession of Faith in Christ,
[this martyrdom] does for them as much to remit their sins, as if
they were washed in the baptismal font. Indeed the same One
Who said: “Unless a man be born again of water and the Holy
Ghost, he cannot enter into the Kingdom of God” (Jn. 3:5), the
Same said in another sentence with no less generality: “Every one
therefore that shall confess Me before men I will also confess him
before My Father who is in heaven” (Mt. 10:32). 41
St. Thomas Aquinas explains this verse of the Gospel according
to St. John: 42
As it is written (I Kg. 16:7), “Man seeth those things that
appear, but the Lord beholdeth the heart.” Now a man who desires
to be “born again of water and the Holy Ghost” by baptism,
40 Cornelius a Lapide, Commentaria in Sacram Scripturam (Naples 1857),
Vol.8, p.703. In fact, the Council explains this passage in Sess. 6, Chap. 4,
which is further strengthened by the anathema of Can. 4 of Sess. 7, as he
says here.
41 De Civitate Dei, 13:7; R.J., No.1759.
42 ST, II, Q.68, A.2, ad 1.