Medieval sacraments were defined by three distinct functions of sign, institution, and sanctification.

Evidence

But it stands in marked contrast, for example, to the medieval Christian concept of the sacrament. Thus the twelfth-century theologian Hugh of St. Victor, responding to the question “What is a sacrament?” first considers the conventional definition: “A sacrament is a sign of a sacred thing,” but then goes on to point out that it will not do, because various statues and pictures as well as the words of Scripture are all, in their different ways, signs of sacred things without being sacraments. So he proposes a more adequate definition: “A sacrament is a corporeal or material element [sounds, gestures, vestments, instruments] set before the senses without, representing by similitude and signifying by institution and containing by sanctification some invisible and spiritual grace.” — Talal Asad, Formations of the Secular, 156

Categorization

• DEFINE: Hugh of St. Victor’s threefold sacramental definition: representing by similitude, signifying by institution, containing by sanctification.