Confirmation in the Catholic Church in the context of "Catholic sacraments"

There are seven sacraments of the Catholic Church, which according to Catholic theology were instituted by Jesus Christ and entrusted to the Church. Sacraments are visible rites seen as signs and efficacious channels of the grace of God to all those who receive them with the proper disposition.

The sacraments are often classified into three categories: the sacraments of initiation (into the Catholic Church and the mystical body of Christ), consisting of baptism, confirmation, and the Eucharist; the sacraments of healing, consisting of penance and the anointing of the sick; and the sacraments of service: holy orders and matrimony. Furthermore, baptism and penance were also known as the "sacraments of the dead" (in the meaning that the souls of the sinners which are regarded dead before God may obtain life through these sacraments), whereas the other five are collectively the "sacraments of the living".

The Mass is the central liturgical service of the Eucharist in the Catholic Church, in which bread and wine are consecrated and become the body and blood of Christ. As defined by the Church at the Council of Trent, in the Mass "the same Christ who offered himself once in a bloody manner on the altar of the cross, is present and offered in an unbloody manner". The Church describes the Mass as the "source and summit of the Christian life", and teaches that the Mass is a sacrifice, in which the sacramental bread and wine, through consecration by an ordained priest, become the sacrificial body, blood, soul, and divinity of Christ as the sacrifice on Calvary made truly present once again on the altar. The Catholic Church permits only baptised members in the state of grace (Catholics who are not in a state of mortal sin) to receive Christ in the Eucharist.

Many of the other sacraments of the Catholic Church, such as confirmation, holy orders, and holy matrimony, are generally administered within a celebration of Mass, but before the Second Vatican Council were often or even usually administered separately. The term Mass, also Holy Mass, is commonly used to describe the celebration of the Eucharist in the Latin Church, while the various Eastern Catholic liturgies use terms such as Divine Liturgy, Holy Qurbana, and Badarak, in accordance with each one's tradition.