Catechesis Pro Advltioribvs Scripta, De his potissimum capitibus

my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased," and the Holy Spirit was seen in the form of a dove over the Lord: who, sending his apostles for the preaching of the Gospel throughout the world, commanded them to baptize in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Matt. 28:19 I. Is the Father the same as the Son, and the same as the Holy Spirit? R. It is indeed the same essence and nature of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit: so that they are only one true, living, and eternal God, meanwhile distinct in persons and properties, so that the Father is not the Son, nor is this the Holy Spirit: but the Father is he who has begotten the Son by eternal and ineffable generation: the Son, once begotten, was eventually sent into the world by the Father: the Holy Spirit proceeds from both.

I. Do you not then say there are three gods, when you say that the Father is God, likewise the Son and the Holy Spirit, and yet that the Father is not the Son, nor this Holy Spirit, but that they are each individual persons? There are not three gods, but God is one only. R. I do not say that there are more or three gods when I distinguish the Father from the Son, and from these the Holy Spirit. For scripture openly distinguishes, not confuses, the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit, and yet it does not divide, nor sever, nor tear them apart, but attributes a single and coequal nature or divinity to them.