On the scrupulous conscience, through various little questions

It is asked 1° what scruple is. What a scrupulous conscience is.

I answer. Scruple is said metaphorically from a scruple, which is a rough pebble getting into the shoe of one walking, hurting him not so much as molesting him, and delaying his step. Whence a scruple is nothing else than a light and empty little reason occurring concerning the malice of an action, whose solution is not found; and thereupon the mind either opines, or suspects, or doubts, or fears with anxiety, lest the action be evil. It can be about the past, as when someone from a futile reason fears that he omitted some sin or circumstance in confession, that he consented to temptation, etc.; or about the present or future, as when someone from a like motive fears that what he does, or is about to do, be sin.

A scrupulous conscience can be distinguished two ways, as I already said in art. 1: One formed from scruples, and it is a dictamen of practical reason by which one judges, for light and empty reasons, that what he does is illicit, or doubts about it. This conscience is called scrupulous improperly, and it is either erroneous or doubtful, and of it we do not treat here: insofar as it pertains to error, it was treated in the preceding articles; insofar as it pertains to doubt, it will be treated in the following article. The other is agitated and tortured by scruples, namely while one judges what he does to be licit, yet for slight causes fears and is anxious lest it be illicit. Whence, as is plain, insofar as it is scrupulous, it is not properly conscience, but the shadow and likeness of conscience. Therefore by the name of scrupulous conscience is commonly understood either that scruple which is as it were the dictamen of a scrupulous intellect, or the very anxiety caused by scruples, or the disposition of a soul inclined to scruples. Of scrupulous conscience thus taken the following things are to be understood.

It is asked 2° by what signs a scrupulous conscience can be recognized.

I answer. Chiefly by these: 1° If he reputes as sins those things which everywhere among the wise and God-fearing are held as nothing, or often doubts about them and questions others. 2° If he either has no faith in the prudent and learned man, e.g., a prelate or confessor, asserting the action to be licit, or complies with anxious fear, again and again consulting the same man or others, trusting no one and always seeking the greatest security. 3° If in confession he sets forth his sins so exactly that he omits no circumstance, though light or most light, nay sometimes impertinent, often repeating and dwelling upon the same things, and does not acquiesce when the confessor admonishes that it suffices; or never rests concerning confessions made with due diligence, often repeating them in whole or in part. 4° If he recites the prescribed prayers, whether of the breviary, of penance, of a vow, or in the celebration of Mass, with fastidious slowness, frequently repeating them and halting to recall intention and attention. Besides these, the scrupulous man himself can and ought to acknowledge that he is scrupulous, and so to comport himself, chiefly from the testimony of his confessor or of another upright and learned man, to whom his conscience has been laid open, who judges him to be scrupulous.

It is asked 3° whether it is licit to act against a scrupulous conscience.

I answer. Not only is it licit, but expedient, nay obligatory, to act against a scrupulous conscience, such as we said is vexed by scruples.

The reason of the first part is, because a conscience of this kind is not, as I said, true conscience, but the shadow of conscience; nor a judgment, but a certain anxiety and ill-founded fear, or a strong imagination by which man is miserably vexed.

The reason of the second and third parts is, because scrupulous conscience is a certain sickness of mind disturbing peace, taking away devotion, engendering sloth, and a great hindrance in the progress of the spiritual life, nay a disposition to the most grievous sins of despair, blasphemy and infidelity. Care must nevertheless be taken lest the scrupulous man, overcome by his scruples, truly judge in practice that he acts ill, or doubt of it in practice; for then it would be a doubtful or erroneous conscience, against which it is not licit to act. But it is not easily to be believed of a scrupulous man who asserts that he acted with doubt; for ordinarily he takes doubt for anxiety or fearfulness, or for speculative doubt, which is not conscience.

It is asked 4° what are the chief causes of scruples.

I answer. That some are intrinsic, some extrinsic. The intrinsic are: First, a natural complexion suspicious and timid, such as is usually the melancholic. Second, weakness and inconstancy of mind, not holding firmly to things once determined, or to practical principles sufficiently known: under this head women are more frequently scrupulous than men. Third, an ignorance whereby one cannot discern between licit and illicit, between temptation and consent; or such subtlety of genius as suffices to devise reasons for doubting, and does not suffice to solve them. Fourth, hidden pride, whereby one, trusting too much to his own judgment, will acquiesce in no counsel. Fifth, excessive austerities, by which, with the head weakened, the mind is easily disturbed.

The chief extrinsic causes are: First, the society of scrupulous men, the direction of a scrupulous confessor, or the reading of cases of conscience in one who is less able to discern. Second, the devil, who by this art tempts, to turn men away from the exercise of the virtues. Third, God himself permitting it so, whether in punishment of past sins, or for the exercise of humility and patience, or to shake off tepidity in his service, or on account of other ends known to himself.

It is asked 5° by what remedies the scrupulous are to be cured.

I answer. 1° Generally speaking, the causes of scruples are to be removed by their contraries; for contraries are cured by contraries. Hence let the melancholic be healed by the help of a physician; let the timorous by frequent meditation contemplate the goodness of God, and apprehend him, not as a hard master or merciless exactor, but as a good Father; let the proud not lean upon their own prudence; and so of the rest. 2° Let him have recourse by frequent and humble prayer to God, the consoler of the afflicted; let him offer to him the troubles of his mind with patience and submissive resignation in satisfaction for his sins, meanwhile conceiving a filial confidence of obtaining help at last, and of tranquillity returning after the storm. 3° Let him take the life and common sense of God-fearing men for his rule, holding it for certain that God does not suffer these to err commonly. 4° Let him beware of idleness and vagrant thoughts, especially about the acts of past life, which open a door to scruples; but let him apply himself diligently to labor, and to that labor above all which best helps and delights the mind, provided it contain nothing evil. 5° But the remedy supremely necessary, and perhaps the only one, for curing the scrupulous, in the common judgment, is blind and absolute obedience to the sayings, counsels and precepts of a prudent and wise man, to whom his conscience has been laid open, namely his confessor or director.

It is asked 6° how the confessor ought to act with a scrupulous person.

I answer. 1° Where the confessor perceives his penitent to be scrupulous (and this he will be able to know from the signs assigned), let him admonish him that he is scrupulous and to be cured according to the rules for the scrupulous, lest perchance, despising scruples, he despise conscience itself.

2° Let him impress upon him the necessity of blind and absolute obedience to all the sayings and precepts of his confessor, his own judgment despised and scruples neglected; and if he be not disposed in mind to render this obedience, or to endeavor after it, he is to be dismissed as incurable, since, as I said, he can scarcely be healed by any other remedy. But that he may persuade him to this obedience entire and blind, let him set before him: 1° that the scrupulous man, having a disturbed judgment and an impaired imagination, cannot be governed by his own judgment; wherefore it was said to him before all others, Prov., I, 5: Lean not upon thy own prudence, since thou art wise in thy own conceit.

2° That it belongs to a proud mind, and is against the rules of prudence and humility, to prefer one's own judgment, especially when so disturbed, to the judgment of the director. 3° That although the director err, the scrupulous man himself will not sin by obeying, according to the unanimous doctrine of the Saints and of spiritual masters; because he will do what is safer and what God requires of him.

3° Let him teach him that positive laws, whether divine or human, do not bind under grave loss and great difficulty, which is called moral impotence; but great anxiety and molestation is great difficulty. Hence let him forbid the scrupulous man who is continually anguished in the recitation of the hours, and always fears that he omitted something or was willingly distracted, to repeat; nay, if he were so scrupulous that there would scarcely be an end of repeating, and that hence he would suffer grave and continual molestations, the recitation of the breviary would be altogether to be interdicted to him, as morally impossible.

4° Let him command him to repute nothing, whether act done or to be done, a mortal sin, unless it stand certain to him to be mortal, and so certainly that he could swear it to be mortal; because in doubt, as the rule of law has it, « concerning matters commonly contingent there is a prudent presumption. » Since therefore the scrupulous man is wont to doubt or imagine that sins exist, or are mortal, which are not, by law they are presumed in doubt not to be such. Moreover, since he doubts even of the most evident things, and suspects evil where there is not even a shadow of evil, the burden would be intolerable if he had to hold in practice for sin whatever falls under his doubt.

5° When the scrupulous man is anxious about past confessions, whether he was sufficiently contrite, whether he confessed all sins and all circumstances, never permit him to repeat them unless these two concur together: first, that he be certain they were mortal; second, that he be equally certain they were not duly confessed. Likewise do not permit him to confess doubtful present sins, but only certain ones, and simply, with the circumstances absolutely necessary; and admonish him not to institute an anxious and utterly exact examination, but only a moderate one: and when he has only doubtful sins, command him to celebrate without being heard, or to approach the holy synaxis. The reason of these things is, because the positive law of the material integrity of confession does not bind under grave loss, as we said above of positive laws in general. Grave, however, would be the loss and damage of the scrupulous man if he should have to confess all doubts, whether present or past; there would be no end of scruples, but rather they would be multiplied and entangled, and thus the anxiety would be perpetual and the torment intolerable; whence, if he omit certain sins, it is not imputed to him.

Finally, for a crown to all, let the confessor remember not to waver in his decisions, as if doubting or merely opining, but let him define and command with certainty; otherwise the anxiety will not be quieted, but rather increased. Moreover, with the timid let him proceed in gentleness of spirit, with the proud somewhat roughly; yet let him not drive them to despair, but mix oil with wine.

It is asked 7° how one ought to answer the objections of scrupulous men.

For that they may withdraw themselves from the counsels and precepts of confessors, the scrupulous say: 1° that the confessor did not understand everything sufficiently well; 2° that they know themselves better than anyone else; 3° if I were in danger of death, I would not wish to act thus, and to die in that state; 4° that in doubts the safer side is to be chosen, and certainty preferred to uncertainty.

To the first must be answered, that a prudent man does not act blindly and without deliberation, and that if the confessor had not understood sufficiently, he would not prescribe this or that. Besides, given that the confessor errs, God will never impute the error to the scrupulous man who humbly obeys the mandates of his confessor.

To the second answer, that the conscience of scrupulous men, insofar as they are scrupulous, is weak and erroneous, and therefore no stand is to be taken upon its judgment, according to that of Prov., I, 5: Lean not upon thy own prudence.

To the third answer, that scrupulous men would do many things in the article of death which are not necessary, but useless, or certainly that they would acquiesce in the counsel of a prudent man.

To the fourth answer, that doubt ought not to remain for scrupulous men where the authority and mandate of the confessor accede to one side, and that they ought to hold as certain and safe what he persuades or commands them.