Question I: What contumely is, and whence it arises

Contumely is defined by St. Bonaventure in the little opuscule Declaratorio terminorum Theologiae, about the middle: Contumely is the will that avenges itself by the reproach of evils.

And in the speculum animae, cap. 1. at the end: Contumely is the casting up of a crime committed.

The Seraphic Doctor, moreover, admonishes that Contumely proceeds from anger, whence it is called Contumelia, as it were contumens through the irascibility of the soul, as St. Isidore says l. 10. Ethymol. cap. 3.; or from contemning, as Ulpian says, Lege 1. ff. de Iniuriis.

It is also described by Valentia disput. 5. quaest. 16. puncto 1. by Sylvester, and other Summists, with the word Contumelia, by Soto Lib. 5. de Iustitia, quaest. 9. art. 1. Navar. in manu. cap. 18. num. 10.: it is an angry expression of a thing, done against someone's honor.

Or it is a saying, or doing, by which in the presence of someone we wound and violate his honor, as Fagundez says in the eighth precept, lib. 8. cap. 1. num. 3.

It must be noted first, that honor is the exhibition of reverence in sign of some excellence, or virtue, as the Seraphic Doctor teaches in the Compendio Theologiae, lib. 5. cap. 63. and in the speculo disciplinae ad Novitios, part. 1. cap. 6. and Lib. 3. Pharetrae, cap. 34. and on 12. Luke at those words, Honorificabis eum Pater meus, and in 3. dist. 9. art. 1. quaest. 4. in the body, where he establishes a twofold honor.

For honor is shown to someone in a twofold manner; sometimes as an act of obedience of reverence; and that is the honor of veneration; sometimes in testimony of virtue, and a service of complaisance, and that is the honor of adoration. The same also St. Thom. 2. 2. quaest. 103. art. 1. ad 2. and the Thomists there define honor: It is a certain testification of another's good opinion and excellence, made by words or external signs; by words indeed, as when one honorably addresses someone by calling him prudent, wise, endowed with virtue: by signs, as by submission of body, inclination of the head, etc., as St. Bonaventure teaches in the places cited; and concerning this Aristotle says in the first book of the Ethics: Honor is the exhibition of reverence in testimony of virtue; yet by the name of virtue is understood some excellence of superiority with respect to others, which we recognize in another, such as nobility, etc.

It must be noted second, that expression among men is made first by words; then by deeds, as St. Augustine teaches lib. 2. de doctrina Christiana; for words are the indications of those conceptions which we have in the mind, as Aristotle says in the first Periherm. cap. 1. and St. Bonavent. in primo, dist. 27. part. 2. quaest. 4.

Now therefore contumely is made chiefly in words, as the Seraphic Doctor proves in the place cited, Pharetrae de convitiatione, cap. 3. from the Fathers.

St. Gregory Lib. 8. moral. cap. 23.: Often the wicked, while ignorant of the vice of their own fortitude, boldly lacerate the rectitude of others: and thence against the good they seize for themselves the authority of rebuke, or they bring forward those good things which they learned not by seeing, but by hearing, or they mendaciously ingratiate into others those evils which they themselves committed, and Lib. 5. cap. 8. moral.: Often those who are in power burst forth everywhere into contumelies against their subjects, and those who, vigilant in their governance, serve well, they lose through the wantonness of the tongue, weighing the words of a judge, puny of rectitude as it were; he who shall have called his brother fool without cause, casts himself into the fires of gehenna.

St. JOHN Chrysost. lib. 1. de compunctione cordis before the middle: Whoever shall have called his brother fool, or vain, or a Robber, or shall have inflicted an injury, or a curse, upon him by any other name whatsoever; by each of these terms, under the title of a curse, he is condemned to the punishments of the fire of gehenna.

St. AUGUSTINE rule 3. cap. 38. Whoever shall have wounded anyone with a reproach, or a curse, or even a casting up of a crime, let him remember to cure as quickly as possible by satisfaction what he did: And he who was wounded, to let it go without disputation: But if they wounded each other, they will owe to relax the debts mutually owed to one another.

St. JEROME epistola 1. ad Heliodorum: Nor let anyone applaud himself on the chastity of his body, since for an idle word, whatever men have spoken, they shall render an account of it on the day of judgment; since a reproach against a brother is even a guilt of homicide.

THEREFORE from these I deduce that contumely, by genus, is a mortal sin; for it takes away immediately the honor owed, which is a grave injustice, taking away a thing esteemed at a great price.

MOREOVER, because contumely wounds a man's honor in his face, or while present, or as it were present before others; while detraction wounds the good reputation of one absent; contumely is the graver, the more so because reputation is ordered to honor, as to an end. That it is lethal the Seraphic Doctor proves cap. 1. Speculi animae, not from Diana, or Bonacina, but from the mouth of Christ, Matth. 5. Whoever shall have said to his brother, fool: he shall be guilty of the fire of gehenna.

The Seraphic Doctor, moreover, OBSERVES that, since words are signs of the intellects, per Aristotle in the first Perhierm. cap. 1., great consideration must be given to the mind with which the words are spoken.

IT HAPPENS, however (he says), that such words are spoken from indiscreet zeal, or from a certain surreption, and a sudden movement of anger, and then it would not be to be judged mortal, unless the excess were so great, and the words so disordered, that someone by such contumely would incur manifest defamation: For then the zeal of justice would in no way excuse him from sinning mortally; as if someone should kill another in play. But when one says to another a reproach, or contumely, or taunt, intending the confusion and dishonor of the neighbor, then he acts against the charity of the neighbor, and sins mortally, and thus is understood the word of the Lord, saying Matth. 5. Whoever shall have said to his brother, fool: he shall be guilty of the fire of gehenna.

HENCE also it comes about that, since reputation and honor are better goods than riches, and than the other external and temporal goods, which are subject to theft, according to that word proverbiorum 22. A good name is better than great riches, it is inferred that contumely and detraction are a greater sin than theft, as St. Thom. teaches 2. 2. quaest. 73. art. 3. ad 2. and St. Bonav. in Speculo animae, cap. 3. argues.

YET it is a lesser sin than homicide; for life is a greater good than honor and reputation; since these are reparable goods, and that irreparable.

It is a lesser sin also than adultery, because this is against the order of the human species in the order to human generation, through which entrance is given to eternal life.

THUS entirely do they hold, with St. Bonaventure, St. Thomas quaest. 23. art. 1. 2. et 3. Cajetan there, Sotus l. 5. de Iust. quaest. 9. art. 1. Lessius l. 2. cap. 11. de detract. et contum. dub. 3. num. 11. Fagundez in octavum praeceptum, l. 8. cap. 1. num. 12. and the rest.

ADVERT that not rarely contumelies, materially grave, are formally venial, if the gravity is not intended and adverted to, or because they are not credited, being ascribed to levity: Such occur among boys and little women.

NOTE also, that contumelies in those who are proud in the spirit of correcting are not sins. So Valent. disput. 5. quaest. 16. p. 2. Molin. disp. 18. Clau. Reg. l. 12. cap. 4. Bonac. de rest. disp. 2. quaest. 5. q. 1. Sylvius 2. 2. quaest. 72. art. 2. Yet Bast. num. 3. admonishes that Prelates proceed cautiously, modestly, compelled by necessity, for the profit, and because usually such reproaches are false, and do not help, but exasperate; he exhorts that they abstain from these, with Navar. Man. cap. 18. Rodriq. t. 2. qq. 41. art. 2.

CONTUMELIES, however, are of the same species; for they agree in the formal reason of taking away honor unjustly, as Sà says v. Contum. Caiet. 2. 2. quaest. 72. art. 1. Azor. 3. p. l. 13. cap. 5. Sotus de iust. l. 3. quaest. 9. art. 1. Molin. t. 4. disp. 21. Reginald. l. 24. num. 102. Fillic. tract. 40. quaest. 6. Bast. num. 4. with St. Bonav. locis cit. Yet it can be so exceeded that it is necessary to confess its gravity, as if you call someone a heretic, a traitor, or a Sodomite.

IF the contumely is inflicted upon parents, it has a special malice to be expressed in confession. Diana p. 1. tract. 7. Resol. 29. He cites Soto, and Reginaldus for this opinion, but he himself dissents.