Doubt I: What lust is, and of how many kinds

LUxury is defined by D. Bonaventure in the aforesaid Centiloquium sect. 24. and in the Diaeta tit. 1. cap. 9. and in the declaration of theological terms and in the Compendium of Theology, part III. cap. 21. and in the Mirror of the Soul, cap. 3. D. Thomas, quaest. 153. Luxury is the vice opposed to chastity, whereby the mind is inordinately disposed toward venereal pleasures, the reason of the definition is taken from the opposite virtue of chastity, as St. Bonaventure notes, loc. cit. Centil.

I assert that Luxury is a capital vice. Its daughters are eight, from D. Gregory, lib. XXXI. moral. cap. 17. Blindness of mind, Inconsiderateness, Inconstancy, Precipitancy, Self-love, Hatred of God, Affection for the present world, Horror, or despair of the world to come. So D. Bonaventure, loc. cit. Centiloquii.

It is proved, because a capital vice is one that has an end excessively desirable, so that man, in pursuing it, proceeds to commit many sins, which are all said to arise from that vice; now the end of Luxury is the pleasure of venery, which is both the greatest and the most desirable according to the sensitive appetite, both on account of the vehemence of the pleasure and on account of the connaturality of that pleasure and concupiscence, as the Saintly Doctor argues, lib. III. Compend. Theol. cap. 14. and 21. and in the other places cited.

The generation of these daughters from Luxury is explained as follows. Since the inferior powers are affected toward their objects, it follows that the higher powers are impeded and disordered in their acts; but through luxury the inferior appetite is greatly affected by the delightful object: Therefore the higher powers, Reason and Will, are consequently disordered.

And this happens specifically as follows: For there are three acts of practical reason. The first is simple understanding, which apprehends some end as good; and this act Luxury impedes, by making the object of Luxury seem good, as is said Dan. 13. Beauty hath deceived thee, and concupiscence hath subverted thy heart, and behold blindness of mind.

The second act is counsel about the means to be chosen, and this is impeded in Luxury, which impedes the exact comparison of the means with one another, as Terence says in the Eunuch; and behold precipitancy, whereby one attacks everything impetuously, as the Saintly Doctor says, loc. cit. Centiloquii.

The third act is judgment about what is to be done, which is impeded by Luxury, diverting the mind from the consideration of the things that are fitting, according to that text Dan. 13. They have perverted the sense, and turned away their eyes, that they might not see heaven, nor remember just judgments; and behold inconsiderateness, which refuses to foresee what is to be done, as the Saintly Doctor says. On the part of the will also there follows a twofold inordinate act: One in order to the end, and in this respect there is self-love in excessive pleasure, and hatred of God who forbids: The other is the appetite for the things that are toward the end, and there is set down affection for the present world, in which one desires to enjoy pleasure; and horror of the future, fleeing spiritual things. Hence Osee 4. Fornication, and wine, and drunkenness take away the heart. So discourses the Saintly Doctor, loc. cit. Centiloquii.

Nor yet does Isidore speak badly, cited by D. Thomas, art. 5., looking especially at inordinate speech, accustomed to arise from luxury, when he enumerates four effects, Turpiloquy, Scurrility, Jesting, and Foolish speaking. Indeed in speech a fourfold disorder can be observed: The first on the part of the matter; and behold turpiloquy, for, Out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaketh, as is said Matth. 12. The second on the part of the cause; because luxury drives one headlong, therefore inconsiderateness precipitates one into scurrilous talk. The third on the part of the end, because the luxurious person intends pleasure, and therefore breaks out into jesting words. The fourth as regards the sense of the words, and so luxury, on account of the blindness of mind it causes, pours itself out into foolish speech. See D. Bonaventure, loc. cit.

I assert secondly that the species of Luxury are six, Fornication, Stuprum, Rape, Incest, Adultery, and the Vice against nature, which is subdivided into several species. For either the pollution causing venereal pleasure is procured without intercourse, and this is mollities (softness), Gal. 5. and 2. Cor. 12. Or there is intercourse with brutes, and this is Bestiality. Third, there can be intercourse with the sex not due, male with male, or female with female, as the Apostle says, Rom. 1. and it is called Sodomy. The fourth and fifth is, if the manner of coupling is not observed, either as regards the instrument, or vessel not due, or as regards other monstrous and bestial manners of coupling, which, if they obstruct generation, are mortal sins even in spouses. Which the Apostle detests as abominable, Rom. 1. 1. Cor. 6. and 12. Galat. 5. Ephes. 5. and Heb. 12.

That these are sins specifically distinct is proved by Cajetan, art. 11. Tanner, disp. 3. quaest. 3. dub. 3. num. 149. from the diversity of motives, for they have different motives of pleasure: For the first have only venereal consummation; the second, a thing of another species; Sodomy, the person of the sex not due, etc.

But to say that the aforesaid five sins are not mortal, specifically distinct, nor so far to be necessarily declared in confession, as some recent authors have insinuated, is not only not safe, as Tannerus says, num. 149. but erroneous, and it was condemned in the year 1665 by the Sacred Congregation by the Decree of Alexander VII, of most holy memory, as we saw, tom. 4. disp. 17. quaest. 10. ad proposit. 14.

All these species are so intrinsically deadly that they are never lawful, except the manner of coupling in marriage from some necessity, provided the vessel be preserved and generation not be impeded, as Tannerus noted, num. 150.

For a threefold cause God forbade Luxury, as the Saintly Doctor says in the Diaeta, tit. 3. cap. 5. First, because it is pernicious, like a pestilence. Second, because it gathers many together at once in sin. Third, because it is the broad way to hell. See the Saintly Doctor. Add that Generation is the way to the production of a most noble creature, namely man created to the image of God; wherefore it will be impious to abuse it with foul and illicit couplings.

To these species are reduced, as dispositions, others contained in this verse, cited from D. Bonaventure, loc. cit. Centiloquii. The look, and speech, touch, and the kiss, This last is the consummation of the whole sin.

Note that the Seraphic Doctor, in the Confessional, cap. 2. particula 14., places grave fault in conjugal copulation. First, if it is done from the impulse of lust through wanton endearments: Second, when it is done against the natural use: Third, in the prohibited time: Fourth, in a filthy place: Fifth, when one approaches a menstruating woman. But of this, Tract. de matrimonio. The Saintly Doctor teaches these things from Allen, and warns that one must proceed cautiously in questioning in confession. These species are to be treated in the following dubitations.