Question — Bontempi, Palladium Theologicum V · from Schola Thomistica
Question II: What sin contention is, and how great
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CONTENTION is a certain altercation of words against the truth, aimed at attacking it. Therefore it is a sin contrary to the peace of Charity, as St. Bonaventure teaches in explicatione terminorum Theologiae, and in primo sent. dub. 7. Prol., where, drawing on St. Ambrose in the Gloss on Rom. 1. Contention, etc., he says: Contention is an attack upon the truth with the confidence of clamor.
CONTENTIO est altercatio quaedam verborum contra veritatem, ad eam impugnandam. Itaque est peccatum, paci Charitatis contrarium, ut docet D. Bonavent. in explicatione terminorum Theologiae, et in primo sent. dub. 7. Prol. ubi ex D. Ambrosio in Glossa ad id Rom. 1. Contentione, etc. ait: Contentio est impugnatio veritatis cum confidentia clamoris.
WHEREFORE it is mortal of its genus, as St. Thomas shows, art. 2., drawing on St. Gregory, 31. moral. cap. 31. Hence in Scripture it is numbered among the other mortal sins, Galatians 5., Romans 1., 1 Corinthians 1., as St. Bonaventure notes in speculo animae, cap. 1.
QUAPROPTER est ex genere mortale, ut ostendit D. Thom. art. 2. ex D. Gregorio 31. moral. cap. 31. Unde in Scriptura aliis mortalibus adnumeratur Galat. 5. Rom. 1. prima Corinth. 1. ut advertit D. Bonavent. in speculo animae, cap. 1.
FURTHERMORE, truth is assailed by Contention: First, by one who formally attacks a truth acknowledged, as Cajetan and Valencia note. Second, one who attacks the proposed matter in such a way that he does not care whether it is true or false. Third, one who can and ought to know that the proposed matter which he attacks is true; in this way heretics attack the truth of faith, as Valencia notes, question 14.
PORRO per Contentionem oppugnatur veritas: Primo formaliter impugnando veritatem agnitam, ut notant Caietanus, et Valentia. Secundo, qui rem propositam, ita oppugnat, ut non curet sitne vera, an falsa. Tertio qui potest, et debet scire, veram esse rem propositam, quam oppugnat; quo modo veritatem fidei oppugnant haeretici, ut notat Valentia, quaestione 14.
Of this you have much from the Holy Fathers as gathered by St. Bonaventure, Lib. 3. Pharetrae, cap. 3. §. 9. St. Gregory in 26. moral. cap. 2.: Those who begin contentions are usually more culpable than those who answer; and in Past. part. 3. admon. 24.: Whoever in sowing quarrels destroys the love of neighbors serves a familiar enemy; and Lib. 31. moral. cap. 8.: Hypocrisy, having assumed the habit of holy religion, abandons the care of her children, and seeks to defend temporal things even with quarrels.
De hac multa habes ex SS. PP. apud D. Bonavent. Lib. 3. Pharetrae, cap. 3. §. 9. D. Gregorius in 26. moral. cap. 2. Culpabiliores esse solem hi, qui contentiones inchoant, quam qui respondent, et in Past. part. 3. admon. 24. Quisquis in seminando iurgia dilectionem proximorum perimit, hosti familiaris servit, et Lib. 31. moral. cap. 8. Hypocrisis, assumpto sanctae religionis habitu, filiorum suorum custodiam deserit, et temporalia quaeque defendere etiam iurgiis quaerit.
ST. AUGUSTINE in regula 3. cap. 37.: But you should have no quarrels, or finish them as quickly as possible, lest anger grow into hatred, and make a beam out of a straw, and make the soul a murderer. For as you have read: He that hateth his brother is a murderer. And cap. 39.: Refrain from harsher words; and if they have issued from your mouth, do not be ashamed to bring forth from that same mouth the remedies from which the wounds were made.
D. AUGUSTINUS in regula 3. cap. 37. Lites autem nullas habeatis, aut quam celerrime finiatis: ne ira crescat in odium, et trabem faciat de festuca, et animam faciat homicidam. Sicut enim legistis: Qui odit fratrem suum, homicida est. Et cap. 39. Vobis a verbis durioribus parcite: quae si emissae fuerint ex ore vestro, non pigeat ex ipso ore proferre medicamenta, unde facta sunt vulnera.
ISIDORE in Synon. cap. 9.: Contention kindles the torches of hatred; contention extinguishes the peace of the heart; contention breaks concord.
ISIDORUS in Synon. cap. 9. Contentio faces odiorum accendit, pacem cordis contentio extinguit, concordiam contentio rumpit.
SENECA in the first letter: The first contention is among rivals.
SENECA in epistola prima: Prima est inter competitores contentio.
The Angelic Doctor notes, however, in the place cited in speculo animae, that Contention is to be judged by its root; for if it arises from grave hatred, or grave anger, or a will to oppress or confound holy truth, it is mortal. And on Luke 22, at the words: And there was also a contention among them, which of them should seem to be the greater, the Angelic Doctor says: What was the occasion of this contention is not known. Yet contention is a sign of the love of one's own private good. Hence James 4: From whence are wars and contentions among you? Are they not from your concupiscences, which war in your members? But contention over primacy is a sign of the love of excellence and dominion: this was repressed by Christ; and it is dissuaded by the Apostle Paul, 1 Cor. 11.: If anyone among you seems to be contentious, we have no such custom, nor the Church of God. Because Proverbs 11: honor is the man's who separates himself from contentions. But this conflict has withdrawn from the court. Nay, just as at the approach of Christ's passion they contended over primacy, so at the approach of a prelate's death contention arises among the Canons over who ought to be placed first.
ADVERTIT autem S. Doctor loco cit. in speculo animae; Contentionem iudicandam ex radice, nam si oriatur ex odio gravi, vel ira gravi, vel voluntate opprimendi veritatem sanctam, vel confudendi, est mortalis. Et in 22. Lucae ad ea verba: Facta est autem contentio inter eos, quis eorum videretur esse maior, ait S. Doctor. Quae fuerit huius contentionis occasio, nescitur. Contentio tamen est signum amoris privati boni, Hinc Iacobi 4. Unde bella, et lites in vobis? Nonne ex concupiscentiis vestris, quae militant in membris vestris? Contentio autem de primatu est signum amoris excellentiae, et dominii: Haec repressa fuit per Christum; et per Apostolum Paulum dissuadetur, prima Cor. 11. Si quis videtur inter vos contentiosus esse, nos talem consuetudinem non habemus, neque Ecclesia Dei. Quia Proverb. 11. honor est hominis, qui separat se a contentionibus. Sed haec conflictio recessit ab aula. Imo, sicut imminente passione Christi contenderunt de primatu; sic imminente morte praelati, contentio fit inter Canonicos, quis debeat praeponi.
I append the splendid teaching of the Angelic Doctor, from speculo disciplinae ad novitios, cap. 20.: It is wholly unworthy of the servants of God to contend in the manner of little women; if words of resistance fall in, one must yield at once to the resister. Honor is the man's who separates himself from contentions. They never quarrel for the sake, as it is said, of learning, knowing that contentions of words henceforth in no way pertain to them. It cannot be that contention will not extort something that is given against conscience. It is perverse, above all if with damnable audacity the mouth of a religious man be opened to injurious or maledictive words, which according to the Apostle, 1 Corinthians 10., are excluded from the kingdom of God. So the Seraphic Doctor.
PRAECLARAM sententiam S. Doctoris appono, ex speculo disciplinae ad novitios, cap. 20. Indignum penitus servis Dei, muliercularum more contendere, si resistentiae incidant verba, cedendum est continuo resistenti. Honor est homini, qui separat se a contentionibus. Nunquam discendi, ut dicitur, gratia litigant, scientes, ad se verborum contentiones nullo modo deinceps pertinere. Non potest esse, quin contentio aliquid quod contra conscientiam datur, extorqueat. Perversum est, maxime si ausu damnabili ad iniuriosa, vel maledica verba, quae secundum Apostolum, prima Corinth. 10. a regno Dei excludantur, os viri religiosi laxetur. Haec Seraphicus.