Article 1: Contrition

1. NATURE OF CONTRITION. —Contrition (contritio cordis) is the most necessary constituent of Penance, both as a virtue and as a Sacrament,¹ for without contrition there can be no genuine repentance and no forgiveness.² The Council of Trent defines contrition as "a sorrow of the soul and a detestation for sin committed, with the purpose of not sinning for the future." ³ Hence contrition is essentially an act of the will, by which man renounces sin and determines to avoid it in future. The act of renunciation is called contrition in the strict sense (contritio stricte dicta), while the determination to avoid future sins is termed purpose of amendment (propositum).

¹ Cfr. Pohle-Preuss, The Sacraments, Vol. III, pp. 1 sqq.; 72 sqq.

² Joel II, 12 sq. —Cfr. Prop. Damnat. sub Innoc. XI., prop. 60: "Absolution is neither to be denied nor deferred to a penitent who has a habit of sinning against the law of God, nature, or the Church, even if no hope of amendment appears, provided that with his mouth he declares that he is sorry and proposes amendment." (Denzinger-Bannwart, n. 1210).

³ Sess. XIV, De Poenit., cap. 4: "Contrition, which holds the first place among the aforesaid acts of the penitent, is sorrow of the soul and detestation for sin committed, with the purpose of not sinning for the future." —Cfr. St. Thomas, Summa Theol., 3a, Suppl., qu. 1, ad 1: "Contrition is sorrow undertaken for sins, with the purpose of confessing and making satisfaction."

Being an interior sorrow of the soul, contrition differs from that purely intellectual regret (dolor intellectivus speculativus) which consists in a mere perception of the damnableness of sin, and also from the so-called terror conscientiae, I. e., the fear with which conscience is smitten upon being convinced of iniquity.⁴ Both these emotions may be present without a spark of genuine contrition.

⁴ Conc. Trident., Sess. XIV, De Poenit., can. 4: "If anyone says that there are only two parts of penance, namely terrors struck into the conscience when sin is recognized and faith, let him be anathema." —Conf. August., art. 12. —Möhler, Symbolism, pp. 124 sqq.; pp. 223.

The moral value of contrition, as a turning away from sin and a turning to God (aversio a pec cat o et conversio ad Deum), consists in its being an act of the will,⁵ and consequently it need not be accompanied by sensible pain or grief, nor manifest itself by sighs and tears. Whilst there is such a thing as "tears of contrition," ⁶ sensible sorrow forms no constituent of genuine contrition, nor is its presence a sure proof thereof.

⁵ Cat. Rom., P. II, c. 5, qu. 24: "Because contrition has been defined as sorrow, the faithful are to be warned not to think that it is perceived by a bodily sense. For contrition is an act of the will." —Cfr. Conc. Trident., Sess. VI, c.

⁶ (Denzinger-Bannwart, n. 798).

"As there are tears that indicate no deep emotion, so there is a sorrow without tears. As a rule, however, it is desirable that contrition should be manifested by outward signs. Such outward signs of internal sorrow for sin are technically known as signa contritionis, and divided into two classes, ordinary and extraordinary. The latter manifest themselves partly in an unusual stirring of the affections and partly in the making of special efforts to go to confession, seek advice, etc. Such extraordinary signs are of particular significance in the case of habitual sinners and recidivi, where ordinary signs fail.”⁷ 2. PROPERTIES OF CONTRITION. —Contrition may be perfect or imperfect.

⁶ Cfr. Ps. VI, 7; Matth. XXVI, 75; Luke VII, 44, 47. —Cfr. St. Augustine, Serin., 351, c. i: "As sorrow is the companion of penance, so tears are witnesses of sorrow." (Migne, P. L., XXXIX, 1536).—Cat. Rom., P. II, c. 5, qu. 28.

⁷ F. X. Linsenmann, Lehrbuch der Moraltheologie, pp. 212 sq. detestatio

Perfect contrition (contritio caritate per feet a, or simply contritio) is inspired by charity, i. e., a perfect love of God as the supreme good for His own sake.

Imperfect contrition (contritio imperfecta), now technically called attrition (attritio), is sorrow inspired by some other supernatural motive, e. g., fear of eternal punishment, repugnance to sin as an offense against Almighty God, regret at having lost divine grace and forfeited heaven, etc.⁸ As can be easily seen, the distinction between perfect and imperfect contrition is not based upon the degree of sorrow a man has for his sins, but upon the motives by which that sorrow is inspired; this distinction is specific rather than generic.

⁸ Cfr. J. P. Gury, Comp. Theol. tivo Mor., II, n. 318: "Contrition is distinguished as twofold: perfect, which is detestation of sin arising from the special motive of perfect charity, or of the goodness of God supremely loved for His own sake; and imperfect, or attrition, which is detestation of sin arising from another supernatural motive, for example, from consideration of the baseness of sin, from fear of hell, or from love of eternal beatitude." —Conc. Trident., Sess. XIV, De Poenit., c. 4 (Denn. 897 sq.).

Perfect contrition, coupled with a desire to receive the Sacrament of Penance (contritio cum voto sacramenti), is sufficient to effect the forgiveness of sins not merely in cases of necessity, or when it reaches the highest possible degree of intensity, but of itself and always. Imperfect contrition (attrition), on the other hand, can produce this effect only in connection with sacramental confession.⁹ Hence perfect contrition is not an essential requisite of Penance, but attrition suffices for the valid reception of this Sacrament, provided, of course, that the penitent is resolved to sin no more and confidently trusts in the mercy of God.

⁹ Conc. Trident., 1. c. —Cfr. Prop. Bait Damnat., prop. 31, 32, 70, 71 (Denzinger-Bannwart, n. 1031, 1032, 1070, 1071). —Gury, l. c., n. 335: "Perfect contrition justifies a man of itself, even outside the Sacrament of Penance. This is evident from reason: for contrition necessarily includes perfect charity; moreover, to love God perfectly is to be united with God, since love consists in union; and union with God necessarily effects separation from sin, since one cannot embrace one extreme without withdrawing entirely from the opposite extreme. Therefore it follows. It is also evident from Sacred Scripture. Perfect contrition does not remit mortal sins, or justify a man, except with the desire for confession, for sins cannot be remitted except through the means instituted by Christ. An implicit desire suffices, however; for an explicit desire is required neither by the nature of perfect contrition, since it can justify by itself alone, nor by a divine precept, since none can be shown." 9a Cfr. Slater, Questions of Moral Theology, 355 sqq.

However, though there is no obligation to make an act of perfect contrition in preparing for confession, the faithful should be exhorted to do so, to the best of their ability.9* Broadly speaking it is safe to assume that imperfect contrition always includes an act of at least incipient love (amor initialis), while perfect contrition is rarely without an admixture of fear (timor filialis).¹⁰

¹⁰ Conc. Trident., Sess. VI, c. 6: "They are raised up to hope and begin to love God as the source of all justice." (Denzinger-Bannwart, n. 798). —Cfr. J. E. Pruner, Kath. Moralthevlogie, Vol. II, 3rd ed., p. 374.

For the valid reception of the Sacrament of Penance contrition (whether perfect or imperfect) should be: a) Sincere or heart-felt, for else it would be sheer hypocrisy. The quality of sincerity flows as a necessary effect from the nature of contrition. b) Supernatural, both in its origin and in its motives. True contrition owes its existence to divine grace and is based upon reasons or motives supplied by supernatural faith.¹¹ c) Supreme or sovereign, not in intensity but appreciatively, i. e., the penitent must detest sin as the greatest of all evils and be ready to give up everything he has, even life itself, rather than offend God.¹² Since contrition is in the will, not in the emotions, it may happen that the sorrow one feels at temporal misfortunes is both affectively and intensively greater than that felt at sin as a purely spiritual evil; but this need not prevent a man's contrition from being appreciatively supreme. "If we may not succeed in rendering our contrition perfect," says the Roman Catechism, "it may nevertheless be true and efficacious, for oftentimes things that fall under the senses affect us more than spiritual things, and hence some persons experience a greater sense of grief for the loss of their children than for the baseness of their sins.”¹³ Our sense of grief need not be supreme, for to make it so is largely beyond our control; but we must by a combined act of the mind and will abhor sin above all other evils. Theologians express this technically by saying that sin must be detested as the greatest of all evils, not affectively, but effectively ¹⁴ (non affective sed effective). d) Contrition must furthermore be universal, i. e., it must cover all the mortal sins committed by the penitent. As every mortal sin implies a complete turning away from God, no one mortal sin can be forgiven without the rest.¹⁵

¹¹ Conc. Trident., Sess. VI, can. 3 (Denzinger-Bannwart, n. 813). — Cfr. Prop. Damnat. sub Innoc. XL, prop. 57: "It is probable that merely honorable natural attrition suffices." (Denzinger-Bannwart, n. 1207).

¹² Cfr. J. P. Gury, Comp. Theol. Mor., II, n. 328: "Supreme, that is, so that the sinner detests his offense more than every other evil and prefers to lose and suffer all things rather than commit sin. For conversion to God must be total, since sin is a total turning away; but it would not be total unless it were supreme—indeed, it would be nothing—for the man would still cling to a creature, since he would still prefer it to God."

¹³ Cat. Rom., P. II, c. 5, QU. 28: "Although we may be less able to attain that it be perfect, contrition can nevertheless be true and efficacious. For it often happens that things subject to the senses affect us more than spiritual things. Therefore some persons sometimes experience a greater feeling of grief from the death of their children than from the baseness of sin."

¹⁴ Cfr. St. Thomas, Summa Theol., 3a, Suppl., qu. 3, art. 1-2.

¹⁵ Cfr. Gury, op. cit., n. 328: "Universal, that is, it must exclude all grave sins, at least implicitly, either from one universal motive or from several particular motives which, at least taken together, extend to all mortal sins committed, even those not occurring to memory. The reason is that no actual sin is remitted without sorrow; but one mortal sin cannot be remitted without another, since remission takes place by the infusion of grace, which cannot coexist with any mortal sin." —Cfr. St. Thomas, Summa Theol., 3a, qu. 86, ad 3.

It is not, however, necessary to make a special act of contrition for each particular mortal sin. One general act for all the sins committed (universe) will suffice.

Venial sins can be forgiven severally, one without the other, and hence it suffices to make an act of contrition for one. When many venial sins are confessed, it is advisable to elicit a more specific contrition for the one or other of them, because a too general contrition might lack sincerity and efficaciousness.¹⁶ To receive sacramental absolution from a venial sin it is necessary to have at least imperfect contrition for that particular offence.

¹⁶ Cfr. Cat. Rom., P. II, c. 5, qu. 29 sq.; St. Alphonsus, Theol, Mor., I, VI, n. 433, 438, THE PURPOSE OF AMENDMENT

Being the proximate matter of Penance, contrition must be brought into moral connexion with the Sacra- ment, 7. e., it must precede the sacramental absolution or be present in the soul while the formula of absolution is pronounced by the priest. The best way is to make an act of contrition before entering the confessional.

READINGS. —Pohle-Pretiss, The Sacraments, Vol. III, pp. 132 sqq.—Chr. Pesch, S.J., Praelectiones Dogmaticae, Vol. VII, 2nd ed., pp. 39 sqq. —R. Schultes, O.P., Reue und Bussakrament, Paderborn 1907.—H. Noldin, S.J., Summa Theol. Mor., Vol. III, pp. 296 sqq.