CHAPTER II: ON THE GRAVITY OF SIN, ESPECIALLY ON MORTAL AND VENIAL SIN

200. Definitions. - The gravity of sin is the quantity or measure of malice, by which sin is more or less offensive to God, and therefore worthy of greater or lesser punishment.

Mortal sin is a transgression of a law gravely obliging, or a grave offense against God, depriving of divine friendship and sanctifying grace, and rendering the sinner worthy of eternal punishment.

Venial sin is a slight offense against God, which neither deprives of divine friendship, nor of sanctifying grace, nor therefore excludes from eternal beatitude.

Certain sins are mortal from their whole genus, when their object or matter, whatever it may finally be, always contains grave disorder, as happens in lust, blasphemy, perjury, heresy, etc. - They are called mortal from their genus (not whole) when their matter, remaining in the same species, can be grave although it can also be light, of which kind are sins against justice. - But sins are called venial from their genus when, considering the matter or nature of the object, they do not admit grave guilt, and therefore so long as they remain within their own species, that is, another species mortal from its genus does not accede, they cannot be mortal.

201. Questions. - Quaer. 1° Whence is the greater or lesser gravity of sins to be taken?

Resp. It is to be taken generally 1° from the object, end, and circumstances, according as they are more or less repugnant to rational nature or to law; 2° from the duration of the evil act, or from its intensity; 3° from greater or lesser advertence to the malice of the act, or from the diverse degree of consent furnished to the depraved act; 4° from the excellence of the virtues or precepts to which the sins are opposed; 5° from the various modes in which virtues or laws are violated.

Quaer. 2° What is required for sin to be formally mortal?

Resp. There are required 1) grave matter either in itself, or at least in the apprehension of the intellect; - 2) full advertence to the grave malice of the act; - 3) full consent of the will in the prevarication.

And so 1° grave matter is required; for otherwise mortal sin would not be distinguished from venial by reason of the matter, since light matter of itself cannot dissolve a man from divine friendship.

2° Full advertence and full consent are also required, because, since through mortal sin a man recedes totally from God in order to adhere to creatures, this cannot happen unless the sinner deliberately prefers the object of sin to God, and so constitutes his ultimate end in a creature. Moreover, it is altogether foreign to divine goodness to hand a man over to eternal damnation either because of a light transgression, or because of an act not perfectly free and voluntary. - Thus all.¹

Moreover advertence is judged full and sufficient if an explicit, or at least implicit, thought of mortal malice precedes the consent or sinful act. And this indeed can happen even in a single instant through a simple judgment concerning the malice, without the mind reflecting several times upon itself by a special act; yet true and full deliberation of the mind, and full adhesion to the depraved object, are always required.

Quaer. 3° What is required for venial sin?

Resp. For venial sin there are required and suffice some advertence, however slight, to the malice of the act, and some consent of the will, however imperfect: these indeed are required, because if these are removed there can be no knowledge and volition of evil, and therefore no sin; but they suffice because, these being posited, knowledge and volition of evil, which are necessary for constituting sin, are had in some way.

202. • Quaer. 4° How can sins be known as mortal by reason of matter?

Resp. A threefold rule is assigned.

First Rule. - Recourse must be had to Sacred Scripture. For what things are grave or what are light are to be weighed not by human but by divine judgment, says St. Augustine.² Moreover those things must be judged mortal which in Sacred Scripture are declared worthy of death, or to exclude from the kingdom of heaven; or which are announced with the particle: woe, which surely denotes truly grave deformity. Thus the Apostle³ says concerning the works of the flesh: Which are fornication, uncleanness, immodesty, luxury . . . I foretell to you, as I have foretold, that those who do such things shall not obtain the kingdom of God. - Recall also the long series of mortal sins which the Apostle enumerates.¹

Second Rule. - Recourse must be had to the Church, or to the definitions of the Supreme Pontiffs, to the Decrees of General Councils, etc., in which many things are declared mortal, or only venial. For the Church is the pillar of truth, and therefore from her doctrine the rule and measure of morals must be taken.

Third Rule. - Recourse must be had to the Holy Fathers, to the Doctors of the Church, and also to the common doctrine of Theologians. For the Holy Fathers and Doctors were placed by God in the midst of the Church as burning lamps for driving away the darkness of error, and for illuminating the faithful in the way of truth. But Theologians know better than others how to interpret the testimonies of Scripture and the Fathers and the Decrees of the Church, and to compare cases not defined with defined cases, things not declared with things declared, and to deduce fitting conclusions from parity or similarity. Therefore those things which are held by them unanimously as mortal must be judged as such; for the consensus of the Doctors is an indication of truth.

203. • When the preceding rules are lacking, it is very difficult to determine when sin is grave or light. But generally the following are judged grave:

1° All sins which are directly against God, or some perfection of his. Likewise all sins which turn to the grave prejudice of the human race, as are the various species of lust.

2° All sins which are gravely repugnant to an end of great moment intended by law, as the omission of fasting, Mass, annual Confession, Paschal Communion, etc.

3° All sins by which one's neighbor is gravely injured in the goods of life, reputation, fortune, etc., as homicide, detraction very harmful to one's neighbor, notable theft, etc.

Moreover the limits between mortal and venial sin can very often in no way be determined, as is established from innumerable controversies of the Doctors on this matter. But mortal sin must not be asserted unless it is certainly established, as St. Alphonsus rightly notes.²

204. • Quaer. 5° How does sin mortal from its genus become venial, and vice versa?

Resp. 1° Sin mortal from its genus can become venial in four ways, namely by reason 1° of smallness of matter; - 2° of imperfect advertence; - 3° of imperfect consent; - 4° of erroneous conscience. - Thus St. Thomas¹ and St. Alphonsus.²

Resp. 2° But sin venial from its genus can become mortal 1° by reason of erroneous conscience; - 2° by reason of scandal; - 3° by reason of a depraved end gravely evil; - 4° by reason of formal contempt of law, or of the authority commanding; 5° by reason of a depraved affection for a thing otherwise lightly evil, so that someone is prepared even to transgress a gravely obliging precept; - 6° by reason of danger or proximate occasion of falling into mortal sin. - Thus all.

205. • Quaer. 6° Does he sin gravely who PROPOSES to commit all venial sins, and to avoid only mortal sins?

Resp. Negatively, more probably, speaking of itself, because such a proposal of itself conduces only remotely to mortal sin. I said: speaking of itself, or excluding contempt and proximate danger of falling into mortal sin, with account had of past experience.³

Quaer. 7° Is it a grave sin to expose oneself without cause to danger of falling probably into mortal sin?

Resp. Affirmatively, as is plain of itself. See what was said at n. 87. I.

206. • Quaer. 8° Does he sin gravely who without sufficient cause posits an action from which he will suffer base motions?

Resp. He does not sin gravely if 1) the action is not of itself and gravely influencing toward depraved effects; 2) he does not intend them; 3) proximate danger of consenting in depraved delight is absent (n. 8).

Quaer. 9° Does he sin gravely who deliberates about furnishing consent to a gravely illicit thing, if finally he does not consent?

Resp. The solution of the question depends on the quality of the deliberation. For if this is imperfect, namely if it is only a certain hesitation, or an omission of resistance from torpor, sloth, or negligence, the sin will not exceed venial. - Lacroix. But if the deliberation is full, it will be mortal sin, because the will shows itself prepared to place God after sin. - Lacroix.⁵

Quaer. 10° Can venial sins multiplied effect a mortal sin?

Resp. Distinguish. Negatively of themselves, or by force of multiplication, because the individual sins remain in an inferior theological species; Affirmatively by reason of the coalescing matter, as, for example, in theft.

207. Resolves. - In formal sins you will discern venial from mortal:

1° From the gravity of matter [n. 201, q. 2°. 1)]; from the degree of advertence; from the nature of the act, insofar as, if full advertence is present, perfect consent is never lacking in sins of commission of work or speech; but it can be lacking in sins of heart or of omission.

2° Where it is not clear that some sin is mortal, the confessor ought not to be hasty in judging that it is in fact grave both objectively and subjectively, because in doubt one must stand for the smallest part, or at least the matter is to be left to divine judgment.¹ Cf. n. 695, R. 2°.

3° In doubt concerning perfect consent you will judge in favor of the penitent, 1) if he is of a timorous conscience and habitually prepared to die rather than offend God; 2) if, adverting more fully to the temptation, he was terrified and immediately repelled it; 3) if he does not know whether, waking or sleeping, whether fully master of himself, he did or willed something evil.² Cf. n. 1363, q. 2°.

The confessor does not satisfy his office if he applies no care to remove the penitent from the frequency of venial sins, especially of those which are committed with full advertence. For he who strives not at all to avoid venial sins usually gradually falls at last into some mortal sin. (A) p. 485.