Chapter — Marc, Institutiones Morales
Chapter III: On the Gravity of Sins
St. Thomas, 1.2, q. 72, a. 5; q. 88-89; de Malo, VII, a. 1, 2; Contra Gentes, l. 3, c. 143; Lib. Sent., II, D. 42, q. 1, a. 3; St. Alphonsus, V, n. 1; ed. G., II, n. 705; III, 132: "On the abuse of speaking evil of the dead"; ed. G., II, p. 456; Aertnys, l. 1, n. 228; Lehmkuhl, I, 334; Scheeben, Dogmatik, II, 528 seqq.; Koch, Lehrb. der Moralth., 243; Gopfert, I, 224; controversy with Schell apud Commer; Mausbach, Kath. Mor., p. 214; Manning, Sin and its consequences.
The gravity of sin is the measure of malice, or deformity, which the act has with right reason, or (what is the same) the greater or lesser offense of God contained in sin.
- PRINCIPLES. I. Not all sins are of the same gravity, but some are graver than others. This is of faith against Jovinian; and is proved: 1. From Scripture, for example, from the words of the Lord to Pilate: He who handed me over to thee has the greater sin (John 19:11). 2. From reason. For sin is a disorder of a human act. But such a disorder can be greater or lesser, as is luminously clear from the things said concerning the morality of human acts. Therefore.
II. Some sins are mortal, others venial. This is of faith against Calvin and Baius. It is proved: 1. From Scripture, which declares some sins worthy of death: Those who do such things are worthy of death (Rom. 1:32). Likewise the classic text 1 Cor. III, 8. Then (Matt. 7:3) some sins are likened to a beam, others to a mote: but a mote is a light thing, a beam something grave. 2. From the decrees of the Church, for example, from the condemnation of the 20th proposition of Baius, asserting: "There is no sin venial from its nature, but every sin merits eternal punishment." Likewise from Trent (Sess. XIV, c. 5), which teaches that all mortal sins which occur to memory are to be confessed; not likewise venial sins.
- Questions. QUAER. 1. Whence must the diverse gravity of sins be taken?
Resp. 1. It must be taken primarily on the part of the object, or from the dignity of the virtues to which sins are opposed. Thus, for example, blasphemy, from its genus, is a greater sin than theft; because it is opposed to a more excellent virtue, namely religion (1.2, q. 73, a. 4).
- It must be taken secondarily from the circumstances, for example, from the dignity of the person, from the duration or intensity of the act, from the effects, but especially from the greater or lesser grade of knowledge, advertence, and consent.
Hence, other things being equal: graver are a man's sins committed against God than against himself and neighbor; sins of commission than of omission; sins of mouth and work than of heart; sins of malice than sins of infirmity, and these graver than sins of ignorance; sins of those who excel in knowledge, virtue, dignity, etc. (St. Alph., Selva, P. I, c. 4).
QUAER. 2. Whether a sin lighter from the object can, by reason of a circumstance, exceed the gravity of a sin of a superior species?
Resp. Affirmatively, more probably with St. Thomas and others: "because although, regularly, the graver sin is that which is opposed to the more perfect virtue, nevertheless, since the gravity of a sin of a superior species is finite, therefore, even if physically it cannot be exceeded by the malice of a sin of an inferior species, it can indeed be exceeded morally." Thus, for example, gold is more precious than silver and lead. Yet this does not prevent a great heap, or mountain, of silver from being more precious than a small mass of gold. "And therefore the aforesaid rule of measuring the gravity of sin from opposition to the superior virtue runs only when sins are the greatest against each virtue, but not when the comparison is made of the greatest sin to the least" (V, 34; H. Ap., III, 56).
Hence morally sodomy and bestiality are graver sins than perjury, as St. Thomas teaches with the Salmanticenses. Within the ambit of the same virtue, sins against a prohibiting law are also physically graver. In general, a sin is graver the nobler the person against whom it is directed; whence sacrilegious Communion, according to St. Thomas, is not the gravest sin of all. Moreover, a sin is graver the more important the good which is wounded, for example, in sins against charity owed to the neighbor (Lehmk., I at the end).
In sin also the aspect of malice and the aspect of harm which it brings must be distinguished. From this St. Thomas observes (1.2, q. 73, a. 5): spiritual sins are, according to themselves, greater than carnal sins; but carnal sins are of the greatest adherence. Wherefore, the greatest cautions must always be employed, so that even the very beginnings from which that most dangerous pest can arise may be strongly resisted.
With these things premised, the matter must be discussed: 1. concerning mortal sin; 2. concerning venial.