Introduction

(Summa Theologica, III, qq. 84-90; Supplement, qq. 1-33.)

Penance is the name both of a virtue and of a Sacrament of the New Law. The virtue was at all times necessary; the Sacrament is necessary since its institution by Christ. Having considered in the previous Article how the spiritual life is begotten, matured and preserved through the Sacraments of Baptism, Confirmation and Eucharist, we shall consider in the present Article how spiritual death and infirmity are overcome by the remedies of Penance and Extreme Unction. But first we shall speak of the virtue of penance or repentance which is a requisite for the fruitful reception of the Sacrament of Penance and of its complement, Extreme Unction.