On Chastity and Lust

I. At the threshold of this treatment, let it be pleasing to write out the words which Saint Alphonsus there brings forward, n. 415: "Now with difficulty we undertake to treat that matter whose very name alone infects the minds of men. Let the chaste reader, I ask, pardon me if he finds here several questions and circumstances, omitted by others, discussed and explained: would that I had been able to explain myself more briefly or more obscurely. But since this is the more frequent and more abundant matter of confessions, and that because of which the greater number of souls slip down into hell, hence it was necessary for me, for the instruction of those who desire to learn moral science, to explain myself clearly, although as chastely as could be done, and to discuss very many particulars. Yet I beg students who are preparing themselves for the office of hearing confessions to read this treatise for this end alone, casting away every curiosity altogether; and at that time often to lift their mind to God and commend themselves to the Immaculate Virgin, lest, while they strive to gain the souls of others for God, they themselves suffer the loss of their own."

II. But since the aforesaid matter cannot be sufficiently understood unless entirely accurate physiological notions are present concerning the organs and actions that serve generation, from the natural sciences we here briefly add a general description of them, without, however, descending into the minutiae of things: avoiding a useless abundance which is apt to beget confusion together with dangerous curiosity, so that we may say neither more nor less than is necessary for knowing the whole matter perfectly.

Accordingly, the special questions to be treated are:

1. Physiological notions concerning the genital organs and generation;
2. Concerning chastity and lust in general;
3. Concerning consummated lust according to nature;
4. Concerning consummated lust against nature;
5. Concerning immodesty, or imperfect lust;
6. Concerning internal lust;
7. Concerning the causes and remedies of lust;
8. Concerning spouses in the use of marriage.

III. Concerning the present matter the following may usefully be consulted:

1. All scientific works of anatomy or physiology, among which the following may be regarded as more widely known among the clergy: Vivat, Woordenboek (under the words: Geslachtsorganen, Ei, Eierstokken, Embryo, Bevruchting, Zaad); and Dr. Vigouroux, Traite de Medecine pratique, vol. IV.

2. Among theological works: Saint Thomas, II-II, q. 151-154 and Supplement, q. 42, art. 3; q. 49, art. 4-6; q. 64; with the commentaries of Cajetan, Sylvius, and Billuart (On Temperance; On Marriage); Lessius, On Justice and Right and the Other Cardinal Virtues; P. Ledesma, On the Great Sacrament of Marriage; Th. Sanchez, On the Holy Sacrament of Marriage; Saint Alphonsus, Moral Theology; Bouvier, Moral Theology; On the Sixth and Ninth Precepts; Berardi, Practice of Confessors; Aertnijs, Fascicle of Moral Theology: On the Use of Marriage; Noldin, On the Sixth Precept and the Use of Marriage; Tanquerey, Moral Theology (appendix On Chastity, supplement On Marriage); Ill. Waffelaert, On the Cardinal Virtues; De Smet, On Betrothals and Marriage; and Collationes Brugenses, vol. V, VI, and VII; Em. Van Roey, Special Question concerning the Sixth Precept of the Decalogue; Wouters, On the Virtue of Chastity and the Opposed Vices.

3. Among works at once anatomical and theological: De Breyne, Moechialogie; Moral Theology in Its Relations with Physiology and Medicine; Van Olfers, Pastoral Medicine; Capellmann, Pastoral Medicine; Latin translation, Pastoral Medicine, of which a new edition was made through the care of Drs. Bergmann; Eschbach, Physiological-Theological Disputations; Antonelli, Pastoral Medicine; Surbled, Morality in Its Relations with Medicine and Hygiene; The Hygiene of Marriage; Gemelli, Thou Shalt Not Commit Adultery; On the Definition of the Concept "Impotence of Coeundi" under the Aspect of Pastoral Medicine; Salsmans, Medical Deontology; Vermeersch, On Chastity; Schim van der Loeff, The Reproductive Life of Man, together with W. J. Duynstee, The Doctrine of Chastity.