Article — Merkelbach, Summa Theologiae Moralis
Article I: On Remote Matter
S. Th. III, q. 84, a. 2.
432. Remote matter is that about which penance itself is concerned; whence it is all and only sins committed after Baptism that are to be removed, and therefore by some it is called matter to be removed. A distinction is made by theologians between necessary and free matter, or between sins which, in order that they be remitted, must necessarily be subjected to the power of the keys and to the sacrament, and sins which are not necessarily to be subjected, yet are validly subjected.
It is said:
1° necessary matter, not to be brought for the validity or constitution of the sacrament, but to be subjected to the sacrament for obtaining the remission of sin and justification;
2° mortal sins committed after Baptism, to exclude both original sin, concerning which there is not penance properly so called, and actual sins committed before Baptism, because they are blotted out through Baptism, and because the power of the keys extends itself only to those who are already subjected to the Church through Baptism; whence the Council of Trent, sess. 14, c. 1, declares that this sacrament was instituted for reconciling the faithful fallen after Baptism;
3° not yet duly subjected, but not: not yet remitted, because if they are subjected to the keys in a sacrilegious or null confession, they must again be subjected to the sacrament, even if they had already been remitted by perfect contrition or by indirect absolution;
4° as things to be detested and destroyed, because sins are not matter from which the sacrament of Penance is constituted, but about which it is concerned, just as disease is the matter of medicine. And thus they could be called proximate matter, insofar as penance immediately acts upon them; nevertheless, in opposition to the quasi-material parts by which the sacrament of Penance is integrated, they are remote matter.
b) From the words of Christ, John XX, 23, from which it is clear that independently of the power of the Church no mortal sin can be remitted:
1° not a sin retained by her, otherwise it would be true that some sin had been retained by the Church and remitted by God, and thus the proposition of Christ would be false: whose sins you shall retain, they are retained;
2° nor a sin which has not yet been subjected to the keys of the Church: for then all sins could be remitted directly by God independently of the power of the Church, since it would suffice never to subject sins to her; and thus the power of remitting given by Christ to the Church would be vain.
Whence if mortal sin could be remitted without the authority of the Church, either the power of retaining granted by Christ would be false, or the power of remitting would be vain; neither can be; therefore all mortal sins committed after Baptism are necessary matter of the sacrament of Penance.
Nor is it an obstacle that they are remitted by perfect contrition before the actual reception of the sacrament, because they are not remitted except with the will of subjecting them to the sacrament of Penance, and therefore with intentional subjection to the power of the Church.
434. Thesis II. Free but sufficient remote matter is both a venial sin not yet subjected to the keys, and any actual sin whatever duly subjected and remitted. - This is certain.
It is said: free matter, because for remission and justification it is not to be subjected to the sacrament, although it can validly be subjected.
The first part is proved, concerning venial sin:
a) From the words of Christ, who gave the Church the power of remitting any remissible sin whatever; and venial sin is true sin and remissible; therefore.
The second part is proved, concerning sin already remitted:
a) From the testimony of Benedict XI declaring this practice salutary (Const. Inter cunctas, 1304, in extrav. com., l. 5, t. 7, c. 1).
c) By reason: Sin, from the fact that it was once committed and truly offended God and made for Him a right to aversion from the sinner and to chastisement by punishment, always remains an object about which God's power of forgiving or renouncing His right can be concerned; this forgiveness on the part of God is made through the infusion of new grace destructive of sin of itself.
To remit sin is to bind oneself (through renunciation of right) not to use the right acquired through offense, in order to aversion from the sinner, and moreover to chastising by punishment. But such renunciation can be made repeatedly, because by repeated renunciation there is signified a repeated will not to use the right which was once possessed, whether it is still actually possessed, or whether it has already been renounced: in the same way as religious who have once emitted profession quite often repeat it, and tribunals again judge the same cause, and sinners themselves again grieve and seek pardon for a sin already remitted, and offended men are often accustomed to remit the same offense to themselves. Therefore God too can quite often remit sin already forgiven.
Namely, in each single instance in which absolution is given, a new motive or new title is placed impeding God from making use of that right which He had, a new title and cause for liberation from sin and for the reintegration of divine friendship. But since in the New Law repeated remission or renunciation is made sacramentally, i.e., through the infusion of grace ex opere operato, in each single instance grace is infused, of itself destructive of sin, and which of itself takes away sin if it actually exists, and which per accidens does not take it away if it does not actually exist.1
1 St. Thomas, Suppl., q. 18, a. 2, ad 4. - "There is added from St. Thomas, l.c.," says Haine (Th. M. III, on Penance, q. 13), "that great goods come from the confession of such sins; for by repeated contrition and confession the soul is removed farther from them; by repeated absolution a fuller remission of punishment is obtained and the penitent is more strengthened against relapse."
435. It is objected: The power of remitting mortal and venial sins is handed down by Christ in the same way. Whence either mortal sins can be remitted independently of the power of the Church, or also venial sins are necessary matter of the sacrament.
Resp. I deny the consequence. The power is handed down in the same way, but it does not extend itself to mortal and venial sin in the same way, but in a diverse way according to the diversity of the matter. Sins in the full sense are mortal, because they totally turn away from God, whom they fully offend, and therefore the remission of them could per se be denied by God forever; venial sins offend God in a qualified way, because they do not take away friendship with God nor the right to beatitude, and therefore per se they are at some time to be taken away and remitted by God. Whence the power of retaining mortal sin is such that, when remission has been denied by the Church, it is denied perpetually and by God Himself; the power toward venial sin is not such, because this is incapable of perpetual retention. But God gave to the Church the power of remitting and retaining sins to be exercised reasonably, just as He Himself would exercise it, and therefore mortal sin can be retained perpetually; venial sin can be retained perpetually neither by God nor by the Church. Therefore the power granted is altogether universal, but according to the nature of the matter: God gave the power of remitting whatever is remissible and of retaining whatever is capable of retention. But venial sin, although it is remissible, is not capable of perpetual retention.2
2 Billuart illustrates this thus, on Penance, diss. 5, art. 2: "The disparity is that from the fact that someone can remove a greater impediment, it is rightly inferred that he can remove a lesser one of the same order; and one who has authority to forgive greater injuries, a fortiori can forgive lesser ones also. But it does not follow that from the fact that someone can place an impediment for a grave matter, he can do so for a lesser one; that one who has from a superior the power of retaining or not remitting grave injuries can retain light ones: for a greater authority is required for retaining light injuries than grave ones. Let there be an example in human affairs: legates sent by a king to reconcile or condemn his enemies inquire into grave causes from which they became enemies; they remit them or retain them according to the disposition of the guilty; but light injuries which did not cause enmity they can indeed remit, since they can remit graver ones; but they cannot retain them, because they were not specially sent for retaining these light things, which were not the cause of enmity, and can be remitted in other ways independently of them."
436. Corollaries. - 1) Indeliberate acts of man are not matter of the sacrament of Penance; - nor per se are deliberate imperfections or transgressions of counsel (as if you did not respond to a divine inspiration or did not do the good which you could have done), unless per accidens insofar as they include venial sin, which is their cause or effect, as easily happens if they proceed from a not-right intention or from a certain levity. Whence penitents are not precisely to be impeded from declaring such imperfections, but rather are to be exhorted that they also say from what motive they placed these acts.
- The valid but sinful reception of Baptism is matter of Penance: for although that sin of sacrilege is committed in time simultaneously with the reception of Baptism, nevertheless it is posterior in nature, since it is the profanation of Baptism, and does not impede its value but only some effect, namely grace. After the impression of the character, namely, it persevered at least for one instant, and thus was an obstacle to receiving grace, and therefore must be accused as committed after Baptism, or at least continued by a Christian man. For the character is infused prior in nature to grace, so that, when a man through sacrilege places an obstacle to baptismal grace, he is already a Christian, and for this reason already subject to the sacrament of Penance as regards that sacrilege.