Article VI: On Acedia

St. Thomas, II-II, q. 35; De Malo q. 11.

511. Acedia is sadness concerning spiritual good, especially divine good; it is torpor, coldness, languor, tepidity, weariness concerning spiritual things, because they impede bodily quiet and delight. Hence acedia prefers to do nothing, and from this is born flight, horror, detestation of spiritual goods. This sadness is sin, both 1. by reason of the object: for to be saddened concerning evil is good, but to be saddened concerning that which apparently is evil but truly is good is sin, because good does not deserve that we be saddened concerning it; - and b) by reason of the effect: for it draws man back from due works (cf. treatise on Charity).

512. Acedia is twofold: 1. that by which we are saddened concerning the good of any virtue whatever; and this is not a special sin, even if it happens on account of the bodily labor attached, but is a circumstance of every sin, because every vice flees the opposite spiritual good even insofar as it impedes bodily quiet. Hence it is mortal or venial according as the sin of which it is a circumstance is grave or light; - 2. that by which we are saddened concerning spiritual good through excellence, to which all other things are ordered, namely, concerning divine good, not in itself, but insofar as it is internal to us and pertains to us and seems evil to us, for example, concerning beatitude or the friendship of God, and concerning the means to it, namely, concerning the sacraments, the grace of God, good works, divine precepts, etc., insofar as they require labor. This is a special sin, because it has a special object and is directly contrary to the special act of a special virtue: for it is opposed to joy concerning divine good, in which charity delights. Hence of itself it is mortal sin, because according to its proper account it is opposed to charity: for just as envy is mortal sin because it is saddened concerning the good of neighbor, concerning which charity rejoices, so a fortiori acedia, which is saddened concerning divine good. Yet it can be venial, if it is not perfectly deliberate, or also when it is concerned with goods not necessary for salvation.

513. From special acedia six sins arise. - For from sadness it happens that man flees those things concerning which he is saddened; indeed, that he assails them, and that he passes over to other things in which he delights. From acedia man flees divine goods: 1. the ultimate end, eternal salvation, or hoped-for divine good, which is done through despair; he also flees 2. spiritual good to be done, or the common and ordinary means to the end, which is torpor concerning precepts; 3. he flees arduous means, for example, those which fall under the counsels, through pusillanimity. - He assails 4. saddening spiritual goods, by detesting them, which is called malice; or also 5. he assails priests and God-fearing men who induce others to spiritual goods, and is indignant against them; and this is rancor. - Finally, 6. on account of sadness he passes over to exterior delectable things, in which the carnal mind delights, and this is wandering of the mind concerning illicit things.

514. Remark. - Many other sins arise from the capital vices; those which we have handed down are those which arise from them more frequently and more immediately, and which therefore are called their daughters. Others, by means of these, are born from them not so frequently, as envy from vainglory, anger from envy, acedia from anger, and from acedia avarice, gluttony, and lust. Thus Gregory the Great, Moralia, XXXI, c. 45 (P. L. LXXVI, 620-622).