Article — Noldin, Summa of Moral Theology
Article Second. On Apostasy from Faith and on Heresy
28. Apostasy from faith is a total defection from faith in him who had received the true faith through baptism; therefore those who have professed heresy from infancy, faith having been altogether cast aside, are not apostates, but only those who once embraced the true faith.1
In order that someone be an apostate from faith, it is not required that he adhere to some false sect, but it suffices that after baptism received in the Catholic Church he entirely fall away from faith; wherefore rationalists, naturalists, free thinkers, etc., who have entirely withdrawn from faith and manifest this externally, are judged to be apostates.
1 From apostasy from faith, three other kinds are distinguished: apostasy from religion, which is withdrawal from a religious order without the intention of returning. A religious who only for a time wanders in the world by his own authority with the intention of returning is called a fugitive. Apostasy from sacred order, which is defection from sacred order with the intention of living in the lay state. Apostasy from obedience, which is total defection from obedience to the supreme pontiff and the Church; such apostasy is schism.
29. Heresy is defined: the voluntary and pertinacious error of a Christian man against a truth of faith.
a. It is said: a. "Of a Christian man," namely of one who through baptism had received the Christian faith and retains it; for if he rejects it totally, and the true faith, he becomes an apostate. b. "Voluntary error": heresy by its nature demands a positive assent contrary to the truth of faith; therefore he who only externally, by speech or work, denies a truth of faith while internal faith is retained is not a heretic. c. "Pertinacious": for formal heresy there is required pertinacity of the will against the authority of the Church, which proposes revealed truths to be believed; but he is pertinacious who knowingly opposes the authority of the Church, whether this happens from vainglory, or from the desire of contradicting, or from levity, or from any other cause. Therefore in order that someone be pertinacious it is not required that he defend his opinion stubbornly and with a certain delay of time, but it suffices that he know this opinion to be contrary to the definition of the Church. d. "Against a truth of faith": namely one which has been proposed by the Church to be believed; wherefore, strictly speaking, they are not heretics who deny a theological conclusion which in itself has not been revealed by God; nor those who affirm a proposition condemned by the Church or by the supreme pontiff, but not as heretical. Here it must be noted that the Church proposes as to be believed all things which are contained in Sacred Scripture as revealed; wherefore he is a heretic who denies a revealed truth manifestly contained in Sacred Scripture.
b. So long as someone retains the will of submitting himself to the authority of the Church, even if he errs in faith or holds an opinion contrary to faith, he is not a heretic, because he is not pertinacious, but acknowledges the infallible authority of the Church. From these things it is gathered to what extent those who adhere to a false sect are heretics. Namely, a child born in heresy but validly baptized belongs to the true Church of Christ, which alone has true baptism. When in heart he embraces the faith of his sect and begins to frequent its religious rites, he becomes a material heretic and remains such so long as either he does not doubt concerning the truth of his religion, or indeed doubts, but omits the investigation of truth only from negligence and carelessness, or from human fear lest he have to believe the truth once found, which he would not dare to embrace. He becomes a formal heretic when, seriously doubting concerning the truth of his religion, he neglects the investigation of truth for this reason, that he refuses to embrace the Catholic religion if perchance it were true, or does not embrace the Catholic religion which he knows to be true.
To discern a formal heretic from a material heretic, he is to be asked: a. whether he apprehended the obligation of inquiring into the truth; b. whether he investigated the truth or neglected the investigation; c. whether he was prepared to embrace the truth as soon as it had been sufficiently proposed.
c. He who knowingly denies a dogma which is believed by all, or who deliberately embraces an opinion which he knows to be contrary to the definition of the Church, by that very fact contemns the authority of that same Church, even if he does not think explicitly about it: for it is impossible that he not advert to it at least virtually.
30. Heresy is divided: a. Into material heresy, which proceeds from ignorance alone without pertinacity of the will, and formal heresy, which is joined with pertinacity of the will. Formal heresy is defined above; material heresy is to be defined: the voluntary error of a Christian man against a truth of faith.
b. Into internal heresy, which is conceived only interiorly in the mind, and external heresy, which is also outwardly manifested; moreover it can be manifested by words or deeds or even by omission of a deed.
c. External heresy is one thing when public, if it is manifested before several persons, and another when occult, if it is uttered with no one present or before only a few, so that it can still be hidden.
31. Moral and specific malice. 1. Formal heresy and apostasy from faith are sins mortal from their whole genus, after formal hatred of God the gravest, graver than all sins which are committed against the moral virtues: for they contain formal contempt of the wisdom and divine veracity.
Material heresy is free from fault before a reasonable doubt concerning the truth of one's own sect has arisen; after such a doubt has arisen, it is a grave or light sin according to the gravity of the negligence in inquiring into truth.
Heresy and apostasy do not differ specifically, because both apostasy and heresy are morally opposed in the same way to the authority of God speaking; therefore the fact that the apostate denies more truths and the heretic fewer is only an aggravating circumstance.
Diverse heresies, whether conceived interiorly in the mind or outwardly uttered by word, do not differ in species for the same reason, namely because each one contemns the same authority of God speaking in the same moral way.
32. Whether he sins against faith who does not reject a proposition proscribed by the Church.
a. He who does not reject a proposition which the Church condemns as heretical sins gravely against divine faith and is a heretic.
b. He who does not reject a proposition which the Church through a council, or through the Roman pontiff speaking ex cathedra, condemns, but not as heretical, sins gravely against ecclesiastical faith, but not, at least not immediately, against divine faith, and therefore is not a heretic.
A proposition which the Church proscribes in this way is indeed certainly false, because the Church is certainly infallible in proscribing these things. Therefore he who does not reject a condemned proposition of this kind virtually denies the infallibility of the Church. But because it is not of faith that the Church is infallible in those things which are not revealed, therefore he does not sin against divine faith.
c. He who does not reject a proposition which the Church, either through some congregation or through the Roman pontiff, but not speaking ex cathedra, condemns, sins gravely against the faith of obedience, or against the obedience which is owed to the authority of the teaching Church, but he does not sin against faith.
Although doctrinal decrees of this kind are not absolutely infallible, nevertheless they surpass any authority of a private man, because the supreme pontiff has been placed by Christ the Lord to rule the Church by his supreme magisterium. Therefore it does not suffice to offer them external assent, namely by saying or writing nothing against them, but all Christians are bound to embrace them with internal assent, which the Church by that very fact requires from her subjects, because by her doctrinal authority she condemns error and proposes truth. The Vatican Council intimates this in these words: "We admonish all of the duty of observing also the constitutions and decrees by which depraved opinions have been proscribed and prohibited by this Holy See."1
Note. To the truths which merit ecclesiastical faith, though others think obedience, belongs that by which we believe that the fire of hell is real, not metaphorical. This truth is therefore to be noted explicitly, because not long ago the Holy See declared that penitents who do not admit the reality of the fire of hell are to be diligently instructed, and the pertinacious are not to be absolved,2 without, however, the use of the rule being prohibited concerning not admonishing a penitent who errs in good faith, where no fruit can be hoped for and likewise no scandal or common detriment is feared. The assent of obedience is owed also to decrees of beatification of the servants of God and to decrees by which books are prohibited with respect to the doctrines which are reproved in them.
1 Constitution De fide catholica, c. 4.
2 S. Poenitentiaria, 30 Apr. 1890.
32. On private revelations.* a. There are private revelations about which ecclesiastical authority has rendered no judgment; and there are private revelations which have been approved by the Apostolic See. Approbations are of two kinds: some revelations are approved only for the effect of the beatification and canonization of servants and handmaids of God. Approbation in this case is merely negative, signifying that nothing is contained in them which is against faith or good morals; but concerning their divine origin the Church determines nothing. Of this kind are the revelations granted to those on whom afterwards the honors of the heavenly ones have been conferred. Other revelations are positively approved, in that ecclesiastical authority explicitly or implicitly decrees that a revelation has truly been made by God to a determinate person: of this kind is the revelation granted to St. Francis of Assisi, to Juliana of Liege, to Margaret Alacoque, and to the virgin of Lourdes.
b. Private revelations positively approved by the Holy See must be admitted by the assent of obedience: for although they are confirmed by ecclesiastical authority, nevertheless they are not infallibly certain, and therefore they merit only human faith; and concerning these it is permitted to doubt, indeed even to deny them, provided sufficient reasons shine forth. Concerning other private revelations, whether they have been negatively approved or not, let these things be noted: a. By the persons to whom they are granted by God, they can and must be believed by divine faith, if they are persuaded concerning divine revelation, which also holds for the former kind; but others cannot believe them except by human faith, yet they ought not believe them, both because they do not pertain to them, and because they can scarcely ever have certainty concerning them, not even when they are approved by the Church: for the approbation of the Church declares only this, that they are not opposed to faith and good morals, and therefore can be made public for the edification of the faithful. b. If from the rules of sound criticism it is established that they are genuine, it is not permitted to despise them, but according to the rules of prudence they are to be admitted. Therefore he who without sufficient reason denies them acts rashly and imprudently, both because even private revelations often present truths most profound and most useful, and because they can be the word of God; nevertheless he does not sin gravely.
Schism is defined as separation from the unity of the Church, insofar as this is a society consisting of the faithful as members and of the Roman pontiff as head. They are called schismatics who refuse to be subject to the Roman pontiff and refuse to communicate with the members of the Church subject to him.
Schism properly is not a sin against faith, yet practically it is scarcely found without the sin of heresy, because schismatics at the same time deny one or another dogma of faith, for example, the primacy of the Roman pontiff. Schism is a special sin against charity, because it separates from the unity of the Church, which charity makes.