Article Third. On Scrupulous Conscience.

213. Notions. 1. A scruple is fear concerning sin arising from an empty apprehension. Therefore a scruple by its nature is not a judgment of a sound mind, but is fear concerning sin arising from an empty apprehension of a disturbed mind.

Scrupulous conscience sometimes signifies a habitual disposition of soul prone to empty apprehensions of this kind, sometimes an act. In this sense scrupulous conscience is an apprehension which from an empty reason, whether before or after the fact, fears that sin is present where it is not.

Scrupulous conscience differs a. from tender conscience, which also knows even the smallest defects as such and makes much of them from reverence toward the divine majesty, while nevertheless carefully retaining the distinction between mortal and venial sin. It differs b. from erroneous conscience, which is a judgment of the mind, although false.

2. A scruple can exist together with a certain conscience concerning the honesty of an action: for since it has arisen from an empty motive, it does not take away certain persuasion. Therefore it is lawful to act with a scrupulous conscience, or it is lawful to act against scruples, provided the agent knows that he has scruples and that they are to be contemned.

a. It is not indeed lawful to act against conscience; but scrupulous conscience, since it is an empty apprehension and vain doubt, is not conscience in the proper sense.

b. It is not lawful to act with a practical doubt; but a doubt arisen from scruples is not a practical doubt but a vain fear, which is to be spurned.

¹ St. Alphonsus l. 1. n. 11-18. Reuter, Neoconfessarius n. 255 ss. Stoz, Tribunal poenit. l. 1. pr. 5. n. 171 ss. Laymann, Theologia moral. l. 1. tract. 1. c. 6. Lacroix, Theologia moral. l. 1. n. 519 ss. Scaramelli, Director. ascet. l. 2. n. 421 ss. St. Ignatius, Exercitia spiritualia, Rules on scruples.

214. Causes of scruples are various, some internal, others external.

a. Natural disposition either of soul or of body: a melancholic disposition, a disposition prone to fears and suspicions, weakness of the head especially in women, and badly affected functions of organic life easily produce scruples. Scruples which arise from this source are accustomed to last for a long time and to manifest themselves in various ways; besides, they show themselves not only in moral matters, but also in other actions of human life.

b. God permits scruples by the counsel of wise providence for obtaining a determinate end: for God intends either a. that men be preserved from sin, or b. that the soul be purged from sins, or c. that it conceive fear of sin, or d. that it be prepared for performing great things for the glory of God. Scruples which are permitted by God cease after some time, procure horror of sin, and join the soul more intimately with God.

God cannot properly and directly be called the author of scruples, since they contain error and constitute an evil of the soul. Directly they proceed either from human nature vitiated by sin or from the evil demon, but God admits them and by His wisdom so moderates and directs them that they produce a good effect of the spiritual life.

c. The evil demon, God permitting, excites scruples in order to harm man, but especially in order to turn him away from divine things, from prayer, and from the use of the sacraments. Scruples which come from the demon do not manifest themselves in the same way; they draw man back from virtue and cast him into tepidity and desperation.

d. The reading of books that are too rigid, and the instructions and counsels of confessors and preachers who are prone to exaggerations and rigor, can produce scruples.

In young men and girls of timorous conscience, scruples concerning the matter of the sixth precept not rarely come from mere ignorance. Scrupulous persons of this kind are frequently healed of the disease by prudent instruction concerning those things which it is necessary for them to know.

215. Signs of scrupulous conscience: a. If someone thinks that he sins in those matters in which pious men and men of timorous conscience find no sin. b. If someone does not acquiesce in the judgment of the confessor, repeatedly seeks counsel concerning the same matter, and nevertheless does not obey, consults several and acquiesces in none. c. If someone exceeds measure in examining his actions, attends to the most minute circumstances, not only to those which were present, but also to those which could have been present, and therefore in confession explains even the least things. d. If someone always tries to repeat confessions anew. e. If someone pays prayers anxiously, continually begins anew and repeats them rather often. f. If someone uses inopportune external signs for repelling temptations.

216. Remedies for scruples. a. To consider scruples as a disease of the soul, which they truly are, and to conceive a firm proposal of laying them aside and employing remedies by which they may be removed. b. To commend oneself by prayers to God for obtaining this threefold grace: of attaining the end on account of which God sends scruples or permits them to be sent; of patiently bearing the cross of scruples, which consists in fears and internal anxieties; of obtaining liberation from this evil, if it shall please God. c. To contemn scruples, to act against them, i.e. not to do or omit what the scruple suggests; not to foster them by thought. d. To acquiesce in the judgment of the confessor and promptly obey his admonitions; obedience is the chief remedy of this infirmity. e. Before an action, not to judge that something is sin unless without deliberation one certainly and evidently knows it to be sin; after an action, not to judge that one has committed sin unless without examination one certainly and evidently knows that he has consented. f. Never to judge that an obligation rests upon oneself unless one perceives it certainly and evidently. g. Never to be idle, but always to be occupied with labor, especially external labor; not to be solitary, so that the mind may be distracted from thoughts which foster scruples; not to use austerities which weaken the powers of the body, but in all things to preserve temperance.

217. The manner of acting of the confessor. a. Scrupulous persons are to be treated with great charity and patience: for they are sick persons worthy of commiseration, who cannot consult for themselves. Yet from excessive benignity that which increases scruples must not be conceded to them; indeed with a certain constant rigor there must be required from them what seems opportune for lessening or curing the disease.

b. Let him strive to know whether the penitent truly is scrupulous, what the origin of the scruples is, whether he is scrupulous in one matter only or in several. It belongs to the confessor to judge whether the penitent is scrupulous; scrupulous persons themselves almost always think that their fears are not empty.

c. In handing down counsels and responses let him be brief; let him speak not ambiguously and doubtfully, but definitely and determinately; let him furnish general rules (not particular ones) according to which scrupulous persons may direct themselves in particular cases; nor let him render to them the reason for those things which he prescribes.

d. Scruples are concerned chiefly with these three things: a. Scrupulous persons fear lest they have given assent to evil thoughts, especially against faith or chastity. In this case scrupulous persons are to be taught that not the thought or sense, but only the consent, is sin, and that thoughts and senses are to be contemned; besides, they are to be admonished not to accuse evil thoughts in confession unless they know so certainly that they have consented that they can swear concerning the consent. b. They fear lest past confessions have been either invalid or sacrilegious, whether because of a defect of integrity or because of a defect of sorrow. In this case let the scrupulous person be permitted once to make a general confession, if he has not made one before; but once a general confession has been made, let him not be permitted to say a word concerning past things which happened before the last confession, unless he knows most certainly that he committed grave sin and never said it; indeed sometimes it must be absolutely forbidden that he accuse anything concerning past things. c. In every action they fear sin or the danger of sin. In this case scrupulous persons must be enjoined to contemn scruples and fears, to act freely, indeed to operate against scruples, unless they evidently know sin in the action. But in confession it is not to be permitted that they explain at length, especially if there is question of shameful things, what they thought, what they did, how often they acted against conscience: for it is preferable that they accuse themselves concerning these things only in general, unless sin is plainly established.

e. Finally, let the confessor attend to the two things which are called the privileges of the scrupulous: a. namely, that scrupulous persons are not bound to that diligence in the examination of conscience which others must employ, because a more accurate examination does them no good but disturbs them more; b. that scrupulous persons are not bound to the confession of those things which they themselves think they have committed, whether from past life or from the last confession, but only to the confession of those things which by an obvious examination are evidently known to be grave sins, even if for this reason the integrity of confession sometimes is lacking, because they are excused from integrity on account of excessive inconvenience.

Whether there is an obligation of acting against a scrupulous conscience. Sometimes there is an obligation of acting against a scrupulous conscience: for scruples are diseases of the soul which bring damage to life both bodily and spiritual; therefore if grave damage threatens from them, there exists an obligation of fighting against scruples. Although this obligation of itself can be grave, nevertheless it is never grave as regards individual acts; indeed the scrupulous themselves are almost always excused from grave fault on account of the infirmity under which they labor.¹

¹ Cf. Stoz, Tribunal poenit. l. 1. pr. 5. n. 182.