Article II. On the Vice Opposed to the Virtue of Abstinence, Namely, Gluttony

¹²⁶⁴

¹²⁶⁴ Eßgier, Schlemmerei, gloutonnerie, gourmandise [greediness in eating, gluttony].

667. To abstinence, which is a moral virtue inclining one to the moderate use of foods according as right reason or faith shall have determined, there is opposed the vice of gluttony, concerning which we have already treated certain things above, I, n. 425, among the capital vices, and which can be defined: an inordinate appetite for eating and drinking.¹²⁶⁵ According to St. Gregory¹²⁶⁶ and St. Thomas,¹²⁶⁷ inordination in the use of food and drink can occur in five ways, which are contained in this verse:

Too soon, too richly, too much, too eagerly, too fastidiously.

Too soon, if someone anticipates the due time for eating, especially if someone eats or drinks more often than is proper. In this manner those boys and girls sin who eat sweets throughout almost the whole day.

Too richly, if someone takes excessively costly food or drink. In this manner those sin who spend money beyond their station on preparing sumptuous banquets, for example, if a man of the lowest condition without a just cause buys and drinks "Champagne" wine.

Too much, if someone eats beyond his appetite, especially even unto vomiting. In this manner not only did the ancient Romans sin, who after an ample consumption of food excited themselves to vomiting by means of some instrument so that they could begin eating again, but also those modern gluttons who eat such rich and abundant foods that afterward they need diverse medicines to accomplish the digestion of the food and to wash away the accumulated bad humors.

Too eagerly, if someone takes food too greedily. In this manner those sin who cast themselves upon food like swine, greedily devouring it.

Too fastidiously, if someone seeks foods too delicately seasoned and prepared. In this manner those sin who excessively love foods prepared with much pepper and other strong seasonings. For from foods of this kind not only is bodily health injured, but the sensual appetite is also customarily aroused.

Five effects or daughters of gluttony are enumerated by St. Thomas,¹²⁶⁸ namely:

Unseemly mirth, by which a man rejoices in those things which, all the circumstances having been considered, are not of themselves fitted to cause any pleasure according to the judgment of right reason. Hence we see the gluttonous spending much time on their own recreation, but negligently performing the duties of their state.

Loquacity and scurrility. The gluttonous man, whose god is his belly, seeks carnal pleasures inordinately, but flees those things which are arduous; hence, omitting strenuous labor, he seeks distractions among men, and thereupon spends his time in vain conversations and even in scurrilous jokes.

Dullness of mind. Already an old adage says: "A full belly does not gladly study." For fumes ascend from a full stomach into the brain, so that the intellect is then unable to exercise strenuous activity.

Uncleanness, "which can be considered either according to the inordinate emission of any superfluities whatsoever, or especially as regards the emission of seed."¹²⁶⁹ For how will the gluttonous man, dulled in mind, weakened in will, wholly given to his belly, be able to overcome temptations of lust aroused by immoderate foods?

The malice of gluttony of itself, that is, abstraction being made from its evil effects just enumerated and from the scandal not rarely arising (especially if a cleric is addicted to it), is a venial sin.¹²⁷⁰ The reason is that excess in a thing otherwise lawful, such as the taking of food and drink, is of itself only a venial sin. Accidentally, gluttony can become a mortal sin,¹²⁷¹ for example, if it gravely harms health, if it renders a man unfit for fulfilling the duties of his state, if it causes scandal, etc. In practice, let the confessor be solicitous not so much to judge concerning the grave culpability of gluttony as vigorously to counsel efficacious remedies.

He who takes delectable food delectably is not indeed at once to be accused of the sin of gluttony, since the Creator Himself attached pleasure to the taking of food; nevertheless, one must attend to proposition 8 condemned by Innocent XI: "To eat and drink unto satiety for pleasure alone is not a sin, provided it does not injure health, because the natural appetite can lawfully enjoy its acts."¹²⁷²

The remedies against gluttony were already indicated above, I, n. 428, where there was discussion of the capital sins.

¹²⁶⁵ Cf. S. theol. 2, 2, q. 148, a. 1.

¹²⁶⁶ Moral. l. 30, c. 13.

¹²⁶⁷ L.c. a. 4.

¹²⁶⁸ L.c. a. 6.

¹²⁶⁹ Ib.

¹²⁷⁰ Cf. St. Thomas, l.c. aa. 2 and 3; St. Alphonsus, Theol. mor. l. 5, n. 73.

¹²⁷¹ Cf. above, I, n. 426.

¹²⁷² Denzinger, n. 1158.