Chapter I. On Contrition

Contrition according to the Council of Trent is "sorrow of soul and detestation for sin committed, with the purpose of not sinning henceforth." This definition prescinds from the new law, in which contrition can have no efficacy without the desire of confession. Therefore the same Council a little below adds "with the desire of performing the other things which are required for rightly receiving this sacrament." Hence the definition of St. Thomas is fitting: "Sorrow taken up for sins, with the purpose of confessing and satisfying." - Cf. Council of Trent, sess. 14, chap. 4. - St. Thom. Suppl. q. 1, art. 1. - St. Alphonsus, n. 435. - De Augustinis, part. 1, art. 5, p. 43.

Theologians dispute, as may be seen in St. Alphonsus, whether contrition consists properly in sorrow, or rather in detestation, and what order intervenes between these two; but practically speaking, this matters little, for it is not to be feared that either one is lacking, since they mutually suppose each other. Yet it is certain that sorrow of soul and detestation of sin regard the past, but purpose is concerned with the future. Therefore in the first place something must be said about this sorrow and detestation, or about contrition properly so called, and then about purpose.