§ II. On the Qualities of Contrition

I say. The qualities necessarily required for the validity of both perfect and imperfect contrition are numbered as four; namely it is required that it be internal, supernatural, supreme, and universal. Therefore 1°. it must be internal or true, that is, truly conceived in heart and soul, according to that saying of Joel ii, 13: "Rend your hearts, and not your garments"; 2°. it must be supernatural, that is, elicited through the help of grace and from a motive which in some way is referred to God, because otherwise it could in no way dispose toward obtaining justification; 3°. it must be supreme, insofar namely as the sinner appreciatively detests his crime more than every other evil and is prepared in soul rather to lose and suffer all things than to commit sin; 4°. it must be universal, namely it must extend to all grave sins either from one universal motive or from several particular motives which, at least taken together, extend to all mortal sins committed, even those not occurring to memory; for no actual sin is remitted without sorrow, but one mortal sin cannot be remitted without another, since remission occurs through the infusion of grace, which cannot stand together with mortal sin. - Cf. Lehmkuhl, nn. 283 and seq.

Question 1. Whether contrition must be supreme not only APPRECIATIVELY, but also INTENSIVELY? Resp. Negatively, because the intensity of sorrow or of affection or greater or lesser effort is something merely accidental in contrition. Besides, if that intensity were required, it would have to be either absolutely supreme or relatively; if the first, contrition would be impossible, because we can always conceive a greater degree of intensity; if the second, it would follow that contrition which today is good and sufficient could tomorrow be found insufficient, which is surely repugnant. Therefore it suffices that contrition be appreciatively supreme, that is, that sin be held in hatred before other things by estimation or serious will; and consequently all anxiety is to be cast away from those who experience a more vehement sense of sorrow from the death of some friend than from the offense of God. - Cf. St. Alphonsus, nn. 441 and 442. - Lugo, disp. 5, nn. 84 and 87. - De Augustinis, part. 1, Thes. 6, p. 64.

Question 2. Whether a FORMAL comparison is required in appreciation between various evils and sin, or God? Resp. Negatively, for it suffices that the sinner sincerely and truly detest sins and be unwilling to sin further. Therefore confessors would act very imprudently who, in order to explore whether sorrow is supreme, proposed certain very dangerous comparisons to penitents, for example: would you rather be burned alive, or undergo all the torments of the martyrs, or eat venomous reptiles, than sin again? For such comparisons move the imagination more vividly, and when a strong temptation approaches, the true disposition which existed before is easily lost. Indeed St. Thomas accuses confessors of this kind not only of imprudence but also of foolishness. Besides, since for some persons the very idea of death is wont to disturb the imagination too much, generally speaking it is not fitting to ask a penitent whether he is prepared rather to die and to die a hundred times than to offend God. - Cf. St. Thom. Quodlib. 1, art. 9. - St. Alphonsus, n. 433. - Baller. note (a) p. 328.

Question 3. What duration of time is required for conceiving true and supreme contrition? Resp. None per se, because duration does not pertain to the essence of the act, but is merely accidental to it; wherefore it is enough that the act be substantially fulfilled; and this can happen even in the smallest moment of time. Yet it is safer to elicit an act of contrition more intense and more prolonged, lest perhaps from lightness or excessive haste none be conceived as to substance. Cf. St. Alphonsus, n. 433.

Question 4. Whether contrition for venial sins must enjoy the same four qualities? Resp. It must necessarily enjoy the first three; namely 1°. it must be internal, because contrition which is not elicited from the innermost heart is not true; 2°. it must be supernatural, because, as was said, natural contrition cannot be a means to a supernatural effect; 3°. it must also be supreme, or the sinner must detest venial sin more than all natural evils. But it does not necessarily have to be universal, whether in the sacrament or outside the sacrament. The reason is that, since venial sin is not incompatible with sanctifying grace, one venial sin can be remitted without the others. Cf. St. Alphonsus, n. 449.

Question 5. Whether fearful attrition, or attrition conceived from fear of gehenna, suffices for justification in the sacrament of Penance? Resp. Affirmatively, provided that it is truly supernatural, absolutely efficacious, and only materially, but not formally or servilely, servile. The reason is both because attrition of this kind is a true conversion to God and a true aversion from sin, and because this is clearly drawn from the Council of Trent, sess. 14, chap. 4, where attrition conceived from fear of gehenna and punishments is said to be honorable and to dispose the sinner toward obtaining justification in the sacrament of Penance. Moreover attrition is called formally or servilely servile when someone indeed grieves for sin and wishes to avoid it because of the punishments which he knows are to be inflicted by God; yet he would still be prepared to sin if those punishments did not subsist. But it is called materially or simply servile when someone indeed abstains from sin because of fear of punishments, yet is not so disposed that he would wish to sin if those punishments did not exist. Cf. De Augustinis, part. 1, Thes. 8, p. 90. - Lehmkuhl, n. 285.

Question 6. Whether attrition from fear of the punishments of Purgatory suffices for venial sins? Resp. Affirmatively, with the most common and morally certain opinion; because all the reasons adduced above for the sufficiency of attrition from fear of gehenna also have force here.

Question 7. Whether attrition from fear of temporal punishments of this life to be undergone for sin, insofar as they are inflicted by God, suffices? Resp. Affirmatively, with the opinion which seems morally certain, provided such attrition is supernatural. The reason is both because in the Council of Trent it is said: "Attrition from fear of gehenna and punishments," and consequently just as the fear of gehenna alone certainly suffices, so the fear of punishments alone must suffice; and because in fear of this kind all the conditions of true attrition can be present. Yet St. Alphonsus attributes some probability to the negative opinion; if anyone admits this, he cannot in practice and before the fact be content with that attrition. - Cf. Baller. note (a) p. 331.

Question 8. Whether, for obtaining justification in the sacrament of Penance with attrition, a beginning of love is also required? Resp. Negatively, if by beginning of love there is understood some degree of perfect charity, by which God is loved above all things. The reason is that, for rightly receiving the sacrament, an act is not necessarily presupposed which outside the sacrament justifies essentially. But it can be conceded that some beginning of love is required, insofar as attrition, in order that it dispose toward the sacrament, must exclude, as the Tridentine Synod speaks, the will of sinning; and it must also have joined to it the hope of obtaining pardon or justification from God, by which the sinner begins to love God as the font of all justice. - Cf. St. Alphonsus, n. 440. - De Augustinis, part. 2, Thes. 19, p. 238.