Case 8. A Scrupulous Penitent

Martha, a devout woman, resolves to avoid all deliberate sins, even venial ones. She proceeds well for a certain space of time; afterward, however—either by divine permission, perhaps because of some petty vainglory, or by an impulse of the demon—she is oppressed by excessive anxiety. Then she thinks that she sins in almost every action, for she detects some disorder in her manner of walking or looking around, scandal to others in her clothing, some gluttony in eating, and something depraved in her thoughts, whether against charity or against chastity. Indeed, while she fights against scruples, she sometimes does what she believes to be mortal sin. She falls almost into despair, for she fears that because of her unfaithfulness God has abandoned her. Since the confessor sees that the scruples greatly harm the penitent, he never permits her to confess more than two sins, although he believes that for this reason the penitent sometimes omits mortal sins, and although the penitent says that she is in doubt whether she sins by omitting the rest and that consequently it is necessary for her to confess the others also, because in doubt it is not lawful to act against the law. Hence it is asked:

1. What are the signs of scrupulosity?

2. How in general are scrupulous persons to be treated by a confessor?

3. What is to be said concerning the case?

1. What are the signs of scrupulosity ?

The confessor should know how to distinguish a really scrupulous person from one who only says that he is scrupulous or wishes to appear so. With this end in view theologians give certain signs by which scrupulosity may be known. The definition of a scruple will help us. A scruple is an idle fear and consequent anxiety that there is sin where it does not exist. The first sign, then, of scrupulosity is a tendency to idle fears and irrational dread of committing sin by a harmless action. Such idle fears and dreads are well known to physicians, and they seem only to differ from mental delusions in that a scrupulous person knows the folly he is guilty of, while one who suffers from delusions does not. Another sign of scrupulosity is that sin becomes a bugbear and is seen everywhere. The scrupulous person is fickle and inconstant in his judgment and consequent action; in fact he loses his power of forming a sane judgment on the point on which he is scrupulous. In spite of this he finds it difficult to surrender himself to the guidance of another, and is obstinately self-willed. He seems bent on torturing himself, and for this purpose apparently he fixes upon trivial points in the case which only a perverse ingenuity could suppose to be of importance.

2. How, in general, are scrupulous people to be treated by the confessor ?

The confessor should first of all make sure that the case is one of scruples, and this he will be able to do by attending to the signs of scrupulosity. Then, as the cure of scruples takes time, it will be well for him to ask the penitent whether he is prepared to follow his advice and to come to him regularly for confession. If he agrees, the confessor should give him some general rules of conduct, such as, never to be idle, not to read rigoristic books or frequent the society of the scrupulous, to take care of his bodily health, to mortify his pride and cultivate a spirit of humble submission to God’s will. Then he will note in what precisely the penitent is scrupulous and teach him how to act against his scruples and gradually overcome them by forming contrary habits.

3. The case. Martha, a pious woman, made a resolution to avoid all deliberate sin, whether mortal or venial. As she was a pious woman we may suppose that she was not in the habit of falling into mortal sin. To aim at avoiding all deliberate venial sin is not indeed to aim at the impossible, but to attain it means a high degree of perfection which is not reached without great graces from God and long and faithful endeavor. It would have been better for Martha to take one step at a time and try to conquer her faults one by one. There was probably too much self-reliance, some spirit of pride, in her otherwise good resolve, and her indiscreet fervor caused her to fall a victim to scrupulosity, of which she exhibits one of the ordinary signs. She tries to fight against her scruples, and in doing this she sometimes does what she thinks is a mortal sin. We must suppose that her scrupulous conscience makes her think that she commits mortal sin against her own better judgment and the advice of her confessor. She should despise these apprehensions and boldly follow her confessor’s advice. Her case is desperate. The confessor should tell her to act freely, that it is foolish to fear sin as she does, and that sin can not be committed without freely consenting to something which is known to be bad. He is right in not allowing her to confess all that she wants to confess, and he may limit her to two sins or even to less, if he thinks it will benefit her. He may do this even though he knows that occasionally her confessions will not be integral, for scrupulosity sometimes excuses the penitent from integrity of confession. Even though Martha says that she doubts whether she is not committing mortal sin by not making an integral confession, the confessor must be firm, and tell her that she is safe in following the advice of her confessor. By degrees if she persists in not confessing and not thinking of her scruples and in acting against them, with the help of God she will recover her sanity.’

1 St. Alphonsus, book i, no. 13.