Scholion II. On Remedies Against Lust

We are considering especially those who are given to lust, especially to pollutions. Remedies, however, are distinguished as natural and supernatural.

I. Natural remedies are, for example: 1. to use tonic foods, light and of easy digestion, but by no means exciting foods and drinks; 2. to avoid idleness and solitude, and to be occupied with useful work, which work, insofar as it can be done, it is expedient to assign; 3. to lie in a harder bed,¹ on the side, not on the back, with the arms crossed over the chest; to use a light covering and not to indulge in too much sleep;² 4. when using baths, to be washed with cold water; 5. finally, certain medicines seem useful for tempering venereal things, such as lupulin, heroin;³ likewise the so-called chaste tree.⁴ The Salernitan aphorism also is known: "Camphor through the nostrils castrates males by its odor"; which, however, Gemelli does not admit.⁵

II. Supernatural remedies, besides flight from occasions, frequenting of the sacraments,⁶ and prayer, are: 1. a firm persuasion concerning the gravity and harms of the evil, which the confessor should endeavor to instill into him, fatherly indeed, but seriously and effectively; 2. courage added to the miserable sinner, and the raising up of his mind and heart for battle; 3. a manly resolution, and this renewed from time to time, especially morning and evening; 4. filial devotion toward the Blessed Virgin Mary, with the added custom of reciting daily, morning and evening, three times the Angelic Salutation together with the invocation enriched with indulgences: "Through thy Immaculate Conception, O Mary, render my body pure and my soul holy" (indulgence of 300 days, Pius X, December 5, 1904); 5. chastisement of the body and fasts, but account should be taken of the persons; 6. diversion of the mind to another object as soon as temptation first arises; likewise invocation of the Most Holy Names of Jesus and Mary; 7. if there is question of a more cultivated person, the incitement of the mind toward noble duties and duties useful for the common good; 8. finally, marriage is commonly to be urged most of all (St. Alphonsus, Praxis Confessarii, nn. 15, 16).⁷

¹ "The body should never rest on feathers, which warm, provoke itchings, even touches: frequent causes of pernicious habits. The bed should be rather hard than soft" (Bossu, in Eschbach, op. cit., p. 532).

² "Sleep lasts six to eight hours, as an average term. Habit has the greatest influence on this state of the economy." "Rising early preserves health and holiness" (St. Francis de Sales). (Brachet, in Eschbach, loc. cit.).

³ Gemelli, Non moechaberis, c. 5, p. 171 sq.

⁴ "Agnus castus was formerly celebrated; we ourselves have sometimes advised its use, and despite the assertion of modern physicians who deny it all efficacy in this kind, we have received the most satisfactory reports about its employment." (Catechisme du V. Cesar de Bus, annotated by Bonhomme, t. II, p. 354).

⁵ Loc. cit.

⁶ "I scarcely think that there is any other effective remedy, except very frequent confession with one and the same confessor ... for this sacrament is the greatest bridle, and one who does not use it should not promise himself amendment except by a miracle." Thus St. Alphonsus (VI, 464) with Toletus.

⁷ If the means have remained ineffective, "recourse must be had," says Antonelli, "to amputation of the clitoris, that is, clitoridectomy, in women, even adults. This operation is very easy and altogether harmless ... It is true that some doctors by no means approve this operation, because through it the woman is deprived of the chief place of pleasure. But this reason must be counted as nothing, because, if there is question of a married woman, normal intercourse with pleasure and fecundation is in no way impeded; but if there is question of an unmarried girl, this operation removes the cause of so many sins and brings only great advantages to her health" (Medicina Pastoralis, I, n. 504). To these things I note: Apart from the fact that an amputation worthy of note is lawful only for the direct good of the whole, in this case the clitoris as such, that is, insofar as it is the seat of venereal pleasure, is amputated. But the clitoris as such, since it regards the good of the species, cannot be amputated for the good of the individual.