Morals of the Church
Library › Wouters, Manual of Moral Theology › Volume II › Book III. On the Aids of the Christian Life, or on the Sacraments › Treatise V. On Penance › Dissertation I. On the Act of Doing Penance › Part III. On the Effects of the Act of Doing Penance

Section — Wouters, Manual of Moral Theology

Section IV. On the Remission of Punishment

285.

I. By sinning, man contracts: 1. the guilt of fault, by which he is formally constituted a sinner; 2. the guilt of punishment, by which, because of the guilt of fault, he becomes liable to punishments to be undergone. Moreover, while the fault remains, the punishment which follows the fault cannot be taken away. But when the fault has been removed, the guilt of eternal punishment is necessarily taken away, but not the guilt of temporal punishment. For the former cannot consist with the friendship of God and a right to eternal beatitude; but the latter must be spoken of otherwise. Indeed:

II. In fact, the whole temporal punishment is not always remitted with the fault. This is of faith from the Council of Trent.1 It is also clear from Sacred Scripture.2

III. The punishment remaining after the remission of fault is remitted, or at least diminished, by:

  1. Ex opere operato: the sacraments, the sacrifice, indulgences, and sacramental satisfaction, each of which applies the satisfaction of Christ.

  2. Ex opere operantis: satispassion and satisfaction. Satispassion consists in this, that someone suffers the punishments which God of himself has appointed for sin. Satisfaction is situated in this, that someone performs a penal work or works which God accepts in compensation for the punishment appointed of itself. Satisfaction, however, can be offered through all good works, because all are penal to some extent. Besides this, one just person can satisfy for another just person,3 as is deduced: 1. from the fact that we can satisfy for the souls in purgatory; 2. from the communion of Saints, by which it comes about that the members of the Church can aid one another. Nevertheless, it is not altogether certain that God always accepts satisfaction of this kind for others.

  3. It is disputed whether the remission of temporal punishment can also be obtained by impetration. It seems that it must be answered affirmatively, because the Church herself in the office of the dead asks God that through the intercession of the Blessed Virgin Mary and of the other Saints he free the souls from purgatory; but it is clear that the works of those Saints are not penal.

Corollary. Sins are remitted through penance in such a way that they do not return in any way on account of a subsequent sin, neither as regards the guilt of fault nor as regards the guilt of punishment. The guilt of fault does not return; this is clear: 1. from Sacred Scripture;4 2. from the fact that through justification sin is truly remitted and destroyed; but what has truly been destroyed cannot be imputed again. Nor does the guilt of punishment return; for this cannot return unless the guilt of fault returns.

1 Session 14, on Penance, canon 12.

2 Numbers 12:14 sq.; 20:1 sq.; 27:12 sq.; Deuteronomy 34:1 sq.; 2 Samuel 12:13 sq.

3 It is required that each be in the state of grace: the one satisfying, so that his work may be satisfactory; the one for whom satisfaction is made, so that the punishment can be remitted.

4 Isaiah 1:18; Ezekiel 33:12, 16; Micah 7:19.

The Remission of Punishment