The Positions Compared: Temperance and the Vices Against It

Drawn from the authors' own words; every quotation links to its place.

The virtues: Faith · Hope · Charity · Prudence · Justice · Fortitude · Temperance

Every point on which our authors part ways about temperance and the vices against it, as the comparison notes of the Virtues and Vices pages set them out, each set out here as its sides, with each author of this library who answers it placed on his side in his own words. St. Alphonsus has a column of his own: his Theologia moralis is not yet in this library, so his opinion is given as our authors report it, and where two of them report it differently, both reports are shown. The counts are of the authors in this library, whose shelf is not evenly balanced: it holds more Jesuits than any other school.

In the table, a letter is the side an author takes; ± means he sets out both without choosing; a blank means the fuller entry does not place him. Each point opens below, with every author quoted and linked.

Point	St. Thomas	St. Alphonsus	Thomist			Franciscan	Alphonsian		Jesuit
Point	St. Thomas	St. Alphonsus	Prümmer	Merkelbach	McHugh-Callan	Bontempi	Marc	Wouters	Noldin	Sabetti-Barrett	Vermeersch
How Grave It Is
Loss of reason for a short time					B		A
Giving up one's reputation			C	B					A
How pride is weighed			A	B	A		A	A	A		A
Eating to vomiting				A	B		A	A	A		A
Merely sensual pleasure		B		A			B			B
Why lust directly willed admits no light matter			A	B	A		A		A	C
Brief drunkenness			B	A			A	A	A		A
Drinking to drunkenness but escaping its effect			B		B		A		A
Making another drunk to prevent a greater sin		B	A	B						±	A
Drunkenness for a grave cause		A		B	±					A
Narcotics for the dying				A							B
Painting the face	A		B	A	B	A
Deflowering a consenting virgin: a species of its own, or only aggravating	A	B	B	A			B	B	B	B	B
Breaking off sinful intercourse begun: lawful, or a graver sin				A	A	B		A			A
Expelling the seed after violence: unlawful, or probably lawful		A		A			B	A			C
Pollution and fornication: which is simply graver	A		A	A							B
A medicine so that natural emissions come more easily: lawful or not				A	A	A					A
Resisting carnal movements: whether displeasure alone suffices			A				A		B
Delight of the widowed and betrothed, and the betrothed's kisses: lawful or not		B	A		A		B	B		B	B
Nude statues, pictures and models: grave, or ordinarily not		A	B				A		A	A	C
Desiring a sin on condition it were lawful: grave or not		A	B				A	A			B
Painting the face: a sin or no evil of itself	A		B	A	B
Which Side of the Mean
Excess or defect	A		B	B				A	A
Excess or defect			A	B				A	A
Intemperance and insensibility; cruelty				A			B	B	A
Lack of anger: by excess or defect			A	B	B			A	A
Cruelty: by excess or defect					A
Self-abjection: by excess or defect			A	A	C			B			C
Humility: pride by excess or by defect	A		B	B			B	A			A
What a Thing Is or Requires
Whether continence is a virtue	B			B	B	B	A		A
Whether pride can be for another's sake					B		A
The root of humility				A		A					B
Why virginity is a virtue of its own				B			A	B
Human flesh in extreme hunger				A	A	B	A	A	A		A
Whether pleasure belongs to drunkenness				A	B				A	B
Rape: violence alone, or abduction from place to place	A			A	A	B	B		B	A
Adultery with the spouse consenting: whom it wrongs				B	B			A			C
Tolerating prostitution: lawful as the lesser evil, or not today		B	A		±		B	B	B
A confessor or spiritual father who sins with one in his care: injustice or not				B			A	A	A		B
Where pollution's malice lies; whether women, boys and eunuchs commit it			A	B			B	B	C	A	B
Sodomy: the same sex alone, or congress in a vessel				B			A	B	A		A
Delight in a pictured sin: whether it takes the circumstances		B	C	A			A		A
Temperance's matter: touch, or taste and touch	A			A	A		B	B	B		B
Virginity: whether a vow is needed	A		A		A			C	B
Virginity: what loses it beyond repair					B			C	A
Studiousness: chiefly of the mind or of the senses	A		B	A
Where It Belongs
Among the seven, or above them	A		±	A	A			B	B
Drunkenness: under gluttony, or apart	B		A	B				A	A
Where Noldin treats lust									B
Intemperance in honors	B			B					A		B
To which virtue bearing belongs	A			B	C
Glory sought from plain dress	A			B	C
How Many
Species of anger	A								B
Species of temperance	A		A	B	C		A	B	B		A
Daughters of anger	A								B
Wouters's additions to anger's daughters	A							B
Daughters of gluttony	A					C	B			C
Daughters of lust	A						A			B	C
Daughters of pride	A
Incest in the first degree: a species of its own, or one with the rest		A	C	B		C	A	A	B		B
Incomplete acts: a species of their own, or one with the complete				B	A						B
One Word, Two Senses
Irascibility				B			A			A
Luxury; purity				A	B	A					A
Rusticity	B		A	A		B		A

How Grave It Is

Loss of reason for a short time

A. Not mortal if it takes away reason for a short time

Marc: “is not mortal if it deprives one of reason for a short time” (n. 758)

B. That opinion is commonly rejected

McHugh-Callan: “is commonly rejected” (n. 2480)

Our authors are evenly divided (A 1, B 1). The fuller entry.

Giving up one's reputation

A. Not against charity; no more than venial (unless an office or others suffer)

Noldin: “does not exceed venial sin” (n. 66)

B. Prodigality against charity toward oneself

Merkelbach: “prodigality against charity toward oneself” (II, n. 169)

C. Gravely forbidden

Prümmer: “is gravely prohibited” (II, n. 7)

Our authors are evenly divided (A 1, B 1, C 1). The fuller entry.

How pride is weighed

A. Complete pride mortal, incomplete venial

Prümmer — named on this side in the fuller entry
Noldin — named on this side in the fuller entry
Wouters — named on this side in the fuller entry
Marc — named on this side in the fuller entry
McHugh-Callan — named on this side in the fuller entry
Vermeersch — named on this side in the fuller entry

B. By the contempt of God it contains: explicit always mortal, implicit often venial

Merkelbach: “also from lightness of matter” (I, n. 500)

Held by most of our authors: A (A 6, B 1). The fuller entry.

Eating to vomiting

A. Eating even to vomiting is venial

Noldin — named on this side in the fuller entry
Wouters (n. 319)
Merkelbach (II, n. 979)
Vermeersch (n. 475)
Marc — named on this side in the fuller entry

B. It seems mortal when the quantity causes it

McHugh-Callan: “seems to be a mortal sin” (n. 2472)

Vomiting in order to eat again: Prümmer and Marc, after St. Alphonsus, scarcely excuse it from mortal sin; Vermeersch and Merkelbach hold it venial; Wouters leans to venial.

Held by most of our authors: A (A 5, B 1). The fuller entry.

Merely sensual pleasure

A. It does not exceed venial fault

Merkelbach: “does not exceed venial fault” (II, n. 1003)

B. The milder opinion is not practically probable: grave, or always some fault

St. Alphonsus, as Merkelbach reports him (II, n. 1003)
Marc: “not practically probable” (n. 769)
Sabetti-Barrett: “there will always be some slight fault” (n. 280)

Merkelbach's Questions on Chastity add that it is grave by its genus with the proximate danger of consenting.

Held by most of our authors: B (B 2, A 1). The fuller entry.

Why lust directly willed admits no light matter

A. The danger of going further

Prümmer — named on this side in the fuller entry
Noldin: “does not have universal value” (n. 11)
Marc — named on this side in the fuller entry
McHugh-Callan — named on this side in the fuller entry

B. Whoever seeks the incomplete pleasure implicitly wills the complete

Merkelbach — named on this side in the fuller entry

C. Venereal pleasure is a begun emission

Sabetti-Barrett (n. 280)

All hold that lust directly willed admits no light matter; they differ in the reason.

Held by most of our authors: A (A 4, B 1, C 1). The fuller entry.

Brief drunkenness

A. Brief perfect drunkenness can be venial

Noldin (n. 343)
Wouters: “according to most authors” (n. 320)
Merkelbach: “from shortness of time” (II, n. 986)
Vermeersch: “the alleged reason of grave sin also will be absent” (n. 477)
Marc — named on this side in the fuller entry

Also named on this side: Lacroix, as Prümmer reports (II, n. 670).

B. Rejected

Prümmer: “we do not admit the opinion defended by Lacroix, Noldin, and others” (II, n. 670)

Held by most of our authors: A (A 5, B 1). The fuller entry.

Drinking to drunkenness but escaping its effect

A. Not grave (or less grave) when the effect is prevented

Noldin: “he does not sin gravely who by a medicine prevents himself from being deprived of the use of reason” (n. 343)
Marc: “it would be less grave” (n. 757)

B. Still mortal, by gluttony, injury or scandal

McHugh-Callan: “must sin mortally by reason of gluttony, injury to health, or scandal” (n. 2480)
Prümmer: “in practice, such gluttons are scarcely excused from mortal sin” (II, n. 670)

Our authors are evenly divided (A 2, B 2). The fuller entry.

Making another drunk to prevent a greater sin

A. Unlawful

Prümmer: “is rightly denied by others” (II, n. 671)
Vermeersch: “with the more probable opinion we have denied to be licit” (n. 479)

B. Probably lawful

St. Alphonsus, as Sabetti-Barrett reports him (n. 150)
Merkelbach: “According to some, this is probably licit” (II, n. 993)

Setting out both: Sabetti-Barrett (n. 150).

Held by most of our authors: A (A 2, B 1). The fuller entry.

Drunkenness for a grave cause

A. Never lawful as a means

St. Alphonsus, as Marc reports him (n. 759)
Sabetti-Barrett: “It can never be lawful to assume drunkenness as a means” (n. 149)

B. Lawful even as a means, for the good of the whole

Merkelbach: “because for the good of the whole it is licit to deprive oneself of the good of a part” (II, n. 985)

Also named on this side: Lessius, as Marc reports (n. 759).

Setting out both: McHugh-Callan, “Some theologians, however, refuse to excuse intoxication for any reason” (n. 2477).

Our authors are evenly divided (A 1, B 1). The fuller entry.

Narcotics for the dying

A. Gravely illicit to deprive the dying of reason

Merkelbach (II, n. 989)

B. The benign side, when no preparation for death is impeded

Vermeersch: “we incline toward the more benign side whenever no preparation for death is impeded” (n. 478)

Our authors are evenly divided (A 1, B 1). The fuller entry.

Painting the face

A. A falsification not without sin (venial; none where custom is general)

St. Thomas: “a kind of falsification, which cannot be devoid of sin” (II-II, q. 169, a. 2, ad 2)
Merkelbach (II, n. 1067)
Bontempi: “vicious and reproved by the Saints” (On the adornment of women, n. 25)

B. No evil of itself, apart from scandal and an evil end

Prümmer: “there is no reason why cosmetics should be morally evil” (II, n. 717)
McHugh-Callan: “In itself there is no harm” (n. 2570)

Our authors are evenly divided (A 2, B 2). The fuller entry.

Deflowering a consenting virgin: a species of its own, or only aggravating

A. A distinct species of lust

St. Thomas (II-II, q. 154, a. 6)
Merkelbach (II, n. 1008)

B. An aggravating circumstance only, the same species as fornication

St. Alphonsus, as Wouters reports him (n. 44)
Prümmer: “the common opinion of modern authors” (II, n. 699)
Noldin (n. 24)
Wouters: “lacks every injustice and is equivalent to mere fornication” (n. 44)
Marc: “more probably within the same species” (n. 776)
Sabetti-Barrett: “only aggravating” (n. 298)
Vermeersch: “at least no grave one” (De castitate, n. 318)

Merkelbach, keeping it distinct, holds it more probably adds no mortal malice to be confessed.

Held by most of our authors: B (B 6, A 1). The fuller entry.

Breaking off sinful intercourse begun: lawful, or a graver sin

A. Lawful (even of obligation) from displeasure at the sin

Merkelbach (Pastoral, Ar. I)
McHugh-Callan: “may be excused” (n. 2526)
Vermeersch (De castitate, n. 312)
Wouters: “indeed there is an obligation of doing so” (n. 51)

B. A new sin against nature, graver than fornication

Bontempi: “a new sin against nature, graver than fornication” (On fornication, n. 9)

Held by most of our authors: A (A 4, B 1). The fuller entry.

Expelling the seed after violence: unlawful, or probably lawful

A. Unlawful, even for a woman forced

St. Alphonsus, as Wouters reports him (n. 44)
Merkelbach (II, n. 1010)
Wouters (n. 44)

B. Probably lawful for a woman forced

Marc: “Probably an oppressed woman does not commit sin who at once expels the seed” (n. 742)

C. Lawful even for one who has repented

Vermeersch: “not contradict Alberti” (De castitate, n. 312)

Held by most of our authors: A (A 2, B 1, C 1). The fuller entry.

Pollution and fornication: which is simply graver

A. Pollution is graver in the genus of lust

St. Thomas (II-II, q. 154, a. 12)
Prümmer: “a graver injury to chastity than adultery” (II, n. 704)
Merkelbach (II, n. 1015)

B. Graver in the genus of lust, yet of a guilt simply less

Vermeersch: “it must be said to have a guilt simply less” (De castitate, n. 342)

Held by most of our authors: A (A 2, B 1). The fuller entry.

A medicine so that natural emissions come more easily: lawful or not

A. Lawful to desire it by a simple affection, and to rejoice in it

Vermeersch: “to desire it by a simple affection because of the conveniences which follow it” (De castitate, n. 330)
Merkelbach (Pastoral, Ar. I)
McHugh-Callan (n. 2536)
Bontempi (Subdoubt IV: On pollution, n. 12)

B. Not lawful

Also named on this side: Valentia, Soto and Sylvius, as Bontempi reports (Subdoubt IV: On pollution, n. 12).

Vermeersch further allows a suitable medicine; the Pastoral reports it, holding that one may not procure or assist it.

Held by most of our authors: A (A 4). The fuller entry.

Resisting carnal movements: whether displeasure alone suffices

A. A serious act of displeasure suffices

Prümmer: “in practice an act of displeasure of the will must be posited” (II, n. 690)
Marc: “at least through an act of simple displeasure” (n. 322)

B. Positive resistance is required

Noldin: “an act of simple displeasure concerning the movement and carnal delectation does not suffice” (n. 50)

Held by most of our authors: A (A 2, B 1). The fuller entry.

Delight of the widowed and betrothed, and the betrothed's kisses: lawful or not

A. Not clearly forbidden (theoretically lawful), though to be avoided

Prümmer: “theoretically speaking, a widow can rejoice over licit acts had in marriage” (n. 401)
McHugh-Callan (n. 2507)

Also named on this side: Sanchez, Cajetan and Navarre, as Vermeersch reports (De castitate, n. 293).

B. Unlawful

St. Alphonsus, as Wouters reports him (n. 121)
Wouters: “although many contradict” (n. 121)
Marc: “according to the truer opinion” (n. 357)
Vermeersch: “with most authors” (De castitate, n. 293)
Sabetti-Barrett: “perhaps it can sometimes be useful to confessors” (n. 282)

Held by most of our authors: B (B 4, A 2). The fuller entry.

Nude statues, pictures and models: grave, or ordinarily not

A. A lingering look without necessity is grave

St. Alphonsus, as Marc reports him (n. 814)
Noldin: “is a grave sin” (n. 57)
Marc (n. 814)
Sabetti-Barrett (n. 286)

B. Truly artistic representations are ordinarily no grave danger

Prümmer: “not a grave danger for an adult and serious person” (II, n. 695)

C. Judged by cause, manner and object

Vermeersch: “A painting sharpens the stimuli of the flesh more than a sculpture” (De castitate, n. 400)

Held by most of our authors: A (A 3, B 1, C 1). The fuller entry.

Desiring a sin on condition it were lawful: grave or not

A. Regularly not grave: the condition takes away the malice

St. Alphonsus, as Wouters reports him (n. 125)
Marc: “sufficiently probable” (n. 349)
Wouters (n. 125)

B. Not lawful; gravely illicit

Vermeersch: “deliberately to adhere to this will” (De castitate, n. 369)
Prümmer: “if it were licit” (n. 402)

Wouters reports that “most authors accuse” it.

Our authors are evenly divided (A 2, B 2). The fuller entry.

Painting the face: a sin or no evil of itself

A. A falsification that cannot be without sin (save to hide a defect, or where custom is general)

St. Thomas: “is a kind of falsification, which cannot be devoid of sin” (II-II, q. 169, a. 2, ad 2)
Merkelbach: “because then it would deceive no one” (II, n. 1066)

B. No moral evil of itself

Prümmer: “Ancient authors spoke more severely concerning cosmetics applied to the face. But apart from scandal and every evil end, there is no reason why cosmetics should be morally evil” (II, n. 717)
McHugh-Callan: “In itself there is no harm” (n. 2570)

Held by most of our authors: B (B 2, A 1). The fuller entry.

Which Side of the Mean

Excess or defect

A. By excess

St. Thomas (II-II, q. 162, a. 1, ad 3)
Noldin (n. 336)
Wouters (n. 456)

B. By defect

Prümmer (n. 715)
Merkelbach (n. 1047)

Our authors are evenly divided (A 2, B 2). The fuller entry.

Excess or defect

A. By excess

Noldin (n. 349)
Prümmer (n. 709)
Wouters (n. 449)

B. By defect

Merkelbach: “by defect” (n. 1036)

Held by most of our authors: A (A 3, B 1). The fuller entry.

Intemperance and insensibility; cruelty

A. Insensibility by defect, intemperance by excess

Noldin (n. 284)
Merkelbach (II, n. 941)

B. Reversed: insensibility by excess, intemperance by defect

Wouters (n. 434)
Marc (n. 410)

On cruelty: Prümmer by defect; Wouters and Noldin by excess.

Our authors are evenly divided (A 2, B 2). The fuller entry.

Lack of anger: by excess or defect

A. By defect

Wouters (n. 449)
Prümmer (II, n. 709)
Noldin (n. 285)

B. By excess

Merkelbach: “secondarily and by excess” (II, n. 1036)
McHugh-Callan: “Sinful indulgence, which is opposed to meekness by excess” (n. 2550)

The fault described is the same: too little anger where duty calls for it.

Held by most of our authors: A (A 3, B 2). The fuller entry.

Cruelty: by excess or defect

A. Cruelty by defect, undue leniency by excess

McHugh-Callan: “The extreme of defect” (n. 2552)

B. Cruelty by excess

One author of this library answers it (A 1). The fuller entry.

Self-abjection: by excess or defect

A. Self-abjection by excess (pride by defect)

Prümmer: “by excess” (II, n. 715)
Merkelbach: “secondarily and by excess” (II, n. 1047)

B. Self-abjection by defect

Wouters: “By defect” (n. 456)

C. No such vice: timidity and pusillanimity by defect

Vermeersch: “timidity” (n. 728)
McHugh-Callan: “is the same as littleness of soul” (n. 2561)

Our authors are evenly divided (A 2, C 2, B 1). The fuller entry.

Humility: pride by excess or by defect

A. Pride by excess

St. Thomas: “may be opposed by excess, both to magnanimity and humility” (II-II, q. 162, a. 1)
Wouters: “By excess there is opposed pride” (n. 456)
Vermeersch: “by excess through pride and presumption” (n. 729)

B. Pride by defect, self-abjection by excess

Prümmer: “Opposed to humility by excess is inordinate self-abjection” (II, n. 715)
Merkelbach: “Inordinate abasement is opposed to humility secondarily and by excess; but by defect and primarily, pride is opposed” (II, n. 1047)
Marc: “inordinate self-abjection (excess)” (n. 410)

Held by most of our authors: B (B 3, A 2). The fuller entry.

What a Thing Is or Requires

Whether continence is a virtue

A. A virtue

Noldin: “the virtue firming the will” (n. 285)
Marc: “a virtue which resists movements of concupiscence” (n. 410)

B. Not a virtue in the full sense

St. Thomas: “does not attain to the perfect nature of a moral virtue” (II-II, q. 155, a. 1)
Merkelbach: “not a virtue in the strict and full sense” (II, n. 1030)
McHugh-Callan: “less than a moral virtue” (n. 2544)
Bontempi: “not a wholly perfect virtue” (On continence, n. 2)

Held by most of our authors: B (B 3, A 2). The fuller entry.

Whether pride can be for another's sake

A. Not properly pride, but a kindred vice

Marc: “not properly pride, but another vice akin to pride” (n. 360)

B. Pride: one's children are identified with the ego

McHugh-Callan: “of those things with which the ego is identified, such as one’s own children” (n. 2557)

Our authors are evenly divided (A 1, B 1). The fuller entry.

The root of humility

A. Knowledge of oneself (St. Bernard)

Merkelbach (II, n. 1042)
Bontempi — named on this side in the fuller entry

B. The origin of every good from God

Vermeersch: “rather than in one's own nothingness itself, in the origin of every good from God” (n. 724)

Held by most of our authors: A (A 2, B 1). The fuller entry.

Why virginity is a virtue of its own

A. A special difficulty

Marc: “a special difficulty, and indeed a very great one” (n. 764)

B. A special excellence

Merkelbach: “a special excellence” (II, n. 999)
Wouters: “from a special matter of good having special excellence, rather than from the special difficulty” (n. 20)

Held by most of our authors: B (B 2, A 1). The fuller entry.

Human flesh in extreme hunger

A. Lawful in extreme hunger

Noldin (n. 339)
Merkelbach — named on this side in the fuller entry
Wouters — named on this side in the fuller entry
McHugh-Callan — named on this side in the fuller entry
Marc — named on this side in the fuller entry
Vermeersch — named on this side in the fuller entry

B. Not even in extreme necessity

Bontempi: “not even in extreme necessity” (On gluttony, n. 30)

Held by most of our authors: A (A 6, B 1). The fuller entry.

Whether pleasure belongs to drunkenness

A. Pleasure is of its object

Merkelbach: “for the sake of pleasure” (II, n. 985)
Noldin: “from pleasure alone” (n. 341)

B. Pleasure is not essential

McHugh-Callan: “is not essential, it seems” (n. 2476)
Sabetti-Barrett: “whether this is done from or with pleasure, or without pleasure” (n. 147)

Noldin, defining it by pleasure, holds it remains drunkenness when none is felt.

Our authors are evenly divided (A 2, B 2). The fuller entry.

Rape: violence alone, or abduction from place to place

A. Violence alone is essential

Merkelbach: “that violence alone is essential to rape” (II, n. 1009)
Sabetti-Barrett (n. 299)
McHugh-Callan (n. 2529)
St. Thomas

B. Abduction from one place to another is required

Noldin (n. 27)
Marc (n. 779)
Bontempi: “will be fornication” (On abduction, n. 2)

Our authors are evenly divided (A 3, B 3). The fuller entry.

Adultery with the spouse consenting: whom it wrongs

A. It wrongs the husband himself

Wouters: “against the husband himself” (n. 37)

B. It wrongs the married state, not the consenting husband

Merkelbach (II, n. 1011)
McHugh-Callan (n. 2530)

C. The injustice to him is removed; it differs in species

Vermeersch: “can certainly remove” (De castitate, n. 313)

All hold it still adultery, Innocent XI having condemned the contrary.

Held by most of our authors: B (B 2, A 1, C 1). The fuller entry.

Tolerating prostitution: lawful as the lesser evil, or not today

A. The magistrate may tolerate it, though the fact is hard to judge

Prümmer: “is a very difficult question of fact” (II, n. 698)

B. Not to be tolerated today

St. Alphonsus, as Wouters reports him (n. 34)
Marc: “practically more probable” (n. 775)
Noldin: “Brothels seem in no way to be tolerated” (n. 18)
Wouters: “seems wholly to be followed” (n. 34)

Setting out both: McHugh-Callan, “Practically, the question is open to dispute” (n. 2528).

Held by most of our authors: B (B 3, A 1). The fuller entry.

A confessor or spiritual father who sins with one in his care: injustice or not

A. Not incest, but an added injustice (pastor with parishioner)

Noldin (n. 21)
Wouters (n. 39)
Marc (n. 786)

B. A confessor outside confession adds neither

Merkelbach (Pastoral, Ar. IV)
Vermeersch (De castitate, n. 320)

The two sides answer different cases: the pastor, and the confessor outside confession; Vermeersch judges an appointed director more severely.

Held by most of our authors: A (A 3, B 2). The fuller entry.

Where pollution's malice lies; whether women, boys and eunuchs commit it

A. Formally in the pleasure inordinately sought

Prümmer: “formally in venereal pleasure inordinately desired” (II, n. 705)
Sabetti-Barrett (n. 304)

B. In the disorder of the act; women commit it as men do

Wouters (n. 50)
Vermeersch: “not a prohibition against pouring forth semen” (De castitate, n. 329)
Merkelbach (II, n. 1016)
Marc (n. 793)

C. Female pollution is not a consummated sin against nature

Noldin: “female pollution is not a consummated sin against nature” (n. 30)

Held by most of our authors: B (B 4, A 2, C 1). The fuller entry.

Sodomy: the same sex alone, or congress in a vessel

A. No penetration of a vessel is required

Noldin: “that there be penetration of some vessel” (n. 42)
Marc (n. 802)
Vermeersch: “no penetration of the sexual organ into any vessel is required” (De castitate, n. 343)

B. Congress in an undue vessel is required

Wouters: “is not sodomy” (n. 52)
Merkelbach: “intercourse to an undue vessel is required” (II, n. 1015)

Held by most of our authors: A (A 3, B 2). The fuller entry.

Delight in a pictured sin: whether it takes the circumstances

A. It does not take them, unless the will delights in them

Noldin (n. 62)
Merkelbach (II, n. 1023)
Marc (n. 357)

B. It does, where a determinate person is pictured

St. Alphonsus, as Marc reports him (n. 357); Marc: “the opposite opinion greatly pleases St. Alphonsus”

C. Each opinion theoretically probable

Prümmer: “Each opinion, namely, the affirmative and the negative, is theoretically probable” (II, n. 686)

Held by most of our authors: A (A 3, C 1). The fuller entry.

Temperance's matter: touch, or taste and touch

A. Touch (taste only secondarily)

St. Thomas: “is about pleasures of touch” (II-II, q. 141, a. 4)
Merkelbach: “the principal pleasures of touch” (II, n. 937)
McHugh-Callan: “the two delights of touch” (n. 2465)

B. Taste and touch

Noldin: “two temper taste, but the third tempers touch” (n. 285)
Vermeersch: “moderating the delights of taste and touch” (n. 718)
Marc (n. 407)
Wouters: “the pleasure of touch and taste” (n. 435)

Held by most of our authors: B (B 4, A 2). The fuller entry.

Virginity: whether a vow is needed

A. A vow is required

St. Thomas: “Virginity as a virtue denotes the purpose, confirmed by vow, of observing perpetual integrity” (II-II, q. 152, a. 3, ad 4)
Prümmer: “St. Thomas seems to require still further a vow of virginity” (II, n. 677)
McHugh-Callan: “it seems more probable that this purpose must be expressed as a vow” (n. 2490)

B. A firm purpose suffices

Noldin: “a firm purpose of the will of abstaining perpetually” (n. 3)

C. Disputed

Wouters: “It is disputed whether a vow is also required” (n. 22)

Held by most of our authors: A (A 2, B 1, C 1). The fuller entry.

Virginity: what loses it beyond repair

A. Not lost irreparably while the integrity of the flesh remains

Noldin (n. 4)

B. Lost when the will was of itself such as to bring the experience

McHugh-Callan: “it seems that the virtue cannot be recovered” (n. 2489)

C. Disputed

Wouters: “It is disputed whether virginity is lost irreparably through consent in a complete act while it is taking place” (n. 23)

Our authors are evenly divided (A 1, B 1, C 1). The fuller entry.

Studiousness: chiefly of the mind or of the senses

A. Principally in the will, about intellectual knowledge

St. Thomas: “naturally desires to know something” (II-II, q. 166, a. 2)
Merkelbach: “It is subjected principally in the will for intellectual cognition, but secondarily in the concupiscible appetite for sensitive cognition” (II, n. 1052)

B. Principally the moderation of sight and hearing

Prümmer: “Studiousness indeed principally concerns the moderation of sensitive cognition in sight and hearing, because disorder more easily arises there” (II, n. 716)

Our authors are evenly divided (A 1, B 1). The fuller entry.

Where It Belongs

Among the seven, or above them

A. Above the seven, vainglory in its place

St. Thomas (II-II, q. 162, a. 8)
Merkelbach (n. 496)
McHugh-Callan: “the queen and mother of the seven capital vices” (n. 2560)

B. The first of the seven

Noldin (n. 335)
Wouters (n. 299)

Setting out both: Prümmer (nn. 407-408).

Our authors are evenly divided (A 2, B 2). The fuller entry.

Drunkenness: under gluttony, or apart

A. Under gluttony, as its species

Prümmer: “that species of it” (n. 425)
Noldin (n. 339)
Wouters (n. 318)

B. Under gluttony, yet treated apart under sobriety

St. Thomas: “a species under its genus” (II-II, q. 150, a. 1)
Merkelbach: “in the broad sense (drunkenness included)” (n. 980)

Held by most of our authors: A (A 3, B 1). The fuller entry.

Where Noldin treats lust

A. Among the capital sins

B. In the separate work on the sixth precept

Noldin (n. 337)

One author of this library answers it (B 1). The fuller entry.

Intemperance in honors

A. Intemperance also in honors

Noldin: “in seeking and enjoying honors and pleasures” (n. 284)

B. Only the pleasures of touch and taste

Merkelbach (II, n. 942)
Vermeersch (n. 722)
St. Thomas

Held by most of our authors: B (B 2, A 1). The fuller entry.

To which virtue bearing belongs

A. Reduced to affability and truthfulness

St. Thomas: “may be reduced to two virtues” (II-II, q. 168, a. 1, ad 3)

B. Commanded by these, elicited by modesty

Merkelbach (II, n. 1058)

C. Under sincerity, self-respect and consideration for others

McHugh-Callan (n. 2566)

Our authors are evenly divided (B 1, C 1). The fuller entry.

Glory sought from plain dress

A. Superstition

St. Thomas: “a sin of superstition” (II-II, q. 169, a. 1, ad 2)

B. Hypocrisy

Merkelbach: “pertains to hypocrisy” (II, n. 1064)

C. An itch for notoriety

McHugh-Callan: “itch for notoriety” (n. 2569)

Our authors are evenly divided (B 1, C 1). The fuller entry.

How Many

Species of anger

A. Choleric, sullen, stern

St. Thomas (II-II, q. 158, a. 5)

B. Rancor, madness, fury

Noldin (n. 349)

One author of this library answers it (B 1). The fuller entry.

Species of temperance

A. Four (with purity or modesty)

St. Thomas: “as to the pleasures incidental to the act” (II-II, q. 143)
Prümmer (II, n. 647)
Marc: “chastity and modesty about venereal things” (n. 409)
Vermeersch: “chastity and modesty of purity” (n. 723)

B. Three (pudicity within chastity)

Noldin: “abstinence, sobriety, and chastity” (n. 285)
Merkelbach (II, n. 945)
Wouters — named on this side in the fuller entry

C. Chastity and decency not separate

McHugh-Callan: “Chastity and decency are not separate virtues” (n. 2487)

Our authors are evenly divided (A 3, B 3, C 1). The fuller entry.

Daughters of anger

A. St. Thomas's six daughters

St. Thomas

B. None named

Noldin (n. 349)

One author of this library answers it (B 1). The fuller entry.

Wouters's additions to anger's daughters

A. St. Thomas's daughters

St. Thomas

B. The same arrangement, with cursing and fights added

Wouters (n. 325)

One author of this library answers it (B 1). The fuller entry.

Daughters of gluttony

A. St. Gregory's five

St. Thomas

B. Five, the fifth named incontinence

Marc (n. 365)

C. Another list

Sabetti-Barrett (n. 146)
Bontempi (On gluttony, n. 12)

Held by most of our authors: C (C 2, B 1). The fuller entry.

Daughters of lust

A. St. Gregory's eight

St. Thomas
Marc: “per se mortal” (n. 367)

B. Six effects

Sabetti-Barrett: “languor of faith, indeed even loss of faith” (n. 142)

C. Seven

Vermeersch: “The four latter effects, but not the former, are grave from their kind” (n. 473)

Our authors are evenly divided (B 1, C 1, A 1). The fuller entry.

Daughters of pride

A. No daughters: every vice is directed to its end

St. Thomas: “the end of every vice is directed to the end of pride” (II-II, q. 132, a. 4)

B. Three daughters

The fuller entry.

Incest in the first degree: a species of its own, or one with the rest

A. Parent and child differ in species from the rest

St. Alphonsus, as Wouters reports him (n. 39)
Marc: “according to the common opinion of the Doctors” (n. 786)
Wouters (n. 39)

B. All degrees probably of one species

Noldin: “not certain” (n. 22)
Vermeersch: “But in vain” (De castitate, n. 315)
Merkelbach: “probably of the same species” (II, n. 1012)

C. The degrees to be specified

Prümmer (II, n. 701)
Bontempi: “all degrees of consanguinity are distinct in species” (On incest, n. 6)

Held by most of our authors: B (B 3, A 2, C 2). The fuller entry.

Incomplete acts: a species of their own, or one with the complete

A. They do not differ in species from the complete sins

McHugh-Callan: “Theoretically, it is more probable” (n. 2519)

B. Imperfect species, distinct from consummated lust

Merkelbach: “as an imperfect species differs from a perfect one” (II, n. 1026)
Vermeersch (De castitate, n. 350)

Among themselves: Prümmer reports looks differing in species from touches (Billuart's contrary he finds “theoretically true”); Merkelbach: touches take the species of the person touched, looks do not.

Held by most of our authors: B (B 2, A 1). The fuller entry.

One Word, Two Senses

Irascibility

A. The habit of anger

Marc (n. 370)
Sabetti-Barrett (n. 144)

B. The vice itself

Merkelbach (II, n. 1037)

Held by most of our authors: A (A 2, B 1). The fuller entry.

Luxury; purity

A. "Luxury" is lust itself

Merkelbach — named on this side in the fuller entry
Vermeersch — named on this side in the fuller entry
Bontempi — named on this side in the fuller entry

B. "Luxury" is an excessive desire of comfort

McHugh-Callan: “an excessive desire of health and comfort” (n. 2492)

"Purity" also varies: pudicity in the English Summa, chastity and modesty together for McHugh-Callan, abstinence from illicit emission for Noldin.

Held by most of our authors: A (A 3, B 1). The fuller entry.

Rusticity

A. The defect in bearing

Prümmer (II, n. 717)
Merkelbach (II, n. 1059)
Wouters (n. 462)

B. The defect in play

Bontempi (Last Question: On the other vices, n. 24)
St. Thomas: “boorish or rude” (II-II, q. 168, a. 4)

Held by most of our authors: A (A 3, B 1). The fuller entry.