Topics › Life and Bodily Integrity (Fifth Commandment) › Capital Punishment

A Topic of Moral Theology

Capital Punishment

The State's right to punish crime with death.

The works themselves ask 15 questions under this heading — see them together with their answers.

Within this topic

The State's right to inflict death

See also Duties of Judges — in Duties of Certain Laymen · Defect of lenity — in Irregularities from Defect

Also asked about as…

death penalty · execution · ius gladii (ed.)

In the index as Capital punishment · Killing · Malefactor · Homicide · *Ius gladii* · Bloody Punishment · Criminals · Lynch Law · Ovariotomy · Rickaby · Thomas Aquinas, St. · To Imprison · Vasectomy · *Ecclesia non sitit sanguinem* · A slap received · Accused · Accused Person · Anabaptists · Beating · Bloody · Catechism · Civil · Evildoer · Guards

In the manuals

Read the manuals side by side → — each work's whole treatment in its own column

A Manual of Moral Theology for English-Speaking Countries

Thomas Slater, S.J. — 2 passages

Vol. I, Bk. VI, Pt. V, Chapter II. Capital Punishment, nn. 1 & 2 (2 passages — hover a number to read it)

Manual of Moral Theology (Manuale Theologiae Moralis)

Ludovicus Wouters, C.SS.R.

Vol. I, Bk. II, Tr. II, Diss. I, Pt. V, Section II. On the Killing of a Criminal, n. 741 — I. Public authority has the power of killing criminals. This is clear first from Sacred Scripture, likewise from the doctrine and practice of the Church; then from reason. For public power has a power which is very usefu… Read in context →

Institutions of Moral Theology (Institutiones Theologiae Moralis)

Gennaro Bucceroni, S.J. — 7 passages

Vol. I, On the Fifth Precept of th…, II. On the Killing of the Guilty, nn. 719, 720, 721, 722, 723, 724 & 725 (7 passages — hover a number to read it)

A Handbook of Moral Theology (Koch–Preuss)

Antony Koch; adapted and edited by Arthur Preuss — 30 passages

Vol. V, Pt. I, Ch. IV, Section 4: Capital Punishment, nn. ¶1–¶21, ¶23, ¶24, ¶25, ¶26, ¶27, ¶28, ¶29, ¶30 & ¶31 (30 passages — hover a number to read it)

Manuale Theologiae Moralis

Dominic M. Prümmer, O.P. — 2 passages

Vol. II, Tr. XI, Sect. I, Q. III, Ch. III, Art. III, § 2, 1. On The Killing Of An Evildoer Or On Bloody Punishment, nn. 118 & 119 (2 passages — hover a number to read it)

Pastoral Questions

Benedict H. Merkelbach, O.P. — 25 passages

Ch. II, Question VII: Concerning the Incarcerated and Those Condemned to Death, nn. ¶2532–¶2556 (25 passages)

Summa Theologiae Moralis

Benedict Henry Merkelbach, O.P. — 17 passages

Vol. II, Special Moral Theology: On…, Treatise: On the Cardinal …, Third Part: Concerning Com…, Section B: On Justice and …, Ch. I, Question Three: On the Killing of One's Neighbor, nn. 356, 357 & 358 (17 passages — hover a number to read it)

Compendium of Moral Theology

Aloysius Sabetti, S.J., and Timothy Barrett, S.J. — 4 passages

Vol. I, Tr. VI, On the Fifth Precept of th…, Ch. II, Article I. On the Killing of a Guilty Person or Malefactor, nn. 265, 266, 267 & 267, Q. 2 (4 passages — hover a number to read it)

The Catechism of the Council of Trent (The Roman Catechism)

Issued by order of Pope St. Pius V — 2 passages

Pt. III, The Fifth Commandment, nn. ¶6 & ¶7 (2 passages — hover a number to read it)

Moral Philosophy: Ethics, Deontology and Natural Law

Joseph Rickaby, S.J. — 8 passages (filed under the subtopics)

Pt. III, Ch. VIII, Section VIII. Of the Right of the sword, nn. 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7 & 8 (8 passages — hover a number to read it)

Institutiones Morales Alphonsianae

Clement Marc, C.SS.R. — 5 passages (filed under the subtopics)

Vol. I, Pt. II, Sect. II, Tr. V, Ch. II, ARTICLE I: On the Killing of a Malefactor, nn. ¶1, ¶729, ¶730, ¶731 & ¶732 (5 passages — hover a number to read it)

Summa of Moral Theology (Summa Theologiae Moralis)

Hieronymus Noldin, S.J. — 2 passages (filed under the subtopics)

Vol. II, Part Second. On the Precep…, Book Fifth. On the Fifth P…, Question Third. On the Killing of a Criminal, nn. 330 & 331 (2 passages — hover a number to read it)

Theologia Moralis Sancti Alphonsi: Reduced into a Compendium

Anthony Konings, C.SS.R. — 3 passages (filed under the subtopics)

Vol. I, TREATISE ON THE PRECEPTS O…, Ch. II, ARTICLE I: ON THE KILLING OF A GUILTY MAN OR MALEFACTOR, nn. ¶464, ¶465 & ¶466 (3 passages — hover a number to read it)

Palladium Theologicum, Tome V: On the Virtues

Gaudentius Bontempi of Brescia, O.F.M. Cap. — 4 passages (filed under the subtopics)

Tr. I, Disputation XXVI: On Homic…, Question XIII: Whether princes can grant license to kill outlaws, nn. 1, 2, 3 & 4 (4 passages — hover a number to read it)

Compendium of Moral Theology of Fr. John Peter Gury, S.J., with the Notes of Antonio Ballerini, S.J.

Jean-Pierre Gury, S.J.; notes by Antonio Ballerini, S.J. — 10 passages (filed under the subtopics)

Vol. I, Treatise On the Precepts o…, On the Fifth Precept of th…, Ch. II, Article I. On the Killing of a Guilty Person or Malefactor, nn. 392, 393 & 394 (10 passages — hover a number to read it)

Synopsis of Moral and Pastoral Theology

Adolphe Tanquerey, S.S. — 9 passages (filed under the subtopics)

Vol. III, Contracts, and the Obligat…, On the Virtue of Justice (…, Part I — Chapter II: On Injury, or the Violation of Right, nn. 316, 317, 318, 319, 320, 321, 322, 323 & 324 (9 passages — hover a number to read it)

Treated under the broader heading Life and Bodily Integrity (Fifth Commandment) — Bucceroni, Cases of Conscience · Vermeersch, Theologia Moralis · Coppens, Moral Philosophy · 1917 Code of Canon Law — these works do not divide the matter as finely as we do here, so their treatment stands one heading up (ed.)