Dist. 16, Part 1, Art. 3, Q. 2
Book IV: On the Sacraments · Distinction 16
Quaestio II. Utrum homo debeat semper conteri.
Secundo quaeritur de diuturnitate contritionis, utrum debeat homo semper conteri. Et quod sic, videtur.
1. Augustinus in tractatu de Poenitentia1: « Semper doleat et de dolore gaudeat »; et post: « Ubi dolor finitur, ibi deficit poenitentia; si poenitentia finitur, quid relinquitur de venia? Tamdiu gaudeat et speret de gratia, quamdiu sustentatur a poenitentia »: semper igitur debet homo poenitere.
2. Item, Gregorius super Iob decimo quarto2: Anima eius super semetipso lugebit: « Dignum est, ut in se ipso homo semper moerores inveniat, qui in se gaudia, relicto Creatore, quaerebat ».
3. Item, Ecclesiastici quinto3: De propitiatu peccatorum noli esse sine metu; similiter nec sine spe debet esse: ergo semper debet esse inter istas duas molas; sed hoc est conteri: ergo semper debet homo conteri.
4. Item, sicut se habet vera innocentia et perseverans ad peccatum de futuro, ita poenitentia contra peccatum de praeterito; sed perseverans innocentia semper refugit peccatum, ne fiat: ergo et poenitentia peccatum factum.
5. Item, sicut culpa est velle peccare, ita culpa est velle peccasse; sed homo semper tenetur nolle peccare: ergo et nolle peccasse. Sed ex hoc, quod non vult peccasse, et peccavit, generatur dolor: ergo etc.
Contra: 1. Augustinus in libro de Poenitentia45: « Doleat et de dolore gaudeat »: non ergo semper est dolendum, immo aliquando gaudendum.
2. Item, ratione videtur: quia dolor est ex sensu disconvenientis; sed contingit, peccatum amotum esse ab anima secundum se et secundum suum effectum: ergo non est ibi aliquid, quod generet dolorem6: ergo non semper est dolendum.
3. Item, contritio est aeque bene una pars poenitentiae, ut confessio et satisfactio; sed non oportet semper confiteri: ergo nec semper conteri.
4. Item, contritio est medicina; sed contingit, hominem perfecte esse sanatum, ut puta si baptizatur, vel etiam si perfecerit poenitentiam condignam, « quae omnes defectus reducit ad perfectum7 »: ergo si post recuperationem sanitatis cessat usus medicinae, debet igitur cessare contritio.
5. Item, contritio est poena, qua peccator se punit: ergo esto, quod sufficienter sit punitus pro peccato; tunc, si amplius punit se per contritionem, punit se supra condignum; sed hoc est impietatis et crudelitatis: ergo etc.
Conclusio
Peccator semper tenetur conteri habitu, non autem actu ad semper, sed pro loco et tempore.
Respondeo: Dicendum, quod, sicut dicit Hugo8, cum Deus absolvit hominem a culpa, ligat eum vinculo perpetuae detestationis; tenetur enim semper malum, quod fecit, detestari. Sed quia tentio talis est praecepti affirmativi, quod semper obligat, sed non ad semper; ideo dico, quod semper tenetur conteri, sed non ad semper, sed pro loco et tempore, videlicet cum recogitat mala sua, in quibus offendit Deum. — Concedendae sunt igitur rationes hoc probantes.
Ad argumenta in contrarium:
Ad 1. Ad illud quod obiicitur, quod non semper, quia aliquando est gaudendum; dicendum, quod non tantum gaudere, immo alia cogitare debet; nec Augustinus vult, quod teneatur semper, id est in omni instanti, sed quod semper teneatur pro loco et tempore, ita quod voluntas conterendi semper sit in habitu, sed in actu pro loco et tempore.
Ad 2. Ad illud quod obiicitur, quod dolor est ex praesentia disconvenientis; dicendum, quod quidam est dolor illatus, ut puta in sectione carnis; quidam est dolor voluntarie assumtus, quando dolet ut de morte amici; et iste dolor non causatur ab amici morte, sed causatur a voluntate mortem amici refugiente; et quia refugit quod necesse est esse, ideo necesse habet dolere. Sicut si ego nollem vehementer, te infirmari, et si tu infirmareris, dolerem; sic, quia ego nollem, me peccasse, et video, me peccasse, doleo. Unde de dolore causato a voluntate non oportet, quod illud, pro quo quis dolet, sit praesens affectu nec effectu nec reputatione, sed solum aspectu, certo9.
Ad 3. Ad illud quod obiicitur per simile de confessione, dicendum, quod dolor contritionis potest dici, prout est quaedam pars poenitentiae divisa contra confessionem et satisfactionem, et est purgativa culpae; alio modo, prout motus interior voluntatis, cui se subiicit anima poenitens, et dolor iste est poena satisfactoria, impetrativa augmenti gratiae et gloriae. Primus dolor est sacramentalis proprie et per se, quia est effectivus remissionis culpae, ad quem solum semel tenetur poenitens; alius non est sacramentalis proprie et per se, sed est elicitus a virtute, et ad illum tenetur semper, sed non ad semper10.
Ad 4. Ad illud quod obiicitur de medicina, dicendum, quod quaedam medicina est sanativa tantum, et haec est, quando est morbus; quaedam praeservativa et meliorativa, et talis est contritio; et hanc semper habere bonum est.
Ad 5. Ad illud quod obiicitur, quod est poena; dicendum, quod nunquam peccator se tantum potest punire, quin maiori poena sit dignus secundum rigorem iustitiae. Et quia homo sibi rigidus debet esse et aliis pius; nunquam tantum se affligit per contritionem, quod sit superfluum, dum tamen hoc possit sustinere11, quia totum est ei ad gloriae cumulum. — Tamen nota, quod contritio ratione displicentiae peccati semper est necessaria, saltem in habitu, ratione vero gemitus et planctus vel doloris sensibilis non est necessaria, maxime viris perfectis, qui audierunt voce interna quod audivit Magdalena: Dimittuntur tibi peccata tua, sicut dicit Bernardus in Cantica circa principium12; sed ulterius possunt et debent meditationem suam ad dulcedinem patriae supernae convertere. Ante hunc statum sanum consilium est peccata sua ante oculos revocare ad gemitum et dolorem. Praeterea, displicentia non dicit semper poenam, immo frequenter magnam habet laetitiam coniunctam, dum considerat in se liberationem plenam13.
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Question II. Whether a man ought always to be contrite.
Secondly, an inquiry is made concerning the duration of contrition, whether a man ought always to be contrite. And that he ought, it seems.
1. Augustine in the tract On Penance1: « Let him always grieve and rejoice over his grief »; and afterward: « Where grief ends, there penance fails; if penance ends, what remains of pardon? Let him rejoice and hope of grace so long as he is sustained by penance »: therefore a man ought always to repent.
2. Likewise, Gregory on Job, chapter fourteen2: His soul shall mourn over itself: « It is fitting that a man should always find sorrows in himself, who sought joys in himself, having forsaken his Creator ».
3. Likewise, Ecclesiasticus five3: Concerning the forgiveness of sins be not without fear; likewise neither ought he to be without hope: therefore he ought always to be between these two millstones; but this is to be contrite: therefore a man ought always to be contrite.
4. Likewise, just as true and persevering innocence stands toward sin yet to come, so penance stands against sin already past; but persevering innocence always shuns sin, lest it be done: therefore so also penance shuns the sin that has been done.
5. Likewise, just as it is a fault to will to sin, so it is a fault to will to have sinned; but a man is always bound to be unwilling to sin: therefore also to be unwilling to have sinned. But from this, that he does not will to have sinned, yet has sinned, grief is generated: therefore etc.
On the contrary: 1. Augustine in the book On Penance45: « Let him grieve and rejoice over his grief »: therefore one ought not always to grieve, but rather sometimes to rejoice.
2. Likewise, it seems so by reason: because grief is from the perception of something discordant; but it can happen that sin has been removed from the soul both in itself and as to its effect: therefore there is nothing there which would generate grief6: therefore one ought not always to grieve.
3. Likewise, contrition is equally well one part of penance, as are confession and satisfaction; but one need not always confess: therefore neither be always contrite.
4. Likewise, contrition is a medicine; but it can happen that a man is perfectly healed, as for instance if he is baptized, or even if he has completed a worthy penance, « which reduces all defects to wholeness7 »: therefore if, after the recovery of health, the use of medicine ceases, then contrition ought to cease.
5. Likewise, contrition is a penalty by which the sinner punishes himself: therefore granted that he has been sufficiently punished for the sin; then, if he punishes himself further by contrition, he punishes himself beyond what is fitting; but this belongs to impiety and cruelty: therefore etc.
Conclusion
The sinner is always bound to be contrite in habit, but not in act for always, but according to place and time.
I respond: It must be said that, as Hugh says8, when God absolves a man from fault, he binds him with the bond of perpetual detestation; for he is always bound to detest the evil he has done. But because such a binding is of an affirmative precept, which always obliges, but not for always; therefore I say that he is always bound to be contrite, but not for always, but according to place and time, namely when he calls to mind his evils, in which he offended God. — Therefore the arguments proving this are to be granted.
To the arguments on the contrary:
To 1. To that which is objected, that not always, because sometimes one ought to rejoice; it must be said that he ought not only to rejoice, but rather to think of other things; nor does Augustine mean that he is bound always, that is, at every instant, but that he is always bound according to place and time, so that the will to be contrite is always in habit, but in act according to place and time.
To 2. To that which is objected, that grief is from the presence of something discordant; it must be said that one grief is inflicted, as for instance in the cutting of the flesh; another is grief voluntarily taken up, as when one grieves over the death of a friend; and this grief is not caused by the friend's death, but is caused by the will shunning the friend's death; and because it shuns what must necessarily be, therefore it must of necessity grieve. Just as, if I vehemently willed that you not fall ill, and if you were to fall ill, I would grieve; so, because I would not will that I had sinned, and I see that I have sinned, I grieve. Hence concerning grief caused by the will it is not required that that for which one grieves be present in affection, nor in effect, nor in reputation, but only in regard, certainly9.
To 3. To that which is objected by the likeness drawn from confession, it must be said that the grief of contrition can be spoken of, insofar as it is a certain part of penance divided against confession and satisfaction, and is purgative of fault; in another way, insofar as it is the interior motion of the will, to which the penitent soul subjects itself, and this grief is a satisfactory penalty, impetratory of an increase of grace and glory. The first grief is sacramental properly and per se, because it is effective of the remission of fault, to which the penitent is bound only once; the other is not sacramental properly and per se, but is elicited by a virtue, and to it he is bound always, but not for always10.
To 4. To that which is objected concerning medicine, it must be said that one medicine is healing only, and this is when there is disease; another is preservative and improving, and such is contrition; and to have this always is good.
To 5. To that which is objected, that it is a penalty; it must be said that a sinner can never punish himself so much but that he is worthy of a greater penalty according to the rigor of justice. And because a man ought to be rigid toward himself and merciful toward others; he never afflicts himself by contrition so much that it is superfluous, provided that he can sustain this11, because the whole is to him for the heaping up of glory. — Yet note that contrition, by reason of displeasure at sin, is always necessary, at least in habit; but by reason of groaning and lamentation or sensible grief it is not necessary, especially for perfect men, who have heard by an interior voice what Magdalene heard: Thy sins are forgiven thee, as Bernard says in the Canticle near the beginning12; but further they can and ought to turn their meditation to the sweetness of the heavenly homeland. Before this state it is sound counsel to recall one's sins before one's eyes unto groaning and grief. Moreover, displeasure does not always denote a penalty, but rather frequently has great gladness joined to it, while it considers in itself a full deliverance13.
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- 1Cap. 13. n. 28. Ibid. etiam est seq. textus. Cfr. supra lit. Magistri, d. XIV. c. 2.Chapter 13, n. 28. The following text is likewise found there. Cf. above, the text of the Master, d. XIV, c. 2.
- 2Vers. 22. Codd.: Anima eius in se ipso (cod. G in semetipso) etc. — Verba Gregorii habentur in XII. Moral. c. 22. n. 27.Verse 22. The codices read: His soul over itself (cod. G over its very self) etc. — Gregory's words are found in the Morals, Bk. XII, c. 22, n. 27.
- 3Vers. 5: De propitiato peccato noli etc. — In nostra lectione, quae exhibetur etiam ab Augustino (in Speculo de Ecclesiastico) et est secundum textum Graecum [Περὶ ἐξιλασμοῦ, omissa voce peccatorum], plures codd. peccati. — De duabus molis vide supra a. I. q. 1. in fine.Verse 5: Concerning sin forgiven be not etc. — In our reading, which is also given by Augustine (in the Mirror, on Ecclesiasticus) and follows the Greek text [Peri exilasmou, the word of sins omitted], several codices read of sin. — On the two millstones see above, a. I, q. 1, at the end.
- 4Vat. praefigit in.The Vatican edition prefixes in.
- 5Cap. 13. n. 28.Chapter 13, n. 28.
- 6Ambros., II. de Poenitentia, c. 7. n. 58: Non habet enim quod erubescat cui peccatum remissum est. — Superius pro sensu, quod habent codd. HS, non pauci codd. ex consensu, codd. E bb ex coniunctione, edd. cum aliquot codd. ex praesentia, quod etiam infra in solut. huius obiect. ponitur.Ambrose, On Penance II, c. 7, n. 58: For he has nothing to blush at whose sin has been remitted. — Above, for sensu (perception), which codd. HS have, not a few codices read ex consensu (from agreement), codd. E bb ex coniunctione (from conjunction), the editions with some codices ex praesentia (from presence), which is also placed below in the solution of this objection.
- 7Secundum auctorem libri Hypognost. (inter opera August.); cfr. supra pag. 320, nota 1.According to the author of the book Hypognosticon (among the works of Augustine); cf. above, p. 320, note 1.
- 8Haec sententia colligi potest ex II. de Sacram. p. XIV. c. 8. seq., ubi ostendit, sola misericordia et gratia Dei peccatorem absolvi a vinculo obdurationis mentis et a debito futurae damnationis, atque ad satisfactionem pertinere, ut peccata corrigantur et correcta non iterentur. Ibid. c. 2. ait: Studium impende, ut culpa sit cum fine, devotio sine fine. Cfr. Richard. a S. Vict., de Potestate ligandi et solvendi, c. 3. n. 13.This sentence can be gathered from On the Sacraments II, p. XIV, c. 8 ff., where he shows that by the mercy and grace of God alone the sinner is absolved from the bond of hardening of mind and from the debt of future damnation, and that it pertains to satisfaction that sins be corrected and, once corrected, not repeated. In the same place, c. 2, he says: Apply your zeal, that fault be with an end, devotion without end. Cf. Richard of St. Victor, On the Power of Binding and Loosing, c. 3, n. 13.
- 9Cfr. supra a. 1. q. 1. ad 5.Cf. above, a. 1, q. 1, ad 5.
- 10In codd. et ed. I desideratur haec solutio. Codd. siquidem miro modo habent: Ad illud quod obiicitur de confessione, dicendum, quod quaedam medicina (vide solut. ad 4.). Retinuimus cum Vat. solutionem quae est secundum Alex. Hal., S. p. IV. q. 17. m. 2. a. 2. § 2, ubi tamen pro et est purgativa culpae substituitur: « et hoc modo sumta est purgativa culpae mediante gratia, quae proprie est purgativa; et sic sumta contritione, sufficit semel conteri de peccatis cum voluntate confitendi et satisfaciendi de illis, tempore et loco se offerentibus ». Et subinde post anima poenitens additur: « sicut quandoque passionibus corporalibus », ac post et gloriae subiungitur: « et ad hunc dolorem tenetur semper, dum vivit, licet non ad semper, sed pro loco et tempore congruentibus »; demum pro a virtute ponitur: « ex aliquo habitu virtutis ».This solution is lacking in the codices and in the first edition. The codices, indeed, have, in a strange manner: To that which is objected concerning confession, it must be said that a certain medicine (see the solution to 4). We have retained, with the Vatican edition, the solution which is according to Alexander of Hales, Summa p. IV, q. 17, m. 2, a. 2, § 2, where however for and is purgative of fault there is substituted: « and taken in this way it is purgative of fault by means of grace, which is properly purgative; and contrition taken thus, it suffices to be contrite once concerning sins with the will of confessing and making satisfaction for them, when time and place present themselves ». And then after the penitent soul is added: « as at times by bodily sufferings », and after and of glory is subjoined: « and to this grief he is bound always, while he lives, though not for always, but according to fitting place and time »; finally for by a virtue is put: « from some habit of virtue ».
- 11Cfr. supra a. 2. q. 2. in corp.Cf. above, a. 2, q. 2, in the body.
- 12Serm. 3. n. 2. seqq. Cfr. etiam serm. 10. et 11. — Locus Scripturae est Luc. 7, 48.Sermon 3, n. 2 ff. Cf. also sermons 10 and 11. — The Scripture passage is Luke 7:48.
- 13Vide infra dub. 10. Cfr. Radbert. Paschas. et Hugo a S. Vict. in Thren. 2, 18: Deduc quasi torrentem lacrymas etc. — Vide scholion ad praecedentem quaest.See below, dubium 10. Cf. Paschasius Radbertus and Hugh of St. Victor on Lamentations 2:18: Let down tears like a torrent etc. — See the scholion to the preceding question.