Moral Theology: A Complete Course Based on St. Thomas Aquinas and the Best Modern AuthoritiesCallan, Charles J. (Charles Jerome)
Religion
Moral Theology: A Complete Course Based on St. Thomas Aquinas and the Best Modern Authorities
Callan, Charles J. (Charles Jerome)
Christian ethics -- Catholic authors
St. Thomas taught otherwise that such inordinate movements of passion
are venial sins (_Summa. Theol_. I-II, q. 74, a. 3, ad 2um; _de Malo_
q. 7, a. 6. ad 4m; _de Veritate_, q. 25, a. 5). Although they precede
the deliberation of reason, they attain to the order of moral acts,
however imperfectly, insofar as sensuality in man by its nature is made
to be subject to reason. Reason can and ought to control these motions,
but fails to do so owing to the great number of them possible to occur.
Hence they are not involuntary, but indirectly voluntary as sins of
omission (_II Dist_. 24, q. 3, a. 2; _de Veritate_, q. 25, a. 5;
_Quodlib_. IV, q. 11, a. 1). Since these movements are indirectly
voluntary, St. Thomas’ teaching does not conflict with the Council of
Trent which speaks of the _fomes_ as habitual dispositions and not of
its acts which St. Thomas considers. Clearly, too, his teaching does
not fall under the condemnation of the propositions of Baius; with
Baius the motions are involuntary, but for St. Thomas indirectly
voluntary.
St. Thomas distinguishes the motions of sensuality differently from
modern manualists. For him the motions-_primo-primi_ arise from
corporal dispositions which are not under the control of reason and
hence can not be sins. Motions-_secundo-primi_ arise from some
apprehension of the internal senses proper to the passions and can, at
least if taken singly, and ought to be ruled by reason. Thus, they are
moral acts (_de Malo_, q. VII, a. 6, ad 8um; _II Dist_. 24, q. 3, a. 2).
130. Bodily suffering or sickness is sometimes called a passion of the
body, but, unlike the passions of the soul, it is a physical evil.
Morally considered, it is indifferent in itself, but it has contacts
with morality in various ways. (a) Thus, it may receive morality from
the will. Examples: Sufferings endured with resignation are acts of
virtue; sickness or pain inflicted upon others is imputable to the
unjust cause. (b) It may affect the morality of the act of the will.
Examples: Severe toothache or other exquisite pain is an extenuating
circumstance in sins of grumbling, for the suffering draws so much
attention to itself that deliberation on other things is much
diminished; weakness of stomach may be a moral advantage in freeing one
from temptations to over-eating.
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