Avvertenza

AVVERTENZA. - Generally speaking, it is the act of the mind that pays attention to a thing; in matters of morals, it is the act of the mind that thinks about the goodness or malice of a determined action or omission. It is distinguished into full and semi-full, distinct and confused, actual and virtual. There is full a. when a man possessed of the use of reason knows perfectly what he is doing; there is semi-full a. when the mind, due to some impediment, does not pay perfect attention to the act or to its morality. It is called distinct when the mind knows with clarity and precision the act and its morality; confused, when one knows that one is doing good or evil, but does not clearly distinguish the morality of the act. It is called actual when at the very moment in which the action is performed, one thinks about its goodness or malice; virtual, when one does not have the direct and explicit a., but only the indirect and implicit one. Moralists do not agree about the precise concept of virtual a., which by some is also called, though with little exactness, interpretative.

To have formal sin, a. is always and necessarily required. For venial sin, virtual a. is certainly sufficient. It is disputed whether it is also sufficient for grave guilt, or whether this requires actual a. The disagreement exists rather in terminology than in the substance of the doctrine. All theologians, in fact, agree in saying that, to have mortal sin, there is required, besides grave matter, perfect knowledge and full consent. Now the precise point of the question lies precisely in this: whether virtual a. can be called perfect or not, and therefore sufficient, or not, to constitute grave sin. St. Alphonsus, after having set out the two apparently contrary opinions, thus concludes: « His positis, meum proferam sensum, et dico quod sistendo intra limites iusti, praefatae sententiae facile conciliari possunt » (op. cit. in bibl., V, n. 4).

According to the different degree of a., the various acts or movements are distinguished into three categories: acts primo primi are those that precede any a. of the mind; secundo primi, those that precede the full and perfect a.; secundi, those that are performed with the full and perfect a. Two principles must always be kept in mind: the lesser the a. of the mind, the less voluntary is the act and consequently its goodness and malice; to have formal sin, it is not required that a man think expressly of the fault insofar as it is an offense against God.

Felice M. Cappello