CONTINENZA. - Continentia from contineo (cum et teneo) in its primary etymological sense means the very act of restraining oneself within the limits that accord with reason, without going beyond them to illicit things. It is therefore abstinence from illicit things (ἐκράνεια), though not merely external abstinence, but internal as well. By virtue of this disposition, as Cicero says, “cupiditas consilii gubernatione regitur” (Cicero, Invent., II, 54, 164). And since our strongest concupiscences are those nourished by desires for food and venereal satisfactions, c. in the narrower sense is the disposition to resist our disordered appetites in this sphere.
Thus c., as Tomaso teaches (Sum. Theol., 2ᵃ-2ᵃe, q. 145, a. unico), is connected with the virtue of temperance; its material object is the appetites that lead man to the pleasures of the senses, and its formal object is to contain these appetites within the limits of reason (loc. cit., q. 141, a. 1, 2; q. 155, a. 1 ff.).
Usually, however, c. means only complete abstention from carnal pleasures, as in St. Paolo (I Cor. 7, 9). Understood in this way, c. is identified with chastity and finds its most perfect expression in the state of one who irrevocably dedicates himself to interior and exterior chastity.
St. Tomaso in this meaning depends on Cassiano, for whom the concept of chastity is connected with that of apatheia, in dependence on the rather rudimentary physiology of the period. Impassibility, tranquillity of heart and spirit constitute the culminating point of monastic perfection.
The acquisition of the virtues will not be perfect unless the monk succeeds in possessing the virtue and rejoicing in it with impassibility. Thus, in the matter under discussion, “as long as some attraction to sensual pleasure remains, one is not chaste, but continent” (Collat., II, cap. 10: PL 49, 888). The struggle against the flesh and uncertainty concerning victory cannot be confused with perfect chastity, which is “unalterable tranquillity” (op. cit., II, cap. 11: ibid., 889-90).
Even in the Thomistic conception, c. is not a virtue in the full sense, but has the character of a virtue in the sense that it indicates firmness of spirit. For it bears the mark of imperfection to experience the movements of concupiscence, even while resisting them, whereas the perfection of virtue is found in chastity, when these movements become rare as a result of the subjugation of the sensitive appetite to reason.
1) C. is therefore a rather changeable habit, seated not in the concupiscible appetite but in the will, which through c. is disposed to resist the depraved concupiscences by which the incontinent person allows himself to be dominated (loc. cit., q. 155, a. 3).
2) It concerns the concupiscences proper to the sense of touch, not as their moderator—which is proper to the virtue of temperance—but as the source of resistance (loc. cit., ad 1, 3).
3) Consequently, c. differs from temperance as the imperfect differs from what is perfect and complete. The man who possesses the virtue of temperance has subjected his concupiscible appetite to reason; the continent man resists, but does not possess full control over that appetite (loc. cit., a. 4).
Opposed to c. is incontinence, which occurs:
a) when the will yields to the passions before taking counsel with reason, and concupiscence is not restrained either through excessive haste or through the excessive vehemence of the passion;
b) when a man is inconsistent in those matters on which reason has deliberated and concerning which it has pronounced its judgment, and then fails through weakness.
Incontinence is a sin for a twofold reason: because the incontinent person departs from what accords with reason and, moreover, plunges into shameful satisfactions.
Incontinence is nevertheless a lesser sin than intemperance, because the intemperate person sins through a permanent evil habit, whereas the incontinent person sins through a passing passion. Now, where there is a greater inclination of the will toward sin, there is a greater sin (loc. cit., q. 156, a. 3). The intemperate person is also dominated by a greater ignorance, which concerns the very end, insofar as he considers it a good thing to leave the passions unrestrained (loc. cit., ad. 1). Consequently, his correction is more difficult, given the greater ignorance and the stronger inclination (loc. cit., ad. 2). To remain continent, it is necessary to have recourse to the means required for being chaste, since c. chastity (v.). Moreover, it is useful and necessary to develop a sense of all that is great, strong and pure in every sphere of spiritual life; to cultivate the will to do good; to make this will resolute, independent and tenacious; and, in particular, to present the ideal of a truly chaste life as a great value in life. It is also necessary to cultivate a delicate modesty, an instinctive modesty that is not the exaggerated reserve of a sick soul, but respect for one’s own body proceeding from a healthy soul. For periodic c. V. OGINO-KNAUS-SMULDERS (teoria di).
A. Sidluskaite, La psicologia dell'età evolutiva, Milano 1945; B. M. Merkelbach, Summa theologiae moralis, 5ª ed., II, Parigi 1947, nn. 1020-32, pp. 961-64; L. Guarnero, L'età difficile, Torino 1948; A. Niedermeyer, Handbuch der speziellen Pastoralmedizin, I: Das menschliche Sexualleben, Vienna 1949.