GOLA. - A capital sin consisting in the disordered appetite for food and drink. It is a vice opposed to the special virtues of abstinence and sobriety, which are connected to the general virtue of temperance and regulate, according to reason, both the desire and the use of food and drink. Gluttony is a degeneration of the instinct that drives man to seek the nourishment necessary for existence; it is a reversal of values whereby the pleasures of the table take precedence and what is merely a means becomes the end.
According to St. Gregory (Moral., XXX, 13) and St. Thomas Aquinas (Summa Theologiae, II-II, q. 148, a. 4), the disorder of gluttony can occur in five ways, as indicated by the following verse: *praeprobere, laute, nimis, ardenter, studiose*, namely: *praeprobere*, eating by hand untimely, very frequently; *laute*, procuring costly and delicate foods or drinks; *nimis*, eating beyond reasonable limits of appetite; *ardenter*, consuming food with excessive greed; *studiose*, exaggerating in the seasoning of food to make it ever more palatable.
As for the malice of gluttony: 1) excess in taking food is in itself venial, since it involves an exaggeration of a thing in itself licit. It can, however, accidentally become mortal on account of the serious harm to health; the inability thereby caused to attend to one's duties; the scandal given; the excessive prodigality that can harm others, such as family members and debtors; but above all, on account of the evil end, such as living to eat. In this sense, that is, in reprobation of pleasure as an end, must be understood the condemnation that Innocent XI issued against the following proposition: «It is not a sin to eat and drink to satiety for the mere pleasure, provided that no harm is done to health, since natural appetite may lawfully enjoy its acts» (Denz. 1158). When, indeed, the pursuit of pleasure is in conformity with reason, serving as a stimulus to necessary nourishment, it cannot be illicit, since the Author of nature Himself has attached pleasure to the fulfillment of this vital function. For excess in drink, see ALCOHOLISM; URBIA CHEZZA.
As for the gravity of the fault, it is evident that causing perfect drunkenness without proportionate reason cannot be anything but a mortal sin. Scripture also lists this among the sins that exclude one from the Kingdom of Heaven (1 Cor. 6:10), and reason itself easily persuades that it cannot be anything but grave to deprive oneself, for mere pleasure, of the use of reason, not to mention the serious consequences that ordinarily accompany this violent privation. Imperfect drunkenness, for its part, is in itself only a light fault. Even this can, however, become grave. The principal remedies against gluttony are: consideration of the physical and moral consequences that usually accompany this vice; avoidance of occasions, especially when it comes to drunkenness; and the practice of temperance.