LUST. - I. NOTION. - L. (from luxus, luxuriance, excess), in an improper sense, denotes every excess in food, drink and the like, and is also said of animals and plants. Properly, as understood here, insofar as it is a capital vice, opposed to temperance, it is the disordered craving for venereal or carnal pleasure, that is, for that delight which arises in the sensitive appetite from the commotion and alteration of the organs and humors that serve generation. This carnal pleasure, characterized precisely by and deriving from the aforementioned commotion, must not be confused with the pleasure produced by an object agreeable to the senses, but without commotions of that kind, whether such an object is capable of provoking carnal pleasure (in which case there is sensual pleasure), or whether by its nature it is incapable of it (sensible pleasure). Carnal pleasure, like the generative faculty and the use of it, is given directly to man for the sole purpose of the procreation of offspring, which is not lawful except between legitimate spouses. L. therefore consists in seeking carnal pleasure exclusively outside of Marriage or within Marriage itself, but in such a way that the procreation of offspring, by reason of the quality of the act, cannot be achieved.
II. MALICE
In married couples it is a grave sin only to seek those satisfactions or to perform those acts which, by their nature, are contrary to the purpose of Marriage, whereas it is lawful to desire the pleasure that accompanies it and the acts that lead to that same purpose; acts that are neither contrary to nor in accordance with the purpose of Marriage are, at most, a venial sin (Denz-U, 1159, 2231).
In the unmarried, any use of the generative faculty is unlawful, both because in the human species the procreation and education of offspring cannot be brought about without that indissoluble collaboration that exists only between the parents in Marriage; and because, if the use of such a faculty outside of Marriage were admitted, man would seek pleasure where it is not followed by the burdens deriving from the married state. This would lead to vague love and consequently to the abandonment of unwanted offspring and to the extinction of human society (ibid., 2230). The reasons adduced hold not only for external acts that are consummated, but also for those not consummated and for internal acts themselves: desires and complacencies, because already in them is implicit the will to violate the most grave law of nature, and they constitute a proximate danger of grave sin. Therefore it must be said that outside of legitimate Marriage every venereal pleasure, willed in itself and with full deliberation, is always a mortal sin (ibid., 717 g. 2230). Venereal pleasure, when it is willed only indirectly, can be only a venial sin, which occurs when one foresees, but does not desire with the will, the carnal pleasure, and at the same time this does not constitute, in the concrete case, a proximate danger of grave sin, and there is a motive, proportionate to the danger, for performing the action from which one foresees the forbidden pleasure will arise. The opinion that maintains that carnal pleasure directly willed can be only a light sin is speculatively unfounded and practically scandalous and therefore condemned (ibid., 1140).
The Freudian doctrine, which sees libido at the center of all human activity, is philosophically and morally unacceptable in its universality, but it seems beyond doubt that in no field of moral life, as in this one of lust, do the biological predispositions of the subject, normal or not, have a more or less decisive weight, altering his responsibility. It must also be noted that, due to coarseness, environment or education, there can be ignorance over a broad field, especially as regards internal acts, and not only as regards these, but in the entire domain now under consideration; just as it must be borne in mind that for the evaluation of the culpability of indirect lust, in concrete cases, it is necessary to observe the gravity of the danger in itself and especially in relation to the subject and to the causes attending the action. In any case, this capital vice is the most reprehensible form of intemperance, because, by its vehemence, which almost absorbs the whole soul, more than any other vice it darkens the reason and enervates the will (Rom. 1, 24-26; Eph. 4, 19).
III. LUST CONSUMMATED
A distinction is made between consummated lust, which reaches complete pleasure, that is, the emission of semen in the man and of vulvo-vaginal secretion in the woman, and non-consummated lust, which does not attain to this. Consummated lust can be according to nature or against nature: it is according to nature when generation can result from it, and it comprises six species of sins, which, besides the malice common to every grave sin of lust, contain another grave malice against a second virtue, namely: personal sacrilege, incest, adultery, abduction, rape, fornication (cf. the individual entries). Consummated lust against nature, which is the graver, occurs when generation is excluded from it. It is further subdivided into voluntary pollution or masturbation, onanism, sodomy, bestiality, which constitute so many species of moral malice (Denz-U, 1124). To these aberrations, which violate nature through the frustration of generation and through the inversion inherent in the pursuit of lust between individuals of the same sex, others must be added, in which the perversion is given by the manner in which the lust is satisfied: exhibitionism, fetishism, sadism, masochism, satanism, zoophilia, necrophilia.
IV. LUST CONSUMMATED AGAINST NATURE
Here is the degrading picture of the animalis homo. Pollution (from the Latin pollutio, stain, filth), in the broad sense, is the emission, voluntary or not, of semen without carnal union; but, in the strict sense, it is the complete satisfaction in both sexes of impure pleasure without sexual union. Pollution is natural when it is not deliberately willed, nor approved, as nocturnal pollution can be; in other cases it is voluntary; and then it is also called the solitary sin or vice, masturbation (mana stupratio or manuturbatio: Gen. 38:9). It is simple, if it has only the malice of pollution; qualified, if besides its own malice it has another on account of the subject, his intention, scandal, etc. Voluntary pollution "in itself," whether it be willed or merely approved, accompanied or not by pleasure, however procured, willed as an end or as a means (for example, in order to examine the ejaculate) is always a grave sin against the natural law (I Cor. 6:10; Denz-U, 1199, 2201, 2239-41) because it is directly willed l. It is therefore always unlawful to advise masturbation, whatever the end aimed at. Voluntary pollution in its cause will be culpable or not, gravely or lightly, according to the existence and the proportionate gravity of the motive for positing the cause from which pollution is foreseen. It must be admitted that boys and young men can invincibly and for a long time be ignorant of the malice of this vice. The intrinsic reason for the malice of pollution is sought by some in the seminis frustranea emissio, but with greater foundation Vermersch sees it in the fact of diverting to one's own exclusive pleasure an act that by its nature is destined to the good of the species. A confirmation of this reason is found in the consideration of the social disadvantages that would derive from the non-prohibition sub gravi of pollution: fewer marriages, fewer births, the progressive disappearance of humanity. Pollution is sometimes sought in aberrant forms by certain perverts. The exhibitionist experiences a particular voluptuousness, which can reach as far as pollution, in letting his organs be seen; the fetishist in looking at or touching garments belonging to a determined person; the necrophile in performing libidinous acts, which can reach as far as the attempt at union, on a corpse or in the presence of a corpse. In these cases the extremes of crime are often reached in canonical penal law, and often also in the penal laws of civilized nations. Thus in Italy the exhibitionist falls under arts. 527, 529 of the Penal Code for obscene acts committed in public. The same is to be said of the fetishist, agalmophile, etc., whenever the acts are performed in public. For the necrophile there obtain the crimes of vilification of a corpse and of violation of tombs in canon law (can. 2328) and in Italian penal law (arts. 407-413).
Almost an aggravated form of pollution, or rather a double and combined pollution between persons of different sex, is onanism. In medical language it is the same as pollution; but in theological language it is the vicious use of carnal union obtained with the precise purpose of frustrating generation. It takes its name from Onan, of whom there is mention in Gen. 38:9-10. However practiced, with or without preservatives, such actions are by their nature gravely sinful; therefore never lawful. Indeed, on 21 May 1851 the Holy Office condemned as scandalous, erroneous, and contrary to the natural law of Marriage the following proposition: "Ob rationes honestas coniugibus uti licet Matrimonio eo modo quo usus est Onan." Likewise the Holy Office on 19 Apr. 1853 declared the onanistic use of Marriage unlawful.
Sodomy (so called from the city of Sodom, of which in Gen. 19:4-14) is a sexual inversion, which seeks complete venereal satisfaction between individuals of the same sex (viri cum viro vel feminae cum femina) or of different sex, but "in vase innaturali." More commonly today one speaks of male homosexuality (also uranism, pederasty) or of female homosexuality (also tribadism, lesbianism, sapphism). A modern medical tendency, with a foundation of truth, but with evident exaggeration, would tend to include homosexuality among the intersexual states, as manifestations of a morbid nature. To be noted here is the gravity of the sin, undoubtedly superior to simple pollution, as is revealed by the strong words of condemnation of the Apostle (Rom. 1:24-27; I Cor. 6:10), who classifies it among the sins that exclude from the kingdom of God, and by the analogy with the positive-divine law for the Jewish world (Lev. 20:13), which inflicted death on the guilty of such a crime.
Bestiality, or erotic zoophilia, is the perversion of those who unite carnally with animals. It is a grave sin (Lev. 20:15-16; Ex. 22:19), indeed the gravest of the sins of l. committed against nature (Sum. theol., 2a-2ae, q. 154, a. 12 ad 4), and is specifically distinct from the other species of unnatural aberrations (Denz-U, 1124).
In some cases similar perversions can be the consequence of a psychopathic condition in epileptics, the mentally deficient, and in the other pre-demential forms; but apart from these cases the two grave sexual aberrations of sodomy and bestiality are considered crimes both in canon law and in Italian penal law. The history of canonical and state penal law shows indeed that in the past particular severity was used against these two crimes, many statutes having adopted the provision of Jewish penal law (Lev. 20:13 and 15-16) of capital punishment for the guilty.
Today the CIC imposes infamy, with exclusion from public acts after condemnation (can. 2357), showing itself particularly severe with clerics, for whom the penalties can reach as far as removal from the clerical state for minorists (can. 2358) and as far as deposition for clerics constituted in maioribus (can. 2359 § 2). The Italian Penal Code in force, although not expressly providing for sodomy and bestiality, does not leave them without sanction, when violence (arts. 519-21) or publicity (art. 527) concurs.
V. PERVERSIONS
Sometimes, as has been said, the aberration is inherent in the manner in which lust is satisfied between individuals of different sexes. The perversions then take the name of sadism, when carnal pleasure is such only if accompanied by maltreatment inflicted on the person with whom one has relations; masochism, when carnal pleasure is provoked by pain suffered through beatings or woundings or humiliations. It is also called algolagnia (pleasure from pain) of the passive kind, while active algolagnia is the inverse form of sadism.
A series of sins, on the other hand, inherently involves satanism, which consists in sexual orgies accompanied by the profanation of objects of worship, parodies of sacred functions (black masses, etc.), and blasphemies.
It is evident that no clear boundaries exist between the different forms of sexual perversion, which often interpenetrate one another, giving rise to mixed aberrations. As a therapeutic attempt outside of Marriage, the physician cannot advise extramarital sexual union; it is dangerous to advise Marriage to inverts or perverts, because of the fallaciousness of the remedy and the danger of making other creatures unhappy; the castration of such subjects is likewise of doubtful effect and morally inadvisable (v. MUTILAZIONE).
VI. LUST NOT CONSUMMATED
The sins of non-consummated lust then reduce to carnal impulses and acts of unchastity. As a consequence they bring: blindness of the intellect, inconsiderateness, precipitation, inconstancy, love of the senses, hatred of God, love of temporal goods and weariness with spiritual and eternal ones (Sum. Theol., 2a-2ae, q. 153, a. 5). Thus non-consummated lust harms prudence directly and consequently all the other cardinal virtues; moreover it easily poisons the entire outward bearing and in particular conversation, leading to foul speech, scurrility, unseemly jests and foolish talk.
VII. LEGAL EFFECTS
It has been seen that lust sometimes takes on a special configuration as a crime in the CIC; this code also deals with acts or states that are related to this vice in cann. 133 (cohabitation of clerics with women), 232 § 2 n. 1, 331 § 1 n. 1, 320 § 2, 1117, 1363 § 1, 984 n. 1, 991 § 3 (illegitimacy); 984 n. 4, 2356 (bigamy); 1059 (consanguinity); 1074, 2353, 2354 § 1 (abduction); 1078 (concubinage and public propriety); 1075 nn. 1-2, 1129, 2357 § 2, 2359 § 2 (adultery); 2176-81, 2359 § 1 (procedure and penalties against concubinous clerics); 2357 § 1 (corruption of minors, rape, sodomy, incest, procuring); 2367 (absolution of an accomplice in a sin of impurity); 2388 (attempted civil marriage).
Furthermore, on 16 May 1943 the Sacred Congregation of the Holy Office published certain norms to be followed by confessors in dealing with sins of lust. The penalties that the Church frequently employs in such crimes are, in the case of laypersons, infamy and exclusion from legitimate acts, almost as if to underscore the moral unworthiness that compels her to remove the guilty from the altar of God; in the case of clerics the penalties naturally become more severe and extend to loss of state, in the case of minorists; to deposition, in the case of those ordained in maioribus (cann. 2358, 2359).
VIII. REMEDIES
The remedies of a supernatural order are prayer and the frequent reception of the Sacraments, especially Confession and Communion; those of a natural order are: 1) in at least pathological cases, recourse to a wise and prudent physician, of unquestioned morality; 2) the avoidance of proximate occasions, or, if these are necessary, the care to render them remote, that is, less dangerous, bearing in mind that the steps of the slippery slope are normally: glances, thoughts, delectation, consent and actions (Sum. Theol., 1a-2ae, q. 72, a. 7, ad 3) and that totalitarianism here is more necessary than in any other field of moral life; either one avoids the occasions as far as possible or otherwise the shipwreck will be inevitable; from the occasions fantasies are naturally formed, which, through a biological-psychic chain of stimuli and reflexes, produce in individuals carnal commotion, which so dangerously solicits consent. It should be noted furthermore that in this field the danger can exist even unknown to the subject: it can exist for the future even if not at the instant, in a time of particular susceptibility or of lesser graces; hence also the obligation of each one to be vigilant and the duty of parents and educators to conduct themselves accordingly. 3) Mortification is necessary, both in particular of the senses that can more easily place one in danger: sight, touch, imagination; and in general, as an exercise whereby the will may dominate in life and not be taken by surprise or overcome; a particularly necessary form of mortification is the avoidance of idleness, exercise, work. These means presuppose certain profound convictions: of the gravity of this vice and of its ravages in intellectual and moral life; of the possibility of succeeding in the struggle on condition of using integrally the means just indicated, remembering also that the opposite virtue, chastity (v.), consists not only in the physical omission of forbidden carnal acts, but first of all in the purpose of avoiding every forbidden sensual pleasure; and finally of the weakness and incapacity to avoid contamination on the part of one who places himself, without proportionate reason, in danger; he who claims to find no danger even in the most scabrous things and situations too often, if he is not a sick man, lies or is already a slave of the vice.