Moral Theology
Teologia Morale · 111 articles · Principal contributors · All subjectsCommandments and Precepts (Comandamenti e precetti)
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Accomplice in Shameful Sin (COMPLICE IN PECCATO TURPE)
ACCOMPLICE IN SHAMEFUL SIN. - He who consciously and voluntarily participates with others in the commission of a grave and external sin… -
Adjuration (SCONGIURO)
ADJURATION. - In a broad sense, it means the interposition of any higher moral authority, in order to move a person to perform or omit a… -
Adulation (ADULAZIONE)
ADULATION. - Exaggerated and unreasonable praise directed at others for a self-interested motive. Adulation always arises from and is… -
Adultery (from Latin adulterium, i.e., according to a probable etymology, ad alterum torum accessus) (ADULTERIO (DAL LAT. ADULTERIUM OSSIA, SECONDO UNA PROBABILE ETIMOLOGIA, AD ALTERUM TORUM ACCESSUS))
ADULTERY (from Latin adulterium, that is, according to a probable etymology, ad alterum torum accessus). - It is the illicit union of two… -
Affability (AFFABILITÀ)
AFFABILITY. - It is the virtue that regulates the whole exterior conduct of a person (speech, action, manner), so as to make him well… -
Alchemy (ALCHIMIA)
ALCHEMY. - The name derives from the Arabic al, the article, and from the Greek χημία or χημεία = fusion. In the popular conception, a. is… -
Ambition (AMBIZIONE)
AMBITION. - Etymologically it derives from the Latin word ambire, "to go around" or to canvass for honors or offices. In a broad sense,… -
Amusements (DIVERTIMENTI)
AMUSEMENTS. - I. GENERAL NOTIONS. - Etymologically the word d. from diverto means a turning aside, a digression. And in reality d. is a… -
Anonymous Letters (LETTERE ANONIME)
ANONYMOUS LETTERS. - These are letters that bear no signature and whose writer is unknown. Sending someone an anonymous letter is in itself… -
Apostolate (APOSTOLATO)
APOSTOLATE. - 1) In its proper and literal sense it generally means the work of one who consecrates himself entirely to the diffusion of… -
Articolo di Morte
ARTICOLO DI MORTE. - It is the point or moment of death, taken morally, that is, considered with a certain elasticity, in such a way as to… -
Artificial Fecundation (FECONDAZIONE ARTIFICIALE)
ARTIFICIAL FECUNDATION. - By this expression is commonly meant the introduction of male seed into the female internal organs in ways and by… -
Charitable Aid (SUSSIDIO CARITATIVO)
CHARITABLE AID. - It is a tax that, in accordance with can. 1505, the local Ordinary may, if a special necessity of the diocese requires… -
Clairvoyance (CHIAROVEGGENZA)
CLAIRVOYANCE. - A fully satisfactory definition of c. is difficult. Etymologically: "clear vision, clarity of perception." Even the most… -
Compensation and Reparation (RISARCIMENTO E RIPARAZIONE)
COMPENSATION AND REPARATION. - Compensation may be defined as the payment to the injured party of a pecuniary equivalent, that is, of a sum… -
Concubinage (CONCUBINATO)
CONCUBINAGE. - In general c. means the state of conjugal cohabitation separated from the true and proper marriage bond. Therefore the… -
Conscientious Objection (OBIEZIONE DI COSCIENZA)
CONSCIENTIOUS OBJECTION. - The act by which a citizen refuses to obey the order of the public authority to perform ordinary military… -
Consuetudinaries (CONSUETUDINARI)
CONSUETUDINARIES. - C. in general are those who have contracted a habit (consuetudo) in the most proper sense of habit, and for this reason… -
Cooperation (COOPERAZIONE)
COOPERATION. - I. COOPERATION IN EVIL OR SIN. 1. Notion and divisions. - Cooperation is etymologically linked to the Latin verb "cooperor"… -
Corruption of Minors (MINORENNI, CORRUZIONE DI)
MINORENNI, CORRUZIONE di. - By corruption of m. is meant the action of one who performs acts of lust with persons below an average age of… -
Cremation (CREMAZIONE)
CREMATION. - The term c. (from Lat. crematio = burning) has been reserved by usage for the act of burning the human corpse. This act, as it… -
Cruelty (CRUDELTA)
CRUELTY. - « La crudeltà è l'atrocità dell'animo nell'infliggere le pene » (Seneca, De Clem., 4). Crudele da crudus è colui che è di… -
Curiosity (CURIOSITÀ)
CURIOSITY. - Excessive craving to know and to learn, both in the intellectual field and in the experimental sensory field. The desire to… -
Damage (DANNO)
DAMAGE. - It indicates, in general, every diminution of being and of goods, whether material or spiritual (reputation, etc.). It therefore… -
Dance (DANZA)
DANCE. - 1. It consists of a complex of ordered movements of the body, and especially of the feet, according to the musical time marked by… -
Detraction (DETRAZIONE)
DETRACTION. - I. DEFINITION. - Detraction (from the Latin detrahere = "to take away") is the unjust denigration of another's reputation, by… -
Diligence (DILIGENZA)
DILIGENCE. - In its primary meaning it indicates an assiduous and exquisite care, a particular attentiveness in doing something. Even in… -
Discord (DISCORDIA)
DISCORD. - I. DEFINITION. - D. is not merely a divergence of opinions, nor merely a scattering of efforts in pursuing common goals;… -
Divination (DIVINAZIONE)
DIVINATION. - It is a form of idolatry and consists in honoring the devil as God, not because one believes him to be God nor out of hatred… -
Docility (DOCILITÀ)
DOCILITY. - Etymologically (from docere) it means the good disposition to embrace another's right opinion. Thus St. Thomas also describes… -
Donation (DONAZIONE)
DONATION. - It is the act by which, out of a spirit of liberality, a person deprives himself of a right of his or assumes an obligation for… -
Economy (ECONOMIA)
ECONOMY. - Right and prudent administration of goods. Etymologically (from the Greek οἰκονομία; οἶκος = house; νέμειν = to administer)… -
Euthanasia (EUTANASIA)
EUTHANASIA. - From "good" and "death." In its currently current sense it means: "merciful, painless killing of a patient considered by now… -
Fasting (DIGIUNO)
FASTING. - Fasting, from the ecclesiastical Latin "iejunus," is the state of one who is empty of food. The adjective used as a noun came in… -
Fine (MULTA)
FINE. - Among the various penalties common to the CIC and to the Italian Penal Code, there is still today the m. [fine]. It can be defined,… -
Flogging (FUSTIGAZIONE)
FLOGGING. — From Lat. fustigatio, the penalty of the rod, the switch, the whip, made of strips of leather. It consists in beating the… -
Fornication (FORNICAZIONE)
FORNICATION. - From Latin fornix, which designated a vaulted chamber or corridor, usually resulting from supporting construction for… -
Fraternal Correction (CORREZIONE FRATERNA)
FRATERNAL CORRECTION. - It is the private admonition of a person to turn him away from sin. The motive of fraternal correction is charity,… -
Fuga
FUGA (FLIGHT). - F., and also horror, is called by St. Thomas (Sum. Theol., 1ª-2ª, q. 23 a. 1) the passion by which our concupiscible… -
Gratitude (GRATITUDINE)
GRATITUDE. - I. NOZIONE. - From the Latin gratitudo, it is the virtue that inclines a person to acknowledge (with the mind and with words)… -
Hidden Compensation (COMPENSAZIONE OCCULTA)
HIDDEN COMPENSATION. - Secret compensation consists in taking or retaining, without the debtor's knowledge, as much as suffices for the… -
Honor and Contumely (ONORE E CONTUMELIA)
HONOR AND CONTUMELY. - H., from Lat. honor or honos (that is, homage, respect, esteem), is the external recognition of another's… -
Idolatry (Eidōlon Latreia) (IDOLATRIA (ΕἸΔΩ͂ΛΟΝ ΛΑΤΡΕΊΑ))
IDOLATRY (Eidōlon Latreia). - I. NOTION. - In its literal meaning it indicates the worship of idols. The term idol (εἰδῶλον) in Sacred… -
Images, Cult of (IMMAGINI, CULTO DELLE)
IMAGES, Cult of. - It is the honor rendered to sacred images, that is, to the painted or sculpted representations of Jesus Christ, the… -
Impenitent (IMPENITENTE)
IMPENITENT. - From the eccl. Lat. impenitens, i.e. the sinner is called impenitent who, directly or indirectly, through culpable ignorance… -
Inconstancy (INCOSTANZA)
INCONSTANCY. - From the Latin inconstantia, lack of constancy, fickleness, it is a vice opposed to prudence, inasmuch as through it one is… -
Inducement to Sin (INDUZIONE AL PECCATO)
INDUCEMENT TO SIN. - He induces to sin who by word, by example, and by cooperation incites his neighbor or encourages him to commit sinful… -
Infanticide (INFANTICIDIO)
INFANTICIDE. - From infanticidium (infans and caedo). It is the voluntary homicide committed against the person of a newborn. In the strict… -
Insult (INGIURIA)
INSULT. - From the Latin iniuria, it means any injury to justice: «iniuria est alieni iuris violatio» (l. 5, D. IX, 2). In this sense, in… -
Intemperance (INTEMPERANZA)
INTEMPERANCE. - From Lat. intemperantia, immoderation, in a generic sense it is the vice opposed to temperance considered as a general… -
Irreligion (IRRELIGIOSITÀ)
IRRELIGION. - The term is to be understood not only in a privative sense (areligiosity), that is, as the attitude of one who by habit… -
Judgment of God (GIUDIZIO DI DIO)
JUDGMENT OF GOD. - This was the name given to those trials that made either a declaration of innocence or the resolution of a civil or… -
Killing (UCCISIONE)
KILLING. - In the merely physical order it is the act that deprives the body of life. Homicide is the name given to one who, by a human and… -
Liberality (LIBERALITÀ)
LIBERALITY. - The right balance with which a person is disposed to spend or to give away what he possesses, without going to excess through… -
Longanimity (LONGANIMITÀ)
LONGANIMITY. - From the Latin longanimitas, it is one of the potential parts of the cardinal virtue of fortitude and signifies patience… -
Love (Free) (AMORE (LIBERO))
LOVE (FREE). - Love here means the sexual appetite; and the addition of "free" is meant to indicate the will to satisfy it without any… -
Lucrum Cessans (LUCRO CESSANTE)
LUCRUM CESSANS. - By this expression is meant the diminution of patrimony due to the failure to acquire goods which, had a particular event… -
Luxury (LUSSO)
LUXURY. - It is not the "use of costly things," which can also be prudent and controlled by an intelligent and progressive taste: but it is… -
Mansuetude (MANSUETUDINE)
MANSUETUDE. - A virtue that moderates anger, restraining it within the limits of what is reasonable, in order to avoid the blinding… -
Mental Reservation (RISERVA MENTALE)
MENTAL RESERVATION. - I. NOTION AND HISTORICAL DEVELOPMENT. - Mental reservation consists in the interior act of the mind by which the… -
Mercatura
MERCATURA. - I. CONCEPT. - M., in general, is any exchange of goods or values. Among the various forms of exchange, buying and selling… -
Military Service (SERVIZIO MILITARE)
MILITARY SERVICE. - I. THE MILITIA AS A PROFESSION. - The militia, from Lat. militia, can be considered both as a profession and as a… -
Mode (MODO)
MODE. - A clause appended to a contract or to an act of liberality, in order to impose a burden on one of the contracting parties or on the… -
Monopoly (MONOPOLIO)
MONOPOLY. - From μοναπώλιον, monopolium. I. GENERALITIES. - A monopoly consists in the exclusive possibility, in fact or in law, in a… -
Morality of Art (MORALITÀ DELL'ARTE)
MORALITY OF ART. - The question of the morality of art is debated between the opposing theses of those who tend to insert morality into the… -
Mortgage (IPOTECA)
MORTGAGE. - From ὑπό = under and τύψιμ = I place, it is a subsidiary contract in guarantee of another; and it has as its object an… -
Obedience (OBBEDIENZA)
OBEDIENCE. - A moral virtue, annexed to justice, which regulates the relations of subjects with authority and makes the will ready to carry… -
Obsessive Psychosis (PSICOSI OSSESSIVA)
OBSESSIVE PSYCHOSIS. - In the most modern classifications it is included in the group of the psychoneuroses; it takes its name from the… -
Occasion of Sin (OCCASIONE DI PECCATO)
OCCASION OF SIN. - I. NOTIONS. - By occasion of sin properly is meant a circumstance of person, thing, or place, external to the subject,… -
Occupation (OCCUPAZIONE)
OCCUPATION. - It is one of the modes of original acquisition of property, indeed the first of them even historically and the most important… -
Ordeal (ORDALIA)
ORDEAL. - From the Anglo-Saxon ordeal, German Urtheil "sentence", "judgment", the ordeal is a judgment that the divinity or a supernatural… -
Partiality (ACCETTAZIONE DI PERSONA)
PARTIALITY. - An expression proper to ecclesiastical language, roughly synonymous with partiality. It is in fact used to designate a… -
Peace (PACE)
PEACE. - According to the well-known definition of St. Augustine, peace consists in the tranquillity of order, tranquillitas ordinis (De… -
Peculation (PECULATO)
PECULATION. - Qualified theft by one who, being a public official or entrusted with a public service and having by reason of his office or… -
Peculium (PECULIO)
PECULIUM. - A legal institution of great importance in Roman law, intimately connected with the unitary conception, in civil and economic… -
Perjury (SPERGIURO)
PERJURY. - 1. Notion and morality. - In the specific sense, perjury is only the sinful oath defective in truth as to its object, that is,… -
Perseverance (PERSEVERANZA)
PERSEVERANCE. - The virtue that disposes a person to continue in good, according to the dictates of reason, despite the prolonging of… -
Pertinacity (PERTINACIA)
PERTINACITY. - Insofar as it is constancy in any operation, or insofar as it manifests itself in one who does not allow himself to be moved… -
Piety (Theology) (PIETÀ (TEOLOGIA))
PIETY (Theology). - In biblical, theological and common language the term p. can have a broader sense, including one of the gifts of the… -
Possession (POSSESSO)
POSSESSION. - It is a state of fact protected by law - which attaches particular legal consequences to it - by virtue of which a material… -
Prayer (PREGHIERA)
PRAYER. - Language of praise, or invocation, or petition, addressed by man to God. SUMMARY: I. Nature and definition. - II. Psychology. -… -
Price (PREZZO)
PRICE. - I. NOTION. - P. is the value of a unit of goods or service, expressed in money. In free and voluntary exchanges, the p. generally… -
Prohibited Societies (Secret Societies) (SOCIETÀ PROIBITE (SÈTTE))
PROHIBITED SOCIETIES (SECRET SOCIETIES). - By their very nature, those societies are forbidden which propose an unlawful end to themselves,… -
Prohibited Time (TEMPO PROIBITO)
FORBIDDEN TIME. - Canon 1108 § 1 of the CIC establishes the principle of freedom to contract marriage at any time, abolishing the local… -
Pusillanimity (PUSILLANIMITÀ)
PUSILLANIMITY. - Etymologically (animus pusillus) it denotes a weak mind, a small spirit; it is used at times in a good moral sense (Is.… -
Recidivism (Recidivity) (RECIDIVA (RECIDIVITÀ))
RECIDIVISM (RECIDIVITY). - In the language of moralists and jurists, it indicates the condition of one who falls back into the same sin or… -
Religion (In Moral Theology) (RELIGIONE (NELLA TEOLOGIA MORALE))
RELIGION (IN MORAL THEOLOGY). - I. DEFINITION. - From the Latin religio, whose meaning varies according to whether it is derived from… -
Restitution (RESTITUZIONE)
RESTITUTION. - It is the reinstatement into the state (above all patrimonial) in which one would be, had certain unjust acts or attitudes… -
Rigorism (RIGORISMO)
RIGORISM. - Excessive severity, immoderate adherence, tenacity and fidelity in establishing, interpreting and applying constitutions,… -
Sacrilege (SACRILEGIO)
SACRILEGE. - It is the irreverent treatment or the profanation of a sacred thing. I. NOTIONS. - Already among the pagans and primitive… -
Scandal (SCANDALO)
SCANDAL. - Here it means everything that can constitute a difficulty in the exercise of good or be a direct incentive to sin, that is, to… -
Secret (SEGRETO)
SECRET. - A secret materially understood is the same hidden thing; formally understood it is the knowledge of that same thing with the… -
Sedition (SEDIZIONE)
SEDITION. - S. (from seorsum ire) is the violent collective uprising against the public authorities or against specific persons invested… -
Seduction (SEDUZIONE)
SEDUCTION. - In biblical language the term has various meanings. Sometimes it denotes any action directed at inducing others to error or to… -
Simony (SIMONIA)
SIMONY. - The term and the concept of s. derive their origin from the sacrilegious market proposed to the Apostles by Simon Magus, with the… -
Simulation (SIMULAZIONE)
SIMULATION. - In general it is any attitude whose purpose is to create a false judgment in others. In legal language, simulation consists… -
Sloth (IGNAVIA)
SLOTH. - "It is a tendency to idleness or at least to negligence and torpor in acting" (A. Tanquerey, Compendio di teologia ascetica e… -
Solicitation (SOLLECITAZIONE)
SOLICITATION. - In its generic meaning, in the ethical field, it is synonymous with seduction (v.) or with instigation (v.), for which the… -
Subornation (SUBORNAZIONE)
SUBORNATION. - It is the crime that consists in inducing witnesses or experts, by gifts, promises, or in any other manner, to give false… -
Suicide (SUICIDIO)
SUICIDE. - In the etymological sense, it indicates the act by which a man, on his own authority, voluntarily gives himself death. However,… -
Sunday Precept (PRECETTO FESTIVO)
SUNDAY PRECEPT. - By p. f. is meant the obligation to sanctify Sundays and holy days of obligation by attending Mass and abstaining from… -
Superfluous Goods (BENI SUPERFLUI)
SUPERFLUOUS GOODS. - Those temporal goods that are necessary neither for life nor for a person's station are called s. g. By life is meant… -
Superstition (SUPERSTIZIONE)
SUPERSTITION. - From Lat. superstitio (cf. Gk. ἐκαταχύς) "to stand outside or above," in religious ethnology it designates the state of… -
Suspicion and Rash Judgment (SOSPETTO E GIUDIZIO TEMERARIO)
SUSPICION AND RASH JUDGMENT. - When one speaks of malevolent thoughts concerning the honesty of one's neighbor, the terms rash judgment,… -
Temerarious Judgment (GIUDIZIO TEMERARIO)
TEMERARIOUS JUDGMENT. - It is thinking evil of others without sufficient reason. It therefore includes two elements: a) the firm adherence… -
Theft (FURTO)
THEFT. - Any unjust taking of another's property, done for the purpose of gain, against the reasonable opposition of the owner. SUMMARY: I.… -
Tributes (TRIBUTI)
TRIBUTES. - Taxes (Latin tributum, from tribuo) in the broad sense are the imposts that the State requires of the citizen to cover its own… -
Unbelief (INCREDULITÀ)
UNBELIEF. - Term used in theology to indicate the absence or the repudiation of the supernatural virtue of faith: it is therefore a form of… -
Van Observance (VANA OSSERVANZA)
VAN OBSERVANCE. - It is one of the forms of non-cultic superstition, whereby practices unsuited to the purpose one wishes to achieve are… -
Violence (VIOLENZA)
VIOLENCE. - In theological-canonical language, by violence, force or coercion is meant a motion that comes from an external principle,… -
Vow (VOTO)
VOW. - From voveo, with the meaning of a promise, the object promised, a sacrifice made to fulfill a promise, and also a gratuitous…