Bellarmine · De Controversiis · On the Loss of Grace · Book I: On Sin, Mortal and Venial
Chapter 2: The partitions of sin
Our translation, from the Latin of the Opera Omnia (Paris: Vivès, 1870–74), vol. V, De Amissione Gratiae et Statu Peccati, Book I. The Latin source text is public domain; this English rendering is released with the site. Scripture quotations follow Bellarmine's Vulgate citations, rendered in Douay-Rheims wording where he quotes exactly. Click “Show the Latin” for the original (raw OCR of the scan; scanning errors remain — the scan itself is the authority).
Now there are five partitions of sin. The first is taken from the objects, and hence is a specific partition, since actions take their species from their objects. Now from the objects, generally, two kinds of sins are drawn: for some sins are carnal, others spiritual, according to that of the Apostle, 2 Corinthians 7: let us cleanse ourselves from all defilement of the flesh and of the spirit. And this is a full and perfect partition. For all the things to which we inordinately turn when we sin are either goods apprehended by the senses of the flesh, as food, drink, carnal intercourse; or by the intelligence, as honor, power, riches. Through turning to the former are done carnal sins; through turning to the latter, spiritual sins. Those make us like the beasts, these like the demons; and in Latin the former are called flagitia, the latter scelera, or facinora.
The second partition is drawn from origin: for some sins are called actual, others original. Actual are those which we commit by our own will; original are those which are drawn from the first parent Adam through carnal propagation, and which are voluntary by another's will, not our own. But of the sin of origin we shall say more below in its place.
The third partition is taken from the law. For some sins are called sins of commission, others of omission. Sins of commission are those which fight with a law denying and forbidding something — as adultery, murder, theft, which are repugnant to those laws: Thou shalt not commit adultery; Thou shalt not kill; Thou shalt not steal. Sins of omission are those which violate laws affirming and commanding something — as when one does not show due honor to his parents, against that: Honour thy father and thy mother. And indeed commission is properly wont to be called sin (peccatum); omission, delict (delictum), as St. Augustine, question 20 on Leviticus, gathers from chapter 7 of Leviticus, where some sacrifices are instituted for sins, others for delicts.
The fourth partition is taken from the variety of those who are chiefly wounded by the sin. For some sins are committed against God, others against our neighbor, others against ourselves. Against which sins the Apostle arms us when he says, in the epistle to Titus, chapter 2: we should live soberly, and justly, and godly in this world — soberly, namely, as to ourselves; justly, as to our neighbor; godly, as to God. And the prophet David, in Psalm 50, against the same sins asked of God the Holy Spirit, a right spirit, a princely spirit.
The fifth partition is born of the gravity of the faults, or of the guilt of the punishment which follows the sinners. For certain sins are called deadly, others venial. Deadly are those which plainly turn a man away from God, and to which eternal punishment is owed. Venial, those which somewhat hinder our course toward God, yet do not turn us away from him, and are expiated with easy labor. The former are called crimes, the latter sins, as St. Augustine admonishes in the Enchiridion, chapter 64, where he writes that just men live without crime, but do not live without sin. Finally, mortal sin is like a death-bearing wound, which suddenly extinguishes life; venial, like a light blow, which is received without danger of life, and is easily cured. For the former fights with charity, which is the life of the soul; the latter is not so much against charity as beside it. And since this last partition, beyond the rest, is assailed by the adversaries, we shall discourse of it more copiously.
Show the Latin (Vives edition, OCR)
CAPUT II. Peccati partitiones. ♦ Jam vero quinque sunt peccati partitio¬ nes. Prima sumitur ab objectis, ac proinde specifica partitio est ; siquidem actiones ab objectis species sumunt. Ab objectis autem generatim duo ducuntur genera peccatorum, alia enim sunt peccata carnalia, alia spiri¬ tualia, juxta illud Apostoli I. ad Corinthios vil : Emundemus nos ab omni inquinamento carnis, et spiritus (4). Est autem haec plena atque perfecta partitio. Siquidem res omnes, ad quas inordinate convertimui*, cum pecca¬ mus, aut sunt bona apprehensa sensibus carnis, ut cibus, potus, concubitus, aut in- telligentia, ut honor, potestas, divitia». Per conversionem ad priora fiunt peccata carna¬ lia, per conversionem ad posteria fiunt peccata spiritualia. Illa nos reddunt similes belluis, (4) 1 Corintb.VlI, 1. CAPUT III. ista daemonibus ; et latine dicuntur illa fla- gitia, ista scelera, vel facinora. Altera partitio ducitur ab origine, dicun¬ tur enim alia peccata actualia, alia origina¬ lia. Actualia sunt quae propria voluntate committimus. Originalia sunt quae trahun¬ tur a primo parente Adamo, per carnalem propagationem, quaeque voluntaria sunt aliena, non propina voluntate ; sed de peccato originis plura dicemus infra suo loco. Tertia partitio ..sumitur a lege. Dicuntur enim alia peccata commissionis, alia omissio¬ nis. Commissionis peccata sunt, quae pugnant cum lege negante, acprohibitente aliquid, ut adulterium, homicidium, furtum, quae legibus illis repugnant : Non mxchaberis , Non occides , Noti furaberis. Omissionis vero ea peccata dicuntur, quae violant leges affirmantes, et imperantes aliquid, ut cum quis parentibus debitum honorem non exhibet, contra illud : Honora parentes. Et quidem commissio, pec¬ catum ; omissio, delictum proprie dici solet, ut S. Augustinus quaest. 20. inLevitic. colli¬ git ex cap. vn. Levitici, ubi alia sacrificia instituuntur pro peccatis, alia pro delictis. Quarta partitio sumitur ab eorum varie¬ tate, qui potissimuln peccato laeduntur. Alia enim peccata committuntur in Deum, alia in proximum, alia in nos ipsos. Adversus quae peccata nos munit Apostolus cum ait in epist. ad Titum, cap. ii : Sobrie, juste, et pie vivamus in hoc saeculo (1). Sobrie videlicet quoad nos; juste quoad proximum; pie quoad Deum. Et propheta David in Psalm. 50. adversus eadem peccata Spiritum san¬ ctum, spiritum rectum, spiritum principalem a Deo petebat. Quinta partitio nascitur ex gravitate cul¬ parum, sive ex reatu pcenae, quae peccantes consequitur. Dicuntur enim peccata quae- deun lethalia, alia venialia. Lethalia sunt quae hominem plane avertunt a Deo, et quibus poena debetur aeterna. Venialia, quae non¬ nihil impediunt cursum ad Deum, non ta¬ men abeo avertunt, et facili negotio expian¬ tur. Priora dicuntur crimina, poeteriora peccata, ut S. Augustinus monetinEnchirid. cap. 64, ubi scribit, sine crimine justos ho¬ mines vivere, sine peccato non vivere. De¬ nique simile est mortale peccatum vulneri lethifero, quod subito vitam extinguit, ve¬ niale autem plagae levi, quae sine vitae peri¬ culo suscipitur, et facile curatur. Illud enim 215 cum charitate, quae vita est animae, pugnat, hoc non tara contra, quam praeter charita- tem est. Et quoniam haec postrema partitio praeter coeteras ad adversariis oppugnatur, de ea copiosius disseremus.