text
stringlengths
0
80
(3) What kind of parts are they?
(4) Of its division into subjective parts.
_______________________
FIRST ARTICLE [III, Q. 90, Art. 1]
Whether Penance Should Be Assigned Any Parts?
Objection 1: It would seem that parts should not be assigned to
Penance. For it is the Divine power that works our salvation most
secretly in the sacraments. Now the Divine power is one and simple.
Therefore Penance, being a sacrament, should have no parts assigned
to it.
Objection 2: Further, Penance is both a virtue and a sacrament. Now no
parts are assigned to it as a virtue, since virtue is a habit, which
is a simple quality of the mind. In like manner, it seems that parts
should not be assigned to Penance as a sacrament, because no parts
are assigned to Baptism and the other sacraments. Therefore no parts
at all should be assigned to Penance.
Objection 3: Further, the matter of Penance is sin, as stated above (Q.
84, A. 2). But no parts are assigned to sin. Neither, therefore,
should parts be assigned to Penance.
Contrary: The parts of a thing are those out of which the
whole is composed. Now the perfection of Penance is composed of
several things, viz. contrition, confession, and satisfaction.
Therefore Penance has parts.
Response: The parts of a thing are those into which the whole
is divided materially, for the parts of a thing are to the whole,
what matter is to the form; wherefore the parts are reckoned as a
kind of material cause, and the whole as a kind of formal cause
(Phys. ii). Accordingly wherever, on the part of matter, we find a
kind of plurality, there we shall find a reason for assigning parts.
Now it has been stated above (Q. 84, AA. 2, 3), that, in the
sacrament of Penance, human actions stand as matter: and so, since
several actions are requisite for the perfection of Penance, viz.,
contrition, confession, and satisfaction, as we shall show further on
(A. 2), it follows that the sacrament of Penance has parts.
Reply Objection 1: Every sacrament is something simple by reason of the
Divine power, which operates therein: but the Divine power is so
great that it can operate both through one and through many, and by
reason of these many, parts may be assigned to a particular sacrament.
Reply Objection 2: Parts are not assigned to penance as a virtue: because
the human acts of which there are several in penance, are related to
the habit of virtue, not as its parts, but as its effects. It
follows, therefore, that parts are assigned to Penance as a
sacrament, to which the human acts are related as matter: whereas in
the other sacraments the matter does not consist of human acts, but
of some one external thing, either simple, as water or oil, or
compound, as chrism, and so parts are not assigned to the other
sacraments.
Reply Objection 3: Sins are the remote matter of Penance, inasmuch, to
wit, as they are the matter or object of the human acts, which are
the proper matter of Penance as a sacrament.
_______________________
SECOND ARTICLE [III, Q. 90, Art. 2]
Whether Contrition, Confession, and Satisfaction Are Fittingly
Assigned As Parts of Penance?
Objection 1: It would seem that contrition, confession, and
satisfaction are not fittingly assigned as parts of Penance. For
contrition is in the heart, and so belongs to interior penance; while
confession consists of words, and satisfaction in deeds; so that the
two latter belong to interior penance. Now interior penance is not a
sacrament, but only exterior penance which is perceptible by the
senses. Therefore these three parts are not fittingly assigned to the
sacrament of Penance.
Objection 2: Further, grace is conferred in the sacraments of the New Law,
as stated above (Q. 62, AA. 1, 3). But no grace is conferred in
satisfaction. Therefore satisfaction is not part of a sacrament.
Objection 3: Further, the fruit of a thing is not the same as its part.
But satisfaction is a fruit of penance, according to Luke 3:8: "Bring
forth . . . fruits worthy of penance." Therefore it is not a part of
Penance.
Objection 4: Further, Penance is ordained against sin. But sin can be
completed merely in the thought by consent, as stated in the Second
Part (I-II, Q. 72, A. 7): therefore Penance can also. Therefore
confession in word and satisfaction in deed should not be reckoned as
parts of Penance.
Contrary: It seems that yet more parts should be assigned to
Penance. For not only is the body assigned as a part of man, as being
the matter, but also the soul, which is his form. But the aforesaid
three, being the acts of the penitent, stand as matter, while the
priestly absolution stands as form. Therefore the priestly absolution
should be assigned as a fourth part of Penance.