SECTION 3 



DISTINCTIVE CHARACTERISTICS OF MORTAL AND 



VENIAL SIN 



I. The Leading Criteria. — As mortal sins 

 are necessary matter for confession (materia 

 necessaria), the penitent who enters the sacred 

 tribunal must be able to distinguish them with 

 comparative certainty from venial sins. For this 

 purpose Catholic moralists have established the 

 following criteria : 



a) Knowledge of the Importance of the 

 Precept Transgressed. — If the precept is of 

 great importance for the moral and social order 

 (materia gravis), and its transgression is likely 

 to entail serious consequences, the sin is grievous 

 (peccatum grave). If, on the other hand, the 

 precept is unimportant (materia parva), and the 

 matter divisible, the sin is light. 



Note, however, ( i ) that this objective distinc- 

 tion between serious and light sin is not identical 

 with the distinction between mortal and venial sin, 

 for subjectively or individually a grievous sin may 

 be venial and a venial sin mortal, whereas a 

 grievous sin per se can never be light nor a mortal 



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