140 



THE MEANS OF GRACE 



ARTICLE i 



CONTRITION 



i. Nature of Contrition. — Contrition (con- 

 tritio cordis) is the most necessary constituent of 

 Penance, both as a virtue and as a Sacrament, 1 

 for without contrition there can be no genu- 

 ine repentance and no forgiveness. 2 The Council 

 of Trent defines contrition as "a sorrow of the 

 soul and a detestation for sin committed, with the 

 purpose of not sinning for the future." 3 Hence 

 contrition is essentially an act of the will, by 

 which man renounces sin and determines to avoid 

 it in future. The act of renunciation is called 

 contrition in the strict sense (contritio stride 

 dicta), while the determination to avoid fu- 

 ture sins is termed purpose of amendment (pro- 

 posit um). 



Being an interior sorrow of the soul, contri- 

 tion differs from that purely intellectual regret 

 (dolor intellectivus speculativus) which consists 



1 Cfr. Pohle-Preuss, The Sacra- 

 ments, Vol. Ill, pp. i sqq.; 72 sqq. 



2 Joel II, 12 sq.— Cfr. Prop. Dam- 

 nat. sub Innoc. XI., prop. 60: 

 "Poenitenti kabenti consuetudincm 

 peccandi contra legem Dei, naturae 

 aut ecclesiae, etsi emendationis spes 

 nulla appareat, nee est neganda nee 

 differenda absolutio, dummodo ore 

 proferat, se dolere et proponere 

 emendotionem." (Denzinger-Bann- 

 wart, n. 12 10). 



3 Sess. XIV, De Poenit., cap. 4: 

 "Contritio, quae primum locum in- 

 ter dictos poenitentis actus habet, 

 animi dolor ac detestatio est de pec- 

 cato commisso cum proposito non 

 peccandi de cetera." — Cfr. St. 

 Thomas, Summa Theol., 3a. Suppl., 

 qu. 1, ad 1: "Contritio est dolor 

 pro peccatis assumptus cum proposito 

 confitendi et satisfaciendi." 



