142 THE MEANS OF GRACE 



of the affections and partly in the making of special ef- 

 forts to go to confession, seek advice, etc. Such extraor- 

 dinary signs are of particular significance in the case of 

 habitual sinners and recidivi, where ordinary signs fail." 7 



2. Properties of Contrition. — Contrition 

 may be perfect or imperfect. 



Perfect contrition (contritio caritate perfecta, 

 or simply contritio) is inspired by charity, i. e., 

 a perfect love of God as the supreme good for 

 His own sake. 



Imperfect contrition (contritio imperfecta), 

 now technically called attrition (attritio), is sor- 

 row inspired by some other supernatural motive, 

 e. g., fear of eternal punishment, repugnance to 

 sin as an offense against Almighty God, regret at 

 having lost divine grace and forfeited heaven, 

 etc. 8 



As can be easily seen, the distinction between 

 perfect and imperfect contrition is not based upon 

 the degree of sorrow a man has for his sins, but 

 upon the motives by which that sorrow is in- 

 spired ; this distinction is specific rather than gen- 

 eric. 



7 F. X. Linsenmann, Lehrbuch (2) imperfecta, sen attritio, quae tst 

 dtr Moraltheologie, pp. 212 sq. detestatio peccati orta ex alio mo- 



8 Cfr. J. P. Gury, Comp. Theol. tivo supernaturali, v. g. ex const- 

 Mor., II, n. 318: "Contritio du- deratione turpitudinis peccati vel ex 

 plex distinguitur: (1) perfecta, quae metu inferni out ex amore beatitu- 

 tst detestatio peccati orta ex motivo dinis aetcmae." — Cone. Trident., 

 speciali caritatis perfectae seu boni- Sess. XIV, De Poenit., c. 4 (Den- 

 tatis Dei propter se summe dilecti; zinger-Bannwart, n. 897 sq.). 



