Whether, by Penance, Man Is Restored to His Former Dignity?
Objection 1: It would seem that man is not restored by Penance to his
former dignity: because a gloss on Amos 5:2, "The virgin of Israel is
cast down," observes: "It is not said that she cannot rise up, but
that the virgin of Israel shall not rise; because the sheep that has
once strayed, although the shepherd bring it back on his shoulder,
has not the same glory as if it had never strayed." Therefore man
does not, through Penance, recover his former dignity.
Obj. 2: Further, Jerome says: "Whoever fail to preserve the dignity
of the sacred order, must be content with saving their souls; for it
is a difficult thing to return to their former degree." Again, Pope
Innocent I says (Ep. vi ad Agapit.) that "the canons framed at the
council of Nicaea exclude penitents from even the lowest orders of
clerics." Therefore man does not, through Penance, recover his former
dignity.
Obj. 3: Further, before sinning a man can advance to a higher sacred
order. But this is not permitted to a penitent after his sin, for it
is written (Ezech. 44:10, 13): "The Levites that went away . . . from
Me . . . shall never [Vulg.: 'not'] come near to Me, to do the office
of priest": and as laid down in the Decretals (Dist. 1, ch. 52), and
taken from the council of Lerida: "If those who serve at the Holy
Altar fall suddenly into some deplorable weakness of the flesh, and
by God's mercy do proper penance, let them return to their duties,
yet so as not to receive further promotion." Therefore Penance does
not restore man to his former dignity.
_On the contrary,_ As we read in the same Distinction, Gregory
writing to Secundinus (Regist. vii) says: "We consider that when a
man has made proper satisfaction, he may return to his honorable
position": and moreover we read in the acts of the council of Agde:
"Contumacious clerics, so far as their position allows, should be
corrected by their bishops, so that when Penance has reformed them,
they may recover their degree and dignity."
_I answer that,_ By sin, man loses a twofold dignity, one in respect
of God, the other in respect of the Church. In respect of God he
again loses a twofold dignity. One is his principal dignity, whereby
he was counted among the children of God, and this he recovers by
Penance, which is signified (Luke 15) in the prodigal son, for when
he repented, his father commanded that the first garment should be
restored to him, together with a ring and shoes. The other is his
secondary dignity, viz. innocence, of which, as we read in the same
chapter, the elder son boasted saying (Luke 15:29): "Behold, for so
many years do I serve thee, and I have never transgressed thy
commandments": and this dignity the penitent cannot recover.
Nevertheless he recovers something greater sometimes; because as
Gregory says (Hom. de centum Ovibus, 34 in Evang.), "those who
acknowledge themselves to have strayed away from God, make up for
their past losses, by subsequent gains: so that there is more joy in
heaven on their account, even as in battle, the commanding officer
thinks more of the soldier who, after running away, returns and
bravely attacks the foe, than of one who has never turned his back,
but has done nothing brave."
By sin man loses his ecclesiastical dignity, because thereby he
becomes unworthy of those things which appertain to the exercise of
the ecclesiastical dignity. This he is debarred from recovering:
first, because he fails to repent; wherefore Isidore wrote to the
bishop Masso, and as we read in the Distinction quoted above (Obj.
3): "The canons order those to be restored to their former degree,
who by repentance have made satisfaction for their sins, or have made
worthy confession of them. On the other hand, those who do not mend
their corrupt and wicked ways are neither allowed to exercise their
order, nor received to the grace of communion."
Secondly, because he does penance negligently, wherefore it is
written in the same Distinction (Obj. 3): "We can be sure that those
who show no signs of humble compunction, or of earnest prayer, who
avoid fasting or study, would exercise their former duties with great
negligence if they were restored to them."
Thirdly, if he has committed a sin to which an irregularity is
attached; wherefore it is said in the same Distinction (Obj. 3),
quoting the council of Pope Martin [*Martin, bishop of Braga]: "If a
man marry a widow or the relict of another, he must not be admitted
to the ranks of the clergy: and if he has succeeded in creeping in,
he must be turned out. In like manner, if anyone after Baptism be
guilty of homicide, whether by deed, or by command, or by counsel, or
in self-defense." But this is in consequence not of sin, but of
irregularity.
Fourthly, on account of scandal, wherefore it is said in the same
Distinction (Obj. 3): "Those who have been publicly convicted or
caught in the act of perjury, robbery, fornication, and of such like
crimes, according to the prescription of the sacred canons must be
deprived of the exercise of their respective orders, because it is a
scandal to God's people that such persons should be placed over them.
But those who commit such sins occultly and confess them secretly to
a priest, may be retained in the exercise of their respective orders,
with the assurance of God's merciful forgiveness, provided they be
careful to expiate their sins by fasts and alms, vigils and holy
deeds." The same is expressed (Extra, De Qual. Ordinand.): "If the
aforesaid crimes are not proved by a judicial process, or in some
other way made notorious, those who are guilty of them must not be
hindered, after they have done penance, from exercising the orders
they have received, or from receiving further orders, except in cases
of homicide."
Reply Obj. 1: The same is to be said of the recovery of virginity as
of the recovery of innocence which belongs to man's secondary dignity
in the sight of God.
Reply Obj. 2: In these words Jerome does not say that it is
impossible, but that it is difficult, for man to recover his former
dignity after having sinned, because this is allowed to none but
those who repent perfectly, as stated above. To those canonical
statutes, which seem to forbid this, Augustine replies in his letter
to Boniface (Ep. clxxxv): "If the law of the Church forbids anyone,
after doing penance for a crime, to become a cleric, or to return to
his clerical duties, or to retain them the intention was not to
deprive him of the hope of pardon, but to preserve the rigor of
discipline; else we should have to deny the keys given to the Church,
of which it was said: 'Whatsoever you shall loose on earth shall be
loosed in heaven.'" And further on he adds: "For holy David did
penance for his deadly crimes, and yet he retained his dignity; and
Blessed Peter by shedding most bitter tears did indeed repent him of
having denied his Lord, and yet he remained an apostle. Nevertheless
we must not deem the care of later teachers excessive, who without
endangering a man's salvation, exacted more from his humility,
having, in my opinion, found by experience, that some assumed a
pretended repentance through hankering after honors and power."
Reply Obj. 3: This statute is to be understood as applying to those
who do public penance, for these cannot be promoted to a higher
order. For Peter, after his denial, was made shepherd of Christ's
sheep, as appears from John 21:21, where Chrysostom comments as
follows: "After his denial and repentance Peter gives proof of
greater confidence in Christ: for whereas, at the supper, he durst
not ask Him, but deputed John to ask in his stead, afterwards he was
placed at the head of his brethren, and not only did not depute
another to ask for him, what concerned him, but henceforth asks the
Master instead of John."
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