Whether Schism Is a Special Sin?
Objection 1: It would seem that schism is not a special sin. For
"schism," as Pope Pelagius I says (Epist. ad Victor. et Pancrat.),
"denotes a division." But every sin causes a division, according to
Isa. 59: "Your sins have divided between you and your God." Therefore
schism is not a special sin.
Obj. 2: Further, a man is apparently a schismatic if he disobeys the
Church. But every sin makes a man disobey the commandments of the
Church, because sin, according to Ambrose (De Parad. viii) "is
disobedience against the heavenly commandments." Therefore every sin
is a schism.
Obj. 3: Further, heresy also divides a man from the unity of faith.
If, therefore, the word schism denotes a division, it would seem not
to differ, as a special sin, from the sin of unbelief.
_On the contrary,_ Augustine (Contra Faust. xx, 3; Contra Crescon.
ii, 4) distinguishes between schism and heresy, for he says that a
"schismatic is one who holds the same faith, and practises the same
worship, as others, and takes pleasure in the mere disunion of the
community, whereas a heretic is one who holds another faith from that
of the Catholic Church." Therefore schism is not a generic sin.
_I answer that,_ As Isidore says (Etym. viii, 3), schism takes its
name "from being a scission of minds," and scission is opposed to
unity. Wherefore the sin of schism is one that is directly and
essentially opposed to unity. For in the moral, as in the physical
order, the species is not constituted by that which is accidental.
Now, in the moral order, the essential is that which is intended, and
that which results beside the intention, is, as it were, accidental.
Hence the sin of schism is, properly speaking, a special sin, for the
reason that the schismatic intends to sever himself from that unity
which is the effect of charity: because charity unites not only one
person to another with the bond of spiritual love, but also the whole
Church in unity of spirit.
Accordingly schismatics properly so called are those who, wilfully
and intentionally separate themselves from the unity of the Church;
for this is the chief unity, and the particular unity of several
individuals among themselves is subordinate to the unity of the
Church, even as the mutual adaptation of each member of a natural
body is subordinate to the unity of the whole body. Now the unity of
the Church consists in two things; namely, in the mutual connection
or communion of the members of the Church, and again in the
subordination of all the members of the Church to the one head,
according to Col. 2:18, 19: "Puffed up by the sense of his flesh, and
not holding the Head, from which the whole body, by joints and bands,
being supplied with nourishment and compacted, groweth unto the
increase of God." Now this Head is Christ Himself, Whose viceregent
in the Church is the Sovereign Pontiff. Wherefore schismatics are
those who refuse to submit to the Sovereign Pontiff, and to hold
communion with those members of the Church who acknowledge his
supremacy.
Reply Obj. 1: The division between man and God that results from sin
is not intended by the sinner: it happens beside his intention as a
result of his turning inordinately to a mutable good, and so it is
not schism properly so called.
Reply Obj. 2: The essence of schism consists in rebelliously
disobeying the commandments: and I say "rebelliously," since a
schismatic both obstinately scorns the commandments of the Church,
and refuses to submit to her judgment. But every sinner does not do
this, wherefore not every sin is a schism.
Reply Obj. 3: Heresy and schism are distinguished in respect of those
things to which each is opposed essentially and directly. For heresy
is essentially opposed to faith, while schism is essentially opposed
to the unity of ecclesiastical charity. Wherefore just as faith and
charity are different virtues, although whoever lacks faith lacks
charity, so too schism and heresy are different vices, although
whoever is a heretic is also a schismatic, but not conversely. This
is what Jerome says in his commentary on the Epistle to the Galatians
[*In Ep. ad Tit. iii, 10]: "I consider the difference between schism
and heresy to be that heresy holds false doctrine while schism severs
a man from the Church." Nevertheless, just as the loss of charity is
the road to the loss of faith, according to 1 Tim. 1:6: "From which
things," i.e. charity and the like, "some going astray, are turned
aside into vain babbling," so too, schism is the road to heresy.
Wherefore Jerome adds (In Ep. ad Tit. iii, 10) that "at the outset it
is possible, in a certain respect, to find a difference between
schism and heresy: yet there is no schism that does not devise some
heresy for itself, that it may appear to have had a reason for
separating from the Church."
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