A Happy Feast of the Holy Family

I have begun to write an entry for today which shall now be published another day, since that entry is currently over four thousand words and far from complete, and I cannot finish it all tonight.

So I am going to translate some of St Alphonsus' Theologia Moralis. Here is the beginning of the section "On Sin":

TRACTATUS

DE PECCATIS

CAPUT I.

DE PECCATO IN GENERE
DUBIUM I.

1. Quid est peccatum?

RESP. 1. Est transgressio legis, ut sive (ut ait Tolet.) est voluntarius recessus a Regula Divina; per quam regulam intelligitur praeceptum tam naturale, et humanum, quam Divinum: per recessum intelligitur actus, vel ejus omissio, qui sit non tantum voluntarius, sed etiam liber, cum aliqua actuali advertentia malitiae, quod addo, quia, ut docet Sanch. 1. mor. c. 16. cum Vasq. Bon. d. 2. q. 1. p. 3. n. 3 et 12. etc. non sufficit ad actum peccaminosum libertas, et advertentia quaevis virtualis, vel interpretativa, qua scilicet quis advertere poterat, et debebat, nec quaecumque actualis, qua scilicet intellectus rationes commodi, et incommodi in objecto attendat: sed requiritur, ut advertat moralem malitiam objecti, aut saltem de ea dubium, vel scrupulum concipiat. Ratio est, tum quia sine ista advertentia non est voluntarium, cum non sit cognitum, quia quandiu talis cogitatio intellectui non occurrit, non est sufficiens, principium deliberandi de malitia, ideoque nec libertas, ac proinde de culpa; et censetur illa inadvertentia naturalis, et invincibilis oblivio. Addit tamen Tann. d. 4 de pecc. q. 5 d. 5. n. 106. non esse necesse, ut consideratio illa maneat actu, vel virtute maneat, ita ut cum ea vel actus peccati fuerit inchoatus, vel saltem causa data, ut fit in ebrio, qui peccat, non vi praesentis, sed praeteritae deliberationis. Vide Bald. l. 1. d. 37. Verum Recentiores communiter docent, talem, verb. gr. ebrium, non peccare formaliter, quando usu rationis caret; sed malitiam eorum, quae tunc fiunt, contraxisse ante, dum praevidens malum, quod commissurus erat, ejus causam dedit: aiuntque, dum quis actu peccat, semper esse, ac manere advertentiam aliquam malitiae tenuem, vel confusam, ut vide apud Scol., nam in ordine ad praxim, parum refert utrolibet modo loquaris.

My translation (since I have nothing better to do):

Sin is the transgression of a law, or a voluntary receding from the Divine Rule; by which Rule is understood not only a Divine precept, but also a natural and human one: by "a receding" is understood an act, or the omission of an act, which is not only voluntary, but also free, with some present advertence to the malice [of the act], which I add because it is not enough for an act to be sinful for there to be freedom and virtual or interpretative advertence, by which, that is to say, a man could was able to advert, and ought to have done so, but with no present [actualis] advertence, that is, by which the intellect pays attention to the object ... reasons convenient and inconvenient [I am lost by the grammar of this sentence] : but it is requisite that he advert to the moral malice of the object, or at least conceive a doubt or suspicion of a doubt concerning that malice. The reason is because without such advertence it is not voluntary, since it is not known, because as long as such a thought does not occur to the intellect, the beginning of deliberating about such malice is not sufficient, and therefore freedom is not present and so there is no fault [I feel sure this is mistranslated] ; and that inadvertence is reckoned as natural, and invincible forgetfulness. ... It is not necessary that that consideration should remain with [during?] the act, or ?power/virtue/???, such that with it after the action of the sin is begun, or at least after the cause is given, as occurs in a drunk man, who sins not with present, but past deliberation. ... Recent authors commonly teach that such a (for example) drunk person does not sin formally when he lacks the use of reason; but the malice of those things, when they occur then, has been contracted before, while foreseeing the evil which he was going to commit, he placed the cause of it; and they say, while he sins by an act, always to be, and some tenuous or confused advertence to the malice remains...for in practice, not enough refers you will speak either way.

Yes, my translation is gibberish. But it is 11 o'clock and time for me to say a rosary.