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Summa Theologiae · Suppl., q. 98, a. 2

Whether the damned repent of the evil they have done?

Thomas Aquinas, Summa Theologiae, Supplement, question 98, Of the Will and Intellect of the Damned, article 2. About 3 min.

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From the Supplement, compiled after Aquinas’s death from his Commentary on the Sentences and transcribed here from the 1917 to 1922 printings. About the Supplement.

Text: Summa Theologiae, Supplement to the Third Part (Supplementum Tertiae Partis), transcribed from Internet Archive scans, translated by the Fathers of the English Dominican Province. The Supplement, compiled after Aquinas’s death from his earlier Commentary on the Sentences, in the same English Dominican translation as the Gutenberg Parts. Transcribed by Bibliotheca Catholica from the OCR of four Internet Archive scans of the pre-1931 printings (Questions 1 to 33 from the 1917 Washbourne and Benziger volume, 34 to 68 from the 1922 volume, 69 to 86 from the 1921 volume, and 87 to 99 from the 1922 Benziger volume), with OCR errors corrected and doubtful passages marked, not rewritten. 99 questions and 446 articles. The two appendices printed after Question 99 are not included. Sources, SHA-256 of each OCR file, and the method are in the source record. Rights: Public domain (US)

The Supplement is not a Project Gutenberg text. It is Bibliotheca Catholica’s transcription of public-domain scans at the Internet Archive; obvious OCR errors were corrected, and passages marked “OCR uncertain” could not be confidently corrected, so check them against the linked scan page.

One passage on this page is marked “OCR uncertain”; check it against the scan.

Objection 1: It would seem that the damned never repent of the evil they have done. For Bernard says on the Canticle* that the damned ever consent to the evil they have done. Therefore they never repent of the sins they have committed.

Obj. 2: Further, To wish one had not sinned is a good will. But the damned will never have a good will. Therefore the damned will never wish they had not sinned: and thus the same conclusion follows as above.

Obj. 3: Further, According to Damascene (De Fide Orthod. ii.), death is to man what their fall was to the angels. But the angel's will is irrevocable after his fall, so that he cannot withdraw from the choice whereby he previously sinned. Therefore the damned also cannot repent of the sins committed by them.

Obj. 4: Further, The wickedness of the damned in hell will be greater than that of sinners in the world. Now in this world some sinners repent not of the sins they have committed, either through blindness of mind, as heretics, or through obstinacy, as those who are glad when they have done evil, and rejoice in most wicked things (Prov. ii. 14). Therefore, etc.

On the contrary, It is said of the damned (Wis. v. 3): Repenting within themselves (Vulg.,--Saying within themselves, repenting).

[*Cf. De Considevatione v. 12, and De Gratia et Libero Arbitrio ix. T°Gt PB. LT; Q. LASEV, ae Sy] [OCR uncertain: T°Gt. Check the scan, image 195.]

Further, The Philosopher says (Ethic. ix. 4) that the wicked are full of repentance; for afterwards they are sorry for that in which previously they took pleasure. Therefore the damned, being most wicked, repent all the more.

I answer that, A person may repent of sin in two ways: in one way directly, in another way indirectly. He repents of a sin directly who hates sin as such: and he repents indirectly who hates it on account of something connected with it, for instance punishment or something of that kind. Accordingly the wicked will not repent of their sins directly, because consent in the malice of sin will remain in them; but they will repent indirectly, inasmuch as they will suffer from the punishment inflicted on them for sin.

Reply Obj. 1: The damned will wickedness, but shun punishment: and thus indirectly they repent of wickedness committed.

Reply Obj. 2: To wish one had not sinned on account of the shamefulness of vice is a good will: but this will not be in the wicked.

Reply Obj. 3: It will be possible for the damned to repent of their sins without turning their will away from sin, because in their sins they will shun, not what they heretofore desired, but something else, namely the punishment.

Reply Obj. 4: However obstinate men may be in this world, they repent of the sins indirectly, if they be punished for them. Thus Augustine says (QQ. LXXXIII., qu. 36): We see the most savage beasts are deterred from the greatest pleasures by fear of pain.

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Also online, linked only: the same translation at New Advent and the Latin text at Corpus Thomisticum. Neither is copied here.

Source: Thomas Aquinas. Summa Theologica, Supplement to the Third Part. Internet Archive scans: Third Part, Fourth Number (QQ. LXXXIV to Suppl. XXXIII), 1917, Third Part (Supplement), QQ. XXXIV to LXVIII, 1922, Third Part (Supplement), QQ. LXIX to LXXXVI, 1921, and Third Part (Supplement), QQ. LXXXVII to XCIX and Appendices, 1922; two curled pages of the 1921 volume are read from another scan of the same printing. Public domain in the USA. Printed in 1917, 1921, and 1922, before 1931. Outside the U.S., check local copyright rules. Transcription, OCR file checksums, and method: source record.