ife which is ruled by man's free-will. But the
passage from this life to another and happier one is subject not to
man's free-will but to the power of God. Hence it is not lawful for
man to take his own life that he may pass to a happier life, nor that
he may escape any unhappiness whatsoever of the present life, because
the ultimate and most fearsome evil of this life is death, as the
Philosopher states (Ethic. iii, 6). Therefore to bring death upon
oneself in order to escape the other afflictions of this life, is to
adopt a greater evil in order to avoid a lesser. In like manner it is
unlawful to take one's own life on account of one's having committed
a sin, both because by so doing one does oneself a very great injury,
by depriving oneself of the time needful for repentance, and because
it is not lawful to slay an evildoer except by the sentence of the
public authority. Again it is unlawful for a woman to kill herself
lest she be violated, because she ought not to commit on herself the
very great sin of suicide, to avoid the lesser sin of another. For
she commits no sin in being violated by force, provided she does not
consent, since "without consent of the mind there is no stain on the
body," as the Blessed Lucy declared. Now it is evident that
fornication and adultery are less grievous sins than taking a man's,
especially one's own, life: since the latter is most grievous,
because one injures oneself, to whom one owes the greatest love.
Moreover it is most dangerous since no time is left wherein to
expiate it by repentance. Again it is not lawful for anyone to take
his own life for fear he should consent to sin, because "evil must
not be done that good may come" (Rom. 3:8) or that evil may be
avoided especially if the evil be of small account and an uncertain
event, for it is uncertain whether one will at some future time
consent to a sin, since God is able to deliver man from sin under any
temptation whatever.

Reply Obj. 4: As Augustine says (De Civ. Dei i, 21), "not even Samson
is to be excused that he crushed himself together with his enemies
under the ruins of the house, except the Holy Ghost, Who had wrought
many wonders through him, had secretly commanded him to do this." He
assigns the same reason in the case of certain holy women, who at the
time of persecution took their own lives, and who are commemorated by
the Church.

Reply Obj. 5: It belongs to fortitude that a man does not shrink from
being slai