nce,_ does what he repents having
done, or intends to do again what he did before, or even commits
actually the same or another kind of sin. But if a man sin afterwards
either by act or intention, this does not destroy the fact that his
former penance was real, because the reality of a former act is never
destroyed by a subsequent contrary act: for even as he truly ran who
afterwards sits, so he truly repented who subsequently sins.

Reply Obj. 5: Baptism derives its power from Christ's Passion, as a
spiritual regeneration, with a spiritual death, of a previous life.
Now "it is appointed unto man once to die" (Heb. 9:27), and to be
born once, wherefore man should be baptized but once. On the other
hand, Penance derives its power from Christ's Passion, as a spiritual
medicine, which can be repeated frequently.

Reply Obj. 6: According to Augustine (De vera et falsa Poenitentia,
the authorship of which is unknown), "it is evident that sins
displease God exceedingly, for He is always ready to destroy them,
lest what He created should perish, and what He loved be lost," viz.
by despair.
_______________________

QUESTION 85

OF PENANCE AS A VIRTUE
(In Six Articles)

We must now consider penance as a virtue, under which head there are
six points of inquiry:

(1) Whether penance is a virtue?

(2) Whether it is a special virtue?

(3) To what species of virtue does it belong?

(4) Of its subject;

(5) Of its cause;

(6) Of its relation to the other virtues.
_______________________

FIRST ARTICLE [III, Q. 85, Art. 1]

Whether Penance Is a Virtue?

Objection 1: It would seem that penance is not a virtue. For penance
is a sacrament numbered among the other sacraments, as was shown
above (Q. 84, A. 1; Q. 65, A. 1). Now no other sacrament is a virtue.
Therefore neither is penance a virtue.

Obj. 2: Further, according to the Philosopher (Ethic. iv, 9), "shame
is not a virtue," both because it is a passion accompanied by a
bodily alteration, and because it is not the disposition of a perfect
thing, since it is about an evil act, so that it has no place in a
virtuous man. Now, in like manner, penance is a passion accompanied
by a bodily alteration, viz. tears, according to Gregory, who says
(Hom. xxxiv in Evang.) that "penance consists in deploring past
sins": moreover it is about evil deeds, viz. sins, which have no
place in a virtuous man. Therefore penance is not a virtue.

Obj. 3: Further, according to the P