Vice
VICE
A fault; the opposite to virtue.
Fuente: Theological Dictionary
Vice
(Lat. vitium, any sort of defect) is here regarded as a habit inclining one to sin. It is the product of repeated sinful acts of a given kind and when formed is in some sense also their cause. Its specific characterization in any instance must be gathered from the opposition it implies to a particular virtue. It is manifest that its employment to designate the individual wicked act is entirely improper. They differ as the habit of doing something is distinguished from the act of that thing. Hence a man may have vices and yet be at times guilty of no sin, and conversely the commission of isolated sins does not make him vicious. Such guilt as he may have contracted in any case is charged directly to the sinful act, not to the vice. Hence the teaching of St. Thomas Aquinas that, absolutely speaking, the sin surpasses the vice in wickedness. Even though the sin be removed by God the vice, if there was one, may still remain, just as failure to act in any direction does not necessarily and straightway destroy the habit which perchance existed. The habit of sinful indulgence of any sort is to be extirpated by unrelenting vigilance and the performance of contrary acts over a space more or less protracted according as the vice was more or less inveterate. Obviously this applies to vices antagonistic to acquired virtues, for so far as the infused virtues are concerned they can be recovered only, as they were originally obtained, through the gratuitous bounty of God. It is interesting to note that according to St. Thomas after one has been rehabilitated, in the state of grace and has received, let us say, the infused virtue of temperance, the vice of intemperance does not continue formally as a habit but only as a sort of disposition and as something which is in process of destruction. (in via corruptionis).
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JOSEPH F. DELANY Transcribed by Rick McCarty
The Catholic Encyclopedia, Volume XVCopyright © 1912 by Robert Appleton CompanyOnline Edition Copyright © 2003 by K. KnightNihil Obstat, October 1, 1912. Remy Lafort, S.T.D., CensorImprimatur. +John Cardinal Farley, Archbishop of New York
Fuente: Catholic Encyclopedia
Vice
is a chronic and habitual transgression of the moral law, as distinguished from those transgressions which result from momentary temptation. It is a phase of sin (q.v.), and the remarks there made are applicable here. Vice, like every other habit, is the product of repeated acts, and, as the vicious habit strengthens, the mind of its victim becomes less and less conscious of the evil of which it is the slave, until sin is committed almost without knowing it. The hatefulness of vice both to God and man is shown in the whole of God’s moral government in the world. Even in this world vice is foredoomed by the unmistakable judgment of God, and the human agents of the sentence, although they be themselves under similar condemnation, allow the law to be just. Exalted virtue secures the admiration of even the worthless, and vice, when punished, is as universally acknowledged by both good and bad to have met with its deserts. Societies for the suppression of vice have been organized in different countries, and meet with universal approval. Their object is to co-operate with the properly constituted legal authorities in preventing and suppressing the various vices which are prevalent and most flagrant.
The greater hopelessness of vice than mere sin very clearly bespeaks the wrath of God. The evil consequences of youthful folly may be lightly thought of for a time, but they remain as a root of bitterness to mar the peacefulness of more mature years. Even an imprudent choice of vicious companions will often meet with the same severe retribution as a course of downright vicious action. It has been decreed that vice, and everything that directly or indirectly belongs to it, should not go unpunished; and its escape from condemnation, so far as its own nature is concerned, is utterly hopeless. The Scriptures are very positive in their denunciations of vice (see Heb 2:1-3; Heb 3:7-19; Heb 4:1-13; Heb 6:4; Heb 6:6; Rom 1:29-32).