Note 821 — Chapter I · THE TREATMENT OF PENITENTS IN DIFFERENT SPIRITUAL CONDITIONS

Cf. Ballerini, Notæ ad Gury, II. n. 628, et Opus Theol. Moral. Tom. V. n. 167. Theologians do not agree in defining the occasio proxima. Departing from the above definition, some teach—and in this they are in accordance with St. Alphonsus—that, “to constitute the occasio proxima, it is not necessary that a person should, fere semper aut frequentius, sin in that occasion, but that it suffices if he often, frequenter, falls, as frequens lapsus in the past makes a fall in the future probable.” Aertnys, l. c. n. 302, Q. 1; Marc, l. c. n. 1820; Berardi, De occas. n. 13. The frequentia lapsuum is either relativa or absoluta. Relative frequency is reckoned according to the number of cases in which the person has been exposed to the occasion; so it would be, for instance, an occasio proximo if in twelve visits a person has sinned five or six times. Similarly, if a man should visit a woman only three or four times in two years, and generally sinned with her; or when the visit took place only once a year during three years and each time sin was committed. On the other hand, the frequency is absolute when the number of cases is, in itself, considerable; for instance, if two persons meet every Sunday, and sin ten or twelve times in the year. However, this stricter definition does not seem to be that of St. Alphonsus; at least he defines the occasio proximo in two passages of his works (Homo Apost. Tr. ult. n. 1, and Theol. Mor. Lib. VI. n. 452) as that in qua communiter ut plurimum deficiunt, while into one definition he also introduces the frequenter peccare in contrast to frequentius. According to Ballerini these conflicting passages may be reconciled with each other, and Lugo’s definition is, he says, the basis of the agreement: that constitutes an immediate occasion of which a man never, or scarcely ever, consideratis circumstantiis makes use without sinning. Lugo, De Pœnit. Disp. 14, n. 149. Cf. Vindic. Alph. n. 140, p. 942.