Note 945 — Chapter II · THE TREATMENT OF PENITENTS IN DIFFERENT EXTERNAL CIRCUMSTANCES

Aertnys writes upon this point (Instr. pract. cp. 2, art. 1, n. 127): Actiones inhonestæ puerorum, qui luxuriæ adhuc ignari sunt, plerumque non sunt habendæ ut peccata mortalia; quia vel commotionem veneream non habuerunt vel hujus malitiam nondum apprehendunt. And St. Alphonsus teaches (Vera Sponsa, cp. 18, § 1, n. 14): Sunt quædam actiones naturales, quas manifestare puderet, attamen declarare propterea non tenemur. Sic. e. c. si quis commiserit in pueritia levitates aut jocos indecentes, quorum malitiam ignorabat, non tenetur ea confiteri. Neque ex eo, quod actio secreto facta fuerit, concludere licet conscium quem fuisse ejusdem malitiæ; quasdam namque faciunt pueri actiones naturales secreto, quamvis non sint peccata. But there are children, and in towns especially not a few of them, who are early corrupted, and in whom wickedness and impure knowledge are in advance of their age, with reference to whom it must, alas! be said: Tantillus puer et tantus peccator! Cf. Aertnys, l. c.