A Brief History of the Seven Deadly Sins

At a recent meeting of our Catholic study group, one member said, “I heard a priest say that there was once an eighth deadly sin – sadness.” 

I just had to check this claim out, so I began an adventure in discovering the historical roots of the Church’s teaching on the seven deadly sins. I found that the seeds of this teaching were planted by the Desert Fathers, introduced to the western Church and then refined successively by three Doctors of the Church.

At the outset, though, let me say some words about “sadness”. The sadness discussed here can never mean grief or mourning in and of itself.  Our Lord wept on at least two occasions recorded in the Gospels:  at the tomb of Lazarus in John 11:35, Jesus “began to weep” upon seeing Mary and the Jews weeping over the death of Lazarus; and then again over the city of Jerusalem as Our Lord approached Jerusalem. He “wept over it” (Luke 19:41).  He also taught in the Sermon on the Mount,  “Blessed are those who mourn, for they shall be comforted.” (Matthew 5:4) 

The Seven Deadly Sins

Paragraph 1866 of the Catechism of the Catholic Church teaches that the seven deadly sins are: “pride, avarice, envy, wrath, lust, gluttony and sloth or acedia”. (Catechism of the Catholic Church: Complete and Updated 509).  Here they are, along with their Latin words and definitions from Bishop Athanasius Schneider’s catechism, “Credo.” (Schneider 158-163) (“Misericordia et Peccatum.”):

1. Pride (superbia) – An excessive love of ourselves, especially our own greatness or excellence.
2. Avarice (avaritia) – An excessive love of and attachment to earthly goods.
3. Envy (invidia) – A selfish sadness at the prosperity of others, sometimes united with a desire to destroy it.
4. Wrath (ira) – An excessive anger that wills evil toward someone out of desire for revenge, or an excessive reaction against something contrary to our will or desire.
5. Lust (luxuria) – The disordered desire for or enjoyment of sexual pleasure.
6. Gluttony (gula) – A disordered love of eating and drinking.
7. Sloth or Acedia (pirgitia seu acedia) – A kind of sorrow and weariness about or distaste for spiritual goods, tending to an inordinate love of rest and neglect of duties.

We are taught that these sins are called “capital” from the Latin “caput” (head) because they are the “head and source of all sins” and  “engender other sins, other vices”. (Schneider 158)( (Catechism of the Catholic Church: Complete and Updated, par. 1866)

The Desert Fathers and St. John Cassian

Evagrius Ponticus

Our story begins with Evagrius Ponticus (346 – 399 AD), who was a Christian monk and writer who lived in the Egyptian desert.  He wrote about prayer and asceticism and is considered to be a leader among the “Desert Fathers”.  (“Evagrius Ponticus | Desert Father, Asceticism, Monasticism”)

In his works, Evagrius sought to give guidance to other monks on the practice of asceticism and prayer.  Among his many contributions was the idea of eight thoughts (λογισμοι or “logísmoi”) ) that could destroy the life of a monk. (Wolf)  These ideas, which we find listed in his work on ascetical practice, “The Practikos” (Πρακτικῆς) and supported in his work, “Skemmata” (Σκέμματα) are:

1. Gluttony – (γαστριμαργία; gastrimargía);
2. Lust or Fornication – (πορνεία; porneía);
3. Avarice or Love of money – (φιλαργυρία; philarguría);
4. Dejection or Sadness – (λύπη; lúpe);
5. Anger – (ὀργή; orgé);
6. Despondency or Listlessness – (ἀκηδία; akedía);
7. Vainglory – (κενοδοξία; kenodoxía);
8. Pride – (ὑπερηφανία; huperephanía).

Evagrius says of these thoughts, “We cannot [control] whether these [thoughts] can agitate the soul or not; but whether they remain [in us] or not, and whether they move the passions or not – that we can [control].) 

As I mentioned, Evagrius was writing to monks about monasticism; the items on his list were not sins as much as they were tempting thoughts. The word he used for “sadness” was λύπη and means “pain of mind, or grief”.  Notice too that vainglory and pride are both on his list, but envy is not.

St. John Cassian

The man who introduced the Western church to the gifts offered by the monasticism of the eastern Desert Fathers was St. John Cassian (360-435 AD).  St. John was a monk and writer from Southern Gaul who became a monk in Bethlehem and then moved to the Egyptian desert. (Hassett)

St. John Cassian’s two most famous works about Eastern monasticism were De Institutis Coenobiorum (Schaff), and Conferences of the Desert Fathers (“Collationes partum”).  In the both, he writes about the “eight thoughts” that Evagrius warned of, calling them “principal faults”:

This fifth book of ours is now by the help of God to be produced. For after the four books which have been composed on the customs of the monasteries, we now propose, being strengthened by God through your prayers, to approach the struggle against the eight principal faults, i.e. first, Gluttony or the pleasures of the palate; secondly, Fornication; thirdly, Covetousness, which means Avarice, or, as it may more properly be called, the love of money, fourthly, Anger; fifthly, Dejection; sixthly, Accidie, which is heaviness or weariness of heart; seventhly, κενοδοξία (cenodoxia) which means foolish or vain glory; eighthly, pride. De Institutis Coenobiorum. Book V, Chapter 1 (Schaff)

The Latin phrases he uses in these works include “principalia vitia”  or “principal vices”; and “noxias passiones” or “harmful passions”.

The vices he lists do match the logísmoi of Evagrius, but he translates the vices into their Latin equivalents in the genitive singular:

1. Gluttony – Gastrimargiae or gulae concupiscentia.
2. Fornication – Fornicationis, the genitive singular of fornicātiō.
3. Avarice – Philargyriae or avaritia.
4. Wrath – Irae, the genitive singular of  ira.
5. Dejection or Sadness – Tristitae, the genitive singular of  tristitia.
6. Despondency or Listlessness – Acediae, the genitive singular of acedia.
7. Vainglory – Cenodoxiae or inanis gloria.
8. Pride – Superbiae, the genitive singular of  superbia. 

In chapter 1 of book IX of his “De Institutis Coenobiorum”, St. John Cassian provides insights into each of these vices, including sadness (tristitia).  Of that vice, he emphasises that it “keeps us back at all times from all insight”,  it “does not allow it [the mind] to say its prayers”, and it makes the mind “impatient and rough in all the duties of work and devotion”  (Schaff)  Keep this in mind as we move forward.

St. Gregory the Great

Pope St. Gregory I (“the Great”) is a Doctor of the Church who was born in Rome about the year 540 AD and was Pope from 590 AD until his death in 604 AD.

While on a diplomatic mission on behalf of the Pope to the Emperor Tiberius in around 579 AD, he wrote “Moralia, seu Expositio in Job”, also known as “Moralia in Job”, a commentary on the Book of Job. (Huddleston)  He said that he wrote this work at the request of and for some of the monks from his monastery  who followed him to Constantinople.

In Moralia, St. Gregory refines the eight vices or passions in St. John Cassian’s work to seven vices (“septem principalibus vitiis”).  From St. Odo of Cluny’s condensation of St. Gregory the Great’s “Moralia in Job” we read: 

Tentantia quippe vitia, quae invisibile contra nos praelium regnante super se superbia militant, alia more ducum praeeunt, alia more exercitus subsequuntur. Ipsa namque vitiorum regina superbia, cum devictum cor coeperit, mox illud septem principalibus vitiis, quasi quibusdam suis ducibus devastandum tradit; « initium, » quippe, « omnis peccati 133.0475B| superbia (Eccli. X, 15); » ex qua nimirum nascitur inanis gloria, invidia, ira, tristitia, avaritia, ventris ingluvies, luxuria; sed habent contra nos haec singula exercitum suum. Moralia in Job, Book XXXI, xlv. (St. Odo of Cluny)

For the tempting vices, which wage an invisible war against us while pride reigns over them, sometimes precede like captains, sometimes follow like armies. For pride itself, the queen of vices, when it has begun to conquer the heart, soon hands it over to the seven principal vices, as it were to some of its captains, to be devastated; “the beginning”, indeed, “of all sin is pride (Ecclesiasticus [Sirach] 10:15);” from which, indeed, arise vainglory, envy, anger, sadness, avarice, gluttony, lust; but each of these has its own army against us.

St. Gregory paints a word picture of a queen leading seven captains, each with an army, into a battle against the faithful.  The queen is Pride, and the captains are seven sins that each lead or bring forth an army of other sins.  St. Gregory also wrote that the seven gifts of the Holy Spirit counteract the seven deadly sins:

For, because He grieved that we were held captive by these seven sins of pride, therefore our Redeemer came to the spiritual battle of our liberation, full of the spirit of sevenfold grace. (St. Gregory the Great)

St. Gregory removed pride because it is “the beginning of all sin” (Ecclesiasticus [Sirach] 10:15) and adds envy (“invidia”).  

He replaced St. John Cassian’s “fornicatio” with “luxuria”.  While “luxuria” is somewhat broader in meaning than “fornicatio” and can mean  excess, prodigality, dissipation, or extravagance (Simpson 354)(Whitaker), it is clear from many other parts of St. Gregory’s Moralia in Job that he is referring to an inordinate desire for sexual pleasure.  

Lastly, he removed acedia (sloth), but he taught that among the sins it produces, tristitia (sadness) is the root of a certain slothfulness (“torpor”) about fulfilling the moral precepts (“torpor circa praecepta”).

This results in these seven sins and the sins that follow from them:

1. Vainglory (Inanis gloria), the root of disobedience, boasting, hypocrisy, contentions, obstinacies, discords, and the presumptions of novelties.
2. Envy (Invidia), the root of hatred, whispering, detraction, exultation at the misfortunes of a neighbour, and affliction at his prosperity.
3. Wrath (Ira), the root of strifes, swelling of mind, insults, clamour, indignation, blasphemies.
4. Sadness (Tristitia), the root of malice, rancor, cowardice, despair, slothfulness in fulfilling the commands, and a wandering of the mind on unlawful objects.
5. Avarice (Avaritia), the root of treachery, fraud, deceit, perjury, restlessness, violence, and hardness of heart against compassion.
6. Gluttony (ventris ingluvies), the root of foolish mirth, scurrility, uncleanness, babbling, dullness of sense in understanding.
7. Lust (Luxuria), the root of blindness of mind, inconsiderateness, inconstancy, precipitation, self-love, hatred of God, affection for this present world, but dread or despair of that which is to come.

St. Thomas Aquinas

St. Thomas Aquinas O.P. (~1225-1274) was declared a Doctor of the Church in 1567 by St. Pius V, the first Doctor designated after the patristic period. (Cessario).  St. Thomas lived only 49 years but wrote more than sixty works. In 1265 he began his most famous work, Summa Theologiae (“the Summa”), which was meant to be a manual of Christian doctrine for his students but in reality was a thorough exposition of Christian theology and philosophy. (Kennedy) 

St. Thomas’ treatment of the Seven Deadly (Capital) Sins in his Summa can be found in the First Part of the Second Part (Prima Secundæ Partis), Question 84, Article 4. (Aquinas) There he defends St. Gregory the Great’s portrayal of Pride as the Queen of Vices leading seven captains, the seven capital sins and their armies of sins.

His list of capital vices (“vitia capitalia”) are:

1. Vainglory – inanis gloria
2. Gluttony – gula
3. Lust – luxuria
4. Avarice – avaritia
5. Sloth – acedia
6. Envy – invidia
7. Wrath – ira

We can see that he removes sadness (tristitia) from St. Gregoriy’s list and adds sloth (acedia).  Remember that acedia was in the Desert Fathers’ list of eight tempting thoughts (“logísmoi”).  

Fundamental Rational

St. Thomas proposes some primary reasons (“primarias rationes”) for differentiating the capital vices.  

1. Man’s good is two-fold
   1. Good for the soul, and
   2. Good for the body, which is three-fold
      1. Good of the Individual
      2. Good of the Species 
      3. Good that is external to the body
2. Good moves the appetite to seek it while evil moves the appetite to avoid it
3. Man seeks an evil because of some good or avoid a good because of some attendant evil.
4. Pleasure and sorrow are the principal passions (“principalissimae passiones”) and must be accounted (“principaliter connumerantur”) for when considering the motivations for the capital vices. 

Sadness or sorrow is a passion stemming from a perceived lack of or loss of some good and it is one of the four principal passions:

“joy relates to present good, sadness relates to present evil; hope regards future good, and fear, future evil.” Summa Theologiae, First Part of the Second Part, Question 25, Article 4.

While we normally think of passions as emotions, the term’s definition is a bit broader than that.  A passion, as we mean it here, “stand[s] for those changes which take place in man when he becomes aware of things which are seen as good or bad for the life of the body.” (Sullivan 89)

By passions, according to the Catechism of the Catholic Church, man “intuits the good and suspects the evil”.  “As movements of the sensitive appetite, there is neither moral good nor evil. But insofar as they engage reason and will, there is moral good or evil in them. Emotions and feelings can be taken up in the virtues or perverted by the vices. ( CCC 1771-1774)

St. Thomas unpacks the “capitalia vitia” like this:

• Good of the soul
  •  Vainglory seeks the good of honor, praise, and renown
• Good of the body
  • Individual – Gluttony inordinately seeks the good of pleasure found in eating
  • Species – Lust inordinately seeks the good of the pleasure of sexual intercourse  
  • External good  – Covetuousness inordinately seeks the good of satiety that is provided by wealth
• With respect to one’s Spiritual good
  • Sloth, which is sadness about one’s spiritual good, on account of the attendant bodily labor: 
• With respect to another’s good
  • Envy which is sadness about another’s good as being a hindrance to one’s own excellence, but without rising up against the other(“insurrectione”), i.e. without blaming the other for the deprivation of some good for oneself
  • Wrath  which is a sadness about one’s deprivation of some good and rising up against the other, i.e.  blaming the other for the deprivation and inordinately seeking vengeance  

You might have noticed that St. Thomas’  list of seven deadly sins matches that of our own time, except in one regard:  where we expect to see “pride”, St. Thomas retains “vainglory.”  To see how that change occurred we will have to investigate the writing of another Doctor of the Church, St. Robert Bellarmine, S.J.

St. Robert Bellarmine, S.J.

St. Robert Bellarmine, S.J. was a Jesuit and Cardinal born in 1542.  St. Robert, the patron saint of catechists, was canonized by Pope Pius XI in 1930, and declared a Doctor of the Church in 1931.  (Smith)

St. Robert wrote his catechism, “Doctrina Christiana Catechismus, seu Explicatio Fidei Christianae”, at the command of Pope Clement VIII, and it was approved by him in 1598. (Bellarmine S. J. loc 183)  It was written for teachers (Bellarmine S. J. loc 171), unlike the Roman Catechism, issued by the order of Pope Pius V in 1566 A.D., which was written for parish priests. (Catechism of the Council of Trent xxxi)  Prior to the 20th century this catechism had about 400 editions and had been translated in 60 languages. It was a favorite catechetical tool for the missionaries in the past. (Bellarmine S. J. loc 143)

Unlike the Roman Catechism that preceded it St. Robert includes a discussion about the “peccata capitalia” in his catechism, and it is here that he replaces vana gloria with superbia (pride). 

 Sunt hæc nimirum : Superbia, aut ut alii dicunt, vana gloria , avaritia , luxuria , invidia , gula , ira , acedia. (Bellarmino 187)

There are seven of these, pride, or as other say, vainglory, avarice, lust, envy, gluttony, wrath and sloth.  (Bellarmine S. J. 225)

Pride is a sin because a man reckons that he is more than he really is, thus, he wishes to be put ahead of others and cannot suffer one to be higher than him or equal to him. The sins which it produces are to boast of oneself, vainglory, to contend with others, likewise discord, disobedience and similar things. (Bellarmine 226)

Here is St. Robert’s list of capital sins, along with his descriptions of each:

1. Pride or Vain Glory (superbia) – “a man reckons that he is more than he really is”
2. Avarice (avaritia) – “a disordered passion for riches”
3. Lust (luxuria) – “a disordered passion for carnal desires and delights”
4. Envy (invidia) – “[when] the good of another man displeases him since it seems the other man has a greater excellence than he”
5. Gluttony (gula) – “a disordered appetite for food and drink.”
6. Wrath (ira) – “a disordered desire for vengeance”
7. Sloth (acedia) – “comes from a Greek word (acedia) and has the sense of weariness and contempt, and so it is a capital sin when one tires of any good work and is moved by contempt.”

Conclusion

The Church’s teaching on the Seven Deadly (Capital) Sins was planted by the Desert Fathers, introduced to the western Church, and then refined successively by three Doctors of the Church.  With the help of St. John Cassian, the “λογισμοι” (logísmoi)” of the Desert Fathers was changed into the “principalia vitia” of St. Gregory the Great, the “capitalia vitia” of St. Thomas Aquinas, and the “peccata capitalia” of St. Robert Bellarmine.   The history of the Seven Deadly Sins shows an authentic, organic development of teaching.  What was once meant exclusively to be applied to monastic living became a deep insight into the nature of sin for all Christians. 

Works Cited

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