Bellarmine: venials are beside the law—imperfect will or imperfect lex

Bellarmine: surprise-venials lack perfect voluntariness, so they are not perfectly against law except materially.

Fully willed minor precepts (idle words) are not ‘law’ in rigor, since charity barely measures them.

Latin

XXVII. Bellarminus vero contendit recte dici peccata venialia, cujuscunque tandem generis sint, non esse contra legem, sed praeter legem: quia si sunt contra praeceptum aliquod legis proprie dictae, ut peccata venialia, quae dicuntur ex subreptione, quale est desiderium rei illicitæ non plane deliberatum, non sunt perfecte voluntaria: adeoque hoc ipso non sunt perfecte contra legem, nisi materialiter, quia lex proprie voluntati tantum nostrae ponitur. Vel si perfecte voluntaria sunt, praeceptum quod transgrediuntur non est perfecte & in rigore lex. Nam, inquit, cum finis praecepti sit charitas, & ex fine mensurentur praecepta, si quod praeceptum constituatur de re, quae parum admodum ad eum finem pertineat, ut si speciali praecepto caveatur, ne quis verbum otiosum loquatur; id praeceptum non poterit esse perfecte & in rigore, & ut alii ajunt, antonomastice lex. De Amiss. Grat. & statu Pecc. lib. 1. cap. 11. sub finem.

About this text

Louis Le Blanc de Beaulieu - Sedan Theological Theses, newly rendered from the 1675 London Latin. Covers De Theologia through Angelorum & Hominum Sanctorum Cultu Romana I-LXXVII and Pars Secunda (Reformata) I-XL. Not the collected folio.

English follows locked Pitt Latin through Imaginum CLOSED + Sanctorum Cultu Romana CLOSED + Pars Secunda Reformata I-XL. 1675 PDF ~384-390 (book ~370-376); Vision OCR + pdftotext + tess. No modern English. This slice densifies Sanctorum Pars Secunda I-XL. Next: Pars Secunda XLI–fin (~CI). Claim stays claimed (book densify not done).

Catalogue & scope

ESTC R17887; Wing L802. IA bub_gb_eOkHAW4G0-wC (+ EEBO 1675 for gap leaves). Densify through Sanctorum Cultu Romana I-LXXVII + Pars Secunda Reformata I-XL (Pars Secunda not closed; not whole folio).

Witnesses

Copy-text Locked Latin, De Theologia I-XLIII (Pitt 1675) (Latin)
Checked print Internet Archive PDF of the 1675 Pitt folio (Latin)
Checked print pdftotext of De Theologia pages (Latin)
Checked print Internet Archive DjVu OCR of the 1675 Pitt folio (Latin)
Copy-text Locked Latin, De Fide I-XXII (Pitt 1675) (Latin)
Copy-text Locked Latin, De Authoritate Scripturae Pars I I-XLVII + Pars II I-XXXV + Pars III I-VIII (Pitt 1675) (Latin)
Copy-text Locked Latin, De Scripturae plenitudine densify (Pitt 1675) (Latin)

This is an AI-assisted study translation. Source fidelity and completeness have not been independently certified. Open Latin on each section (or the Latin source witness link) for the source text. This is not a complete critical edition.