Capitals sins

The seven deadly sins, also known as the cardinal sins or vicious capitals, is a grouping and categorization of human faults that, In addition to being contrary to Christian teachings based on the chosen object, the aim sought or the intention and the circumstances of the action or omission, they are committed repeatedly, repetitively or habitually, obscuring the conscience and distorting the concrete assessment of human acts (according to the Catechism of the Catholic Church, 1865, 1866 and 1750).

They are: anger, gluttony, pride, lust, laziness, greed and envy.

The term “capital” (from caput, capitis, "head", in Latin) does not refer to the magnitude of the sin but to which gives rise to many other sins, according to St. Thomas Aquinas (II-II:153:4).

A vice capital is the one who has an overly desirable end, so that in his desire, a man commits many sins, all of which are said to be originated in that vice as his principal source. [...] The sins or vice capitals are those to which human nature is primarily inclined.

Thomas Aquinas

The vices can be catalogued according to the virtues to which they oppose, or may also be referred to the capital sins that the Christian experience has distinguished following St.John Casiano and St. Gregory the Great (Mor31, 45). They are called capital because they generate other sins, other vices. They are pride, greed, envy, anger, lust, gull, laziness.

Catechism of the Catholic ChurchNo. 1866,
Article 8, “Sin” (V: The proliferation of sin).

At the beginning of Christianity, all religious writers—Cyprian of Carthage, John Cassian, Columban of Luxeuil, Alcuin of York—listed eight deadly sins. The number seven was given by Pope Gregory the Great and was maintained by most of the theologians of the Middle Ages.

An allegorical image that represents the human heart subject to the seven deadly sins, each one represented by an animal (in the sense of the needles of the watch: sap = greed; snake = envy; lion = anger; snail = laziness; swine = gall; goat = lust; peacock = pride).

Origins and evolution

The Catholic Church used the framework of the deadly sins to help people curb their evil inclinations before they could fester and generally involves these special characters:

• Interaction between flesh, passion in worldly pleasures and demon
• Concupiscence
• Sin
• The vice

Regarding human sexual behavior, early Christianity misrepresented Judaism's view of sexuality. Unlike Christianity, in Judaism there is no shame for the body and sexual activity whose purpose is not procreation is allowed. Sexual relations with people of another religion are not allowed because to have them you have to be married. Although if a Jewish woman marries a Gentile (non-Jewish) man, her children remain Jewish due to the law of the womb. Judaism forbids sexual relations with persons outside of marriage and upholds the letter of Biblical scripture in relation to marriage, including the observance of niddah (prohibition of sexual relations in a period that includes menstruation).). David's reproach when he falls in love with Bathsheba and causes the death in battle of her husband, Uriah (II Samuel, 1-27), is based on the fact that he put her sexual desire above the humanity of another. Only incest and sodomy are considered grave sins^{[citation needed]}.

In medieval Christianity, the devil allows the association between "original sin" and sexual desire based on the story of the Nephilim, "sons of God" who left their posts in Heaven to mate with women on Earth before the flood (Genesis 6:1-4). Instead, demonology never became an essential feature of Jewish theology.

The Christian ideal of celibacy and virginity that appear in chapters VI and VII of the First Epistle to the Corinthians is totally foreign to Judaism. From the definition of the flesh, the world and the devil as enemies of the soul, one speaks of "worldly passion" or "excitation of the concupiscible sensitive appetite" which is characterized by a pleasurable enjoyment of the senses without a spiritual, purely physical (such as excessive drinking), psychic (such as sexual fantasy) or social (such as vulgarism) purpose.

The Church Fathers focused especially on pride, considered the sin that separates the soul from "sanctifying grace" and that it is the very essence of evil, as well as covetousness, with these two sins underlying all other sins. The seven deadly sins were discussed in treatises and depicted in paintings and sculpture decorations in Catholic churches, as well as in countless handwritten scrolls and codices given as teaching.

Greco-Roman Background

The seven deadly sins, as we know them, had pre-Christian Greek and Roman precedents. The Nicomachean Ethics defines virtues as the middle ground between two extremes, each of which is a vice. Courage, for example, is virtue in a situation of fear and danger; the excess of courage is recklessness, while the absence of courage is cowardice. Apart from courage, Aristotle distinguishes virtues such as temperance (self-control), generosity, greatness of soul (magnanimity), measured anger, friendship, and wit or charm.

Already in the Roman world, the Latin poet Horace in his Odes coined the term "Aurea mediocritas" to allude to the desire to behave according to a midpoint between the extremes (Ode I, 28; Ode II, 10); or an ideal state away from any excess (hybris) through the fair measure of the opposite terms (concordia oppositorum). The first epistles of him say that & # 34; fleeing from vice is the beginning of virtue, and getting rid of foolishness is the beginning of wisdom & # 34; . He also writes about the passage of time and otium (leisure): & # 34; Leisure is a perverse siren from which we must flee & # 34; .

Apatheia and the evil thoughts of the desert fathers

The identification and definition of the deadly sins throughout its history has been a fluid process and—as is common with many aspects of religion—the idea of what each of these sins entails has evolved over time. Contributing to these variations is the fact that they are not referred to in a coherent or codified way in the Bible and therefore other traditional works (literary or ecclesiastical) have been consulted to get precise definitions of the deadly sins

It is known that the African bishop Cyprian of Carthage (d. 258) ―in book IV of his work De Mortalitate («On Mortality»)― wrote about eight main sins, in the context of the social disorder caused by a pandemic that afflicted the Roman Empire in the third quarter of the III century.

However, the first theoretical elaboration comes from one of the so-called Desert Fathers in the IV century: Evagrius Ponticus. This hermit, inspired by the exegete Origen, wrote in Koine On the Eight Evil Vices, a list of eight evil vices or thoughts ("logismoi"). sources of every word, thought or improper act, against which his fellow monks had to guard especially and in contrast to the "logion", said wise and edifying.

Evagrio postulates the need for "praktiké" (whose closest meaning would be "active life") as a necessary initial activity to purify the passions of the soul through "ascesis" (dominating the body to illuminate the soul), seeking interior silencing ("hesyquia") through "sunesis" (merging in God to achieve understanding) and finding "epignosis" (to have an intimate relationship with the source of that accurate and correct knowledge) for the purpose of achieving "apatheia" (the state of spiritual fullness). For this, an original virtue stands out: the "enkrateia", whose Greek meaning ("self-control, control over oneself") is broader than the Latin words "temperantia" (temperance) and "continentia" (continence). For this reason, his writing about vices begins by saying: & # 34; The origin of the fruit is the flower and the origin of active life is control over oneself & # 34; .

As for the vices that distract thought, the engine of Evagrio's reflections is the Christian notion of concupiscence. This is characterized as the inclination to commit sin, whose biblical source is the Letter of James, chapter 1, from verse 13 to 15, and which predominates in the natural world (II Peter, 1:4). He grouped the eight vices into two categories:

• Three vices to the desire for possession:
  • Gastrimargia↓, refers to the effects of the gull and drunkenness in the belly.
  • Porneia (Русский"love the flesh"
  • Philarguriaδιλαργυρία, philarguria, "love towards money").
• Four angry vices, which – unlike the concupiscibles – are not desires but lacks, deprivations or frustrations:
  • orgè ( ργ, irreflexive anger, cruelty, violence.
  • Lúpê (Lúpê)σπιι ̧ ̧ ̧ ̧ ̧ ̧ ̧ ̧ ̧ ̧ ̧ ̧ ̧ ̧ ̧ ̧ ̧ ̧ ̧ ̧ ̧ ̧ ̧ ̧ ̧ ̧ ̧ ̧ ̧ ̧ ̧ ̧ ̧ ̧ ̧ ̧ ̧ ̧ ̧ ̧ ̧ ̧ ̧ ̧ ̧ ̧ ̧ ̧ ̧ ̧ ̧ ̧ ̧ Λ ̧ ̧ ̧ ̧ ̧ ̧ ̧ ̧ ̧ ̧ ̧ ̧ ̧ ̧ ̧ Λ ̧ ̧ ̧ ̧ ̧ ̧ ̧ ̧ ̧ ̧ ̧ ̧ ̧ ̧ ̧ ̧ ̧ ̧ ̧ ̧ ̧ ̧ ̧ ̧ ̧ ̧ ̧ ̧ ̧ ̧ ̧ ̧ ̧ ̧ ̧ ̧ ̧ ̧ ̧ ̧ ̧ ̧ ̧ ̧ ̧ ̧ ̧ ̧ ̧ ̧ ̧ ̧ ̧ ̧ ̧ , sadness, heartbreak. In Philokalia it is translated as envy, sadness for the good fortune of another.
  • Acedia (Acedia) κηδίαlack of interest, neglect, despair. In Philokalia it is translated as debating.
  • KenodoxiaΚενοδο., vanagloria, boasting.
  • Uperèphania περηφανίαpride, pride. Sometimes translated as exaggerated self-esteem, arrogance or grandeur.

For the anchorite, the excess in the consumption of drinks and food is the origin of the passions or the excessive desire towards a sensitive good: "a lot of firewood encourages a great flame and an abundance of food nourishes concupiscence". Evagrio did not use the Latin notion of "gula", but the Greek word "gastrimargia", which literally translates as "madness of the belly". The indigestion caused by overeating is the seed of bad thoughts that lead to sin, and thus postulates an idea about what today could be called a poor sleep hygiene: "An indigent belly prepares for a vigilant prayer, on the contrary, a well-filled belly invites a long sleep. A sober mind is achieved by a very meager diet, while a life full of delicacies casts the mind into the abyss".

As for the treatment of lust ("porneia"), the hermits were obsessed with the body ("flesh"), sex and demonology Certainly, monasticism was based on disciplining the body against sex and against the devil. The desert was identified as a place where there were no women and thus the "desert fathers" were born. However, the demonic temptation was supplied with fantasy based on Egyptian myths and legends. Indeed, "the Egyptian" It is the name that the fathers of the desert gave to a cruel and ruthless demon in the forms of temptation and to which Evagrius refers in a passage of his treatise ("If you kill an Egyptian, hide him under the sand& #34;).

Sadness is described as a feeling of depression or unhappiness in response to grief, discouragement, or disappointment. Evagrio says: "The monk affected by sadness does not know spiritual pleasure: sadness is a despondency of the soul and is formed from thoughts of anger. The desire for revenge, in fact, is typical of anger, the failure of revenge generates sadness (...)".

Acedia describes the monk without motivation to do things and is a breaking point in man's spiritual relationship with God. Sometimes it is described as carelessness, spiritual detachment or lack of commitment to tasks, other times it is anxiety or lack of concentration on the job. Evagrio says:

"The gyrovago monk, as a dry breeze of loneliness, is unsettled and unintentionally suspended here and there every certain time.

A transplanted tree does not fructify and the vagabond monk does not bear the fruit of virtue. The sick person is not satisfied with a single food and the avid monk is not of a single occupation [...]

The eye of the graceful is fixed on the windows continually and his mind imagines visits coming: the door rotates and the door jumps out, hears a voice and appears out the window and does not move away from there until, sitting, it numbs.

When he reads, the gracious yawns a lot, he lets himself easily be carried by sleep, he cools his eyes, stretches and, taking the look of the book, fixes it on the wall and, again read a little, repeating the end of the word he tires uselessly, he tells the pages, calculates the paragraphs, despises the letters and the ornaments and finally, closing the book, puts it under the head, and falls into a little sleep.

The gracious monk is lazy for prayer and will certainly never utter the words of prayer; as the sick man indeed never bears an excessive weight, so also the gracious one will surely not take care of the duties toward God: one in fact lacks physical strength, the other misses the vigor of the soul.

Patience, doing everything with great constancy and the fear of God cure acedy.

They gave for yourself a just measure in every activity and not desists before they had finished it, and prays wisely and with strength and the spirit of acedy will flee from you."

Cap. XIII to XIV

Boasting or vainglory ("kenodoxia", in Greek) is speaking with excessive pride and self-satisfaction about one's accomplishments, possessions, or abilities. Kenodoxos or kenodoxia is a Pauline term composed of kenos ("empty, vain") and doxa ("opinion"). The best understanding of its meaning is from the contrast between humility or submission with a desire for praise - the desire for fame in modern times - that appears in Galatians 5:26 and Philippians 2:3. This is how Evagrio understands it when he says: & # 34; (...) fasting, vigil or prayer will be useless, because it is public approval that excites zeal. Do not put your efforts for sale in exchange for fame, nor give up future glory to be acclaimed. Indeed, human glory dwells on earth and its fame is extinguished on earth, while the glory of virtues remains forever".

Pride ("hiperēphania" in Greek) refers to a foolish and unreasonably corrupted sense of one's personal worth, position, or accomplishments. Evagrio says:

God's apostate is sick of pride when he bestows upon his own abilities the things well accomplished.

Like the one who climbs on a web is precipitated, so falls the one who leans on his own abilities [... ]

Behold your nature because you are earth and ashes and you will soon return to dust, now proud and within little worm.

Why do you lift your head that will wither in a little while?"

Cap. XVII to XVIII

The Seven Deadly Sins

In the V century, the priest and hermit John Cassian (probably a disciple of Evagrius in Nitria) with his work De institutis coenobiorum (V, coll. 5, «de octo principalibus vitiis»)― introduced the teachings of Ponticus into Europe, translated into Latin, and set out the obligations of the monk and the vices against which he must to be alert. His work was fundamental for Catholic confessional practices as documented in penitential manuals and stories collected in medieval literature, as it emerges from reading the "Parish Tale" recounted By Geoffrey Chaucer in The Canterbury Tales of the late XIVth century.

Unlike Evagrio, Casiano exposes his Institutions for monastic life in community (the cenobites) and considers that anacoresis is only possible in those souls already purified of vices.

• Gastrimargy: that Casiano left in Greek because he did not find a word settled in Latin that would mean simultaneously gula and ebriedad.
• Porneia: uses the Latin voice "fornicatio" (fornication).
• Philargyria: "philarguria"
• Lúpê: uses the Latin voice "tristitia" (tristeza).
• Orgucci: Use the Latin voice anger
• Akêdía: uses the Latinized voice Acedia
• Kenodoxía: cenodoxia
• Huperêphanía: uses the Latin voice "superbia" (soberbia).

"Bad thoughts" They were classified into three types:

• lustrous appetite (glotony, fornication and greed)
• anger (ira)
• corruption of the mind (vanagloria, sadness, pride and acedia)

Columbanus of Lexehuil (540-615) ―in his Instructio de octo vitiis principalibus in Bibl. max. vet. patron. (XII, 23)― and Alcuin of York (735-804) ―in his De virtut. et vitiis, (XXVII and following)― continued the idea of eight deadly sins.

Seven Deadly Sins

On February 7, 590, the Justinian plague killed Pelagius II, making Gregory I the first monk to become the papacy. From this position he concludes his pastoral comments on the Book of Job in his Moralia, sive Expositio in Job. In it, he reviewed the works of Evagrio and Casiano about the deadly sins ( Moralia , XXXI, XVII) and reworked that category, reducing the number of behavioral vices to seven.

• lust
• anger
• pride
• envy
• greed
• laziness
• Gula

San Buenaventura de Fidanza (1218-1274) listed them.

Saint Thomas Aquinas (1225-1274) respected that same list, with another order:

• vanagloria (sovereign).
• greed
• glutony
• lust
• laziness
• envy
• anger

The poet Dante Alighieri (1265-1321) used the same order of Pope Gregory the Great in "Purgatorio", the second part of the poem The Divine Comedy (c. 1308-1321). The theology of The Divine Comedy has been almost the best known source since the Renaissance (15th centuries centuries). and XVI).

Many interpretations and later versions, especially conservative derivations of Protestantism and the Pentecostal Christian movement, have postulated fearsome consequences for those who commit these sins such as eternal torment in hell, instead of possible absolution through penance in hell. purgatory.

The Deadly Sins

Pride

Everything is vanity by Charles Allan Gilbert

In almost all lists of sins, pride (in Latin, superbia) is considered the original and most serious of the deadly sins, and in fact, it is the main source from which the others are derived. It is identified as a desire to be more important or attractive than others, failing to flatter others. It is identified as a dangerously corrupt egoism, putting one's own desires, impulses, desires and whims before the well-being of other people.

In even more destructive cases, it is the irrational belief that one is essentially and necessarily better, superior, or more important than others, failure to recognize the achievements of others, and excessive admiration of one's self or personal image (especially forgetting the own lack of divinity and refusing to recognize their own limits, faults or errors as a human being).

Jonathan Edwards said "Remember that pride is the worst viper that can be in the heart, the greatest disturber of the peace of the soul and of the sweet communion with Christ. It was the first sin and it is in the foundation of the house of Satan. It is the most difficult sin to uproot since it is the sin that is best hidden. Very often and unconsciously he enters religion under the guise of false humility."

Generically, it is defined as the overvaluation of the Self with respect to others for overcoming, reaching or superimposing an obstacle, situation or in reaching a high status and underestimating the context. Pride can also be defined as the belief that everything one does or says is superior, and that one is capable of surpassing everything others say or do. Pride can also be taken as exclusive confidence in vain and empty things (vanity) and in the opinion of oneself exalted to a critical and excessive level (arrogance).

Pride (from the Latin superbia) and pride (from the French orgueil), are properly synonymous even when colloquially they are attributed particular connotations whose nuances differentiate them. Other synonyms are: haughtiness, arrogance, vanity, etc. As antonyms we have: humility, modesty, simplicity, etc. The main nuance that distinguishes them is that pride is hidden, and even appreciated, when it arises from noble causes or virtues, while pride is specified with the desire to be preferred to others, based on the satisfaction of one's own vanity, of the Self or ego. For example, a Pride person would never "lower" to ask for forgiveness, or help, etc.

There are many types of pride, such as vainglory or cenodoxy, also known in Bible translations as vanity, which consists of the conceit of boasting of material or spiritual goods that one possesses or believes one possesses, wishing to be seen, considered, admired, esteemed, honored, praised and even flattered by other men, when the consideration and glory sought are exclusively human. The cenodoxia also engenders other sins, such as the love of money (greed) and the love of power.

Anger

Ira por Tacuinum sanitatis

Anger (in Latin, anger) can be described as an unordered, uncontrolled emotion of hate and anger. These emotions can manifest as a vehement denial of the truth both towards others and towards oneself; a desire for revenge that causes impatience with legal proceedings and can lead to skipping them, leading the person to take the law into their own hands; fanaticism in political and religious beliefs, generally wishing to do harm to others. A modern definition would also include hatred and intolerance towards others based on race or religion, leading to discrimination. Among the transgressions derived from anger are some of the most serious, such as murder and genocide.

Anger is the only sin that is not necessarily related to selfishness or self-interest (although one can have anger out of selfishness).

Dante describes anger as “love for justice perverted to revenge and resentment”.

Greed

Avaricia by Pieter Brueghel

Greed (in Latin, avaritia) is —like lust and gluttony—, a sin of excess. The particularity of greed (seen by the Church) is that it is characterized by the vehement desire to acquire wealth and goods in quantities greater than what is necessary to satisfy one's own needs, understanding by needs all those that seek the integral development of the person.

Saint Thomas Aquinas affirmed that avarice is "a sin against God, like all mortal sins, in which man condemns eternal things for temporal things".

In Dante's Purgatory the penitents were forced to kneel on a stone and recite the examples of greed and its opposite virtues.

Many other examples of sins derive from greed, such as: disloyalty and deliberate betrayal, especially for personal gain as in the case of someone who bribes or allows themselves to be bribed; robbery and assault, especially with violence; lie and deceit; simony; etc.

Envy

Envidia por Jacques Callot

Like greed, envy (Latin for invidia) is characterized by an insatiable desire. But there are two big differences between one and the other. The first difference is that greed is exclusively associated with material goods, while the field of envy is more general, including intangible goods such as the qualities that another person has, etc. The second difference is that the sin of envy has a strong personal connotation: one vehemently desires a good that a particular and concrete person has. The vehement desire is accompanied by the acute and painful perception that one lacks the good that that person possesses, perceiving that situation as unfair or undue according to one's own narrow and egocentric vision, and therefore wishing evil for that person, and feeling satisfaction. if something bad happens to you.

Envy goes so thin and yellow because it bites and does not eat

Francisco de Quevedo

Dante Alighieri defines envy as «love for one's own goods perverted to the desire to deprive others of theirs». In the Divine Comedy the punishment for the envious is to have their eyes sewn up with iron wires, as a consequence of having taken pleasure in seeing others fall.

The first person to be envious according to the biblical story was Cain, who felt such deeply disturbing envy towards his brother Abel that it led him to murder him. Probably his envy was mixed with pride, a cardinal sin that has a more active character than envy.

Lust

The garden of the delights of Hieronymus Bosch.

Lust (in Latin, luxuria, 'abundance', 'exuberance') is usually considered as the sin produced by excessive thoughts of a sexual nature, or a disordered and uncontrollable sexual desire.

Today, sexual compulsion or addiction to sexual relations is considered lust. Adultery and rape also fall into this category.

Throughout history, various religions have condemned or discouraged lust to a greater or lesser extent.

Dante Alighieri considered lust to be love for any person, which would put God in second place. According to another author^{[citation needed]} lust is possessive thoughts about another person.

On the other hand, the Dictionary of the Royal Spanish Academy (DRAE, XXII edition, 2012) defines the meaning and appropriate use of the word «lust» of two ways: As a "Vice consisting of the illicit use or disorderly appetite of carnal delights." Or as the "Excess or excess in some things."

Gluttony

Gula for Pieter Brueghel.

Gluttony (in Latin, gluttony) is currently identified with gluttony, the excessive consumption of food and drink. Instead in the past any form of excess could fall under the definition of this sin. Marked by irrational or unnecessary overconsumption, gluttony also includes certain forms of destructive behavior. In this way substance abuse or drunkenness can be seen as examples of gluttony. In Alighieri's The Divine Comedy, penitents in Purgatory were forced to stand between two trees, unable to reach and eat the fruits that hung from the branches and were consequently described as starving people.. It is a vice of disordered desire.

Sloth

Laziness for Jacob Matham

Mere «laziness», even more «leisure», does not seem to constitute a fault. For this reason, we have preferred the concept of «acidia» or «acedia». Taken in its own sense, it is a "sadness of mind" that separates the believer from spiritual or divine obligations, because of the obstacles and difficulties that are found in them. Under the name of spiritual and divine things is understood everything that God prescribes for us to achieve eternal health (salvation), such as the practice of Christian virtues, the observance of divine precepts, the duties of each one, the exercises of piety and religion. To conceive sadness for such things, to harbor voluntarily, in the heart, reluctance, aversion and disgust for them, is a cardinal sin. Taken in a strict sense, it is a mortal sin insofar as it is directly opposed to the charity that we owe to ourselves and to the love that we owe to God. In this way, if deliberately and with the full consent of the will, we become sad or feel reluctance about the things to which we are obliged; for example, the forgiveness of injuries, the deprivation of carnal pleasures, among others; acidity is a serious sin because it is directly opposed to the charity of God and of ourselves.

Considered in order of the effects it produces, if the acidity is such that it makes us forget the necessary and indispensable good for eternal health, notably neglect obligations and duties, or if it makes us wish that there was no other life to live devotedly with impunity to the passions, is undoubtedly a mortal sin.

Art and literature

The Spanish-Latin poet Aurelio Prudencio (348-410) already used allegorical personifications of vices and virtues in combat in his poem Psychomachia. Many sermons were inspired by the deadly sins during the Middle Ages, as well as not a few allegorical poems. In the XIV century they can be found in the Book of Good Love by Juan Ruiz, the archpriest of Hita (1284-1351) and, also, within the Rimado de Palacio of the Chancellor of Castile Pero López de Ayala, in the form of a previous exhibition or examination of conscience of their Catholic confession. As early as the 15th century, the Table of the Deadly Sins (1485, oil painting on table), by the painter Hieronymus Bosch, reflects their consolidated iconography.

The seven capital sins are represented with originality, with impeccable realism. At the center of the picture is a traditional image of Christ as a man of pains, coming out of his grave. It is said to represent the eye of God, and the image of Christ is his pupil. Under this image there is a Latin inscription: Cave, cave, Deus videt? (‘care, care, God sees it’). It is a clear reference to the idea that God sees everything. Around, there is a larger circle divided into seven parts, showing each of the seven capital sins, which can be identified by their Latin inscriptions. See:Analysis of the work

Later, the theatrical literary genre of the auto sacramental (XVI centuries, XVII and first half of the XVIII century) brought to perfection by Pedro Calderón de la Barca, testifies to the popularity of these allegories until after the middle of the XVIII century, when it was prohibited in Spain represent this type of theatrical pieces (1765).

Virtues contemplated by the Catholic Church

A list of seven virtues opposed to the seven deadly sins later appeared in an epic poem titled Psychomachia, written by Aurelio Clemente Prudencio, a Christian governor who died around AD 410. C., involves the battle between the good virtues and the vices of evil. The enormous popularity of this work in the Middle Ages helped spread the concept of holy virtue throughout Europe. After Pope Gregory I published his list of seven deadly sins in AD 590. C., the seven virtues were identified as chastity, temperance, charity, diligence, patience, kindness and humility. Practicing them is said to protect one against the temptation of the seven deadly sins.

The Catholic Church recognizes seven virtues that are part of Christianity (corresponding to each capital sin).

Deadly sins and demonology

In 1589, Peter Binsfeld, drawing loosely on earlier sources, associated each sin with a demon that tempted people by means associated with the sin. The classification of his demons is as follows:

• Lujuria: Asmodeo
• Gula: Belcebu
• Avaricia: Mammon
• Laziness: Belfegor
• Ira: Amon
• Envidia: Leviathan
• Sovereign: Lucifer

According to Binsfeld, there were also other demons that incited sin, such as incubi (male ghosts who had sex with sleeping women) and succubi (female ghosts who had sex with sleeping men), who incited lust.