Thomas Aquinas, Summa Theologiae

Objection 1: It would seem that nocturnal pollution is a sin. For the same things are the matter of merit and demerit. Now a man may merit while he sleeps, as was the case with Solomon, who while asleep obtained the gift of wisdom from the Lord (3 Kgs. 3:2, Par. 1). Therefore a man may demerit while asleep; and thus nocturnal pollution would seem to be a sin.

Objection 2: Further, whoever has the use of reason can sin. Now a man has the use of reason while asleep, since in our sleep we frequently discuss matters, choose this rather than that, consenting to one thing, or dissenting to another. Therefore one may sin while asleep, so that nocturnal pollution is not prevented by sleep from being a sin, seeing that it is a sin according to its genus.

Objection 3: Further, it is useless to reprove and instruct one who cannot act according to or against reason. Now man, while asleep, is instructed and reproved by God, according to Job 33:15,16, "By a dream in a vision by night, when deep sleep is wont to lay hold of men . . . Then He openeth the ears of men, and teaching instructeth them in what they are to learn." Therefore a man, while asleep, can act according to or against his reason, and this is to do good or sinful actions, and thus it seems that nocturnal pollution is a sin.

On the contrary, Augustine says (Gen. ad lit. xii, 15): "When the same image that comes into the mind of a speaker presents itself to the mind of the sleeper, so that the latter is unable to distinguish the imaginary from the real union of bodies, the flesh is at once moved, with the result that usually follows such motions; and yet there is as little sin in this as there is in speaking and therefore thinking about such things while one is awake."

I answer that, Nocturnal pollution may be considered in two ways. First, in itself; and thus it has not the character of a sin. For every sin depends on the judgment of reason, since even the first movement of the sensuality has nothing sinful in it, except in so far as it can be suppressed by reason; wherefore in the absence of reason's judgment, there is no sin in it. Now during sleep reason has not a free judgment. For there is no one who while sleeping does not regard some of the images formed by his imagination as though they were real, as stated above in the 1, Question 84, Article 8, ad 2. Wherefore what a man does while he sleeps and is deprived of reason's judgment, is not imputed to him as a sin, as neither are the actions of a maniac or an imbecile.

Secondly, nocturnal pollution may be considered with reference to its cause. This may be threefold. One is a bodily cause. For when there is excess of seminal humor in the body, or when the humor is disintegrated either through overheating of the body or some other disturbance, the sleeper dreams things that are connected with the discharge of this excessive or disintegrated humor: the same thing happens when nature is cumbered with other superfluities, so that phantasms relating to the discharge of those superfluities are formed in the imagination. Accordingly if this excess of humor be due to a sinful cause (for instance excessive eating or drinking), nocturnal pollution has the character of sin from its cause: whereas if the excess or disintegration of these superfluities be not due to a sinful cause, nocturnal pollution is not sinful, neither in itself nor in its cause.

A second cause of nocturnal pollution is on the part of the soul and the inner man: for instance when it happens to the sleeper on account of some previous thought. For the thought which preceded while he was awake, is sometimes purely speculative, for instance when one thinks about the sins of the flesh for the purpose of discussion; while sometimes it is accompanied by a certain emotion either of concupiscence or of abhorrence. Now nocturnal pollution is more apt to arise from thinking about carnal sins with concupiscence for such pleasures, because this leaves its trace and inclination in the soul, so that the sleeper is more easily led in his imagination to consent to acts productive of pollution. In this sense the Philosopher says (Ethic. i, 13) that "in so far as certain movements in some degree pass" from the waking state to the state of sleep, "the dreams of good men are better than those of any other people": and Augustine says (Gen. ad lit. xii, 15) that "even during sleep, the soul may have conspicuous merit on account of its good disposition." Thus it is evident that nocturnal pollution may be sinful on the part of its cause. on the other hand, it may happen that nocturnal pollution ensues after thoughts about carnal acts, though they were speculative, or accompanied by abhorrence, and then it is not sinful, neither in itself nor in its cause.

The third cause is spiritual and external; for instance when by the work of a devil the sleeper's phantasms are disturbed so as to induce the aforesaid result. Sometimes this is associated with a previous sin, namely the neglect to guard against the wiles of the devil. Hence the words of the hymn at even: "Our enemy repress, that so our bodies no uncleanness know" .

On the other hand, this may occur without any fault on man's part, and through the wickedness of the devil alone. Thus we read in the Collationes Patrum (Coll. xxii, 6) of a man who was ever wont to suffer from nocturnal pollution on festivals, and that the devil brought this about in order to prevent him from receiving Holy Communion. Hence it is manifest that nocturnal pollution is never a sin, but is sometimes the result of a previous sin.

Reply to Objection 1: Solomon did not merit to receive wisdom from God while he was asleep. He received it in token of his previous desire. It is for this reason that his petition is stated to have been pleasing to God (3 Kgs. 3:10), as Augustine observes (Gen. ad lit. xii, 15).

Reply to Objection 2: The use of reason is more or less hindered in sleep, according as the inner sensitive powers are more or less overcome by sleep, on account of the violence or attenuation of the evaporations. Nevertheless it is always hindered somewhat, so as to be unable to elicit a judgment altogether free, as stated in the 1, Question 84, Article 8, ad 2. Therefore what it does then is not imputed to it as a sin.

Reply to Objection 3: Reason's apprehension is not hindered during sleep to the same extent as its judgment, for this is accomplished by reason turning to sensible objects, which are the first principles of human thought. Hence nothing hinders man's reason during sleep from apprehending anew something arising out of the traces left by his previous thoughts and phantasms presented to him, or again through Divine revelation, or the interference of a good or bad angel.

Articulus 5

Argumentum 1

Ad quintum sic proceditur. Videtur quod nocturna pollutio sit peccatum. Meritum enim et demeritum habent fieri circa idem.

Sed dormiens potest mereri, sicut patet de Salomone, qui dormiens a domino donum sapientiae impetravit, ut dicitur III Reg. III, et II Paralip. I.

Ergo in dormiendo potest aliquis demereri. Et ita videtur quod nocturna pollutio sit peccatum.

Argumentum 2

Praeterea, quicumque habet usum rationis, potest peccare. Sed in dormiendo aliquis habet usum rationis, quia frequenter aliquis in somnis ratiocinatur, et praeeligit unum alteri, consentiens vel dissentiens. Ergo in dormiendo potest aliquis peccare.

Et ita propter somnum nocturna pollutio non impeditur quin sit peccatum, cum ex genere actus sit peccatum.

Argumentum 3

Praeterea, frustra increpatur et instruitur qui non potest vel agere secundum rationem vel contra rationem. Sed homo in somnis instruitur a deo et increpatur, secundum illud iob XXXIII, per somnium, in visione nocturna, quando sopor solet occupare homines, tunc aperit aures virorum, et erudiens eos instruit disciplina.

Ergo in somnis potest aliquis agere secundum rationem vel contra rationem, quod est bene agere vel peccare.

Et sic videtur quod pollutio nocturna sit peccatum.

Sed Contra

Sed contra est quod Augustinus dicit, XII super Gen. Ad litt., ipsa phantasia quae fit in cogitatione sermocinantis, cum expressa fuerit in visione somniantis, ut inter illam et veram coniunctionem corporum non discernatur, continue movetur caro et sequitur quod eum motum sequi solet, cum hoc tam sine peccato fiat, quam sine peccato a vigilantibus dicitur quod, ut diceretur, sine dubio cogitatum est.

Corpus

Respondeo dicendum quod nocturna pollutio dupliciter potest considerari. Uno modo, secundum se. Et hoc modo non habet rationem peccati. Omne enim peccatum dependet ex iudicio rationis, quia etiam primus motus sensualitatis non habet quod sit peccatum nisi inquantum iudicio rationis reprimi potest. Et ideo, sublato iudicio rationis, tollitur ratio peccati. In dormiendo autem ratio non habet liberum iudicium, nullus enim est dormiens qui non intendat aliquibus similitudinibus phantasmatum velut rebus ipsis, ut patet ex his quae in primo dicta sunt.

Et ideo id quod agit homo dormiens, qui non habet liberum iudicium rationis, non imputatur ei ad culpam, sicut nec illud quod agit furiosus aut amens. Alio modo potest considerari nocturna pollutio per comparationem ad suam causam. Quae potest esse triplex. Una quidem corporalis. Cum enim humor seminalis superabundat in corpore; vel cum facta est humoris resolutio, vel per nimiam calefactionem corporis, vel per quamcumque aliam commotionem; somniat dormiens ea quae pertinent ad expulsionem huiusmodi humoris abundantis vel resoluti, sicut etiam accidit quando natura gravatur ex aliqua alia superfluitate; ita quod quandoque formantur in imaginatione phantasmata pertinentia ad emissionem talium superfluitatum. Si igitur superabundantia talis humoris sit ex causa culpabili, puta cum est ex superfluitate cibi vel potus; tunc nocturna pollutio habet rationem culpae ex sua causa.

Si autem superabundantia vel resolutio talis humoris non sit ex aliqua causa culpabili, tunc nocturna pollutio non est culpabilis, nec in se nec in causa sua. Alia vero causa nocturnae pollutionis potest esse animalis interior, puta cum ex cogitatione praecedenti contingit aliquem dormientem pollui. Cogitatio autem quae in vigilia praecessit, quandoque est pure speculativa, puta cum aliquis causa disputationis cogitat de peccatis carnalibus, quandoque autem est cum aliqua affectione vel concupiscentiae vel horroris. Contingit autem magis pollutio nocturna ex cogitatione carnalium vitiorum quae fuit cum concupiscentia talium delectationum, quia ex hoc remanet quoddam vestigium et inclinatio in anima, ita quod dormiens facilius inducitur in sua imaginatione ad assentiendum actibus ex quibus sequitur pollutio.

Secundum hoc philosophus dicit, in I ethic., quod inquantum paulatim pertranseunt quidam motus a vigilantibus ad dormientes, meliora fiunt phantasmata studiosorum quam quorumlibet, et Augustinus dicit, XII super Gen. Ad litt., quod propter bonam animae affectionem, quaedam eius merita etiam in somnis clarent.

Et sic patet quod nocturna pollutio habet rationem culpae ex parte suae causae. Quandoque tamen contingit quod ex praecedenti cogitatione carnalium actuum etiam speculativa, vel si sit cum horrore, sequitur in somnis pollutio. Et tunc non habet rationem culpae, nec in se nec in sua causa. Tertia vero causa est spiritualis extrinseca, puta cum ex operatione Daemonis commoventur phantasmata dormientis in ordine ad talem effectum.

Et hoc quidem quandoque est cum peccato praecedenti, scilicet negligentia praeparandi se contra Daemonis illusiones, unde et in sero cantatur, hostemque nostrum comprime, ne polluantur corpora.

Quandoque vero est absque omni culpa hominis, ex sola nequitia Daemonis, sicut in collationibus patrum legitur de quodam quod semper in diebus festis pollutionem nocturnam patiebatur, hoc diabolo procurante, ut impediretur a sacra communione.

Sic igitur patet quod nocturna pollutio nunquam est peccatum, quandoque tamen est sequela peccati praecedentis.

Ad 1

Ad primum ergo dicendum quod Salomon non meruit in dormiendo sapientiam a deo, sed fuit signum praecedentis desiderii, propter quod dicitur talis petitio deo placuisse, ut Augustinus dicit, XII super Gen. Ad litt..

Ad 2

Ad secundum dicendum quod, secundum quod vires sensitivae interiores magis vel minus opprimuntur a somno, propter vaporis turbulentiam vel puritatem, secundum hoc usus rationis magis vel minus impeditur in dormiendo. Semper tamen quantum ad aliquid impeditur, ut non possit omnino liberum iudicium habere, ut in prima parte dictum est.

Et ideo non imputatur ei ad culpam quod tunc agit.

Ad 3

Ad tertium dicendum quod apprehensio rationis non ita impeditur in somno sicut eius iudicium, quod perficitur per conversionem ad sensibilia, quae sunt prima principia cognitionis humanae.

Et ideo nihil prohibet hominem secundum rationem apprehendere aliquid de novo in dormiendo, vel ex ipsis reliquiis praecedentium cogitationum et phantasmatibus oblatis, vel etiam ex revelatione divina, aut immissione Angeli boni vel mali.