The seven deadly sins and the virtues that answer them

What are the seven deadly sins?

The seven deadly sins are pride, avarice (greed), envy, wrath (anger), lust, gluttony and sloth. The Church more often calls them the capital sins. They are called “capital”, from the Latin word for “head”, because they are the sources from which other sins and vices flow (CCC 1866). The sevenfold list was handed on by St John Cassian, who carried the desert monks’ teaching to the West, and given its classic form by St Gregory the Great.

The word “deadly” can mislead. A capital sin is not automatically a mortal sin. The name points to what these sins do: each is a root, a settled tendency of the heart that gives rise to many particular sins. Pride breeds contempt and ambition; envy breeds gossip and quiet gladness at another’s fall. Naming the root helps you see the whole pattern, not only the single act in front of you.

Are the seven deadly sins mortal sins?

Not necessarily. A capital sin names a tendency; whether a particular act born of it is mortal or venial is a separate question. A sin is mortal only when three things are present together: grave matter, full knowledge and deliberate consent (CCC 1857). If any one is missing, the sin is venial. Our guides to mortal sin and venial sin explain the difference, and what is sin looks at sin itself.

So pride or lust can be the root of a grave sin, or of small daily faults, depending on the matter and on your freedom and awareness. Repeated sins, even venial ones, deepen these roots and harden into vices (CCC 1865, 1876). Only you and your confessor can weigh a particular act; the Church never asks you to declare the state of your own soul from a list. When you are unsure, bring it to Confession and ask.

The seven capital sins and the virtues that answer them

Each capital sin has a contrary virtue: a good habit you can deliberately practise until it grows stronger than the vice. The table pairs them. The virtues on the right are the traditional answers; the Catechism’s own account of virtue is a little fuller, and we come to it below.

Pride, greed and envy

Pride is loving your own excellence out of all proportion: wanting to be first, to be admired, to owe nothing to anyone, least of all to God. In ordinary life it sounds like being unable to say sorry, needing to win every argument, or quietly looking down on people. The virtue that heals it is humility, the truth about yourself before God. One practical step: each day, name one thing you were given rather than earned, and thank God for it.

Avarice, or greed, is a disordered love of money and things: not using them, but clinging to them. It shows up as never having enough, as anxiety about money, as stinginess with the poor or with your own family. Its virtue is generosity, which the old writers call liberality: holding things loosely and giving freely. One step: choose something to give away this week, and give it before you can talk yourself out of it.

Envy is sadness at someone else’s good, and the wish to have it for yourself (CCC 2539). St Augustine called it “the diabolical sin”. It hides in comparison, in the small lift we feel when a rival fails, in the scrolling that leaves us sour. Its virtue is kindness, or brotherly love: willing the good of the other. One step: when envy stirs, pray sincerely for the person you envy, and thank God for one gift of your own.

Wrath, lust, gluttony and sloth

Wrath, or anger, is the disordered desire for revenge, or a settled resentment that will not let a wound heal. Anger itself is not a sin; even Jesus felt it. But nursing it, or acting on it to harm, is. It shows up as grudges, as a sharp tongue at home, as rage behind the wheel. Its virtue is patience and meekness: strength that stays gentle. One step: when provoked, delay. Say nothing for an hour, and pray for the person first.

Lust is the disordered desire for sexual pleasure, cut off from love and from its place in marriage. It shows up in pornography, in using another person, even in the imagination, as a thing rather than a person. Its virtue is chastity: the integration of your sexuality into the whole person, lived according to your state in life. One step: name your triggers honestly, remove one of them, and ask for help, in Confession and from someone you trust.

Gluttony is eating or drinking without measure, making the body’s comfort a small god. It is quieter than it sounds: the extra drink to numb the evening, the snack-and-screen habit that never satisfies. Its virtue is temperance, which keeps good things in their right place (CCC 1809). One step: keep one small fast, such as skipping the second helping or the between-meals snack, and offer the hunger as a short prayer.

Sloth, or acedia, is not mere laziness but a spiritual heaviness: a sadness about the things of God that makes us neglect prayer, duty and love. It shows up as endless distraction, as putting off what matters most, as a shrug toward your own soul. Its virtue is diligence, a glad zeal for the good. One step: choose one small, fixed act of prayer each day and keep it, especially on the days you least feel like it.

What are the seven heavenly virtues?

You may have seen the capital sins matched with “seven heavenly virtues”: chastity, temperance, charity, diligence, patience, kindness and humility, one against each sin. This pairing is a devotional tradition, not a list the Catechism gives. It grew from early Christian writing such as Prudentius’s poem “Psychomachia” (around the year 400), which pictured the virtues and vices at war, and was shaped by later catechisms. It is a useful memory aid, as long as we remember where the Church herself puts the weight.

The Catechism teaches three theological virtues, faith, hope and charity, poured into us by God and directing us to him (CCC 1813). Around these turn the four cardinal virtues: prudence, justice, fortitude and temperance, on which all the rest hinge (CCC 1805). To these the Holy Spirit adds his seven gifts (CCC 1845). So the “heavenly virtues” are a fine starting point, but the real engine of change is charity, which the Catechism calls the form of all the virtues.

How to use the seven deadly sins in an examination of conscience

The capital sins are an old and practical tool for an examination of conscience. Where the Ten Commandments ask what you have done, the capital sins ask why: which root keeps producing the fruit. Read the seven slowly and notice which one is most at work in you now. You will usually find one or two, not all seven.

Then take that one root to Confession, name the acts it has led to, and choose its contrary virtue as your plan. Do not try to conquer all seven at once; grace works on one thing at a time. And never measure your soul by the length of the list. Measure it by the mercy that is waiting for you.

Sources

Cited by paragraph and verse, so you can read them in full. In the end, your priest has the final word.

• –Catechism of the Catholic Church, 1866
• –Catechism of the Catholic Church, 1865, 1876
• –Catechism of the Catholic Church, 1803–1845
• –Catechism of the Catholic Church, 2539–2540
• –Proverbs 6:16–19
• –Galatians 5:16–26

Confession Compass is an independent educational tool, not an official body of the Catholic Church. It never absolves sins: only a priest, in the Sacrament of Reconciliation, can absolve.