that precluded one from ôtaking communion,ö as participation in the Eucharistic feast was then usually called. However, the stain could be removed by undergoing the sacrament of confession and doing oneÆs penance (famously, ten Our Fathers and ten Hail Marys for the ordinary sinner). Since even a stray lascivious thought in those days was believed to be a venial sin, one ordinarily went to confession late on Saturday, took communion early on Sunday, and tried to remain in the ôstate of graceö in between. To take communion anyway when in a state of venial sin was itself a mortal sin. As a result, many Catholics took communion very infrequently.
AquinasÆs definitions of the two classes of sin amounted to saying that if one died while in a state of mortal sin, one went immediately, directly, and permanently to hell, whereas if one died in a state of venial sin, one went to purgatory, which was commonly thought to probably be a lot like hell, only not permanent (this was not the official teaching, however; the Catechism of the Catholic Church, article 1031, says that purgatory, according to decrees promulgated at the Council of Florence in 1439 and at the Council of Trent, ôis entirely different from the punishment of the damnedö). On the other hand, if one managed to die in a state of grace, one would go directly, immediately, and permanently to heaven, a goal greatly to be desired, of course, but difficult to achieve when almost every human impulse was defined as sinful. The general attitude was that, so long as one avoided the really mortal sins, then the venial sins would be taken of in purgatory, and one would eventually arrive in Heaven.
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