Wrath
Lust
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Gluttony
Derived from the Latin gluttire, meaning to gulp down or swallow. Contrary to the popular belief that this sin is about over-eating, gluttony (Latin, gula) is actually the over-indulgence and over-consumption of anything to the point of waste. In the Christian religions, it is considered a sin because of the excessive desire for food, or its withholding from the needy. Depending on the culture, it can be seen as either a vice or a sign of status. Where food is relatively scarce, being able to eat well might be something to take pride in (although this can also result in a moral backlash when confronted with the reality of those less fortunate). Where food is routinely plentiful, it may be considered a sign of self-control to resist the temptation to over-indulge.
Envy
Like greed, Envy (Latin, invidia)
may be characterized by an insatiable desire; they differ, however, for
two main reasons. First, greed is largely associated with material
goods, whereas envy may apply more generally. Second, those who commit
the sin of envy resent that another person has something they perceive
themselves as lacking, and wish the other person to be deprived of it.
Dante defined this as "love of one's own good perverted to a desire to
deprive other men of theirs." In Dante's Purgatory, the punishment for
the envious is to have their eyes sewn shut with wire because they have
gained sinful pleasure from seeing others brought low. Aquinas
described envy as "sorrow for another's good".Greed
Greed (Latin, avaritia), also known as avarice or covetousness,
is, like lust and gluttony, a sin of excess. However, greed (as seen by
the church) is applied to the acquisition of wealth in particular. St.
Thomas Aquinas wrote that greed was "a sin against God, just as all
mortal sins, in as much as man condemns things eternal for the sake of
temporal things." In Dante's Purgatory, the penitents were bound and
laid face down on the ground for having concentrated too much on
earthly thoughts. "Avarice" is more of a blanket term that can describe
many other examples of greedy behavior. These include disloyalty,
deliberate betrayal, or treason, especially for personal gain, for example through bribery . Scavenging and
hoarding of materials or objects, theft and robbery, especially by
means of violence, trickery, or manipulation of authority are all
actions that may be inspired by greed. Such misdeeds can include
simony, where one profits from soliciting goods within the actual
confines of a church.Vanity
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Sloth
Sloth - (Latin, Socordia) - Originally termed Despair (Latin, Tristitia) which was described as a feeling of dissatisfaction or discontent, which causes unhappiness with one's current situation. Since unhappiness inherently results from the sin, the sin was sometimes referred to as sadness. Since sadness often results in acedia, Pope Gregory's revision of the list subsumed Despair into Acedia (Latin, acedia) which is apathetic listlessness; depression without joy. Gradually, the focus came to be on the consequences of acedia, rather than the cause, and so, by the 17th century, the exact deadly sin referred to was believed to the failure to utilize one's talents and gifts. In practice, it came to be closer to sloth than acedia. Even in Dante's time there were signs of this change; in his Purgatorio he had portrayed the penance for acedia as running continuously at top speed.
The
modern view goes further, regarding laziness and indifference as the
sin at the heart of the matter. Since this contrasts with a more wilful
failure to, for example, love God and his works, sloth often seen as
being considerably less serious than the other sins, more a sin of
omission than of commission.
The sloth, a South American mammal, was named after this sin by Roman Catholic explorers.
