Can Saints sometimes fall into mortal sins?

Dear Father Angelo,

Unfortunately, I have fallen into mortal sins several times. When it happens, I immediately go to Confession right away. Nonetheless, I wonder: will I ever become a saint? Have there been saints who, from time to time during their virtuous lives, committed mortal sin, but confessed and regained their virtues?
Or, to be saints, must one have definitively overcome mortal sin, even if it’s still possible to commit venial sins?

Many thanks in advance for your reply. God bless you 

Dearest,

Saint Paul said: “So if you think you are standing, watch out that you do not fall.”  (1 Cor 10:12).
This rule applies to everyone, even the great saints.

Saint Thomas says the devil tempts everyone, but especially the saints, because if he manages to make them fall, he gains much (Summa Theologica, III, 41, 1).
There is no age when the devil stops tempting; he is always the hungry lion prowling around seeking someone to devour, as Saint Peter reminds us (see 1 Pt 5:8).
Saint Augustine says: “Believe me, I am a bishop, I speak the truth in Christ, I do not lie: I have seen the cedars of Lebanon fall and the rams of the flock, of whom I did not think Gregory Nazianzus or Ambrose were greater.”
And Saint Jerome: “Do not trust in the chastity of a past life; you cannot be wiser than David, Samson, or Solomon.
I have seen many very virtuous men fall because of their overconfidence.”

However, the fall of saints is an exception because usually there is a progression in holiness such that, at a certain point, one becomes almost immune to grave sin.
That’s why Saint Augustine, followed by Saint Thomas, described the Christian life as having three stages.
Augustine writes: “When charity is born, it must be nourished (this is for beginners); once nourished, it grows strong (for those progressing); and once strong, it is perfected (for the perfect)” (On the First Letter of John, Tractate 5).

Saint Thomas: “At first, a person’s main duty is to turn away from sin and resist its consequences, which move them against charity. This is the work of beginners, in whom charity must be nourished and strengthened so it won’t be lost.
In the second stage, the focus shifts to advancing in goodness. This is the task of the progressing, who must strengthen and grow in charity.
In the third stage comes the care of uniting with God and rejoicing in Him. This is the work of the perfect, who long to die and be with Christ (Phil 1:23)” (Summa Theologica, II-II, 24, 9).

According to Thomas, at the beginning of the spiritual life, there may be grave sin, but in the second stage, stability usually sets in. Falls are rare, and growth continues. Those in this stage are not focused on avoiding sin but on growing ever more in virtue.
In the third stage, that of the perfect, one may even reach what’s called “confirmation in grace,” a kind of inability to commit grave sin because of the depth of grace and divine assistance.
This confirmation is the summit of Christian life. It’s when one can truly say, as Saint Paul did, “ it is no longer I who live, but it is Christ who lives in me” (Gal 2:20).

In both the second and third stages, growth becomes more intense as one nears perfection. Thomas notes that every natural motion, like a falling body, is faster near the end. The opposite is true for violent or unnatural motions, which slow down. That’s why “those in grace, the closer they get to the end, the more they must grow” (Commentary on Hebrews 10:25).

Garrigou-Lagrange writes: “This acceleration in the growth of charity was seen especially in the earthly life of the Blessed Virgin Mary, and to a lesser degree in the saints, who in their final years, despite old age, progressed faster (‘citius’) in charity than in their early years. As the Psalm says: “.. your youth is renewed like the eagle’s.” (Ps 103:5).
For instance, Saint Thomas in his final years, when he could no longer dictate the Summa, progressed faster than in his youth; perhaps more in that one year than in the previous twenty. For saints, old age is, spiritually speaking, the most beautiful season of life, a kind of beginning of eternal youth” (De virtutibus theologicis, p. 411).
Therefore, although free will always remains and one could still fall, at the highest levels of spiritual life, grave sin is not found—and at times not even venial sin, only imperfections.
As I wish you steady growth in the spiritual life to the point of being confirmed in grace, I bless you and remember you in my prayers.
 

Father Angelo

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