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"There is no sin or wrong that gives a man a foretaste of hell in this life as anger and impatience" Saint Catherine of Sienna

There are important differences between two realities that are both commonly called "anger":

1. Concrete biological anger (named as one of the “passions” in Aquinas’ terminology) is a biological sensory displeasure response to an objectively difficult concrete evil while moving to fight/work to obtain an objective need or prevent the loss of an objective need. This feeling exists in the same neutral form in brute animals and in human beings. By itself, it is neither morally good nor evil.

2. Psychological/emotional anger (experienced in varying degrees) is an abstract feeling chosen by the free will and intellect powers of the immaterial soul. This is a human action of which brute animals cannot do. Anger is caused when the intellect and will freely choose:

-- uncharitable, false, immoral: attractions, likes, dislikes, wants/desires, expectations, and/or beliefs,

-- to avoid feeling sadness or fear,

-- pride, selfishness, or impatience, including perfectionism,

-- to cover up attempting to control, what cannot or need not be controlled, out of selfish fear of suffering, instead of practicing self-control and trusting acceptance of God’s will.

"The irascible power in man [of the soul, where "anger" is a movement] is naturally subject to his reason, wherefore its act is natural to man, in so far as it is in accord with reason, and in so far as it is against reason, it is contrary to man's nature." ~ Dr. St. Thomas Aquinas, Summa

Because the human person is a composite of an immaterial soul (with its spiritual intellect and free will) and a material body and brain, the soul—and all its five general powers—is the form, animator, and primary to the body and brain. Since the intellect and the will can operate without a bodily organ, both types of anger—the biological sensory reaction and the psychological emotion in all its degrees and motives—are morally qualifiable in human beings.

Once our capacity for reason begins to emerge, generally around age four and fully by the “age of reason” at seven, we become partially and then fully responsible for examining, discerning, and regulating our biological movements and feelings, as Dr. St. Thomas Aquinas teaches. Yet most people fail to do this at any age, and most parents and clergy never teach how.

"Man is master of his actions through the judgment of his reason, wherefore as to the movements that forestall that judgment, it is not in man's power to prevent them as a whole, i.e. so that none of them arise, although his reason is able to check each one, if it arise."               ~ Dr. St. Thomas Aquinas, Summa

"for the whole corporeal nature is subject to the soul, and is related to it as its matter and instrument." ~ Dr. St. Thomas Aquinas, Summa

"A passion of the sensitive appetite is good in so far as it is regulated by reason, whereas it is evil if it set the order of reason aside."

~ Dr. St. Thomas Aquinas, Summa

Whether we are aware of the truth about ourselves or not, we constantly affect our biological movements, emotions, and feelings (of the sensitive appetite) through our free will. We do this in one of three ways:

1. By failing to choose to become self-aware and to properly regulate them.

2. By choosing to amplify or distort them into sin (the absence of Truth, Love, and Virtue).

3. By choosing—through Truth, Love, and Virtue—not to experience or cultivate these movements in disordered ways, which we cannot achieve without cooperating with the Divine (as articulated, for example, in the 10 Steps to Lasting Healing, Lasting Healing Psychology Method).

Failing to try to consistently choose active cooperation with The Divine is a sin of omission. 

Furthermore, we are always freely choosing our psychological emotions and feelings—whether or not we realize it—through the intellectual acts of our immaterial soul (the rational appetite). These acts include our thoughts, beliefs, expectations, wants/desires, likes, dislikes, and attractions. Because they come from our free will to choose, they are intrinsically morally good or evil.

To learn how to understand this, see:

Why Be Sorry for What You Think and Feel?

What is commonly called “righteous anger” is more accurately named righteous indignation or zeal. True zeal is anger fully governed by reason and charity, proportionate to the objective evil, and ordered to God’s glory and the authentic good of souls.

Most anger that people label “righteous,” however, is simply rationalized sinful anger, often accompanied by the hypocrisy of condemning the same emotion in others.

Aquinas frequently uses the term passions in two distinct senses:

1. Biological, bodily movements of the senses and other physical feelings that are concrete instinctual, existing in both human beings and brute animals
2. Morally qualifiable virtues, and emotions and feelings that are abstract psychological in only human beings through the soul's intellect and free will

The passions, in the first sense, are neutral in themselves because they refer to movements of the senses and other physical feelings that “cause a transformation of the normal condition of the body and its organs which often appears externally,” as Aquinas notes. In brute animals alone, these passions are purely biological and therefore morally neutral.

These passions are also neutral in human infants, toddlers (1–4 years old), and in individuals whose birth defects or brain damage, such as particular types of brain tumors one is born with or chromosomal disorders, significantly hinder the operation of intellect and free will. As Aquinas teaches: the lesser (body and brain) can hinder the greater (soul—intellect and will). To hinder means to impede or prevent, not to change.

All other human beings who have begun to use their God-given intellect and free will—even in small or early degrees, beginning around age four—are responsible to some degree for examining and regulating all their passions. By the age of seven (the age of reason), this responsibility becomes full according to the Catholic Church.

Thus, human beings—whose nature surpasses brute animals—are responsible for choosing not to act in merely instinctive or animalistic ways but instead to regulate their passions in cooperation with The Divine.

Our psychological emotions, feelings, and attractions arise from our freely chosen intellectual acts: what we like or dislike, want/desire, expect, believe, and think. Aquinas calls these internal movements intentions, and because they stem from free choice, they are always morally qualifiable.

Aquinas himself uses the term passions in this second, moral sense when speaking of sinful or virtuous interior movements, emotions, and feelings:

"The Apostle says (Romans 7:5): "When we were in the flesh, the passions of sins which were by the law, did the work in our members." Now sins are, properly speaking, in the soul. Therefore passions also, which are described as being "of sins", are in the soul." — St. Thomas Aquinas, Summa Theologiae

According to Aquinas, anger can become a mortal sin when it is externally acted upon—physically or verbally—because it easily leads to other sins. For this reason, anger is counted among the Capital (Deadly) Sins.

"On the contrary, A gloss on Psalm 4:5, "Be ye angry and sin not," says: "Anger is venial [sin] if it does not proceed to action"."

— St. Thomas Aquinas, Summa Theologiae

How to Recognize When Any Degree of Anger Is Sinful and Not Righteous

1. When the anger corresponds to any degree commonly expressed in present American English—such as mad, bugged, annoyed, irritated, frustrated, put out, peeved, fed up, pissed off, vexed, hostile, furious, enraged, rageful, impatient, controlling, intolerant, hateful, bitter, resentful, unforgiving, vengeful, spiteful, envious, or jealous—or any new slang for anger.

Changing one’s vocabulary does not change the sin. To avoid naming the anger while still indulging it is an even graver sin, because it is rationalization, denial of truth, and refusal to repent.

For the sake of clarity, the word anger below refers to any degree or type listed above.

2) When we are not consciously focused on the presence of God before or during the rising of anger.

3) When we desire revenge.

“You have heard that it hath been said, An eye for an eye… But I say to you… if one strike thee on thy right cheek, turn to him also the other.” — Matthew 5:38–40, Douay-Rheims

4) When we want “vengeance” (justice) for any reason other than the other person’s conversion.

5) When we want to be the one who delivers vengeance rather than God.

“Revenge not yourselves… for it is written: Revenge is mine, I will repay, saith the Lord.” — Romans 12:17–19, Douay-Rheims

“Vengeance belongeth to me, and I will repay.” — Hebrews 10:30, Douay-Rheims

6) When we are wronged and fail to immediately pray, discern with God, thank God for the opportunity to sacrifice, or offer the situation for reparation and healing—of ourselves and the other. This reveals pride and selfishness.

7)  When we feel justified in “getting our way,” when we cannot or believe we deserve something we are not receiving. This includes self-pity: feeling like a helpless or sinless victim. These are a rejection of God’s will.   

Doctor of the Church, St. Alphonsus de Ligouri states in his book Uniformity to God's Will, that everything we don't control with our free will is the Will of God for us. If we don't believe and live this, then our anger is always a sin.

"God has a supreme desire to make us sharers of his goods and of his happiness. If then he sends us suffering in this life, it is for our own good: "All things work together unto good." Even chastisements come to us, not to crush us, but to make us mend our ways and save our souls: "Let us believe that these scourges of the Lord have happened for our amendment and not for our destruction.""..."We should want things to be just as they are, because it is God who thus disposes them."..."The essence of perfection is to embrace the will of God in all things, prosperous or adverse. In prosperity, even sinners find it easy to unite themselves to the divine will; but it takes saints to unite themselves to God's will when things go wrong and are painful to self-love. Our conduct in such instances is the measure of our love of God."..."It is certain and of faith, that whatever happens, happens by the will of God: "I am the Lord forming the light and creating the darkness, making peace and creating evil." From God come all things, good as well as evil. We call adversities evil; actually they are good and meritorious, when we receive them as coming from God's hands"

— St. Alphonsus de Ligouri, Uniformity to God’s Will

8) When we want another person to change primarily for our sake, or primarily for the sake of someone else who is not the person in question, rather than primarily for their own good.

9) When our first instinct is to justify our anger instead of presuming we may be sinning and turning to Christ in repentance and discernment.

10)  When we believe that someone else “made us angry,” or that a situation is the cause of our anger. This is feelings-blaming, which is sinful and selfish. Our psychological emotions arise from our own freely chosen interior acts.

11) When we try to make our bad feelings go away by altering the other person’s behavior instead of repenting to God of our bad emotions and seeking healing from Him. Using another as a means to the end of soothe ourselves is selfish using.

12) When we try to control, including prevent, another’s interior acts—thoughts, emotions, or other free choices—for any reason.

13)  When, before or during anger, we feel hurt (self-pity), offended (perfectionism), fearful, or anxious. These emotions are sinful in themselves and the anger becomes a cover for cowardice and selfishness

14)  When we fear suffering in any form after the age of reason (age 7). All anger then becomes a sinful cover for refusal of God’s will, distrust of God, lack of desire to sacrifice, and unwillingness to make reparation. This proves that we have attachment to sin and do not hate all sin.

15) When we don't accept any and all discomfort that occurs, then all of our anger in any degree will be a sinful cover up for the nonacceptance of discomfort which is the nonacceptance of God's Will and a refusal to want to compensate for all of our sins.

16)  When we do not believe in or desire to offer reparation for every sin—large or small, of omission or commission. Without this desire, any anger will necessarily be sinful.

17)  When we are angry because we feel disobeyed, disrespected, or offended. This reveals pride, arrogance, and selfishness, often expressed internally as: “How dare you speak to me that way,” “How dare you disobey me,” "How dare you contradict me," etc.

18)  When we desire to hit, punish, or inflict pain—physical or emotional—while angry. This is abuse and rationalizing it as "discipline" or "spanking" does not change its sinful nature.

"Nevertheless such like anger may happen to be a venial sin by reason of the imperfection of the act... as when one desires to be avenged in a trifling matter, which should be deemed of no account, so that even if one proceeded to action, it would not be a mortal sin, for instance by pulling a child slightly by the hair, or by some other like action."      — St. Thomas Aquinas, Summa

19)  When we assume the other person—even a child—is acting maliciously. This is prideful judgment of intentions, based only on appearances, and involves projecting our own interior state onto others.

20)  When we only say “no” to others when we are angry. This reveals selfishness, poor boundaries, and proves the anger is sinful.

21)  When we feel angry because we are “fed up,” “can’t take it anymore,” or are tired of dealing with a person or situation. This shows boundary failures and refusal to accept God’s will before problem-solving.

22)  When we take the Lord's name in vain, swear or use vulgar language (even internally). Regardless of emotion, this is a sign of anger’s sinfulness.

23)  When we feel angry or offended because someone is sinning against us or another. This is perfectionism, rooted in pride, hypocrisy, and the expectation that others be sinless for our emotional comfort.

In blaming others for our anger, we are also proving our anger is sinful, because if it was the virtue of zeal or righteous indignation, we would be giving ourselves the credit/blame for it, rather than blaming how we feel on externals.

Diagnostic Examination Before or During Any Degree of Anger

If any of the following are present before or during your anger, then your anger is sinful:

If any of the following are present before or during your anger, then your anger is sinful:

Are you feeling emotionally hurt (self-pity, seeing yourself as a sinless victim, believing you are right without confirmation from God)?

→ If yes, your anger will be a sin.

Are you feeling emotionally stressed, worried, afraid, or anxious—all of which signify an absence of Truth, Love, and Virtue?

→ If yes, your anger will also be a sin.

“Fear is not in charity: but perfect charity casteth out fear, because fear hath pain. And he that feareth, is not perfected in charity.”

— 1 John 4:18, Douay-Rheims

Are you refusing to accept reality as it is?

→ If yes, your anger will be a sin.

Are you rejecting what is happening simply because you do not want or like it?

→ If yes, your anger will be a sin.

Do you believe and accept that whatever you do not control by your free will is God’s will for you?

→ If no, your anger will be a sin.

Do you believe that suffering is always necessary and good for everyone?

→ If no, your anger will be a sin.

Do you believe that God is in control of what you are not?

→ If no, your anger will be a sin.

Do you know what you are responsible for controlling and what you are not?

→ If no, your anger will be a sin.

Do you spend daily silent, prayerful time with Jesus—listening, asking to be made aware of your sins, and seeking Truth?

→ If no, your anger will be a sin.

Are you at peace with what you cannot control?

→ If no, your anger will be a sin.

Are you trying to control another person’s free will, emotions, thoughts?

→ If yes, your anger will be a sin.

Are you at peace when you do not get your way?

→ If no, your anger will be a sin.

Do you expect perfection from the other person in the moment you are angry?

→ If yes, your anger will be a sin.

Are you demanding that the other person be loving to you, instead of focusing on being loving to them?

→ If yes, your anger will be a sin.

Do you want something from the other person that you are refusing to accept you are not getting?

→ If yes, your anger will be a sin.

Do you want what you cannot have in the moment?

→ If yes, your anger will be a sin.

Do you reject what is happening in the present moment?

→ If yes, your anger will be a sin.

Do you think, “How dare you disrespect me,” “How dare you disobey me,” or “How dare you do that”?

→ These reveal pride, hypocrisy, and selfish use of others; your anger will be a sin.

Are you being merciful? 

→ If no, your anger will be a sin.

Are you forgiving?

→ If no, your anger will be a sin.

Are you resentful? 

→ If yes, your anger will be a sin.

Are you jealous, envious, possessive, or hateful because someone is not giving you the love you want?

→ If yes, your anger will be a sin.

Are you placing your wants above the other person’s needs?

→ If yes, your anger will be a sin.

When possible, are putting the other person’s greater needs above your lesser needs?

→ If no, your anger will be a sin.

Do you distinguish between wants and needs?

→ If no, your anger will be a sin.

Do you care only about getting your way rather than about the other person?

→ If yes, your anger will be a sin.

Do you believe you know what is best for another person without daily seeking from Jesus His Truth and self-correction of your emotions, thoughts, beliefs, expectations, wants/desires, likes, dislikes, and attractions?

→ If yes, your anger will be a sin.

The Bottom Line

When human beings—whose canonization papers are not about to arrive in the mail from the Holy See—feel anger, we are sinning, because our anger is not in accord with right reason. This is especially true when we rationalize and lie to ourselves by claiming our anger is caused by externals, rather than by our own freely chosen interior perceptions:

• what we think

• what we believe

• what we expect

• what we want or desire

• what we like or dislike

• what we are attracted to

All of these must be checked with Jesus Christ. When we fail to do this, we fall into self-deception. Lack of self-awareness and failure to daily discern with Jesus—by asking Him to reveal our errors and lies—are sins added on top of sins.

“Pride goeth before a fall.”

One of the most commonly cherry-picked Aquinas quotes used to justify sinful anger is:

“He who is not angry when there is just cause for anger is immoral. Why? Because anger looks to the good of justice. And if you can live amid injustice without anger, you are immoral as well as unjust.”

When Aquinas uses the term anger in this way, he is not referring to sinful human anger. He is referring to zeal or righteous indignation, which is radically different in nature and experience.

Anyone who actually studies Aquinas’s full teaching on anger in the Summa knows that he carefully explains:

• when so-called “anger” can be morally upright
• and all the many ways it is sinful and unjust

To isolate that single line is to mislead souls into justifying their sins.

Another cherry-picked line is:

“If one is angry in accordance with right reason, one’s anger is deserving of praise.”

What does "right reason" actually mean? 

Right reason does not mean:

• what you perceive: think, believe, expect, want/desire, don't want/desire, like, dislike, and are attracted to, is "reasonable" to you.
• what seems justified to your emotions and feelings
• what your imperfect conscience approves

For according to Aquinas, our "conscience" is simply the action of using our intellect and free will of our Soul, which is imperfect, is in error, and is how we sin.

By the time any sinner actually feels anger, the reasoning has already gone wrong somewhere.

Right reason means:

• you possess the full truth from God about faith and morals
• you believe no lies about God, yourself, others, sin, virtue, or justice
• you have no bad wants/desires, unrealistic expectations, false beliefs, distorted attractions, or wrong likes or dislikes
• and you are never unloving or unvirtuous

True zeal and righteous indignation do not feel like the anger that sinful human beings experience.