In like manner an heir who, without taking an inventory, conceals his goods, when it is not the goods mortgaged for the debt, may swear that he has concealed nothing, understanding the goods with which he was to pay. (Salm. 140.)
“There are many opinions about the amount which may be stolen to constitute a mortal sin. Navar has said, too scrupulously, that to steal a half piece of gold is a mortal sin; while others, too lax, hold that to steal less than ten pieces of gold cannot be a serious sin. But Tol, Mech, Less, etc., have more wisely ruled that to steal two pieces of gold constitutes a mortal sin.”
Dubium 2, Liguori: “Variae ea de re sunt sententiæ. Nav. nimis scrupulose statuit medium regulum: alii nemis laxe 10 aureos. Moderatius, Tol., Med. Less., etc., etc., duos regales, etsi minus sufficiat, si notabiliter noceat.”
“Is it a crime to steal a small piece of a relic? There is no doubt its being a sin in the district of Rome, since Clement VII. and Paul V. have excommunicated those who committed such thefts. But this theft is not a serious thing when committed outside of the district of Rome, unless it be a very rare and precious relic, as the wood of the Holy Cross or some of the hair of the Virgin Mary!”
Dubium 3, Liguori: “If any one steals small sums at different times, either from the same or from different persons, not having the intention of stealing large sums, nor of causing a great damage, his sin is not mortal; particularly if the thief is poor, and if he has the intention to give back what he has stolen.”
Latin text: “Si quis et occasione furatur sive uni, sive pluribus, non intendens notabile aliquid acquirere nec proximo graviter nocere, neque ea simul sumpta unum mortale constituunt, si vel restituere non possit vel animum habeat restituendi.”
Question 11, N. 536: “If several persons steal from the same master, in small quantities, each in such a manner as not to commit a mortal sin, though each one knows that all these little thefts together cause a considerable damage to their master, yet no one of them commits a mortal sin, even when they steal at the same time.”
Latin text: “Si plures modica furentur, nemo peccat graviter, et si mutuo sciant graviter damnum domino fieri. Et hoc, etiamsi singuli eodem tempore furentur.” (Liguori, 536.)
Liguori, speaking of children who steal from their parents, says: “Salas, cited by Croix, maintains that a son does not commit a mortal sin when he steals only twenty or thirty pieces of gold from a father who has an income of 150 pieces of gold; and Lugo approves of that doctrine. Less and other theologians say that it is not a mortal sin for a child to steal two or three pieces of gold from a rich father; Bannez maintains that to commit a mortal sin a child must steal not less than fifty pieces of gold from a rich father; but Lacroix rejects that doctrine, except the father is a prince.”
The theologians of Rome assure us that we may, and even that we must, conceal and disguise our faith.