The Noonday Devil: Acedia, the Unnamed Evil of Our Times

by Jean-Charles Nault

The first and surest indication of acedia is a certain interior instability. It is characterized by the need to move about, to have a change of scenery:

the two definitions of acedia that Saint Thomas gives. Here they are: “sadness about spiritual good” (tristitia de bono divino) and “disgust with activity” (taedium operandi).