Moral Theology Part 121

(b) Its Necessity.--Patience is a most useful virtue. Without it one cannot long continue in the way of virtue on account of the many trials man encounters (Heb., x. 36), whereas with it the enemies of other virtues are destroyed; and hence it is called the root and guardian of virtue (cfr. Rom., v. 3, 4; James, i. 2-4; Luke, xxi. 19). But there are degrees of patience: the lowest is equanimity, which offends G.o.d neither in thought, word nor deed even though sorely tried (Job, ii.

7-10); a higher degree is submission, which prefers adversity to prosperity (Ps. cxviii. 71); the highest degree is joyful resignation, which smiles at grief and rejoices in tribulation (II Cor., xii. 10, vii. 4).

2455. The Vices Opposed to Patience.--(a) The sin of deficiency in sorrow is stolidity, which is a brutal insensibility that is moved neither by one's own nor by others' misfortunes. This is not a virtue, but an inhuman and unnatural way of life, which takes no account of man as a feeling as well as a reasoning being.

(b) The sin of excess in sorrow is impatience, which mourns excessively under afflictions, or in looks, words or deeds expresses a complaining and rebellious spirit (Prov.. xiv. 17; Judith, viii. 24, 25). Stolidity and impatience are _per se_ venial sins, but they become mortal _per accidens_ on account of some circ.u.mstance, as when the unfeeling man gives great scandal by his hardhearted acts, or the impatient man blasphemes (see 2450, 2451).

2456. Steadfastness.--Steadfastness is a virtue which is so devoted to the goodness of continuing in the right that it is not fatigued by the length of time or the repeated effort required for a good work (virtue of persistence or perseverance), nor disheartened by the opposition which a good work encounters (virtue of manliness or constancy), but goes on unmoved until the conclusion which right reason calls for has been arrived at.

(a) The Virtue.--Steadfastness belongs to fort.i.tude, since the essence of both is a struggle against difficulty; but steadfastness is the inferior, since it is n.o.bler and more heroic to be undismayed by the peril of death than to be unconquered by strain of monotony or opposition. Steadfastness is a most important virtue, for it avails one little to begin a work well if it is not carried to a successful conclusion. Without it one puts hand to the plow but looks back (Luke, ix. 62), or begins to build but does not finish (Like, xiv. 30); with it the work begun is crowned, the harvest will be reaped (Gal., vi. 9, 10), and salvation secured (Matt., x. 22). Scripture abounds with exhortations to steadfastness (I Cor., xv. 58; Phil., iv. i; II Tim., iii. 13; Ecclus., xi. 21, 22, v. 12; John, viii. 31; Heb., xii. 7); but final perseverance is a special gift of G.o.d (I Peter, v. 10).

(b) The Opposite Vices.--Opposed to steadfastness by deficiency is the vice of effeminacy or weakness, by excess the vice of pertinacity. The effeminate person, lacking stamina to go on in a necessary good, surrenders to weariness or opposition by abandoning the undertaking or by taking up with evil (Matt., xi. 7, 8). The pertinacious person continues in the course he has begun when right reason bids him to discontinue, as when one has taken a vow and does not wish to accept the dispensation which a change of circ.u.mstances necessitates. These sins are venial unless they go counter to a grave duty, as when an effeminate person gives up the resolution to avoid a very dangerous occasion of sin, or the headstrong person determines to fast during the remainder of Lent when this will seriously injure his health.

2457. The Complements of Fort.i.tude.--We shall now speak of the Gift, the Beat.i.tude, and the Fruits that correspond to fort.i.tude (see 159 and 2433).

(a) The Gift of Fort.i.tude is an infused habit which makes the appet.i.tive powers readily responsive to the encouragement of the Holy Spirit and filled with a courage that is more than human. Thus, the Gift of Fort.i.tude supplies for what is wanting in the virtue of fort.i.tude. The virtue is regulated by the rules and measure of human prudence, but the Gift is inspired by the presence and command of the Holy Spirit Himself (Ps. xliii. 4, xvii. 2, 3); the virtue strengthens the soul, but the Gift supports even the weakness of the flesh, for the Spirit helpeth our infirmity (Rom., viii. 26; cfr. Luke, xxii. 43); the virtue aids one against the perils of death, but the Gift strengthens in difficulties both of life and death, reinforcing not only courage but also the allied virtues, greatness of soul, munificence, patience and perseverance, for we can do all things in Him that strengthens us (Phil., iv. 13); the virtue gives firm resolution to adhere to the right in spite of death itself, but the Gift adds the unshaken confidence that one shall surmount every difficulty and win the crown of victory (Rom., viii. 31 sqq.).

(b) The Beat.i.tude which is the special exercise of the Gift of Fort.i.tude is the eighth: "Blessed are they that suffer persecution for justice's sake, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven" (Matt, v 10). The Gift of Fort.i.tude makes the persecuted feel a great confidence and security in the midst of the struggle, and this is a foretaste of the copious, exceeding and eternal reward that follows this Gift (Gen., xv.

1; Rom., viii. 18; II Cor., iv. 17; Ps. xciii. 19; II Cor., i, 1).

Others a.s.sign to this Gift the Beat.i.tudes of the meek and of those who hunger and thirst for holiness.

(c) The Fruits that are most appropriate here are patience in bearing evil and longsuffering in awaiting or performing good; for these are acts that add a finish of maturity to fort.i.tude (see 2447, 2454, 2456), and in their most excellent state (see 2454) the performance of them is no longer bitter but sweet.

2458. The Commandments of Fort.i.tude.--(a) Fort.i.tude itself is commanded both in the Old and the New Testament. In the Old Testament are found precepts of bravery in bodily warfare, as in Deut. xx. 3: "Hear, 0 Israel, you join battle this day against your enemies. Let not your heart be dismayed, be not afraid, do not give back, fear ye them not."

The New Law commands courage before spiritual foes; "Your adversary the devil goeth about like a roaring lion, seeking whom he may devour, whom resist ye strong in faith" (I Peter, v. 8); "Resist the devil and he will fly from you" (James, iv. 7); "Fight the good fight" (I Tim., vi.

12). It also commands fort.i.tude in the presence of corporal dangers: "Fear not them that kill the body, but cannot kill the soul" (Matt., x.

28).

(b) The annexed virtues are counselled when (as is the case with greatness of soul and munificence) they incline to the excellent and superabundant; they are commanded when (as in the case of patience and perseverance) they are necessitated by normal conditions of earthly existence. Greatness of soul is recommended in the invitations to be perfect (Matt., v. 48), to love G.o.d more ardently (see 1560) and to follow the counsels (see 364 sqq.), and in the praise bestowed on the excellent virtue of Noe (Gen., vi. 9), of John the Baptist (Matt., xi.

11), and of Mary Magdalene (Luke x. 42). Munificence is recommended in the eulogies of Solomon (Ecclus., xlvii. 20), of Magdalene (Mark, xiv.

9) and of Joseph of Arimathea (Luke, xxiii. 50 ff.). Patience is commanded in Luke, xxi. 19 (In patience possess your souls), and in Rom., xxii. 12 (Be patient in tribulation); perseverance in Ecclus., ii. 4 (In sorrow endure), in Matt., x. 22 (He that perseveres to the end shall be saved), in I Cor., xv. 58 (Be steadfast and unmovable) and in Heb. xxi. 7 (Persevere under discipline).

2459. Obligation of the Precepts of Fort.i.tude and Annexed Virtues.--(a) The precepts of fort.i.tude are negative or prohibitory, and therefore it is obligatory at all times to omit what they forbid (see 371). It is never lawful to be timorous, insensible, cowardly, or foolhardy--to do anything intrinsically wrong, even to escape death (see 317, 318). But it is not necessary to sacrifice life for the fulfillment of an affirmative precept, unless injury to G.o.d or the common safety, or an extreme spiritual loss to self will otherwise result (see 317, 818, 361).

(b) The precepts of patience and perseverance are also negative, and hence it is never lawful to be guilty of stolidity, impatience, effeminacy or stubbornness. But since patience and perseverance are not so difficult as fort.i.tude, they have also affirmative precepts. These latter laws oblige always, but not for every occasion (see 371). Thus, one must be always willing to exercise patience, but one who is spared trials has not the occasion to exercise the virtue. Patience itself never ceases to be a virtue, but there is a pseudo-patience which consists in toleration of evils that should not be tolerated, and which is not a virtue but a kind of supineness or spinelessness that pertains to effeminacy rather than to patience.

2460. Subjects of Fort.i.tude.--(a) Laws have universal extension, and hence it would not be true to say that active fort.i.tude is a masculine, pa.s.sive fort.i.tude or patience a feminine virtue. But greater courage is expected in some than in others on account of greater strength (e.g., the adult, the physically well) or greater necessity (as in soldiers, policemen, firemen, pastors, physicians, rulers).

(b) The counsel of munificence, however, is only for the rich as regards exercise, since others have not the means wherewith to exercise this virtue.

Art. 8: THE VIRTUE OF TEMPERANCE

(_Summa Theologica_, II-II, qq. 141-170.)

2461. Definition of Temperance.--Temperance is a moral virtue which regulates according to reason the gratification of the lower pleasures and desires of sense.

(a) It moderates pleasure and desire, and in consequence also the sadness caused by the absence of pleasure. Just as a special virtue (fort.i.tude) is needed to check the strongest of the repelled emotions (fear of death), so likewise a special virtue (temperance) is necessary to bridle the most vehement of the attracted emotions (pleasure and desire).

(b) It moderates sensible pleasure, that is, satisfactions derived from the use of the external senses--sight, hearing, smell, taste, and touch. Spiritual pleasures, which are derived from the loftier powers of intellect, will and imagination (e.g., from the study of theology, the reading of cla.s.sical literature, the meeting of mother and child or of friend and friend), have no opposition to reason, except accidentally when a still higher activity which should be exercised is impeded by them. Some of these (such as the pleasures of the intellect) may be called purely spiritual, since they make little or no impression on the sensible appet.i.te; others, on the contrary (such as the pleasures of the will), may be called mixed pleasures, since at times they vehemently excite the sensitive appet.i.te and powerfully affect the body (e.g., mothers have been known to die of joy at the return of a child who was thought to be dead).

(c) Temperance moderates the lower sensible pleasures, that is, the satisfactions caused primarily by touch and taste, and secondarily by other senses, in the activities necessary for preservation of the individual (eating and drinking) and of the race (s.e.xual intercourse).

These pa.s.sions are called the lower, animal, or carnal pleasures, since they are common to man and beast, and are strongly rebellious against reason. The special virtue of temperance is necessary, then, to make man follow reason, not Bacchus or Venus. The higher sensible pleasures, on the other hand, are produced by a sensible object, not on account of any relation to venereal or gustatory delight, but on account of a perfection in the object that makes it suitable to the sense (e.g., the enjoyment derived from beautiful scenery, cla.s.sical music, fragrant roses, or downy or velvety cloth). The esthete or the connoisseur obtains from these agreeable sensations a pleasure unknown to the animals, and one that is not from its nature refractory to reason nor seductive to carnal excess. Hence, these higher sensual pleasures are not gross, but refined; they should be moderated by prudence, but they are not so dangerous as to demand a special virtue, like temperance, for their regulation. Neither should we cla.s.s with carnal pleasures the joys of physical well-being, such as the refreshment of sleep, the exhilaration of a sea bath or of a ma.s.sage, the comfort of a balmy breeze, the ease of strength, or the relaxation of exercise.

2462. The Rule of Moderation.--The rule of moderation which temperance imposes on the carnal appet.i.tes is this: "Indulge only as necessity requires and duty allows." For pleasure is a means whose end is some reasonable need of life, and it is therefore a perversion to make pleasure an end by indulging it apart from need and duty (see 85). But necessity is to be understood broadly, so as to include not only the essentials, but also the conveniences of life (e.g., seasonings and desserts with food).

(a) As to venereal pleasures, then, the rule means that they should not be used outside matrimony, nor in matrimony except for the procreation of children and the other lawful ends of marriage.

(b) As to the pleasures of the table, they should not be indulged except for the benefit of mind and body, and in such manner, quant.i.ty, quality, etc., as this purpose requires. But one may regulate one's food or drink by the higher purpose of mortification, and partake of less than the body demands here and now.

2463. The Excellence of Temperance.--(a) Temperance is among the four princ.i.p.al or cardinal virtues. It keeps in order one of the pa.s.sions that is most natural and most necessary for the present life, and among the virtues it excels in the quality of moderation, since it chastens the inclination that is hardest to hold within bounds, and guards the senses, the gateways of the soul (see 2441). "Wisdom teaches temperance, prudence, justice and fort.i.tude, than which there is nothing more useful in life" (Wis., viii. 7).

(b) In its nature temperance is not the chief but the least of the moral virtues. For justice and bravery are of greater service to the common welfare, and the good of the mult.i.tude, as Aristotle remarks, is more divine than the good of the individual. But in accidental respects temperance has a superiority; for it is more tender and graceful than fort.i.tude, more arduous than justice, and there is perhaps no other virtue whose exercise is so constantly called for.

2464. The Vices Opposed to Temperance.--(a) The vice of deficiency has been called insensibility, and consists in an unreasonable dislike of the inferior sensible pleasures, which makes one unwilling to use them when and as reason commands. Thus, the Stoics and Manichees believed that material joys are intrinsically evil, and there have been fanatical advocates of teetotalism (e.g., the Aquarians) and of purity (e.g., the Puritans who would not permit a man to kiss his wife on Sunday, the prudish and censorious who fear or suspect evil without reason, the Pharisees who think they are defiled if a sinner speaks to them, the misogynists who disapprove of marriage). The sin is venial _per se_, since it does not submit to pa.s.sion; but it may be mortal on account of some circ.u.mstance, as when the marriage debt is unjustly refused or necessary nourishment is not taken. This vice is rarer than its opposite, and it must not be confused with austerity, which for the sake of a spiritual good foregoes some lawful but unnecessary sensible enjoyment.

(b) The vice of excess is immoderation, which includes gluttony and impurity. This is the most disgraceful of sins, because the most unworthy of a rational being; it enslaves man to pleasures of which the lower animals are capable; unlike other vices, it contains in itself nothing of intelligence, industry, generosity, and nothing that would at all liken it to virtue. The lowest depths of degradation are reached when immoderation is brutish even in its manner, as when one is gluttonous of human flesh or desirous of sodomitic pleasure.

Immoderation is called by Aristotle a "childish sin," because, as a child is eager for pleasures and will follow them unduly unless instructed and trained, so also an immoderate person thinks only of his appet.i.te, and will go from bad to worse unless he accepts the discipline of reason. But the child is excusable, while the immoderate man should know better. Immoderation is worse than timidity; for, while the former seeks selfish delight and acts with willing unrestraint, the latter seeks self-preservation and is under some external menace.

2465. The Parts of Temperance.--(a) The subjective parts or species of temperance are two, since there are two distinct objects of the virtue.

These objects are the two delights of touch that are ruled by the virtue, namely, those a.s.sociated with the nutritive and those a.s.sociated with the generative function. The first subjective part of temperance includes abstemiousness as to food and sobriety as to drink; the second part includes chast.i.ty, as regards the princ.i.p.al s.e.xual act (copulation), and decency or pudicity, as regards the secondary acts (kisses, touches, embraces, etc).

(b) The integral parts are also two, since there are two conditions for the perfect exercise of temperance. These conditions are the fear and avoidance of what is disgraceful (shamefacedness, reserve, or delicacy) and the love of what is honorable (virtue of propriety or refinement).

Shamefacedness is a pa.s.sion, but, as physical fearlessness is a disposition for moral courage, so is the fear of incurring reproach a preparation for virtue. Hence, this delicacy is a laudable pa.s.sion, and is ascribed chiefly to temperance, whose opposite is chief among things disgraceful. Propriety is also a.s.signed to temperance, because it is an attraction towards that which is spiritually good and beautiful, a habit most useful for temperance, which must subordinate the delightful to the good, the carnal to the spiritual.

(c) The potential parts of temperance are its minor or servant virtues.

They resemble temperance inasmuch as their chief praise is in moderation, but they are inferior to it inasmuch as that which is moderated by them is less recalcitrant than the s.e.xual or gustatory appet.i.tes. First among these potential parts are those whose task of moderating, while not of the greatest difficulty, is yet more than ordinarily difficult; and here we have continence, which calms a will agitated by immoderate pa.s.sion, and meekness, which governs the pa.s.sion of anger. Next among the potential parts are those whose task of moderating offers less or ordinary difficulty, because they keep in order matters less removed from reason. All the virtues of this second group are given the common name of modesty. They are reduced to four: humility and studiosity, which moderate the internal appet.i.tes of excellence and of learning respectively; modesty of bearing and modesty of living, which regulate respectively the external acts of the body and the external goods of food, drink, clothing, furnis.h.i.+ngs, etc.

2466. Abstemiousness.--Abstemiousness is a virtue that moderates according to reason the desire and enjoyment of the pleasures of the table.

(a) It is a special virtue, because the appet.i.te it curbs is very powerful, and on account of the body's need of nourishment is often tempted.

(b) It moderates by avoiding both defect and excess in meals as to time, place, quant.i.ty, quality, etc. There is not, then, one standard amount of food for all, since the needs and duties of all are not the same, and hence he who takes more or less than is normal or usual cannot from that alone be accused of being unabstemious. Neither is the mean for an individual so rigidly fixed as not to permit some lat.i.tude within certain limits. It should be noted here too that abstemiousness is not the same thing as abstinence. Thus, a person who is immoderately abstinent, denying himself the food necessary for life or for duty or for optional works better than his abstinence, is not abstemious, since he is not guided by prudence or obligation.

(c) It moderates according to reason; that is, it decides what is proper for an individual, not merely from the viewpoint of bodily health, vigor, and longevity, as is done by the arts of medicine and hygiene, but also and chiefly from the viewpoints of higher goods, such as mental power, control of pa.s.sion, austerity.

(d) It moderates the pleasures of the table, that is, the desire for and actual enjoyment of food and non-intoxicating beverages. Moderation in intoxicants is the special virtue of sobriety, which will be discussed later. Hence, a person who drinks too much ginger ale or water, tea or coffee, sins against abstemiousness; he who drinks too much whisky, beer, or wine sins against sobriety.

2467. Degrees of Abstemiousness.--(a) The lower degree practises temperance, taking sufficient food and drink for the preservation, not only of life and health, but also of the very pink of physical condition, yet so as to avoid all excess.

(b) The higher degree practises austerity, taking less than is necessary for the best condition, or strength or comfort of the body, but sufficient for life and health. The austere person eats less than he could reasonably take, but not less than his health and work demand.

The subtraction he makes in his food will more likely benefit his health in the long run and promote longevity, for, in the wise words of old Galen, "abstemiousness is the best medicine." But even though this austerity be slightly detrimental to health, or may slightly abbreviate life, it is still lawful, since the higher goods of the mind and of virtue may always be secured at such reasonable sacrifice of corporal goods (see 1164 sqq., 1561 sqq.).

2468. Austerity.--The two chief forms of austerity in food and drink are fasting and abstinence.

(a) Nature.--The natural fast is the omission of all eating and drinking, or the omission to receive into the stomach anything whatever that has the nature of food, drink or medicine. The moral fast is the omission to take a certain quant.i.ty of food that could be taken without intemperance. Abstinence is the omission to take a certain quality of food, such as meat or eggs.

(b) Kinds.--Fast and abstinence are in respect to duration either perpetual (e.g., the abstinence from meat of the Carthusians) or temporary (e.g., the abstinence for Fridays and other appointed days of the faithful generally); either voluntary (e.g., a fast which one a.s.sumes under private vow) or obligatory (e.g., the fasts and abstinences prescribed in the general or particular laws of the Church). The ecclesiastical fast and abstinence will be spoken of later when we treat of the precepts of the Church and Holy Communion.