Question VII: On perseverance

Perseverance is defined by Bl. Bonaventure, 3 part. Centil. sect. 43., from Tully, lib. 2. de Invent.: "it is a stable and weighed continuance by well-considered reason." But he says it is defined masterfully thus: "Perseverance is a lasting, or final, permanence in good." Thus it is defined also in the opuscule Declaratorio terminorum Theologiae. He repeats the same definitions in the Opusc. de septem donis; de Dono fortitudinis, cap. 3.

¶ In compend. Theol. verit. lib. 5. cap. 36. he thus defines it: "It is the virtue of a stable and perpetual continuance in well-considered reason." It is thus defined almost by Bl. Thomas, quaest. 137. art. 1., and by Tanner, disp. 3. quaest. 2. dub. 5.

I assert, that this is a special virtue.

It is proved from that, by the reason of Bl. Bonaventure, de perfectione vitae ad sorores, cap. 8. and de septem donis, lo.. cit.

That is a virtue which promotes the good necessary by removing some special difficulty: Perseverance removes the difficulty resulting from the lasting continuance in the good necessary for salvation: Therefore. The major is Aristotle's, 2. Eth. cap. 3. The minor is Christ's, Matth. 10. "But he that shall persevere to the end, he shall be saved." Weigh the particle (hic): for it implies that anyone else, not persevering, will lack salvation. It is confirmed from Bl. Bernard, epist. 129.: "Without perseverance, neither does he who fights obtain victory, nor the victor the palm: for it is itself the nurse to merit, the mediatrix to reward, the sister of patience, the daughter of constancy, the friend of peace, the knot of friendships, the bond of unity, the bulwark of sanctity. Take away perseverance, and obedience has no reward, nor beneficence grace, nor fortitude praise. For it alone is that to which eternity is rendered, or rather which renders itself to eternity," the Lord saying, Matth. 10. "He that shall persevere to the end, he shall be saved."

This perseverance, which we treat of, is that whereby one, out of purpose, and therefore out of the special intention of actual perseverance itself, as it were a special end in the proposed good begun, persists immovably.

For Perseverance can be taken in three other ways, so that it is not some special virtue, as Bl. Thomas noted, quaest. 137. art. 1. ad 2. First, as it is the general condition of grace and of the virtues with which a man departs from this life. Of which I treated in prima secunda, Trac. de Gratia.

Second, as it signifies the immobility of persisting, arising from the habit of virtue, which follows upon every habit of virtue, as it is a quality difficult to move, as St. Thomas says, loc. cit. ad 3.

Third, it is taken by Bl. Thomas, ad 1., from Aristotle 7. Eth. cap. 7. and 4. Eth. toward the end, whereby one persists in good with vehement struggle, enduring the perils of life and the difficulties of resisting pleasures, especially those of the flesh.

I assert second, that Perseverance is a potential part of fortitude. For it agrees with fortitude in sustaining difficulties in good. But it declines, because fortitude is concerned with overcoming the difficulties of death: but Perseverance with other lesser ones, namely, with lastingness in good works, which is not so grave, infused.^{1 1} N. Editor's note: the print reads 'quod non est adeò grave, infusas.' — 'infusas' dangles with no noun to modify; kept as printed in the Latin, since no certain correction exists (possibly 'infusas' depended on a word lost in the print).

The necessity, fruits, and praises of Perseverance, see in Bl. Bonaventure, locis adductis, and lib. 2. Pharetrae, cap. 34., where he brings forth many things from the Fathers.

I assert third; Perseverance needs a special help of God. So Bl. Thomas, art. 4. For Perseverance is taken in two ways with respect to purpose. First, for the habit of virtue; and in this way it needs the habit of grace, like the other infused moral virtues. Second, it is taken for the act of persevering in grace unto death; and in this way it needs not only habitual grace, but the special help of God preserving man in good, as Bl. Augustine teaches, lib. de bono perseverantiae, and it was defined in the holy Council of Trent.

With regard to the virtue of Constancy, it agrees with Perseverance, in that it persists in some good. It differs, for Perseverance makes one persist in good against the difficulty that arises from the length of the undertaking: but Constancy makes one persist against difficulty from any other impediment. And therefore Perseverance is a more principal part of fortitude than Constancy, because the difficulty that arises from the lastingness of the act is more essential to the act of virtue than that which is from exterior impediments. So Bl. Thomas, art. 3. Therefore this also needs a special help of God.