Section 4: Moral Habits

1. DEFINITION. —Good and evil may be viewed not only as individual and transient acts (actus), but also as permanent habits (habitus).

A habit is "a quality difficult to change, whereby an agent, whose nature it was to work one way or another indeterminately, is disposed easily and readily at will to follow this or that particular line of action/' ¹ Fr. Rickaby explains the difference between (1) habit and disposition, and (2) habit and faculty thus: "Habit differs from disposition, as disposition is a quality easily changed. Thus one in a good humor is in a disposition to be kind. Habit is a part of character: disposition is a passing fit. Again, habit differs from faculty or power: as power enables one to act; but habit, presupposing power, renders action easy and expeditious, and reliable to come at call. We have a power to move our limbs, but a habit to walk or ride or swim. Habit then is the determinant of power. One and the same power works well or ill, but not one and the same habit." ² Habits are either infused or acquired. a) An infused habit (habitus infusus) is born in or with the subject or communicated to it from outside. According to its nature, such a habit disposes the subject for good or bad. b) An acquired habit (habitus acquisitus), as the name indicates, is the result of repeated acts. But here arises a difficulty: "If the habit comes from acts, and the acts from the habit, how is the habit originally acquired?" This question is answered by Fr. Rickaby as follows: "There are two ways in which one thing may come from another. It may come in point of its very existence, as child from parent; or in point of some mode of existence, as scholar from master. A habit has its very existence from acts preceding; but those acts have their existence independent of habit. The acts which are elicited after the habit is formed, owe to the habit, not their existence, but the mode of their existence: that is to say, because of the habit the acts are now formed readily, reliably, and artistically, or virtuously. The primitive acts which gradually engendered the habit, were done with difficulty, fitfully, and with many failures, —more by good luck than good management, if it was a matter of skill, and by a special effort rather than as a thing of course, where it was question of moral well-doing." ³ 2. VIRTUES. —Not only should man perform good deeds now and then; —he should be habitually good and advance constantly on the path of virtue.⁴ Once a good habit has become firmly rooted in the soul, it is called a virtue. A virtue (virtus) may therefore be defined as a habit that a man has got of doing moral good, or doing that which befits his rational nature to do.⁵ In the last analysis all virtues are identical with charity, i. e., conformity of the human with the divine will.⁶ According to the order to which a virtue belongs it is called natural or supernatural. a) The moral virtues regulate man's relation to the created world. They are principally four: prudence, justice, fortitude, and temperance. These are often called the cardinal virtues. Their enumeration, as Fr. Rickaby has pointed out, "is a piece of Greek philosophy that has found its way into the catechism. Prudence, justice, fortitude, and temperance are mentioned by Plato as recognized heads of virtue. They are recognized, though less clearly, by Xenophon, reporting the conversations of Socrates. It does not look as though Socrates invented the division: he seems to have received it from an earlier source, possibly Pythagoras." 7 All the moral virtues, —the four cardinal virtues just enumerated, and others derived from them, —may be either infused or acquired, natural or supernatural. In the soul of a Christian, of course, they are supernatural because their final end and purpose is supernatural. St. Thomas says: "The moral virtues, as they are operative in man to an end which does not exceed the natural faculty of man, may be acquired by human acts; and so acquired, they may be without charity, as they have been in many pagans. But as they are operative of good in order to a supernatural last end, thus considered, they have the perfect and true character of virtue, and cannot be acquired by human acts, but are infused by God; and such moral virtues cannot be without charity." ⁸ b) Faith, hope, and charity are called theological or divine virtues (virtutes theologicae sive divinae) because they have God for their material as well as formal object. All three are essentially supernatural. Faith furnishes certain supernatural principles, which the intellect perceives by a divine light. Hope directs man to his supernatural end. Charity unites the will with God. Charity is superior to faith and hope for two reasons.⁹ First, though its object does not differ from that of the other two virtues, charity alone enables the soul actually to attain that object. ¹⁰ Second, charity endures, whereas faith is changed into vision and hope into possession. ¹¹ There is still another difference between charity and the other two theological virtues: —whilst faith and hope as truly supernatural virtues can exist without charity (though, of course, only in an imperfect way), charity is destroyed by grievous sin.¹²

¹ Jos. Rickaby, S.J., Moral Philosophy, p. 64.

² Ibid.

³ Op. cit., pp. 66 sq.

⁴ Cfr. Ps. LXXXIII, 8; Phil. III, 12-14; 1 Thess. IV, 1; 1 Pet. II, 2. —Conc. Trident., Sess. VI, c. 10. — St. Bernard, Epist., 254, n. 2: "True virtue knows no end and is not confined by time. ... The just man never judges that he has attained, never says, 'It is enough'; but he always hungers and thirsts for justice, so that, if he were always to live, he would always strive, as far as lies in him, to become more just, and would always endeavor with all his strength to advance from good to better." —Ibid., n. 4: "But if to strive for perfection is to be perfect, assuredly to be unwilling to advance is to fall away." (Migne, P. L., CLXXXII, 460). —Thomas a Kempis, De Imitat. Christi, l. I, c. 3: "Who has a harder contest than he who strives to conquer himself? And this ought to be our business: namely, to conquer oneself, to grow stronger than oneself daily, and to advance somewhat toward what is better." (Ed. Pohl, II, 10).

⁵ Cfr. St. Augustine, De Moribus Ecclesiae, I, c. 6, n. 8: "I am not pleased to call anything virtue except the habit itself and, as it were, a quality of a wise soul." (Migne, P. L., XXXII, 1314). —IDEM, De Lib. Arbitr., II, c. 18-19 (P. L., XXXII, 1266-1269). —St. Thomas, Summa Theol., 1a 2ae, qu. 55, art. 4: "Virtue is a good quality of the mind by which one lives rightly and which no one uses badly." — Ibid., qu. 58, n. 3: "Human virtue is a certain habit perfecting man for acting well."

⁶ Cfr. Matth. XXII, 36-40; Rom. XIII, 10; 1 Tim. I, 5; 1 John V, 3. —Cfr. St. Augustine, Enchiridion, c. 121, n. 32: "All the divine precepts are referred to charity, of which the Apostle says: 'The end of the precept is charity,' etc. ... Therefore the end of every precept is charity; that is, every precept is referred to charity. But what is done from fear of punishment or from some carnal intention, so that it is not referred to that charity which the Holy Spirit pours forth in our hearts, is not yet done as it ought to be done, although it seems to be done. For this charity is the love of God and neighbor, and indeed 'on these two commandments depend the whole law and the prophets' (Matth. XXII, 40). Add the Gospel; add the Apostles: for the declaration 'the end of the precept is charity' and 'God is charity' comes from no other source. (Migne, P. L., XL, 288).—IDEM, De Moribus Ecclesiae, I, c. 15, n. 25: "But if virtue leads us to the blessed life, I would affirm that virtue is nothing whatever except the highest love of God." (P. L., XXXII, 1322). —IDEM, De Gratia Christi, I, c. 26, n. 27: "Where there is no love, no good work is imputed and it is not rightly called a good work, because everything that is not from faith is sin, and faith works through love." (P. L., XLIV, 374).

¹ Jos. Rickaby, S.J., Moral Philosophy, p. 84 sq.

⁸ St. Thomas, Summa Theol., 1a 2ae, qu. 65, art. 2: "Moral virtues, insofar as they operate good in order to an end which does not exceed man's natural capacity, can be acquired through human works, and when acquired in this way can exist without charity, as they did in many pagans. But insofar as they operate good in order to the ultimate supernatural end, thus they perfectly and truly have the character of virtue and cannot be acquired by human acts, but are infused by God; and moral virtues of this kind cannot exist without charity." —Cfr. Jos. Rickaby, S.J., Aquinas Ethicus, Vol. I, pp. 194 sq.

⁹ Rom. XIII, 10: Πλήρωμα νόμου ἡ ἀγάπη. —1 Cor. XIII, 13: But now faith, hope, and charity remain, these three; and the greatest of these is charity. —Col. III, 14: But above all these things, charity, which is the bond of perfection. —St. Thomas, Summa Theol., 1a 2ae, qu. 62, art. 3: Something supernatural had to be added to man in both respects in order to direct him to a supernatural end. First, as regards the intellect, certain supernatural principles are added to man which are grasped by divine light; these are the things to be believed, with which faith is concerned. Second, the will is directed to that end both according to the movement of intention tending toward it as something possible to attain, which pertains to hope, and according to a certain spiritual union through which it is in some manner transformed into that end, which is effected by charity. St. Bonaventure, Breviloq., P. 5, c. 4: "As the image of creation consists in a trinity of powers with unity of essence, so the image of re-creation consists in a trinity of habits with unity of grace, through which the soul is rightly borne toward the supreme Trinity according to three things appropriated to the three Persons: faith directs it toward the supreme truth by believing and assenting; hope toward the supremely arduous by relying and awaiting; charity toward the supreme good by desiring and loving." (Ed. 2, Vicetiae, 340).

¹⁰ St. Thomas, Summa Theol., 1a 2ae, qu. 66, art. 6: "The greatness of a virtue according to its species is considered from its object. Since the three theological virtues regard God as their proper object, one cannot be called greater than another because it concerns a greater object, but because one stands nearer to the object than another. In this way charity is greater than the others. For the others imply in their nature a certain distance from the object: faith concerns things not seen and hope things not possessed; but the love of charity concerns that which is already possessed. For the beloved is in some manner in the lover, and the lover also is drawn by affection to union with the beloved; therefore it is said (1 John 4, 16): He who abides in charity abides in God, and God in him." —Cfr. Summa Theol., 2a 2ae, q. 23, art. 6 and 8.

¹¹ 1 Cor. XIII, 8: Charity never fails. —Cfr. Saint Thomas, Summa Theol., 1a 2ae, qu. 67, art. 3-6: "It is impossible for faith to remain together with beatitude in the same subject. ... The blessed see that which is the object of hope, namely God. Therefore they do not hope (Rom. 8, 24). ... And therefore, when that which is hoped for is possessed, namely divine fruition, hope can no longer exist. ... Charity is not emptied away by the perfection of glory, but remains numerically the same."

¹² 1 Cor. XIII, 2; Jas. II, 14.— Conc. Trid., Sess. VI, cap. 15 and can. 28: "If anyone says that when grace is lost through sin faith also is always lost at the same time; or that the faith which remains is not true faith, although it is not living; or that one who has faith without charity is not a Christian: let him be anathema." —Cfr. Prop. damn. ab Alex. VIII. (7 Dec., 1690), n. 12: "When all love is lacking in great sinners, faith also is lacking; even if they appear to believe, it is not divine faith but human faith." (Denzinger-Bannwart, n. 1169).—Prop. damn. Quesnelli, n. 57-58: "Everything is lacking to the sinner when hope is lacking to him; and there is no hope in God where there is no love of God. There is neither God nor religion where there is no charity." (ibid., n. 1272-1273).—St. Thomas, 1a 2ae, qu. 65, art. 4: "Faith and hope, like the moral virtues, can be considered in two ways: in one way according to a certain beginning, and in another according to the perfect being of virtue. ... Thus faith and hope can indeed exist in some manner without charity, but without charity they do not have the character of perfect virtue."

The so-called gifts of the Holy Ghost rank below the theological virtues. Aside from the charismata, with which we are not concerned, there are seven such gifts, viz.: wisdom, understanding, counsel, fortitude, knowledge, piety (godliness), and fear of the Lord.

How do these gifts differ from the moral virtues? They are evidently superior to them. Canon Forget says on this subject:

"Some writers think they are not really distinct from them, that they are the virtues inasmuch as the latter are free gifts of God and that they are identified essentially with grace, charity, and the virtues. That opinion has the particular merit of avoiding a multiplication of the entities infused into the soul. Other writers look upon the gifts as perfections of a higher order than the virtues; the latter, they say, dispose us to follow the impulse and guidance of reason; the former are functionally intended to render the will obedient and docile to the inspirations of the Holy Ghost." ¹³ The latter is the opinion held by St. Thomas. The student will find it more fully developed in Forget's treatise De l'Habitation du Saint-Esprit dans les Âmes Justes.

¹³ J. Forget in the Cath. Encyclopedia, Vol. VII, p. 413.

4. THE BEATITUDES. —Particular good acts springing from the virtues or gifts of the Holy Ghost are, e. g., those enumerated in the eight Beatitudes, or solemn blessings, which mark the opening of Christ's first sermon (the so-called Sermon on the Mount) in the Gospel of St. Matthew.¹⁴ As Father Van Kasteren has pointed out,¹⁵ the peculiar form in which Our Lord proposed these blessings makes them, perhaps, the only example of His sayings that may be styled poetical. There is indeed an unmistakable parallelism of thought and expression running through the whole passage:

¹⁴ Matth. V, 3-10; cfr. Luke VI, 20 sqq.

¹⁵ Catholic Encyclopedia, Vol. II, p. 371.

Blessed are the poor in spirit: for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.

Blessed are the meek: for they shall possess the land. Blessed are they that mourn: for they shall be comforted.

Blessed are they that hunger and thirst after justice: for they shall have their fill.

Blessed are the merciful: for they shall obtain mercy. Blessed are the clean of heart: for they shall see God. Blessed are the peacemakers: for they shall be called the children of God.

Blessed are they that suffer persecution for justice' sake: for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.

As effects of a virtuous life St. Paul mentions twelve supernatural works that are done joyfully and with peace of soul: Charity, joy, peace, patience, benignity, goodness, longanimity, mildness, faith, modesty, continence, chastity. These so-called fruits of the Holy Ghost are acts, not habits, and should not be confounded with the virtues or the gifts of the Holy Ghost. Opposed to them are the "works of the flesh.”¹⁶

¹⁶ Gal. V, 17 sqq.; Apoc. XXII, 2. —St. Thomas, Summa Theol., 1a 2ae, qu. 70. —St. Bonaventure, Breviloquium, P. V, c. 6: "When this peace has been attained, there necessarily follows a superabundant spiritual delight, which is contained in the twelvefold number of the fruits of the Spirit, to signify the superabundance of delights. For twelve is an abundant number, in which is signified the abundance of spiritual charisms which the holy soul enjoys and in which it delights. ... The habits of the virtues principally dispose one for the exercise of the active life; the habits of the gifts for the act of the contemplative life; and the habits of the beatitudes for the perfection of both. But the fruits of the Spirit, which are 'charity, joy, peace, patience, long-suffering, goodness, benignity, mildness, faith, modesty, continence, chastity' (Gal. V, 22-23), are called the delights that follow perfect works."

READINGS. —On the moral habits and virtues in general cfr. St. Thomas, Summa Theol., 1a 2ae, qu. 49-70. —St. Bonaventure, Breviloquium (ed. Vicetia, Freiburg 1881), P. I, c. 4-6. —S. Schiffini, S.J., Tractatus de Virtutibus Infusis, Freiburg 1904, pp. 1 sqq. —L. Billot, S.J., De Virtutibus infusis, Vol. I, 2nd ed., Rome 1905. —Jos. Rickaby, S.J., Moral Philosophy, pp. 64 sqq. —M. Cronin, The Science of Ethics, Vol. I, pp. 559 sqq. —A. Tanquerey, S.S., Synopsis Theologiae Moralis, Vol. II, pp. 321 sqq., Tournai 1905. —A. Janvier, Exposition de la Morale Catholique, Vols. I sqq., Paris 1904 sqq. —G. H. Joyce, S.J., The Catholic Doctrine of Grace, N. Y. 1920, pp. 89 sqq.

On the Gifts of the Holy Ghost: St. Thomas, Summa Theol., 1a 2ae, qu. 68. —St. Bonaventure, Breviloquium, P. V, c. 5. —C. Weiss, S. Thomae Aquinatis de Septem Donis S. Spiritus Doctrina, Vienna 1895. —M. Meschler, S.J., Die Gabe des hl. Pfingstfestes, 6th ed., Freiburg 1909. —J. Forget in the Catholic Encyclopedia, Vol. VII, pp. 413 sq. —IDEM, De l'Habitation du Saint- Esprit dans les Âmes Justes, Paris 1900, pp. 378 sqq.—Bellevue, L'Oeuvre du Saint-Esprit, Paris 1902, pp. 99 sqq. —W. F. Stadelman, C. S. Sp., Glories of the Holy Ghost, Techny, Ill., pp. 47 sqq. —F. M. Schindler, Die Gaben des hl. Geistes nach Thomas von Aquino, Vienna 1915. —G. H. Joyce, The Catholic Doctrine of Grace, N. Y. 1920, pp. 94 sqq. —J. R. M. Landrieux, The Forgotten Paraclete, London 1924, pp. 52-145.

On the Beatitudes: St. Thomas, Summa Theol., 1a 2ae, qu. 69. —St. Bonaventure, Breviloquium, P. V, c. 6. —J. P. Van Kasteren, S.J., in the Catholic Encyclopedia, Vol. II, pp. 371 sq. —Hy. Daniel, in the Catholic Fortnightly Review, St. Louis, Vol. XXIV (1917), No. 23. —M. Devine, The Religion of the Beatitudes, London 1918.—W. F. Stadelman, C. S. Sp., Glories of the Holy Ghost, pp. 54 sqq. —Kenelm Digby Best, in his Mores Catholici, 11 vols., London 1831-42, (demonstrates by a vast accumulation of beautiful examples how each of the eight Beatitudes was realized in the lives of mediaeval men and women, how the ideals of the Beatitudes were maintained and inculcated by the medieval Church, and how they influenced the individual in every walk of life, in youth and age, in peace and war, in sorrow and joy).

On the Fruits of the Holy Ghost: St. Thomas, Summa Theol., 1a 2ae, qu. 70. —St. Bonaventure, Breviloquium, P. V, c. 6. —J. Forget in the Catholic Encyclopedia, Vol. VII, pp. 414 sq. —W. F. Stadelman, C. S. Sp., Glories of the Holy Ghost, pp. 58 sqq.