Article II: On Pride and Vainglory

St. Thomas, II-II, q. 162, 130, 131, 132; De Malo q. 8 and 9.

499. Pride is the inordinate appetite of one's own excellence.¹ It is called:

¹ Capital sins, if they are considered singly according to their proper species, pertain to special moral theology; but insofar as they are capital and thus exercise a general influence on other vices, they already pertain to the general part of moral science. Concerning them see the little work De Variis Peccatis in sacramentali confessione medendis, c. III.

1. an appetite, because pride resides in the appetite, namely principally in the will, if it seeks excellence in spiritual things; secondarily in the irascible appetite, which tends toward a sensible, arduous, and excellent good;

2. inordinate: to seek excellence according to itself is not evil, but it is against the order of reason that someone tend above that which he is, as the proud man does: "for right reason has this, that the will of each one be borne toward that which is proportioned to him" (II-II, q. 162, a. 1);

3. of excellence: both relative, by which someone wills to excel others, implicitly at least contemning them; and absolute, by which someone simply wills to excel above that which he is, even without thinking of others;

4. one's own: the special object from which pride receives its species is the loftiness of one's own person; for not in this or that matter, but commonly and in all things, the proud man bears himself as lofty. Therefore pride seeks a certain universal excellence, and by this it is distinguished from presumption, ambition, and vainglory, which inordinately seek some particular excellence, whether in works, or in honors and dignities, or in fame and glory.

500. Pride of itself is contrary to charity and therefore is mortal sin: for the proud man exalts himself above that which he is, that is, above that which has been fixed for him by God; hence implicitly at least contempt of God is included in pride, insofar as man does not will to be subjected to God and his rule. But this is to be turned away from God, which is against charity, by which we are converted to God, and therefore according to itself it is mortal sin. - If that contempt is explicit, formal, and perfect, from an intention of contemning God because one disdains being subjected to God and his law and it seems injurious to one's own excellence, it is always mortal. But if it is only implicit, without an intention of contemning God, it can indeed be mortal, namely, in a grave matter; but often it is venial, not only from indeliberation but also from lightness of matter.

Now, according to Gregory (Moralia, l. 23, c. 4), pride is committed in four ways, diverse in species on the part of the object: 1. by judging that the goods which someone has are had from himself, not from God, or by acting as if he judged that he had them from himself; - 2. by judging that he has received them from God, but on account of his own merits, or by acting as if this were so;² - 3. by attributing to himself goods which he does not have; - 4. in the goods which he has, by willing, others being despised, to be preferred to them more than is fitting. The first two modes, since they include formal contempt of God, are mortal sin; the last two are often only venial, unless they are done with grave irreverence toward God, or render one prepared for sinning mortally, or there is grave contempt of neighbor or notable detriment.

² If the proud man truly believed, by a speculative judgment, that he had all these things from himself or on account of his own merits, he would be a heretic; for the most part he does not specially think this, but practically bears himself as if these gifts were not from God, or not without merit.

501. Daughters of pride. - "Those vices which of themselves are apt to be ordered to the end of some capital vice are called its daughters" (II-II, q. 132, a. 5). All vices indeed are apt to be ordered to the end of pride; yet certain ones, because they seek special excellence, have an object very close to the object of pride, and therefore immediately, proximately, and more frequently than other sins arise from it according to the account of the end, and immediately serve it; whence those alone are called its daughters. But they are three: 1. presumption, which is the inordinate appetite of excellence in works, namely, by undertaking something above one's powers; 2. ambition, which inordinately seeks the excellence of dignity and of honor not due, or greater than is due; 3. vainglory, which inordinately tends into fame and glory, that is, into a vain manifestation of excellence.

Presumption, ambition, and vainglory of themselves are venial sins, because they are not against charity, but are an excessive appetite for a thing good or indifferent according to itself. Per accidens they become mortal (more often vainglory), either because they proceed from a mortally evil cause, for example, from affection for mortal sin; or because they have mortal sin as their effect, as if they are done with notable harm or injury to neighbor, or if someone on account of them is prepared to commit mortal sin; or by reason of matter, as if someone seeks honor or glory from mortal sin (cf. treatise on Fortitude).

502. Vainglory is the inordinate appetite of glory and fame, that is, the appetite of vain glory, or of a vain manifestation and estimation among others concerning one's own excellence, whether true or fictitious. This happens in three ways: a) by seeking glory concerning a thing which is not worthy of glory or of so much glory, as concerning an evil, false, fictitious, fragile thing, concerning riches, trifles, etc.; b) by seeking it from those who are not able to discern what is worthy of glory, for example, from one whose judgment is not certain; c) by seeking and not referring glory to the due end, namely, to the honor of God or the salvation of neighbor or one's own utility.

From vainglory seven vices more commonly arise, and therefore they are called its daughters. For by vainglory the manifestation of one's own excellence is sought, which can happen: a) directly: 1. either by words through boasting, by which someone glories concerning a work committed; or by deeds, 2. through presumption of novelties, by which someone devises novelties which excite the admiration of others; and 3. through hypocrisy, by which someone does good so that he may seem good, although he is not; - b) indirectly someone seeks the manifestation of his own excellence by showing himself not to be less than others, and this happens: 4. as to the intellect, through pertinacity, by which someone adheres too much to his own opinion; 5. as to the will, through discord, by which he does not will to recede from his own will so as to agree with others; 6. as to speech, through contention, by which he quarrels noisily; 7. as to deed, through disobedience, by which he does not will to execute the precept of a superior.