Morals of the Church
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Section — Prümmer, Manuale Theologiae Moralis

Appendix on Spiritual Perfection and on the State of Perfection

624.

624. 1. St. Paul admonishes: "Above all things have charity, which is the bond of perfection";153 for charity is the form of all the virtues, orders them to the supernatural end, and gives to them their proper notion of meriting eternal life. On account of this reason also our spiritual perfection depends upon the habit of charity, and the more perfect the degree of charity in a man is, the greater is his spiritual perfection. Wherefore St. Augustine says fittingly: "Charity begun is justice begun, charity advanced is justice advanced, great charity is great justice, perfect charity is perfect justice."154 According to St. Thomas, the perfection of charity in this earthly life is exercised by man in two ways, namely in the first way, "that he appoint his zeal to having leisure for God and divine things, other things being passed over, except so far as the necessity of the present life requires; and this is the perfection of charity which is possible in the way; nevertheless it is not common to all having charity. In another way so that someone habitually places his whole heart in God, namely in such a way that he thinks or wills nothing which is contrary to divine love; and this is the perfection common to all having charity."155 Therefore according to St. Thomas there are two grades of charity: the first common to all having sanctifying grace; the second belongs only to those who pass over all worldly things, insofar as is possible, and with all their powers devote themselves to divine things.

  1. Charity, as an infused virtue, cannot be increased from our acts except through an increase of sanctifying grace, which we merit by our acts. Nevertheless, by our acts we can also remove impediments of charity and thus increase it indirectly. This indeed happens in this way. Manifold disordered cupidity prevents man from adhering to God with all his powers. Hence man is bound by repeated acts gradually to restrain that cupidity, and the more disordered cupidity has been subdued, the greater is the perfection of charity. Hence St. Thomas156 says: "Perfection is considered as to this, that those things are excluded which are repugnant to the movement of love into God, as Augustine says in the book 83 Questions, q. 36, that the poison of charity is cupidity, perfection is no cupidity." But the acts by which passions are mortified and virtues are exercised pertain to the perfection of charity, not because they constitute it formally, but because they are commanded by charity and eliminate all opposed impediments. Therefore it cannot be concluded absolutely that those saints who exercised greater mortifications had greater charity and sanctity.

  2. Whoever has a permanent disposition of loving God above all things and of committing no mortal sin can rightly be said to be in the state of perfection, because every permanent and stable disposition can be called a state. Nevertheless, under the state of perfection theologians are accustomed to understand something else, namely a certain kind of life in which the three evangelical counsels and a certain Rule approved by the Supreme Pontiffs are observed. But first of all it must be noted that the state of perfection accepted in this sense is not the same as perfection itself; for someone living outside that state can be most perfect; and conversely someone living in the state of perfection can be most imperfect, indeed even dwell in the state of mortal sin. Nevertheless this state is deservedly called the state of perfection, because a) its members are bound by profession to tend toward perfection and because b) they ought to employ the best means for attaining this perfection. For the obstacles of charity are disordered cupidity 1. of one's own excellence, 2. of carnal delights, and 3. of material goods. Furthermore this threefold cupidity is most efficaciously mortified by the vows of obedience, chastity, and poverty; and these three vows are perfectly observed in the state of religion according to Rules approved by the Supreme Pontiffs. Hence also the history of all ages proves that the most splendid examples of sanctity have shone forth in religious orders.

153 Col. 3, 14.

154 De nat. et grat. c. 70 (Migne, Patr. lat. 44, 290).

155 S. theol. 2, 2, q. 24, a. 8.

156 S. theol. 2, 2, q. 184, a. 2.

What Christian Perfection IsNature of the Religious State