Article I. On the existence and essence of the infused virtues

472. Thesis. It is proximate to faith that, together with sanctifying grace, the theological virtues of faith, hope, and charity are infused; but the most common opinion of theologians holds that, in addition, all the moral virtues and the gifts of the Holy Spirit are infused.

1. The existence of the theological virtues is clearly intimated in Sacred Scripture, e.g.: "The charity of God is poured forth in our hearts by the Holy Spirit, who has been given to us";⁵⁰ "For God has not given us the spirit of fear, but of power and of love and of sobriety."⁵¹ - Moreover, the Council of Trent⁵² declared: "In justification itself, together with the remission of sins, man receives all these things at once infused through Jesus Christ, into whom he is inserted: faith, hope, and charity," and defined: "If anyone says that men are justified either by the sole imputation of the justice of Christ, or by the sole remission of sins, excluding grace and charity, which is poured forth in their hearts by the Holy Spirit and inheres in them ... let him be anathema."⁵³ Since these words, "poured forth," "inheres," so clearly express that faith, hope, and charity are given not through a transitory act, but through a permanent habit, several theologians, e.g. Vega,⁵⁴ Suarez,⁵⁵ Ripalda,⁵⁶ Benedict XIV,⁵⁷ judge that the existence of the infused theological virtues is of faith. Yet because the Council does not expressly speak of virtues or permanent habits, it is therefore better said that this is only proximate to faith. For the rest, all theologians, old and more recent, unanimously teach that infused theological virtues exist. Only Peter Lombard, the Master of the Sentences, wishes charity not to be a virtue, but the Holy Spirit himself, who directly and without a mediating habit moves us to acts of charity.⁵⁸

472. 2. The existence of the infused moral virtues was not absolutely denied except by a few older authors, e.g. Scotus,⁵⁹ Durandus, Biel, Ockham, etc. But in the thirteenth century several doubted whether not only in the justification of an adult man, but also in the baptism of infants, virtues were infused together with grace.⁶⁰ The reason for doubting was that those virtues then seem to be altogether superfluous, since infants are incapable of the use of them. Nevertheless the Council of Vienne (1311) declared: "But we, considering the general efficacy of the death of Christ, which through baptism is applied equally to all the baptized, have thought that the second opinion, which says that informing grace and the virtues are conferred in baptism on little ones as well as on adults, as more probable and more consonant and accordant with the sayings of the saints and of modern doctors of theology, with the sacred Council approving, should be chosen."⁶¹ - There is added the authority, certainly great, of the Roman Catechism,⁶² which teaches: "To this [sanctifying grace], however, is added the most noble company of all the virtues, which are divinely infused into the soul together with grace."

Finally a reason of fittingness can be added. The greatest analogy exists between the natural order and the supernatural order; for grace does not corrupt nature, but elevates it. Moreover, in the natural order man needs diverse habits and moral virtues in order to act well, promptly, and delightfully. Therefore, by parity, the same must be said in the supernatural order, to which man is elevated through sanctifying grace, which as it were deifies the soul. Therefore, besides sanctifying grace, supernatural habits are required, and indeed first habits which dispose the soul well concerning the ultimate end itself, i.e. the theological virtues. Then supernatural habits disposing man concerning suitable means for obtaining the ultimate end are required; these supernatural habits are the infused moral virtues.⁶³

Today the existence of infused moral virtues is denied by no theologian. There are as many infused moral virtues as there are acquired moral virtues. Thus teaches the truer and more common opinion.⁶⁴

The intellectual virtues, since they are not necessary for leading a moral and supernatural life, are not infused together with sanctifying grace; nevertheless sometimes they are conferred as graces gratis given, e.g. the grace of tongues. - Concerning the gifts of the Holy Spirit, which are infused together with grace, it has already been said above, n. 445.

⁵⁰ Rom. 5, 5.

⁵¹ 2 Tim. 1, 7.

⁵² Sess. 6, c. 7 de iustif. (Denz. n. 800).

⁵³ Sess. 6, can. 11 de iustif. (Denz. n. 821).

⁵⁴ In Trid. l. 7, c. 24.

⁵⁵ De gratia l. 6, c. 8, n. 14.

⁵⁶ De ente supern. disp. 120, n. 18 sqq.

⁵⁷ De serv. Dei beatif. l. 3, c. 21, n. 13.

⁵⁸ See the refutation of this error in S. theol. 2, 2, q. 23, a. 2.

⁵⁹ In 3, dist. 36, q. 1, n. 28, § "Licet de istis."

⁶⁰ Cf. S. theol. 3, q. 69, a. 6.

⁶¹ Denz. n. 483.

⁶² Pars 2 de sacr. bapt. c. 2, q. 39.

⁶³ Cf. S. theol. 1, 2, q. 63, a. 3, and the Commentaries of Cajetan and Sylvius on this article.

⁶⁴ Salmant., Curs. S. theol. de virtut. disp. 3, dub. 1, n. 18.

473. 3. The essence of infused virtues. The Augustinian definition given above explains the essence of the infused virtues. For infused virtue is a good quality of the mind, by which one lives rightly, which no one uses badly, and which God works in us without us. Hence infused virtue is caused in us by a divine act, namely by the infusion of sanctifying grace, without man in any way being able by his own natural acts to merit this infusion. For just as man cannot merit sanctifying grace, so also he cannot merit infused virtues.

a) Infused virtues are consequents of sanctifying grace. This indeed is certain for infused moral virtues and for charity, but concerning the infused virtue of faith and hope several theologians, such as Cajetan and Bannez,⁶⁵ Medina,⁶⁶ Suarez,⁶⁷ Schilling⁶⁸ and others, teach that the habit of faith and hope is sometimes infused before the habit of charity, and therefore before sanctifying grace; for these authors think that a heretic or catechumen can be sufficiently disposed for the habit of faith and hope before he is disposed for charity. For just as faith and hope (unformed) are conserved without sanctifying grace in a Catholic sinner, so they can be produced without sanctifying grace in a catechumen. But this opinion is deservedly rejected with St. Thomas,⁶⁹ who asserts that the habits of all the virtues are infused together. For the Council of Trent teaches:⁷⁰ "In justification itself, together with the remission of sins, man receives all these things at once infused through Jesus Christ, into whom he is inserted: faith, hope, and charity." The same is clear from the Roman Catechism, which calls the virtues the company of grace and teaches that they are infused together with grace.⁷¹ But nothing prevents man without sanctifying grace, even before baptism, from eliciting acts of faith with the help of actual grace; and in this sense the Holy Fathers and St. Thomas are to be understood when speaking of him "who receives faith from God without charity."⁷²

b) Infused virtues really differ from sanctifying grace. Theologians dispute whether infused virtues are really distinct from sanctifying grace, or rather are sanctifying grace itself insofar as it is ordered to acts. St. Thomas,⁷³ all Thomists, such as Cajetan, Medina, Soto, and very many others, e.g. Valentia, Suarez, Kleutgen, Scheeben, Gopfert, and others, affirm the real distinction. But Alexander of Hales, Durandus, Scotus, Vega, Lessius, Bellarmine, and others deny the difference at least between charity and grace (although they concede that grace differs from the other virtues). The Thomistic opinion is not only by far the more common, but also the truer. For the Council of Trent, the Council of Vienne, and the Roman Catechism speak of grace and charity as of distinct things.⁷⁴ Moreover, just as our soul is distinguished from its powers, so sanctifying grace, which is received in the essence of the soul, must be distinguished from the infused virtues, which are subjected in the powers of the soul.⁷⁵

⁶⁵ Comm. in 2, 2, q. 6, a. 2.

⁶⁶ Comm. in 1, 2, q. 62, a. 4.

⁶⁷ 3, t. 3, disp. 28, sect. 3.

⁶⁸ Moraltheologie I, § 40.

⁶⁹ S. theol. 1, 2, q. 62, a. 4; 3, q. 85, a. 6.

⁷⁰ Sess. 6, c. 7 de iustif. (Denz. n. 800).

⁷¹ Cf. above n. 472.

⁷² S. theol. 2, 2, q. 6, a. 2 ad 3.

⁷³ Ib. q. 110, a. 3 and 4, and in other places.

⁷⁴ Cf. the places cited above.

⁷⁵ Cf. S. theol. 1, 2, q. 110, a. 4 ad 1.

474. c) Infused virtues are specifically distinguished from their respective acquired virtues. For although the material object, e.g. of the virtue of acquired temperance and of infused temperance, is one and the same, namely the moderate use of food, nevertheless the rule moderating that object is one thing in acquired temperance and another in infused temperance. For the rule of acquired temperance is right reason, commanding moderation in food and drink, not only lest health be ruined, but also that the whole concupiscible appetite may be well ordered; but the rule of infused temperance is the divine law, which commands that man chastise his body and bring it into servitude, in order more securely to attain heavenly beatitude. Speaking generally, infused virtues direct all things to a supernatural end; but acquired virtues directly intend a natural good. The Angelic Doctor says fittingly: "And in this way also the infused moral virtues differ in species, through which men are well disposed in order to this, that they may be citizens of the saints and members of the household of God; and the other acquired virtues, according to which man is well disposed toward human affairs."⁷⁶

d) Infused virtues cause the power, but not the (extrinsic) facility, of performing supernatural acts. Just as sanctifying grace residing in the essence of the soul elevates it to a higher nature, so infused virtues elevate the powers of the soul for placing supernatural acts. Since acquired virtues procure facility in acting, infused virtues cause the very power of acting supernaturally in the present condition of things. E.g. without the virtue of temperance a man could, although with difficulty, perform acts of sobriety; but without the virtue of faith a man would be unequal to eliciting acts of true faith. But since infused virtues give the power indeed, yet not the (extrinsic) facility⁷⁷ of eliciting virtuous acts, therefore even the justified man having these virtues not rarely suffers great labors in the exercise of them, especially if before he was given over to vices. Therefore it is necessary that infused virtues be assisted by acquired virtues, not indeed intrinsically, because the natural habit of acquired virtues cannot intrinsically perfect the supernatural habit of infused virtues, but extrinsically, insofar as they remove obstacles, namely perverse inclinations and disordered concupiscence. With obstacles of this kind removed, infused virtues begin also to act easily and promptly and to produce excellent meritorious works.

⁷⁶ S. theol. 1, 2, q. 63, a. 4.

⁷⁷ A twofold facility of acting is distinguished, namely intrinsic and extrinsic. Intrinsic consists in the proneness which belongs to the faculty itself toward its proper act. Extrinsic facility arises from the removal of external obstacles which impede the act. Infused virtues indeed confer intrinsic facility of acting, because they elevate and strengthen the natural force of the power; but not extrinsic facility, because external obstacles remain, e.g. inveterate contrary habits (cf. St. Thomas, De virtut. in com. a. 10 ad 14).