Part I. On the Gifts of the Holy Spirit in General

I. Notion of a Gift. The gifts of the Holy Spirit in general can be defined: infused habits by which man is made promptly movable by the Holy Spirit according to a special impulse, above the rule of reason. Therefore, just as acquired virtues are given so that man may be made promptly movable by natural reason, and infused virtues are given so that he may be made promptly movable by reason illumined by the supernatural light of faith, so also the seven gifts are given so that he may be made promptly movable by the impulse of the Holy Spirit. Their rule is not reason, whether natural or illumined by supernatural light, but the Holy Spirit Himself, directing the intellect and will in a special and higher way.

From these things it follows that the gifts of the Holy Spirit are not distinguished from the virtues in the sense that the former operate only around material objects distinct from the material objects of the virtues, and only serve for eliciting actions plainly heroic and wholly extraordinary, as some have thought; but in the sense that "the gifts exceed common perfection, not as to the genus of works, ... but as to the mode of operating, according as man is moved by a higher principle" (St. Thomas, I-II, q. 68, a. 2, ad 1).

If the contrary opinion were true, the gifts would have been given uselessly to most just men, since most would never need them. Nor does it appear in that opinion why the gifts were given as habits, because actual helps would certainly suffice for those extraordinary cases.¹

¹ Cf. Revue Thomiste 1898, pp. 149-150; Pesch, n. 116; John of St. Thomas, on I-II, q. 68, disp. 18, a. 2, nn. 5-8 inclusive and nn. 17-20 inclusive (Lyons edition, 1663, t. 5, pp. 200-201 and 202-203).

II. End of the Gifts. From what has just been said, it is concluded that the gifts of the Holy Spirit serve for this: that man, whenever reason, whether natural or illumined by the supernatural light of faith, and therefore prudence, whether natural or supernatural, does not suffice for actions to be duly regulated, and therefore a special impulse of the Holy Spirit is required to enlighten the intellect and impel the will, may easily and promptly be moved by this impulse; and thus these gifts are for the assistance of the virtues, by perfecting that which, as the Angelic Doctor teaches, the virtues cannot perfect (I-II, q. 68, a. 8, sed contra). But such cases often occur in the life of all the just, subject as it is to so many difficulties (cf. St. Thomas, I-II, q. 68, a. 2; III Sent., dist. 34, q. 1, a. 1, sol., and ad 1-2; ibid., a. 3, sol., beginning).¹

¹ For the whole matter one should read: St. Thomas, I-II, q. 68, entire; John of St. Thomas, on I-II, q. 68, disp. 18, aa. 1-2; Sylvius, on I-II, q. 68, aa. 1-2; Gotti, tr. 3, q. 4 (Venice edition, 1763, t. 2, p. 125 sqq.); Revue Thomiste 1898, pp. 139-157 inclusive and 111-117 inclusive; Tepe, Institutiones theologiae moralis, t. 2, tr. 5, nn. 412-432 inclusive; Saint-Jure, L'Homme spirituel, p. 1, c. 2, sect. 16 (Lyons edition, 1836, t. 1, p. 270 sqq.); Gaume, Traite du S. Esprit, t. 2, cc. 25-26; Scheeben; Heinrich; Gutberlet; Schneider.

III. Number of the Gifts. That there are seven gifts of the Holy Spirit is drawn from Isaiah 11:1-3, where, prophesying concerning the outpouring of these gifts upon Christ, he enumerates seven: namely the gift of wisdom, understanding, counsel, knowledge, piety, fortitude, and fear of the Lord.¹ But just as all graces and virtues flow from Christ the Head into His members, so likewise all the just receive these gifts from His fullness. To this Scriptural argument is added the sense of the Church, which in her liturgical prayers² and in the Encyclicals of her Pontiffs plainly declares the sevenfold number.³

¹ It is indeed true that in the Hebrew text piety and fear are expressed by the same words; but it must be noted that in Sacred Scripture the expression "fear of the Lord" usually has a broad meaning, which indicates all religion and piety, as well as observance toward God. Hence the Septuagint, and many Fathers and various interpreters, both ancient and more recent, translated the same Hebrew word by a different term.

² Roman Missal, Sequence on Pentecost.

³ Encyclical Divinum illud munus of May 9, 1897 (Acta Sanctae Sedis, t. 29, p. 654).

IV. Origin of the Gifts. It is certain that the gifts of the Holy Spirit, like all supernatural virtues, are infused by God; for whatever supernatural gifts entirely exceed the natural faculties of man, and therefore they can also be supplied to us by God alone. But that they are infused by God together with sanctifying grace is clear from the fact that Christ is the exemplar of our justification, or because the just man according to his measure has that Spirit who rested upon Christ. Moreover, as we have just said, according to the prophet Isaiah the Spirit of the seven gifts rested upon Christ.

V. Permanence of the Gifts. Just as the gifts of the Holy Spirit are infused inseparably together with sanctifying grace, and this more probably because of their physical emanation from grace, so also they increase when grace increases in this life, and perish when this grace perishes. In relation to the other life, in the souls of the blessed all the gifts will remain as to their essence; but as to their operation, the gifts which regard the contemplative life, and whose principal object therefore is God, will there have the same acts, yet in a more perfect mode; but the gifts which regard the active life more, and whose object therefore coincides with the object of the moral virtues, will have other acts, and more perfect ones. In the souls of the damned there will be no gift, just as no virtue remains in them (I-II, q. 68, a. 6).

VI. Excellence of the Gifts. The gifts, compared with the theological virtues, are less than they in dignity. For through the theological virtues the soul is united to God; through the gifts it is disposed so that it may be promptly movable by the Holy Spirit. Moreover, the excellence of union with God surpasses the disposition by which man is made promptly movable by God. But the gifts surpass in their excellence the moral and intellectual virtues, "because," says St. Thomas, "the gifts perfect the powers of the soul in comparison with the Holy Spirit moving them; but the virtues perfect either reason itself, or the other powers in order to reason. Now it is manifest that what is movable must be disposed with greater perfection for a higher mover; hence the gifts are more perfect than the virtues" (I-II, q. 68, a. 8).