Part II. On the Gifts of the Holy Spirit in Particular

Of the seven gifts of the Holy Spirit, four pertain to the intellect: wisdom, understanding, knowledge, and counsel; the remaining three, piety, fortitude, and fear of the Lord, to the will. We note certain things here concerning each.

I. The Gift of Wisdom is an infused habit by which the intellect is so disposed that, under the special impulse of the Holy Spirit, from a certain connaturality with God it easily and promptly contemplates God, the highest cause, and judges of all things according to Him. This connaturality with God arises from the theological virtue of charity, which is in the will; hence the gift of wisdom has its cause in the will, but its essence in the intellect, whose act is to judge rightly (St. Thomas, II-II, q. 45, a. 2). It also corresponds to charity, and assists this virtue in its acts, so that it may love God more intimately for God's sake.

II. The Gift of Understanding is an infused habit by which the intellect is so disposed that, under the special impulse of the Holy Spirit, it is easily and promptly moved to penetrate both the credibility and the essence of the truths of faith. Therefore this gift corresponds to the theological virtue of faith; it assists faith, so that it may assent more firmly to revealed truth. But it differs from faith, which assents to the truth because of extrinsic testimony, and does so without penetration of the believed object itself (St. Thomas, II-II, q. 8, a. 2).

III. The Gift of Knowledge is an infused habit by which the intellect is so disposed that, under the special impulse of the Holy Spirit, it easily and promptly knows secondary causes, and judges of all things according to them. It also corresponds to the theological virtue of faith, since it belongs to this gift to judge whether created things are matters of faith or not, what in them is worthy of esteem, how natural truths agree with supernatural truths, and what is the force of the arguments by which dogmas are proved (St. Thomas, II-II, q. 9).

IV. The Gift of Counsel is an infused habit by which the intellect is so disposed that, under the special impulse of the Holy Spirit, it easily and promptly judges what must be done in the more difficult cases of life. This gift corresponds to the cardinal virtue of prudence, which is perfected and assisted insofar as it is ruled and moved by the Holy Spirit (St. Thomas, II-II, q. 52).

V. The Gift of Piety is an infused habit by which the will is so disposed that, under the special impulse of the Holy Spirit, it easily and promptly shows worship and submission to God as Father, and therefore honors the Saints and neighbors for God's sake as brothers. This gift corresponds to the cardinal virtue of justice and perfects it, since it moves man to perform works of justice because of a higher motive and with a more perfect affection of soul (St. Thomas, II-II, q. 121).

VI. The Gift of Fortitude is an infused habit by which the will is so disposed that, under the special impulse of the Holy Spirit, it easily and promptly attacks and sustains whatever difficult things with great confidence, and with security of escaping from whatever imminent dangers. It corresponds to the cardinal virtue of fortitude and perfects it in those things in which it would fail (St. Thomas, II-II, q. 139).

VII. The Gift of Fear of the Lord is an infused habit by which the will is so disposed that, under the special impulse of the Holy Spirit, it easily and promptly conceives a profound reverence toward God, as He is an excellent Father and one powerful to separate us from Himself because of offense, and consequently an intimate fear of sin, as it is the offense of this Father and worthy of separation from Him. From this notion it is clear that the gift of fear of the Lord corresponds both to the theological virtue of hope and to the cardinal virtue of temperance: to hope, insofar as it moves one to filial fear by which we avoid sin, which separates us from the Father, and to filial confidence, by which we expect every good from the Father; to temperance, however, insofar as it restrains concupiscences, and this because of a motive more perfect than the motive of temperance (St. Thomas, II-II, q. 141).