A Theological Virtue

Faith

St. Thomas treats it at II-II, qq. 1-16. See also every passage on the topic page.

How the Authors Compare

Who counts as an apostate varies. Noldin defines apostasy as “a total defection from faith” and Wouters speaks of one who “totally falls away from the faith” (n. 28, n. 492). Prümmer starts from the same definition, then adds that any Catholic who denies even one article “totally withdraws from the Church and the Catholic faith and becomes a true apostate” (n. 512). Concina and Billuart keep the name for desertion of the whole faith: the heretic “knowingly and stubbornly denies some one evangelical truth, admits many others”, but the apostate “bids farewell to Christ and to his whole Religion” (III, diss. I, ch. IX, n. IV); heresy “is a desertion of the faith as to a part only” (On apostasy, n. 2).
They agree that heresy and apostasy are not different sins in species. Noldin and Wouters say so outright (n. 31, n. 492), and Merkelbach calls them conditions of unbelief “on the part of the one sinning” (I, n. 743). Billuart: apostasy “seems not to be distinguished from heresy except according to more and less” (On unbelief in general, n. 14).
The word is taken more and less strictly, and the authors agree. Noldin and Wouters define it as “the lack of faith in a man not baptized” (n. 26, n. 491), and Noldin adds an improper sense, “any defect of internal faith”, which “also comprehends heresy and apostasy” (n. 26). Merkelbach's “a defective lack of faith, namely, in one in whom faith ought to be” is as wide (I, n. 734), and he keeps the name “infidelity properly so called” for the positive kind (I, n. 734). St. Thomas sets aside “pure negation” before calling unbelief a sin (II-II, q. 10, a. 1).
Noldin and Prümmer name a sin against faith by excess, credulity (n. 25, n. 509), and Prümmer adds superstition.
St. Thomas and Merkelbach place blasphemy under faith, as opposed to confessing it (II-II, q. 13, a. 1, I, n. 733). Prümmer places it among the vices against religion, and Noldin and Wouters under the second precept. Billuart sets it under both: “insofar as it contains implicitly or explicitly something false concerning God, it is opposed to the confession of faith; insofar as it is a dishonoring of God, it is opposed to religion” (On blasphemy, n. 14). Concina treats it with the tempting of God and sacrilege, among the sins against religion, holding with St. Thomas that it “is opposed to the confession of faith, not to faith by its very nature” (Theol. III, diss. III, ch. III, n. II).
“Formal object” in two senses. Prümmer names God, the first truth in being, “the formal object which” of faith, and the authority of God revealing “the formal object by which” (n. 482). Merkelbach keeps “formal object” for the authority of God revealing alone (I, n. 667) and calls God “the primary or principal material object” (I, n. 672), noting that “certain theologians call the primary material object the formal object which” (I, n. 666). Wouters, Marc and McHugh-Callan speak as Merkelbach does (n. 356, n. 754); Bontempi calls God “the principal object, and the object of attribution” (What the object of faith is, n. 7). They differ in words, not in what they teach. Billuart speaks as Prümmer does: the formal object which, “or, as others call it, the object of attribution of faith, is first truth in being, or God himself as God” (What is the object of faith, n. 3); so Concina, for whom the material object “is also called the formal object which” (III, diss. I, ch. III, n. III).
Whether God's authority is itself believed in the act of faith. Prümmer: the motive is “the authority of God revealing, not known but believed” (n. 486); so, nearly, McHugh-Callan, for whom the one simple assent accepts “at the same time the authority of the Revealer and the truth of His revelation” (n. 799). Merkelbach: “in this act we do not believe nor in any way affirm the very authority of God revealing”; it is known beforehand and is only the motive (I, n. 694), and he rejects Suarez, who has it believed in the act (I, n. 694), and Lugo, who makes the act a reasoning (I, n. 694). Bontempi follows Lugo: God's veracity is the principle, and “the Truth of revelation is the conclusion deduced, as Lugo shows” (What the object of faith is, n. 34). Billuart is with McHugh-Callan: “by the same act we assent to the thing revealed and to the revelation” (On the habit of faith, n. 18), for the assent “is not discursive, but simple, and it rests solely in the testimony of the speaker” (What is the object of faith, n. 11).
What disposes the will to command the assent. Prümmer and Noldin posit a habit in the will besides the habit in the intellect: “an infused habit is required in the will for eliciting the act of pious credulity” (n. 491, n. 3). Merkelbach: “it cannot be concluded that there exists in the will a certain special habit” (I, n. 716); that habit “is charity, which orders man to the ultimate end” (I, n. 716); so Marc, with Billuart (n. 423). Bontempi, with St. Bonaventure, makes it faith itself: “the habit of faith gives the will its virtue, that it may command its acts to the intellect” (Whether faith resides in the intel, n. 39), against Scotus, who requires no habit at all (Whether faith resides in the intel, n. 34).
How many properties. Prümmer names four, “supernaturalness, freedom, infallibility, firmness or constancy” (n. 486); Wouters five: “truth, certitude, obscurity, liberty, and necessity” (n. 358); McHugh-Callan five: supernatural, obscure, free, a simple assent and not a reasoning, firm (n. 799). Merkelbach draws seven from their sources: infallibility and obscurity from the object, liberty from the will, reasonableness from the judgment of credibility, supreme certitude, supernaturality, and lastly “on the part of the subject, irrevocability belongs to faith” (I, n. 728, I, n. 728).
Knowing and believing the same truth. St. Thomas: “it is equally impossible for one and the same thing to be an object of science and of belief for the same person” (II-II, q. 1, a. 5). Merkelbach holds with him that at the moment of evident demonstration one “cannot at that moment accept the same truth on account of testimony, even divine testimony” (I, n. 680), though he may believe it “at another moment” (I, n. 680); McHugh-Callan: act of faith and act of knowledge cannot coexist about the same truth (n. 784). Wouters: “according to the more probable opinion even truths evidently known to reason, or admitted on account of their intrinsic evidence, can be believed by divine faith” (n. 358). Bontempi sets out St. Thomas and the Thomists against St. Bonaventure, Suarez, Lugo and others (Whether the object of faith can be, n. 1), and concludes with St. Bonaventure: “acts of faith and of science concerning the same object can exist” (Whether the object of faith can be, n. 12).
A theological conclusion the Church has defined. All agree that what is only virtually revealed is not, of itself, believed by divine faith. Once the Church has defined it, Prümmer: “then certainly that is to be believed by divine faith” (n. 484). Merkelbach: such things “are the object, not of divine faith, but of theological assent or even of ecclesiastical faith” (I, n. 675); Wouters: “More probably it must be held to be an assent of ecclesiastical faith” (n. 356). McHugh-Callan sets out both: many theologians make it ecclesiastical faith (n. 756); “Others deny the existence of such faith” and hold it believed with divine and Catholic faith after definition (n. 756).
Charity “the form” of faith. St. Thomas: “charity is called the form of faith in so far as the act of faith is perfected and formed by charity” (II-II, q. 4, a. 3). Merkelbach calls it “the form (extrinsic, directive, and accidental) of faith” (I, n. 717). Wouters: charity “cannot be called its substantial or accidental form” (n. 355); Bontempi: it is not the form “either essential, as the soul is to man; or accidental, as whiteness to the Swan” (Whether faith is perfected by char, n. 1), and “charity is called the form of faith only metaphorically” (Whether faith is perfected by char, n. 1).
Whether faith without charity is a virtue. St. Thomas: “lifeless faith is not a virtue” (II-II, q. 4, a. 5); Merkelbach: without charity “it is not a virtue simply so called” (I, n. 717). Bontempi reports almost all the theologians saying “that unformed faith is not simply a virtue” (Whether, and how, faith is a virtu, n. 1) and holds with St. Bonaventure that it “is most properly a virtue” (Whether, and how, faith is a virtu, n. 2); Noldin: “a true virtue and true faith” (n. 6); McHugh-Callan: “a true virtue” but “an imperfect virtue” (n. 800). Prümmer reconciles them: where the name is denied, “perfect virtue is to be understood” (n. 492). Billuart reconciles them as Prümmer does: when the Fathers deny faith or any virtue without charity, “they speak of living faith and of the virtues in their perfect state of being” (On the subject of faith, n. 5).
God's wisdom in the motive of faith. Noldin: faith “rests on first truth, or on two divine perfections”, His wisdom and His veracity (n. 4). Merkelbach: the formal object is first truth in speaking, “insofar as it supposes first truth in knowing” (I, n. 667). Wouters: veracity alone constitutes it; “wisdom does not essentially constitute the formal object of theological faith, but nevertheless concurs toward it as a condition without which not” (n. 356). Billuart: the formal object by which is “the divine veracity revealing, connoting first truth in knowing, or the infinite wisdom of God”, since veracity “does not have that it be infallible unless it connote the infinite wisdom of God” (What is the object of faith, n. 5, What is the object of faith, n. 7).
One baptized in infancy who reaches reason, keeps from mortal sin, and is never sufficiently taught the faith. Merkelbach: “he will be saved without an act of faith” (I, n. 707); Noldin: such are to be counted with infants until instructed, “and therefore can be saved even without an act of faith” (n. 8). Prümmer, against Lugo and Elbel, who say the same: “We deny that this can be admitted”, “because every adult capable of reason (and not only an adult sinner who wishes to be justified) is bound to obtain beatitude as a reward for good works” (n. 497). Concina is with Prümmer: “adults having the use of reason, though baptized in infancy, cannot attain eternal salvation without actual faith” (III, diss. I, ch. IV, n. III).
Explicit faith in the Trinity and the Incarnation since the Gospel, as a means. St. Thomas holds it necessary (II-II, q. 2, a. 8); Bontempi calls it “THE TRUE teaching” (What must be believed by the neces, n. 18). Merkelbach: the affirmative opinion “is more probable” but not altogether certain (I, n. 707); McHugh-Callan: so “A majority of theologians hold, and with greater probability it seems” (n. 787); Prümmer: “This affirmative opinion must be followed in practice” (n. 499). Wouters: “the contrary opinion also is probable” (n. 488); Marc: the denial is “sufficiently probable” (n. 427); Sabetti-Barrett: “the negative opinion is certainly probable” (n. 157); Noldin calls the denial “theoretically more probable” (n. 10). Vermeersch, with Suarez and Lugo, makes it necessary “like baptism itself, in reality, or in desire” (n. 10). In practice all would have the dying instructed if possible, and absolved only conditionally if not. Concina will not call the denial probable at all: “The contrary opinion, which Fr. Sporer defends — who cites for it Laymann, Tanner, and other more recent writers — is false, and adverse to the luminous testimonies of God”, and the Salmanticenses' and Roncaglia's justification by a merely implicit faith per accidens is “Arbitrary and utterly fictitious” (III, diss. I, ch. IV, n. VI, III, diss. I, ch. IV, n. VII). Billuart: “This opinion is more probable and more common” (Whether it is of the necessity of…, n. 5).
Confessions made in ignorance of the Trinity and the Incarnation. Prümmer, after St. Alphonsus: a penitent in grave sin “must repeat confessions so made” (n. 499); Marc: he “is bound, after having been taught those mysteries, to repeat the confession”, St. Alphonsus “reforming his former opinion” (n. 427, n. 427). Merkelbach: they are more safely repeated, but “the faithful cannot be strictly obliged to this” (I, n. 708); Noldin: he “need not necessarily repeat the confessions made in this state of ignorance” (n. 10); McHugh-Callan, by probabilism: he “is not obliged to repeat his confessions” (n. 792). Concina: the affirming opinion “is common, and the contrary utterly false”, and those who confessed in that ignorance “must repeat their Confessions, as being null” (III, diss. I, ch. IV, n. VIII).
The details of what all must know. Merkelbach counts among the things binding under light obligation the “circumstances of time: under Pontius Pilate, the third day” (I, n. 709); Noldin: these “need not be known even under light obligation” (n. 12); Vermeersch: they “may be unknown without punishment” (n. 11); McHugh-Callan: they “do not oblige to explicit faith under any sin” (n. 928). The Hail Mary: Marc, with St. Charles Borromeo, sets it among the things to be known by precept beside the Lord's Prayer (n. 427); Merkelbach binds it under light obligation, “at least as to substance” (I, n. 709); McHugh-Callan: “most suitable” (n. 920). Wouters adds to the sacraments to be known “according to many, Confirmation” (n. 489). Concina: “nor is explicit faith in the passion under Pontius Pilate required” (III, diss. I, ch. IV, n. X); he joins the Hail Mary to what must be known, “Necessary, moreover, is the knowledge of the precepts of holy Mother Church, and of the angelic salutation” (III, diss. I, ch. V, n. VII); and of the sacraments, Baptism, Penance and the Eucharist especially, “Yet ignorance of the other four is not harmless” (III, diss. I, ch. V, n. VI).
Whether the commandments must be believed or only known. Noldin: “The precepts of the decalogue must not only be known, but also believed” (n. 12); Bontempi, with Suarez: “faith in the Decalogue is also necessary for its observance” (What things are to be believed by, n. 18); Wouters sets the Decalogue among the things that “by explicit faith there must be believed” (n. 489); Merkelbach: it “at least implicitly must be believed” (I, n. 709). Sabetti-Barrett: “Many affirm this, because the precepts of the Decalogue were revealed that they might be observed by all; but several rightly contradict it”, since they can be known without revelation and were given for doing; they must be known, not necessarily believed (n. 157). Billuart counts among the things all are bound “to believe explicitly” under mortal sin “all the precepts of the Decalogue and of the Church” (The remaining difficulties concerning…, n. 2).
Learning the prayers by heart. Prümmer: per se no formula need be memorized, but “By accident there is a grave obligation of learning the Lord's Prayer by memory”, lest prayer be neglected altogether (n. 501); McHugh-Callan: “it seems that there is a serious obligation of memorizing at least the Our Father” (n. 923). Noldin, with most authors, makes the neglect a venial sin (n. 12); Marc: “sins venially” (n. 427); Vermeersch: not without “at least venial fault” (n. 13); Merkelbach binds the words under light obligation (I, n. 709). Bontempi reports Fagundez, Sanchez and Suarez requiring the words, and that “absolution is to be suspended for those who, though admonished repeatedly, refuse to learn them” (What things are to be believed by, n. 26). Concina makes the memorizing an ecclesiastical precept, “confirmed by long custom”, binding “at least as to the substance”, and adds that words learned without their sense give “a knowledge of words, not of truths” (III, diss. I, ch. V, n. XI, III, diss. I, ch. V, n. XII).
How often the act of faith is due. Prümmer: since faith and charity have almost the same necessity, “the precept of faith also obliges at least in any five-year period”, and of the yearly, monthly and Sunday rules: “All these opinions are arbitrary and rest on no solid foundation” (n. 502). Merkelbach: “more probably, three or four times a year” (I, n. 790); Marc: “at least once in the year, as Doctors admit with sufficient probability” (n. 426); Sabetti-Barrett: no more often than once a year (n. 153). Noldin: “altogether indeterminate” (n. 14); Vermeersch: impossible to define (n. 17); McHugh-Callan: “There is no solid support for any of these opinions” (n. 933). All agree a Christian life fulfils it. Concina will not enter the dispute: the reckonings of the Casuists “do not foster, but weaken, the exercise of faith; and, as it seems to me, they are also vain”; “I should scarcely count him a Christian who within a year elicited an act of faith only once. This frequency of acts I dare not define” (III, diss. I, ch. V, n. XIII). Billuart: it binds “many times in life”, but how often “cannot be determined with certainty. Marvelously on this point authors vary” (The remaining difficulties concerning…, n. 13, The remaining difficulties concerning…, n. 14).
Whether the precept of faith binds of itself at death. Merkelbach counts death among the times it binds of itself (I, n. 790); Prümmer: “More probably” (n. 502); Marc: “as is more commonly taught” (n. 426); Wouters: “Thus many” (n. 489). Noldin: “it cannot be proved with certainty that faith is necessary at that time, unless a vehement temptation against faith urges”; the sinner needs it to be reconciled, which is another obligation (n. 14). Sabetti-Barrett: the question “has been resolved, at least practically”, since the dying must receive the sacraments (n. 153); McHugh-Callan sets it under the act of charity due at death (n. 935); Vermeersch leaves death out of the times the act is due of itself (n. 19). Concina: “At the time of death the precept urges of itself” (III, diss. I, ch. V, n. XIII), and he sets Leander's denial among the lax opinions (III, diss. I, ch. II, n. VI); Billuart: it “binds per se in danger of death” (The remaining difficulties concerning…, n. 12).
Indirect denial of the faith. Prümmer: “It is never licit to deny faith, neither directly nor indirectly” (n. 504); Merkelbach forbids it too, meaning an act “which is held by others as a denial of faith”, such as taking part in heretical rites (I, n. 712). Noldin: “From a just cause it is permitted indirectly to deny faith” (n. 24); but by this he means an act indifferent in itself which others mistake for a denial, where “the action indifferent in itself is illicit so far as from it there follows deception and scandal of others” and a just cause may permit that effect (n. 24). The difference is in the word.
Questioned about the faith by public authority. Prümmer: one is bound, even at the risk of life, “if he is questioned by public authority in a cause of faith” (n. 505); Noldin, “whether this happens publicly or privately” (n. 16); Merkelbach counts silence or ambiguity then a denial, generally (I, n. 712). Vermeersch: “at least if the legal order is observed by the one questioning” (n. 20); Wouters: only “when someone is summoned before the law” (n. 490); Marc: “outside the order of law” one may keep silence (n. 430); Sabetti-Barrett, with Kenrick, where the laws ignore religion one may “reject the interrogation as out of order” (n. 153); McHugh-Callan requires that the questioner have the right by law and ask “out of hatred of the faith” (n. 995). Bontempi reports St. Thomas against silence, others for it, and others who bind only a grave person or one questioned publicly (Whether we are bound to confess fa, n. 10). Concina: “It is agreed among all” that those sin who, questioned “by the public Power sitting in tribunal, keep silence”; before a private person “the circumstances of persons, of time, and of place must be regarded”; and the faithful must answer “a catholic Superior interrogating them about the faith”, “even if the Prince be a layman” (III, diss. I, ch. VI, n. III).
A pastor in persecution. Noldin: “pastors of souls, bishops, and parish priests, cannot licitly flee” (n. 23); Prümmer: they must stay at the risk of life “if their flight would expose the people committed to them to grave danger of apostasy” (n. 505); so Merkelbach and Marc. Vermeersch leaves it to the pastor's judgment whether to confirm the others by staying, or “to withdraw himself for a time so that from a safe place he may administer the territory and reserve himself for the good of more persons” (n. 23); McHugh-Callan: if his life is needed and others can supply his absence, flight is even a duty (n. 1005); Spirago: “they may fly if their presence is not required, or if it seems likely to give rise to fresh persecutions” (VIII. ON THE DUTY OF CONFESSING OUR FAITH). Concina: pastors “can licitly flee, and sometimes ought, when tyrants rage against them personally, and other ministers are present”, as St. Athanasius did; but when none are present and the flock is “in grave danger of losing the faith, then the Pastors cannot flee” (III, diss. I, ch. VI, n. V).
The signs of the Freemasons. Prümmer: “it is not licit to wear the distinctive signs of Freemasons” (n. 507); Noldin: wearing their insignia or using their grips “is illicit” (n. 20); so Merkelbach and McHugh-Callan. Vermeersch notes that Lehmkuhl and Genicot class them with vestments of sacred use (n. 24), and would have that understood only “when they certainly show adherence to a condemned sect” (n. 24): where the circumstances make their meaning uncertain, as for a stranger observing the sect or a Catholic fleeing persecution, he asks whether they may not “be tolerated for a proportionate cause” (n. 24).
A convert who must stay hidden. Noldin: a conversion may be hidden for a time, but “concealment for a long time is illicit” (n. 16); McHugh-Callan: “it cannot be permitted permanently” (n. 992); Vermeersch agrees that one who would be a hidden Christian all his life is not to be received (n. 26), yet where even a private profession would bring excessive evil and the public good commands silence, “it will be lawful to be a hidden Christian and to satisfy the debt of Christian profession through a posthumous revelation” (n. 26).
Meeting a temptation against faith. Spirago: “we should not argue with them, but should make an act of faith and pray for more faith” (VII. ON THE ABSENCE AND LOSS OF FAITH); Vermeersch: a simple, general act made calmly “will for the most part help in the temptation itself” (n. 17). Merkelbach's Pastoral: they are to be “fled and contemned without positive effort”, by turning to other things, with one general act afterward if wished, “nor afterward let new acts of faith be formed, lest agitation grow” (Pastoral, Q. I, Pastoral, Q. I); McHugh-Callan warns that the act may be harmful, “as prolonging or intensifying the temptation (a thing that is not infrequent)” (n. 934); Merkelbach's Summa: the act is “not fitting for the scrupulous” (I, n. 790). Concina: “He who feels himself agitated by these straits should elicit acts of faith, and desist from the conflict”; but “If he who doubts is distressed by scruples, let him count the doubts as nothing, and turn his mind elsewhere” (III, diss. I, ch. IX, n. III).
A private revelation certainly from God. Merkelbach: the one to whom it is made must believe it, but “for others it probably suffices that they do not contemn them” (I, n. 674); McHugh-Callan: it should receive the assent of divine faith, and “This applies to those to whom and for whom they were given, and probably to others also” (n. 758).

What It Is

The Apostle's words (Heb. xi. 1) put as a definition: “faith is a habit of the mind, whereby eternal life is begun in us, making the intellect assent to what is non-apparent”	St. Thomas II-II, q. 4, a. 1In nearly the same words: Prümmer n. 479; Merkelbach I, n. 661; Billuart On the habit of faith, n. 7
The Vatican Council's definition: “a supernatural virtue by which, with the grace of God inspiring and helping, we believe the things revealed by Him to be true”	Merkelbach I, n. 662In nearly the same words: Prümmer n. 479; Wouters n. 487; McHugh-Callan n. 798
In the schools: “an infused supernatural habit by which man is disposed to assent firmly to truths revealed by God on account of the authority of God Himself revealing”	Noldin n. 3In nearly the same words: Wouters n. 354; Vermeersch n. 2; Bontempi What faith signifies, and what it, n. 4; Roman Catechism Faith and the Creed; Billuart On the habit of faith, n. 7
Some put the Church's proposing into the definition itself: faith inclines us to assent to all that God has revealed, “and has proposed to us through the Church as to be believed”	Marc n. 420In nearly the same words: Roman Catechism Faith and the Creed; Spirago V. THE CHRISTIAN FAITH; Concina III, diss. I, ch. III, n. I
To believe, with St. Augustine, “is to think with assent”	St. Thomas II-II, q. 2, a. 1; Merkelbach I, n. 689; Bontempi Whether the object of faith is som, n. 7In nearly the same words: Prümmer n. 480
Faith in general: “To believe signifies to give assent to some thing on account of the testimony or authority of another.”	Noldin n. 3In nearly the same words: Marc n. 420; Merkelbach I, n. 660; Prümmer n. 478
Human and divine: “If that authority is human, it is called human faith; if it is divine, it is called divine faith.”	Merkelbach I, n. 660In nearly the same words: Prümmer n. 478; Marc n. 420
The word, besides (fidelity, a promise, conscience, the things believed): “In Sacred Scripture and in theology the word faith is taken in many and diverse senses”	Prümmer n. 478In nearly the same words: McHugh-Callan n. 750; Roman Catechism Faith and the Creed; Bontempi What faith signifies, and what it, n. 2; Merkelbach I, n. 659

Its Place Among the Virtues

First: “Faith, by its very nature, precedes all other virtues.”	St. Thomas II-II, q. 4, a. 7In nearly the same words: Merkelbach I, n. 719; Bontempi Whether faith is the first of the, n. 1; McHugh-Callan n. 746; Prümmer n. 477
But not first in dignity: “according to dignity the order is charity, hope, faith”	McHugh-Callan n. 746In nearly the same words: Prümmer n. 477
The beginning and root, in the words of Trent: “Faith is the beginning and root of all justification.”	Vermeersch n. 4In nearly the same words: McHugh-Callan n. 747; Prümmer n. 487; Marc n. 425; Noldin n. 5; Merkelbach I, n. 662; Bontempi What faith signifies, and what it, n. 4; Spirago V. THE CHRISTIAN FAITH
And so “faith is the foundation of the whole spiritual life”	Prümmer n. 509In nearly the same words: Bontempi On the effects of faith, n. 4; Spirago V. THE CHRISTIAN FAITH; Vermeersch n. 1
Another virtue may come first, removing what hinders belief: “One thing can precede another in two ways: first, by its very nature; secondly, by accident.”	St. Thomas II-II, q. 4, a. 7In nearly the same words: Merkelbach I, n. 719

Its Act

What it is: “the act of believing is an act of the intellect assenting to the Divine truth at the command of the will moved by the grace of God”	St. Thomas II-II, q. 2, a. 9In nearly the same words: Merkelbach I, n. 690; Prümmer n. 479; Marc n. 423
“the firm assent by which we embrace truths revealed by God on account of the authority of God Himself revealing”	Noldin n. 3In nearly the same words: Prümmer n. 479; McHugh-Callan n. 782
Of the intellect, at the will's command: “an act elicited by the intellect, commanded by the will”	Merkelbach I, n. 689In nearly the same words: Prümmer n. 480; Noldin n. 5; Wouters n. 357; Vermeersch n. 2; Spirago V. THE CHRISTIAN FAITH; Bontempi Whether faith resides in the intel, n. 28
“No man can believe unless he wills to believe.”	Spirago V. THE CHRISTIAN FAITHIn nearly the same words: Merkelbach I, n. 689; Bontempi Whether faith resides in the intel, n. 26
Three acts, the judgment of credibility, the pious affection of credulity, and the assent itself: “a threefold act is required for believing”	Merkelbach I, n. 692In nearly the same words: Noldin n. 5; Prümmer n. 486
“For the act of faith a judgment of credibility is required beforehand.”	Merkelbach I, n. 699In nearly the same words: Prümmer n. 480; Noldin n. 5; Spirago V. THE CHRISTIAN FAITH; McHugh-Callan n. 795
The motives of credibility: “they are chiefly 1. miracles and 2. prophecies”	Merkelbach I, n. 701In nearly the same words: Spirago VI. THE MOTIVES OF FAITH; Prümmer n. 486; Noldin n. 5; Bontempi Whether the articles of faith are, n. 3
They make faith reasonable, but “nevertheless do not pertain to the internal and specifying motive of it”	Prümmer n. 486In nearly the same words: Merkelbach I, n. 700
The analysis of faith: “The assent of faith is resolved formally into the authority of God revealing, dispositively into the motives of credibility, directively into the authority of the Church proposing, effectively into supernatural grace”	Prümmer n. 486In nearly the same words: Marc n. 422; Noldin n. 6; Bontempi What the object of faith is, n. 32
Not a reasoning: “that the act of faith is simple”	Merkelbach I, n. 695In nearly the same words: McHugh-Callan n. 799; Prümmer n. 486
With St. Thomas and St. Augustine, one act in three relations: “by the act of faith we believe God (credere Deum), believe God (credere Deo), and believe in God (credere in Deum)”	Merkelbach I, n. 697In nearly the same words: Noldin n. 5; McHugh-Callan n. 783
To believe in God, tending to Him as end: “We do not do this last perfectly except through charity”	Merkelbach I, n. 697In nearly the same words: Bontempi Whether faith resides in the intel, n. 13
The Church believed, not believed in: “nor do we believe in the Church because she is not our ultimate end”	Merkelbach I, n. 697In nearly the same words: McHugh-Callan n. 778
Its outward act, confession: “just as the inward thought of matters of faith is properly an act of faith, so too is the outward confession of them”	St. Thomas II-II, q. 3, a. 1In nearly the same words: Merkelbach I, n. 711; McHugh-Callan n. 796; Bontempi Whether we are bound to confess fa, n. 3
Meritorious: “consequently the act of faith can be meritorious”	St. Thomas II-II, q. 2, a. 9In nearly the same words: Merkelbach I, n. 698; Noldin n. 5; McHugh-Callan n. 785; Vermeersch n. 2
Reasons brought for the faith: “such reasons do not diminish the merit or the measure of faith”	St. Thomas II-II, q. 2, a. 10In nearly the same words: McHugh-Callan n. 795; Merkelbach I, n. 681

Its Object

“if we consider, in faith, the formal aspect of the object, it is nothing else than the First Truth”	St. Thomas II-II, q. 1, a. 1
Why we believe, the formal object: “The formal object of faith is the authority of God revealing, or first truth in speaking.”	Merkelbach I, n. 667In nearly the same words: Prümmer n. 483; Noldin n. 4; Wouters n. 356; Marc n. 422; McHugh-Callan n. 754; Bontempi What the object of faith is, n. 24; Vermeersch n. 2; Spirago VI. THE MOTIVES OF FAITH
God's wisdom with His veracity: “Therefore theologians say that the formal object of faith is first truth in speaking, insofar as it supposes first truth in knowing.”	Merkelbach I, n. 667In nearly the same words: Noldin n. 4; Wouters n. 356
Revelation itself, not only God's truthfulness: “but also that revelation pertains to it, or is a motive positively influencing faith”	Merkelbach I, n. 668In nearly the same words: Wouters n. 356; Bontempi What the object of faith is, n. 42
What is first believed, God: “The formal object which, or object of attribution, of faith is the First Truth in being”	Prümmer n. 482In nearly the same words: Merkelbach I, n. 672; Wouters n. 356; Marc n. 421; McHugh-Callan n. 754; Noldin n. 4; Bontempi What the object of faith is, n. 7
All else in order to Him: “nothing is proposed to our belief, except in as much as it is referred to God”	St. Thomas II-II, q. 2, a. 2In nearly the same words: Merkelbach I, n. 672; Noldin n. 4; Wouters n. 356; Prümmer n. 482
What is believed, the material object: “The material object of faith is all things revealed by God.”	Merkelbach I, n. 671In nearly the same words: Prümmer n. 483; Wouters n. 356; Noldin n. 4; McHugh-Callan n. 754; Sabetti-Barrett n. 155; Bontempi What the object of faith is, n. 10
Even the lesser facts of Scripture: “these also must be believed, but they are not the object of faith except improperly and per accidens”	Merkelbach I, n. 673In nearly the same words: Bontempi What the object of faith is, n. 14; McHugh-Callan n. 927
As the believer holds it: “the object of faith, as it is regarded by the believer, according to assent, is complex”	Bontempi Whether the object of faith is som, n. 6In nearly the same words: Merkelbach I, n. 672
Revealed explicitly or implicitly: “Theologians unanimously teach that the credible object is constituted by formal revelation, whether explicit or implicit.”	Prümmer n. 484In nearly the same words: Merkelbach I, n. 675; Wouters n. 356
Not what is only virtually revealed, theological conclusions: “These are not the object of divine faith, since they are not immediately and in themselves revealed”	Merkelbach I, n. 675In nearly the same words: Prümmer n. 484; Wouters n. 356; Bontempi What the object of faith is, n. 74
The Church proposing: “Therefore the proposition of the Church is indeed the rule, but not the intrinsic motive of divine faith.”	Prümmer n. 483In nearly the same words: Merkelbach I, n. 669; Noldin n. 6
Private revelations, if certain: “they are the object of divine faith, and can be believed provided that they are certainly established”	Merkelbach I, n. 674In nearly the same words: McHugh-Callan n. 758; Wouters n. 356; Noldin n. 6; Marc n. 421
When the Church approves them, only “that there are sufficient indications so that they may be prudently, piously, and without superstition believed by human faith”	Merkelbach I, n. 674In nearly the same words: McHugh-Callan n. 758
The articles: “An article of faith is a revealed truth perfectly distinct from others”	Merkelbach I, n. 682In nearly the same words: Bontempi Whether the things to be believed, n. 2; Roman Catechism Faith and the Creed; McHugh-Callan n. 767
“all the articles are contained implicitly in certain primary matters of faith, such as God's existence, and His providence over the salvation of man”	St. Thomas II-II, q. 1, a. 7In nearly the same words: Merkelbach I, n. 683; McHugh-Callan n. 768
Grown until the Apostles, since then only in explanation: “From the time of the Apostles faith did not grow in itself by objective evolution, but only by subjective evolution in the minds of men.”	Merkelbach I, n. 683In nearly the same words: McHugh-Callan n. 768; Bontempi Whether the articles of faith have, n. 2

Its Subject

The intellect: “faith, which is the proper principle of that act, must needs reside in the intellect”	St. Thomas II-II, q. 4, a. 2In nearly the same words: Merkelbach I, n. 716; Prümmer n. 491; Noldin n. 3; Wouters n. 357; Marc n. 423; Bontempi Whether faith resides in the intel, n. 1; McHugh-Callan n. 752
The speculative intellect, and secondarily practical: “Faith is in the speculative intellect, because it is directly occupied with the true and not with operable things.”	Merkelbach I, n. 718In nearly the same words: Prümmer n. 480; Bontempi Whether faith resides in the intel, n. 19
And in the will, a habit of its own: “an infused habit is required in the will for eliciting the act of pious credulity”	Prümmer n. 491In nearly the same words: Noldin n. 3
Or that habit is charity: “the habit by which man is perfectly disposed for commanding faith, and indeed on account of the ultimate end, is charity”	Merkelbach I, n. 716In nearly the same words: Marc n. 423
Or it is faith itself: “the habit of faith gives the will its virtue, that it may command its acts to the intellect”	Bontempi Whether faith resides in the intel, n. 39
Who has it: “all men living on this earth, except formal heretics and unbelievers”	Prümmer n. 480In nearly the same words: Wouters n. 357; Bontempi In whom faith is found, n. 1; McHugh-Callan n. 801
“nevertheless it remains in the souls of purgatory”	Merkelbach I, n. 724In nearly the same words: Prümmer n. 480; Wouters n. 357; McHugh-Callan n. 801; Bontempi In whom faith is found, n. 3
“Angels and the first man were created in faith.”	Merkelbach I, n. 723In nearly the same words: McHugh-Callan n. 801; Bontempi In whom faith is found, n. 1
Not those who see: “The angels and the blessed in heaven do not have faith, because they see God face to face.”	Prümmer n. 480In nearly the same words: Merkelbach I, n. 724; Wouters n. 357; McHugh-Callan n. 802; Bontempi In whom faith is found, n. 3
Nor the demons, who believe and tremble: “For they do not properly believe or adhere to revealed truths by supernatural grace”	Merkelbach I, n. 724In nearly the same words: McHugh-Callan n. 802; Prümmer n. 480; Bontempi In whom faith is found, n. 5
Nor the heretic, even in the articles he keeps: “Neither living nor lifeless faith remains in a heretic who disbelieves one article of faith.”	St. Thomas II-II, q. 5, a. 3In nearly the same words: Merkelbach I, n. 725; Prümmer n. 494; Noldin n. 4; Marc n. 422; Wouters n. 357; McHugh-Callan n. 802; Bontempi In whom faith is found, n. 10; Vermeersch n. 7; Spirago V. THE CHRISTIAN FAITH

How Faith Is Divided

Faith has no parts in the sense the cardinal virtues do. These are the divisions the authors draw.

Living (formed) and lifeless (unformed), one habit: “living and lifeless faith are one and the same habit”	St. Thomas II-II, q. 4, a. 4In nearly the same words: Merkelbach I, n. 717; Prümmer n. 491; Noldin n. 6; Wouters n. 355; McHugh-Callan n. 800; Bontempi Whether faith is perfected by char, n. 2; Roman Catechism Faith and the Creed
Charity its form: “Therefore charity is called the form of faith in so far as the act of faith is perfected and formed by charity.”	St. Thomas II-II, q. 4, a. 3In nearly the same words: Merkelbach I, n. 717; Prümmer n. 492
Not a form in the proper sense: “charity is called the form of faith only metaphorically”	Bontempi Whether faith is perfected by char, n. 1In nearly the same words: Wouters n. 355
Explicit and implicit: “To believe something explicitly is to believe it known in particular and according to its proper terms; but to believe something implicitly is to believe it as contained in another”	Prümmer n. 491In nearly the same words: Noldin n. 6; Wouters n. 355; McHugh-Callan n. 763; Marc n. 424
Divine and Catholic: “Actual faith is further divided into faith simply divine, by which that is believed which indeed has been revealed by God, but has not also been proposed by the Church to be believed; and into Catholic faith”	Noldin n. 6In nearly the same words: Wouters n. 355; McHugh-Callan n. 755; Merkelbach I, n. 676; Marc n. 421
Of little use in practice, to Prümmer: “For moral practice all these divisions are of little utility, since ordinarily there is not given except one salvific faith, namely Catholic faith.”	Prümmer n. 491
Ecclesiastical faith, according to some: “ecclesiastical faith is the internal assent given to truths connected with revelation and defined by the Church as true”	McHugh-Callan n. 756In nearly the same words: Wouters n. 356; Merkelbach I, n. 675; Prümmer n. 484
Formal and virtual (exercised): “actual faith is divided subjectively into formal and virtual, or exercised, faith”	Noldin n. 6In nearly the same words: Prümmer n. 491; McHugh-Callan n. 936
Vermeersch: on the part of its motive no act of faith is contained in another, and “this implicit assent is improperly called a virtual act of faith”	Vermeersch n. 3
Habitual and actual: “Into habitual faith, which is the habit or virtue of faith described above; and into actual faith”	Noldin n. 6In nearly the same words: Merkelbach I, n. 660; Marc n. 420
Internal and external: “Actual faith is divided into internal faith, which is the assent of faith conceived in the mind; and external faith”	Noldin n. 6In nearly the same words: Vermeersch n. 3; McHugh-Callan n. 782
Properly and broadly so called, a division of some authors: “namely faith properly so called and faith broadly so called”	Prümmer n. 491In nearly the same words: Noldin n. 7

Its Properties

Each line is one thing said. The authors count the properties differently; see How the Authors Compare above.

Supernatural, from God moving within: “faith, as regards the assent which is the chief act of faith, is from God moving man inwardly by grace”	St. Thomas II-II, q. 6, a. 1In nearly the same words: Prümmer n. 487; Merkelbach I, n. 727; McHugh-Callan n. 799; Noldin n. 5; Bontempi Whether faith is a substantial gif, n. 8; Spirago V. THE CHRISTIAN FAITH; Vermeersch n. 2
Free, in the very assent and not only in attending: “the act of theological faith is free not only by freedom of exercise, but also by freedom of specification”	Prümmer n. 488In nearly the same words: Merkelbach I, n. 698; Wouters n. 358; McHugh-Callan n. 799; Noldin n. 5; Vermeersch n. 2
Certain, more than any natural knowledge, by its cause: “On this way faith is more certain than those three virtues, because it is founded on the Divine truth, whereas the aforesaid three virtues are based on human reason.”	St. Thomas II-II, q. 4, a. 8In nearly the same words: Merkelbach I, n. 721; Wouters n. 358; Prümmer n. 489; Bontempi Whether faith is more certain than, n. 6; Marc n. 422; McHugh-Callan n. 799; Spirago V. THE CHRISTIAN FAITH; Vermeersch n. 2
But less certain on the part of the believer: “On this way, faith is less certain, because matters of faith are above the human intellect”	St. Thomas II-II, q. 4, a. 8In nearly the same words: Merkelbach I, n. 721; Wouters n. 358; Bontempi Whether faith is more certain than, n. 17
Obscure: “Second, it is required that the material object of faith be obscure or non-evident”	Merkelbach I, n. 679In nearly the same words: Wouters n. 358; McHugh-Callan n. 799; Prümmer n. 488; Bontempi What the object of faith is, n. 50; Spirago V. THE CHRISTIAN FAITH
Never of what is seen: “it is impossible that one and the same thing should be believed and seen by the same person”	St. Thomas II-II, q. 1, a. 5In nearly the same words: Bontempi Whether faith is concerned with th, n. 3; Merkelbach I, n. 679
Infallible: “nothing false can be the object of faith”	St. Thomas II-II, q. 4, a. 5In nearly the same words: Merkelbach I, n. 678; Prümmer n. 489; Wouters n. 358; Bontempi Whether the object of faith can be, n. 1
Reasonable: “On the part of the judgment of credibility, faith is called reasonable”	Merkelbach I, n. 705In nearly the same words: Noldin n. 5; Spirago V. THE CHRISTIAN FAITH; Bontempi Whether, and how, faith is a virtu, n. 18
Above reason, never against it: “Faith never requires us to believe anything that is contradictory to human reason.”	Spirago V. THE CHRISTIAN FAITHIn nearly the same words: Bontempi Whether the object of faith can be, n. 34
Firm and constant: “Therefore Christian faith must be so firm and constant that man is prepared to lose life rather than faith.”	Prümmer n. 490In nearly the same words: Bontempi Whether faith is more certain than, n. 5
Universal: “From the formal motive it is clear that faith ought to be universal”	Noldin n. 4In nearly the same words: Marc n. 422; McHugh-Callan n. 803; Spirago V. THE CHRISTIAN FAITH; Vermeersch n. 7
One: “If we take faith as a habit, we can consider it in two ways. First on the part of the object, and thus there is one faith.”	St. Thomas II-II, q. 4, a. 6In nearly the same words: Merkelbach I, n. 719; Bontempi Whether faith is one virtue, n. 1; Roman Catechism Faith and the Creed
Greater in one than in another: “so that faith can be greater in one man on account of its being more explicit”	St. Thomas II-II, q. 5, a. 4In nearly the same words: McHugh-Callan n. 803; Roman Catechism Faith and the Creed; Prümmer n. 489
Yet equal in all in this: “Faith must be supreme appreciatively”	McHugh-Callan n. 803

The Virtue Itself

A virtue: “Therefore living faith is a virtue.”	St. Thomas II-II, q. 4, a. 5In nearly the same words: Merkelbach I, n. 719
Without charity, not a virtue simply: “lifeless faith is not a virtue, because, though the act of lifeless faith is duly perfect on the part of the intellect, it has not its due perfection as regards the will”	St. Thomas II-II, q. 4, a. 5In nearly the same words: Merkelbach I, n. 717; Prümmer n. 492
Or yet a true virtue, though imperfect: “Faith not formed by charity is most properly a virtue.”	Bontempi Whether, and how, faith is a virtu, n. 2In nearly the same words: Noldin n. 6; McHugh-Callan n. 800
Infused, with grace: “Therefore faith, since it is grace, is per se infused.”	Merkelbach I, n. 726In nearly the same words: McHugh-Callan n. 797; Noldin n. 7; Bontempi Whether faith is a substantial gif, n. 19; Spirago V. THE CHRISTIAN FAITH
In infants too: “but the existence of the same virtue of faith in baptized infants is altogether certain”	Prümmer n. 492In nearly the same words: Noldin n. 3; Spirago V. THE CHRISTIAN FAITH; Bontempi Whether faith is a substantial gif, n. 3
Not before the other virtues and grace: “Faith is always infused together”	Bontempi Whether faith is the first of the, n. 7In nearly the same words: Prümmer n. 492; McHugh-Callan n. 800
It remains after mortal sin: “The virtue of faith remains in a Christian sinner, provided, however, that he has not committed the grave sin of infidelity.”	Prümmer n. 492In nearly the same words: Merkelbach I, n. 725; Bontempi Whether it is certain that faith r, n. 2; Noldin n. 3; McHugh-Callan n. 800
Lost only by unbelief: “The loss of the supernatural virtue of faith happens through the sole act of infidelity or formal heresy”	Prümmer n. 494In nearly the same words: Merkelbach I, n. 725; Noldin n. 3; Bontempi In whom faith is found, n. 15
Increased: “The supernatural virtue of faith is increased together with sanctifying grace.”	Prümmer n. 493In nearly the same words: McHugh-Callan n. 804
Its acts add ease, which is a natural habit: “Nevertheless such facility, which in some sense can be called a habit, more probably is not a supernatural habit, but a natural one.”	Prümmer n. 493In nearly the same words: McHugh-Callan n. 804
Known by its acts: “someone can know with theological and moral certainty that he has the habit of faith”	Bontempi Whether one can know with certaint, n. 2
Its effects: fear, “faith is a cause of the fear whereby one dreads to be punished by God; and this is servile fear”	St. Thomas II-II, q. 7, a. 1In nearly the same words: Merkelbach I, n. 729; McHugh-Callan n. 807; Bontempi On the effects of faith, n. 12
“living faith is the cause of the second, viz. filial fear”	St. Thomas II-II, q. 7, a. 1In nearly the same words: Merkelbach I, n. 729; McHugh-Callan n. 807; Bontempi On the effects of faith, n. 12
and the purifying of the heart: “Hence the first beginning of the heart's purifying is faith”	St. Thomas II-II, q. 7, a. 2In nearly the same words: Merkelbach I, n. 729; McHugh-Callan n. 807; Bontempi On the effects of faith, n. 10
And with them, all good things, with St. Bonaventure: “faith to be illuminative of the intellect, and purgative of the affect, and fortificative of effects”	Bontempi On the effects of faith, n. 7In nearly the same words: Spirago V. THE CHRISTIAN FAITH; Vermeersch n. 4; McHugh-Callan n. 748

Its Necessity

In practice, with the sacraments
Two necessities, of means and of precept; ignorance excuses only from the second: “Necessity of means, which sometimes is better called necessity for obtaining the end, is an absolute condition without which some end cannot be obtained.”	Prümmer n. 494In nearly the same words: Merkelbach I, n. 706; Noldin n. 7; Marc n. 424; Vermeersch n. 8; Bontempi What must be believed by the neces, n. 2
The habit, for all: “Habitual faith is necessary for all men by necessity of means, so that without it no one can be saved.”	Prümmer n. 495In nearly the same words: Merkelbach I, n. 707; Noldin n. 7; Wouters n. 358; Marc n. 424
For infants and those who never had reason it suffices: “this habitual faith, which is infused together with sanctifying grace in baptism, suffices for justification and for eternal salvation”	Prümmer n. 495In nearly the same words: Marc n. 424
The act, for adults: “Actual faith is necessary for all adults by necessity of means”	Noldin n. 7In nearly the same words: Prümmer n. 496; Merkelbach I, n. 707; Wouters n. 488; Marc n. 425; Sabetti-Barrett n. 152; McHugh-Callan n. 786; Bontempi What must be believed by the neces, n. 3; Roman Catechism Faith and the Creed; Spirago V. THE CHRISTIAN FAITH
For one already justified, unto salvation, the act need not be formal: “nevertheless in adults already justified virtual faith suffices”	Noldin n. 8In nearly the same words: Wouters n. 488
One baptized as an infant who reaches reason without sin, before faith is proposed to him: “he will be saved without an act of faith”	Merkelbach I, n. 707In nearly the same words: Noldin n. 8
Against Lugo and Elbel, Prümmer: “We deny that this can be admitted”	Prümmer n. 497
Not the desire of faith, nor faith broadly so called: “For justification implicit faith on the part of the act does not suffice, or faith in desire or broadly so called, but faith in reality is required”	Merkelbach I, n. 708In nearly the same words: Noldin n. 8; Wouters n. 488; Marc n. 425; Prümmer n. 497; Bontempi What must be believed by the neces, n. 13
To be believed explicitly, that God is and that He rewards (Heb. xi. 6): “Explicit faith in those two things was necessary at all times and for all people”	St. Thomas II-II, q. 2, a. 8In nearly the same words: Prümmer n. 499; Merkelbach I, n. 707; Noldin n. 10; Wouters n. 488; Marc n. 427; Vermeersch n. 9; Sabetti-Barrett n. 156; McHugh-Callan n. 787; Spirago V. THE CHRISTIAN FAITH
Since the Gospel, the Trinity and the Incarnation too, as a means: “And consequently, when once grace had been revealed, all were bound to explicit faith in the mystery of the Trinity”	St. Thomas II-II, q. 2, a. 8In nearly the same words: Bontempi What must be believed by the neces, n. 54; McHugh-Callan n. 787
At least in practice: “This affirmative opinion must be followed in practice.”	Prümmer n. 499In nearly the same words: Merkelbach I, n. 707; McHugh-Callan n. 789; Marc n. 427
Though the denial is probable: “Although the opinion which denies this is not to be called morally certain, nevertheless it can be called truly probable, indeed theoretically more probable”	Noldin n. 10In nearly the same words: Sabetti-Barrett n. 157; Marc n. 427; Wouters n. 488
Or necessary as baptism is, with Suarez and Lugo: “according to whom this faith is necessary, like baptism itself, in reality, or in desire”	Vermeersch n. 10
Those who never heard the Gospel: “If such like unbelievers are damned, it is on account of other sins, which cannot be taken away without faith, but not on account of their sin of unbelief.”	St. Thomas II-II, q. 10, a. 1In nearly the same words: Prümmer n. 498
Yet of one who follows natural reason, with St. Thomas: “it must most certainly be held that God would reveal to him, either through internal inspiration, those things which are necessary to be believed, or would direct some preacher of the faith to him”	Prümmer n. 498In nearly the same words: Wouters n. 488; Marc n. 425; Spirago V. THE CHRISTIAN FAITH
One ignorant that God is and rewards: “never, not even in the article of death, can an adult who is ignorant of these articles of faith be baptized or sacramentally absolved”	Prümmer n. 499In nearly the same words: Noldin n. 10; Merkelbach I, n. 708; Wouters n. 488; Sabetti-Barrett n. 157; McHugh-Callan n. 793
One ignorant of the Trinity and the Incarnation, outside death: “But outside the article of death the sacrament of baptism, or even of penance, cannot licitly be conferred on an adult man who is ignorant of the mysteries of the Trinity and Incarnation.”	Prümmer n. 499In nearly the same words: Noldin n. 10; Merkelbach I, n. 708; Wouters n. 488; Marc n. 427; Sabetti-Barrett n. 157; McHugh-Callan n. 791
In death, where he cannot be taught: “can be absolved conditionally, even if each is ignorant of the mysteries of the Trinity and of the Incarnation”	Noldin n. 10In nearly the same words: Prümmer n. 499; Merkelbach I, n. 708; McHugh-Callan n. 792; Wouters n. 488; Vermeersch n. 12
Confessions made in that ignorance need not be repeated: “the faithful cannot be strictly obliged to this”	Merkelbach I, n. 708In nearly the same words: Noldin n. 10; McHugh-Callan n. 792
Or must be, with St. Alphonsus: “must repeat confessions so made”	Prümmer n. 499In nearly the same words: Marc n. 427
With the dying, an act of faith said together: “Let us briefly elicit an act of faith under this form”	Prümmer n. 499In nearly the same words: McHugh-Callan n. 794; Merkelbach I, n. 710

The Precept of Believing

What everyone must know
A grave divine precept: “There is a divine precept of eliciting internal acts of faith (and indeed explicit ones) concerning the principal articles of faith.”	Prümmer n. 499In nearly the same words: Merkelbach I, n. 789; Noldin n. 14; Wouters n. 489; Marc n. 426; Sabetti-Barrett n. 152; McHugh-Callan n. 926; Bontempi What things are to be believed by, n. 32
Faith in God presupposed to the Law, rather than commanded in it: “Hence faith is presupposed to the precepts of the Law”	St. Thomas II-II, q. 16, a. 1In nearly the same words: Merkelbach I, n. 792
Negative and affirmative: “This precept is both negative, by which we are prohibited from denying faith or doubting concerning it, and this obliges always; and affirmative, by which we are obliged to elicit an act of faith, and this does not oblige always.”	Merkelbach I, n. 789In nearly the same words: Noldin n. 13; McHugh-Callan n. 925; Sabetti-Barrett n. 152
Besides what is necessary as a means, four things by precept: “but according to all authors these are reduced to these four”	Noldin n. 12In nearly the same words: Prümmer n. 501; McHugh-Callan n. 765; Merkelbach I, n. 709; Vermeersch n. 11; Sabetti-Barrett n. 156; Bontempi What things are to be believed by, n. 7; Spirago V. THE CHRISTIAN FAITH
The Creed, “The Apostles' Creed, which contains the sum of the Christian faith.”	Noldin n. 12In nearly the same words: Prümmer n. 501; Merkelbach I, n. 709; Wouters n. 489; Sabetti-Barrett n. 156; McHugh-Callan n. 918; Marc n. 427
though some of its details only lightly: “In the Apostles' Creed, however, some things are contained which must be explicitly believed not under grave obligation, but only under light obligation”	Noldin n. 12In nearly the same words: Merkelbach I, n. 709; Vermeersch n. 11; McHugh-Callan n. 928; Bontempi What things are to be believed by, n. 10
and some not at all: “Indeed, some things need not be known even under light obligation: that Christ suffered under Pontius Pilate and rose again on the third day.”	Noldin n. 12In nearly the same words: Vermeersch n. 11; McHugh-Callan n. 928
The commandments, “The precepts of the decalogue, which ought to be observed by each one, and by parity of reason the common precepts of the Church also must be added.”	Noldin n. 12In nearly the same words: Merkelbach I, n. 709; Prümmer n. 501; Vermeersch n. 11; Marc n. 427; Wouters n. 489; McHugh-Callan n. 920
the Decalogue believed as revealed: “The precepts of the decalogue must not only be known, but also believed”	Noldin n. 12In nearly the same words: Bontempi What things are to be believed by, n. 18; Merkelbach I, n. 709
or known only, Sabetti-Barrett: “but several rightly contradict it, both because precepts of this kind can be known in another way than through revelation”	Sabetti-Barrett n. 157
The Lord's Prayer, “The Lord's Prayer, which contains all things which are to be hoped for and asked from God.”	Noldin n. 12In nearly the same words: Merkelbach I, n. 709; Vermeersch n. 11; Prümmer n. 501; Wouters n. 489; Marc n. 427; McHugh-Callan n. 920; Bontempi What things are to be believed by, n. 22; Sabetti-Barrett n. 157
and the sacraments. “The sacraments necessary for all: baptism, penance, and the Eucharist; but the other sacraments he ought to know who is about to receive them.”	Noldin n. 12In nearly the same words: Prümmer n. 501; Merkelbach I, n. 709; Vermeersch n. 11; Marc n. 427; Sabetti-Barrett n. 156; McHugh-Callan n. 920; Bontempi What things are to be believed by, n. 16
Wouters adds: “the most necessary Sacraments, namely Baptism, Penance, the Eucharist, and, according to many, Confirmation”	Wouters n. 489
Besides, how to make the acts: “except the manner of eliciting acts of faith, hope, charity, and contrition”	Noldin n. 12In nearly the same words: Vermeersch n. 11; McHugh-Callan n. 920
and the duties of one's state: “the proper duties of state or condition”	Merkelbach I, n. 709In nearly the same words: Wouters n. 489; McHugh-Callan n. 920; Bontempi What things are to be believed by, n. 29
The Hail Mary and the sign of the cross, lightly or as fitting: “the angelic salutation, at least as to substance, because the Blessed Virgin is mediatrix of grace”	Merkelbach I, n. 709In nearly the same words: Wouters n. 489; McHugh-Callan n. 920; Sabetti-Barrett n. 157
As to substance, not word for word: “but it suffices that they know them as to substance, that is, as to the common and simple meaning of the words”	Noldin n. 12In nearly the same words: Merkelbach I, n. 709; Prümmer n. 501; Vermeersch n. 11; Wouters n. 489; McHugh-Callan n. 923
Yet the words too: “By accident there is a grave obligation of learning the Lord's Prayer by memory”	Prümmer n. 501In nearly the same words: McHugh-Callan n. 923
“Nevertheless most authors judge that those who do not learn word for word the symbol of faith, the Lord's Prayer, and the Angelic Salutation, commit a venial sin”	Noldin n. 12In nearly the same words: Marc n. 427; Vermeersch n. 13; Merkelbach I, n. 709; Bontempi What things are to be believed by, n. 26
More of some: “Hence greater explicit faith is required in certain persons by reason of office, condition, and state”	Merkelbach I, n. 710In nearly the same words: Prümmer n. 501; McHugh-Callan n. 919; Bontempi What things are to be believed by, n. 2; Noldin n. 12
Those who must teach it: “Parents and superiors, to whom it belongs to instruct others in faith, are gravely obliged”	Merkelbach I, n. 710In nearly the same words: Noldin n. 12; Vermeersch n. 14; Marc n. 427; Prümmer n. 501; Bontempi What things are to be believed by, n. 1
Penitents ignorant of these: “cannot be absolved unless they have first promised that they are willing to learn them”	Noldin n. 12In nearly the same words: Marc n. 427; Merkelbach I, n. 710; Wouters n. 489; McHugh-Callan n. 924
When the act of faith must be made
Of itself: first, when revelation is first sufficiently proposed, as at the use of reason: “First, when divine revelation has been sufficiently proposed to him.”	Prümmer n. 502In nearly the same words: Noldin n. 14; Merkelbach I, n. 790; Wouters n. 489; Marc n. 426; Sabetti-Barrett n. 153; Vermeersch n. 17; McHugh-Callan n. 930
for those outside, as soon as they know the truth: “Therefore such heretics and unbelievers are bound at once to be converted to the true religion (at least secretly).”	Prümmer n. 502In nearly the same words: Noldin n. 14; Vermeersch n. 17; McHugh-Callan n. 932
Not before; meanwhile they must pray and inquire: “is not bound to believe, because the faith is not yet sufficiently proposed to him”	Marc n. 426In nearly the same words: Vermeersch n. 17
at a new definition: “When a new dogmatic definition is proposed by the Church.”	Prümmer n. 502In nearly the same words: Noldin n. 14; Wouters n. 489; Marc n. 426; McHugh-Callan n. 931
several times in life: “More often in life.”	Prümmer n. 502In nearly the same words: Merkelbach I, n. 790; Noldin n. 14; Wouters n. 489; Marc n. 426; Sabetti-Barrett n. 153; McHugh-Callan n. 930; Vermeersch n. 17
How often: Prümmer, from the condemned propositions on charity, “the precept of faith also obliges at least in any five-year period”	Prümmer n. 502
Merkelbach: “others finally, and more probably, three or four times a year”	Merkelbach I, n. 790
Marc: “at least once in the year, as Doctors admit with sufficient probability”	Marc n. 426In nearly the same words: Sabetti-Barrett n. 153
Or not to be fixed at all: “but how often and when it must be elicited is altogether indeterminate”	Noldin n. 14In nearly the same words: Vermeersch n. 17; McHugh-Callan n. 933
after faith has been lost: “After a lapse into heresy or after a denial of faith”	Noldin n. 14In nearly the same words: Merkelbach I, n. 790; Wouters n. 489; Marc n. 426; Vermeersch n. 17; McHugh-Callan n. 931
and in a temptation that only an act of faith will overcome, “When a temptation against faith urges which is hoped to be overcome only through an act of faith.”	Noldin n. 14In nearly the same words: Merkelbach I, n. 790; Wouters n. 489; Marc n. 426; McHugh-Callan n. 934; Vermeersch n. 19
which is rare, since “temptations against faith are generally overcome more efficaciously if we do not struggle against them directly, but turn the mind to other objects”	Noldin n. 14In nearly the same words: Wouters n. 489; McHugh-Callan n. 934; Vermeersch n. 17; Merkelbach I, n. 790
In death: “in the article of death (that is, toward the end of life), when he is at the point of attaining the end”	Merkelbach I, n. 790In nearly the same words: Prümmer n. 502; Marc n. 426; Wouters n. 489
Or not of itself, but because the dying must receive the sacraments or make an act of charity: “But it cannot be proved with certainty that faith is necessary at that time, unless a vehement temptation against faith urges.”	Noldin n. 14In nearly the same words: Sabetti-Barrett n. 153; McHugh-Callan n. 935
By accident, through another precept: “when some precept must be fulfilled which requires an act of faith, e.g. in the reception of the sacraments”	Prümmer n. 502In nearly the same words: Merkelbach I, n. 791; Noldin n. 15; Wouters n. 489; Vermeersch n. 18; McHugh-Callan n. 935; Marc n. 426; Sabetti-Barrett n. 153
and then “hence if this act is omitted, we do not sin against this virtue, but only against another precept by force of which it was required”	Merkelbach I, n. 791In nearly the same words: Noldin n. 13; Wouters n. 489
How it is kept
By a Christian life: “it is not necessary that the act of faith be formal, but virtual faith suffices”	Noldin n. 13In nearly the same words: Merkelbach I, n. 793; Marc n. 426; Sabetti-Barrett n. 153; Vermeersch n. 17; Wouters n. 489; McHugh-Callan n. 933; Prümmer n. 503
“We are never strictly bound to recite the customary formulas of the act of faith.”	Marc n. 426In nearly the same words: McHugh-Callan n. 936
The confessor: “Penitents should not examine themselves nor be questioned about the fulfillment of this precept”	Merkelbach I, n. 793In nearly the same words: Prümmer n. 503; Noldin n. 14; McHugh-Callan n. 937
Even the negligent: “are nevertheless rarely to be judged to have sinned gravely for this reason”	Prümmer n. 503In nearly the same words: Noldin n. 14; Vermeersch n. 17
Yet all “nevertheless they are to be diligently exhorted to elicit acts of faith very often and fervently”	Prümmer n. 503In nearly the same words: Noldin n. 14; Merkelbach I, n. 793; Vermeersch n. 17; McHugh-Callan n. 937

The Profession of Faith

Never to deny it
A grave precept: “There exists a grave obligation of confessing faith externally, even with danger to life”	Noldin n. 16In nearly the same words: Merkelbach I, n. 711; Sabetti-Barrett n. 152; McHugh-Callan n. 989; Wouters n. 490; Spirago VIII. ON THE DUTY OF CONFESSING OUR FAITH; Prümmer n. 504
Affirmative, and so not binding always: “Thus then it is not necessary for salvation to confess one's faith at all times and in all places, but in certain places and at certain times”	St. Thomas II-II, q. 3, a. 2In nearly the same words: Merkelbach I, n. 789; McHugh-Callan n. 990
Made constantly by a Christian life: “By leading a Christian life, the faithful person in reality sufficiently signifies his faith and makes that profession of it which is called material.”	Vermeersch n. 20In nearly the same words: Wouters n. 490; Noldin n. 16
Why: the Church is visible; “Christ founded a visible Church with worship also visible”	Prümmer n. 504In nearly the same words: Wouters n. 490; Marc n. 427; McHugh-Callan n. 991
and it strengthens one's own faith. “It is well known that faith is strengthened by external acts”	McHugh-Callan n. 989In nearly the same words: Prümmer n. 504; Spirago VIII. ON THE DUTY OF CONFESSING OUR FAITH
Never, even to save one's life, even only outwardly: “It is never permitted directly to deny faith, whether this is done seriously or fictitiously and only externally.”	Noldin n. 19In nearly the same words: Prümmer n. 504; Merkelbach I, n. 712; Vermeersch n. 23; Marc n. 429; McHugh-Callan n. 939; Bontempi Whether we are bound to confess fa, n. 2; Sabetti-Barrett n. 152; Spirago VIII. ON THE DUTY OF CONFESSING OUR FAITH
“Faith can be denied either by words, or by deeds, or by signs, or by silence.”	Noldin n. 20In nearly the same words: McHugh-Callan n. 941; Merkelbach I, n. 712
Indirectly too: “Faith is denied indirectly when someone places an external act which, all the circumstances having been seen, must be regarded by other men as a denial of faith”	Prümmer n. 504In nearly the same words: Merkelbach I, n. 712; McHugh-Callan n. 940
Noldin, in another sense of the word: “From a just cause it is permitted indirectly to deny faith, provided the action which is placed is indifferent and the intention of placing that action is honorable.”	Noldin n. 24
Those too who bought a certificate of sacrifice: “likewise those who with money buy a certificate that they have professed a false religion (libellatici)”	Merkelbach I, n. 712In nearly the same words: Prümmer n. 506; McHugh-Callan n. 965
Nor feigned worship: “it is not permitted to Chinese Christians to exhibit external signs of adoration to an idol, although the intention is directed to a cross hidden under the garment”	Noldin n. 20In nearly the same words: Marc n. 429; Bontempi Whether we are bound to confess fa, n. 17; McHugh-Callan n. 940
Not a denial of faith to deny that one is a priest or religious: “he would sin not against faith, but against truth by a lie, venially”	Noldin n. 20In nearly the same words: Prümmer n. 505; Merkelbach I, n. 714; Marc n. 429; McHugh-Callan n. 943
nor to reject an insulting name: “Words that deny, not one’s allegiance to religion, but one’s acceptance of it as qualified by some calumnious designation.”	McHugh-Callan n. 943In nearly the same words: Bontempi Whether we are bound to confess fa, n. 6; Sabetti-Barrett n. 154
But to name oneself of a false religion is a denial, even to a private person: “he sins gravely against faith who, even when questioned by a private person about his religion, replies that he is a Turk”	Marc n. 429In nearly the same words: Noldin n. 20
When it must be professed
When God's honor or a neighbor's good requires it: “when, namely, by omitting to do so, we would deprive God of due honor, or our neighbor of a service that we ought to render him”	St. Thomas II-II, q. 3, a. 2In nearly the same words: Prümmer n. 505; Merkelbach I, n. 713; Noldin n. 16; Marc n. 428; Vermeersch n. 20; Sabetti-Barrett n. 152; McHugh-Callan n. 990; Bontempi Whether we are bound to confess fa, n. 4; Wouters n. 490; Spirago VIII. ON THE DUTY OF CONFESSING OUR FAITH
Questioned by public authority: “Theologians commonly teach that a Catholic man is bound (even with danger of life) candidly to confess his faith if he is questioned by public authority in a cause of faith”	Prümmer n. 505In nearly the same words: Noldin n. 16; Merkelbach I, n. 712; Spirago VIII. ON THE DUTY OF CONFESSING OUR FAITH; Bontempi Whether we are bound to confess fa, n. 12
Only in due legal order: “at least if the legal order is observed by the one questioning”	Vermeersch n. 20In nearly the same words: Wouters n. 490; Marc n. 430; Sabetti-Barrett n. 153; McHugh-Callan n. 995
Not a general edict: “But if public authority, by persecuting religion, commands by general edict that the faithful present themselves or betray themselves by a certain sign, no one is bound to obey”	Prümmer n. 505In nearly the same words: Merkelbach I, n. 714; Wouters n. 490; Vermeersch n. 23; McHugh-Callan n. 996
Nor a private person, of itself: “If someone is questioned about faith by a private person, he is not bound (at least per se) to confess the truth”	Prümmer n. 505In nearly the same words: Noldin n. 16; Merkelbach I, n. 714; Wouters n. 490; Vermeersch n. 20; Spirago VIII. ON THE DUTY OF CONFESSING OUR FAITH; McHugh-Callan n. 995
Yet whenever silence would be taken for denial: “He denies faith by silence who is silent in those circumstances in which silence is deservedly held as a denial of faith.”	Noldin n. 20In nearly the same words: Wouters n. 490; McHugh-Callan n. 941; Vermeersch n. 25
When the faith is mocked in one's presence: “you are bound not only to profess the faith, but also, if you judge yourself sufficient for this, to defend it”	Noldin n. 16In nearly the same words: Merkelbach I, n. 713; Wouters n. 490; McHugh-Callan n. 997; Marc n. 428
When sacred things are profaned: “you are bound to manifest yourself as a Catholic and to restrain the injuries”	Noldin n. 16In nearly the same words: Merkelbach I, n. 713; McHugh-Callan n. 997
When something is demanded in hatred of the faith: “certainly he cannot obey, but must profess the true faith”	Prümmer n. 505In nearly the same words: Merkelbach I, n. 714; Noldin n. 21; Vermeersch n. 25
And by other virtues, as charity to the ignorant or a pastor's justice: “There is also a divine precept of profession of faith which obliges on account of other virtues”	McHugh-Callan n. 1000In nearly the same words: Merkelbach I, n. 715; Wouters n. 490; Bontempi Whether we are bound to confess fa, n. 3
Concealing it lawfully
To hide it is lawful when profession is not due, and sometimes a duty: “but sometimes to conceal the true faith is not only licit, but even necessary”	Prümmer n. 507In nearly the same words: Merkelbach I, n. 715; Noldin n. 21; Marc n. 431; Vermeersch n. 23; McHugh-Callan n. 1007
“It is one thing to deny faith, another to dissimulate faith”	Noldin n. 18In nearly the same words: Prümmer n. 504
To eat meat in grave danger: “It is permitted for a Catholic or priest existing in the lands of heretics to eat meat on prohibited days, lest, recognized as a Catholic, he undergo grave danger either of life or of goods”	Noldin n. 21In nearly the same words: Prümmer n. 507; Merkelbach I, n. 714; Vermeersch n. 25; Marc n. 431; Sabetti-Barrett n. 154
but not to escape ridicule: “But to avoid mockeries the same thing would not be permitted”	Noldin n. 21In nearly the same words: Vermeersch n. 25; Spirago VIII. ON THE DUTY OF CONFESSING OUR FAITH
To pay that no inquiry be made: “To redeem with money, lest an inquiry be made concerning your faith, is licit”	Marc n. 431In nearly the same words: Merkelbach I, n. 714; Vermeersch n. 23; McHugh-Callan n. 1004
Ambiguous words: “but also to use ambiguous words, unless the words ought to be understood by the hearers as a denial of the true faith”	Noldin n. 21In nearly the same words: Marc n. 430
Garments: of a people, “Some garments or signs are distinctive of a nation rather than of a religion, as the hat of the Turks; now it is permitted for a grave cause to use these garments or signs for hiding religion.”	Noldin n. 22In nearly the same words: Prümmer n. 507; Marc n. 430; Sabetti-Barrett n. 153; Merkelbach I, n. 714; Bontempi Whether we are bound to confess fa, n. 25; McHugh-Callan n. 943
those that only mark off one sect from another, as the yellow hat the Jews wore at Rome, “further, from a most grave cause it is permitted to use even these garments or signs for hiding faith”	Noldin n. 22In nearly the same words: Sabetti-Barrett n. 153; Marc n. 430; Vermeersch n. 24; Merkelbach I, n. 714
Of such garments, Bontempi: “there are various opinions: some affirm; others deny”	Bontempi Whether we are bound to confess fa, n. 25
but not those that profess a false religion, as the vestments of its rites: “It is not permitted to use these garments or signs, because their use is a profession of false faith”	Noldin n. 22In nearly the same words: Prümmer n. 507; Merkelbach I, n. 712; Marc n. 430; Sabetti-Barrett n. 153; Vermeersch n. 24; Bontempi Whether we are bound to confess fa, n. 25
Nor the signs of the Freemasons: “To wear the insignia of Freemasons or to use the nods and compression of hands or fingers by which Freemasons recognize one another is illicit”	Noldin n. 20In nearly the same words: Prümmer n. 507; Merkelbach I, n. 712; McHugh-Callan n. 942
Vermeersch, of the Masonic signs: “But we would wish this also to be understood prudently, when they certainly show adherence to a condemned sect.”	Vermeersch n. 24
Persecution
To flee: “Of itself, or by reason of flight, it is always permitted to flee”	Noldin n. 23In nearly the same words: Prümmer n. 505; Merkelbach I, n. 714; Marc n. 430; Vermeersch n. 23; Sabetti-Barrett n. 154; Spirago VIII. ON THE DUTY OF CONFESSING OUR FAITH
sometimes a duty: “Those whose preservation is necessary to the public good, or for whom proximate danger of denying faith threatens, are bound to flee.”	Noldin n. 23In nearly the same words: McHugh-Callan n. 1005; Sabetti-Barrett n. 154
Not for pastors whose flock needs them: “Those whose presence is necessary for the salvation of the faithful, as are pastors of souls, bishops, and parish priests, cannot licitly flee.”	Noldin n. 23In nearly the same words: Prümmer n. 505; Merkelbach I, n. 714; Marc n. 430; McHugh-Callan n. 1005; Spirago VIII. ON THE DUTY OF CONFESSING OUR FAITH
Though a pastor may judge it better “or, on the contrary, to withdraw himself for a time so that from a safe place he may administer the territory and reserve himself for the good of more persons”	Vermeersch n. 23In nearly the same words: Spirago VIII. ON THE DUTY OF CONFESSING OUR FAITH; McHugh-Callan n. 1005
To seek out martyrdom: “Hence voluntarily to offer oneself to the persecutor is for the most part rash.”	Vermeersch n. 23In nearly the same words: Spirago VIII. ON THE DUTY OF CONFESSING OUR FAITH; McHugh-Callan n. 1006
Converts
Received openly: “Hence, outside the case of necessity, it is not permitted to baptize an adult or admit him to conversion secretly, with only the priest knowing”	Noldin n. 16In nearly the same words: McHugh-Callan n. 992
or, for grave cause, hidden for a time: “Baptism received or conversion completed may indeed be hidden for a time for a grave reason”	Noldin n. 16In nearly the same words: Prümmer n. 507; McHugh-Callan n. 992
but not for life: “Yet concealment for a long time is illicit”	Noldin n. 16In nearly the same words: Vermeersch n. 26; Wouters n. 490; McHugh-Callan n. 992
Vermeersch: yet where the public good commands silence, “As long as such circumstances remain, it will be lawful to be a hidden Christian and to satisfy the debt of Christian profession through a posthumous revelation”	Vermeersch n. 26
One dying who for grave cause refuses a public conversion: “he can be received into the Church altogether secretly by any priest”	Noldin n. 16In nearly the same words: McHugh-Callan n. 992
In general
In doubt, better to profess: “Speaking generally, it is much better candidly to profess faith”	Prümmer n. 507In nearly the same words: McHugh-Callan n. 1008; Merkelbach I, n. 715; Spirago VIII. ON THE DUTY OF CONFESSING OUR FAITH
Disputes with unbelievers: “Debates on religion between Catholics and non-Catholics are not in themselves wrong, but as a rule they are useless and inexpedient.”	McHugh-Callan n. 998In nearly the same words: Spirago VIII. ON THE DUTY OF CONFESSING OUR FAITH; Bontempi Whether it is lawful to dispute ab, n. 1
and not without leave: “OBSERVE that it is forbidden to Laymen to dispute about the faith”	Bontempi Whether it is lawful to dispute ab, n. 3In nearly the same words: McHugh-Callan n. 999
The Church's law: converts, and those taking office: “By ecclesiastical law, to certain persons, both ecclesiastical and lay, in certain circumstances profession of faith is prescribed.”	Noldin n. 17In nearly the same words: Prümmer n. 506; Wouters n. 490; McHugh-Callan n. 1003; Sabetti-Barrett n. 153; Marc n. 428

The Gift of Understanding and the Gift of Knowledge

Understanding: “Understanding implies an intimate knowledge”	St. Thomas II-II, q. 8, a. 1In nearly the same words: Prümmer n. 448; Merkelbach I, n. 730; Wouters n. 476; Noldin n. 33; McHugh-Callan n. 808; Bontempi On the gift of understanding, n. 1
Beyond faith: “By faith we adhere simply to revealed truths; by the gift of understanding we penetrate them.”	Merkelbach I, n. 732In nearly the same words: Wouters n. 476; Bontempi On the gift of understanding, n. 2
Yet leaving it faith: “An imperfect penetration of the teachings of faith, which does not take away the obscurity and mysteriousness, is given by the Gift of Understanding, and is therefore sociable with faith.”	McHugh-Callan n. 809In nearly the same words: Merkelbach I, n. 730
In all the just: “Understanding is in all who have sanctifying grace”	Bontempi Whether the gift of understanding, n. 1In nearly the same words: Prümmer n. 448
Its beatitude: “To this gift corresponds the sixth beatitude: Blessed are the clean of heart, for they shall see God.”	Merkelbach I, n. 730In nearly the same words: Prümmer n. 448; McHugh-Callan n. 811
Its fruit: “To the gift of understanding responds the fruit of the Holy Spirit, faith, that is, the certitude of faith”	Merkelbach I, n. 730In nearly the same words: Prümmer n. 448; McHugh-Callan n. 811; Bontempi Whether faith, among the fruits of, n. 1
Knowledge: “he should have a sure and right judgment on them, so as to discern what is to be believed, from what is not to be believed, and for this the gift of knowledge is required”	St. Thomas II-II, q. 9, a. 1In nearly the same words: Merkelbach I, n. 731; Prümmer n. 449; Wouters n. 477; Noldin n. 33; McHugh-Callan n. 808; Bontempi On the gift of knowledge, n. 1
Understanding by apprehending, knowledge by judging: “the latter proceeds by way of simple apprehension”	Merkelbach I, n. 732In nearly the same words: McHugh-Callan n. 808
Both serve faith: “the gift of knowledge, like the gift of understanding, is ordained to the certitude of faith”	St. Thomas II-II, q. 9, a. 3In nearly the same words: Prümmer n. 449; Wouters n. 477; Bontempi On the gift of knowledge, n. 1; McHugh-Callan n. 808
Though “St. Bonaventure refers the gift of knowledge to the virtue of prudence.”	Prümmer n. 449
Speculative and practical: “Those gifts, like faith, are per se primarily speculative, yet secondarily practical”	Merkelbach I, n. 732In nearly the same words: Bontempi Whether the gift of knowledge is s, n. 1; Noldin n. 33; Prümmer n. 448
“Thus St. Thomas, in the present place, retracts what he had written to the contrary in I-II, q. 68, a. 4”	Merkelbach I, n. 732In nearly the same words: Prümmer n. 448
Its beatitude, they that mourn: “To the gift of knowledge corresponds the third beatitude”	Merkelbach I, n. 731In nearly the same words: Prümmer n. 449; McHugh-Callan n. 811; Bontempi Whether the third beatitude, Bless, n. 2
Their contraries: “Two vices are opposed to the gift of understanding: blindness of mind, and dullness of sense.”	Merkelbach I, n. 732
“Ignorance is directly opposed to the gift of knowledge.”	Merkelbach I, n. 732

The Vices Opposed to Faith

Each entry opens the passage. A dash means only that the author does not name it there.

St. ThomasII-II, qq. 10-15	Prümmernn. 509-532	MerkelbachI, nn. 733-788	Noldinnn. 25-33	Woutersnn. 491-509
Against inward faith
unbelief	infidelity	Infidelity	Infidelity	Infidelity
heresy	Heresy	Heresy	Heresy	Heresy
apostasy	Apostasy	Apostasy	Apostasy	apostasy
—	On doubt in faith	a serious doubt	On Doubt in Faith	calls into doubt
—	—	—	credulity	—
Against outward confession
—	It is never licit to deny faith	outwardly to deny the faith	On the Denial of Faith	Denial of faith
—	On the concealment or dissimulation of faith	conceal or dissemble faith	another to dissimulate faith	Dissimulation of faith
blasphemy	On Blasphemy	On Blasphemy, Which Is Opposed to the Confession of Faith	On Blasphemy	On the Sin Chiefly Opposed to Praise
Against the gifts
blindness of mind	—	—	—	—
dulness of sense	—	—	—	—
Its dangers
communicate with unbelievers	On dangers of faith	On Sins Indirectly Opposed to Faith	—	On Dangers of Faith

Each of these is set out by author, with its kinds and gravity, on The Vices Against Faith.

Their Gravity

The gravest sin after hatred of God: “the sin of unbelief is greater than any sin that occurs in the perversion of morals”	St. Thomas II-II, q. 10, a. 3In nearly the same words: Prümmer n. 509; Noldin n. 31
“The sin of infidelity is mortal from its whole genus”	Merkelbach I, n. 737
But not mere lack of faith: “If, however, we take it by way of pure negation, as we find it in those who have heard nothing about the faith, it bears the character, not of sin, but of punishment”	St. Thomas II-II, q. 10, a. 1In nearly the same words: Prümmer n. 510; Noldin n. 27

How It Is Gained, Kept and Increased

Prümmer and McHugh-Callan list the means of growing in faith in nearly the same order; Vermeersch arranges his aids by the mind and the will; Spirago names those to whom God gives faith and the ways it is lost; Merkelbach's Pastoral gives the confessor's remedies against doubts. The headings follow them.

To obtain it (Spirago)
“An earnest desire after truth is a sure means of attaining to it”	Spirago V. THE CHRISTIAN FAITH
“A life in accordance with the law of God will also obtain the grace of faith.”	Spirago V. THE CHRISTIAN FAITHIn nearly the same words: Prümmer n. 498
“pray that they may find the truth”	Spirago V. THE CHRISTIAN FAITHIn nearly the same words: Vermeersch n. 17
What hinders it: “Many men fail to attain to the Christian faith through pride, self-will, and an unwillingness to give up the indulgence of their passions.”	Spirago V. THE CHRISTIAN FAITHIn nearly the same words: Merkelbach I, n. 719
To increase it (Prümmer, McHugh-Callan)
“Fervent and frequent prayer.”	Prümmer n. 508In nearly the same words: McHugh-Callan n. 805; Prümmer n. 486
“Reading of Sacred Scripture, which contains divine revelation and vehemently incites us to believing.”	Prümmer n. 508In nearly the same words: McHugh-Callan n. 805; Spirago VII. ON THE ABSENCE AND LOSS OF FAITH
“Pious hearing of sermons, in which the truths of faith are well set forth and inculcated.”	Prümmer n. 508In nearly the same words: McHugh-Callan n. 805; Spirago VII. ON THE ABSENCE AND LOSS OF FAITH; Vermeersch n. 14
“frequent acts of faith in the world we see not and its coming rewards”	McHugh-Callan n. 805In nearly the same words: Prümmer n. 503; St. Alphonsus True Spouse, ch. XXIV; St. Alphonsus True Spouse, ch. XVI; Vermeersch n. 17
“The exercise of faith a) by thought; b) by word; c) by deed.”	Prümmer n. 508In nearly the same words: McHugh-Callan n. 805; Vermeersch n. 5; St. Alphonsus True Spouse, ch. XV
“Propagation of faith among others.”	Prümmer n. 508In nearly the same words: McHugh-Callan n. 1002; Vermeersch n. 14
Professing it: “It is well known that faith is strengthened by external acts”	McHugh-Callan n. 989In nearly the same words: Prümmer n. 504; Spirago VIII. ON THE DUTY OF CONFESSING OUR FAITH
The mind and the will (Vermeersch)
“Therefore let us strive to have a sound mind, alien from cavils, not excessively hesitating, capable of firm judgment or opinion”	Vermeersch n. 5
“a will truly loving and zealous for the good, humble, devoted to God”	Vermeersch n. 5
“Let that will apply the intellect to the luminous rather than to the obscure aspects of religion, to the direct motives for adhering, more than to solving difficulties.”	Vermeersch n. 5In nearly the same words: Merkelbach Pastoral, Q. I
“Let us act as if we already possessed great faith.”	Vermeersch n. 5
To keep it (Spirago)
Faith is lost chiefly by indifference, wilful doubt, hostile reading, hostile company and neglect of religion; “By indifference to the doctrines of faith”	Spirago VII. ON THE ABSENCE AND LOSS OF FAITHIn nearly the same words: Merkelbach Pastoral, Q. I
so the grown man too must keep learning it: “The plant must be watered even when it is grown up”	Spirago VII. ON THE ABSENCE AND LOSS OF FAITHIn nearly the same words: Merkelbach Pastoral, Q. I
“The Catholic must therefore keep far away from all occasions which could endanger his faith”	Spirago VIII. ON THE DUTY OF CONFESSING OUR FAITHIn nearly the same words: Merkelbach Pastoral, Q. I
Against doubts and temptations
“If doubts come into our mind we should not argue with them, but should make an act of faith and pray for more faith.”	Spirago VII. ON THE ABSENCE AND LOSS OF FAITHIn nearly the same words: Vermeersch n. 17
Or rather not to struggle with them, but turn away: “but that they are merely to be fled and contemned without positive effort, simply by turning away to other honest occupations, even merely profane ones”	Merkelbach Pastoral, Q. IIn nearly the same words: Noldin n. 14; McHugh-Callan n. 934; Wouters n. 489
and afterward, if one wishes, “let there be one merely general act concerning the whole revealed doctrine”	Merkelbach Pastoral, Q. I
Not to be cast down: “since temptations are not a sign of weak faith, but God permits them for our progress in humility”	Merkelbach Pastoral, Q. IIn nearly the same words: Noldin n. 33
For one who has consented to doubt, the confessor's remedies: “by indicating suitable remedies against future temptations, such as prayer and humility, by recommending the reading of a good book concerning religious truths”	Merkelbach Pastoral, Q. IIn nearly the same words: Vermeersch n. 17

Where Each Author Treats It

St. Thomas	First of all the virtues in the Second Part of the Second Part	II-II, qq. 1-16
St. Thomas	Its precepts	II-II, q. 16
Prümmer	Its own tract, first after the virtues in general	nn. 478-532
Merkelbach	Five parts: object, act, habit, opposed sins, precept	I, nn. 659-793
Noldin	Under the precepts of the theological virtues	Vol. II, nn. 3-40
Wouters	The virtue among the theological virtues; its duties and sins in Book II	nn. 354-358
McHugh-Callan	Article 1, the virtue, and Article 3, the commandments of faith	nn. 746-811, 913-1008
Marc	Treatise I, first of the special treatises	nn. 420-433
Vermeersch	Treatise I: notion, the duty of believing, the duty of professing	Treatise I
Sabetti-Barrett	Necessity and material object only, leaving the rest to dogmatic theology	nn. 152-157
Bontempi	Its own disputation, after St. Bonaventure	On faith
Roman Catechism	Before the Creed	Part I
Spirago	Part I, before the Creed	V-VIII