​THEOLOGICAL CUM PHILOSOPHICAL BASES OF THE THEOLOGICAL VIRTUES

THEOLOGICAL CUM PHILOSOPHICAL BASES OF THE THEOLOGICAL VIRTUES

Introduction

A careful and critical reading of this introduction immediately offers the reader an idea of the philosophical foundation of the Theological virtues.

In man to man relationships, the life of a good man will be characterized by the practice of the four classical virtues: temperance, courage (or fortitude), justice, and above all wisdom or prudence that refined ability to judge correctly what is right to know and do. This much can be developed by natural and reasonable man, quite apart from revelation and faith. In all this Thomas does little more than reproduce Aristotle. God endows man, through Christian revelation and the church with its sacraments, with the added gift of the three theological virtues, faith, hope and love, which direct man to God Himself, and which therefore crown the four natural virtues.

Aquinas’ moral theory is a relatively unimaginative appropriation of the Aristotelian theory of virtue, with faith, hope, and love spliced somewhat on top. “It is clear that for Aquinas there is an ideal type of man, an ideal of human development and integration, a notion which has been flatly rejected by, for example, existentialists like M. Sartre. And the possession of the natural virtues, moral and intellectual, belongs to this ideal type. But the concrete ideal is not for Aquinas simply the ideal of the fully developed natural man. For under the action of divine grace man can rise to the life of supernatural union of God for which he was created. And for this higher sphere of life he needs the infused virtues of faith, hope, and charity. So while building, therefore, on a largely Aristotelian foundation, which represents what we may call the philosophical background in his ideal for man, Aquinas proceeds to discuss the theological virtues, which are not acquired in the same way as the natural virtues, and the gifts of the Holy Spirit.” Copleston, Aquinas (Penguin 1955) p.209

An examination of nature proves especially crucial to understanding the virtues in Aquinas, because it is only through a return to the Thomist conception of nature that one can makes sense of the fact that there are for Aquinas not one, but two sets of virtues. For Aquinas believes that nature itself is capable of habituation, and that an altered nature requires a correspondingly altered set of virtues. Through the acquired virtues, man is perfected in accord with his created nature; the infused virtues perfect man insofar as he partakes in the Divine Nature

In both these ways, says Aquinas, virtue is natural to man inchoatively. This is so in respect of the specific nature, in so far as in man’s reason are to be found instilled by nature certain naturally known principles of both knowledge and action, which are the nurseries of intellectual and moral virtues, and in so far as there is in the will a natural appetite for good in accordance with reason. Again, this is so in respect of the individual nature, in so far as by reason of a disposition in the body, some are disposed either well or ill to certain virtues.  ST. FS Q 63 art. 1
What is Virtue?

CCC 1803 “Whatever is true, whatever is honourable, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is gracious, if there is any excellence, if there is anything worthy of praise, think about these things.” A virtue is an habitual and firm disposition to do the good. It allows the person not only to perform good acts, but to give the best of himself. The virtuous person tends toward the good with all his sensory and spiritual powers; he pursues the good and chooses it in concrete actions. The goal of a virtuous life is to become like God.

CCC 1804 Human virtues are firm attitudes, stable dispositions, and habitual perfections of intellect and will that govern our actions, order our passions, and guide our conduct according to reason and faith. They make possible ease, self-mastery, and joy in leading a morally good life. The virtuous man is he who freely practices the good. They can be grouped around the four cardinal virtues: prudence, justice, fortitude, and temperance. 

Prudence disposes the practical reason to discern, in every circumstance, our true good and to choose the right means for achieving it. 

Justice consists in the firm and constant will to give God and neighbour their due. 

Fortitude ensures firmness in difficulties and constancy in the pursuit of the good. 

Temperance moderates the attraction of the pleasures of the senses and provides balance in the use of created goods. 

The moral virtues are acquired by human effort. They are the fruit and seed of morally good acts; they dispose all the powers of the human being for communion with divine love.
The theological foundations of the theological Virtues

In discussing the theological foundation of the theological virtues, one thing must be clear to us which is the fact that GRACE DOES NOT WORK IN a vacuum, that is, Grace builds on and perfects nature. What this means is that through the acquired (cardinal) virtues, man is perfected in accord with his created nature; the infused (theological) virtues, therefore, perfect man insofar as he partakes in the Divine Nature.

….They “relate directly to God” and “dispose Christians to live in a relationship with the Holy Trinity” (CCC 1812).

…. They are “the foundation of Christian moral activity” (CCC 1813).

…. “They have God for their origin, their motive, and their object” (CCC 1840).

…. “They inform all the moral virtues and give life to them” (CCC 1841).
THEOLOGICAL VIRTUES

Faith, according Thomas is a habit of the mind, whereby eternal life is begun in us, making the intellect assent to what is non-apparent. Faith is the substance of things to be hoped for and the evidence of things that appear not.

Whatever other definitions are given of faith, says Thomas Aquinas, are explanations of this one given by the Apostle. For when Augustine says that “faith is a virtue whereby we believe what we do not see,” and when Damascene says (De Fide Orth. iv, 11) that “faith is an assent without research,” and when others say that “faith is that certainty of the mind about absent things which surpasses opinion but falls short of science,” these all amount to the same as the Apostle’s words: “Evidence of things that appear not”; and when Dionysius says (Div. Nom. vii) that “faith is the solid foundation of the believer, establishing him in the truth, and showing forth the truth in him,” comes to the same as “substance of things to be hoped for.”

Faith is the theological virtue by which we believe in God and believe all that he has said and revealed to us, and that Holy Church proposes for our belief, because he is truth itself. By faith ‘man freely commits his entire self to God.’ For this reason the believer seeks to know and do God’s will.” –CCC 1814

HOPE

Hope is the theological virtue by which we desire the kingdom of heaven and eternal life as our happiness, placing our trust in Christ’s promises and relying not on our own strength, but on the grace of the Holy Spirit” (CCC 1817).

CHARITY

 “Charity is the theological virtue by which we love God above all things for His own sake, and our neighbor as ourselves for the love of God” (CCC 1822).
The relationship between the theological and moral virtues

According to the CCC, the moral virtues grow through education, deliberate acts, and perseverance in struggle. Divine grace purifies and elevates them. 1812 The human virtues are rooted in the theological virtues, which adapt man’s faculties for participation in the divine. They inform and give life to all the moral virtues. They are infused by God into the souls of the faithful to make them capable of acting as his children and of meriting eternal life. They are the pledge of the presence and action of the Holy Spirit in the faculties of the human being. There are three theological virtues: faith, hope, and charity.

Fr Lawrence Sdv