Virtues

This section includes a brief discussion about virtue and contains pages for the virtues in the Christian moral tradition.

Definition

Catechism of the Catholic Church

1803 “Whatever is true, whatever is honorable, 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.” ¹

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. ²

1804 Human virtues are firm attitudes, stable dispositions, 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.

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.

What is good? Good is everything that fulfills its purpose.

Aristotle Nicomachean Ethics

“Now if the function of man is an activity of soul which follows or implies a rational principle, and if we say ‘so-and-so’ and ‘a good so-and-so’ have a function which is the same in kind e.g. a lyre, and a good lyre player, and so without qualification in all cases, eminence in respect of goodness being idded to the name of the function (for the function of a lyre-player is to play the lyre, and that of a good lyre-player is to do so well): if this is the case, and we state the function of man to be a certain kind of life, and this to be an activity or actions of the soul implying a rational principle, and the function of a good man to be the good and noble performance of these, and if any action is well performed when it is performed in accordance with the appropriate excellence: if this is the case, human good turns out to be activity of soul in accordance with virtue, and if there are more than one virtue, in accordance with the best and most complete.” ³

The human good is activity of the soul in accordance with virtue.
Every action a person does aims at some good. The hightest good for human beings is eudaimonia, often translated as flourishing or happiness.

“Virtue, then, is a state of character concerned with choice, lying in a mean, i.e. the mean relative to us, this being determinend by a rational principle, and by the principle which the man of practical wisdom would determine it. Now it is a mean between two vices, that which depends on excess and that which depends on defect […] virtue both finds and chooses that which is intermediate.” ⁴

Structure

Virtues are grouped into families such as:

Cardinal virtues
Theological virtues
Fruits of the Spirit
Gifts of the Spirit
Other Virtues
Related Virtues

Virtues Organization

Cardinal Virtues

Theological Virtues

Fruits of the Spirit

Although not virtues per-se these are closely associated with virtue. The fruits of the Spirit “are virtues acts which the person performs with ease, habitually, and with delight.” ⁵ Virtues require effort to become a habit, the fruits are an expression of the Holy Sporit of a virtuous life.

Gifts of the Spirit

Not virtues but closely related to virtue which is why they are included. Gifts of the Spirit are permanent dispositions and are meant to complete and perfect the virtues. They help the person flexible to divine inspiration. ⁶

Other Virtues

Notes

At some point we need to add to this the discussion between infused, acquired, theological, and natural virtues.

Phil. 4:8 ↩
St. Gregory of Nysa, De Beatitudinibus, 1: PG 44, 1200D ↩
Nicomachean Ethics I.7 ↩
Nicomachean Ethics II.6 ↩
Pope John Paul II. “General Audience,” 20 October 1999. ↩
Pope John Paul II. “Letter to Priests,” 1998. ↩