CHARISMS. — The word *c.* (χάρισμα) occurs 16 times in the letters of Paul and once in 1 Pt (4:10). Sometimes it has the generic meaning of a gracious gift and can thus be applied even to sanctifying grace, as in Rom 6:23; but beyond this, it possesses a special meaning, namely, that of a supernatural gift granted to a person not so much for their own benefit as for the advantage of others, so that the Gospel may spread and the mystical body of Christ may be built up: it is given «for the advantage» of the Church (1 Cor 12:7; Eph 4:12). This Pauline concept of *c.* corresponds to the definition given by St. Thomas of the «gratia gratis data», granted by God «potius ut ad iustificationem alterius cooperetur» (Sum. Theol., 1^3-2^3, q. 3, a. 1). This is the sense in which the term is considered here.
St. Paul provided four lists of the *c.*, without intending them to be exhaustive or mutually consistent. In 1 Cor 12, one list enumerates nine (vv. 8-10) and another eight. In Rom 12:6-8, seven are listed, and in Eph 4:11, only five. Here is the longest enumeration: «To one is given through the Spirit the utterance of wisdom, and to another the utterance of knowledge according to the same Spirit, to another faith by the same Spirit, to another gifts of healing by the one Spirit, to another the working of miracles, to another prophecy, to another the ability to distinguish between spirits, to another various kinds of tongues, to another the interpretation of tongues» (1 Cor 12:8-11).
In total, the four lists enumerate about twenty different gifts. Some are prodigious, such as the gifts of tongues, healings, and miracles; others involve merely a better aptitude for certain offices, such as preaching, exhorting, or governing. St. Paul attributes them preferably to the Holy Spirit, but also to the Father (1 Cor 12:28) and to the Son (Eph 4:11). The *c.* can be transitory, according to the good pleasure of the Holy Spirit.
Any division of the *c.* is rather arbitrary; nevertheless, they can conveniently be distinguished into gifts of governance, gifts of teaching and exhortation, and gifts of corporal assistance.
Those who possess the gift of teaching or exhortation include the apostles, prophets, evangelists, teachers, and interpreters. The first four always serve in this order. The apostles mentioned by St. Paul among the possessors of *c.* are not the «Twelve», but missionaries impelled by the Holy Spirit to found new Christian communities. They must be bishops. In the *Didachē*, 12:3, they are forbidden to remain more than two days in an already established church or to ask for money. Prophets exhort the faithful under the inspiration of the Spirit; they possess the discourse of wisdom; it is not necessary that they reveal future things (1 Cor 14:3). Teachers, as the name indicates, have a function of a predominantly intellectual order and possess the discourse of knowledge. Evangelists here are not the authors of the four Gospels, but those who preached the Gospel in already established churches, perhaps preferring to treat the facts of the life of Jesus Christ.
The gift of tongues, also called glossolalia, of which St. Paul speaks, may not be the same as that enjoyed by the Apostles on the day of Pentecost, which consisted in being understood by people of different languages, as if they had spoken each one’s own tongue. The glossolalic spoke to God in a language he did not understand, and which only one who had the gift of interpretation could translate. For this reason, St. Paul commands that the glossolalic not speak aloud in the assembly unless there is someone to interpret (1 Cor 14).
The *c.* of corporal assistance were not all miraculous. Some consisted in a special generosity or aptitude to help one’s neighbor with alms or other forms of aid; but there also existed the thaumaturgic power, whether to heal bodies or to perform other prodigies. Related to this power is the *c.* of faith, which is the faith of miracles, namely, a supernatural instinct that inspires absolute confidence in a miraculous intervention of God.
Some Protestants have maintained that the early Church lived without hierarchy and was directed solely by the *c.* This is a manifest exaggeration. St. Paul acknowledges the hierarchy and especially the authority of the Apostles, and he himself lays down rules for the use of the *c.* Hierarchy and *c.* coexisted, and it seems that, according to the Apostle’s thought, they must always coexist in the Church. Indeed, some *c.*, such as glossolalia, have disappeared or become very rare; but supernatural gifts granted for the common good always exist in the Church of Jesus Christ: they may be found outside the hierarchy, but they may also be given to the leaders of the Church. Those that are called graces of state are nothing other than *c.*
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