DOCILITÀ. — Etymologically (from docere), it means the good disposition to embrace another’s right opinion. St. Tommaso describes it in the same way, counting it among the parts of prudence and adding: “prudence has as its object all human actions, even particular ones; and since these are of an almost unlimited variety, a person cannot adequately weigh, within a limited time, the pros and cons of each individual action; therefore it is necessary that he allow himself to be instructed by others wiser than he. This is precisely what d. consists in” (Sum. Theol., 2ᵃ-2ᵐ, q. 49, a. 3).
Commonly, however, the term docile has a narrower and more specific meaning, and denotes one who readily yields to the advice and will of others. In ascetical theology, too, this term is often confused with meekness, patience, and obedience. D., however, is a vaguer and less exact word than the latter terms. It could in fact signify the same disposition to yield even in evil, which is excluded when one is speaking instead
of those Christian virtues. A more equivalent word would rather be pliability. Ascetical treatises discuss it in connection with obedience, not prudence, as the Angelic Doctor does.
For acquiring the Christian virtue of d., spiritual masters give many and varied rules, the principal ones of which might be considered the constant and daily effort to renounce one’s own will and submit it to that of God; not relying on one’s own judgment in the most important matters concerning one’s soul; the habit of considering human things and events from a supernatural point of view; and the guidance of a prudent and wise man. In this field too, d. in the fulfilment of minor duties will dispose the will to the exact observance of more burdensome ones. Even from a natural standpoint, d. is a quality of the greatest importance. It makes obedience less burdensome, life with other people more serene, the burden of one’s own duty more bearable, life more beautiful, relations among the various social classes less tense, and disorders and upheavals in civil society rarer.