HEROIC ACT
An act is called heroic when it cannot be performed by a person except with extraordinary or very great moral difficulty. It is not always possible to determine with absolute certainty when heroism is present, since various objective and subjective circumstances often leave indelible marks that contribute to constituting the heroic act. Even the exercise of virtue, though ordinarily easy in its individual manifestations, can constitute true heroism if it is sustained throughout life or for a very long period and observed with particular perfection. Ordinarily, this habitual heroism suffices for the beatification (v.) and canonization (v.) of the servants of God. This heroism, however, which may be called habitual, is distinct from that required to perform a single action or a series of few actions, for which the subject must display contempt for life itself or for one of the greatest personal goods, e.g., freedom.
Theologians and moralists refer to the heroic act in this second sense when they discuss the object of the law and ask whether it is possible to impose such heroism upon the mass of subjects or upon some of them. Following the Church’s teaching, the answer is negative when the law concerns the subjects in general: the law cannot impose truly heroic acts. Exceptions to this rule are made only for divine-natural laws, not only because God is the absolute master of each person’s life, but also because in practice God always provides the natural and supernatural means necessary for their observance. For this reason, everyone must rather suffer death than renounce the faith. Apart from divine-natural laws, not even divine-positive laws make exceptions, since in cases where true heroism is necessary for their observance, it is legitimately presumed that God suspends the obligation. Thus, for example, no one will be obliged to sanctify the Lord’s Day by attending Mass or abstaining from work if, in going to church, they would seriously risk being killed by an enemy, or if abstaining from work would result in the lack of necessary sustenance for continuing to live.
Laws that are purely human, whether civil or ecclesiastical, can never impose heroic acts in a general way; they may do so in particular cases only if absolutely required by the common good or if the individuals themselves have freely placed themselves in social situations that demand heroic actions. For the first reason, a sentinel must perform his duty even at the cost of his life, since this is required by the common good; for the second, clerics in sacred orders and religious must observe perfect chastity; parish priests and pastors of souls must generally remain in their posts even at the risk of their lives; religious bound to the service of the sick or lepers must care for them even at the risk of imminent mortal contagion.
In consequence of the principles outlined, laws do not normally impose heroic acts. Nevertheless, moralists observe that if they did so, apart from the aforementioned exceptions, they would have no effect. The reason for this lies in the fact that among the conditions required for a law to be valid is that its observance be practically possible. Nor is it difficult to demonstrate that a law which, in a general way, truly imposes heroic acts would be practically unobservable or at least intolerable; it would therefore fail to promote the common good and thus cease to be a law.
It must be kept in mind, however, that the judgment regarding the heroism of an act is, as a rule, reserved to the legislator. It will rarely occur that subjects may exempt themselves from obedience by claiming that the act imposed is heroic. This also applies to cases of precepts given directly to individuals.
For the heroic act of charity in suffrage for the souls in Purgatory, V. ATTO EROICO DI CARITÀ.