LIBERALITY. - The right balance with which a person is disposed to spend or to give away what he possesses, without going to excess through prodigality and without showing himself mean through avarice, constitutes liberality as a natural and Christian virtue. In this sense it is distinguished from justice, in that in liberality what is given is not owed on other grounds; from mercy, because liberality is not considered in relation to the needs of one's neighbor; from gratitude, in that liberality prescinds from benefits previously received; and from magnificence (v.), which shines forth through lavishness in great external works. It is an eminently social virtue directed toward rendering men rightly detached from riches. Even a direct and intended violation of liberality never constitutes mortal sin (except in the case of extrinsic circumstances that constitute grave fault for other reasons); indeed, very often it is not even venial sin, but only an imperfection.
The virtue of liberality is exercised especially in donation (v.); for the Italian Civil Code, indeed, the latter always presupposes it (art. 769), and it is recognized as a motive even in so-called remuneratory donation (art. 770), although such a declaration is not revocable as is the completely liberal one (art. 805). The Italian Code also admits a liberality standing on its own, distinct from liberal donation (art. 809).
Every donation, even the remuneratory one, constitutes a true act of liberality; the latter, however, can exist and does in fact exist without the former whenever the person is disposed to spend of his own according to the requirements of the social state to which he belongs. It is wrong, therefore, to think of liberality as a virtue consisting in donations or gifts; it lies rather in the disposition of mind to wish to spend according to the right use of reason.