MANSUETUDE. - A virtue that moderates anger, restraining it within the limits of what is reasonable, in order to avoid the blinding impetuosity of passion. Anger, which in itself can be just or unjust, finds in meekness (a potential part of temperance) that golden mean which prevents its irrational excess and directs it toward those objects against which it is reasonable for it to be unleashed.
St. Thomas connects meekness, as a Gospel beatitude of the supernatural order, with the gifts of the Holy Spirit, highlighting the perfecting, attained in the supernatural order, of the natural virtue: "There is a virtue that curbs the irruption of the passions of the irascible appetite, so that man does not abandon himself to them beyond what is reasonable; the gift (of the Holy Spirit) acts more perfectly so that man is rendered tranquil from those passions according to the divine will; hence the beatitude: 'Blessed are the meek.'" Under this ascetic-supernatural aspect, meekness is a gift of the Holy Spirit (Gal. 5:22-23), and conforms the Christian more closely to Jesus "meek of heart" (Mt. 11:29).
Bibliography4 worksSum., Theol., 2ᵃ-2ᵐ, q. 157; ibid., 1ᵃ-2ᵐ, q. 69, a. 3; D. Buzy, Beatitudes, in DSp, I, coll. 1298-1310; M. Cordovani, Itinerario della rina
BIBL.:Sum., Theol., 2ᵃ-2ᵐ, q. 157; ibid., 1ᵃ-2ᵐ, q. 69, a. 3; D. Buzy, Beatitudes, in DSp, I, coll. 1298-1310; M. Cordovani, Itinerario della rinascita spirituale, Rome 1946, pp. 215-25. Also the various treatises of moral theology in the study of temperance.
Scarpellini, Costante. “Mansuetudine.” In Enciclopedia Cattolica, vol. VII, col. 1981. Città del Vaticano: Ente per l’Enciclopedia Cattolica e per il Libro Cattolico, 1951. https://azioneromana.com/article/mansuetudine.
MLA
Scarpellini, Costante. “Mansuetudine.” Enciclopedia Cattolica, vol. VII, Ente per l’Enciclopedia Cattolica e per il Libro Cattolico, 1951, col. 1981. Azione Romana, https://azioneromana.com/article/mansuetudine.
BibTeX
@incollection{ec7_mansuetudine,
author = {Scarpellini, Costante},
title = {Mansuetudine},
booktitle = {Enciclopedia Cattolica},
volume = {VII},
pages = {1981},
note = {Cited by column},
publisher = {Ente per l’Enciclopedia Cattolica e per il Libro Cattolico},
address = {Città del Vaticano},
year = {1951},
url = {https://azioneromana.com/article/mansuetudine}
}
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