PERTINACITY. - Insofar as it is constancy in any operation, or insofar as it manifests itself in one who does not allow himself to be moved by difficulties, it is nothing other than the virtue of perseverance (v.) exercised in an eminent manner; but in a specific sense, in the sense of stubbornness and obstinacy, it is conceived as a vice opposed to perseverance by excess, that is, according to St. Thomas, Sum. Theol., 2a-2ae, q. 138, a. 2, as "persevering in one's own opinion more than is fitting."

This comes about through refusing to consent to another's opinion, even if it is better, and this so as not to appear less wise. P. is also insistence in doing evil, whereas perseverance is constancy in doing good. Generally p. is born of pride, whereas inconstancy derives from frivolity, a vice contrary to perseverance by deficiency.

P. in denying one or more truths revealed by God and proposed by the Church for belief enters as an essential element into the sin and crime of heresy (v.).

Bibliography

BIBL.: v. ERESIA and the common treatises of moral theology, where they treat de fortitudine et de vitiis oppositis. And furthermore: M. A. Janvier, Esposizione della morale cattolica, N. La virtù della fortezza, Turin-Rome 1938, pp. 198-99, 298.

Andrea Gennaro

@incollection{ec9_pertinacia, author = {Gennaro, Andrea}, title = {Pertinacia}, booktitle = {Enciclopedia Cattolica}, volume = {IX}, pages = {1238}, note = {Cited by column}, publisher = {Ente per l’Enciclopedia Cattolica e per il Libro Cattolico}, address = {Città del Vaticano}, year = {1952}, url = {https://azioneromana.com/article/pertinacia} }

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Pertinacity

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