HUMILITY. – A moral virtue that cools the soul so that it does not strive with immoderate motion toward what is above itself (Sum. Theol., 2a-2ae, q. 161, a. 1); or more broadly: that virtue which restrains the disordered desire for one’s own greatness and inclines man to love his own reality as known in the light of sincere truth.
I. NATURE OF HUMILITY
The true nature of humility is to be sought in its function of moderating pride, which is a deviation of two legitimate tendencies implanted by God in human nature: esteem for oneself and the desire for esteem from others. The first is the foundation of personal dignity; the second is one of the bases of sociability. These two inclinations, though in a certain sense providential, are easily subject to deviation. Humility has the office of opposing these deviations and maintaining order in self-esteem and in the desire for esteem from others. It is thus truth and justice, understood here in the broad sense in which justice designates the virtuous disposition that assigns to each thing its proper place. The pagans knew of humility only as modesty, and for what they knew of it they practiced it very imperfectly. St. Thomas, however, shows that humility is not opposed even to a virtue that would seem to be its opposite, magnanimity (q.v.).They are different aspects of the same reality, reached from different positions and tending to set in motion different energies. It is precisely of humility to have a knowledge of the disproportion between reality and the various desires for great things that exceed the individual’s possibilities. On the practical plane, the recognition of one’s own efficacy forms the directive rule of the will, and in this essentially consists humility (ibid., q. 161, a. 2 and 6). Again, according to St. Thomas, humility is to be classed as a potential part of the virtue of temperance, which has as its object the moderation and repression of the impetus of the passions. Now since humility is nothing other than a restraint upon the human spirit in its continual anxious pursuit of pride, it falls within this more general virtue.
II. HUMILITY, REVELATION, INCARNATION
The virtue of Christian humility is illumined by a new light after Revelation has disclosed more fully the relation of humility to God, to the free will of man, and to Jesus Christ, Redeemer and Savior of man through the most heroic exercise of humility. Considering that every sin has as its common element rebellion against the law of God, one understands how humility invests the whole moral aspect of man in his life of return to God and how the nothingness of the creature before God, offended by sin, is clothed in a sense of profound confusion.This aspect of humility, which is the most mysterious and the most difficult for the human heart, is understood in the contemplation of the mystery of Christ, which the Apostle St. Paul reveals as a mystery of humility. The famous Christological text of the Letter to the Philippians (2:6-11) says that “Christ, subsisting in the form of God, did not deem it robbery to be equal with God, but emptied himself, taking the form of a servant, being made in the likeness of men, and found in fashion as a man; he humbled himself, becoming obedient unto death, even to the death of the cross. Wherefore God also hath exalted him...” For this precise aspect, humility has its own light in the mystery of the Incarnation and Redemption.
III. HUMILITY IN HOLY SCRIPTURE AND IN THE VARIOUS SCHOOLS OF SPIRITUALITY
The constant appeal to humility in the New Testament demonstrates its excellence and necessity. The teaching of Jesus focuses particularly on humility, which forbids elevating oneself above others and renders relations with one’s neighbor easy and loving (Mt. 22:2-12; Lk. 14:7-11). Humility attracts the benevolent gaze of the Lord (Lk. 18:9-14) and avoids ostentation in the fulfillment of the duties of prayer, penance, and almsgiving (Mt. 6:3-18). St. Paul insists with particular urgency on humility to his faithful (Phil. 2:3-11; Eph. 4:2; Rom. 12:16; Gal. 6:3, 5). St. Peter says to the faithful, “Clothe yourselves with humility, for God resists the proud and gives grace to the humble; humble yourselves under the mighty hand of God” (1 Pt. 5:5-6). See also the teaching of St. James in his letter (4:5-8).Guided by Revelation, the Fathers of the Church, the masters of the spiritual life, and the theologians, after the theological virtues, direct their moral teaching toward humility. St. Augustine returns to God through the mystery of humility revealed in Holy Scripture (Confessions, VII, chaps. 9, 20, 21, etc.). Monastic asceticism, both Eastern and Western, sees humility as the authentic measure of spiritual progress.
This is fundamental in Cassian, Inst. 4.39 (PL 49, 198-199), adopted and completed by St. Benedict in chap. 7 of his Rule.
However, to understand exactly the monastic method of humility, it must be borne in mind that St. Benedict, together with the whole ascetical tradition, considers this virtue as a summary of the spiritual life... in such a way that it comprehends within its development all the others. He does not consider humility as a special virtue that is reduced to temperance, but as the attitude of the soul before God, in which are gathered the diverse sentiments that must animate us as creatures and as adopted sons” (C. Marmion, op. cit. in bibl., pp. 214-215).
This conception permeates all the medieval ascetical teaching on the virtue of humility: thus St. Bernard in De gradibus humilitatis (PL 182, 941-72) and St. Anselm (In lib. De similitudinibus, c. 99, n. 108: PL 159). Finally, the Benedictine enumeration is accepted in Sum. Theol., 2a-2ae, q. 161, a. 6. The synthesis of all medieval spiritual mentality is found in the Imitation of Christ, which so well anticipates modern spirituality; it opens with an appeal to humility (bk. I, chaps. 2, 15, 16, 17) and returns to it in all the books as to its favorite theme (bk. II, chaps. 2, 9, 12; III, chaps. 3, 4, 7, 8, 13, 14, etc.; IV, chaps. 15, 18).
For Franciscan spirituality it suffices to recall the Canticle of Perfect Joy by St. Francis (Fioretti, chap. 8).
Later, St. Ignatius, at the end of the second week of the Exercises (ed. J. Roothan, Turin-Rome 1928, p. 144-145), suggests three degrees of humility: 1) the first is an essential degree for salvation: it is that which subjects the soul to the law of God, obliging under pain of mortal sin; 2) the second degree, more perfect, creates in the soul a complete indifference of will and affection between riches and poverty, honors and contempt, a long life or a short one, provided that God is equally glorified. For no reason in the world commit even a single venial sin; 3) the third degree demands still more: to imitate Jesus, preferring, as He did, poverty to riches, contempt to honors, and the desire to be held as useless and foolish for the love of Jesus, Who first chose to be held as such rather than appear wise and prudent in the eyes of the world. The teaching of the French school of the 18th century is expounded by Olier in the introduction to the Christian Catechism: three degrees of humility that suit souls in progress: 1) complacency in one’s own nothingness and vileness; 2) loving to be known as vile; 3) desire to be treated as vile. In this annihilation of self, the soul is sure to find God.
HUMILITY – Humility. Detail of the stucco decoration of the Oratory of St. Lawrence, by G. Serpotta (1687-1696) – Palermo.
HUMILITY – UMTAli
Mood (v.) must be distinguished from temperament (v.) and character (v.), but it is closely connected with these elements of personality, particularly with the balance of metabolic conditions, endocrine function, the complex of cenesthetic sensations (v. CENESTHESIA), variations in vegetative and animal neurotonus, and the neuropsychological and moral state of the subject.
Mood, even in the normal individual, undergoes continuous variations in relation to the sum of organic changes and the repeated interference of external stimuli, whether pleasant or unpleasant, tending toward a state of dissatisfaction or satisfaction. In the absence of unpleasant tensions arising from the present state, the memory of the past, or concern for the future, mood is serene, tending toward a sense of euphoria; in the opposite case, the tone shifts toward melancholy.
Within the limits of normality, stimulus-events disturb mood only if they reach a certain intensity and duration; between these two elements, a proportional relationship must coexist. On the other hand, every stimulus, beyond a certain—poorly definable—limit, ceases to be effective, leading first to optimism and then to the complete disappearance of affective reaction.
Individuals of different types exhibit markedly different ways in which mood is oriented in relation to internal and external causes that tend to produce and modify II. While some, due to the weak resonance of affective life (hypotymic subjects), are little subject to mood variations, others (hyperthymic subjects), endowed with lively affectivity, easily and for long periods undergo modifications and disturbances in the affective equilibrium of consciousness. Among those with lively affectivity, there are individuals in whom the reactivity of mood can manifest indifferently in the two opposite directions of joy and sadness (cyclothymic or emotionally labile); such lability is particularly present in hysterics, so-called lunatics, those with constitutional spasmophilia, meteorolabile individuals (at the mercy of meteorological variations), and Kretschmer’s cycloid or cyclothymic types. Other individuals, instead, more easily slip into a constant mood tone, whether serene or morose, from which they are hardly moved by contrary stimuli (dysphoric or euphoric hyperthymics).
When the conditions of mood present degrees clearly beyond those compatible with the extreme normal limits of fluctuating variability, whether in intensity, duration, or form, the field of abnormality of mental illness or psychoses is entered (mania or melancholia of affective psychoses [v.]); here, severe alterations of mood are accompanied by psycho-sensory disturbances of the type of delusions and visual and auditory hallucinations.
The lack of stability in mood, its easy variation under the action of stimulus-events of minor importance, constitutes a significant impediment to the normal development of the subject’s cognitive and volitional activity, and while on one hand it requires a stronger impulse to fulfill one’s duty, beyond certain limits of intensity of the defect, it can diminish moral responsibility. Gradually, one can thus arrive at the conditions of psychopathic personalities (v.) or various mentally ill patients: in such cases, the moral judgment formulated for them applies.