Virtue of the Month
August: Salubritas (Healthiness, Wholesomeness)- Healthy body.
September: Prudentia (Foresight, Prudence, Wise Choice-Making)- Healthy mind.
October: Veritas (Truthfulness, Honesty)- Healthy soul.
November: Firmitas (Constancy, Firmness, Persistence)- Holding course.
December: Liberalitas (Liberality, Free Giving)- Turning outwards.
January: Comitas (Good Humour, Openness, Even-Keeled-Ness)- Your relationship with the people around you.
February: Gravitas (Seriousness, Appropriateness)- Your relationship to the events around you.
March: Pietas (Loyalty, Piety)- Your relationship to the institutions around you.
April: Auctoritas (Authority, Influence)- Your relationship to/influence in the authority structures around you.
May: Humanitas (Humane-Ness, Humanity, Cultured-Ness, Experiencing the Fullness of One’s Humanity)- Your
relationship to/influence in the universe itself.
August
SALUBRITAS - Healthiness, wholesomeness.
Internal virtue–care of the self (body).
Orandum est ut sit mens sana in corpore sano – Juvenal, Satires 10.356
Many people believe that education exists mostly in the sphere of the mind. The Greeks and Romans, though, understood that the care of the body goes hand-in-hand with the growth of the mind. For instance, “Plato” was not actually the famous philosopher’s given name; it means “The Shoulders” and was his nickname as a professional wrestler! As Juvenal states in the Latin quotation above– (rather than working for fame or fortune) ”You should only pray that you may have a healthy mind in a healthy body.” Further down the Classical tradition, Thomas Aquinas tells us that “To live well is to work well, to show a good activity.” We must remember that we are working to educate our students and ourselves as whole people, and any definition of a whole person that doesn’t include the body is patently ridiculous. Education of the mind starts with the care and training of the body. And that’s what salubritas is– proper care and training of the body as the vessel and agent of the mind. It can also include the idea of proper mental health or wholesomeness in attitude, but it is usually thought of as more of a physical virtue.