Objectively (i.e., with regard to the reality we face) speaking
The Christian life is a warfare. We are soldiers engaged in a constant battle. Fr Duffner explains:
While we may not be called upon for the supreme act of fortitude - that of martyrdom for our Catholic faith, or the sacrifice of life on the battlefield out of true patriotism, life in this world is a warfare. (Job 7:1) It involves a constant struggle against the spirit of the world which tends to ensnare us if we are not always on guard, relying on constant vigilance and the grace of God, “for the weapons of our warfare are not worldly, but have divine power to destroy strongholds” (2Corinthians 10:4). The strength that Christian fortitude brings is not a stoic endurance of pain, nor a bravado show of strength or endurance, but the moral courage needed to follow Christ. Every Christian needs this virtue in contending with the trials of everyday life, since, coming into this world in a weakened condition and with an inclination to evil due to original sin, he is bombarded from all sides with the many temptations with which this world confronts us.
In the struggle to live the Christian life, many challenges will be encountered which cause some to be discouraged and turn back, or settle on a plateau of mediocrity or compromise. In adverse circumstances when the going gets hard, it is a frequent human failing to give up trying. It is the task of the virtue of fortitude to prevent this, to bring strength and courage to face the difficulties that frighten the weak-hearted at the effort and sacrifice the struggle requires. For example, it takes courage and strength to mortify our appetites and desires that lead us astray if not controlled: to stand up for our faith when it is attacked; to be faithful day in and day out to the duties of our state in life; to accept God's will, when His plans upset ours to which we are strongly attached and to practice various works of mercy which require the sacrifice of our time, comfort and convenience, etc.
Our Blessed Lord warned His followers that sacrifice would be required: “The gate is wide and the way is easy that leads to destruction, and those who enter by it are many; but the gate is narrow and the way is hard that leads to life, and those who find it are few” (Matthew 7:13). It is true that Jesus said “My yoke is easy and My burden is light” (Matthew 11:30), but that does not mean that there will be few difficulties to bear, or sacrifices to make. It means that He will give the grace to bear those difficulties and make those sacrifices willingly, even joyfully, to those who sincerely strive to follow Him, relying on His grace to know and accept His will.
Subjectively speaking (i.e., with regard to our own selves)
We are rational animals. There is an animal part of us which explains why we have emotions. After original sin, our emotions have often refused to be guided by the intellect and the will. As we face the challenges of life, we need a virtue that prevents us from being overwhelmed by difficulties, and at the same time encourages us to dare to overcome those difficulties. Doug Macmanaman says:
The emotions have an innate need to be guided by reason. An emotionally healthy life is one in which the emotions are moderated by right reason. It follows that emotional stability and well-being are the result of a certain structuring in which the emotions of the concupiscible and irascible appetites are subject to a will that in turn is subject to reason.
An emotionally unhealthy life is one in which the emotions govern the will and reason. In this case, the emotions are not guided at all, or they are governed by a mind not rectified by reason via the intellectual virtues, such as wisdom and prudence.
Fortitude is the virtue that moderates the emotions of fear and daring in accordance with right reason. It involves two things: the capacity to endure a difficulty that one faces and the courage to act to overcome the difficulty. The first is passive, the second active.
Fr Duffner says that
Fortitude is needed to moderate the appetites and emotions in regard to things that are unpleasant and disagreeable.
He further says:
In the wide sense it fortifies the soul bringing strength and firmness to all other virtues. The strength that this general virtue brings includes the help that comes from other virtues that come under the general heading of fortitude, such as: patience that helps us to endure daily vexations in union with Christ without weakening or complaining; perseverance - that inclines one to continue in the practice of virtue or the fulfillment of duty in spite of the tedium that tends to arise after a long period of time; magnanimity - that inclines one to undertake great things for the love of God without being discouraged in the face of difficulties, and without failing through pride or presumption. As Saint Thomas explains it, “magnanimity makes a man deem himself worthy of great things because of the gifts he has from God” (II II, 129, 3, ad 4).
In the strict sense fortitude strengthens the soul to face great dangers in the pursuit of good, so that it is not shaken by the greatest obstacles - even the danger of death. It moderates and controls the emergency emotions (passions) such as fear, daring or anger which tend to lead one away from the true and virtuous way if they are not checked. These passions can be of great use to man when controlled by reason; but when not controlled, fear can degenerate into cowardice, daring into rashness or foolhardiness, and anger can lead to violence.
Is fortitude the same as fearlesness?
Not at all. Fortitude acts in accordance with right reason. Actions that arise out of fortitude are reasonable.
Fortitude is not to be confused with recklessness. Macmanaman gives some examples:
Sitting in a bathtub full of deadly snakes, or jumping from one speedboat to another, are acts of daring, not acts of fortitude. Had the person been attempting to rescue a little girl trapped in a pit of snakes, or a man unable to steer the speedboat as a result of a heart attack or stroke, we could speak of fortitude, but not without a pursuit of the good.
Fortitude is not fearlessness. Some people perform acts of apparent fortitude, that is, without the virtue. This occurs when they tend to what is difficult as though it were not, a behaviour due either to ignorance, that is, they are simply unaware of the extent of the dangers involved. Sometimes a person has so often escaped dangers in the past that on the basis of that experience he is rather confident of overcoming current dangers. Or, a person might possess a certain skill which leads him to think little of the dangers of battle, thinking himself more than capable of defending himself against them. Sometimes a person will act through the impulse of a passion, such as excessive anger, or sorrow, of which he wishes to rid himself. These are not acts of fortitude precisely because no moderation of fear is involved.
Does fortitude take away fear?
No. As Macmanaman explains:
The truly brave man does not suppress his fear. He really experiences it, but holds fast to the good, moderating the fear of which he is fully cognizant. The principal act of fortitude is to endure, whereas aggression or attack is its secondary act. For enduring fear is more difficult than attacking evil through daring.
What is magnanimity?
Macmanaman describes magnanimity as follows:
Magnanimity aspires after moral excellence, and since generosity, gratitude, and beneficence savor of excellence, the magnanimous man is ready to perform acts of great generosity, gratitude, and extraordinary beneficence. The magnanimous do not have such a high regard for external goods or a fear of evils such that they are inclined to give up the pursuit of justice or any other virtue. Thus, they do not conceal truth on account of fear, nor are they given over to complaining. Bellyaching betrays a defect of magnanimity in that the mind gives way too readily to external evils. Such vices are contrary to moral excellence.
But neither do the magnanimous despise wealth or great repute. They regard them as useful for accomplishing deeds of virtue. That is why they do not love them so much that they are willing to forgo virtue for their sake. Hence, an emotionally healthy and truly magnanimous person is neither very joyful at obtaining such goods, nor terribly grieved at their loss.
How does one sin against magnanimity?
1. By defect. The opposite of magnanimity (literally "greatness of soul") is pusillanimity, or smallness of soul. Macmanaman comments:
Anyone who has worked with teenagers knows that the happiest and most emotionally healthy of them are those who aspire after great and honorable ends. And certainly not all of them do. It is not uncommon to see hordes of teenagers loitering every night at the local Donut shop or mall, doing very little with their lives if anything at all. This is pusillanimity, or smallness of soul. This rather pusillanimous existence is by no means limited to teenagers. Many adults have settled for a very small existence, which usually includes but does not seem to go far beyond a house with a well manicured lawn, a colorful garden, a cottage perhaps, and sometimes a life that deliberately excludes children, but not pets. These things are not evil in themselves. Rather, it is the lack of aspiration towards what is worthy of great honor that is small and deficient. The emotion that suffers in this case is the emotion of hope; for the virtue of magnanimity perfects hope and involves a stretching forth of the mind to great honors. There is no emotional wholeness without such a stretching forth to the great.
2. By excess: presumption, vainglory, ambition
a. Presumption. Macmanaman explains:
Confidence in oneself and others is a part of magnanimity, but confidence in oneself can be inordinate by way of excess. This is presumption, and it is rooted in an inaccurate assessment of oneself. The presumptuous tend to what is above their power. Their hope in themselves is disordered, because their love for themselves is disordered. That is why presumption tends to go hand in hand with personal pride, the inordinate love of one's own excellence.
b. Vainglory. Macmanaman tells us:
Vainglory is the inordinate desire for glory (to be known by others). Such desire for glory is inordinate when it is desired for its own sake, rather than as being useful for something greater, for example, that God may be more known and loved by others, or that human beings may be made better on account of such knowledge. Mother Teresa, for example, was very well known, but she did not desire such reputation, and yet her renown made innumerable people better.
Vainglory is particularly dangerous in that it renders us presumptuous and too self-confident, and presumption blinds us to the need to seek counsel from others. That is why vainglory begets disobedience, boastfulness, hypocrisy, contention, obstinacy, discord, and interestingly enough, the love of novelties. The vain strive to make known their excellence by showing that they are not inferior to others. They do this in a number of ways. Since intellect is the most superior power in man, the vain will strive to show intellectual superiority. Thus, they do not readily give up their opinion when confronted with evidence of its weakness and inferiority. This is obstinacy, an excessive or stubborn attachment to one's opinion. And since the will is also a superior power, the person who strives to make known his excellence will exhibit a stubborn attachment to his own will. Such a person rarely agrees with others. This is discord, which begets quarreling or contentiousness. And a contentious person can hardly be expected to obey the commands of his superiors. Thus, he is inclined to disobedience. Finally, vainglory begets a love of novelties. For the vain wish to stand out from the rest, so they are given over to novelties which tend to grab our attention and call for greater admiration.
c. Ambition. Macmanaman says:
The quest for honor is inordinate when a person desires the recognition of an excellence that he does not have, thus wanting more than his fair share of honors, and when a person desires honor for himself without referring it to God. The latter amounts to a lack of gratitude, which is a part of justice. Finally, the quest for honor is inordinate when it is pursued for the sake of being honored, as if to rest in the honor itself. This is ambition. But the truly magnanimous do not love themselves more than others; rather, they love the other as another self, and for God's sake. They desire the recognition of their own excellence only to the degree that it would profit others. But the heart of the ambitious rests in honor itself, without reference to the profit of others.
Macmanaman explains:
[T]he magnificent man looks for opportunities to do a great work that God may be more honored. This is how magnificence is connected to genuine love. Recall that genuine human love wills that the happiness of knowing and loving God befall another. Hence, this love seeks the honor of God, desires that God be glorified and thus more loved. Thus, charity in the heart of one who has wealth is magnificent.
The opposite of magnificence is meanness.
[T]he magnificent man will also intend a great work at great expense for the honor of a person deserving of great honor, or for the honor of the entire state. The defect of magnificence is the mean or miserly heart whose intention is principally focused on spending the least amount possible. He does not shrink from producing a measly work so long as he spends little.
Once, while admiring a beautiful old Church in a poor area of a small Canadian town, a friend remarked how magnificent the Church was. Behind that magnificent Church were magnificent people who built it at great expense. And yet there is a Church that was recently built in one of the wealthiest towns in the country, a Church that is anything but magnificent. In fact, it is less than ordinary, and its appearance almost suggests a kind of miserliness, as if the principal intention was to reduce cost rather than build a great Church that speaks of the greatness and majesty of God. The excess of magnificence, however, is waste or wastefulness, wherein expenditure exceeds the value of the work.
Macmanaman's explanation goes as follows:
The virtue of patience is that habit by which we endure hardship so that we maintain the course of action set out by reason. The patient man is not inordinately saddened by the things which cause him hurt. The defect of patience is, of course, impatience, which is an inability to bear hardship, and which involves a loss of self-possession. This results in the forsaking of the good on account of the sorrow caused thereby. Many people regard Robert Latimer as a courageous man because he had "the nerve" to murder his handicapped daughter and face the justice system in order to have the law against euthanasia changed. He was a daring man, but not a man of fortitude. Latimer's actions could never have been a matter of fortitude, because murdering a handicapped child is intrinsically unjust, and his decision to murder her bespeaks a lack of patience, an inability to deal with the sorrow caused by the hardships of raising a handicapped child.
It is not inconsistent with patience to rise up against one who inflicts injustice. Patience is not spinelessness, the excess of meekness. The excess of patience is impassivity. The impassive do not allow themselves to be moved by sorrow. They endure it when they should not, thereby allowing the situation that is causing the hardship to perpetuate — a situation that isn't necessarily unjust, but one that requires effective remedy. Moreover, there is nothing praiseworthy about "patiently" enduring harm against others, against the common good, or against the divine honor. Such "patience" is merely a front that disguises a cowardly and unjust spirit.
What is longanimity? Quoting Macmanaman, he says:
Longanimity is the virtue that moderates hope in that it bears upon a good that is a long way off. The delay of the hoped for good causes sorrow, which is difficult to endure, and so in this sense longanimity has something in common with patience. Perhaps we can call its defect "brevanimity". The "brevanimous" might include those who begin projects enthusiastically, but leave them undone, or those who seem to always need a change. And perhaps the excess of longanimity is a kind of impassivity in which one fails to do what is required to bring about the good that is a long way off.
Macmanaman says:
Constancy is the virtue by which a person endures the toil involved in persistently accomplishing a good work. It belongs to perseverance to persist in good for a long time until the end. Perseverance moderates the emotion of fear as it regards weariness or failure on account of the delay. It differs from constancy in that constancy makes a man persist firmly in good against difficulties arising from external hindrances.
The defect of perseverance is effeminacy. The effeminate are ready to forsake a good on account of difficulties which they cannot endure. Delicacy, according to Aquinas, is a kind of effeminacy and is thus a vice contrary to perseverance. The delicate, after considering the toil involved in a difficult work, will naturally recoil, whereas the effeminate are principally focused on the lack of pleasure involved in a particular work.
The excess of perseverance is pertinacity, which exceeds the mean of perseverance appointed by reason. The pertinacious man persists inordinately in something against many difficulties. He desires the proximate end too much. The pertinacious and the effeminate have something in common, for the pertinacious shun the pain involved in not realizing the pleasure of the end that he loves and pursues inordinately.
Fr Duffner gives us some advice.
Frequently pray for it: Since this virtue is perfected by the Gift of the Holy Spirit, and since it is needful for the growth of every other virtue, we should pray often that the Divine Spirit will come to strengthen us in our weakness. Our prayer for His aid is an acknowledgment of that weakness and our need of God's strengthening graces. However, it would be presumption to expect God to come with His strengthening grace if we are doing little to grow in the acquired virtue of fortitude through daily acts of renunciation.
To accept with generous spirit little annoyances of daily life: As we have seen, the acquired virtue of fortitude, that is - the habitual disposition to face difficulties with patience and confidence, requires repeated acts of willing acceptance and patient endurance of the trials that each day brings. As the body is strengthened by regular exercises, so the will is strengthened by the frequent and willing acceptance of the little crosses and challenges that God asks of us. Without these challenges and crosses there will be little growth in the virtue of fortitude as Saint Gregory the Great explains by the following example: “Trees that grow in shady and sheltered places, while they develop with a healthy appearance, become soft and yielding, and they are easily damaged by anything at all; whereas trees that grow on the tops of very high mountains, buffeted by strong winds and constantly exposed to all types of weather, agitated by storms and frequently covered by snow, become stronger than iron.”
Meditate on the Passion of Christ: Nowhere will we find a more perfect example of the virtue of fortitudecruxrain.gif (108617 bytes) than that of Christ during the hours of His Passion. No human person has ever undergone the physical and mental torture and humiliation that Our Savior endured without complaint in reparation for the sins of mankind. How small are the trials we have to undergo compared to His. The very meditation on the Passion not only makes our trials seem small, but brings us strengthening graces to bear them. Saint Peter reminds us of this: “Christ has suffered for you, leaving you an example that you may follow in His steps . . .Who when He was reviled, did not revile, when He suffered, did not threaten, but yielded Himself up to him who judged Him unjustly; Who Himself bore our sins in His body upon the tree.” (1Peter 2:21)