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The Virtue of Fortitude (Fortitudo) - VirTrue Episode 52

VirTrue - Helping Man Grow in Truth and Virtue

There are moments when we know exactly what we ought to do, but doing it comes with a cost. Maybe speaking the truth will cost us a friendship. Maybe keeping a promise means accepting hardship. Maybe defending someone will make us unpopular. Maybe following God’s will means giving up something we desperately want to keep. Fear enters the picture because something valuable is at stake. And fear itself isn’t evil. There are things we ought to fear. Suffering hurts. Danger is real. Death is an evil of this world. The question is what happens when fear meets something worth suffering for. Do we retreat? Do we charge forward without thinking? Or can we remain firm enough to do what reason tells us is good? Every virtue we’ve covered this season has prepared us for that moment. And that’s why Fortitude matters. The Social Catholic is a listener-supported podcast. To receive new episodes and support our work, become a paid subscriber today! 🎧 Intro Welcome to VirTrue where we work together to turn away from vice and to adopt the virtuous life we’re all called to. I’m your host Jethro Higgins, and today on VirTrue we’re going to be talking about the virtue of Fortitude. Fortitude is one of the four cardinal virtues, alongside Prudence, Justice, and Temperance. Throughout this season we’ve worked through the virtues that prepare the soul to remain firm when pursuing the good becomes difficult. Now we arrive at the virtue that gathers them together. Fortitude. 🟡 Virtue Description Fortitude is firmness of soul in pursuing and defending the good despite fear, suffering, danger, or death. Aquinas explains Fortitude through two human passions: fear and daring. Both have their place. Fear recognizes danger. Daring moves us toward something difficult despite that danger. Fortitude brings both under the rule of reason so that neither controls us. Christian Fortitude does not require us to become fearless. There are things we should fear. We should recognize real dangers and take them seriously. Walking knowingly into unnecessary danger isn’t courageous simply because we’re unafraid. At the same time, fear cannot be allowed to determine whether we do what is right. Fortitude allows reason to judge the good and gives us the firmness to act accordingly. Aquinas teaches that the principal act of Fortitude is endurance. Sometimes courage requires advancing against an obstacle. Often it requires remaining where we ought to be when pressure is pushing us away. Augustine connects this endurance directly to love. Fortitude bears difficulty for the sake of what is loved. For the Christian, that ultimately means God. We endure because there are goods worth suffering for, truths worth defending, promises worth keeping, people worth protecting, and ultimately a God worth giving everything for. 🌳 The Sub-Virtues of Fortitude Throughout this season we’ve examined seven virtues that strengthen the soul for Fortitude. * Rest — Requies: Rest restores the strength necessary to continue difficult work and reminds us that our strength ultimately comes from God. * Stability — Stabilitas: Stability roots us where reason has determined we ought to remain instead of allowing difficulty or changing circumstances to uproot us. * Tolerance — Tolerantia: Tolerance bears a present burden that cannot rightly or immediately be removed without allowing hardship to drive us into resentment or surrender. * Constancy — Constantia: Constancy keeps us directed toward the good when obstacles and distractions attempt to pull us away. * Fidelity — Fidelitas: Fidelity keeps us true to God, our promises, and our rightful commitments when keeping faith becomes costly. * Perseverance — Perseverantia: Perseverance sustains good action through the passage of time until the work reaches its proper completion. * Magnanimity — Magnanimitas: Magnanimity gives us the courage to attempt great things worthy of the gifts God has given us while recognizing God as the source of every good. Together these virtues prepare the soul to pursue and defend the good when doing so becomes difficult. 🔻 Vice of Deficiency — Timidity Timidity is allowing fear to keep us from pursuing or defending the good. Timidity should not be confused with simply experiencing fear. Fear is natural, and sometimes fear is reasonable. A dangerous situation ought to produce some fear. A father should fear harm coming to his children. A person facing serious illness can reasonably fear death. A Christian facing persecution does not become courageous because he suddenly stops recognizing the danger. The problem begins when fear is given authority it should not have. Aquinas describes Fortitude as moderating fear according to reason. Timidity allows fear to exceed that proper measure. We know something is right, but we’re afraid of what it might cost. So we remain silent. We avoid the difficult conversation. We compromise. We leave someone undefended. We refuse a responsibility because failure is possible. We abandon a good work because continuing has become painful. The timid person may understand perfectly well what ought to be done. Fear simply becomes stronger than his willingness to do it. Christian courage doesn’t require the disappearance of fear. It requires us to refuse to let fear decide whether we will do the good. 🔺 Vice of Excess — Audacity Audacity is allowing daring to carry us into danger beyond what reason or the good requires. Daring is necessary for Fortitude. Without daring, we would never confront danger at all. Daring helps the soldier advance, the martyr confess the faith, the parent protect a child, and the Christian undertake difficult work. But daring also needs to be governed. Aquinas identifies excessive daring as a vice opposed to Fortitude. Audacity occurs when daring begins to outrun reason. We take risks that serve no worthy purpose. We seek confrontation when patience would accomplish more. We put ourselves or others in unnecessary danger. We mistake intensity for courage. We may even begin seeking opportunities to prove how daring we are. The audacious person can look courageous because daring is highly visible. Dramatic action attracts attention. Fortitude asks a different question: What does the good actually require? Sometimes the answer requires daring action. Sometimes it requires standing still. Sometimes it requires waiting. Sometimes it requires enduring. Daring serves Fortitude only when reason directs it toward the good. 👤 My Life I’ve never been one to err on the side of timidity. I’m much more likely to need to be reigned in from being overly daring and audacious. Growing up in a town like Eugene, Oregon, a good Christian will get swallowed up if they don’t have some fortitude, or even an excess of it, in this regard. Most of my friends and acquaintances from church are pretty audacious. We, as a small community of faith, definitely err on the side of excess when it comes to fortitude. Until I started exploring the virtues in more depth for this podcast, I really didn’t anticipate sub-virtues like “rest” and “stability” being part of fortitude. I was expecting things like physical fitness, protection of others, or rhetoric. I’ve lived my life misunderstanding what the virtue of Fortitude really calls us to. I thought I was being courageous when I argued with heretics and stood up against bullies, and while that’s partially true, it doesn’t really get at what Fortitude is really asking of us. 🌎 The World Our culture loves visible courage. We celebrate the person who takes the risk, confronts the enemy, challenges authority, or refuses to back down. Those things can require tremendous Fortitude. They can also be acts of Audacity. At the same time, some of the greatest acts of courage happen quietly. Remaining faithful to a marriage during a difficult season. Raising children when you’re exhausted. Admitting that you were wrong. Defending someone who cannot defend themselves. Refusing to participate in something you know is wrong. Continuing a good work after the excitement has disappeared. Praying when God seems silent. Standing beside someone who is suffering when you cannot fix what is happening to them. Fortitude is measured by our faithfulness to the good, not by how dramatic our actions appear. Most of us will never face a battlefield. All of us will eventually face something that makes faithfulness difficult. Those ordinary moments are where Fortitude is formed. ⚜️ Example Saint — St. Joan of Arc Why she fits St. Joan of Arc may be one of the most recognizable images of courage in Christian history. A teenage peasant girl entered the affairs of kings, rode with armies, endured battle, was wounded, captured, imprisoned, interrogated, condemned, and eventually burned at the stake. But her greatest example of Fortitude isn’t simply that she rode into battle or won military victories. Her life shows us the whole structure of Fortitude we’ve explored this season: Rest — She returned to prayer and the sacraments, drawing her strength from God. Stability — She remained rooted in her calling as her circumstances changed dramatically around her. Tolerance — She bore wounds, imprisonment, humiliation, and mistreatment without surrendering the good. Constancy — She held her course through distractions, political opposition, interrogation, and setbacks. Fidelity — She remained faithful to God when that faithfulness cost her freedom, reputation, and ultimately her life. Perseverance — She continued over time through battles, wounds, delays, capture, imprisonment, and trial. Magnanimity — An obscure teenage peasant accepted an extraordinary calling while recognizing that its greatness came from God. And finally, Fortitude. Joan’s greatest act of Fortitude was not winning a battle. It was remaining faithful when she could no longer win. When the army was gone, when her freedom was gone, when political support was gone, and when even her life was about to be taken from her, she remained oriented toward God. The battlefield gave us the famous image of Joan’s courage. The prison and the stake revealed its deepest character. St. Joan of Arc, pray for us. The Social Catholic is a listener-supported podcast. To receive new episodes and support our work, become a paid subscriber today! 🙏 Act of Fortitude O my God, strengthen me with the virtue of Fortitude. Order my fear so that I may recognize danger without abandoning the good, and govern my daring so that I never seek danger apart from reason. Give me strength to pursue what is good, defend what is true, endure what must be suffered, and remain faithful when following You becomes difficult. May I never turn away from You because of fear, suffering, danger, or death. Through the grace of Jesus Christ, strengthen me to remain faithful to You until the end. Amen. ✝️ Closing Prayer Lord, bless us with faith, hope, love, prudence, temperance, fortitude, and justice that we may live as you intended man to live, in all virtue and righteousness. Help us to flee from sin, and avoid all temptations of the world, the flesh, and the devil. Protect us with a spiritual hedge in front of us, behind us, above us, below us, to our right, and to our left, within us, and all around us, and seal it with the precious blood of your Son, our Lord Jesus Christ. Help us to keep you in everything that we think, say, and do. Amen. Go out and fill the world with virtue. Deus Vult! Follow Us on Social Media and Other Podcast Networks: Get full access to The Social Catholic at socialcatholic.substack.com/subscribe