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Catechism of the Catholic Church · Part Three › Section One › Chapter One · Article 7 (§§1803–1845)

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The Catechism's text is under copyright, so each paragraph is quoted briefly here with a link to the full text at vatican.va.

The Virtues

§1803 — "Whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is gracious, if there is any excellence, if there is anything worthy of praise, think about these things."vatican.va

I. The Human Virtues

§1804 — Human virtues are firm attitudes, stable dispositions, habitual perfections of intellect and will that govern our actions, order our passions, and guide our conduct according to reason and faith.vatican.va
§1805 — Four virtues play a pivotal role and accordingly are called "cardinal"; all the others are grouped around them. They are: prudence, justice, fortitude, and temperance.vatican.va
§1806 — Prudence is the virtue that disposes practical reason to discern our true good in every circumstance and to choose the right means of achieving it; "the prudent man looks where he is going."vatican.va
§1807 — Justice is the moral virtue that consists in the constant and firm will to give their due to God and neighbor. Justice toward God is called the "virtue of religion."vatican.va
§1808 — Fortitude is the moral virtue that ensures firmness in difficulties and constancy in the pursuit of the good. It strengthens the resolve to resist temptations and to overcome obstacles in the moral life.vatican.va
§1809 — Temperance is the moral virtue that moderates the attraction of pleasures and provides balance in the use of created goods. It ensures the will's mastery over instincts and keeps desires within the limits of what is honorable.vatican.va
§1810 — Human virtues acquired by education, by deliberate acts and by a perseverance ever-renewed in repeated efforts are purified and elevated by divine grace. With God's help, they forge character and give facility in the practice of the good.vatican.va
§1811 — It is not easy for man, wounded by sin, to maintain moral balance. Christ's gift of salvation offers us the grace necessary to persevere in the pursuit of the virtues.vatican.va

II. The Theological Virtues

§1812 — The human virtues are rooted in the theological virtues, which adapt man's faculties for participation in the divine nature: for the theological virtues relate directly to God.vatican.va
§1813 — The theological virtues are the foundation of Christian moral activity; they animate it and give it its special character. They inform and give life to all the moral virtues.vatican.va
§1814 — Faith is the theological virtue by which we believe in God and believe all that he has said and revealed to us, and that Holy Church proposes for our belief, because he is truth itself.vatican.va
§1815 — The gift of faith remains in one who has not sinned against it. But "faith apart from works is dead": when it is deprived of hope and love, faith does not fully unite the believer to Christ and does not make him a living member of his Body.vatican.va
§1816 — The disciple of Christ must not only keep the faith and live on it, but also profess it, confidently bear witness to it, and spread it: "All however must be prepared to confess Christ before men and to follow him along the way of the Cross, amidst the persecutions which the Church never lacks."vatican.va
§1817 — Hope is the theological virtue by which we desire the kingdom of heaven and eternal life as our happiness, placing our trust in Christ's promises and relying not on our own strength, but on the help of the grace of the Holy Spirit.vatican.va
§1818 — The virtue of hope responds to the aspiration to happiness which God has placed in the heart of every man; it takes up the hopes that inspire men's activities and purifies them so as to order them to the Kingdom of heaven; it keeps man…vatican.va
§1819 — Christian hope takes up and fulfills the hope of the chosen people which has its origin and model in the hope of Abraham, who was blessed abundantly by the promises of God fulfilled in Isaac, and who was purified by the test of the sacrifice.vatican.va
§1820 — Christian hope unfolds from the beginning of Jesus' preaching in the proclamation of the beatitudes. the beatitudes raise our hope toward heaven as the new Promised Land; they trace the path that leads through the trials that await the disciples of Jesus.vatican.va
§1821 — We can therefore hope in the glory of heaven promised by God to those who love him and do his will. In every circumstance, each one of us should hope, with the grace of God, to persevere "to the end" and to obtain the joy…vatican.va
§1822 — Charity is the theological virtue by which we love God above all things for his own sake, and our neighbor as ourselves for the love of God.vatican.va
§1823 — Jesus makes charity the new commandment. By loving his own "to the end," he makes manifest the Father's love which he receives. By loving one another, the disciples imitate the love of Jesus which they themselves receive.vatican.va
§1824 — Fruit of the Spirit and fullness of the Law, charity keeps the commandments of God and his Christ: "Abide in my love. If you keep my commandments, you will abide in my love."vatican.va
§1825 — Christ died out of love for us, while we were still "enemies." The Lord asks us to love as he does, even our enemies, to make ourselves the neighbor of those farthest away, and to love children and the poor as Christ himself.vatican.va
§1826 — "If I . . have not charity," says the Apostle, "I am nothing." Whatever my privilege, service, or even virtue, "if I . . have not charity, I gain nothing."vatican.va
§1827 — The practice of all the virtues is animated and inspired by charity, which "binds everything together in perfect harmony"; it is the form of the virtues; it articulates and orders them among themselves; it is the source and the goal of their Christian practice.vatican.va
§1828 — The practice of the moral life animated by charity gives to the Christian the spiritual freedom of the children of God. He no longer stands before God as a slave, in servile fear, or as a mercenary looking for wages, but as a son responding to the love of him who "first loved us":vatican.va
§1829 — The fruits of charity are joy, peace, and mercy; charity demands beneficence and fraternal correction; it is benevolence; it fosters reciprocity and remains disinterested and generous; it is friendship and communion: Love is itself the fulfillment of all our works.vatican.va

III. The Gifts and Fruits of the Holy Spirit

§1830 — The moral life of Christians is sustained by the gifts of the Holy Spirit. These are permanent dispositions which make man docile in following the promptings of the Holy Spirit.vatican.va
§1831 — The seven gifts of the Holy Spirit are wisdom, understanding, counsel, fortitude, knowledge, piety, and fear of the Lord. They belong in their fullness to Christ, Son of David.vatican.va
§1832 — The fruits of the Spirit are perfections that the Holy Spirit forms in us as the first fruits of eternal glory. the tradition of the Church lists twelve of them: "charity, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, generosity, gentleness, faithfulness, modesty, self-control, chastity."vatican.va

In Brief

§1833 — Virtue is a habitual and firm disposition to do good.vatican.va
§1834 — The human virtues are stable dispositions of the intellect and the will that govern our acts, order our passions, and guide our conduct in accordance with reason and faith.vatican.va
§1835 — Prudence disposes the practical reason to discern, in every circumstance, our true good and to choose the right means for achieving it.vatican.va
§1836 — Justice consists in the firm and constant will to give God and neighbor their due.vatican.va
§1837 — Fortitude ensures firmness in difficulties and constancy in the pursuit of the good.vatican.va
§1838 — Temperance moderates the attraction of the pleasures of the senses and provides balance in the use of created goods.vatican.va
§1839 — The moral virtues grow through education, deliberate acts, and perseverance in struggle. Divine grace purifies and elevates them.vatican.va
§1840 — The theological virtues dispose Christians to live in a relationship with the Holy Trinity. They have God for their origin, their motive, and their object - God known by faith, God hoped in and loved for his own sake.vatican.va
§1841 — There are three theological virtues: faith, hope, and charity. They inform all the moral virtues and give life to them.vatican.va
§1842 — By faith, we believe in God and believe all that he has revealed to us and that Holy Church proposes for our belief.vatican.va
§1843 — By hope we desire, and with steadfast trust await from God, eternal life and the graces to merit it.vatican.va
§1844 — By charity, we love God above all things and our neighbor as ourselves for love of God. Charity, the form of all the virtues, "binds everything together in perfect harmony" (Col 3:14).vatican.va
§1845 — The seven gifts of the Holy Spirit bestowed upon Christians are wisdom, understanding, counsel, fortitude, knowledge, piety, and fear of the Lord.vatican.va

Scripture cited · 101 verses

The Virtues

Paragraphs · 43

The Virtues

I. The Human Virtues

II. The Theological Virtues

III. The Gifts and Fruits of the Holy Spirit

In Brief

Scripture cited · 101 verses

Connections

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