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Pride is the excessivelove of one's own excellence. It is ordinarily accounted one of the seven capitalsins.St. Thomas, however, endorsing the appreciation ofSt. Gregory, considers it the queen of all vices, and puts vainglory in its place as one of the deadlysins. In giving it this pre-eminence he takes it in a most formal and complete signification. He understands it to be that frame of mind in which a man, through thelove of his own worth, aims to withdraw himself from subjection toAlmighty God, and sets at naught the commands of superiors. It is a species of contempt ofGod and of those who bear his commission. Regarded in this way, it is of course mortalsin of a most heinous sort. Indeed St. Thomas rates it in this sense as one of the blackest ofsins. By it the creature refuses to stay within his essential orbit; he turns his back uponGod, not through weakness orignorance, but solely because in his self-exaltation he is minded not to submit. His attitude has somethingSatanic in it, and is probably not often verified inhuman beings. A less atrocious kind of pride is that which imples one to make much of oneself unduly and without sufficient warrant, without however any disposition to cast off the dominion of the Creator. This may happen, according toSt. Gregory, either because a man regards himself as the source of such advantages as he may discern in himself, or because, whilst admitted thatGod has bestowed them, he reputes this to have been in response to his own merits, or because he attributes to himself gifts which he has not; or, finally, because even when these are real he unreasonably looks to be put ahead of others. Supposing the conviction indicated in the first two instances to be seriously entertained, thesin would be a grievous one and would have the added guilt ofheresy. Ordinarily, however, thiserroneous persuasion does not exist; it is the demeanour that is reprehensible. The last two cases generally speaking are not held to constitute grave offences. This is nottrue, however, whenever a man's arrogance is the occasion of great harm to another, as, for instance, his undertaking theduties of a physician without the requisiteknowledge. The same judgment is to be rendered when pride has given rise to such temper ofsoul that in the pursuit of its object one is ready of anything, even mortalsin. Vainglory,ambition, and presumption are commonly enumerated as the offspring vices of pride, because they are well adapted to serve its inordinate aims. Of themselves they are venialsins unless some extraneous consideration puts them in the ranks of grievous transgressions. It should be noted that presumption does not here stand for thesin against hope. It means the desire to essay what exceeds one's capacity.
APA citation.Delany, J.(1911).Pride. InThe Catholic Encyclopedia.New York: Robert Appleton Company.http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/12405a.htm
MLA citation.Delany, Joseph."Pride."The Catholic Encyclopedia.Vol. 12.New York: Robert Appleton Company,1911.<http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/12405a.htm>.
Transcription.This article was transcribed for New Advent by Jim Holden.
Ecclesiastical approbation.Nihil Obstat. June 1, 1911. Remy Lafort, S.T.D., Censor.Imprimatur. +John Cardinal Farley, Archbishop of New York.
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