Patience

Patience is the virtue by which a man bears up againstthe evils that tend to make him sad and to break his spirit. St.Augustine (De Patientia 1) says that patience is a virtue,and a great gift of God.

In estimating the relative excellence of virtues, we say, first of all, that those virtues which actively incline a manto do good are greater than those which incline him to avoid evil. And, among the virtues inclining a person to avoid evil, those are greater which check the greatest and strongest impulse to evil. On these considerations, we see that patience is not the greatest of virtues. Patience ranks after the theological virtues, and afterthe cardinal virtues.

Patience, as a virtue, comes from love or charity; thatis, from the grace and friendship of God. We speak, of course, of supernatural patience. For patience is possible only when the soul loves something good with a love strong enough to make it bear up under oppressing evils. Patience cannot be a perfect virtue unless “the love of God above all” is its core and essence.

Patience, as the suffering “with untroubled mind,the evils inflicted by others,” is a virtue aligned with fortitude, and it is called a part of fortitude.

We bear by patience the heavy trials of life.We bear by long-suffering or longanimity continued, long enduring evils. In both virtues, our strong and steady effortmanifests constancy. Thus, longsuffering and constancyhave much in common with patience. But they are not wholly identified with it.