Who‘s a hero, Novalis?
There is a lot of talk about “heroes“ these days, isn‘t there? Is anyone who simply does his job – as a checker in the supermarket or as someone working in a hospital – a “hero“ now? Who is a “hero“ – a “real hero“? And are there “false“ or “fake heroes“, too?
Maybe looking at the essence and meaning of the virtue of fortitude – something we tend to associate with heroic action – can help us find answers to these questions. But first of all, let‘s look at some quotes about “heroes“ to get a feeling for the ways in which people have been trying to grasp “heroism“:
“A hero is one who knows how to hang on one minute langer.“
Novalis – German poet of the Romantic era
“I am of certain convinced that the greatest heroes are those who do their duty in the daily grind of domestic affairs whilst the world whirls as a maddening dreidel.”
Florence Nightingale – British social reformer and founder of modern nursing, 19th century
“He did what heroes do after their work is accomplished; he died.”
Leo Tolstoy – Russian writer, 19th century
“A hero is someone who has given his or her life to something bigger than oneself.“
Joseph Campbell – American professor of literature, 20th century
Fortitude as the “readiness to fall in battle“
Is Superman a hero? Well, the wikipedia article on this guy tells us that he is a “superhero“ born on the planet Krypton. He was sent to earth in a small spaceship by his parents before the destruction of Krypton. Then he grew up in the American town Smalville, raised by farmers who named him Clark Kent, and developed “superhuman abilities“ – incredible strength and an impervious skin. Is Superman the example of a “brave man“?
“Fortitude presupposes vulnerability; without vulnerability there is no possibility of fortitude. An angel cannot be brave, because he is not vulnerable. To be brave actually means to be able to suffer injury. Because man is by nature vulnerable, he can be brave. (…)
Josef Pieper, The Four Cardinal Virtues, University of Notre Dame Press, p. 117-118
The ultimate injury, the deepest injury, is death. And even those injuries which are not fatal are prefigurations of death; this extreme violation, this final negation, is reflected and effective in every lesser injury.
Thus, all fortitude has reference to death. All fortitude stands in the presence of death. Fortitude is basically readiness to die or, more accurately, readiness to fall, to die, in battle.
Every injury to the natural being is fatal in its intention. Thus every courageous action has as its deepest root the readiness to die, even though, viewed from without, it may appear entirely free from any thought of death. Fortitude that does not reach down into the depths of the willingness to die is spoiled at its root and devoid of effective power.
Readiness proves itself in taking a risk, and the culminating point of fortitude is the witness of blood. The essential and the highest achievement of fortitude is martyrdom, and readiness for martyrdom is the essential root of all Christian fortitude. Without this readiness there is no Christian fortitude. (…)
The brave man suffers injury not for its own sake, but rather as a means to preserve or to acquire a deeper, more essential intactness. (…) For the Christian no less than for the ‘natural‘ man, ‘suffering for its own sake‘ is nonsense. The Christian does not despise the things that are destroyed by injury. The martyr does not simply consider life of little worth, though he does value it cheaper than that for which he sacrifices it. (…) Man loves his natural life not because he is ‘a mere man‘; he loves it because and to the extent that he is a good man. The same applies not only to life itself, but to everything included in the range of natural intactness: joy, health, success, happiness. All these things are genuine goods, which the Christian does not toss aside and esteem but lightly – unless, indeed, to preserve higher goods, the loss of which would injure more deeply the inmost core of human existence.“
Superman may not be able to teach us, by his example, the virtue of fortitude – simply because he is not quite as vulnerable as the children of Adam and Eve. And the Catholic philosopher Josef Pieper obviously cannot help starting to talk about “martyrs“, while talking about fortitude – “martyrs“, not “superheroes“…
Fortitude is the readiness to fall in battle, the readiness to die, the readiness to sacrifice natural goods – but it is not a “suicidal tendency“ or a rash despising of these goods.
Fortitude depends on prudence and justice
“To take death upon oneself is not in itself praiseworthy, but solely because of its subordination to good. It is not the injury that matters primarily, but the realization of the good. (…) Fortitude therefore points to something prior. Essentially it is something secondary, subordinate, deriving its measure from something else. It has its place in a scale of meaning and value where it does not rank first. Fortitude is not independent, it does not stand by itself. (…)
Josef Pieper, The Four Cardinal Virtues, University of Notre Dame Press, p. 122-125
Prudence and justice precede fortitude. And that means, categorically: without prudence, without justice, there is no fortitude; only he who is just and prudent can also be brave; to be really brave is quite impossible without at the same time being prudent and just also. (…)
Genuine fortitude presupposes a correct evaluation of things, of the things that one risks as well as of those which one hopes to preserve or gain by the risk. (…)
Without the ‘just cause‘ there is no fortitude. ‘Not the injury, but the cause makes martyrs,‘ says St. Augustine. ‘Man does not expose his life to mortal danger, except to maintain justice. Therefore the praise of fortitude depends upon justice,‘ says St. Thomas. And in his Book of Duties, St. Ambrose says: ‘Fortitude without justice is a lever of evil.‘“
So a brave man is not a strong, a reckless, or blindly resolute “stuntman“, but a just man, a righteous man, whose neck meets the ax – metaphorically or literally – because he stood up for justice.
Fortitude as endurance and attack
“To be brave is not the same as to have no fear. (…)
Josef Pieper, The Four Cardinal Virtues, University of Notre Dame Press, p. 126-128
Whoever exposes himself to a danger – even for the sake of good – without knowledge of its perils, either from instinctive optimism (‘nothing can possibly happen to me‘) or from firm confidence in his own natural strength and fighting fitness, does not on that account possess the virtue of fortitude. It is possible to be genuinely brave only when all those real or apparent assurances fail, that is, when the natural man is afraid; not, however, when he is afraid out of unreasoning timidity, but when, with a clear view of the real situation facing him, he cannot help being afraid, and, indeed, with good reason. If in this supreme test, in face of which the braggart falls silent and every heroic gesture is paralyzed, a man walks straight up to the cause of his fear and is not deterred from doing that which is good; if, moreover, he does so for the sake of good – which ultimately means for the sake of God (…) – this man, and he alone, is truly brave. (…)
So whoever realizes the good by facing what is dreadful, by facing injury, is truly brave. This ‘facing‘ the dreadful has two aspects, which form the foundation for the two basic acts of fortitude: endurance and attack.“
So fortitude presents itself in two forms: in enduring something evil, and in the more active and aggressive version of “attacking“ the evil. It is the task of prudence, of wisdom, to distinguish between situations which need to be endured with patience, and situations which call for a counter-attack, for righteous “wrath“.
“To be patient means to preserve cheerfulness and serenity of mind in spite of injuries that result from the realization of the good. Patience does not imply the exclusion of energetic, forceful activity, but simply, explicitly and solely the exclusion of sadness and confusion of heart. Patience keeps man from the danger that his spirit may be broken by grief and lose its greatness. (…)
Josef Pieper, The Four Cardinal Virtues, University of Notre Dame Press, p. 129-130
The brave man not only knows how to bear inevitable evil with equanimity; he will also not hesitate to ‘pounce upon‘ evil and to bar its way, if this can reasonably be done. This attitude requires readiness to attack, courage, self-confidence, and hope of success (…).
Josef Pieper then explains to us that due to the structure of this present world – “a world plunged into disorder by original sin“ (p. 131) – endurance and patience are more of the “essence of fortitude“ (p. 130) than attack and wrath. Not because they are “better“ in themselves, but simply because “the inmost and deepest strength of man reveals itself“ (ibid.) not in power but in powerlessness in a world where the Christians always remain strangers and “sheep among wolves“.
Therefore martyrdom is the supreme test. Yet Pieper takes care to remind us that Jesus Himself “drove the money-changers from the temple with a whip“ (p. 132) right before He went to the cross, and that “He did not turn the other cheek“ (ibid.) when He was struck in the face in front of the high priest.
“The readiness to meet the supreme test by dying in patient endurance so that the good may be realized does not exclude the willingness to fight and to attack.“
Josef Pieper, The Four Cardinal Virtues, University of Notre Dame Press, p. 133
Summing it up: To be brave is to be…
… a prudent and just man or woman who is as vulnerable and as fearful as every child of Adam and Eve beyond Eden, yet keeps on holding on to what is good, acting accordingly, despite the threat or actual reception of injury or even death, with patient endurance, and is able to stand up confronting evil head-on with confidence if a situation calls for it.
So are the checker in the supermarket or the nurse in the hospital “heroes“ these days? Maybe they are, at least a bit, at least at times: If they calmly and unpretentiously “do their duty in the daily grind“ – “whilst the world whirls as a maddening dreidel” (Florence Nightingale) – and never forget what our duty is:
“He has told you, humanity, what is good, and what ADONAI is seeking from you: Only to practice justice, to love mercy, and to walk humbly with your God.“
Micah 6: 8
And there was some truth in Novalis‘ or Tolstoy‘s sayings about “heroes“ as well. The image of the “Christian hero“ is the “martyr“, the “living sacrifice“: He hangs on one minute longer than others, who give up on it all a moment before him and a moment before the prize for patience is handed out, and when his task as an “ambassador of Christ“ in this world is done, is completed, he dies.
As Saint Paul, advancing toward his death as a martyr in the city of Rome, writes in his letter to the young Saint Timothy, his “beloved child“ (2 Timothy 1: 2):
“For I am already being poured out like a drink offering, and the time of my departure has come. I have fought the good fight, I have finished the course, I have kept the faith. In the future there is reserved for me a crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous Judge, will award to me on that day – and not to me only, but also to everyone who has longed for His appearing.“
2 Timothy 4: 6-8
It is Saint Paul‘s hope – in Christ, in the resurrection, in eternal life, in the reward of “the crown of righteousness“ – that has given him the power to endure, to persevere in battle, to fight the good fight of the faith till the end.
Fortitude as a gift of the Holy Spirit
“The virtue of fortitude keeps man from so loving his life that he loses it. This principle – that he who loves his life loses it – is valid for every order of human reality: in the ‘pre-moral‘ order of mental health, in the actually ‘moral‘ order of natural ethics, in the ‘supermoral‘ order of supernatural life.“
Josef Pieper, The Four Cardinal Virtues, University of Notre Dame Press, p. 134
The truth Pieper talks about – “he who loves his life will lose it“ – shows itself in the realm of psychological health, insofar as “neuroses seem to have as a common symptom an egocentric anxiety, a tense and self-centered concern for security“ (p. 134). Vital, moral, and mystic fortitude are closely interconnected, as “no one can say in a specific case where the sphere of moral guilt ends and the sphere of mental and psychical illness begins“ (ibid.), and as “in the Christian era there is no such thing as ‘purely natural‘ virtue without actual reference to the order of grace“ (ibid.). Vital, moral, and mystic fortitude share a common essence:
“These three basic forms of human fortitude – the pre-moral, the properly ethical, and the mystical – all realize the same essential image: man accepts insecurity; he surrenders confidently to the governance of higher powers; he ‘risks‘ his immediate well-being; he abandons the tense, egocentric hold of a timorous anxiety.“
Josef Pieper, The Four Cardinal Virtues, University of Notre Dame Press, p. 138-139
From a Catholic perspective, fortitude “belongs to the seven gift of the Holy Ghost“ (p. 138) – it is given to us by God‘s grace. The Holy Spirit residing in us is the One renewing, re-creating our whole being.
“The supernatural fortitude bestowed by grace, which is a gift of the Holy Spirit, pervades and crowns all other ‘natural‘ modes of Christian fortitude. For to be brave means not only to suffer injury and death in the struggle for the realization of the good, but also to hope for victory. Without this hope, fortitude is impossible. And the higher this victory, the more certain the hope for it, the more man risks to gain it. The supernatural gift of fortitude, the gift of the Holy Spirit, however, is nourished by the surest hope of the final and highest victory, in which all other victories, by their hidden reference to it, are perfected – the hope of eternal life.“
Josef Pieper, The Four Cardinal Virtues, University of Notre Dame Press, p. 141
The hope given by God‘s grace – gift of the Holy Spirit – and the actual trials of life together produce in man the virtues of endurance and confidence and fortitude.
“Therefore, having been made righteous by trusting, we have shalom with God through our Lord Yeshua the Mssiah. Through Him we also have gained access by faith into this grace in which we stand and boast in the hope of God‘s glory. And not only that, but we also boast in suffering – knowing that suffering produces perseverance; and perseverance, character; and character, hope. And hope does not disappoint, because God‘s love has been poured into our hearts through the Ruach ha-Kodesh who was given to us.“
Romans 5: 1-5
Pieper, in quoting Saint John of the Cross and Saint Teresa of Avila, finally draws our attention to the truth that fortitude is much needed in our “mystical“, “supernatural“ life. One cannot advance on the road of perfection without it.
“(…) at the beginning and before the final perfection of the mystic life, the soul is exposed as to a ‘dark night‘ of the senses and the spirit, in which it must think itself abandoned and lost like a man drowning on the open sea. St. John of the Cross, the mystic doctor, says that in the ‘dark fire‘ of this night – which is a true purgatory whose torment ineffably exceeds any self-imposed penance that an ascetic could imagine – God cleanses with inexoarbly healing hand the senses and the spirit from the dross of sin. (…)
Josef Pieper, The Four Cardinal Virtues, University of Notre Dame Press, p. 136-137
The great teacher of Christian mysticism, Teresa of Avila, says that fortitude ranks first and foremost among the prerequisites of perfection. In her autobiography we find the decisively formulated statement: ‘I assert that in imperfect human being needs more fortitude to pursue the way of perfection than suddenly to become a martyr.‘“
We can “shrink back“ from the spiritual life and the road of perfection because it kind of means walking on a tightrope over the abyss. If excessive fearfulness befalls us here, it might be helpful for us to remind ourselves especially of the Sacraments of Baptism and Confirmation that were conferred on us: In them we have received the adoption as “children of God“, the fullness of the Holy Spirit and an “indelible mark“. No matter what we may still lack – be it even faith and courage – we know that the Lord‘s “divine power has given us everything we need for life and godliness, through the knowledge of Him who called us by His own glory and virtue“, as Saint Peter tells us (2 Peter 1: 3).
When we are disheartened, we need to hear these words Saint Paul spoke to young Timothy:
“I recall the genuine faithfulness within you, which first lived in your grandmother Lois and your mother Eunice, and I am sure it is within you as well. For this reason I remind you to fan into flame the gift of God, which is in you through the laying on of my hands. For God has not given us a spirit of timidity but of power and love and self-discipline.“
2 Timothy 1: 5-7
Fortitude is needed to make progress on the road of perfection, on the road towards the living God: We need it to approach Him in prayer, we need it to go to Confession when we have sinned, so that we may be freed from the shackles of sin and healed from its injuries, and we need it to walk up to the altar to receive the Most Blessed Sacrament, to receive Him who is our perfection, even though we are not worthy of this. Why would Saint Paul in his attempt to encourage Saint Timothy say to him in the very same letter “Remember Yeshua the Messiah, raised from the dead, from the seed of David“ (2 Timothy 2: 8)? “It is a terrifying thing to fall into the hands of the living God“ (Hebrews 10: 31), but:
“(…) we have boldness to enter into the Holies by the blood of Yeshua. He inaugurated a new and living way for us through the curtain – that is, His flesh. We also have a Kohen Gadol over God‘s household. So let us draw near with a true heart in full assurance of faith, with hearts sprinkled clean from an evil conscience and body washed with pure water. Let us hold fast the unwavering confession of hope, for He who promised is faithful.“
Hebrews 10: 19-23
In the spiritual life, just as in all aspects of life, we need to “hang on one minute longer“, no matter how vulnerable we are and no matter how often we have slipped and fallen and have been hit and beaten up in the battle of life – remembering the One who has paid every price for us, who is faithful and who never ceases to grant us everything we need to make it through.
“Fight the good fight of faith! Take hold of the eternal life – you were called to it, and you made the good confession for it in the presence of many witnesses.“
1 Timothy 6: 12