Tradition Magazine, Issue Eight: Pride
Part Three: Humility
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Introduction to Humility
In part 2 of this issue, we stopped with Dante and Vergil at the base of Mount Purgatory, where those burdened with pride were forced to carry heavy stones up the mountain with their eyes cast down on the ground as they learned humility. Dante, like Bernard and Cassian before him, recognised that just as pride is the beginning of sin, humility is the be…
On the Fear of God and on True Humility
About the text: Anyone who is well versed in the writings of St. Augustine can tell you that two virtues are central to his thought. The first is charity, the greatest of all the virtues; the second is humility, the foundation of all the virtues. This sermon preached to his congregation in Hippo Regius describes the importance of practising humility, fo…
Of Humility
About the Text: St. Benedict of Nursia (480–547) is commonly acclaimed as the father of western monasticism on account of the widespread adoption of his monastic rule. The Rule is itself a spiritual classic, laying out the precise activities a monk should be doing at any given time of day or night and the manner in which those activities should be done.…
On the Virtue of Humility
About the text: St. Thomas Aquinas (1225–74) is considered “the holiest of the wise and the wisest of the saints” on account of his angelic sanctity and his sublime doctrine. His best-known work, the Summa Theologiae, was developed to serve as a textbook for those beginning their studies in theology. Written in a then-familiar scholastic format, it trea…
On Humility before God
About the Author: Thomas à Kempis (c. 1380–1471) was a canon regular—a priest living in community with other priests and following a rule—and a member of the Brethren of the Common Life, founded by Gerard de Groote in the Lowlands. Little is known of his life, but we have a number of his sermons and writings. His best-known work is the