From Paideia to High Culture by Imelda Chlodna-Blach;

Author:Imelda Chlodna-Blach;
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Peter Lang Copyright AG

7.3. PERSEVERANCE

The last virtue discussed by Thomas Aquinas as one of the elements of valour is perseverance (Latin perseverantia), which means to last until the end, insist, stand in, never cease, continue to persist.162 It consists of two factors: attachment to a goal by thought and will – the strength of perseverance depends on the power of persuasion and love for the goal – along with a deep rooting of this attachment in the soul, reinforced by the operation of many other virtues. Its essence is constituted by a long, undisturbed perseverance in a difficult good, despite the long endurance of what is difficult and cumbersome. This virtue by nature ensures the perseverance until the virtuous deed is accomplished.163 In the event of acts that concerning such virtues as belief, hope, and love, which refer to the ultimate goal of human life, actual perseverance is achieved only at the end of one’s life.164

Thomas Aquinas includes important educational indications in his considerations on the virtue of perseverance. A child is to be prepared since early childhood for hardships, inconveniences, and the rejection of pleasures and sensuous pleasure, so as to use them moderately. Children should learn how not to yield to themselves, how not to succumb to own caprices and whims. It is necessary to avoid two extreme dangers: on the one hand, spoiling the child, while on the other hand, raising the child in an atmosphere of depression and educational terror.165 It is important to develop in a child the ability to rest, which may be ←114 | 115→facilitated by the virtue of eutrapelia that controls the joy resulting from play.166 Education in the field of sport should not be neglected, as it provides the physical and mental foundation for the development of moral virtues. The entire process of formation is governed by the virtue of prudence, which in turn flows from God’s love, possible due to the virtue of faith and hope.167

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