Of the First Degree of Humility, Which Is to Make Little Account of Oneself and Always Think Poorly of Oneself

ST. LAWRENCE JUSTINIAN says that no one knows well what humility is except him who has received of God the gift of being humble. It is a very difficult thing to know. In nothing, says the saint, is man so mistaken as in the discernment of true humility. Think you it consists in saying, “I am a wretched proud fellow?” If it consisted in that, it would be a very easy matter; we should all be humble, since we all avow that we are some of us So-So, and other of us Oh-Oh, none of us any better than we should be. God grant that that may be our real sentiment, and that we do not say it with the lips only and for form’s sake. Think you that humility consists in wearing poor cheap clothes and being engaged in lowly and mean occupations? It does not consist in that, for there also there may be much pride, and desire of being regarded and esteemed, and taking oneself to be better and more humble than others, which is a subtle form of pride. It is true that these exterior things are great aids to true humility if they are taken as they ought, as we shall say further on; but after all humility does not consist in them. St. Jerome says: “Many go after the shadow and appearance of humility. An easy thing it is to carry one’s head bent forward, eyes on the ground, to speak in an undertone, to sigh frequently, and at every word to call ourselves miserable sinners; but if you touch these people up with one word, though it be a very light one, you will at once see how far they are from true humility. Let all these artificial phrases be dropped, all those hypocrisies and outward pretensions be cast out. The truly humble man shows himself in patience and endurance. This,” says St. Jerome, “is the touchstone by which true humility is known.”

St. Bernard descends further into details, explaining what this virtue is, and lays down its definition. ‘Humility is a virtue whereby man, considering and seeing his defects and miseries, is vile in his own eyes.” Humility does not consist in words, nor in exterior things, but lies in the depths of the heart, in cherishing lowly sentiments of oneself, in taking oneself to be of little account and wishing oneself to be so taken and of low repute among others, all this springing from a most profound knowledge of oneself. Further to declare and particularize this, the saints assign many degrees of humility. St. Benedict, whom St. Thomas and other saints follow, assigns twelve degrees. St. Anselm assigns seven. St. Bonaventure reduces them to three; and that is the enumeration we shall for the present follow for brevity’s sake, and also that, by gathering the doctrine into fewer points, we may the better keep it before our eyes and put it in execution.

The first degree of humility, says St. Bonaventure, is for a man to make little account of himself and think meanly of himself, and the one necessary means to this is knowledge of oneself. These are the two things included in the definition of humility given by St. Bernard, and thus it includes only this first degree. Humility is a virtue whereby a man makes little account of himself; you see there the first degree. And this he does, says St. Bernard, by having a true knowledge of himself and of his miseries and defects. On this account some assign for the first degree of humility this knowledge of oneself, and with good reason. But for ourselves, as we reduce all the degrees to St. Bonaventure’s three, we put for the first degree of humility the making little account of oneself; and as for self-knowledge, we put it down as the necessary means to gain this degree of humility: but in substance it all comes to the same thing. We are all agreed in this, that knowledge of oneself is the first principle and foundation for the attainment of humility and the reckoning of ourselves for what we really are. For how can you take a man for what he is if you do not know what he is? It cannot be; it is necessary for you first to know what you are, and so you will reckon and esteem yourself accordingly. Thus it is necessary for you first to know what you are, and then reckon yourself for what you are. You have license to do that, since if you reckon yourself for what you are, you will be very humble, for you will make very little account of yourself; but if you wish to reckon yourself for more than you are, that is pride. St. Isidore says: “A man is called proud from his taking himself, and wishing to be taken by others, for something above what he is and more than he is’ —Superbus dictus est qui vult videri plus quam est. And this is one of the reasons which some give for God’s loving humility sO much, because He is a great lover of truth, and humility is truth, while pride and presumption is a lie and deceit, for you are not what you think to be and wish to have others think you are. If you wish, then, to live in truth and humility, take yourself to be what you are. Surely no one should think that we are asking too much in asking you to take yourself for what you are and not wishing to be taken for more, since it is not reasonable for anyone to take himself for more than he is; rather it would be a very great and dangerous delusion for anyone to be deceived about himself, taking himself for some other than what he is.