Johanna Helena Herolt-Graff

“[S]T. John Climachus observed that ‘to the spiritual man patience is more essential than food,’ and justly so; for food strengthens the body, and preserves it from weakness, but patience fortifies the soul, and without it no virtue can be firm and solid. But as we are bound to take more care of the soul than of the body, it is evident that we ought to be more solicitous for patience than for food. For, in the words of St. Peter Damian, ‘the man whose patience breaks down may have other virtues, but he will never have their strength and solidity. Patience is concerned in all that we have to resist, in all that we have to deny ourselves, in all that we have to endure, in all that we have to adhere to, and in all that we have to do. This includes all human acts that bear the character of duty or devotedness, whether those acts be purely interior, or come forth into the exterior life and conduct. For wherever patience fails, the act is weak and the work imperfect.

“This comprehensive view of the work of patience in man is enlarged upon by that profound thinker Tertullian in the following terms: ‘Patience protects the whole will of God in man and enters into all His commandments. It fortifies faith, governs peace, helps charity, prepares humility, conducts to penance, leads to confession, rules the flesh, preserves the spirit, bridles the tongue, controls the hand, breaks down temptations, expels scandals, and consummates martyrdom; it consoles the poor man, moderates the wealthy man, suffers not the infirm man to sink under his weakness, and allows not the strong man to consume his strength; it delights the believer, attracts the unbeliever, adorns the woman, and makes the man approved; it is loved in the youth, praised in the maturer man, and is looked up to in the aged man. Patience is beautiful in both sexes and at every age. The features of the patient one are calm and pleasant; the brow is pure, because free from the signs of sadness and of irritation; the eyes are peaceful; the mouth is sealed with discretion.’

“Yet, next to the virtue of humility, there is no Christian virtue that stands more in need of careful exposition than the virtue of patience. Although well known in a popular way, and on the surface, as it is opposed to anger, or as our sustainer under sufferings, it is but little understood as a fundamental virtue of the soul, and that only by those truly spiritual persons who are well exercised in interior self-discipline, of which this virtue is the basis. It is therefore of great importance that we should be instructed in its ways and in the methods by which it is obtained.”

— Bishop Ullathorne, Christian Patience, the Strength and Discipline of the Soul 

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