Humility, Humility, Humility

One often hears Christian spiritual directors speak of the three rules of the interior life, "Humility, humility, and humility!"  At first glace, it may warrant a chuckle, but after reading St Thomas Aquinas' treatment of St Benedict of Nursia's "Twelve Degrees," there's really a logic to this threefold rubric:  Not only Benedict's, but also St Anselm of Canterbury's and the Glossator's (cf. S.th., 2a 2ae, 1. 161, art. 6)--which make three.

The question asked by the Angelic Doctor is "Whether Twelve Degrees of Humility Are Fittingly Distinguished in the Rule of the Blessed Benedict?"  Our purpose will be to enumerate these, along with Anselm's Seven Degrees and Ralph of Laon's--the Glossator of Matthew mentioned in Objection 3.   Each queue will be accompanied by St Thomas' own analysis of the virtue of humility.  At the end I throw in my own two cents on the basis of my doctoral research project.

St Benedict's Twelve Degrees (Respondeo)
"...regarding the root of humility..."
12.  to fear God and to be always mindful of everything that God has commanded

"...they include certain things with regard to the appetite, lest one aim inordintely at one's own excellence.  And this is done in three ways...
...First, by not following one's own will..."
11.  not to delight in fulfilling one's own desires;
"...secondly, by regulating it according to one's superior judgment..."
10.  to subject oneself to a superior;
"...thirdly, by not being deterred from this on account of the difficulties and hardships that come our way..."
  9.  to embrace patience by obeying under difficult and ocntrary cirumcstnaces;

"Certain things are also included referring to the estimate a man form sin acknowledging his own deficiency, and this is in three ways...
...First, by acknowledging and avowing his own shortcomings..."
  8.  to confess one's sin;
"...secondly, by deeming oneself incapable of great things..."
  7.   to think oneself worthless and unprofitable for all purposes;
"...thirdly, that in this respect one should ont put others before oneself..."
  6.  to believe and acknowledge oneself viler than all;

"Again, some things are included that refer to outward signs...
"...One of these regards deeds, namely that in one's work one should not depart from the ordinary way..."
  5.   to do nothing but to what one is exhorted by the common rule of the monsatery;
"...Two others have reference to words, namely that one should not be in a hurry to speak..."
  4.  to maintain silence until one is asked;
"...and that one be not immoderate in speech..."
  2.  to speak few and sensile words, and not to be loud of voice;

"The others have to do with outward gestures...
...for instance, restraining haughty looks"
  1.  ...humble not only in heart, but also to show it in one's very person, one's eyes fixed on the ground;
"...and in otwardly checking laugheter and other signs of senseless mirth..."
  3.  not to be easily moved, and disposed to laughter.

St Anselm of Canterbury's Seven Degrees (Obj. 3; ad 3)
"All degrees mentioned by Anselm are reducible to knowledge, avowal, and desire of one's own abasement...

...For the first degree belongs to the knowledge of one's own deficiency..."
  1.  to acknowledge oneself contemptible

"...but since it would be wrong for one to love one's own failings, this is excluded by the secon degree..."
  2.  to grieve for this

"...The third and fourth degrees regard the avowal of one's own deficiency; namely, that not merely one simply asset one's failing, but that one convince another of it..."
  3.  to confess it
  4.  to convince others of this, that is to wish them to believe it

"...The other three degrees have to do with the appetite, which seeks, not outward excellence, but outward abasement, or bears it with equanimity, whether it consists of words or deeds...

"...For as Gregory says, (Regist.  ii. 10, Ep. 36), there is nothing great in being humble towrds those who treat us with regard, for even worldly people do this:  but we should especially be humble towards those who make us suffer, and this belongs to the fifth and sixth degrees..."
  5.  to bear patiently that this be said of us
  6.  to suffer oneself to be treated with contempt

"...or the appetite may even go so far as lovingly to embrace external abasement, and this pertains to the seventh degree..."
  7.  to love being thus treated.
"...so that all these degrees are comprised under the sixth and seven mentioned above.

Ralph of Laon, "The Glossator" (Obj. 4; ad 4)
"These degrees refer, not ot the thing itself, namely the nature of humility but to the degrees among men" [emphasis added].

  1.  The first is to subject ourselves to those who are above us, and not to set ourselves above our equals: this is sufficient.

  2.  The second is to submit to our equals, and not to set ourselves before our inferiors; this is called abundant humility.

  3.  The third degree is to subject ourselves to inferiors, and in this is perfect righteousness.

The principal difference between St Benedict's "Degrees" from that of St Anselm's and Ralph of Laon's is that whereas the 'Father of Western Monasticism' and the 'Father of Scholasticism' outline degrees of intensity in the virtue of humility, the Glossator (and St Augustine in Obj. 5) outline degrees of rank among men and women who aim for humility.  Yet "the aforesaid degrees of humility include something regardin the root of humility, namely, the twelfth degree, that a man fear God and bear all His commandments in mind" (Resp.).  This squares nicely with the fact that the Gift of Fear from among the Septenary which likewise forms the foundation of the other six Gifts of the Holy Spirit.  This means, then, that by saying "Man arrives at humility...[f]irst and chiefly by a gift of grace" (ad 2); 'grace' is necessarily appropriated to the Holy Spirit (S.th., 1a 2ae, q. 43, art. 3, sed contra and respondeo), and this same Holy Spirit is never present in souls without his Seven Gifts (S.th., 1a 2ae, q. 68, art. 3, sed contra).

By way of an addendum, those wanting a serious, yet entertaining look at humility according to St Benedict need look no further than J. Augustine Wetta OSB, Humility Rules:  Saint Benedict's 12-Step Program to Genuine Self-Esteem (San Francisco:  Ignatius Press, 2017).