seven heavenly virtues

seven heavenly virtues, in Roman Catholic theology, the seven virtues that serve to counter the seven deadly sins. Formally enumerated by Pope Gregory I (the Great) in the 6th century ce and elaborated in the 13th century by St. Thomas Aquinas, they are:

1. humility
2. charity
3. chastity
4. gratitude
5. temperance
6. patience
7. diligence

The seven heavenly virtues are similar to but distinct from the seven virtues (comprising four cardinal virtues and three theological virtues) that are considered to be fundamental to Christian ethics. The heavenly virtues are said to point a Christian toward God and away from a disposition to sin. The cultivation of the seven heavenly virtues is expected to result in good works, such as sheltering strangers, feeding the hungry, visiting the sick, ministering to the imprisoned, and burying the dead.

The seven heavenly virtues and the seven deadly sins

The heavenly virtues can be used to overcome their corresponding deadly sins of:

1. pride, or vainglory
2. greed, or covetousness
3. lust, or inordinate or illicit sexual desire
4. envy
5. gluttony, which is usually understood to include drunkenness
6. wrath, or anger
7. sloth

One of the first iterations of the seven heavenly virtues was offered by the 5th-century writer Prudentius in his poem Psychomachia (“The Contest of the Soul”). His seven virtues included chastity, faith, good works, concord, sobriety, patience, and humility. They were intended to be the opposite of the seven deadly sins, which at the time were outlined as lust, idolatry, greed, discord, indulgence, wrath, and pride.

In 590, Pope Gregory I rewrote the list of sins, changing them to lust, gluttony, greed, sloth, envy, wrath, and pride; the revised virtues became chastity, temperance, charity, diligence, kindness, patience, and humility.