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Illustration: An Allegory of Prudence by Titian (1550)
The three heads allude to the three ages of man: youth, maturity and old age; left: Titian at old age; middle: his son Orazio, who died of the plague the same year as Titian; right: his cousin and heir: Marco Vecellio, *1545; the triple-headed beast – Wolf, lion and dog – is a Symbol of prudence.
Pope Francis’ Cycle of Catechesis. Vices and Virtues. 12. Prudence
Saint Peter’s Square – Wednesday, 20 March 2024
Proverbs 15:
The mind of one who has understanding seeks knowledge but the mouths of fools feed on folly.
Folly is a joy to one who has no sense, but a man of understanding walks straight ahead.
Without counsel plans go wrong, but with many advisers they succeed. . .
The fear of the lord is instruction in wisdom and humility goes before honor.
Cycle of Catechesis. Vices and Virtues. 12. Prudence
Dear brothers and sisters,
Today’s catechesis is devoted to the virtue of prudence.
Along with justice, fortitude and temperance, it is one of the so-called cardinal virtues, which are not the exclusive prerogative of Christians, but rather belong to the heritage of ancient wisdom, especially that of the Greek philosophers. For this reason, one of the most interesting themes in the work of encounter and inculturation has been that of the virtues.
In medieval writings, the presentation of the virtues is not simply a list of the positive qualities of the soul.
Returning to the classical authors in the light of Christian revelation, theologians imagined the septenary of virtues –three theological (faith, hope, and charity) and four cardinal (prudence, justice, fortitude, and temperance.)– as a kind of living organism, in which each virtue has a harmonious space to occupy.
There are essential virtues and accessory virtues, like pillars, columns and capitals.
In fact, perhaps nothing so much as the architecture of a medieval cathedral can restore the idea of the harmony in man and his continuous striving toward the good.
So, let us begin with prudence.
It is not the virtue of the timid person to always hesitate about what action to take. No, that is a false interpretation.. It is not even merely caution.
The primacy of prudence means that man’s action is in the hands of his intelligence and his freedom.
The prudent person is creative: he or she thinks, evaluates, tries to understand the complexity of reality
The prudent person does not allow himself or herself to be overwhelmed by emotions, inertia, pressures and illusions.
In a world dominated by appearances, by superficial thoughts, by the triviality of both good and evil, the ancient lesson of prudence deserves to be revived.
Saint Thomas, following Aristotle, called it “recta ratio agibilium” (i.e. the correct system of actions).
It is the ability to regulate actions in order to direct them towards the good; for this reason, it is called the “coachman of the virtues”.
The prudent are those who are able to choose: as long as it remains in the books, life is always easy, but in the midst of the wind and waves of daily life it is another matter; often we are uncertain and do not know which way to go.
Prudent people do not choose by chance: first of all, they know what they want, then they weigh up the situation. They ask for advice, and with a broad outlook and inner freedom, they choose the path to take.
This is not to say they do not make mistakes: we are all human after all,; but at least they avoid major setbacks.
Unfortunately, in every environment there is someone who tends to dismiss problems with superficial jokes, or to incite controversy.
Prudence, on the other hand, is the quality of those who are called to govern: the prudent know that to administer is difficult, that there are many points of view and one must try to harmonize them, that one must do not the good of some but the good of all.
Prudence also teaches that, as they say, “the perfect is the enemy of the good”.
In fact, oo much zeal can be disastrous in some situations: it can ruin a construction that should have been done gradually; it can give rise to conflicts and misunderstandings; it can even trigger violence.
The prudent person knows how to preserve the memory of the past, not out of fear for the future, but because he or she knows that tradition is a patrimony of wisdom.
Life is made up of a constant overlapping of the old and new, and it is not good to always think that the world begins with us, that we have to tackle problems from scratch.
And the prudent person also has foresight!
Once we have decided what we want to do, we need to find the means to do it.
Many passages of the Gospel help us to develop prudence.
For example: the prudent man builds his house on the rock, and the imprudent builds his house on sand (cf. Mt 7:24.27).
Wise are the bridesmaids who carry oil for their lamps and foolish are those who do not (cf. Mt 25:1-13). The Christian life is a combination of simplicity and prudence.
When Jesus was preparing his disciples for mission, he told them: “Behold, I send you out as sheep in the midst of wolves; so be wise as serpents and innocent as doves” (Mt 10:16).
As if to say that God not only wants us to be saints, but he wants us to be prudent saints, because without prudence the wrong path is a momentary error!
