De gradibus humilitatis et superbiae
Joseph's Dreams and the Limits of Prophetic Sight
Joseph's youthful dreams of exaltation are examined as an example of partial prophetic knowledge, defended against the charge of vanity by appeal to his innocence and subsequent sufferings.
So it was with Joseph: he had foreseen his own exaltation, but he didn't yet know he would be sold — even though the sale was closer at hand than the exaltation.1 I don't mean that the patriarch fell into pride to that degree, but his example makes it clear that those who foresee future things through the spirit of prophecy — even if not all things — shouldn't be thought to have seen nothing at all for that reason.23 But if anyone should object that vanity could be detected in the fact that he was still a young man when he related his own dreams — whose meaning he didn't yet understand — I would judge it more a matter of mystery or of the boy's simplicity than of vanity. And if there was any vanity in it, it could have been expiated through the sufferings he is recorded to have endured.45
God the Physician: Temptation as Purifying Fire
Even when God reveals future graces, any trace of vanity must be punished; God uses tribulations like a physician uses fire and iron, purging pride so that the soul is freed from vanity without losing the truth of the revelation.
Sometimes, through revelation, certain pleasant things about themselves are shown to some people — and even though the human mind cannot know these things without some vanity, what has been shown will nonetheless come about. But the vanity by which a person has exulted, even slightly, over the greatness of a revelation or a promise must not go unpunished.67 For just as a physician uses not only ointment but also fire and iron, cutting away and burning off everything superfluous that has grown out in the process of healing a wound — so that it doesn't impede the health that comes from the ointment — so too the physician of souls, God, brings temptations upon a soul of this kind and sends tribulations, by which, afflicted and humbled, the soul may turn its joy into mourning and come to see its revelation as an illusion.8910 And so it happens that the soul is both freed from vanity and the truth of the revelation is not lost.11
The Saints' Progress through Glory and Lowliness
Paul's thorn and Zechariah's muteness show how God humbles the proud even amid great revelations, teaching the saints to advance by holding glory and lowliness together in humble gratitude.
So Paul's pride is held back by the goads of the flesh, and yet he himself is lifted up by frequent revelations.✦12 So Zechariah's unbelief of tongue is punished by being struck mute, and the angel's truth, which was to be revealed in its own time, is not altered.✦1314 So it is, so it is — through glory and lowliness the saints make progress, so long as, amid the extraordinary gifts they receive, they perceive the grace as something beyond themselves and do not forget what they truly are.151617
Read the original Latin
Sic Ioseph, cum suam praevidisset exaltationem, non tamen praescivit sui venditionem, quamvis propior esset venditio quam exaltatio. Non quod tantum Patriarcham in superbiam crediderim incidisse, sed ut eius exemplo pateat, quod hi qui futura praevident per spiritum prophetiae, etsi non omnia, non ideo tamen putandi sunt nulla vidisse. Quod si quis contendat, in eo quod sua somnia adhuc adolescentulus narrabat, quorum tunc mysterium ignorabat, vanitatem posse notari, ego tamen mysterio magis sive simplicitati pueri de putandum arbitror, quam vanitati; quae tamen, si qua fuit, per ea quae passus legitur, potuit expiari.
Nonnullis enim aliqua aliquando de se per revelationem iucunda monstratur, quae etsi humanus animus absque ulla vanitate scire non potest, non minus ideo eveniet quod monstratum est, sic tamen ut illa vanitas impunita non sit, qua de magnitudine aut revelationis aut promissionis in se vel leviter exsultavit. Sicut enim medicus, non solum unguento, sed et igne utitur et ferro, quo omne quod in vulnere sanando superfluum excreverit, secet et urat, ne sanitatem, quae ex unguento procedit, impediat, sic medicus animarum Deus huiusmodi animae procurat tentationes, immittit tribulationes, quibus afflicta et humiliata, gaudium vertat in luctum, revelationem putet illusionem. Unde fit ut et vanitate careat, et veritas revelationis non pereat.
Sic Pauli extollentia per stimulos carnis reprimitur, et ipse revelationibus crebris attollitur. Sic Zachariae infidelitas linguae obligatione mulctatur, et Angeli veritas suo in tempore manifestanda non mutatur. Sic, sic per gloriam et ignobilitatem sancti proficiunt, dum inter singularia dona quae recipiunt, gratiam supra se aliquid cernunt, non obliviscantur quod sunt.
Scripture echoes
- ↩2Cor.12.7 — And because of the surpassing greatness of the revelations, so that I would not be exalted beyond measure, there was given to me a thorn in the flesh, a messenger of Satan, to harass me, so that I would not be exalted beyond measure.
- ↩Luke.1.20 — And behold, you will be silent and unable to speak until the day these things take place, because you did not believe my words, which will be fulfilled in their time.
Notes
- 1 ↩cum rendered as temporal 'when' rather than causal, following context; tamen paired with non forms the adversative 'not yet.'
- 2 ↩sed rendered as 'but' (adversative); ut introduces a purpose clause rendered 'so that'; non ideo tamen forms 'not for that reason…yet' preserving the adversative force.
- 3 ↩The argument is that prophetic foresight, even if partial, should not be dismissed as nothing — a point about the reliability of genuine revelation.
- 4 ↩Quod si rendered 'But if' (conditional with adversative force); tamen at the start of the main clause rendered 'I would…rather' to capture the author's corrective stance; sive introduces an alternative 'or'; quae tamen rendered 'And if there was any…it' with concessive force.
- 5 ↩The author defends Joseph against the charge of vanity in recounting his dreams, attributing the episode instead to divine mystery or youthful innocence, and noting that any fault was purged by later suffering.
- 6 ↩The 'sic tamen ut' construction is complex: 'sic' picks up the preceding clause, 'tamen' is concessive ('nevertheless'), and 'ut' introduces a result clause ('so that').
- 7 ↩Vanitas rendered as 'vanity' throughout, per lexeme policy.
- 8 ↩The 'sicut...sic' correlative frames the entire medical simile. 'sed et' rendered as 'but also' for emphatic addition.
- 9 ↩Anima rendered as 'soul' per lexeme policy (interior person before God).
- 10 ↩The medical metaphor presents God as deliberately using painful means (temptations, tribulations) to heal spiritual vanity — a theodicy of affliction.
- 11 ↩'Unde fit ut' introduces a result clause: 'And so it happens that.' The 'et...et' correlative rendered as 'both...and.'
- 12 ↩extollentia rendered 'pride' here carries the sense of exalting or self-elevation; the context shows it as a dangerous tendency restrained by bodily suffering (cf. 2 Cor 12:7).
- 13 ↩obligatione rendered 'by being struck mute' — the Latin literally means 'by binding/obligation,' referring to the punitive binding of Zechariah's speech (Luke 1:20, 52). The gloss 'punitive sense: by being bound' is followed.
- 14 ↩manifestanda is a gerundive expressing necessity: 'which was to be revealed' or 'destined to be made known.'
- 15 ↩ignobilitas rendered 'lowliness' rather than 'ignobility' to capture the spiritual sense of humble self-abasement, consistent with the chapter's theme of humility's degrees.
- 16 ↩gratiam supra se aliquid — 'grace as something beyond themselves'; the saints recognize that the gifts they receive point to a grace that exceeds their own nature.
- 17 ↩non obliviscantur quod sunt — jussive subjunctive: 'let them not forget what they are,' rendered as 'do not forget what they truly are' to capture the hortatory force.
De gradibus humilitatis et superbiae (On the Steps of Humility and Pride) companion
Humility is climbed one day at a time
Take the next step each morning with a free daily devotional in Chosen Portion.
Bernard frames humility as a ladder climbed by small repeated acts; Chosen Portion turns that into practice with one daily devotional step at a time.
- A daily 10-minute portion focused on one virtue at a time
- Re-take the 12-step self-check monthly and see real movement
- Historic texts like Bernard's, one readable portion per day