What Is Charity? The Greatest of the Three Theological Virtues

Charity — from the Latin caritas — is not merely generosity or benevolence. It is the theological virtue by which we love God above all things and our neighbor as ourselves for the love of God. It is the highest of all virtues, the form and mother of all the others, and the only virtue that will remain in heaven. Understanding charity is essential to understanding the whole of the Christian life.

The Catholic Definition of Charity

The Catechism of the Catholic Church defines charity with precision: "Charity is the theological virtue by which we love God above all things for his own sake, and our neighbor as ourselves for the love of God" (CCC 1822).

Several elements of this definition deserve attention. First, charity is a theological virtue — meaning it has God as its origin, motive, and object. Unlike the cardinal virtues (prudence, justice, fortitude, temperance), which can be cultivated by human effort alone, the theological virtues are infused by God. We cannot produce charity by willpower; it is a gift of grace.

Second, charity involves loving God "above all things for his own sake" — not for what God gives us, not out of fear of punishment, but because God is infinitely good and worthy of love in himself. This is the highest form of love: love that seeks the good of the beloved for the beloved's own sake.

Third, charity involves loving our neighbor "as ourselves for the love of God." We love our neighbor not merely because they are useful to us, or because they are likeable, or even because they are human — but because God loves them and because loving them is a way of loving God. This is what distinguishes Christian charity from mere philanthropy.

Why Charity Is the Greatest Virtue

Saint Thomas Aquinas explains why charity is the greatest of all virtues in the Summa Theologica. His argument has two main strands.

First, charity is the form of all virtues. Every virtue, to be truly virtuous, must be ordered toward the ultimate end — union with God. Charity is the virtue that orders all other virtues toward God. Without charity, prudence becomes mere cleverness, justice becomes mere legalism, and courage becomes mere recklessness. Charity is what makes the other virtues genuinely good. This is why Saint Paul says that without charity, even the most impressive spiritual gifts are worthless: "If I speak in the tongues of men and of angels, but have not charity, I am a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal" (1 Corinthians 13:1).

Second, charity alone will remain in heaven. Faith will give way to vision — in heaven, we will see God face to face, and faith (belief in what we cannot see) will no longer be necessary. Hope will give way to possession — in heaven, we will have what we hoped for, and hope will be fulfilled. But charity — love — will remain forever. In heaven, we will love God and one another with a love that is perfected and eternal. This is why charity is the greatest: it is the virtue of eternity.

The Two Dimensions: Love of God and Love of Neighbor

Charity has two inseparable dimensions: the vertical (love of God) and the horizontal (love of neighbor). These are not two separate virtues but two expressions of the one virtue of charity. You cannot truly love God without loving your neighbor, and you cannot truly love your neighbor without loving God.

Saint John makes this explicit: "If anyone says, 'I love God,' and hates his brother, he is a liar; for he who does not love his brother whom he has seen cannot love God whom he has not seen" (1 John 4:20). The love of God and the love of neighbor are not competing demands — they are two sides of the same coin.

Jesus himself confirms this when asked about the greatest commandment: "You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind. This is the great and first commandment. And a second is like it: You shall love your neighbor as yourself. On these two commandments depend all the Law and the Prophets" (Matthew 22:37-40). The entire moral law is a commentary on charity.

1 Corinthians 13: The Hymn of Charity

The most famous description of charity in all of Scripture is Saint Paul's "Hymn of Charity" in 1 Corinthians 13. It is worth reading slowly and meditatively, because each quality Paul describes is a challenge and an invitation:

Saint Thomas Aquinas notes that Paul describes charity both positively (what it is: patient, kind, rejoicing in truth) and negatively (what it is not: jealous, pompous, rude, self-seeking). The negative descriptions are particularly revealing: they show that charity is not a feeling but a choice — a consistent orientation of the will toward the good of the other, even when feelings of warmth are absent.

Charity vs. Philanthropy: The Catholic Distinction

In contemporary usage, "charity" often means little more than giving money to good causes. But the Catholic understanding of caritas is far more demanding and far more beautiful than secular philanthropy.

Philanthropy — literally "love of humanity" — is motivated by natural benevolence, social obligation, or the desire to make the world a better place. These are good motivations, but they are not charity in the theological sense. Charity is motivated by love of God: we give to the poor not merely because they are suffering, but because we see Christ in them ("whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers and sisters of mine, you did for me" — Matthew 25:40).

This distinction has practical consequences. Philanthropy can be selective — we give to causes we find appealing, to people we find sympathetic. Charity is universal — it extends even to enemies ("love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you" — Matthew 5:44). Philanthropy can be impersonal — a check written from a distance. Charity is personal — it involves genuine encounter with the other person in their dignity as a child of God.

The Works of Mercy as Expressions of Charity

The Catholic tradition has always expressed charity concretely through the works of mercy — specific acts of love toward those in need. These are divided into corporal works (addressing bodily needs) and spiritual works (addressing spiritual needs):

The Corporal Works of Mercy:

• Feed the hungry
• Give drink to the thirsty
• Clothe the naked
• Shelter the homeless
• Visit the sick
• Visit the imprisoned
• Bury the dead

The Spiritual Works of Mercy:

• Instruct the ignorant
• Counsel the doubtful
• Admonish sinners
• Bear wrongs patiently
• Forgive offenses willingly
• Comfort the afflicted
• Pray for the living and the dead

These works are not optional extras for especially devout Catholics — they are the concrete expression of charity in daily life. Jesus makes clear in Matthew 25 that our eternal destiny is bound up with how we have practiced the corporal works of mercy.

How Charity Is Infused and How It Grows

Because charity is a theological virtue, it is infused by God — not acquired by human effort alone. We receive charity at Baptism, when we are incorporated into Christ and the Holy Spirit is poured into our hearts (Romans 5:5). Charity is increased through the sacraments, especially the Eucharist, which is the sacrament of charity par excellence.

But charity also grows through exercise. Like a muscle, charity is strengthened by use. Every act of love — however small — increases our capacity for love. Every time we choose to love when it is difficult, every time we forgive when we would rather hold a grudge, every time we serve when we would rather be served, charity grows in us.

Charity can also be lost — through mortal sin, which ruptures our relationship with God and destroys charity in the soul. This is why the Catechism calls mortal sin "a radical possibility of human freedom" (CCC 1861) — it is the ultimate act of choosing self over God, which is the opposite of charity.

The Enemies of Charity

The Catechism identifies several sins that are directly opposed to charity:

• Hatred: Wishing evil to another person. This is the direct opposite of charity, which wishes good to all.
• Envy: Sadness at another's good fortune, or the desire to deprive them of it. Envy is a capital sin because it strikes at the root of charity — the willingness to rejoice in another's good.
• Discord: Deliberately breaking the unity and peace of a community. Charity seeks unity; discord destroys it.
• Scandal: Leading another person into sin. Because charity seeks the spiritual good of the neighbor, scandal — which harms the neighbor's soul — is a grave offense against charity.

Saints of Charity

The history of the Church is filled with saints who embodied charity in heroic ways. Three stand out as particularly powerful models:

Saint Vincent de Paul (1581–1660) is perhaps the greatest apostle of organized charity in Church history. He founded the Congregation of the Mission (the Vincentians) and the Daughters of Charity, and organized systematic care for the poor, the sick, galley slaves, and abandoned children in 17th-century France. His famous saying captures the spirit of charity: "The poor are our masters, and we must love and obey them."

Saint Mother Teresa of Calcutta (1910–1997) founded the Missionaries of Charity to serve "the poorest of the poor" — the dying, the destitute, the abandoned. Her work in Calcutta and around the world was a living embodiment of Matthew 25: seeing Christ in the face of the suffering. She received the Nobel Peace Prize in 1979 and was canonized in 2016.

Saint Damien of Molokai (1840–1889) was a Belgian priest who volunteered to serve the leper colony on the Hawaiian island of Molokai — knowing that he would likely contract leprosy himself. He did, and he died of the disease after sixteen years of service. His charity was total: he gave not just his time and resources, but his very body.