Foundational Virtues of Virility

 The defining catastrophe of our time is the crisis in masculinity.    Fleckinstein

Our "virtue" and "virility" both derive from the Latin "vir" which refers in the Roman world to a freeborn masculine person, as distinct from "puer" (boy) and "homo" (human person). It connotes honor, dignity, strength and goodness. Virility...or manliness or masculinity...indicates the masculine as good: as strong, generative, paternal, protective, energetic, forceful. 

The core aim of the Cultural Revolution of the 1960s was, among other things, to deconstruct virility as a form and as a representation of God the Father. It has been fabulously successful. We are suffering a catastrophic crisis in masculinity. 

The final aim of masculinity is paternity: the fatherly giving of life as representative of God our heavenly father. This includes but goes well beyond the merely biological. It begins as filial reception and response: of son to father and mother both. This develops into fraternity, friendship and brotherhood with both men and women. Then spousal or "groomal" (a rare but real word) intimacy with and loyalty to the bride. Finally, fatherhood: physical, emotional, social, intellectual and spiritual. 

The virtues which configure goodness in a woman and in a man are similar, but they take a different gestalt as there is distinction in identity, destiny and mission. For example, vices like vanity or timidity are less damaging to the character of a woman; but lack of empathy or generosity would be less ruinous for that of a man. 

Masculinity is, more than femininity, a discipleship, an itinerary, a process. It requires deliberate rites of passage, tests, discipline, encouragement, and finally ordination. So it is important to be clear on the most significant virtues to be encouraged. The following seven virtues mutually infuse each other to form the interiority of virility.

1. Loyalty.

Loyalty is arguably the primal masculine virtue; infidelity the worst vice. Abandonment or betrayal of wife, friends, family, country or faith is the abolition of virility. This theme runs through all of culture, literature, and history. What is required, above all, is the proper hierarchy of loyalties. For example, mob movies are obsessed with loyalties: to the gang, the boss, to the brotherhood. However, since there is no underlying faithfulness to virtue, truth, charity, and God, the plot inevitably leads to dramas of betrayal. Likewise, dramas about men in other forms of conflict...police, military, etc...often center on loyalty to the brother that conflicts with fidelity to truth, justice or charity. Loyalty at its best of course is the martyr who dies for his faith or the hero who gives his life for his people.

2. Humility.

The final aim of virility is to image the Fatherhood of God. It is representational. Therefore, the foundational virtue is humility by which the ego of the person is deflated that his Self may reflect the glory, the honor, the love and the mercy of the Father. Problem: in the real, post-original-sin world, the strongest feature of masculinity is pride, the inflated and fragile male ego. And so, the ego must be reduced in order that the genuine Self, in Christ, resplendent in holiness and strength, be manifest.

3. Fortitude.

Virility as paternity images God as strong, protective, life-giving. Fortitude is both passive and aggressive. It is passive as patience, endurance, long-suffering and peaceful in adversity and suffering. It is active as courage, assertiveness, zeal, fierceness, valor, confidence and authority.

4. Chastity.

Purity of heart, including specifically sexual chastity, is required of virility lest it abuse  its power in toxicities of lust and covetousness or emasculate itself in fantasy flight from the real.

5. Sobriety and Serenity.

In addition to freedom from irrational enslavement to inebriation, lust, anger, anxiety, greed and ambition, sobriety here is interior peace that allows for contemplation, wisdom and prudence. Such deep, strong tranquility is a font of stability, energy and fruitfulness.

6. Justice. 

 The male mission ensures the objectivity, the harmony, the integrity of order. It is to do the right thing. It is distinct from Mercy: it does what is due; it does the right thing. Ultimately, in God, Mercy and Justice must infuse and inform each other.

7. Prudence.

Practical wisdom: the fruitful pursuit of the good through all the complex, dense, random and convoluted circumstances of life.

Conclusion

The great failing of Western civilization since 1965 is that we have failed to guide our young men on a path to these virtues. These might make the core curriculum of an itinerary into mature masculinity.

Note that we do not here address the essential theological virtues: faith, hope and love.

Other virtues are arguably as important as the above: compassion, gratitude, kindness, generosity and more. These will flourish fluidly and spontaneously when the above are firmly in place.

Good news: even in the insanity of cultural liberalism, we see the resurgence of virility, along with femininity. They are inherent in the created order. They reflect the splendor, the truth, the holiness of God. Let us exult in them!