No virtue has been praised by the saints more than humility, and none has been lived so discreetly. From Saint Augustine, who made it the first, the second and the third condition of the journey toward God, to Saint Thérèse of Lisieux and her elevator for the littlest ones, a single conviction runs through twenty centuries: no one becomes a saint without becoming humble. This article gathers what the saints have said about it — their definitions, their images, their warnings and their most beautiful words.
The word itself is not self-evident. To the world, humility looks like a lack of ambition or low self-esteem. For the saints, it is exactly the opposite: a lucidity, a truth, the only fitting attitude of a creature before its Creator. "Humility is truth," sums up Saint Teresa of Avila[1]. Far from crushing us, it sets us free; far from shrinking the soul, it enlarges it to the dimensions of God.
The saints do not speak of humility as theoreticians: they speak of it from the inside, because they conquered it at the cost of a long battle against pride. That is what gives their words their singular weight — the weight of a testimony, not of a lesson. This anthology follows their voice, from the Desert Fathers to modern mystics, and then draws out the great themes on which they agree: humility as truth, as the root of the virtues, as a magnet for grace.
Neither the practical path of this virtue is treated here — for concrete means of progress, see How to Grow in Humility — nor its metaphysical nature, set out in Knowledge of Man's Nothingness, Which Produces Humility. Here, we listen to the saints speak.
Why Listen to the Saints on Humility?
A Virtue Only the Humble Know from Within
Humility has this paradox about it: you can neither boast of it nor study it from afar — to know it is already to practice it. That is why the best teachers on the subject are not philosophers, but the saints — those who consented to go down. The spiritual tradition is unanimous in seeing in it not one virtue among others, but the soil in which all the others take root. Saint Gregory the Great put it in a phrase that has become proverbial:
"He who gathers the other virtues without humility is like one carrying dust into the wind." — Saint Gregory the Great, Homilies on the Gospels, Homily 7[2]
The image is severe: without humility, the finest virtues scatter like a handful of dust. Saint Vincent de Paul said, in the same spirit, that it is "the virtue of Jesus Christ, the virtue of His Holy Mother, the virtue of the greatest saints"[3]. In other words, there is no holiness without it, and listening to the saints on humility means listening to them on the very heart of their holiness.
"First Humility, Second Humility, Third Humility"
The most famous formula comes from Saint Augustine. A young Greek, Dioscorus, had written to him with questions about Cicero's philosophy. Augustine replied, around the year 410, shifting the question: the true road to truth is not first intellectual, it is moral.
"If you asked me what is the first thing in the discipline of Christ, I would answer: humility. And the second? Humility. And the third? Humility. And every time you ask me, I will give you the same answer." — Saint Augustine, Letter 118 to Dioscorus[4]
Everything the saints teach about humility is contained in this almost playful insistence. Where the world multiplies the conditions for success, Augustine gives only one, repeated three times. It is this same conviction that will be found again, century after century, in all the great witnesses of the interior life.
Humility Is Truth: The Saints' Definition
When the saints are asked what humility is, their answer converges on a single word: truth. Not thinking oneself worse than one is — that would still be a lie — but seeing oneself as one is before God: everything received from Him, capable of everything through Him, capable of nothing without Him.
"Humility Is Truth" — Teresa of Avila and Catherine of Siena
Saint Teresa of Avila gave this truth its most condensed formula. In the Interior Castle, meditating on the snares of the spiritual path, she reduces the whole virtue to a single walk:
"Humility is walking in truth." — Saint Teresa of Avila, The Interior Castle, Sixth Mansions[5]
The formula spread throughout the spiritual tradition. Two centuries earlier, the Eternal Father had already taught it to Saint Catherine of Siena in her Dialogue: humility, He said, comes from the knowledge the soul has of itself[6] — a knowledge that does not puff up, but places the soul in the truth of its condition as a creature.
Knowing Oneself, Knowing Oneself Before God
Before the saints, Socrates already said "know thyself." But the saints add a precision: to know oneself is not to analyze oneself, it is to discover oneself before God. Saint Bernard of Clairvaux makes this knowledge the foundation of the whole spiritual edifice:
"The spiritual edifice can only rise on the solid foundation of humility. Now, for humbling itself, the soul can find no more effective means than true self-knowledge." — Saint Bernard of Clairvaux, Sermons on the Song of Songs, 36[7]
The author of The Imitation of Christ speaks the same language, and draws from it a formidable consequence for intellectual pride: knowing God without knowing oneself is of no use.
"The humble knowledge of yourself is a surer road to God than deep researches in science." — The Imitation of Christ, book I, ch. 3[8]
That is why, he adds, "what does it profit you to reason profoundly about the Trinity, if you are not humble, and thereby displease the Trinity?"[9]. Humility is therefore not the enemy of intelligence: it is the condition of its uprightness.
Referring Everything to God: "Without Me You Can Do Nothing"
The heart of this truth lies in a word of Christ: "Apart from me you can do nothing" (Jn 15:5)[10]. The saints never ceased to comment on it. Saint Francis of Assisi draws from it the golden rule of humility: attribute no good to oneself, for everything comes from God.
"Blessed is the servant who renders all good to the Lord. He, on the contrary, who claims a part of it for himself, hides within himself the Lord's money." — Saint Francis of Assisi, Admonitions, 19[11]
Saint Benedict had fixed the same maxim in his Rule: "If one sees any good in oneself, attribute it to God, not to oneself; but as for evil, know that one is always its author"[12]. And Saint Vincent de Paul summed it up: "The virtue of humility makes us understand that all the good done through us comes from God"[13]. In this tradition, humility is therefore not a feeling: it is an exact accounting — rendering to God what is God's, and recognizing one's own nothingness as one's own.
The Fathers and the First Masters
The Desert Fathers and the Ladder of John Climacus
From the very first centuries, the monks of Egypt and Sinai made humility the summit of the whole spiritual life. Saint John Climacus (6th-7th century), abbot of the monastery of Sinai, devotes one of the steps of his famous treatise, The Ladder of Divine Ascent, to it. There he teaches the humble trust of the sinner who approaches Christ without hiding:
"Let us present ourselves before Christ, and, with great simplicity and profound humility, lay before Him our weakness and our miseries; and, unworthy though we are, He will stretch out His hand to us with kindness." — Saint John Climacus, The Ladder of Divine Ascent, first step[14]
Saint Pachomius, founder of cenobitic life, already linked humility and patience: "The greatness of the saints is patience"[15]. For these first masters, humility is not a gloomy withdrawal: it is the low door through which one enters into peace.
Saint Augustine: Pride Cast Us Down, Humility Raises Us Up
Saint Augustine, who had known from within the seductions of intellectual pride, sees in humility the very remedy chosen by God to heal man. The whole history of salvation, he says, is God's descent to raise up man, fallen through pride:
"Man had fallen through pride; God resorted to humility to raise him up." — Saint Augustine, On Christian Doctrine, book I, ch. 14[16]
That is the logic of the Incarnation: to heal a sickness of pride, the Physician makes Himself the remedy by stooping down. Augustine draws from it a practical consequence for prayer, in which the soul must present itself as a beggar: "The house of my soul is too narrow for You to enter: enlarge it. It is nothing but ruins: repair it"[17].
Saint John Chrysostom: The Tax Collector's Chariot
Saint John Chrysostom, the golden-tongued bishop of Constantinople, left one of the most striking images of the tradition: two chariots in a race, to explain why the tax collector of the parable goes ahead of the Pharisee (Lk 18:9-14).
"Harness to the one virtue and pride, to the other sin with humility, and you will see the chariot drawn by sin, thanks to humility, outstrip the chariot of virtue. For humility, by its immense power of elevation, triumphs over the heaviness of sin and rises to heaven first." — Saint John Chrysostom[18]
The Pharisee falls not from the weakness of his virtues, but under the heavy mass of pride; the tax collector rises not by his merits, but carried by humility. And Chrysostom adds that the humble man can even profit from insults: "by accepting injuries, the tax collector laid down the burden of his sins" and went home justified[19].
Saint Gregory the Great: The Guardian of the Other Virtues
Saint Gregory the Great, pope and doctor, carries on this patristic tradition by making humility not only a virtue, but the guardian of all the others. His phrase about dust in the wind (quoted above) sums up an insight the whole Middle Ages would receive: a virtue without humility is not merely imperfect, it is in peril, for it secretly feeds the pride that will destroy it. The same idea is found in Adam of Perseigne, a 12th-century Cistercian:
"Where humility is found, there also are peace, fear, and reverence for the commandments. Humility, O man, shows you what you are, what you have been, what you must become." — Adam of Perseigne, Letters[20]
Humility in the Monastic Tradition
Saint Benedict: The Ladder of Twelve Degrees
In the 6th century, Saint Benedict of Nursia gave humility its great practical treatise: chapter 7 of his Rule, one of the longest and most commented chapters of the whole monastic tradition. There he describes a ladder of twelve degrees which the monk climbs, paradoxically, by going down — by lowering himself. The detail of these degrees belongs to the practical path (see How to Grow in Humility); but the spirit that animates them belongs to what Benedict says about humility: its end is not fear, it is love. Having reached the top of the ladder, the monk keeps the commandments "no longer through fear of hell, but through love of Christ"[21]. Benedictine humility is therefore not a servile mood: it is the long apprenticeship of a filial freedom.
Saint Bernard of Clairvaux: Rising by Going Down
Saint Bernard, the great 12th-century Cistercian abbot, composed in his youth a whole treatise devoted to the question, The Steps of Humility and Pride. For him, humility begins with an unsparing look at oneself:
"Let your consideration begin by applying itself to yourself, and let it not stop there, for it is by you also that it must end. Of your own consideration, you are the first term, you are also the last." — Saint Bernard of Clairvaux, On Consideration, book II[22]
This self-knowledge, he specifies, takes "three forms: man must know what he has done, what he has deserved, what he has lost"[23]. Far from discouraging, this look opens onto mercy: "Let him whom sins condemned rejoice, for the charity of Jesus far exceeds the number and extent of our crimes"[24]. In Bernard, humility and trust never oppose each other: one goes down into oneself in order to throw oneself better into God.
The Doctors and the Age of the Mystics
Saint Thomas Aquinas: Humility, the Soul's Just Measure Before God
Saint Thomas Aquinas gave humility an analysis of great precision in the Summa Theologiae (IIa-IIae, question 161). For him, humility is a virtue that moderates and regulates the soul's movement toward high things, keeping it within just measure; it represses the presumption that would aim higher than what God gives[25]. Its proper seat, says Thomas, is man's submission to God and, out of reverence for God, to others. Humility is therefore neither pusillanimity nor contempt for the gifts received: it is the interior order of a creature that keeps its place — neither below its dignity as a child of God, nor above its condition as a creature. That is what tradition sums up by saying that humility is truth applied to oneself.
Saint Catherine of Siena: Humility, Nurse of Charity
In Saint Catherine of Siena's Dialogue, humility plays a central role: it is the soil in which the tree of the virtues takes root. The Eternal Father reveals it to her through an agricultural image:
"What gives life to the tree and to the branches is the root; this root must be planted in the soil of humility, which bears and nourishes charity." — The Eternal Father to Saint Catherine of Siena, The Dialogue[26]
No virtue, the Dialogue further says, can exist "without humility, which is the governess and nurse of charity"[27]. Charity and humility are therefore inseparable: the one is the summit, the other the root; and one rises toward love only by going down into the truth of oneself.
The Imitation of Christ: "Loving to Be Unknown"
No book, after the Bible, has formed Christians in humility as much as The Imitation of Christ, that little 15th-century treatise attributed to Thomas à Kempis. Its pedagogy is constant: prefer the last place, flee esteem, rejoice in being forgotten.
"Would you learn and know something that will serve you? Love to live unknown and to be counted as nothing." — The Imitation of Christ, book I, ch. 2[28]
The Imitation sees in this the condition of interior peace: "The humble man enjoys an unalterable peace; anger and envy trouble the heart of the proud"[29]. And it overturns the worldly scale of greatness: "He is truly great who is little in his own eyes, and for whom the greatest glory is but pure nothingness"[30].
The School of Gentleness: Saint Francis de Sales
At the turn of the 17th century, Saint Francis de Sales renewed the doctrine of humility by bringing a new gentleness to it. His great insight: true humility is recognized not by the severity one shows toward oneself, but by the peace one keeps before one's own faults.
Not Being Surprised at One's Falls
For the holy bishop of Geneva, being surprised at one's faults is in reality a sign of hidden pride: one thought oneself better.
"If we knew well who we are, instead of being amazed to see ourselves on the ground, we would wonder how we can remain standing." — Saint Francis de Sales, Works[31]
Hence his advice, repeated a thousand times in his correspondence: "When you commit faults, do not be surprised at them"[32]. Astonishment is not humility — it is its reverse, for "self-love is troubled and disquieted to see us imperfect"[33].
Patience with Oneself and Beginning Again Each Day
From this flows the characteristic note of Salesian spirituality: patience toward oneself, which is but one form of humility.
"Have patience with everyone, but principally with yourself. I am glad that you begin again every day: there is no better means to end the spiritual life well than always to begin again, and never to think one has done enough." — Saint Francis de Sales, Works[34]
He likes to compare the soul that rises again to the dawn that dispels darkness "not in an instant, but little by little"[35], and to recall that in the "monastery of the devout life, everyone always considers himself a novice"[36]. Father Joseph Tissot, heir of this school, would draw from it a whole art of using one's faults to grow in humility rather than be discouraged: "To be discouraged when one has fallen into sin is not to know oneself"[37].
The Saints of Modern Times
Saint Thérèse of Lisieux: The Little Way and the Elevator
In the 19th century, Saint Thérèse of the Child Jesus gave humility its tenderest and boldest expression: the little way of spiritual childhood. Too little to climb the rough stairway of perfection, she looks for an elevator — and finds it in God's arms:
"The elevator that must raise me to Heaven is Your arms, O Jesus! For that I do not need to grow; on the contrary, I must remain little, become littler and littler." — Saint Thérèse of the Child Jesus, Autobiographical Manuscripts[38]
Her whole doctrine overturns the logic of proud effort: it is not by becoming great that one rises, but by consenting to remain little. Her sister Agnès reported the same thirst for self-effacement: "Jesus loves humility, Jesus loves what does not appear in the eyes of men"[39].
Saint Charles de Foucauld: "Going Down, Going Down"
Saint Charles de Foucauld, the "universal brother" of the Sahara, made abasement the program of his whole life, in imitation of Jesus at Nazareth. In his spiritual writings, he hears Christ repeat a single word to him:
"Going down, going down, humility, humility… always go down, always humble yourself; keep to the last place. By going down one imitates Me, by going down one walks in My way, and therefore in the truth." — Jesus, according to Saint Charles de Foucauld, Spiritual Writings[40]
And he contemplates, in the whole life of Christ, an unbroken lesson in humility: "My Incarnation, infinite humility, without measure; my birth, humility; everything in Me is humility. I am meek and humble of heart"[41].
The Mystics of Abandonment: Faustina, Maria Simma, Luisa Piccarreta
The great mystical voices of the 20th century linked humility to trust and grace. Saint Faustina acknowledges that all good in her comes from God: "All that is beautiful in my soul is Yours, O God. Of myself I am nothing"[42]. Maria Simma, the mystic of Vorarlberg, made it a law of the spiritual life: "Humility obtains for us the greatest of graces. Jesus grants the greatest things to the humble of heart"[43].
It is with the Servant of God Luisa Piccarreta that this doctrine reaches its densest formula. In The Book of Heaven, humility is presented as the absolute condition of all grace:
"No grace leaves My Throne except through humility. No prayer is heard by My ears unless it is perfumed with humility." — Jesus to Luisa Piccarreta, The Book of Heaven, volume 3, January 12, 1900[44]
She also gives an unforgettable image of it, in which humility becomes the salt that keeps every virtue from spoiling:
"Humility is the salt that seasons all the virtues and preserves the soul from the corruption of sin. It is the little grass that grows beside the paths: it disappears when it is trampled, but then grows back more beautiful than before." — Luisa Piccarreta, The Book of Heaven, volume 3, January 12, 1900[45]
Cardinal Merry del Val's Litany of Humility
At the beginning of the 20th century, Cardinal Rafael Merry del Val, Secretary of State to Saint Pius X, used to recite after each Mass a prayer that has since traveled the whole Catholic world: the Litany of Humility. It asks, line after line, to be delivered not only from the desire to be praised, honored, preferred, but also from the fear of being humiliated, forgotten, despised:
"From the desire of being esteemed… from the desire of being praised… from the fear of being humiliated… from the fear of being forgotten… deliver me, Jesus. That others may be loved more than I, provided I become as holy as I can, Jesus, grant me the grace to desire it." — Litany of Humility, attributed to Cardinal Rafael Merry del Val[46]
This prayer condenses the whole teaching of the saints: humility is not only renouncing glory, it is consenting in advance to self-effacement, and even desiring it for the love of God.
What Humility Produces, According to the Saints
Beyond definitions, the saints abundantly describe the fruits of humility. Three return constantly: it draws grace, it gives peace, it opens the door of Heaven.
The following table gathers, for a few great witnesses, the master idea each attaches to this virtue — a way of seeing at a glance how their voices converge.
| Witness | Work | Master Idea on Humility |
|---|---|---|
| Saint Augustine | Letter 118; On Christian Doctrine | First condition of the journey toward God; remedy for pride |
| Saint Benedict | Rule, ch. 7 | A ladder of twelve degrees toward filial love |
| Saint Bernard | The Steps of Humility | Knowing oneself in order to throw oneself into God |
| Saint Catherine of Siena | The Dialogue | The soil in which charity takes root |
| The Imitation | Book I | Loving to be unknown, keeping peace of heart |
| Saint Francis de Sales | Introduction to the Devout Life | Gentle patience toward one's own faults |
| Saint Thérèse of Lisieux | Manuscripts | The little way: remaining little in order to be raised up |
It Draws Grace: "God Resists the Proud"
The biblical principle is clear: "God resists the proud, but gives grace to the humble" (1 Pt 5:5; Jas 4:6, quoting Prov 3:34)[47]. The saints make it the fundamental law of the spiritual life. Luisa Piccarreta hears Christ say it in an image of tenderness:
"My daughter, the more you lower yourself, the more I feel drawn to bend toward you and fill you with My graces. Humility draws My light." — Jesus to Luisa Piccarreta, The Book of Heaven, volume 3, March 17, 1900[48]
Humility thus acts as a magnet: the lower the soul descends, the more God stoops down. It is the exact inversion of pride, which thinks it is rising and only repels grace.
It Gives Peace and Freedom of Heart
The saints insist: the humble person is peaceful, because he has nothing left to defend. Expecting no esteem, he does not suffer from contempt. Saint John Chrysostom even saw in humility a breastplate against offenses: humility "makes it possible not to feel the bite of insults and not to be enraged by outrages"[49]. The Imitation promises the humble a serenity the proud will never know, and Luisa Piccarreta hears Christ trace this peace back to simple self-knowledge:
"When a heart is filled with self-knowledge, the praises of men are like the waves of the sea that rise and overflow, but never go beyond their bounds." — Jesus to Luisa Piccarreta, The Book of Heaven, volume 2, April 23, 1899[50]
It Is the Root of Prayer and the Key to Paradise
The Catechism teaches it: "Humility is the foundation of prayer" (CCC § 2559)[51], for one truly prays only by begging. The saints go further: they make humility the very condition of salvation. Luisa Piccarreta hears it said in a lapidary formula:
"Humility is the key to Paradise, where no one can enter without it. Humility is the smile of God and of all Paradise." — Luisa Piccarreta, The Book of Heaven, volume 3, January 12, 1900[52]
Conversely, all denounce pride as the root of every fall. "It was through pride that the angels were lost, through pride that Adam fell," Christ makes Charles de Foucauld hear[53]. On this precise battle against the root of all vices, see How to Grow in the Battle Against Pride.
Jesus and Mary, Summit of Humility
All the words of the saints ultimately point back to two models. Humility is not first a doctrine: it is a face — that of Christ, and that of His Mother.
"Learn from Me, for I Am Meek and Humble of Heart"
Only once in the whole Gospel does Christ explicitly propose Himself for imitation — and it is for humility:
"Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am meek and humble of heart." — Gospel according to Saint Matthew 11:29[54]
Saint Paul sang its movement in the hymn of the kenosis: Christ, "in the form of God, emptied Himself, taking the form of a servant… He humbled Himself, becoming obedient unto death, even death on a cross" (Phil 2:6-8)[55]. On the evening of the Last Supper, this God who stoops down washes His disciples' feet: "I have given you an example" (Jn 13:15)[56]. All that the saints say about humility is but the commentary on that gesture.
The Magnificat: Humility That Sings
The Virgin Mary is, after Christ, the perfect model of humility — not a tense humility, but a joyful humility, that sings. In the Magnificat, she does not deny the greatness received; she refers it entirely to God:
"He has looked upon His lowly servant… The Mighty One has done great things for me; Holy is His name. He has cast down the mighty from their thrones, and has lifted up the lowly." — Canticle of the Magnificat, Gospel according to Saint Luke 1:48-52[57]
That is perfect humility: recognizing God's "great things" in oneself without attributing them to oneself. Jesus reminded the mystic Consolata Betrone of this: little souls "are proud of the virtues with which they are adorned because God gave them to them," and refer to Him alone "praise, honor and glory"[58]. Such is the saints' last lesson: humility does not erase gifts, it returns them to their Giver — and, in doing so, frees the heart for praise.
To Go Further
- How to Grow in Humility — the practical path: the degrees, the concrete means and exercises for advancing in this virtue.
- Knowledge of Man's Nothingness, Which Produces Humility — the nature and doctrinal foundation of humility.
- How to Grow in the Battle Against Pride — the battle against the vice that humility heals.
- Using Our Sins to Increase Humility and Trust — the Salesian art of profiting from one's faults.
- How to Grow in Trust — the sister virtue of humility, to which it always opens.
- What the Saints Say About Trust and What the Saints Say About Charity — other anthologies in the same series.
Notes and References
Sainte Thérèse d'Avila (1515-1582), Le Château intérieur (Las Moradas, 1577), Sixièmes Demeures, ch. 10. Texte original espagnol : « la humildad es andar en verdad ». Traduction française de référence : Œuvres complètes, Cerf / Seuil (trad. Marcelle Auclair), ou éd. du Carmel.
1 5Saint Grégoire le Grand (vers 540-604), Homélies sur les Évangiles, homélie 7 (prêchée le 17 décembre 590). Édition de référence : Sources Chrétiennes 485, Cerf, 2005. La sentence est devenue proverbiale : « qui sans humilité rassemble les vertus porte de la poussière au vent. »
2Saint Vincent de Paul (1581-1660), Saint Vincent de Paul par ses écrits, Médiaspaul, 2003, p. 88.
3Saint Augustin (354-430), Lettre 118 à Dioscore, § 22 (composée vers 410-411). Texte latin : « Prima est humilitas, secunda humilitas, tertia humilitas… » Édition de référence : Lettres, Bibliothèque augustinienne, Desclée de Brouwer / Institut d'Études Augustiniennes.
4Le Père éternel à sainte Catherine de Sienne (1347-1380), Le Livre des Dialogues, Traité de la Discrétion, ch. IX, 5. Traduction française de référence : Le Dialogue, éd. du Cerf (coll. Sagesses chrétiennes).
6Saint Bernard de Clairvaux (1090-1153), Sermons sur le Cantique des cantiques, sermon 36, §§ 5-6. Édition : Sancti Bernardi Opera II, Rome, 1958 (PL 183, 968-970) ; trad. Sources Chrétiennes, Cerf.
7Thomas a Kempis (vers 1380-1471), L'Imitation de Jésus-Christ, livre I, ch. 3, 4. Traduction de référence : Félicité de Lamennais (1824). L'attribution à Thomas a Kempis est la plus largement reçue.
8Thomas a Kempis, L'Imitation de Jésus-Christ, livre I, ch. 1, 3. Traduction Lamennais.
9Évangile selon saint Jean 15, 5, traduction liturgique officielle (AELF) : « En dehors de moi, vous ne pouvez rien faire. »
10Saint François d'Assise (1181/1182-1226), Admonitions, 19, 1-2. Édition de référence : François d'Assise — Écrits, Sources Chrétiennes 285, Cerf, 1981.
11Saint Benoît de Nursie (vers 480-547), Règle, ch. 4 (« Les instruments des bonnes œuvres »), §§ 42-43 : « Si l'on voit quelque bien en soi-même, l'attribuer à Dieu, non à soi ; mais le mal, savoir qu'on en est toujours l'auteur. » Édition critique : Sources Chrétiennes 181-186, Cerf, 1971-1972.
12Saint Vincent de Paul, Saint Vincent de Paul par ses écrits, Médiaspaul, 2003, p. 87.
13Saint Jean Climaque (vers 575-650), L'Échelle sainte (Klimax), premier degré, § 21. Traduction française : coll. Spiritualité orientale, abbaye de Bellefontaine.
14Saint Pacôme (vers 292-348), Conseils à un moine rancunier, éd. Saint-Léger, 2017, p. 31. Recueil tiré de la tradition pachômienne.
15Saint Augustin, La Doctrine chrétienne (De doctrina christiana), livre I, ch. 14. Édition de référence : Bibliothèque augustinienne, Institut d'Études Augustiniennes.
16Saint Augustin, Les Confessions, livre I, ch. 5. Édition de référence : Bibliothèque augustinienne, Institut d'Études Augustiniennes.
17Saint Jean Chrysostome (vers 349-407), homélie citée et traduite dans Trop occupé pour t'occuper de ta vie ?, anthologie chrysostomienne, Cerf, 2015, p. 36-37. L'image des deux chars commente la parabole du pharisien et du publicain (Lc 18, 9-14).
18Saint Jean Chrysostome, dans Trop occupé pour t'occuper de ta vie ?, Cerf, 2015, p. 37.
19Adam de Perseigne (vers 1145-1221), Lettres, lettre 15, §§ 157-158. Édition : Sources Chrétiennes 66, Cerf, p. 239.
20Saint Benoît, Règle, ch. 7 (« De l'humilité »), §§ 67-70 (conclusion sur les douze degrés). Parvenu au sommet, le moine garde les commandements « non plus par peur de l'enfer, mais par amour du Christ ». Édition Sources Chrétiennes 181-186, Cerf. Ce chapitre est l'un des plus longs (75 versets) et des plus commentés de la Règle ; l'image de l'échelle renvoie au songe de Jacob (Gn 28, 12).
21Saint Bernard de Clairvaux, La Considération (De consideratione), livre II, ch. 6 (Sancti Bernardi Opera III, p. 414). Trad. de référence : éd. du Cerf.
22Saint Bernard de Clairvaux, Sermons divers, 40, 3 (Sancti Bernardi Opera VI-1, p. 236). La connaissance de soi prend trois formes : « savoir ce qu'on a fait, ce qu'on a mérité, ce qu'on a perdu. »
23Saint Bernard de Clairvaux, Premier sermon pour la veille de Noël, § 3. Édition : Sources Chrétiennes, Cerf.
24Saint Thomas d'Aquin (1225-1274), Somme de théologie, IIa-IIae, question 161 (sur l'humilité), notamment a. 1-2. Thomas range l'humilité comme une espèce de la modestie, vertu annexe de la tempérance : elle modère et règle le mouvement de l'âme vers les choses élevées, en réprimant la présomption. Trad. de référence : éd. du Cerf / Revue thomiste.
25Le Père éternel à sainte Catherine de Sienne, Le Livre des Dialogues, Traité de la Discrétion, ch. IX, 4. Trad. Le Dialogue, éd. du Cerf.
26Le Père éternel à sainte Catherine de Sienne, Le Livre des Dialogues, Traité de la Discrétion, Introduction, IV, 5 : « Aucune vertu ne peut exister sans la charité et sans l'humilité, qui est la gouvernante et la nourrice de la charité. »
27Thomas a Kempis, L'Imitation de Jésus-Christ, livre I, ch. 2, 3. Traduction Lamennais : « Aimez à vivre inconnu et à n'être compté pour rien. »
28Thomas a Kempis, L'Imitation de Jésus-Christ, livre I, ch. 7, 3. Traduction Lamennais.
29Thomas a Kempis, L'Imitation de Jésus-Christ, livre I, ch. 3, 6. Traduction Lamennais.
30Saint François de Sales (1567-1622), Œuvres complètes, t. XIII, p. 29 (édition d'Annecy). Sur les deux sources de l'inquiétude : l'amour-propre et l'estime de soi.
31Saint François de Sales, Œuvres complètes, t. XIX, p. 301 (édition d'Annecy) : « Quand vous ferez des fautes, ne vous en étonnez point. »
32Saint François de Sales, Introduction à la vie dévote (1609), IIIᵉ partie, ch. 9, « De la douceur envers nous-mêmes ». Éditions courantes : Seuil, Téqui.
33Saint François de Sales, Œuvres complètes, t. XIV, p. 22 (édition d'Annecy). Conseil de patience et de recommencement quotidien.
34Saint François de Sales, Introduction à la vie dévote, Iʳᵉ partie, ch. 5 : la conversion comparée à l'aube qui dissipe les ténèbres peu à peu.
35Saint François de Sales, Traité de l'Amour de Dieu (1616), livre X, ch. 7 : « Au monastère de la vie dévote, chacun s'estime toujours novice. »
36Père Joseph Tissot (1840-1894), L'Art d'utiliser ses fautes, Le Laurier, 1991, p. 18 ; la citation sur le découragement est de Jean de Bernières-Louvigny, Le Chrétien intérieur, livre V, ch. 2, reprise dans le même ouvrage.
37Sainte Thérèse de l'Enfant-Jésus (1873-1897), Manuscrits autobiographiques, Manuscrit C, f. 2-3 (sur l'« ascenseur » de l'amour et la petite voie). Édition de référence : Œuvres complètes, Cerf / Desclée de Brouwer, 1992.
38Sœur Agnès de Jésus (Pauline Martin), sœur de sainte Thérèse de Lisieux, lettre à sa sœur Thérèse, 18-19 mars 1888, citée dans la correspondance familiale des Martin.
39Jésus, selon saint Charles de Foucauld (1858-1916), Écrits spirituels, J. de Gigord, 1937 (Huit jours à Éphrem), p. 127-128.
40Jésus, selon saint Charles de Foucauld, Écrits spirituels, J. de Gigord, 1937 (Huit jours à Éphrem), p. 133.
41 53Sainte Faustine Kowalska (1905-1938), Petit Journal, § 616. Édition de référence : éd. du Dialogue / Marie-Claire (Cracovie).
42Maria Simma (1915-2004), Premier cahier — Le Péché et la Confession, Rassemblement à Son Image, 2014, p. 4.
43Jésus à Luisa Piccarreta (1865-1947), Le Livre du Ciel, tome 3, 12 janvier 1900.
44Luisa Piccarreta, Le Livre du Ciel, tome 3, 12 janvier 1900.
45Litanie de l'humilité (Litany of Humility), prière traditionnellement attribuée au cardinal Rafael Merry del Val (1865-1930), secrétaire d'État de saint Pie X, qui la récitait après la messe. L'attribution précise reste discutée par les historiens, mais sa diffusion dans la dévotion catholique du XXᵉ siècle est solidement établie.
46Première lettre de saint Pierre 5, 5, traduction liturgique officielle (AELF). Le verset cite Proverbes 3, 34 (version grecque des Septante), repris aussi en Jacques 4, 6.
47Jésus à Luisa Piccarreta, Le Livre du Ciel, tome 3, 17 mars 1900.
48Saint Jean Chrysostome, dans Trop occupé pour t'occuper de ta vie ?, Cerf, 2015, p. 37 : l'humilité empêche de sentir la morsure des insultes.
49Jésus à Luisa Piccarreta, Le Livre du Ciel, tome 2, 23 avril 1899.
50Catéchisme de l'Église catholique, § 2559, « L'humilité est le fondement de la prière », citant saint Augustin : « L'homme est un mendiant de Dieu » (Sermon 56, 6, 9). Édition officielle française, Mame/Plon, 1992. Cf. aussi § 2540 et § 2631.
51Luisa Piccarreta, Le Livre du Ciel, tome 3, 12 janvier 1900.
52Évangile selon saint Matthieu 11, 29, traduction liturgique officielle (AELF). Seul passage de l'Évangile où le Christ propose explicitement de l'imiter — et c'est pour la douceur et l'humilité du cœur.
54Lettre de saint Paul aux Philippiens 2, 6-8 (hymne christologique de la kénose), traduction liturgique officielle (AELF). Le verbe grec ekénōsen (« il s'est vidé, anéanti ») a donné le terme théologique de kénose.
55Évangile selon saint Jean 13, 14-15 (lavement des pieds à la Cène), traduction liturgique officielle (AELF) : « C'est un exemple que je vous ai donné. »
56Évangile selon saint Luc 1, 48-52 (cantique du Magnificat), traduction liturgique officielle (AELF). Chanté chaque soir aux Vêpres dans la liturgie des Heures.
57Jésus à la vénérable sœur Consolata Betrone (1903-1946), Jésus parle au monde, Parvis, 1994, p. 21.
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