Many saints considered it the single greatest, in addition to love, and thus most important spiritual attribute.

Humility.

So critical, in fact, that a great Pontiff, Leo XIII, wrote an entire little booklet (The Practice of Humility: Sixty Lessons) about it.

Among others, he quoted Saint Jerome, whose brilliant insights we will likewise recite.

“He who knows that he is dust and ashes, and into dust must soon return, will never proudly exalt himself; and he who has pondered upon the eternity of God, and reflects upon that short space, or, so to speak, point of space, which constitutes human life, will ever keep death before his eyes, and be humble and lowly.

“For this corruptible body weighs down the soul, and our hearts, entangled with so many things, become depressed by this earthly tabernacle.

“Wherefore, let us say in all humility–‘Lord, my heart is not exalted, nor are my eyes lofty; neither have I walked in great matters, nor in wonderful things above me.’

“All true humility, then, is to be strongly sought, not so much in the words as in the mind, so that in the innermost conviction of our souls we should acknowledge ourselves to be nothing; nor ought we ever imagine ourselves either to know or to understand anything, or to be anything at all.”

Added Saint Basil, “My son, have a care above all things of humility, for this, of all virtues, is the most sublime, and the ladder whereby to reach the summit of perfection.”

[recommended: The Practice of Humility: Sixty Lessons]

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