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 HERODIAS

292

HEROIO

Herodias (Gr., 'UpaSla!), daughter of Aristobulus — son of Herod the Great and Mariamne — was a de- scendant of the famous Hasmonean heroes, the Machabees, who had done so much for the Jewish nation. Having married Herod Philip, her own uncle, by whom she had a daughter, Salome, Herodias longed for social distinction, and accordingly left her husband and entered into an adulterous union with Herod Antipas, Tetrarch of Galilee, who was also her uncle (Jos., Ant., XVIII, v, 1, 4). St. John the Bap- tist rebuked Antipas for this union and thus aroused the hatred of Herodias, who by the dance of her daughter brought about the death of the prophet (Matt., xiv, 3-12; Mark, vi, 17-29). Josephus gives the main facts, but adds that John was put to death because Herod feared his influence over the people (.\nt., XVIII, V, 2, 4). Schiirer admits that here both the Evangelists and Josephus may be right; since all the motives mentioned may have urged Herod to imprison and murder John [Hist. (Eng. tr.) Div. I, V, ii, 25].

When Agrippa, the brother of Herodias became king, she persuaded Antipas to go to Rome in search of the royal title, as his claim to it was far greater than that of her brother. Instead of a crown, however, he found awaiting him a charge of treason against the Romans, with Agrippa as chief accuser, who in ad- vance had sent messengers to defeat the ambitious plans of Antipas. He was therefore banished to Lyons in Gaul. At the same time Herodias, spuming the kind offers of the emperor, preferred exile with Antipas to a life of splendour in the palace of her brother Agrippa (Jos., Ant., XVIII, vii). This gen- erosity, if we may so style it, came from her Hasmo- nean blood, but her cruelty she inherited from her grandfather Herod (see Herod under Antipas).

Josephus, Ant., XVIII, v, vii; Idem, de BeU. jud., I, xxviii, II, ix; also authorities mentioned under Hekod.

John J. Tiernet.

Heroic Act of Charity. — A decree of the Sacred Congregation of Indulgences dated 18 Dec, 1885, and confirmed the following day by Leo XIII, says: "The Heroic Act of Charity in favour of the souls detained in purgatory consists in this, that a member of the Church militant (Christifidelis), either using a set formula or simply by an act of his will, offers to God for the souls in purgatory all the satisfactory works which he will perform during his lifetime, and also all the suffrages which may accrue to him after his death. Many Christians devoted to the B. V. Mary, acting on the advice of the Theatine Regular Cleric Father Caspar Olider, of blessed memory, make it a practice to deposit the said merits and suffrages as it were into the hands of the Bl. Virgin that she may distribute these favours to the souls in Purgatory according to her own merciful pleasure". Olider lived at the be- ginning of the eighteenth century.

The Heroic Act is often called a vow, yet it partakes more of the nature of an offering made to God and to Mary, and it is also, unlike a vow, revocable at will. This point has been decided by the S. C. Indulg., 20 Feb., 1907, in answer to a question from Chicoutimi in Canada. A special vow " never to revoke the Act" would probably be binding, because its subject matter is an act of the personal will of which man can freely dispose, whereas he has not the disposal of his satisfactory works in favour of the departed; that depends on God ; for man it is only a matter of pious desire, and only in this sense a votum. It always remains doubtful to what extent (iod accepts the oblation, anfl it is certain that the holy souls alto- gether lack the power of accepting it. The practice of the Heroic Act is based on the communion of saints, in virtue of which the good deeds of one mem- ber of Christ's body benefit all other members. Its meritoriousness results from the more intense charity

(love of God and His suffering friends) which inspires it, and on which the intrinsic perfection of all our good deeds depends. Its heroicity arises from the willing- ness it involves to take upon one's self the dreadful pains of purgatory for the love of one's [neighbour, although there remains the reasonable hope that God in His goodness, and the sainted souls in their gratitude, will not allow the punishment to be exacted to the full. The Heroic Act has been enriched with numerous indulgences by Benedict XIII (1728), Pius VI (1788), and Pius IX (1852). Priests who make it receive the •personal privilege of gaining a plenary indulgence for a soul of their choice each time they say Mass (see Altar, under Privileged Altar). Laymen gain a similar indulgence each time they receive Holy Com- munion, also each Monday they hear Mass for the departed; in both cases the usual visit to a church and prayers for the intention of the pope are required.

J. WiLHELM.

Heroic Virtue. — The notion of heroicity is de- rived from hero, originally a warrior, a demigod; hence it connotes a degree of bravery, fame, and dis- tinction which places a man high above his fellows. St. Augustine first applied the pagan title of hero to the Christian martyrs; since then the custom has prevailed of bestowing it not only on martyrs, but on all confessors whose virtues and good works greatly outdistance those of ordinary good people. Bene- dict XIV, whose chapters on heroic virtue are classical, thus describes heroicity: "In order to be heroic a Christian virtue must enal)le its owner to perform virtuous actions with uncommon promptitude, ease, and pleasure, from supernatural motives and without human reasoning, with self-abnegation and full con- trol over his natural inclinations." An heroic virtue, then, is a habit of good conduct that has become a second nature, a new motive power stronger than all corresponding inborn inclinations, capable of render- ing easy a series of acts each of which, for the ordinary man, would be beset with very great, if not insur- mountable, difficulties.

Such a degree of virtue belongs only to souls already purified from all attachment to things worldly, and solidly anchored in the love of Ciod. St. Thomas (I- II, Q. Ixi, a. 4) says: "Virtue consists in the following, or imitation, of God. Every virtue, like every other thing, has its tj^ae [exemplar] in God. Thus the Divine mind itself is the tj-pc of prudence; God using all things to minister to His glory is the type of tem- perance, by which man subjects his lower appetites to reason; justice is typified by God's application of the eternal law to all His works; Divine immutability is the type of fortitude. .\nd, since it is man's nature to live in socictj^ the four cardinal virtues are social [politieo'] virtues, inasmuch as by them man rightly ordains his conduct in flaily life. Man, however, must raise himself beyond his natural life unto a life Divine: 'Be you therefore perfect, as also your heavenly Father is perfect' (Matt., v, 48). It is, therefore, necessary to posit certain virtues mi<Kvay lictwecn the social virtues, which are human, and the exemplary virtues, which are Divine. These intermediate virtues are of two degrees of perfection: the lesser in the soul still struggling upwards from a life of sin to a likeness with God^these are called purifying virtues [virtuies purgatoriie]; the greater in the souls which have al- ready attained to the Divine likeness — these are called virtues of the purified soul [virtutes jam pxirgnli animi]. In the lesser degree, prudence, moved liy the contem- plation of things Divine, despises all things earthly and directs all the soul's thought unto God alone; tem- perance relinquishes, as tar as nature allows, the things required for bodily wants; fortitude removes the fear of departing this life and facing the life bej'ond; justice approves of the aforesaid dispositions. In the higher perfection of souls already purified and finnly

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