Catholic Candle note: We apologize for our editing error of misnumbering the last Lesson in Mary’s School of Sanctity. It should have been numbered #36.

In the article below, the word “choleric” is used both as an adjective to refer to a particular one of the temperaments and also as a noun referring to a person with that temperament.

Mary’s School of Sanctity

Lesson #37: About the Temperaments – Continuing Our Study of the Choleric Temperament

In our last lesson we briefly described the general strengths of a choleric of good will. We must recall how we explained that if a person with a choleric temperament doesn’t guard himself and strive to love God, he can easily slip into the weaknesses of his temperament. In our last lesson we listed the weaknesses as follows:

Weaknesses of the Choleric Temperament:

• Hardness

• Nurtures hatred and desires revenge

• Obstinacy

• Insensibility

• Anger

• Pride (includes over-confidence; unreasonably criticizing others; and excessive competitiveness)

• Ambition

• Violence, cruelty, and arrogance upon meeting with resistance

• Lack of delicacy of feeling, insensitive to the feelings of others

• Coldness

• Indifference

• Impetuosity

Let us take the time now to explain these weaknesses. We can see that some of the weaknesses listed here can be linked together. Indeed, hardness, insensibility, and coldness seem to be closely related to each other. Since the choleric has good powers of concentration and lots of determination, he can show hardness of heart and coldness. Hence, he is insensible to the feelings and/or the needs of others. Thus, he appears to go full steam ahead without regard for others. People view the choleric as someone who bulldozes his way along in order to get to his goals. He does not make it a priority to put himself in the “shoes” of another and so he has a one-track mind.

Obstinacy –– The choleric with bad will is seen as being “bull-headed” and stubborn because he is so resolute in getting his way. He lets nothing stop him.

Indifference — Because of his stubbornness, the choleric comes across as being completely indifferent to obstacles. In fact, he doesn’t consider anything as a legitimate obstacle. In his view, all opposition is unreasonable and must be overcome at any cost.

Again, we can see that due to the fact that he allows no opposition, he shows the weaknesses of violence, cruelty, and arrogance upon meeting resistance. People tend to cower in his presence and get out of his way, so this headstrong choleric readily acts like a bully and usually gets his way.

Yet, if anyone resists him, he tends to nurture hatred and a desire for revenge. Furthermore, it is not uncommon for a choleric to harbor long-lasting grudges.

Now let us look at the remaining weaknesses from our list and see how they connect with the choleric being swept away in his determination to gets what he wants.

Anger – Anger, one of the irascible passions found in the soul, has been commonly associated with the person of the choleric temperament. St. Thomas Aquinas explains that the objects of the irascible passions are good and evil in a certain elevation or arduousness. (Summa Theologica I-II Q.46, article 3 Respondeo). The choleric certainly tends to see his goal as extremely important so it makes sense that he would be easily provoked to anger.

Furthermore, St. Thomas tells us that “the fervor of anger has a certain bitterness with a tendency to destroy for it seeks to be avenged on the contrary evil: whence it is likened to the heat of fire and of the bile, and for this reason [St. John] Damascene says (in his work on the Faith¹ Bk II, 16) that it [anger] ‘results from an exhalation of the bile whence it takes its name chole’ ” (Summa Theologica I-II Q.48, article 2 Reply to Objection #1, bracketed words added). So, we see the name choleric comes from this exhalation of bile. Since, as we have said, the very extraverted choleric temperament has its actual name ascribed to it because of this inclination toward anger.

Pride – The choleric is such an external type of person it naturally follows that when he is bent on the wrong path and not desiring the good of his soul as he ought, he is prone to an extreme pride. He easily convinces himself that he is right and that anyone who does not think like him must be wrong. He asserts his will on everyone and expects everyone to see his importance and/or the importance of his wishes.

He is often over-confident and believes he has knowledge of something about which he is often misinformed or clueless. He boldly asserts things and “puts his foot in his mouth” (as the expression goes).

The choleric is very prone to criticize others. He might even seem to make being critical his hobby. As is typical with our fallen human nature, when we find fault with our neighbor it is often the case that we do not try to see our own failings. In this way we assuage our consciences telling ourselves that we are not as bad as someone else is.

Another classic form of pride for the choleric is his excessive competitiveness. Again, because he wants to be noticed as excelling, he thrives on “proving” how skilled or great he is in some field.

This brings us to the next weakness on our list, ambition.

Ambition—Webster’s dictionary defines ambition as an ardent desire for rank, fame, or power. (A Merriam-Webster © 1975)

When a choleric does not have his salvation as his highest priority, he can easily get distracted by the temptation to seek fame and power. The choleric is often given the label of “control freak”. This means that the choleric has an intense desire to be in charge which can grow to such an extent that he appears to want to always be in command of everything.

Impetuosity— The word impetuosity comes from the word impetuous which in turn comes from impetus. Impetus means: 1) marked by force and violence of movement or action; and 2) marked by impulsive vehemence or passion. (A Merriam-Webster Dictionary ©1975).

Once again, the choleric, not guarding himself from acting unreasonably, often acts abruptly without careful deliberation.

A Preview …

In our next lesson we will investigate more about the spiritual struggles a choleric may have, especially if he has made little progress in knowing his weaknesses and combating them. We will discuss the weaknesses in greater length and see how they intermingle with each other. In this manner we can gain knowledge of the common snares the devil uses on the choleric and can form strategies on how to counteract those snares.