Catholic Candle note: The article below is part seventeen of the study of the Choleric temperament. The first sixteen parts can be found here:

1. Mary’s School of Sanctity – Lesson #36: About the Temperaments – Beginning our Study of the Choleric Temperament – Part I: https://catholiccandle.org/2024/08/27/lesson-35-about-the-temperaments-the-choleric-temperament/
   

2. Mary’s School of Sanctity – Lesson #37: About the Temperaments – Continuing Our Study of the Choleric Temperament– Part II: https://catholiccandle.org/2024/09/26/lesson-37-about-the-temperaments-continuation-of-the-choleric-temperament/
   

3. Mary’s School of Sanctity – Lesson #38: About the Temperaments – Continuing our Study of the Choleric Temperament – Their Spiritual Combat – Part III: https://catholiccandle.org/2024/10/24/lesson-38-temperaments-choleric-temperament-their-spiritual-combat/
   

4. Mary’s School of Sanctity – Lesson #39: About the Temperaments – Continuing Our Study of the Choleric Temperament – That Temperament’s Spiritual Combat – Part IV: https://catholiccandle.org/2024/11/26/lesson-39-temperaments-choleric-temperament-their-spiritual-combat-part-iv/
   

5. Mary’s School of Sanctity – Lesson #40: Temperaments – Choleric Temperament – Their Spiritual Combat – Part V: https://catholiccandle.org/2024/12/30/lesson-40-temperaments-choleric-temperament-their-spiritual-combat-part-v/
   

6. Mary’s School of Sanctity – Lesson #41: About the Temperaments – Continuing Our Study of the Choleric Temperament: a Choleric’s Spiritual Combat — Part VI: https://catholiccandle.org/2025/01/27/lesson-41-temperaments-choleric-temperament-a-cholerics-spiritual-combat-part-vi/
   

7. Mary’s School of Sanctity – Lesson #42: About the Temperaments – Continuing Our Study of the Choleric Temperament – a Choleric’s Spiritual Combat – Part VII: https://catholiccandle.org/2025/02/21/lesson-42-temperaments-choleric-temperament-a-cholerics-spiritual-combat-part-vii/
   

8. Mary’s School of Sanctity — Lesson #43: About the Temperaments –Continuing Our Study of the Choleric Temperament — Their Spiritual Combat Part VIII: https://catholiccandle.org/2025/03/27/lesson-42-temperaments-choleric-temperament-a-cholerics-spiritual-combat-part-viii/
   

9. Mary’s School of Sanctity – Lesson #44: About the Temperaments – Continuing Our Study of the Choleric Temperament – Their Spiritual Combat, Part IX: https://catholiccandle.org/2025/04/23/lesson-44-temperaments-choleric-temperament-a-cholerics-spiritual-combat-part-ix/
   

10. Mary’s School of Sanctity – Lesson #45: About the Temperaments – Continuing Our Study of the Choleric Temperament – The Choleric’s Spiritual Combat Part X: https://catholiccandle.org/2025/05/20/lesson-45-temperaments-choleric-temperament-a-cholerics-spiritual-combat-part-x/
    

11. Mary’s School of Sanctity – Lesson #46: About the Temperaments – Continuing Our Study of the Choleric Temperament – The Cholerics’ Spiritual Combat – Part XI: https://catholiccandle.org/2025/06/28/lesson-46-temperaments-choleric-temperament-a-cholerics-spiritual-combat-part-xi/
    

12. Mary’s School of Sanctity – Lesson #47: About the Temperaments – Continuing Our Study of the Choleric Temperament – The Choleric’s Spiritual Combat – Part XII: https://catholiccandle.org/2025/07/24/lesson-47-temperaments-choleric-temperament-a-cholerics-spiritual-combat-part-xii/
    

13. Mary’s School of Sanctity – Lesson #48: About the Temperaments – Continuing Our Study of the Choleric Temperament – The Choleric’s Spiritual Combat Part XIII: https://catholiccandle.org/2025/08/29/lesson-48-temperaments-choleric-temperament-a-cholerics-spiritual-combat-part-xiii/
    

14. Mary’s School of Sanctity — Lesson #49: About the Temperaments – Continuing Our Study of the Choleric Temperament – The Choleric’s Spiritual Combat Part XIV: https://catholiccandle.org/2025/09/24/lesson-49-temperaments-choleric-temperament-the-cholerics-spiritual-combat-part-xiv/

15. Mary’s School of Sanctity — Lesson #50: About the Temperaments – Continuing Our Study of the Choleric Temperament – The Choleric’s Spiritual Combat Part XV: https://catholiccandle.org/2025/10/26/3050/

16. Mary’s School of Sanctity — Lesson #51: About the Temperaments – Continuing Our Study of the Choleric Temperament – The Cholerics’ Spiritual Combat Part XVI: https://catholiccandle.org/2025/11/25/lesson-51-temperaments-choleric-temperament-the-cholerics-spiritual-combat-part-xvi/
    

Mary’s School of Sanctity

Lesson #52 – About the Temperaments – Continuing Our Study of the Choleric Temperament – The Choleric’s Spiritual Combat Part XVII: the Objects of Fear¹

Note: In this article, when referring to a person with a choleric temperament, we will simply refer to him as a “choleric”.

Now that we have examined the types of fear,² let’s now consider with St. Thomas the object of fear – which logically comes next. The object of fear is simply what we fear. But there is a lot to be said about this!

Humans of all temperaments are afflicted with fear. All of us have felt fear. But have we ever stopped to ponder deeply what it is that we fear? Again we have the blessing of St. Thomas’ guidance when answering this question.

St. Thomas probes all subjects deeply and takes each one to its foundation, so when inquiring about the object of fear he begins by asking the question, Whether the Object of Fear is Good or Evil?

As always, St. Thomas examines this question humbly and methodically. He does not assume that the great thinkers who preceded him cannot help him with the inquiry. As with other inquiries, St. Thomas searches what the Fathers and Doctors of the Church teach on this question.

First, he informs us that St. John Damascene, Doctor of the Church, teaches that, “Fear is of a future evil.”³

St. Thomas explains how fear works in the soul

St. Thomas explains that fear is a movement of the appetitive power. By “appetitive power”, he means the power of the soul by which it desires.

There are three types of appetitive powers:

• The natural appetite – which seeks what is suitable according to nature. An example of this is a tree naturally seeking the sunlight and so a tree which is always in the deep shade of other trees will grow sideways in order to obtain un-shaded sunlight;
  

• The sensitive appetite – which seeks what is desirable in relation to the power of sensation of a man’s (or other animal’s) soul. One example of a sensitive appetite is an animal’s hunger for food; and
  

• The intellectual (or rational) appetite – otherwise known as the will. This appetite desires the good known by the intellect in a way analogous to the sensitive appetite desiring the good which is sensed by man or another animal.

St. Thomas explains what is involved with this appetitive movement in the soul. Here are his words:

It belongs to this [viz., appetitive] power to:

• Pursue the good. Consequently, whatever movement of the appetitive power that implies pursuit, has some good for its object; and
  

• Avoid the evil. Consequently, whatever movement implies avoidance, has, for its object, some evil.

However, fear can regard good also, in so far as referable to evil. This can be in two ways.

1. Inasmuch as an evil causes privation of a good. A thing is evil from the very fact that the evil thing is a privation of some good. Wherefore, since evil is shunned because it is evil, it follows that evil is shunned because it deprives a person of a good that one pursues through love. St. Augustine explains that there is no cause for fear except the loss of a good that we love; and
   

2. Good can be related to evil as its cause in a way: viz., in so far as some good can, by its power, bring harm to another good that we love. And so, fear regards things in two ways, namely,

1. The evil from which it shrinks; and

2. That good which by its power can inflict that evil [on us]. In this way God is feared by man [although God is All-Good], inasmuch as He can inflict punishment, spiritual or corporal. In this way, too, we fear the power of man; especially when the power of the man has been thwarted, or when the power of the man is unjust because then that power is more likely to do us harm.

In like manner one fears a person who is over him or that has the power to do him harm. Thus, a man fears another who knows him to be guilty of a crime, lest he reveal the crime to others.⁴

Therefore, we can see that the passion of fear is a good thing when it is used properly – when we fear the appropriate things, e.g., when we fear sin or anything that displeases God, and when we fear something else which is truly harmful and so this fear can help us to avoid the evil. By contrast, when we fear inordinately, that is, irrationally in any way, then we are not using fear as God intended.

We must remember that God created the passions in us and they are good. But we must use fear (and the other passions) correctly because fear (and all things created by God) can be abused, resulting in sin and chaos in our lives.

If we reflect well, we see that there are many things that we are accustomed to fear. But we must learn to distinguish – by using our reason – exactly what is appropriate for us to fear and what is not.

A Preview …

In our next lesson we will continue our study of the objects of fear. We will discuss what St. Thomas calls the evil of nature – viz., things that cause pain and/or death, and how it is that man fears these. We will also make some practical considerations concerning how we should handle our fears.