Mortal sin first destroys sanctifying grace together with the habit of charity that is inseparable from it. Faith and hope may continue to exist in the soul, and if hope, too, departs, faith may remain alone. But the loss of faith invariably entails the destruction of hope and charity.
*Thesis II: Together with sanctifying grace there are also infused the supernatural moral virtues.
This proposition may be characterized as _sententia communior et probabilior_. Though denied by some theologians, it can claim a high degree of probability.(1119)
Proof. The infused moral virtues (_virtutes morales infusae_) differ from the theological virtues in that they have for their immediate formal object, not God Himself, but the creature in its relation to the moral law.
The moral virtues may be reduced to four, _viz._: prudence, justice, fortitude, and temperance. These are called the “cardinal” virtues; first, because they perfect the principal faculties of the soul; secondly, because all the other virtues may be scientifically deduced from them.(1120) In the supernatural order the infusion of the cardinal virtues and of the other virtues subordinate to them has for its object the government of intellect and will in their relation towards created things and the guidance of these faculties to their supernatural end.
a) The existence of supernaturally infused moral virtues is intimated in Wis. VIII, 7: “And if a man love justice: her labors have great virtues; for she teacheth temperance, and prudence, and justice, and fortitude, which are such things as men can have nothing more profitable in life.”(1121) The teacher of the three cardinal virtues here mentioned is “Divine Wisdom,” _i.e._ God Himself, and we may assume that He inculcates them by the same method which He employs in infusing the theological virtues of faith, hope, and charity.
Another relevant text is Ezechiel XI, 19 sq.: “... and I will take away the stony heart out of their flesh, and give them a heart of flesh, that they may walk in my commandments, and keep my judgments.”(1122) Here Yahweh promises to give the just men of the New Covenant a “heart of flesh” as opposed to the “stony heart” of the Jews. The meaning evidently is that a disposition to do good will be a characteristic of the New Testament Christians in contradistinction to the hardhearted Old Testament Jews. He who has a “heart of flesh” will walk in God’s commandments and keep His judgments. Hence “heart” signifies the sum-total of all those habits which impel and enable a man to lead a good life. Since it is God Himself who gives the “heart of flesh,” _i.e._ the moral virtues, it follows that they are supernaturally infused.(1123)