117. Vainglory: The Hunger to Be Seen and Praised

"Let us not be made desirous of vain glory, provoking one another, envying one another." - Galatians 5:26

Vainglory is the disordered desire that one's excellence be displayed, recognized, or praised. It is called vain when the honor sought rests upon what is false or passing, comes from judges whose approval should not govern the soul, or is desired without reference to God's glory and the duties of one's state.

Honor is not evil. Scripture commands honor where honor is due, and a superior may properly commend good conduct so that virtue is strengthened and others are encouraged. The evil begins when praise becomes the end: the soul performs goodness before an audience, measures fidelity by notice, and loses appetite for duties that remain hidden.

Pride and vainglory are closely joined but not identical. Pride seeks inordinate excellence or independence. Vainglory seeks the manifestation of excellence before others. Pride says, "I will be above"; vainglory asks that this supposed elevation be seen and acknowledged.

For this reason, vainglory can survive even in apparent humility. A man may speak constantly of his faults so that others contradict him, choose visible austerities, cultivate the appearance of learning, or make public controversy a theater for himself. The matter may be religious while the appetite remains directed toward self-display.

St. Thomas teaches that glory signifies the public recognition of some excellence. Its desire can be ordered when the excellence is real, when the judgment belongs to those competent to judge, and when the honor is referred to God or to the genuine good of one's neighbor. A father may desire the confidence necessary to govern his home; a teacher may preserve a good name for the sake of his office; a Catholic may defend a saint's reputation against calumny.

This is different from craving applause. A good name is a means that may serve truth and duty. Vainglory makes reputation an end and therefore tempts a person to compromise truth whenever fidelity costs admiration.

The traditional moral analysis recognizes vainglory as a fertile root. It gives rise to boasting, hypocrisy, contentiousness, obstinacy, disobedience, discord, and the restless pursuit of novelty. These faults grow from one need: the self must appear excellent and must not be eclipsed, corrected, or forgotten.

Its common signs include:

• telling a good deed chiefly so that it will be known;
• exaggerating knowledge, sacrifice, suffering, or influence;
• losing zeal when a duty brings no recognition;
• resenting another who receives deserved praise;
• changing convictions to preserve an audience;
• preferring conspicuous works to hidden obligations;
• using religious language to construct a public identity.

Social media can intensify the temptation, but it did not create it. Vainglory flourished wherever fallen men could perform before one another. The instrument changes; the appetite for witnesses remains.

Our Lord warns against alms, prayer, and fasting done to be seen by men. The acts themselves are holy; the corrupted intention empties them of their heavenly reward. Religious vainglory is therefore especially perilous because it feeds upon sacred things and may persuade the soul that attention received for devotion is proof of devotion.

The defense of the Faith is not exempt. A man may oppose real error yet secretly love victory, notoriety, or the humiliation of an adversary. Hatred of heresy must remain hatred of falsehood for the honor of God and the rescue of souls. When the defender cannot bear correction, delights in personal combat, or neglects his duties to remain before an audience, vainglory has entered the battle.

Vainglory is opposed by humility, truth, and purity of intention. Its practical remedies are deliberately quiet:

• perform some good works known only to God;
• omit needless mention of personal sacrifices;
• receive praise courteously, then return the good to God;
• accept being overlooked when justice does not require speech;
• praise another's genuine good without redirecting attention to oneself;
• examine whether the same duty would be done if no one knew;
• remember how quickly human approval changes and how perfectly God judges.

Hiddenness is not refusal to witness. Some duties are public. The remedy is to stand before men because duty requires it while keeping the heart before God alone.

Vainglory makes the eyes of other men into a tribunal. It turns works of virtue into performances and leaves the soul dependent upon praise that cannot give eternal life. Its defeat begins when the pilgrim consents to be known truthfully by God, to work without applause, and to let every legitimate honor pass through him toward the Author of every gift.

See also Purity of Intention Against Vanity, Pride: The Beginning of Sin, Human Respect and the Fear of Man, and Vanity in Conversation and Social Media.