The Virtue of Modesty is a Matter of the Heart

A Note on Modesty: Dead Sound Against Living Voice

Notice what Jocularity claims for herself: the air God created “carries pleasant sounds” to her and brings forth flowers she feeds her eyes on (Liber Vitae Meritorum, Part 1, Section 5, Para. 14, trans. Hozeski). Those aren’t just any flowers — they’re flowers of greenness, viriditas again, the same claim we’ve traced since Week One, now reaching for the eye’s delight rather than the hand’s grasping.

Jocularity makes a dead sound, made by the hand of man. The contrast St. Hildegard draws isn’t loud against quiet, or noise against song — it’s death against life (Liber Vitae Meritorum, Part 1, Section 6, Paragraph 15, Latin ed. Pitra). Modesty confirms this herself moments later, when she says: “I am alive with the heavenly virtues” (Liber Vitae Meritorum, Part 1, Section 6, Para. 15, trans. Hozeski). Jocularity’s dead sound against Modesty’s living voice reinforces our understanding of viriditas vs ariditas, true greeness of the Holy Spirit living in us versus the barrenness of Jocularity’s sound, which is arid and lacks life-giving greenness.

Reflection:

Saint Hildegard of Bingen frames this week’s spiritual battle as a war between the vice of Jesting (Joculatrix)/Jocularity (Scurrilitas) and the virtue of Modesty (Verecundia). Many people today in the modern world completely misunderstand modesty—reducing it to an uptight fashion dress code—true modesty is a deep matter of the heart. It isn’t just about what you wear; it is about protecting your inner dignity and checking your ego before it takes over your life. St. Hildegard envisions this vice with a hooked nose and a hunched, animal posture—hands like a bear’s, feet like a griffin’s—dressed in pale cloth that hides black hair underneath. It’s a costume of innocence over something else entirely (Liber Vitae Meritorum, Part 1 Section 5, Para. 14, trans. Hozeski).

The Real Battle: Ego vs. Authentic Dignity

We easily slip into jocularity when we let our guard down for the sake of “fun.” As St. Paul warns in Ephesians 5:4, we should have “no obscenity or silly or suggestive talk, which is out of place, but instead, thanksgiving.” When we resort to offensive humor or double meanings just to get a laugh, we are appealing to our lowest instincts. This constant craving to be the center of attention usually comes from a place of insecurity—and it feeds our ego while stripping away our dignity.

True modesty (Verecundia) is the ultimate antidote because it checks that pride. It’s not just about a dress code; it is a quiet, God-first mentality where you recognize Christ living inside your heart. When your self-worth is anchored in God, you stop needing to show off, pass inappropriate comments, or dress to impress a broken culture. A truly modest person has too much respect for themselves—and for the souls around them—to treat anyone like a cheap object for consumption.

When we choose to speak, act, and dress inappropriately to impress others it’s a sin against charity. The lack of modesty is rooted in vanity, a form of self-pride. St. Hildegard doesn’t just call Jesting foolish—she calls him noisy. Unlike the faithful who sound like a loud trumpet in every kind of music, Jesting can’t sing at all. In Liber Vitae Meritorum, Shyness tells Jesting he makes a dead sound (Liber Vitae Meritorum, Part 1, Section 6, Para. 15, Latin ed. Pitra).

Modesty is rooted in humility, the queen of all virtues (Ordo Virtutum, Humilitas, p. 2, trans. Dronke), Modesty is how you comport yourself around people in public situations; it has to do with having dignity for yourself and everyone you meet at all times. The virtue of modesty is a God-first mentality where you recognize Christ within your heart and this love makes you abstain from speech, dress, and behaviors that would not dignify yourself, those in your company, or Christ. 

A truly modest person is humble. He dresses in a way that honors his body and is not attention-seeking. A modest person does not engage in low-brow conversations or speech that objectifies others. He also does not desire praise or attention from others or special treatment due to his status and wealth. Such a soul has a heart for God and humbly acknowledges his body, talents, and status as gifts that should be used for God’s glory, and not for self promotion.

Why is Our Speech and Behavior Important?

St. Hildegard doesn’t treat the Vice of Jocularity as something that starts big. In her Liber Vitae Meritorum, the vice paired with Modesty isn’t named fornication at all—it’s Jesting, pictured as a restless figure who insists that life is for play, not seriousness, and who can’t bear to be thought sad or boring (Liber Vitae Meritorum, Part 1, Section 5, Para. 14, trans. Hozeski). That’s the seed; it looks harmless. It’s just a joke, just a little inappropriate attention, it’s just provoking you to let your guard down for fun. 

But St. Hildegard never lets the seed stay separate from the fruit. In Scivias, she shows us where that restlessness ends up if it’s never disciplined: Modesty has to guard “the face of the soul” specifically against fornication and the pull of vanity. The seed of playfulness sprouts into the temptation of fornication (Book 3, Vision 3, Chapter 7, trans. Hart/Bishop). And in her play Ordo Virtutum, Modesty describes her own work in the broadest terms possible—her purpose is to cover over, drive away, and tread down “all the filths of the Devil” (Ordo Virtutum, Verecundia, p. 4, trans. Dronke). So St. Hildegard draws a more complete picture of the vice opposing Modesty through three different books, using three different angles. In all her writings on the vice opposing Modesty there is one thing in common: Modesty stands guard at every point along the same road, from the first inappropriate joke that crosses a boundary, to the deeper vanity and immodesty it can grow into, to the act of fornication, the filths of the devil, that grows out of such seeds. 

If we look at the vice of jocularity we might only see it as a relaxed, anything-goes, light-hearted attitude about situations. We let our guard down. We pass inappropriate jokes, comments, and suggestions. We seek attention and we tempt others in ways that might harm our dignity and theirs. Because we are doing it for “fun” it all seems harmless. But if we look at what these little seeds can eventually grow into, we clearly see that our harmless jokes are not so harmless, and our need for attention may eventually put us in a more serious situation that we may not have initially seen coming. We are growing vanity and immodesty when we constantly jest, and this will grow into more serious sins because it normalizes the dehumanization of people we joke about, or are trying to manipulate.  

Jocularity forms division and it leads us to other more serious sins because it normalizes the dehumanization of the people we joke about, or are trying to manipulate. Jocularity is used to convince others to let their guard down and give in to something when they otherwise would not. 

Sometimes our words will lead to crossing boundaries, and when we are in the bad habit of regularly crossing boundaries, we begin to lose the trust of our family, friends, and co-workers. People get tired of the jokes and innuendos, the self-seeking behaviors that are not dignified, and how jocular people make them feel about themselves. 

You’ll meet this restless, jesting spirit again in Week 31, transformed. There, it’s no longer one person’s undisciplined joke—it’s Scurrility, the same flippant refusal to take sacred things seriously, now working at the level of a whole community rather that in just the individual soul. What starts here in Week 3 as a private struggle to guard your own dignity becomes, in Part 5, a warning about what happens when an entire culture stops taking anything seriously at all—and St. Hildegard shows us exactly where that road leads: not to modesty’s collapse, but to aimlessness itself.

Being Renewed in Christ through Virtue of Modesty

The virtue of modesty heals this vice and transforms us into a true imitator of Christ. In Scripture, Jesus showed dignity and true selfless charity toward people from all walks of life. Jesus modeled modesty through his perfect humility. 

Reflect on your own life and the ways you have lacked the virtue of modesty. Ask God to give you discernment. As you pray in silence listen to your conscience and allow the Lord to speak to your heart about how you should behave and dress, now.

Modesty is not just about how you dress. While it is prudent to dress in a way that doesn’t cause others to objectify your body, you could fully cover your body and still not be modest. If you have a hard heart full of conceit toward others, this is not a true picture of the virtue of modesty. If you lack charity then you lack true modesty. If you lack humility as well, then you lack modesty.

When we lack modesty it puts us in tempting situations where we could more easily fall into sin.  If you want to please God and be virtuous, pray from your heart and be confident that God will guide your conscience on how you should practice modesty in your life. Remember it’s about your heart and your intentions.   

“Your adornment should not be an external one: braiding the hair, wearing gold jewelry, or dressing in fine clothes, but rather the hidden character of the heart, expressed in the imperishable beauty of a gentle and calm disposition, which is precious in the sight of God” (1 Peter 3:3-4).

Shielding the Face of the Soul:

Take a moment to pause, drop your defensive walls, and settle into the absolute, healing stillness of this adoration chapel. The spirit of vanity and luxury is a deceptive, exhausting trap—a restless hunger for worldly validation, provocative self-display, and constant attention to soothe hidden feelings of shame or inadequacy. When we manipulate how others view us to feed our ego, we compromise our interior innocence and cheapen our true identity. Before we open the Word of God, let us offer up a sincere prayer of petition—asking for the profound humility to stop seeking human applause, guard our conscience, and wrap our souls in authentic modesty.