natural union of the creature with God the deification of the creature. This is a favourite expression of St. Irenæus ("Adv. Hær.", III, xvii, xix; IV, xx, etc.), and is frequently used by St. Athanasius (see Newman, "St. Athanasius", II, 88). See also St. Augustine (? Serm. exci, “In Nat. Dom."), quoted by St. Thomas (III, Q. i, a. 3).
In order to live worthy of our Divine dignity and to attain our Divine end, we stand in need of supernatural aid. This supernatural aid to a supernatural end is called grace (q.v.). For our present purpose it will be sufficient to note that grace is either habitual (i.e. sanctifying, making us pleasing to God) or actual (i.e. enabling us to produce works deserving of salvation). There are other aids sometimes bestowed less for our own benefit than for the benefit of others. These are called gratiæ gratis date (charismata, q.v.). They do not directly and immediately help to the attainment of our end, but assist as it were from without. The theological virtues and the moral virtues are graces properly so called. So, too, are the gifts of the Holy Ghost (see HOLY GHOST).
It may be well here to say a few words on the preter-natural (relatively supernatural) gifts bestowed on our first parents, which are sometimes confused with the supernatural gifts properly so called. In the beginning God exempted man from the inherent weakness of his nature, i.e. the infirmities of the flesh and the consequent infirmities of the spirit. He made man immortal, impassible, free from concupiscence and ignorance, sinless, and lord of the earth. These privileges are beyond man's nature, but not beyond that of some higher creature (e. g. the angels); hence they are preternatural (præter naturam). The Fathers look upon them as a glorification of nature, applying the words of Ps. viii, 5-9. In point of fact these gifts were not conferred apart from the supernatural gifts; a preternatural state is, however, conceivable, and the separability of the two sets of gifts is clear from our now possessing the supernatural without the preter-natural gifts. "Although distinct and separable, yet integrity and grace, when bestowed together, unite into one harmonious and organic whole. The Fathers look upon this union in the original state of man as an anticipation of his state of final beatitude in the vision of God, so that grace bears to integrity the same relation which the future glory of the soul bears to the future glory of the body. Integrity and grace, when combined, elevate man to the most perfect likeness with God attainable in this life; they dispose and prepare him for the still more complete likeness of eternal life."
Ripalda, De Ente Supernaturali, lib. I, disp. i (Paris, 1871); Schrader, De Triplici Ordine (Vienna, 1864); Palmieri, ' De Gratiâ (Gulpen, 1885); Wilhelm and Scannell, Manual of Catholic Theology, I, 428 sqq. (3rd ed., London, 1906); Scheeben, Handbuch der Katholischen Dogmatik, II, 240 sqq.: Ullathorne, The Endowments of Man (3rd ed., London, 1888); and the various works mentioned in the articles referred to in the text.
T. B. Scannell.
Gift of Constantine. See Donation of Constantine.
Gift of Tongues. See Tongues, Gift of.
Gifts of the Holy Ghost. See Holy Ghost.
Gilbert, Nicolas-Joseph-Laurent, poet, b. at Fontenoy-le-Château, 1751; d. at Paris, 12 November, 1780. His parents were poor farmers. He pursued his studies at the Collège de l'Are at Dôle, where the professor of literature boasted of having made poets of all his pupils except Gilbert. Upon leaving college in 1769, he settled at Nancy and tried to open a public course in literature. In 1772 he competed unsuccessfully for a prize at the French Academy. In 1774 he went to Paris, where Fréron won for him the favour of the archbishop. Young and unknown, he had the courage to oppose the triumphant and all-powerful chiefs of the philosophical party. Although there is a little juvenile audacity in the fury of his attacks, the sincerity of his religious convictions cannot be doubted. He died of brain fever caused by a fall from his horse. His enemies reported that he died insane; his partisans claimed that he died in misery at the hospital. Neither report is true. After the accident which caused his death, he was taken to the Hôtel-Dieu, but was soon removed to his own house, where he died. The story of his poverty is untrue, for at the time of his death he was drawing three pensions, which constituted for that time a rather large income. Gilbert's works consist of a Persian novel, "Les familles de Darius et d'Eridame" (Paris, 1770), a satire in prose, "Le carnaval des auteurs" (Paris, 1773), a few odes, and satires. Three pieces, one ode and two satires, have given him a lasting reputation: the "Ode imitée de plusieurs psaumes" (1788), usually known under the title of "Adieux à la vie”, struck the first personal and melancholy notes which were the characteristic of the Romantic school; in the satires "Le dix-huitième siècle" (1775) and "Mon apologie" (1778) there is a force, movement, and eloquence which one does not find elsewhere in the poetry of that time. He vigorously opposes the manners of the time and castigates the philosophers and the Academy. His words are those of a man who writes with freedom, emotion, and sincerity, though his style is not always equal to the thought.
Petit de Julleville, Histoire de la langue et de la littérature françaises (Paris, 1898). VI; Gidel, Histoire de la littérature française (Paris, 1898), III.
Louis N. Delamarre.
Gilbert, Sir John Thomas, Irish archivist and historian, b. in Dublin, 23 January, 1829; d. there, 23 May, 1898. He was the son of John Gilbert, an English Protestant, Portuguese consul, at Dublin, and Marianne, an Irish Catholic, daughter of Henry Costello. From her the future historian inherited his ardent patriotism, which was surpassed only by a deep spirit of religion which characterized him through life. His early days were spent at Branackstown, Meath. He was educated at Dublin, and at Prior Park, near Bath, England. He received no university training, as his mother preferred to sacrifice that rather than allow his faith to be imperilled in the Protestant University of Dublin. In 1846 his family moved to Blackrock, a suburb of the Irish metropolis, where he resided till his death, fifty-two years later. From his boyhood, he manifested a decided taste for history and archaeology. When only nineteen, he was elected to the Council of the Celtic Society, and thus became associated with some of the famous writers and orators of the age, Butt, Duffy, Ferguson, Mitchell, O'Hagan, and Smith O'Brien. In 1851 appeared his essay, "Historical Literature of Ireland" Four years later he became a Member of the Royal Irish Academy, and secretary of the Irish Archeological Society, among whose members were O'Curry, O'Donovan, Graves, Todd, and Wilde. In 1854-9 he published his "History of the City of Dublin” in 3 vols., a work of remarkable erudition, which placed him among the greatest historians of the country. In 1863 his "History and Treatment of the Public Records of Ireland” caused considerable sensation by demonstrating to the government the futility of entrusting the publication of Irish State documents to men unskilled in the language and history of the nation. From this time till his death his pen was never idle, and he filled the most important posts in all the historical and antiquarian societies. He was librarian of the Royal Irish Academy for thirty-four years. In 1891 he married the brilliant Irish novelist, Rosa Mulholland. He received the honorary degree of LL.D. from the Royal University in 1892, and five years later was knighted for his services to archæology and history. In addition to the works already men-
