Is there a gift of fortitude which corresponds to the virtue of fortitude?
Yes, it is the gift which bears the same name and is called the gift of fortitude (CXXXIX.).
In what precisely does the gift of fortitude differ from the virtue of fortitude?
In a few words it differs in this wise: Like the virtue, the gift has to do with fear and in some sort with courage. But whilst fear and courage, which the virtue of fortitude regulates, only refer to dangers which it is in the power of man to overcome, fear and courage, which the gift of fortitude excites, refer to perils or evils which it is absolutely impossible for man to overcome; death separates us from all the goods of the present life without it itself being able to give the only one good superior to all and, indeed, such as is infinitely above them all, carrying with it all good to the exclusion of all evil, viz., the actual possession of eternal life. This substitution of eternal life for all the miseries of the present life, in spite of all its difficulties and dangers and even of death itself, which is the complement of them all, is exclusively due to the action of the Holy Spirit Himself. This is the reason why it belongs to Him only to move the soul of man effectively towards this supreme acquisition, in such way that a strong and unfailing confidence takes hold of man, making him steadfast in the presence of the greatest fear and even to approach death itself fearlessly, not indeed to be conquered thereby, but to triumph: and it is by the gift of fortitude that man is thus moved by the Holy Ghost. In truth one may describe the proper effect of this gift as the victory over death (CXXXIX. 1).
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