Glossary

Terms starting with V — browse A–Z or jump to the blog.

Terms — V

13 terms

Glossary
Vatican II

The council addressing the Church and the modern world.
Glossary
Via Dolorosa

The 'Way of Sorrows' in Jerusalem, the traditional path Jesus walked to His crucifixion.
Glossary
Viaticum

Viaticum is the Eucharist given to the dying — spiritual food for the soul's journey to God — one of the 'last rites' along with Penance and Anointing of the Sick.
Glossary
Vicar of Christ

The title of the Pope as the representative of Christ on earth.
Glossary
Vice

A vice is a bad habit acquired by repeated sin in corruption of the soul's inclinations.
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Vine and the Branches

The Vine and the Branches is Jesus's teaching that Christians live only by union with him — as branches drawing life from the vine — bearing fruit through that union and nothing apart from it.
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Virgin Birth

The Virgin Birth is the dogma that Jesus was conceived by the power of the Holy Spirit without a human father — Mary remaining a virgin before, during, and after his birth.
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Virgin Mary

The Virgin Mary is the Mother of Jesus Christ, Son of God — and therefore, in the Church's teaching, the Mother of God (Theotokos). She is the most eminent member of the Church, model of faith, and mother of all Christians.
Glossary
Virtue

Virtue is a habitual and firm disposition to do the good — a stable excellence of character that makes doing right easier, more natural, and eventually more joyful.
Glossary
Virtues (Theological)

Gifts infused by God into the souls of the faithful to make them capable of acting as his children and of meriting eternal life.
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Visitation

The Visitation is Mary's journey to her cousin Elizabeth — at whose greeting John the Baptist leapt in the womb — and the occasion of Mary's Magnificat, the Church's great hymn of praise.
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Vocation

Vocation is God's call to every person — the universal call to know and love God, and the particular state of life through which each person concretely lives that out.
Glossary
Vow

A vow is a deliberate and free promise made to God concerning a possible and better good which must be fulfilled by reason of the virtue of religion.