Disputation V: On the Vow of Chastity

You have the INCORRUPTIBLE Lily of Chastity, at once fragrant with the odor of purity and aflame with the ardor of heavenly things, in the Seraphic Doctor in the Dieta, tit. 4. cap. 4., where he pours forth the snowy leaves of this most beautiful flower, and the kindled crocus glinting among golden grains, into the chastity of the body and the cleanness of the mind; for unless the mind, kindled within by divine ardor, be made clean, in vain is chastity boasted of outwardly in the body: on account of this twofold purity of heart, and of flesh, Chastity is compared in the Songs to a garden enclosed, and a fountain sealed, as the Saintly Doctor notes at the place cited; for as nothing enters a well-closed garden except from on high, so into a chaste soul entrance plainly opens only from above, from Heaven: this closing of the soul is obtained especially by cloistered Chastity. I shall treat, therefore, here of this most preeminent dowry of the heavenly spouse, insofar as it is consecrated by Vow; but below, where I treat of temperance, I shall weigh it as a virtue moderating pleasure about touch. Here also I shall add certain things on the observance of the Cloister, which is the guardianship of Chastity.