Article I. On the More General Rationale of Preparation

170. - By the law of our unity and of the mutual dependence of our powers, we are admonished that not only the special formation of chastity, but also the more general education of man, can contribute very greatly to obtaining and preserving purity. Wherefore it seems that the more general rationale of preparation must be treated first.

St. Thomas himself, when he speaks of virginity ¹, exhorts us to attend in mind to three things in this matter of chastity: to the body, which, although extrinsic to virtue, can nevertheless, according to its various health and condition, assist or hinder virtue; to the passion, or appetite for sensible pleasure, which furnishes matter for moral acts; and to the purpose of the will, which is the formal and completing element of virtue.

¹ Summa theologiae, II-II, q. 152, art. 1.

We therefore distinguish a threefold object of preparation: the body; passion or sense; the mind.

The first preparation can be called remote and extrinsic; the other two are intrinsic to chastity.