Morals of the Church
Library › Vermeersch, On Chastity › Part One: Doctrinal, Apologetic, and Pedagogical › Section Two: On the Cultivation of Chastity › Chapter I. On Preparing a Pure Life › Article I. On the More General Rationale of Preparation

point — Vermeersch, On Chastity

I. Preparation of the Body

171.

How the body is to be prepared.

171. - Preparation of the body, or physical cultivation, pursues the moderation of a healthy body. Wherefore it:

Instruction in Relation to Chastity

¶916.
  1. Strives to remedy every illness in good time;
  2. Will provide wholesome food, in a sufficient but moderate quantity, and not consisting excessively of meat and sweetmeats (friandises), without alcohol or condiments which have an exciting power;
  3. Will prepare the body to be neither delicate, effeminate, nor excessively prone to excitations, by neither a softer bed nor clothing that is too warm or adheres too closely to the legs.

Instruction in Relation to Chastity

¶917.
  1. It will take care of cleanliness by suitable washings of the body.
  2. By honorable games and varied exercises it will procure moderate weariness, so that the imagination cannot turn aside to many dreams and sleep may seize the adolescent or child at once.
  3. It will not permit younger persons to take sleep in bed after the midday meal, since this affords an easy occasion for temptations and excitations.
  4. It will not omit to require an ordered life in which the hour of retiring and rising is fixed and play follows work.

Instruction in Relation to Chastity