point — Vermeersch, On Chastity
II. On the Praise and Value of Catholic Virginity
Opinions, and our position.
144. - While the religious pagans themselves were not ignorant of the somewhat mysterious sanctity of virginity, so that the temporary chastity of the Vestals was treated with great honor in the City, true Catholic Christianity has also been distinguished by this mark from pseudo-Christianity: that the latter strives to diminish and depress the value of virginity.
Detractors of virginity.
Already in the age of St. Jerome, Jovinian made virginity and the matrimonial state of like or equal merit before God, except that virginity freed us from conjugal troubles.
The pseudo-reformers of the sixteenth century charged virginity cultivated in the service of God with superstition; when observed for another motive, for example, for the advantages of this life or for easier preaching of the Gospel, they did not regard it as evil or to be condemned in itself; nevertheless, they held that one would act foolishly who undertook the obligation of virginity or tried to preserve it unless conscious that he possessed the exceedingly rare gift of continence. Against them stands canon 9 of session XXIV of the Council of Trent:
"If anyone says that clerics constituted in sacred orders or regulars who have solemnly professed chastity can contract matrimony, and that the contract is valid notwithstanding ecclesiastical law or the vow; and that the contrary is nothing other than to condemn matrimony; and that all who do not feel that they have the gift of chastity, even if they have vowed it, can contract matrimony: let him be anathema, since God does not deny it to those who ask rightly, nor does He permit us to be tempted beyond that which we are able to bear (1 Corinthians 10:13)."
Our contemporaries who stand on the opposite side assert that virginity, as an institution against nature, is condemned by reason itself.
Our position.
145. - Against all these we defend the positive excellence of Christian virginity in the following thesis.
Thesis II
Absolute and perpetual virginity, considered in itself, is by far to be preferred to the common condition of married life; insofar as it is referred to God, however, it contains an eminent act of homage.
To explain a few words: virginity considered in itself is also separated from a vow properly so called, but it is considered at the same time according to the state, not according to the act from which it takes its beginning: the initial act is a sacrament only in matrimony; nor according to an extrinsic end, by which virginity can be debased and marriage rendered honorable; nor according to the persons professing the state: not all virgins surpass married persons in Christian perfection.
Further, we call absolute that virginity which abstains not only from illicit pleasure but also from the legitimate and, in itself, praiseworthy use of marriage.
a) From the First Epistle to the Corinthians, chapter 7, verses 1-9 and 25-38.
From 1 Corinthians.
"1. Now concerning the things about which you wrote to me: It is good for a man not to touch a woman. - 2. But because of fornication, let each man have his own wife, and let each woman have her own husband. - 3. Let the husband render the debt to the wife, and likewise also the wife to the husband. - 4. The woman does not have power over her own body, but the husband. Likewise also the husband does not have power over his own body, but the woman. - 5. Do not defraud one another, except perhaps by consent for a time, that you may devote yourselves to prayer; and return together again, lest Satan tempt you because of your incontinence. - 6. But I say this by indulgence, not by command. - 7. For I will that you all be as I myself; but each one has his own gift from God: one thus, and another thus. - 8. But I say to the unmarried and to widows: it is good for them if they so remain, even as I. - 9. But if they do not contain themselves, let them marry. For it is better to marry than to burn. - 25. Now concerning virgins, I have no commandment of the Lord; but I give counsel, as one who has obtained mercy from the Lord to be faithful. - 26. Therefore I think this to be good because of the present necessity, since it is good for a man so to be. - 27. Are you bound to a wife? Do not seek release. Are you released from a wife? Do not seek a wife. - 28. But if you take a wife, you have not sinned. And if a virgin marries, she has not sinned; nevertheless, such persons will have tribulation of the flesh. But I spare you. - 29. Therefore this I say, brethren. The time is short: it remains that those also who have wives be as though they had none. - 30. And those who weep, as though not weeping; and those who rejoice, as though not rejoicing; and those who buy, as though not possessing. - 31. And those who use this world, as though they did not use it; for the figure of this world passes away. - 32. But I will that you be without solicitude. He who is without a wife is solicitous for the things of the Lord, how he may please God. - 33. But he who is with a wife is solicitous for the things of the world, how he may please his wife, and he is divided. - 34. And the unmarried woman and the virgin thinks upon the things of the Lord, that she may be holy in body and spirit. But she who is married thinks upon the things of the world, how she may please her husband. - 35. Further, I say this for your benefit: not that I may cast a snare upon you, but for that which is honorable and which may afford the ability of beseeching the Lord without impediment. - 36. But if anyone thinks that he appears dishonorable concerning his virgin, because she is past full age, and that it ought so to be done: let him do what he wills; he does not sin if she marries. - 37. For he who stands firm in his heart, not having necessity, but having power over his own will, and has judged this in his heart, to preserve his virgin, does well. - 38. Therefore both he who joins his virgin in matrimony does well; and he who does not join her does better."
In this passage the Apostle, having addressed in order men (verses 27, 28, 32, 33), women (verses 28, 34), and heads of households (verses 36, 37, 38), proposes the same doctrine to all: namely, that matrimony is honorable; that a man who takes a wife does not sin, nor a woman who marries, nor a head of a household who, using the authority which he then had, joins his daughter in matrimony; nevertheless, he who chooses the virginal state for himself or his daughter does better. Therefore he extols the state of virginity above the matrimonial state. Verse 1 already inculcates this excellence through the word καλόν (kalon), "good," in opposition to the following sentence.
St. Paul, moreover, hands this down as a faithful, that is, trustworthy, Apostle (verse 25).
He further adds the rationales: the present necessity (verses 26, 29-32); freedom from the solicitude of this age, holiness of body and soul, and the ability to devote oneself more freely to God (verses 32-35).
Therefore, omitting the first rationale, whose difficult interpretation we can neglect here without harm, the Apostle, who is not acting as a professor of theology but is striving practically to persuade Christians, mingles rationales of present utility with rationales which pertain to the future life. But that greater holiness is truly spoken of is enough to convict of error both Jovinian, who said that virginity was to be preferred solely because of temporal advantages, and, recently, Bachmann 1, who denies that a moral comparison is made between the state of marriage and the state of virginity.
1 In primam ad Corinthios, Zahn Collection, p. 258.
b) The same can also be gathered from the Gospel of St. Matthew, chapter 19, verse 10 and following.
From Matthew 19.
"10. His disciples say to Him: If such is the case of a man with his wife, it is not expedient to marry. - 11. He said to them: Not all receive this word, but those to whom it has been given. - 12. For there are eunuchs who were born thus from their mother's womb; and there are eunuchs who were made so by men; and there are eunuchs who have made eunuchs of themselves for the sake of the kingdom of heaven. He who can receive it, let him receive it."
In this passage Christ, after distinguishing three kinds of eunuchs, prudently counsels all to imitate the third kind, the voluntary ones. And this for the sake of the kingdom of heaven. These words by no means designate the preaching of the Gospel, as certain heretics of the sixteenth century wished, but that spiritual kingdom of Christ to which those men pertain who are joined to God, whether through interior grace here on earth or through its glorious possession in heaven 2. Moreover, the image of physical castration and the comparison with eunuchs who necessarily remain such perpetually very clearly indicate perpetual virginity or the state of virginity.
2 Schanz, Commentarium über das Ev. des H. Matthaeus, says that this motive is explained to us by St. Paul in 1 Corinthians 7:25-35. Moreover, in the connected discourse, eternal life is being discussed.
Finally, the words "To whom it has been given" and "He who can receive it, let him receive it" indeed inculcate that perfect continence is a special gift of God 3, but, at least as the holy Fathers understand them, they nevertheless present a general commendation of this state. Let the witnesses be Jerome: "The contest-master sets forth the prize, invites to the course, holds in his hand the reward of virginity, shows the purest fountain, and cries out: 'He who thirsts, let him come and drink'" 4. Chrysostom: "He makes them more ardent by showing the magnitude of the work" 5. St. Cyprian has similar things in De habitu virginum 6; St. Augustine, in the book De sancta virginitate, chapter 23 7; and Basil of Ancyra, De vera virginitatis integritate 8, so that Lessius did not hesitate to write: "He invites all to it [virginity] when He says: He who can receive it, let him receive it, just as He invites all to the end and consideration of His doctrine when He says: He who has ears to hear, let him hear" 9.
3 Schanz cites St. Ignatius, Ad Polycarpum, 12; Tertullian, Ad uxorem, 2, 9; De pudicitia, chapter 4; Clement of Alexandria, Paedagogus, 2, 11, 63.
4 Book 1 Contra Iovinianum, no. 12 (M. 23, 228).
5 Homily 62 or 63 on Matthew, no. 3 (M.P.G. 57, 600). Compare the words which are also nearby.
6 No. 33, M. 4, 463.
7 M. 40, 408.
8 Nos. 56, 57 (M.P.G. 30, 781-784).
9 De iustitia, etc., book 4, chapter De virginitate, no. 104.
Therefore, if it is a gift of God, God is prepared to grant it at least to most persons, provided that they will sincerely dispose themselves to obtain it, so that the inability which the Lord intimates is to be understood of a present and proximate inability which can be removed, rather than of a remote one. Moreover, the same thing is urged from comparison with the passage of the Apostle, where virginity also is presented as a proper gift of God (verse 7), and nevertheless is commended universally.
Add to these that Christ is proposed to us in the Gospel as a virgin born of a virgin, and as following with special love the Apostle whom ecclesiastical tradition reports to have remained a virgin.
From Tradition.
147. - 2. From Tradition. The holy Fathers openly and with one voice defend our position, so much so that they wrote special books for commending virginity. Nor do the heretics deny it. St. Cyprian, De habitu virginum; St. Ambrose, De virginibus, book 1; and St. Jerome, book 1 Contra Iovinianum, can be consulted.
"If anyone says that the conjugal state is to be preferred to the state of virginity or celibacy, and that it is not better and more blessed to remain in virginity or celibacy than to be joined in matrimony: let him be anathema."
From reason.
148. - 3. From reason. For the first part, the arguments which are evident to reason even when supernatural consideration is excluded return here. Compare what was said in no. 136.
But furthermore, to show how pleasing an homage of herself the Christian virgin offers to God:
Especially from supernatural consideration.
By the integrity of her flesh she is a symbol of the incorruptible body, whose resurrection we are taught by the Apostle to hope for: "This corruptible must put on incorruption" 10. Hence these most beautiful words spoken by St. Augustine: "Virginity is, in corruptible flesh, a meditation on perpetual incorruption" 11.
11 De sancta virginitate, sole book, chapter 13 (M. 40, 401).
By her mind, by which the virgin has contemned material servitude and the goods of this age, she bears witness to and manifests the spiritual soul.
By the exclusion of earthly love, she shows herself most faithful to Christ, who by a mystical marriage has espoused our nature to Himself.
When the Apostle, with ardent affection, desired to present Christians to Christ "as a chaste virgin to one husband" 12, does he not, by the very image which he uses, intimate that his desires are perfectly fulfilled by a virgin who devotes her virginity to Christ? Christian monuments bear witness to this devotion made to Christ in virgins who, because they were wedded to Christ, repelled other lovers; and in the rebuke by which St. Cyprian reproached a corrupted virgin because she was an adulteress of Christ 13. Already St. Athanasius records it as a custom of the Church that sacred virgins are called brides of Christ 14. Augustine especially commends love of this bridegroom, together with humility, at the end of the book De sancta virginitate 15.
13 Epistle 62 (M. 4, 370).
14 Apologia ad Constantinum (M.P.G. 25, 639).
15 M. 40, 428. "If, therefore, you owed great love to husbands, how greatly ought you to love Him for whose sake you were unwilling to have husbands? Let Him who was fixed upon the cross for you be fixed wholly in your heart; let Him hold wholly in your soul whatever you were unwilling to have occupied by marriage. It is not permitted you to love little Him for whose sake you do not love even what would be lawful. For those who so love Him meek and humble of heart, I fear no pride for you.... Let each one take the greater care not to be deceived by pride, the holier the thing he professes" (chapters 55 and 56).
By her perfect purity, a virgin compensates for and as it were redeems the vices of a corrupt age.
By flight from the stain which especially defiles the body, she pursues with special honor the Holy Spirit, whose temple she is. "Through virginity the integrity of the flesh is vowed, consecrated, and preserved for the very Creator of soul and flesh" 16.
16 St. Augustine, De sancta virginitate, chapter 8, no. 8 (M. 40, 400).
By abstinence from intercourse, she emulates the angels 17.
17 St. Augustine, De sancta virginitate, ibid.
By the renunciation of her own offspring, she prepares herself for the holy fecundity of good work, both of charity toward God, whom, according to the testimony of the Apostle, she can beseech without impediment 18, and whom she is free to please alone 19; and of charity toward her neighbor: whether by exercising evangelical preaching, which men especially can do, or evangelical mercy.
19 Ibid., 7:32.
Virginity thus understood procures a heavenly vision on earth; by chaste nuptials with Christ and by the tenor of life it presents and continues the person of that Immaculate Virgin who can more properly be called the bride of the Word; and it invites men not to serve the flesh but to strive toward sublime things.
What more noble, what more holy, what more useful to the human race, what more joyful for Holy Church, can be instituted? "Through them [virgins] she rejoices, and in them the glorious fecundity of Mother Church flourishes. And the more abundant virginity adds to her number, the more it increases the joy of the mother" 20.
20 St. Cyprian, De habitu virginum (M. 4, 443).
Difficulties are overcome.
149. - It remains that, in this place, we resolve briefly the difficulties which are opposed to our position, whether they are adverse to continence itself or attack the excellence of the state of continence.
A power given to all.
1. A power which of itself has been granted to individuals cannot be frustrated of its good act.
Response. We deny this assertion, unless the power has been granted to individuals in such a way that each one is to use it for acting. Observe that, in this order of generation, the physical powers given to individuals are greater than can be employed. But individual men are not ordained to exercise this power. Are there not among the adversaries themselves those who forbid marriage to men of a more infirm condition? And who would oblige a younger widower or widow to contract a second marriage? Yet if the power were present in individuals so that each one should use it, it would have to be exercised by each insofar as it is present.
The necessity of the gift of continence.
2. A universal counsel of continence cannot be given, but must be reserved for those who are conscious that they have received the gift of continence.
Response. We freely concede that there are many to whom, because of excessive concupiscence, the purpose of virginity is not to be counseled, at least here and now: the Apostle himself went before us by example, saying, "Therefore I will that the younger [widows] marry" 21.
21 1 Timothy 5:14.
Nevertheless, the counsel can be given universally, nor is a positive consciousness of a peculiar gift to be awaited, which someone might have derived from a subjective revelation, as the Protestants wished. For revelations of this kind are not granted according to the ordinary law of divine Providence; but the universal counsel was given by the Apostle and by the holy Fathers. For the Catholic tradition concerning the gift of continence is this: "God does not deny it to those who ask rightly, nor does He permit us to be tempted beyond that which we are able to bear" (Council of Trent, session XXIV, canon 9).
Wherefore the words cited above, "He who can receive it, let him receive it," seem to us to be understood not so much of the faculty of executing as of the faculty of forming an efficacious purpose through a practical persuasion of the Savior's doctrine. For so many are in fact celibate, even unwillingly, that the faculty of execution must be available to many. Thus also it is not so difficult to lack riches; but to renounce them from a holy persuasion concerning their vanity, to bid them farewell, is a matter for the few and a gift of God.
The words "Increase and multiply."
3. The words of Genesis, chapter 1, "Increase and multiply," seem to contain a divine ordinance and a precept.
Response. These words, as the connected discourse proves, directly contain a blessing; at the same time, however, they manifest a divine ordinance, but one which is to be observed in that manner which the end demands. This end bound individuals only at the beginning.
The goods which matrimony brings to the world.
4. The matrimonial state is to be preferred to virginity, since it confers more good upon the world. For by procuring offspring, it bestows as if in root all the goods which can exist in the world.
Response. For a state to be called better, it must confer either a good formally better or one whose fundamental necessity is actually urgent. But, considered separately from the necessity of procuring it, a good which is necessary as a prerequisite foundation cannot constitute a better state.
Otherwise, we would perpetually have to give first place to inferior things, which are accustomed to be conditions of a more excellent good: he who nourishes the body would have to be esteemed more than he who feeds the soul; he who prepares the canvas and colors more than he who paints the picture.
But the more intimate rationale is that a just estimation of things depends not only upon necessity but also upon rarity. Hence, when a good more necessary in itself is available in great abundance, the work of him who provides that good is not more necessary than the work of him who procures a good of a higher order, the procurement of which, as something rarer, becomes more necessary.
Therefore the excellence of a state is to be judged less from the good about which it is occupied than from the works to the performance of which it leads.
Furthermore, to demonstrate the defect of the argument, the state which procures for the world a good formally better can be called better for the world only strictly in a qualified respect. For since God is above the world, the state by which a good of the divine order is procured must be called better than the state by which well-being is procured for the world. Although, since the world exists for the sake of God, he who procures greater praise for God in the world must be said to confer a more excellent good upon the world itself. Virginity, therefore, procures for the world a formally greater good. For when cultivated on account of its ordinary motive of divine charity or religion, it bestows upon the world goods which regard the cultivation of the mind, exercises of the nobler virtues, especially charity and zeal, and divine honor. The world assuredly needs these goods no less than offspring.