Chastity (the Virtue) and Virginity

1. Definition. Chastity is a moral virtue which excludes or moderates the appetite of venereal delectation.

a. Chastity is a virtue annexed to temperance. Temperance, which is one of the cardinal virtues, moderates the sensible appetite in those things which especially allure, namely both in delectations of taste, abstinence and sobriety, and in delectations of touch or of the flesh, chastity. Therefore chastity, which is opposed to the vice of lust, is a special virtue, whose material object is concupiscence of venereal delectation. For just as the virtue of abstinence moderates the appetite which is borne toward delectations of foods, so the virtue of chastity excludes or moderates the appetite which is borne toward venereal delectations. The formal object of chastity consists in the natural honesty which is detected in moderating the pleasures of the flesh according to the norm of reason.

b. Excludes or moderates: for according to the diverse state in which someone is found, the precept of chastity either prohibits and excludes every venereal delectation altogether, or prescribes only its moderation. The former has place in the youthful and widowed state, the latter in the matrimonial state.

¹ St. Thomas II-II, q. 151-156. St. Alphonsus, l. 3, n. 412-485. Lessius, De iustitia et iure, etc., l. 4, c. 2, dub. 13-16. Sporer-Bierbaum, Theologia moralis decalog. et sacram.^3 (Paderborn: Typogr. bonifac., 1905), III, tr. IV, n. 467-697. Holzmann, Theologia moralis II, n. 653-723. Reuter, Theologia moralis II, n. 188-221. Lehmkuhl, Theologia moralis (Freiburg: Herder, 1902), I, 860-883. Ballerini-Palmieri, Opus theologicum morale^3 (Prato: Giachetti, 1898), II, n. 959-1049. Gopfert, Moraltheologie^5 (Paderborn: Schoningh, 1906), II, n. 210 ff. Berardi, Praxis confessariorum^4 (Faenza: Novelli, 1898), I, n. 820-1073. E. Genicot, Theologia moralis^6 (Louvain: Polleunis et Geuterick, 1909), I, n. 386-411. Sani, De sexto decalogi praecepto (Ravenna: Serantoni, 1904). Antonelli, Medicina pastoralis (Rome: Pustet, 1908).

2. Division. a. Chastity is distinguished into common chastity, which in any state of life abstains from illicit venereal delectation, and the proper chastity of a determined state, which abstains from venereal delectation according to the laws of the state.

b. By reason of the state to which it ought to correspond, a threefold chastity is distinguished: a. youthful chastity, which abstains from venereal delectation for a time, namely up to the time of nuptials; b. conjugal chastity, which abstains from illicit venereal pleasures in marriage; c. widowed chastity, which after the licit use of venereal delectation abstains from it for the future during the time of life or until second nuptials.

c. By reason of the mode by which it is preserved, chastity is distinguished into imperfect chastity, which contains itself from illicit pleasures of the flesh, and perfect chastity, which contains itself from all delectations of the flesh, even those licit in marriage.

3. On Virginity. 1. Virginity, or virginal chastity, is defined as a firm purpose of the will of abstaining perpetually from all venereal delectations, both illicit and licit, in marriage, in a subject never corrupted.

a. The name of virginity is taken in a twofold sense: for it signifies either integrity of the flesh alone, or also a firm purpose of abstaining perpetually from every venereal delectation. Virginity taken in the first sense is not a virtue, but a good of nature bestowed on all from birth; but virginity taken in the other sense is a virtue.¹ In the first sense a woman can be a virgin who has never had carnal intercourse, even if she had sinned against chastity by solitary internal or external acts, because that integrity of the flesh remains which is required and suffices for virginity taken in this sense. Nor does the Church require another, more perfect virginity from those who receive the veil of virginity in the consecration of virgins: for according to the Roman Pontifical, before consecration they are to be questioned concerning life, conscience, and integrity of the flesh.²

b. Therefore two things are required for virginity taken in the full sense, one of which is in the mind, but the other in the body: a. the purpose of the will, which is the formal element of virginity, wherefore without the purpose of preserving chastity perpetually, actual virginity can indeed exist, but neither virtue properly nor the reward of virtue is had; b. integrity of the flesh, which is the material element of virginity. Therefore material virginity consists in integrity of the flesh alone, and consequently does not exclude consent to venereal delectation; formal virginity consists in the will of preserving chastity, even if the integrity of the flesh is injured against the will.

c. Wherefore a virgin can be intact either in body alone, or in mind alone, or in mind and body at the same time. She who is intact in body alone has lost before God the merit and beauty of virginity, but in the face of the Church is held as a virgin and can be consecrated among virgins. She who is intact in mind alone indeed retains before God the merit and reward of virginity, but in the face of the Church has lost virginity.

d. Virginity differs from perfect chastity in this, that virginity adds the signification that the subject has never been corrupted by lust; therefore it is perfect chastity joined with integrity of the flesh. Chastity, on the contrary, prescinds from integrity of the flesh, so that he who has previously already been corrupted by lust can preserve perfect chastity.

e. A vow is not required for virginity; but for the most part the purpose of the will of abstaining perpetually from every venereal delectation is strengthened by a vow. Therefore St. Thomas writes: "Virginity, according as it is a virtue, imports a purpose, strengthened by a vow, of preserving integrity perpetually."³ With this vow added, the state of virginity is had.

f. Virginity is common to each sex;⁴ nevertheless women alone are usually called virgins, because they alone have been endowed by nature with the seal of virginity.

2. Virginity is a special virtue, which differs from common chastity in this, that it abstains not only from illicit but from all venereal delectations, and that it adds to it the purpose of preserving youthful chastity perpetually. And this indeed is that virtue which is celebrated with so many praises by the holy Fathers of the Church and is adorned in heaven with a special reward, namely the aureole of virgins.

a. Pudicity according to St. Thomas is not a special virtue distinct from chastity, but is chastity itself insofar as it moderates certain less principal acts pertaining to concupiscence of the flesh, which precede and accompany the principal act, carnal intercourse, namely looks, touches, kisses, embraces, base conversations, etc. Therefore chastity includes two things: purity (Reinigkeit), or abstinence from illicit effusion of semen, and pudicity (Schamhaftigkeit), or abstinence from every action which induces to lust.

b. Pudicity is named from shame. Shame (Schamgefuhl), which especially shrinks from the denudation of the body, arises neither from custom nor from education, but has been implanted by nature, so that it is found even in barbarous and uncultivated peoples, and indeed in women with greater intensity and perfection than in men. The end, however, on account of which it has been implanted by God is this, that it may be the guardian of innocence and may aid man in restraining the carnal appetite. For this reason, on the one hand care must be taken that shame be excited, cultivated, and preserved in adolescents, but on the other hand that all things be removed which can offend, diminish, and gradually extinguish pudicity entirely.

¹ From these things the distinction between the vow of virginity and the vow of perfect chastity is understood. The vow of virginity taken in the first sense is the promise of abstaining from that act, namely the conjugal act, by which the integrity of the flesh is injured; the vow of virginity taken in the other sense differs from the vow of perfect chastity only in this, that this vow directly and formally does not contain the promise of preserving the integrity of the body uninjured; on the contrary, the vow of virginity directly and formally also involves this promise.

² Cf. Lessius, De iustitia et iure, l. 4, c. 2, n. 120. Ballerini-Palmieri II, n. 1048.

³ Summa II-II, q. 152, a. 3, ad 4.

⁴ Cf. Apoc. 14, 4, where male virgins are praised.

4. How virginity is lost. Virginity can be lost in many ways: formally or materially, reparably or irreparably.

a. Formal virginity is lost: a. through any mortal sin, whether external or internal, committed against chastity; b. through the intention of marrying, i.e. through the will of entering and consummating marriage. But through marriage alone without the will of consummating it, virginity is not lost.

b. Material virginity is lost through voluntary violation of the flesh; therefore in men through pollution, in women through breaking of the virginal enclosure. Through involuntary violation of the flesh, as happens in men through effusion of semen in sleep, it is not lost; but in women, through violent oppression, it indeed is not lost before God, but in the face of the Church virgins of this kind are judged corrupted.¹

Therefore both forms of virginity are lost through a voluntary action which injures the integrity of the body; therefore in men through effusion of semen, whether solitary or with intercourse; and in women both through intercourse and through another voluntary violation of the virginal enclosure. Nevertheless, in the face of the Church, a woman remains a virgin as long as the enclosure of virginity has not been violated through intercourse, and a man remains a virgin as long as he has not known a woman carnally.

c. Virginity is lost: a. irreparably through a voluntary act by which the integrity of the body is injured; therefore through voluntary intercourse and through voluntary pollution. For just as innocence is lost irreparably by one mortal sin, so by one act of consummated lust virginity is irreparably lost, which signifies integrity of the flesh never voluntarily injured; b. reparably through the will of marrying and of consummating marriage and through any mortal sin of non-consummated lust: for integrity of the flesh remains, but the virtue lost can be recovered either by retraction or by penance.

a. They indeed dispute whether through immodest acts voluntarily admitted without effusion of semen virginity is lost reparably or irreparably. But with Lessius (n. 121) it seems it must be said that through touches of this kind virginity is not lost irreparably: for as long as integrity of the flesh is preserved, the virtue is not lost irreparably.

b. Therefore virginity not irreparably lost can be recovered: a. through the purpose elicited anew of preserving virginity perpetually, if it was lost only by a change of purpose; b. through penance, if virginity, with integrity of the flesh preserved, has been lost only through mortal sin against chastity. But if integrity of the flesh has been lost, virginity can no longer be recovered.

Note. If a penitent who has sinned against chastity asks whether he has irreparably lost virginity, ordinarily it is preferable not to declare this openly, but prudently to dissemble, e.g. by saying that every sin can be repaired through penance, lest the penitent, becoming discouraged and afflicted, neglect care for preserving chastity.

¹ Cf. A. Eschbach, Disputationes physiologico-theologicae^2 (Rome: Desclee, 1901), disp. 5, c. 2, a. 2.

I. Notion of Chastity. Chastity is said from chastising, because it regards movements and operations which must especially be chastised or restrained (St. Thomas, II-II, q. 151, a. 1). Now chastity is: a moral virtue inclining man to temper the appetite and use of venereal things.

II. Object of Chastity. 1. The remote material object is the appetite and use of venereal things; the proximate object is the acts of tempering the aforesaid.

2. The remote formal object is the reason of debt in tempering the appetite and use of venereal things; the proximate formal object is the special moral goodness shining forth in tempering them (cf. St. Thomas, II-II, q. 151, a. 2).

III. Division of Chastity. Chastity is divided:

1. By reason of the subject, into youthful, conjugal, and widowed chastity. Youthful chastity is that by which young people before marriage abstain from every venereal act. Conjugal chastity is that by which spouses exclude all venereal acts illicit for them, while prudently moderating those which are licit. Widowed chastity is that by which someone abstains from all venereal things during widowhood.

2. By reason of the object, into common chastity and virginity, according as it moderates venereal things, or, according to what will be said, excludes them.

Note. To chastity is referred modesty, which moderates acts which are ordered to venereal things, of which sort are looking, kisses, embraces, and dishonorable touches (St. Thomas, II-II, q. 151, a. 4).

IV. Opposed Vices. To chastity is opposed lust, which is an inordinate appetite and use of venereal things; immodesty is also referred to it. Now of the acts of lust, some are sinful because they are not ordered to generation; others are prohibited because they are not ordered to due generation. The former are said to be done against nature, the latter according to nature. The species of lust according to nature are: fornication, adultery, incest, carnal sacrilege, deflowering, and abduction. The species against nature are: pollution, sodomy, bestiality, and unnatural intercourse with a person of the other sex.

We shall speak more fully of virginity where we treat the cultivation of virtues.

I. Notion. Chastity is so called from chastising, because it regards motions and operations which especially ought to be chastised or restrained (St. Thomas, II-II, q. 151, a. 1). Now chastity is: a supernatural virtue inclining man to moderate the appetite and use of venereal things. Its remote material object is the appetite and use of venereal things; its proximate material object is the acts excluding or moderating the aforesaid. The formal object is the honesty which shines forth in their exclusion or moderation (cf. St. Thomas, II-II, q. 151, a. 2). Having given this notion, it is useful, for the sake of explanation and proof, to add these points from St. Thomas:

1. Chastity is a virtue. For "in this... consists the nature of human virtue, that it be something modified according to reason" (St. Thomas, II-II, q. 151, a. 1). But chastity moderates the appetite and use of venereal things according to reason.

2. Chastity is a subjective part or species of temperance. For temperance "restrains the appetite from those things which most allure man" (St. Thomas, II-II, q. 141, a. 2); hence its subjective parts are those which moderate some one of the pleasures which most allure man. But chastity does this; indeed, it moderates the pleasure which allures man above all others, namely the pleasure of venereal things (St. Thomas, II-II, q. 146, introduction, compared with q. 141).

3. Chastity is a virtue distinct from the other subjective parts of temperance, that is, from abstinence and sobriety. For virtues which regard motions and operations formally diverse differ one from another. But chastity regards operations formally diverse from those which abstinence and sobriety regard. For the former is concerned with the appetite and use of venereal things, by which the nature of the species is preserved; the latter are concerned with the appetite and use of foods or drinks, by which the nature of the individual is preserved; and these operations are formally diverse (St. Thomas, II-II, q. 151, a. 3).

II. Division. Chastity is divided:

1. By reason of the subject, into youthful, conjugal, widowed, and virginal chastity. Youthful chastity is that by which the young abstain from all venereal things before marriage. Conjugal chastity is that by which spouses exclude all venereal things unlawful for them, while prudently moderating those which are lawful. Widowed chastity is that by which someone abstains from all venereal things during widowhood. Virginal chastity is that by which a person, immune from a voluntary complete venereal act, excludes all venereal things.

2. By reason of the object, into common chastity and virginity, according as it moderates or excludes venereal things. More must be said concerning virginity.

III. Notion of Virginity. "The name of virginity," says the Angelic Doctor, "seems to be taken from freshness; and just as that is called fresh and persisting in its freshness which has not experienced burning from an excess of heat, so also virginity implies this, that the person in whom it exists is immune from the burning of concupiscence, which seems to exist in the consummation of the greatest bodily pleasure, such as the pleasure of venereal things" (St. Thomas, II-II, q. 152, a. 1).

Virginity itself is the virtue by which a subject, immune from a complete and voluntary venereal act, from an honorable and supernatural end, takes up the resolution of perpetually abstaining from all venereal things. Therefore two things are required, namely the immunity and the resolution just assigned. "In venereal pleasure," says St. Thomas, "three things are to be considered. One, indeed, is on the part of the body, namely the violation of the sign of virginity; another is that in which what belongs to the soul is joined with what belongs to the body, namely the very resolution of semen causing sensible pleasure; the third is solely on the part of the soul, namely the resolution of arriving at such pleasure. Among these, what was placed first is related accidentally to the moral act, which is considered in itself only according to those things which belong to the soul; the second is materially related to the moral act, for sensible passions are the matter of moral acts; but the third is related formally and completively, because the nature of moral things is completed in that which belongs to reason. Therefore, since virginity is spoken of through the removal of the aforesaid corruption, it follows that the integrity of the bodily member is accidentally related to virginity; but immunity from the pleasure which consists in the resolution of semen is materially related; and the resolution itself of perpetually abstaining from such pleasure is related formally and completively in virginity" (II-II, q. 152, a. 1). Moreover, observe:

1. The resolution of abstaining from venereal things must be taken up from an honorable end; for "complete abstinence from venereal things, considered according to itself and stopping in it, implies no honesty, because of itself, according to reason, so to speak, by reason of the mere sterility of nature, it does not profit or confer advantage; but it is made honorable by the end which it serves, which is to be free for God and divine things, for which it is necessary to be at leisure from earthly and temporal things."¹ Finally, a supernatural end is required, because we are speaking only of supernatural virtue.

2. It is disputed whether for the virtue of virginity a resolution is sufficient, or whether a vow of abstaining from venereal things is required. Some, against others, require a vow, at least so that virginity may be a virtue distinct from common chastity. The opinion of St. Thomas is disputed. The holy Doctor in IV Sentences, dist. 33, q. 3, a. 2, ad 4, says thus: "The complete nature of virginity insofar as it is a virtue exists only in those who have the choice of preserving integrity, kept until now, even to the end, whether without a vow or with a vow." And in the same place, dist. 49, q. 5, a. 3: "The aureole of virginity is properly due only to those who had the resolution of preserving virginity perpetually, whether they confirmed this resolution by vow or not." But in II-II, q. 152, a. 3, ad 4, he teaches: "To the fourth it must be said that virginity, according as it is a virtue, implies a resolution confirmed by vow of preserving integrity perpetually; for Augustine says in the book On Virginity (ch. 8) that 'through virginity the integrity of the flesh is vowed, consecrated, and preserved for the Creator Himself of soul and flesh'; hence virginity, according as it is a virtue, is never lost except through sin." From this Cajetan infers that here, according to St. Thomas, virginity is not a special virtue distinct from chastity unless it has been confirmed by vow; and that St. Thomas here retracted what he had said when younger. Others answer, however, that St. Thomas is speaking thus of virginity according to its perfect degree and as it is commonly cultivated.²

¹ Salmanticenses, De virtutibus, arbor praedicamentalis, n. 119; St. Thomas, II-II, q. 152, a. 3.

² Salmanticenses, cited place, n. 121; Cajetan, on II-II, q. 152, a. 3; Waffelaert, De virtutibus cardinalibus, n. 127; Dominicus Soto, on IV Sentences, dist. 49, q. 5, a. 2; Sylvius, on II-II, q. 152, a. 3; Billuart, De temperantia, dissertation 4, article 3.

IV. Morality of Virginity. 1. Virginity is a virtue. For, as we noted from St. Thomas in n. 14, "in this... consists the nature of human virtue, that it be something modified according to reason" (St. Thomas, II-II, q. 151, a. 1). But virginity excludes the appetite and use of venereal things according to right reason.

Proof of the minor: According to right reason, one may abstain from bodily pleasures in order to be free for the goods of the contemplative life; for the order of reason requires that, in order to be free for greater goods, someone can abstain from lesser goods. But virginity abstains from bodily pleasures so that it may be more freely free for contemplation of divine things, according to these words of the Apostle: "The unmarried woman and the virgin thinks on the things of the Lord, that she may be holy in body and in spirit; but she who is married thinks on the things of the world, and how she may please her husband."¹ Hence it follows that virginity is not something vicious, but rather laudable, or a virtue (St. Thomas, II-II, q. 152, a. 2).² Add all and each of the things which we are going to say below concerning the excellence of virginity.

Objection. Virginity is opposed to the precept of conserving and propagating the human species; therefore it cannot be a virtue.

Response. I distinguish the major: Virginity universally observed is opposed to the law of conserving and propagating the human species: granted; observed by some: denied. Namely, "something is due in two ways: in one way, so that it be fulfilled by one person, and this due thing cannot be omitted without sin; but another thing is due to be fulfilled by the multitude, and every single person of the multitude is not bound to fulfill such a due thing" (St. Thomas, II-II, q. 152, a. 2). But the precept given concerning generation regards the whole multitude of men; hence it is not required that it be observed by individuals, but it suffices that it be fulfilled by many. If this were denied, all men absolutely, who are capable of marriage, would be bound to enter it; which no one would say (St. Thomas, cited place; St. Alphonsus, Opera Dogmatica I, treatise III, De fidei veritate, ch. 13, n. 11). It is added that the abstinence of some greatly profits the multitude itself; for it is "necessary for the multitude not only that it be multiplied bodily, but also that it advance spiritually; and therefore sufficient provision is made for the human multitude if some give their work to carnal generation, while others, abstaining from this, are free for contemplation of divine things, for the beauty and salvation of the whole human race; just as also in an army some guard the camp, some carry the standards, and some fight with swords" (St. Thomas, cited place).

¹ 1 Cor. 7:34.

² Hieronymus de Medicis, on this place of St. Thomas.

Finally, note that abstinence from venereal things is not for that reason vicious because it harms health on account of an abundance of semen, since experts testify to the contrary. Namely, first, "among the inferior sex a redundant seed never exists; for we know that mature ova are regularly deposited from the ovaries and cast out of the body, and likewise the same thing obtains concerning the menses or superfluous blood which unmarried women emit month by month. But as regards celibate men, these things must be noted: 1. The activity of their organs in elaborating semen continually becomes less;¹ 2. Semen contains nothing deadly in itself or harmful to the body; indeed, when it is found especially in greater quantity, it greatly helps through absorption;² 3. Finally, among those in whom, because the organs operate more diligently, a true abundance of semen exists, nature itself spontaneously, or apart from every free will, unloads itself through nocturnal pollutions in sleep.³ There is therefore no reason why absolute continence of celibates should be judged to be adverse to the human body, while on the contrary it can favor the prosperity of that body and of the whole man,"⁴ as Bossu again testifies.⁵

¹ "Like all the others," says D. Bossu, "the organs of generation lose their faculties and tend to atrophy when they are plunged in repose and complete inaction" (apud Eschbach, cited work, p. 481).

² Hence D. Bossu: "Pollutions which occur during sleep, in vigorous subjects observing continence, are salutary; far from fatiguing or being harmful, they render body and spirit more disposed." "It is necessary, however," the same author continues, "that they be moderate, for by being repeated too often they can become the cause of atonic losses" (apud Eschbach, cited place).

³ Eschbach, cited work, p. 481.

⁴ "When the passions are calm... continence, having become easy, no longer has inconvenience; or rather, it has advantages in that it renders the body more disposed, more alert, the spirit more penetrating, and other pleasures more lively and sweeter" (Eschbach, cited work, p. 481).

⁵ Lessius, De justitia, l. 4, c. 2, n. 99 sq.; Vermeersch, De castitate, n. 1519.

2. Virginity, according to St. Thomas, is a virtue distinct from common chastity. Thus, with the holy Doctor, many authors hold, while others deny.¹ For "where there is a special matter of good having a special excellence, there is found a special nature of virtue; as is clear in magnificence, which is concerned with great expenditures, and from this is a special virtue distinct from liberality, which is concerned generally with every use of money. But this, namely to preserve oneself immune from the experience of venereal pleasure, has a certain excellence of praise beyond this, namely to preserve oneself immune from the disorder of venereal pleasure; and therefore virginity is a certain special virtue related to chastity as magnificence is related to liberality" (St. Thomas, II-II, q. 152, a. 3). Note that St. Thomas, as it seems, argues from a special matter of good having special excellence, rather than from the special difficulty of complete abstinence.

3. Virginity, although complete abstinence from venereal things becomes honorable from an extrinsic end, practically that of religion, nevertheless belongs, equally with common chastity, to the genus of chastity. For a virtue is reduced to the genus of that virtue whose object it touches, and that in the mode proper to that virtue; this is clear from the doctrine on the division of virtues in general. But virginity, equally with common chastity, is concerned with the object of chastity, namely venereal things, and it touches them in the mode proper to chastity, namely under the aspect of temperance.

So too St. Thomas; this is deduced from the fact that he "does not take the aforesaid distinction from something pertaining to religion or to another virtue outside the genus of chastity, but from the proper matter of virginity within the aforesaid genus, which is complete continence from venereal things."² It is added that he confirms his argument by the example of magnificence in relation to liberality; "which example he also uses in the reply to the fifth, where, after making a comparison with conjugal and widowed chastity, he concludes: virginity alone is posited as a special virtue above chastity, as magnificence is above liberality. But that magnificence and liberality are distinguished essentially, in the way of St. Thomas, according to their proper matter, no one doubts."³ Finally, q. 152, a. 2 has these words: "Something can be called most excellent in two ways; in one way, in some genus; and thus virginity is most excellent, namely in the genus of chastity."

¹ The denial is attributed in the footnote to other authors, including Lessius and Vermeersch; see previous note.

² Salmanticenses, cited place.

³ Salmanticenses, cited place.

V. Excellence of Virginity. Virginity is preferred to the matrimonial state. This is of faith from the Council of Trent, session 24, canon 10. It is proved first from Sacred Scripture. "His disciples say to Him: If the case of a man with his wife is so, it is not expedient to marry. He said to them: Not all receive this word, but those to whom it has been given. For there are eunuchs,... who have castrated themselves for the kingdom of heaven. He who can receive it, let him receive it."¹ "Therefore he also who joins his virgin in marriage does well; and he who does not join her does better."²

It is proved secondly from the Holy Fathers, who perpetually, and even in whole works, extol the state of virginity above the state of marriage with splendid praises. "By divine right," says St. Augustine, "continence is set before wedlock, and pious virginity before nuptials."³ And elsewhere: "But virginal integrity, and immunity from all intercourse through pious continence, is an angelic portion, and in corruptible flesh a meditation upon perpetual incorruption. Let all fruitfulness of the flesh, all conjugal modesty, yield to this."⁴ So too (Pseudo?) St. Clement of Rome,⁵ Athenagoras,⁶ St. Athanasius,⁷ St. Cyril of Jerusalem,⁸ St. Gregory Nazianzen,⁹ St. Epiphanius,¹⁰ St. Gregory of Nyssa,¹¹ St. John Chrysostom,¹² St. Aphraates,¹³ Theodoret,¹⁴ St. John Damascene,¹⁵ Tertullian,¹⁶ St. Cyprian,¹⁷ St. Ambrose,¹⁸ St. Jerome,¹⁹ and St. Fulgentius.²⁰

It is proved thirdly by reason: "both because a divine good is preferable to a human good; and because the good of the soul is preferred to the good of the body; and also because the good of the contemplative life is preferred to the good of the active life. But virginity is ordered to the good of the soul according to the contemplative life, which is to think on the things that are of God; while marriage is ordered to the good of the body, which is the bodily multiplication of the human race; and it pertains to the active life, because man and woman living in marriage necessarily have to think on the things of the world, as is clear through the Apostle in 1 Cor. 7. Hence, without doubt, virginity is to be preferred to conjugal continence" (St. Thomas, II-II, q. 152, a. 4; cf. St. Alphonsus, Opera Dogmatica I, p. 644 sq.).

¹ Matt. 19:10-12.

² 1 Cor. 7; cf. ibid. 25-40 and Apoc. 14:1-4.

³ De sancta virginitate, c. 1, n. 1.

⁴ Ibid., c. 13, n. 12.

⁵ Epistle 1 to virgins, c. 4.

⁶ Legatio pro Christianis, n. 33.

⁷ Apologia ad Constantium, n. 33.

⁸ Catechesis 4, c. 24-25.

⁹ Oration 37, c. 10-11 and c. 13.

¹⁰ Adversus haereses, exposition of faith, c. 21.

¹¹ De virginitate, passim.

¹² De virginitate, c. 9-10.

¹³ Demonstration 18, De virginitate et sanctitate, n. 8.

¹⁴ On 1 Cor. 7:26 and 38.

¹⁵ De fide orthodoxa, l. 4, c. 24.

¹⁶ Book 1, Ad uxorem, c. 2-4 inclusive.

¹⁷ De habitu virginum, c. 3-4 and c. 23.

¹⁸ Book 2, De virginibus, c. 3, nn. 11 and 13; De viduis, c. 12, n. 72.

¹⁹ Epistle 22, nn. 19-20; Against Jovinian, passim.

²⁰ Epistle 3, c. 9-10, nn. 14-17 inclusive.

VI. The Special Reward of Virginity. To virginity there belongs a special reward, which is called an aureole. Now then:

1. Aureole, by the force of the word, sounds the same as a lesser golden crown. For since, according to Sacred Scripture, the life of man on earth is warfare¹ or contest² for obtaining the kingdom of heaven,³ or even a racecourse in which one must run in order to seize the prize,⁴ and therefore heavenly beatitude is proposed in the manner of a crown of justice⁵ and of unfading glory,⁶ theologians have been accustomed to call essential beatitude a golden crown, or even simply gold. But since in Sacred Scripture to some, on account of a certain signal victory not common to all, a certain special reward is promised, such a reward, as being less than essential beatitude, is called an aureole by theologians. This, according to the mind of St. Thomas (cf. Supplement, q. 96, a. 1), is defined by St. Alphonsus as: "An accidental joy or reward, added on account of an excellent victory" (Opera Dogmatica II, Dissertationes de novissimis, § VIII). This joy will also redound into the body of the blessed, producing a certain special beauty (St. Thomas, Supplement, q. 96, a. 10; St. Alphonsus, cited place).

2. Three aureoles are distinguished, namely those of virgins, martyrs, and doctors. Thus many Holy Fathers; likewise theologians commonly, relying on certain texts of Sacred Scripture.⁷ "It must be said," says the Angelic Doctor, "that an aureole is a certain privileged reward corresponding to a privileged victory; and therefore, according to privileged victories in the three battles which threaten every man, three aureoles are taken. For in the battle which is against the flesh, he obtains the chief victory who completely abstains from venereal delights, which are chief in this genus; such a one is a virgin, and therefore an aureole is due to virginity. But in the battle which is fought against the world, that is the chief victory when we sustain persecution from the world even unto death; hence to martyrs, who obtain victory in that battle, a second aureole is due. But in the battle which is fought against the devil, that is the chief victory when someone removes the enemy not only from himself, but also from the hearts of others; this is done through doctrine and preaching; and therefore to doctors and preachers a third aureole is due" (Supplement, q. 96, a. 11).

"Some, however, distinguish the three aureoles according to the three powers of the soul, so that the three aureoles are said to correspond to the chief acts of the three powers of the soul. For the chief act of the rational power is to diffuse the truth of faith also in others, and to this act the aureole of doctors is due. But the chief act of the irascible power is to overcome even death on account of Christ, and to this the aureole of martyrs is due. But the chief act of the concupiscible power is to abstain wholly from the greatest delights of the flesh, and to this the aureole of virgins is due" (cited place).

"Others distinguish the three aureoles according to those things by which we are most nobly conformed to Christ; for He was mediator between the Father and the world; therefore He was a doctor, according as He manifested to the world the truth which He had received from the Father; He was a martyr, according as He suffered persecution from the world; and He was a virgin, insofar as He preserved purity in Himself; and therefore doctors, martyrs, and virgins are most perfectly conformed to Him; hence to such persons an aureole is due" (cited place).

3. In order that a right to the aureole be acquired, besides the state of grace and immunity from a complete and voluntary venereal act, there is required a resolution of perpetually abstaining from venereal things. It is disputed whether a vow is also required (n. 16). Moreover, a resolution, or vow, suffices even if someone, whether by privilege, as the Blessed Virgin Mary, or from another cause, does not experience the stimulus of the flesh, and therefore lives and dies without battle; likewise if someone elicits the resolution, or vow, of abstaining from venereal things after he has awaited marriage in vain, provided, however, that the resolution, or vow, has been elicited truly and from a supernatural motive.

¹ Cf. Job 7:1.

² Cf. 2 Tim. 4:7.

³ Cf. Apoc. 5:10; Matt. 5:10 and 19:12.

⁴ Cf. 1 Cor. 9:24-25; Phil. 3:14.

⁵ Cf. 2 Tim. 4:8.

⁶ Cf. 1 Pet. 5:4.

⁷ Cf. Dan. 12:3; Apoc. 7:4; 14:3-4.

VII. Loss of Virginity. Virginity perishes:

1. Irreparably, by the very fact that the material element of the virtue is voluntarily lost, that is, through a voluntary complete venereal act, whether voluntary in itself or in its cause. For virginity requires immunity from the voluntary experience of venereal pleasure (n. 16). But it cannot happen that "one who has experienced venereal pleasure becomes one who has not experienced it" (St. Thomas, II-II, q. 152, a. 3, ad 3). Through a complete venereal act virginity perishes, even if the sign of virginity were to remain intact. It is disputed whether virginity is lost irreparably through consent in a complete act while it is taking place, the act itself having arisen apart from the will. Some affirm it; namely, in their opinion, consent to the present fact of the resolution of semen suffices.¹ To others, the contrary must be admitted, or rather the voluntary effecting of the said fact seems necessary, in order that virginity be lost irreparably.²

Virginity irreparably lost can nevertheless be repaired in a certain respect, as is said, namely according to the formal element of the virtue. "It must be said," says St. Thomas, "that virtue can be repaired through penance as to that which is formal in virtue, but not as to that which is material in it; for if a magnificent man has consumed his riches, his riches are not restored to him through repentance for the sin; and similarly, one who has lost virginity by sinning does not recover the matter of virginity through penance, but he recovers the resolution of virginity" (II-II, q. 152, a. 3, ad 3).

2. Virginity perishes reparably through the resolution of entering marriage and consummating it; likewise through any mortal sin of lust which does not destroy the material element of virginity, for example through an internal act, or through venereal commotion which does not reach a complete act (cf. St. Thomas, in IV Sentences, dist. 33, q. 3, a. 1, ad 4). There is dispute concerning the one who induces another to a sin of lust. Some affirm, and judge that the resolution of abstaining from venereal things, required for virginity, extends itself to any sin against chastity.³ Others think that the said resolution extends itself only to directly proper acts.⁴

Question: whether virginity perishes irreparably or reparably through libidinous acts which of themselves lead to a complete act, if in fact the complete act does not follow.

Some seem to assert irreparable loss.⁵ Others distinguish and judge that virginity is lost irreparably in this case by those who are capable of the complete act; likewise by those who have been made incapable only accidentally, as some sick persons, or by design, as eunuchs; but reparably by boys, who are by nature unfit for the complete act. The reason alleged is that in the former persons the material element of virginity remains only accidentally. But it seems that one should say that in the proposed case virginity is never lost irreparably, since in fact, while the material element of the virtue remains, it seems always to be restored when the formal element is added.

St. Thomas has these words: "If lust against nature anticipates the time of perfect age, since there is not present the discharge of semen, and consequently neither the complete pleasure suffocating the mind, virginity is not lost as to that which is material in it" (in IV Sentences, dist. 33, q. 3, a. 1, ad 4).

3. Virginity in no way perishes through injury to the sign of virginity which does not occur through intercourse but in another way, for example through dancing or medical treatment. Nor is it lost through involuntary pollution or intercourse extorted by force, to which the virgin does not consent. Through subsequent complacency concerning intercourse involuntarily had, virginity indeed perishes, but reparably, as we said above.

¹ Eschbach, cited work, p. 501 sq.

² Vermeersch, De Castitate, n. 142.

³ Waffelaert, cited work, n. 123.

⁴ Vermeersch, cited work, n. 142.

⁵ Vermeersch, cited work, n. 142.

VIII. Recovery of Virginity (reparably lost). If virginity has been lost through the resolution of entering and consummating marriage, it is recovered through the renewal of the resolution of abstaining from all venereal things. If it has been lost through sin, it is recovered through penance together with the aforesaid resolution.

¹ Cajetan, on II-II, q. 152, a. 1; Billuart, De Castitate, art. 5; Eschbach, cited work, p. 502.

Virginity.—The highest form of chastity is virginity, which is a purity unblemished that retains the bloom of its original innocence. Conjugal chastity uses venereal pleasures moderately and virtuously; virginity abstains from them entirely and virtuously. Virginity is threefold.

(a) Virginity of body is freedom from corruption in the genitals, which means that a male has never had sexual intercourse, that the hymen of a female is inviolate. This physical purity belongs to the virtue of virginity accidentally, seeing that it is the result or indication of the virtue; but it does not belong to the virtue essentially, since virtue is in the soul, not in the body. Hence, one may be virginal in body without the virtue of virginity (e.g., a new-born infant), or vice versa (e.g., a woman vowed to virginity who has been raped).

(b) Virginity of the lower part of the soul (the passions) is freedom from venereal pleasure voluntarily experienced. Primarily, this refers to pleasure in consummated acts, secondarily to pleasure in non-consummated acts and internal acts of thought and desire. This kind of purity belongs to the virtue of virginity essentially, since sexual pleasures are the material element or subject-matter of virginity, whose office it is to exclude all indulgence of them. Hence, a person who has had even one voluntary experience of these satisfactions, lawful or gravely unlawful, has lost virginity permanently, though the virtue of chastity may remain or may be recovered. For virginity cannot continue when its subject-matter has been removed. It should be noted that involuntary pleasures, as in nocturnal pollution or in rape or in passive spermic discharges, are not detrimental to the virtue of virginity.

(c) Virginity of the higher part of the soul (the mind) is the intention to abstain from every venereal act in the future. This purity of soul also belongs to the virtue of virginity essentially, being its formal element, since acts of the sensitive appetites are made moral and virtuous only from the direction and influence of reason and will. Hence, one who has had no experience of voluntary carnal pleasure, but who intends to marry and use its rights or to act unchastely, has not in the first case the virtue of virginity, or in the second case the virtue of chastity.

Loss of Virginity.—Physical or bodily virginity once lost can never be recovered, for this virginity means that a certain bodily action or passion has not occurred, whereas the loss means that such action or passion has occurred. Of course, a miracle could restore bodily integrity. But a more important question is this: is moral virginity, or the virtue of virginity, also irrecoverable?

(a) If the virtue has been lost as to its chief material element, it cannot be recovered. This material element (i.e., the absence of all voluntary seminal experience) cannot be restored, for even God cannot make what has been experienced a non-actuality. However, it should be noted once for all that loss of virginity does not necessarily imply loss of conjugal chastity, and that lost chastity may be recovered by repentance.

(b) If virginity has been lost as to its formal element, and the intention not to abstain was unlawful and naturally, though not actually, productive of semination (e.g., copulation of a completely aspermatic adult, or internal and intense libidinous sin from which accidentally pollution does not result), it seems that the virtue cannot be recovered. For in these cases the sinner wills, at least indirectly, the loss of the chief material element of virginity, and it seems repugnant to reason to ascribe the glory of virginity to one who has sinned in this way. Non expedit regulariter monere poenitentes de eorum virginitate irreparabiliter amissa, sed praestat quaerentibus respondere omnia peccata remitti de quibus contritio habeatur.

(c) If virginity has been lost as to its formal element and the intention not to abstain was lawful (e.g., a maid not under vow decided to marry and have children, but changed her mind and decided to remain single), or was unlawful but neither naturally nor actually productive of semination (e.g., external unchastity of a child incapable through impuberty of emissions, or internal and only mildly exciting unchastity of an adult), the virtue may be recovered, certainly in the first case and probably also in the second case. For the matter of virginity is certainly not taken away by the mere intention to have lawful venereal pleasure, nor probably even by pleasures that do not tend to semination. Recovery of virginity is made in the one case by the retractation of contrary intention and in the other case by repentance and renewal of good purpose.

Conditions Necessary for the Virtue of Virginity.—(a) As to its manner, it seems more probable that this purpose must be expressed as a vow. The reason for this according to some is that virginity is a special virtue only because of the sacred character which religion gives it, and according to others also because of the unshakable renunciation which is conferred by a vow. But it is also held as probable that unvowed virginity may be called a lesser degree of the special virtue of virginity, At least, it is a higher degree of the virtue of chastity.

(b) As to its motive, virginity must be justified by an extrinsic reason. Chastity is justified by its own end, which is reasonable moderation. Virginity, on the contrary, is not self-justificatory, since in itself it is unfruitful and without advantage. Hence, it is not praiseworthy unless it serves some higher good than that of propagation, such as a good of the mind (e.g., Plato remained single for the sake of philosophy) or of the will (e.g., the New Testament recommends virginity for the sake of greater devotion to the things of God). Virginity that results from mere contempt for sensible pleasure would be an excess, and continence embraced merely to escape the burdens of marriage and to lead an easy, self-indulgent, irresponsible life would be selfishness; but virginity followed from an ideal of self-sacrifice which reason approves observes the golden mean (see Pius XII, Sacra Virginitas, March 25, 1954).

The Excellence of Virginity.-(a) Virginity has the highest rank among the various forms of chastity. Every kind of chastity (pre-nuptial, conjugal, vidual) is of great importance, because to this virtue is entrusted the right propagation of the entire race and the moral and physical health of the individual in the most insistent of passions. The material reproduction of the race is indeed a more urgent need than virginity, since without it the human species would die out; and if there were danger of race extinction, it would be more imperative to marry than to remain continent. But if we confine our attention to the ordinary course of things and compare virginity and non-virginal chastity from the viewpoint of nobility, it must be said virginity is more valuable both to the community and to the individual than the other kinds of chastity. It is more valuable to the community, since the example of its excellence is a protection to public morals, and its permanence gives the opportunity for a more general and ready service of society. It is more valuable to the individual, since to be occupied with the things of God is better than to be engrossed in the things of the world, and the unmarried have the opportunity to devote more time with less distraction to higher things. Scripture affirms the superiority of virginity to marriage by its teaching (e.g., Our Lord in Matt., xix. 12, counsels virginity; St. Paul in I Cor., vii. 7 sqq., says that it is the better and more blessed state), by its examples (Our Lord, the Blessed Virgin, St. John the Baptist, St. John the Evangelist, and in the Old Dispensation Josue, Elias, Eliseus, Jeremias), and by its promised rewards (Apoc., xiv. 4). A popular philosophy of materialism today makes repressed sex-urges responsible for hysteria and other emotional disturbances, but experience proves that continence benefits both psychical and physical health.

(b) Virginity does not rank first among all the virtues. The theological virtues surpass it, being its goal; martyrdom and religious obedience are greater, because they sacrifice the superior goods of life and of the will. It may happen, then, that a person in the married state or a penitent (Luke, vii. 36 sqq.) is personally more holy than one dedicated to continence; a married person or penitent may surpass a virgin in faith, hope and charity, and may be therefore, simply speaking, more perfect.

What vows are reserved to the Pope? - By custom everywhere received and from Canon Law itself, besides the vows of religion and those annexed to them, are these five: 1. The vow of entering an approved religion. 2. The vow of perpetual and entire or total chastity. 3. The vow of pilgrimage to the sepulcher of the Lord in Jerusalem. 4. The vow of pilgrimage to the thresholds of the Apostles Peter and Paul. 5. The vow of pilgrimage to visit the relics of St. James of Compostela. Hence in a general concession of dispensing in all vows, those five vows are not comprehended, although they are not expressly excepted. The reason is that those things which are specially reserved require a special concession. R. 81, de R. I., in 6; Struggl 48; L. 258.

To what virtue is lust opposed? - Lust is directly opposed to chastity, which, taken generally, is a moral virtue which moderates the inordinate appetite and use of venereal things. Cf. 349. A part of chastity, and its most perfect part, is virginity, which imports two things, namely integrity of body, and integrity of mind, or the purpose of preserving that integrity of body in perpetuity. Indeed, a threefold chastity is to be distinguished: conjugal, widowed, virginal. Conjugal chastity is that which in marriage moderately uses lawful pleasures. Widowed chastity is that which after the death of the spouse, or after virginity has otherwise been lost, by a firm purpose thereafter abstains from the appetite and use of venereal things. Finally, virginal chastity is that which proposes perpetually to abstain from all carnal pleasures, both unlawful and lawful in marriage. S. Th. 2. 2, q. 151-153.

How is virginity lost? - Virginity is lost physically in a girl through the opening or breaking of the virginal enclosure, and in a male through the emission of seed; but morally it is lost both by a female and by a male through voluntary pollution. Nevertheless as to political state, and in the face of the Church, a girl remains a virgin as long as the enclosure of virginity has not been violated by intercourse, and a male as long as he has not carnally known a female. Tambur. Explic. Decal. l. 7, c. 5, nn. 2, 3; Laym. l. 3, s. 4, nn. 7-9; Sporer after tract V, in append. ad 6th Precept, n. 6; S. Th. 2. 2, q. 152.

What is defilement? - Defilement is sometimes taken for every illicit intercourse; but more commonly by this word a special sin of lust is designated. Theologians, however, do not agree among themselves concerning the nature of this sin. Fr. Gury 425 says defilement is the violation or oppression of a woman against her will. But others hold that the proper nature of defilement consists simply in the illicit deflowering of a virgin; while others hold that it consists in violent intercourse with a virgin, so that intercourse with a consenting virgin is not a sin distinct from simple fornication. But by the name virgin in each opinion is understood not she who has so preserved the virtue of virginity that she has been stained by no sin of lust, but she who retains the seal of virginity intact, although she has been polluted even voluntarily, and therefore has irrevocably lost the virtue of virginity. L. 101 de Verb. sign.; L. 443; S. Th. 2. 2, q. 154, aa. 6, 7; Laym. l. 3, s. 5, tr. 3, p. 3, c. 13, init. If a woman, unwilling, outside marriage, is overcome by force by a man, it is lawful for her not to receive the seed of the man who has entered her. And the same they permit, though not all, to a woman who had previously consented, because she is bound not to continue the sin. But if a woman oppressed by force has already received the seed, more probably she cannot eject it or render it infertile by injection of cold water, since this is against the nature of generation, which has already been begun. Lugo de Iust. et Iur. d. 10, n. 197; L. 394; l. 6, n. 954.

It is certain among all that violent deflowering of a virgin, besides grave sin against chastity, also involves grave sin against justice, necessarily to be explained in Confession, because of the most grave injury inflicted on the virgin, and on her parents, if the virgin is under their guardianship. Inst. l. 4, t. 4, section 2. And this circumstance of violence, as is clear per se, is to be expressed, even if the woman were not a virgin, but corrupted or married. Moreover, "by violence here is understood not only physical violence, but also moral, such as fraud and fear; likewise importunate prayers and blandishments, which according to the judgment of prudent persons, especially in this matter, are morally reputed violence; such are those which are accompanied by great promises, kisses, touches, incentives of Venus, and in one word all those by which a noble woman cannot easily resist." Billuart de Temper. Diss. 6, art. 3, Dico 1; Struggl 28, 29. But although force or violence is not had, certainly notable fraud is had, and therefore special malice against justice to be declared in Confession, if someone should fornicate with a woman insane, drunk, or sleeping, because she is violated without her consent, and therefore a grave injury is inflicted on her. Sporer 606; Laym. l. c. n. 1; S. Th. 1. 2, q. 154, a. 6; L. 430, 433. But whether illicit deflowering of a virgin freely consenting is a species of lust distinct from simple fornication is disputed, and each opinion is at least extrinsically probable. The negative opinion seems more probable. The reason is that that circumstance of physical virginity or integrity is merely material with respect to the virtue of chastity, and therefore the sin against chastity is not changed in species. Hence, which is consequent, this circumstance of virginity in any sins whatever committed by a female or male, virgins, will not be necessarily explained in Confession, unless perhaps on the occasion of reservation, or censure, or another extrinsic circumstance, for instance if it culpably became known, and disgrace and damage came about, which must be repaired. S. Th. 2. 2, q. 154, aa. 1, 4; Laym. l. c. An inflicted injury demands satisfaction; inflicted damage, if it follows, demands restitution. But for repairing the inflicted damage, if no promise of marriage intervened, the defiler is bound either to marry the girl, or to dower her sufficiently or sufficiently increase her dowry, so that she may marry another as equally as if she were a virgin. C. 1, 2 de Adult. et stupr.; C. B. 825. Cf. 1376; L. l. 3, nn. 640-612, 648; Laym. l. c. nn. 2, 4; Lugo de Poenit. d. 16, s. 4, section 7; C. I. Poen. 331 seqq.; C. G. 331 seqq.

Do confessors of nuns need special approbation, and can nuns freely choose a confessor for themselves? - It does not pertain to nuns to choose a confessor for themselves, unless they have this right from foundation or custom, in which case the confessor chosen by them must be approved by the Ordinary. - If the nuns are not exempt, or if they are exempt and immediately subject to the Apostolic See, the deputation of the confessor belongs to the Bishop. If the nuns are exempt and subject to regular prelates, the deputation of the confessor, nevertheless of the same order, pertains to the regular prelate. But it is necessary that the Bishop approve him, and indeed specially for the Confessions of nuns; indeed also for such a convent, so that it does not suffice that he has already been approved by the Bishop for another convent. And he must be approved as often as he is deputed to that duty. - Lugo, Resp. Mor., l. 5, d. 24, n. 5.

The S. C. EE. et RR., May 2, 1617; June 7, 1620; Sept. 2, 1642, etc., established that confessors of nuns must be above forty years of age, and that ordinary confessors must be changed every three years. By the decree Cum sacramentalibus the same was established. Yet this is not observed everywhere; and, if it is not done, it does not import invalidity of absolution. S. C. EE. et RR., July 20, 1875; Collectan. S. C. de P. F., n. 436. Moreover the confessor is bound to come to hear the Confessions of nuns as often as he has been called. Besides, let him beware lest he conduct himself as superior of the monastery, since no such authority belongs to him in any way; and lest, after he has already fulfilled the office for three years, he mingle conversations with the nuns or send letters to them, even about those things which regard direction of conscience. This was prescribed at Rome both as regards ordinary confessors and as regards extraordinary ones, once their office had ended. Ferraris, v. Confessarius, a. 4, n. 37.

The deputation of extraordinary confessors pertains to him to whom the deputation of the ordinary pertains, and one or several must be offered at least twice or three times in the year. Trent, sess. 25, C. 10, de Reg. - Even from the sole reason of spiritual consolation and progress, a peculiar confessor whom she requests must be granted extraordinarily to a nun, provided that on the part of the nun and on the part of the confessor whom she asks for herself nothing appears from which the said spiritual progress is not to be hoped for. - If the regular prelate neglects to give an extraordinary confessor, the Bishop supplies his negligence. If the Bishop himself neglects to give an extraordinary confessor, nothing else is granted to the nuns than to have recourse to the S. C. de Relig. or to the Major Penitentiary. - But it is prescribed that the extraordinary confessor at least once in the year be either secular or of another order, and at that time the ordinary confessor is to hear the Confessions of no one, neither of the abbess nor of the novices. - All nuns are bound to present themselves to the extraordinary confessor, so that provision be made for the liberty of all; nevertheless they are not bound to confess to him. And therefore, during the whole time for which the office of extraordinary confessor lasts, the ordinary confessor must abstain from exercising his ministry and must not come to the monastery. S. C. EE. et RR., Jan. 1749; Bizzarri, p. 31. - But regular confessors of this kind, after they have fulfilled their office, are forbidden to come to the same monastery or to continue intercourse within it in any way whatever. Bizzarri, p. 294, ed. 1885. - S. C. EE. et RR., Dec. 7, 1906. The ordinary confessor cannot be constituted as extraordinary confessor unless a year has elapsed after the completed triennium. The extraordinary confessor is not held by this law of the triennium. And this extraordinary confessor, even permanently, is not to be denied to a nun who would obstinately refuse to confess to the ordinary. Benedict XIV, Constitution Pastoralis curae.

By decree of the S. C. EE. et RR., Dec. 17, 1790, art. VI, "His Holiness admonishes Prelates and superiors not to deny an extraordinary confessor to subjects as often as subjects are driven to this in order to provide for their own conscience, and the same superiors are in no way to inquire into the reason for the petition or show that they bear it unwillingly. And lest so provident a disposition become vain, the Ordinary is exhorted that in places of his own diocese in which communities of women exist, he designate suitable priests furnished with faculties, to whom they can easily have recourse for the sacrament of penance." But this, as is evident, does not progress so far that they may constantly have recourse to an extraordinary confessor without ever approaching the ordinary confessor. Hence it was declared: "The dispositions of art. IV of the decree Quemadmodum constitute only an exception to the common law for cases only of true and absolute necessity, as often as they are driven to this, that which is prescribed by the Sacred Council of Trent and by the Constitution Pastoralis curae of Benedict XIV remaining firm." S. C. EE. et RR., Feb. 1, 1892. Cf. the Norms of the same Sacred Congregation, nn. 144-146.

At the point of death, a particular confessor must be granted by the Bishop to any nun asking for one; and if the monastery is exempt, if the regular prelate does not grant him, he must be assigned by the Bishop, Benedict XIV, Constitution Pastoralis curae, or, if even the Bishop refuses, by the Major Penitentiary, if time is available. But if time is not available, provision has been made by the Council of Trent, sess. 14, C. 7.

Under the name of nuns here are properly understood only women living under rule in cloister; but not those who are not bound to observe strict enclosure. - But the cited decree Quemadmodum of the S. C. EE. et RR., Dec. 17, 1890, regards also the more recent sisters of only simple vows and without papal enclosure, to whom afterward those things which had been established for nuns were extended. And now especially from the decree Cum de Sacramentalibus, the same law exists for nuns and sisters. - Gregory XV, Constitution Inscrutabili, Feb. 5, 1622; Clement X, Superna; Benedict XIV, Constitution Pastoralis curae; Ithur., Cas. 16; Bouix, de Episc., vol. 2, p. 253; de Iure Reg., vol., p. 332; L. 576, 577; E. M.

What is vow? A fourfold vow impeding marriage is distinguished, namely a vow of chastity; a vow of not marrying; a vow of entering Religion; a vow of receiving sacred orders.

A vow of chastity. - He who has emitted such a vow sins gravely by entering marriage with the intention of consummating it, because he breaks the vow. - He also sins gravely, even with this intention excluded, because he exposes himself to danger of violating either the vow or the right of the other spouse. Once marriage has been contracted, he can neither ask nor render the debt during the first two-month period, because by divine privilege spouses are exempted during this time from the obligation of the conjugal debt. But when this time has elapsed, he can indeed render the debt and satisfy the right of the other, but he cannot ask without dispensation from the vow, or without suspension or indirect irritation of the vow made by the other spouse. - He must altogether abstain if the other consents, or has lost the right of asking, for example, because of adultery or incest. But if he can abstain with difficulty, he must as soon as possible request dispensation, or seek the aforesaid irritation from the other spouse. - If the other spouse dies, he cannot fly to new nuptials unless he has obtained dispensation from his vow also to this effect. - St. Thomas, Quodl. 3, a. 18; Quodl. 10, a. 11; La-Croix, l. 3, n. 564.

A vow of not marrying, or a vow of virginity. - He who, after emitting this vow, contracts marriage sins gravely, as is manifest. - Once marriage has been contracted, he can render and even ask the debt, because the observance of the vow has now been made impossible. For the same reason, when the spouse has died, he can at least probably contract a new marriage. - In practice it is sometimes doubtful whether someone strictly vowed virginity or only bodily integrity, virginity or celibacy, or rather chastity universally. The penitent will have to be asked whether he was led by love of the aureola of virginity, or by intention of freeing himself from the burdens of marriage and serving God more holily, or solely by love and affection of purity. In the first case he is to be judged to have vowed virginity, which is lost only by voluntary emission of seed in a man and voluntary laceration of bodily integrity in a woman; in the second case celibacy, which merely prohibits marriage; in the third case truly chastity. La-Croix 57.

A vow strictly of virginity, namely of preserving bodily integrity only, is not violated by the mere contract of marriage, but is violated because, by contracting marriage, someone exposes himself to danger of losing virginity in it. But once it has been lost, since the vow has now been made impossible, he can ask and render the debt.

A vow of entering Religion. - He who has emitted such a vow sins gravely by entering marriage, both because he deceives the other and because he exposes himself to danger of violating the vow. - Before the consummation of marriage he is bound to enter Religion; and therefore he sins mortally when for the first time, either by asking or rendering the debt, he consummates the marriage, because he must fulfill the vow when he can. But he can fulfill it by not consummating marriage in the first two-month period, since then by divine privilege either party can enter Religion, and the other party, when the spouse solemnly professes, is freed from the bond of marriage. - After consummated marriage he can ask and render the debt, because execution of the vow has been made impossible, and the asking of the conjugal act is not against the vow itself, since he did not vow chastity, but Religion. - Even after marriage has been consummated, of itself he is bound to enter Religion as often as he can do this without injury to the right of the other party, for example, if the other consents, or loses the right of asking the debt in perpetuity, or if the marriage is dissolved by death; because the obligation of the vow always subsists. But in practice in these cases it is more expedient that recourse be had to dispensation. More expedient; for in practice the circumstances by reason of age, of offspring perhaps received from marriage, of the state of fortunes, and also of suitability for religious duties, are so changed that because of change of matter the obligation of the vow almost of itself ceases, and there is no need of dispensation.

A vow of receiving orders. - He who has emitted that vow sins gravely by entering marriage, as is well known. - He is bound to receive orders if he can, for example, if he obtains the consent of the other. According to several he is bound to enter Religion before the consummation of marriage, even against the will of the other, so that he can fulfill the vow. But others more probably deny this. - Once marriage has been entered, he can consummate it if he can no longer fulfill the vow. - When the wife has died, or when separation has legitimately been made, he is bound to receive sacred orders, unless he is dispensed. For the vow does not cease. St. Thomas, Suppl. q. 53.

Who can dispense in impedient impediments? - No one can dispense, except the Supreme Pontiff and from a just cause, from an impediment arising from valid betrothals, since in this matter there is question of a strict debt of justice, which no one besides the supreme Prince can take away. The same must be said concerning the necessity of the consent of parents, which is to be referred back to natural law; nevertheless this naturally ceases if the parents dissent unjustly. - Bishops, or Ordinaries, Pastors of souls, enjoying full jurisdiction in the external forum, can dispense 1. in the obligation of banns; 2. as regards the contract during forbidden time, where custom also interdicts this; 3. in a vow of temporary chastity, and of virginity or of not marrying. - But they cannot dispense 1. as regards a vow of perpetual chastity; 2. as regards a vow of entering Religion; 3. as regards the impediment of disparity of worship between Catholics and heretics; 4. as regards clandestinity, or marriage to be contracted in the face of the Church; 5. as regards the solemnities of nuptials, S. R. C., August 14, 1858, Mont. Alb., ad 2; 6. as regards proof of free state. For these impediments are reserved to the Pope. - Regulars by their privileges are able to dispense merely for the internal forum in a vow of virginity, or of not marrying; for they have the same power of dispensing from vows in the internal forum which belongs to Bishops by ordinary right, according to the common opinion of the doctors. L. 987, 1119, 1128; Benedict XIV, Instr. 80, n. 15; Sanchez, l. 1, d. 61.

4. Moreover, lust is directly opposed to chastity, which taken generally is: the moral virtue which moderates the inordinate appetite and use of venereal things. A part of chastity, and indeed the most perfect part, is virginity, which imports two things: namely integrity of body, and integrity of mind, or the purpose of preserving that integrity of body forever. Virginity is lost physically in a girl by the opening or breaking of the virginal cloister, and in a male by the effusion of semen; but morally it is lost, more or less, both by a woman and by a male, through voluntary pollution, or merely venereal delectation, or only through consent to these, although in reality neither pollution nor venereal delectation takes place. Yet as regards the political state and in the face of the Church, a girl remains a virgin so long as the cloister of virginity has not been violated by intercourse, and a male so long as he has not carnally known a woman. Whence "a nun who before profession or consecration voluntarily polluted herself, although she loses, as was said, virginity according to virtue, nevertheless since she does not lose it according to state, because she rejoices in an intact virginal cloister, needs no dispensation for making profession and for receiving the veil granted only to virgins. And for the same reason, the same woman can without scruple accept a legacy left to virgins alone, and pronounce herself a virgin in order to marry, etc. Azor, citing Bonac. and others, teaches that a virgin secretly violated in the cloister cannot put herself forward for requesting the veil of consecration, even if from this she is going to incur infamy; but that she can exercise the offices proper to a virgin, indeed offer herself for them, lest she be defamed; because, he says, ecclesiastical institutes do not oblige with so much rigor. But with peace to Azor, a most learned man, this reason proves that in a similar danger of infamy she can not only put herself forward for the aforesaid offices, but also request the veil of consecration, as he holds, citing Suarez and Pell., because that likewise is from an ecclesiastical institute." Tamburini, Explic. Decal., l. VII, c. 5, n. 2, 3; Sporer, after tr. V, append. ad VI praecept., n. 6; Struggl, tr. 7, q. 4, art. 1, n. 2; Billuart, tr. de Temper., Dissert. 4, de Cast., etc., art. 1, 2, 5; Dissert. 5, de Luxur., art. 1, 2; St. Thomas, 2.2, q. 152.

2. Note 1. In order that the object of lust be rightly understood, in this matter a twofold delectation must be distinguished: one venereal, which is also called carnal, another sensible. Venereal delectation, or delectation concerning a base thing, can be either merely spiritual, namely that which is in the mere will, without any base commotion in the body, or not merely spiritual but at the same time carnal, as if there is present a base commotion in the body. La-Croix, l. 3, n. 890-892. This venereal and carnal delectation is felt in the genital parts through the commotion of the genital spirits and semen; on the contrary, sensible delectation is felt in other senses from their application to their own object, and from the proportion of this object to its proper sense. If venereal delectation is intended either directly in itself, or indirectly in the cause, it is called sought; but if, after it has followed besides the intention, free consent of the will is added, the delectation is called admitted.

Sensible delectation is twofold: one is purely such, the other is sensible-venereal. Purely sensible delectation is that which arises from an object which of itself precisely is not apt to move to venereal delectation; as, for example, the delectation which arises from the touch of silk, the smell of a flower, the hearing of music, the taste of sugar. Sensible-venereal delectation is that which arises from an object which of itself in some way is apt to move to venereal delectation, as, for example, the delectation which arises from touch, from the embrace of a woman, from her kiss, etc. L. 412, 413, 415.

Venereal delectation deliberately voluntary among persons to whom intercourse is illicit properly looks to lust and is a grave sin from its whole genus, not admitting smallness of matter. The reason is that venereal delectation of itself is ordained to the generative act and the propagation of the human race, which is a most grave matter; and if besides it is notable, it contains from its intrinsic nature the proximate danger of pollution, which is directly repugnant to generation. This is confirmed from proposition 40, condemned by Alexander VII, already cited in n. 1, 2. For that condemnation of the proposition is to be understood: 1. of warmer and lingering kisses, which from their nature proximately dispose to venereal delectation; by no means, however, of lighter kisses and those transitorily impressed, which only remotely dispose to venereal delectation; 2. of even lighter kisses, but had for the sake of carnal or venereal delectation. For in that proposition carnal and sensible are joined, so that by the name sensible delectation you understand carnal delectation itself, or delectation which is sensible and at the same time carnal. If, therefore, those kisses are grave on account of the proximate danger and on account of the intended end of venereal delectation, venereal delectation of itself is grave. Hence "he sins gravely who spontaneously consents to light carnal motions spontaneously occurring." L. 415.

Purely sensible delectation, as such, does not properly pertain to lust, but to sensuality, and of itself it is not evil, but indifferent. Nor indeed can another malice be found in it except that which generally is in an act which is not referred to a rational end; such certainly would be the case if someone not only acted with that delectation, but also for the sake of that same delectation, positively excluding a further honest end and resting in it.

Finally, sensible-venereal delectation either from its nature proximately disposes to venereal delectation, or only remotely. If proximately, it is a grave sin on account of the proximate danger of venereal delectation. If remotely, it does not per se exceed venial sin, if it is directly intended, on account of the inordination which is directly intended in it, yet not a grave one, since the proximate danger of venereal delectation is absent. Whence, from some sensuality only, to look at a beautiful woman, to touch her face or hand, or to give her a light kiss, another depraved intention or danger of consent to another grave thing being excluded, is only a venial sin. Struggl, tr. 2, q. 2, n. 15, 4, 5, 6, 7; Tamburini, Expl. decal., l. 7, c. 8, n. 1 et seqq.; Sporer, de Matr., n. 686, 688, 691; Billuart, Dissert. 5, de Luxur., art. 1, 2; Ithurriaga, Cas. 51, n. 3 seqq.; Cas. 18, n. 1 seqq.

The theologians commonly warn, however, as regards practice, that "from sensual delectation to venereal, especially in the sense of touch or sight, the progress is easy." Billuart, de Temp., diss. 5, art. 2; L. l. 3, n. 416; l. 6, n. 854.

3. Note 2. In order that it may also be rightly understood how virginity is a part, and indeed the most perfect part, of chastity taken generally, and is not confused with it, a threefold chastity must be distinguished: conjugal, vidual, virginal. Conjugal chastity is that which in marriage moderately uses lawful pleasures. Vidual chastity is that which, after the death of a spouse or after virginity lost from some other source, thenceforth abstains from the appetite and use of venereal things by a firm purpose. Finally, virginal chastity is that which proposes perpetually to abstain from all carnal pleasures, both illicit and those lawful in marriage. St. Thomas, 2.2, q. 151, 153.

4. Note 3. Finally, that what has been said concerning the nature of virginity may be rightly understood, it must be known that some place the virginal cloister in women in a certain membrane, which is called the hymen and is situated at the entrance of the vagina, and this, having been torn by male intercourse or by another extraneous cause, is abolished; but others wish it to be nothing other than the compression or folding together of the orifice of the female vessel, which is dilated by the congress of a man or by another extraneous cause, and thus the vessel is opened. But although the hymen is commonly found in virgins, nevertheless its presence or absence is not indeed a certain sign of virginity; for several cases of virgins are cited who have lacked it. Billuart, Diss. 6, art. 3; Milne Edwards, Lecons sur la Physiologie, Paris 1870, tome 9, pag. 59, 65, 66; Debreyne, Moechialogie, l. P., ch. 1, art. 2, sect. 2; Longet, Physiologie, Paris 1850, t. 2, pag. 139; Ant., p. 113, 115 (Antonelli, Medicina Pastoralis, second edition, pag. 113, 114, 115).

1. 1. Concerning chastity itself. Chastity, which is referred to temperance (above, n. 1077), is a moral virtue moderating or excluding the appetite of venereal delectation, according to each one's state and condition.

(A) For the understanding of this, it must be known that venereal delectation is that which arises from acts serving human generation. For God willed that, in the present order of things, the human race should be propagated through the sexual union of male and female. Wherefore, creating the first parents, "male and female He created them, and God blessed them, and said: Increase and multiply, and fill the earth."² But that they might more easily apply themselves to the procreation of children, He attached a special delectation to those acts which serve human generation, and this is called venereal, or carnal, or libidinous.

² Gen. 1:17-18.

This, therefore, is distinguished from merely sensible or sensual delectation. (a) Sensible delectation is that which arises from the perception of an object suitably proportioned to the sensitive power, such as that which is perceived from hearing harmony, from the smell or sight of a flower, from drinking wine, from touching a smooth thing, etc.; for in these the sensitive appetite is delighted without the organs serving generation being necessarily moved. (b) This sensible delectation is sometimes called sensual, namely when it arises from sight, touch, or conversation with a person loved with sensible affection: for then the heart and blood are more vehemently moved; and, although this delectation of itself is not venereal, nevertheless it easily excites carnal commotion and tends toward venereal pleasure.

2. (B) Chastity moderates the appetite of venereal delectation in spouses, and excludes it among the unmarried. For God wisely willed that men should not beget children outside legitimate matrimony. For offspring once born is by no means sufficient to itself, but for many years needs both parents in order to receive physical, intellectual, and moral education; but this cannot properly be done unless the man and woman who intend to beget and educate children enter a society firm and indissoluble of itself, live together, and mutually help each other in nourishing, supporting, and rightly instructing the offspring.³

³ This has been proved in the dogmatic part of the Treatise on Matrimony, n. 61.

3. Wherefore, among almost all Nations, vague and concubinary unions are held as dishonorable, and also as contrary to the good of offspring and of the whole society; but, on the contrary, legitimate matrimony is considered not only honorable, but also as bearing before itself something sacred. - But how spouses ought to moderate venereal delectations, and to preserve the bed unspotted from filth and uncleannesses, we have explained elsewhere, in the Supplement to Marriage.

From this it follows that the unmarried, namely the younger before they have duly entered matrimony, and widowers who have not contracted new nuptials, must abstain from every venereal delectation. For since this is lawful only insofar as it is ordered to the generation of offspring, and, moreover, the procreation of children outside legitimate matrimony is unlawful, they are held to abstain from every voluntary carnal delectation.

4. (C) Therefore a threefold chastity is usually distinguished: (a) youthful chastity, which abstains from every venereal delectation until the time of nuptials; (b) conjugal chastity, which moderates the appetite of pleasure in spouses and excludes whatever is unlawful in the use of matrimony; (c) widowed chastity, which, after matrimony has been dissolved, contains itself from every carnal pleasure either perpetually or until second nuptials. Here we treat of youthful and widowed chastity, since speech is had of conjugal chastity in the Treatise on Matrimony.

5. 2. Concerning virginity. (A) Virginity, as a virtue,⁴ is nothing other than perfect chastity, i.e., abstinence from every venereal delectation perpetually preserved, or the firm purpose of the will of perpetually abstaining from all venereal delectations, even those which are lawful in matrimony. Therefore it excludes not only external acts, but also internal acts by which consent is furnished to carnal delectation presented to the imagination. True and formal virginity, however, is preserved even if the integrity of the flesh is injured against the will, for example through involuntary pollution, or when a woman is oppressed unwillingly.

⁴ Virginity also designates integrity of the flesh, which is lost in men through voluntary pollution, or effusion of seed; it is lost in women through voluntary rupture of the membrane which is called the hymen or virginal enclosure, whether this is done through carnal copulation or through touch. - Material virginity, or integrity of flesh, can therefore subsist after formal virginity has been lost through internal sins. - When a vow of virginity is emitted, the intention of the one vowing must be examined, in order to know whether he wished to vow perfect chastity, or only abstinence from that first act by which material virginity is lost. Concerning this see the Treatise on Matrimony, n. 250.

Virginity is distinguished from perfect chastity in this, that it has been preserved perpetually, while chastity, even perfect, can be preserved by him who previously furnished consent to carnal delectation. - Nevertheless, according to the common manner of speaking, these two are often taken promiscuously.

6. (B) That virginity cultivated for God is not only lawful but laudable, and of itself more excellent than matrimony, we proved in the dogmatic part of the Treatise on Matrimony, n. 17; that the same is not contrary to the health of body or mind has been demonstrated in the Treatise on the Various Obligations of States, n. 93 (1064).

(C) Sometimes virginity is called continence, because namely it contains itself from carnal concupiscences. Of itself, indeed, a word of this kind extends more widely and designates the struggle of the mind against all disordered sensible movements; but by antonomasia it designates virginity insofar as it repels the more vehement concupiscences of the flesh.

Sometimes also it is called pudicity. Yet pudicity, in the proper sense, designates that virtue by which we flee all those things which excite shame, or modesty, and therefore all external acts which can allure to venereal delectation, such as looks, touches, kisses, and other things of this kind.

9. 2. It promotes the good of the family. For unless young persons remain chaste before they marry, and spouses inviolably preserve the fidelity mutually given to each other, peace can scarcely reign in families.

(a) Indeed the bridegroom generally intends to take a virgin bride in marriage, and if he finds her already corrupted, he can scarcely restrain indignation, and not rarely seeks divorce. Why should he himself indulge lust with impunity before nuptials? Are there two weights and two measures? Is he not ashamed to join unclean flesh to a virgin? - This indeed is more horrible if, infected with venereal disease, he has contaminated the bride: for then love is turned into hatred or contempt, and nothing remains for the wretched spouses except to lead a most miserable life. To avert this danger, there is no efficacious means except chastity; for the syphilitic disease can be contracted by one impure contact, and once contracted can suddenly infect the body again at any time of life, and pass into descendants. - The same must be said of conjugal chastity: for if adultery is committed even once by either spouse, the danger of contamination is incurred. Moreover justice itself demands that both spouses preserve inviolate the fidelity mutually given to each other.

(b) But besides, when adulterous loves or other shameful acts are fostered, how many dissensions arise, how many envies, how many quarrels, how many homicides or suicides! For love despised is easily turned into fury, and the more intense it had been, the more anger is enkindled, as soon as the other spouse has become unfaithful.

(c) Moreover, unless children are chastely instructed, soon they too fall into vice, and bring shame and sadness to their parents. Now how will they remain chaste, unless good example in this matter is given to them?

On the contrary, when the betrothed have wisely contained themselves before nuptials, and pursue each other only with modest love, seeking nothing except to beget children legitimately and to instruct them with the best morals, and preserve inviolate fidelity to each other in adversities as well as in prosperity, they obtain peace and joy, with God's help.

10. 3. It contributes very greatly to the good of the individual. In order that man may rightly order his life according to the principles of reason and faith, it is necessary that he subdue the passions which delay or remove him from spiritual good. Now among the passions, none is more tyrannical than the love of venereal delectations; for it so blinds the mind and invades and moves the whole soul, that the voluptuous man postpones health of body, human dignity, intellectual progress, and the eternal salvation of the soul to lust.⁴

⁴ To the point Augustine (De Civitate Dei, lib. XIV, c. 16, P. L., XLI, 424): "Although, therefore, there are lusts for many things, nevertheless when lust is named, and the thing of which it is the lust is not added, scarcely anything is accustomed to occur to the mind except that by which the obscene parts of the body are excited. But this claims for itself not only the whole body, nor only externally, but also internally, and moves the whole man, with affection of soul joined and mingled with appetite of flesh, so that that pleasure follows, than which none is greater among bodily pleasures: so that at the very moment of time at which one arrives at its extreme, almost every edge and, as it were, watchfulness of thought is overwhelmed."

For, as St. Thomas rightly observes,⁵ when the lower powers are vehemently drawn toward their objects, it follows that the higher powers are impeded and disordered in their acts. But through the vice of luxury the lower appetite tends most intensely to its object, on account of the vehemence of passion and delectation; hence the higher powers, namely reason and will, are most easily distracted and disordered from their object. Thus the intellect, ensnared by pleasure, often judges of things without mature consideration of motives, the impulse of passion driving it, and therefore not rarely is deceived; soon reason is clouded and gradually blinded, since it no longer approves what is honorable, but what appears delectable. The will labors under weakness and inconstancy, because it seeks the honorable good, even when approved by reason, only slowly and reluctantly, and soon, conquered by lust, deserts the path of virtue. A little afterward, with the desire of pleasure growing, love of God and of heavenly things is diminished; thence sometimes hatred of God is born, insofar as He prohibits the desired delectation, and also despair, because while one is too much detained by carnal delectations, he loathes spiritual things and does not care to obtain them. Thus step by step man is turned away from God, becomes carnal and animal, and falls into the mire of vices.

⁵ St. Thomas, 2. 2ae, q. 153, a. 5; cf. q. 46, a. 3.

Therefore chastity is most excellent, for it submits that untamed passion to the yoke of right reason and faith; thus it preserves man's true liberty immune from unclean tyranny, adds strength and beauty to his body, increases the keenness of the intellect, strengthens the will, makes us more human, and orders the whole soul to God.

11. Wherefore Scripture often praises chastity: "Grace upon grace is a holy and modest woman. But every weight is not worthy of a continent soul... O how beautiful is the chaste generation with glory: for the memory thereof is immortal, because it is known both with God and with men."⁶ Hence, Augustine testifying, all, even the vicious, admire chastity:⁷ "For so great is the force of probity and chastity, that every human nature, or almost every human nature, is moved by its praise; nor is it so vicious through baseness that it entirely loses the sense of honesty."

⁶ Ecclus. 26:19-20. - Wis. 4:1.

⁷ St. Augustine, De civ. Dei, lib. II, c. 26, P. L., XLI, 75.

41. By the various teachings which, prudently collected chiefly but not exclusively with respect to health, we report in this place, we intend in the first place to cut away or refute several errors harmful to morals, and to provide for the moral order by observing it. We hope besides that we shall furnish more than one priest with an abundance of useful counsel.

The conjugal act, when not too frequent and practiced by healthy persons, benefits health more than it harms it. Those, however, whose nerves are badly affected either by illness or by intemperance can suffer harm from it, sometimes grave harm ¹. For love, that is, sexual ardor, has been called a brief epilepsy.

¹ Ellis, in Moll, p. 181. Compare especially Féré, p. 319.

Anthropologists say that it matters greatly for the happiness of life together that the husband begin to approach his wife not fiercely but rather gently, as befits a man, and thereafter use his right discreetly ².

² Moll, pp. 446-447.

The wife, in turn, so that she may please her husband, should be rather yielding and ready in rendering the debt.

But how often, after the fervor of the first weeks, is it expedient for spouses to exercise the conjugal act? Luther established the celebrated rule for men of more vigorous age that intercourse should regularly be had twice or three times in a week. Vigorous age, moreover, is said to flourish between 25 and 40 years. Many physicians still approve Luther's norm.

Others, however, more prudently deny that a general rule can be handed down, and say that one's own experience and one's varying strength must be consulted. Artificial excitations are to be avoided; rather, spontaneous desire is to be obeyed ("to drink according to one's thirst"). But he who from the use of marriage has for a sufficiently long time felt himself weaker and of disturbed health is by that very fact invited to greater moderation ³.

³ Compare Féré, chapter 10.

Physicians and anthropologists are to be read cautiously on these matters. Often ignorant of and unconcerned with principles, deceived by incomplete experience or induction, they sometimes give enormously depraved precepts or counsels with serene countenance, which more accurate observation is later compelled to refute even under a merely scientific aspect. But let us trust more in provident God, so that we may be persuaded that infinite wisdom lies hidden in the natural order, in such a manner that the holy observance of this order must be held of itself most salutary not only for the souls of individuals but also for their bodies, and besides for the family and society.

Thus, while there are some who say it is desirable that a man abstain from his wife when she is pregnant and even when she is nursing ⁴, others think that a moderate use of marriage during the same time is in no way harmful, and indeed is commendable, for healthy persons. "A gentle embrace, from time to time (during pregnancy), will restore calm and gaiety to her (the wife), by proving to her that she is not disdained. It is good to add that gestation, because of the state of irritation in which the genital apparatus finds itself, is not without sometimes provoking erotic desires which it is very legitimate to satisfy.... A man has no greater reason to distance himself from his wife during lactation. Nature so little commands it that she gives a new radiance, a fullness of form, and an increase of freshness to the woman intelligent enough to have the coquetry to nurse.... It is wrongly believed that the excitement produced by sexual union is sufficient to give milk qualities harmful to the child. On the contrary, it is the complete prohibition of venereal pleasure which often has the effect of diminishing the quantity of milk ⁵."

⁴ Indeed, Gemelli, Non moechaberis, p. 65, appears to demand this. Yet that position affords little support to the right use of marriage and to monogamy itself.

⁵ Dr. Bourgas, Le droit à l'amour pour la femme, Paris, n.d.

Finally, this is to be observed: just as the affection of love itself impels one toward the intimate union of copulation, so in turn the use of marriage strengthens and increases the affection of love. Copulation therefore fulfills a threefold office: multiplying human beings, remedying incontinence, and fostering the mutual love of the spouses.

42. That a chaste and continent life of itself harms health in no way is attested by so many who have the greatest name among physicians and physiologists that the few who think otherwise can be disregarded; those, however, who condemn continence in the name of bodily health or give immoral counsel, as happens far too often, must be reproved from true science itself.

It is enough for us to cite two most expert writers whom no religious scruple could have led to less sincerity. They not only state what they think but also report the opinions of learned men: Féré, L'Instinct sexuel, p. 25 ff. and especially p. 315 ff.; and Moll, Handbuch der Sexualwissenschaften, p. 887 ff.

The latter, even in the rarer cases in which, because of the nervous condition of persons, he judges continence to be accidentally harmful, cannot approve a physician who therefore advises an illicit use of venery. For besides the moral consideration, which he admits cannot be neglected in this matter, he affirms that greater harms are to be feared from illicit intercourse. "It can indeed happen that a physician does not too hastily dissuade one from seeking forbidden pleasure and refrains from an untimely admonition; yet such cases are so rare that they cannot establish a rule."

The former, moreover, writes: "In the discussion which took place at the Medical Society of Lyon concerning the book of Dufieux, which made the defense of religious celibacy, his opponents found nothing to object to the denial of the maladies attributed to continence.

"Mantegazza, who is not distinguished among the apostles of continence, nevertheless recognizes no inconvenience in it. Physiologists, on the contrary, have found advantages in it.... Continence realizes a reserve of forces.... It is generally favorable to psychic activity as well as to physical activity.

"Somatic continence can be harmful only if it coincides with psychic excitation. Impotence is not the product of abstinence, but very often of abuse.... It is not necessary to rely upon religions in order to bring to light the moral merits of chastity in general, and, in particular, of chastity outside marriage. It is enough for us to take utilitarian morality exclusively into consideration.... From this point of view one can affirm without hesitation that the lack of chastity is immoral" (p. 116 ff.).

Forel himself (p. 251) has this: "The man who, for one reason or another, cannot procure normal coitus for himself ought to content himself with nocturnal pollutions, and the woman with voluptuous dreams, both abstaining from active and voluntary excitations." Dr. Löwenfeld ⁶ concludes the argument thus: "A normal man who has not diminished his power of resisting libido by sexual abuse, and who leads a sufficiently active and hygienic life, can persevere in abstinence without notable distress; moreover, the more consistently he cultivates it in all circumstances, the more easily he will preserve continence of itself." Finally, he altogether rebukes physicians who, when the opportunity for a useful marriage is lacking, advise fornication with a prostitute in order to prevent or avert the harms of continence. "This cannot suffice for a young man: it will excite libido, far from being able to calm it."

⁶ Sexualleben und Nervenleiden, p. 54.

At another International Conference for the Prophylaxis of Syphilis and Venereal Diseases, Brussels, 1902, physicians of great name approved this conclusion by unanimous vote: "Above all, the male youth must be taught that not only are chastity and continence not harmful, but also that these virtues are among the most commendable from a medical point of view."

Nor is the reason obscure. Spontaneous emissions during sleep sufficiently prevent a chaste man from having organs excessively filled with semen; and experience in turn testifies that it is, as it were, proper to the sexual organs that they preserve their power without use. "From puberty to old age, the testicles continue to secrete sperm without stimulation and no more lose their function than does the ovary, from puberty to menopause, or the uterus, or the breasts, which can remain at rest for long years without losing the faculty of responding to the call. Those who are capable of psychic chastity can preserve continence without having anything to fear for their testicles and their fecundity; and neither do they have anything to fear for their health, which does not depend upon the satisfaction of the sexual instinct. And feeling runs no more risk than do the organs; love never dies of need, it often dies of indigestion.... Beale, professor at the Royal College of London, says that it cannot be repeated too often that abstinence and the most absolute purity are perfectly compatible with physiological and moral laws ⁷."

⁷ Féré, p. 25 ff.

In the female sex alone, concerning which this question is much less accustomed to be raised, a prolonged rest of the uterus can bring this inconvenience, that internal tumors, fibromyomas, are produced more frequently.

Although an honorable life is to be commended to all, the counsel of perfect continence nevertheless is not positively to be given to all. In this matter it must be well noted that, in order to advise marriage to some, psychological or moral powers and tendencies must be considered more than strictly physical ones. Nor is marriage itself to be rashly counseled to the vicious.

43. - 1. In marriages of blood relatives there is this force, that peculiar traits (les caractères propres, "proper characteristics") are confirmed more and more in the offspring. Accordingly, insofar as an entirely healthy family or a family infected with certain defects is in question, such marriages, under this aspect, will have to be held harmless or harmful.

Certainly, if for several generations marriages were celebrated only among blood relatives, the danger of degenerate offspring could not be denied; but foreign elements are assumed sufficiently and more than sufficiently that this inconvenience need not be feared (Bushan, in Moll, pp. 908-915; Forel, pp. 179-180).

2. They say it is desirable that spouses not be separated by an excessive difference. Hence marriages between persons of the same skin and color are physiologically preferable to mixed marriages.

3. By marriages between persons of the same race, the national type will be strengthened; by marriages between various races, defects or faults proper to a certain race can be corrected.

44. Masturbation, or solitary onanism, which is a very frequent defect common to both sexes, can be procured by exterior touch or contact, friction, compression of the legs, suspect flagellations, for example upon excitable parts by means of nettles, and finally by obscene phantasms themselves. Manual masturbation, therefore, which is obtained by an exterior action, can be distinguished from spiritual or mental masturbation, which is obtained by the power of the imagination.

Not so rarely, those who indulge in this vice, especially women, introduce into the body various things suited to assisting their intention; likewise, some masturbators injure the penis with a needle or knife.

This vice is often practiced to supply the pleasure of the normal act; sometimes it also discloses or induces an inverted sexual appetite; and not so rarely it can be of doubtful signification. In estimating the intimate character of the vice, we can be assisted by the fantastic image which is accustomed to accompany the act.

Although far lesser harms are customarily imputed to that vice today than formerly, it can nevertheless never be despised as a thing of small importance.

For since the moral satisfaction of mutual love is lacking, the solitary use of venery, taken in itself, exhausts the powers of the body more than normal copulation ⁸. Furthermore, from acts which are very easily repeated there arises a habit and an ever-growing propensity, which prepares excesses harmful to the nerves. These harms can be immense in a subject whose nerves are badly affected; and they sometimes so disturb the sexual appetite that physical arousal is separated from the affection of love, and one has a man who is easily aroused and at the same time impotent for normal copulation.

⁸ Forel himself admits this, p. 250. On the harms of incontinence compare also Gemelli, Non moechaberis, pp. 85-91.

In some habitual practitioners, mental debilitation is also observed, especially in memory.

Mental or psychological masturbation is especially harmful as being exhaustive.

Moreover, these psychological effects more frequently accompany or follow this vice: arrogance, melancholy, affectation of solitude, and finally and especially neurasthenia.

To the production of these effects there contribute not a little: consciousness of the injury inflicted upon the will; the mark of turpitude with which the habitual practitioner is branded in the common estimation ⁹; remorse of conscience; religious anxieties; and the subjective persuasion or fear of a life diminished and exhausted before its time.

⁹ Gemelli, Non moechaberis, p. 93, thus beautifully describes the moral diminution of an adolescent after his first sin: "He thinks his guilt known to everyone; he imagines that his father and mother, while kissing and embracing him in their accustomed manner, perceive something new and read the truth, as it were, upon his forehead."

In sum, the pathological harms are more of the psychic than of the strictly bodily order.

Moreover, the causes of the harms are: native infirmity of body, excessive frequency of the excess, humiliation of the will after a fruitless struggle, human respect, religious consciousness of sin, and subjective fear of injuries.

45. The Neo-Malthusian arts ¹⁰ are the various manners by which spouses endeavor to procure for themselves a sterile conjugal act.

¹⁰ The theory is treated below, in the treatise itself.

The principal arts are:

1. Interrupted intercourse.

2. Mechanical arts of preventing the male semen from being able to penetrate the uterus.

The instrument which a man employs for this end is called a condom, by which either the whole male member or only the glans is covered. It is made from elastic gum (caoutchouc), from a fish bladder, or from the intestine of an animal, for example a sheep (peau de baudruche, "goldbeater's skin"). Since, however, people complain that pleasure itself is diminished because of the interposed covering, human ingenuity endeavors so to perfect the instruments that they permit the sense of pleasure to be almost full.

I. Chastity has an affinity with the word "to chastise," because according to the dictate of right reason it represses or restrains concupiscence, which most of all needs to be restrained. It is, namely, a special moral virtue, a species of temperance, which inclines one to the honesty of moderating the sexual appetite and venereal pleasure. This pleasure is perceived in the genital organ and is ordered to generation; hence it is called venereal, because the gentiles made the goddess Venus the patroness of this pleasure.

It is said to be: 1. a special virtue, because it has a special object, the concupiscence of venereal pleasure to be moderated. Hence it regards the sexual appetite immediately and per se; the other senses mediately and per accidens, insofar as they concur in exciting venereal pleasure.

2. A species of temperance: temperance moderates the sensitive appetite in those things which most strongly allure; but among these, the pleasures of the flesh in the use of the genital organs are more vehement; therefore the virtue which moderates them is a species of temperance.¹

¹ Saint Thomas, Summa Theologiae, II-II, q. 151, a. 2 and 3.

3. One which inclines to the honesty of moderating the sexual appetite: for its material object it has the appetite of venereal pleasure; its primary material object, or formal quod, is the moderation of right reason to be placed in venereal pleasure; its formal object quo is the special honesty which consists in moderating the pleasures of the flesh according to the norm of right reason.

To chastity is joined modesty (schaamachtigheid, eerbaarheid): the former is ordered to the principal pleasures of copulation itself; the latter concerns the accompanying pleasures which are more apparent and are signs of venereal things, for example looks, kisses, touches, and so forth, concerning which man is especially ashamed before others, because they are more often detected. It is not a really distinct virtue, but a circumstance of chastity in general.²

² Ibid., a. 4.

III. Chastity in some moderates venereal pleasure, in others excludes it, by reason of the diverse state; hence it is usually distinguished as threefold:

1. youthful chastity, which abstains from every venereal pleasure until the time of nuptials;

2. conjugal chastity, which moderates the appetite of sexual pleasure in spouses and excludes whatever is illicit in the use of marriage;

3. widowed chastity, which after the dissolution of marriage abstains from every carnal pleasure, whether in perpetuity or until second nuptials.

By reason of the mode in which it is preserved, it is distinguished as imperfect, which abstains only from illicit pleasures of the flesh, and perfect, which abstains from all pleasures, even those licit in marriage.

IV. Virginity is taken in a twofold sense:

1. In a quasi-physical sense it signifies only the integrity of the flesh or of the genital organ, which is lost in men by voluntary pollution or effusion of semen, and in women by voluntary breaking of the membrane hymen, or virginal enclosure,⁸ which occurs through carnal copulation with a man or through another touch.

⁸ Because that hymen can also be absent by nature and is not always broken in the first copulations, since sometimes the membrane is so elastic and soft that it permits the introduction of the virile member without being torn, therefore some place the enclosure of virginity in a certain contraction and compression by which the parts of the orifice of the female canal are constricted until they have been dilated by carnal copulation. But we follow the common opinion.

In this sense virginity is not a virtue but a good of nature bestowed on all from birth; more specifically, women are accustomed to be called virgins because they alone have been endowed by nature with the seal of virginity. Thus, therefore, a virgin is a woman who has never had copulation, although she may have sinned against chastity by internal or external solitary acts. Likewise she remains a virgin as long as the integrity of the flesh is preserved, although she may intend afterward to pass to nuptials.

2. In the moral sense, virginity, or virginal chastity, is the virtue which signifies a firm proposal of the will of preserving the integrity of the flesh and of abstaining perpetually from all venereal pleasures, both illicit and licit, in a subject never corrupted by libido. In this sense virginity differs from perfect chastity in that it is joined to integrity of the flesh, while perfect chastity can also be preserved by one who previously has already been corrupted by libido. And so two things are required for virginity taken in the full sense: a. integrity of the flesh, which is the material element of virginity; it consists in voluntary immunity from complete or satiative carnal pleasure and in voluntary preservation of the virginal enclosure; b. the proposal of the will, which is the formal element of virginity: without this proposal of preserving chastity perpetually, neither properly the virtue nor the accidental reward of the virtue, the aureole, can be had.⁹

⁹ On the notion of virginity, cf. Saint Thomas, II-II, q. 152, art. 1; on the aureole promised to it, Supplement, q. 96, art. 5.

According to Saint Thomas,¹⁰ virginity is a special virtue distinct from common chastity, because it has a special excellence. It is named from greenness, because it imports immunity from corruption, or from the burning of concupiscence, concerning venereal pleasures; and it differs from chastity because it abstains not only from illicit pleasures but from all venereal pleasures, and therefore proposes youthful chastity to be preserved perpetually.

¹⁰ II-II, q. 152, art. 3.

But corruption can be threefold: a. bodily only, that is, the involuntary¹¹ breaking of the virginal seal or involuntary resolution of semen; b. corruption of the mind alone, that is, consent in a venereal matter without the work, whether it occurs by incomplete venereal pleasure or by revocation of the proposal; c. both at once, namely voluntary complete pleasure, or the voluntary or libidinous breaking of the seal of virginity.

¹¹ Various causes are assigned: jumping, riding in the manner of men, a fall, the attempt of the first menses, ulcers, and so forth.

In the third case virginity is lost irreparably; in the second, reparably; in the first, in no way.

V. In the whole of education, however, let the excellence of chastity be extolled, whose special brightness and beauty shines forth in this, that the animal faculties and pleasures most rebellious to reason are subjected to reason (Eccli. XXVI, 19-20; Sap. IV, 1); and its importance shines forth from its necessity for human good. For:

1. it promotes the good of society, which consists in the propagation and good education of the human race. Now the immoderation of libido is what, from weakness of the nerves, renders people weak and impotent; it causes a tyrannical passion which in spouses generates onanism, and in those who have commerce with prostitutes, syphilitic disease. Besides, parents who are addicted to libido are found little apt for educating offspring;

2. it promotes the good of the family. For unless young persons remain chaste and spouses preserve fidelity, there will be no peace in the family. The bridegroom generally intends a virgin; if he finds her already corrupted, there will be place for indignation, which not rarely brings divorce. But if, infected with disease, he contaminates the bride, love is turned into contempt, and nothing will remain except a miserable life, with danger of transmitting syphilitic disease to descendants. When, moreover, adulterous loves or other base things are fostered, dissensions arise, jealousies, quarrels, indeed crimes and suicides. Besides, unless children are instructed chastely, soon they too slip into vice and bring shame together with sadness to their parents. But how will they remain chaste unless chaste education and good example in this matter are provided for them?

3. it contributes very greatly to individual good. In order that man may order his life rightly according to the principles of reason, he must tame the passions. But this passion of lust is especially tyrannical, blinding the mind and so invading, dragging, and absorbing the whole soul that we sacrifice all things to it. Therefore chastity, by which it is subdued, is especially necessary to each one.

When the lower powers, says Saint Thomas,⁷ are vehemently affected toward their objects, the higher powers are impeded in their acts and disordered. Through the vice of lust the lower appetite is especially intent upon its object. Therefore the higher powers are disordered through lust. Hence in the intellect there arise: blindness of mind, precipitation, inconsideration, inconstancy; in the will: love of self as to the pleasure of concupiscence which it inordinately desires, hatred of God forbidding the pleasure of concupiscence, affection for the present age in which it rejoices in pleasure, and despair of the future age, because while it is too much detained by carnal pleasures, it disdains spiritual ones. "The animal man does not perceive the things that are of the Spirit of God."⁸

⁷ II-II, q. 153, a. 5.

⁸ I Cor. II, 14.

Nor are those to be heard who say that chastity in every way harms, and advise pollution or sometimes fornication, asserting that semen sometimes must be poured out for the sake of health. This is wholly false: for part of the semen is reabsorbed in the body, which it strengthens and renders firmer in vigor; another part is naturally poured out in sleep without any disturbance of the nerves.⁹ Nor is atrophy of the genital organs to be feared from the fact that we do not use them; for without any effort they unceasingly continue to secrete semen, nor do they ever lose their function except by chance accident.

⁹ Hence Dr Forel: "The man who cannot procure for himself a normal state ought to be content with nocturnal pollutions, and the woman with voluptuous dreams, both abstaining from active and voluntary excitations," La Question sexuelle, p. 251. Compare Dr A. Scremin, La purita non e dannosa alla salute, testimonianza di medici.

D. As regards the state of virginity in the world, for girls "who desire to consecrate their virginity to Jesus Christ in the world, let the confessor not permit them to vow chastity perpetually unless he knows that they are well founded in virtues, and taught in the rules of the spiritual life, and especially exercised in prayer. In the beginning he can permit them only to vow chastity for some determinate time, namely from the solemnity of one feast to another." Thus St. Alphonsus, Pr. conf., n. 93.

This article is divided into two sections: 1. on chastity; 2. on virginity.

674. Notion. Chastity is the virtue moderating pleasures in venereal matters according to the dictate of right reason.

There is no reason for us to prove that chastity taken in this manner is a special virtue; for it has 1. a special matter, namely, venereal pleasures to be moderated; and 2. a special and grave difficulty to be overcome, namely, grave temptations against chastity. Moreover, where there is a special matter and a special difficulty to be overcome, there a special virtue is always required. Sometimes, however, chastity is taken in an improper and metaphorical sense, and then it is the moderation of the pleasure which arises from the conjunction of the mind with a beloved object. St. Thomas says concerning this matter: "For just as the pleasure of venereal things consists in bodily commingling (concerning which chastity properly exists, and the opposite vice, namely, lust), so also in a certain spiritual conjunction of the mind with certain things there consists a certain pleasure, concerning which there is a certain spiritual chastity metaphorically so called, or even spiritual fornication likewise metaphorically so called. For if the mind of man delights in spiritual conjunction with that to which it ought to be joined, namely, with God, and refrains from being delightfully joined to other things contrary to the due order of God, it will be called spiritual chastity, according to this: For I have espoused you to one husband, that I may present you as a chaste virgin to Christ.¹²⁹⁷ But if the mind is delightfully joined, contrary to the due order of God, to any other things whatsoever, it will be called spiritual fornication according to this: But thou hast prostituted thyself to many lovers.¹²⁹⁸ Chastity taken in this last sense is a general virtue, because through every virtue the human mind is withdrawn from being delightfully joined to illicit things. Principally, however, the nature of this chastity consists in charity and in the other theological virtues, through which the mind of man is joined with God,"¹²⁹⁹ just as apostasy from the faith is specially called spiritual fornication. - Here we speak only of chastity insofar as it is taken in its proper sense and insofar as it is a special virtue distinct from abstinence.

¹²⁹⁷ 2 Cor. 11:2.

¹²⁹⁸ Jer. 3:1.

¹²⁹⁹ S. theol. 2, 2, q. 151, a. 2.

675. Distinction. Chastity was distinguished by the ancient theologians as threefold, namely, conjugal, widowly, and virginal. Conjugal chastity abstains from illicit carnal pleasures in marriage and uses licit pleasures moderately. Widowly chastity, after the licit use of venereal pleasure in a past marriage, abstains from it thereafter. This widowly chastity indeed is wont to carry great difficulties with it, because most vehement temptations arise on account of the memory of pleasures previously had. Virginal chastity has never experienced venereal pleasures, from which it also wills to abstain altogether thereafter.¹³⁰⁰

Note. Although chastity and pudicity are often not distinguished, nevertheless, strictly speaking, pudicity is not chastity itself, but a special circumstance of it. For pudicity¹³⁰¹ regards rather the external signs of chastity and concerns immodest looks, touches, kisses, speech, etc. Pudicity, therefore, is as it were the guardian and herald of chastity. "Pudicity is ordered to chastity, not as a virtue distinct from it, but as expressing a certain circumstance of chastity. Sometimes, however, the one is used for the other."¹³⁰²

¹³⁰⁰ S. theol. 2, 2, q. 152, a. 3, ad 5.

¹³⁰¹ In German: Schamhaftigkeit [modesty, pudicity].

¹³⁰² S. theol. 2, 2, q. 151, a. 4.

676. There is no reason for us to speak in many words about the excellence and usefulness of chastity. For the matter is manifest. "O how beautiful is the chaste generation with glory: for the memory thereof is immortal; because it is known both with God and with men."¹³⁰³ The usefulness of chastity is perceived immediately if the innumerable evils which are wont to arise from its violation, that is, from lust, are considered. For all history, both sacred and profane, is full of examples demonstrating the ruinous effects of lust, for example, Sodom and Gomorrah, the adultery of David, the lust of Herod and of several Roman emperors. Do not suicides, homicides, the ruin of fortune, syphilitic disease, and six hundred other evils customarily proceed from lust even in our times? - Therefore, while lust prepares ruin of every kind, on the contrary the virtue of chastity ennobles body and soul, promotes the good of the family and of society, and exercises very many good works. Hence the virtue of chastity is greatly to be cultivated by all; but adolescents especially are prudently to be instructed concerning the very many dangers to chastity and concerning the manner of efficaciously avoiding these dangers. Human generation is also to be explained summarily and chastely to them when they have attained puberty (not before), lest they learn it with moral harm from depraved school companions.¹³⁰⁴

¹³⁰³ Wis. 4:1.

¹³⁰⁴ Cf. Sacred Congregation of the Holy Office, March 21, 1931 (Act. Ap. Sed. XXIII, 118).

677. Notion. Virginity is taken in a threefold sense:

1. For integrity of the flesh, which is lost in males through sinful pollution, and in females through the voluptuous rupture of the hymen or through so-called female pollution. Therefore, this virginity is not violated by internal sins of lust, indeed not even by external non-consummated sins; for it is not something moral or meritorious, but something merely physical.

2. For the state of celibacy. Thus all who have never been joined in marriage are in the state of virginity. If this state is assumed for the love of God or another supernatural motive, then it is more perfect than the state of marriage, as the Council of Trent defined: "If anyone says that the married 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 marriage: let him be anathema."¹³⁰⁵ But if someone chooses the state of celibacy on account of another, purely natural motive, for example, because he does not wish to undertake the burdens of marriage, it is not better than the state of marriage, but on the contrary is more imperfect, since marriage is a sacrament with which many graces are connected.

3. For the moral virtue, which is the firm will of abstaining perpetually from all venereal pleasures in a subject never corrupted. Therefore, the virtue of virginity differs from the virtue of chastity principally in this, that virginity cannot exist except in a man never corrupted by voluntary lust; but chastity can exist in any man whatsoever, even one previously corrupted. Integrity of the flesh is related accidentally to virginity considered in this manner; and therefore the virtue of virginity is not lost through violent violation or through a surgical operation by which the integrity of the flesh is violated. Hence virginity is no more lost by such physical violation than by the cutting off of a hand or foot. But this virtue of virginity is irreparably lost through a consummated act of lust, or gravely sinful pollution. The reason is that the integrity of the flesh is then voluntarily and illicitly violated. Even if pollution is excluded, virginity is lost (but reparably) through any grave sin whatsoever against chastity, because then the man falls away from the resolution of abstaining perpetually from every venereal pleasure; but authors commonly teach that virginity lost through such non-consummated sins of lust, that is, without pollution, can be repaired through penance. Billuart teaches the contrary.¹³⁰⁶

For the virtue of virginity insofar as it is a special virtue, voluntary incorruption of the flesh does not suffice; otherwise all young people who live chastely but wish to enter marriage at the opportune time would have the special virtue of virginity distinct from the virtue of chastity, which does not seem to be true. Therefore, theologians teach that for the virtue of virginity there is required a firm resolution of preserving chastity perpetually, and indeed in service of God; for the virginity of Vestals or of other women who preserve virginity on account of profane motives is not a special virtue.

St. Thomas seems to require still further a vow of virginity, writing: "Virginity, insofar as it is a virtue, implies a resolution confirmed by vow of preserving integrity perpetually. For Augustine says in the book On Virginity, c. 8, that through virginity integrity of the flesh is vowed, consecrated, and preserved for the Creator Himself of soul and flesh. Hence virginity, insofar as it is a virtue, is never lost except through sin."¹³⁰⁷ This opinion of St. Thomas, although it is opposed by many ancient and by almost all modern authors, is better, because the reason adduced seems inescapable, namely: no virtue (according to its formal element) is lost without sin. But a simple resolution of virginity can be violated or changed without sin, when, namely, because of changed circumstances, someone who previously resolved upon virginity now wishes to be joined in marriage. On the contrary, when someone has bound himself by a vow to virginity, he can never by his own authority change this resolution without sin. - Moreover, this question is not of such great importance for practice.

From what has been said it follows that for the essence of virginity, insofar as it is a special virtue, two things are required: 1. a subject never corrupted through voluntary pollution or violation of the hymen; 2. a firm and perpetual resolution (confirmed by vow), for the sake of God, never voluntarily to admit venereal pleasure. If either is lacking, virginity is no longer a special virtue, but is reduced to the virtue of chastity.

¹³⁰⁵ Session 24, canon 10 (Denzinger, n. 981).

¹³⁰⁶ De virg. a. 5. This author nevertheless admits that virginity lost through morose delectation alone can be repaired.

¹³⁰⁷ S. theol. 2, 2, q. 152, a. 3, ad 4. Cajetan explains and defends this doctrine excellently in his commentary on this passage.

678. Morality and excellence of virginity. Virginity, insofar as it is a state chosen for the service of God, is not only licit, but also very meritorious before God. This is clear from Sacred Scripture, which often commends this virginity. St. Paul says: "Now concerning virgins I have no commandment of the Lord, but I give counsel.... Art thou loosed from a wife? Seek not a wife."¹³⁰⁸ In the Apocalypse a special heavenly reward is promised to virgins,¹³⁰⁹ and therefore theologians admit a special aureola of virgins in heaven. - The holy Fathers extolled the virtue and state of virginity with great praises. Thus, for example, John Chrysostom,¹³¹⁰ St. Ambrose,¹³¹¹ St. Augustine, St. Jerome, St. Anselm, St. Bernard, and many others commended virginity.¹³¹² - The lawfulness and excellence of virginity can also be proved clearly by natural reason. For pious virginity abstains from every venereal pleasure for this purpose, that it may be free to devote itself more readily to divine contemplation; for St. Paul says: "The unmarried woman and the virgin thinketh on the things of the Lord, that she may be holy both in body and in spirit. But she that is married thinketh on the things of the world, how she may please her husband."¹³¹³ - Moreover, this motive is assuredly excellent, and the means employed is licit.

¹³⁰⁸ 1 Cor. 7:25, 27.

¹³⁰⁹ Apoc. 14:4.

¹³¹⁰ Book on Virginity.

¹³¹¹ Three Books on Virgins to Marcellina (his sister), in which work, as St. Jerome says (Ep. 22 to Eustochium, n. 22), "he poured himself out with such eloquence that he sought out, expressed, and arranged whatever pertains to the praises of virgins." The same St. Ambrose treats virginity in several other works, for example, Book on Virginity, Book on the Institution of a Virgin, Exhortation to Virginity, etc.

¹³¹² Cf. Migne, Indices Patr. lat., series 17.

¹³¹³ 1 Cor. 7:34.

679. Objections against virginity. 1. Protestants object to the admonition of the Creator: "Increase and multiply, and fill the earth."¹³¹⁴ St. Thomas already replied: "The precept given concerning generation regards the whole multitude of men, for which it is necessary not only that it be multiplied corporeally, but also that it advance spiritually. And therefore sufficient provision is made for the human multitude if some devote themselves to carnal generation, while others, abstaining from this, devote themselves to the contemplation of divine things for the beauty and salvation of the whole human race; just as also in an army some guard the camp, some carry the standards, and some contend with swords: all of which things nevertheless are due to the multitude, but cannot be fulfilled by one person."¹³¹⁵ - And in truth no one can say that in any kingdom the number of the people has ever been diminished because of virginity freely chosen in service of God.

2. It is further objected that virginity is something contrary to nature and to bodily health, and that therefore so many physical and moral evils arise from enforced celibacy. - It is answered: Virginity is by no means something unnatural, because otherwise so many men (even Protestants and Rationalists) who remain celibate on account of other motives would be in an unnatural state. Moreover, celibacy renders a man more apt for accomplishing spiritual and scientific labors; and therefore not a few men, because of love of science and art, remained free from marriage, for example, Kant, Beethoven, Michel-Angelo, etc. That virginity does not harm bodily health is conceded today by physicians and is manifestly proved from the common longevity of those who lead a celibate life. Grave moral evils can indeed arise from enforced celibacy, but the Catholic Church compels no one to celibacy and does not admit to the vow of virginity except those who, after serious probation, have undertaken it voluntarily.

Note. When penitents ask a confessor whether by some act, for example, pollution, they have lost virginity, for the most part it is better to give an evasive response by saying that every sin is effaced by true penance than to answer affirmatively; because otherwise penitents easily lose heart and afterward loosen the reins of lust.

In some monasteries of nuns there existed a custom of consecrating virgins. Authors then asked whether a nun to be consecrated ought to confess the fault if she had been secretly corrupted. The negative opinion is sufficiently probable, because no one is bound to defame herself. Moreover, all agree that the bishop can dispense with a nun who secretly lost virginity, so that she can be consecrated and veiled like the other virgins, especially if this cannot be omitted without infamy.¹³¹⁶

¹³¹⁴ Gen. 1:28.

¹³¹⁵ S. theol. 2, 2, q. 152, a. 2, ad 1.

¹³¹⁶ Cf. Salmanticenses, Curs. theol. mor. tr. 26, c. 1, n. 75.

S. Th. II-II, q. 151 and 152.

994. Chastity (chastete; kuischheid) has affinity with the word castigare, to chastise; and therefore, in a general sense, it indicates the chastisement or repression of concupiscence according to right reason. For just as children, when they are chastised, are corrected, but if they are left to their own will, become worse; so concupiscences, which are likened to children, when they are restrained, are diminished, but if they are nourished by the consent of the will, are increased.

But in the strict and proper sense it concerns concupiscences which most need to be chastised and restrained by reason, insofar as they are more vehement and more oppressive of reason; but sexual pleasures of the flesh in the genital organ are the most vehement of all, and more oppressive of reason than the pleasures of foods, and therefore they more need to be chastised and restrained. Hence chastity is the virtue moderating the sexual appetite, or venereal pleasures, according to right reason, or the virtue restraining inordinate venereal pleasures, preserving in them the mode of reason from the motive of honesty.

Therefore it immediately and per se moderates the appetite of venereal pleasure. It regards the other senses mediately and accidentally, insofar as they concur in exciting venereal pleasure. Venereal pleasure is that which arises from a commotion or alteration of the lower part because of the motion of the organs serving generation, such as is perceived especially in pollution or copulation. It is called venereal because it is naturally ordered to promoting generation, over which mad and impious gentility made the goddess Venus preside (q. 151, a. 1 and 2).

Sometimes, however, chastity is taken improperly and metaphorically for the moderation of pleasure in the conjunction of the mind to certain things, insofar as the mind ought to be joined to that to which it ought to be joined, for example, to God, and abstains from delighting in things to which it ought not be joined, for example, creatures apart from God. Thus understood, chastity designates a general virtue and is every virtue withdrawing the mind from illicit things; principally, however, it is in charity and in the other theological virtues by which we are immediately joined to God, just as, on the contrary, spiritual fornication is to leave God for the sake of creatures.

995. Chastity is a virtue. - For it renders man perfect: it preserves the good of reason, which is most difficult to preserve against the most vehement passions and pleasures, namely the concupiscences and pleasures of the sexual flesh. It is one virtue, because it has one object: venereal pleasures to be moderated by reason. It is a special virtue distinct from abstinence. For where there is pleasure of a different species and a special impediment of reason, there it is necessary that there be a special virtue for moderating and removing it. Venereal pleasures, which tend toward the conservation of the human species, differ in species from all others, especially from the pleasure of foods, which is ordered to the conservation of the individual; besides, they constitute a special impediment of the use of reason, because they are the most vehement of all, and oppress reason more than the pleasures of intoxicating drink, since drink, not its pleasure, oppresses reason. Therefore chastity is a special virtue (a. 3).

996. The proximate matter of chastity is the interior motions of the appetite concerning venereal things; its remote matter is external acts, namely copulation, kisses, touches, pollution, and carnal motions or excitation of the genital organ with pleasure. The office of chastity is to compress or compose each according to right reason: to restrain venereal desires and pleasures, lest we use them more than right reason dictates.

997. Modesty (pudicite; schaamachtigheid) is named from shame, which a man conceives concerning those things which do not fall under reason and in which bashfulness is signified; and therefore it concerns those things of which man is most ashamed. But this is concerning venereal things, and especially concerning the pleasures surrounding venereal things and concerning the signs of venereal things, of which man is most ashamed before others; for shame is more occasioned by the signs of venereal things, which usually are more detected. Hence modesty concerns venereal things, especially the exterior signs of venereal things, such as immodest looks, kisses, touches, etc., while chastity is more concerned with carnal intercourse itself. Hence modesty expresses a special circumstance of chastity (a. 4), insofar as luxury especially brings shame, both because of the disobedience of the genital members, and because reason is especially absorbed by venereal things.

Yet each is the same virtue, because they regard the same matter: venereal things or signs of venereal things, and from the same motive of special honesty shining forth in the moderation of these.

998. Various grades of chastity. - Chastity in some moderates, in others excludes venereal pleasure, by reason of the diverse state. Hence it is usually distinguished as:

1. Juvenile, which abstains from every venereal pleasure until the time of nuptials.

2. Conjugal, which moderates the appetite of sexual pleasure in spouses and excludes whatever is illicit in the use of marriage.

3. Widowed, which after marriage has been dissolved abstains from every carnal pleasure, whether in perpetuity or until other nuptials.

By reason of the mode in which it is preserved, it is distinguished as imperfect, which abstains only from illicit pleasures of the flesh; and perfect, which abstains from all pleasures, even those licit in marriage.

999. Virginity (maagdelijkheid) is named from freshness, because it implies immunity from corruption or from the burning of concupiscence concerning venereal pleasures; and it differs from chastity, because it abstains not only from illicit pleasures but from all venereal pleasures, and therefore proposes to preserve juvenile chastity perpetually (q. 152, a. 1). Hence:

1. It is a virtue, because it implies a firm purpose of the will of abstaining from all venereal pleasures, both illicit and licit, in a subject never corrupted by lust. But to do this for the good of the soul, so that it may more freely attend to the contemplation of truth and to divine things, is virtuous, because according to right reason it is to renounce lower goods for the sake of higher ones (a. 2); which also we know from the Apostle, 1 Cor. 7:34, and from Christ, Mt. 19:11-12.

Indeed, it is more excellent than marriage, as the Apostle says, 1 Cor. 7:34, and as the Council of Trent defined, sess. 24, can. 10, because it is ordered to the good of the soul, indeed according to the contemplative life, which is to think on the things which are of God; while marriage is ordered to the good of the body, which is the multiplication of the human race, and pertains to the active life, by which a man and woman living in marriage must think on the things which are of the world, as the Apostle says. But the good of the soul is preferable to the good of the body, and the good of the contemplative life to the good of the active life, as the divine good is preferable to the human good (a. 4).

2. It is a special virtue, distinct from common chastity, because it has a special excellence, since it preserves one immune not only from inordination but from every experience of venereal pleasure (a. 3).

And although it is most excellent in the genus of chastity, nevertheless it is not the greatest of virtues; for the theological virtues and religion, which are occupied about divine things and are the end of virginity, are preferable; likewise fortitude in martyrs, who renounce their own life, and obedience in monks, who renounce their own will, while virgins renounce only venereal pleasure (a. 5).

3. It differs from perfect chastity in that it is joined to integrity of the flesh, while perfect chastity can also be preserved by one who previously has already been corrupted by lust. Hence two things are required for virginity understood in the perfect sense:

a) the material element, namely integrity of the flesh, which consists in voluntary immunity from complete carnal pleasure and from corruption of the flesh;

b) the formal element, namely the purpose of the will of preserving chastity perpetually, without which purpose the virtue cannot be had (a. 1).

Virginity understood in the moral sense must not be confused with virginity in a quasi-physical sense. For thus it signifies only integrity of the flesh or of the genital organ, which is lost in men by voluntary pollution which is apt to provoke the effusion of seed, and in women by voluntary breaking of the virginal enclosure or seal of virginity, which happens through carnal copulation with a man or through another touch. Thus virginity is not a virtue but a good of nature given to all from birth; and in this physical sense a woman who has never had copulation, although she has sinned against chastity by solitary internal and external acts, is called a virgin, as also she who, while preserving integrity of the flesh, intends to pass to nuptials.

Corruption, however, can be threefold: a) bodily only, that is, involuntary breaking of the seal of virginity or involuntary release of seed; b) corruption of the mind alone, that is, consent to a venereal thing without the work, whether it happens by incomplete venereal pleasure or by revocation of the purpose of abstaining perpetually from pleasure; c) both at once, namely voluntary complete pleasure, or voluntary or lustful breaking of the seal of virginity. In the third case the virtue of virginity is lost irreparably; in the second, reparably; in the first, in no way.

Chastity is defined by St. Bonaventure, 3. part. Centil. sect. 42.: It is abstinence from every illicit sexual union.

I assert that it is a virtue.

It is proved by St. Bonaventure, de profectu religiosi, lib. 2. cap. 42. and in Diaeta, tit. 3. cap. 4. first from Ecclesiasticus 16: The consideration of a continent soul is not worthy of weighing, and Matthew 13, and 2 Corinthians 4, where it is called the treasure of the soul.

It is proved by him by reason, because it is concerned with a special and arduous object, which is the moderation of venereal matters, which is different from the moderation of foods, even though the latter is a strong disposition toward it, as the Holy Doctor discusses admirably and more fully in the alleged places.

The Seraphic Doctor also describes its degrees de gradibus virtutum, cap. 4.: the lowest degree indeed is conjugal chastity; higher is viduity; highest of all virginal, such as that of John, as the Holy Doctor says in 4. dist. 33. dub. 3. where he also says that Abraham had this in habit, namely that insofar as it lay with him, he would have wished to be a virgin and to have remained one, since he was so holy and temperate; but he took a wife for the sake of succession.

He says, however, in 3. dist. 26. quaest. 2. ad 4. that the truly chaste man takes pleasure in the act and use of this virtue, as Aristotle teaches 7. Eth. and first Rhetor.

I beseech you, read through the Seraphic Doctor treating of Chastity in the alleged places, who also in the Bibl. pauperum, cap. 90. brings forward many things about Chastity from the Scriptures.