On Virginity (De Virginitate)

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By Listen TheBook Posted on May 31, 2023

In Category - Christianity - Other

Authors: Saint Ambrose In Year : 1843

Book Language: English

Audiobook: On Virginity (De Virginitate)

The Objectors really worldly and tempters
Of vows in general; they are scriptural and binding when made for holy purposes.
Of the particular vow of Chastity
Bodily Chastity without faith and inward purity unprofitable
The fewness of those who possess this grace
Holy Virginity neither blameworthy nor unscriptural
Nor yet inexpedient; doubtfullness is no bar to it.
When and where the Virgin must seek for Christ
From whom the Virgin must seek Christ—what she must be that He may seek her
The Virgin must put off the flesh that He may seek her.
Then will He annoint her with incorruption
The Virgin must watch and wait for Christ.
The Virgin must watch her heart, her eye, her ear, her tongue.
Angels will watch over the Virgin.
Her Lord shall guide the affections of the Virgin's soul.
Modesty and confidence needful for the Virgin.
As the Virgin must shun arrogance, so must she still rise above the world in holiness.
The four Virtues which make harmony in the Virgin's soul
The Virgin must in the Communion of St. Peter and the Church, be ready to give up all for Christ.
An earnest desire that God's Priests may gather many Virgins into the Church's fold

One favorite topic of his was the excellence of virginity, and so successful was he in persuading maidens to adopt the religious profession that many a mother refused to permit her daughters to listen to his words. The saint was forced to refute the charge that he was depopulating the empire, by quaintly appealing to the young men as to whether any of them experienced any difficulty in finding wives. He contends, and the experience of ages sustains his contention (De Virg., vii) that the population increases in direct proportion to the esteem in which virginity is held. ( Herbermann, Charles, ed. (1913). St. Ambrose. Catholic Encyclopedia. New York: Robert Appleton Company.)