9. Furthermore, that which departs from the mean departs from virtue, because virtue consists in the mean; but to be continent at all times departs from the mean: therefore it departs from virtue: therefore, etc.
CONCLUSION.
Widowed chastity in both sexes is a matter of divine counsel: it is praiseworthy to love it, more praiseworthy to preserve it, and most praiseworthy to vow it and perpetually guard it.
I respond: it must be said that widowed chastity is a matter of divine counsel in women as well as in men; whence it is praiseworthy to love it, and more praiseworthy to preserve it, and most praiseworthy to vow it and perpetually guard it.
Now the reason why the Lord willed to counsel this is as follows: because, although conjugal continence has in itself many goods, namely fidelity, offspring, and the Sacrament, and through this marriage is an honorable good , beneficial and delightful; nevertheless after sin the very honor of marriage has attached to it concupiscence, which implies something of dishonor, by reason of which even spouses blush at that act. The utility of marriage, moreover, which consists in the procreation of children for the worship of God, has attached to it harm, because a person is frequently distracted so as not to be entirely devoted to divine prayer. The delight also which is in marriage has attached to it tribulation, according to what the Apostle says: Such shall have tribulation of the flesh, 1 Corinthians 7. — Because therefore marriage is good, no one is prohibited from it, no one is repelled from it; but because it has something attached which diminishes both honor and utility and spiritual joy: hence it is that no one is compelled to it against his will, because rather one is persuaded to abstain from it or to be continent, both by the Lord and by the Apostle himself, 1 Corinthians 7: If her husband be dead, the woman is loosed from the law of her husband; let her marry whom she will, only in the Lord; but she shall be happier if she so remain, according to my counsel. And the reason for this he himself states beforehand: Moreover, this I say for your profit, not that I may cast a snare upon you, but for that which is honorable, and which may afford the opportunity of beseeching the Lord without hindrance.
Since, therefore, widowed continence has more in itself of the nature of the honorable on account of purity, more of the nature of the advantageous on account of the removal of impediment, more of the nature of the delightful on account of the removal of burdens which follow upon the law of marriage: hence it is that widowed continence is counseled to all who are unbound; and those who wish to adhere to this counsel according to the dictate of evangelical perfection are not to be restrained but rather encouraged, that is, not only in old age but also in youth.
Whence Ambrose, in the book On Widowhood: "She is more illustrious who tames the heat of adolescence and the burning ardor of younger age, and desires neither the favor of a husband nor richer pleasures, than she who, now grown cold with a worn-out body and ripe old age, can neither be deprived of pleasures nor hope for offspring."
It must be granted, therefore, that widowed chastity is to be vowed according to the evangelical law; and this is to be urged upon all who have free power over their own body, as both the arguments and authorities demonstrate which have been adduced for this position, and therefore they are to be granted.
1. To that which is first objected to the contrary from the word of the Apostle, who says: On account of fornication, let each man have his own wife; it must be said that the following text determines this: But I say this by way of concession, not by way of command. Whence the Gloss on the aforementioned word: "The Apostle says this in order to exclude fornication, not to close the way to those striving toward a better life." And because the Apostle had said: Let each man have his own wife, and each woman her own husband, and come together again; namely, lest he should seem to have said this by way of precept, he adds: But I say this by way of concession, not by way of command. And therefore he does not sin who acts otherwise, that is, who practices continence; rather, he who acts thus sins, because there is some fault there, but a light one.
2. To that which is objected from the word of the Apostle: I will that the younger women marry, etc.: it must be said that neither is this a precept, but it is permissive, just as the preceding one; and therefore it does not follow that to vow continence is reprehensible. Whence Augustine, in the book On Widowhood: "What the Apostle says: I will that the younger women marry, bear children, commends the good of marriage with apostolic authority and sobriety; he does not impose the duty of procreation upon those who embrace the good of continence, as though it were an obligation of law." And later: "To devote oneself to the procreation of children in the honorable order of marriage is not a disposition to be condemned in a person; yet the Christian mind that thinks on heavenly things more laudably transcends and overcomes this. But since, as the Lord says, not all receive this word, let her who can receive it, receive it; and let her who does not contain herself marry; let her who has not begun deliberate, and let her who has undertaken it persevere; let no occasion be given to the adversary, let no offering be withdrawn from Christ."
3. To that which is objected: Let a widow be chosen not less than sixty years old: it must be said that this is not understood with respect to the vow of continence, but with respect to the ministry that was to be rendered to the Saints, who also were to be sustained from ecclesiastical goods. Hence in the Gloss: " Let a widow be chosen not less than sixty years old, who is to be nourished by the sustenance of the Church." Hence what he adds: Avoid younger widows: is understood in the same sense. Hence the Gloss there: " Avoid younger widows, that is, do not so greatly concern yourself with their vows of chastity as to undertake to sustain them with the sustenance of the Church." But that he does not intend to prohibit continence or the vow of continence for them is apparent from what Ambrose says in the book On Virginity: "We ought not to regard the virtue of age, but the age of virtue; nor should you marvel at profession in young girls, when you read of passion in little children." Hence also blessed Agnes in her legend, which Ambrose composed: "Do not, she said to the prefect, so despise bodily youth in me as to think that I wish to have you favorable: for faith is found not in years but in understanding, and almighty God approves minds more than ages."
4. To that which is objected, that everything which is repugnant to a divine precept is to be condemned: it must be said that the precept of nature is twofold: one which regards the common state; another which regards the state of a singular person. The first does not bind anyone per se and determinately, so long as there is another who fulfills or can fulfill that command. And since there are many who devote themselves to carnal generation, as much as suffices for nature, the observance of continence in a singular person is not repugnant to that precept. For that precept does not descend to any determinate person, except in a case in which nature could not subsist unless that person devoted himself to generation, as was the case with Adam, or with the sons of Noah, to whom it was expressly said: Increase and multiply and fill the earth.
5. To the objection that what is repugnant to the natural dictate is to be censured, it must be said that nature dictates something in two ways, namely by way of what is advantageous and by way of what is honorable. What therefore is repugnant to the natural dictate by way of what is honorable is always censurable; but what is repugnant to the natural dictate that dictates something by way of what is advantageous is not necessarily censurable, because, as Anselm says, the appetite for what is advantageous is in its original nature corrupted by the love of private good, which is called concupiscence; and what is repugnant to such an appetite by reason of the corruption attached to it can be praiseworthy, because the perfection of virtue consists in this: that delight be subdued and fled from, and that passion be restrained, especially that passion which is coeval with life. Because therefore such delight is joined to the work of generation, it follows that cessation from that work, although it may seem to be contrary to the inclination of the generative power, ought not to be censured; rather it is praiseworthy, as the exercise of perfect virtue.
6. To the objection that everything repugnant to the common utility is to be censured, it must be said that spiritual utility is to be preferred to carnal, and heavenly to earthly, and the heavenly is to be placed above the earthly, as the perpetual above the temporal, and as the end is to be preferred to those things which are ordered to the end. Because therefore this continence, although it may seem to contribute to the diminution of people in the earthly city, since it contributes to the hastening of the number of the elect, is more consonant with the common utility than repugnant to it, especially since the number of carnal men abounds more in earthly things than that of spiritual men, from whom paradise may be filled. Hence Augustine, in the book On the Good of Marriage : "Since for entering into a holy and sincere society an abundance of spiritual kinship overflows from all nations on every side, even those who desire to join in marriage solely for the sake of children are to be admonished to make use rather of the greater good of continence. But I know what they murmur. 'What if,' they say, 'all wished to abstain from all intercourse: how would the human race survive?' Would that all wished this, provided it were in charity from a pure heart and a good conscience and faith unfeigned! Much more quickly would the city of God be filled and the end of the age be hastened."
From which it is apparent that continence of this kind in truth is not repugnant to, but consonant with, the common utility.
7. To that which is objected, that one who deprives himself of a useful and rational remedy acts foolishly: it must be said that this remedy can be considered in two ways: either by reason of itself, or by reason of what is annexed to it. If therefore someone deprives himself of marriage, believing that this remedy is not good nor salutary: he acts foolishly, because he thinks badly of marriage, like a faithless Manichaean. But he who declines it by reason of what is annexed to it, namely lust, wishing to ascend to higher things, does not act foolishly, but wisely: because even in that state he does not lack a remedy, since through a firm resolve and laborious exercise and a gift divinely given and a vow emitted, the fervor of concupiscence is more thoroughly subdued than it would be repressed through marital companionship. Whence Augustine, in the book On Holy Widowhood: "Those who do not despair of the same pleasure bear a more burning lust: but those who have vowed to God the chastity of the unmarried withdraw the very hope which is the kindling of love: whence concupiscence is more easily restrained, which is inflamed by no expectation."
8. To that which is objected, that one who commits himself to danger acts badly: it must be said that, as is already clear from the foregoing word, one who vows chastity does not commit himself to danger, but to divine counsel, divine protection, and spiritual exercise, in which both the spirit is consoled and carnality is weakened, and as if from a fortified place one fights more manfully against the temptations of the devil inflaming to concupiscence. Whence Augustine, in the book On Widowhood: "Let spiritual delights succeed carnal delights in holy chastity: reading, prayer, psalmody, good thought, the frequent practice of good works, hope of the future age and the heart lifted upward, and for all these things thanksgiving to the Father of lights, from whom without any doubt every good gift and every perfect gift, as Scripture attests, descends."
9. To that which is objected, that one who departs from the mean departs from virtue: it must be said that this holds in those acts which do not imply corruption in themselves, such as distributing and retaining, eating and drinking: but the act of intercourse always has corruption annexed to it, unless it is excused by the good of marriage; and therefore, although perfection consists in other acts through their moderation, in this act it consists through complete restriction; because when this act is entirely forsaken, then the corruption and lust joined to it is more perfectly subdued; as will appear more fully in the following question.
ARTICLE III.
On virginal sanctity.
Thirdly, the question is asked concerning virginal sanctity: and the question is whether virginal continence is to be preferred to all others. And it seems that it is so, by authority, example, and reason; by authority thus.
1. First Corinthians 7: He who gives his virgin in marriage does well, and he who does not give her in marriage does better: therefore virginal continence is to be preferred to the other differences of continence, according to the authority of the Apostle.
2. Likewise, the same is shown by the example of Christ. For Christ according to His human nature was the exemplar of virtue and of all Christian perfection; but it is established that Christ was a virgin: therefore virginal continence is to be preferred above all things.
3. Likewise, the same is shown by the example of the most blessed Mary, the Mother of the Lord, whose virginity He did not take away: therefore virginity is to be commended above all things.
4. Likewise, by the example of John the Evangelist, whom the Lord loved most greatly: and Jerome gives the reason for this, saying: "He who was chosen as a virgin by the Lord remained a virgin forever."