Chapter I.

After having written about virgins, it seemed needful to say something concerning widows, since the Apostle joins the two classes together, and the latter are as it were teachers of the former, and far superior to those who are married. Elijah was sent to a widow, a great mark of honour; yet widows are not honourable like her of Sarepta, unless they copy her virtues, notably hospitality. The avarice of men is rebuked, who forfeit the promises of God by their grasping.

1. Since I have treated of the honour of virgins in three books, it is fitting now, my brethren, that a treatise concerning widows should come in order; for I ought not to leave them without honour, nor to separate them from the commendation belonging to virgins, since the voice of the Apostle has joined them to virgins, according to what is written: “The unmarried woman and the virgin careth for the things of the Lord, that she may be holy both in body and in spirit.”1    1 Cor. vii. 34. For in a certain manner the inculcation of virginity is strengthened by the example of widows. They who have preserved their marriage bed undefiled are a testimony to virgins that chastity is to be preserved for God. And it is almost a mark of no less virtue to abstain from marriage, which was once a delight, than to remain ignorant of the pleasures of wedlock. They are strong in each point, in that they regret not wedlock, the faith of which they keep, and entangle not themselves with wedded pleasures, lest they appear weak and not able to take care of themselves.

2. But in this particular virtue is contained also the prizes of liberty. For: “The wife is bound as long as her husband liveth; but if her husband fall asleep she is freed: let her marry whom she will, only in the Lord. But she will be happier if she so abide, after my judgment, for I think I also have the Spirit of God.”2    1 Cor. vii. 39, 40. Evidently, then, the Apostle has expressed the difference, having said that the one is bound, and stated that the other is happier, and that he asserts not so much as the result of his own judgment, as of the infusion of the Spirit of God; that the decision should be seen to be heavenly, not human.

3. And what is the teaching of the fact that at that time when the whole human race was afflicted by famine and Elias was sent to the widow?3    1 [3] Kings xvii. 9. And see how for each is reserved her own special grace. An angel is sent to the Virgin,4    S. Luke i. 26, 27. a prophet to the widow. Notice, farther, that in one case it is Gabriel, in the other Elisha. The most excellent chiefs of the number of angels and prophets are seen to be chosen. But there is no praise simply in widowhood, unless there be added the virtues of widowhood. For, indeed, there were many widows, but one is preferred to all, in which fact it is not so much that others are called back from their pursuit as that they are stimulated by the example of virtue.

4. What is said at first makes the ears attentive, although the simplicity itself of the understanding has weight to attract widows to the pattern of virtue; since each seems to excel, not according to her profession, but her merit, and the grace of hospitality is not lost sight of by God, Who, as He Himself related in the Gospel, rewards a cup of cold water with the exceeding recompense of eternity, and compensates the small measure of meal and oil by an unfailing abundance of plenty ever coming in. For if one of the heathen5    Pythagoras. has said that all the possessions of friends should be common, how much more ought those of relatives to be common! For we are relatives who are bound into one body.

5. But we are not bound by any prescribed limit of hospitality. For why do you think that what is of this world is private property when this world is common? Or why do you consider the fruits of the earth are private, when the earth itself is common property? “Behold,” He said, “the fowls of the air, they sow not, neither do they reap.”6    S. Matt. vi. 26. For to those to whom nothing is private property nothing is wanting, and God, the master of His own word, knows how to keep His promise. Again, the birds do not gather together, and yet they eat, for our heavenly Father feeds them. But we turning aside the warnings of a general utterance to our private advantage, God says: “Every tree which has in it the fruit of a tree yielding seed shall be to you for meat, and to every beast, and to every bird, and to everything that creepeth upon the earth.”7    Gen. i. 29, 30. By gathering together we come to want, and by gathering together we are made empty. For we cannot hope for the promise, who keep not the saying. It is also good for us to attend to the precept of hospitality, to be ready to give to strangers, for we, too, are strangers in the world.

6. But how holy was that widow, who, when pinched by extreme hunger, observed the reverence due to God, and was not using the food for herself alone, but was dividing it with her son, that she might not outlive her dear offspring. Great is the duty of affection, but that of religion brings more return. For as no one ought to be set before her son, so the prophet of God ought to be set before her son and her preservation. For she is to be believed to have given to him not a little food, but the whole support of her life, who left nothing for herself. So hospitable was she that she gave the whole, so full of faith that she believed at once.

185 CAPUT PRIMUM.

0233A

Postquam actum est de virginibus, de viduis opportune tractari, cum eas illis Apostolus sociaverit, utpote quodammodo virginitatis magistras, et conjugatis longe superiores. Quam viduis gloriosum sit quod ad viduam fuerit Elias destinatus! At illas laude dignas non esse, nisi virtutem istius imitentur, maxime vero hospitalitatem. Quae virtus quanta fuerit in hac femina, exponitur: sed prius perstringitur hominum 0234Aavaritia, qui dum communia sibi arrogant, divinis promissis sese privarunt.

1. Bene accidit, fratres, ut quoniam tribus libris superioribus de virginum laudibus disseruimus, viduarum tractatus incideret; neque enim inhonoras debuimus praeterire, et a virginum praeconio separare, quas apostolica sententia cum virginibus copulavit, juxta quod scriptum est: Et mulier 0235Ainnupta, et virgo cogitat quae sunt Domini, ut sit sancta corpore et spiritu (I Cor. VII, 34)? Quodammodo enim magisterium virginitatis viduarum valescit exemplis. Quae cum viro castum cubile custodiunt, documento virginibus sunt integritatem Deo esse servandam. Et propemodum non inferioris virtutis est eo abstinere conjugio, quod aliquando delectaverit, quam conjugii oblectamenta nescire. In utroque fortes; ut eas et conjugii non poeniteat, cui fidem servent, et conjugalia oblectamenta non alligent; ne videantur infirmae, quae sibi adesse non possint.

2. In hac ipsa tamen virtute praemia sunt reposita libertatis: Mulier enim vincta est quanto tempore vir ejus vivit: quod si dormierit vir ejus, 186 liberata est: 0235Bcui vult nubat, tantum in Domino. Beatior autem erit, si sic permanserit,secundum meum consilium; puto enim et ego spiritum Dei habeo (Ibid., 39, 40). Evidenter igitur expressit Apostolus quid intersit, cum aliam vinctam esse dixerit, aliam beatiorem esse memoraverit: idque non tam ex suo judicio quam divini Spiritus docuit infusione depromptum; ut coelestis ista, non humana sententia videretur.

3. Quid vero illud quod temporibus iis, quibus fames omne genus urgebat humanum, Elias ad viduam destinatus est (III Reg. XVII, 9)? Et vide quemadmodum propria singulis gratia reservetur: angelus ad virginem, propheta ad viduam (Luc. I, 27, 28). Adde quod Gabriel illic, hic Elias; ut ex angelorum et prophetarum numero praestantissimi 0235C principes videantur electi. Sed non simplex viduitatis laus est, nisi virtus etiam viduitatis accedat. Nam utique multae viduae ante, sed una omnibus antefertur: in quo non tam caeterae revocantur ab studio, quam virtutis provocantur exemplo.

4. Sollicitas igitur aures praefatio facit, quamvis simplicitas intellectus ipsa moralis sit, quae ad virtutis exemplum viduas cohortetur; quia non professione, sed merito videtur unaquaeque praestare, et hospitalitatis apud Deum gratiam non perire, qui potum aquae frigidae, sicut in Evangelio ipse memoravit (Matth. X, 42), praemio aeternitatis remuneretur amplissimo: et farinae brevis, oleique mensuram indeficienti affluentium copiarum ubertate compenset (III Reg. XVII, 16). Nam si quis de gentilibus dixit 0235D communia omnia amicorum esse debere; quanto magis debent esse communia cognatorum! Cognati 0236A enim sumus, qui in unam seriem corporis copulamur.

5. Sed tamen non praescripto quodam hospitalitatis fine concludimur. Cur enim proprium 187 id quod in saeculo est, putes; cum commune sit saeculum? Aut cur privatos terrae deputes fructus, cum terra communis sit? Respicite, inquit, volatilia coeli, quoniam non serunt, neque metunt (Matth. VI, 26). Etenim quibus nihil est proprium, nihil deest: et sententiae suae Deus arbiter novit servare promissum. Denique aves non congregant, et edunt; quia Pater coelestis pascit illas. Nos autem generalis monita sententiae ad usus proprios derivantes: Omne, inquit, lignum quod habet in se fructus seminis sativi, erit vobis in escam, et omnibus bestiis, et omnibus 0236Bavibus, et omnibus serpentibus super terram (Gen. I, 29, 30); congregando egemus, et congregando vacuamur. Non possumus enim sperare promissum, qui non servamus oraculum. Salubre est igitur praeceptum quoque hospitalitatis advertere, ut hospitibus deferamus; quia nos quoque sumus hospites mundi.

6. Quam vero sancta vidua, quae cum fame urgeretur extrema, venerationem Deo debitam reservabat: nec sibi soli usurpabat alimenta, sed cum filio dividebat ne caro pignori superviveret (III Reg. XVII, 12 et seq.). Magnum pietatis officium, sed religionis uberius. Nam sicut neminem filio oportuit anteferri, ita propheta Dei, ejus filio praeferri debuit et saluti. Cui non exiguum victum, sed vitae suae 0236C omne subsidium existimanda est detulisse, quae nihil reliquit sibi: tam hospitalis, ut totum daret: tam fidelis, ut cito crederet.