Chapter IV.

By the example of Anna St. Ambrose shows what ought to be the life of widows, and shows that she was an example of chastity at every age. From this he argues that there are three degrees of the same virtue, all of which are included in the Church, and sets forth several examples in Mary, in Anna, and in Susanna. But, he adds, the state of virginity is superior to either of the others, but that a widow ought to take greater care for the preservation of her good name.

21. Scripture then teaches as how much grace is conferred by unity, and how great is the gift of divine blessing in widows. And since such honour is given them by God, we must observe what mode of life corresponds thereto; for Anna shows what widows ought to be, who, left destitute by the early death of her husband, yet obtained the reward of full praise, being intent not less on the duties of religion than on the pursuit of chastity. A widow, it is said, of fourscore and four years, a widow who departed not from the temple, a widow who served God night and day with fastings and with prayers.32    S. Luke ii. 36, 37.

22. You see what sort of person a widow is said to be, the wife of one man, tested also by the progress of age, vigorous in religion, and worn out in body, whose resting-place is the temple, whose conversation is prayer, whose life is fasting, who in the times of day and night by a service of unwearied devotion, though the body acknowledge old age, yet knows no age in her piety. Thus is a widow trained from her youth, thus is she spoken of in her age, who has kept her widowhood not through the chance of time, nor through weakness of body, but by large-heartedness in virtue. For when it is said that she was for seven years from her virginity with her husband, it is a setting forth that the things which are the support of her old age began in the aims of her youth.

23. And so we are taught that the virtue of chastity is threefold, one kind that of married life, a second that of widowhood, and the third that of virginity, for we do not so set forth one as to exclude others. These result each in that which belongs to each. The training of the Church is rich in this, that it has those whom it may set before others, but has none whom it rejects, and would that it never could have any! We have so spoken of virginity as not to reject widowhood, we so reverence widows as to reserve its own honour for wedlock. It is not our precepts but the divine sayings which teach this.

24. Let us remember then how Mary, how Anna, and how Susanna are spoken of. But since not only must we celebrate their praises but also follow their manner of life, let us remember where Susanna,33    Sus. 63. and Anna,34    S. Luke ii. 37. and Mary35    S. Luke i. 28. are found, and observe how each is spoken of with her special commendation, and where each is mentioned, she that is married in the garden, the widow in the temple, the virgin in her secret chamber.

25. But in the former the fruit is later, in virginity it is earlier; old age proves them, virginity is the praise of youth, and does not need the help of years, being the fruit of every age. It becomes early years, it adorns youth, it adds to the dignity of age, and at all ages it has the gray hairs of its righteousness, the ripeness of its gravity, the veil of modesty, which does hinder devotion and increases religion. For we see by what follows that holy Mary went every year with Joseph to Jerusalem on the solemn day of the passover.36    S. Luke ii. 41. Everywhere in company with the Virgin is eager devotion and a zealous sharer of her chastity. Nor is the Mother of the Lord puffed up, as though secure of her own merits, but the more she recognized her merit, the more fully did she pay her vows, the more abundantly did she perform her service, the more fully did she discharge her office, the more religiously did she perform her duty and fill up the mystic time.

26. How much more then does it beseem you to be intent on the pursuit of chastity, lest you leave any place for unfavourable opinion who have the evidence of your modesty and your behaviour alone. For a virgin, though in her also character rather than the body has the first claim, puts away calumny by the integrity of her body, a widow who has lost the assistance of being able to prove her virginity undergoes the inquiry as to her chastity not according to the word of a midwife, but according to her own manner of life. Scripture, then, has shown how attentive and religious should be the disposition of a widow.

CAPUT IV.

Qualis viduarum vita esse debeat, patefacit exemplo Annae: quam in singulis suis aetatibus, castitatis specimen edidisse demonstrat. Triplicem ex his astruit ejusdem virtutis gradum esse, quos gradus Ecclesia omnes amplectitur, nec non singulis exempla in Maria, 0241Bin Anna atque in Susanna proponit. Addit tamen aliis duobus praestare statum virginitatis, viduae autem curam servandae famae majorem esse oportere.

21. Docuit igitur Scriptura quantam collatio conferat gratiam, quantum etiam sit munus divinae benedictionis in viduis. Quibus quoniam honorificentia a Deo tanta confertur, est advertere qualis debeat vita competere; docet enim Anna quales deceat esse viduas, quae immaturo mariti obitu destituta, maturae tamen adoream laudis invenit: non minus religionis officio, quam studio castitatis intenta. Vidua, inquit, octoginta et quatuor annorum, vidua quae non discederet de templo, vidua quae jejuniis et 0241C obsecrationibus die ac nocte serviret (Luc. II, 36, 37).

22. Vides qualis vidua praedicetur, unius viri uxor, aetatis quoque jam probata processu, vivida religioni, et effeta jam corpore: cui diversorium in templo, colloquium in prece, vita in jejunio: quae dierum noctiumque temporibus indefessae devotionis obsequio, cum corporis agnosceret senectutem, pietatis tamen nesciret aetatem. Sic instituitur a juventute vidua, sic praedicatur 192 in senectute veterana: quae viduitatem non occasione temporis, non imbecillitate corporis, sed virtutis magnanimitate servaverit. Etenim cum dicit septem annis eam cum viro fuisse a virginitate sua, ab adolescentiae utique studiis inchoata praedicat subsidia senectutis.

0241D 23. Docemur itaque triplicem castitatis esse virtutem: unam conjugalem, aliam viduitatis, tertiam virginitatis; non enim aliam sic praedicamus, ut excludamus alias. Suis quibusque professionibus ista 0242A conducunt. In hoc Ecclesiae est opulens disciplina, quod quos praeferat, habet: quos rejiciat, non habet; atque utinam habere numquam possit! Ita igitur virginitatem praedicavimus, ut viduas non rejiceremus: ita viduas honoramus, ut suus honos conjugio reservetur. Non nostra hoc praecepta, sed divina testimonia docent.

24. Reminiscamur itaque quemadmodum Maria, quemadmodum Anna, quemadmodum Susanna laudentur. Sed quoniam non laudes earum tantummodo praedicandae sunt, sed disciplinae etiam sunt sequendae, reminiscamur ubi Susanna (Dan. XIII, 7), ubi Anna (Luc. II, 38), ubi Maria (Luc. I, 28) sint repertae: et advertamus quemadmodum singulae aptis laudibus praedicentur, et ubinam commorentur: 0242B nupta in paradiso, vidua in templo, virgo in secreto.

25. Sed in illis tardior fructus, in virgine maturior: illas senectus probat, virginitas laus aetatis est; nec adjumenta quaerit annorum, quae omnium est fructus aetatum. Adolescentiam decet, juventutem ornat, amplificat senectutem: omnique aevo habet justitiae suae canos, maturitatem gravitatis, velamen pudoris, quae devotionem non impediat, religionem augeat. Advertimus enim ex sequentibus quia quotannis in die solemni Paschae sancta Maria cum Joseph Hierusalem petebat (Luc. II, 41). Ubique impigra devotio, ubique assiduus Virgini comes pudoris adjungitur. Nec inflatur Domini mater, quasi secura de meritis: sed quo meritum magis agnovit, eo votum 0242C uberius exsolvit, officium copiosius detulit, munus religiosius vexit, mysticum tempus implevit.

26. Quanto igitur vos magis convenit intentas esse studio castitatis, ne locum sinistrae relinquatis opinioni, quae pudicitiae testimonium in solis habetis moribus! Virgo enim, licet in ea quoque major sit morum praerogativa quam corporis, calumniam tamen integritate carnis abjurat; vidua, quae probandae subsidium virginitatis amiserit, non in voce obstetricis, sed in suis moribus habet castitatis examen. Docuit igitur Scriptura quam attentus viduae esse debeat et religiosus affectus.