Chapter XII.

It is very desirable that parents should encourage the desire for the virgin life, but more praiseworthy when the love of God draws a maiden even against their will. The violence of parents and the loss of property are not to be feared, and an instance of this is related by St. Ambrose.

62. It is a good thing, then, that the zeal of parents, like favouring gales, should aid a virgin; but it is more glorious if the fire of tender age even without the incitement of those older of its own self burst forth into the flame of chastity. Parents will refuse a dowry, but you have a wealthy Spouse, satisfied with Whose treasures you will not miss the revenues of a father’s inheritance. How much is poverty to chastity superior to bridal gifts!

63. And yet of whom have you heard as ever, because of her desire for chastity, having been deprived of her lawful inheritance? Parents speak against her, but are willing to be overcome. They resist at first because they are afraid to believe; they often are angry that one may learn to overcome; they threaten to disinherit to try whether one is able not to fear temporal loss; they caress with exquisite allurements to see if one cannot be softened by the inducement of various pleasures. You are being exercised, O virgin, whilst you are being urged. And the anxious entreaties of your parents are your first battles. Conquer your affection first, O maiden. If you conquer your home, you conquer the world.

64. But suppose that the loss of your patrimony awaits you; are not the future realms of heaven a compensation for perishable and frail possessions? For if we believe the heavenly message, “there is no one who has forsaken house, or parents, or brethren, or wife, or children, for the kingdom of God’s sake, who shall not receive sevenfold more in this present time, and in the world to come shall have everlasting life.”64    S. Luke xviii. 29, 30. Entrust your faith to God, who entrust your money to man; lend to Christ. The faithful keeper of the deposit of your hope pays the talent of your faith with manifold interest. The Truth does not deceive, Justice does not circumvent, Virtue does not deceive. But if you believe not God’s word, at least believe instances.

65. Within my memory a girl once noble in the world, now more noble in the sight of God, being urged to a marriage by her parents and kinsfolk, took refuge at the holy altar. Whither could a virgin better flee, than thither where the Virgin Sacrifice is offered? Nor was even that the limit of her boldness. She, the oblation of modesty, the victim of chastity, was standing at the altar of God, now placing upon her head the right hand of the priest, asking his prayers, and now impatient at the righteous delay, placing the top of her head under the altar. “Can any better veil,” she said, “cover me better than the altar which consecrates the veils themselves? Such a bridal veil is most suitable on which Christ, the Head of all, is daily consecrated. What are you doing, my kinsfolk? Why do you still trouble my mind with seeking marriage? I have long since provided for that. Do you offer me a bridegroom? I have found a better. Make the most you can of my wealth, boast of his nobility, extol his power, I have Him with Whom no one can compare himself, rich in the world, powerful in empire, noble in heaven. If you have such an one, I do not reject the choice; if you do not find such, you do me not a kindness, my relatives, but an injury.”

66. When the others were silent, one burst forth somewhat roughly: “If,” he said, “your father were alive, would he suffer you to remain unmarried?” Then she replied with more religion and more restrained piety: “And perchance he is gone that no one may be able to hinder me.” Which answer concerning her father, but warning as to himself, he made good by his own speedy death. So the others, each of them, fearing the same for himself, began to assist and not to hinder her as before, and her virginity involved not the loss of the property due to her, but also received the reward of her integrity. You see, maidens, the reward of devotion, and do you, parents, be warned by the example of transgression.

CAPUT XI.

Ut optabile sit virgini favere parentes suos, eam tamen laude majori dignam esse, quam iis reluctantibus divinus amor ad hoc propositum instigaverit. Non timendam igitur nec vim parentum nec patrimonii jacturam; quod memorabili nobilis ac piae virginis facto confirmatur.

0205D 62. Bonum itaque si virgini studia parentum quasi 0206A flabra pudoris aspirent: sed illud gloriosius, si tenerae ignis aetatis etiam sine veteribus nutrimentis sponte se rapiat in fomitem castitatis. Dotem negabunt parentes: sed habes divitem sponsum cujus contenta thesauro, patriae successionis emolumenta non quaeras. Quanto dotalibus praestat compendiis casta paupertas!

63. Et tamen quam audistis aliquando propter studium integritatis, legitimae factam successionis extorrem? Contradicunt parentes: sed volunt vinci. Resistunt primo, quia credere timent: indignantur frequenter, ut discas vincere: abdicationem minantur, ut tentent si potes damnum saeculi non timere: quaesitis blandiuntur illecebris, ut videant si variarum mollire 162 te non queat blanditia voluptatum. 0206B Exerceris, virgo, dum cogeris. Et haec tibi prima certamina, anxia parentum vota proponunt. Vince prius, puella, pietatem. Si vincis domum, vincis saeculum.

64. Sed esto maneant vos damna patrimonii: nonne caducarum et fragilium dispendia facultatum futura coeli regna compensant? Quamquam si verbis coelestibus credimus, nemo est qui reliquerit domum, aut parentes, aut fratres, aut uxorem, aut filios, propter regnum Dei, et non recipiat septies tantum in hoc tempore: in saeculo autem venturo vitam aeternam possidebit (Matth. XIX, 29). Crede fidem tuam Deo: quae homini pecuniam credis, fenerare Christo. Bonus depositae spei custos multiplicatis fidei tuae talentum solvit usuris. Non fallit 0206C veritas, non circumscribit justitia, non decipit virtus. Quod si non creditis oraculo, vel exemplis credite.

65. Memoriae nostrae puella dudum nobilis in saeculo, nunc nobilior Deo, cum urgeretur ad nuptias a parentibus et propinquis, ad sacrosanctum altare confugit. Quo enim melius virgo, quam ubi sacrificium virginitatis offertur? Ne is quidem finis audaciae. Stabat ad aram Dei pudoris hostia, victima castitatis: nunc capiti dexteram sacerdotis imponens, precem poscens, nunc justae impatiens morae, ac summum altari subjecta verticem. Num melius, inquit, maforte me quam altare velabit, quod sanctificat ipsa velamina? Plus talis decet flammeus, in quo caput omnium Christus quotidie consecratur. 0206D Quid agitis vos, propinqui? quid exquirendis adhuc 0207A nuptiis sollicitatis animum? Jamdudum provisas habeo. Sponsum offertis? Meliorem reperi. Quaslibet exaggerate divitias, jactate nobilitatem, praedicate potentiam: habeo eum cui nemo se comparet, divitem mundo, potentem imperio, nobilem coelo. Si talem habetis, non refuto optionem: si non reperitis, non providetis mihi, parentes, sed invidetis.

66. Silentibus caeteris, unus abruptius: Quid si, inquit, pater tuus viveret, innuptam te manere pateretur? Tum illa majori religione, moderatiore 0208A pietate: Et ideo fortasse deficit, ne quis impedimentum possit afferre. Quod ille responsum de patre, de se oraculum, maturo sui probavit exitio. Ita caeteri eadem sibi quisque metuentes, favere coeperunt, qui impedire quaerebant: nec dispendium debitarum attulit virginitas facultatum, sed etiam emolumentum integritatis accepit. Habetis, puellae, devotionis praemium: parentes, cavete offensionis exemplum.