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886
For instance, when you wish to show the Eternal Majesty, who sees every fibre of your poor nature, what fine speeches you can make to Him in your prayers. We are constantly managing our reputation with our neighbours either by fictitious presentations of one’s self, or by suppression of one’s true character, or by being one thing to one’s self and another to one’s neighbour, playing the comedy of vanity in one way to one person and in another way to another. Self-love moves us to act these parts, although the actor most commonly appears through the character.”
Michael F. Glancey, Characteristics From the Writings of Archbishop Ullathorne,1889
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On false and true greatness
1. Pride
Archbishop William Ullathorne enumerates a few ways in which pride gives rise to various social maladies:
“Pride makes a man envious and jealous, peevish and passionate, contentious and disputatious. Easily provoked, he is hard to reconcile, especially when his self-esteem is touched; for he is suspicious of the kindliest advances, fancying a design to win his submission. He has a large appetite for flattery, but a queasy stomach for friendly advice, which he regards as dictation. He is rude and ungenial, self-opinionated and meddling, ambitious and aspiring. As he has no faults, or does not see them, which appears to him the same, his troubles arise from the ill-judged conduct of other persons, and especially of his friends. He is keen, however, in sighting another’s faults, or in imagining them where they do not appear. He is troublesome and ungovernable, resolute against reason, and stiff against wise counsel. Contemptuous to his inferiors, he is critical of his betters, and disobedient to his superiors; unfit to govern, he is unwilling to be governed. With all his show and pretension, he is hollow within; with all his outward bravery, the moral courage inside of him is low; and although artificial manners may cloak much that is here described, they take nothing of it away from the inclinations of the heart.” (Groundwork of the Christian Virtues)
“Self-love, self-opinion, self-interest, and self-exaltation are the motive powers that move the world in opposition to the kingdom of God. Pride resists God and dissolves all unity; whether by heresy it sets up man’s opinion against the unity of faith; or by schisms it sets up self-will against obedience to authority; or by ambition it stirs up nation against nation; or by iniquity it divides the man against his conscience.”, “Pride judges, and will not be judged; it exacts obedience unreasonably, and will not reasonably obey.” (Endowments of Man)
After hearing this litany of social ills, one can better understand why God prefers the humble. Ullathorne concludes: “From the beginning to the end of the Holy Scriptures, we shall find that what God accepts from man is humility, and that what He rejects is pride. His blessings are for the humble, His maledictions are for the proud. In every virtue it is humility that He rewards, in every vice it is pride that He punishes.” (Groundwork of the Christian Virtues)
2. Vanity
Archbishop Ullathorne examines the connection between pride and vanity:
“If we compare pride in its elation to a dark, swelling wave, vanity is the foam upon its surface. If we compare pride to a soul-destroying fire, vanity is the smoke that flies out of it. The word vanity sounds of things hollow, shallow, and trifling; but that is no trifle which makes the soul light and trivial and unrobes her of her dignity.”
“The vain man has such an image of his perfection before his eyes that, when you point out his failings, he cannot recognise them as belonging to that image. Give a much-needed advice, especially intended for him, and if there are fifty persons present he will applaud its wisdom and see its application to everyone but himself. Give him the same advice in private, and whatever be the wisdom and authority of the adviser, and however kind and gentle the admonition, it wounds him to the quick that anyone should think of him that of which he is so utterly unconscious, although everybody sees it but himself. There is no armour so impenetrable to advice as the chain-mail of vanity.”
All the world is a stage: “Our converse with our fellow-creatures is too often a comedy of vanity, vainglory, or pride. For more characters are acted on the stage of the world than on the stage of the theatre. It is more difficult to be simple before man than before God; yet even before God how much there is in many souls that come before Him which is far from simplicity and near to vanity.
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Putting charity into practice
By this shall all men know that ye are my disciples, if ye have love one for another.” (John 13:35)
“He who saith he is in the light, and hateth his brother, he is in darkness even until now.” (1 John 2:9)
“Our divine Lord has said that His disciples should be known by their love one for another. This Christian virtue of charity makes us love our neighbor in God, the creature for the sake of the Creator. Love of God, love of our neighbor,—these virtues are two branches springing from the same trunk and having but one and the same root.”
He then shows how the virtue of charity is different from other kinds of love: “To feel and to consent are two distinct and widely different things. When religion commands us to love our enemies, the commandment is addressed to the superior portion of the soul, the will, not to the inferior portion in which reside the carnal affections that follow the natural inclinations. In a word, when we speak of charity the question is not of that human friendship which we feel for those who are naturally pleasing to us, a sentiment wherein we seek merely our own satisfaction and which therefore has nothing in common with charity.”
Archbishop Francois Fenelon distinguishes between affection and charity in this way: “To love our neighbor as ourselves does not mean that we should have for him that intense feeling of affection that we have for ourselves, but simply that we wish for him, and from the motive of charity, what we wish for ourselves. Pure and genuine love, love having for its sole end the object beloved, should be reserved for God alone, and to bestow it elsewhere is a violation of a divine right.”
Quadrupani discusses practical ways to put the virtue of charity into practice:
“Assist your brethren in their needs whenever you can. However, you should always be careful to consult the laws of prudence in this matter and to be guided by your means and position. Supply by a desire to do good for the material aid you are unable to give.”
When your neighbor offends you he does not cease on that account to be the creature and the image of God; therefore the Christian motive you have for loving him still exists. He is not, perhaps, worthy of pardon, but has not our Saviour Jesus Christ, who so often has forgiven you much more grievous offences, merited it for him?”
“Although it is forbidden us to show hatred or to entertain it voluntarily against the wicked and those who have offended us, this is not meant to prevent us from defending ourselves or taking such precautions against them as prudence suggests. Christian charity obliges and disposes us to love our enemies and to be good to them when there is occasion to do so; but it should not carry us so far as to protect the wicked, nor leave us without defence against their aggressiveness. It allows us to be vigilant in guarding against their encroachments, and to take precautions against their machinations.”
“Always be ready and willing to excuse the faults of your neighbor, and never put an unfavorable interpretation upon his actions. The same action, says Saint Francis de Sales, may be looked upon under many different aspects: a charitable person will ever suppose the best, an uncharitable one will just as certainly choose the worst.”
Carlo Giuseppe Quadrupani, Instructions for Devout Souls to Dispel Their Doubts and Allay Their Fears (St. Louis: B. Herder, 1898)
🔗 2. Zeal for the salvation of souls
🔗 3. Meeknes
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[14] Stand therefore, having your loins girt about with truth, and having on the breastplate of righteousness; [15] And your feet shod with the preparation of the gospel of peace; [16] Above all, taking the shield of faith, wherewith ye shall be able to quench all the fiery darts of the wicked. [17] And take the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God.
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Permissibility of Just War in Revelation
196. Permissibility of Just War
196-1. Did Jesus allow self-defense?
Luke 22:36 . . . he that hath no sword, let him sell his garment, and buy one.
196-2. Did Jesus ever use military analogies in His parables?
Luke 14:31-33 Or what king, going to make war against another king, sitteth not down first, and consulteth whether he be able with ten thousand to meet him that cometh against him with twenty thousand? [32] Or else, while the other is yet a great way off, he sendeth an ambassage, and desireth conditions of peace. [33] So likewise, whosoever he be of you that forsaketh not all that he hath, he cannot be my disciple.
196-3. What did John the Baptist recommend for Roman soldiers?
Luke 3:14 (RSV) Soldiers also asked him, "And we, what shall we do?" And he said to them, "Rob no one by violence or by false accusation, and be content with your wages."
196-4. Are military heroes in the old covenant praised as great examples of faith?
Hebrews 11:32-34 And what shall I more say? for the time would fail me to tell of Gedeon, and of Barak, and of Samson, and of Jephthae; of David also, and Samuel, and of the prophets: [33] Who through faith subdued kingdoms, wrought righteousness, obtained promises, stopped the mouths of lions, [34] Quenched the violence of fire, escaped the edge of the sword, out of weakness were made strong, waxed valiant in fight, turned to flight the armies of the aliens.
196-5. Does St. Paul compare the Christian life to being a soldier?
2 Timothy 2:3-4 Share in suffering as a good soldier of Christ Jesus. [4] No soldier on service gets entangled in civilian pursuits, since his aim is to satisfy the one who enlisted him.
196-6. Does “Thou shalt not kill” mean to not murder?
Matthew 19:18-19 He saith unto him, Which? Jesus said, Thou shalt do no murder, Thou shalt not commit adultery, Thou shalt not steal, Thou shalt not bear false witness, [19] Honour thy father and thy mother: and, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself.
196-7. Are negotiations and diplomacy always to be tried before recourse to war?
Deuteronomy 20:10-12 When thou comest nigh unto a city to fight against it, then proclaim peace unto it. [11] And it shall be, if it make thee answer of peace, and open unto thee, then it shall be, that all the people that is found therein shall be tributaries unto thee, and they shall serve thee. [12] And if it will make no peace with thee, but will make war against thee, then thou shalt besiege it:
196-8. Is just war undertaken to protect the innocent?
Genesis 14:14-16 And when Abram heard that his brother was taken captive, he armed his trained servants, born in his own house, three hundred and eighteen, and pursued them unto Dan. [15] And he divided himself against them, he and his servants, by night, and smote them, and pursued them unto Hobah, which is on the left hand of Damascus. [16] And he brought back all the goods, and also brought again his brother Lot, and his goods, and the women also, and the people.
196-9. Was a soldier characterized as “devout”?
Acts 10:1-2 There was a certain man in Caesarea called Cornelius, a centurion of the band called the Italian band, [2] A devout man, and one that feared God with all his house, which gave much alms to the people, and prayed to God alway.
196-10. Did St. Paul utilize an extended military metaphor to represent the Christian walk?
Ephesians 6:10-17 Finally, my brethren, be strong in the Lord, and in the power of his might. [11] Put on the whole armour of God, that ye may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil. [12] For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places. [13] Wherefore take unto you the whole armour of God, that ye may be able to withstand in the evil day, and having done all, to stand.
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The soul which advances in union with God is rendered more and more like God
"God is infinitely simple, and the soul, which advances in union with God, is rendered more and more like God in His simplicity. So we are not surprised that with a loving soul affective prayer becomes more and more simplified. In the beginning affective prayer may have much discursive prayer intermingled, 'My God, I love Thee because Thou hast given me the gift of faith, because Thou hast sent Thy Blessed Son to redeem me, because Thou art infinitely perfect in Thyself.' These prayers may be truly affective, springing from the heart more than from the intellect, and made with the most loving disposition. Yet the soul as she advances in love feels less and less the need for reasons and longs more and more to remain simply in love. The simple aspiration: 'My God, I love Thee,' suffices and the soul repeats it constantly, and is powerless at prayer to do anything else, or at least has no inclination to do so, or feels that she is profitably engaged only in praying thus.
Though the love of God is ordinarily the object of this prayer, it may be concerned with any truth of our holy faith or with any virtue. A person may have made long, deep reflections on all the truths connected with the beautiful character of our dear Saviour and may have so keen an appreciation of them that now he requires no more than the Holy Name of Jesus to hold him entranced, and he will repeat again and again that loving Name and make his whole prayer consist of It. We can speak in similar terms of the name of Mary.
We do not say that the whole time of prayer, the half-hour for example, can be thus spent, but an appreciable time can. Often there is an intermingling between his prayer and the prayer of obscure contemplation we describe later, and perhaps this may dispose of the difficulty of those who think that the simple prayer we have endeavoured to explain cannot be maintained without a more that ordinary help from God."
Way of Perfection for the Laity by Fr Kevin, ocd
#mentalprayer
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In a scene that calls to mind Peter’s previously denying Jesus three times, the Risen Christ asks Peter three times if he loves Him. Peter responds with three declarations of love, and each time, Christ charges him to care for His flock.
St John Paul II reflected on the meaning of this exchange in Ut Unum Sint
It is just as though, against the backdrop of Peter’s human weakness, it were made fully evident that his particular ministry in the Church derives altogether from grace. It is as though the Master especially concerned Himself with Peter’s conversion as a way of preparing him for the task He was about to give him in His Church (91). As the heir to the mission of Peter in the Church, which has been made fruitful by the blood of the Princes of the Apostles, the Bishop of Rome exercises a ministry originating in the manifold mercy of God. This mercy converts hearts and pours forth the power of grace where the disciple experiences the bitter taste of his personal weakness and helplessness (92). Associating himself with Peter’s threefold profession of love, which corresponds to the earlier threefold denial, his Successor knows that he must be a sign of mercy. His is a ministry of mercy, born of an act of Christ’s own mercy (93). Saint Augustine, after showing that Christ is ‘the one Shepherd, in Whose unity all are one,’ goes on to exhort: ‘May all shepherds thus be one in the one Shepherd; may they let the one voice of the Shepherd be heard; may the sheep hear this voice and follow their Shepherd, not this shepherd or that, but the only One; in Him may they all let one voice be heard and not a babble of voices…the voice free of all division, purified of all heresy, that the sheep hear.’ The mission of the Bishop of Rome within the College of all the Pastors consists precisely in ‘keeping watch’ (episkopein), like a sentinel, so that, through the efforts of the Pastors, the true voice of Christ the Shepherd may be heard in all the particular Churches…This primacy is exercised on various levels, including vigilance over the handing down of the Word, the celebration of the Liturgy and the Sacraments, the Church’s mission, discipline and the Christian life…He has the duty to admonish, to caution and to declare at times that this or that opinion being circulated is irreconcilable with the unity of faith (94).
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The Cincture of Chastity
Since man’s life on earth is a time of trial, and all who would live devotedly in Christ must undergo persecution, and the devil your foe is on the prowl like a roaring lion looking for prey to devour, you must use every care to clothe yourselves in God’s armor so that you may be ready to withstand the enemy’s ambush. Your loins are to be girt with chastity, your breast fortified by holy meditations, for as Scripture has it, holy meditation will save you. Put on holiness as your breastplate, and it will enable you to love the Lord your God with all your heart and soul and strength, and your neighbor as yourself. Faith must be your shield on all occasions, and with it you will be able to quench all the flaming missiles of the wicked one: there can be no pleasing God without faith; and the victory lies in this — your faith. On your head set the helmet of salvation, and so be sure of deliverance by our only Saviour, who sets his own free from their sins. The sword of the spirit, the word of God, must abound in your mouths and hearts. Let all you do have the Lord’s word for accompaniment. (Rule of St. Albert)*To gird one’s loins means to prepare for something that will be difficult or challenging. In Medieval times, when a man was to be knighted, he was encircled with a belt or band around his waist. The purpose was to gather up his garments and to have a place for his sword. *First, we are to protect all that is vulnerable in us. In this regard we will have an attitude that will keep us from violating the intimate, tender, and vulnerable parts in ourselves and in others. This will require strength and the ability to fight in order to protect. Balance and respect will also be needed and the ability to restrain and abstain in order to keep from violating the vulnerable, intimate and tender parts. Chastity protects. *Secondly, the cincture of God’s chastity gathers up or binds by keeping us from dissipating. We so often get lost with impulses of the moment or are led astray by some diversion. Chastity helps to gain control over ourselves. Chastity brings with it concentration and order. It helps to regulate and moderate our activity and aids recollection. *Finally, chastity removes all that is not real. By all that is not real, we mean all that is superficial in our conduct, feelings that are all confused and bewildered, all our prejudices, all our selfish needs, all the trivial things we impose on others and other such things that estrange us from who we really are in God’s eyes. *Chastity is a gift from God and we make this gift our own when we practice it. God’s chastity should abound in our thoughts, words, and deeds. Chastity in our words will be reflected in the respect and esteem that we give to others. With integrity permeating our thoughts, we will think honestly of ourselves and others. Daily doing deeds of love express the love that has entered into our new life with God. #chastity
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The good is mixed with the bad in the world and within the Church
St. Augustine
Sermo 38
Sermo 46
*Within the Church there exists both good and bad, from the very beginning until the final separation.
*God is equally able to call back into the Church all those who separated themselves from the Vine and those who remained but are weak, bad or useless.
“Brethren, we recognize what is expressed most plainly in other places of the sacred books, that there are within the Catholic Church both good and bad, as I often express it, wheat and chaff. Let no one leave the threshing floor before the time [Christ’s return]. Let him bear with the chaff in the time of threshing, let him bear with it in the floor. For in the barn [Heaven] he will have none of it to bear with. The Winnower will come, who shall divide the bad from the good. There will then be a bodily separation too, which a spiritual separation now precedes. In heart be always separated from the bad, in body be united with them for a time only with caution.”
Not all heretics are to be found all over the face of the earth, but still heretics are to be found all over the face of the earth.Some here, others there, but there's no lack of them anywhere. They don't know each other: one sect in Africa, another heresy in the East, another in Egypt, another in Mesopotamia, for example. They are in different places; one mother, pride, bore them all, just as our one Catholic mother bore all faithful Christians spread out through the whole world. So it's not surprising if pride gives birth to division, charity to unity. And yet this Catholic mother, this shepherd within her, everywhere seeks the strays, strengthens the feeble, cares for the ill, bandages the fractured, some from this crowd, others from that which do not know each other. She, however, knows them all because she is spread all over with all of them. For example, in Africa there is the party of Donatus, there are no Eunomians in Africa, but together with the party of Donatus there is
here the Catholic Church.In the East there are the Eunomians, no party of Donatus there, but with the Eunomians the Catholic Church is there. It is like a vine, spread everywhere just by growing; they are like useless twigs, cut off by the farmer's sickle because of their sterility, in order to prune the vine, not to lop it off altogether. So where those twigs have been cut off, there they have remained. But the vine growing everywhere knows both its own twigs that have remained in it and those beside it that have been cut off. However, from them it calls back the strays, because about broken branches too the apostle says, For God has the power to graft them in again (Rom 1 1 :23). Whether you call them sheep straying from the flock, whether you call them sticks cut from the vine, God is equally capable of calling back the sheep and grafting in the sticks again, because he is the chief shepherd, he is the true farmer.46
And they were scattered over the whole face of the earth; and there was none to seek them, there was none to call them back (Ez 34:6) — none among those bad shepherds; there was none, no man, that is, to seek them.
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St. Augustine on unity
Sermo 46
Small wonder that pride gives birth to division, and love to unity. But our catholic mother is herself a shepherd; she seeks the straying sheep everywhere, strengthens the weak, heals the sick, and binds up the injured. ... Thus she is like a vine that is spread out everywhere in its growth. The straying sheep are like useless branches which because of their sterility are deservedly cut off, not to destroy the vine but to prune it. When these branches were cut down, they were left lying there. But the vine grew and flourished, and it knew both the branches that remained upon it and those that had been cut off and left lying beside it. She calls the stray sheep back, however, because the Apostle said in reference to the broken branches: God has the power to graft them on again. Call them sheep straying from the flock or branches cut off from the vine, God is equally capable of calling back the sheep or of grafting the branches on again, for he is equally the chief shepherd and the true farmer. ... My sheep, he says, hear my voice and follow me.... [A]ll good shepherds are one in the one shepherd. It is not that good shepherds are lacking; they are there in the one shepherd. When we speak of "many" we refer to those who are divided from each other. Here only one is spoken of, because in this passage unity is commended. The reason why shepherds are not mentioned here, but only one shepherd, is not because the Lord has failed to find anyone to whom to entrust his sheep; he entrusted the sheep to Peter because he had found Peter. Indeed, in the case of Peter he also commended the unity of the flock. There were many apostles, and yet to one only did he say: Feed my sheep.... When he entrusted his sheep to Peter as one person to another, Christ chose to make Peter one with himself. He wanted to entrust him with the sheep in such a way that he himself might be the head and Peter might represent the body, that is, the Church. As bridegroom and bride, Christ and the Church were to be two in one flesh. Accordingly, what does he say before he entrusts the sheep to Peter as to someone who is not separate from himself? Peter, do you love me? He answered: I love you. And again: Do you love me? He answered: I love you. And a third time: Do you love me? He answered: I love you. He receives an assurance of love in order to establish unity. ... All should speak with one voice in Christ, not with different voices. Brethren, I beg all of you to say the same thing, and to have no dissensions among you. The sheep should hear this voice, a voice purified from all schism, freed from all heresy, and so follow their shepherd, who says: My sheep hear my voice and follow me."
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Who Is the Rich Man That Shall Be Saved?
Clement of Alexandria (ca. 150-215)
Clement shows how a person can put to a good use the wealth with which God has entrusted him.
One can possess wealth and still be poor in spirit. Such a one uses his wealth for the common good: “He who holds possessions, and gold, and silver, and houses, as the gifts of God; and ministers from them to the God who gives them for the salvation of men; and knows that he possesses them more for the sake of the brethren than his own; and is superior to the possession of them, not the slave of the things he possesses; and does not carry them about in his soul, nor bind and circumscribe his life within them, but is ever labouring at some good and divine work, even should he be necessarily some time or other deprived of them, is able with cheerful mind to bear their removal equally with their abundance. This is he who is blessed by the Lord, and called poor in spirit, a meet heir of the kingdom of heaven.” (16)
It is not a person’s external appearance or the value of his temporal possessions that determine whether or not he will end up in heaven: “Salvation does not depend on external things, whether they be many or few, small or great, or illustrious or obscure, or esteemed or disesteemed; but on the virtue of the soul, on faith, and hope, and love, and brotherliness, and knowledge, and meekness, and humility, and truth, the reward of which is salvation. For it is not on account of comeliness of body that any one shall live, or, on the other hand, perish. So also a poor and destitute man may be found intoxicated with lusts; and a man rich in worldly goods temperate, poor in indulgences, trustworthy, intelligent, pure, chastened.” (18)
Who are really rich? “He then is truly and rightly rich who is rich in virtue, and is capable of making a holy and faithful use of any fortune; while he is spuriously rich who is rich, according to the flesh, and turns life into outward possession, which is transitory and perishing, and now belongs to one, now to another, and in the end to nobody at all. Again, in the same way there is a genuine poor man, and another counterfeit and falsely so called.
To him who is poor in worldly goods, but rich in vices, who is not poor in spirit and rich toward God, it is said, Abandon the alien possessions that are in thy soul, that, becoming pure in heart, thou mayest see God.” (19)
Ante-Nicene Fathers, Vol. II, ed. Alexander Roberts and James Donaldson (Edinburgh: T&T Clark, 1867).
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+5John Cassian on the role of monks in the community of the Church and Augustine's developments around 400
source: article "Augustine on marriage, monasticism and the community of the Church"
The author attempts to situate Augustine's theology of marriage in the broad historical and theological context of the early Church by connecting his view of marriage to his thinking on virginity and monastic life, and especially by integrating his views on all three states against the
background of church preoccupations about the year 400. This more comprehensive account of Augustine's views draws upon
the Confessions, On the Good of Marriage, On Holy Virginity,
and On the Work of Monks
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Self-Examination 🧵
Peter Geiermann, The Narrow Way
The key role of examination of conscience in one’s spiritual development.
“Self-knowledge is a necessary requisite for prudent self-denial. It is naturally difficult to attain (1) because it is almost impossible for us to obtain a true perspective of ourselves; (2) because the study of self is humiliating; (3) because our pride and self-love easily deceive us; (4) because the world and the devil frown on such a study and fill us with repugnance for it. With the aid of God’s grace, however, we can easily make progress in learning ourselves, provided we are faithful in the practice of self-examination.
And in proportion as we grow in the knowledge of self, shall we also grow in humility, and realize the necessity of cultivating a closer union with God.
If, on the other hand, we neglect our self-examination, we become the willing slaves of tepidity and spiritual stagnation, from which we may be aroused only when the light of eternity will reveal our real selves before the judgment seat of God.”
Geiermann mentions four types of self-examination. One is a general examination. The other three are particular examinations of conscience.
Regarding the first, he writes: “A general examination of the interior is a complete accounting of our spiritual condition. It examines (1) our natural or acquired inclinations; (2) our fidelity to grace; (3) our conduct when tempted; (4) the good and the evil we have done; and (5) the intention, the motive, and the rule of our actions.
This general examination, when carefully made, gradually enlightens us to see ourselves as we are in the sight of God. By renewing it from time to time we may observe not only our general progress or retrogression, but also discover the weak points in our character on which we should concentrate our energies.
As successful merchants take an inventory of their stock and balance their accounts frequently, so we do well in making a general examination of our interior every month or at least once a year.”
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Continence and Obedience
St. Augustine of Hippo (354-430) in his treatise De bono coniugale (On the Good of Marriage) argues that obedience is a greater virtue than continence.
He states: “The good of obedience is better than of continence.” And why? Because “marriage is in no place condemned by authority of our Scriptures, but disobedience is in no place acquitted.” In other words, marriage is permitted, but not required of everyone, whereas obedience to lawful authority is required of every person. Then he asks, “If therefore there be set before us a virgin about to continue so, but yet disobedient, and a married woman who could not continue a virgin, but yet obedient, which shall we call better?” (29)
He notes that “obedience is in a certain way the mother of all virtues,” for obedience is the virtue “whereby precepts are complied with.” However, he observes that there may be obedience without virginity and virginity without obedience.
First, regarding obedience without virginity, he says: “There may be obedience without virginity, because virginity is of counsel, not of precept.” (30) Celibacy is a counsel because its external practice is not required of every person, but only recommended, as Christ said, “Whoso can receive, let him receive” (Matt 19:12).
St. Augustine distinguishes between the virtues of continence and chastity: “There may be obedience to precepts without virginity, but not without chastity. For it pertains unto chastity, not to commit fornication, not to commit adultery, to be defiled by no unlawful intercourse: and whoso observe not these, do contrary to the precepts of God.” (30) Chastity is the virtue whereby one abstains from unlawful sexual intercourse, whereas continence is the virtue whereby one abstains from all sexual intercourse. Chastity is a precept required of every person, whereas continence is a counsel pertaining to those who have chosen the celibate state of life. Married spouses are called to practice conjugal chastity; those who are not married are called to practice chastity by continence.
Secondly, regarding virginity without disobedience, St. Augustine notes that “there may be virginity without obedience...We have known many sacred virgins, talkative, curious, drunken, litigious, covetous, proud: all which are contrary to precepts.” Therefore, while affirming the three goods of chastity, continence, and obedience, he is led to conclude: “Not only is the obedient to be preferred to the disobedient, but a more obedient married woman to a less obedient virgin.” (30)
A Select Library of the Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers of the Christian Church, Vol. III, ed. Philip Schaff (Edinburgh: T&T Clark, 1886).
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The Sacrament of Knighthood
The similarities between the state of Knighthood and Holy Orders in the Middle Ages
"The seven sacraments of the Holy Church are these: baptism; confirmation; the Eucharist; the penitence that one does for his sins; the orders that the bishop makes when he ordains priests, deacons, and subdeacons; matrimony; and anointing of the sick. By means of these seven sacraments shall we be saved. And the sacrament of Chivalry is obliged to honour and comply with these seven sacraments, and it therefore pertains to every knight to know his office in such matters as he is obliged to." Ramon Llull, The Book of the Order of Chivalry, Noel Fallows, tr., The Boydell Press (Rochester, NY: 2013), p. 64.*The Book of the Order of Chivalry, which Llull wrote in the 1270s gives an insight into how the state of Knighthood was perceived at his time. The book was an extremely popular work through the rest of the Middle Ages and into the Renaissance. Llull cals chivalry (understood here as the state of knighthood, not a virtue) a type of a sacrament. He does make a distinction between chivalry and the salvific sacraments of the Church. But it's an essential part of his argument throughout the book that there is an analogy between the temporal Order of Knighthood and the spiritual Order of Clergy. Clerics (which would be minor orders) and knights are the two great orders of service, the clerics serving spiritually and the knights serving temporally. In Latin, you don't generally say something like 'the sacrament of holy orders', you just say 'the sacrament of Order'. Thus Bl. Ramon conceives of receiving knighthood as a form of being ordained -- you receive Order of a particular kind -- and receiving spiritual orders, conversely, as receiving a kind of spiritual knighthood. Clerics, whether minor or major, are inducted into this spiritual knighthood; like temporal knights they bring peace to society, but rather than the peace of justice through the sword, it is the peace of mercy and grace through the sacraments. Knighthood, however, is not holy orders; it is a temporal office and not a sacrament that is either directly or indirectly necessary for salvation. The sacrament of Knighthood is a sacrament (or sacramental, as we would usually say today) for laity. According to Llull's view, God has taken something we naturally do -- we give people Order so as to structure society in ways that allow for peace and justice -- and put forward a higher version of it (an Order that gives grace in and of itself); after which Christian knighthood becomes possible. Such Christian knighthood involves bringing one's temporal Order into alignment, value-wise, with the kind of divine and spiritual Order in the sacraments of the Church.
