Tea at Trianon: The Calling of Consecrated Virginity

John Wilson Croker on Marie-Antoinette

"We have followed the history of Marie Antoinette with the greatest diligence and scrupulosity. We have lived in those times. We have talked with some of her friends and some of her enemies; we have read, certainly not all, but hundreds of the libels written against her; and we have, in short, examined her life with– if we may be allowed to say so of ourselves– something of the accuracy of contemporaries, the diligence of inquirers, and the impartiality of historians, all combined; and we feel it our duty to declare, in as a solemn a manner as literature admits of, our well-matured opinion that every reproach against the morals of the queen was a gross calumny– that she was, as we have said, one of the purest of human beings."

~from History of the Guillotine by John Wilson Croker, 1844

Edmund Burke on Marie-Antoinette

"It is now sixteen or seventeen years since I saw the queen of France, then dauphiness, at Versailles; and surely there never lighted on this orb, which she hardly seemed to touch, a more delightful vision. I saw her just above the horizon, decorating and cheering the elevated sphere she had just begun to move in, glittering like a morning star full of life and splendor and joy. Oh, what a revolution....Little did I dream that I should have lived to see such disasters fall upon her, in a nation of gallant men, in a nation of men of honor and of cavaliers! I thought ten thousand swords must have leaped from their scabbards, to avenge even a look which threatened her with insult. But the age of chivalry is gone; that of sophisters, economists, and calculators has succeeded...."

~Edmund Burke, October 1790

Thursday, June 15, 2023

The Calling of Consecrated Virginity

From Catholic Exchange:

A woman who offers herself to God as a consecrated virgin is neither in the clerical state or the lay state, (CIC 588 §1) and is “mystically espoused to Christ and dedicated to the service of the Church, when the diocesan Bishop consecrates them according to the approved liturgical rite.” (CIC 604 §2) They live in the world in the same way as other women, and are not supported financially by their diocese, but they serve the local Catholic community under the authority of their bishop. Consecrated virgins typically do not wear a religious garment unless the bishop has permitted them to dress in such garb, and they are not addressed as “Sister.”

References to consecrated virginity appear in Sacred Scripture as well as in non-biblical texts. There is mention of the vocation in the New Testament found in Matthew 19:12, which reads “Some are incapable of marriage because they were born so; some, because they were made so by others; some, because they have renounced marriage for the sake of the kingdom of heaven. Whoever can accept this ought to accept it,” and also in 1 Corinthians 7:25-40, which states:

Now in regard to virgins, I have no commandment from the Lord, but I give my opinion as one who by the Lord’s mercy is trustworthy. So this is what I think best because of the present distress: that it is a good thing for a person to remain as he is. Are you bound to a wife? Do not seek a separation. Are you free of a wife? Then do not look for a wife. If you marry, however, you do not sin, nor does an unmarried woman sin if she marries; but such people will experience affliction in their earthly life, and I would like to spare you that. I tell you, brothers, the time is running out. From now on, let those having wives act as not having them, those weeping as not weeping, those rejoicing as not rejoicing, those buying as not owning, those using the world as not using it fully. For the world in its present form is passing away. I should like you to be free of anxieties. An unmarried man is anxious about the things of the Lord, how he may please the Lord. But a married man is anxious about the things of the world, how he may please his wife, and he is divided. An unmarried woman or a virgin is anxious about the things of the Lord, so that she may be holy in both body and spirit. A married woman, on the other hand, is anxious about the things of the world, how she may please her husband. I am telling you this for your own benefit, not to impose a restraint upon you, but for the sake of propriety and adherence to the Lord without distraction. If anyone thinks he is behaving improperly toward his virgin, and if a critical moment has come* and so it has to be, let him do as he wishes. He is committing no sin; let them get married. The one who stands firm in his resolve, however, who is not under compulsion but has power over his own will, and has made up his mind to keep his virgin, will be doing well. So then, the one who marries his virgin does well; the one who does not marry her will do better. A wife is bound to her husband as long as he lives. But if her husband dies, she is free to be married to whomever she wishes, provided that it be in the Lord. She is more blessed, though, in my opinion, if she remains as she is, and I think that I too have the Spirit of God.

Consecrated virginity has a rich history in the Catholic Church, as evidenced by the writings of Church Fathers such as St. Ignatius of Antioch, who referred to consecrated virgins as a distinct group in the Church in his letter to the Smyrnaeans around 110 A.D. Other Church Fathers, such as St. Cyprian and St. Ambrose, also addressed this special form of consecrated life in their treatises. Additionally, the Church’s oldest written liturgical records contain an early form of the Rite of Consecration to a Life of Virginity. We can also look to the saints for evidence of the existence of consecrated virgins in early Christianity when we look at the lives of women such as St. Cecilia, St. Agnes, St. Lucy, and St. Kateri Tekakwitha.

Consecrated virgins are called to live their lives especially following the example of the Blessed Virgin Mary, who we know according to the dogmatic teaching of the Church maintained a state of perpetual virginity throughout her life. According to Vatican News Pope Francis in his Message to Consecrated Virgins on the fiftieth anniversary of the promulgation of the revised Rite of Consecrated Virgins in May 2020 finishes his address with the following words, “As signs of the Church as Bride, may you always be women of joy, following the example of Mary of Nazareth, woman of the Magnificat, Mother of the living Gospel.” (Read more.)