On the Necessity of Chastity.
Chastity is the lily of the virtues, and even in this life it makes us almost like unto the angels. Nothing is beautiful anywhere save through purity, and the purity of men is chastity. This virtue is called honesty, and its practice honour; it is also called integrity, and the vice opposed to it, corruption. In a word, among all the virtues, it has this glory, that it is at once the virtue of the soul and of the body.
It is never permissible to make one’s senses serve a voluptuous pleasure, in any manner whatsoever, outside lawful marriage, whose holiness may, by a just compensation, repair the loss the soul may suffer from this sensual commerce; yet even therein, the intention must be made so honest that the will can receive no stain from it. The chaste heart is like unto the mother-of-pearl, which receives no drop of water save that which comes from heaven; for it admits no pleasure save that of marriage established by Heaven: beyond this, even the thought alone is not permitted it; I mean a thought to which voluptuousness willingly draws and binds the mind.
As for the first degree of this virtue, never, Philothea, willingly suffer anything at all that is forbidden throughout the whole extent of voluptuousness, that is to say, generally speaking, anything sought outside the state of marriage, or even anything contrary to the rules of that state.
Chastity is the lily of the virtues, and even in this life it makes us almost like unto the angels. Nothing is beautiful anywhere save through purity, and the purity of men is chastity. This virtue is called honesty, and its practice honour; it is also called integrity, and the vice opposed to it, corruption. In a word, among all the virtues, it has this glory, that it is at once the virtue of the soul and of the body.
It is never permissible to make one’s senses serve a voluptuous pleasure, in any manner whatsoever, outside lawful marriage, whose holiness may, by a just compensation, repair the loss the soul may suffer from this sensual commerce; yet even therein, the intention must be made so honest that the will can receive no stain from it. The chaste heart is like unto the mother-of-pearl, which receives no drop of water save that which comes from heaven; for it admits no pleasure save that of marriage established by Heaven: beyond this, even the thought alone is not permitted it; I mean a thought to which voluptuousness willingly draws and binds the mind.
As for the first degree of this virtue, never, Philothea, willingly suffer anything at all that is forbidden throughout the whole extent of voluptuousness, that is to say, generally speaking, anything sought outside the state of marriage, or even anything contrary to the rules of that state.
For the second degree, retrench, as much as you can, all superfluous and unnecessary delights of the senses, although they be honest and permitted.
For the third degree, attach not your affection to those which are necessary and ordained; for although it be needful to submit to those which are of the institution and the end of holy matrimony, one must never attach the mind and heart to them.
Moreover, this virtue is incredibly necessary in every state of life. In widowhood, chastity must be exceedingly generous in defending it from pleasure, not only with regard to the present and the future, but also with regard to the past, whose ideas, ever dangerous, render the imagination more susceptible to evil impressions. Wherefore Saint Augustine admired in his dear Alypius that admirable purity of soul which had entirely freed him from the feelings, and even the memories, of all his past disorders. Indeed, everyone well knows that it is easy to preserve for a long time fruits which are still whole; but if they have been even slightly bruised or damaged, the only way to keep them well is to preserve them in sugar or honey. I say likewise that there are several means of safely preserving chastity while it retains all its integrity; but once it has been lost, nothing can preserve it save a solid devotion, whose sweetness I have often compared to that of honey.
For the third degree, attach not your affection to those which are necessary and ordained; for although it be needful to submit to those which are of the institution and the end of holy matrimony, one must never attach the mind and heart to them.
Moreover, this virtue is incredibly necessary in every state of life. In widowhood, chastity must be exceedingly generous in defending it from pleasure, not only with regard to the present and the future, but also with regard to the past, whose ideas, ever dangerous, render the imagination more susceptible to evil impressions. Wherefore Saint Augustine admired in his dear Alypius that admirable purity of soul which had entirely freed him from the feelings, and even the memories, of all his past disorders. Indeed, everyone well knows that it is easy to preserve for a long time fruits which are still whole; but if they have been even slightly bruised or damaged, the only way to keep them well is to preserve them in sugar or honey. I say likewise that there are several means of safely preserving chastity while it retains all its integrity; but once it has been lost, nothing can preserve it save a solid devotion, whose sweetness I have often compared to that of honey.
In the state of virginity, chastity requires great simplicity of soul, and great delicacy of conscience, to drive away all manner of curious thoughts, and to rise above all sensual pleasures, by an absolute and entire contempt for all that man has in common with beasts, and which they even possess more than he. Let these pure souls never doubt, then, in any way, that chastity is incomparably better for them than anything incompatible with its perfection: for, as Saint Jerome says, since the devil cannot endure this salutary ignorance of pleasure, he at least strives to excite desire for it in these souls, and for this purpose gives them such alluring, though utterly false, notions of it that they remain greatly troubled, because, as this holy Father adds, they imprudently allow themselves to esteem what they do not know. Thus so many young people, beguiled by a false and foolish esteem of voluptuous pleasures, and by a sensual and restless curiosity, give themselves over to them, with the entire loss of their temporal and eternal interests; like butterflies which, imagining that the flame is as sweet as it seems beautiful to them, recklessly go and burn themselves in it.
With regard to the married state, it is a common and very great error to think that chastity is not necessary therein; for it is absolutely necessary, and even very much so—not to deprive oneself of the rights of conjugal fidelity, but to keep within bounds. Now, just as the observance of this commandment, _Be angry, and sin not_, presents more difficulty than the practice of this one, _Be not angry_, because it is easier to avoid anger than to govern it; so it is easier to abstain from all carnal pleasures than to moderate them. It is true that the freedom permitted in marriage, sanctified by the grace of Jesus Christ, may greatly serve to extinguish natural passion; but the weakness of many who avail themselves of it makes them pass easily from permission to encroachment, and from use to abuse. And just as we see many rich men unjustly appropriate their neighbour’s goods, not through want, but through avarice, so we also see many married persons who, though they can and ought to fix their hearts upon a lawful object, yet give themselves over to foreign pleasures, through unbridled incontinence. It is always dangerous to take powerful medicines, for if one takes more than is needful, or if they are not properly prepared, health suffers greatly. Marriage was instituted and sanctified in part to serve as a remedy for natural concupiscence; and if this remedy may be called salutary, it may also be called powerful, and consequently dangerous, if it is used without moderation and without the necessary safeguards of Christian piety.
I will add that the variety of life’s affairs, and long illnesses, often separate two persons whom conjugal love has united; wherefore this state hath need of a twofold chastity: the one, to abstain from all pleasure during times of absence; and the other, to be moderate during times of presence. Saint Catherine of Siena saw among the damned several souls exceedingly tormented for having profaned the sanctity of marriage; not precisely because of the enormity of their sins, since murders and blasphemies are more enormous; but for this reason, that those who commit them make no scruple of them, and consequently persist in them throughout their lives.
You see, then, how necessary chastity is in every state. _Seek peace with all_, saith the Apostle, _and holiness, without which no man shall see God._ Now observe that by holiness he meaneth chastity, according to the interpretation of Saint Jerome and Saint Chrysostom. No, Philothea, no man shall see God without chastity; no man shall dwell in these holy tabernacles unless he have a pure heart; and, as the Saviour Himself saith, dogs and the unchaste shall be cast out. _Blessed also are_, He hath told us, _they that shall have a pure heart, for they shall see God!_
You see, then, how necessary chastity is in every state. _Seek peace with all_, saith the Apostle, _and holiness, without which no man shall see God._ Now observe that by holiness he meaneth chastity, according to the interpretation of Saint Jerome and Saint Chrysostom. No, Philothea, no man shall see God without chastity; no man shall dwell in these holy tabernacles unless he have a pure heart; and, as the Saviour Himself saith, dogs and the unchaste shall be cast out. _Blessed also are_, He hath told us, _they that shall have a pure heart, for they shall see God!_