OF THE CHASTITY OF MARY.
Since the fall of Adam the flesh being rebellious against reason, the
virtue of chastity is the most difficult for men to practise. Of all
combats, says St. Augustine, those of chastity are the most severe,
for the battle is daily and the victory rare.[1655] But eternal praise
to the Lord who has given us in Mary a great example of this virtue.
With justice, says blessed Albertus Magnus, is Mary called the Virgin
of virgins, for she being the first who offered her virginity to God,
without the counsel or example of others, has brought to him all virgins
who imitate her.[1656] As David had already predicted: After her virgins
shall be brought to the temple of the king: “Adducentur virgines post eam
in templum regis.”[1657] Without counsel or example; yes, for St. Bernard
exclaims: Oh Virgin, who has taught thee to please God by virginity, and
on earth to lead the life of an angel?[1658] Ah! answers Sophronius, it
is for this God has chosen this most pure Virgin for his mother, that she
may be an example of chastity to all.[1659] Hence St. Ambrose has called
Mary the standard-bearer of chastity: “Quæ signum Virginitatis extulit.”
By reason of this her purity the blessed Virgin was also called by the
Holy Spirit: Beautiful as the turtle-dove: Thy cheeks are beautiful as
the turtle-dove’s: “Pulchræ sunt genæ tuæ sicut turturis.”[1660] Mary,
says St. Aponius, is a most chaste turtle: “Turtur pudicissima Maria.”
And therefore she has also been called a lily: As the lily among the
thorns, so is my love among the daughters: “Sicut lilium inter spinas,
sic amica mea inter filias.”[1661] St. Denis the Carthusian, commenting
on this passage, says, that she has been called a lily among thorns
because all other virgins were thorns either to themselves or others;
but the blessed Virgin has never been one to herself or others.[1662]
For by her presence alone she infused into all, thoughts and affections
of purity: “Intuentium corda ad castitatem invitabat.”[1663] And this is
confirmed by St. Thomas, who says that the beauty of the blessed Virgin
encouraged chastity in all who beheld her: “Pulchritudo B. Virginis
intuentes ad castitatem excitabat.”[1664] St. Jerome declares himself of
the opinion that St. Joseph preserved his virginity by the society of
Mary, for the saint thus writes against the heretic Helvidius, who denied
the virginity of Mary: Thou sayest that Mary did not remain a virgin; I
take it upon myself to maintain more than that, even that Joseph himself
preserved his virginity through Mary.[1665] A certain author says that
the blessed Virgin so loved this virtue, that to preserve it, she would
have been ready to renounce even the dignity of mother of God. This we
may learn from her own answer to the archangel: “How shall this be done,
because I know not man?”[1666] and from the words she afterwards added:
Be it done to me according to thy word: “Fiat mihi secundum verbum tuum;”
signifying by this that she gave her consent on the condition of which
the angel had assured her, namely, that she should become a mother by
means of the Holy Spirit alone.
St. Ambrose says: He who has preserved chastity is an angel, he who has
lost it is a devil.[1667] According to the words of our Lord: “They shall
be as the angels of God in heaven.”[1668] But the unchaste become odious
to God as the devils. And St. Remigius said that the greater number of
adults are lost through this vice. The victory over this vice is rare,
as has been said in the words of St. Augustine at the beginning of this
section; but why is it rare? Because the means for conquering it are
not put in use. The means are three according to Bellarmine, and the
masters of the spiritual life: Fasting, avoiding dangerous occasions, and
prayer: “Jejuniun, periculorum evitatio, et oratio.” By fasting is meant
mortification, particularly of the eyes and of the appetite. The most
holy Mary, although she was full of divine grace, was so mortified with
her eyes that she kept them always cast down, as St. Epiphanius and St.
John Damascene inform us, and never fixed them on any one; they say that
from her childhood she was so modest that she was the wonder of all. And
hence St. Luke remarks, that in going to visit St. Elizabeth: She went
with haste: “Abiit cum festinatione,” that she might not be long seen in
public. Philibert relates with regard to her food, that it was revealed
to a hermit named Felix, that the infant Mary took milk only once a
day. And St. Gregory of Tours asserts that, during her whole life, she
fasted always: “Nullo tempore Maria non jejunavit;” and St. Bonaventure
adds, that Mary would never have found so much grace unless she had been
temperate in food, for grace and gluttony cannot subsist together.[1669]
In a word, Mary practised mortification in every thing, so that of
her it was said: My hands dropped with myrrh: “Manus meæ stillaverunt
myrrham.”[1670]
The second means is to fly the occasions of sin. He that is aware of the
snares shall be secure: “Qui autem cavet laqueos, securus erit.”[1671]
Hence St. Philip Neri said, that in this warfare cowards conquer; that
is, those who avoid dangerous occasions. Mary shunned as much as possible
the sight of men; and therefore St. Luke says that in her visit to St.
Elizabeth, she went with haste into the hill country: “Abiit in montana
cum festinatione.” And a certain author remarks that the Virgin left
Elizabeth before the birth of the Baptist, as we learn from the Gospel
itself, in which it is said that “Mary abode with her about three months;
and she returned to her own house. Now Elizabeth’s full time of being
delivered was come, and she brought forth a son.”[1672] And why did she
not wait till his birth? In order to avoid the conversation and visits
which would follow that event. The third means is prayer. “And as I
knew,” said the wise man, “that I could not otherwise be continent except
God gave it.... I went to the Lord and besought him.”[1673] And the
blessed Virgin revealed to St. Elisabeth, a Benedictine nun, that she had
not acquired any virtue without effort and continual prayer.[1674] St.
John Damascene says that Mary is pure and a lover of purity: “Pura est et
puritatem amans,” and therefore she cannot endure the impure. But whoever
has recourse to her will certainly be delivered from this vice by only
pronouncing her name with confidence. And the venerable John of Avila
says that many temptations against chastity have been overcome solely by
devotion to the immaculate Virgin. Oh Mary, oh most pure dove, how many
are in hell through the vice of impurity! Oh Lady, obtain for us that
always in our temptations we may have recourse to thee, and invoke thee,
saying: Mary, Mary, help us. Amen.