S
SerraSemper
Guest
In his encyclical, Pope Pius XII was trying to talk about the different types of perfect chastity and loosely used the term virginity or consecrated virginity. This encyclical is an example of how writing can be less strict when virginity is not actually required for any vocation on its own, but once the Rite of Consecration of Virgins for women living in the world was promulgated, language does need to be tightened up. But also note that he often switches from celibacy to virginity depending on whom he is talking about. E.g. for priests, he speaks of mainly of the discipline celibacy because it is not assumed they are virgins.
In the paragraph you quoted, the English is not very clear (the Latin of course is the normative language). The Latin makes it very clear that the virgin has virginity and there is consecrated widowhood. Funny that. That is why I said it must be read in a different way than you were reading it, because the Latin is much clearer. Maior est, quam ut dinumerari possit multitudo eorum qui, ab Ecclesiae initiis ad nostra usque tempora, suam castitatem Deo obtulerunt, alii quidem illibatam suam virginitatem conservando, alii vero, coniuge defuncto, perpetuam viduitatem eidem consecrando, alii denique, suorum peccatorum paenitentes, vitam omnino castam eligendo; omnes autem eodem concordi proposito praestantes, nempe in perpetuum a carnis delectationibus propter Deum abstinendi. Quod igitur Sancti Patres de virginitatis gloria et merito praedicarunt, his omnibus invitatio, firmamentum ac robur sit, ut immobiliter in sacrificio oblato perseverent, neu quidquam vel minimum, super Dei altare positi holocausti partem tollant sibique vindicent.
In the paragraph you quoted, the English is not very clear (the Latin of course is the normative language). The Latin makes it very clear that the virgin has virginity and there is consecrated widowhood. Funny that. That is why I said it must be read in a different way than you were reading it, because the Latin is much clearer. Maior est, quam ut dinumerari possit multitudo eorum qui, ab Ecclesiae initiis ad nostra usque tempora, suam castitatem Deo obtulerunt, alii quidem illibatam suam virginitatem conservando, alii vero, coniuge defuncto, perpetuam viduitatem eidem consecrando, alii denique, suorum peccatorum paenitentes, vitam omnino castam eligendo; omnes autem eodem concordi proposito praestantes, nempe in perpetuum a carnis delectationibus propter Deum abstinendi. Quod igitur Sancti Patres de virginitatis gloria et merito praedicarunt, his omnibus invitatio, firmamentum ac robur sit, ut immobiliter in sacrificio oblato perseverent, neu quidquam vel minimum, super Dei altare positi holocausti partem tollant sibique vindicent.