Are Virgins valuable to the Catholic Church?

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Are virgins valuable or significant to the Catholic Church community? As much as for my salvation, what other value does keeping one’s virginity have on others?

I suppose serving as an example is one, that it is possible to keep and live a life of pure chastity.
 
After martyr it is the most important thing for a woman to have had if she was unmarried.
 
‘The spouse in the canticles feedeth among the lilies. One of the sacred interpreters, explaining these words, says, that “as the devil revels in the uncleanness of lust, so Christ feeds on the lilies of chastity.” Venerable Bede asserts that the hymn of the virgins is more agreeable to the Lamb than that of all the other saints.’

St. Alphonsus Maria de Liguori

‘The joys of the virgins are not given to the other saints of God.’

St. Augustine

‘Virgins enjoy many privileges. They will have gold crowns, they alone will sing the canticle, they will wear the same garments that Christ wears, they will always march after the Lamb himself.’

St. Jerome

‘Virginity is the flower of the seed of the Church, beauty and adornment of spiritual grace, a glad joy of laud and honour, work entire and incorrupt, image of God, and yet more noble as to the holiness of God and portion of the flock of Jesus Christ.’

St. Cyprian of Carthage

‘If you have loved virginity, you will be favored by the Lord in all things.’

St. Ephrem of Syria

‘My children, St. Philomena has great power with God. Her virginity and generosity in embracing heroic martyrdom has rendered her so agreeable to God that He will never refuse anything that she asks for us.’

St. Jean Marie Baptiste Vianney

‘The Son of God, our Lord and Saviour Jesus Chris after becoming man for us, and annulling death, and freeing our race from the bondage of corruption, in addition to all His other gifts bestowed upon us this, to have upon earth the image of Angelic sanctity - the virgin life. At least those who possess this virtue, the Catholic Church wont to call the Brides of Christ. When the heathens around us behold these, they look up to them with admiration as shrines of the Word. For in real truth no where this sacred and heavenly profession carried out save among us Christians alone. And this is above all a very great proof that real and genuine piety exists among us only.’

St. Athanasius

‘Nuptials fill the earth; virginity, paradise.’

St. Jerome

‘The devil hates all Christians indeed, but cannot tolerate in any way upright monks and virgins of Christ.’

St. Anthony of Egypt

…

Note virginity is a matter of soul, not only of body.

Virginity has a special place!

‘To abstain from sinful actions is not sufficient for the fulfillment of God’s law. The very desire of what is forbidden is evil.’

St. Jean-Baptiste de la Salle
 
Tarpeian_Rock said:
Just curious: why only a woman?
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Just as the holy priesthood can only be conferred upon men, only women, in the true sense of the word, can be consecrated as Virgins. There is a special rite in which a woman can be consecrated in the Virginal state by a bishop - it is a special vocation similar to, but distinct from, religious life (monks, nuns, etc). Catholicism is an incarnational faith - physical matter was sanctified by God when he assumed physical flesh and is thus of great importance. Only women can be virgins in the true physical sense of the word - and this physical purity (as well as corresponding purity of the heart) is a special image of the Church as the pure bride of Christ.
 
thebookofesther said:
After martyr it is the most important thing for a woman to have had if she was unmarried.
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Most important thing? Really?

Like, more important that being baptized? Maybe I’m just reading this wrong, but surely it’s more important for a woman’s heart to be pure than for her to never have fallen into sexual sin. 🤷

To the OP: Of course it is good for people to save themselves and avoid falling into sexual sin. Whether they eventually get married or remain single their entire lives, they have done a wonderful thing. There is a place for everybody in the Church, no matter how they have fallen in the past or what their vocation may be. And it’s very important that we treat ourselves with the dignity God created us with. 🙂

Also, I think there’s a special song in heaven that only the virgins can learn. I’m pretty sure I read something like that in Revelation, so there’s that to look forward to! 😃
 
Each person is valuable to the Church; the gift of continence in total dedication to the Lord is a special gift, regardless of gender or whether a man is called to ordained life or not. As St. Paul put it, those who are so dedicated can serve the Lord without distraction, and that spares them many trials. Sometimes I think we lack an appreciation that distraction is indeed a trial. We get a little comfortable in our distractions, and that is not a good thing. Perhaps the main gift to the Church in dedicated virginity is the witness to fervor. It reminds everyone, married or not, to keep ours eyes on the ball, so to speak. I like to think of those so dedicated as keeping the Body of Christ in an “athletic position”, knees bent, weight on the balls of the feet, eyes alert–especially through dedication to prayer, the eyes and heart attuned. Those of us who have to spend more time in the distractions of daily life need them to be there for us, doing that and reminding us of what the “game” is all about, for the sake of our own lives as well as theirs.
 
I’ll never completely understand this emphasis (fascination? obsession?) on sexual sins.

according to St. Jerome, virgins get to wear a gold crown in heaven? have more pleasing choral voices??? really?

you’d think an exemplary life is demonstrated by what one’s done rather than what one hasn’t done.
 
twf said:
Just as the holy priesthood can only be conferred upon men, only women, in the true sense of the word, can be consecrated as Virgins. There is a special rite in which a woman can be consecrated in the Virginal state by a bishop - it is a special vocation similar to, but distinct from, religious life (monks, nuns, etc). Catholicism is an incarnational faith - physical matter was sanctified by God when he assumed physical flesh and is thus of great importance. Only women can be virgins in the true physical sense of the word - and this physical purity (as well as corresponding purity of the heart) is a special image of the Church as the pure bride of Christ.
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Men can take a lifelong vow of celibacy, so I am not quite sure that I understand what you are saying. Do you have any references to actual Church documents, specifically ones stating that only women may actually be virgins in the physical sense?
 
Fairwinds said:
I’ll never completely understand this emphasis (fascination? obsession?) on sexual sins.

according to St. Jerome, virgins get to wear a gold crown in heaven? have more pleasing choral voices??? really?

you’d think an exemplary life is demonstrated by what one’s done rather than what one hasn’t done.
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Exactly, thank you. I think there’s a big emphasis on it because most humans are obsessed with sex. People aren’t saying that a woman who has never committed sloth is the ultimate woman because it’s not as interesting. I really think there should be more emphasis on treating others kindly and making the world a better place.
 
Et_Cetera said:
You kind of make it sound like they’re property.
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Who do you mean? None of us who are baptized belong to ourselves. We all belong to Christ, entirely, and we live in order to know, love, and serve God. That is the full realization of ourselves, and it is less of a trial to get there without the distraction of pleasing and being pleased by a spouse. That is not to say that marriage is not a legitimate road to sanctity–I hope not, since I am married myself!–but that it is a bumpier road, and one more fraught with false detours.
 
EasterJoy said:
Who do you mean? None of us who are baptized belong to ourselves. We all belong to Christ, entirely, and we live in order to know, love, and serve God. That is the full realization of ourselves, and it is less of a trial to get there without the distraction of pleasing and being pleased by a spouse. That is not to say that marriage is not a legitimate road to sanctity–I hope not, since I am married myself!–but that it is a bumpier road, and one more fraught with false detours.
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the OP asks, “Are Virgins valuable to the Catholic Church?”

so, the question does suggest they are valuable Church property.
 
Fairwinds said:
the OP asks, “Are Virgins valuable to the Catholic Church?”

so, the question does suggest they are valuable Church property.
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It was not meant that way. Prayer is also valuable to the Catholic Church, and prayer is not a commodity. The question was clearly at a spiritual level.
 
Baelor said:
It was not meant that way. Prayer is also valuable to the Catholic Church, and prayer is not a commodity. The question was clearly at a spiritual level.
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the OP was talking about people, not acts. its an inartfully worded OP.
 
Fairwinds said:
the OP asks, “Are Virgins valuable to the Catholic Church?”

so, the question does suggest they are valuable Church property.
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Oh, I see the meaning, now. I don’t know, I never thought of the guy who won the MVP in the Super Bowl as having been reduced to “property”. Considering a person valuable as a contributor doesn’t make them cogs in the wheel. It means they make a contribution that is worth a lot to others, even if a number can’t be put on the “value”.

The life of chastity is a life in which one maintains a physical and spiritual dignity proper to a creature made in the image and likeness of God by propriety and humility.

This is a Jewish prayer, recited at the close of Sabbath, that explains it well:

Baruch atah, Adonai, Elohaynu melech ha’olam, hamavdil
Blessed are You, God, our Lord, King of the universe, who separates
bayn kodesh lechol
between the holy and the profane;
bayn or lechoshech
between the light and dark;
bayn Yisra’el la’amim
between Israel and the other nations;
bayn yom ha’shevi’i leshayshet yemay hama’aseh.
between the seventh day and the six days of the week.
Baruch atah, Adonai, hamavdil bayn kodesh lechol.
Blessed are You, God, who separates between the holy and the profane.

Not all Christians can be virgins, just as not all days can be the Lord’s Day. The one set aside for the Lord alone, though, has a special place.
 
Fairwinds said:
the OP was talking about people, not acts. its an inartfully worded OP.
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It does not matter. The OP was still talking about people in the same context as certain acts, i.e. spiritually beneficial to the Church. The answer is yes, and serving God and the Church is the highest elevation of humankind (regardless of the form that takes), not the reduction of man to property.

If there was confusion, i.e. other readers thought the OP was asking whether the Church could sell virgins for some nice cash, then perhaps that is a problem. I cannot really comprehend how someone could misread the OP and still come up with a reasonable interpretation, however.
 
Fairwinds said:
the OP was talking about people, not acts. its an inartfully worded OP.
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Inartful or not, I would have thought my question was obvious with its intent.

Valuable doesn’t mean literally about material worth, I meant spiritually. There’s so much emphasis on the Vatican’s riches that even on a catholic forum, that’s what people are inferring. How can virginity be sold for cash? how crude a thought. A person who inferred that must be spiritually bankrupt or autistic?
 
Fairwinds said:
the OP asks, “Are Virgins valuable to the Catholic Church?”

so, the question does suggest they are valuable Church property.
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You’re one of the people on here who are so pedantic, you deviate from the question at hand into semantics.

How would you have better worded the question?

The definition of value does not necessarily mean monetary connotations.
Noun
The regard that something is held to deserve; the importance or preciousness of something: “your support is of great value”.
 
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