Question about Male Saints

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Tracyms1974

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Hey everybody.
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  I've noticed that if a female saint is a virgin or a virgin and martyr, a point is made to mention this when said saint is listed or talked about.  Why is the same emphasis (or credit, rather) not placed on male saints who have made the same sacrifice?  If a male saint, like Saint Steven is a martyr, it will be so noted.  However, was St. Steven also a virgin?  If I were a male saint, I would want that on my resume, personally.  Just curious.
Tracy
 
Good question…female virgins are often seen as pure and undefiled, whereas men, not so much. I guess it’s because stuff gets ‘put in’ a woman…kind of like a brand new container that has never been dirty. When looking at a man symbolically, it’s just not the same…b/c that part can be cleaned or whatever to be as good as new…not the same with a woman.

Sounds stupid, but it’s the first thing that came to mind.

It’s probably an animal thing as well…for purposes of reproduction, you don’t want anyone elses seed in there but your own…much like the animal kingdom. There is even said to be different types of sperm, one of which is ‘warrior’ sperm that try and fight off any foreign sperm that find their way in from another mate.
 
Tracyms1974 said:
Hey everybody.
Code: 
  I've noticed that if a female saint is a virgin or a virgin and martyr, a point is made to mention this when said saint is listed or talked about.  Why is the same emphasis (or credit, rather) not placed on male saints who have made the same sacrifice?  If a male saint, like Saint Steven is a martyr, it will be so noted.  However, was St. Steven also a virgin?  If I were a male saint, I would want that on my resume, personally.  Just curious.
Tracy
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I’ve never thought of that. I often hear/read about male saints retaining chastity or devoting their lives to chastity, but I rarely hear them described as virgin. Perhaps the term virgin has certain female connotations? In fact, I’m sure that’s it. The greek word for young woman can often mean young woman OR virgin. Plus, just in tradition Mary has obviously been the one most identified as a virgin. It makes sense than that virgin has certain feminine connotations.
 
ForwardProgress said:
Good question…female virgins are often seen as pure and undefiled, whereas men, not so much. I guess it’s because stuff gets ‘put in’ a woman…kind of like a brand new container that has never been dirty. When looking at a man symbolically, it’s just not the same…b/c that part can be cleaned or whatever to be as good as new…not the same with a woman.

Sounds stupid, but it’s the first thing that came to mind.

It’s probably an animal thing as well…for purposes of reproduction, you don’t want anyone elses seed in there but your own…much like the animal kingdom. There is even said to be different types of sperm, one of which is ‘warrior’ sperm that try and fight off any foreign sperm that find their way in from another mate.
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But what goes in isn’t what defiles, it’s what comes out of the heart. Of course, deliberate fornication comes out of the heart, so it’s no excuse for female promiscuity, but it isn’t the reason for the different emphasis either.
I know of only one author who mentions warrior sperm, and it sounds like balderdash. Sperm die a few seconds after release. They don’t move very efficiently either, not anywhere near enough to do battle with others. They dart and float at random in fact, propelled by a tiny tail. There isn’t much they can really do to each other. The only things they can do are swish about until they get attracted to the electrochemical pull of an ovum, then if close enough soon enough (hundreds cluster around and look like a burr), thin their membranes, release DNA and fall apart, to be washed away. The concept of long-term sperm retention is just a myth some animal breeders spread.
 
Yes, it is mentioned for male saints as well as female saints. For example, priest-saints, such as St. John Bosco or St. Padre Pio.
 
I have often asked myself that same question…

In Carmel,

Br. Allen
 
CapIV said:
I’ve never thought of that. I often hear/read about male saints retaining chastity or devoting their lives to chastity, but I rarely hear them described as virgin. Perhaps the term virgin has certain female connotations? In fact, I’m sure that’s it. The greek word for young woman can often mean young woman OR virgin. Plus, just in tradition Mary has obviously been the one most identified as a virgin. It makes sense than that virgin has certain feminine connotations.
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Even though that’s the case, it looks to me that there would be a word for the male equivalent of a virgin, like “chaste from birth” or something like that. I would imagine it’s just as hard (maybe harder) for men to retain their innocence as it is for women.

Tracy
 
Tracyms1974 said:
Even though that’s the case, it looks to me that there would be a word for the male equivalent of a virgin, like “chaste from birth” or something like that. I would imagine it’s just as hard (maybe harder) for men to retain their innocence as it is for women.

Tracy
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Virgin originally meant masculine woman – a woman who would never marry because she had the skills of both sexes and could take care of herself.
Maiden meant anyone, either sex, at the early stages of marriageability, before the best time to be married but not totally off-limits for at least asking about marrying. It was the diminutive of maid, marriageable one, male or female. But language changes.
 
ForwardProgress said:
Good question…female virgins are often seen as pure and undefiled, whereas men, not so much. I guess it’s because stuff gets ‘put in’ a woman…kind of like a brand new container that has never been dirty. When looking at a man symbolically, it’s just not the same…b/c that part can be cleaned or whatever to be as good as new…not the same with a woman.

Sounds stupid, but it’s the first thing that came to mind.

.
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That’s not necessarily true because women have menstrual periods to clean out their insides. I see what you’re saying, though. Plus physically (say in an autopsy) you can tell whether a woman is a virgin or not because of the presence or lack thereof of a hymen. Can’t do that with a guy, you just have to take their word for it. There is a definite emotional difference between those (male or female) who have had relations and those who have not. Sex is not the kind of thing you can merely describe, ya know? This is also why I feel for all saints who are virgins/chaste it should be duly noted.

Tracy
 
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