Marriage and Virginity (continued)
The Hundredfold, Sixtyfold, and Thirtyfold Fruit
45. There is certainly no way of showing the existence of this gift, if it is not tested.
46. This is such an important gift, however, that some people understand it to be that hundredfold fruit.†59 The most imposing evidence in favor of this view comes from the authority of the Church. The faithful know well the order in which the names of the martyrs and those of the deceased holy virgins are recited in the celebration of the sacraments.†60
Those who have a better understanding of these things than we do can give thought to the interpretation of that difference in fruitfulness. Is it the life of a virgin that bears fruit a hundred times over, the life of a widow that bears fruit sixty times over, and the life of a married person that bears fruit thirty times over?†61 Or is it rather that being fruitful a hundred times over refers to martyrdom, being fruitful sixty times over refers to celibacy, and being fruitful thirty times over refers to married life? Or does virginity produce fruit a hundred times over when combined with martyrdom, but only sixty times over by itself, whereas married people, who bear fruit thirty times over, increase this to sixty if they are martyrs? Or, as seems more probable to me, because God in his kindness grants many gifts, and some are greater and better than others, so that the apostle can say, Aspire to the better gifts (1 Cor 12:31), should we conclude that there are too many for them to be divided into three kinds? First of all, let us not decide that the celibacy of widows bears no fruit at all, or lower it to the same level as married chastity, or raise it to the same honored rank as virginity; and let us not reckon that the crown of martyrdom, either as a disposition of soul not yet put to the test or as an actuality proven by the experience of suffering, does not bring any increase in fruitfulness to any of those three kinds of chastity. Then we can consider that many men and women maintain virginal chastity but still do not do what the Lord says: If you wish to be perfect, go, sell what you have, and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven, and come, follow me (Mt 19:21), and they do not dare to share the life of those with whom no one has anything to call one's own, but with them everything is owned in common (Acts 2:44; 4:32). Do we think there is no increase in fruitfulness for God's virgins when they do this? Or that being God's virgins without doing this is not fruitful at all?
Martyrdom Should Be Ranked above Virginity