Marriage and Virginity (continued)
55. Consider the value of all these things, and put them on the scales of love, and give to him in return whatever love you would have had to spend in marriage.
56. It is good that he wants interior beauty from you, when he has given you the power to become children of God.†78 He does not look for beauty of body, but the moral beauty of your control over the body. He is not a person anyone can tell lies to about you, to make him jealous and angry. See how confidently you can love him when you have no fear of incurring his displeasure because of false suspicions. A husband and wife love each other because they see each other, but they worry about what they do not see. While they suspect something secret, usually something not happening, they cannot rejoice with any assurance about what is in the open. In your case, however, in your beloved, whom you do not see with your eyes but behold by faith, there is nothing true that you can reproach him with, and you have no fear of offending him because of something that is not true. So, if you would have owed great love to your husband, how greatly should you love him on whose account you chose not to have a husband? He was fastened to the cross for you; hold him tight to every part of your heart. Let him occupy in your mind all the room you did not allow to be taken by marriage. It is not right that you should love him only a little, when for his sake you have held back even from love that was licit. In you who have love like this for the one who is gentle and humble of heart,†79 I have no great fear of there being pride.
Conclusion
56, 57. As best our limitations have allowed, we have now said enough both about the sacredness, from which you get the special name, "sacred virgins,"†80 and about the humility, by which any greatness ascribed to you is protected. In addition to what I have written in this essay, take the advice given to you, with greater right to do so, by those three young men who were kept cool in the midst of the fire by the one for whom they had such burning love.†81
The hymn in which they gave glory to God has much fewer words, but it carries greater weight of authority. Combining humility with holiness in their praise of God, they taught with utmost clarity that the holier one's calling, the more one should be on one's guard not to be deceived by pride. So, you too, give praise to him who grants to you that in midst of the burning heat of this world, even though you do not marry, you do not burn.†82 Praying on our behalf too, recite the prayer: You who are holy and humble of heart, bless the Lord. Sing a hymn to him, and glorify him for all ages (Dn 3:87).
Notes
†1 See Rom 11:17-18.
See The Excellence of Marriage 13, 15, 16, 18-19, 22. In his earlier anti-Manichean writings Augustine had used this argument to defend the married saints of the Old Testament against the Manichees' criticism of their sexual morality: for example, Answer to Faustus
22.33
Augustine here indicates the two parts of this treatise: the first part (2, 2–30, 30) argues on behalf of the excellence of virginity; the second part (31, 31—52, 53) warns virgins of the dangers of pride.
The notion that Mary was a consecrated virgin originated in the second century
Protevangelium of James. Mary as a model for virgins was popularized in the fourth century
West by Ambrose of Milan. See On Virgins II, 6-18, and the discussion in Charles William
Neumann, The Virgin Mary in the Works of Saint Ambrose (Paradosis 17; Fribourg: The
University Press, 1962).
†5 See Rom 8:17.
†6 See Gal 4:19.
†7 See Mt 9:15.
By "Adam" Augustine refers to humanity born under the power of sin and subject to mortality. See Romans 5:12 and 1 Corinthians 15:22. Augustine's understanding of original sin, which he developed more fully in the course of the Pelagian controversy, gave further support to the practice of infant baptism.
Early in the 380s at Rome, the layman Helvidius developed a similar argument to support the equality of marriage and celibacy. See Jerome, Against Helvidius, and the discussion in David G.
Hunter, "Helvidius, Jovinian, and the Virginity of Mary in Late Fourth-Century Rome,"
Journal of Early Christian Studies 1 (1993) 48-50.
See The Excellence of Marriage 21, 25, where Augustine argues that a virtue can be present in the spirit, even when it is not manifested in external action.
†11 See 2 Cor 11:2.
Augustine here summarizes his teaching on the various goods of marriage. See The Excellence of Marriage 3, 3—7, 7 and 24, 32.
The opinion Augustine cites is attributed to Jovinian by Jerome, Against Jovinian I, 12.
Jovinian, who was himself celibate, argued that celibacy was preferable in this life, but that it did not confer any special benefit in the next life.
†14 See 1 Cor 7:33-34.
†15 See Mt 19:9.
Paul's somewhat ambivalent affirmations about marriage in 1 Corinthians 7 were often interpreted by early Christian ascetics as implying an essentially negative evaluation of marriage. Such readings of Paul were espoused by Marcion, Tatian, and the Encratites; but similar perspectives can be found in Tertullian and Jerome.
Augustine tries here to steer a middle course between the heretical rejection of marriage, espoused in his day especially by the Manichees, and the view of Jovinian, who equated marriage and celibacy.
†18 See The Excellence of Marriage 26, 35.
†19 See Is 56:5.
†20 See Mt 20:9.
†21 See Lk 12:35-36.
†22 See Rv 14:1ff.
†23 See 1 Pt 2:21.
†24 See Lk 19:4.
†25 See Lk 19:14.
†26 See Mt 19:12.
†27 See 1 Cor 9:24.
†28 See Lk 10:35.
This chapter concludes the first part of the treatise, Augustine's exhortation to virginity.
The second part focuses on the need for virgins to remain humble and to acknowledge that God is the source of their gift.
Augustine frequently refers to the incarnation as the supreme example of God's humility.
See, for example, Confessions VII, 18, 24.
†31 See Lk 7:6-7.
†32 See Mt 15:26.
†33 See Mt 15:22-28.
†34 See Mt 20:21-22.
†35 See Jn 13:1-17.
[Translator] More literally, hair "nets" (Latin: retiola). The point is that these are rich and ornamental, and they are displayed through the transparent material of the veil.
[Translator] Since it is well accepted that Jesus was indeed born, not of "man" specifically, but of "woman," there should be no quibble with retaining the hallowed reference to Jesus as Son of Man, where "man" clearly has only its generic meaning.
†38 See Lk 18:13.
†39 See Mt 8:8.
†40 See Lk 19:2, 8.
†41 See Lk 7:37-38.
†42 See Mt 21:31.
†43 See Ps 51:5.
†44 See 1 Cor 13:4-5.
†45 See Jn 6:38.
†46 See Jn 13:5.
†47 See Lk 7:38, 47.
†48 See Is 26:18.
†49 See Gal 2:20.
†50 See Lk 7:36-47.
†51 See Rom 9:14.
†52 See Rom 10:3.
This text from Psalm 141 is the subject of extensive discussion in Augustine's treatise on
Continence.
†54 See Mt 25:4.
†55 See Lk 18:10-14.
See The Excellence of Marriage 23, 28-31, where Augustine develops at length the argument that obedience is a higher virtue than continence.
†57 See Mt 20:22.
Thecla was a popular virgin and martyr in the early Church, whose legend was immortalized in the second century Acts of Paul and Thecla. Crispina was a married woman who suffered martyrdom in North Africa during the persecution of Diocletian. See Sermon
354, 5: PL 39, 1565, where Augustine compares the virgin martyr Agnes with the married martyr Crispina.
The interpretation of the hundredfold fruit as that of martyrdom is found in Cyprian, The Dress of Virgins 21; see Augustine, Questions on the Gospels I, 9: CCL 44B, 13.
Augustine refers to a distinction made in the litany of the African Mass between martyrs and deceased virgins. In Sermon 273, 7: PL 38, 1251, Augustine notes that "in the recitation of names at the altar of Christ, the names of the martyrs are recited in the most honored place." See Sermon 159, 1: PL 38, 868, where Augustine notes that Christians do not pray for the martyrs when their names are recited at the altar.
This is the interpretation favored by Jerome, Against Jovinian I, 3; see Augustine, The
Excellence of Marriage 19, 22.
†62 See Mt 13:8.
†63 See Lk 8:8.
†64 See 1 Cor 13:4.
†65 See Jb 7:1.
†66 See Rv 14:4-5.
The possibility of living a sinless life later became an issue in the Pelagian controversy.
Augustine ultimately rejected the idea. See Answer to Two Letters of the Pelagians I, 15, 28; III, 8, 24; IV, 12, 33; The Gift of Perseverance 2, 4.
†68 See 1 Cor 10:12.
†69 See Is 66:2.
†70 See Mt 11:29.
†71 See Ps 59:10.
†72 See Lk 7:47.
†73 See Gal 5:19ff.; 1 Cor 5:9ff.
†74 See Jn 3:16.
†75 See Jas 4:6; 1 Pt 5:5.
†76 See Lk 18:4.
†77 See Phil 2:6.
†78 See Jn 1:12.
†79 See Mt 11:29.
By the late fourth century the word sanctimoniales, translated here as "sacred virgins," had become a technical term for women formally consecrated to the virginal life.
†81 See Dn 3:1ff.
†82 See 1 Cor 7:9.
THE EXCELLENCE OF WIDOWHOOD
Introduction
Composed in 414, The Excellence of Widowhood was addressed as a letter to Anicia Juliana, the widow of Anicius Hermogenianus Olybrius. Juliana was a member of the gens Anicia, one of the oldest and most distinguished Christian families at Rome. She was the mother of Demetrias, a young woman whose consecration to the virginal life in 413 provoked letters of advice and adulation from notable Christian teachers throughout the world, among them
Jerome and Pelagius.†1 Juliana's mother-in-law was Anicia Faltonia Proba, the widow of the famous statesman, Sextus Petronius Probus. Proba, Juliana, and Demetrias had fled Rome before the invasion of Alaric in 410. They settled in Carthage, where Juliana was enrolled as a widow in 412. Augustine composed several letters to Juliana and her family, among them
Letter 188 and the famous Letter 130 to Proba on prayer. The Excellence of Widowhood was written early in the Pelagian controversy. Augustine knew that Juliana's family was on cordial terms with Pelagius and in the letter he warns Juliana of the dangers in Pelagius' theology, though without mentioning him by name (17, 21–18, 22).†2
Augustine himself divides the letter into two parts: the first part presents "instruction" (doctrina) on widowhood (2, 3–15, 19); the second part offers "encouragement" (exhortatio; 16, 20–end). The bulk of Augustine's instruction is an interpretation of Paul's teaching on marriage and celibacy in the seventh chapter of his First Letter to the Corinthians. Augustine notes that Paul's affirmation of the superiority of celibacy is in no way a denigration of marriage. Conjugal chastity and fidelity to the marriage bond are both gifts of God, though lesser ones than virginity or widowhood; even multiple marriages are blessed by God, Augustine argues (4, 5; 12, 15). Augustine regards as heretical any attempt to condemn second marriages; he explicitly cites the Montanists, the Novatianists, and Tertullian as guilty of this error (4, 6).
The Excellence of Widowhood repeats many of the views that can be found in Augustine's earlier writings on marriage and celibacy, such as The Excellence of Marriage and Holy
Virginity. For example, he argues that celibate Christians should not regard themselves as superior to the married saints of the Old Testament. Unlike married people today who marry because they lack the self-control for celibacy, the saints of the prior dispensation married out of obedience to God in order to propagate the people of God (7, 10). Procreation, therefore, no longer has the same value in the present as it did in the past. While the natural desire to have children is in itself not blameworthy, the Christian receives greater merit by choosing to rise above human goods and to pursue heavenly ones (8, 11).
But The Excellence of Widowhood displays an ecclesiological concern that is more pronounced than in Augustine's earlier writings on marriage. Augustine stresses the unity of all Christians, married and celibate, within the one body of Christ. Citing 1 Corinthians 6:15 (Do you not know that your bodies are members of Christ?), Augustine writes: "So great is the excellence of Christian marriage, therefore, that even their bodies are members of the body of Christ. Nevertheless, while the excellence of chastity in widowhood is greater, it does not follow that in this state of life a Catholic widow is something greater than a member of Christ, but among the members of Christ she occupies a place superior to that of the married woman" (3, 4). Similarly, married persons can be holy in body and in spirit (1 Cor 7:34), even though celibate Christians possess a greater degree of holiness (6, 8). "The whole Church,"
Augustine writes, "is itself his spouse, because by the integrity of her faith, hope and love she is a virgin, not only in holy virgins, but in widows and the married faithful too" (10, 13).
In the second part of The Excellence of Widowhood Augustine turns to the task of encouraging Juliana to maintain her commitment to consecrated widowhood. He first urges her to attribute any desire for chastity she possesses to the grace of God: "The more you are aware that these are gifts from God, the more blessed you are in having them; in fact, unless you are aware of who it is who has given you what you have, you are not blessed at all" (16, 20). Without mentioning Pelagius by name, Augustine clearly refers to his teaching and warns
Juliana not to be influenced by his writings. In several chapters Augustine argues that the necessity of divine grace in no way abolishes the freedom of the human will.
In the final chapters of The Excellence of Widowhood, Augustine exhorts Juliana not to develop a love of money in place of desire for marriage (21, 27). He urges her to let spiritual pleasures fill the void left by carnal pleasures: "With holy chastity, therefore, let spiritual pleasures take the place of carnal ones: reading, prayer, the psalms, good thoughts, being occupied with good works, looking forward to the next life, having one's heart on high, and giving thanks for all these things to the Father of lights, from whom undoubtedly, as the scripture attests, every excellent thing we receive and every perfect gift comes to us" (21, 26, citing Jas 1:17).
Notes
See Jerome, Letter 130 and Pelagius, Letter to Demetrias. For details on Juliana and her family, see A.H.M. Jones, et al., The Prosopography of the Later Roman Empire (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1971) 1: 468.
For the connections between Juliana's family and Pelagius, see Peter Brown, "The Patrons of Pelagius: The Roman Aristocracy Between East and West," Journal of Theological Studies, n.s. 21 (1970) 56-72; also in his Religion and Society in the Age of St. Augustine (New York: Harper and Row, 1972) 208-226.
The Excellence of Widowhood