# On Holy Virginity - Author: [Augustine of Hippo](https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/authors/augustine-of-hippo/) - Latin title: *De sancta virginitate* - Date: 401 (probable) - Source: Joseph Zycha, ed., Sancti Aureli Augustini De sancta virginitate, CSEL 41 (Vienna: Tempsky; Leipzig: Freytag, 1900) (Latin text: Joseph Zycha, De sancta virginitate (CSEL 41, 1900), digitized by Open Greek and Latin (csel-dev, University of Leipzig), CC BY-SA 4.0) - Translation: Claude, from the original text, unless a passage says otherwise; each passage below gives the translator - Work page: https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/augustine-sancta-virginitate/ - Passages: 57 ## On Holy Virginity 1 - URL: https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/augustine-sancta-virginitate/1/#p-1 - Source: CSEL 41:235–236 - Translation: Claude (claude-opus-5-5), 2026-09-27 Summary: After his book On the Good of Marriage, Augustine sets out to praise consecrated virginity while warning virgins against pride. ### Latin text Librum de Bono Coniugali nuper edidimus, in quo etiam Christi uirgines commonuimus atque monuimus, ne propter excellentiam muneris amplioris, quod diuinitus acceperunt, contemnant in sui conparatione patres et matres populi dei hominesque illos, quos tamquam oliuam commendat apostolus, ne superbiat insertus oleaster, qui uenturo Christo etiam filiorum propagatione seruiebant, ideo meriti inferioris esse arbitrentur, quia iure diuino continentia conubio et nuptiis pia uirginitas anteponitur. in illis quippe parabantur et parturiebantur futura, quae nunc impleri mirabiliter et efficaciter cernimus, quorum etiam uita coniugalis prophetica fuit: unde non consuetudine humanorum uotorum atque gaudiorum, sed ualde profundo consilio dei in quibusdam eorum fecunditas honorari, in quibusdam etiam fecundari sterilitas meruit. hoc uero tempore quibus dictum est: si se non continent, nubant, non adhibenda est exhortatio, sed consolatio, quibus autem dictum est: qui potest capere capiat, exhortandi sunt, ne terreantur, et terrendi, ne extollantur. non solum ergo praedicanda est uirginitas, ut ametur, uerum etiam monenda, ne infletur. ### English translation (Claude) We recently published a book, On the Good of Marriage, in which we also admonished and warned the virgins of Christ that, because of the excellence of the greater gift they have received from God, they should not despise by comparison with themselves the fathers and mothers of the people of God—those whom the apostle commends as the olive, lest the grafted wild olive become proud—who served Christ who was to come even by the propagation of children; nor think them of lower merit because by divine law continence is ranked above marriage and devout virginity above wedlock. For in them the things to come were being prepared and brought to birth which we now see fulfilled wonderfully and effectively; their married life too was prophetic. Hence, not by the usual course of human wishes and joys but by a very deep counsel of God, in some of them fruitfulness deserved to be honored, and in some even barrenness deserved to be made fruitful. But at this time, to those to whom it was said, “If they do not contain themselves, let them marry,” not exhortation but consolation is to be applied; while those to whom it was said, “He who can receive it, let him receive it,” are to be exhorted, so that they may not be afraid, and made afraid, so that they may not be lifted up. Virginity, then, must not only be proclaimed, so that it may be loved, but also warned, so that it may not be puffed up. ### Scripture references - Rom 11:17: allusion, high confidence - Rom 11:18: allusion, high confidence - 1 Cor 7:9: quotation, high confidence - Matt 19:12: quotation, high confidence ### Extrabiblical texts - Augustine, Bon. conjug. (On the Good of Marriage): allusion, high confidence ### Citation (SBL) Augustine, Virginit. 1 (CSEL 41:235–236; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/augustine-sancta-virginitate/1/#p-1). ## On Holy Virginity 2 - URL: https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/augustine-sancta-virginitate/1/#p-2 - Source: CSEL 41:236–237 - Translation: Claude (claude-opus-5-5), 2026-09-27 Summary: The church, like Mary, is both virgin and mother, and is holiest in members who are virgins in body as well as spirit. ### Latin text Hoc isto sermone suscepimus; adiuuet Christus, uirginis filius et uirginum sponsus, uirginali utero corporaliter natus, uirginali conubio spiritaliter coniugatus. cum igitur ipsa uniuersa ecclesia uirgo sit desponsata uni uiro Christo, sicut dicit apostolus, quanto digna sunt honore membra eius, quae hoc custodiunt etiam in ipsa carne, quod tota custodit in fide, quae imitatur matrem uiri sui et domini sui! nam ecclesia quoque et mater et uirgo est; cuius enim integritati consulimus, si uirgo non est? cuius prolem adloquimur, si mater non est? Maria corporaliter caput huius corporis peperit, ecclesia spiritaliter membra illius capitis parit. in utraque uirginitas fecunditatem non inpedit, in utraque fecunditas uirginitatem non adimit. proinde cum ecclesia uniuersa sit sancta et corpore et spiritu, nec tamen uniuersa sit corpore uirgo, sed spiritu, quanto sanctior est in his membris, ubi uirgo est et corpore et spiritu! ### English translation (Claude) This we have undertaken in this discourse. May Christ help us, the son of a virgin and the bridegroom of virgins, born bodily of a virgin womb, wedded spiritually in virginal marriage. Since, then, the whole church itself is a virgin betrothed to one husband, Christ, as the apostle says, of how great honor are its members worthy who keep even in the flesh itself what the whole church keeps in faith, and who imitate the mother of their husband and Lord! For the church too is both mother and virgin. For whose integrity do we care for, if she is not a virgin? Whose offspring do we address, if she is not a mother? Mary bore bodily the head of this body; the church bears spiritually the members of that head. In both, virginity does not hinder fruitfulness; in both, fruitfulness does not take away virginity. So, since the whole church is holy both in body and in spirit, and yet the whole church is a virgin not in body but in spirit, how much holier is she in those members in which she is a virgin both in body and in spirit! ### Scripture references - 2 Cor 11:2: allusion, high confidence ### Citation (SBL) Augustine, Virginit. 2 (CSEL 41:236–237; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/augustine-sancta-virginitate/1/#p-2). ## On Holy Virginity 3 - URL: https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/augustine-sancta-virginitate/1/#p-3 - Source: CSEL 41:237 - Translation: Claude (claude-opus-5-5), 2026-09-27 Summary: Mary was more blessed in believing in Christ than in bearing him, since spiritual kinship counts above physical kinship. ### Latin text Scriptum est in euangelio, quod mater et fratres Christi, hoc est consanguinei carnis eius, cum illi nuntiati fuissent et foris expectarent, quia non possent eum adire prae turba, ille respondit: quae est mater mea aut qui sunt fratres mei? extendens manum super discipulos suos ait: hi sunt fratres mei; et quicumque fecerit uoluntatem patris mei, ipse mihi frater et mater et soror est, quid aliud nos docens nisi carnali cognationi genus nostrum spiritale praeponere nec inde beatos esse homines, si iustis et sanctis carnis propinquitate iunguntur, sed si eorum doctrinae ac moribus oboediendo atque imitando cohaerescunt? beatior ergo Maria percipiendo fidem Christi quam concipiendo carnem Christi. nam et dicenti cuidam: beatus uenter qui te portauit, ipse respondit: immo beati qui audiunt uerbum dei et custodiunt. denique fratribus eius, id est secundum carnem cognatis, qui non in eum crediderunt, quid profuit illa cognatio? sic et materna propinquitas nihil Mariae profuisset, nisi felicius Christum corde quam carne gestasset. ### English translation (Claude) It is written in the gospel that when the mother and brothers of Christ, that is, his relatives according to the flesh, had been announced to him and were waiting outside because they could not reach him for the crowd, he answered: “Who is my mother, or who are my brothers?” And stretching out his hand over his disciples he said: “These are my brothers; and whoever does the will of my Father, he is my brother and mother and sister.” What else was he teaching us but to put our spiritual kindred before carnal kinship, and that people are blessed not if they are joined to the just and holy by nearness of flesh, but if they cling to them by obeying and imitating their teaching and conduct? Mary, then, was more blessed in receiving the faith of Christ than in conceiving the flesh of Christ. For to someone who said, “Blessed is the womb that bore you,” he himself answered, “Rather, blessed are those who hear the word of God and keep it.” Finally, what did that kinship profit his brothers, that is, his relatives according to the flesh, who did not believe in him? So too her nearness as mother would have profited Mary nothing had she not borne Christ more happily in her heart than in her flesh. ### Scripture references - Matt 12:46: allusion, high confidence - Matt 12:48: quotation, high confidence - Matt 12:49: quotation, high confidence - Matt 12:50: quotation, high confidence - Luke 11:27: quotation, high confidence - Luke 11:28: quotation, high confidence - John 7:5: allusion, high confidence ### Translation notes - Augustine takes the 'brothers' of Jesus to be his relatives. ### Citation (SBL) Augustine, Virginit. 3 (CSEL 41:237; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/augustine-sancta-virginitate/1/#p-3). ## On Holy Virginity 4 - URL: https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/augustine-sancta-virginitate/1/#p-4 - Source: CSEL 41:237–239 - Translation: Claude (claude-opus-5-5), 2026-09-27 Summary: Mary had vowed virginity before the annunciation, as her question to the angel shows, so that virginity would be a free choice rather than a command. ### Latin text Ipsa quoque uirginitas eius ideo gratior et acceptior, quia non eam conceptus Christus uiro uiolaturo quam conseruaret ipse praeripuit, sed priusquam conciperetur iam deo dicatam de qua nasceretur elegit. hoc indicant uerba, quae sibi fetum adnuntianti angelo Maria reddidit. quomodo, inquit, fiet istud, quoniam uirum non cognosco? quod profecto non diceret, nisi deo uirginem se ante uouisset. sed quia hoc Israhelitarum mores adhuc recusabant, desponsata est uiro iusto, non uiolenter ablaturo, sed potius contra uiolentos custodituro quod illa iam uouerat. quamquam etiamsi hoc solum dixisset: quomodo fiet istud? nec addidisset: quoniam uirum non cognosco, non quaesisset utique, promissum sibi filium quomodo femina paritura esset, si concubitura nupsisset. poterat et iuberi uirgo permanere, in qua dei filius formam serui congruenti miraculo acciperet; sed exemplo sanctis futura uirginibus, ne putaretur sola uirgo esse debuisse, quae prolem etiam sine concubitu concipere meruisset, uirginitatem deo dicauit, cum adhuc quid esset conceptura nesciret, ut in terreno mortalique corpore caelestis uitae imitatio uoto fieret, non praecepto, amore eligendi, non necessitate seruiendi. ita Christus nascendo de uirgine, quae, antequam sciret quis de illa fuerat nasciturus, uirgo statuerat permanere, uirginitatem sanctam adprobare maluit quam imperare. ac sic etiam in ipsa femina, in qua formam serui accepit, uirginitatem esse liberam uoluit. ### English translation (Claude) Her virginity itself is also more pleasing and acceptable because Christ, when conceived, did not snatch it away beforehand from a husband who would violate it, in order to preserve it himself; rather, before he was conceived, he chose one already dedicated to God, of whom to be born. This is shown by the words Mary answered to the angel who announced her child: “How,” she says, “shall this be, since I do not know a man?” She would surely not have said this unless she had vowed herself to God as a virgin beforehand. But because the customs of the Israelites still refused this, she was betrothed to a righteous man, who would not take away by violence what she had already vowed but would rather guard it against the violent. Even if she had said only, “How shall this be?” and had not added, “since I do not know a man,” she would certainly not have asked how she, a woman, would bear the son promised her, if she had married intending to have intercourse. She could also have been commanded to remain a virgin, she in whom the Son of God was to take the form of a servant by a fitting miracle; but as an example for holy virgins to come—lest it be thought that only she ought to be a virgin who had deserved to conceive offspring even without intercourse—she dedicated her virginity to God while she did not yet know what she would conceive, so that the imitation of the heavenly life in an earthly and mortal body might come about by vow, not by precept, by the love of choosing, not by the necessity of serving. Thus Christ, by being born of a virgin who, before she knew who was to be born of her, had resolved to remain a virgin, chose to approve holy virginity rather than to command it. And so even in the very woman in whom he took the form of a servant he willed virginity to be free. ### Scripture references - Luke 1:34: quotation, high confidence - Matt 1:19: allusion, medium confidence - Phil 2:7: allusion, high confidence ### Translation notes - Augustine's inference from Luke 1:34 that Mary had already vowed virginity is translated as written. ### Citation (SBL) Augustine, Virginit. 4 (CSEL 41:237–239; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/augustine-sancta-virginitate/1/#p-4). ## On Holy Virginity 5 - URL: https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/augustine-sancta-virginitate/1/#p-5 - Source: CSEL 41:239 - Translation: Claude (claude-opus-5-5), 2026-09-27 Summary: Virgins who do the Father's will are spiritually mothers of Christ with Mary, as the church and every devout soul are. ### Latin text Non est ergo, cur dei uirgines contristentur, quod etiam ipsae uirginitate seruata matres carnis esse non possunt; illum enim solum decenter uirginitas parere posset, qui in sua natiuitate parem habere non posset. uerumtamen ille unius sanctae uirginis partus omnium sanctarum uirginum est decus, et ipsae cum Maria matres Christi sunt, si patris eius faciunt uoluntatem. hinc enim et Maria laudabilius atque beatius Christi mater est secundum supra memoratam eius sententiam: quicumque facit uoluntatem patris mei qui in caelis est, ipse mihi frater et soror et mater est. has sibi omnes propinquitates in populo, quem redemit, spiritaliter exhibet: fratres et sorores habet sanctos uiros et sanctas feminas, quoniam sunt illi in caelesti hereditate coheredes. mater eius est tota ecclesia, quia membra eius, id est fideles eius per dei gratiam ipsa utique parit. item mater eius est omnis anima pia faciens uoluntatem patris eius fecundissima caritate in his quos parturit, donec in eis ipse formetur. Maria ergo faciens uoluntatem dei corporaliter Christi tantummodo mater est, spiritaliter autem et soror et mater. ### English translation (Claude) There is no reason, then, for the virgins of God to be saddened because they too, keeping their virginity, cannot be mothers of flesh. For virginity could fittingly bear only him who in his birth could have no equal. Yet that birth from the one holy virgin is the glory of all holy virgins; and they too, with Mary, are mothers of Christ if they do the will of his Father. For it is from this that Mary is more praiseworthily and more blessedly the mother of Christ, according to his statement mentioned above: “Whoever does the will of my Father who is in heaven, he is my brother and sister and mother.” All these kinships he shows spiritually for himself in the people he has redeemed: he has holy men and holy women as brothers and sisters, since they are coheirs in the heavenly inheritance. His mother is the whole church, since it is she who, by the grace of God, bears his members, that is, his faithful. Again, his mother is every devout soul that does the will of his Father with most fruitful love in those whom it brings to birth until he himself is formed in them. Mary, then, doing the will of God, is bodily the mother of Christ only, but spiritually both his sister and his mother. ### Scripture references - Matt 12:50: quotation, high confidence - Rom 8:17: allusion, medium confidence - Gal 4:19: allusion, high confidence ### Citation (SBL) Augustine, Virginit. 5 (CSEL 41:239; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/augustine-sancta-virginitate/1/#p-5). ## On Holy Virginity 6 - URL: https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/augustine-sancta-virginitate/1/#p-6 - Source: CSEL 41:239–240 - Translation: Claude (claude-opus-5-5), 2026-09-27 Summary: Mary alone is mother and virgin in both body and spirit; the church is wholly mother and virgin in spirit. ### Latin text Ac per hoc illa una femina non solum spiritu, uerum etiam corpore et mater et uirgo. et mater quidem spiritu non capitis nostri, quod est ipse saluator, ex quo magis illa spiritaliter nata est, quia omnes qui in eum crediderint, in quibus et ipsa est, recte filii sponsi appellantur, sed plane mater membrorum eius, quod nos sumus, quia cooperata est caritate, ut fideles in ecclesia nascerentur, quae illius capitis membra sunt, corpore uero ipsius capitis mater. oportebat enim caput nostrum propter insigne miraculum secundum carnem nasci de uirgine, quo significaret membra sua de uirgine ecclesia secundum spiritum nascitura. sola ergo Maria et spiritu et corpore mater et uirgo, et mater Christi et uirgo Christi; ecclesia uero in sanctis regnum dei possessuris spiritu quidem tota mater Christi est, tota uirgo Christi, corpore autem non tota, sed in quibusdam uirgo Christi, in quibusdam mater, sed non Christi. et coniugatae quippe fideles feminae et deo uirgines dicatae sanctis moribus et caritate de corde puro et conscientia bona et fide non ficta, quia uoluntatem patris faciunt, Christi spiritaliter matres sunt; quae autem coniugali uita corporaliter pariunt, non Christum, sed Adam pariunt et ideo currunt, ut sacramentis inbuti Christi membra fiant partus earum, quoniam quid pepererint norunt. ### English translation (Claude) And so that one woman is both mother and virgin not only in spirit but also in body. She is mother in spirit, indeed, not of our head, who is the Savior himself—of whom rather she was born spiritually, since all who have believed in him, among whom she too is, are rightly called children of the bridegroom—but plainly mother of his members, which we are, because she cooperated by love so that the faithful, who are members of that head, might be born in the church; but in body she is mother of the head himself. For it was fitting that our head, by a notable miracle, should be born according to the flesh of a virgin, to signify that his members would be born according to the spirit of a virgin, the church. Mary alone, then, is mother and virgin both in spirit and in body, both mother of Christ and virgin of Christ; but the church, in the saints who will possess the kingdom of God, is in spirit wholly mother of Christ, wholly virgin of Christ, while in body not wholly, but in some she is virgin of Christ, in others mother, but not of Christ. For both believing married women and virgins dedicated to God, by holy conduct and by love from a pure heart and a good conscience and sincere faith, are spiritually mothers of Christ, because they do the will of the Father; but those who bear bodily in married life bear not Christ but Adam, and therefore they hasten so that their offspring, imbued with the sacraments, may become members of Christ, since they know what they have borne. ### Scripture references - Matt 9:15: allusion, medium confidence - 1 Tim 1:5: quotation, high confidence - Matt 12:50: allusion, high confidence ### Translation notes - 'Children of the bridegroom' echoes Matt 9:15 (filii sponsi). ### Citation (SBL) Augustine, Virginit. 6 (CSEL 41:239–240; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/augustine-sancta-virginitate/1/#p-6). ## On Holy Virginity 7 - URL: https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/augustine-sancta-virginitate/1/#p-7 - Source: CSEL 41:240–241 - Translation: Claude (claude-opus-5-5), 2026-09-27 Summary: Married women cannot claim a share in Mary's motherhood over virgins, since Christians are born not of the flesh but of the church. ### Latin text Hoc dixi, ne forte audeat fecunditas coniugalis cum uirginali integritate contendere atque ipsam Mariam proponere ac uirginibus dei dicere: illa in corpore duas res habuit honorandas, uirginitatem et fecunditatem, quia et integra permansit et peperit; hanc felicitatem quoniam totam utraque habere non potuimus, partitae sumus, ut uos sitis uirgines, nos simus matres; uobis quod defit in prole, consoletur seruata uirginitas, nobis prolis lucro amissa compensetur integritas. haec uox fidelium coniugatarum ad sacras uirgines utcumque ferenda esset, si christianos corpore parerent, ut hoc solo esset Mariae fecunditas carnis excepta uirginitate praestantior, quod illa ipsum caput horum membrorum, hae autem membra illius capitis procrearent; nunc uero etiamsi tales hac uoce contendant, quae ad hoc tantum uiris iunguntur atque miscentur, ut filios habeant, nihilque aliud de filiis cogitant, nisi ut eos Christo lucrentur, atque id mox ut potuerint faciunt, non tamen christiani ex earum carne nascuntur, sed postea fiunt ecclesia pariente per hoc, quod membrorum Christi spiritaliter mater est, cuius etiam spiritaliter uirgo est. cui sancto partui cooperantur et matres, quae non christianos corpore pepererunt, ut fiant quod se corpore parere non potuisse nouerunt; per hoc tamen cooperantur, ubi et ipsae uirgines matresque Christi sunt, in fide scilicet, quae per dilectionem operatur. ### English translation (Claude) I have said this lest married fruitfulness perhaps dare to contend with virginal integrity, and put forward Mary herself, and say to the virgins of God: “She had in her body two things to be honored, virginity and fruitfulness, since she both remained intact and gave birth. Since we could not each have this whole happiness, we have divided it, so that you are virgins and we are mothers. Let preserved virginity console you for what you lack in offspring; let the gain of offspring compensate us for lost integrity.” This speech of believing married women to consecrated virgins might in some way be tolerable if they bore Christians in the body, so that the fruitfulness of Mary's flesh, apart from her virginity, would be superior only in this, that she brought forth the very head of these members, while they brought forth the members of that head. But as it is, even if such women contend with this speech—women who are joined and united to husbands only in order to have children, and think of nothing else concerning their children than to win them for Christ, and do this as soon as they can—Christians are nevertheless not born of their flesh, but become Christians afterward, by the church bearing them, in that she is spiritually the mother of the members of Christ, whose virgin she spiritually is. In this holy birth the mothers too cooperate, who bore in the body those who were not Christians, so that they may become what the mothers knew they could not bear in the body; yet they cooperate by that in which they too are virgins and mothers of Christ, namely in faith, which works through love. ### Scripture references - Gal 5:6: quotation, high confidence ### Citation (SBL) Augustine, Virginit. 7 (CSEL 41:240–241; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/augustine-sancta-virginitate/1/#p-7). ## On Holy Virginity 8 - URL: https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/augustine-sancta-virginitate/1/#p-8 - Source: CSEL 41:241–242 - Translation: Claude (claude-opus-5-5), 2026-09-27 Summary: Virginity is honored not for itself but because it is dedicated to God, and so even bodily virginity is spiritual. ### Latin text Nulla ergo carnis fecunditas sanctae uirginitati etiam carnis conparari potest. neque enim et ipsa, quia uirginitas est, sed quia deo dicata est, honoratur, quae licet in carne seruetur, spiritus tamen religione ac deuotione seruatur. ac per hoc spiritalis est etiam uirginitas corporis, quam uouet et seruat continentia pietatis. sicut enim nemo inpudice utitur corpore nisi spiritu prius concepta nequitia, ita nemo pudicitiam seruat in corpore nisi spiritu prius insita castitate. porro autem si pudicitia coniugalis, quamuis custodiatur in carne, animo tamen, non carni tribuitur, quo praeside atque rectore nulli praeter proprium coniugium caro ipsa miscetur, quanto magis quantoque honoratius in animi bonis illa continentia numeranda est, qua integritas carnis ipsi creatori animae et carnis uouetur, consecratur, seruatur! ### English translation (Claude) No fruitfulness of the flesh, then, can be compared to holy virginity, even virginity of the flesh. For it is not honored because it is virginity, but because it is dedicated to God; and though it is kept in the flesh, it is kept by the religion and devotion of the spirit. And so even the virginity of the body is spiritual, which the continence of piety vows and keeps. For just as no one uses the body unchastely unless wickedness has first been conceived in the spirit, so no one keeps chastity in the body unless chastity has first been implanted in the spirit. Moreover, if conjugal chastity, though it is guarded in the flesh, is nevertheless ascribed to the mind, not to the flesh—the mind under whose presidency and rule the flesh itself is united with no one except its own spouse—how much more, and with how much greater honor, is that continence to be numbered among the goods of the mind by which the integrity of the flesh is vowed, consecrated, and kept for the very Creator of soul and flesh! ### Citation (SBL) Augustine, Virginit. 8 (CSEL 41:241–242; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/augustine-sancta-virginitate/1/#p-8). ## On Holy Virginity 9 - URL: https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/augustine-sancta-virginitate/1/#p-9 - Source: CSEL 41:242–243 - Translation: Claude (claude-opus-5-5), 2026-09-27 Summary: Bearing children for Christ does not compensate for lost virginity, since the church can now gather members of Christ from all nations. ### Latin text Nec illarum ergo fecunditas carnis, quae hoc tempore nihil aliud in coniugio quam prolem requirunt, quam mancipent Christo, pro amissa uirginitate compensari posse credenda est. prioribus quippe temporibus uenturo secundum carnem Christo ipsum genus carnis in ampla quadam et prophetica gente necessarium fuit; nunc autem cum ex omni hominum genere atque omnibus gentibus ad populum dei et ciuitatem regni caelorum membra Christi colligi possint, sacram uirginitatem qui potest capere, capiat et ea tantum, quae se non continet, nubat. quid enim? si aliqua mulier diues multam pecuniam huic bono operi inpendat, ut emat ex diuersis gentibus seruos, quos faciat christianos, nonne uberius atque numerosius quam uteri quantalibet feracitate Christi membra gignenda curabit? nec ideo tamen pecuniam suam conparare muneri sacrae uirginitatis audebit. at si propter faciendos qui nati fuerint christianos fecunditas carnis pro amissa uirginitate merito compensabitur, fructuosius erit hoc negotium, si magno pecuniario pretio uirginitas amittatur, quo pueri faciendi christiani multo plures emantur, quam unius utero quamlibet fertili nascerentur. Quod si stultissime dicitur, habeant fideles nuptae bonum suum, de quo in alio uolumine, quantum uisum est, disseruimus, et honorent amplius, sicut rectissime consuerunt, in sacris uirginibus melius earum, de quo isto sermone disserimus. ### English translation (Claude) Nor, then, is the fruitfulness of the flesh of those women who at this time seek nothing else in marriage than offspring to hand over to Christ to be believed able to compensate for lost virginity. In earlier times, indeed, when Christ was to come according to the flesh, that very descent of the flesh was necessary in a great and prophetic nation; but now, since members of Christ can be gathered from every kind of human beings and from all nations into the people of God and the city of the kingdom of heaven, let him who can receive holy virginity receive it, and let only her who does not contain herself marry. For what then? If some rich woman spent much money on this good work, buying slaves from various nations to make them Christians, would she not provide for the begetting of members of Christ more abundantly and more numerously than by any fertility of the womb? Yet she will not on that account dare to compare her money with the gift of holy virginity. But if, for the sake of making Christians of those who have been born, fruitfulness of the flesh will rightly compensate for lost virginity, the business would be more profitable if virginity were lost for a great price in money, with which many more boys could be bought to be made Christians than would be born from the womb of one woman, however fertile. But if this is said most foolishly, let believing married women have their own good, about which we have discussed in another volume as far as seemed right, and let them honor more fully, as they are most rightly accustomed to do, their better, the good of holy virgins, about which we are discussing in this discourse. ### Scripture references - Matt 19:12: quotation, high confidence - 1 Cor 7:9: allusion, high confidence ### Extrabiblical texts - Augustine, Bon. conjug. (On the Good of Marriage): allusion, high confidence ### Translation notes - The illustration of buying slaves to make them Christians is Augustine's, translated as written. ### Citation (SBL) Augustine, Virginit. 9 (CSEL 41:242–243; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/augustine-sancta-virginitate/1/#p-9). ## On Holy Virginity 10 - URL: https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/augustine-sancta-virginitate/1/#p-10 - Source: CSEL 41:243 - Translation: Claude (claude-opus-5-5), 2026-09-27 Summary: Every girl is born a virgin, whether of marriage or not, but no one is born a consecrated virgin. ### Latin text Nam ne illo quidem debent continentium meritis se conferre coniugia, quod ex eis uirgines procreantur; hoc enim non coniugii bonum est, sed naturae, quae sic diuinitus instituta est, ut ex quolibet humano utriusque sexus concubitu, siue ordinato et honesto siue turpi et inlicito, nulla femina nisi uirgo nascatur. nulla tamen sacra uirgo nascitur; ita fit, ut uirgo nascatur etiam de stupro, sacra autem uirgo nec de coniugio. ### English translation (Claude) Nor ought married people to compare themselves with the merits of the continent on the ground that virgins are procreated from them; for this is not a good of marriage but of nature, which has been so established by God that from any human intercourse of the two sexes, whether ordered and honorable or base and unlawful, no female is born except a virgin. Yet no consecrated virgin is born; so it happens that a virgin is born even of sexual immorality, but a consecrated virgin not even of marriage. ### Citation (SBL) Augustine, Virginit. 10 (CSEL 41:243; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/augustine-sancta-virginitate/1/#p-10). ## On Holy Virginity 11 - URL: https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/augustine-sancta-virginitate/1/#p-11 - Source: CSEL 41:243–244 - Translation: Claude (claude-opus-5-5), 2026-09-27 Summary: It is not virginity as such but virginity vowed to Christ that is praised; such virgins are born of the church. ### Latin text Nec nos hoc in uirginibus praedicamus, quod uirgines sunt, sed quod deo dicatae pia continentia uirgines. nam — quod non temere dixerim — felicior mihi uidetur nupta mulier quam uirgo nuptura; habet enim iam illa quod ista adhuc cupit, praesertim si nondum uel sponsa cuiusquam sit. illa uni studet placere, cui data est, haec multis, incerta cui danda est; hoc uno pudicitiam cogitationis defendit a turba, quod non adulterum, sed maritum quaerit in turba. illa igitur uirgo coniugatae merito praeponitur, quae nec multitudini se amandam proponit, cum amorem unius ex multitudine inquirit, nec se uni iam conponit inuento, cogitans quae sunt mundi, quomodo placeat uiro, sed speciosum forma prae filiis hominum sic amauit, ut, quia eum sicut Maria concipere carne non posset, ei corde concepto etiam carnem integram custodiret. Hoc genus uirginum nulla corporalis fecunditas protulit; non est haec proles carnis et sanguinis. si harum quaeritur mater, ecclesia est. non parit uirgines sacras nisi uirgo sacra, illa quae desponsata est uni uiro casta exhiberi Christo. ex illa non tota corpore, sed tota uirgine spiritu nascuntur sanctae uirgines et corpore et spiritu. ### English translation (Claude) Nor do we proclaim in virgins that they are virgins, but that they are virgins dedicated to God by devout continence. For—and I would not say this rashly—a married woman seems to me happier than a virgin who is going to marry; for the former already has what the latter still desires, especially if she is not yet even anyone's betrothed. The former is eager to please one, to whom she has been given; the latter many, uncertain to whom she is to be given; she defends the chastity of her thought from the crowd only by this, that she seeks in the crowd not an adulterer but a husband. That virgin, then, is rightly set above a married woman who neither offers herself to the crowd to be loved, as she seeks the love of one out of the crowd, nor, having found him, adorns herself for one, thinking of the things of the world, how she may please her husband; but has so loved him who is beautiful in form beyond the sons of men that, since she could not conceive him in the flesh as Mary did, having conceived him in her heart she has kept even her flesh intact for him. No bodily fruitfulness has produced this kind of virgins; this offspring is not of flesh and blood. If their mother is sought, it is the church. None bears holy virgins but a holy virgin, she who has been betrothed to be presented as a chaste virgin to one husband, Christ. From her, a virgin not wholly in body but wholly in spirit, holy virgins are born, holy in both body and spirit. ### Scripture references - 1 Cor 7:34: allusion, high confidence - Ps 45:2 (44:3 LXX): quotation, high confidence - John 1:13: echo, medium confidence - 2 Cor 11:2: allusion, high confidence ### Translation notes - Ps 45:2 is 44:3 in the Latin numbering. ### Citation (SBL) Augustine, Virginit. 11 (CSEL 41:243–244; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/augustine-sancta-virginitate/1/#p-11). ## On Holy Virginity 12 - URL: https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/augustine-sancta-virginitate/1/#p-12 - Source: CSEL 41:244–245 - Translation: Claude (claude-opus-5-5), 2026-09-27 Summary: Marriage has its human goods, but virginity is the life of angels and a foretaste of incorruption. ### Latin text Habeant coniugia bonum suum, non quia filios procreant, sed quia honeste, quia licite, quia pudice, quia socialiter procreant et procreatos pariter, salubriter, instanter educant, quia tori fidem inuicem seruant, quia sacramentum conubii non uiolant. Haec tamen omnia humani officii sunt munera; uirginalis autem integritas et per piam continentiam ab omni concubitu inmunitas angelica portio est et in carne corruptibili incorruptionis perpetuae meditatio. cedat huic omnis fecunditas carnis, omnis pudicitia coniugalis: illa non est in potestate, illa non est in aeternitate: fecunditatem carnalem non habet liberum arbitrium, pudicitiam coniugalem non habet caelum. profecto habebunt magnum aliquid praeter ceteros in illa communi inmortalitate, qui habent aliquid iam non carnis in carne. ### English translation (Claude) Let marriage have its own good: not that it procreates children, but that it procreates them honorably, lawfully, chastely, in partnership, and brings up those procreated in harmony, wholesomely, and earnestly; that the spouses keep the faithfulness of the bed to each other; that they do not violate the sacrament of marriage. Yet all these are gifts of human duty; but virginal integrity, and freedom from all intercourse through devout continence, is the portion of angels and, in corruptible flesh, a meditation of perpetual incorruption. Let all fruitfulness of the flesh, all conjugal chastity, yield to this: the former is not in our power; the latter is not in eternity. Free choice does not have carnal fruitfulness; heaven does not have conjugal chastity. Surely those will have something great beyond the rest in that common immortality who already have something not of the flesh in the flesh. ### Scripture references - Matt 22:30: allusion, medium confidence ### Citation (SBL) Augustine, Virginit. 12 (CSEL 41:244–245; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/augustine-sancta-virginitate/1/#p-12). ## On Holy Virginity 13 - URL: https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/augustine-sancta-virginitate/1/#p-13 - Source: CSEL 41:245–246 - Translation: Claude (claude-opus-5-5), 2026-09-27 Summary: Augustine rejects the view that virginity is valuable only for avoiding present troubles, not for the kingdom of heaven. ### Latin text Vnde mirabiliter desipiunt, qui putant huius continentiae bonum non esse necessarium propter regnum caelorum, sed propter praesens saeculum, quod scilicet coniugia terrenis curis pluribus atque artioribus distenduntur, qua molestia uirgines et continentes carent: quasi ob hoc tantum melius sit non coniugari, ut huius temporis relaxentur angustiae, non quod in futurum saeculum aliquid prosit. hanc uanam sententiam ne cordis propria uanitate protulisse uideantur, adhibent ex apostolo testimonium, ubi ait: de uirginibus autem praeceptum domini non habeo, consilium autem do tamquam misericordiam consecutus a deo, ut fidelis essem. existimo itaque hoc bonum esse propter praesentem necessitatem, quia bonum est homini sic esse. ecce, inquiunt, ubi manifestat apostolus hoc propter praesentem necessitatem bonum esse, non propter futuram aeternitatem. quasi praesentis necessitatis rationem haberet apostolus, nisi prouidens et consulens in futurum, cum omnis eius dispensatio nonnisi ad uitam aeternam uocet. ### English translation (Claude) Hence those are wonderfully foolish who think that the good of this continence is necessary not for the sake of the kingdom of heaven but for the sake of the present world—namely because married people are distracted by more and tighter earthly cares, a trouble which virgins and the continent do not have—as though it were better not to marry only so that the straits of this time might be relaxed, not because it is of any profit for the world to come. So that they may not seem to have put forward this empty opinion from the vanity of their own heart, they bring in a testimony from the apostle, where he says: “Concerning virgins I have no command of the Lord, but I give counsel as one who has obtained mercy from God to be faithful. I think, therefore, that this is good because of the present necessity, since it is good for a man to be so.” See, they say, the apostle shows here that this is good because of the present necessity, not because of future eternity. As though the apostle took account of the present necessity except in providing and counseling for the future, since all his stewardship calls only to eternal life. ### Scripture references - 1 Cor 7:25: quotation, high confidence - 1 Cor 7:26: quotation, high confidence ### Citation (SBL) Augustine, Virginit. 13 (CSEL 41:245–246; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/augustine-sancta-virginitate/1/#p-13). ## On Holy Virginity 14 - URL: https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/augustine-sancta-virginitate/1/#p-14 - Source: CSEL 41:246–247 - Translation: Claude (claude-opus-5-5), 2026-09-27 Summary: Paul gives counsel, not command, about virginity because marriage is no sin, but virginity vowed to God wins a special glory in eternal life. ### Latin text Praesens ergo est uitanda necessitas, sed tamen quae aliquid bonorum inpedit futurorum: qua necessitate uita cogitur coniugalis cogitare quae mundi sunt, quomodo placeat uir uxori uel uxor uiro, non quod ea separent a regno dei, sicut sunt peccata, quae ideo praecepto, non consilio cohibentur, quia domino praecipienti non oboedire damnabile est; sed illud, quod in ipso dei regno amplius haberi posset, si amplius cogitaretur quomodo placendum esset deo, minus erit utique, cum hoc ipsum minus coniugii necessitate cogitatur. ideo, de uirginibus, inquit, praeceptum domini non habeo; praecepto enim quisquis non obtemperat, reus est et debitor poenae. proinde quia uxorem ducere uel nubere peccatum non est, si autem peccatum esset, praecepto uetaretur, propterea praeceptum domini de uirginibus nullum est. sed quoniam deuitatis remissisue peccatis adeunda est uita aeterna, in qua est quaedam egregia gloria non omnibus in aeternum uicturis, sed quibusdam ibi tribuenda, cui consequendae parum est liberatum esse a peccatis, nisi aliquid ipsi liberatori uoueatur, quod non sit criminis non uouisse, sed uouisse ac reddidisse sit laudis, consilium, inquit, do, tamquam misericordiam consecutus a deo, ut fidelis essem; neque enim inuidere debeo fidele consilium, qui non meis meritis, sed dei misericordia sum fidelis; existimo itaque hoc bonum esse propter praesentem necessitatem. hoc, inquit, unde praeceptum domini non habeo, sed consilium do, hoc est de uirginibus existimo bonum esse propter praesentem necessitatem. noui enim quid praesentis temporis, cui coniugia seruiunt, necessitas cogat, ut ea quae dei sunt minus cogitentur, quam sufficit adipiscendae illi gloriae, quae non erit omnium quamuis in aeterna uita ac salute manentium; stella enim ab stella differt in gloria. sic et resurrectio mortuorum. bonum est ergo homini sic esse. ### English translation (Claude) The present necessity, then, is to be avoided, but only as something that hinders some of the goods to come: the necessity by which married life is compelled to think of the things of the world, how the husband may please the wife or the wife the husband. Not that these things separate from the kingdom of God, as sins do, which are restrained by precept, not by counsel, because not to obey the Lord's command is damnable; but what could be had more fully in the kingdom of God itself, if more thought were given to how God is to be pleased, will certainly be less when, by the very necessity of marriage, less thought is given to it. That is why he says, “Concerning virgins I have no command of the Lord”; for whoever does not obey a command is guilty and liable to punishment. Therefore, since to take a wife or to marry is not a sin—and if it were a sin, it would be forbidden by command—there is no command of the Lord concerning virgins. But eternal life must be entered with sins avoided or forgiven, and in it there is a certain special glory, to be given there not to all who will live for ever but to some; and to attain it it is not enough to have been set free from sins unless something is vowed to the Liberator himself which it would be no crime not to have vowed, but which it is praiseworthy to have vowed and paid. So he says, “I give counsel as one who has obtained mercy from God to be faithful”; for I ought not to begrudge faithful counsel, I who am faithful not by my merits but by God's mercy. “I think, therefore, that this is good because of the present necessity.” This, he says, about which I have no command of the Lord but give counsel—that is, concerning virgins—I think good because of the present necessity. For I know what the necessity of the present time, which marriages serve, compels: that the things of God are thought of less than is sufficient for attaining that glory which will not belong to all, though they abide in eternal life and salvation; “for star differs from star in glory. So also is the resurrection of the dead.” It is good, then, for a man to be so. ### Scripture references - 1 Cor 7:33: allusion, high confidence - 1 Cor 7:34: allusion, high confidence - 1 Cor 7:25: quotation, high confidence - 1 Cor 7:28: allusion, high confidence - 1 Cor 7:26: quotation, high confidence - 1 Cor 15:41: quotation, high confidence - 1 Cor 15:42: quotation, high confidence ### Translation notes - Augustine's distinction between command (praeceptum) and counsel (consilium) is translated as written. ### Citation (SBL) Augustine, Virginit. 14 (CSEL 41:246–247; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/augustine-sancta-virginitate/1/#p-14). ## On Holy Virginity 15 - URL: https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/augustine-sancta-virginitate/1/#p-15 - Source: CSEL 41:247–248 - Translation: Claude (claude-opus-5-5), 2026-09-27 Summary: Not divorcing is a precept, since a wife may be put away only for sexual immorality; not marrying is a counsel, so marrying is no sin. ### Latin text Deinde adiungit idem apostolus et dicit: adligatus es uxori? ne quaesieris solutionem; solutus es ab uxore? ne quaesieris uxorem. horum duorum quod prius posuit ad praeceptum pertinet, contra quod non licet facere. non enim licet dimittere uxorem nisi ex causa fornicationis, sicut in euangelio ipse dominus dicit. illud autem, quod addidit: solutus es ab uxore? ne quaesieris uxorem, consilii sententia est, non praecepti; licet itaque facere, sed melius est non facere. denique continuo subiecit: et si acceperis uxorem, non peccasti; et si nupserit uirgo, non peccat. illud autem prius cum dixisset: adligatus es uxori? ne quaesieris solutionem, numquid addidit: et si solueris, non peccasti? iam enim supra dixerat: his autem qui sunt in coniugio praecipio non ego sed dominus, uxorem a uiro non discedere: quodsi discesserit, manere innuptam aut uiro suo reconciliari; fieri enim potest, ut non sua culpa, sed mariti discedat. deinde ait: et uir uxorem ne dimittat, quod nihilominus ex praecepto domini posuit, nec ibi addidit: et si dimiserit, non peccat. praeceptum est enim hoc, cui non oboedire peccatum est, non consilium, quo si uti nolueris, minus boni adipisceris, non mali aliquid perpetrabis. propterea cum dixisset: solutus es ab uxore? ne quaesieris uxorem, quia non praecipiebat, ne malum fieret, sed consulebat, ut melius fieret, continuo subiunxit: et si acceperis uxorem, non peccasti; et si nupserit uirgo, non peccat. ### English translation (Claude) Then the same apostle adds and says: “Are you bound to a wife? Do not seek release. Are you released from a wife? Do not seek a wife.” Of these two, the first belongs to precept, against which it is not lawful to act. For it is not lawful to put away a wife except for the cause of sexual immorality, as the Lord himself says in the gospel. But what he added, “Are you released from a wife? Do not seek a wife,” is a statement of counsel, not of precept; so it is lawful to do it, but better not to. Indeed, he at once went on: “And if you take a wife, you have not sinned; and if a virgin marries, she does not sin.” But when he had said the first, “Are you bound to a wife? Do not seek release,” did he add, “And if you are released, you have not sinned”? For he had already said above: “But to those who are in marriage I command, not I but the Lord, that the wife not depart from her husband; but if she departs, that she remain unmarried or be reconciled to her husband”—for it can happen that she departs through her husband's fault, not her own. Then he says: “And let the husband not put away his wife,” which he likewise set down from the Lord's command; nor did he add there, “And if he puts her away, he does not sin.” For this is a precept, not to obey which is sin; not a counsel, which, if you are unwilling to follow it, means you will gain less good, not that you will commit any evil. That is why, when he had said, “Are you released from a wife? Do not seek a wife,” since he was not commanding so that evil should not be done but counseling so that something better should be done, he at once added: “And if you take a wife, you have not sinned; and if a virgin marries, she does not sin.” ### Scripture references - 1 Cor 7:27: quotation, high confidence - Matt 5:32: allusion, high confidence - Matt 19:9: allusion, high confidence - 1 Cor 7:28: quotation, high confidence - 1 Cor 7:10: quotation, high confidence - 1 Cor 7:11: quotation, high confidence ### Translation notes - Augustine treats the ban on putting away a wife except for sexual immorality (Matt 5:32; 19:9) and the instruction that a wife who departs remain unmarried or be reconciled (1 Cor 7:10–11) as precepts; translated as written. ### Citation (SBL) Augustine, Virginit. 15 (CSEL 41:247–248; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/augustine-sancta-virginitate/1/#p-15). ## On Holy Virginity 16 - URL: https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/augustine-sancta-virginitate/1/#p-16 - Source: CSEL 41:248–250 - Translation: Claude (claude-opus-5-5), 2026-09-27 Summary: Paul's 'tribulation of the flesh' refers to the burdens of married life, which he spared his readers from describing. ### Latin text Addidit tamen: tribulationem autem carnis habebunt huius modi, ego autem uobis parco, hoc modo exhortans ad uirginitatem continentiamque perpetuam, ut aliquantulum a nuptiis etiam deterreret, modeste sane, non tamquam a re mala et inlicita, sed tamquam ab onerosa ac molesta. aliud est enim admittere carnis turpitudinem, aliud habere carnis tribulationem: illud est criminis facere, hoc laboris est pati, quem plerumque homines etiam pro officiis honestissimis non recusant. sed pro habendo coniugio iam hoc tempore, quo non per carnis propaginem uenturo Christo ipsius prolis propagatione seruitur, istam tribulationem carnis, quam nupturis praedicit apostolus, suscipere tolerandam perstultum esset, nisi metueretur incontinentibus, ne temptante satana in peccata damnabilia laberentur. quod autem se dicit eis parcere, quos ait tribulationem carnis habituros, nihil mihi interim sanius occurrit, quam eum noluisse aperire et explicare uerbis eandem ipsam carnis tribulationem, quam praenuntiauit eis qui eligunt nuptias in suspicionibus zeli coniugalis, in procreandis filiis atque nutriendis, in timoribus et maeroribus orbitatis. quotus enim quisque, cum se conubii uinculis adligauerit, non istis trahatur atque agitetur affectibus? quos neque nos exaggerare debemus, ne ipsis non parcamus, quibus parcendum extimauit apostolus. ### English translation (Claude) Yet he added: “But such people will have tribulation of the flesh, and I spare you,” exhorting in this way to virginity and perpetual continence so as to deter somewhat even from marriage—modestly indeed, not as from something evil and unlawful, but as from something burdensome and troublesome. For it is one thing to commit the foulness of the flesh, another to have the tribulation of the flesh: the one is committing a crime, the other suffering a labor, which people often do not refuse even for the most honorable duties. But to take on the burden of this tribulation of the flesh, which the apostle foretells to those who will marry, for the sake of having a marriage at this time, when Christ, who is to come, is no longer served by the propagation of offspring through carnal descent, would be very foolish, were it not feared that the incontinent, when Satan tempts them, might fall into damnable sins. As for his saying that he spares those whom he says will have tribulation of the flesh, nothing sounder occurs to me for the present than that he did not wish to disclose and explain in words that very tribulation of the flesh which he foretold to those who choose marriage: in the suspicions of conjugal jealousy, in procreating and nourishing children, in the fears and griefs of bereavement. For how few, once they have bound themselves by the chains of marriage, are not drawn and driven by these feelings? Nor ought we to exaggerate them, lest we fail to spare those whom the apostle thought should be spared. ### Scripture references - 1 Cor 7:28: quotation, high confidence - 1 Cor 7:5: allusion, medium confidence ### Citation (SBL) Augustine, Virginit. 16 (CSEL 41:248–250; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/augustine-sancta-virginitate/1/#p-16). ## On Holy Virginity 17 - URL: https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/augustine-sancta-virginitate/1/#p-17 - Source: CSEL 41:250 - Translation: Claude (claude-opus-5-5), 2026-09-27 Summary: Those who read 'I spare you' as a hidden condemnation of marriage make Paul a liar and undermine the authority of Scripture. ### Latin text Tantum per hoc, quod breuiter posui, cautum fieri lectorem oportuit aduersus eos, qui in hoc, quod scriptum est: tribulationem autem carnis habebunt huius modi, ego autem uobis parco, nuptiis calumniantur, quod eas ex obliquo sententia ista damnauerit; uelut ipsam damnationem noluerit dicere, cum ait: ego autem uobis parco, ut uidelicet, cum istis parcit, animae suae non pepercerit, si mentiendo dixit: et si acceperis uxorem, non peccasti; et si nupserit uirgo, non peccat. quod qui de sancta scriptura credunt uel credi uolunt, tamquam uiam sibi muniunt ad mentiendi licentiam uel ad defensionem suae peruersae opinionis, ubicumque aliud sentiunt quam sana doctrina postulat. si quid enim manifestum de diuinis libris prolatum fuerit, quo eorum confutentur errores, hoc ad manum habent uelut scutum, quo se aduersus ueritatem quasi tuentes nudent a diabolo uulnerandos, ut dicant hoc auctorem libri non uerum dixisse, alias ut infirmis parceret, alias ut contemptores terreret, sicut occurrerit causa, qua eorum peruersa sententia defendatur. atque ita dum ea, quae opinantur, defendere quam corrigere malunt, scripturarum sanctarum auctoritatem frangere conantur, qua una omnes ceruices superbae duraeque franguntur. ### English translation (Claude) By this, which I have set down briefly, the reader needed only to be put on guard against those who slander marriage on the strength of the words, “But such people will have tribulation of the flesh, and I spare you,” claiming that this statement condemned it indirectly—as though he were unwilling to state the condemnation itself when he says, “and I spare you”; so that, in sparing them, he did not spare his own soul, if he lied in saying, “And if you take a wife, you have not sinned; and if a virgin marries, she does not sin.” Those who believe this, or want it believed, about holy Scripture are building themselves, as it were, a road to license for lying, or to the defense of their own perverse opinion wherever they think otherwise than sound doctrine requires. For if anything clear is brought forward from the divine books by which their errors are refuted, they have this at hand like a shield, with which, while protecting themselves against the truth, as it were, they lay themselves bare to be wounded by the devil: they say that the author of the book did not say what was true here, sometimes in order to spare the weak, sometimes to frighten the contemptuous, as occasion arises for defending their perverse opinion. And so, while they prefer to defend rather than correct what they think, they try to break the authority of the holy Scriptures, by which alone all proud and hard necks are broken. ### Scripture references - 1 Cor 7:28: quotation, high confidence - 1 Tim 1:10: echo, medium confidence ### Citation (SBL) Augustine, Virginit. 17 (CSEL 41:250; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/augustine-sancta-virginitate/1/#p-17). ## On Holy Virginity 18 - URL: https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/augustine-sancta-virginitate/1/#p-18 - Source: CSEL 41:250–252 - Translation: Claude (claude-opus-5-5), 2026-09-27 Summary: Virgins must not judge marriage evil; it is a lesser good, a hill to pass over on the way to the mountain of continence. ### Latin text Vnde sectatores et sectatrices perpetuae continentiae et sacrae uirginitatis admoneo, ut bonum suum ita praeferant nuptiis, ne malum iudicent nuptias, neque fallaciter, sed plane ueraciter ab apostolo dictum nouerint: qui dat nuptum, bene facit; et qui non dat nuptum, melius facit. et si acceperis uxorem, non peccasti; et si nupserit uirgo non peccat. et paulo post: beatior autem erit, si sic permanserit, secundum meam sententiam. et ne humana sententia putaretur, adiungit: puto autem, et ego spiritum dei habeo. haec dominica, haec apostolica, haec uera, haec sana doctrina est, sic eligere dona maiora, ne minora damnentur. melior est in scriptura dei ueritas dei quam in cuiusquam mente aut carne uirginitas hominis. quod castum est sic ametur, ut quod uerum est non negetur. nam quid mali non possunt etiam de sua carne cogitare, qui credunt apostolicam linguam eo ipso loco, ubi uirginitatem corporis commendabat, a corruptione mendacii uirginem non fuisse? primitus ergo ac maxime qui bonum uirginitatis eligunt, scripturas sanctas firmissime teneant nihil esse mentitas ac per hoc etiam illud uerum esse, quod dictum est: et si acceperis uxorem, non peccasti; et si nupserit uirgo, non peccat. nec putent minui tam magnum integritatis bonum, si nuptiae non erunt malum. immo uero hinc sibi potius maioris gloriae palmam praeparatam esse confidat, quae non damnari, si nuberet, timuit, sed honoratius coronari, quia non nuberet, concupiuit. qui ergo sine coniugio permanere uoluerint, non tamquam foueam peccati nuptias fugiant, sed tamquam collem minoris boni transcendant, ut in maioris continentiae monte requiescant. ea quippe lege collis iste inhabitatur, ut non cum uoluerit quis emigret; mulier enim adligata est, quamdiu uir eius uiuit. uerumtamen ad continentiam uidualem ab ipso tamquam gradu conscenditur; propter uirginalem uero uel declinandus est non consentiendo petitoribus uel transiliendus praeueniendo petitores. ### English translation (Claude) I therefore admonish the men and women who follow perpetual continence and holy virginity to prefer their own good to marriage in such a way that they do not judge marriage to be evil, and to recognize that it was said by the apostle not deceitfully but quite truly: “He who gives in marriage does well, and he who does not give in marriage does better. And if you take a wife, you have not sinned; and if a virgin marries, she does not sin.” And a little later: “But she will be happier if she remains so, in my judgment.” And lest it be thought a human judgment, he adds: “And I think that I too have the Spirit of God.” This is the Lord's teaching, this the apostle's, this the true and sound teaching: so to choose the greater gifts that the lesser are not condemned. The truth of God in the Scripture of God is better than the virginity of man in anyone's mind or flesh. Let what is chaste be loved in such a way that what is true is not denied. For what evil might they not think even about their own flesh, who believe that the apostle's tongue, in the very place where it was commending the virginity of the body, was not virgin from the corruption of a lie? First, then, and above all, let those who choose the good of virginity hold most firmly that the holy Scriptures have lied in nothing, and therefore that this too is true which was said: “And if you take a wife, you have not sinned; and if a virgin marries, she does not sin.” And let them not think that so great a good of integrity is diminished if marriage is not an evil. On the contrary, let her rather be confident that the palm of greater glory is prepared for her because she did not fear to be condemned if she married, but desired to be crowned with greater honor because she did not marry. Let those, then, who wish to remain without marriage not flee marriage as a pit of sin, but pass over it as a hill of lesser good, so that they may rest on the mountain of greater continence. For this hill is inhabited under the law that one may not leave it when one wishes; for a woman is bound as long as her husband lives. Yet one climbs from it, as from a step, to widowed continence; but for the sake of virginal continence it is either to be turned aside from, by not consenting to suitors, or leapt over, by forestalling suitors. ### Scripture references - 1 Cor 7:38: quotation, high confidence - 1 Cor 7:28: quotation, high confidence - 1 Cor 7:40: quotation, high confidence - 1 Cor 7:39: quotation, high confidence ### Citation (SBL) Augustine, Virginit. 18 (CSEL 41:250–252; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/augustine-sancta-virginitate/1/#p-18). ## On Holy Virginity 19 - URL: https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/augustine-sancta-virginitate/1/#p-19 - Source: CSEL 41:252–253 - Translation: Claude (claude-opus-5-5), 2026-09-27 Summary: Augustine rejects both the view that marriage equals virginity and the view that marriage is sinful. ### Latin text Ne quis autem putaret duorum operum, boni atque melioris, aequalia fore praemia, propterea contra eos disserendum fuit, qui quod ait apostolus: existimo autem hoc bonum esse propter praesentem necessitatem, ita interpretati sunt, ut non propter regnum caelorum, sed propter saeculum praesens uirginitatem utilem dicerent; tamquam in illa uita aeterna nihil ceteris amplius habituri essent, qui hoc melius elegissent. in qua disputatione cum ad illud ueniremus, quod idem apostolus ait: tribulationem autem carnis habebunt huius modi, ego autem uobis parco, in alios litigatores incurrimus, qui non aequales perpetuae continentiae nuptias facerent, sed eas omnino damnarent. nam cum error uterque sit, uel aequare sanctae uirginitati nuptias uel damnare, nimis inuicem fugiendo duo isti errores aduersa fronte confligunt, quia ueritatis medium tenere noluerunt: quo et certa ratione et sanctarum scripturarum auctoritate nec peccatum esse nuptias inuenimus nec eas bono uel uirginalis continentiae uel etiam uidualis aequamus. Alii quippe adpetendo uirginitatem nuptias tamquam adulterium detestandum esse putauerunt; alii uero defendendo conubium excellentiam perpetuae continentiae nihil mereri amplius quam coniugalem pudicitiam uoluerunt. quasi uel Susannae bonum Mariae sit humiliatio uel Mariae maius bonum Susannae debeat esse damnatio. ### English translation (Claude) But lest anyone think that the rewards of two works, the good and the better, would be equal, it was necessary to argue against those who have interpreted the apostle's saying, “I think that this is good because of the present necessity,” in such a way as to say that virginity is useful not for the kingdom of heaven but for the present world—as though in that eternal life those who had chosen this better thing would have nothing beyond the rest. In this argument, when we came to what the same apostle says, “But such people will have tribulation of the flesh, and I spare you,” we ran into other disputants, who did not make marriage equal to perpetual continence but condemned it altogether. For since each is an error—either to make marriage equal to holy virginity or to condemn it—these two errors, fleeing each other too far, clash head-on, because they would not hold the middle ground of truth; by which, through sure reason and the authority of the holy Scriptures, we find that marriage is not a sin, and yet we do not make it equal to the good either of virginal or even of widowed continence. For some, in striving after virginity, have thought that marriage must be detested like adultery; others, in defending marriage, have wanted the excellence of perpetual continence to deserve nothing more than conjugal chastity—as though either the good of Susanna were a humiliation of Mary, or the greater good of Mary ought to be a condemnation of Susanna. ### Scripture references - 1 Cor 7:26: quotation, high confidence - 1 Cor 7:28: quotation, high confidence ### Extrabiblical texts - Sus (Susanna): allusion, high confidence ### Translation notes - Susanna (Daniel 13 in the Greek and Latin Bibles) stands for faithful married chastity, Mary for virginity. ### Citation (SBL) Augustine, Virginit. 19 (CSEL 41:252–253; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/augustine-sancta-virginitate/1/#p-19). ## On Holy Virginity 20 - URL: https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/augustine-sancta-virginitate/1/#p-20 - Source: CSEL 41:253–254 - Translation: Claude (claude-opus-5-5), 2026-09-27 Summary: Those who condemn marriage accuse all married people, as the elders falsely accused Susanna, and make Scripture a liar. ### Latin text Absit ergo, ut ita dixerit apostolus nuptis siue nupturis: ego autem uobis parco, tamquam noluerit dicere, quae poena coniugatis in futuro saeculo debeatur; absit, ut a Danihele de temporali iudicio liberatam Paulus mittat in gehennam; absit, ut maritalis torus ei poena sit ante tribunal Christi, cui fidem seruando elegit sub falsa accusatione adulterii uel periclitari uel mori. quid egit uox illa: melius est mihi incidere in manus uestras quam peccare in conspectu dei, si deus eam fuerat, non quia pudicitiam nuptialem seruabat, liberaturus, sed quia nupserat damnaturus? et nunc quotiens castitas coniugalis aduersus calumniatores criminatoresque nuptiarum scripturae sanctae ueritate munitur, totiens cum sancto spiritu contra falsos testes Susanna defenditur, totiens a falso crimine liberatur et multo maiore negotio. tunc enim uni coniugatae, nunc omnibus; tunc de occulto et falso adulterio, nunc de uero et manifesto conubio crimen intenditur; tunc una mulier ex eo quod iniqui seniores dicebant, nunc omnes mariti et uxores ex eo, quod apostolus dicere noluit, accusantur. damnationem quippe uestram, inquiunt, tacuit, cum ait: ego autem uobis parco. quis hoc? nempe ille, qui superius dixerat: et si acceperis uxorem, non peccasti; et si nupserit uirgo, non peccat. cur igitur in eo, quod modeste tacuit, coniugiorum suspicamini crimen et in eo, quod aperte dixit, coniugiorum non agnoscitis defensionem? an eos damnat tacitus, quos locutus absoluit? nonne iam mitius accusatur Susanna non de coniugio, sed de ipso adulterio quam doctrina apostolica de mendacio? quid in tanto periculo faceremus, nisi tam certum apertumque esset pudicas nuptias non debere damnari, quam certum apertumque est sanctam scripturam non posse mentiri? ### English translation (Claude) Far be it, then, that the apostle said to the married or those about to marry, “and I spare you,” as if he were unwilling to say what punishment is due to the married in the world to come. Far be it that Paul should send to Gehenna her whom Daniel freed from temporal judgment; far be it that the marriage bed should be her punishment before the judgment seat of Christ, she who, to keep faith with it, chose to be endangered or to die under a false accusation of adultery. What was the point of that cry of hers, “It is better for me to fall into your hands than to sin in the sight of God,” if God was going to condemn her because she had married, not free her because she kept marital chastity? And now, as often as conjugal chastity is fortified by the truth of holy Scripture against the slanderers and accusers of marriage, so often is Susanna defended with the Holy Spirit against false witnesses, so often is she freed from a false charge—and in a much greater case. For then the charge was brought against one married woman, now against all; then about a hidden and false adultery, now about a true and open marriage; then one woman was accused on the basis of what the wicked elders said, now all husbands and wives are accused on the basis of what the apostle was unwilling to say. “For he kept silent about your condemnation,” they say, “when he said, ‘and I spare you.’” Who said this? Surely he who had said above, “And if you take a wife, you have not sinned; and if a virgin marries, she does not sin.” Why, then, do you suspect a charge against marriage in what he modestly left unsaid, and not recognize the defense of marriage in what he said openly? Or does he condemn by silence those whom he acquitted by speaking? Is not Susanna now accused more mildly—not of marriage, but of adultery itself—than the apostolic teaching is accused of lying? What would we do in so great a danger, were it not as certain and open that chaste marriage ought not to be condemned as it is certain and open that holy Scripture cannot lie? ### Scripture references - 2 Cor 5:10: allusion, high confidence - 1 Cor 7:28: quotation, high confidence ### Extrabiblical texts - Sus 23 (Susanna): quotation, high confidence ### Translation notes - Susanna's words are from Sus 23 (Dan 13:23 in the Greek and Latin Bibles). ### Citation (SBL) Augustine, Virginit. 20 (CSEL 41:253–254; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/augustine-sancta-virginitate/1/#p-20). ## On Holy Virginity 21 - URL: https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/augustine-sancta-virginitate/1/#p-21 - Source: CSEL 41:254–256 - Translation: Claude (claude-opus-5-5), 2026-09-27 Summary: Augustine sums up: marriage is no sin, but it ranks below virginity and widowhood, and hinders not salvation but the special glory of continence. ### Latin text Hic dicet aliquis: quid hoc pertinet ad sacram uirginitatem uel perpetuam continentiam, cuius praedicatio isto sermone suscepta est? cui respondeo primo, quod superius commemoraui, ex hoc gloriam maioris illius boni esse maiorem, quod eius adipiscendae causa bonum coniugale transcenditur, non peccatum coniugii deuitatur. alioquin perpetuae continentiae non praecipue laudari, sed tantum non uituperari sufficeret, si propterea teneretur, quoniam nubere crimen esset. deinde quia non humana sententia, sed diuina scripturae auctoritate ad tam excellens donum homines exhortandi sunt, non mediocriter neque praetereunter agendum est, ne cuiquam ipsa diuina scriptura in aliquo mentita uideatur. dehortantur enim potius quam exhortantur uirgines sacras, qui eas sic permanere nuptiarum damnatione conpellunt. unde enim confidant uerum esse, quod scriptum est: et qui non dat nuptum melius facit, si falsum putant esse, quod iuxta superius nihilominus scriptum est: et qui dat uirginem suam, bene facit? si autem loquenti scripturae de nuptiarum bono indubitanter crediderint, eadem caelestis eloquii ueracissima auctoritate firmatae ad melius suum feruenti ac fidenti alacritate transcurrent. unde iam satis pro suscepto negotio diximus et, quantum potuimus, demonstrauimus nec illud, quod ait apostolus: existimo autem hoc bonum esse propter praesentem necessitatem, sic esse accipiendum, tamquam in hoc saeculo meliores sint sacrae uirgines fidelibus coniugatis, in regno autem caelorum atque in futuro saeculo pares sint, nec illud, ubi ait de nubentibus: tribulationem autem carnis habebunt huius modi, ego autem uobis parco ita intellegendum, tamquam nuptiarum peccatum et damnationem maluerit tacere quam dicere. harum quippe duarum sententiarum singulas duo errores sibimet contrarii non eas intellegendo tenuerunt. illam enim de praesenti necessitate illi pro se interpretantur, qui nubentes non nubentibus aequare contendunt, hanc uero, ubi dictum est: ego autem uobis parco, illi, qui nubentes damnare praesumunt. nos autem secundum scripturarum sanctarum fidem sanamque doctrinam nec peccatum esse dicimus nuptias et earum tamen bonum non solum infra uirginalem, uerum etiam infra uidualem continentiam constituimus praesentemque necessitatem coniugatorum non quidem ad uitam aeternam, uerumtamen ad excellentem gloriam et honorem, qui perpetuae continentiae reseruatur, inpedire eorum meritum dicimus neque hoc tempore nisi eis, qui se non continent, nuptias expedire tribulationemque carnis ex affectu carnali uenientem, sine quo nuptiae incontinentium esse non possunt, nec tacere uoluisse apostolum uera praemonentem nec plenius explicare hominum infirmitati parcentem. ### English translation (Claude) Here someone will say: What has this to do with holy virginity or perpetual continence, the praise of which was undertaken in this discourse? To him I answer first what I mentioned above, that the glory of that greater good is greater because, to attain it, the good of marriage is passed over, not the sin of marriage avoided. Otherwise it would be enough for perpetual continence not to be blamed, rather than to be especially praised, if it were kept because marrying was a crime. Second, because people are to be exhorted to so excellent a gift not by human opinion but by the authority of divine Scripture, the matter must be treated neither lightly nor in passing, lest the divine Scripture itself seem to anyone to have lied in anything. For those who drive holy virgins to remain so by condemning marriage are dissuading rather than persuading them. For how can they be confident that what is written is true, “And he who does not give in marriage does better,” if they think false what is written just before it, “And he who gives his virgin in marriage does well”? But if they believe without doubt the Scripture speaking of the good of marriage, then, strengthened by the same most truthful authority of the heavenly word, they will run on to their own better good with fervent and confident eagerness. We have therefore now said enough for the task undertaken and have shown, as far as we could, both that the apostle's saying, “I think that this is good because of the present necessity,” is not to be taken as though holy virgins were better than married believers in this world but equal to them in the kingdom of heaven and the world to come; and that his saying about those who marry, “But such people will have tribulation of the flesh, and I spare you,” is not to be understood as though he preferred to keep silent about the sin and condemnation of marriage rather than state it. For two mutually contrary errors, not understanding these two statements, have each seized on one of them. The one about the present necessity is interpreted in their own favor by those who contend that those who marry are equal to those who do not; the one where it is said, “and I spare you,” by those who presume to condemn those who marry. We, however, according to the faith of the holy Scriptures and sound doctrine, say that marriage is not a sin, and yet we place its good not only below virginal but also below widowed continence. We say that the present necessity of the married hinders their merit—not indeed for eternal life, but for the excellent glory and honor that is reserved for perpetual continence—and that at this time marriage is expedient only for those who do not contain themselves; and that as for the tribulation of the flesh that comes from carnal affection, without which the marriages of the incontinent cannot exist, the apostle neither wished to keep silent about it, since he was forewarning of true things, nor to explain it more fully, since he was sparing human weakness. ### Scripture references - 1 Cor 7:38: quotation, high confidence - 1 Cor 7:26: quotation, high confidence - 1 Cor 7:28: quotation, high confidence - 1 Cor 7:9: allusion, high confidence ### Citation (SBL) Augustine, Virginit. 21 (CSEL 41:254–256; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/augustine-sancta-virginitate/1/#p-21). ## On Holy Virginity 22 - URL: https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/augustine-sancta-virginitate/22/#p-22 - Source: CSEL 41:256–258 - Translation: Claude (claude-opus-5-5), 2026-09-27 Summary: Paul's words about pleasing the Lord and being holy in body and spirit show that continence aims at the kingdom of heaven, not present ease. ### Latin text Nunc iam scripturarum diuinarum euidentissimis testimoniis, quae pro nostrae memoriae modulo recordari ualuerimus, clarius adpareat non propter praesentem huius saeculi uitam, sed propter futuram, quae in regno caelorum promittitur, perpetuam continentiam deligendam. quis autem hoc non aduertat in eo, quod paulo post idem apostolus ait: qui sine uxore est, cogitat ea quae sunt domini, quomodo placeat domino; qui autem matrimonio iunctus est, cogitat ea quae sunt mundi, quomodo placeat uxori. et diuisa est mulier innupta et uirgo: quae innupta est, sollicita est quae sunt domini, ut sit sancta et corpore et spiritu; quae autem nupta est, sollicita est quae sunt mundi, quomodo placeat uiro? non utique ait: cogitat ea, quae securitatis sunt in hoc saeculo, ut sine grauioribus molestiis tempus transigat; neque ad hoc diuisam dicit innuptam et uirginem ab ea, quae nupta est, id est distinctam atque discretam, ut innupta in hac uita secura sit propter temporales molestias euitandas, quibus nupta non caret, sed, cogitat, inquit, quae sunt domini, quomodo placeat domino, et: sollicita est quae sunt domini, ut sit sancta et corpore et spiritu. nisi forte usque adeo quisque insipienter contentiosus est, ut conetur adserere non propter regnum caelorum, sed propter praesens saeculum domino placere nos uelle aut propter uitam istam, non propter aeternam esse sanctas et corpore et spiritu. hoc credere quid est aliud nisi miserabiliorem esse omnibus hominibus? sic enim apostolus ait: si in hac uita tantum in sperantes sumus miserabiliores sumus omnibus hominibus. uero qui frangit panem suum esurienti, si tantum propter hanc uitam facit, stultus est, et ille erit prudens, qui castigat corpus suum usque ad continentiam, qua nec coniugio misceatur, si ei nihil proderit in regno caelorum? ### English translation (Claude) Now let it appear more clearly, from the most evident testimonies of the divine Scriptures that we have been able to recall within the small measure of our memory, that perpetual continence is to be chosen not for the sake of the present life of this world but for the sake of the future life that is promised in the kingdom of heaven. Who does not notice this in what the same apostle says a little later: “He who is without a wife thinks about the things of the Lord, how he may please the Lord; but he who is joined in marriage thinks about the things of the world, how he may please his wife. And the unmarried woman and the virgin are divided: she who is unmarried is anxious about the things of the Lord, that she may be holy both in body and in spirit; but she who is married is anxious about the things of the world, how she may please her husband”? He certainly does not say, “thinks about the things that make for security in this world, so as to pass the time without heavier troubles”; nor does he say that the unmarried woman and the virgin are divided—that is, distinguished and separated—from the married woman so that the unmarried woman may be secure in this life by avoiding temporal troubles, which the married woman does not escape; but he says, “thinks about the things of the Lord, how he may please the Lord,” and, “is anxious about the things of the Lord, that she may be holy both in body and in spirit.” Unless perhaps someone is so foolishly contentious as to try to assert that we wish to please the Lord not for the sake of the kingdom of heaven but for the sake of the present world, or that they are holy both in body and in spirit for the sake of this life, not the eternal one. What is believing this but being more miserable than all men? For so the apostle says: “If in this life only we have hoped in Christ, we are more miserable than all men.” Or is he who breaks his bread for the hungry a fool if he does it only for this life, and will he be prudent who chastises his body to the point of a continence by which he is not united even in marriage, if it will profit him nothing in the kingdom of heaven? ### Scripture references - 1 Cor 7:32: quotation, high confidence - 1 Cor 7:33: quotation, high confidence - 1 Cor 7:34: quotation, high confidence - 1 Cor 15:19: quotation, high confidence - Isa 58:7: allusion, high confidence - 1 Cor 9:27: allusion, medium confidence ### Translation notes - In the quotation of 1 Cor 15:19 the word 'Christ' appears to have dropped out of the digital text; it is translated by sense. ### Citation (SBL) Augustine, Virginit. 22 (CSEL 41:256–258; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/augustine-sancta-virginitate/22/#p-22). ## On Holy Virginity 23 - URL: https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/augustine-sancta-virginitate/22/#p-23 - Source: CSEL 41:258 - Translation: Claude (claude-opus-5-5), 2026-09-27 Summary: Christ himself says that those who renounce marriage do so for the kingdom of heaven. ### Latin text Postremo ipsum dominum audiamus euidentissimam hinc sententiam proferentem. nam cum de coniugibus non separandis nisi causa fornicationis diuine ac terribiliter loqueretur, dixerunt ei discipuli: si talis est causa cum uxore, non expedit nubere. quibus ille, non omnes, inquit, capiunt uerbum hoc. sunt enim spadones qui ita nati sunt; sunt autem alii qui ab hominibus facti sunt; et sunt spadones qui se ipsos castrauerunt propter regnum caelorum. qui potest capere, capiat. quid ueracius, quid lucidius dici potuit? Christus dicit, ueritas dicit, uirtus et sapientia dei dicit eos, qui pio proposito ab uxore ducenda se continuerint, castrare se ipsos propter regnum caelorum, et contra humana uanitas inpia temeritate contendit eos, qui hoc faciunt, praesentem tantummodo necessitatem molestiarum coniugalium deuitare, in regno autem caelorum amplius quidquam ceteris non habere! ### English translation (Claude) Finally, let us hear the Lord himself bringing forth a most evident statement on this. For when he had spoken divinely and fearsomely about spouses not being separated except for the cause of sexual immorality, his disciples said to him: “If such is the case with a wife, it is not expedient to marry.” He said to them: “Not all receive this word. For there are eunuchs who were born so; and there are others who were made so by men; and there are eunuchs who have castrated themselves for the kingdom of heaven. He who can receive it, let him receive it.” What could have been said more truly, what more clearly? Christ says it, the Truth says it, the Power and Wisdom of God says it: that those who with devout purpose have refrained from taking a wife castrate themselves for the kingdom of heaven. And against this, human vanity contends with impious rashness that those who do this avoid only the present necessity of marital troubles, but have nothing more than the rest in the kingdom of heaven! ### Scripture references - Matt 19:9: allusion, high confidence - Matt 19:10: quotation, high confidence - Matt 19:11: quotation, high confidence - Matt 19:12: quotation, high confidence - John 14:6: allusion, medium confidence - 1 Cor 1:24: allusion, high confidence ### Translation notes - 'Castrated themselves' renders the Latin of Matt 19:12 (se ipsos castrauerunt), which Augustine, like the church generally, takes figuratively of those who renounce marriage. ### Citation (SBL) Augustine, Virginit. 23 (CSEL 41:258; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/augustine-sancta-virginitate/22/#p-23). ## On Holy Virginity 24 - URL: https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/augustine-sancta-virginitate/22/#p-24 - Source: CSEL 41:258–260 - Translation: Claude (claude-opus-5-5), 2026-09-27 Summary: The eunuchs promised a better place than sons and daughters in Isa 56 are those who renounce marriage for the kingdom, whose reward is eternal. ### Latin text De quibus autem spadonibus loquitur deus per Esaiam prophetam, quibus se dicit daturum in domo sua et in muro suo locum nominatum, meliorem multo quam filiorum atque filiarum, nisi de his, qui se ipsos castrant propter regnum caelorum? nam illis, quibus ipsum uirile membrum debilitatur, ut generare non possint, sicut sunt eunuchi diuitum et regum, sufficit utique, cum christiani fiunt et dei praecepta custodiunt, eo tamen proposito sunt, ut coniuges si potuissent haberent, ceteris in domo dei coniugatis fidelibus adaequari, qui prolem licite pudiceque susceptam in dei timore nutriunt, docentes filios suos, ut ponant in deo spem suam, non autem accipere meliorem locum quam est filiorum atque filiarum. neque enim uxores animi uirtute sed carnis necessitate non ducunt. contendat sane qui uoluerit de his prophetam spadonibus hoc praenuntiasse, qui corpore abscisi sunt, iste quoque error causae quam suscepimus suffragatur. neque enim spadones istos eis qui in domo eius non habent locum praetulit deus, sed eis utique qui in filiis generandis coniugalis uitae meritum seruant. nam cum dicit: dabo eis locum multo meliorem, ostendit et coniugatis dari, sed multo inferiorem. ut ergo concedamus in domo dei praedictos futuros eunuchos secundum carnem, qui in populo Israhel non fuerunt, quia et ipsos uidemus, cum iudaei non fiant, tamen fieri christianos, nec de illis dixisse prophetam, qui proposito continentiae coniugia non quaerentes se ipsos castrant propter regnum caelorum: itane tanta dementia quisquam est contrarius ueritati, ut in carne factos eunuchos meliorem quam coniugati locum in domo dei habere credat et pio proposito continentes, corpus usque ad contemptas nuptias castigantes, se ipsos non in corpore, sed in ipsa concupiscentiae radice castrantes, caelestem et angelicam uitam in terrena mortalitate meditantes, coniugatorum meritis pares esse contendat et Christo laudanti eos, qui se ipsos castrauerunt, non propter hoc saeculum, sed propter regnum caelorum christianus contradicat, adfirmans hoc uitae praesenti esse utile, non futurae? quid aliud istis restat, nisi ut ipsum regnum caelorum ad hanc temporalem uitam, in qua nunc sumus, adserant pertinere? cur enim non et in hanc insaniam progrediatur caeca praesumptio? et quid hac adsertione furiosius? nam etsi regnum caelorum aliquando ecclesia etiam quae hoc tempore est appellatur, ad hoc utique sic appellatur, quia futurae uitae sempiternaeque colligitur. quamuis ergo promissionem habeat uitae praesentis et futurae, in omnibus tamen bonis operibus suis non respicit quae uidentur, sed quae non uidentur. quae enim uidentur, temporalia sunt: quae autem non uidentur, aeterna. ### English translation (Claude) Of what eunuchs, then, does God speak through the prophet Isaiah, to whom he says he will give in his house and within his wall a named place, much better than that of sons and daughters, if not of those who castrate themselves for the kingdom of heaven? For those whose male member itself is disabled, so that they cannot beget—such as the eunuchs of the rich and of kings—it is surely enough, when they become Christians and keep God's commandments, while being of such a mind that they would have had wives if they could, to be made equal in the house of God to the other married believers, who nourish offspring lawfully and chastely received in the fear of God, teaching their children to put their hope in God; but not to receive a better place than that of sons and daughters. For they do not take wives not by virtue of mind but by necessity of flesh. Let anyone who wishes contend that the prophet foretold this of eunuchs cut in body; this error too supports the cause we have undertaken. For God did not prefer those eunuchs to those who have no place in his house, but surely to those who keep the merit of married life in begetting children. For when he says, “I will give them a place much better,” he shows that a place is given to the married too, but a much lower one. Grant, then, that the eunuchs in the flesh mentioned by the prophet were to be in the house of God—eunuchs who were not in the people of Israel, since we see that they too, though they do not become Jews, still become Christians—and that the prophet did not speak of those who, not seeking marriage by a purpose of continence, castrate themselves for the kingdom of heaven. Is anyone so madly opposed to the truth as to believe that eunuchs made in the flesh have a better place in the house of God than the married, and yet to contend that those who are continent with devout purpose—chastising the body to the point of despising marriage, castrating themselves not in the body but in the very root of concupiscence, meditating the heavenly and angelic life in earthly mortality—are equal to the merits of the married? And would a Christian contradict Christ when he praises those who castrated themselves not for this world but for the kingdom of heaven, asserting that this is useful for the present life, not the future? What remains for these people but to assert that the kingdom of heaven itself belongs to this temporal life in which we now are? For why should blind presumption not advance even to this madness? And what is more frenzied than this assertion? For even if the church as it is at this time is sometimes called the kingdom of heaven, it is surely so called because it is being gathered for the future and eternal life. So although it has the promise of the present life and of the future, yet in all its good works it looks not to the things that are seen but to the things that are not seen. For the things that are seen are temporal, but the things that are not seen are eternal. ### Scripture references - Isa 56:4: allusion, high confidence - Isa 56:5: quotation, high confidence - Matt 19:12: allusion, high confidence - Ps 78:7 (77:7 LXX): allusion, medium confidence - 1 Cor 9:27: allusion, medium confidence - 1 Tim 4:8: allusion, high confidence - 2 Cor 4:18: quotation, high confidence ### Citation (SBL) Augustine, Virginit. 24 (CSEL 41:258–260; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/augustine-sancta-virginitate/22/#p-24). ## On Holy Virginity 25 - URL: https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/augustine-sancta-virginitate/22/#p-25 - Source: CSEL 41:260–262 - Translation: Claude (claude-opus-5-5), 2026-09-27 Summary: Isaiah's 'eternal name, which will never fail' shows that the reward of the continent is eternal and distinct from others'. ### Latin text Nec sane spiritus sanctus tacuit, quod contra istos inpudentissime ac dementissime peruicaces apertum atque inconcussum ualeret eorumque beluinum inpetum ab ouili suo inexpugnabili munitione repelleret. cum enim dixisset de spadonibus: dabo eis in domo mea et in muro meo locum nominatum, meliorem multo quam filiorum atque filiarum, ne quis nimium carnalis existimaret aliquid in his uerbis temporale sperandum, continuo subiecit: nomen aeternum dabo eis, nec umquam deerit, tamquam diceret: quid tergiuersaris inpia caecitas? quid tergiuersaris? quid serenitati ueritatis nebulas tuae peruersitatis offundis? quid in tanta scripturarum luce tenebras unde insidieris inquiris? quid temporalem tantummodo utilitatem promittis continentibus sanctis? nomen aeternum dabo eis. quid ab omni concubitu inmunes et eo quoque ipso, quo hinc sese abstinent, ea quae sunt domini cogitantes, quomodo placeant domino, ad terrenam commoditatem referre conaris? nomen aeternum dabo eis. quid regnum caelorum, propter quod se castrauerunt sancti spadones, in hac tantum uita intellegendum esse contendis? nomen aeternum dabo eis. et si forte hic ipsum aeternum pro diuturno conaris accipere, addo, accumulo, inculco: nec umquam deerit. quid quaeris amplius? quid dicis amplius? aeternum hoc nomen, quidquid illud est, spadonibus dei, quod utique gloriam quandam propriam excellentemque significat, non erit commune cum multis, quamuis in eodem regno et in eadem domo constitutis. nam ideo fortassis et nomen dictum est, quod eos, quibus datur, distinguit a ceteris. ### English translation (Claude) Nor indeed has the Holy Spirit kept silent about what would be clear and unshakable against these most shamelessly and madly obstinate people, and would drive back their beastly onslaught from his sheepfold with an impregnable defense. For when he had said of the eunuchs, “I will give them in my house and within my wall a named place, much better than that of sons and daughters,” lest anyone too carnal should think that something temporal was to be hoped for in these words, he at once added: “I will give them an eternal name, and it will never fail”—as if to say: Why do you shuffle, impious blindness? Why do you shuffle? Why do you pour the clouds of your perversity over the clear sky of truth? Why, in such light of the Scriptures, do you seek darkness from which to lie in ambush? Why do you promise the holy continent only temporal advantage? “I will give them an eternal name.” Why do you try to refer to earthly comfort those who are free from all intercourse and who, by that very abstaining, think about the things of the Lord, how they may please the Lord? “I will give them an eternal name.” Why do you contend that the kingdom of heaven, for which the holy eunuchs castrated themselves, is to be understood only in this life? “I will give them an eternal name.” And if perhaps you try to take “eternal” here as “long-lasting,” I add, I heap up, I drive it home: “and it will never fail.” What more do you seek? What more do you say? This eternal name, whatever it is, for God's eunuchs, which surely signifies a certain special and excellent glory, will not be common to many, even though they are placed in the same kingdom and the same house. For perhaps it is called a name for this reason, that it distinguishes those to whom it is given from the rest. ### Scripture references - Isa 56:5: quotation, high confidence - 1 Cor 7:32: allusion, high confidence - Matt 19:12: allusion, high confidence ### Citation (SBL) Augustine, Virginit. 25 (CSEL 41:260–262; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/augustine-sancta-virginitate/22/#p-25). ## On Holy Virginity 26 - URL: https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/augustine-sancta-virginitate/22/#p-26 - Source: CSEL 41:262–263 - Translation: Claude (claude-opus-5-5), 2026-09-27 Summary: The equal denarius of the parable is eternal life, common to all the saints, while the many mansions mark their different glories. ### Latin text Quid sibi ergo uult, inquiunt, ille denarius, qui opere uineae terminato aequaliter omnibus redditur, siue his, qui ex prima hora, siue his, qui una hora operati sunt? quid utique? nisi aliquid significat, quod omnes communiter habebunt, sicuti est ipsa uita aeterna, ipsum regnum caelorum, ubi erunt omnes, quos deus praedestinauit, uocauit, iustificauit, glorificauit? oportet enim corruptibile hoc induere incorruptionem et mortale hoc induere inmortalitatem. hic est ille denarius, merces omnium; stella tamen ab stella differt in gloria. sic et resurrectio mortuorum. haec sunt merita diuersa sanctorum. si enim caelum significaretur illo denario, nonne in caelo esse omnibus est commune sideribus? et tamen alia est gloria solis, alia gloria lunae, alia stellarum. si denarius ille pro sanitate corporis poneretur, nonne, cum recte ualemus omnibus membris, communis est sanitas et, si usque in mortem permaneat, pariter et aequaliter omnibus inest? et tamen posuit deus membra, singulum quodque eorum in corpore prout uoluit, ut nec totum sit oculus nec totum auditus nec totum odoratus et quidquid aliud habet suam proprietatem, quamuis aequaliter habeat cum omnibus sanitatem. ita quia ipsa uita aeterna pariter erit omnibus sanctis, aequalis denarius omnibus adtributus est; quia uero in ipsa uita aeterna distincte fulgebunt lumina meritorum, multae mansiones sunt apud patrem. ac per hoc in denario quidem non impari non uiuet alius alio prolixius; in multis autem mansionibus honoratur alius alio clarius. ### English translation (Claude) “What, then,” they say, “does that denarius mean, which, when the work of the vineyard is finished, is paid equally to all, both to those who worked from the first hour and to those who worked one hour?” What indeed, but that it signifies something that all will have in common, such as eternal life itself, the kingdom of heaven itself, where all will be whom God predestined, called, justified, glorified? “For this corruptible must put on incorruption, and this mortal put on immortality.” This is that denarius, the wage of all; yet “star differs from star in glory. So also is the resurrection of the dead.” These are the different merits of the saints. For if heaven were signified by that denarius, is not being in heaven common to all the heavenly bodies? And yet “one is the glory of the sun, another the glory of the moon, another of the stars.” If that denarius stood for health of body, is not health common when we are well in all our members, and, if it lasts until death, present in all alike and equally? And yet God has placed the members, each of them in the body, as he willed, so that the whole is not an eye, nor the whole hearing, nor the whole smell; and whatever else there is has its own property, though it has health equally with all. So, because eternal life itself will be alike for all the saints, an equal denarius is assigned to all; but because in that eternal life the lights of merits will shine distinctly, there are many mansions with the Father. And so in the denarius, which is not unequal, one will not live longer than another; but in the many mansions one is honored more brightly than another. ### Scripture references - Matt 20:9: allusion, high confidence - Matt 20:10: allusion, high confidence - Rom 8:30: allusion, high confidence - 1 Cor 15:53: quotation, high confidence - 1 Cor 15:41: quotation, high confidence - 1 Cor 15:42: quotation, high confidence - 1 Cor 12:18: quotation, high confidence - 1 Cor 12:17: allusion, high confidence - John 14:2: allusion, high confidence ### Citation (SBL) Augustine, Virginit. 26 (CSEL 41:262–263; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/augustine-sancta-virginitate/22/#p-26). ## On Holy Virginity 27 - URL: https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/augustine-sancta-virginitate/22/#p-27 - Source: CSEL 41:263–265 - Translation: Claude (claude-opus-5-5), 2026-09-27 Summary: Augustine exhorts consecrated virgins to follow the Lamb wherever he goes, sharing joys proper to them, as in Revelation 14. ### Latin text Pergite itaque sancti dei, pueri ac puellae, mares ac feminae, caelibes et innuptae, pergite perseueranter in finem; laudate dominum dulcius, quem cogitatis uberius; sperate felicius, cui seruitis instantius; amate ardentius, cui placetis adtentius; lumbis accinctis et lucernis ardentibus expectate dominum, quando ueniat a nuptiis. uos adferetis ad nuptias agni canticum nouum, quod cantabitis in citharis uestris. non utique tale, quale cantat uniuersa terra, cui dicitur: cantate domino canticum nouum, cantate domino uniuersa terra, sed tale, quale nemo poterit dicere nisi uos. sic enim uos uidit in Apocalypsi quidam prae ceteris dilectus ab agno, qui discumbere super pectus eius solitus erat et bibebat et eructuabat mirabilia super caelestia uerbum dei. ipse uos uidit duodecies duodena milia sanctorum citharoedorum inlibatae uirginitatis in corpore, inuiolatae ueritatis in corde; et quia sequimini agnum quocumque ierit, scripsit ille de uobis. quo ire putamus hunc agnum, quo nemo eum sequi uel audeat uel ualeat nisi uos? quo putamus eum ire? in quos saltus et prata? ubi credo sunt gramina gaudia; non gaudia saeculi huius uana, insaniae mendaces, nec gaudia qualia in ipso regno dei ceteris non uirginibus, sed a ceterorum omnium gaudiorum sorte distincta, gaudia uirginum Christi, de Christo, in Christo, cum Christo, post Christum, per Christum, propter Christum. gaudia propria uirginum Christi non sunt eadem non uirginum, quamuis Christi; nam sunt aliis alia, sed nullis talia. ite in haec, sequimini agnum, quia et agni caro utique uirgo. hoc enim in se retinuit auctus, quod matri non abstulit conceptus et natus. merito eum sequimini uirginitate cordis et carnis, quocumque ierit. quid est enim sequi nisi imitari? quia Christus pro nobis passus est, relinquens nobis exemplum, sicut ait apostolus Petrus, ut sequamur uestigia eius. hunc in eo quisque sequitur, in quo imitatur: non in quantum ille filius dei est unus, per quem facta sunt omnia, sed in quantum filius hominis, quia oportebat, in se praebuit imitanda. et multa in illo ad imitandum omnibus proponuntur, uirginitas autem carnis non omnibus; non enim habent quid faciant, ut uirgines sint, in quibus iam factum est, ut uirgines non sint. ### English translation (Claude) Go on, then, saints of God, boys and girls, men and women, celibate and unmarried; go on perseveringly to the end. Praise the Lord more sweetly, whom you think of more richly; hope more happily in him whom you serve more earnestly; love more ardently him whom you please more attentively. With loins girded and lamps burning, await the Lord when he comes from the wedding. You will bring to the wedding of the Lamb a new song, which you will sing on your harps—not such as the whole earth sings, to which it is said, “Sing to the Lord a new song; sing to the Lord, all the earth,” but such as no one will be able to utter but you. For so you were seen in the Apocalypse by one loved by the Lamb above the others, who used to recline on his breast, and who drank in and poured forth the Word of God, wonderful beyond heavenly things. He saw you, twelve times twelve thousand holy harpers, of unblemished virginity in body, of inviolate truth in heart; and because you follow the Lamb wherever he goes, he wrote of you. Where do we think this Lamb goes, where no one dares or is able to follow him but you? Where do we think he goes? Into what glades and meadows? Where, I believe, the grasses are joys—not the empty joys of this world, lying madnesses, nor such joys as there will be in the kingdom of God itself for the others who are not virgins, but joys set apart from the lot of all others: the joys of the virgins of Christ, from Christ, in Christ, with Christ, after Christ, through Christ, for Christ. The joys proper to the virgins of Christ are not the same as those of non-virgins, even though they too are Christ's; for there are different joys for different people, but for none such joys as these. Go into these, follow the Lamb, for the flesh of the Lamb too is surely virgin. For he kept in himself when grown what, when conceived and born, he did not take from his mother. Rightly do you follow him, in virginity of heart and flesh, wherever he goes. For what is following but imitating? For “Christ suffered for us, leaving us an example,” as the apostle Peter says, “that we should follow in his steps.” Each follows him in that in which he imitates him: not insofar as he is the only Son of God, through whom all things were made, but insofar as, being the Son of Man, he offered in himself what it was fitting for us to imitate. And many things in him are set forth for all to imitate, but virginity of the flesh not for all; for those in whom it has already come about that they are not virgins have nothing they can do to become virgins. ### Scripture references - Luke 12:35: allusion, high confidence - Luke 12:36: allusion, high confidence - Rev 19:7: allusion, high confidence - Rev 14:3: allusion, high confidence - Rev 14:2: allusion, high confidence - Ps 96:1 (95:1 LXX): quotation, high confidence - John 13:23: allusion, high confidence - Rev 14:1: allusion, high confidence - Rev 14:4: allusion, high confidence - 1 Pet 2:21: quotation, high confidence - John 1:3: allusion, high confidence ### Translation notes - The 144,000 who follow the Lamb (Rev 14:1–4) are read as virgins; translated as written. ### Citation (SBL) Augustine, Virginit. 27 (CSEL 41:263–265; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/augustine-sancta-virginitate/22/#p-27). ## On Holy Virginity 28 - URL: https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/augustine-sancta-virginitate/22/#p-28 - Source: CSEL 41:265–266 - Translation: Claude (claude-opus-5-5), 2026-09-27 Summary: All the faithful, including the married, can follow Christ in the Beatitudes, though only virgins follow him in virginity. ### Latin text Sequantur itaque agnum ceteri fideles, qui uirginitatem corporis amiserunt, non quocumque ille ierit, sed quousque ipsi potuerint. possunt autem ubique, praeter cum in decore uirginitatis incedit. beati pauperes spiritu, imitamini eum, qui propter uos pauper factus est, cum diues esset. beati mites, imitamini eum, qui dixit: discite a me, quoniam mitis sum et humilis corde. beati lugentes, imitamini eum, qui fleuit super Hierusalem. beati qui esuriunt et sitiunt iustitiam, imitamini eum, qui dixit: meus cibus est ut faciam uoluntatem eius qui misit me. beati misericordes, imitamini eum, qui uulnerato a latronibus et in uia iacenti semiuiuo desperatoque subuenit. beati mundicordes, imitamini eum, qui peccatum non fecit nec inuentus est dolus in ore eius. beati pacifici, imitamini eum, qui pro suis persecutoribus dixit: pater, ignosce illis, quia nesciunt quid faciunt. beati qui persecutionem patiuntur propter iustitiam, imitamini eum, qui pro uobis passus est, relinquens uobis exemplum, ut sequamini uestigia eius. haec qui imitantur, in his agnum sequuntur. sed certe etiam coniugati possunt ire per ista uestigia, etsi non perfecte in eadem forma ponentes pedem, uerumtamen in eisdem semitis gradientes. ### English translation (Claude) Let the rest of the faithful, then, who have lost virginity of body, follow the Lamb, not wherever he goes, but as far as they can. And they can everywhere, except when he walks in the glory of virginity. “Blessed are the poor in spirit”: imitate him who for your sake became poor, though he was rich. “Blessed are the meek”: imitate him who said, “Learn from me, for I am meek and humble of heart.” “Blessed are those who mourn”: imitate him who wept over Jerusalem. “Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness”: imitate him who said, “My food is to do the will of him who sent me.” “Blessed are the merciful”: imitate him who came to the help of the man wounded by robbers and lying on the road, half-dead and despaired of. “Blessed are the pure in heart”: imitate him who committed no sin, nor was deceit found in his mouth. “Blessed are the peacemakers”: imitate him who said for his persecutors, “Father, forgive them, for they do not know what they do.” “Blessed are those who suffer persecution for righteousness' sake”: imitate him who suffered for you, leaving you an example, that you may follow in his steps. Those who imitate these things follow the Lamb in them. But certainly the married too can walk in these footsteps, even if not setting their foot perfectly in the same print, yet walking in the same paths. ### Scripture references - Matt 5:3: quotation, high confidence - 2 Cor 8:9: allusion, high confidence - Matt 5:5: quotation, high confidence - Matt 11:29: quotation, high confidence - Matt 5:4: quotation, high confidence - Luke 19:41: allusion, high confidence - Matt 5:6: quotation, high confidence - John 4:34: quotation, high confidence - Matt 5:7: quotation, high confidence - Luke 10:30: allusion, high confidence - Luke 10:33: allusion, high confidence - Matt 5:8: quotation, high confidence - 1 Pet 2:22: quotation, high confidence - Matt 5:9: quotation, high confidence - Luke 23:34: quotation, high confidence - Matt 5:10: quotation, high confidence - 1 Pet 2:21: allusion, high confidence ### Citation (SBL) Augustine, Virginit. 28 (CSEL 41:265–266; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/augustine-sancta-virginitate/22/#p-28). ## On Holy Virginity 29 - URL: https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/augustine-sancta-virginitate/22/#p-29 - Source: CSEL 41:266–267 - Translation: Claude (claude-opus-5-5), 2026-09-27 Summary: Virgins alone follow the Lamb on the way of virginity; others will rejoice with them without envy, since God will be all in all. ### Latin text Sed ecce ille agnus graditur itinere uirginali. quomodo post eum ibunt qui hoc amiserunt, quod nullo modo recipiunt? uos ergo, uos ite post eum, uirgines eius; uos et illuc ite post eum, quia propter hoc unum quocumque ierit sequimini eum. ad quodlibet enim aliud sanctitatis donum quo eum sequantur hortari possumus coniugatos praeter hoc quod inreparabiliter amiserunt. uos itaque sequimini eum tenendo perseueranter, quod uouistis ardenter. facite cum potestis, ne uirginitatis bonum a uobis pereat, cui facere nihil potestis ut redeat. uidebit uos cetera multitudo fidelium, quae agnum ad hoc sequi non potest, uidebit, nec inuidebit; et conlaetando uobis, quod in se non habent, habebunt in uobis. nam et illud canticum nouum proprium uestrum dicere non poterit; audire autem poterit et delectari uestro tam excellenti bono. sed uos, qui et dicetis et audietis, quia et hoc quod dicetis a uobis audietis, felicius exultabitis iucundiusque regnabitis. de maiore tamen uestro gaudio nullus maeror erit quibus hoc deerit. agnus quippe, quem uos quocumque ierit sequimini, nec eos deseret qui eum quo uos non ualent sequi. omnipotentem agnum loquimur. et uobis praeibit et ab eis non abibit, cum erit deus omnia in omnibus. et qui minus habebunt, a uobis non abhorrebunt. ubi enim nulla est inuidentia, consors est differentia. praesumite itaque, fidite, roboramini, permanete, qui uouetis et redditis domino deo uestro uota perpetuae continentiae non propter praesens saeculum, sed propter regnum caelorum. ### English translation (Claude) But see, that Lamb walks on a virginal way. How will those go after him who have lost what they can in no way recover? You, then, you go after him, his virgins; go after him there too, for it is on account of this one thing that you follow him wherever he goes. For we can exhort the married to any other gift of holiness by which to follow him, except this which they have irreparably lost. You, then, follow him by holding perseveringly what you have vowed ardently. Act while you can, so that the good of virginity may not perish from you, for you can do nothing to make it return. The rest of the multitude of the faithful, which cannot follow the Lamb in this, will see you; it will see you and will not envy you; and by rejoicing with you, what it does not have in itself it will have in you. For that new song, which is your own, it will not be able to sing; but it will be able to hear it and to delight in so excellent a good of yours. But you, who will both sing and hear it—since you will hear from yourselves what you sing—will exult more happily and reign more joyfully. Yet there will be no grief over your greater joy for those who lack it. For the Lamb, whom you follow wherever he goes, will not desert those who cannot follow him where you can. We speak of an almighty Lamb. He will go before you and will not go away from them, when God will be all in all. And those who have less will not recoil from you. For where there is no envy, difference is shared. Take courage, then, trust, be strong, persevere, you who vow and pay to the Lord your God vows of perpetual continence, not for the sake of the present world, but for the sake of the kingdom of heaven. ### Scripture references - Rev 14:4: allusion, high confidence - Rev 14:3: allusion, high confidence - 1 Cor 15:28: quotation, high confidence - Ps 76:11 (75:12 LXX): allusion, medium confidence - Matt 19:12: allusion, medium confidence ### Citation (SBL) Augustine, Virginit. 29 (CSEL 41:266–267; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/augustine-sancta-virginitate/22/#p-29). ## On Holy Virginity 30 - URL: https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/augustine-sancta-virginitate/22/#p-30 - Source: CSEL 41:267–268 - Translation: Claude (claude-opus-5-5), 2026-09-27 Summary: Virginity is a free offering, not a command like the ban on adultery, and it will be repaid with an eternal name. ### Latin text Vos etiam qui hoc nondum uouistis, qui potestis capere, capite; perseueranter currite, ut conprehendatis. tollite hostias quisque suas et introite in atria domini, non ex necessitate potestatem habentes uestrae uoluntatis. neque enim sicut: non moechaberis, non occides, ita dici potest: non nubes; illa exiguntur, ista offeruntur. si fiant ista, laudantur; nisi fiant illa, damnantur. in illis dominus debitum imperat uobis; in his autem quidquid amplius supererogaueritis, in redeundo reddet uobis. cogitate, quidquid illud est, in muro eius locum nominatum meliorem multo quam filiorum atque filiarum, cogitate illic nomen aeternum. quis explicat quale nomen erit? quidquid tamen erit, aeternum erit. hoc credendo et sperando et amando potuistis coniugia non deuitare prohibita, sed transuolare concessa. ### English translation (Claude) You too who have not yet vowed this, you who can receive it, receive it; run perseveringly, so that you may obtain it. Take each of you your offerings and enter into the courts of the Lord, not under necessity, but having power over your own will. For it cannot be said, “You shall not marry,” as it is said, “You shall not commit adultery,” “You shall not kill.” Those are required; these are offered. If these are done, they are praised; if those are not done, they are condemned. In those the Lord commands you what is owed; but in these, whatever more you spend beyond, he will repay you on his return. Think, whatever it is, of a named place within his wall, much better than that of sons and daughters; think of an eternal name there. Who can explain what kind of name it will be? Yet whatever it will be, it will be eternal. By believing and hoping and loving this you have been able not to avoid marriage as forbidden but to fly over it as permitted. ### Scripture references - Matt 19:12: quotation, high confidence - 1 Cor 9:24: allusion, high confidence - Ps 96:8 (95:8 LXX): allusion, high confidence - 1 Cor 7:37: allusion, high confidence - Exod 20:14: quotation, high confidence - Exod 20:13: quotation, high confidence - Luke 10:35: allusion, high confidence - Isa 56:5: allusion, high confidence ### Citation (SBL) Augustine, Virginit. 30 (CSEL 41:267–268; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/augustine-sancta-virginitate/22/#p-30). ## On Holy Virginity 31 - URL: https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/augustine-sancta-virginitate/22/#p-31 - Source: CSEL 41:268–269 - Translation: Claude (claude-opus-5-5), 2026-09-27 Summary: The greater the gift of virginity, the more humility is needed, since pride and envy make the devil what he is. ### Latin text Vnde huius muneris magnitudo, ad quod capessendum pro nostris uiribus hortati sumus, quanto est excellentius atque diuinius, tanto magis admonet sollicitudinem nostram non solum de gloriosissima castitate, uerum etiam de tutissima humilitate aliquid loqui. cum ergo perpetuae continentiae professores se coniugatis conparantes secundum scripturas compererint eos infra esse et opere et mercede et uoto et praemio, statim ueniat in mentem quod scriptum est: quanto magnus es, tanto humila te in omnibus, et coram deo inuenies gratiam. mensura humilitatis cuique ex mensura ipsius magnitudinis data est: cui est periculosa superbia, quae amplius amplioribus insidiatur. hanc sequitur inuidentia, tamquam filia pedisequa; eam quippe superbia continuo parit nec umquam est sine tali prole atque comite. quibus duobus malis, hoc est superbia et inuidentia, diabolus diabolus est. itaque contra superbiam, matrem inuidentiae, maxime militat uniuersa disciplina christiana. haec enim docet humilitatem, qua et adquirat et custodiat caritatem. de qua cum dictum esset: caritas non aemulatur, uelut si causam quaereremus, unde fiat, ut non aemuletur, continuo subdidit: non inflatur, tamquam diceret: ideo non habet inuidentiam, quia nec superbiam. doctor itaque humilitatis Christus primo semet ipsum exinaniuit formam serui accipiens, in similitudine hominum factus et habitu inuentus ut homo, humilauit semet ipsum, factus oboediens usque ad mortem, mortem autem crucis. ipsa uero doctrina eius, quam adtente insinuet humilitatem atque huic praecipiendae uehementer insistat, quis explicare facile possit atque in hanc rem demonstrandam testimonia cuncta congerere? hoc facere conetur uel faciat, quisquis seorsum de humilitate uoluerit scribere. huius autem operis aliud propositum est, quod de tam magna re susceptum est, ut ei maxime sit cauenda superbia. ### English translation (Claude) Hence, the more excellent and divine the greatness of this gift—to the taking up of which we have exhorted as well as we could—the more it warns our concern to say something not only about most glorious chastity but also about most safe humility. When, then, those who profess perpetual continence compare themselves with the married and find, according to the Scriptures, that the married are below them in work and wage, in vow and reward, let them at once call to mind what is written: “The greater you are, the more humble yourself in all things, and you will find grace before God.” The measure of humility is given to each from the measure of his greatness; for pride is dangerous to greatness, and lies in wait all the more for the greater. Envy follows it, like a daughter in attendance; for pride at once gives birth to it and is never without such offspring and companion. By these two evils, that is, pride and envy, the devil is the devil. So against pride, the mother of envy, the whole of Christian discipline fights most of all. For it teaches humility, by which to acquire and to guard love. When it had been said of love, “Love is not jealous,” as if we were asking the reason why it is not jealous, he at once added, “it is not puffed up,” as if to say: it has no envy because it has no pride either. So Christ, the teacher of humility, first emptied himself, taking the form of a servant, made in the likeness of men and found in appearance as a man; he humbled himself, becoming obedient to death, even death on a cross. And as for his teaching itself, how attentively it instills humility and how vehemently it insists on commanding it—who could easily explain this and gather all the testimonies to demonstrate it? Let anyone try to do this, or do it, who wishes to write separately on humility. But this work has another purpose; and since it has been undertaken on so great a subject, it must above all beware of pride. ### Scripture references - 1 Cor 13:4: quotation, high confidence - Phil 2:7: quotation, high confidence - Phil 2:8: quotation, high confidence ### Extrabiblical texts - Sir 3:18 (Sirach): quotation, high confidence ### Translation notes - The saying 'The greater you are, the more humble yourself' is Sir 3:18 (3:20 in the Latin numbering). ### Citation (SBL) Augustine, Virginit. 31 (CSEL 41:268–269; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/augustine-sancta-virginitate/22/#p-31). ## On Holy Virginity 32 - URL: https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/augustine-sancta-virginitate/22/#p-32 - Source: CSEL 41:269–272 - Translation: Claude (claude-opus-5-5), 2026-09-27 Summary: Augustine gathers Christ's teaching on humility: the Beatitudes, the centurion, the Canaanite woman, the Pharisee and tax collector, the child, and the washing of feet. ### Latin text Proinde pauca testimonia, quae dominus in mentem dare dignatur, ex doctrina Christi de humilitate commemoro, quae ad id quod intendi fortasse sufficiant. sermo eius, quem primum prolixiorem ad discipulos habuit, inde coepit: beati pauperes spiritu, quoniam ipsorum est regnum caelorum: quos sine ulla controuersia humiles intellegimus. fidem centurionis illius ideo praecipue laudauit nec se inuenisse in Israhel dixit tantam fidem, quia ille tam humiliter credidit, ut diceret: non sum dignus, ut sub tectum meum intres. unde nec Matthaeus ob aliud eum dixit accessisse ad Iesum, cum apertissime Lucas insinuet, quod non ad eum ipse uenerit, sed amicos suos miserit. nisi quia fidelissima humilitate magis ipse accessit quam illi, quos misit. unde et illud propheticum est: excelsus est dominus et humilia respicit; excelsa autem a longe cognoscit, utique tamquam non accedentia. hinc et illi mulieri Chananaeae dicit: o mulier, magna est fides tua! fiat tibi sicut uis, quam superius canem appellauerat nec ei panem filiorum proiciendum esse responderat. quod illa humiliter accipiens dixerat: ita, domine; nam et canes edunt de micis quae cadunt de mensa dominorum suorum. ac sic quod adsiduo clamore non inpetrabat, humili confessione promeruit. hinc illi duo proponuntur orantes in templo, unus pharisaeus et alter publicanus, propter eos, qui sibi iusti uidentur et spernunt ceteros, et enumerationi meritorum praefertur confessio peccatorum. et utique deo gratias agebat pharisaeus ex his, in quibus sibi multum placebat. gratias, inquit, tibi ago, quia non sum sicut ceteri homines, iniusti, raptores, adulteri, sicut et publicanus iste. ieiuno bis in sabbato, decimas do omnium quaecumque possideo. publicanus autem de longinquo stabat nec oculos ad caelum audebat leuare, sed percutiebat pectus suum dicens: propitius esto mihi peccatori. sequitur autem diuina sententia: amen dico uobis, descendit iustificatus de templo publicanus magis quam ille pharisaeus. deinde causa ostenditur, cur hoc iustum sit: quoniam is qui se exaltat humilabitur, et qui se humilat exaltabitur. fieri ergo potest, ut quisque et mala uera deuitet et uera bona in se consideret et de his patri luminum gratias agat, a quo descendit omne datum optimum et omne donum perfectum, et tamen elationis uitio reprobetur, si aliis peccatoribus maximeque peccata in oratione confitentibus uel sola cogitatione, quae coram deo est, superbus insultat, quibus non exprobratio cum inflatione, sed miseratio sine desperatione debetur. quid illud quod quaerentibus inter se discipulis, quisnam eorum maior esset, puerum paruulum constituit ante oculos eorum dicens: nisi fueritis sicut puer iste, non intrabitis in regnum caelorum? nonne humilitatem maxime commendauit et in ea meritum magnitudinis posuit? uel cum filiis Zebedaei latera eius in sedium sublimitate concupiscentibus ita respondit, ut passionis eius calicem potius bibendum cogitarent, in quo se humilauit usque ad mortem, mortem autem crucis, quam superbo adpetitu praeferri ceteris postularent, quid ostendit nisi eis se futurum altitudinis largitorem, qui eum doctorem humilitatis antea sequerentur? iam uero quod exiturus ad passionem lauit pedes discipulis monuitque apertissime ut hoc facerent condiscipulis atque conseruis, quod eis fecisset magister et dominus. quantum commendauit humilitatem! cui commendandae etiam tempus illud elegit, quo eum proxime moriturum cum magno desiderio contuebantur, hoc utique praecipue memoria retenturi, quod magister imitandus ultimum demonstrasset. at ille hoc fecit illo tempore, quod utique potuit et aliis antea diebus, quibus cum eis fuerat conuersatus, quando si fieret, hoc ipsum quidem traderetur, sed utique non sic acciperetur. ### English translation (Claude) So I recall a few testimonies about humility from the teaching of Christ, which the Lord deigns to bring to mind, and which perhaps suffice for my purpose. His discourse, the first longer one he held with his disciples, began thus: “Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven”—whom beyond dispute we understand to be the humble. He especially praised the faith of that centurion, and said that he had not found such faith in Israel, because he believed so humbly as to say, “I am not worthy that you should come under my roof.” That is why Matthew said he came to Jesus—though Luke shows quite plainly that he did not come to him himself but sent his friends—for no other reason than that by most faithful humility he himself came closer than those he sent. Hence also that prophetic word: “The Lord is high and looks upon the lowly; but the lofty he knows from afar”—as not coming near, that is. Hence too he says to that Canaanite woman, “O woman, great is your faith! Let it be done for you as you wish,” whom earlier he had called a dog, answering that the children's bread should not be thrown to her. Receiving this humbly, she had said, “Yes, Lord; for even the dogs eat of the crumbs that fall from their masters' table.” And so what she did not obtain by constant crying out, she earned by humble confession. Hence those two are set before us praying in the temple, one a Pharisee and the other a tax collector, for the sake of those who seem righteous to themselves and despise others; and the confession of sins is preferred to the enumeration of merits. And certainly the Pharisee was thanking God for the things in which he greatly pleased himself. “I thank you,” he says, “that I am not like other men, unjust, robbers, adulterers, as also this tax collector. I fast twice a week; I give tithes of all that I possess.” But the tax collector stood far off and did not dare to raise his eyes to heaven, but struck his breast, saying, “Be merciful to me, a sinner.” The divine verdict follows: “Truly I say to you, the tax collector went down from the temple justified rather than that Pharisee.” Then the reason is shown why this is just: “For whoever exalts himself will be humbled, and whoever humbles himself will be exalted.” It can happen, then, that someone both avoids real evils and considers real goods in himself and gives thanks for them to the Father of lights, from whom comes down every best gift and every perfect gift, and yet is rejected for the fault of pride, if he proudly insults other sinners—especially those confessing their sins in prayer—even by thought alone, which is before God; to them is owed not reproach with self-inflation but compassion without despair. What of this, that when his disciples were asking among themselves which of them was the greatest, he set a little child before their eyes, saying, “Unless you become like this child, you will not enter the kingdom of heaven”? Did he not commend humility above all and place in it the merit of greatness? Or when he answered the sons of Zebedee, who coveted the places at his sides on lofty thrones, in such a way that they should think rather of drinking the cup of his passion, in which he humbled himself to death, even death on a cross, than ask with proud appetite to be preferred to the rest—what did he show but that he would give loftiness to those who first followed him as the teacher of humility? And now, when he was about to go out to his passion, he washed his disciples' feet and admonished them most plainly to do for their fellow disciples and fellow servants what their Master and Lord had done for them. How much he commended humility! And to commend it he even chose that time when they were looking at him with great longing as one about to die, since they would surely keep especially in memory what the Master they were to imitate had shown them last. And he did this at that time, though he could certainly have done it on other days before, when he was living with them; had it been done then, the same thing would indeed have been handed on, but certainly it would not have been received in the same way. ### Scripture references - Matt 5:3: quotation, high confidence - Matt 8:10: allusion, high confidence - Matt 8:8: quotation, high confidence - Matt 8:5: allusion, high confidence - Luke 7:3: allusion, high confidence - Luke 7:6: allusion, high confidence - Ps 138:6 (137:6 LXX): quotation, high confidence - Matt 15:28: quotation, high confidence - Matt 15:26: allusion, high confidence - Matt 15:27: quotation, high confidence - Luke 18:9: allusion, high confidence - Luke 18:11: quotation, high confidence - Luke 18:12: quotation, high confidence - Luke 18:13: quotation, high confidence - Luke 18:14: quotation, high confidence - Jas 1:17: quotation, high confidence - Matt 18:1: allusion, high confidence - Matt 18:3: quotation, high confidence - Matt 20:21: allusion, high confidence - Matt 20:22: allusion, high confidence - Phil 2:8: allusion, high confidence - John 13:5: allusion, high confidence - John 13:14: allusion, high confidence ### Translation notes - Augustine harmonizes Matthew's centurion, who comes in person, with Luke's, who sends friends. ### Citation (SBL) Augustine, Virginit. 32 (CSEL 41:269–272; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/augustine-sancta-virginitate/22/#p-32). ## On Holy Virginity 33 - URL: https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/augustine-sancta-virginitate/22/#p-33 - Source: CSEL 41:272–273 - Translation: Claude (claude-opus-5-5), 2026-09-27 Summary: All Christians must be humble, but most of all those, like virgins, who possess a great good. ### Latin text Cum ergo christianis omnibus custodienda sit humilitas, quandoquidem a Christo christiani appellantur, cuius euangelium nemo diligenter intuetur, qui non eum doctorem humilitatis inueniat, tum maxime uirtutis huius sectatores et conseruatores eos esse conuenit, qui magno aliquo bono ceteris eminent, ut magnopere curent illud, quod primitus posui: quanto magnus es, tanto humila te in omnibus, et coram deo inuenies gratiam. proinde quia perpetua continentia maximeque uirginitas magnum bonum est in sanctis dei, uigilantissime cauendum est, ne superbia corrumpatur. ### English translation (Claude) Since, then, humility must be kept by all Christians—for they are called Christians from Christ, and no one studies his gospel carefully without finding him the teacher of humility—it is especially fitting that those should be followers and keepers of this virtue who stand out above the rest by some great good, so that they take great care of what I set down at first: “The greater you are, the more humble yourself in all things, and you will find grace before God.” Therefore, since perpetual continence, and virginity above all, is a great good in the saints of God, one must be most vigilantly on guard lest it be corrupted by pride. ### Extrabiblical texts - Sir 3:18 (Sirach): quotation, high confidence ### Citation (SBL) Augustine, Virginit. 33 (CSEL 41:272–273; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/augustine-sancta-virginitate/22/#p-33). ## On Holy Virginity 34 - URL: https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/augustine-sancta-virginitate/22/#p-34 - Source: CSEL 41:273–275 - Translation: Claude (claude-opus-5-5), 2026-09-27 Summary: Augustine sets aside vowed women who regret their vow or live loosely, and addresses his warning about pride to those who keep their profession well. ### Latin text Curiosas et uerbosas malas innuptas Paulus apostolus notat et hoc uitium uenire dicit ex otio. simul autem, inquit, et otiosae esse discunt circuire domos; non solum autem otiosae, uerum etiam curiosae et uerbosae, loquentes quae non oportet. de his superius dixerat: iuniores autem uiduas euita; cum enim in deliciis egerint in Christo, nubere uolunt, habentes damnationem, quoniam primam fidem irritam fecerunt, id est in eo quod primo uouerant, non steterunt. Nec tamen ait: nubunt, sed: nubere uolunt. multas enim earum reuocat a nubendo non amor praeclari propositi, sed aperti dedecoris timor, ueniens et ipse a superbia, qua formidatur magis hominibus displicere quam deo. haec igitur, quae nubere uolunt et ideo non nubunt, quia inpune non possunt, quae melius nuberent quam urerentur, id est quam occulta flamma concupiscentiae in ipsa concupiscentia uastarentur, quas paenitet professionis et piget confessionis, nisi correctum cor dirigant et dei timore rursus libidinem uincant, in mortuis deputandae sunt, siue in deliciis agant — unde dicit apostolus: quae autem in deliciis agit, uiuens mortua est — siue in laboribus atque ieiuniis nulla cordis correctione superfluis et magis ostentationi quam emendationi seruientibus. non ego talibus magnam curam humilitatis ingero, in quibus superbia ipsa confunditur et conscientiae uulnere cruentatur. nec ebriosis aut auaris aut alio quolibet damnabili morbi genere iacentibus, cum habeant corporalis continentiae professionem moribusque peruersis a suo nomine dissonent, hanc magnam sollicitudinem piae humilitatis inpono: nisi forte in his malis etiam ostentare se audebunt, quibus non sufficit, quod eorum supplicia differuntur. nec de his ago in quibus est quidam placendi adpetitus aut elegantiore uestitu, quam tantae professionis necessitas postulat, aut capitis ligamento notabili siue protumidis umbonibus capillorum siue tegminibus ita teneris, ut retiola subter posita adpareant: his nondum de humilitate, sed de ipsa castitate uel integritate pudicitiae danda praecepta sunt. da mihi profitentem perpetuam continentiam atque his et huius modi omnibus carentem uitiis et maculis morum, huic superbiam timeo, huic tam magno bono ex elationis tumore formido. quo magis inest unde sibi placeat, eo magis uereor, ne sibi placendo illi displiceat, qui superbis resistit, humilibus autem dat gratiam. ### English translation (Claude) The apostle Paul censures unmarried women who are inquisitive and talkative, and says that this fault comes from idleness. “At the same time,” he says, “they also learn to be idle, going about from house to house; and not only idle, but also inquisitive and talkative, saying what they should not.” Of these he had said above: “But avoid the younger widows; for when they have grown wanton against Christ, they wish to marry, incurring condemnation, because they have made void their first pledge”—that is, they did not stand by what they had first vowed. Yet he does not say, “they marry,” but “they wish to marry.” For many of them are held back from marrying not by love of their noble purpose but by fear of open disgrace, which itself comes from pride, by which one fears to displease men more than God. These, then, who wish to marry and do not marry only because they cannot do so with impunity—who would do better to marry than to burn, that is, than to be laid waste in their very concupiscence by its hidden flame—who regret their profession and are ashamed of their confession, unless they direct their heart, once corrected, and by the fear of God conquer lust again, are to be counted among the dead, whether they live in pleasures—whence the apostle says, “But she who lives in pleasures is dead while she lives”—or in labors and fasts, which are useless without any correction of the heart and serve display rather than amendment. I do not press any great care for humility on such women, in whom pride itself is confounded and bloodied by the wound of conscience. Nor do I impose this great concern for devout humility on drunkards or the greedy, or those lying in any other kind of damnable disease, who, while they have the profession of bodily continence, are out of tune with their name by perverse conduct—unless perhaps they will dare to show off even in these evils, those for whom it is not enough that their punishments are postponed. Nor am I dealing with those in whom there is a certain desire to please, whether by more elegant clothing than the necessity of so great a profession demands, or by a conspicuous head-band, whether by swelling knots of hair or by coverings so fine that the net beneath them shows: to these precepts must first be given not about humility but about chastity itself, the integrity of modesty. Give me one who professes perpetual continence and is free from all these and similar faults and blemishes of conduct: for her I fear pride; for so great a good in her I dread the swelling of self-exaltation. The more there is in her in which she may please herself, the more I fear that by pleasing herself she may displease him who resists the proud but gives grace to the humble. ### Scripture references - 1 Tim 5:13: quotation, high confidence - 1 Tim 5:11: quotation, high confidence - 1 Tim 5:12: quotation, high confidence - 1 Cor 7:9: allusion, high confidence - 1 Tim 5:6: quotation, high confidence - Jas 4:6: quotation, high confidence - 1 Pet 5:5: quotation, medium confidence ### Translation notes - Augustine takes the 'first pledge' of the younger widows (1 Tim 5:12) as a vow of continence, so that wishing to marry breaks it; translated as written. ### Citation (SBL) Augustine, Virginit. 34 (CSEL 41:273–275; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/augustine-sancta-virginitate/22/#p-34). ## On Holy Virginity 35 - URL: https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/augustine-sancta-virginitate/22/#p-35 - Source: CSEL 41:275–276 - Translation: Claude (claude-opus-5-5), 2026-09-27 Summary: Christ, to whom all things are given, teaches above all 'Learn from me, for I am meek and humble of heart.' ### Latin text Certe praecipuum magisterium et uirginalis integritatis exemplum in ipso Christo contuendum est. quid ergo amplius continentibus de humilitate praecipiam, quam quod ille, qui omnibus dicit: discite a me, quoniam mitis sum et humilis corde? cum magnitudinem suam supra commemorasset [et], id ipsum uolens ostendere, quantus propter nos quantillus effectus est, confiteor, inquit, tibi, domine caeli et terrae, quoniam abscondisti haec a sapientibus et reuelasti ea paruulis. ita, pater, quoniam sic placitum est coram te. omnia mihi tradita sunt a patre meo, et nemo cognoscit filium nisi pater, et nemo cognoscit patrem nisi filius et cui uoluerit filius reuelare. uenite ad me omnes, qui laboratis et onerati estis, et ego uos reficiam. tollite iugum meum super uos et discite a me quoniam mitis sum et humilis corde. ille, cui omnia tradidit pater et quem nemo agnoscit nisi pater et qui patrem solus agnoscit et cui uoluerit reuelare, non dicit: discite a me mundum fabricare aut mortuos suscitare, sed: quia mitis sum et humilis corde. o doctrinam salutarem! o magistrum dominumque mortalium, quibus mors poculo superbiae propinata atque transfusa est! noluit docere, quod ipse non esset, noluit iubere, quod ipse non faceret. uideo te, bone Iesu, oculis fidei, quos aperuisti mihi, tamquam in contione generis humani clamantem ac dicentem: uenite ad me et discite a me. quid, obsecro te, per quem facta sunt omnia, fili dei, et idem qui factus es inter omnia, fili hominis, quid ut discamus a te, uenimus ad te? quoniam mitis sum, inquit, et humilis corde. hucine redacti sunt omnes thesauri sapientiae et scientiae absconditi in te, ut hoc pro magno discamus a te, quoniam mitis es et humilis corde? itane magnum est esse paruum, ut nisi a te, qui tam magnus es, fieret, disci omnino non posset? ita plane. non enim aliter inuenitur requies animae nisi inquieto tumore digesto, quo magna sibi erat, quando tibi sana non erat. ### English translation (Claude) Certainly the foremost teaching and example of virginal integrity is to be seen in Christ himself. What more, then, shall I command the continent about humility than what he says to all: “Learn from me, for I am meek and humble of heart”? When he had first spoken of his greatness, wishing to show this very thing—how great he is and how small he became for our sake—he says: “I confess to you, Lord of heaven and earth, that you have hidden these things from the wise and revealed them to little ones. Yes, Father, for so it was pleasing before you. All things have been handed over to me by my Father, and no one knows the Son except the Father, and no one knows the Father except the Son and anyone to whom the Son chooses to reveal him. Come to me, all who labor and are burdened, and I will refresh you. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am meek and humble of heart.” He to whom the Father has handed over all things, whom no one knows but the Father, who alone knows the Father, and anyone to whom he chooses to reveal him, does not say, “Learn from me to fashion the world or to raise the dead,” but, “for I am meek and humble of heart.” O saving teaching! O Master and Lord of mortals, to whom death was served and poured out in the cup of pride! He would not teach what he himself was not; he would not command what he himself did not do. I see you, good Jesus, with the eyes of faith that you have opened for me, crying out as in an assembly of the human race and saying, “Come to me and learn from me.” What, I beg you, Son of God, through whom all things were made, and likewise Son of Man, who were made among all things—what are we to learn from you, that we come to you? “For I am meek,” he says, “and humble of heart.” Is it to this that all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge hidden in you come down, that we should learn from you as a great thing that you are meek and humble of heart? Is it so great a thing to be small that it could not be learned at all unless it were done by you, who are so great? Plainly so. For rest for the soul is not found except by dispersing the restless swelling by which it was great to itself when it was not healthy to you. ### Scripture references - Matt 11:29: quotation, high confidence - Matt 11:25: quotation, high confidence - Matt 11:26: quotation, high confidence - Matt 11:27: quotation, high confidence - Matt 11:28: quotation, high confidence - John 1:3: allusion, high confidence - Col 2:3: allusion, high confidence ### Translation notes - The editor deletes the word 'and' (et) in the introductory clause. ### Citation (SBL) Augustine, Virginit. 35 (CSEL 41:275–276; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/augustine-sancta-virginitate/22/#p-35). ## On Holy Virginity 36 - URL: https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/augustine-sancta-virginitate/22/#p-36 - Source: CSEL 41:276–277 - Translation: Claude (claude-opus-5-5), 2026-09-27 Summary: Repentant sinners in the Gospels easily learn humility from Christ, remembering their sins and his mercy. ### Latin text Audiant te et ueniant ad te et mites atque humiles esse discant a te, qui misericordiam et ueritatem tuam requirunt, tibi uiuendo, tibi, non sibi. audiat hoc laborans et oneratus, qua sarcina premitur, ut oculos ad caelum leuare non audeat, percutiens pectus ille peccator et propinquans de longinquo; audiat centurio non dignus, cuius tectum subires; audiat Zacchaeus maior publicanorum, quadruplo restituens lucra damnabilium peccatorum; audiat mulier in ciuitate peccatrix tanto lacrimosior pedibus tuis, quanto fuerat alienior a uestigiis tuis; audiant meretrices et publicani, qui scribas et pharisaeos praecedunt in regnum caelorum; audiat omne genus aegrorum, cum quibus tibi pro crimine sunt obiecta conuiuia, uidelicet quasi a sanis, qui medicum non quaerebant, cum tu non uenires uocare iustos, sed peccatores in paenitentiam. hi omnes, cum conuertuntur ad te, facile mitescunt et humilantur coram te, memores iniquissimae uitae suae et indulgentissimae misericordiae tuae, quia ubi abundauit peccatum, superabundauit gratia. ### English translation (Claude) Let them hear you and come to you and learn from you to be meek and humble, those who seek your mercy and truth by living for you—for you, not for themselves. Let him hear this who labors and is burdened, pressed by such a load that he does not dare to raise his eyes to heaven, that sinner who strikes his breast and draws near from afar; let the centurion hear, not worthy that you should come under his roof; let Zacchaeus hear, chief of the tax collectors, restoring fourfold the gains of damnable sins; let the woman who was a sinner in the city hear, the more tearful at your feet the more estranged she had been from your footsteps; let the harlots and tax collectors hear, who go before the scribes and Pharisees into the kingdom of heaven; let every kind of sick person hear, with whom sharing meals was cast up to you as a crime—as though by the healthy, who did not seek a physician—though you came not to call the righteous but sinners to repentance. All these, when they turn to you, easily grow meek and are humbled before you, mindful of their most wicked life and your most indulgent mercy; for where sin abounded, grace abounded more. ### Scripture references - Matt 11:28: allusion, high confidence - Luke 18:13: allusion, high confidence - Matt 8:8: allusion, high confidence - Luke 19:2: allusion, high confidence - Luke 19:8: allusion, high confidence - Luke 7:37: allusion, high confidence - Luke 7:38: allusion, high confidence - Matt 21:31: allusion, high confidence - Matt 9:11: allusion, high confidence - Matt 9:12: allusion, high confidence - Luke 5:32: quotation, high confidence - Rom 5:20: quotation, high confidence ### Citation (SBL) Augustine, Virginit. 36 (CSEL 41:276–277; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/augustine-sancta-virginitate/22/#p-36). ## On Holy Virginity 37 - URL: https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/augustine-sancta-virginitate/22/#p-37 - Source: CSEL 41:277–278 - Translation: Claude (claude-opus-5-5), 2026-09-27 Summary: Virgins raised in the church from childhood must learn humility from Christ himself, since they fall far short of him. ### Latin text Sed respice agmina uirginum, puerorum puellarumque sanctarum: in ecclesia tua eruditum est hoc genus; illic tibi a maternis uberibus pullulauit, in nomen tuum ad loquendum linguam soluit, nomen tuum uelut lac infantiae suae suxit infusum. non potest quisquam ex hoc numero dicere: qui prius fui blasphemus et persecutor et iniuriosus, sed misericordiam consecutus sum, quia ignorans feci in incredulitate: immo etiam quod non iussisti tantummodo uolentibus arripiendum proposuisti dicens: qui potest capere, capiat, arripuerunt, uouerunt et propter regnum caelorum se ipsos non quia minatus es, sed quia hortatus es, castrauerunt. His inclama, hi te audiant, quoniam mitis es et humilis corde. hi quanto magni sunt, tanto humilent se in omnibus, ut coram te inueniant gratiam. iusti sunt; sed numquid sicut tu iustificans inpium? casti sunt; sed eos in peccatis matres eorum in uteris aluerunt. sancti sunt; sed tu etiam sanctus sanctorum. uirgines sunt; sed nati etiam ex uirginibus non sunt. et spiritu et carne integri sunt; sed uerbum caro factum non sunt. et tamen discant non ab eis, quibus peccata dimittis, sed a te ipso agno dei, qui tollis peccata mundi, quoniam mitis es et humilis corde. ### English translation (Claude) But look at the ranks of virgins, of holy boys and girls: this kind has been trained in your church; there it sprang up for you from the mother's breasts, loosed its tongue to speak your name, sucked your name poured in like the milk of its infancy. No one of this number can say, “I was formerly a blasphemer and a persecutor and insolent, but I obtained mercy, because I acted ignorantly in unbelief.” Rather, even what you did not command, but only set before those willing to seize it, saying, “He who can receive it, let him receive it,” they seized, they vowed, and they castrated themselves for the kingdom of heaven, not because you threatened but because you exhorted. Cry out to these; let these hear you, that you are meek and humble of heart. Let these, the greater they are, humble themselves the more in all things, that they may find grace before you. They are righteous; but are they like you, who justify the ungodly? They are chaste; but their mothers nourished them in sins in the womb. They are holy; but you are the Holy of Holies. They are virgins; but they were not also born of virgins. They are intact in both spirit and flesh; but they are not the Word made flesh. And yet let them learn, not from those whose sins you forgive, but from you yourself, the Lamb of God who take away the sins of the world, that you are meek and humble of heart. ### Scripture references - 1 Tim 1:13: quotation, high confidence - Matt 19:12: quotation, high confidence - Matt 11:29: allusion, high confidence - Rom 4:5: allusion, high confidence - Ps 51:5 (50:7 LXX): allusion, high confidence - Dan 9:24: allusion, medium confidence - John 1:14: allusion, high confidence - John 1:29: quotation, high confidence ### Extrabiblical texts - Sir 3:18 (Sirach): allusion, high confidence ### Translation notes - Ps 51:5 (50:7 in the Latin numbering) is echoed in 'their mothers nourished them in sins in the womb'. ### Citation (SBL) Augustine, Virginit. 37 (CSEL 41:277–278; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/augustine-sancta-virginitate/22/#p-37). ## On Holy Virginity 38 - URL: https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/augustine-sancta-virginitate/38/#p-38 - Source: CSEL 41:278–280 - Translation: Claude (claude-opus-5-5), 2026-09-27 Summary: Virgins should learn humility not from repentant sinners but from Christ, who humbled himself out of love, lest they become like the proud Pharisee. ### Latin text Non ego te, anima pia, pudica, quae adpetitum carnalem nec usque ad concessum coniugium relaxasti, quae decessurum corpus nec successori propagando indulsisti, quae fluitantia membra terrena in caeli consuetudinem suspendisti: non ego te, ut discas humilitatem, ad publicanos et peccatores mitto, qui tamen in regnum caelorum praecedunt superbos, non te ad hos mitto; indigni sunt enim, qui ab inmunditiae uoragine liberati sunt, ut ad eos imitandos mittatur inlibata uirginitas: ad regem caeli te mitto, ad eum, per quem creati sunt homines et qui creatus est inter homines propter homines; ad speciosum forma prae filiis hominum et contemptum a filiis hominum pro filiis hominum, ad eum, qui dominans angelis inmortalibus non dedignatus est seruire mortalibus. eum certe humilem non iniquitas, sed caritas fecit, caritas, quae non aemulatur, non inflatur, non quaerit quae sua sunt, quia et Christus non sibi placuit, sed sicut scriptum de illo est: obprobria exprobrantium tibi ceciderunt super me. uade, ueni ad illum et disce, quoniam mitis est et humilis corde. non ibis ad eum, qui oculos ad caelum leuare non audebat onere iniquitatis, sed ad eum, qui de caelo descendit pondere caritatis; non ibis ad eam, quae domini sui pedes lacrimis rigauit quaerens indulgentiam grauium peccatorum, sed ibis ad eum, qui, cum daret indulgentiam omnium peccatorum, lauit pedes seruorum suorum. noui dignitatem uirginitatis tuae: non tibi propono imitandum publicanum humiliter accusantem delicta sua, sed timeo tibi pharisaeum superbe iactantem merita sua. non dico: esto qualis illa, de qua dictum est: dimittuntur ei peccata multa, quoniam dilexit multum, sed metuo, ne, cum tibi modicum dimitti putas, modicum diligas. ### English translation (Claude) I do not send you, devout and chaste soul—you who have not relaxed carnal appetite even as far as permitted marriage, who have not indulged your body, which will pass away, even by propagating a successor, who have lifted your earthly, unsteady members to the habit of heaven—I do not send you, to learn humility, to the tax collectors and sinners, who nevertheless go before the proud into the kingdom of heaven. I do not send you to these, for those who have been set free from the abyss of uncleanness are not worthy that untouched virginity should be sent to imitate them. I send you to the King of heaven, to him through whom human beings were created and who was created among human beings for the sake of human beings; to him who is beautiful in form beyond the sons of men and despised by the sons of men for the sake of the sons of men; to him who, ruling immortal angels, did not disdain to serve mortals. Surely not iniquity but love made him humble—love, which is not jealous, is not puffed up, does not seek its own; for Christ too did not please himself, but, as it is written of him, “The reproaches of those who reproached you fell on me.” Go, come to him and learn that he is meek and humble of heart. You will not go to him who did not dare to raise his eyes to heaven under the burden of iniquity, but to him who came down from heaven by the weight of love; you will not go to her who watered her Lord's feet with tears, seeking pardon for grave sins, but to him who, while he gave pardon for all sins, washed the feet of his servants. I know the dignity of your virginity: I do not set before you for imitation the tax collector humbly accusing his offenses, but I fear for you the Pharisee proudly boasting of his merits. I do not say, “Be like her of whom it was said, ‘Her many sins are forgiven, because she loved much,’” but I fear lest, thinking that little is forgiven you, you love little. ### Scripture references - Matt 21:31: allusion, high confidence - Ps 45:2 (44:3 LXX): quotation, high confidence - Isa 53:3: allusion, medium confidence - 1 Cor 13:4: quotation, high confidence - 1 Cor 13:5: quotation, high confidence - Rom 15:3: quotation, high confidence - Ps 69:9 (68:10 LXX): quotation, high confidence - Matt 11:29: allusion, high confidence - Luke 18:13: allusion, high confidence - Luke 7:38: allusion, high confidence - John 13:5: allusion, high confidence - Luke 18:11: allusion, high confidence - Luke 7:47: quotation, high confidence ### Translation notes - Ps 69:9 is 68:10 in the Latin numbering; Ps 45:2 is 44:3. ### Citation (SBL) Augustine, Virginit. 38 (CSEL 41:278–280; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/augustine-sancta-virginitate/38/#p-38). ## On Holy Virginity 39 - URL: https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/augustine-sancta-virginitate/38/#p-39 - Source: CSEL 41:280–282 - Translation: Claude (claude-opus-5-5), 2026-09-27 Summary: Virgins need the chaste fear of God that goes with love, not servile fear, so that they may not grow proud. ### Latin text Metuo, inquam, tibi uehementer, ne, cum te agnum quocumque ierit secuturam esse gloriaris, eum prae tumore superbiae sequi per angusta non possis. bonum tibi est o anima uirginalis, ut sic, quomodo uirgo es, sic omnino seruans in corde, quod renata es, seruans in carne, quod nata es, concipias tamen a timore domini et parturias spiritum salutis. timor quidem non est in caritate, sed perfecta, sicut scriptum est, caritas foras mittit timorem, sed timorem hominum, non dei, timorem temporalium malorum, non diuini in fine iudicii. noli altum sapere, sed time; ama dei bonitatem, time seueritatem: utrumque te superbam esse non sinit. amando enim times, ne amatum et amantem grauiter offendas. nam quae grauior offensio, quam ut superbia illi displiceas, qui propter te superbis displicuit? et ubi magis esse debet timor ille castus permanens in saeculum saeculi, quam in te, quae non cogitas quae sunt mundi, quomodo placeas coniugi, sed quae sunt domini, quomodo placeas domino? ille alius timor non est in caritate; iste autem castus non recedit a caritate. si non amas, time, ne pereas; si amas, time, ne displiceas. illum timorem caritas foras mittit; cum isto intro currit. dicit apostolus etiam Paulus: non enim accepimus spiritum seruitutis iterum in timore; sed accepimus spiritum adoptionis filiorum, in quo clamamus: abba, pater. illum eum timorem credo dicere, qui datus erat in uetere testamento, ne amitterentur temporalia bona, quae deus promiserat nondum sub gratia filiis, sed sub lege adhuc seruis. est etiam timor ignis aeterni, propter quem deuitandum deo seruire nondum est utique perfectae caritatis. aliud est enim desiderium praemii, aliud formido supplicii. aliae uoces sunt: quo abibo ab spiritu tuo? et a facie tua quo fugiam? et aliae uoces sunt: unam peti a domino, hanc requiram, ut inhabitem in domo domini per omnes dies uitae meae, ut contempler delectationem domini et protegi templum eius, et: ne auertas faciem tuam a me, et: desiderat et deficit anima mea in atria domini. illas uoces habuerit, qui oculos leuare non audebat ad caelum et quae rigabat lacrimis pedes ad impetrandam ueniam grauium peccatorum; has autem tu habeto, quae sollicita es ea quae sunt domini, ut sis sancta et corpore et spiritu. illis uocibus comitatur timor, qui tormentum habet, quem perfecta caritas foras mittit; his autem uocibus comitatur timor domini castus permanens in saeculum saeculi. et utrique generi dicendum est: noli altum sapere, sed time, ut homo nec de peccatorum suorum defensione nec de iustitiae praesumptione se extollat. nam et ipse Paulus, qui dixit: non enim accepistis spiritum seruitutis iterum in timore, tamen timore comite caritatis ait: cum timore et tremore multo fui ad uos, et ea sententia, quam commemoraui, ne aduersus fractos oleae ramos insertus superbiret oleaster, ipse usus est dicens: noli altum sapere, sed time; ipse omnia membra Christi generaliter admonens ait: cum timore et tremore uestram ipsorum salutem operamini; deus est enim qui operatur in uobis et uelle et operari pro bona uoluntate. ne ad uetus testamentum uideatur pertinere quod scriptum est: seruite domino in timore, et exultate ei cum tremore. ### English translation (Claude) I fear greatly for you, I say, lest, while you glory that you will follow the Lamb wherever he goes, you may be unable to follow him through narrow ways because of the swelling of pride. It is good for you, O virgin soul, that, being a virgin as you are—keeping wholly in heart what you have been reborn, keeping in flesh what you were born—you should nevertheless conceive from the fear of the Lord and bring forth the spirit of salvation. There is indeed no fear in love, but perfect love, as it is written, casts out fear—but fear of men, not of God; fear of temporal evils, not of the divine judgment at the end. Do not be high-minded, but fear; love the goodness of God, fear his severity: neither will let you be proud. For in loving you fear to offend gravely the one you love and who loves you. For what graver offense than to displease by pride him who for your sake displeased the proud? And where ought that chaste fear which endures for ever and ever to be more than in you, who do not think about the things of the world, how you may please a spouse, but about the things of the Lord, how you may please the Lord? That other fear is not in love; but this chaste fear does not depart from love. If you do not love, fear lest you perish; if you love, fear lest you displease. That fear love casts out; with this one it runs in. The apostle Paul too says: “For we did not receive the spirit of slavery again in fear, but we received the spirit of adoption as sons, in which we cry, Abba, Father.” I believe he means that fear which was given in the old covenant, the fear of losing the temporal goods which God had promised to those who were not yet sons under grace but still slaves under the law. There is also the fear of eternal fire; to serve God in order to avoid it is certainly not yet perfect love. For desire of reward is one thing, dread of punishment another. There are some voices: “Where shall I go from your Spirit? And where shall I flee from your face?” And there are other voices: “One thing I have asked of the Lord, this will I seek: that I may dwell in the house of the Lord all the days of my life, that I may contemplate the delight of the Lord and be protected by his temple,” and, “Do not turn your face from me,” and, “My soul longs and faints for the courts of the Lord.” Let those first voices belong to him who did not dare to raise his eyes to heaven, and to her who watered his feet with tears to obtain pardon for grave sins; but you, have these others, you who are anxious about the things of the Lord, that you may be holy both in body and in spirit. With those voices goes the fear that has torment, which perfect love casts out; with these goes the chaste fear of the Lord that endures for ever and ever. And to both kinds it must be said, “Do not be high-minded, but fear,” so that a man may exalt himself neither in defending his sins nor in presuming on his righteousness. For Paul himself, who said, “For you did not receive the spirit of slavery again in fear,” yet, with fear as the companion of love, says, “I was with you in fear and much trembling”; and he himself used the saying I mentioned—lest the grafted wild olive become proud against the broken branches of the olive—saying, “Do not be high-minded, but fear”; and he himself, admonishing all the members of Christ generally, says, “Work out your own salvation with fear and trembling; for it is God who works in you both to will and to work for his good will”—lest what is written, “Serve the Lord in fear, and rejoice to him with trembling,” seem to belong only to the old covenant. ### Scripture references - Rev 14:4: allusion, high confidence - Matt 7:14: allusion, medium confidence - Isa 26:18: allusion, high confidence - 1 John 4:18: quotation, high confidence - Rom 11:20: quotation, high confidence - Rom 11:22: allusion, high confidence - Ps 19:9 (18:10 LXX): allusion, high confidence - 1 Cor 7:34: allusion, high confidence - 1 Cor 7:32: allusion, high confidence - Rom 8:15: quotation, high confidence - Ps 139:7 (138:7 LXX): quotation, high confidence - Ps 27:4 (26:4 LXX): quotation, high confidence - Ps 27:9 (26:9 LXX): quotation, high confidence - Ps 84:2 (83:3 LXX): quotation, high confidence - Luke 18:13: allusion, high confidence - Luke 7:38: allusion, high confidence - 1 Cor 2:3: quotation, high confidence - Rom 11:17: allusion, high confidence - Phil 2:12: quotation, high confidence - Phil 2:13: quotation, high confidence - Ps 2:11: quotation, high confidence ### Translation notes - 'Conceive from the fear of the Lord and bring forth the spirit of salvation' echoes Isa 26:18 in its Greek and Latin form. Several Psalms are quoted in their Latin form: Ps 139:7 (138:7), 27:4 (26:4), 27:9 (26:9), 84:2 (83:3), 19:9 (18:10). ### Citation (SBL) Augustine, Virginit. 39 (CSEL 41:280–282; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/augustine-sancta-virginitate/38/#p-39). ## On Holy Virginity 40 - URL: https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/augustine-sancta-virginitate/38/#p-40 - Source: CSEL 41:282–283 - Translation: Claude (claude-opus-5-5), 2026-09-27 Summary: The Spirit rests on the humble, and the dangers of this life should keep virgins humble. ### Latin text Et quae magis membra corporis sancti, quod est ecclesia, curare debent, ut super ea requiescat spiritus sanctus, quam uirginalem profitentia sanctitatem? quomodo autem requiescit, ubi non inuenit locum suum? quid aliud quam cor humilatum quod inpleat, non unde resiliat, quod erigat, non quod deprimat? cum apertissime dictum sit: super quem requiescet spiritus meus? super humilem et quietum et trementem uerba mea? iam iuste uiuis, iam pie uiuis, pudice, sancte, uirginali castitate uiuis; adhuc tamen hic uiuis et non humilaris audiendo: numquid non temptatio est uita humana super terram? non te a praefidenti elatione reuerberat: uae mundo ab scandalis? non contremescis, ne deputeris in multis quorum refrigescit caritas, quoniam abundat iniquitas? non percutis pectus, quod audis: quapropter qui se putat stare, caueat ne cadat? inter haec diuina monita et humana pericula itane adhuc uirginibus sanctis humilitatem persuadere laboramus? ### English translation (Claude) And which members of the holy body, which is the church, ought to take more care that the Holy Spirit may rest upon them than those who profess virginal holiness? But how does he rest where he does not find his place? And what is that place but a humbled heart, which he may fill, not one from which he rebounds; which he may raise up, not which may press him down? For it has been said most plainly: “On whom will my Spirit rest? On the humble and quiet one who trembles at my words.” You already live righteously, you already live devoutly, chastely, holily, with virginal chastity; yet you still live here, and are you not humbled by hearing, “Is not human life on earth a trial?” Does not “Woe to the world because of scandals” beat you back from overconfident exaltation? Do you not tremble lest you be counted among the many whose love grows cold because iniquity abounds? Do you not strike your breast when you hear, “Therefore let him who thinks he stands take heed lest he fall”? Amid these divine warnings and human dangers, do we still labor so hard to persuade holy virgins of humility? ### Scripture references - Isa 66:2: quotation, high confidence - Job 7:1: quotation, high confidence - Matt 18:7: quotation, high confidence - Matt 24:12: allusion, high confidence - 1 Cor 10:12: quotation, high confidence ### Translation notes - Isa 66:2 is quoted in its Greek and Latin form ('the humble and quiet one'). ### Citation (SBL) Augustine, Virginit. 40 (CSEL 41:282–283; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/augustine-sancta-virginitate/38/#p-40). ## On Holy Virginity 41 - URL: https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/augustine-sancta-virginitate/38/#p-41 - Source: CSEL 41:283–285 - Translation: Claude (claude-opus-5-5), 2026-09-27 Summary: Virgins should love God more, not less, since he kept them from sins and gave them the gift of continence by grace. ### Latin text An uero propter aliud credendum est permittere deum, ut misceantur numero professionis uestrae multi et multae casurae et casuri, nisi ut his cadentibus timor uester augeatur, quo superbia comprimatur? quam sic odit deus, ut contra hanc unam se tantum humilaret altissimus. nisi forte reuera ideo minus timebis magisque inflaberis, ut modicum diligas eum, qui te tantum dilexit, ut traderet se ipsum pro te, quia modicum tibi dimisit, uiuenti uidelicet a pueritia religiose, pudice, pia castitate, inlibata uirginitate. quasi uero non tu multo ardentius diligere debes eum, qui flagitiosis ad se conuersis quaecumque dimisit, in ea te cadere non permisit. aut uero ille pharisaeus, qui propterea modicum diligebat, quia modicum sibi dimitti existimabat, ob aliud hoc errore caecabatur, nisi quia ignorans dei iustitiam et suam quaerens constituere iustitiae dei subiectus non erat? uos autem genus electum et in electis electius, uirginei chori sequentes agnum, etiam uos gratia salui facti estis per fidem; et hoc non ex uobis, sed dei donum est. non ex operibus, ne forte quis extollatur. ipsius enim sumus figmentum, creati in Christo Iesu in operibus bonis, quae praeparauit deus, ut in illis ambulemus. ergone hunc quanto eius donis ornatiores estis, tanto minus amabitis? auerterit tam horrendam ipse dementiam. proinde quoniam uerum ueritas dixit, quod ille, cui modicum dimittitur, modicum diligit, uos ut ardentissime diligatis, cui diligendo a coniugiorum nexibus liberi uacatis, deputate uobis tamquam omnino dimissum quidquid mali a uobis non est illo regente commissum. oculi enim uestri semper ad dominum, quoniam ipse euellet de laqueo pedes uestros, et: nisi dominus custodierit ciuitatem, in uanum uigilauit qui custodit. et de ipsa continentia loquens apostolus ait: uolo autem omnes homines esse sicut me ipsum; sed unusquisque proprium donum habet a deo, alius sic, alius autem sic. quis ergo donat ista? quis distribuit propria unicuique sicut uult? nempe deus, apud quem non est iniquitas. ac per hoc qua aequitate ille faciat alios sic, alios autem sic, homini nosse aut inpossibile aut omnino difficile est; quin tamen aequitate faciat, dubitare fas non est. quid itaque habes quod non accepisti? aut qua peruersitate minus diligis, a quo amplius accepisti? ### English translation (Claude) Or is it to be believed that God permits many men and women who are going to fall to be mixed in the number of your profession for any other reason than that, as they fall, your fear may be increased and your pride suppressed? Pride God so hates that against it alone the Most High humbled himself so greatly. Unless perhaps you will indeed fear less and be more puffed up, so as to love little him who loved you so much that he handed himself over for you, because he has forgiven you little—you who, of course, have lived from childhood devoutly, chastely, in devout chastity, in untouched virginity. As though you ought not to love far more ardently him who, whatever he forgave the shameful who turned to him, did not allow you to fall into these things! Or was that Pharisee, who loved little because he thought little was forgiven him, blinded by this error for any other reason than that, not knowing the righteousness of God and seeking to establish his own, he was not subject to the righteousness of God? But you, a chosen race, and more chosen among the chosen, virgin choirs following the Lamb, you too have been saved by grace through faith; and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God; not from works, lest anyone be lifted up. For we are his handiwork, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared that we should walk in them. Will you, then, love him the less, the more you are adorned with his gifts? May he himself turn away such dreadful madness! Therefore, since the Truth spoke truly that he to whom little is forgiven loves little, so that you may love most ardently him for whose love you are free from the bonds of marriage, reckon as wholly forgiven you whatever evil has not been committed by you because he ruled you. For your eyes are ever toward the Lord, for he will pluck your feet out of the snare; and, “Unless the Lord guards the city, he who guards it has watched in vain.” And speaking of continence itself, the apostle says: “But I would that all men were as I myself am; but each has his own gift from God, one in this way, another in that.” Who, then, gives these gifts? Who distributes to each his own as he wills? God, surely, with whom there is no iniquity. And so by what equity he makes some in this way, others in that, it is impossible, or altogether difficult, for man to know; yet that he does it with equity it is not right to doubt. What, then, do you have that you did not receive? Or by what perversity do you love less him from whom you have received more? ### Scripture references - Phil 2:8: allusion, medium confidence - Gal 2:20: allusion, high confidence - Luke 7:47: allusion, high confidence - Rom 10:3: quotation, high confidence - 1 Pet 2:9: allusion, high confidence - Rev 14:4: allusion, high confidence - Eph 2:8: quotation, high confidence - Eph 2:9: quotation, high confidence - Eph 2:10: quotation, high confidence - Ps 25:15 (24:15 LXX): quotation, high confidence - Ps 127:1 (126:1 LXX): quotation, high confidence - 1 Cor 7:7: quotation, high confidence - 1 Cor 12:11: allusion, high confidence - Rom 9:14: allusion, high confidence - 1 Cor 4:7: quotation, high confidence ### Translation notes - Augustine's argument that sins one has been kept from should be counted as forgiven is translated as written. ### Citation (SBL) Augustine, Virginit. 41 (CSEL 41:283–285; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/augustine-sancta-virginitate/38/#p-41). ## On Holy Virginity 42 - URL: https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/augustine-sancta-virginitate/38/#p-42 - Source: CSEL 41:285–287 - Translation: Claude (claude-opus-5-5), 2026-09-27 Summary: Virginity is God's gift, and Scripture's prayers for obedience and repentance show that even what God commands is done only by his grace. ### Latin text Quapropter haec prima sit induendae humilitatis cogitatio, ne a se sibi putet esse dei uirgo, quod talis est, ac non potius hoc donum optimum desuper descendere a patre luminum, apud quem non est transmutatio nec momenti obumbratio. ita enim non putabit modicum sibi esse dimissum, ut modicum diligat et ignorans dei iustitiam ac suam uolens constituere iustitiae dei non subiciatur. in quo uitio erat Simon ille, quem superauit mulier, cui dimissa sunt peccata multa, quoniam dilexit multum. sed cautius et uerius cogitabit omnia peccata sic habenda, tamquam dimittantur, a quibus deus custodit ne committantur. testes sunt uoces piarum deprecationum in scripturis sanctis. quibus ostenditur ea ipsa, quae praecipiuntur a deo, non fieri nisi dante atque adiuuante qui praecepit. mendaciter enim petuntur, si ea non adiuuante eius gratia facere possemus. quid tam generaliter maximeque praecipitur quam oboedientia, qua custodiuntur mandata dei? et tamen hanc inuenimus optari. tu, inquit, praecepisti mandata tua custodiri nimis. deinde sequitur: utinam dirigantur uiae meae ad custodiendas iustificationes tuas; tunc non confundar, dum inspicio in omnia mandata tua. quod deum praecepisse supra posuit, hoc ut a se inpleretur optauit. hoc fit utique, ne peccetur; quod si peccatum fuerit, praecipitur, ut paeniteat, ne defensione et excusatione peccati pereat superbiendo qui fecit, dum non uult paenitendo perire quod fecit etiam hoc a deo petitur, ut intellegatur non fieri nisi eo praestante a quo petitur. pone, inquit, domine, custodiam ori meo et ostium continentiae circum labia mea. non declines cor meum in uerba mala ad excusandum excusationes in peccatis cum hominibus operantibus iniquitatem. si ergo et oboedientia, qua eius mandata seruamus, et paenitentia, qua peccata nostra non excusamus, sed accusamus, optatur et petitur, manifestum est, quia cum fit, illo dante habetur, illo adiuuante conpletur. apertius etiam dicitur propter oboedientiam: a domino gressus hominis diriguntur et uiam eius uolet; et de paenitentia dicit apostolus: ne forte det illis deus paenitentiam. ### English translation (Claude) So let this be the first thought for putting on humility: that the virgin of God should not think that she is what she is from herself, but rather that this best gift comes down from above, from the Father of lights, with whom there is no change nor shadow of turning. For so she will not think that little has been forgiven her, so as to love little, and, not knowing the righteousness of God and wishing to establish her own, fail to submit to the righteousness of God. In this fault was that Simon whom the woman surpassed, whose many sins were forgiven because she loved much. But she will think more cautiously and more truly that all sins from committing which God keeps her are to be reckoned as though forgiven. Witnesses are the words of devout supplications in the holy Scriptures, by which it is shown that the very things commanded by God are not done except by the gift and help of him who commanded them. For they are asked for falsely if we could do them without the help of his grace. What is commanded so generally and so emphatically as obedience, by which the commandments of God are kept? And yet we find it prayed for. “You,” it says, “have commanded that your commandments be kept exceedingly.” Then follows: “O that my ways may be directed to keep your statutes; then I shall not be put to shame, while I look into all your commandments.” What he set down above that God commanded, he prayed might be fulfilled by himself. This is done so that there may be no sin; but if there has been sin, repentance is commanded, lest he who did it perish through pride by defending and excusing the sin, while unwilling that what he did should perish through repentance. This too is asked of God, so that it may be understood that it is not done except by the gift of him from whom it is asked. “Set, O Lord,” it says, “a guard on my mouth and a door of continence around my lips. Do not incline my heart to evil words, to make excuses in sins with men who work iniquity.” If, then, both obedience, by which we keep his commandments, and repentance, by which we do not excuse but accuse our sins, are desired and asked for, it is plain that when they come about, they are had by his gift and completed by his help. It is said still more plainly concerning obedience: “By the Lord a man's steps are directed, and he will will his way”; and concerning repentance the apostle says: “in case God may give them repentance.” ### Scripture references - Jas 1:17: quotation, high confidence - Luke 7:47: allusion, high confidence - Rom 10:3: allusion, high confidence - Luke 7:40: allusion, high confidence - Ps 119:4 (118:4 LXX): quotation, high confidence - Ps 119:5 (118:5 LXX): quotation, high confidence - Ps 119:6 (118:6 LXX): quotation, high confidence - Ps 141:3 (140:3 LXX): quotation, high confidence - Ps 141:4 (140:4 LXX): quotation, high confidence - Ps 37:23 (36:23 LXX): quotation, high confidence - 2 Tim 2:25: quotation, high confidence ### Translation notes - The Psalms are quoted in their Latin form: Ps 119:4–6 (118:4–6), 141:3–4 (140:3–4), 37:23 (36:23). Paenitentia is rendered 'repentance'. ### Citation (SBL) Augustine, Virginit. 42 (CSEL 41:285–287; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/augustine-sancta-virginitate/38/#p-42). ## On Holy Virginity 43 - URL: https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/augustine-sancta-virginitate/38/#p-43 - Source: CSEL 41:287–288 - Translation: Claude (claude-opus-5-5), 2026-09-27 Summary: Both continence and the wisdom to know it is God's gift come from God, so virgins should love much and fear pride. ### Latin text De ipsa etiam continentia nonne apertissime dictum est: et cum scirem, quia nemo esse potest continens nisi deus det, et hoc ipsum erat sapientiae scire, cuius esset hoc donum? Sed forte continentia donum dei est, sapientiam uero sibi ipse homo praestat, qua illud donum non suum, sed dei esse cognoscat. immo dominus sapientes facit caecos, et: testimonium dei fidele sapientiam praestat paruulis, et: si quis indiget sapientia, postulet a deo, qui dat omnibus affluenter et non inproperat, et dabitur ei. sapientes autem esse uirgines decet, ne lampades earum extinguantur. quomodo sapientes nisi non alta sapientes, sed humilibus consentientes? dixit enim homini ipsa sapientia: ecce pietas est sapientia. si ergo nihil habes, quod non accepisti, noli altum sapere, sed time, et noli modicum diligere, quasi a quo tibi modicum dimissum est, sed potius multum dilige, a quo tibi multum tributum est. si enim diligit, cui donatum est, ne redderet, quanto magis debet diligere, cui donatum est, ut haberet! nam et quisquis ab initio pudicus permanet, ab illo regitur; et quisquis ex inpudico pudicus fit, ab illo corrigitur; et quisquis usque in finem inpudicus est, ab illo deseritur. hoc autem ille occulto iudicio facere potest, iniquo non potest. et fortasse ideo latet, ut plus timeatur et minus superbiatur. ### English translation (Claude) Concerning continence itself, too, has it not been said most plainly: “And when I knew that no one can be continent unless God gives it—and this very thing was part of wisdom, to know whose gift this was”? But perhaps continence is the gift of God, while wisdom, by which he knows that that gift is not his own but God's, man provides for himself? On the contrary: “The Lord makes the blind wise,” and, “The testimony of the Lord is faithful, giving wisdom to little ones,” and, “If anyone lacks wisdom, let him ask of God, who gives to all generously and does not reproach, and it will be given him.” It befits virgins to be wise, lest their lamps go out. How wise, unless not high-minded, but agreeing with the lowly? For Wisdom itself has said to man: “Behold, piety is wisdom.” If, then, you have nothing that you did not receive, do not be high-minded, but fear; and do not love little, as one to whom little has been forgiven, but rather love much him by whom much has been given you. For if he loves to whom it was granted that he need not repay, how much more ought she to love to whom it was granted that she should have! For whoever remains chaste from the beginning is ruled by him; whoever becomes chaste from unchaste is corrected by him; and whoever is unchaste to the end is abandoned by him. This he can do by a hidden judgment; by an unjust one he cannot. And perhaps it is hidden so that he may be feared more and pride may be less. ### Scripture references - Ps 146:8 (145:8 LXX): quotation, high confidence - Ps 19:7 (18:8 LXX): quotation, high confidence - Jas 1:5: quotation, high confidence - Matt 25:8: allusion, high confidence - Rom 12:16: allusion, high confidence - Job 28:28: quotation, high confidence - 1 Cor 4:7: allusion, high confidence - Rom 11:20: quotation, high confidence - Luke 7:47: allusion, high confidence - Luke 7:42: allusion, medium confidence ### Extrabiblical texts - Wis 8:21 (Wisdom of Solomon): quotation, high confidence ### Translation notes - 'No one can be continent unless God gives it' is Wis 8:21 in its Latin form. 'The Lord makes the blind wise' is Ps 146:8 (145:8) in the Greek and Latin form; 'piety is wisdom' is Job 28:28 in the Greek and Latin form. ### Citation (SBL) Augustine, Virginit. 43 (CSEL 41:287–288; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/augustine-sancta-virginitate/38/#p-43). ## On Holy Virginity 44 - URL: https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/augustine-sancta-virginitate/38/#p-44 - Source: CSEL 41:288–289 - Translation: Claude (claude-opus-5-5), 2026-09-27 Summary: Knowing that her virginity is God's gift, a virgin must not despise others, and her humility must be real, not feigned. ### Latin text Deinde iam sciens homo gratia dei se esse quod est, non incidat in alium superbiae laqueum, ut de ipsa dei gratia se extollendo spernat ceteros. quo uitio alius ille pharisaeus et de bonis, quae habebat, deo gratias agebat et tamen se super publicanum peccata confitentem extollebat. quid igitur faciat uirgo, quid cogitet, ne se extollat super eos uel eas, quae hoc tam magno dono carent? neque enim simulare debet humilitatem, sed exhibere; nam simulatio humilitatis maior superbia est. ideo scriptura uolens ostendere ueracem humilitatem esse oportere, cum dixisset: quanto magnus es, tanto humila te in omnibus, mox quoque subdidit: et coram deo inuenies gratiam, utique ubi se fallaciter humilare non posset. ### English translation (Claude) Next, a person who now knows that he is what he is by the grace of God must not fall into another snare of pride, so that by exalting himself over the grace of God itself he despises the rest. By this fault that other one, the Pharisee, both gave thanks to God for the goods he had and yet exalted himself over the tax collector who confessed his sins. What, then, should a virgin do, what should she think, so as not to exalt herself over the men or women who lack so great a gift? For she ought not to feign humility but to show it; for feigned humility is greater pride. That is why Scripture, wishing to show that humility must be truthful, having said, “The greater you are, the more humble yourself in all things,” at once added, “and you will find grace before God”—before whom, certainly, one could not humble oneself deceitfully. ### Scripture references - Luke 18:11: allusion, high confidence - Luke 18:13: allusion, high confidence ### Extrabiblical texts - Sir 3:18 (Sirach): quotation, high confidence ### Citation (SBL) Augustine, Virginit. 44 (CSEL 41:288–289; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/augustine-sancta-virginitate/38/#p-44). ## On Holy Virginity 45 - URL: https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/augustine-sancta-virginitate/38/#p-45 - Source: CSEL 41:289–290 - Translation: Claude (claude-opus-5-5), 2026-09-27 Summary: Virginity ranks above marriage, but a virgin cannot know whether a married woman may be readier for martyrdom than she. ### Latin text Proinde quid dicemus? estne aliquid, quod uirgo dei ueraciter cogitet, unde se fideli mulieri non tantum uiduae, uerum etiam coniugatae praeferre non audeat? non ego reprobam dico; nam quis nesciat oboedientem mulierem inoboedienti uirgini praeponendam? sed cum ambae sunt oboedientes praeceptis dei, itane trepidabit sanctam uirginitatem etiam castis nuptiis et continentiam praeferre conubio, fructum centenum praeire triceno? immo uero non dubitet hanc rem illi praeponere. haec tamen uel haec uirgo oboediens et deum timens illi uel illi mulieri oboedienti et deum timenti se anteferre non audeat; alioquin non erit humilis, et deus superbis resistit. quid ergo cogitabit? occulta scilicet dona dei, quae nonnisi interrogatio temptationis etiam in semet ipso unicuique declarat. ut enim cetera taceam, unde scit uirgo, quamuis sollicita quae sunt domini, quomodo placeat domino, ne forte propter aliquam sibi incognitam mentis infirmitatem nondum sit matura martyrio, illa uero mulier, cui se praeferre gestiebat, iam possit bibere calicem dominicae humilitatis, quem prius bibendum discipulis amatoribus sublimitatis opposuit? unde, inquam, scit, ne forte ipsa nondum sit Thecla, iam sit illa Crispina? Certe nisi adsit temptatio, nulla doni huius fit demonstratio. ### English translation (Claude) What, then, shall we say? Is there anything a virgin of God may truthfully think, by which she will not dare to prefer herself to a believing woman, not only a widow but even a married woman? I am not speaking of a reprobate woman; for who does not know that an obedient woman is to be set above a disobedient virgin? But when both are obedient to God's commands, will she then hesitate to prefer holy virginity even to chaste marriage, and continence to wedlock, the hundredfold fruit to the thirtyfold? No indeed, let her not hesitate to set the one thing above the other. Yet let this or that virgin, obedient and fearing God, not dare to set herself above this or that woman who is obedient and fears God; otherwise she will not be humble, and God resists the proud. What, then, will she think? The hidden gifts of God, which only the questioning of temptation makes known to each, even in himself. To say nothing of other things, how does a virgin know—though she is anxious about the things of the Lord, how she may please the Lord—whether perhaps, because of some weakness of mind unknown to her, she is not yet ripe for martyrdom, while that woman, over whom she was eager to prefer herself, can already drink the cup of the Lord's humility, which he set before his disciples, lovers of loftiness, to be drunk first? How, I say, does she know whether perhaps she is not yet a Thecla, while that woman is already a Crispina? Certainly, unless temptation is present, there is no proof of this gift. ### Scripture references - Matt 13:8: allusion, high confidence - Matt 13:23: allusion, high confidence - Jas 4:6: quotation, high confidence - 1 Cor 7:32: allusion, high confidence - 1 Cor 7:34: allusion, high confidence - Matt 20:22: allusion, high confidence ### Extrabiblical texts - Acts Paul (Acts of Paul): allusion, medium confidence ### Translation notes - Thecla is the virgin disciple of Paul in the Acts of Paul and Thecla; Crispina was a married woman of Africa martyred in 304. ### Citation (SBL) Augustine, Virginit. 45 (CSEL 41:289–290; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/augustine-sancta-virginitate/38/#p-45). ## On Holy Virginity 46 - URL: https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/augustine-sancta-virginitate/38/#p-46 - Source: CSEL 41:290–292 - Translation: Claude (claude-opus-5-5), 2026-09-27 Summary: Augustine weighs readings of the hundredfold, sixtyfold, and thirtyfold fruit and concludes that God's gifts are more varied than three grades. ### Latin text Hoc autem tam magnum est, ut eum fructum centenum quidam intellegant. perhibet enim praeclarissimum testimonium ecclesiastica auctoritas, in qua fidelibus notum est quo loco martyres et quo defunctae sanctimoniales ad altaris sacramenta recitentur. sed quid significet fecunditatis illa diuersitas, uiderint, qui haec melius quam nos intellegunt: siue uirginalis uita in centeno fructu sit, in sexageno uidualis, in triceno autem coniugalis; siue centena fertilitas martyrio potius inputetur, sexagena continentiae, tricena conubio; siue uirginitas accedente martyrio centenum fructum inpleat, sola uero in sexageno sit, coniugati autem tricenum ferentes ad sexagenum perueniant, si martyres fuerint; siue, quod probabilius mihi uidetur, quoniam diuinae gratiae multa sunt munera et est aliud alio maius ac melius — unde dicit apostolus: imitamini autem dona meliora — intellegendum est plura esse quam ut in tres differentias distribui possint. primum, ne continentiam uidualem aut in nullo fructu constituamus aut ad coniugalis pudicitiae meritum deponamus aut uirginali gloriae coaequemus aut coronam martyrii uel in habitu animi, etiamsi desit temptationis examen, uel in ipsa passionis experientia constitutam cuilibet illarum trium castitati sine ullo incremento fertilitatis adcedere existimemus. deinde ubi ponimus, quod multi ac multae ita custodiunt continentiam uirginalem, ut tamen non faciant, quae dominus ait: si uis esse perfectus, uade uende omnia quae habes et da pauperibus, et habebis thesaurum in caelo, et ueni sequere me, nec audeant eorum cohabitationi sociari, in quibus nemo dicit aliquid proprium, sed sunt eis omnia communia: nihilne putamus fructificationis accedere uirginibus dei, cum hoc faciunt? aut sine ullo fructu esse uirgines dei, etiamsi hoc non faciant? Multa ergo sunt dona et aliis alia clariora ac superiora, singulis singula. et aliquando alter fructuosus est donis paucioribus, sed potioribus, alter inferioribus, sed pluribus. et quemadmodum inter se uel coaequentur uel distinguantur in accipiendis aeternis honoribus, quis hominum audeat iudicare? dum tamen constet et multa esse ista diuersa et non ad praesens tempus, sed in aeternum prodesse meliora. sed dominum tres arbitror uoluisse fructificationis commemorare differentias, ceteras intellegentibus reliquisse. nam et alius euangelista solum commemorauit centuplum. numquid ideo putandus est alia duo uel inprobasse uel ignorasse ac non potius intellegenda reliquisse? ### English translation (Claude) This gift is so great that some understand it to be the hundredfold fruit. For the authority of the church bears most illustrious witness to it, in which the faithful know at what place the martyrs, and at what place deceased consecrated women, are named at the sacraments of the altar. But what that difference in fruitfulness signifies, let those consider who understand these things better than we: whether the virginal life is in the hundredfold fruit, the widowed in the sixtyfold, and the married in the thirtyfold; or whether hundredfold fertility is rather to be ascribed to martyrdom, sixtyfold to continence, thirtyfold to marriage; or whether virginity, with martyrdom added, fills up the hundredfold fruit, but alone is in the sixtyfold, while the married, bearing thirtyfold, reach sixtyfold if they become martyrs; or whether—which seems more probable to me—since the gifts of divine grace are many, and one is greater and better than another (whence the apostle says, “But imitate the better gifts”), we should understand that there are more of them than can be distributed into three differences. First, so that we neither place widowed continence in no fruit at all, nor lower it to the merit of conjugal chastity, nor make it equal to virginal glory, nor think that the crown of martyrdom—whether it lies in the disposition of the mind, even if the test of temptation is lacking, or in the actual experience of suffering—is added to any of those three kinds of chastity without any increase of fertility. Next, where do we put the fact that many men and women keep virginal continence in such a way that they do not do what the Lord says, “If you wish to be perfect, go, sell all that you have and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven; and come, follow me,” and do not dare to join the common life of those among whom no one calls anything his own, but they have all things in common? Do we think that no fruitfulness is added to the virgins of God when they do this? Or that the virgins of God are without any fruit even if they do not do it? There are, then, many gifts, and some brighter and higher than others, each in each. And sometimes one person is fruitful with fewer but more excellent gifts, another with lesser but more numerous ones. And how they are made equal or distinguished among themselves in receiving eternal honors, what human being would dare to judge? Only let it be settled that these differences are many, and that the better ones profit not for the present time but for eternity. But I think the Lord wished to mention three differences of fruitfulness and left the rest to those who understand. For another evangelist mentioned only the hundredfold. Is he therefore to be thought to have disapproved of or not known the other two, and not rather to have left them to be understood? ### Scripture references - Matt 13:8: allusion, high confidence - Matt 13:23: allusion, high confidence - Mark 4:20: allusion, medium confidence - 1 Cor 12:31: quotation, high confidence - Matt 19:21: quotation, high confidence - Acts 4:32: allusion, high confidence - Luke 8:8: allusion, high confidence ### Translation notes - The liturgical detail—martyrs and deceased consecrated women named at different places in the eucharistic prayer—is Augustine's testimony to the practice of his church. 'Imitate the better gifts' is his Latin form of 1 Cor 12:31. The evangelist who mentions only the hundredfold is Luke (8:8). ### Citation (SBL) Augustine, Virginit. 46 (CSEL 41:290–292; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/augustine-sancta-virginitate/38/#p-46). ## On Holy Virginity 47 - URL: https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/augustine-sancta-virginitate/38/#p-47 - Source: CSEL 41:292–293 - Translation: Claude (claude-opus-5-5), 2026-09-27 Summary: No one prefers virginity to martyrdom, and since the readiness for martyrdom is hidden until tested, virgins must think others possibly better than themselves. ### Latin text Sed, ut dicere coeperam, siue centenus fructus sit deo deuota uirginitas siue alio aliquo modo, uel quem commemorauimus uel quem non commemorauimus, sit illa fertilitatis intellegenda distantia, nemo tamen, quantum puto, ausus fuerit uirginitatem praeferre martyrio ac nemo dubitauerit hoc donum occultum esse, si examinatrix desit temptatio. Habet itaque uirgo, quod cogitet, quod ei prosit ad seruandam humilitatem, ne uiolet illam, quae supereminet donis omnibus, caritatem, sine qua utique quaecumque alia uel pauca uel plura uel magna uel parua habuerit, nihil est: habet, inquam, quod cogitet, ut non infletur, non aemuletur, ita se scilicet bonum uirginale coniugali bono multo amplius et melius profiteri, ut tamen nesciat, utrum illa uel illa coniugata iam pati pro Christo possit, adhuc uero ipsa non possit, et in hoc ei parcatur, quia infirmitas eius temptatione non interrogatur. fidelis enim deus, ait apostolus, qui non uos permittat temptari super id quod potestis, sed faciat cum temptatione etiam exitum, ut possitis sustinere. fortassis ergo illi uel illi coniugalis uitae retinentes in suo genere laudabilem modum iam possint contra inimicum ad iniquitatem cogentem etiam laniatu uiscerum et effusione sanguinis dimicare; illi autem uel illi a pueritia continentes seque castrantes propter regnum caelorum nondum tamen ualeant talia uel pro iustitia uel pro ipsa pudicitia sustinere. aliud est enim pro ueritate ac proposito sancto non consentire suadenti atque blandienti, aliud non cedere etiam torquenti atque ferienti. latent ista in facultatibus et uiribus animorum, temtata panduntur, experientia propalantur. ut ergo quisque non infletur, ex eo, quod se peruidet posse, humiliter cogitet quod ignorat aliquid praestantius se fortasse non posse, aliquos autem, qui illud, quo sibi gloriose notus est, nec habent nec profitentur, hoc quod ipse non potest posse. ita seruabitur non fallaci, sed ueraci humilitate: honore mutuo praeuenientes, et: alter alterum existimantes superiorem sibi. ### English translation (Claude) But, as I had begun to say, whether the hundredfold fruit is virginity devoted to God, or that difference of fertility is to be understood in some other way, whether one we have mentioned or one we have not, still no one, I think, would dare to prefer virginity to martyrdom, and no one would doubt that this gift is hidden if the testing of temptation is absent. So a virgin has something to think about that will help her keep humility, lest she violate that love which surpasses all gifts, without which whatever else she has, few or many, great or small, is nothing. She has, I say, something to think about, so that she may not be puffed up, may not be jealous: namely, that she should profess the virginal good to be far greater and better than the conjugal good, yet not know whether this or that married woman can already suffer for Christ while she herself cannot yet, and is spared in this because her weakness is not questioned by temptation. For “God is faithful,” says the apostle, “who will not let you be tempted beyond what you are able, but with the temptation will also make a way out, so that you may be able to endure.” Perhaps, then, this or that man or woman, keeping in married life the measure praiseworthy in its kind, can already fight against an enemy who compels to iniquity, even with the tearing of the flesh and the shedding of blood; while this or that man or woman, continent from childhood and castrating themselves for the kingdom of heaven, may not yet be strong enough to endure such things either for righteousness or for chastity itself. For it is one thing, for the sake of truth and a holy purpose, not to consent to one who persuades and flatters, and another not to yield even to one who tortures and strikes. These things lie hidden in the capacities and strengths of souls; when tested they are laid open, by experience they are made public. So that no one may be puffed up by what he sees he can do, let him humbly think that there may be something more excellent, unknown to him, that he cannot do, while some who neither have nor profess that for which he is gloriously known to himself can do what he cannot. So one will be kept by humility not deceitful but truthful: “outdoing one another in honor,” and, “each thinking the other better than himself.” ### Scripture references - 1 Cor 13:2: allusion, high confidence - 1 Cor 13:4: allusion, high confidence - 1 Cor 10:13: quotation, high confidence - Matt 19:12: allusion, high confidence - Rom 12:10: quotation, high confidence - Phil 2:3: quotation, high confidence ### Translation notes - 'Castrating themselves' echoes the Latin of Matt 19:12, taken figuratively. ### Citation (SBL) Augustine, Virginit. 47 (CSEL 41:292–293; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/augustine-sancta-virginitate/38/#p-47). ## On Holy Virginity 48 - URL: https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/augustine-sancta-virginitate/38/#p-48 - Source: CSEL 41:293–294 - Translation: Claude (claude-opus-5-5), 2026-09-27 Summary: Since all the baptized, virgins included, must pray 'Forgive us our debts', no one should boast of being free from sin. ### Latin text Quid iam dicam de ipsa cautela et uigilantia non peccandi? quis gloriabitur castum se habere cor? aut quis gloriabitur mundum se esse a peccato? integra est quidem ab utero matris sancta uirginitas; sed nemo, inquit, mundus in conspectu tuo, nec infans cuius est unius diei uita super terram. seruatur et in fide inuiolata quaedam castitas uirginalis, qua ecclesia uni uiro uirgo casta coaptatur; sed ille unus uir non tantum fideles mente et corpore uirgines, sed omnes omnino christianos ab spiritalibus usque ad carnales, ab apostolis usque ad ultimos paenitentes tamquam a summis caelorum usque ad terminos eorum docuit orare et in ipsa oratione dicere admonuit: dimitte nobis debita nostra, sicut et nos dimittimus debitoribus nostris, ubi per hoc quod petimus, quid etiam nos esse meminerimus ostendit. neque enim pro eis debitis, quae totius praeteritae uitae in baptismo per eius pacem nobis dimissa esse confidimus, nos praecepit orare dicentes: dimitte nobis debita nostra, sicut et nos dimittimus debitoribus nostris; alioquin hanc orationem catechumeni potius usque ad baptismum orare deberent. cum uero eam baptizati orant, praepositi et plebes, pastores et greges, satis ostenditur in hac uita, quae tota temptatio est, neminem se tamquam ab omnibus peccatis inmunem debere gloriari. ### English translation (Claude) What shall I now say about the caution and vigilance itself against sinning? Who will boast that he has a chaste heart? Or who will boast that he is clean from sin? Holy virginity, indeed, is intact from the mother's womb; but, it says, “no one is clean in your sight, not even an infant whose life on earth is one day.” There is kept also, in inviolate faith, a certain virginal chastity, by which the church is fitted as a chaste virgin to one husband; but that one husband taught not only the faithful who are virgins in mind and body, but absolutely all Christians, from the spiritual to the carnal, from the apostles to the last of the penitents, as from the heights of the heavens to their ends, to pray, and admonished them to say in that very prayer, “Forgive us our debts, as we also forgive our debtors”; and by what we ask there he showed also what we should remember we are. For he did not command us to pray, saying, “Forgive us our debts, as we also forgive our debtors,” for those debts of our whole past life which we trust have been forgiven us in baptism through his peace; otherwise it is catechumens rather who ought to pray this prayer, up to baptism. But since the baptized pray it, leaders and peoples, shepherds and flocks, it is shown clearly enough that in this life, which is all temptation, no one ought to boast as though free from all sins. ### Scripture references - Prov 20:9: quotation, high confidence - Job 14:4: quotation, high confidence - Job 14:5: quotation, high confidence - 2 Cor 11:2: allusion, high confidence - Ps 19:6 (18:7 LXX): allusion, medium confidence - Matt 6:12: quotation, high confidence - Job 7:1: allusion, medium confidence ### Translation notes - 'Penitents' are those under the church's discipline of public penance. The first two questions are Prov 20:9; the infant 'whose life is one day' is Job 14:4–5 in the Greek and Latin form. ### Citation (SBL) Augustine, Virginit. 48 (CSEL 41:293–294; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/augustine-sancta-virginitate/38/#p-48). ## On Holy Virginity 49 - URL: https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/augustine-sancta-virginitate/38/#p-49 - Source: CSEL 41:294–295 - Translation: Claude (claude-opus-5-5), 2026-09-27 Summary: The virgins of Revelation are praised for having no lie in their mouth, so they must confess, with John, that they are not without sin. ### Latin text Proinde etiam uirgines dei inreprehensibiles quidem sequuntur agnum, quocumque ierit, et peccatorum purgatione perfecta et uirginitate seruata, quae non rediret amissa; sed quia eadem ipsa Apocalypsis, ubi tales tali reuelati sunt, etiam hinc eos laudat, quod in ore eorum non sit inuentum mendacium, meminerint etiam in hoc esse ueraces, ne se audeant dicere non habere peccatum. idem quippe Iohannes, qui illud uidit, hoc dixit: si dixerimus, quia peccatum non habemus, nos ipsos decipimus, et ueritas in nobis non est. quodsi confessi fuerimus delicta nostra, fidelis est et iustus, ut dimittat nobis peccata nostra et purget nos ab omni iniquitate. quodsi dixerimus, quoniam non peccauimus, mendacem faciemus eum, et uerbum eius non erit in nobis. hoc certe non illis aut illis, sed christianis omnibus dicitur, ubi et uirgines se debent agnoscere. sic enim erunt sine mendacio, quales in Apocalypsi apparuerunt. ac per hoc quamdiu nondum est in caelesti sublimitate perfectio, inuituperabiles facit in humilitate confessio. ### English translation (Claude) So the virgins of God too follow the Lamb wherever he goes, blameless indeed, both with the cleansing of sins completed and with virginity preserved, which, once lost, would not return. But since that same Apocalypse, where such people were revealed to such a man, praises them also for this, that no lie was found in their mouth, let them remember to be truthful in this too, and not dare to say that they have no sin. For the same John who saw that said this: “If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us. But if we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and cleanse us from all iniquity. If we say that we have not sinned, we make him a liar, and his word is not in us.” This is certainly said not to these or those, but to all Christians, among whom virgins too ought to recognize themselves. For so they will be without a lie, such as they appeared in the Apocalypse. And so, as long as perfection is not yet present in the heavenly height, confession in humility makes them blameless. ### Scripture references - Rev 14:4: allusion, high confidence - Rev 14:5: allusion, high confidence - 1 John 1:8: quotation, high confidence - 1 John 1:9: quotation, high confidence - 1 John 1:10: quotation, high confidence ### Citation (SBL) Augustine, Virginit. 49 (CSEL 41:294–295; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/augustine-sancta-virginitate/38/#p-49). ## On Holy Virginity 50 - URL: https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/augustine-sancta-virginitate/38/#p-50 - Source: CSEL 41:295–296 - Translation: Claude (claude-opus-5-5), 2026-09-27 Summary: Confession is no license to sin; small sins that creep in are made grave by pride but cleansed by Christ through humility. ### Latin text Sed rursus, ne per occasionem huius sententiae quisquam cum mortifera securitate peccaret seque trahendum permitteret tamquam mox delendis facili confessione peccatis, continuo subiecit: filioli mei, haec scripsi uobis, ut non peccetis. et si quis peccauerit, aduocatum habemus ad patrem Iesum Christum iustum; et ipse propitiator est peccatorum nostrorum. nemo itaque a peccato tamquam rediturus abscedat nec se huius modi quasi societatis pacto cum iniquitate constringat, ut eam confiteri quam cauere delectet. Sed quoniam etiam satagentibus uigilantibusque, ne peccent, subrepunt quodam modo ex humana fragilitate peccata, quamuis parua, quamuis pauca, non tamen nulla, eadem ipsa fiunt magna et grauia, si eis superbia incrementum et pondus adiecerit; a sacerdote autem, quem habemus in caelis, si pia humilitate perimantur, tota felicitate purgantur. ### English translation (Claude) But again, lest anyone, taking occasion from this statement, should sin with deadly security and let himself be drawn along, as though his sins were soon to be wiped out by easy confession, he at once added: “My little children, I have written these things to you so that you may not sin. And if anyone sins, we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous; and he is the propitiation for our sins.” So let no one depart from sin as one who will return to it, nor bind himself to iniquity by a kind of partnership agreement, so that it delights him more to confess it than to beware of it. But since even in those who strive and watch not to sin, sins creep in somehow from human frailty—small, few, but not none—these very sins become great and grave if pride adds growth and weight to them; but if they are destroyed by devout humility, they are purged with complete happiness by the priest whom we have in heaven. ### Scripture references - 1 John 2:1: quotation, high confidence - 1 John 2:2: quotation, high confidence - Heb 8:1: allusion, medium confidence ### Citation (SBL) Augustine, Virginit. 50 (CSEL 41:295–296; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/augustine-sancta-virginitate/38/#p-50). ## On Holy Virginity 51 - URL: https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/augustine-sancta-virginitate/38/#p-51 - Source: CSEL 41:296 - Translation: Claude (claude-opus-5-5), 2026-09-27 Summary: Even if some could live without sin, the greater they are the more they must humble themselves, following Christ the meek and humble teacher. ### Latin text Sed non contendo cum eis, qui adserunt hominem posse in hac uita sine ullo peccato uiuere, non contendo, non contradico. fortassis enim ex nostra miseria magnos metimur, et conparantes nosmet ipsos nobismet ipsis non intellegimus. unum scio, quod isti magni, quales non sumus, quales nondum experti sumus, quanto magni sunt, tanto humilant se in omnibus, ut coram deo inueniant gratiam. quamlibet enim magni sint, non est seruus maior domino suo uel discipulus magistro suo. et utique ille est dominus, qui dicit: omnia mihi tradita sunt a patre meo, et ille est magister, qui dicit: uenite ad me omnes, qui laboratis, et discite a me. et tamen quid discimus? quoniam mitis sum, inquit, et humilis corde. ### English translation (Claude) But I do not argue with those who assert that a man can live in this life without any sin; I do not argue, I do not contradict. For perhaps we measure the great by our own misery, and, comparing ourselves with ourselves, we do not understand. One thing I know: that these great ones—such as we are not, such as we have not yet experienced—the greater they are, the more they humble themselves in all things, so that they may find grace before God. For however great they may be, the servant is not greater than his master, nor the disciple than his teacher. And certainly he is the Lord who says, “All things have been handed over to me by my Father,” and he is the teacher who says, “Come to me, all who labor, and learn from me.” And yet what do we learn? “That I am meek,” he says, “and humble of heart.” ### Scripture references - 2 Cor 10:12: allusion, high confidence - Matt 10:24: quotation, high confidence - Matt 11:27: quotation, high confidence - Matt 11:28: quotation, high confidence - Matt 11:29: quotation, high confidence ### Extrabiblical texts - Sir 3:18 (Sirach): allusion, high confidence ### Citation (SBL) Augustine, Virginit. 51 (CSEL 41:296; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/augustine-sancta-virginitate/38/#p-51). ## On Holy Virginity 52 - URL: https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/augustine-sancta-virginitate/38/#p-52 - Source: CSEL 41:296–298 - Translation: Claude (claude-opus-5-5), 2026-09-27 Summary: Humility is the dwelling of love, the guardian of virginity; humble married people follow the Lamb more easily than proud virgins. ### Latin text Hic dicet aliquis: non est hoc iam de uirginitate, sed de humilitate scribere. quasi uero quaecumque uirginitas, ac non illa, quae secundum deum est, a nobis praedicanda suscepta est. quod bonum quanto magnum uideo, tanto ei, ne pereat, in futurum superbiam pertimesco. non ergo custodit bonum uirginale nisi deus ipse, qui dedit, et deus caritas est. custos ergo uirginitatis caritas; locus autem huius custodis humilitas. ibi quippe habitat, qui dixit super humilem et quietum et trementem uerba sua requiescere spiritum suum. quid itaque alienum feci, si bonum, quod laudaui, uolens tutius custodiri, curaui etiam locum praeparare custodi? fidenter enim dico nec mihi ne irascantur timeo, quos ut mecum sibi timeant sollicitus moneo: facilius sequuntur agnum, etsi non quocumque ierit, certe quousque potuerint, coniugati humiles quam superbientes uirgines. quomodo enim sequitur, ad quem non uult accedere? aut quo modo accedit, ad quem non uenit, ut discat, quoniam mitis est et humilis corde? illos proinde sequentes agnus quocumque ierit ducit, in quibus prius ipse ubi caput inclinet inuenerit. nam et quidam superbus et dolosus hoc ei dixerat: domine, sequar te quocumque ieris. cui respondit: uulpes foueas habent et uolatilia caeli nidos; filius autem hominis non habet, ubi caput suum inclinet. arguebat nomine uulpium astutam dolositatem et nomine uolucrum uentosam elationem, in quo ubi requiesceret piam non inueniebat humilitatem. ac per hoc nusquam omnino secutus est dominum, qui se promiserat non usque ad quendam prouectum, sed omnino quocumque ierit secuturum. ### English translation (Claude) Here someone will say: This is no longer writing about virginity but about humility. As though we had undertaken to proclaim virginity of any kind, and not that which is according to God. The greater I see this good to be, the more I fear pride for it in the future, lest it perish. No one, then, guards the virginal good but God himself, who gave it; and God is love. The guardian of virginity, then, is love; and the place of this guardian is humility. For there dwells he who said that his Spirit rests on the humble and quiet one who trembles at his words. What, then, have I done that is foreign to my subject if, wishing the good I have praised to be guarded more safely, I have also taken care to prepare a place for the guardian? For I say confidently, and I do not fear that those will be angry with me whom I anxiously warn to fear for themselves with me: humble married people follow the Lamb more easily—even if not wherever he goes, at least as far as they can—than proud virgins. For how does one follow him to whom one will not draw near? Or how does one draw near to him to whom one does not come to learn that he is meek and humble of heart? So the Lamb leads wherever he goes those followers in whom he has first found where to lay his head. For a certain proud and deceitful man had said to him, “Lord, I will follow you wherever you go.” He answered him: “Foxes have holes, and the birds of the sky have nests; but the Son of Man has nowhere to lay his head.” By the name of foxes he rebuked crafty deceit, and by the name of birds windy self-exaltation, in which he found no devout humility where he might rest. And so he did not follow the Lord anywhere at all, he who had promised to follow him not to some point of progress but absolutely wherever he went. ### Scripture references - 1 John 4:8: quotation, high confidence - Isa 66:2: allusion, high confidence - Rev 14:4: allusion, high confidence - Matt 11:29: allusion, high confidence - Matt 8:19: quotation, high confidence - Matt 8:20: quotation, high confidence ### Citation (SBL) Augustine, Virginit. 52 (CSEL 41:296–298; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/augustine-sancta-virginitate/38/#p-52). ## On Holy Virginity 53 - URL: https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/augustine-sancta-virginitate/38/#p-53 - Source: CSEL 41:298–299 - Translation: Claude (claude-opus-5-5), 2026-09-27 Summary: Augustine urges virgins to follow the Lamb humbly, trusting God to keep his gifts, praying against temptation, and confessing their sins. ### Latin text Quapropter hoc agite, uirgines dei, hoc agite: sequimini agnum quocumque ierit. sed prius ad eum, quem sequamini, uenite et discite, quoniam mitis est et humilis corde. humiliter ad humilem uenite, si amatis, et ne discedatis ab illo, ne cadatis. qui enim timet ab illo discedere, rogat et dicit: non mihi ueniat pes superbiae. pergite uiam sublimitatis pede humilitatis. ipse exaltat humiliter sequentes, quem descendere non piguit ad iacentes. dona eius illi seruanda committite, fortitudinem uestram ad illum custodite. quidquid mali ipso custodiente non committitis, tamquam remissum ab illo deputate, ne modicum uobis existimantes dimissum modicum diligatis et tundentes pectora publicanos ruinosa iactantia contemnatis. de uiribus uestris expertis cauete, ne, quia ferre aliquid potuistis, inflemini; de inexpertis autem orate, ne supra quam potestis ferre temptemini. existimate aliquos in occulto superiores, quibus estis in manifesto meliores. cum aliorum bona forte ignota uobis benigne creduntur a uobis, uestra uobis nota non conparatione minuuntur, sed dilectione firmantur; et quae forte adhuc desunt, tanto dantur facilius, quanto desiderantur humilius. perseuerantes in numero uestro praebeant uobis exemplum; cadentes autem augeant timorem uestrum. illud amate, ut imitemini, hoc lugete, ne inflemini. iustitiam uestram nolite statuere, deo uos iustificanti subdite. ueniam peccatis donate alienis, orate pro uestris; futura uigilando uitate, praeterita confitendo delete. ### English translation (Claude) Therefore do this, virgins of God, do this: follow the Lamb wherever he goes. But first come to him whom you are to follow, and learn that he is meek and humble of heart. Come humbly to the humble one, if you love him, and do not depart from him, lest you fall. For he who fears to depart from him asks and says, “Let not the foot of pride come to me.” Go on the way of loftiness with the foot of humility. He himself exalts those who follow humbly, he who did not disdain to come down to those who lay fallen. Entrust his gifts to him to be kept; keep your strength for him. Whatever evil you do not commit because he guards you, reckon as forgiven by him, lest, thinking that little is forgiven you, you love little and with ruinous boasting despise the tax collectors who beat their breasts. Concerning your strength that has been tested, beware lest, because you have been able to bear something, you be puffed up; concerning what is untested, pray that you may not be tempted beyond what you can bear. Consider some to be superior in secret to whom you are better in the open. When the goods of others, perhaps unknown to you, are kindly believed by you, your own, known to you, are not diminished by comparison but strengthened by love; and what perhaps is still lacking is given the more easily the more humbly it is desired. Let those who persevere in your number give you an example; let those who fall increase your fear. Love the one so as to imitate it; mourn the other so as not to be puffed up. Do not establish your own righteousness; submit yourselves to God who justifies you. Grant pardon to the sins of others; pray for your own; avoid future sins by watching, blot out past ones by confessing. ### Scripture references - Rev 14:4: allusion, high confidence - Matt 11:29: allusion, high confidence - Ps 36:11 (35:12 LXX): quotation, high confidence - Ps 59:9 (58:10 LXX): allusion, medium confidence - Luke 7:47: allusion, high confidence - Luke 18:13: allusion, high confidence - 1 Cor 10:13: allusion, high confidence - Phil 2:3: allusion, medium confidence - Rom 10:3: allusion, high confidence ### Translation notes - Ps 36:11 is 35:12 in the Latin numbering; 'keep your strength for him' echoes Ps 59:9 (58:10). ### Citation (SBL) Augustine, Virginit. 53 (CSEL 41:298–299; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/augustine-sancta-virginitate/38/#p-53). ## On Holy Virginity 54 - URL: https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/augustine-sancta-virginitate/38/#p-54 - Source: CSEL 41:299–300 - Translation: Claude (claude-opus-5-5), 2026-09-27 Summary: Virgins who add holy conduct to virginity show the angelic life on earth, but must still humble themselves the more. ### Latin text Ecce iam tales estis, ut professae atque seruatae uirginitati ceteris etiam moribus congruatis. ecce iam non solum homicidiis, sacrificiis diabolicis et abominationibus, furtis, rapinis, fraudibus, periuriis, ebriositatibus omnique luxuria et auaritia, simulationibus, aemulationibus, inpietatibus, crudelitatibus abstinetis, uerum etiam illa, quae leuiora uel sunt uel putantur, non inueniuntur nec oriuntur in uobis: non inprobus uultus, non uagi oculi, non infrenis lingua, non petulans risus, non scurrilis iocus, non indecens habitus, non tumidus aut fluxus incessus; iam non redditis malum pro malo nec maledictum pro maledicto; iam postremo illam mensuram dilectionis inpletis, ut ponatis animas pro fratribus uestris. ecce iam tales estis, quia et tales esse debetis. haec addita uirginitati angelicam uitam hominibus et caeli mores exhibent terris. sed quanto magni estis, quicumque ita magni estis, tanto humilate uos in omnibus, ut coram deo inueniatis gratiam, ne superbis resistat, ne se exaltantes humilet, ne inflatos per angusta non traiciat: quamquam superflua sit sollicitudo, ne ubi feruet caritas, desit humilitas. ### English translation (Claude) See, you are now such that in the rest of your conduct too you are in harmony with the virginity you have professed and kept. See, you now abstain not only from murders, devilish sacrifices and abominations, thefts, robberies, frauds, perjuries, drunkenness and all luxury and greed, pretenses, jealousies, impieties, and cruelties; but even the things that are, or are thought to be, lighter are not found and do not arise in you: no shameless face, no wandering eyes, no unbridled tongue, no wanton laughter, no scurrilous joke, no unseemly dress, no swaggering or mincing gait. You no longer return evil for evil nor curse for curse; you now, finally, fulfill that measure of love by which you lay down your lives for your brothers. See, you are now such, because you ought to be such. These things, added to virginity, show human beings the life of angels and show the earth the ways of heaven. But the greater you are, all of you who are so great, the more humble yourselves in all things, so that you may find grace before God, lest he resist you as proud, lest he humble you as exalting yourselves, lest he not bring you through the narrow ways as puffed up—though concern that humility may be lacking where love is fervent is superfluous. ### Scripture references - 1 Pet 3:9: quotation, high confidence - 1 John 3:16: allusion, high confidence - Jas 4:6: allusion, high confidence - Luke 14:11: allusion, high confidence - Matt 7:14: allusion, medium confidence ### Extrabiblical texts - Sir 3:18 (Sirach): quotation, high confidence ### Citation (SBL) Augustine, Virginit. 54 (CSEL 41:299–300; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/augustine-sancta-virginitate/38/#p-54). ## On Holy Virginity 55 - URL: https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/augustine-sancta-virginitate/38/#p-55 - Source: CSEL 41:300 - Translation: Claude (claude-opus-5-5), 2026-09-27 Summary: Virgins should give Christ, the most beautiful of lovers, all the love they would have given to marriage. ### Latin text Si ergo nuptias contempsistis filiorum hominum, ex quibus gigneretis filios hominum, toto corde amate speciosum forma prae filiis hominum: uacat uobis, liberum est cor a coniugalibus uinculis. inspicite pulchritudinem amatoris uestri, cogitate aequalem patri, subditum et matri, etiam in caelis dominantem et in terris seruientem, creantem omnia, creatum inter omnia. illud ipsum, quod in eo derident superbi, inspicite quam pulchrum sit; internis luminibus inspicite uulnera pendentis, cicatrices resurgentis, sanguinem morientis, pretium credentis, commercium redimentis. Haec quanti ualeant cogitate, haec in statera caritatis adpendite et quidquid amoris in nuptias uestras inpendendum habebatis, illi rependite. ### English translation (Claude) If, then, you have despised marriage with the sons of men, from which you would beget sons of men, love with your whole heart him who is beautiful in form beyond the sons of men. You have leisure for it; your heart is free from the bonds of marriage. Look at the beauty of your lover: think of him equal to the Father, subject also to his mother, ruling even in heaven and serving on earth, creating all things, created among all things. Look how beautiful is that very thing in him at which the proud mock; look with inner eyes at the wounds of the one hanging, the scars of the one rising, the blood of the one dying, the price of the believer, the exchange of the Redeemer. Consider how much these are worth, weigh these in the scale of love, and whatever love you had to spend on your marriage, pay it back to him. ### Scripture references - Ps 45:2 (44:3 LXX): quotation, high confidence - Phil 2:6: allusion, high confidence - Luke 2:51: allusion, high confidence - John 1:3: allusion, high confidence - 1 Cor 1:23: allusion, medium confidence - John 20:27: allusion, medium confidence - 1 Pet 1:19: allusion, medium confidence ### Citation (SBL) Augustine, Virginit. 55 (CSEL 41:300; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/augustine-sancta-virginitate/38/#p-55). ## On Holy Virginity 56 - URL: https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/augustine-sancta-virginitate/56/#p-56 - Source: CSEL 41:300–301 - Translation: Claude (claude-opus-5-5), 2026-09-27 Summary: Christ seeks inner beauty and cannot be made jealous by lies, so virgins may love him securely and wholly. ### Latin text Bene, quod interiorem uestram pulchritudinem quaerit, ubi uobis dedit potestatem filios dei fieri, non quaerit a uobis pulchram carnem, sed pulchros mores, quibus refrenatis et carnem. non est cui de uobis quisquam mentiatur et faciat saeuire zelantem. uidete, cum quanta securitate ametis, cui displicere falsis suspicionibus non timetis. uir et uxor amant se, quoniam uident se, et quod non uident, timent in se; nec certi gaudent ex eo, quod in manifesto est, dum in occulto suspicantur plerumque quod non est. uos in isto, quem oculis non uidetis et fide conspicitis, nec habetis uerum quod reprehendatis, nec eum metuitis, ne de falso forsitan offendatis. si ergo magnum amorem coniugibus deberetis, eum, propter quem coniuges habere noluistis, quantum amare debetis! toto uobis figatur in corde, qui pro uobis est fixus in cruce; totum teneat in animo uestro, quidquid noluistis occupari conubio. parum uobis amare non licet, propter quem non amastis et quod liceret. sic amantibus mitem et humilem corde nullam uobis superbiam pertimesco. ### English translation (Claude) It is good that he seeks your inner beauty, where he gave you power to become children of God; he does not seek from you beautiful flesh, but beautiful conduct, by which you also bridle the flesh. There is no one who can lie to him about you and make him rage with jealousy. See with what security you love one whom you do not fear to displease through false suspicions. Husband and wife love each other because they see each other, and what they do not see they fear in each other; nor do they rejoice securely in what is in the open, while in secret they often suspect what is not there. In him, whom you do not see with your eyes and behold by faith, you neither have anything true to find fault with, nor do you fear that you may perhaps offend him by something false. If, then, you would owe great love to husbands, how much ought you to love him for whose sake you would not have husbands! Let him be fixed in your whole heart who was fixed for you on the cross; let him hold in your soul all that you would not have occupied by marriage. It is not permitted you to love little him for whose sake you did not love even what would have been permitted. Loving thus the one who is meek and humble of heart, I fear no pride for you. ### Scripture references - John 1:12: allusion, high confidence - 1 Pet 1:8: allusion, medium confidence - Matt 11:29: allusion, high confidence ### Citation (SBL) Augustine, Virginit. 56 (CSEL 41:300–301; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/augustine-sancta-virginitate/56/#p-56). ## On Holy Virginity 57 - URL: https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/augustine-sancta-virginitate/56/#p-57 - Source: CSEL 41:301–303 - Translation: Claude (claude-opus-5-5), 2026-09-27 Summary: Augustine closes with the hymn of the three youths in the furnace, which joins holiness to humility. ### Latin text Pro modulo itaque nostro et de sanctitate, qua sanctimoniales proprie dicimini, et de humilitate, qua conseruatur quidquid magnum dicimini, satis locuti sumus. dignius autem illi tres pueri, quibus refrigerium in igne praebebat, quem corde feruentissimo diligebant, uos de hoc opusculo nostro uerborum quidem numero longe breuius, sed pondere auctoritatis multo grandius in hymno, quo ab eis deus honoratur, admoneant. nam sanctitati humilitatem in dei laudatoribus coniungentes apertissime docuerunt, ut tanto quisque caueat, ne superbia decipiatur, quanto sanctius aliquid profertur. proinde uos quoque laudate eum, qui uobis praestat, ut in ardore medio saeculi huius, quamuis coniugio non copulemini, non tamen uramini, et orantes etiam pro nobis benedicite, sancti et humiles corde dominum, hymnum dicite et superexaltate eum in saecula. ### English translation (Claude) According to our small measure, then, we have said enough both about holiness, from which you are properly called consecrated women, and about humility, by which whatever great thing you are called is preserved. But those three youths, to whom he whom they loved with most fervent heart gave refreshment in the fire, may admonish you about this little work of ours more worthily, in the hymn by which God is honored by them—far shorter in the number of words, but much weightier in the weight of authority. For by joining humility to holiness in those who praise God, they taught most plainly that each should beware of being deceived by pride the more, the holier the thing he brings forth. So you too, praise him who grants you that in the midst of the heat of this world, though you are not joined in marriage, you are not burned; and, praying for us too, bless the Lord, you holy and humble of heart; sing a hymn and exalt him above all for ever. ### Scripture references - Dan 3:25: allusion, high confidence - 1 Cor 7:9: allusion, medium confidence ### Extrabiblical texts - Pr Azar (Prayer of Azariah and Song of the Three Young Men): quotation, high confidence ### Translation notes - 'Consecrated women' renders sanctimoniales, a name formed from sanctimonia, 'holiness'. The closing words are from the Song of the Three Young Men (Dan 3:87–88 in the Greek and Latin Bibles). 'Not burned' echoes 1 Cor 7:9. ### Citation (SBL) Augustine, Virginit. 57 (CSEL 41:301–303; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/augustine-sancta-virginitate/56/#p-57).