One favorite topic of his was the excellence of virginity, and so successful was he in persuading maidens to adopt the religious profession that many a mother refused to permit her daughters to listen to his words. The saint was forced to refute the charge that he was depopulating the empire, by quaintly appealing to the young men as to whether any of them experienced any difficulty in finding wives. He contends, and the experience of ages sustains his contention (De Virg., vii) that the population increases in direct proportion to the esteem in which virginity is held.
By : Saint Ambrose (c. 340 - 397), Translated by Albany J. Christie (1817 - 1891)
01 - The Objectors really worldly and tempters
02 - Of vows in general; they are scriptural and binding when made for holy purposes.
03 - Of the particular vow of Chastity
04 - Bodily Chastity without faith and inward purity unprofitable
05 - The fewness of those who possess this grace
06 - Holy Virginity neither blameworthy nor unscriptural
07 - Nor yet inexpedient; doubtfullness is no bar to it.
08 - When and where the Virgin must seek for Christ
09 - From whom the Virgin must seek Christ—what she must be that He may seek her
10 - The Virgin must put off the flesh that He may seek her.
11 - Then will He annoint her with incorruption
12 - The Virgin must watch and wait for Christ.
13 - The Virgin must watch her heart, her eye, her ear, her tongue.
14 - Angels will watch over the Virgin.
15 - Her Lord shall guide the affections of the Virgin's soul.
16 - Modesty and confidence needful for the Virgin.
17 - As the Virgin must shun arrogance, so must she still rise above the world in holiness.
18 - The four Virtues which make harmony in the Virgin's soul
19 - The Virgin must in the Communion of St. Peter and the Church, be ready to give up all for Christ.
20 - An earnest desire that God's Priests may gather many Virgins into the Church's fold
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