Untitled - Saints' Books

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CHAP, vi.] The Sin of Incontinence. 109
months he should sleep on the ground, remain in soli
tude, have no intercourse with any person, and should
be deprived of Communion. He should then fast every
day for a year and a half on bread and water, and for
the remainder of the ten years he should continue to
fast on bread and water only on three days in the week.
In a word, the Church regards as a monster the priest
that does not lead a life of chastity.
II.
Malice of Impurity
in the Priest.
Let us, in the first place, examine the malice of the sin
of a priest who violates chastity. A priest is the temple
of God, as well by the vow of chastity as by the sacred
unction by which he was consecrated to God. He that
hath anointed us in God, who also hath sealed us. Such 1
is
the language of St. Paul, speaking of himself and of his
associates in the ministry. Hence Cardinal Hugo has
said: "The
priest should not pollute the sanctuary of
the Lord, because the oil of the holy unction is poured
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out upon The him." body, then, of the priest is the
sanctuary of the Lord. Keep thyself chaste," says St.
Ignatius, Martyr, as a gift of God and the temple of the
Holy Ghost. St. Peter Damian says that the priest
that denies his body by impurity violates the temple of
God. He then adds: Do not change the vessels conse
crated to God into vessels of contumely." What would
you say of the man that should use a consecrated
chalice at table? Speaking of priests, Innocent II. has
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Unxit nos Deus, qui et signavit
nos." 2 Cor. i. 21.
Sacerdos ne polluat sanctuarium Domini; quia oleum sanctae unc-
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tionis super eum est."
Teipsum castum custodi, ut domum Dei, templum
Christi."
Ep.
ad Heron. Diac.
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Nonne templum Deiviolant? " Nolite vasa Deo sacrata in vasa
contumeliae vertere."
Opusc. 18, d. 2, c. 47.