Untitled - Saints' Books

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INSTR. in.] The Chastity of the Priest. 243
INSTRUCTION III.
THE CHASTITY OF THE PRIEST.
I.
The Merit of this Virtue, and its Necessity
for the Priest.
No price is worthy of a continent soul. 1 In comparison
with a chaste soul, all the riches, all the titles and
dignities of the earth are contemptible. Chastity is
called by St. Ephrem the life of the spirit; * by St. Peter
Damian, the queen of virtues; 3 and by St. Cyprian, the
acquisition of triumphs. 4 He who conquers the vice
opposed to chastity, easily subdues all other vices; and,
on the other hand, the man who submits to the tyranny
of impurity, easily falls into many other vices, into
hatred, injustice, sacrilege, etc.
Chastity, says St. Ephrem, changes a man into an
angel. 5 St. Bernard says, Chastity makes an angel of
man." And according to St. Ambrose, he who has
preserved chastity is an angel: he who has lost it is a
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devil." The chaste, who live at a distance from all
carnal pleasures, are justly assimilated to the angels:
They shall be as the angels of God in heaven* The angels
are pure by nature, but the chaste are pure by virtue.
1 "
Omnis autem ponderatio non est digna
Ecchis. xxvi. 20.
continentis animae."
2
Vita "
spiritus."
3 "
Regina virtutum."
4 "
Acquisitio triumphorum."
5 "O castitas, quae homines Angelis similes reddis!" De Castit.
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7 "
Castitas angelum de homine facit." De Mor. ct Off. Ep. c. 3.
Castitas angelos facit: qui earn servavit, angehisest; quiperdidit,
diabolus." De Virg.
1. i.
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Et erunt sicut Angeli Dei." Matt. xxii. 30.