Resolutions or purposes, such as we make in confession never to sin again, or in moments of fervor to perform works of virtue, are not vows.  A promise made to the Blessed Virgin or the saints is not a vow; it must be made directly to God Himself.

A promise made to God to avoid mortal sin is not a vow, in the strict sense of the word; or rather such a promise is outside the ordinary province of the vow, which naturally embraces works of supererogation and counsel.  It is unnecessary and highly imprudent to make such promises under vow.  A promise to commit sin is a blasphemous outrage.  If what we promise to do is something indifferent, vain and useless, opposed to evangelical counsels or generally less agreeable to God than the contrary, our promise is null and void as far as the having the character of a vow is concerned.

Of course, in taking a vow we must know what we are doing and be free to act or not to act.  If then the object of the vow is matter on which a vow may validly be taken, we are bound in conscience to keep our solemn engagement.  What we forbid ourselves to do may be perfectly lawful and innocent, but by that vow we forfeit the right we had to do it, and for us it has become sinful.  The peculiar position in which a vow places a man in relation to his fellow-men concerning what is right and wrong, is the characteristic of the vow that makes it the object of much attention.  But it requires something lacking in the outfit of an intelligent man to perceive therein anything that savors of the unnatural, the unlawful or the immoral.

Concerning those whom a vow has constituted in a profession, we shall have a word to say later.  Right here the folly, to say nothing stronger, of those who contract vows without thinking, must be apparent to all.  No one should dare take upon himself or herself such a burden of his or her own initiative.  It is an affair that imperiously demands the services of an outside, disinterested, experienced party, whose prudence will well weigh the conditions and the necessity of such a step.  Without this, there is no end to the possible misery and dangers the taking of a vow may lead to.

If through an act of unthinking foolishness or rash presumption, you find yourself weighed down with the incubus of a vow not made for your shoulders, the only way out is to make a clean breast of the matter to your confessor, and follow his directions.

CHAPTER XXXIX.  THE PROFESSIONAL VOWS.

The professional vow is a triple one, and embraces the three great evangelical counsels of perfect chastity, poverty and obedience.  The cloister is necessary for the observance of such engagements as these, and it were easier for a lily to flourish on the banks of the Dead Sea, or amid the fiery blasts of the Sahara, than for these delicate flowers of spirituality to thrive in the midst of the temptations, seductions and passions of the every day world of this life.  Necessity makes a practice of these virtues a profession.