The punishment meted out to the religious for their insubordination has had, we are told, a doleful effect on the temporal power of the Pope, an interesting patch of which has been broken up by the new French law.  It is a mystery to us how this law can affect the temporal power of the Pope any more than the political status of Timbuctoo.  It is passably difficult to make an impression on what has ceased to exist these thirty years.  We thought the temporal power was dead.  This bit of news has been dinned into our ears until we have come to believe.  No conference, synod or council is considered by our dissenting friends without a good strong sermon on this topic.  Strange that it should resurrect just in time to lose “an interesting patch” of itself!  This is cruelty.  Why not respect the grave?  We recommend the perusal of the obituary of the temporal power written in Italian politics since the year 1870.  We believe the tomb is carefully guarded.

CHAPTER XLIV.  THE VOW OF CHASTITY.

Religious are sometimes called celibates.  Now, a celibate, one of the bachelor persuasion, is a person who considers himself or herself good enough company in this life, and chooses single blessedness in preference to the not unmixed joys of wedlock.  This alone is sufficient to make one a celibate, and nothing more is required.  Religious do not wed; but, specifically, that is all there is in common between them.  All celibates are not chaste; celibacy is not necessarily chastity, by a large majority.  Unless something other than selfishness suggests this choice of life, the word is apt to be a misnomer for profligacy.  And one who takes the vow of celibacy does not break it by sinning against the Sixth Commandment; he is true to it until he weds.  The religious vow is something more than this.

Again, chastity, by itself, does not properly designate the state of religious men and women.  Chastity is moral purity, but purity is a relative term, and admits of many degrees.  It is perfect or imperfect.  There is a conjugal chastity; while in single life, it may concern itself with the body, with or without reference to the mind and heart.  Chastity reaches its highest form when it excludes everything carnal, what is lawful as well as what is unlawful, thoughts and desires as well as deeds.

This is the chastity that is proper to religious, and it is more correctly called virginity.  This is the natural state of spirits who have no bodies; cultivated in the frail flesh of children of Adam, it is the most delicate flower imaginable.  Considering the incessant struggle it supposes in those who take such a vow against the spirit within us that is so strong, the taking and keeping of it indicate a degree of fortitude little short of heroism.  Only the few, and that few relying wholly on the grace of God, can aspire to this state.

From a spiritual point of view, there can be no question as to the superiority of this state of life over all others.  The teaching of St. Paul to the Corinthians is too plain to need any comment, not to mention the example of Christ, His Blessed Mother, His disciples and all those who in the course of time have loved God best and served Him most generously.