Consecrated virgin
Consecrated virgins spend their time in works of penance and mercy, in apostolic activity and in prayer, according to their state of life and spiritual gifts.
The 1983 Code of Canon Law and the 1996 Apostolic Exhortation Vita Consecrata by Pope John Paul II speak of the reflourishing Order of Virgins (Ordo Virginum), the members of which represent an image of the church as the Bride of Christ.
In Christian hagiography, there are numerous accounts of pre-Nicaean virgin martyrs, such as Margaret of Antioch, Agnes of Rome, Euphemia of Chalcedon and Lucia of Syracuse.
Among Carthusian nuns, there was the unique practice of these virgins being entitled to hand apart from a crown a stole, and a maniple,[11] vestments otherwise reserved to clergy.
In the High Middle Ages, the Consecratio Virginum is known for Benedictine and Cistercian monasteries, it is mentioned in the Rule of Saint Clare of Assisi and its optional bestowing is also provided for in the constitutions of the first Dominican nuns.
[12] The modern revival of the rite of the consecration of virgins in the Catholic Church for women living outside of religious communities is associated with Anne Leflaive (1899–1987).
The 1927 decree argued that the consecration of virgins living in the world (in saeculo viventes) had long fallen out of use, and was in contradiction to the then current Canon Law of 1917.
Leflaive published Study of the Consecrations of Virgins in the Roman Pontifical in 1934, re-edited as Espouse du Christ in 1956, and as La Femme et l'Eglise in 1968.
At a time where the Reformed confessions began to introduce the ordination of women, Leflaive strictly rejected such a possibility, arguing that "Christ and His Church offer to the woman a gift of great plentitude [sic]" in the form of the Consecration of Virgins, already inscribed in the Roman Pontifical.
[15] In 1950, Pius XII issued Sponsa Christi, an apostolic constitution addressing the vocation of nuns and their role in preserving the separate patrimony of the early virgins.
In 1954, Pius cited Sponsa Christi in his encyclical Sacra Virginitas as showing the importance of the office of those "who had vowed their chastity to God".
[19] This consecration could be bestowed either on nuns in monastic orders or on women living in the world,[20] the form of life that had been found in the early Church.
[21] The 1970 rite of Ordo Consecrationis Virginum states the following requirements for women living in the world to receive the consecration: "that they have never married or lived in open violation of chastity; that, by their prudence and universally approved character, they give assurance of perseverance in a life of chastity dedicated to the service of the church and of their neighbor; that they be admitted to this Consecration by the Bishop who is the local Ordinary.
The nuptial symbolism of the rite was displayed particularly in the bestowal of the veil on the virgin by the bishop, as can be found in the writings of Ambrose of Milan and in the oldest liturgical sources.
While the lack of a strict requirement of virginity was only implied by omission in the 1970 document, the Vatican on 4 July 2018 released a clarifying statement, explicitly conceding that: "to have kept her body in perfect continence or to have practised the virtue of chastity in an exemplary way, while of great importance with regard to the discernment, are not essential prerequisites in the absence of which admittance to consecration is not possible."
The statement was published in reaction to bishops requesting clarification due to the growing number of women showing interest in the vocation.
In order to observe their commitment more faithfully and to perform by mutual support service to the Church which is in harmony with their state these virgins can form themselves into associations.
