With Kate Quiñones

CNA Staff, October 27, 2024 / 06:00

On the day of consecration, a woman usually wears a white dress as she approaches the altar of the Lord. It looks more like a wedding, but the groom is Jesus Christ.

The little-known profession of the holy virgin has increased in recent years. Although it existed during the time of the Early Church, its popularity declined with the development of monasticism in the Middle Ages. In more recent years, this role has been revived since Vatican II revised the ceremony.

According to Judith Stegman, attorney for the law and president of the U.S. Association of Consecrated Virgins (USACV), there are more than 4,000 consecrated religious women in the world today—307 of them in the United States.

since Vatican defined The role and formation of consecrated virgins in 2018, Jenna Marie Cooper, a canon lawyer, author, and consecrated virgin, has noticed a growing number of women choosing to dedicate themselves to God in this way; This shows that this profession can continue to grow in the coming years.

What is the consecrated virgin?

Consecrated virginity today requires a devoted life of prayer, service to the diocese, and the “sacred decision” of celibacy. But it is also a mystical marriage to Jesus and a representation of the Church, the bride of Christ.

inside consecration riteCooper explained that the candidate makes his sacramental decision through a series of yes or no questions and is blessed by the bishop with a prayer of consecration.

The rite of a consecrated virgin is reserved only for women: either devout sisters or ordinary women who lead a life of prayer and celibacy outside a convent or convent.

A consecrated virgin is thought to be a sign that the Church is the bride of Christ. “Behind this vocation is to portray the Church as the bride of Christ,” Stegman explained.

Women usually wear a white dress, similar to a wedding dress, for the ceremony; this symbolizes their devotion as Jesus’ wife. The color white also refers to the baptismal robe, which Cooper said was “theologically appropriate.” Cooper recalled wearing her mother’s wedding dress, a simple woolen garment, to her mother’s blessing ceremony just four days before their wedding anniversary.

“This is an open-hearted woman’s response to Jesus,” Stegman added. “She becomes the bride of Jesus.”

Consecration parallels the role of priest reserved for men in the Catholic Church. A priest represents “another Christ” and is the son-in-law of the Church. Similarly, a consecrated virgin represents the bride of Christ and is an image of the Church.

“This ritual is specifically for women and not for men. The language used is directed towards women,” Stegman explained. “A man may take a vow of chastity, but that is different from being consecrated as the virgin bride of Christ.”

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According to the Catechism of the Catholic Church, consecrated virgins are “called by the Lord to be devoted to Him alone with greater freedom of heart, body and soul, and resolve to live in states of virginity or perpetual chastity with the approval of the Church.” ”(CCC, 922).

Unlike religious sisters who belong to an order and move wherever their superiors instruct, a consecrated virgin belongs to a diocese. Although it does not swear obedience as many religious orders do, it operates in mutual understanding with its local bishop.

“This is also a prayerful presence,” Cooper explained. “I think it’s a very important thing to have women who are committed to praying for this diocese, for these priests, for this local Church. And it is a good asset for people to have women praying for them in a motherly way.”

Life is about more than staying single. blessed virgins Participate regularly in the Divine Office, also known as the Liturgy of the Hours, which is the prayer of the church.

“During the consecration we are handed the Divine Office, and the preamble to the service specifically says – and this is a very strong ‘must’ statement – ​​that we must recite at least the morning and evening prayers from the office,” Stegman said. added.

Catholic women seeking consecrated virginity must be consecrated to God by the bishops of the diocese. Consecration means a mystical betrothal to Christ as well as a dedicated service to the Church.

Unlike their religious brothers and sisters, consecrated virgins live a secular life: They have jobs, do not have to live in community, and provide for their own needs. Consecrated virgins also have no habits and no titles. The local diocese is not financially responsible for them, and although consecrated virgins do not take vows of obedience, they receive instructions from the diocesan bishops.

Consecrated virginity history

Virgin saints existed throughout Church history, and consecrated virgins existed before female religious orders were well established. their profession modeled after the Blessed Virgin Mary, their patroness. According to tradition, Mary had her virginity blessed at a young age.

Early Church Fathers such as St. Ignatius of Antioch talked about the consecrated virgins as a separate group, dating back to about AD 110

“When you read about the early consecrated virgins, they don’t give us a blueprint for modern consecrated virgins because there are so many cultural differences,” Cooper explained. “However, there are very early references to women being blessed with this ceremony. “This is still a very historic event.”

St. Ambrose also referred in a letter to the sacrament of the consecration of the virginity of his sister, St. Marcellina, by the pope.

“It’s hard to tell when you get to more legendary saints and stories. But for the saints whose lives we know more about from that period, we do have some evidence that this sacrament existed. So it’s actually that old,” Cooper continued.

Cooper explained that some religious orders, such as the Benedictines and Cartusians, preserve the use of the rite of consecrated virginity.

“That’s why we still practice the ritual, because these few religious orders were still using it,” Cooper explained.

Cooper noted that virgin martyrs in the Roman Canon, such as Agnes, Lucy, and Cecilia, were considered consecrated virgins, but these women were not consecrated in ceremony as they are today. A quote attributed to St. Agnes is included in the consecration ceremony.

The practice of consecrated virginity declined as monastic religious life became more popular in the sixth century. Consecrated religious life became extremely rare in the Middle Ages.

The only period in which consecrated virgins were not allowed by the church was a brief period in the early 20th century, but after World War II. The Vatican later announced its decision to revise the rite of consecrated virginity in paragraph 80. Sacrosanctum Concilium. The church reaffirmed the profession of consecrated virginity and then further refined its structure in the 2018 document. Ecclesiae Sponsae Imago.

“This gave us a little more information about the lifestyle of the consecrated virgins, what was and wasn’t required for it, and what the formations would look like,” Cooper said.

Ecclesiae Sponsae Imago helped grow and define the profession. Even since its beatification in 2009, it has received more attention in the last five to 10 years and more dioceses are offering formation programs, Cooper said.

When asked what his hopes were for the future of the profession, Cooper stated that consecrated virgins “don’t need numbers” like religious communities, but that he was “pleasantly surprised and happy” to see the growth. your profession.

“It is growing much faster than I ever imagined it would happen when I was blessed 15 years ago,” he said. “But I hope that dioceses will focus on really good formation programs and have a very careful understanding of how to integrate consecrated virgins into the life of the local Church in a way that promotes the well-being of all.”

“My hope is that bishops will see the gift this is for the Church and use that gift for good,” Cooper added.

Kate Quiñones is a staff writer at Catholic News Agency and a member of College Fix. He has been published by the Wall Street Journal, Denver Catholic Register and CatholicVote, and graduated from Hillsdale College. She lives in Colorado with her husband.