Note 548 — Chapter XXII · (continued 2)

The passages referred to are, according to the text of the Vulgate: 1 Cor. vii. 32: “Qui sine uxore est, sollicitus est quæ Domini sunt,” etc. Ibid., 38: “Qui non iungit (virginem suam) melius facit.” Ibid., 40: “Beatior erit, si sic permanserit,” etc. Mat. xix. 12: “Sunt eunuchi, qui se ipsos castraverunt propter regnum Dei. Qui potest capere capiat.” Apoc. xiv. 3 f., of those who sing “the new song before the throne” of the Lamb: “Hi sunt, qui cum mulieribus non sunt coinquinati, virgines enim sunt. Hi sequuntur agnum quocunque ierit. Hi empti sunt ex hominibus primitiæ Deo et Agno.” 1 Tim. v. 12, of those widows dedicated to God who marry: “Habentes damnationem, qui primam fidem irritam fecerunt.”—Against Jovinian St. Jerome wrote, in 392: “Adv. Iovinianum” (“P.L.,” 23, col. 211 seq.), where, in the first part, he defends virginity, which the former had attacked, and demonstrates its superiority and its merit.