On the Good of Widowhood.

 Augustin the Bishop, servant of Christ, and of the servants of Christ, unto the religious handmaiden of God, Juliana, in the Lord of lords health.

 2. Whereas, therefore, in every question, which relates to life and conduct, not only teaching, but exhortation also is necessary in order that by te

 3. Therefore (thus) saith the Apostle, the teacher of the Gentiles, the vessel of election, “But I say unto the unmarried and the widows, that it is g

 4. Lo, there is your good compared to that good, which the Apostle calls his own, if faith be present: yea, rather, because faith is present. Short is

 5. Wherefore also when he was advising married persons not to defraud one another of the due of carnal intercourse lest, by this means, the one of th

 6. Wherefore this in the first place you ought to know, that by the good, which you have chosen, second marriages are not condemned, but are set in lo

 7. But whereas the Apostle, when commending the fruit of unmarried men and women, in that they have thought of the things of the Lord, how to please G

 8. Whence, also, what the Apostle Paul said of the unmarried woman, “that she may be holy both in body and spirit ” we are not so to understand, as th

 9. Learn, therefore, that thy good, yea, rather, remember what thou hast learned, that thy good is more praised, because there is another good than wh

 10. Nor, because I called Ruth blessed, Anna more blessed, in that the former married twice, the latter, being soon widowed of her one husband, so liv

 11. But thou who both hast sons, and livest in that end of the world, wherein now is the time not of casting stones, but of gathering not of embracin

 12. But since, as the Lord saith, “Not all receive this word ” therefore let her who can receive it, receive it and let her, who containeth not, marr

 13. Wherefore they who say that the marriages of such are not marriages, but rather adulteries, seem not to me to consider with sufficient acuteness a

 14. Wherefore I cannot indeed say, of females who have fallen away from a better purpose, in case they shall have married, that they are adulteries, n

 15. Men are wont to move a question concerning a third or fourth marriage, and even more numerous marriages than this. On which to make answer strictl

 16. For that also is no foolish question which is wont to be proposed, that whoso can may say, which widow is to be preferred in desert whether one w

 17. Let us therefore set before our eyes three widows, each having one of the things, the whole of which were in her: let us suppose one who had had o

 18. No one indeed of these six widows could come up to your standard. For you, in case that you shall have maintained this vow even unto old age, maye

 19. These discussions, therefore, concerning the different deserts of married women, and of different widows, I would not in this work enter upon, if,

 20. Wherefore, forasmuch as in the beginning of this little work I had proposed certain two necessary matters, and had undertaken to follow them out

 21. These things I am compelled to admonish by reason of certain little discourses of some men, that are to be shunned and avoided, which have begun t

 22. Now it has been my wish on this account to say something on this subject, by reason of certain of our brethren most friendly and dear to us, and w

 23. If, therefore, you had not as yet vowed unto God widowed continence, we would assuredly exhort you to vow it but, in that you have already vowed

 24. Let the inner ear of the virgin also, thy holy child, hear these things. I shall see how far she goes before you in the Kingdom of That King: it i

 25. The past day returns not hereafter, and after yesterday proceeds to-day, and after to-day will proceed to-morrow and, lo, all times and the thing

 26. Therefore let spiritual delights succeed to the place of carnal delights in holy chastity reading, prayer, psalm, good thought, frequency in good

 27. Indeed in all spiritual delights, which unmarried women enjoy, their holy conversation ought also to be with caution lest haply, though their lif

 28. Go on therefore in your course, and run with perseverance, in order that ye may obtain and by pattern of life, and discourse of exhortation, carr

 29. Next I entreat you, by Him, from Whom ye have both received this gift, and hope for the rewards of this gift, that ye be mindful to set me also in

16. For that also is no foolish question which is wont to be proposed, that whoso can may say, which widow is to be preferred in desert; whether one who hath had one husband, who, after having lived a considerable time with her husband, being left a widow with sons born to her and alive, hath made profession of continence; or she who as a young woman having lost two husbands within two years, having no children left alive to console her, hath vowed to God continence, and in it hath grown old with most enduring sanctity. Herein let them exercise themselves, if they can, by discussing, and by showing some proof to us, who weigh the merits of widows by number of husbands, not by the strength itself of continence. For, if they shall have said, that she who hath had one husband is to be preferred to her who hath had two; unless they shall have alleged some special reason or authority, they will assuredly be found to set before excellence of soul, not greater excellence of soul, but good fortune of the flesh. Forsooth it pertained unto good fortune of the flesh, both to live a long time with her husband, and to conceive sons. But, if they prefer her not on this account, that she had sons; at any rate the very fact that she lived a long time with her husband, what else was it than good fortune of the flesh? Further, the desert of Anna herself is herein chiefly commended, in that, after she had so soon buried her husband, through her protracted life she long contended with the flesh, and overcame. For so it is written, “And there was Anna, a prophetess, the daughter of Phanuel, of the tribe of Aser; she was far advanced in many days; and had lived with her husband seven years from her virginity; and she was a widow even unto eighty-four years, who used not to depart from the Temple, by fastings and prayers serving day and night.”41    Luke ii. 36, 37 You see how the holy widow is not only commended in this, that she had had one husband, but also, that she had lived few years with a husband from her virginity, and had with so great service of piety continued her office of widowed chastity even unto so great age.

CAPUT XIII.

16. Viduam biviram aliquando esse praeferendam univirae. Viduarum merita ex ipsius continentiae viribus pensanda. Nam et illud non insipienter proponi solet, ut dicat qui potest, quaenam vidua meritis praeferenda sit: utrum univira, quae cum vixisset diutius cum marito, filiis procreatis salvisque viduata, continentiam professa est; an ea quae adolescentula intra duos annos amissis duobus viris, nullis ad consolationem exstantibus liberis, continentiam Deo vovit, et in ea perseverantissima sanctitate consenuit. Hic se exerceant, si possunt, disputando, et nobis aliquid demonstrando, qui de numero virorum, non de ipsius continentiae viribus pensant merita viduarum. Si enim dixerint, illi bivirae illam univiram esse praeferendam; nisi attulerint specialem aliquam rationem vel auctoritatem, profecto invenientur virtuti animi non majorem virtutem animi, sed carnis felicitatem anteponere. Ad felicitatem quippe carnis pertinuit, et diu cum viro vivere, et filios procreare. Sed si non eam ob hoc praeponunt, quia filios habuit; idipsum certe quod diu cum viro vixit, quid aliud quam carnis felicitas fuit? Meritum porro Annae illius eo maxime commendatur, quia cum tam cito extulisset virum, per prolixam aetatem suam diu cum carne conflixit, et vicit. Sic enim scriptum est: Et erat Anna prophetissa filia Phanuel, de tribu Aser: haec processerat in diebus multis, et vixerat cum viro suo annis septem a virginitate sua; et haec vidua usque ad annos octoginta quatuor, quae non discedebat de templo, jejuniis et obsecrationibus serviens nocte ac die (Luc. II, 36, 37). Vides quemadmodum sancta vidua non solum eo praedicatur quod univira fuerit, verum etiam quod paucos annos cum marito vixerit a virginitate sua, et vidualis continentiae munus usque ad tantam senectutem tanta pietatis servitute perduxerit.