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Show The Nun and tier Three Vows Ancient Monuments and the Writings of the Early Fathers j Show that in the Church there Were at All Times Virgins. i. Having treated of the three solemn vows which are essential to the religious re-ligious life, as distinct from the secular, secu-lar, it only remains to say that whilst nothing could be more directly in contradiction con-tradiction to the spirit of our age than the three solemn vows of a nun, yet the life chosen by the nun is according to the evangelical counsels, modeled on that of the Savior, and had its origin in the advice given by him to tho young man who asked what he should do to obtain life eternal. "If thou wouldst be perfect, go sell what thou hast, give to the poor, and come and follow me." This text being the foundation foun-dation of the religious life, sanctions the three solemn vows which conflict with human nature and which the world would designate as sublime folly. Interwoven with the history of the church for twenty centuries are the names of the noble, highly educated and wealthy classes who abandoned the world, sacrificing wealth, ease and fame for the cloister, where poverty, self-denial and self-annihilation made them like . Christ, who could be rich, yet remained poor for love of man. He had not whereon to lay his head. He was the Son of God. but was in all things like unto man, except sin, and as the most faithful servant, obedient unto the death of the cross. It is the voluntary sacrifice of the goods of this world, mortification and self-annihilation as represented by the vows of poverty, pov-erty, chastity and obedience, that constitute con-stitute a likeness between the life of a nun and that of Christ. The antiquity of the religions dates back to the most remote period of . the . Christian ,.era.-Insriptian- -of ancient monuments, -which date back to tbe first centuries, show that there were "sacred virgins," who devoted their lives .to the service of God. St. Ignatius of.Antioch, who was a disciple disci-ple of St. John the Evangelist, in his "epistles to the churches of Smyrna and Philippi, salutes them and praises their zeal and devotion to the Christian cause. Tertullian, born about the middle mid-dle of the second century, of pagan parents, became a Christian when 30' years old. He is one of the ablest and most voluminious writers of the early Christian church. He wrote on Christian doctrine and the true Christian Chris-tian life. Two of his books were especially es-pecially written for the guidance and direction of virgins who consecrated their lives to God. St. Cyprian, bishop of Carthage, born at the commencement commence-ment of the third century, wrote a work especially intended for religious women, and entitled De Habitu Vir-ginum. Vir-ginum. In this work he styles them "the flower of the church's garden, the noblest portion of Christ's flock," whilst St. Athanasius. who wrote the ! freed that immortalized his name, calls them "brides of Christ." St. Jerome, ' writing in Kustnehiiiiri, addressed her I as Lady, giving his reason for bestow- , j ing that exalted name, "that title is ' I duo to the spouse of our Lord." ! ' Whilst all past monuments and early ! writings are replete with convincing j ; evidence that from the beginning of I the Christian era many Christian maidens consecrated their lives to tl; ' service of God. a community life was 1 not introduced in the first centuries. S ; The reason is obvious. At the intro- duction of Christianity, pagan Rome , ruled the world. The "Discipline of j the Secret," which Mas necessitated by ' ; pagan opposition and hatred of Chris- : tian truths, was observed by those de- j voted bands of women who consecrated ' t their lives to the teaching of the Good ' j Master, that the vows which they made I might not be known to their perse- ! cutors. The convent life of later times 1 j with all its solemn vows was practiced II in the privacy of the family circle. , ; Under such trying circumstances ami : ( f with their liberty curtailed, those j spouses of the Innocent Lamb were in- ; structed, directed and guided by such j I men as the learned Cyprian and the j great doctor of the church of St. Am- ! ? brose. Even the writings of Tertul- ; lia-i, which take us back to the second j j century, contain not only counsels to I I virgins who gave their lives to God. but. in some instances there are stern reproofs for violating the evangelical : I counsels. We are not informed as to ' I whether Mary's vow was known to the ; I inhabitants of Nazareth before the I angel's visit whose mission was t ; t make her a co-partner in the profound I j mystery.oX.theiincarnarion.. but w5"d' : i rknovr that many virgins in the first " j f nmstery were obliged to keep secret j S their vows to escape the hatred and I persecution of the pagan world. St. i '- Agnes, refusing the hand of a pagan; j - suitor, was beheaded at the age of 11, 'I during the reign of Diocletian. St. i f Agatha, a native of Palermo, Sicily. refusing to marry Quintianus, who . was governor of Sicily, was sentenced t to be scourged and burned to death. 1 The only charge brought against her- j ; was that "she was a Christian." Such j examples might be multiplied indefi- ' i nitely. all of which clearly show (1) " I that from the early dawn of Christian!- . ty there have been pious, devoted I women who voluntarily devoted their t; lives to God and were known as virgins, I spouses of Christ. and other such en- ' dearing appellations: " and (2) that though not cloistered within a convent's con-vent's walls in the early centuries. j that in mingling in the society of their f friends they went around doing good, ' and by their modest demeanor acted i the part of the Good Samaritan. |