Sexuality is a great gift from God. Chastity guards it. It prevents the disordered and wild exercise of a force we must learn to master. The experience of physical attraction is often overwhelming. Therefore, we feel the need to have reference points, boundaries. The strict Catholic morality, with all its rules—sometimes perceived as burdensome and unlivable—nonetheless constitutes a great map through which we are oriented and guided. Over time, one discovers that such rules, which once seemed rigid and absurd, are in fact very wise.
The rules that St. Vincent offers to live out chastity must be read in this light. They are prudential behavioral norms, meant to prevent disastrous falls. St. Vincent, as a wise knower of the human soul, knew that erotic charge, in certain moments, could betray even the most spiritual man. Therefore, no one can “presume upon himself and his own chastity” (IV,2). Consequently, every missionary “will employ all possible care, diligence, and caution to preserve the chastity of soul and body intact” (IV,1). To achieve this goal, every missionary “will carefully guard the internal and external senses.” St. Vincent speaks of care, diligence, caution, attention. Because it is vitally important for a missionary to reach “a remarkable level in the practice of chastity” (IV,4), since the effectiveness of the mission depends on this maturity. Even the mere suspicion—adds St. Vincent—would be so harmful as to discredit the entire Congregation and nullify all apostolic efforts (IV,4).
These might seem like exaggerated concerns stemming from a certain sexophobia present in the religious culture of the seventeenth century. Let us not forget that the Grand Siècle in which St. Vincent lived has also been defined as the Augustinian century, and it is known how often St. Augustine has been accused of introducing into Christian culture the devaluation of sex, fear of sexuality, and the demonization of pleasure. It is likely that St. Vincent was influenced by a certain anthropological pessimism of the Calvinists, by the moral rigor of the Jansenists, or by the spirituality of renunciation found in devout Catholic circles. But more as an “atmosphere” breathed in a particular context and time, rather than as a true dependency on any specific trends or doctrines. The proof is found in the first paragraph of Chapter IV.
After recalling the example of Jesus, who throughout His life “valued chastity” and “longed to instill its desire in the human heart,” St. Vincent assigns to the Congregation the task of living in a state: that of being “animated by a burning desire to possess this virtue” (IV,1). If in the prudential norms that follow, the tone seems rather negative, here, in the introductory paragraph, the language is extremely positive: in his view of sexuality, the focus is on the gift to be guarded, not the problem to be fought. The example is precisely that of Jesus, who lived chastity and taught how to live it as an expression of a greater love. It cannot be renounced, just as love itself cannot be renounced.
Sexuality is the source of tenderness and affection, the root of warm and passionate relationships, of fervent hearts, of generous actions. Chastity prevents sexuality from being lived for itself and from perverting the purpose for which it was given to humanity. Chastity, then, purifies intentions, clarifies one’s gaze, sharpens sensitivity, combats possessiveness and egocentrism.
If love “cannot” be renounced, one nevertheless “must” renounce the perverse expression of love—where “perverse” means distorted, inverted, corrupted, deviant, degenerated. This renunciation is not negative but rather a sign of balance and maturity. Chaste is not the one who renounces feelings, but the one who renounces their perverse, selfish expression. Everyone has the right to live their emotions with intensity: chastity allows them to be lived honestly, never ambiguously. In this perspective, chastity becomes synonymous with respect, self-giving, delicacy, and transparency. It is the virtue that exalts the ability to “become a neighbor.”
The positive aspect prevails in St. Vincent to such an extent that he even advised a young missionary tempted against chastity, Giacomo Tholard, not to renounce the ministry in order to retire to a monastery and escape certain temptations, but rather, to throw himself even more into the mission. If God allows such temptations in the mission, it means that He does so “to teach us to have total trust in Him and to believe in His ability not to let us succumb to temptation” (SV II,107). St. Vincent significantly adds: “this made a similar temptation that I was suffering during my vocational duties vanish!” (Paris, August 26, 1640). For this reason, he went to make a retreat in the Carthusian monastery of Valprofonde (in 1624). A holy monk helped him not to fear his own ministry. God does not want cold, detached missionaries who are therefore “distant” out of fear of falling, but rather, He rewards those who have the fire of the mission, who throw themselves into radical availability for pastoral service and charity, and who, because of this, make themselves “neighbors.”
Fr. Nicola Albanesi, C.M.
Italian Province of the C.M.
