Nor yet inexpedient; doubtfullness is no bar to it.

On Virginity (De Virginitate)

by Saint AMBROSE (c. 340 - 397)

One favorite topic of his was the excellence of virginity, and so successful was he in persuading maidens to adopt the religious profession that many a mother refused to permit her daughters to listen to his words. The saint was forced to refute the charge that he was depopulating the empire, by quaintly appealing to the young men as to whether any of them experienced any difficulty in finding wives. He contends, and the experience of ages sustains his contention (De Virg., vii) that the population increases in direct proportion to the esteem in which virginity is held. ( Herbermann, Charles, ed. (1913). St. Ambrose. Catholic Encyclopedia. New York: Robert Appleton Company.)

Listen next episodes of On Virginity (De Virginitate):
An earnest desire that God's Priests may gather many Virgins into the Church's fold , Angels will watch over the Virgin. , As the Virgin must shun arrogance, so must she still rise above the world in holiness. , From whom the Virgin must seek Christ—what she must be that He may seek her , Her Lord shall guide the affections of the Virgin's soul. , Modesty and confidence needful for the Virgin. , The four Virtues which make harmony in the Virgin's soul , The Virgin must in the Communion of St. Peter and the Church, be ready to give up all for Christ. , The Virgin must put off the flesh that He may seek her. , The Virgin must watch and wait for Christ. , The Virgin must watch her heart, her eye, her ear, her tongue. , Then will He annoint her with incorruption , When and where the Virgin must seek for Christ