La virginité chrétienne

Description

Just when I thought I've read all there is to read on the topic of marriage of virginity, I am very impressed by this work. It's very pedagogically well-ordered:

• Part I is an excellent overview of the greatness of marriage, its imperfections.
  • As St. Jerome said (Adversus Jovinianum I): "That is naturally good which does not admit of comparison with what is bad"; viz., virginity would not be so great if it could only be compared to what is bad; virginity is so great because marriage is a great good.
• Part 2 is on virginity, and Part 3 answers objections against it.
• The Conclusion is on the harmony of marriage and virginity.

I wouldn't be surprised if Fr. Bourassa was the drafter of Pius XII's Sacra Virginitas. The structure of his book (esp. the several objections/responses) is very similar to the 1954 encyclical.

He quotes Super Sent. , lib. 4 d. 49 q. 5 a. 3 qc. 1 ad 3 on "Utrum ratione virginitatis debeatur aureola" (Summa Theologica suppl. q. 96 a. 5):

dicendum, quod virginitati non debetur aureola, nisi inquantum addit quamdam excellentiam super alios continentiae gradus. Si autem Adam non peccasset, virginitas nullam perfectionem addidisset supra continentiam conjugalem; quia fuissent tunc nuptiae honorabiles, et torus immaculatus, nulla concupiscentiae foeditate existente; unde virginitas tunc servata non fuisset, nec ei tunc aureola deberetur. Sed mutata humanae naturae conditione, virginitas specialem decorem habet; et ideo speciale praemium ei redditur.

[The aureole is not due to virginity except as adding some excellence to the other degrees of continence. If Adam had not sinned, virginity would have had no perfection over conjugal continence, since in that case marriage would have been honorable, and the marriage-bed unsullied, for it would not have been dishonored by lust: hence virginity would not then have been observed, nor would an aureole have been due to it. But the condition of human nature being changed, virginity has a special beauty of its own, and consequently a special reward is assigned to it.]

• Fr. Bourassa also says (PDF p. 27) that the New Testament era is the "time to be far from embraces" (Eccl. 3:5): "c'est aujourd'hui le temps de s'en abstenir "
• He also gives an interesting argument (PDF p. 85) for the why Adam's marriage was virginal before the fall because "issu de son union charnelle avec Eve est Caïn (Gen. 4, 1), fils de colère ". St. Thomas gives no such argument in I q. 98, but it does make sense that Cain's nature was corrupted by original sin.
• Fr. Bourassa responding to the objection that virginity doesn't lead to man's perfection (or "maturity", as moderns would say*) writes (p. 97, PDF p. 91):

il est statistiquement établi que la fécondité charnelle diminue à mesure qu'augmente la fécondité intellectuelle: preuve que toute l’énergie somatique est ordonnée, dans l'homme au service de l'esprit, où elle reçoit son achèvement.

[it is statistically established that carnal fecundity diminishes to the extent that intellectual fecundity increases: proof that all somatic energy is ordered, in man, to the service of the spirit, where it receives its completion.]

This is true; cf. this CAF post from years ago for stats; it is asked: "College = death?"

à la that terrible book the The Sexual Celibate* , which E. Michael Jones mentioned as contributing to mass exodus from religious orders, breaking vows of chastity, because it was inspired by Jew-Talmudic psychology, arguing that only sexual experiences fully mature man.

• p. 100 (PDF p. 94) ff.: Fr. Bourassa says that in order to understand marriage and virginity, it is necessary to understand the relation between grace and nature. Ordering: Nature → Virginity → God.
• p. 138 (PDF p. 131): Compares Rom. 7 (St. Paul's flesh warring against spirit) to creature's finitude, where, unlike God, esse ≠ essentia (cf. Thomistic Thesis #1)
• p. 144 (PDF p. 137) quotes I q. 26 a. 3 et 4 regarding how contraries like virginity and marriage are unified in God (q. 25 is on God's unity, and q. 26 is on how creatures' perfection/beatitude is found in God)
• p. 152 (PDF p. 145) shows how marriage and virginity are united in God:

…le mariage et la virginité ne se contredisent plus, puisqu’en cette unité divine, assez vaste pour contenir en elle toutes les perfections créées, le mariage à son point d’achèvement est un mariage virginal, et la virginité est le mariage spirituel unique, communion éternelle de l’homme à l’unité divine des Trois Personnes.