January 8, 2013      Martin Mallon  (Ireland)      Martin's previous articles

   THE “GLORY” OF VIRGINITY

In the New Missal's Preface of the Mass on New Year’s Day, the Solemnity of Mary, the Holy Mother of God, we read:

 For by the overshadowing of the Holy Spirit she conceived your Only Begotten Son, and without losing the glory of virginity, brought forth into the world the eternal light, Jesus Christ our Lord.  

The phrase “the glory of virginity” is alarming and is apparently a symptom of a problem at the core of the hierarchy , clericalism and patriarchy.  

What is the “the glory of virginity”? Is a virgin more glorious than a married person?  

In the Preface in the Old Missal (Novus Ordo) the paragraph replaced by the above read as follows:  

Through the power of the Holy Spirit , she became the virgin mother of your only Son, our Lord Jesus Christ, who is for ever the light of the world.  

Here there is no glorification of virginity per se.  

Is this just an example of the poor quality of the new translation or is it clericalism and patriarchy?  

The Latin phrase in question reads “et, virginitatis gloria permanente,” is translated as “and without losing the glory of virginity,”. Perhaps someone more knowledgeable can give a proper vernacular translation of this Latin phrase together with a full literal translation; where is “without losing” in the Latin phrase? Let us hope the Latin does not glorify virginity for its own sake.  

A married person, who hopefully is not a virgin, is living an additional sacrament which a virgin is not. This does not glorify one person above the other. In the case of Christians, these people are all living in the sacrament of baptism thus, in the eyes of God, it is difficult to imagine one is more glorified than another.  

Someone who wanted to become a priest, but did not wish to remain celibate, and was forced to make this vow of celibacy so as to carry out their God given vocation, would be carrying a huge unnecessary burden while being deprived needlessly of another sacrament; marriage.  

Whether a person is married, single, a consecrated virgin or is called to the priesthood, sacraments and vocations are only a means to an end, holiness, and are not ends in themselves.  

The sacraments do not “glorify” states of life, or people, but are a gift from God to his Church, the people of God. A sacrament may call a person to do certain things or live a particular way of life, but the only person a sacrament is meant to glorify is God.  

St Paul expressed it succinctly:  

…for all of you are the children of God, through faith, in Christ Jesus, since every one of you that has been baptised has been clothed in Christ. There can be neither Jew nor Greek, there can be neither slave nor freeman, there can be neither male nor female -- for you are all one in Christ Jesus. (Gal 3:26-28)  

Could it be that the hierarchy falsely elevated virginity per se so as to keep lay people, who are normally married, in their place? It would seem that this is also the current position of the hierarchy based on the new translation of the Mass.  

Any thoughts on this matter would be appreciated, especially on the translation of the Latin.