Cornelius a Lapide
Table of Contents
Synopsis of the Chapter
He teaches how a Bishop ought to conduct himself with old men, young men, and young women. Then, in verse 3, he teaches that it belongs to a Bishop to provide for widows who are truly widows, and especially for those who, having been proved in works of mercy and having professed widowed chastity by vow, have been chosen and selected into the company of Ecclesiastical widows: and therefore he wishes them to be older, lest they violate the faith given to God, that is, the vow of celibacy; but the younger he prefers to marry and rule a family. Thirdly, in verse 17, he commands that the presbyters who labor in word and doctrine be honored and supported liberally. Fourthly, in verse 20, he teaches that it belongs to a Bishop to correct sinners, and not to lay hands quickly on anyone.
Vulgate Text: 1 Timothy 5:1-25
1. Rebuke not an elder, but entreat him as a father; young men, as brethren, 2. old women as mothers, young women as sisters in all chastity. 3. Honor widows that are widows indeed. 4. But if any widow has children or grandchildren, let her learn first to govern her own house, and to make a return of duty to her parents: for this is acceptable before God. 5. But she that is a widow indeed, and desolate, let her trust in God, and continue in supplications and prayers night and day. 6. For she that lives in pleasures, is dead while she is living. 7. And this give in charge, that they may be without reproach. 8. But if any man have not care of his own, and especially of those of his house, he has denied the faith, and is worse than an infidel. 9. Let a widow be chosen of no less than threescore years of age, who has been the wife of one husband, 10. having testimony for her good works, if she has brought up children, if she has received to harbor, if she has washed the saints' feet, if she has ministered to those who suffer tribulation, if she has diligently followed every good work. 11. But the younger widows avoid. For when they have grown wanton in Christ, they will marry: 12. having damnation, because they have made void their first faith. 13. And withal being idle they learn to go about from house to house: and are not only idle, but also tattlers and busybodies, speaking things they ought not. 14. I will therefore that the younger should marry, bear children, be mistresses of families, give no occasion to the adversary to speak evil. 15. For some are already turned aside after Satan. 16. If any of the faithful have widows, let him minister to them, and let not the Church be burdened: that there may be sufficient for those that are widows indeed. 17. Let the presbyters who rule well be esteemed worthy of double honor: especially those who labor in word and doctrine. 18. For the Scripture says: You shall not muzzle the ox that treads out the corn. And: The laborer is worthy of his reward. 19. Against a presbyter receive not an accusation, but under two or three witnesses. 20. Those that sin reprove before all, that the rest also may have fear. 21. I charge you before God and Christ Jesus, and the elect angels, that you observe these things without prejudice, doing nothing by declining to either side. 22. Lay hands suddenly on no man, neither be partaker of other men's sins. Keep yourself chaste. 23. Drink no longer water, but use a little wine for your stomach's sake, and your frequent infirmities. 24. Some men's sins are manifest, going before to judgment: and some men they follow after. 25. In like manner also good deeds are manifest: and those that are otherwise, cannot be hidden.
Hitherto the Apostle has taught Timothy the Bishop in general, how he ought to conduct himself, teach, and exhort. Here he descends to particulars, and teaches how he ought to behave with the elderly, the young, widows, and young women, and how to address and admonish each one; therefore he says:
Verse 1: Rebuke Not an Elder, but Entreat Him as a Father
Rebuke not an elder — presbyterō mē epiplēxēs, that is, do not inflict a stroke on an elder. By stroke here is understood not blows, but words, as if to say: Do not strike an old man with too sharp a rebuke. For these blows of words, especially if inflicted by young men such as Timothy was, sadden and afflict the elderly, who are grave by age and melancholic, more than blows of rods or staves affect and afflict young men.
Understand these things with St. Gregory, in book VII of his Epistles, indiction 2, epistle 1, when the fault of the elder by his example, as by a snare, does not draw the hearts of the young to ruin: for if it does draw them, he must be struck with strict rebuke, as Daniel sharply rebuked the elders who were laying snares for Susanna, chapter XIII, and Christ rebuked the elder priests and scribes who were leading the people away from Him and from God, Matthew XXIII.
But entreat. — The Greek parakalei signifies three things: first, to exhort, as Vatablus translates; secondly, to console; thirdly, "to entreat," as our Vulgate translates; and this fits more aptly here. For Paul wishes the elderly to be regarded as fathers, so that if they sin, they may be admonished by the Bishop, but with such reverence and gentleness that he may seem rather to entreat them than to admonish them.
Young men, as brethren. — Repeat parakalei, that is, entreat, or also exhort; for this is more fitting to brothers than to fathers, whom, as I have said, it is fitting to entreat.
Verse 2: Young Women as Sisters, in All Chastity
Young women as sisters, in all chastity. — He commands that with young women one must deal cautiously and rarely, and never except in the presence of others, that the Bishop and any presbyter may escape both the danger of sin and of sinister suspicion. For conversations, says Chrysostom, hardly escape suspicions. Hence Ecclesiasticus warns, chapter XLII, verse 12: "Stay not in the midst of women: for from garments comes a moth, and from a woman the iniquity of a man." And St. Jerome to Nepotian: "Let the feet of women either never or rarely tread your little dwelling." And below: "Do not sit alone with a woman alone in secret and without a witness or judge." See the same writer, epistle to Rusticus. Hence St. Augustine, as Possidonius attests, declined the company and intimacy of women, and among them of his sister and his brother's daughter. See what was said on chapter III, verse 2, on the word "Modest."
Verse 3: Honor Widows That Are Widows Indeed
Honor widows that are widows indeed. — Namely, those who are bereft of all, even of children, and stripped of all cares, and intent on and dedicated to God alone. So Chrysostom, Anselm, Theophylact.
He alludes to the etymology of chēra, which is from chēroō, that is, I deprive, desolate, bereave; so also in Latin vidua (widow) is said from viduando (bereaving). Whence in verse 5, Paul says: "But she that is a widow indeed and desolate," etc. Honor these widows then, he says, both properly by paying them due honor, says Chrysostom, and by sustaining them with the offerings of the faithful: for this is the Hebrew kabad. Hence Jerome on chapter XV of Matthew: "Honor," he says, "in Scripture is understood not so much in offering greetings, as in alms and the offering of gifts."
Chrysostom and Ambrose note the phrase "widows indeed." For by this he signifies that it can happen that some woman may not have a husband, and yet not be a widow. For just as it is not abstinence from marriage that makes a virgin, but the love of integrity, by which intent on divine things without complaint, she may show herself holy to the Lord, and as it were assiduously cling and abide with Him, as the Apostle said in 1 Corinthians VII, 35; so likewise it is with a widow, that she may truly be a widow according to the mind of the Apostle.
You will ask whether the Apostle here speaks of all widows. I answer, he speaks of all, but chiefly of sacred and Ecclesiastical widows: for he descends gradually to these, as will appear from verse 9. So Chrysostom.
On this point, note from Ecclesiastical history: Of old, even in the time of the Apostles, just as there were virgins who consecrated themselves wholly to God, so likewise there were widows. Again, just as some of these virgins lived apart in their own houses, as is clear from the Third Council of Carthage, canon 33, while certain others lived together, as is now done in monasteries: so too these widows, some lived apart in their own house, others together as if in a college. Whence, speaking of these latter, St. Ignatius says both elsewhere and in his epistle to the Philippians: "I salute the college of virgins and the assembly of widows."
You may ask, of what kind were these Ecclesiastical widows, and why are they called by the Apostle truly widows?
I answer first: These widows, separated from the world and as if dead to the world, lived together, and devoted themselves solely to God and to piety, as is clear from verse 5.
Second, they professed, indeed they vowed chastity: whence in verse 12 the Apostle says that some of them had "made void the first faith" (that is, the vow).
Third, from among them were chosen deaconesses and the like, who would teach unlearned women and prepare them for baptism, concerning whom Epiphanius writes in heresy 79, which is that of the Collyridians; indeed in the time of St. Paul all these widows were as it were deaconesses, as I shall say at verse 9.
Fourth, they were poor and destitute of all support (whom verse 5 calls "truly widows"), and therefore were sustained by the Church, as is clear from verse 3, and Acts VI, 1. Hence also Pope Cornelius, in Eusebius, book VI of the History, ch. xxxiii, where he enumerates the clerics of every order then at Rome, counts the widows together with the needy as one thousand five hundred, all of whom, he says, God feeds in His Church. For widows who were not poor, or who had parents, sons, or wealthy nephews, were not held to be truly widows, wholly desolate and destitute of all support: because they could and ought to be supported by them, as the Apostle here commands in verse 6.
Fifth, they were honorable by reason of age and profession of sanctity. Whence the Apostle requires so many and such great things of them. Hence also in the third collect on the day of Parasceve, in which the priest prays in order for every grade and state of the Church, after the clerics and virgins he prays for the widows, and then for the whole people.
Sixth, they were under the care of the Bishop; whence the Apostle here so earnestly commends them to Bishop Timothy. Hence Chrysostom, in book III of On the Priesthood, among other reasons why he fled the episcopate, as a burden surpassing his shoulders, brings forward this one, that the Bishop must care for the widows and provide for them.
Seventh, in the time of St. Augustine and Innocent they had a distinct habit, and changed the lay garb for a religious and black one, and went about in dark vesture, as is clear from the Council of Orange, canon 45, and the Fourth of Carthage, canon 104; and from St. Augustine, epistle 199 to Ecdicia, where he reproves her, because without her husband's knowledge she had laid aside the lay garment.
Eighth, they were as it were mothers and prefects of the other women, as I shall say at verse 9. That the Apostle is speaking chiefly of these widows, St. Chrysostom, Hesselius and others teach, and the words of the Apostle favor it, by which he laboriously and precisely instructs them. Whence in the following verse he wishes them to be proved before they are admitted into this sacred assembly: "Let her learn," he says, "first to rule her own house," etc.
Chrysostom asks why the Apostle here ordains nothing concerning virgins as he does concerning widows. And he replies, that at Ephesus then, being as it were in the beginnings of the Church, virgins were few or none, that is, those living together as in a college or monastery, who would need the care of the Bishop.
Verse 4: If Any Widow Has Children or Grandchildren, Let Her Learn First to Rule Her Own House
For "let her learn," in Greek it is manthanetō, for which the Syriac, Theophylact and others read manthanetōsan, that is, "let them learn," namely the sons and grandsons, to rule "their house," that is, the widows of their house, namely mother and grandmother, eusebein, that is, to treat with piety, and, as Jerome reads in his letter to Geruntia, to cherish. For in the time of Paul, the sons and grandsons of many widows, when they saw other poorer widows being supported by the Church, would importune the Bishop that their mother or grandmother might be supported by the Church along with the other widows, even though they themselves were able to support them, namely so that they might be freed from the cost and care of them, and might cast their burden upon the Church. Whence Paul here commands Bishop Timothy that he answer them: First sustain your own mother and grandmother; but where you can no longer support them, then at last have recourse to the Church. Thus Hesselius following Theophylact.
But the Roman version, Ambrose, and others read "let her learn," not "let them learn"; and so that this is the proper reading is clear from the fact that the Apostle here is instructing the widows themselves, not their sons and grandsons. For of these he treats at verse 16, where he commands that they should support their own mother; therefore he does not command the same thing of them here.
Hence secondly, Ambrose refers the "let her learn to rule her own house" to the widow; but "and to render the due return to parents" he refers to the sons. But then in the former it would have to be read "let her learn"; in the latter, "let them learn"; whereas the Apostle says "let her learn," and that only once.
I say therefore that the Apostle in both places speaks of widows alone, as if to say: If any widow has sons or grandsons, before she be admitted by the Church into the assembly of widows of which I have already spoken, let her first learn to rule her own house, that is, her sons and grandsons, eusebein, that is, as the Syriac, Vatablus, and Ambrose say, to treat with piety (for although the Greek eusebein is neuter, yet the Apostle makes it active by a Hebraism, taking the kal for the hiphil), that is, that she may piously govern her sons and imbue them with piety.
Let her learn secondly, that this widow "render due return to her parents," that is, if her parents are still living, that she serve them, help them, minister to them, and feed them, just as from childhood she was fed and brought up by them: as storks do to their aged parents, from which this reciprocal piety of children toward parents is called antipelargēsis. But if the parents have died, let her render them this return in her sons and grandsons, and let her bestow upon them that care, sustenance, and dutiful service which she would have bestowed upon her parents.
Such a widow was St. Monica, of whom St. Augustine, in book IX of the Confessions, chapter ix, says: "She had been the wife of one man; she had rendered the due return to her parents; she had piously governed her own house; she had a testimony of good works; she had nurtured her sons, bringing them to birth as often as she saw them straying from Thee. Lastly, O Lord, to all of us who by Thy gift were living together in Thee before her falling asleep, having received the grace of Thy baptism, she so devoted her care, as if she had borne us all; she so served us, as if she had been born for us all."
Verse 5: She That Is a Widow Indeed and Desolate, Let Her Hope in God
The conjunction "and" here signifies "that is," as if to say: A widow who has been bereaved and left alone not only of her husband but also of children and the consolation of all men, this one "let her hope in God," because she will experience Him as her provider, indeed as Father and Husband, and so let her have God in place of all, says Chrysostom. For "let her hope," the Greek is ēlpike, that is, "she has hoped" or "she hopes," as Ambrose reads: for sometimes in such cases the past is put for the present, as if the Apostle were not commanding, but describing who are truly widows, namely those who, destitute of all hope from men, have fixed all their hope and mind upon God. Thus Chrysostom.
Verse 6: For She That Lives in Pleasures Is Dead While She Is Living
For she who lives in pleasures, although living (in body, yet in spirit) is dead — as if to say: Though living, she does not live, but overwhelms the life of the body with the death of the soul. See Chrysostom. "Immoderate delights," says Theodoret, "overwhelm reason, and bring it about that one lies in the body as in a kind of tomb." Whence Sophocles too, censuring a gluttonous man: "I do not reckon that this man lives: but I judge him a corpse." The reason is given by St. Augustine, treatise 47 on John: "The life of thy flesh is the soul; the life of thy soul is God. Just as the flesh dies when the soul is lost, which is its life: so the soul dies when God is lost, who is its life."
Truly therefore St. Bernard, in sermon 48 on the Canticle: "A life spent in pleasures is both death and the shadow of death: for as much as the shadow is near to the body of which it is the shadow, by so much, assuredly, that life draws near to hell."
Truly likewise St. Ambrose, in his book On Widows, speaking of Judith: "You note how much drunkenness can harm women, since wine so loosens men that they are conquered by women. Be therefore, widow, temperate, chaste first from wine, that you may be able to be chaste from the adulterer; he will by no means tempt you, if wines do not tempt. For if Judith had drunk, she would have slept with the adulterer; but because she did not drink, the sobriety of one woman could without difficulty conquer and elude an army of drunken men." And St. Fulgentius, epistle 2, chapter xiv: "Chastity goes forth to attack lasciviousness, and holy humility advances to the destruction of pride: he fought with arms, she with fasts; he with drunkenness, she with prayer. Therefore what the whole people of the Israelites could not do, a holy widow accomplished by the virtue of chastity. One woman cut down the leader of so great an army, and restored unhoped-for liberty to the people of God. So much could humble chastity avail," whose mother was sobriety.
Note here the seven virtues and endowments of widows: the first is, to govern sons and household with piety; the second, to honor parents; the third, the husband being dead, to hope in God; the fourth, to be assiduous in prayer; the fifth, to flee delights; the sixth, to be blameless; the seventh, to give themselves to pious works, especially of hospitality and mercy, as he says in verse 10. Such was Anna the prophetess, in Luke II: "Whose lodging," says St. Ambrose in the book On Widows, "was in the temple, her conversation in prayer, her life in fasting." Such was Judith also; see Ambrose in the same place, and Augustine in his book On the Good of Widowhood. Such a widow also was St. Paula the Roman, Blesilla, Melania, as is clear from their Life in St. Jerome.
Such a widow was Euphrasia of Rome, who as a noble and powerful young woman, after the death of her husband, when she was being urged by the emperor to a second marriage, having renounced all things, withdrew into the Thebaid, and there in holy widowhood lived among the Saints and died. Such also was Constantia, daughter of Emperor Constantine, who persuaded her husband Gallicanus, the leader of the whole army, not only to the faith of Christ, but also to continence, of which both took a vow; whence he gave himself wholly to the service of the poor, and under Julian the Apostate consummated a glorious martyrdom. Such was St. Elizabeth, daughter of the king of Hungary, who as a young woman, when her husband died, devoted herself wholly to the care of the poor and the sick. Such was St. Bridget, a most noble widow, who devoted herself wholly to pilgrimage to the holy places, went to Rome and Jerusalem, founded many monasteries, and accomplished many other heroic works.
Such was Olympias, who, after Nebridius her husband, prefect of the city of Constantinople, died in the second year of marriage, while still a young woman refused a second husband. And when the Emperor Theodosius wished to join her to a certain Elpidius, his kinsman, she resisted, and said: "If my Emperor had wished me to pass my life with any man, surely he would not have taken away my first husband from me: now by taking him away, he has rescued me from the troubles of matrimony; and he has imposed upon me the sweet yoke of continence, and infused it into my mind." Wherefore she devoted herself wholly to the services of the temple, to almsgiving and pious works. Whence St. Chrysostom marvelously praises her, of whom there is more at the end of verse 10. Hear also of other illustrious women.
Marcella, a most noble Roman lady, was deprived of her husband in the seventh month after her marriage. When Cerealis, the Roman Consul, on account of her age and the antiquity of her family and her remarkable beauty of body and temperance of character, sought her with much ambition, and, being already advanced in years, promised her his riches, and would pour out the gift not as upon a wife but as upon a daughter, and her mother Albina willingly desired so distinguished a support for her widowed house; she answered: "If I were willing to marry, and not to dedicate myself to eternal chastity, I would surely seek a husband, not an inheritance." And when he objected that old men could live long and young men could quickly die, she elegantly jested: "A young man indeed can quickly die, but an old man cannot live long." Wherefore remaining a widow she devoted herself to piety and God. Thus St. Jerome, in the Epitaph of Marcella.
Galla, the daughter of Symmachus the Roman Consul, having been given to her husband, was bereaved of him in the first year; and when all urged her to second nuptials, even physicians, saying that unless she married, she would on account of her fiery complexion against nature have a beard — which indeed happened — she remained constant in widowhood, nor did she fear this outward deformity, who inwardly loved the beauty of her heavenly Spouse. Therefore as soon as her husband died, casting off the secular habit, she gave herself to the service of almighty God in a monastery at the church of St. Peter, and there for many years devoted to simplicity of heart and prayer, she bestowed lavish works of alms upon the needy. And when almighty God had decreed now to render eternal reward to her labors, she was struck with a cancerous ulcer in the breast. At night two candelabra used to burn before her bed; because indeed a friend of light, she hated not only spiritual but also bodily darkness. While she lay weary one night from this same infirmity, she saw blessed Peter the Apostle standing between the two candelabra before her bed: she was not at all terrified, but taking courage from love she rejoiced, and said to him: "What is it, my Lord? Are my sins forgiven me?" To whom he with most kindly countenance, with bowed head, nodded, saying: "Forgiven. Come." But because she loved a certain holy woman in the same monastery above the rest, Galla immediately added: "I ask that my blessed sister may come with me"; to whom he answered: "No, but such-and-such other shall come with thee: but this one whom thou askest, thirty days hence shall follow thee." When these things were finished, the vision of the Apostle standing by and speaking with her was taken away. But she immediately summoned the mother of the whole congregation, and indicated to her what she had seen and heard. And on the third day, with the sister who had been ordered, she died: but the one whom she herself had asked, followed thirty days later. Thus St. Gregory, book IV of the Dialogues, chap. xiii, in the year 504; Fulgentius, epistle to Galla.
In the year of our Lord 514, Clovis, king of the Franks, departed from this life, who was buried at Paris in the basilica of St. Peter the Apostle, which the king himself, at the urging of the virgin St. Genevieve, had begun to erect from the foundations, and which his wife Clotilde took care to complete. The queen herself after the death of her husband came to Tours, and there serving at the basilica of St. Martin, dwelt with the highest modesty and kindness all the days of her life, rarely visiting Paris. So Gregory of Tours, book II of the History of the Franks.
Quirina, the mother of Laurence, Patriarch of Venice, a woman of most illustrious lineage, in her 24th year having lost her husband and having five children, led the rest of her age in celibacy, governing her own house, to use the Apostle's words, and instructing her sons in the fear of God and his commandments, persisting in prayers day and night; and lest she be dead in delights, she wore a brazen chain about her loins as long as she lived, chastising her flourishing age with fastings and vigils: especially indeed merciful and beneficent toward the poor, instructing her sons to alms always both by word and by example. So Bernard Justinian in the Life of St. Laurence Justinian.
Concerning a widow seized by a young man and wondrously delivered from him, hear St. Augustine to Dulcitius: "I shall tell what happened in Mauretania Sitifensis: for neither is God of the saints not Himself even now God. A certain young catechumen, Celtichius, seized a widow established in the resolution of continence, that he might have her as wife. Before he lay with her, oppressed by sleep, and terrified by a dream, he sent her back untouched to the Bishop of Sitifis who most vehemently demanded her. Those of whom I speak are still alive. He, baptized, and converted to the Lord by the very miracle worked in him, attained to the episcopate by his wonderful uprightness. She persists in holy widowhood."
In the year of our Lord 1024, when Emperor Henry II had died and been buried at Bamberg, the pious Empress Cunegunda followed his soul, last performing the pious offices for him. For although at his death all things had been filled with crowds and confused with rumors, she nevertheless, constant in mind, strove with all her strength only this one thing, that by largesse of alms and instance of prayers the soul of her blessed spouse might be commended to God. The Empress herself, on the anniversary day of the Emperor's death, in the monastery erected by her, at the dedication of its basilica, laying aside the Imperial ornaments, took on the monastic habit, to serve the nuns of that place: where she persevered until her death for fifteen years. When already at the point of dying she saw the august ornaments being prepared for the pomp of her body, she is said to have spoken thus: "That garment is not mine: take it from here, this adornment is foreign: by these I was joined to the earthly spouse, and by these to the heavenly spouse. Naked I came forth from my mother's womb, naked shall I return thither. With these things wrap the vile material of wretched flesh, and lay my body beside the tomb of my brother and lord Henry the Emperor, whom I see calling me, in its own little place." Having said these things, commending her spirit into the hands of the Lord, she passed into heaven. So Baronius from Adalbero VI, Bishop of Utrecht, tom. XI, in the years 1024, 1025 and 1040.
Do you wish for Gentile examples? The widows of Goa, or the Brahmans, have it as a custom, while they live as heathens, when the first husband has died, however young they may be, not to marry another. Indeed, before it was forbidden by royal edict, they handed themselves over to be burned along with the corpses of their husbands. But now after embracing Christianity they neither wear white-colored garments, and they shave the head perpetually. So according to the Letters from India, year 1366.
The Chinese praise that marriage in which a man legitimately joins one wife to himself, and they hold her in honor, who, cultivating widowhood, does not take a second husband; and the Mandarins bestow rewards upon her and grant her many liberties and privileges, as the Romans of old did to the Vestal virgins. So Father Alexander Valignano, Provost of the province of India, in letters of the year 1588.
Verse 8: If Any Have Not Care of His Own, He Has Denied the Faith
But if anyone — ei de tis, that is, "if any woman," namely widow, for he has been treating and is treating of widows: yet it can with Chrysostom be extended to any person whatever — does not have care of his own, and especially of those of his household (so as to provide for the salvation both of body and of soul), he has denied the faith, — not in word, but in deeds and work; for God and the faith itself says and dictates that of Isaiah lviii, 7: "Despise not thy own flesh." He therefore who neglects his own, seems to neglect the faith and the reputation of Christianity, and to be the cause why the unfaithful blaspheme Christ and Christians. "How wide," says Chrysostom, "is the field of detraction laid open to the Gentiles, who say that Christians are without natural affection, who despise their own! For how shameful it is to teach strangers and leave thine own in error!"
And is worse than an infidel. — For unbelievers by natural instinct and piety bear care of their own: for this is the order of charity, even natural, that we provide for our domestics before strangers.
Verse 9: Let a Widow Be Chosen of No Less Than Sixty Years
It is asked whether the Apostle is speaking of any common widow, or rather of her who is to be chosen as overseer of the rest.
St. Chrysostom, Theophylact, Oecumenius, Ambrose and Jerome, in his epistle to Salvina, first answer that the Apostle is speaking not of an overseer, but of a common widow, as if to say: Every widow, in order to be chosen and reckoned in the assembly and catalogue (for this is what the Greek katalegesthō means) of Ecclesiastical widows, who were as it were nuns, and vowed chastity, and were under the care and obedience of the Bishop, and were nourished by the Church, as I said at verse 3, every one, I say, of these must be sixty years old. The Apostle requires so great an age in them, first, because, as Jerome above, younger women can earn their living by laboring with their own hands. He therefore wishes them to do that, so that other older women, who cannot live by their own labor, may be supported by the Church, which cannot support all, especially when it was small and poor. Again, as Chrysostom, because younger women are more inconstant, and Paul had experienced some of them entering second marriages after their vow of chastity, with scandal and disgrace to the Church, and ruin to their own soul. He wishes therefore older women to be chosen, whose proven chastity, virtue and constancy may be an honor to the Church: lest, if it be done otherwise, the Heathen blaspheme Christ and the Church.
Secondly others, such as Epiphanius in the heresy of the Collyridians, and Tertullian, book I to his Wife, chap. vi, Baronius in the year of Christ 34, indeed Beza too, understand these things of a widow not just any, but principal, namely one who is set over others by counsel and aid, or who is a deaconess. For this is signified first, by the word "let her be chosen," namely one out of many, who is more worthy than the rest and to be set before them, so that the Greek katalegesthō is taken for eklegesthō, that is "let her be chosen," as our Vulgate translates. Secondly, it is proved by the fact that he wishes her to be sixty years old: for it is not credible that the Apostle wished to exclude from the assembly of widows or from the Church's maintenance all widows who had not yet reached their sixtieth year, much less wished all those to marry: he is treating therefore of the deaconess. Whence also by civil law, book XXVII On Bishops in the Theodosian Code, it is prescribed that a deaconess be sixty years old: although afterwards, with the increasing number of the faithful, this was mitigated; for the Council of Chalcedon, canon 14, and that of Worms, canon 73, only require in a deaconess that she be forty years old. Thirdly, because he requires of this woman, whom he wishes to be chosen, so many things, as one would rightly require of a prelate, but not of a common widow.
But I think both opinions can be reconciled and both have place here.
On which note, that the Apostle is not speaking of private and any kind of widows, but of the college and as it were monastery of widows, which had been instituted to assist the Church, especially in the care, instruction and discipline of other women, whether virgins or matrons. Each one therefore of these widows was as it were a deaconess, so that, with cares and works distributed among themselves, these widows could have the care of all women, and could attend to each one. The Apostle therefore wishes each one of these to be sixty years old, and that none be admitted into this assembly of theirs, of which I spoke (for this is what the Greek katalegesthō signifies), unless she be sixty. For that the Apostle is speaking of such selected principal widows, who by their care and charity directed other women, is gathered from this, that he requires of them so great a proof and exercise of good works, especially of charity and mercy: "If," he says, "she has received in hospitality, if she has washed the feet of the saints, if she has ministered to those suffering tribulation, if she has followed every good work." For no one would require these things from common widows, even religious, but only from those who must be set over others, or undertake the care of others, especially of the poor or sick: that these widows were such, is probable, and the Apostle has sufficiently hinted at it in the words already said. The same can be gathered from Acts vi, where, on account of the murmuring of the Greeks, deacons were chosen in place of the widows who had presided over the tables and alms, that they might fulfill that office: in such a way, however, that the widows were not entirely excluded from this care especially regarding women, but had deacons as presidents, to whom they themselves served as subordinates. These widows afterwards were called, or certainly into their place succeeded, deaconesses.
Now there were three chief functions of deaconesses, as is gathered from Epiphanius, heresy 79, and Clement, book III of the Constitutions, chap. xv.
First, they were lay persons, nor were they consecrated by any ordination, but they presided over the doors of the temple, namely those by which women entered into the temple; for just as women had in the temple a place distinct from men, so also they had distinct doors. Whence St. Ignatius, in his epistle to the Antiochenes, calls deaconesses "keepers of the vestibules."
Second, in the time of persecutions, when on account of dangers, or on account of the suspicions of the unfaithful, a deacon could not be sent to women, a deaconess was sent, that she might convey the counsels, exhortations, mandates of the Bishop or Pastor, and that she might strengthen the faithful in the faith, and console and aid them in persecution, poverty, sickness and other tribulations.
Third, she presided over the baptism of women and undressed them; she did the same at their anointing. Again, when the Bishop anointed in Confirmation the foreheads of women with the holy oil, the deaconess wiped them. So Epiphanius above, Clement, book III of the Constitutions, chap. xv, and others. Finally, the bodies of women, when they died, she washed and laid out for burial, as is gathered from Epiphanius and others.
These deaconesses long existed in the Greek Church, but not the Latin; for the Latins immediately abolished them, as is clear from the Second Council of Orleans, can. 17, and others; whence among the Latins there is scarcely mention of them. Wrongly therefore does Calvin teach that the Apostle here approves only the vows of continence made by sexagenarians. For first of all, the Apostle is not speaking of virgins, as Chrysostom rightly noted, but of widows, in whom because of the experience and habit of marriage, chastity is more difficult and dangerous. Again, he is not speaking of any widows whatever, but only of Ecclesiastical ones, who, as it were as deaconesses, were to preside over the rest after the manner of mothers, as Beza himself confesses; and consequently he is not speaking of admission to the vow of continence, but of admission into this college of widows, which consisted only of the most grave, the most aged, the most select matrons. But of this more at verse 14.
Who has been the wife of one husband. — Beza thus explains, as if to say: A woman who has not had several husbands at the same time, or who has not repudiated her husband adhering to another, that is, who is not an adulteress; because, he says, second marriages are holy; therefore on account of them no one is to be excluded from the order. But this explanation is so unheard of, that not only, by Beza's own testimony, is it against all the Fathers, but also against Calvin, whom Beza acknowledges as his master, and does not call otherwise than "most learned interpreter." For all doctors, both ancient and modern, and even Calvin here, understand the univira absolutely, that is, one who has not entered second nuptials after the husband's death so as to be called bivira or digama, to be signified and required by the Apostle.
Calvin proves it from this, that the Apostle says, not "who is," but "who has been the wife of one husband." For what else is this to say but one who in her whole life has had no more than one husband? For the Apostle rightly demands this from such a widow, who is to preside over others, as it were a token of remarkable continence and chastity. For from all other married women the law of nature and of nations requires that they cleave to their one husband, not to another, that is, that they not be adulteresses. But here the Apostle demands special endowments from this chosen widow. He does not therefore by "wife of one husband" mean her who is not or has not been an adulteress, but she who has entered into nuptials only once with one husband: for this is the endowment of a continent widow, even in the judgment of the Gentiles, for which Judith is praised, chap. xv, vers. 11, namely that she had been univira, not bivira. Hear Dido, book IV of the Aeneid, proclaiming herself a univira widow:
"He who first joined me to himself bore away my loves, may he have them with him and keep them in the tomb": "If by the common law of nature," says Jerome to Salvina, "a Gentile widow condemns all pleasures, what is to be expected of a Christian widow, who gives her chastity not only to him who has died, but also to Him with whom she is to reign?"
Hence it is clear that the Apostle in the same sense required of the Bishop in verse 2, chap. III, that he be "the husband of one wife," namely, that the Bishop be such a one as has had only one wife in his whole life. Calvin denies this, and wishes that in one sense the widow here is called "wife of one husband," but in another sense the Bishop is called "husband of one wife," namely that the widow is properly called univira who was married only once to one husband; but the Bishop is called "husband of one wife" who has not had several wives at the same time, even if successively he has had several. He proves it because the Apostle says of the widow in the past tense: "Who has been the wife of one husband," but of the Bishop he says in the present: "It behooves the Bishop to be the husband of one wife." But this is to twist the words of the Apostle. For who does not see that in both places it is the same phrase, and consequently the same sentence and sense? For since in marriage the right and bond of either spouse is equal, in entirely equal sense one is called and is "husband of one wife" and "wife of one husband," whether you add "is" in the present or "was" in the past. For these verbs do not change the matter and the phrase, but only denote the time of the thing. For it is the same as if I should say, "he is a monogamist," or "he was a monogamist," where I understand the same by "monogamist," whether I say "is" or "was." Again, who does not see that greater chastity is required of a man, and a Bishop, than of a woman, and a widow?
To his argument I respond, the Apostle speaks of the Bishop in the present, not that he wishes that in the present the Bishop be married to one wife. For what, if he were a widower or celibate, would he then be unfit and not more fit for the episcopate? But that by the present he signifies the present state of the Bishop, that the man must be monogamous, namely so that he be not digamous, that is, that he never contracted second nuptials with a second wife; this the Apostle's words clearly signify; for thus he says: "It behooves the Bishop to be irreproachable, the husband of one wife, sober, prudent." Where the "husband of one wife" is an epithet subsisting by itself, just as here "wife of one husband"; for it signifies that each must be monogamous. You will say: Why then is it said of the widow here "she has been," but there of the Bishop is said "he is"? I respond, because the widow, being widowed and bereaved of her husband, is not, but has been, the wife of one husband. But the Bishop could in the present be the husband of one wife: for while his wife was living he could be chosen, and in fact then he was often chosen for the episcopate, so that it could be said of him: This Bishop in the present is the husband of one wife. I have said more on this passage at chap. III, vers. 2.
Verse 10: If She Has Brought Up Children, Received Strangers, Washed the Saints' Feet
If she has brought up children — by herself and unto piety. For he censures mothers who hand over to others to educate the sons whom they bring forth, or certainly do not bring them up rightly and unto piety. Under "sons" understand also "daughters": for in Greek it is eteknotrophēsen, that is, "if she has reared offspring."
If she has received in hospitality — ei exenodochēsen, that is, if she has been hospitable, namely in receiving pilgrims and the poor with hospitality.
If she has washed the feet of the saints. — "Of the saints," that is, of Christians coming from afar. Hence it is clear that it was an ancient custom that the feet of strangers wearied from a journey should be washed. Abraham did the same, Gen. xviii, 4, and Abigail, 1 Reg. xxv, 41, and Magdalene to Christ, Luke vii, and Christ to His disciples in the last supper. "For when," says Augustine, tract. 58 on John, "the body is bent down to the feet of the brethren, even in the heart itself the pious affection of humility either is awakened, or, if it was already there, is confirmed." Under this office, sordid and servile beyond others, Paul understands the other duties of charity and humility, and wishes that the widow herself perform them, not by her maidservants, says Chrysostom, who, in homily 14, applies this to Religious: for they are the saints who have wholly dedicated themselves to God. Whence "he exhorts the rich to cherish and revere them, saying: 'Go, seek, receive in hospitality, approach, touch the sacred feet; it is far more honorable to touch their feet than the heads of others: for if most people hold the feet of statues because they bear a royal image, will you not hold the feet of him who has Christ Himself in him, that you may be saved? Holy are the feet, even if they are mean. But of the profane, not even the head is honorable.'" Such, in the time of St. Chrysostom, as is recorded in his Life, were women and deaconesses illustrious in nobility and sanctity, Procula, Pentadia, Sylvania.
If she has followed every good work. — St. Jerome, in chap. viii of Zechariah, reads "she has prosecuted," that is, as the Syriac and Vatablus, if in every good work she was assiduous, if she has pursued every good work. Notably he says epēkolouthēsen, that is, "she has followed after," not "she has worked," because often the faculty of carrying out the pious work is lacking. The Apostle therefore requires that at least the pious will and effort be not lacking, by which she pursues the good work, or rather by which she follows after that very work as it were as preceding and running before; and that she serve another working well, says Theophylact, joining herself as a companion in any good work whatever: as we see pious and zealous women hunting after and pursuing all the works of piety, mingling themselves in everything and lending a hand.
Receive, O widows, receive also virgins, a rare and illustrious mirror of these virtues which you may daily contemplate, St. Olympias, a most noble and most wealthy matron, who in marriage remained a virgin, and on her husband's death led a life admirable beyond her sex. Palladius narrates of her briefly in the Lausiaca, chap. cxliv. First of all, the very great wealth she had, she assiduously dispensed to the poor of every kind and in every place. "No countryside," he says, "no solitude remained without share in the bounty of this renowned virgin: but she furnished to churches gifts assigned for sacrifice, and to monasteries, and to coenobia, and to hostels for strangers, and to prisons, and to those in exile; and, to say it at once, throughout the whole earth she distributed alms." Then he narrates her humility, charity, continence: "This blessed one advanced to the extreme limit of humility, beyond which nothing further can be found. A life without any vain glory, an appearance in no way feigned, kindly manners, a face not painted, a flourishing body, a mind not vainglorious, a soul foreign to arrogance, a heart in no way troubled, a vigilance without sleep, a spirit not curious, immeasurable charity, communication that cannot be grasped, mean and despised garment, infinite continence, right thought, eternal hope in God, with alms that cannot be narrated, the ornament of all the humble: against whom many temptations were kindled from the operation of him who is by his own will evil and devoid of all good, namely the devil; who underwent no small contests for the truth; who also for a long time lived abundantly in immense tears, subject to every human nature for the sake of the Lord: with all piety subject to the holy Bishops, venerating the priesthood, honoring the clergy, reverencing exercise, embracing virginity." Besides these things, her works of mercy toward all he thus recounts: "She bore aid to widowhood, took care of orphanhood, protected old age, visited the sick, had pity on sinners, brought back the wandering to the way, used mercy toward all, but profusely toward the poor, and having instructed many wives of unbelievers in catechesis, even bringing them aid for sustenance, she left always a memorable name of kindness throughout her whole life. Restoring multitudes of innumerable slaves from servitude into liberty, she made them equal in honor to her own nobility, or rather, if one must speak truly, they have become more noble by this holy garb." After these things he relates her poverty, meekness, and tears: "For nothing could be found more lowly than her garments; indeed, they were unworthy coverings even for those clothed in the most ragged tatters of this holy woman. So great was her meekness that it far surpassed even the simplicity of children themselves. No reproach was ever found in this woman who bore Christ; but all her life, far from being a life of ease, was spent in compunction and frequent flowing of tears: one could sooner see fountains failing of their streams in summer than tears failing from her eyes which were not lifted up but ever beholding Christ. And why do I linger on these things? For the more my mind shall dwell in narrating the contests and virtues of a soul like adamantine rock, the more will words be found falling short of deeds. Let no one think that I am gathering these things splendidly and magnificently about this most impassible woman, and seeking out the remains of the whole Olympias, who was a precious vessel of the Holy Spirit: but as one who has seen with these eyes the life and angelic discipline of this blessed woman." And all these things she accomplished while afflicted with diseases. Finally, Olympias bravely endured slanders, despoliation of her goods, and exile, because she favored St. John Chrysostom, from his rivals, and with Chrysostom she obtained as it were the laurel of martyrdom, as may be seen in St. Chrysostom, epistle 5, which is a consolatory letter written to her, and in Baronius in the year of Christ 404. What widow, what virgin enkindled with love of virtue, reading these things, would not be put to shame? would not be pricked at heart? would not be set aflame to holy emulation of this heroine?
Verse 11: But the Younger Widows Avoid
But avoid younger widows (neōteras, that is, younger). — paraitou, that is, reject; do not admit them into the college of widows consecrated to God who are supported by the Church: for I will have this constituted only of grave matrons fully approved, who may be an honor to the Church and an example and edification to all. The younger, however, are more fickle and changeable, and indeed I have known not a few who, after being admitted to the profession of chastity and to this college of widows, leapt back and sought marriages; therefore I do not wish younger widows henceforth to be admitted. This is plain from what follows, and from verse 9.
For when they have grown wanton in Christ, they will marry. — "Grown wanton," that is, fornicated, says Jerome to Gerontia, as if to say: When these widows have begun to follow lovers, and to fornicate secretly with them, at length they wish to marry publicly and openly, and that to the injury of Christ, to whom by the vow of chastity they had previously betrothed themselves. But the Greek katastrēniasōsi properly does not mean to fornicate, but to feed oneself well, and from that to exult more merrily than is fitting, to be wanton, and at last to grow wild and shake off every yoke. For strēnian is to grow wanton, that is to be lascivious, to indulge in delicacies, Apoc. xviii, 7; whence apostrēniaō is said with reference to indulging in pleasure and luxury, or rather, if one must speak truly, they became so by shaking off the reins. The metaphor is taken from beasts of burden, which, when they have been well fattened with fodder, grow wild, tear away the reins, and are carried along by their own will. The sense therefore is: These younger widows, when they have been well nourished and pastured in the house of God by the Church, like fattened calves kick back, and shake off the yoke of Christ and the profession of chastity, and, having broken their vows as it were chains, wish to marry: "and that in Christ," that is, to the injury of Christ. The word "grown wanton" therefore signifies here not lust, but the luxury of delights. Whence Cyprian, book III, Testim. LXXIV, to Quirinus, reads: "when they have become un-delighted in Christ."
Again Tertullian, in his book On Monogamy, understands this of the spiritual delights of Christ, namely prayer, inward consolations, the Sacraments, the word of God, etc., as if the Apostle were saying: When such widows have consecrated themselves to Christ and have used His spiritual delights, they come to such impudence that they wish to experience carnal delights and to marry. But we shall better take this of bodily delights; for these are the reason why they wish to marry: for the belly seething with strong wine foams over into lust. Therefore the second sense already given is the genuine one; for the Apostle alludes to Deuteronomy xxxii, 15, where it is said of the Hebrew people: "The beloved grew fat and kicked: he grew fat, became sleek, was enlarged, forsook God his Maker and departed from God his Savior."
Note: Some explain "in Christ" as being the same as "in the delights of Christ." Second, Haymo refers "in Christ" to "to marry," as if to say: They wish to marry in Christ, that is, to a Christian man, who is in Christ. But I say, "in Christ" is the same as "to the injury of Christ"; for this is what the Greek kata included in the verb katastrēniasōsin signifies, and the Greek phrase clearly indicates this: katastrēniasōsi tou Christou.
Verse 12: Having Damnation, Because They Have Made Void Their First Faith
Having damnation, because they have made void their first faith. — For "damnation" the Greek is krima, which Bucer and after him Peter Martyr translate "infamy," or "accusation before men," as if to say: These widows, if they marry, do not indeed sin, but they incur the mark of levity and inconstancy, because they leap back to marriage from the widowhood which they had publicly embraced and as it were professed. But the Greek krima does not mean "infamy," but a judgment of condemnation, and so it is rendered not only by our Translator and the Syriac, but also by all the Latin and Greek Fathers, and indeed by Calvin, Beza, Erasmus, and Luther; for everywhere Paul takes krima for judgment and damnation, as is evident from Rom. iii, 8; Rom. xiii, 2; 1 Cor. xi, 29; Galatians v, 10, and elsewhere.
Secondly, that these widows were infamous not only before men, but also guilty and damnable before God, is plain from verse 15, where he says: "For already some have turned back after Satan"; because, namely, having abandoned Christ, to whom they had betrothed themselves by the vow of continence, they followed Satan and Asmodeus, the inciter of lust and of sacrilegious marriages.
Thirdly, it is no levity, nor infamy, if from widowhood, in which you can scarcely contain yourself and live chastely, indeed if you indulge in fornication, you pass to marriage; nay, among heretics it is praiseworthy to pass from monasticism and from vows of continence publicly made to God to marriage. And yet the Apostle here brands these widows as infamous, because they pass to marriage, as Bucer would have it: therefore the widows had professed continence and were bound to it by vow, and consequently became infamous through marriage; for no other cause of infamy can be feigned here. For if they were free and not bound by vow, they could marry without infamy: but now, because they had vowed chastity and yet were marrying, they were judged infamous by the Apostle and by the whole Church; and consequently by the judgment of the Apostle and the Church, by the same reasoning all monks and nuns who pass to marriage after profession of chastity are judged infamous. See how contrary the Apostle's judgment is to the judgment of the Novatians.
Because they have made void their first faith. — "Faith," namely that given to God, that is, the vow of continence. Luther denies this, and by "faith" understands the Evangelical faith, or the faith given to God in baptism; as if to say: These widows, because they have grown wanton, that is, have fornicated, hence having become as it were infamous harlots among Christians, fled from them, and violating the faith given to Christ in baptism, returned to infidelity and to their own infidels, and therefore will be damned.
But this is said unskilfully: first, because harlots were equally infamous among unbelievers as among the faithful; and if they passed to marriage, they were equally praiseworthy among the faithful as among unbelievers — if you take away the vow, as Luther and the Novatians do, who deny that these widows made vows of continence. Therefore they did not avoid infamy by returning to paganism, and consequently the desire of avoiding infamy could not impel them to paganism.
Secondly, it is not their infidelity, but their marriages after the vow of continence which the Apostle here brands: "When," he says, "they have grown wanton in Christ, they wish to marry, having damnation, because they have made void their first faith." Therefore by the very fact that they marry, they have damnation and make void their first faith. For the "having damnation" coheres with "they wish to marry," and is its effect and consequence.
Calvin secondly answers that this "faith" was a promise of continence made not to God but to the Church; for the Church tacitly and indirectly exacted this from the widows, and the widows performed the same, that they might more readily minister therein, the more they were free and loosed from a husband: just as maidservants, while they hire themselves out to their masters, tacitly promise that they will not in the meantime marry; for they cannot serve a husband and a master at the same time. "They did not," says Calvin, "in the old institution have a direct vow of continence."
But hence it follows first, that it is lawful to exact and to promise continence to the Church, at least tacitly and indirectly; if this is lawful tacitly and indirectly, why should it not also be lawful directly and expressly? Again, if the Church has lawfully exacted from widows a promise of continence, why does it not, by even greater right, exact it from priests? Why then does Calvin with his followers cry out that celibacy enjoined upon priests is a tyranny of the Church?
Secondly, if it is lawful to promise continence to the Church in order to serve her more readily, then for the same reason it will be lawful to promise the same to God, that is, to vow; and if widows who violate this promise made to the Church will be damned: therefore much more those who violate the faith given to God, namely their vow, will be damned.
You will say: The "having damnation" is to be referred not to "they wish to marry," but to "when they have grown wanton," that is, fornicated, as if the Apostle were saying: These widows will be damned not on account of marriage, but on account of fornication. But this cannot be said:
First, because, as I have said, "grown wanton" does not signify that these widows had fornicated, but that they had indulged and were wanton in delights: this, however, is not a mortal sin, nor damnable, unless one leaps so far as to wish to marry against vow, and this Bullinger himself confesses here.
Secondly, granted they had fornicated, that fornication had already passed, and was amended by penance and by marriage, or by the will and intention of marriage: for the very reason they wished to marry was that they were ashamed and repentant of their fornication; therefore on account of fornication they would not have been damnable: but the Apostle says in the present: "Having damnation"; therefore on account of present marriages they were damnable in the present, not on account of past fornication, from which they had already repented by entering into marriages. For just as it would be ineptly said of a fornicating woman, an idolater, or a usurer now repenting: "This girl, who has fornicated and now repenting of her fornication wishes to marry, has damnation because she has fornicated"; "This idolater, converted and wishing to be initiated to Christ, has damnation because he worshipped idols"; "This usurer, now coming to his senses and wishing to restore the usuries and to live justly, has damnation because he practiced usuries," when rather it should be said: "This girl, formerly a fornicator, but now wishing to amend herself and to marry, by this very fact retreats from her damnation"; "This idolater, this usurer turning himself to Christ, or to justice, retreats from sin, and consequently from damnation." So in like manner the Apostle would here ineptly say of the widows, who wished to pass from fornication to honest marriages, that, when they wish to marry, they have damnation; nay rather, he should have said that they were betaking themselves from damnation to the state of salvation.
Thirdly, this openly conflicts with the words of the Apostle; for he says: "Having damnation," not because they had grown wanton, but because "they have made void their first faith"; therefore not on account of fornication, but on account of the faith, that is, the vow of continence violated by marriage, they are subject to damnation.
I therefore reply and say: The Apostle here understands "faith" as that which is given to God, that is, the promise made to God by the vow of continence. For this is annulled and broken by marrying just as much as by fornicating. The Apostle therefore says that these widows are guilty of damnation, because they annul the vow of continence made to God, by the very fact that they wish to marry. Whence Chrysostom, Theophylact, and Oecumenius interpret this "faith" as a pact; Ambrose, as a profession; Epiphanius, book II, heresy 48, as a promise; Augustine, as a vow; for thus he has in Psalm xlv: "What is it," he says, "to have made void their first faith? They vowed and did not pay." He has similar things in epistle 45 to Armentarius: "Do not repent of having vowed; rather rejoice that what would have been lawful with your loss is now no longer lawful for you. Set to work intrepidly, therefore, and fulfill in deeds what you have spoken: He Himself will help, who requires our vows. Happy the necessity which compels to better things!"
In the same way Theodoret, Ambrose, Fulgentius (epistle 1), Clement (I Const. III), Epiphanius (heresy 61), and other Greek and Latin Fathers interpret this passage; nay, the Fourth Council of Carthage, canon 104, by "first faith" understands the vow of chastity.
Note: The "first faith" is called by the Apostle here not a vow newly emitted, as Ambrose would have it, as if the Apostle were saying: They made void the vow newly emitted, immediately from the very beginning of the vow itself; but the "first faith" is called the vow which they first vowed to God. It is called "first" with respect to a later one, which they wish to enter into with a human husband against the first faith given to God. So St. Augustine, book On the Good of Widowhood, chap. viii, and Innocent I, epist. 2, chap. xiii.
Note secondly: For "they made void," the Greek is ēthetēsan, which secondly, with the Syriac and Vatablus, can be rendered "they repulsed," or "they rejected." Our Translator also rightly renders it "they made void." For just as he who fulfills his promise makes it ratified, so he who does not fulfill it makes the same void. So Numbers xxx, 3, it is said: "If any of the men shall have vowed a vow to the Lord, he shall not make void his word; but all that he has promised, he shall fulfill." So Genesis xvii, 14, he who is not circumcised on the eighth day is said to make void, that is, to violate, the covenant of the Lord. So Psalm lxxxviii, 35, it is said: "What proceeds from my lips, I will not make void," as if to say: What I have promised with my mouth, I will not deny or revoke; but in deed itself I will perform and fulfill.
Hence it is plain that in the time of Christ and the Apostles, vows of continence were given in the Church; and these were as it were sacred, and were admitted by Paul and by the bishops: for, as St. Thomas teaches, II II, Question LXXXVIII, art. 6, a work done from a vow is better and more pleasing to God than that which is done spontaneously without a vow. The reason for this is that a work done from a vow is not only elicited from its proper virtue, e.g. chastity, of which it is the proper work, but is also referred to a nobler virtue, namely religion, by which it is commanded: for a vow is a certain part and act of the virtue of religion, which is the noblest of all moral virtues. Whence St. Augustine, book On Holy Virginity, chap. viii: "Nor is virginity itself honored because it is virginity, but because it is dedicated to God: which though it be preserved in the flesh, yet it is preserved by the religion and devotion of the spirit, and through this even bodily virginity is spiritual, which the continence of piety vows and keeps." And further on: "Among the goods of the soul, that continence is more honorably to be reckoned by which the integrity of the flesh is vowed, consecrated, and preserved." Augustine gives another reason in the book On the Good of Widowhood, chap. viii and ix, and in On Adulterous Marriages, chap. xv and xxiv, where he expressly says: "In those who have vowed chastity, not only to enter into marriage, but even to wish to marry, is damnable." So also Chrysostom, Theophylact, and Oecumenius: "They have made void their first faith," that is, they say, they have violated the pact which they made with Christ their bridegroom.
St. Anselm gives a third reason, in his book On Similitudes, that it is more to give a tree with its fruits than the fruits alone. He who does not vow gives only the fruits of virtues: he who vows gives also to God the tree itself, namely his will and liberty, so that he can neither will nor do anything other than what he has vowed.
St. Dionysius the Areopagite describes the sacred and as it were nuptial rite of these vows in monastic profession, On the Ecclesiastical Hierarchy, chap. vi. See what is said on 2 Cor. xi, 2. Whence St. Augustine, in the book On the Good of Widowhood, chap. xi; Cyprian, epistle 62; Jerome, book I Against Jovinian, call and accuse as adulteresses those who, after a vow of continence, do not live in continence; namely because they violate the faith given to Christ their Bridegroom, to whom they were consecrated and to whom by their vow they were as it were mystically married. This is to be understood not as if the marriage which they entered into after the vow were void, and so were adultery, not marriage; but that they entered into it unlawfully, sacrilegiously, and with grave mortal sin. For St. Augustine, in the book On the Good of Widowhood, chap. ix, and On Holy Virginity, chap. xxxiv, expressly teaches that virgins, if they marry after a vow, contract a valid marriage. But in later ages the Church decreed that by a solemn vow of chastity, such as monks and Religious make, marriage should be annulled; so that, if a monk now wishes to enter marriage, he attempts it in vain, nor can he contract a valid marriage with any woman.
When this solemnity of vow began to be a diriment impediment of marriage is not so clearly established. It is likely that it began at different times in different places, but generally was received by the whole Church around the year of the Lord 1139, when under Innocent II, in the Roman Council, this impediment was sanctioned and established by the common decree of the bishops.
Verse 13: And Withal Being Idle They Learn to Go About from House to House
And withal being idle they learn to go about from house to house. — He has given the first cause why he does not wish younger widows to be admitted into the company of widows nourished by the Church, namely that, since they are delicately maintained by the Church, they wish to marry: here he gives the second, namely that since they do not have to procure their food by their labor, they are at leisure, and idly wander through the houses; this however is shameful in women, especially in widows. Whence Aristotle, in book V of the Politics, asserts that in his time a prefect was appointed in cities to attend to the women, lest they wander, but should keep themselves at home: and among the Chinese, says Magalianus, even today the sinew of the foot is broken in girls, lest they go forth from the house.
Not only idle, but tattlers also (phlyaroi, that is, triflers, ineptly talkative, garrulous) and busybodies, speaking things they ought not. — Indeed from idleness will follow running about, garrulity, curiosity, and other vices of women, as St. Augustine teaches in his book On Holy Virginity, chap. xxxiii. For, as Plato shrewdly says in book VI of the Laws, woman is another and different kind of human being, more hidden from us and craftier by nature on account of her weakness, and thus less able to be ordered: therefore, that she may be ordered, she ought to be fittingly and perpetually occupied. Hence St. Jerome, epistle 7 to Laeta, on the Instruction of a Daughter, thus instructs: "Let reading succeed prayer, and prayer reading; the time will seem brief which is occupied with so many varied works. Let her learn also to make wool, to hold the distaff, to set the basket on her lap, to twirl the spindle, to draw the threads with her thumb," etc. And this is what Solomon praises in that valiant woman, Proverbs chap. xxxi, verses 13 and 19, saying: "She has sought wool and flax, and has wrought by the counsel of her hands: she has put out her hand to strong things, and her fingers have grasped the spindle, she has made fine linen for herself," etc.
Verse 14: I Will Therefore That the Younger Should Marry, Bear Children, Be Mistresses of Families
I will therefore that the younger marry, bear children, be mothers of families, give no occasion to the adversary to speak evil. — The Apostle here "does not impose a law on younger widows, but offers a remedy," says Augustine, chapter viii of On the Good of Widowhood, namely that they should marry when there is in them danger of wantonness and incontinence, as has been said before. So St. Ambrose, in the book On Widows: "As a remedy Paul advised marriage, that the perishing might be healed; he did not prescribe it as a choice." Whence St. Chrysostom: "'I will,' because they themselves will, and are eager to marry." And St. Jerome, epistle 11 to Ageruchia: "Paul does not forbid them to be widows, but to be adulteresses; because it is better to be twice married than a harlot." The same in epistle 8 to Salvianus: "Why Paul indulged marriage, he immediately added: Already some have turned aside after Satan. From which we understand that He does not extend a crown to those standing, but a hand to those fallen. See what the second marriages are, which are preferred to brothels: because some have turned aside after Satan. Therefore let a young widow, who cannot or will not contain herself, rather take a husband than the devil." And Primasius: "'I will,' that is, I concede that such may marry, before they promise what they cannot fulfill."
Hence it is plain first that the Apostle is speaking only of widows who are free, not bound by vow, to whom he does not command, but indulges, and offers marriage as a remedy of incontinence: otherwise he would condemn all younger widows who of their own accord with great constancy of soul have determined to remain in celibacy and widowhood, which no one of sound mind would say, since Holy Scripture itself praises Anna the prophetess, that after she had lived with her husband seven years from her virginity, she remained a widow until 84 years, Luke ii, 36.
Add that the Apostle, having experienced the inconstancy of many, wished that the younger should generally marry: that is what the inferential word "therefore" signifies, when he says: "I will therefore that the younger marry," because, namely, "many when they have grown wanton in Christ, wish to marry." For those who had sufficiently proved their chastity and constancy, the Apostle preferred should contain themselves and remain celibate, as is evident from 1 Corinthians vii, 8: "I say to the unmarried and to widows: It is good for them if they so continue, even as I." And he adds: "But if they do not contain themselves, let them marry." Lest, then, the Apostle be contrary to himself here, the same is to be supplied here in this way, "I will that the younger marry," understanding, if they do not contain themselves.
Thus we now persuade girls, especially the more frivolous and inexperienced, saying: Either marry, or shut yourself away, and we commonly say: "For a woman either a wall or a husband," because, namely, on account of the weakness of that age and sex, it is dangerous for many to profess virginity privately at home, while they are continually in the midst of young men and other allurements of lust: whence it is expedient for them either to marry a husband, or to shut themselves up within the wall and cloister of a monastery, if they wish to vow virginity.
Notwithstanding all this, however, we see holy and most chaste virgins, who flee all occasions of luxury, and have long proved themselves, and have plainly confirmed their mind in chastity, leading at home a pure and angelic life: and prudent men counsel and commend this to them; for experience teaches that they thus live without danger most piously and holily; so that, if they vow virginity, as some do, they can easily, with God's grace, fulfill it.
Hence it is plain secondly that the Apostle does not condemn the vows of young women, as Calvin would have it, when, namely, they rightly prove themselves, especially in monasteries, where, secluded and separated from the world and the world's allurements and temptations, they now have a year of probation and novitiate, which they did not have in the time of Paul; mistresses besides, prayers, and other helps of continence. Whence the Council of Trent also commands that before profession they be examined by the Bishop, or the Bishop's vicar, whether they are sufficiently proved and prepared; and forbids that any be admitted to profession who has not been found sufficiently proved and prepared. St. Ambrose beautifully, in book III On Veiling Virgins: "Do not be amazed at profession in young girls, when you read of passion in little children; and of these it is written: The young maidens have loved You exceedingly."
Ambrose adds that youth and old age consist not in years, but in either the levity or maturity of morals. "Therefore the more flourishing age is not rejected where there is old age of morals. It was not old age, but virtue, that proved Thecla. From the mouth of infants You have perfected praise."
Add that the Apostle is speaking of young women not virgins, but widows, in whom on account of the habit of marriage continence is more difficult and more dangerous, as I have said from Chrysostom. Whence even now in many monasteries of virgins, widows are either not admitted, or with very great difficulty, because they hardly rise to the purity of virgins, but in their words and gestures redolent of a husband and of marriage, and, if they are of corrupt morals, corrupt very many.
Finally, to the Novatians who exaggerate the falls of some, St. Augustine replies, epistle 137 to the clergy and people of Suppono: "If any woman has been adulterated, no one casts out his wife, no one accuses his mother; but when something of false crime has been rumored about those consecrated to God, or something true has come to light, they urge, busy themselves, and intrigue that it be believed of all."
Morally, let confessors follow this counsel of the Apostle, that they not permit young girls, especially those who live at home among their own people, vows of continence — especially perpetual ones — unless they have long and fully proven their chastity: rather at the beginning let them grant them only monthly or yearly vows, and from month to month, or from year to year, let them renew and prolong the vow.
To bear children. — Under "bearing children" here, as also in chap. ii, verse 15, he understands also the right education of children; for this is the chief end and chief good of marriage, "that parents may transfer their children from being members of the first man into members of Christ," says Augustine, book I On Marriage and Concupiscence, chap. iv.
To be mothers of families. — oikodespotein, that is, to administer and govern the house or family. The name of mother or father of a family signifies that the maidservants and servants who are in the family ought to be treated by their masters as if they were children, as St. Augustine shrewdly noted, book XIX On the City of God, chap. xvi; nay even the Gentile Macrobius, book I of the Saturnalia, chap. xi. Whence St. Jerome, to Caelantia: "Govern and cherish your household, so that you may wish to seem to yours rather a mother than a mistress; from whom by kindness rather than severity, exact reverence."
Give no occasion to the adversary to speak evil. — By "adversary" he understands the infidel man, or rather the devil: for here in the Greek he is called by antonomasia with the article, ho antikeimenos, that is, that adversary, who namely stirs up all men to oppose the Church of Christ. And that "for the sake of speaking evil," that is, for the cursing of the Church: for this is what the Greek loidorias charin signifies. Secondly, the charin, that is, "for the sake," as if redundant, can be omitted, so more clearly with the Syriac and more truly: "not to give the adversary an occasion of evil-speaking." Lest, namely, the devil incite the infidels, if they should see younger widows idle, wandering, and so impurely living, to curse the Church; hence "I will that they marry," and be occupied with the care of the house, that their youthful inconstancy may be bound, tied, and made firm by the yoke of marriage, says Theophylact.
Verse 15: For Already Some Are Turned Aside After Satan
For already some are turned back (Ambrose reads, "have gone astray") after Satan. — opisō tou Satana, that is, "after Satan," as if to say: Some, having forsaken Christ, to whom they had betrothed themselves by the vow of continence, have followed Satan the inciter of lust and of every sin, while against vow they entered into marriages with men. Here the Apostle uncovers the cause why he wishes the younger to marry — namely, not because marriages are better and more pleasing to God, but because there would be danger to them from incontinence, into which he had experienced many younger ones falling. So Theophylact.
Verse 16: If Any of the Faithful Have Widows, Let Him Minister to Them
If any of the faithful have widows, let him minister to them, and let not the Church be burdened: that there may be sufficient for those who are widows indeed. — In Greek, Chrysostom, Theodoret, Theophylact, and Oecumenius read ei tis pistos ē pistē, that is, "if any faithful man, or if any faithful woman." Our Translator under the masculine "if any" comprehends the feminine "if any woman," as if the Apostle were saying: If any Christian father of a family, or if any Christian mother of a family has widows at home, namely a mother, sister, kinswoman, now aged, who cannot procure their food by their labor, let him support them at his own expense, and not burden the Church, that the Church may be able to support those who are truly widows, that is, are destitute of all consolation and help.
Note: For "let him minister," the Greek is eparkeitō, that is, "let him suffice for them," namely not for wantonness, but for the necessity and sufficiency of life.
Verse 17: Let the Presbyters Who Rule Well Be Esteemed Worthy of Double Honor
Let the presbyters who rule well be held worthy of double honor: especially those who labor in word and doctrine. — He passes from widows to the pastors who teach and preach the word of God, and teaches that these are to be supported by the Church more than the former. Whence note first: By "presbyters" he understands both parish priests and bishops. Secondly, by "honor" he takes not only reverence, but also support and food. For thus he explains himself by adding: "You shall not muzzle the mouth of the ox that treads out the grain; and: The laborer is worthy of his hire."
You will ask, what is the double honor which the Apostle wishes to be bestowed on the presbyters?
They reply first — Ambrose and Haymo — that the double honor is reverence and food. Secondly, Chrysostom takes "double" with respect to widows, as if widows are to be sustained with simple honor, that is, food; but presbyters with double, that is twice as great. Thirdly, best of all, Chrysostom, Theophylact, and Theodoret say: "'Double,' that is, manifold," as if to say: Presbyters are to be rewarded with much, liberal, and abundant honor, that is, with support of sustenance. For the Apostle wishes Prelates, teachers, and preachers to be liberally treated, well and abundantly nourished and dealt with: for these labor much, and if they are well treated, can labor more and better, and produce more fruit. So Jeremiah xvii, 18, it is said: "With a double (that is, manifold) breaking break them." And Proverbs xxxi, 21: "All her domestics are clothed with double garments," that is, they have many and abundant clothes. And Isaiah xl, 2: "She has received from the hand of the Lord double things," as if to say: Jerusalem has received from the mercy of God through Christ very many goods, charismata, and consolation, in compensation for the sins and punishments of sins which she deserved. Finally, 4 Kings ii, 9, Elisha asks of Elijah a double spirit, that is, a great and vehement one, very zealous and a worker of great works. The same St. Clement, from the doctrine of the Apostles, commands in book II of the Apostolic Constitutions, chap. xxviii, where he so decrees: "Let a double portion also be set aside for the presbyters, if they have assiduously labored in the study of teaching the word of God, in honor of the Apostles of Christ, whose place they hold, as counselors of the Bishop and the crown of the Church: for they are the council and senate of the Church."
Verse 18: You Shall Not Muzzle the Ox That Treads Out the Corn
For the Scripture says (Deuteronomy XXV, 4): You shall not muzzle the mouth of the ox that treads out the grain. — Literally the Lord had commanded this in Deuteronomy xxv, so that the Palestinians should not close the mouths of the oxen properly so called, which they use for threshing, lest they should be unable to eat from their threshing: but by these oxen allegorically, as Paul here explains, He understands the Pastors, who like oxen labor on the Lord's threshing-floor with strong and vehement labor, such as is the labor of threshers, especially of oxen; and consequently he declares it just that they should live and be sustained from this their labor and threshing. See what is said on 1 Corinthians ix, 9.
The laborer is worthy of his hire. — He understands "hire" not properly so called, namely some temporal price; but only sustenance. For to preach, to administer the Sacraments and other spiritual things for hire, that is, for a temporal price, is not lawful: for it would be simony. Therefore Pastors administer these things gratis, and demand only sustenance, awaiting their proper hire in heaven from the Lord. Whence St. Augustine, sermon On the Pastors, chap. ii: "Let Pastors receive from the people the sustenance of their need, but the hire of their dispensation from the Lord: for the people is not qualified to render hire to those who serve them in the charity of the Gospel."
Note: This sustenance is called "hire," not as if it were given and were in fact a price equivalent to the spiritual work; for this is not only simoniacal, but also false. For spiritual things cannot be valued or compensated by any temporal price. Therefore this sustenance is called "hire," because for spiritual work sustenance is owed to the priest from justice, just as a daily wage is owed to a gardener for his labor: but with this distinction, that the gardener receives it as an equivalent price, while the priest receives it as something far less and meaner than his work, not as the price of his work (for spiritual work transcends every temporal price, nor can it be valued by any such price), but only as sustenance, yet owed to his work from justice: for without sustenance he cannot perform his spiritual work.
Add that many theologians teach that for labor — not only prior or extrinsic, such as for singing in the Divine Office, for the journey which a priest undertakes to celebrate or preach in a village or another place; but even for intrinsic labor, namely for the fatigue and trouble which he undergoes in teaching, preaching, hearing confessions, etc. — a priest can receive a hire, as a price not of the spiritual work, but of his labor, occupation, and fatigue. So Adrian, quodl. M, art. 1; Bonaventure, on 4, dist. 25, last Question on simony; Richard, same dist., art. 3, Question II. But of this elsewhere.
Verse 19: Against a Presbyter Receive Not an Accusation, but Under Two or Three Witnesses
Against a presbyter receive not an accusation, but under two or three witnesses. — He prescribes here to Timothy as Bishop how he ought to bear himself in adjudicating forensic cases. Hence it is plain that the bishops were then judges.
Note: By "presbyter" Chrysostom, Theophylact, and Oecumenius understand "elder," so that "presbyter" here is the name not of an order, but of an age. But that it is the name of an order is plain from the preceding verse; therefore "presbyter" here signifies both the Bishop, as Ambrose, Theodoret, and Primasius explain, and the priest, as Epiphanius (heresy 57) and others explain. Lest, then, anyone envying the presbyter his rank and order should fabricate calumny against him, and accuse him of some crime, the Apostle does not wish him to be heard, unless he proves it with two or three witnesses. And rightly: for if in the case of a layman's crime and accusation this is required, much more is it to be granted to a presbyter, to whom the order and so eminent a rank is a bridle restraining him from wickedness, so that no one ought easily to suspect anything of him. Hence afterwards Sylvester II, chap. Praesul, requires far more witnesses: "A bishop is not to be condemned except by seventy-two witnesses; a Cardinal presbyter only by forty-four witnesses; a Deacon only by twenty-eight; a subdeacon, acolyte, exorcist, lector, doorkeeper, is not to be condemned except with seven witnesses. Because such are to be appointed in the Church, to whose sanctity more credence is to be given than to many witnesses."
Verse 21: I Charge You Before God and Christ Jesus, and the Elect Angels
I charge you (diamartyromai, that is, "I adjure you"; so the Syriac and others render it) before God and Christ Jesus, and the elect angels, that you observe these things without prejudice, doing nothing by declining to one side. — He calls "elect angels" the good and holy ones, whom God chose for His glory and beatitude on account of their humility, obedience, religion, and charity; and He sets them in opposition to Lucifer and the reprobate angels, namely the demons.
Note: Some refer the words "without prejudice" to "doing nothing," as if to say: Do nothing unless you have first investigated the matter well and prudently judged it. Thus Ambrose. Secondly, and better, others refer "without prejudice" to "that you observe these things," namely, as if to say: I charge and adjure you, that those things which I have said about the accusation of presbyters and about reproving sinners, you do and observe without prejudice, that is, without prepossession and precipitation of judgment, so that no one may forestall you and win you over, so that, before you have heard the other party, or examined the whole matter with an even and indifferent mind, you may pre-judge in your mind, and adjudge the cause to him who has forestalled you. Hence the Syriac renders it: let your mind not be prepossessed by any anticipation. Hence others render it "without preference," whereby you would prefer one as a friend, rich man, nobleman, etc., to another. Keep these my commands: for judgment ought to be passed on the cause, not on the person.
The following words confirm this sense: "Doing nothing by declining to one side." With these words he alludes to the scale or balance, which, in order to be of just weight and to weigh legitimately the things placed upon it, must be in equilibrium, so that it does not incline more to one side than to the other, nor is one pan raised or lowered more than the other. For the judge ought, as it were, in a balance, to weigh and assess the rights of the litigants, so that he leans toward neither side, but allows to each cause its own weight and momentum, and adjudicates the case to the side which outweighs the other: if he does otherwise, and follows not the weight and inclination of the cause, but of his own will favoring this party more than that, he will pervert the right judgment of a just judge, and will pronounce a perverse sentence.
Hence justice is depicted as a blind virgin, having no respect of persons, with an even balance, by which she weighs and assesses each one's right. So, as has gone before, Jupiter is depicted as a just judge: "Jupiter himself sustains the two pans with an equal weighing."
Again note: In the Greek there is a threefold reading. Our version reads with iota, kata prosklisin, that is, "according to inclination," or "by inclining." Secondly, others read "do nothing kata prosklēsin" with eta, that is, "according to invocation," as if you were to act not as judge, but as the advocate of the other party whom you favor: but then it would rather have been said paraklēsin than prosklēsin. Thirdly, Oecumenius and Erasmus read kata proairesin, that is, "according to provocation," as if to say: Do nothing according to the impulse and command of the mind which provokes the judge to rashly pass sentence in hatred or favor of one party. But our reading is the best and most aptly coheres with the metaphor of the balance; hence Ambrose, Chrysostom, Theophylact, and others follow it. Hence also the Syriac renders it: "do nothing through respect of persons."
Verse 22: Lay Hands Hastily on No Man, Neither Be Partaker of Other Men's Sins
Lay hands hastily on no man, neither be partaker of other men's sins. — Some understand this of absolution in the Sacrament of Penance: for confessors who lay hands on sinners — for example, those living in concubinage, usurers, simoniacs — who confess but are not sufficiently contrite, or who do not have an efficacious resolve to amend themselves, or who refuse to make restitution for things unjustly acquired through simony, usury, and so on, and who absolve them, communicate in all their sins, transcribe them upon themselves, become guilty of them all, and will pay the penalties to God for them.
Where note, in the Sacrament of Penance hands are laid by the priest upon the penitents, that by this symbol it may be signified that they are freed and emancipated from the slavery of sin. So formerly the Roman Praetors used to touch with a certain rod, called Vindicta or vindicia, the heads of slaves whom they were manumitting. Hence Cicero in his Topics: "If a man has not been made free either by census, by vindicta, or by testament, he is not free." And Persius, Satire 5: "After that, vindicated, I withdrew from the Praetor as my own, Why is it not lawful for me to do whatever my will commands?" Hence the Penitentiaries at Rome carry rods and place them upon the heads of penitents, to signify that they are vindicating them from the slavery of sin into the liberty of the sons of God: for this reason some think rods were given to the Apostles, Mark VI, 8. In a similar manner King Ahasuerus extended his golden rod over his neck, Esther, ch. XV, as a symbol of the grace obtained from him. So Salmeron in the Prolegomena, disp. 29.
But because Paul is speaking to Timothy as a Bishop, whose proper and chief office is to ordain presbyters and other ministers of the Church, and because the Apostle elsewhere understands ordination by the imposition of hands, of which thing and rite I gave three causes in ch. IV, 14, hence Theodoret, Chrysostom, Theophylact, Oecumenius, Primasius, and others throughout judge better that the Apostle is speaking of this ordination, as if to say: See, O Timothy, Bishop, that you ordain no one rashly, but first prove and examine each one, whether he is of proven life and doctrine, and worthy of such a grade: otherwise you will become a partaker of sins and scandals, both of those which such a one will commit after ordination in his rank, and of those which he committed before ordination, because on account of those things he is unworthy of ordination; if therefore you ordain him, you judge him to be worthy of such a grade, and consequently you ratify and approve him and his morals and sins; and thus you become a partaker of the same.
Hence the Council of Trent, sess. XXIII, sanctions under grave censure that an exact examination both of doctrine and of life must precede the ordination of each one. See Chrysostom, bk. IV On the Priesthood, on how evil it is for unworthy and unfit men to be ordained.
It is read in the Life of St. Leo Pope I, which is prefixed to his works (a thing which Baronius also recounts from Sophronius, in the year of Christ 461), that, when St. Leo, devoting himself to prayers and fastings at the tomb of St. Peter, was imploring the mercy of God and pardon of sins, he received this answer from St. Peter: "I have prayed to the Lord for you, and He has remitted your sins, so that this alone remains to be sought and asked of you, namely, regarding those upon whom you have rashly laid hands against the Apostolic law." But if these things are done in the green wood, what shall be done in the dry? For who was holier and more prudent than Leo?
Keep yourself chaste. — The Greek hagnon properly signifies chaste and free from and an enemy of lust.
Secondly, however, it signifies pure and unstained from all guilt; whence the Syriac renders, "keep yourself bedackeiuta," that is, "in purity, innocence"; and St. Augustine, in his book On Grace and Free Will, ch. IV, reads "contain yourself." For continence is a general virtue which moderates and contains all the passions of the soul, and restrains and rules them with the bridle of reason.
Hence Theodoret here interprets "chaste" as "uncorrupt and clean from sin," especially that sin by which hands are quickly and rashly laid on someone, and so one communicates in his sins, as has gone before. St. Augustine declares the same thing thus, bk. II Against the Epistle of Parmenian, ch. XXI: "The Apostle taught from what follows, how what he said before is to be understood; for he who keeps himself chaste does not communicate in the sins of others: for if he communicates, he consents; if he consents, he is corrupted; if he is corrupted, he does not keep himself chaste."
Verse 23: Use a Little Wine for Your Stomach's Sake
Do not still drink water, but use a little wine for your stomach and your frequent infirmities. — The word "still," says Jerome, bk. II Against Jovinian, signifies that Timothy had been up to that time abstemious from wine and had only drunk water, both for the sake of temperance and of chastity; for, as Jerome says to Eustochium: "Wine and youth are a double conflagration of pleasure. Why then do we add oil to the flame? Why do we administer the fuel of fire to the burning little body?" And Chrysostom: "Youth is a kind of pyre, which sets everything ablaze; therefore Timothy was blocking it on every side and extinguishing the flames. Let the body be weakened, and let the soul not be weakened; let the flesh be reined in, and let the soul's course toward heaven not be hindered."
Hence note here first, Prosper, bk. I On the Contemplative Life, ch. XXII: that Timothy had broken himself by long abstinence and brought these illnesses upon himself. Where note also in passing that the Apostles and Apostolic men, besides so many labors and afflictions, were also afflicted with illnesses; for virtue is perfected in infirmity. Hence Chrysostom, raising the question why Paul, who healed so many infirm men by miracle, did not also heal Timothy, answers that this was done for this reason: that, if we see great men and men illustrious in virtue falling ill, we may not be disturbed, and may know that illnesses are matter for their humility, patience, and fortitude, and that by them we are admonished of the present misery, that we may aspire to the resurrection and to the other blessed life. See Chrysostom treating this sentence of Paul excellently, hom. 1 to the People, where he gives eight causes why God allows holy men in this life to be afflicted with illnesses and troubles.
Note secondly: For "infirmity" the Greek is astheneia, which signifies not so much illnesses as bodily weaknesses, which themselves are also a kind of illness and often joined with illness. For also the phrase "for the stomach," signifies that Timothy suffered from a stomach cachexia, indigestion, and consequently from illness.
Note thirdly, with mortification and illnesses, Timothy's zeal. "Anyone," says Chrysostom, "might marvel at this, that, so weakened and struggling with so great a sickness, he did not neglect the affairs of God, but more than the strong and those vigorous in body, he shared with his teacher in all the contests and alternating dangers: for the body's weakness did not refute his wisdom. So much does zeal toward God avail, so light does it make the wings!"
Note fourthly, what he says "for the stomach"; for, as Celsus says, bk. I, ch. II, "for those weak in stomach — among whom number a great part of city-dwellers, and almost all who are eager for letters — greater observation is necessary, so that what the constitution of the body, of the locality, or of study takes away, care may restore." Thus St. Jerome, Gregory, Bernard, and other Saints devoted to contemplation and study suffered in the stomach, whose physical reason is clear. For there is only one soul in man, which is at once vegetative, sensitive, and rational, and which consequently must at once exert itself and its powers in nutrition, sensation, and intellection. But the powers of this soul are very limited, weak, and slight, especially when so divided and distracted. The soul, therefore, wholly engaged in the brain in attention of mind, study, and contemplation, can scarcely have leisure in the stomach for concoction and digestion: hence the stomach, deprived as much of spirits and heat as of the influx of the soul, and languishing, is unable to concoct and digest food, but leaves it half-cooked and undigested: from which arise indigestions, phlegms, catarrhs, and other evils.
St. Gregory gives another cause, bk. III Moralia, ch. XXX, namely, that the flesh, when through the spirit it rises above itself to contemplate such lofty things, is attenuated and weakened, and that the force of divine love melts and enervates soul and body. "Those who are strengthened in the love of their author, the more they grow strong in the longed-for fortitude of God, the more they fail in their own virtue; and the more robustly they desire eternal things, the more they are dissolved by a salutary affection from temporal things. Hence David, weary with the strength of his love, said: My soul has fainted for Your salvation; and the spouse: My soul melted when my beloved spoke; and: Stay me up with flowers, compass me about with apples, for I languish with love. So also Daniel, when he had beheld the vision of God, ch. VIII, vers. 27: I languished, he said, and was sick for very many days." St. Gregory adds: "For the flesh is not able to grasp those things which are of the spirit, and therefore sometimes when the human mind is led beyond itself to behold those things, it is necessary that this fleshly little vessel, which cannot bear the weight of so great a thing, be weakened."
Note fifthly: Paul commands Timothy, when sick, the use of wine, because, as Ambrose says, "God wishes to be served prudently, lest by excess (of labor or abstinence) we become weak, and afterwards seek the aids of physicians." Therefore the weak, and especially women, should not break their head and body by many prayers and penances.
Note sixthly: To so great a man Paul permits wine, not for pleasure, but for necessity: therefore he says "use," not "enjoy"; and that in moderation, not much; and not for luxury, but for the stomach. St. Gregory teaches beautifully, bk. XX Moralia, ch. XXXI, that abstinence must be moderated like a musical string. "It must be considered that a string on a cithara, if stretched too little, does not sound; if too much, it sounds harsh: so the virtue of abstinence is either entirely null, if anyone does not subdue his body as much as he can; or it is very disordered, if it wears out the body more than it can bear." Thus Anacharsis, according to Laertius, distinguished four cups or draughts of wine at symposia: The first cup, he said, is of necessity to assuage thirst, the second of sober hilarity, the third of pleasure, the fourth of drunkenness and madness. Plato, in Dialogues 1 and 2 On Laws, prescribes thus: "In the first place, we sanction by law, that boys up to the eighteenth year, abstain entirely from wine"; and he adds the reason: "Lest they add fire to fire, and induce a frenzied disposition upon their youth." The Bacchic interpretation, therefore, of the bacchanalian Luther, which he poured forth — nay, blurted out — among his cups, is mere quibbling: The Apostle, he says, prescribed a little wine, that is, a few cups, to Timothy, because he was infirm and his sick stomach could not bear more wine: but for us, healthy and stomach-strong, much must be used, that is, not by cups, but by amphoras. But, good sir, while Timothy was healthy, he was not drinking wine but water, with the Apostle approving and persuading. Again, the Apostle permits him, now sick, wine in place of water, but in moderation. Therefore he indulges him wine not for health but merely for infirmity, and that not in great quantity, but in moderation. To be sure, such a gloss befits such a teacher — nay, such a drinker — the interpreter, I say, of the Epicurean Gospel, and not of Paul, but of his own palate, of whom our Frusius rightly says: "The Bibles which are yours are Bacchic cups, Luther: Your wine-cellar is your library."
Verse 24: Some Men's Sins Are Manifest, Going Before to Judgment
The sins of some men are manifest. — In Greek prodēloi, that is, "manifest beforehand," that is, before they are condemned by anyone's judgment.
Going before to judgment; and some men they follow after. — First, St. Basil, bk. On Holy Virginity, understands by "sins which precede judgment" those sins which a sinner commits in this life by himself, before he goes through death to the particular judgment; and by "sins which follow after" he understands those which a man commits after death and the particular judgment, through his disciples and others whom he taught to sin. Just as heresy follows Luther and Calvin, and all the sins of Lutherans and Calvinists, of whom Luther and Calvin were teacher and inventor, so that for these the punishment of Luther and Calvin even now is increased and must be increased, until Lutheranism and Calvinism cease.
Secondly, St. Ambrose: Sins, he says, precede great sinners unto condemnation, because they are greater than their good works; on the contrary, good works precede the just, as it were manifest, because they manifestly outweigh their sins: but in sinners good works follow as if weighed down by some prejudice of sins going before. Hence also they cannot be hid, that is, they cannot be overshadowed and covered by charity, which covers a multitude of sins; as if Paul said: When I say to you, O Timothy, "Do not communicate in the sins of others," I do not want you to repel from Orders the just, who are subject to light sins, or who have covered their misdeeds by notable works; but only those who lie under grave sins.
Thirdly, Chrysostom: Manifest sins, he says, which precede judgment, namely the final one, are those which in this life are manifest and known; but those which follow are those which here lie hidden, but will be made manifest in the final judgment; as if to say: Although certain sins lie hidden here, nevertheless they do not deceive the internal judge; because they follow and drive the sinners themselves to the public judge Himself, and there they will accuse them, as exposers, judges, and avengers, before the whole world: for "Guilt follows the head," says the Poet; and: "Rarely has Punishment with limping foot Deserted the wicked man going before." If punishment follows the impious, therefore also the knowledge of his sins and his infamy; as if to say: I commanded you, O Timothy, "Lay hands quickly on no man, neither communicate in the sins of others" (for here, as if having forgotten something, the Apostle returns to it). You will object to me, How shall I detect the sins of others? To this objection, therefore, I answer that the sins of some are manifest, and of others occult. If they are manifest, you will not labor, because you will easily recognize those who are subject to them as unworthy of ordination and worthy of condemnation and punishment; but if they are occult, you will have to labor to uncover them: but do not despair, wait, search, explore — at length you will detect them, because sins follow the sinner as if from behind; therefore inspect their face and back with lynx-like eyes and survey everything in every direction, that you may know them, and at last you will lay open the things that lay hidden, and will see them to be unworthy of Orders. But if, after a just examination, you cannot detect these things, they are to be left to God's judgment, and not to be repelled from Orders.
Verse 25: In Like Manner Also Good Deeds Are Manifest
In like manner also good deeds (of some) are manifest — and concerning these you will not labor: but you will know them to be worthy of Orders.
And the things which are otherwise (namely the good deeds of others which are occult), cannot be hid — but rather, if you diligently search them out, you will come to know and easily perceive whether they are to be ordained or not. So St. Jerome to Furia, Anselm, Gagneius, and others. "For there is nothing covered that shall not be revealed, nor hidden that shall not be known." For masked and painted impiety cannot lie hidden long, but at last bursts forth from smoke into flame.
Fourthly, St. Augustine, bk. II On the Sermon of the Lord on the Mount, and Magalianus explain thus, as if to say: The sins of some, as being manifest, precede the judgment of men: these, O Timothy, as proven and unworthy sinners, you ought not to ordain; but the sins of others follow human judgment, because they are detected only after ordination. What therefore, will you make scruple for yourself that you have ordained such men? By no means, because in the ordination of such men you do not communicate in the sins of others, since such hidden sinners, without your fault, were judged worthy of sacred Orders; as if to say: Hidden sins must be left to God's judgment and tribunal; but those which can be detected and made manifest by men through examination, let them be subject to the Bishop's judgment, who must take care not to ordain men subject to such sins; as Paul alludes to Deut. XXIX, 29, where it is said: "The things hidden are to our Lord; the things manifest are to us and to our sons," which the Chaldee and the Rabbis explain thus: Secret sins are reserved to be punished by the Lord our God; but those which are manifest must be sifted and punished by human judgment. But better and more fittingly with Cajetan and others we shall expound this of the scourges which God in that ch. XXIX of Deut. threatened against the Jews who transgressed His law, as if to say: These scourges are among the hidden judgments of God, which nevertheless He has manifested to us and to our sons, so that by their fear we may zealously do and exactly fulfill the law of God.
Fifthly, and genuinely according to the mind of the Apostle: "The manifest sins going before unto judgment," are clear and public sins, condemned by the common voice of men before they are brought into judgment; but the sins which follow sinners into judgment, as it were footmen or shadows, are the occult sins of the impious, which do not appear in public, but lie hidden in the mind or in darkness, when the impious put on the face of the good, so that by external appearance they may seem upright; yet if they are diligently examined and judged, at last their masked impiety will betray itself. It is a prosopopoeia: for sins are here imagined as persons and forerunners or vanguards, who run before the sinner and warn the Church who he is who is soon to come to be ordained — namely, that he is a sinner, and consequently unworthy.