The Gravity of Drunkenness

Many people get drunk or joke about drunkenness. But we should not, since drunkenness is a mortal sin, and all mortal sin should be utterly detested.

St Paul says in the fifth chapter of his letter to the Galatians:

[19] Now the works of the flesh are manifest, which are fornication, uncleanness, immodesty, luxury, [20] Idolatry, witchcrafts, enmities, contentions, emulations, wraths, quarrels, dissensions, sects, [21] envies, murders, drunkenness, revellings, and such like. Of the which I foretell you, as I have foretold to you, that they who do such things shall not obtain the kingdom of God. [22] But the fruit of the Spirit is, charity, joy, peace, patience, benignity, goodness, longanimity, [23] Mildness, faith, modesty, continency, chastity. Against such there is no law. [24] And they that are Christ's, have crucified their flesh, with the vices and concupiscences. [25] If we live in the Spirit, let us also walk in the Spirit.

This is not a question of a harmless, funny, if a bit silly, mistake. When we deliberately get drunk, which causes us to lose the proper control of our reason, we commit a mortal sin. Every mortal sin is an infinite offence because it offends God, who is infinitely good.

Drunkenness is a form of gluttony, and not all gluttony is a mortal sin. Often it is venial. St Thomas says: “To take more meat or drink than is necessary belongs to the vice of gluttony, which is not always a mortal sin: but knowingly to take too much drink to the point of being drunk, is a mortal sin. Hence Augustine says (Confess. x, 31): ‘Drunkenness is far from me: Thou wilt have mercy, that it come not near me. But full feeding sometimes hath crept upon Thy servant'” (Summa theologiae II-II, q. 150, a. 2, ad. 2). Alcohol has legitimate uses, including recreational ones. These do not include getting into a state in which we lose the proper use of our right reason. The Angelic Doctor considers drunkenness in four articles in Question 150 of the Secunda Secundae. He considers whether drunkenness is a sin, whether it is a mortal sin, whether it is the most grievous sin, and whether it excuses us from sin in any way. A sin directly against God, like idolatry or blasphemy is certainly worse than drunkenness, which is immediately opposed to the good of human reason. And yes, it is unpopular to say nowadays, but those sins are also worse than theft, murder, adultery etc. There is a reason why the more direct sins against God are dealt with at the start of the Ten Commandments. But, of course, as I said, all sin offends God, especially mortal sin. The fourth article is interesting and nuanced but I shall not go into it here. The first two questions, of course are answered in the affirmative. Yes, drunkenness is a sin. Yes, drunkenness is a mortal sin. In the second article, St Thomas writes the following, after listing the various objections:

On the contrary, We read in the Canons of the Apostles (Can. xli, xlii): "A bishop, priest or deacon who is given to drunkenness or gambling, or incites others thereto, must either cease or be deposed; a subdeacon, reader or precentor who does these things must either give them up or be excommunicated; the same applies to the laity." Now such punishments are not inflicted save for mortal sins. Therefore drunkenness is a mortal sin.

I answer that, The sin of drunkenness, as stated in the foregoing Article, consists in the immoderate use and concupiscence of wine. Now this may happen to a man in three ways. First, so that he knows not the drink to be immoderate and intoxicating: and then drunkenness may be without sin, as stated above (Article 1). Secondly, so that he perceives the drink to be immoderate, but without knowing it to be intoxicating, and then drunkenness may involve a venial sin. Thirdly, it may happen that a man is well aware that the drink is immoderate and intoxicating, and yet he would rather be drunk than abstain from drink. Such a man is a drunkard properly speaking, because morals take their species not from things that occur accidentally and beside the intention, but from that which is directly intended. On this way drunkenness is a mortal sin, because then a man willingly and knowingly deprives himself of the use of reason, whereby he performs virtuous deeds and avoids sin, and thus he sins mortally by running the risk of falling into sin. For Ambrose says (De Patriarch. [De Abraham i.]): "We learn that we should shun drunkenness, which prevents us from avoiding grievous sins. For the things we avoid when sober, we unknowingly commit through drunkenness." Therefore drunkenness, properly speaking, is a mortal sin.

As I said, mortal sin is not a joke whatsoever. All the other evils in the world combined do not raise a candle to the evil of a single mortal sin. And yet, many Catholics today are so lax about sin. Our Lord abhors the despicable attitude of "oh, I will just go to confession afterwards." There is little that could be more insulting to God. This itself is one of the gravest mortal sins. Such a soul does not love God. Love of God and lack of hatred of mortal sin are incompatible. He who loves God hates sin. There was one Saint who said that if we could see the ugliness a single venial sin, we would die. A single venial sin! And what about mortal sin? Mortal sin merits the flames of hell. Yet, Our Lord in His Agony saw all the sins of mankind before him and took the burden of them all upon him. How few Catholics seriously consider the Passion of Our Saviour? If they truly and fervently did so, they could not but utterly hate and detest sin, especially mortal sin. By our sins, we crucify Christ and drive the nails into His hands and feet. We scourge his back and crown His head with thorns. We spit upon His Holy Face and cause unimaginable sorrow to His Sacred Heart. And sin offends and pains Our Lady, the Co-Redemptrix, who partook in the immense sorrow and pain of Our Lord. Her Immaculate Heart was pierced with the sword of sorrow. Our Lady of La Salette was found by the young visionaries weeping, over the sin and tepidity of the times. Nobody cared about blasphemy and sins against the Day of the Lord. They were done frequently and nobody cared. Our Lady of Fatima, again and again, stressed the gravity of sin and its offence against God. This and their vision of hell impacted the shepherd children immensely, especially St Jacinta. Furthermore, consider this saying of Our Lady of Fatima: "If men knew what eternity is, they would do everything in their power to change their lives."

We should not make so light what is so grave. Our Blessed Lord told us: Dico autem vobis quoniam omne verbum otiosum, quod locuti fuerint homines, reddent rationem de eo in die judicii. "But I say unto you, that every idle word that men shall speak, they shall render an account for it in the day of judgment" (Matthew 12:36).

Finally, we should ponder what St Paul says at the end of Romans 13:

[11] And that knowing the season; that it is now the hour for us to rise from sleep. For now our salvation is nearer than when we believed. [12] The night is passed, and the day is at hand. Let us therefore cast off the works of darkness, and put on the armour of light. [13] Let us walk honestly, as in the day: not in rioting and drunkenness, not in chambering and impurities, not in contention and envy: [14] But put ye on the Lord Jesus Christ, and make not provision for the flesh in its concupiscences.

And again: 

“And be not drunk with wine, wherein is luxury; but be ye filled with the Holy Spirit” (Eph 5:18)

The Perpetual Virginity of the Blessed Virgin Mary in the Church Fathers

The Perpetual Virginity of the Blessed Virgin Mary in the Church Fathers

The primary purpose of this article will be to show that the doctrine of the perpetual virginity of the Blessed Virgin Mary is consistently and widely taught by the Church Fathers. It has always been taught that Mary was always a Virgin and it has always taught with zeal, as shall become evident. I shall begin first by laying out some testimony from Holy Scripture about the superiority of virginity itself, as this is often questioned by Protestants I myself have come across who cannot understand why it would matter for Mary to be a virgin. I shall follow this up with a citation from St. Thomas Aquinas's Summa Theologiae, where he defends the idea that virginity is indeed a virtue. Then we shall come to the main body of the article, wherein I shall provide abundant quotations from the Fathers of the Church affirming the divinely revealed truth that the Virgin Mary is an Ever-Virgin.

The Superiority of Virginity

 

1 Corinthians 7

 

[25] Now concerning virgins, I have no commandment of the Lord; but I give counsel, as having obtained mercy of the Lord, to be faithful. 

[26] I think therefore that this is good for the present necessity, that it is good for a man so to be. [27] Art thou bound to a wife? seek not to be loosed. Art thou loosed from a wife? seek not a wife. [28] But if thou take a wife, thou hast not sinned. And if a virgin marry, she hath not sinned: nevertheless, such shall have tribulation of the flesh. But I spare you. [29] This therefore I say, brethren; the time is short; it remaineth, that they also who have wives, be as if they had none; [30] And they that weep, as though they wept not; and they that rejoice, as if they rejoiced not; and they that buy, as though they possessed not; 

[31] And they that use this world, as if they used it not: for the fashion of this world passeth away. [32] But I would have you to be without solicitude. He that is without a wife, is solicitous for the things that belong to the Lord, how he may please God. [33] But he that is with a wife, is solicitous for the things of the world, how he may please his wife: and he is divided. [34] And the unmarried woman and the virgin thinketh on the things of the Lord, that she may be holy both in body and in spirit. But she that is married thinketh on the things of the world, how she may please her husband. [35] And this I speak for your profit: not to cast a snare upon you; but for that which is decent, and which may give you power to attend upon the Lord, without impediment. 

[36] But if any man think that he seemeth dishonoured, with regard to his virgin, for that she is above the age, and it must so be: let him do what he will; he sinneth not, if she marry. [37] For he that hath determined being steadfast in his heart, having no necessity, but having power of his own will; and hath judged this in his heart, to keep his virgin, doth well. [38] Therefore, both he that giveth his virgin in marriage, doth well; and he that giveth her not, doth better. [39] A woman is bound by the law as long as her husband liveth; but if her husband die, she is at liberty: let her marry to whom she will; only in the Lord. [40] But more blessed shall she be, if she so remain, according to my counsel; and I think that I also have the spirit of God.

Matthew 19

[10] His disciples say unto him: If the case of a man with his wife be so, it is not expedient to marry.

[11] Who said to them: All men take not this word, but they to whom it is given. [12] For there are eunuchs, who were born so from their mother's womb: and there are eunuchs, who were made so by men: and there are eunuchs, who have made themselves eunuchs for the kingdom of heaven. He that can take, let him take it.

Note from Douay-Rheims Commentary on Matthew 19:19:

[12] "There are eunuchs, who have made themselves eunuchs, for the kingdom of heaven": This text is not to be taken in the literal sense; but means, that there are such, who have taken a firm and commendable resolution of leading a single and chaste life, in order to serve God in a more perfect state than those who marry: as St. Paul clearly shews. 1 Cor. 7. 37, 38

Mathew 22

[23]That day there came to him the Sadducees, who say there is no resurrection; and asked him, [24] Saying: Master, Moses said: If a man die having no son, his brother shall marry his wife, and raise up issue to his brother. [25] Now there were with us seven brethren: and the first having married a wife, died; and not having issue, left his wife to his brother. 

[26] In like manner the second, and the third, and so on to the seventh. [27]And last of all the woman died also. [28] At the resurrection therefore whose wife of the seven shall she be? for they all had her. [29] And Jesus answering, said to them: You err, not knowing the Scriptures, nor the power of God. [30] For in the resurrection they shall neither marry nor be married; but shall be as the angels of God in heaven.

Virginity is a virtue – St Thomas

 

On the contrary, Ambrose says (De Virgin. i, 3): "Love of virginity moves us to say something about virginity, lest by passing it over we should seem to cast a slight on what is a virtue of high degree."

I answer that, As stated above (Article 1), the formal and completive element in virginity is the purpose of abstaining from venereal pleasure, which purpose is rendered praiseworthy by its end, in so far, to wit, as this is done in order to have leisure for Divine things: while the material element in virginity is integrity of the flesh free of all experience of venereal pleasure. Now it is manifest that where a good action has a special matter through having a special excellence, there is a special kind of virtue: for example, magnificence which is about great expenditure is for this reason a special virtue distinct from liberality, which is about all uses of money in general. Now to keep oneself free from the experience of venereal pleasure has an excellence of its own deserving of greater praise than keeping oneself free from inordinate venereal pleasure. Wherefore virginity is a special virtue being related to chastity as magnificence to liberality.

The Perpetual Virginity of the Blessed Virgin Mary

St Athanasius, Orations against the Arians, II:70 (A.D. 362):

 

"Therefore let those who deny that the Son is from the Father by nature and proper to His Essence, deny also that He took true human flesh of Mary Ever-Virgin; for in neither case had it been of profit to us men, whether the Word were not true and naturally Son of God, or the flesh not true which He assumed."

 

St Epiphanius, Well Anchored Man, 120 (A.D. 374):

 

"[T]he Son of God...was born perfectly of the holy ever-virgin Mary by the Holy Spirit..."

 

Ibid, Medicine Chest Against All Heresies 78:6 (A.D. 375):

“And to holy Mary, [the title] ‘Virgin’ is invariably added, for that holy woman remains undefiled” 

 

St John Chrysostom, Gospel of Matthew, V:5 (A.D. 370):

 

"And when he had taken her, he knew her not, till she had brought forth her first-born Son.' He hath here used the word till,' not that thou shouldest suspect that afterwards he did know her, but to inform thee that before the birth the Virgin was wholly untouched by man. But why then, it may be said, hath he used the word, till'? Because it is usual in Scripture often to do this, and to use this expression without reference to limited times. For so with respect to the ark likewise, it is said, The raven returned not till the earth was dried up.' And yet it did not return even after that time. And when discoursing also of God, the Scripture saith, From age until age Thou art,' not as fixing limits in this case. And again when it is preaching the Gospel beforehand, and saying, In his days shall righteousness flourish, and abundance of peace, till the moon be taken away,' it doth not set a limit to this fair part of creation. So then here likewise, it uses the word "till," to make certain what was before the birth, but as to what follows, it leaves thee to make the inference. Thus, what it was necessary for thee to learn of Him, this He Himself hath said; that the Virgin was untouched by man until the birth; but that which both was seen to be a consequence of the former statement, and was acknowledged, this in its turn he leaves for thee to perceive; namely, that not even after this, she having so become a mother, and having been counted worthy of a new sort of travail, and a child-bearing so strange, could that righteous man ever have endured to know her. For if he had known her, and had kept her in the place of a wife, how is it that our Lord commits her, as unprotected, and having no one, to His disciple, and commands him to take her to his own home? How then, one may say, are James and the others called His brethren? In the same kind of way as Joseph himself was supposed to be husband of Mary. For many were the veils provided, that the birth, being such as it was, might be for a time screened. Wherefore even John so called them, saying, For neither did His brethren believe in Him!"

St Jerome, The Perpetual Virginity of Mary Against Helvedius, 21 (A.D. 383):

 

"But as we do not deny what is written, so we do reject what is not written. We believe that God was born of the Virgin, because we read it. That Mary was married after she brought forth, we do not believe, because we do not read it. Nor do we say this to condemn marriage, for virginity itself is the fruit of marriage; but because when we are dealing with saints we must not judge rashly. If we adopt possibility as the standard of judgment, we might maintain that Joseph had several wives because Abraham had, and so had Jacob, and that the Lord's brethren were the issue of those wives, an invention which some hold with a rashness which springs from audacity not from piety. You say that Mary did not continue a virgin: I claim still more, that Joseph himself on account of Mary was a virgin, so that from a virgin wedlock a virgin son was born. For if as a holy man he does not come under the imputation of fornication, and it is nowhere written that he had another wife, but was the guardian of Mary whom he was supposed to have to wife rather than her husband, the conclusion is that he who was thought worthy to be called father of the Lord, remained a virgin."

St Basil, Hom. In Sanctum Christi generationem, 5 (ante A.D. 379):

 

"The friends of Christ do not tolerate hearing that the Mother of God ever ceased to be a virgin"

St Ambrose, To the Christian at Vercellae, Letter 63:111 (A.D. 396):

"Imitate her, holy mothers, who in her only dearly beloved Son set forth so great an example of maternal virtue; for neither have you sweeter children, nor did the Virgin seek the consolation of being able to bear another son."

St Augustine, Of Holy Virginity, 4 (A.D. 401):

"Her virginity also itself was on this account more pleasing and accepted, in that it was not that Christ being conceived in her, rescued it beforehand from a husband who would violate it, Himself to preserve it; but, before He was conceived, chose it, already dedicated to God, as that from which to be born. This is shown by the words which Mary spake in answer to the Angel announcing to her her conception; How, 'saith she, shall this be, seeing I know not a man?' Which assuredly she would not say, unless she had before vowed herself unto God as a virgin. But, because the habits of the Israelites as yet refused this, she was espoused to a just man, who would not take from her by violence, but rather guard against violent persons, what she had already vowed. Although, even if she had said this only, How shall this take place?' and had not added, seeing I know not a man, 'certainly she would not have asked, how, being a female, she should give birth to her promised Son, if she had married with purpose of sexual intercourse. She might have been bidden also to continue a virgin, that in her by fitting miracle the Son of God should receive the form of a servant, but, being to be a pattern to holy virgins, lest it should be thought that she alone needed to be a virgin, who had obtained to conceive a child even without sexual intercourse, she dedicated her virginity to God, when as yet she knew not what she should conceive, in order that the imitation of a heavenly life in an earthly and mortal body should take place of vow, not of command; through love of choosing, not through necessity of doing service. 

The sense of the end of the above, to put in more eloquent English, is:

In being born of a Virgin who chose to remain a Virgin even before she knew who was to be born of her, Christ wanted to approve virginity rather than to impose it. And he wanted virginity to be of free choice even in that woman in whom he took upon himself the form of a slave.

Ibid, Sermons 186:1 (A.D. 411):

“It was not the visible sun, but its invisible Creator who consecrated this day for us, when the Virgin Mother, fertile of womb and integral in her virginity, brought him forth, made visible for us, by whom, when he was invisible, she too was created. A Virgin conceiving, a Virgin bearing, a Virgin pregnant, a Virgin bringing forth, a Virgin perpetual. Why do you wonder at this, O man?” 

Ibid, Heresies 56 (A.D. 428):

“Heretics called Antidicomarites are those who contradict the perpetual virginity of Mary and affirm that after Christ was born she was joined as one with her husband.”

 

St Peter Chrysologus, Sermon 117, (A.D. 432):

 

"Where are they who think that the Virgin's conception and giving birth to her child are to be likened to those of other woman? For, this latter case is one of the earth, and the Virgin's is one from heaven. The one case is a case of divine power; the other of human weakness. The one case occurs in a body subject to passion; the other in the tranquility of the divine Spirit and peace of the human body. The blood was still, and the flesh astonished; her members were put at rest, and her entire womb was quiescent during the visit of the Holy One, until the Author of flesh could take on His garment of flesh, and until He, who was not merely to restore the earth to man but also to give him heaven, could become a heavenly Man. The virgin conceives, the Virgin brings forth her child, and she remains a virgin."

Pope St Leo the Great (regn. A.D. 440-461), On the Feast of the Nativity, Sermon 22:2 (ante A.D. 461):

"And by a new nativity He was begotten, conceived by a Virgin, born of a Virgin, without paternal desire, without injury to the mother's chastity: because such a birth as knew no taint of human flesh, became One who was to be the Saviour of men, while it possessed in itself the nature of human substance. For when God was born in the flesh, God Himself was the Father, as the archangel witnessed to the Blessed Virgin Mary: because the Holy Spirit shall come upon thee, and the power of the most High shall overshadow thee: and therefore, that which shall be born of thee shall be called holy, the Son of God.' The origin is different but the nature like: not by intercourse with man but by the power of God was it brought about: for a Virgin conceived, a Virgin bare, and a Virgin she remained."

St John of Damascus, Orthodox Faith, 4:14 (A.D. 743):

 

"The ever-virgin One thus remains even after the birth still virgin, having never at any time up till death consorted with a man. For although it is written, And knew her not till she had brought forth her first-born Son, yet note that he who is first-begotten is first-born even if he is only-begotten. For the word first-born' means that he was born first but does not at all suggest the birth of others. And the word till' signifies the limit of the appointed time but does not exclude the time thereafter. For the Lord says, And lo, I am with you always, even unto the end of the world, not meaning thereby that He will be separated from us after the completion of the age. The divine apostle, indeed, says, And so shall we ever be with the Lord, meaning after the general resurrection."

St Hippolytus, Against Beron and Helix: Fragment VIII (A.D. 210):

“But the pious confession of the believer is that . . . the Creator of all things incorporated with Himself a rational soul and a sensible body from the all-holy Mary, ever-virgin, by an undefiled conception, without conversion, and was made man in nature, but separate from wickedness. . . ” 

St Hilary of Poitiers, Commentary on Matthew 1:4 (A.D. 354):

“If they [the brethren of the Lord] had been Mary’s sons and not those taken from Joseph’s former marriage, she would never have been given over in the moment of the passion [crucifixion] to the apostle John as his mother, the Lord saying to each, ‘Woman, behold your son,’ and to John, ‘Behold your mother’ [John 19:26–27), as he bequeathed filial love to a disciple as a consolation to the one desolate.” 

St Didymus the Blind, The Trinity 3:4 (A.D. 386):

“It helps us to understand the terms ‘first-born’ and ‘only-begotten’ when the Evangelist tells that Mary remained a virgin ‘until she brought forth her first-born son’ [Matt. 1:25]; for neither did Mary, who is to be honored and praised above all others, marry anyone else, nor did she ever become the Mother of anyone else, but even after childbirth she remained always and forever an immaculate virgin.”

Pope St Siricius I, Letter to Bishop Anysius (A.D. 392):

“You had good reason to be horrified at the thought that another birth might issue from the same virginal womb from which Christ was born according to the flesh. For the Lord Jesus would never have chosen to be born of a virgin if he had ever judged that she would be so incontinent as to contaminate with the seed of human intercourse the birthplace of the Lord’s body, that court of the eternal king."

Leporius, Document of Amendment 3 (A.D. 426):

“We confess, therefore, that our Lord and God, Jesus Christ, the only Son of God, born of the Father before the ages, and in times most recent, made man of the Holy Spirit and the ever-virgin Mary” 

St Cyril of Alexandria, Against Those Who Do Not Wish to Confess That the Holy Virgin is the Mother of God 4 (A.D. 430):

“[T]he Word himself, coming into the Blessed Virgin herself, assumed for himself his own temple from the substance of the Virgin and came forth from her a man in all that could be externally discerned, while interiorly he was true God. Therefore he kept his Mother a virgin even after her childbearing."

 

A Closing Quotation from St Gregory of Nyssa on Virginity

St Gregory of Nyssa, On Virginity, 13 (A.D. 371):

 

"But those who by virginity have desisted from this process have drawn within themselves the boundary line of death, and by their own deed have checked his advance; they have made themselves, in fact, a frontier between life and death, and a barrier too, which thwarts him. If, then, death cannot pass beyond virginity, but finds his power checked and shattered there, it is demonstrated that virginity is a stronger thing than death; and that body is rightly named undying which does not lend its service to a dying world, nor brook to become the instrument of a succession of dying creatures. In such a body the long unbroken career of decay and death, which has intervened between the first man and the lives of virginity which have been led, is interrupted. It could not be indeed that death should cease working as long as the human race by marriage was working too; he walked the path of life with all preceding generations; he started with every new-born child and accompanied it to the end: but he found in virginity a barrier, to pass which was an impossible feat. Just as, in the age of Mary the mother of God, he who had reigned from Adam to her time found, when he came to her and dashed his forces against the fruit of her virginity as against a rock, that he was shattered to pieces upon her, so in every soul which passes through this life in the flesh under the protection of virginity, the strength of death is in a manner broken and annulled, for he does not find the places upon which he may fix his sting."