In the Catholic Church, a consecrated virgin is a woman who has been consecrated by the church to a life of perpetual virginity in the service of God. Consecrated virgins are to spend their time in works of penance and mercy, in apostolic activity and in prayer, according to their state of life and spiritual gifts. Consecrated virgins should not be confused with consecrated hermits and anchorites, who have a different vocation.
Read more about Consecrated Virgin: Historical Development, As A Form of Consecrated Life in The Church Today, Noted Christian Virgins
Famous quotes containing the word virgin:
“Our own country furnishes antiquities as ancient and durable, and as useful, as any; rocks at least as well covered with lichens, and a soil which, if it is virgin, is but virgin mould, the very dust of nature. What if we cannot read Rome or Greece, Etruria or Carthage, or Egypt or Babylon, on these; are our cliffs bare?”
—Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862)