Among the causes which have contributed to the tragedy of modern German history the decline of family life may safely be considered one of the most important factors. This decline has, indeed, affected almost all European countries, but, if Russia be excepted, none so deeply and powerfully as Germany. It may, perhaps, sound strange to non-Catholics that the condition of a healthy family life should be the esteem of virginity : for the Church has often been falsely accused of despising marriage, because she demands celibacy from her priests and religious. But even in the ancient Western world the family was nowhere stronger than in pagan Rome, where the Vestal virgins tended the sacred fire, the symbol of the home, from which springs all true civilization. It is, therefore, not surprising that the beginning of the disruption of German family life can be traced to Luther who, himself a monk who had broken his vow of chastity in order to marry a runaway nun, to the scandal even of many of his devoted followers, officially sanctioned the bigamous marriage of Philip of Hesse. The case of Luther may serve to illustrate the fact that, if virginity is not valued, there is no reason why continence should be esteemed in a wife or husband, except perhaps in the former to ascertain the parentage of the children.

But there is another side of the matter. St. Thomas links virginity closely to the contemplative life. ‘The end,’ he says, ‘which renders virginity praiseworthy, is that one may have leisure for Divine things.’ And moreover the integrity of the chaste mind is necessary for the loving perception of truths that are beyond reason. The Germans are a naturally contemplative race—the names of St. Hildegard, Master Eckhart, Tauler and Suso are ample evidence of that.