The Church, the Bride of Christ, from the very beginnings of its history has by repeated acts and indications shewn its sense of esteem and tender, maternal love for those virgins who are dedicated to God: and this regard has been plainly confirmed in documents. Small wonder, since Christian virgins, ‘the more illustrious part of Christ's flock', stimulated by charity and spurning all alien worldly cares, have overcome the easy and danger-fraught division of the heart, and have vowed themselves wholly to Christ as to the Bridegroom of souls, and Permanently enlisted their entire lives, decked as they are with the Jewels of all the Christian virtues, under the banner of Christ our Lord and the Church.