MALE CONSECRATED VIRGINS

[ToJesusMyHeart]

can men be consecrated virgins

 

why

 

why not

[Sponsa-Christi]

The short answer is no, men cannot be consecrated virgins.

Or, to parse this out a little more, men can be "consecrated virgins" in the sense that they can be virgins and enter into some form of consecrated life, but they cannot be consecrated virgins in the technical sense of being part of the Ordo Virginum. The Rite of Consecration to a Life of Virginity is restricted to women, as is indicated by the Rite itself.

Theologically, consecrated virginity is at its core a call to be a bride of Christ, which is an intrinsically feminine reality. Unlike religious life properly so-called (i.e., life lived according to a rule in community according to the spirituality of a founder) which as a general category is gender-neutral, there has never been a point in the Church's history when the consecration of virgins was an option for men.

Because of this, I actually think that consecrated virginity  can be thought of as sort of like a parallel to the all-male priesthood. Just as only men can image the masculine Christ through ordination, only women can image the Church as the feminine bride of Christ through the consecration of virgins.