A number of male saints were included in Aldhelm's paired prose and
poetic versions of the _De Virginitate_. A typical passage reads:
"Nec pudeat, Christi caelibes strictis pudicitiae legibus
lascivam naturae petulantiam coartantes corporeosque titillationum
gestus velut indomitos bigarum subiugales ferratis salivaribus
refrenantes Toronici reminisci pontificis....quique pro adepta
integretatis corona et fausta virginitatis infula, quas velut regale
diadema ac gemmatas crepundiorum lunulas indefessis viribus meta tenus
servare satagebat, miris virtutum signis effulsisse memoratur."
(Aldhelm, De Virginitate, _Aldhelmi Opera_, ed. Rudolph Ehwald, Monumenta
Germaniae Historica Auctores Antiquissimi 15 [Munich 1984] 260).
"Nor should it be an embarrassment for Christ's celibates (who
are) contraining the unruly impulsiveness of their nature with the
strict laws of chastity and curbing the bodily gestures of titillation
with iron bridles, as if they were untamed cart-horses, to call to mind
the bishop of Tours [i.e. Martin]....who, because of the crown of
integrity he had acquired and the blessed distinction of
virginity--which he was able to preserve with tireless efforts right up
to the end, like a royal diadem or the jewelled necklaces of amulets--is
said to have shone forth in the marvellous miracles of his virtues."
(_Aldhelm: The Prose Works_, trans. Michael Lapidge and Michael Herren)
We rarely refer to male saints as virgins, but that was not
always true in all periods and in all places in the Middle Ages.
John Damon
University of Arizona
jdamon@ccit,arizona.edu
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