"Let, then, the life of Mary be as it were virginity itself, set forth in a
likeness, from which, as from a mirror, the appearance of chastity and the form
of virtue is reflected.... Nor would I hesitate to admit you to the altars of
God, whose souls I would without hesitation call altars, on which Christ is
daily offered for the redemption of the body. For if the virgin's body be a
temple of God, what is her soul, which, the ashes, as it were, of the body being
shaken off, once more uncovered by the hand of the Eternal Priest, exhales the
vapour of the divine fire. Blessed virgins, who emit a fragrance through divine
grace as gardens do through flowers, temples through religion, altars through
the priest." Ambrose, On Virginity
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