in which
state a man is under the obligation of taking to himself a wife, of
begetting children, of looking after his household, and of procuring
whatever is necessary for these purposes. Wherefore the Apostle says
(1 Cor. 7:33) that "he that is with a wife, is solicitous for the
things of the world, how he may please his wife; and he is divided."
Hence the "monk" takes his name from "unity" [*The Greek _monos_] in
contrast with this division. For this reason the Church cannot
dispense from a vow solemnized by the religious profession; and the
reason assigned by the Decretal is because "chastity is bound up with
the monastic rule."

Reply Obj. 1: Perils occasioned by human affairs should be obviated
by human means, not by turning divine things to a human use. Now a
professed religious is dead to the world and lives to God, and so he
must not be called back to the human life on the pretext of any human
contingency.

Reply Obj. 2: A vow of temporal continency can be a matter of
dispensation, as also a vow of temporal prayer or of temporal
abstinence. But the fact that no dispensation can be granted from a
vow of continency solemnized by profession is due, not to its being
an act of chastity, but because through the religious profession it
is already an act of religion.

Reply Obj. 3: Food is directly ordered to the upkeep of the person,
therefore abstinence from food may be a direct source of danger to
the person: and so on this count a vow of abstinence is a matter of
dispensation. On the other hand sexual intercourse is directly
ordered to the upkeep not of the person but of the species, wherefore
to abstain from such intercourse by continency does not endanger the
person. And if indeed accidentally it prove a source of danger to the
person, this danger may be obviated by some other means, for instance
by abstinence, or other corporal remedies.

Reply Obj. 4: A religious who is made a bishop is no more absolved
from his vow of poverty than from his vow of continency, since he
must have nothing of his own and must hold himself as being the
dispenser of the common goods of the Church. In like manner neither
is he dispensed from his vow of obedience; it is an accident that he
is not bound to obey if he have no superior; just as the abbot of a
monastery, who nevertheless is not dispensed from his vow of
obedience.

The passage of Ecclesiasticus, which is put forward in the contrary
sense, should be taken as meaning