A gift for some, not the measure of every Christian
It takes all sorts to make a church; she does not ask me to be celibate.
Augustine's On Holy Virginity (c. 401) provides a useful older comparison: he ranks consecrated virginity above marriage while warning against contempt for married believers (§§1, 18). The resemblance to Chesterton is a Church containing different vocations, whose members need not share every vocation personally. Yet Augustine adds a qualification to the phrase 'physical virginity': its religious worth comes from dedication to God, not bodily condition alone (§8), and humble married people follow Christ more readily than proud virgins (§52). The inspected edition is C. L. Cornish's translation in Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, first series, volume 3 (1887), revised for New Advent. Augustine, On Holy Virginity.
This sharpens the paragraph's argument. Chesterton is explaining why his own lack of attraction need not invalidate a form of life the Church honours. He is not announcing a personal vow. His musical analogy asks for recognition of a good he cannot yet appreciate; Augustine shows why that recognition need not make every celibate superior to every married person. This is theological comparison, not evidence that Augustine supplied the analogy.
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