Solemn Mass
Order of Consecrated Virgins
2pm Saturday 23^rd October, Cathedral of St. Mary the Crowned.

A special Mass of Consecration will take place at 2pm Saturday 23^rd October in the Cathedral of St. Mary the Crowned.  His Lordship Bishop Carmel will preside at the Mass in which Dr. Marisa Cristina March will become Gibraltar’s second Consecrated Virgin. Consecrated Virgins are single women who after several years of discernment and formation are consecrated to God for a celibate life of prayer, witness and service to Christ and His Church, similar to sisters in religious life.  All are warmly invited to participate in this joyous occasion. You can read more about this vocation in the latest issue of Cornerstone Magazine.

What is a consecrated virgin?

 A consecrated virgin is a woman who has been consecrated by her diocesan bishop to a life of perpetual virginity. While she may live as a nun in a monastic order, the term is more commonly used for those who choose to live a dedicated life in the secular world. When not occupied with her work life, a consecrated virgin will devote herself to prayer, penance and service to the Church. This practice of consecration goes all the way back to the Apostles and may even be the first form of consecrated life in the Church. It expresses the ideal of marriage in its irrevocable unity of a bride of Christ, representing the church, with the bridegroom of Jesus. The concept is that the love of the Lord is enough – which clashed dramatically with the pagan way of life. Many women paid for this devotion with their lives – consider the virgin martyrs mentioned in the Roman Canon in the Mass – Saints Agnes, Lucy and Agatha. In his Apostolic Letter Mulieris Dignitatem, the Dignity and Vocation of Women, released on the Solemnity of the Assumption, August 15, in 1988, St. Pope John Paul II wrote about the value of consecrated virginity in which women become “a sincere gift for God who has revealed himself in Christ, a gift for Christ, the Redeemer of humanity and the Spouse of souls.” He wrote that “women, called from the very beginning to be loved and to love, in a vocation to virginity find Christ first of all as the Redeemer who ‘loved until the end’ through His total gift of self; and they respond to this gift with a sincere gift of their whole lives.”