Woman joins small club of "?consecrated virgins'
43-year-old in New York turns down sex for Jesus in rare Catholic ceremony
Updated: 4:48 a.m. ET Oct 8, 2006
EAST AURORA, N.Y. - She stood at the altar in a white gown and veil, but she was there for no earthly man. Lori Rose Cannizzaro was dedicating her virginity to Jesus.
Saturday's rare Catholic ceremony, one her own pastor didn't know existed, turned the 42-year-old into a "consecrated virgin." Fewer than 200 women in the United States and 2,000 worldwide have declared their perpetual virginity this way, according to U.S. Association of Consecrated Virgins.
"There are people who think I'm nuts," Cannizzaro said.
The ceremony was a revival of one of the church's oldest rituals.
Mystical marriage
The rite is available only to virgins, who agree to abstain from sex so they can dedicate their lives to Jesus Christ in what the association describes as a mystical marriage and a profound spiritual blessing. Each woman wears a band on her left ring finger as a symbol, much like a wedding band.
Cannizzaro, who is not a nun, will continue to live on her own and work as a cook at Christ the King Seminary in a Buffalo suburb.
She said she has plenty of support from family and friends.
"It is a good and holy thing to want to be in a virginal state," she said.
The ceremony was just the second of its kind performed in the Diocese of Buffalo.
"?Dating wasn't working'
The idea of consecrated virgins faded in the Middle Ages, but Pope Paul VI restored the rite in 1970. Only a bishop can perform the special Mass. Bishop Edward Kmiec led Cannizzaro's ceremony at her home parish, Immaculate Conception.
Cannizzaro, who spent the past two years taking seminary classes in preparation, said she knew more than a decade ago she would be better off single.
"Dating wasn't working. I wasn't connecting," she said. "Not that I never wanted to be married or never wanted children."
© 2006 The Associated Press.
[IMG]http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/51%2BfhmkstgL._SS500_.jpg[/IMG] [URL="http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/51%2BfhmkstgL._SS500_.jpg"] [/URL]
Yeah I agree....never be married, it's the number one cause of divorce. It means you have to trust someone...a person, and you can't trust anyone but yourself, marriage to me means that you are a unit, you are together, and you are one, and that can't be because you have to trust someone, you have to "put all your eggs into one basket" which will allow someone to dump that basket out, not worth it.
I was married by a judge. I should have asked for a jury.
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Yeah I agree....never be married, it's the number one cause of divorce. It means you have to trust someone...a person, and you can't trust anyone but yourself, marriage to me means that you are a unit, you are together, and you are one, and that can't be because you have to trust someone, you have to "put all your eggs into one basket" which will allow someone to dump that basket out, not worth it.
[/ QUOTE ]
Its not all that bad. I too was in your situation at one time. I too felt I could never trust again. But guess what! That speacial someone will come along and you will learn to trust again. It takes some time to learn it all over but it will happen. I never thought I could find someone I could trust. I went for over a year before I could think of trusting my wife I have now. We have now been married for 5 years and I can trust her without any doubt in my mind! You just keep your head up and God will be there for you.
[ QUOTE ]
Woman joins small club of "?consecrated virgins'
43-year-old in New York turns down sex for Jesus in rare Catholic ceremony
Updated: 4:48 a.m. ET Oct 8, 2006
EAST AURORA, N.Y. - She stood at the altar in a white gown and veil, but she was there for no earthly man. Lori Rose Cannizzaro was dedicating her virginity to Jesus.
Saturday's rare Catholic ceremony, one her own pastor didn't know existed, turned the 42-year-old into a "consecrated virgin." Fewer than 200 women in the United States and 2,000 worldwide have declared their perpetual virginity this way, according to U.S. Association of Consecrated Virgins.
"There are people who think I'm nuts," Cannizzaro said.
The ceremony was a revival of one of the church's oldest rituals.
Mystical marriage
The rite is available only to virgins, who agree to abstain from sex so they can dedicate their lives to Jesus Christ in what the association describes as a mystical marriage and a profound spiritual blessing. Each woman wears a band on her left ring finger as a symbol, much like a wedding band.
Cannizzaro, who is not a nun, will continue to live on her own and work as a cook at Christ the King Seminary in a Buffalo suburb.
She said she has plenty of support from family and friends.
"It is a good and holy thing to want to be in a virginal state," she said.
The ceremony was just the second of its kind performed in the Diocese of Buffalo.
"?Dating wasn't working'
The idea of consecrated virgins faded in the Middle Ages, but Pope Paul VI restored the rite in 1970. Only a bishop can perform the special Mass. Bishop Edward Kmiec led Cannizzaro's ceremony at her home parish, Immaculate Conception.
Cannizzaro, who spent the past two years taking seminary classes in preparation, said she knew more than a decade ago she would be better off single.
"Dating wasn't working. I wasn't connecting," she said. "Not that I never wanted to be married or never wanted children."
© 2006 The Associated Press.
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Is that something like being a nun?
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