Virgin (title)

The title Virgin is an honorific that has been bestowed by the Roman Catholic Church to certain female saints and blesseds who were either unmarried, nuns, or consecrated virgins. The various titles assigned to saints were used to simplify the liturgical texts for the Mass and Liturgy of the Hours on the feast days of saints. Categories of saints cooresponded to a specific set of common readings within the missal and breviary. Commons exist for various types of saints including apostles, evangelists, popes, bishops, abbots, doctors, confessors, martyrs, virgins, and holy women not virgins. Males are generally classified by the type of ecclesial office they held, but since women can not hold most eccelsial offices within the Roman Catholic Church, they have been classified as virgins or women who were not virgins, for example married women or widows. Commons also exist for certain combinations of titles, for example bishop confessors, virgin martyrs, bishop martyrs, etc. Since three women have been named as Doctors of the Church, a group of three virgin doctors exists, which includes St. Teresa of Ávila, St. Catherine of Siena, and St. Thérèse de Lisieux.