Virgimia Woman Becomes Catholic "Consecrated Virgin"

Fresh-faced and vivacious, Bernadette Snyder says she grew up in Virginia assuming Catholic girls like her either became nuns or found a man.

At 29, she is still single, and assuredly not a nun.

"I mean, do you see this in a convent?" Snyder said, glancing at her flowered skirt, peasant blouse and jewelry. "It just doesn't happen. I mean, really!"

Instead, Snyder chose a little-known third path with a long tradition in Catholicism: She became a consecrated, perpetual virgin - the first in the 188-year history of the Richmond diocese, which includes Hampton Roads.

Wearing a white sundress and big pink earrings, Snyder knelt in May as Bishop Francis X. DiLorenzo laid hands on hers in the rite of Consecration to a Life of Virginity of Women Living in the World.

He also slipped onto her ring finger a gold band - a symbol of her spousal relationship with Jesus Christ.

And no, she's not a grotesque hag that couldn't find a man otherwise; photo:



I really can't say that she's deserving of ridicule, although there will be plenty of jokes about her, I suppose. I'm not religious anymore, but that doesn't mean I don't admire a level of faith that would result in such a vow. I rather admire her.