Benedict Hesse’s Teaching on Conjugal Abstinence

Abstract

This article focuses on conjugal abstinence in the teaching of the great Polish theologian, Benedict Hesse, who lived and worked in Cracow during the fifteenth century. In his work Commentary on the Gospel of St. Matthew, Hesse focuses his discussion on chastity and conjugal abstinence in the context of several other subjects, including: the superiority of virginity over marriage; the superiority of virginal chastity over conjugal abstinence; the issue of assessing the pleasure of conjugal sexual intercourse; matters pertaining to modesty of the spouses and their exterior appearance; as well as castration for the Kingdom of Heaven. The issues that Hesse raises in relation to chastity and conjugal abstinence might bring a smile to a contemporary reader’s face, since they seem mostly anecdotal and basic. This article is not a complete and systematic lecture on conjugal abstinence.