Q. 1. What is the "Vow of Chastity?"
A. 1. First, it is necessary to explain the meaning of the word "chastity." Chastity is a personal commitment to refrain from sexual intercourse. It means to remain "chaste." The word "chaste" is synonym to the word "pure as a virgin," remaining free of all forms of sexual intercourse.
In the Catholic Church, members of religious orders and congregations, religious priests, brothers and sisters make vows that are regulated by the Code of Canon Laws # 654-658. These religious vows are sacred promises. They reflect a life orientation and profound loving commitment. These religious persons publicly profess such vows of poverty, celibate chastity and obedience. Religious vows joyfully free a person to live for God and through that first love to serve others with love and to witness to God’s faithfulness, compassion and care for all.
The "vow of Chastity" is a promise before God to live a life of "celibacy." "Celibacy" (from Latin, cælibatus") is the state of voluntarily remaining unmarried which also mean the practice of restraining oneself (abstinence) from all sexual relationships, usually for religious reasons.
In religious life, it is believed that through the vow of chastity (celibacy), the vow of living without an exclusive or sexual love relationship with another human being, the person would not be distracted from the strongest possible love towards God and one's neighbors.
The vows are regarded as the individual's free response to a call by God to follow Jesus Christ more closely under the action of the Holy Spirit in a particular form of religious living. A person who lives a religious life according to vows they have made is called a votary' or a votarist. The religious vow, being a public vow, is binding in Church law. One of its effects is that the person making it ceases to be free to marry.
Professing a vow of celibate chastity, as Pope Benedict XV1 has so beautifully put it cannot mean “remaining empty in love, but rather must mean allowing oneself to be overcome by passion for God.”