An encyclical on consecrated virginity, given on the Annunciation during the Marian Year of 1954. Pius XII gathers the witness of Scripture and the Fathers on virginity embraced for the kingdom of heaven: it is a counsel, not a precept, freely offered to those who can receive it; its first motive is an undivided heart, free to be occupied with the things of the Lord; and it is fruitful, since those who renounce natural motherhood and fatherhood beget a spiritual family. Against opinions then current the Pope reaffirms the Church's constant teaching, defined at the Council of Trent, that the state of virginity consecrated to God is more excellent than the married state, without in any way disparaging Christian marriage, which he calls a great sacrament. The encyclical closes with the means by which chastity is preserved — vigilance and mortification, humility, prayer, the Eucharist, and devotion to the Blessed Virgin.