Chapter XXX. Celibacy Of The Clergy. The Church requires her Priests to be pure in body as well as in soul, and to "present their bodies a living victim, holy, well-pleasing unto God."514 Our Savior and His Apostles, though recognizing matrimony as a holy state, have proclaimed the superior merits of voluntary continency, particularly for those who consecrate their lives to the sacred ministry. "There are eunuchs who have made themselves such for the Kingdom of Heaven's sake. He who can take it, let him take it."515 Our Lord evidently recommends here the state of celibacy to such as feel themselves called to embrace it, in order to attain greater perfection. St. Paul gives the reason why our Savior declares continency to be a more suitable state for His ministers than that of matrimony: "He who is unmarried careth for the things of the Lord — how he may please God. But he who is married is solicitous about the things of the world — how he may please his wife — and he is divided."516 Jesus Christ manifestly showed His predilection for virginity, not only by always remaining a virgin, but by selecting a VirginMother and a virgin-precursor in the person of St. John the Baptist, and by exhibiting a special effection for John the [400] Rom. xii. 1. 516 I. Cor. vii. 32, 33.