E06538: Aldhelm, in his prose On Virginity, names *Daniel (Old Testament prophet, S00727) as an exemplary virgin. Written in Latin in southern Britain, for the nuns at the monastery at Barking (south-east Britain), c. 675/686.

Aldhelm, prose On Virginity, 21

Daniel vero, praesago nominis vocabulo iudicium Dei, ob indaganda secretorum arcana ab archangelo saepe vir desideriorum vocitatus, usque supremam fugacis vitae clausulam gratissimum spontaneae virginitatis munus velut flagrantis incensi thimiama patri spirituum ultroneus obtulisse memoratur. Is denique nondum clangente evangelica bucina 'qui potest capere, capiat' immunis tamen ab omni spurcitia carnali et securus ab illecebrarum colludio pudicissimus extitisse liquido declaratur. Cui pro vicissitudine castitatis repensanda prae ceteris mortalibus abdita patescunt et misticis sacramentorum opercults clausa caelitus reserantur [...]

'DANIEL - through the prophetic meaning of his name 'the judgment of God,' (and) often called 'the man of desires' by the archangel on account of his investigating the hidden recesses of secrets - is recorded to have offered up the most pleasing gift of voluntary virginity, like the fragrance of burning incense to the father of odours, up to the final conclusion of this fleeting life. He, in fact, with the evangelic trumpet not yet blaring out 'he that can take, let him take it' [Matth. 19:12], immune nonetheless from all carnal filth and secure from the deceptions of allurements, is clearly stated to have been completely pure. To him above all other mortals, as a reward in exchange for his chastity, hidden things lie open and things closed in the mystical coverings of the sacraments are divinely unlocked [...]'

Text: Ehwald 1919, 250-51. Translation: Lapidge and Herren 1979, 77.