Emily Byers walked down the aisle and vowed to love and serve her husband until her last breath.
So what makes this wedding ceremony different from others?
Two things: First, her groom was not present, in the physical sense, during the ceremony. Second, five years after her marriage, she has remained a virgin—and will forever be.
Why? It's because she got married not to a man but to the Supreme Spiritual Being—God Himself!
Byers is one of an estimated 3,000 women in 42 countries who have joined the Catholic Order of Virgins, publicly pledging lifelong virginity to God, according to Broadly.
Byers, a schoolteacher from Lafayette, Louisiana, was 25 years old when she dedicated the rest of her life to God five years ago, gaining the distinction of being the youngest consecrated virgin in the U.S.
No, Byers didn't become a nun.
Although both a nun and a consecrated virgin are celibate, a woman can enter a nunnery even if she got married or had sex before while a consecrated virgin can't have sex ever in her lifetime. Another difference is that a nun confines herself mostly in the nunnery while a consecrated virgin can stay outside the church, have a job, rent a house, take public transport and do other things just like other people.
So, the inevitable question arises: Why did she decide to join the Order of Virgins?
Byers told Broadly that the idea came upon her at the age of 17 when her close high school friend decided to become a priest.
"It was his example of generosity—of being willing to give his entire life to God—that awakened a desire within me. I knew that consecrated virginity coincided with the deepest desires of my heart: to belong totally to Jesus and to serve the church," Byers said.
Doesn't she feel lonely? Isn't it possible that she could change her mind later on, leave the Order and enter into a relationship with a man?
Byers replied with a firm conviction that lifelong celibacy can be just as fulfilling, if not more so, than sex.
"If all that defines a person is his or her sexual activity, then consecrated virginity would be a life of deprivation," she said. "But there is more to life than sex. Consequently, my life is not a deprived one at all."
She said she is not depriving herself of intimacy, but she gets this in other, non-carnal ways. "I still enjoy spiritual intimacy in prayer and the emotional intimacy of close human friendships," she said.
"Real love is a lasting commitment, not a passing feeling. I am in love with Him and I will be His forever because He will never stop loving me," she added.
As expressed in Canon 604, a consecrated virgin is irrevocably "consecrated to God, mystically espoused to Christ and dedicated to the service of the Church, when the diocesan bishop consecrates [her] according to the approved liturgical rite," according to EWTN, the Global Catholic Network.
What does a consecrated virgin do?
On the surface, she may look like any pious member of the Church—attending daily Mass and spending much of her time in private prayer.
She also supports herself by earning her own living and is not obliged to take on any particular work or apostolate. In the U.S., consecrated virgins usually volunteer their time to their local parish, diocese, or Church-sponsored association, EWTN says.
