• The consecrated virgin is constituted a sacred person in the Church. [Introduction, No. 1]
• No particular service or spirituality is imposed; the consecrated virgin's time is spent in works of penance and of mercy, in apostolic activity, and in prayer, in accord with her state of life and spiritual gifts. [No. 2]
• She is strongly advised to recite the Liturgy of the Hours daily and is committed to praying Morning and Evening Prayer. [No.2]
• Her life is one of perpetual virginity. [No.5]

Bishop, Diocese

The virgin is consecrated to God by the diocesan Bishop according to a rite approved by the church. [Catechism of the Catholic Church, 922-924]

She lives her life as an individual, under the direction of the diocesan Bishop. The Ordo Virginum is comprised of those who are consecrated to God by the diocesan bishop according to the rite of consecration to a life of virginity (canon 604). The virgin constitutes “a special eschatological image of the Heavenly Bride and of the life to come, when the Church will at last fully live her love for Christ the Bridegroom.” (John Paul II, Vita Consecrata 7). Bodily and spiritual virginity – both – are essential to the vocation of consecrated virginity lived in the world to image the relationship of the virgin Church to her virgin Bridegroom, Jesus Christ. “Lord,” the consecrating bishop prays during the Prayer of Consecration of a virgin, “look with favor on your handmaids. They place in your hands their resolve to live in chastity. You prompt them in this, their intention; now they give you their hearts . . . Among your many gifts you give to some the grace of virginity.” (Rite of Consecration to a Life of Virginity, 24).