Let no one be enrolled as a widow under sixty years old, having been the wife of one man,
Certainly, the excuse for monastic orders of women, which is imputed to these lines, is totally wrong.  The women in this list were mothers with children, past the age of sixty, already known and honored in the church for their good works.  Whatever service they may have given to the church in such things as teaching, visitation of the sick, etc., was evidently undertaken by them upon a voluntary basis, which was quite natural in view of their being supported by the church.  This was a far different thing from the exploitation of young women in monasticism.