He shunned the sight of a woman as others would that of a venomous serpent; and in fact he esteemed the danger of dealing with women so great that he had the greatest difficulty in accepting the charge of hearing confessions.
This strict and rigorous custody of his senses was so pleasing to God that he rewarded it by keeping Juvenal free during the whole course of his life from all temptations against purity; and, moreover, bestowed upon him the grace to live and die a virgin. This he himself admitted, attributing it entirely to the goodness of God. The purity of his soul shone forth even externally, for F. Maurizio da Pinarolo, a Capuchin Father, who knew him well, said of him, " that his words, his works, and even his very shadow inspired devotion in all who beheld him."
God bestowed also upon his virginal flesh the gift he had granted to his father St Philip—namely, that of giving forth a sweet and heavenly fragrance. And like St Philip also, he could detect the sin of impurity by its stench.
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