a. [f. prec. + -AL 1.]
1. Pertaining to, or treating of, the spiritual exercises by which perfection and virtue may be attained, as in Ascetical Theology.
a. 1617. Bayne, On Eph. (1866), 331. Hence it is that ascetical sermons … are not in that request.
1697. trans. Dupin’s Eccl. Hist., II. 145. The Ascetical Books attributed to St. Basil.
1884. Addis & Arnold, Cath. Dict., s.v., St. Francis of Sales and St. Alphonsus Liguori may be mentioned as modern saints whose ascetical works are most esteemed.
2. = ASCETIC 1.
1836. Hor. Smith, Tin Trump. (1876), 161. Our English puritans with their ascetical bigotry.
