The school of Vestals or Vestal Virgins, priestesses of Vesta, goddess of the hearth in ancient Rome. They cultivated the sacred fire that was not allowed to go out and were freed of the usual obligations to marry and bear children, and took a vow of chastity in order to devote themselves to the study and correct observance of state rituals that were off-limits to the male colleges of priests. From Hutchinson's History of the Nations, published 1915.