Augustine of Hippo : You will not twist the judgment of the stranger or the orphan or the widow. You will not take the widow's dress as a pledge. Why do not you say: And you will not take their clothes as a pledge? What is the reason why it has been forbidden to twist the judgment of these three and, on the other hand, have only been forbidden to take the garment of the widow as a pledge, and not that of the others? The reason why it is recommended to make the judgments of all is because they have no one to defend them, nor the stranger, because he is in a foreign land, nor the orphan, that is, the pupil, because he has no parents, nor the widow, because He has no husband. On the other hand, when it is forbidden to wear the widow's dress as a pledge, I think that she warns elegantly that only those who are poor should be called truly widows. To this the Apostle also clearly alludes, when he says: But if a widow has children or grandchildren, let her first learn to practice the duties of piety with those of her own house and to correspond with her parents; because this is pleasing to the Lord. But the one who is truly a widow and is desolate, has placed her hope in the Lord and perseveres in her prayers night and day (1Tm 5,4.5). She calls the widow truly the one who does not support her, because she is deprived not only of her husband, but of descendants and of all help. Of course I would not call a desolate woman rich. The poor one does not have to take off the dress he has in pledge; because the law states that he is poor because he forbids his dress to be taken away from him. For the creditor would rather remove the money or anything else from the dress. But if one thought to think: if she had many unnecessary dresses, but superfluous, how is it understood that she is a true widow, that is, not only desolate, but also alien to a life in the midst of delights? About this widow the Apostle adds: The one who lives in the midst of delights, even when living, is dead (1Tm 5,6). And this widow opposes her to the real widow, and says that she is not a true widow. In wealthy widows, who have not remarried, continence is praised, its desolation is not proclaimed. For these widows are only deprived of a husband, not of other things. — QUESTIONS ON DEUTERONOMY, Q. 43 (tr. J. Litteral, draft)