Because I delivered the poor that cried, and the fatherless, and him that had none to help him. The blessing of him that was ready to perish came upon me: and I caused the widow’s heart to sing for joy. I put on righteousness, and it clothed me: my judgment was as a robe and a diadem. I was eyes to the blind, and feet was I to the lame. I was a father to the poor: and the cause which I knew not I searched out. And I brake the jaws of the wicked, and plucked the spoil out of his teeth. Job 29:12-17
Pure religion and undefiled before God and the Father is this, To visit the fatherless and widows in their affliction, and to keep himself unspotted from the world. James 1:27
Our widows must be sober-minded as touching the faith of the Lord, making intercession without ceasing for all men, abstaining from all calumny, evil speaking, false witness, love of money, and every evil thing, knowing that they are God’s altar, and that all sacrifices are carefully inspected, and nothing escapes Him either of their thoughts or intents or any of the secret things of the heart.Polycarp (A.D. 69-156) ch.4
Let not widows be neglected. After the Lord be you their protector. Let nothing be done without your consent; neither do you anything without the consent of God, as indeed you doest not. Be steadfast.Ignatius: to Polycarp (A.D. 35-105) ch.4
Hear now what follow upon these; to minister to widows, to visit the orphans and the needy, to ransom the servants of God from their afflictions, to be hospitable (for in hospitality benevolence from time to time has a place). Hermas (A.D. 150) Ante-Nicene Fathers vol.1 pg. 25
You shall reckon up the amount of that day’s expenditure, of the cost of food you would have eaten on the day on which you intend to fast, and shall give it to a widow, or an orphan, or to one in want, and so shall you humble your soul, that he that has received from your humiliation may satisfy his own soul, and may pray for you to the Lord. Hermas (A.D. 150) Ante-Nicene Fathers vol.1 pg. 34
They that have the spots are deacons that exercised their office ill, and plundered the livelihood of widows and orphans, and made gain for themselves from the ministrations which they had received to perform. If then they abide in the same evil desire, they are dead and there is no hope of life for them. Hermas (A.D. 150) Ante-Nicene Fathers vol.1 pg.52
And on the day called Sunday, all who live in cities or in the country gather together to one place… And they who are well to do, and willing, give what each thinks fit; and what is collected is deposited with the president, who succors the orphans and widows and those who, through sickness or any other cause, are in want, and those who are in bonds and the strangers sojourning among us, and in a word takes care of all who are in need. Justin Martyr (A.D. 160) Ante-Nicene Fathers vol.1 pg.186
And though maintaining parrots and curlews, they do not receive the orphan child; but they expose children that are born at home, and take up the young of birds, and prefer irrational to rational creatures. Clement of Alexandria (A.D. 195) Ante-Nicene Fathers vol.2 pg.279
There are also some now who rank the widow higher than the virgin in the matter of continence, on the ground that she scorns pleasure of which she has had experience. Clement of Alexandria (A.D. 195) Miscellanies, book III ch. 16
Further, if we set down in order the higher and happier grades of bodily patience, (we find that) it is she who is entrusted by holiness with the care of continence of the flesh: she keeps the widow, and sets on the virgin the seal and raises the self-made eunuch to the realms of heaven. That which springs from a virtue of the mind is perfected in the flesh; and, finally, by the patience of the flesh, does battle under persecution. Tertullian (A.D. 198) Ante-Nicene Fathers vol.3 pg. 715