Praises of the Virgin Mother by St Bernard : Homily IV : §6/11

St Bernard, by Juan Correa de Vivar,
c. 1540-45. Museo del Prado.
(Public domain)

The following posts present the text of four homilies by St Bernard (1090-1153) frequently given the title of Missus est but which he himself called Praises of the Virgin Mother.

 

He was the first Cistercian monk to be placed on the calendar of saints and was canonized by Alexander III on the 18th January 1174. Pope Pius VIII bestowed on him the title of Doctor of the Church, “Doctor mellifluus,” on the 20th of August 1830. 

I offer this annotated presentation of St Bernard’s Homilies as a small gift to our gentle Queen and Mother in gratitude for her multitudinous graces and favours, requesting her continued help and protection for the author and his family.

The Latin text and references are based upon De laudibus Virginis Matris (Patrologia latina, vol. 183. J. P. Migne). The English text is based upon the version compiled and translated at St. Mary's Convent, York, and published by Washbourne in 1909.

Homily IV : §6/11

 §6.   The Angel went on to say[1]: “And behold thy cousin Elizabeth, she also hath conceived a son in her old age.” 

The Visitation, by Gerónimo Antonio de Ezquerra (1737).
Museo Carmen Thyssen, Málaga. Public domain.

Why was it necessary to announce that this barren woman had become pregnant? Did the Angel perhaps wish by means of a recent miracle to reassure Mary in case she was doubtful and incredulous regarding what he had said would happen? Far from it, for do we not read that Zachary’s incredulity was punished by this same Angel[2], whereas we do not read that Mary received the least blame for her question? On the contrary, we read that her faith was praised by Elizabeth[3]: 

“Blessed art thou that hast believed, because those things shall be accomplished that were spoken to thee by the Lord.” 

Her barren kinswoman’s pregnancy is announced to the Virgin for this reason: that, as miracle is added to miracle, joy might be heaped upon joy. Mary, however, was soon to conceive the Son of the Father’s love with the joy of the Holy Ghost; accordingly it was fitting that the prevenient joy and burning love which took possession of her should be quite out of the ordinary. Only a most devout and joyful heart such as her own was capable of containing such an abundant influx of sweetness and delight. It was for this reason too that Elizabeth’s conception is announced to Mary. It was surely fitting that the Virgin should learn of the Word – soon to be proclaimed everywhere – through an Angel before hearing of it from a human being; for the Mother of God would have appeared excluded from her Son’s counsels had she remained unaware of events taking place so close at hand on earth.

The conception of Elizabeth was announced to Mary for this reason in particular: so that, by being instructed in the coming firstly of the Saviour and then of the Forerunner, and by grasping the timing and order of events, she might later be better placed to reveal the truth to the writers and preachers of the Gospel, having herself been fully instructed from the very beginning regarding all the mysteries through divine revelation.

Another possible reason is that Mary was told of Elizabeth’s conception to give her, the younger of the two, an opportunity of tendering her devoted help to her kinswoman. It also means the little unborn Prophet might offer to his younger Lord the first-fruits of his ministry, while through the joy and devotion of both infants' excitement at the meeting and the mutual joy of the mothers, wonder might be added upon wonder and miracle upon miracle.

Footnotes

[1] Luke i. 36.

[2] Luke i. 18-20.

[3] Luke i. 45.

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The Virgin of Tenderness. >12th century.

SUB tuum præsidium confugimus, Sancta Dei Genitrix. Nostras deprecationes ne despicias in necessitatibus, sed a periculis cunctis libera nos semper, Virgo gloriosa et benedicta. Amen. 

 

Totus tuus ego sum

Et omnia mea tua sunt;

Tecum semper tutus sum:

Ad Jesum per Mariam.

He that hearkeneth to me, shall not be confounded: and they that work by me shall not sin. They that explain me shall have life everlasting. Ecclesiasticus (Sirach) xxiv. 30-31.30-31.