St Bernard's Praises of the Virgin Mother: Homily 2, Part 5

St Bernard. Musée de Cluny [Public domain]

'To this warm love of Jesus Christ was joined a most sweet and tender devotion towards His glorious Mother, whose motherly love he repaid with the affection of a child, and whom he jealously honoured. (from Pope Pius XII's Encyclical 'Dr Mellifluus', on St Bernard, the 'last of the Fathers' - 1953)

Our series on St Bernard's homilies in praise of the Virgin Mother continues with the second homily. The Latin text and an English translation are followed by references and notes on vocabulary.

Who shall find a valiant woman? far and from the uttermost coasts is the price of her.

 Totus tuus ego sum et omnia mea tua sunt. Tecum tutus semper sum. 

Ad Jesum per Mariam.

5. Quam vero aliam Salomon requirebat, cum dicebat: Mulierem fortem quis inveniet? Noverat quippe vir sapiens hujus sexus infirmitatem, fragile corpus, lubricam mentem.

5. In truth, what other woman did Solomon seek when he said:Who shall find a valiant woman? [1]  The Wise Man knew indeed the frailty of that sex, the weakness of their bodies, the inconstancy of their minds.

Quia tamen et Deum legerat promisisse, et ita videbat congruere ut qui vicerat per feminam, vinceretur per ipsam, vehementer admirans aiebat: Mulierem fortem quis inveniet?

But he had read God's promise, and saw that it was fitting that he who had conquered through a woman should himself be overcome through a woman. Wondering exceedingly, he said : Who shall find a valiant woman? [1]

Quod est dicere: Si ita de manu feminae pendet et nostra omnium salus, et innocentiae restitutio, et de hoste victoria: fortis omnino necesse est ut provideatur [alias, praevideatur], quae ad tantum opus possit esse idonea.

Which is to say: if upon a woman depends alike the salvation of us all, the restoration of innocence and victory over our common enemy, she must be indeed valiant to be fitted for so great an undertaking.

Sed mulierem fortem quis inveniet? At ne hoc quaesisse putetur desperando, subdit prophetando, Procul et de ultimis finibus pretium ejus [1]: hoc est non vile, non parvum, non mediocre, non denique de terra; sed de coelo, nec de coelo proximo terris pretium fortis hujus mulieris, sed a summo coelo egressio ejus.[2]

But who shall find a valiant woman? And lest he should be thought to have asked in despondency, he adds in prophecy, far and from the uttermost coasts is the price of her [1] For the price of this valiant woman is not mean, nor small, nor of light account, nor is it even from earth, but from heaven. And not from the heaven nearest the earth, but from the highest heavens. His going out is from the end of heaven.[2]

Quid deinde rubus ille quondam Mosaicus portendebat, flammas quidem emittens, sed non ardens [3], nisi Mariam parientem, et dolorem non sentientem?

What, again, did the bush shown to Moses portend, giving forth flames and yet not burning,[3] but Mary who brought forth feeling no pangs of childbirth?

Quid, rogo, virga Aaron florida [4], nec humectata, nisi ipsam concipientem, quamvis virum non cognoscentem? Hujus magni miraculi majus mysterium Isaias edisserit, dicens, Egredietur virga de radice Jesse, et flos de radice ejus ascendet [6]: virgam, virginem; florem, virginis partum intelligens.

What, I ask, was Aaron's rod,[4] which flowered without moisture, but she who conceived although not knowing man.[5] Isaias more clearly points out the mystery of this stupendous miracle, saying: And there shall come forth a rod out of the root of Jesse, and a flower shall rise up out of his root.[6] The rod is the Virgin, the flower the Virgin's Child. 

References

[1] [10] Mulierem fortem quis inveniet? procul et de ultimis finibus pretium ejus. 
Who shall find a valiant woman? far and from the uttermost coasts is the price of her. [Proverbs 31]

[2] [7] a summo caelo egressio ejus. Et occursus ejus usque ad summum ejus; nec est qui se abscondat a calore ejus.
His going out is from the end of heaven, And his circuit even to the end thereof: and there is no one that can hide himself from his heat.[Ps 18]

[3] [2] Apparuitque ei Dominus in flamma ignis de medio rubi : et videbat quod rubus arderet, et non combureretur.
And the Lord appeared to him in a flame of fire out of the midst of a bush: and he saw that the bush was on fire and was not burnt.[Exodus 3]

[4] [8] sequenti die regressus invenit germinasse virgam Aaron in domo Levi : et turgentibus gemmis eruperant flores, qui, foliis dilatatis, in amygdalas deformati sunt.
He returned on the following day, and found that the rod of Aaron for the house of Levi, was budded: and that the buds swelling it had bloomed blossoms, which spreading the leaves, were formed into almonds.[Numbers 17]

[5] [34] Dixit autem Maria ad angelum : Quomodo fiet istud, quoniam virum non cognosco?
And Mary said to the angel: How shall this be done, because I know not man? [Luke 1]

[6] [1] Et egredietur virga de radice Jesse, et flos de radice ejus ascendet.
And there shall come forth a rod out of the root of Jesse, and a flower shall rise up out of his root.[Isaias 11]

Latin vocab

lūbrĭcus, a, um, adj. Gr. λιτός, λισσός, smooth; from root γλιτ; cf. γλίσχρος, glittus, and ὀλιβρός, slippery, slippery. Unsteady, unsettled, easily going astray
mĕdĭō˘cris, e , adj. medius, in a middle state between too much and too little, middling, moderate, tolerable, ordinary; sometimes also, not remarkable, indifferent, mediocre.
omnīno: (adv.), wholly, entirely, altogether
quaesīsse: perfect active infinitive of quaerō: quaerō, quaesīvī or quaesiī, quaesītus, 3, a.: to seek, search, look for, 1.380; inquire, ask, demand
quippe : (conj. and adv.), because indeed, for indeed, for; because forsooth
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