St Bernard's Praises of the Virgin Mother: Homily 2, Part 15

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.
 

Joseph, son of David, fear not to take unto thee Mary thy wife, for that which is conceived in her, is of the Holy Ghost.

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

Ad Jesum per Mariam.

15. Sin vero aliter quis sentiat, et Joseph sicut hominem dubitasse contendat, sed quia justus erat, noluisse quidem habitare cum ea propter suspicionem, nec tamen (quia pius erat) traducere voluisse suspectam, et ideo voluerit occulte dimittere eam, breviter respondeo, etiam sic dubitationem illam Joseph fuisse necessariam, quae divino meruit certificari oraculo.

But one might truly feel otherwise and maintain Joseph to have doubted, but because he was a just man, not to have wished to live with her because of suspicion, nor however (because he was pious), not to have wanted to have betrayed her as one under suspicion; and so he would have wanted to put her away privately; briefly, I reply: Joseph's doubt was necessary because under the divine plan it provided an assurance.

Sic quippe scriptum est: Haec autem eo cogitante, scilicet quod occulte dimitteret eam, apparuit ei angelus in somnis, dicens: Joseph fili David, noli timere accipere Mariam conjugem tuam. Quod enim in ea natum est, de Spiritu sancto est [1].

So it is in truth written: But while he thought on these things,namely that he would put her away privately, the angel of the Lord appeared to him in his sleep, saying: Joseph, son of David, fear not to take unto thee Mary thy wife, for that which is conceived in her, is of the Holy Ghost.[1]

Itaque propter istas rationes desponsata est Maria Joseph, vel potius, sicut ponit evangelista, viro, cui nomen erat Joseph. Virum nominat, non quia maritus, sed quod homo virtutis erat. 

And so on account of these reasons, Maria was betrothed to Joseph, or rather, as the evangelist puts it, to a man whose name was Joseph. He calls him a man, not because he is a husband but because he was of manly virtue.

Vel potius quia, juxta alium evangelistam, non vir simpliciter, sed vir ejus dictus est, merito appellatur quod necessarie putatur. Debuit ergo vir ejus appellari, quia necesse fuit et putari: sicut et pater Salvatoris non quidem esse, sed dici meruit, ut putaretur esse, dicente hoc ipso evangelista: Et ipse Jesus erat incipiens quasi annorum triginta, ut putabatur, filius Joseph [2]. Nec vir ergo matris, nec filii pater exstitit, quamvis certa (ut dictum est) et necessaria dispensatione utrumque ad tempus et appellatus sit et putatus.

Or rather, alternatively, he is said by another evangelist to be not just any man but her husband, because he is deservedly designated what he is of necessity supposed to be. He had to be called her husband because it was necessary for this to be supposed; and though not truly the father of the Saviour, he deserved to be called such, so that he might be supposed such, as the evangelist says: And Jesus himself was beginning about the age of thirty years; being (as it was supposed) the son of Joseph.[2]  Neither husband of the mother, nor father of the son was visible, although by a certain and necessary dispensation he was called and supposed to be both for a time.

References

[1] [20] Haec autem eo cogitante, ecce angelus Domini apparuit in somnis ei, dicens : Joseph, fili David, noli timere accipere Mariam conjugem tuam : quod enim in ea natum est, de Spiritu Sancto est.  
But while he thought on these things, behold the angel of the Lord appeared to him in his sleep, saying: Joseph, son of David, fear not to take unto thee Mary thy wife, for that which is conceived in her, is of the Holy Ghost.[Luke 1]

[2] [23] Et ipse Jesus erat incipiens quasi annorum triginta, ut putabatur, filius Joseph, qui fuit Heli, qui fuit Mathat,
And Jesus himself was beginning about the age of thirty years; being (as it was supposed) the son of Joseph, who was of Heli, who was of Mathat [Luke 3]

Latin vocab

aliter : (adv.), in another manner; otherwise
quippe : (conj. and adv.), because indeed, for indeed, for; because forsooth
sīn: (conj.), but if, if on the contrary