Virgo Veneranda

Magnificat. JJ Tissot. Brooklyn Museum

During the month of May, I am publishing a series of posts based on notes made by John Henry Newman (1801-1890) for his May meditations on Mary in the Litany of Loreto. For the Latin and English texts of this Litany, please follow the link to Thesaurus Precum Latinarum.

Totus tuus ego sum et omnia mea tua sunt.

Tecum tutus semper sum.

Ad Jesum per Mariam

[  ] References in the text to numbered footnotes are not hyperlinked but may be found at the end of the relevant extract.








Ecce enim ex hoc beatam me dicent omnes generationes

Mary is the "Virgo Veneranda," The All-Worshipful Virgin

We use the word "Venerable"[1] generally of what is old. That is because only what is old has commonly those qualities which excite reverence or veneration.

It is a great history, a great character, a maturity of virtue, goodness, experience, that excite our reverence, and these commonly cannot belong to the young.

But this is not true when we are considering Saints. A short life with them is a long one. Thus Holy Scripture says, "Venerable age is not that of long time, nor counted by the number of years, but it is the understanding of a man that is gray hairs, and a spotless life is old age. The just man, if he be cut short by death, shall be at rest; being made perfect in a short time, he fulfilled a long time."[2]

Nay, there is a heathen writer, who knew nothing of Saints, who lays it down that even to children, to all children, a great reverence should be paid, and that on the ground of their being as yet innocent. And this is a feeling very widely felt and expressed in all countries; so much so that the sight of those who have not sinned (that is, who are not yet old enough to have fallen into mortal sin) has, on the very score of that innocent, smiling youthfulness, often disturbed and turned the plunderer or the assassin in the midst of his guilty doings, filled him with a sudden fear, and brought him, if not to repentance, at least to change of purpose.

And, to pass from the thought of the lowest to the Highest, what shall we say of the Eternal God (if we may safely speak of Him at all) but that He, because He is eternal, is ever young, without a beginning, and therefore without change, and, in the fulness and perfection of His incomprehensible attributes, now just what He was a million years ago? He is truly called in Scripture the "Ancient of Days,"[3] and is therefore infinitely venerable; yet He needs not old age to make him venerable; He has really nothing of those human attendants on venerableness which the sacred writers are obliged figuratively to ascribe to Him, in order to make us feel that profound abasement and reverential awe which we ought to entertain at the thought of Him.

'...blessed forever'. JJ Tissot. Brooklyn Museum.

And so of the great Mother of God, as far as a creature can be like the Creator; her ineffable purity and utter freedom from any shadow of sin, her Immaculate Conception, her ever-virginity—these her prerogatives (in spite of her extreme youth at the time when Gabriel came to her) are such as to lead us to exclaim in the prophetic words of Scripture both with awe and with exultation,

"Thou art the glory of Jerusalem and the joy of Israel; thou art the honour of our people; therefore hath the hand of the Lord strengthened thee, and therefore art thou blessed forever."[4]


[1] vĕnĕror, ātus, 1, v. dep. a. [Sanscr. vankh, wish, pray; cf. O. H. Germ. wunsc; Engl. wish; and Lat. Venus, venustas], to reverence with religious awe, to worship, adore, revere, venerate.
[2] [7] But the just man, if he be prevented with death, shall be in rest.
Justus autem si morte praeoccupatus fuerit, in refrigerio erit;
[8] For venerable old age is not that of long time, nor counted by the number of years: but the understanding of a man is grey hairs.
senectus enim venerabilis est non diuturna, neque annorum numero computata : cani autem sunt sensus hominis,
[9] And a spotless life is old age.
et aetas senectutis vita immaculata.
[10] He pleased God and was beloved, and living among sinners he was translated.
Placens Deo factus est dilectus, et vivens inter peccatores translatus est.
[11] He was taken away lest wickedness should alter his understanding, or deceit beguile his soul.
Raptus est, ne malitia mutaret intellectum ejus, aut ne fictio deciperet animam illius. [Wisdom 4] 

[3] [13] I beheld therefore in the vision of the night, and lo, one like the son of man came with the clouds of heaven, and he came even to the Ancient of days: and they presented him before him.
Aspiciebam ergo in visione noctis, et ecce cum nubibus caeli quasi filius hominis veniebat, et usque ad antiquum dierum pervenit : et in conspectu ejus obtulerunt eum. [Daniel 7]

[4] [10] And when she was come out to him, they all blessed her with one voice, saying: Thou art the glory of Jerusalem, thou art the joy of Israel, thou art the honour of our people:
Quae cum exisset ad illum, benedixerunt eam omnes una voce, dicentes : Tu gloria Jerusalem; tu laetitia Israel; tu honorificentia populi nostri : 
[11] For thou hast done manfully, and thy heart has been strengthened, because thou hast loved chastity, and after thy husband hast not known any other: therefore also the hand of the Lord hath strengthened thee, and therefore thou shalt be blessed for ever.
quia fecisti viriliter, et confortatum est cor tuum, eo quod castitatem amaveris, et post virum tuum, alterum nescieris : ideo et manus Domini confortavit te, et ideo eris benedicta in aeternum.  [Judith 15]

Totus tuus ego sum et omnia mea tua sunt.

Tecum tutus semper sum.

Ad Jesum per Mariam