The Visitation

Ad Jesum per Mariam. J-J Tissot.

This is the fourth day of a Novena in preparation for the great Marian Feast of Our Lady of the Rosary, on October 7th. Today is the feast of  the Holy Guardian Angels (see line 9 and note below). 

The Novena is offered as a gift to Our Lady praying that, through her maternal intercession, she will mediate graces so as to guide and protect the author, his family* and all the members of the Church Militant, in these disturbing times. [*E, E, K, P**, T, E ,E; E, A.] **Today is his birthday and we wish him 'Ad multos annos,' praying that his Holy Guardian Angel, his patron saints and Our Blessed Lady will watch over him and lead his soul to Heaven.

We shall be posting each day examples of Marian poetry written by St Robert Southwell who himself lived in a terrible time of trial for Catholics. Much of his poetry was written whilst he was in solitary confinement prior to his execution at Tyburn on the 21st of February, 1595. 

The original spelling and punctuation has been retained; the notes which follow each poem are my own.

The Visitation

Proclaymed Queene and mother of a god

The light of earth the Soveraigne of Saints

With Pilgrimm foote upp tyring hils she trodd

And heavenly stile with handmayds toyle acquaints

Her youth to age her helth to sicke she lends [5]

Her heart to god to neighbour hand she bendes.

A prince she is and mightier prince doth beare

Yet pompe of princely trayne she would not have

But doubtles heavenly quires attendant were

Her child from harme her selfe from fall to save [10]

Word to the voyce songe to the tune she bringes

The voyce her Word, the tune her dittye sings

Eternall lightes enclosed in her breste

Shott out such percing beames of burning love

That when her voyce her Cosens eares possest [15]

The force thereof did force her babe to move

With secret signes the children greete ech other

But open praise ech leaveth to his mother.

Notes

[l 1] Proclaymed Queene and mother of a god: Mary, declared 'Mother of God' or theotokos at the Council of Ephesus in 431 AD,  is honoured as a Queen under various titles throughout Catholic tradition, including the thirteen times in the Litany of Loreto.

[l 2] The light of earth the Soveraigne of Saints: This can in one sense refer to Mary who is the Stella Matutina and the Stella Maris - the Morning Star, the Star of the Sea: the 'light of the earth'. Other references to light include those in the beautiful antiphon for the Assumption:

Who is she that cometh like the dawn,

fair as the moon, bright as the sun,

terrible as an army prepared for battle?

Quae est ista quae progreditur

quasi aurora consurgens,

pulchra ut luna, electa ut sol,

terribilis ut castrorum acies ordinata ? [Canticle of Canticles. vi. 10]

See also the use of 'soveraigne' in line 7 in 'Our Ladies Salutation' (posted yesterday).The syntax supports, however, a second sense whereby she is the 'mother of a god' and mother of 'the light of the earth', i.e., Christ, the 'light of the world'; and the mother of the 'Soveraigne of Saints', Christ the King.

[l 3] with Pilgrimm foote: 'pilgrim': the normal sense today is: A person who makes a journey (usually of a long distance) to a sacred place; a person who makes a journey to visit a place of particular significance or interest, esp. as an act of homage, respect. The word derives from 'peregrinus': peregrīnus, a, um: adj. (peregre from per and ager), of foreign lands; foreign.

[l 3] upp tyring hils she trodd: Mary made a journey from Nazareth to a village in the hill country of Judah, Ain Karim, some 90 miles distant, hence the 'tiring hills'.  'Ain Karim' means 'Spring of the Vineyard', an interesting name for the birthplace of John the Baptist who was to baptise Christ in the waters of the Jordan. There are many texts linking Christ to the 'vine': see, for instance:[5] I am the vine: you the branches: he that abideth in me, and I in him, the same beareth much fruit: for without me you can do nothing.[John XV]

[l 4] And heavenly stile: heavenly style: this line makes reference to the heavenly and the earthly. The angel from Heaven speaks of miraculous, Heavenly things:

[31] Behold thou shalt conceive in thy womb, and shalt bring forth a son; and thou shalt call his name Jesus. [32] He shall be great, and shall be called the Son of the most High; and the Lord God shall give unto him the throne of David his father; and he shall reign in the house of Jacob for ever. [33] And of his kingdom there shall be no end. [34] And Mary said to the angel: How shall this be done, because I know not man? [35] And the angel answering, said to her: The Holy Ghost shall come upon thee, and the power of the most High shall overshadow thee. And therefore also the Holy which shall be born of thee shall be called the Son of God.

[36] And behold thy cousin Elizabeth, she also hath conceived a son in her old age; and this is the sixth month with her that is called barren: [37] Because no word shall be impossible with God. [Luke i. 31-37]

The Blessed Virgin Mary, here in her earthly home in Nazareth, replies: Behold the handmaid of the Lord; be it done to me according to thy word. Pondering the Heavenly words in her heart, but mindful of earthly, practical concerns for her elderly kinswoman, Elizabeth, Mary journeys 'with haste' to offer help. She bends her heart to God, but to her neighbour (Elizabeth), she will lend a helping hand [l 6]. This last line is a wonderful example by Mary of Jesus' answer to the scribe who asked which was the 'first commandment of all':

[29] And Jesus answered him: The first commandment of all is, Hear, O Israel: the Lord thy God is one God. [30] And thou shalt love the Lord thy God, with thy whole heart, and with thy whole soul, and with thy whole mind, and with thy whole strength. This is the first commandment. [31] And the second is like to it: Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself. There is no other commandment greater than these. [Matt. xxii. 37]

[l 5] sicke: either a sickness or a person suffering (in this case, Elizabeth). Cf 1526   Bible (Tyndale) Matt. ix. f. xj   Then sayd he vnto the sicke of the palsey.

[l 7] prince: Mary. 'Prince' can be applied to a female sovereign in Elizabethan usage. See eg, 1581   W. Stafford Compend. Exam. Complaints (1876) i. 29   Yea, the Prince,..as she hath most of yearely Reuenewes,..so should shee haue most losse by this dearth. 

[l 7] mightier prince doth beare: recalling the prophecy of Isaias:

[6] For a CHILD IS BORN to us, and a son is given to us, and the government is upon his shoulder: and his name shall be called, Wonderful, Counsellor, God the Mighty, the Father of the world to come, the Prince of Peace.

Parvulus enim natus est nobis, et filius datus est nobis, et factus est principatus super humerum ejus : et vocabitur nomen ejus, Admirabilis, Consiliarius, Deus, Fortis, Pater futuri saeculi, Princeps pacis. [Is. ix. 6]

[l 8] trayne - train: a long line or procession (of courtiers, attendants etc.)

[l 9] heavenly quires: heavenly choirs of angels.

[l 9-10] : recalling the Psalmist's words:

[11] For he hath given his angels charge over thee; to keep thee in all thy ways.

Quoniam angelis suis mandavit de te, ut custodiant te in omnibus viis tuis.

[12] In their hands they shall bear thee up: lest thou dash thy foot against a stone.

In manibus portabunt te, ne forte offendas ad lapidem pedem tuum.[Ps xc]

 [l 11-12] Word, voyce, songe, tune, dittye: these two lines are rich in imagery and meaning. There is clearly at one level a reference to Mary singing the Magnificat, the 'Canticle of Mary'. She voices her ideas through words that she sets to a tune which becomes her song, the Magnificat. 

There is another possible reference:
'Word to the voyce...she bringes': Mary bears within her womb Jesus, the 'Word made flesh', and she has brought him to John who is in the womb of his mother Elizabeth and who will later say that he is the 'voice of one crying in the wilderness'.
dittye: The words of a song, as distinguished from the music or tune. See eg, 1561   Iniunctions Bishop of Norwich sig. B.iii   'That the songe in the Churche be..so deuised and vsed that the ditte may plainly be vnderstand.' OED. 

[l 13] breste: her womb; but note associated meanings as in: fig. and transf. The seat of the affections and emotions; the repository of consciousness, designs, and secrets; the heart; OED.

[l 14-15] eternall lightes...percing beames of burning love: Jesus is the 'light of the world', enabling us to see the truth and the way to Heaven:

[12] Again therefore, Jesus spoke to them, saying: I am the light of the world: 
he that followeth me, walketh not in darkness, but shall have the light of life. [John  8, 12].

But the Divine fire that provides this light also enflames hearts. After the resurrection, two disciples met up with a stranger on their way to Emaus. And beginning at Moses and all the prophets, he expounded to them in all the scriptures, the things that were concerning him. They did not recognise him as Jesus until the breaking of bread in the evening, when their eyes were suddenly opened.

[32] And they said one to the other: Was not our heart burning within us, whilst he spoke in this way, and opened to us the scriptures? [Luke 24]

ll17-18] With secret signes... : Luke recounts the words uttered by Elizabeth and Mary. 'secret signes' can mean here a sign that is not outwardly visible, as in the coming of the Holy Ghost upon Elizabeth and her baby's dancing for joy in the womb.

And Elizabeth was filled with the Holy Ghost: [42] And she cried out with a loud voice, and said: Blessed art thou among women, and blessed is the fruit of thy womb. [43] And whence is this to me, that the mother of my Lord should come to me? [44] For behold as soon as the voice of thy salutation sounded in my ears, the infant in my womb leaped for joy.[Luke 1]

The angel who visited Zachary in the temple to prophesy the birth of John included the following words: 

he shall be filled with the Holy Ghost, even from his mother's womb.[Luke 1, 15]

John was not free from original sin at the moment of his conception but was freed from sin while he was still in his mother's womb, when the little Lamb of God arrived, Himself also in a mother's womb. This is almost like a baptism by his cousin Christ.

There may also be a reference to the 'secret signs' necessary in Elizabethan England for people to avoid falling foul of the oppressive, anti-Catholic laws. In this scene, two cousins greet each other by 'secret signes'.  Did two other cousins, Fr Southwell and Shakespeare, use such signs?

Totus tuus ego sum

Et omnia mea tua sunt;

Tecum semper tutus sum:

Ad Jesum per Mariam.