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The Annunciation, early 1460s; by Willem Vrelant.The Getty Museum, L.A. |
It is referred to in the French work by Fr François Poiré called The Triple Crown of the Holy Mother of God (1630) which I translated on this blog starting on the 1st of May 2024.
I offer this annotated edition of St Bonaventure’s work as a small gift to our gentle Queen and Mother in gratitude for all her graces and favours, requesting her continued help and protection for the author and his family.
The Latin text and references are based upon Speculum Beatae Mariae Virginis (1904). The English text is based upon that attributed to Sr Mary Emmanuel O.S.B. (published by Herder in 1932). Amazon's various editions ackowledge that this text is in the Public Domain worldwide, attributing it to the text of a Dublin edition (author unknown) published in 1849.
Chapter 7 : The Nine Plenitudes of Mary
In which she surpasses the nine plenitudes of the Angelic orders in glory.
Part 4
Seventhly, let us consider how Mary is full of the redolence[1] of fair fame, for as a field is full of the scents of various flowers, so is Mary full of the fragrant breaths of her renown. Of her fullness we may understand what is written in Genesis[2]:
“Behold the smell of my son is as the smell of a plentiful field, which the Lord hath blessed.”
This field is Mary, in whom the treasure of the angels, yea verily the whole treasure of God the Father, is hidden. Happy is he who “selleth all that he hath, and buyeth that field.”[3] The full fragrance of this full field is the full sweet-scented fame of Mary, filled with her honour. Of this St. Jerome saith[4]:
“Because she was filled with multitudinous odours of the virtues, there came forth from her a most sweet odour, rejoicing the Angelic spirits.”
Of this fragrance she herself, glorying, could use the words of Ecclesiasticus[6]:
“I gave a sweet smell like cinnamon and aromatical balm. I yielded a sweet odour like the best myrrh.”
This sweet smell in Mary was like cinnamon externally, in her conversation; like aromatical balm interiorly, by the unction of her devotion; and like myrrh in the bitterness of her suffering. It was also like cinnamon in her deeds, balm in her contemplation and like myrrh in her sufferings. O truly rich, and exceedingly rich was this field for, besides other aromas, she was so full of the fragrant balm of the Holy Spirit that St. Bernard, speaking of the words[6], “The Holy Ghost shall come upon thee,” says:
“That precious balm flowed in on thee with such copiousness and plenitude that it overfloweth most abundantly on all around thee.”
Well, therefore, could God the Father say: “Behold the smell of my Son is as the smell of a plentiful field,” as though He said: “Behold the honour and renown filling my Son is from the honour and renown with which His mother is filled.” St. Jerome saith[7]:
“The maternal honour is His who was born from her.”
Footnotes
[1] The Latin text uses the noun respersio : “sprinkling.”
[2] Gen. xxvii. 27.
[3] Matt. xiii. 44.
[4] Epist. cit. n. 8.
[5] Eccli. xxiv. 20.
[6] Luc. i. 35.
[7] Epist. cit. n. 8.
Eighthly, let us consider how Mary was full of the result or representation or the expression of the divine glory, as it is written[1]:
“Full of the glory of the Lord is his work.”
Through antonomasia[2], the wondrous work of the Lord may be said to be Mary, who is quite beyond compare. Whence it is said[3]:
“There was no such work made in any kingdom.”
None indeed in the kingdom of Heaven, none in the kingdom of earth, nor in that of hell; for there never was such a work in Heaven, on earth, or in the nether regions. For this work is full of the glory of the Lord, because this glory shines most fully in Mary, more than in any pure creature. For after the humanity assumed by the Word, there is no nature and no creature in whom the divine glory shines forth with such splendour as in Mary. For the Lord has glory through Mary because of the restoration brought about in Heaven, glory through the Redemption accomplished in the world, glory from the deliverance wrought for sinners – and all this glory He has in the fullness of grace in Mary. Therefore, well does St. Anselm say[4]:
“But why, dear Lady, do I say only the world is full of thy benefits? They have penetrated the infernal regions and reached the Heavens; for thanks to the plenitude of thy grace those repentant sinners detained in the nether regions rejoice in their deliverance, and those souls on high over the world have joy in their restoration.”
Therefore, full of the glory of the Lord is His work, Mary, because, as it is said in Isaias[5], “all the earth is full of his glory.” Full indeed is all the earth, and full is Mary of the divine glory which shines in her most fully. Rightly is she said to be full of all the afore-mentioned graces, who is most pleasing to all who are not ungrateful. St. Bernard shows this when, speaking of the words Ave gratia plena, he says[6]:
“Well is she full of grace because she is pleasing to God, to the Angels and to men: to men by her fecundity, to the Angels by her virginity, to God by her humility.”
Footnotes
[1] Ecclesiasticus xlii. 16.
[2] The substitution of an epithet or title for a proper name. Also: the substituted epithet itself.
[3] 3 Kings (1 Kings) x. 20.
[4] Orat. 52. (alias 51.) ante med.
[5] Is. vi. 3.
[6] Homil. 3. super Missus est, n. 3.
Ninthly, consider how Mary is full with the joy of eternal happiness. Who is ignorant that she was not excluded from those to whom her Son said[1]: “Ask, and you shall receive, that your joy may be full”? Accordingly, if the joy of the Apostles and of all those who are reigning with God is full, how much more is the joy of the Mother of God full and complete? Of this plenitude St. Jerome says[2]:
“Full indeed of grace, full of God and full of virtues, she could not but possess most fully the glory of eternal splendour.”
What wonder, if she who had full and overflowing grace in exile has full and overflowing joy and glory in the Kingdom? Surely what wonder is there if both in heaven and in the world there is in Mary a fullness above every creature, from whose fullness every creature is renewed? St Anselm says of this[3]:
“O woman full of grace to overflowing! Thou dost sprinkle and revivify every creature from thine overflowing superabundance.”
Thus you see in Mary the illuminative fullness of wisdom, the overflowing fullness of grace, the fecund fullness of life, the tender fullness of mercy, the fruitful fullness of pious offspring, the perfect fullness of the Church, the quenching and satisfying fullness of good fame, the expressive fullness of divine glory, and the unlimited fullness of eternal joy.
We therefore pray to thee, O Virgin most full of grace, that we who are so empty and so wanting may with thy help become partakers of thy plenitudes and in the end attain through thee that fullness which is eternal. Through Our Lord Jesus Christ, thy Son. Amen.
Footnotes
[1] Ioan. xvi. 24.
[2] Epist. cit. n. 15.
[3] Oratio 52. (alias 51.) ante med.
[End of Chapter 7]
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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.
The Virgin of Tenderness. >12th century.
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.
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