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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 3
Fifthly, let us consider that Mary is full of the fecundity of the divine offspring. Of this plenitude we may understand what was spoken by Isaias[1]:
“I saw the Lord sitting upon a throne, high and elevated, and the house was full of His majesty.”
That house on the throne of which God sits is the Blessed Virgin, on the throne of whose mind the Lord rested. O truly most blessed and most stable throne, as it is said in the third Book of Kings[2]: “Thy most firm throne for ever.” This most high throne is in the intellect, raised up in the affections. It is also most high above men and raised up above the Angels. It is raised up in grace and elevated in glory. The Lord was seated therefore von this throne of Mary, on the throne of her mind; and the house of her body was full of the majesty of the Incarnate Word. Of this ineffable fullness St. Ambrose says[3]:
“Well is she alone said to be full of grace, who alone obtained the grace which none other ever had, of being filled with the author of grace.”
O truly happy house, full of such joyful fecundity! For St. Bernard saith[4]:
“Well may she be said to be full of grace who both kept the grace of virginity and acquired the glory of fecundity.”
The Lord, therefore, sat on the throne of the mind of Mary by grace, and filled the house of her body with His majesty through His assumed nature. Therefore, it is written[5]:
“The glory of the Lord had filled the house of the Lord. Then Solomon said: ‘The Lord hath said that He would dwell in the cloud.’”
Mary, therefore, as the house of the Lord, was filled with the glory of Divine Majesty by the cloud of the humanity assumed by God – that cloud of which we read in Ecclesiasticus[6]: “A present remedy of all is the speedy coming of a cloud;” and again[7]:
“He shone in his days as the morning star in the midst of a cloud,”
for like the star in a cloud is the Word assumed in the flesh.
Footnotes
[1] Isai. vi. 1. Cf. I saw the Lord sitting upon a throne high and elevated: and his train filled the temple. (Douay-Rheims).
[2] 3 Kings (1 Kings) viii. 13.
[3] II. in Luc. c. 1. n. 9.
[4] Homil. 3. super Missm est, n. 3.
[5] 3 Kings (1 Kings) viii. 11.
[6] Ecclesiasticus (Sirach) xliii. 24.
[7] Ecclesiasticus (Sirach) l. 6.
Sixthly, let us consider in what way Mary was full of the perfection of the universal Church. The Church has had marvellous perfections and graces in her various saints, in whose plenitude it would seem that Mary abode, so that she might truly echo what is said in Ecclesiasticus[1]:
“My abode is in the full assembly of saints.”
Truly was the abode of Mary in the full assembly of the saints, while in her own wonderful perfection the fullness of the perfection of the saints was not wanting to her, as St. Bernard says:
“Rightly in the fullness of the saints was her abode, for she was not wanting in the faith of the patriarchs, the spirit of the prophets, the zeal of the Apostles, the constancy of the martyrs, the sobriety of the confessors, the chastity of the virgins, the fecundity of the married, yea, nor the purity of the Angels.”
For it is written in the book of Ecclesiasticus[2]:
“She . . . shall be admired in the holy assembly.”
On account of this, the abode of Mary is in the fullness of the Saints not in the fullness of the impious, because Mary remains willingly with those who are full of sanctity, not with those who are full of iniquity. She too not only abides in the fullness of the saints, but she also retains the saints in fullness, lest their fullness be diminished. In truth, she takes hold of virtues lest they fly, she takes hold of merits lest they perish, she takes hold of demons lest they do harm and she takes hold of her Son lest He strike sinners. Before Mary, there never was one who could dare to take hold of the Lord in this way, as Isaias bears witness, saying[3]:
“There is none that calleth upon thy name, that riseth up and taketh hold of thee.”
Footnotes
[1] Ecclesiasticus (Sirach) xxiv. 16.
[2] Ecclesiasticus (Sirach) xxiv. 3.
[3] Isai. lxiv. 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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