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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 11 : Mary for her own sake and for ours is most fittingly compared to the light of dawn
Part 2
Secondly, note that Mary is, as it were, a happy dawn because of her happy progress in the light of grace, according to that word[1]:
“Who is she that cometh forth as the morning rising, fair as the moon, bright as the sun, etc ?”
For as the light of the dawn progresses by gradually growing in brightness, so Mary advanced in the splendour of grace and of a good life. She made progress indeed by advancing in all virtues universally, so that in all the glory of the virtues she was in herself as the morning rising, fair as the moon to her neighbours and bright as the sun towards God. She made progress also by advancing in the virtues in a special way, of which St. Bernard speaks thus[2]:
“Mary’s fervent charity glowed brightly in her seeking grace, her virginity was resplendent in her body, and her humility shone in her service of others.”
By the lustre of these virtues Mary was as the morning rising in her refulgent virginity, fair as the moon in her resplendent humility and bright as the sun in her radiant charity. Happy are they who cultivate these three splendours, these three virtues of Mary by which she conceived the Lord and Master of all virtues, as St. Bernard again testifies, saying[3]:
“She who was already full of grace found this grace so that with fervent charity, perfect virginity and devout humility, she might become pregnant knowing not man, and might bring forth a child without a woman’s labour pains.”
Footnotes
[1] Cant. vi. 9.
[2] Serm. in Nativ. B. M. V. n. 9.
[3] Loc. cit. n. 12.
Thirdly, note that Mary is a happy dawn, because of the happy rising of the Sun of justice. For the Sun of justice was Christ Our Lord who, by means of Mary His dawn, rose upon this world. His rising was unaccompanied by any cloud of sin; wherefore this dawn was exceedingly resplendent in the rising of her Sun, according to that word[1]:
“As the light of the morning when the sun riseth, shineth in the morning without clouds.”
This light of the morning is the grace and holiness of Mary with which the Sun of justice, who was about to come forth from her, deigned to irradiate her. Of this St. Bernard well saith[2]:
“Rightly, O Mary, hast thou fulfilled the office of the dawn; for the Sun of justice, who was Himself about to emerge from thee, sent ahead of His own birth a certain morning splendour and copiously suffused thee with the rays of His own light.”
The light of this dawn shone forth wondrously when the Sun rose without clouds, that is, when Christ was born without any of the darkness of original sin. Behold, here it is said that the sun rose without clouds, and in Exodus[3] we read that the bush was on fire without being burned; and in Daniel[4], that a stone was cut out of a mountain without hands. What, therefore, is signified by the sun, by the fire and by the stone, if not Christ? For He Himself is the Sun enlightening the intellect, the fire enkindling the affections and the stone strengthening us against failings.
Footnotes
[1] 2 Kings (2 Samuel) xxiii. 4.
[2] Potius Egbert., Serm. paneg. ad B. M. V. loc. cit. n. 4.
[3] Exod. iii. 2.
[4] Dan. ii. 34.
I say that Jesus Christ is the sun illuminating the intellect, according to Malachias[1]:
“But unto you that fear my name, the Sun of justice shall arise.”
See, therefore, if thou fearest the Lord, for it is written[2]: “he that feareth God, neglecteth nothing.” Again Christ is the fire enkindling the affections, as the Apostle says to the Hebrews[3]: “Our God is a consuming fire.” This fire was not only in the bush of the virginal womb, but is also in the bush of the devout heart. They felt this fire who said[4]: “Was not our heart burning within us?” etc. Again, Christ is the stone strengthening us against failings, if only we are well-founded upon Him. Note how it is said in St. Matthew[5]:
“The rain fell, and the floods came, and the winds blew, and they beat upon that house, and it fell not, for it was founded on a rock.”
Behold, neither the rain of heretical eloquence, nor the floods of worldly concupiscence, nor the winds of human violence, could injure the house of a mind founded upon the rock of Christ. What does it mean, therefore, that the sun rises without a cloud, the bush is on fire without being consumed and the stone is cut without hands, unless it be that Christ – who is the Sun of truth, the fire of charity, the stone of firmness or of eternity – is conceived and born without the cloud of original sin, without the fire of carnal concupiscence, without the agency of the marital embrace? For in the conception of Christ you will find neither sin in the offspring, nor concupiscence in the Mother, nor the embrace of a father. That this Virgin, knowing not man, conceived so miraculously could come to pass only since God effected it; and He sent beforehand so many wonderful things prefiguring this miracle, as St. Augustine testifies, saying[6]:
“He who wrote on the tablets of stone without an iron stylus, made Mary with child of the Holy Ghost; He who produced bread in the desert without ploughing, impregnated the virgin without corruption; and He who made the rod to bud without rain, made the daughter of David bring forth without seed.”
Footnotes
[1] Mal. iv. 2.
[2] Ecclesiastes vii. 19.
[3] Hebr. Xii. 29. Cf, Deut. iv. 24.
[4] Luc. xxiv. 32.
[5] Matt. vii. 25.
[6] Serm. 195. append. (alias 18.) n. 6.
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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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