The Mirror of the Blessed Virgin Mary : Chapter 14 : Blessed art thou among women (Pt 6)

The Annunciation, early 1460s; by

Willem Vrelant.The Getty Museum, L.A.

The following posts contain the text of a work by St Bonaventure (1221-1274) known as Speculum Beatæ Mariæ Virginis : The Mirror of the Blessed Virgin. 

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 14 : Blessed art thou among women

Part 6

Again, Mary is blessed not only because of the most excellent glory of her dignity, but also because of the most abundant immensity of her glory; its fullness is such that it is poured out for all men. She is therefore rightly blessed by all men, as is written in the Book of Judith[1] : 

“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.’” 

They all blessed her, unconditionally. Note the use of the word all, for this has a universal signification here, involving three categories. The three categories who bless Mary are God, the Angels and man. God indeed blessed Mary : the Father blessed Mary; the Son blessed her and the Holy Ghost blessed her; all three Persons blessed her. The Angels also blessed Mary; the first order in the hierarchy blessed her, as did the second and also the third; and so all the Angels blessed her. Man too has blessed Mary: the married have blessed her; widows have blessed her and virgins have blessed her – all have blessed her. They have blessed her, saying: Thou art the glory of Jerusalem triumphant; the glory, let it be said, of all the Saints; thou art the joy of Israel, contemplating God; thou art the joy, let it be said, of all the Angels; thou art the honour of our people who are still pilgrims – that is, thou art the honour of all the just who are in this world. 

Blessed, therefore, be thy most beloved Son, O Mary, who through thy most abundant blessings doth bestow such good things in Heaven and on earth, so much so that the Angels as well as men can join with Anselm and praise thee, declaring[2]: 

“Such great gifts as these came through the blessed Fruit of the blessed womb of the blessed Mary.”

 

Footnotes

[1] Judith xv. 10.

[2] Orat. 52. (alias 51.) ante medium.

Again, Mary is blessed not only because of her glory most sublime in dignity, not only because of her glory most abundant in immensity, but also because of her glory most enduring in stability. This is signified by the house which is spoken of in the First Book of Paralipomenon[1]: 

“For seeing thou blessest it, O Lord, it shall be blessed for ever.” 

Truly for ever, as it says in the Psalm[2]: 

“Therefore hath God blessed thee forever.” 

Thus, therefore, O most sweet Virgin Mary, truly blessed art thou among women and above women; yea also above men, and even above the Angels. Blessed, I say, because of the fullness of grace which thou hast found; blessed, because of the majesty of the Person whom thou hast brought forth; blessed, because of the multitude of the acts of kindness which thou hast shown; and blessed, because of the greatness of the glory which thou hast received.

We invoke thee, we implore thee,  and we pray to thee with St. Bernard[3]: 

“Grant, O blessed one, by the grace which thou hast found, by the prerogatives which thou hast merited, by the mercy which thou hast brought forth, that He who through thee deigned to become a partaker of our weakness and misery, may by thy intercession make us sharers in His heavenly beatitude and glory. Amen.”

Footnotes

[1] 1 Paralipomenon (1 Chronicles) xvii. 27.

[2] Psalm. xliv. 3.

[3] Serm. 2. de Adyentu Dom. n. 5.

[End of Chapter 14]

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The Virgin of Tenderness. >12th century.

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. 

 

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.