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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 14 : Blessed art thou among women
Part 2
Again, Mary is blessed not only because of the grace in gifts of her heart and of her lips, but also because of her manner of life. Of this blessedness can be understood the words in Jeremias[1]:
“The Lord bless thee, the beauty of justice, the holy mountain.”
The holy mountain is Mary, who is fitly called a mountain because of the excellence of her meritorious qualities and the loftiness of her life and manners. This is the mountain of which we read in Daniel[2]:
“The stone was cut out of the mountain without hands.”
This was when Christ was born of Mary without marital congress. The beauty of this mountain is the beauty of justice. So great was the beauty of the life and manners of Mary that it could justly be said of her, as in the Canticle[3]:
“Thou art all fair, O my beloved.”
She was fair indeed, fair in her life and fair in the discipline of her manners, so as to be all fair and beautiful in all things. How in all things? Hearken to the words of St. Jerome[4]:
“Whatever was in Mary, was all purity and simplicity, all grace and truth, all mercy and justice, which hath looked down from Heaven[5].”
Rightly did the Lord bless such beauty in Mary. Alas, how far from this blessing of Mary are they of whom it may be said, not what was said to Mary – “The Lord bless thee, the beauty of justice,” – but, “The Lord curse thee, the vileness of injustice!” Oh, what a malediction that will be for those who hear the words[6]:
“Depart from Me, ye cursed, into everlasting fire!”
We can see, O most dear Mary, that thou art truly blessed because of thy fullness of grace; blessed, I am saying, because of the grace of thy conscience and of thy gifts; blessed, because of the grace of thy tongue and of thy lips; and blessed, because of the grace of thy life and thy manners.
Footnotes
[1] Jerem. xxxi. 23.
[2] Dan. ii. 45.
[3] Cant. iv. 7.
[4] Epist. saepe cit. n. 9.
[5] Psalm. lxxxiv. 12.
[6] Matt. xxv. 41.
Secondly, consider how truly Mary is blessed because of the majesty of her heavenly Child who is the blessed fruit of her womb. Rightly is that land blessed which produces so blessed a fruit, whence the Psalmist says[1]: “Lord, thou hast blessed thy land.” That land is Mary, of whom it is said in the same Psalm[2]: “Truth is sprung out of the earth.” The Truth is Christ, who said[3]:
“I am the Way, and the Truth, and the Life.”
Blessed, therefore, is this earth, because of its blessed fruit; blessed is Mary, because of her blessed Son. Accordingly, St. Bernard says[4]:
“Not because thou art blessed is the fruit of thy womb blessed; but because He hath prevented thee with blessings of sweetness[5], therefore art thou blessed.”
Mary is blessed because of her Divine Child; blessed, I am saying, by the Lord, by the Angel, and by man. She is indeed blessed by the Lord on account of her Child who is Himself her blessing; blessed by the Angel, who announces her blessing; and blessed by man, who prophesies her blessing.
Truly is Mary blessed by the Lord on account of her Child through the giving of Himself and His blessing. This is well signified in the second Book of Kings, where we read[6]:
“And the ark of the Lord abode in the house of Obededom . . . and the Lord blessed Obededom.”
Obededom may be interpreted as meaning “Servant of blood.” Well doth he foreshadow Christ who, having become our servant, serves us miserable sinners even unto the shedding of His own blood. He became our servant, and shed His blood for us: the blood of His back when He was scourged, the blood of His head because of the crown of thorns, the blood from His side when opened by a spear, and the blood of His hands and feet pierced by the nails. The house of this servant is Mary, of whom it is said in the Psalm[7]:
“We shall be filled with the good things of thy house.”
The ark placed in that house also represents Christ, for Christ is our servant and our life. In the ark was a golden pot and manna[8]. The holy ark is the most sacred flesh of Christ; the golden pot is the most precious soul of Christ; and the manna truly signifies the divinity of Christ. Because of this ark, because of Jesus Christ the Son of Mary, the Lord blessed the house of Mary. O truly blessed house, from whence the life of all hath come forth! St. Augustine says[9]:
“Blessed art thou among women, who hast brought forth life to men and women.”
Footnotes
[1] Psalm. lxxxiv. 2.
[2] Psalm. lxxxiv. 12.
[3] Ioan. xiv. 6.
[4] Homil. 3. super Missus est n. 5.
[5] Psalm. xx. 4.
[6] 2 Kings (2 Samuel)vi.11.
[7] Psalm. lxiv. v.
[8] Hebr. ix. 4.
[9] Serm. 120. append. (alias 21. de Temp.) n. 4.
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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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