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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 12 : Mary as the stem which buds and flowers
Part 3
Thirdly, consider in Mary the flower of her miraculous fecundity. This flower is the Son of the Virgin, of whom it is said[1]:
“There shall come forth a rod out of the root of Jesse, and a flower shall rise up out of his root.”
Oh, how beautifully this flower came forth, being born without sin, and how sadly was it crushed by dying like a sinner, as it is written[2]: “Who cometh forth like a flower, and is destroyed.” Oh, how white in His going forth, and how ruddy in His bruising was this flower! A flower, I say, delightful to the Angels and most useful to men for life. St. Bernard saith[3]:
“The flower is the Son of the Virgin, white and ruddy, chosen out of thousands, a flower on whom the angels desire to look[4], a flower by whose perfume mortals live again.”
Happy is the wood that produced the rod of this flower! More happy still is the rod that produced this flower in the wood! Happy above all is the flower, without which neither rod nor wood can be happy! Truly a most happy flower, on whom the Spirit of the Lord so rested[5] that without Him no one could have the grace of the Holy Spirit. St. Jerome testifies to this, saying[6]:
“The Holy Ghost, who in the vast wood of the human race had found no rest, at last rested upon this flower, so that without Christ no one could have wisdom, understanding, counsel, fortitude, or knowledge, piety, or fear of the Lord.”
This flower has as many petals as there are ministries and examples in Christ. If thou desirest to have this flower, thou must bend the flower’s stem down to thee. If the flower is exceedingly high by virtue of its divinity, the stem is flexible by its love. If the flower is most rare, because neither in Heaven nor on earth is there found another one, it is nevertheless most accessible, like a flower not enclosed in a garden but in a field open to all passers-by. Therefore, well could Christ say[7]: “I am the flower of the field.” He can be called a flower of the field, not only because openly exposed to the view of all, but also being produced without human culture. This St. Bernard had this in mind when he said[8]:
“The field in nature blooms without any human intervention, it is not sown by anyone, nor dug with a hoe, nor fattened with dung. Thus indeed, thus did the Virgin’s womb bloom; thus did Mary’s chastity, unviolated and intact, bring forth the flower of eternal verdure, whose beauty sees no corruption and whose glory never fades.”
Footnotes
[1] Isai. xi. 1.
[2] Job xiv. 2.
[3] Serm. 2. de Adventu Dom. u. 4.
[4] 1 Petr. i. 12.
[5] Isai. xi. 2.
[6] IV. in Isai. cap. 11.
[7] Cant. ii. 1.
[8] Serm. 2. de Adventu Dom. n. 4.
Fourthly, let us consider the flower of glorious immortality, of which it is said in Numbers[1] that the rod of Aaron bore at the same time both flowers and fruit. The rod of Aaron may rightly be seen as prefiguring the Virgin Mary. In the straightness of the rod is prefigured the moral goodness of Mary; in the flower, the beauty of her glorified body; and in the fruit, the beatitude of her soul are truly signified. It is to be noted that in the youth of a man we see the flowering of the body and flesh, but as is written[2]:
“In the morning he shall flourish and pass away.”
The flower perishes in death, as it says in Isaias[3]:
“The grass is withered, and the flower is fallen.”
It will flower again in a glorious resurrection, according to the Psalmist[4]:
“My flesh hath flowered again.”
This flower of the glorification of the body has as many petals as the glorified body has gifts and rewards. Indeed, what the holy Doctors seem to hold as probable and strive with some show of reason to prove, and what the pious sense of the faithful accepts, is that the Blessed Virgin Mary was taken up body and soul into Heaven, and that her body and soul are now in glory. Concerning this, St. Augustine says[5]:
“Therefore we worthily believe that Mary, both in body and soul, rejoices with ineffable joy in her own Son, with her own Son and through her own Son; and that no distress of corruption followed her, since in giving birth to the Son she suffered no corruption of her integrity.”
This explains why Mary can now say: “My flesh hath flowered again.” According to this, she has at the same time both flower and fruit: the flower, I am saying, of her glorified body and the fruit of her beatific spirit; a flower indeed in the beauty of her glorious body, and fruit in the delectable blessedness of her soul.
Footnotes
[1] Num. xvii. 8.
[2] Psalm. lxxxix. 6.
[3] Isai. xl. 8.
[4] Psalm. xxvii. 7.
[5] Auctor lib. de Assumt. B. M. V. (inter opera August.) c. 8.
We must note in relation to the aforesaid idea of a fourfold flower that the Blessed Virgin Mary had both a fourfold flower and fruit at the same time: for she had at the same time the flower of virginity and the fruit of maternal fecundity; the flower of good repute and the flower of humility. She had at the same time in her Child the flower of humanity and the fruit of divinity; she had at the same time the flower of immortality in the body and the fruit of blessed delight in the soul. Let us, therefore, love these flowers on the virginal rod, and gather these new flowers of joy from the virginal garden. St. Bernard saw, gathered and commended these to us when, speaking to Mary, he said[1]:
“Thy most holy womb, O Mary, is to us a garden of delights, because from it we gather flowers of countless joys whenever we reflect on how great and sweet a fragrance flowed thence over the entire world.”
Therefore, most sweet Virgin Mary, behold truly the Lord is with thee, as the flower is with the rod which produced it. Prithee grant that the Lord may also be with me, yea with all of us, and do thou share with us this flower, the Lord Jesus Christ. Amen.