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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 acknowledge that this text is in the Public Domain worldwide, attributing it to the text of a Dublin edition (author unknown) published in 1849.
Chapter 16 : Blessed is the fruit of thy womb
Who and what was the fruit of the womb of blessed Mary.
Part 3
Again, this fruit is not only delightful in fragrance, even more delightful in beauty, but it is also most delightful in savour. This was experienced by that holy soul who says[1]:
“I sat under the shadow of Him whom I desired, and His fruit was sweet to my palate.”
What wonder if this Fruit is so sweet, which is also so high? For St. Bernard says:
“The higher the fruit, the sweeter it is.”
Therefore, thou alone art most sweet, because thou alone art Most High; but how can that fruit be most high, whose tree is so small? Without doubt this tree, which is Mary, is at the same time most high but also very small. She is most high in dignity and most lowly in her humility; most high in the eyes of the Lord and most lowly in her own; although she is lowly in this way, her fruit is nevertheless exceedingly sweet. Therefore, it is written in Ecclesiasticus[2]:
“The bee is small among flying things, but her fruit hath the chiefest sweetness.”
The fruit of Mary is thus most delightful in fragrance, in appearance, and in savour; therefore is it truly blessed, as St. Bernard testifies, saying[3]:
“Blessed is the fruit of thy womb: blessed in fragrance, blessed in savour and blessed in beauty.”
Footnotes
[1] Cant. ii. 3.
[2] Ecclesiasticus xi. 3.
[3] Homil. 3. super Missus est n. 6.
Thirdly, let us consider how the fruit of the virginal womb is most powerful. It has great power for the salvation of the lost, for the multiplication of those who are to be saved, and for the preservation of a great number. I am saying that this blessed fruit is powerful to save, or powerful unto salvation, and for this reason it is called the Fruit of salvation. In Ecclesiasticus it is written[1]:
“The fear of the Lord is the crown of wisdom, filling with peace and the fruit of salvation.”
Why does he say the peace and the fruit? The fruit of our salvation and our peace is He who hath made both one[2], Jesus Christ. And certainly, the fear of the Lord hath filled this fruit and this peace, as Isaias says[3]:
“And he shall be filled with the spirit of the fear of the Lord.”
Well is He called the Fruit of salvation, without whom we have no salvation, as it is written[4]:
“There is no salvation in any other.”
And St. Anselm says[5]:
“There is no salvation except Him whom thou, O Virgin, hast brought forth.”
Thou, O Mary, art truly the tree of salvation, for thou hast borne for the world the Fruit of salvation! As St. Bernard says[6]:
“O truly celestial plant, more precious than all and more holy than all! True tree of life, alone worthy to bear the fruit of salvation!”
But, alas, there are many who make this life-giving fruit one of death; they turn this sweet fruit into an eternal wormwood for themselves, as it is said in Amos[7]:
“Ye have turned judgment into bitterness, and the fruit of justice into wormwood.”