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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 15 : How Mary is blessed with the seven virtues against the seven capital vices
Part 3
Fourthly, let us hear how Mary is blessed by her diligence against sloth; for the slothful are accursed, because they do not do the work of God diligently and faithfully. Jeremias says[1]:
“Cursed be he who doth the work of God negligently.”
Against the curse of torpor, Mary enjoyed the blessing of rigour in her discipline. She may be prefigured by that Jahel who killed Sisara with a nail, of whom in the Book of Judges it is written[2]:
“Blessed among women is Jahel.”
Jahel may be interpreted as “ascending”[3] which befits Mary who did not sink downwards like the slothful, but always ascended diligently from virtue to virtue, from a lower to a higher grade, according to the words of the Canticle[4]:
“Who is she that goeth up by the desert, as a pillar of smoke of aromatical spices, of myrrh, and frankincense, and of all the powders of the perfumer?”
What has this blessed Jahel done? She killed Sisara with a nail. Sisara may be interpreted as meaning “exclusion from joy,” and well does this signify the devil because he himself, being excluded from eternal joy, strives to entice others into exclusion. Alas, he excluded all of us by means of the first mother of the human race, but the curse of this exclusion was lifted by the blessed Mother of our Saviour. Well, therefore, does the Venerable Bede say[5]:
“Blessed art thou among women, for through thy virginal bringing forth the curse of the first mother was lifted from those born of women.”
But what is signified by the nail which pierced the head of Sisara? What is this nail but the rigour of discipline? What is the rigour of discipline to the slothful but a sort of nail through the eyes? The rigour of discipline is a nail wounding the devil most painfully and impaling him most effectively. The blessed Jahel, therefore, pierced the head of Sisara with that death-dealing nail, prefiguring how the blessed Mary extinguished in herself the strength of Satan by the rigour of discipline. Blessed, therefore, is Jahel among women, and blessed art thou among women, O Mary. Among which women? Listen to the venerable Bede, who says[6]:
“Not only art thou blessed among women, but even among women who are blessed thou art eminent by a greater blessing.”
Footnotes
[1] Jerem. xlviii. 10.
[2] Judges v. 24.
[3] Origen., Homil. 5. super ludic. n. 5.
[4] Cant iii. 6.
[5] Homil. in solemn. Deiparae, quando salutavit Elisabeth, inter homil. aestiv. de Sanct., ante medium.
[6] Ibid. paulo ante.
Fifthly, let us hear how blessed Mary is by virtue of her generosity against avarice. For the avaricious are accursed, as St. Peter says[1]:
“Having their heart exercised with covetousness, children of malediction.”
Against this curse of avarice, Mary merited the blessing of generosity and munificence; for she was in truth like a fountain ever flowing and ever giving, and therefore was truly blessed, according to what is said in Proverbs[2]:
“Let thy vein be blessed.”
In temporal things Mary’s vein was more than generous because she generously and liberally thought little of all things worldly. Therefore, according to Haymo’s commentary[3],
“the Blessed Mother of God had the moon beneath her feet[4] because she despised all temporal things.”
Oh, what great graces have flowed out to men by means of this vein! Therefore, O Church, let thy vein be blessed, by whom such great gifts have come to thee. Truly a noble vein, a vein filled with the Holy Ghost and a vein from the fountain of life, Mary is the vein of our salvation. For through this vein Christ, the fountain of life, came to us, and through this vein we come to Jesus Christ who is the fountain of life; truly, therefore, is this vein blessed. Whence St. Bernard says[5]:
“By thee we have access to the Son, O blessed finder of grace, Mother of life and Mother of salvation, that by thee He may receive us, who by thee was given to us.”
Footnotes
[1] 2 Pet. ii.14.
[2] Prov. v. 18.
[3] Comment. in Apoc. c. 12. (by Haymo of Halberstadt, d. 853).
[4] Apoc. xii. 1.
[5] Serm. 2. de Adventu Dom. n. 5.
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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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