Praises of the Virgin Mother by St Bernard : Homily I : §7/9

St Bernard, by Juan Correa de Vivar,
c. 1540-45. Museo del Prado.
(Public domain)

The following posts present the text of four homilies by St Bernard (1090-1153) frequently given the title of Missus est but which he himself called Praises of the Virgin Mother.

 

He was the first Cistercian monk to be placed on the calendar of saints and was canonized by Alexander III on the 18th January 1174. Pope Pius VIII bestowed on him the title of Doctor of the Church, “Doctor mellifluus,” on the 20th of August 1830. 

I offer this annotated presentation of St Bernard’s Homilies as a small gift to our gentle Queen and Mother in gratitude for her multitudinous graces and favours, requesting her continued help and protection for the author and his family.

The Latin text and references are based upon De laudibus Virginis Matris (Patrologia latina, vol. 183. J. P. Migne). The English text is based upon the version compiled and translated at St. Mary's Convent, York, and published by Washbourne in 1909.

Homily I : §7/9

 §7.  In Mary, however, there is something more wonderful still, namely, the union of fecundity with virginity. 

Since the beginning of the world it had never been heard that a woman might be mother and at the same time a virgin; and if you reflect on whose Mother she actually is, whither will your wonderment at her exaltation lead you? Is it not to heights so sublime as to exceed your capacity for wonder? In your judgement and in Truth’s own judgement is not she, who has the God-man for her Son, exalted above all the choirs of Angels? Did not Mary confidently call the God and Lord of Angels her Son, saying[1]: 

“Son, why hast thou done so to us?” 

“And he . . . was subject to them.”
James Tissot (1836-1902); Brooklyn Museum NY.

Which of the Angels would have presumed to speak like this? It is sufficient for them and in fact they regard it as something great that, while by nature they are spirits by grace, they are made and called Angels, as David says: “Who maketh his Angels spirits.”[2] 

Mary acknowledges herself Mother and confidently calls Him her Son whose Majesty the Angels serve with reverential awe. Neither does God disdain to be called what He vouchsafed to be; for the Evangelist adds shortly after[3]: “And he . . . was subject to them.” Who and to whom? God, to man. God, I am saying, to whom the Angels are subject and whom the powers and principalities obey, was subject to Mary; and not only to Mary but also to Joseph for Mary’s sake. Consider, then, and choose which of the two you admire the more: the gracious condescension of the Son, or the surpassing dignity of the Mother. Both are amazing and both are miraculous. That God should submit to a woman is humility beyond compare; that a woman should have primacy over the Son of God is a dignity without parallel. It is written that a singular canticle is sung in praise of virgins by those that “follow the Lamb whithersoever he goeth.”[4] What praise, think you, is worthy of her who leads the way before Him?

 

Footnotes

[1] Luke ii. 48.

[2] Psalm. ciii. 4. 

[3] Luke ii. 51.

[4] Apoc. xiv. 3-4.

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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.