Praises of the Virgin Mother by St Bernard : Homily I : §1/9

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.

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

Homily I : §1/9

St Luke, by Herman Rode (1484)
Museumsquartier St. Annen, Lübeck.

“The angel Gabriel was sent from God to a city of Galilee called Nazareth, to a virgin espoused to a man whose name was Joseph, of the house of David ; and the virgin’s name was Mary.”[1]

 §1.  What can have been the Evangelist’s intention in mentioning so many proper names in this text? I think the reason is that he would not have us listen carelessly to what he has taken such pains to relate. He names the messenger who was sent, the Lord by Whom he was sent, the Virgin to whom he is sent and the spouse of the Virgin; he also gives the names of their family, city and country. Why is this? Are we to think the Evangelist would have said anything superfluous? By no means. If not a leaf shall fall without cause from a tree[2], nor a single sparrow fall to the ground without the knowledge of our heavenly Father[3], am I to suppose that even one superfluous word would fall from the lips of the holy Evangelist, especially when he is giving the sacred history of the Word Incarnate ? By no means and, as you might expect, all the words are replete with supernal mysteries and redolent of singular heavenly delight – for him, that is, who contemplates them diligently and knows how to “suck honey out of the rock, and oil out of the hardest stone.”[4]

Footnotes

[1]  Luke i. 26-27.

[2]  Psalm. i. 3.

[3]  Matt. x. 29-31.

[4]  Deut. xxxii. 13.

Assuredly, in that day “the mountains shall drop down sweetness, and the hills shall flow with milk”[1] and honey : when the heavens dropped down dew from above and the clouds rained the Just One, then the joyous earth was opened and budded forth a Saviour[2]; and the Lord gave goodness and our earth yielded her fruit[3]. On that mountain amongst mountains, a fat mountain and a curdled mountain[4], mercy and truth have met each other, justice and peace have kissed.[5] At that time, too, one mountain was by no means the least among the other mountains, so to speak, namely this blessed Evangelist. With mellifluous eloquence, he has made known to us the beginning of our long-desired salvation, like the south wind[6] blowing and bringing spiritual fragrances from the radiant Sun of justice nearby.  

Would that God would now “send out his word” to us too and let His words melt our hearts[7]; may “His Spirit breathe” and may the Evangelist’s words be intelligible to us; may they become for us “more to be desired than gold and many precious stones” and may they be “sweeter to us than honey and the honeycomb.”[8]

Footnotes

[1]  Joel iii. 18.

[2]  Isaias xlv. 8.

[3]  Psalm. lxxxiv. 13.

[4]  Psalm. lxvii. 16.

[5]  Psalm. lxxxiv. 11.

[6] “Auster”: see Pliny N.H. Bk. II 46.

[7]  Psalm. cxlvii. 7.

[8]  Psalm. xviii. 11.

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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.