Praises of the Virgin Mother by St Bernard : Homily I : §3-4/9

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 : §3-4/9

 §3.  The Angel, therefore, was sent from God. Whither?

View of Nazareth by James Tissot (between 1886-89). Brooklyn Museum.

“Into a city of Galilee called Nazareth.”[1] Let us ask with Nathanael[2]: “Can anything good come from Nazareth?” The word “Nazareth” may be interpreted as meaning flower. The heavenly words spoken and the promises made to our fathers – namely, Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob – seem to me to have served as seed of divine knowledge cast from Heaven upon the earth. Of this seed it is written[3]: 

“Except the Lord of hosts had left us seed, we had been as Sodom, and we should have been like to Gomorrha.” 

This seed flowered:

    • in the wonders displayed in the going forth of Israel out of Egypt; 

    • in the signs and figures that marked the whole journey of the Israelites through the wilderness to the Promised Land; 

    • in the subsequent visions and utterances of the Prophets; and

    • in the establishment of the kingdom and the order of the priesthood before the coming of Christ. 

Christ, however, is rightly understood to be the fruit of this seed and of these flowers, for as David says[4]: “The Lord will give goodness: and our earth shall yield her fruit;” and again[5]: “Of the fruit of thy womb I will set upon thy throne.” In Nazareth, therefore, Christ’s future birth is announced, because out of the flower it may be hoped the fruit will come forth; but, just as when the fruit comes forth the flower falls away, so too with the appearance of the Truth in the flesh, the figure fell away.

Footnotes

[1] Luke i. 26.

[2] John i. 46.

[3] Isaias i. 9.

[4] Psalm. lxxxiv. 13.

[5] Psalm. cxxxi. 11.

At the birth of Christ all those things I enumerated earlier passed away, as the Apostle says[1]: “Now all these things happened to them in figure.” Hence Nazareth is called a city of Galilee – that is, change, or passing away. We who have the fruit see that these flowers have passed away, and that even while they seemed to be blooming their future passing was foretold, for David says[2]: 

“In the morning man shall grow up like grass; in the morning he shall flourish and pass away: in the evening he shall fall, grow dry, and wither.” 

In the evening – that is, when the fulness of the time was come, and God sent his Son, made of a woman, made under the law[3] – He proclaims[4]: “Behold, I make all things new.”  The old things have passed away[5], just as blossoms fall and wither when new fruit begins to grow. Hence it is again written[6]: 

“The grass is withered, and the flower is fallen: but the word of our Lord endureth for ever.” 

I believe you cannot have any doubt that the Word is the fruit and Christ is the Word.

Footnotes

[1] 1 Cor. x. 11.

[2] Psalm. lxxxix. 6.

[3] Gal. iv. 4.

[4] Apoc. xxi. 5.

[5] 2 Cor. v. 17.

[6] Isaias xl. 8.

 §4.  Christ is the good fruit that endureth for ever. 

The Prophet Isaiah, by Barbieri,(1591-1666): "Ecce
Virgo concipiet" (Ch. vii. 14). Burghley House Collections.

But where is the grass that is withered? Where is the flower that is fallen? Let the Prophet Isaiah answer[1]: 

“All flesh is grass, and all the glory thereof as the flower of the field.” 

If all flesh is grass, then the carnal Jews were like grass that withered; and did not the grass go dry and wither when that people, devoid of all richness of the spirit, adhered to the dry letter?[2] And did not the flower fall when they no longer gloried in the law[3]? If the flower did not fall, then where is their kingdom, their priesthood, their prophets and their temple ? Where are those mighty wonders in which they were wont to glory and to say[4]: 

“How great things have we heard and known, and our fathers have told us”? 

And again[5]: 

“How great things he commanded our fathers, that they should make the same known to their children”? 

These things have been said regarding that which is written[6]: “Into a city of Galilee called Nazareth.”

Footnotes

[1] Isaias xl. 6.

[2] Ibid. 7.

[3] Rom. ii. 17-23.

[4] Psalm. lxxvii. 3.

[5] Ibid. 5.

[6] Luke i. 26.

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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.