Praises of the Virgin Mother by St Bernard : Homily IV : §4-5/11

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 IV : §4-5/11

 §4.   The Angel says[1]: “The Holy Ghost shall come upon thee, and the power of the Most High shall overshadow thee.” 

The Annunciation, by Fra Angelico (1451-52).
Museo nazionale di San Marco, Florence. For Scriptural references, see [3]. 

Now, apart from her alone who was most blessed to merit this experience, who could grasp with the intellect or discern by reason the manner in which He who inhabits light inaccessible[2] was admitted into the Virgin’s womb? And to make this possible, did He fashion a sort of shade with the small portion of the very flesh to which He had united Himself and had ensouled? Perhaps this is the chief reason the Angel said that the power of the Most High “shall overshadow thee” because what happened was, in truth, a sacred mystery. What the Trinity alone willed to accomplish in the Virgin alone and with her alone, was granted to be known only by her who experienced it. Accordingly, it is said that “The Holy Ghost shall come upon thee,” and through His power He will bring into being the fruit of thy womb. 

“And the power of the Most High shall overshadow thee:” that is to say, Christ – the power of God and the wisdom of God – will by His overshadowing so conceal and keep within His most secret counsel the manner in which you will conceive by the Holy Spirit, that it remains known only to Himself and to you.

Imagine if the Angel were to reply to the Virgin: Why do you ask of me what you yourself will soon experience? You will learn the truth and you will come to know it with gladness  – but from Him who is the Teacher and also the Author. I, however, have been sent to announce the virginal conception, not to bring it about. In fact, it cannot be taught except by the one who grants it: nor can it be learned except by the one who receives it. 

“And therefore also the Holy One which shall be born of thee shall be called the Son of God.”[4] That is to say: since you will conceive not by man but by the Holy Spirit, you will conceive the power of the Most High – that is, the Son of God. 

“And therefore also the Holy One which shall be born of thee shall be called the Son of God.” That is to say, He who comes from the Father’s bosom into your womb shall overshadow you; but more than that, for that which He unites to Himself from your substance shall from this moment be called the Son of God; just as He who was begotten of the Father before all ages shall henceforth be reckoned your Son as well. Thus, what is born of the Father Himself will be yours, and what is born of you will be His; yet they will not be two sons, but one; and although one comes from you and the other from him, the Son will belong to neither individually, but will be the one Son of both.

Footnotes

[1] Luke i. 35.

[2] light inaccessible: 1 Tim. vi. 16; see also Exod. xxxiii. 20: man shall not see me and live.

[3] Isaias vii. 14 and Luke i. 31.

[4] Luke i. 35.

 §5.   “And therefore also the Holy which shall be born of thee shall be called the Son of God.”[1] 

Observe, I pray you, with what reverence he speaks of “the Holy which shall be born of thee.” For why did he simply say “the Holy,” without any addition? I believe that he could find no term sufficiently proper or worthy to designate that extraordinary, magnificent, and adorable reality which united the Only-Begotten of the Father in body and soul with the Virgin’s purest flesh. If he had said “holy flesh,” or “holy man,” or “holy infant” – or any similar term – this would have seemed too limiting. He therefore used the term “the Holy” without any qualification; for whatever it was that the Virgin brought forth, it was undoubtedly holy and singularly holy – both through the sanctification of the Spirit and through the assumption by the Word.

Footnotes

[1] Luke i. 35.

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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.