THE GLORIES OF MARY
[Illustration: G. Steinle Pinxt.
ASSUMPTION OF THE BLESSED VIRGIN MARY
“Salve Regina”.
Edward Dunigan & Brother, New York]
THE
GLORIES OF MARY.
TRANSLATED FROM THE ITALIAN OF
ST. ALPHONSUS LIGUORI,
FOUNDER OF THE CONGREGATION OF THE MOST HOLY REDEEMER.
SECOND AMERICAN EDITION.
NEW YORK:
EDWARD DUNIGAN AND BROTHER,
151 FULTON-STREET, NEAR BROADWAY.
1852.
Entered according to Act of Congress, in the year 1852, by
EDWARD DUNIGAN & BROTHER,
In the Clerk’s Office of the District Court for the Southern
District of New York.
[Illustration]
This new and improved translation of “The Glories of Mary,” having been
duly examined, is hereby approved of.
✠ JOHN,
_Archbishop of New York_
_New York, Jan. 21st, 1852._
PREFACE TO THE AMERICAN EDITION.
The edition of the “Glories of Mary” now presented to the Catholic public
of America is the first complete translation of the work ever made into
the English language. We trust that it will be found to retain the spirit
of the learned and saintly author, and that it will be welcomed by the
faithful in this country with the same delight which it has universally
called forth in Catholic Europe.
PROTEST OF THE AUTHOR.
In obedience to the decrees of Urban VIII., of holy memory, I protest
that I do not intend to attribute any other than purely human authority
to all the miracles, revelations, graces, and incidents contained in this
book; neither to the titles holy or blessed applied to the servants of
God not yet canonized; except in cases where these have been confirmed by
the holy Roman Catholic Church, and by the holy Apostolic See, of whom I
profess myself an obedient son; and therefore to their judgment I submit
myself and whatever I have written in this book.
CONTENTS.
PAGE.
Preface to American edition 3
Protest of the author 4
Petition of the author to Jesus and Mary 11
To the reader 13
Introduction 16
Prayer to the blessed Virgin to obtain a good death 22
CHAPTER I.
SECTION 1.—Hail, holy Queen, Mother of Mercy!—Of the great
confidence we should have in Mary, because she is the
Queen of Mercy 25
SECT. 2.—How much greater should be our confidence in Mary,
because she is our mother 39
SECT. 3.—How great is the love of our mother for us 50
SECT. 4.—Mary is also mother of penitent sinners 68
CHAPTER II.
SECT. 1.—Our life, our sweetness!—Mary is our life, because she
obtains for us the pardon of our sins 80
SECT. 2.—Mary is again our life, because she obtains for us
perseverance 90
SECT. 3.—Mary renders death sweet to her servants 101
CHAPTER III.
SECT. 1.—Hail, our hope!—Mary is the hope of all 115
SECT. 2.—Mary, the hope of sinners 129
CHAPTER IV.
SECT. 1.—To thee do we cry, poor banished children of Eve!—How
ready is Mary to succor those who call upon her 142
SECT. 2.—How powerful is Mary to protect those who invoke her
in temptations of the devil 155
CHAPTER V.
SECT. 1.—To thee we send up our sighs, groaning and weeping in
this valley of tears!—The need we have of the intercession
of Mary for our salvation 168
SECT. 2.—The same subject continued 185
CHAPTER VI.
SECT. 1.—Ah, then, our advocate!—Mary is an advocate, powerful
to save all 200
SECT. 2.—Mary is a merciful advocate, who does not refuse to
defend the cause of the most miserable sinners 215
SECT. 3.—Mary is the peacemaker between sinners and God 226
CHAPTER VII.
Turn thy eyes of mercy towards us.—Mary is all eyes, to pity
and relieve our miseries 241
CHAPTER VIII.
SECT. 1.—And after this our exile, show us the blessed fruit
of thy womb, Jesus.—Mary rescues her servants from hell 254
SECT. 2.—Mary assists her servants in purgatory 267
SECT. 3.—Mary conducts her servants to paradise 276
CHAPTER IX.
Oh clement, oh merciful!—How great is the clemency and mercy
of Mary 290
CHAPTER X.
Oh sweet Virgin Mary!—How sweet is the name of Mary in life and
in death 305
THE VERY DEVOUT PRAYERS OF VARIOUS SAINTS TO THE HOLY MOTHER 322
PART II.
DISCOURSE I.
ON THE IMMACULATE CONCEPTION OF MARY.
How befitting it was to all three of the Divine Persons that
Mary should be preserved from original sin 337
DISCOURSE II
ON THE BIRTH OF MARY.
Mary was born a saint, and a great saint, for great was the
grace with which our Lord enriched her from the beginning,
and great was the fidelity with which Mary at once
corresponded with it 371
DISCOURSE III.
ON THE PRESENTATION OF MARY.
The offering which Mary made of herself to God was prompt,
without delay; entire, without reserve 393
DISCOURSE IV.
ON THE ANNUNCIATION OF MARY.
Mary could not humble herself more than she did in the
incarnation of the Word; on the other hand, God could
not exalt her more than he has exalted her 410
DISCOURSE V.
ON THE VISITATION OF MARY.
Mary is the treasurer of all the divine graces; therefore he who
desires graces, should have recourse to Mary; and he who has
recourse to Mary, should be secure of obtaining the graces he
wishes 436
DISCOURSE VI.
ON THE PURIFICATION OF MARY.
The great sacrifice which Mary this day made to God, in offering
him the life of her Son 457
DISCOURSE VII.
ON THE ASSUMPTION OF MARY.
How precious was the death of Mary. 1st. By the favors which
accompanied it. 2d. By the manner in which it took place 475
DISCOURSE VIII.
ANOTHER DISCOURSE ON THE ASSUMPTION OF MARY.
1st. How glorious was the triumph of Mary when she ascended
to heaven! 2d. How exalted was the throne to which she was
raised in heaven! 496
DISCOURSE IX.
ON THE DOLORS OF MARY.
Mary was queen of martyrs, because her martyrdom was longer and
greater than that of all the martyrs 515
REFLECTIONS ON EACH OF THE SEVEN DOLORS IN PARTICULAR.
ON THE FIRST DOLOR.
Of St. Simeon’s prophecy 537
ON THE SECOND DOLOR.
Of the flight of Jesus into Egypt 545
ON THE THIRD DOLOR.
Of the loss of Jesus in the temple 552
ON THE FOURTH DOLOR.
Of the meeting of Mary with Jesus, when he went to Calvary 560
ON THE FIFTH DOLOR.
Of the death of Jesus 568
ON THE SIXTH DOLOR.
The piercing of the side of Jesus, and his descent from the cross 577
ON THE SEVENTH DOLOR.
Of the burial of the body of Jesus 585
OF THE VIRTUES OF THE MOST HOLY MARY.
SECTION 1.—Of the humility of Mary 594
SECTION 2.—Of the charity of Mary towards God 603
SECTION 3.—Of the charity of Mary for her neighbor 611
SECTION 4.—Of the faith of Mary 615
SECTION 5.—Of the hope of Mary 620
SECTION 6.—Of the chastity of Mary 623
SECTION 7.—Of the poverty of Mary 629
SECTION 8.—Of the obedience of Mary 632
SECTION 9.—Of the patience of Mary 636
SECTION 10.—Of the prayer of Mary 639
Various practices of devotion to the divine mother 643
Various additional examples appertaining to the most holy Mary 679
Novena of meditations for the nine days preceding the Feast of
the Purification of Mary 727
Meditations for various feasts of Mary 749
Prayers to the divine mother for every day of the week 764
Little Rosary of the seven dolors of Mary 773
Little Rosary of the immaculate Mary 778
Various prayers to Mary 778
EJACULATIONS TO THE MOST HOLY MARY 782
ACCLAMATIONS IN PRAISE OF MARY 785
PETITION OF THE AUTHOR TO JESUS AND MARY.
My most loving Redeemer and Lord Jesus Christ, I thy poor servant,
knowing how pleasing to thee are those who seek to glorify thy most holy
mother, whom thou lovest so much, and dost so much desire to see loved
and honored by all men, I propose to publish this book of mine which
treats of her glories. I know not to whom I could commend it but to thee,
who hast so much at heart the glory of this mother. To thee, then, I
present and dedicate it. Receive this little offering of my love for thee
and thy beloved mother. Take it under thy protection, and pour into the
hearts of those who read it the light of confidence in this immaculate
Virgin, and the warmth of a burning love for her, in whom thou hast
placed the hope and refuge of all the redeemed. And for the reward of
this, my poor effort, give me, I pray thee, that love for Mary with which
I have desired to inflame, by this my little work, the hearts of all
those who read it.
To thee also I appeal, oh my sweetest Lady and mother Mary. Thou knowest
that in thee, next to Jesus, I have placed all hope of my eternal
salvation, since all the good I have received, my conversion, my vocation
to leave the world, and whatever other graces have been given me by
God, I acknowledge them all as coming through thee. Thou knowest that
to see thee loved by all as thou dost deserve, and to offer thee some
token of gratitude, I have always sought to proclaim thee everywhere, in
public and in private, and to inspire all men with a sweet and salutary
devotion to thee. I hope to continue to do so for the remainder of my
life, even to my last breath. But I see by my advanced age and declining
health that the end of my pilgrimage and my entrance into eternity are
drawing near; therefore, I hope to give to the world, before my death,
this little book of mine which may continue to proclaim thee for me, and
also may excite others to publish thy glories and the great mercy which
thou dost exercise towards thy devoted servants. I hope, my most beloved
queen, that this my poor offering, although it falls so far short of thy
merit, may be pleasing to thy grateful heart, since it is wholly a gift
of love. Extend, then, that most kind hand of thine with which thou hast
delivered me from the world and from hell, and accept it and protect it
as belonging to thee. But I ask this reward for my little offering, that
henceforth I may love thee more, and that all into whose hands this work
shall fall, may be inflamed with thy love, so that immediately their
desire may increase to love thee, and see others love thee also; and that
they may engage with all ardor in proclaiming and promoting, as far as
possible, thy praise, and confidence in thy most holy intercession. Thus
I hope, thus may it be.
TO THE READER.
In order that this little work of mine may not be exposed to censure from
very fastidious critics, I have thought it best to place in a clearer
light some of the propositions which it contains, and which may seem too
bold, or perhaps obscure. I here enumerate some of them, and if others,
my dear reader, should come under your eye, I pray you to consider them
as meant and spoken by me according to the sense of true and sound
theology, and of the holy Roman Catholic Church, whose obedient son I
profess myself. In the introduction, page 19, referring to chap. 5th of
the book, I have said that God has ordained that all graces should come
to us through the hands of Mary. Now this is a very consoling truth for
souls tenderly attached to the most holy Mary, and for poor sinners who
desire to be converted. Nor should this appear to any one inconsistent
with sound theology, since its author, St. Augustine, puts it forth as a
general statement, that Mary has shared, by means of her charity, in the
spiritual birth of all the members of the Church.[1]
A well-known author, whom no one will suspect of exaggeration or of
fanciful and overheated devotion, adds, that as Jesus Christ really
formed his Church on Calvary, it is plain that the holy Virgin really
co-operated with him, in a peculiar and excellent manner, in its
formation.[2] And for the same reason it may be said, that if she brought
forth Jesus Christ, the head of the Church, without pain, she did not
bring forth the body of this head without pain. Hence she commenced on
Calvary to be, in a particular manner, mother of the whole Church. To
say all in a few words, Almighty God, in order to glorify the mother of
the Redeemer, has ordained that her great charity should intercede for
all those for whom her divine Son offered and paid the superabundant
ransom of his precious blood, in which alone is our _salvation_, _life_,
and _resurrection_. It is on the basis of this doctrine and whatever
belongs to it that I have undertaken to establish my propositions,[3]
which the saints in their affecting colloquies with Mary, and in their
fervent discourses concerning her, have not hesitated to assert: whence
an ancient father, quoted by the celebrated Vincenzo Contensone, has
written: The fulness of grace was in Christ as the head from which it
flows, but in Mary as the neck through which it is transmitted.[4]
This is plainly taught by the angelic Doctor, St. Thomas, who confirms
all the foregoing in these words: The blessed Virgin is called full of
grace in three ways.... The third, in reference to its overflowing upon
all men. For great is it in each saint if he hath enough of grace for
the salvation of many; but this would be the greatest, if he had enough
for the salvation of all men; and it is so with Christ and the blessed
Virgin, for in every danger we may obtain salvation through the glorious
Virgin. Hence, cant. 4, v. 4, _a thousand bucklers_—that is, remedies
against dangers—_hang upon her_; “Mille clypei pendent ex ea.” Hence in
every virtuous work we can have her aid, and, therefore, she herself
says, In me is all hope of life and of virtue: “_In me omnis spes vitæ et
virtutis._”[5]—Eccli. xxiv. 25.
INTRODUCTION
WHICH OUGHT TO BE READ.
My dear reader and brother in Mary, since the devotion which has urged
me to write, and now moves you to read this book, renders us both happy
children of this good mother, if you ever should hear any one say that I
could have spared this labor, there being so many learned and celebrated
books that treat of this subject, answer him, I pray you, in the words of
Francone the abbot, which we find in the Library of the Fathers, that the
praise of Mary is a fountain so full that the more it extends, the fuller
it becomes, and the fuller it becomes the more it extends;[6] which
signifies, that the blessed Virgin is so great and sublime, that the
more we praise her, the more there is to praise. So that St. Augustine
says: All the tongues of men, even if all their members were changed to
tongues, would not be sufficient to praise her as she deserves.[7]
I know that there are innumerable books, both great and small, which
treat of the glories of Mary; but as these are rare or voluminous, and
not according to my plan, I have endeavored to collect in a small space,
from all the authors at my command, the most select and pithy sentences
of the Fathers and theologians, in order to give devout persons an
opportunity, with little effort or expense, to inflame their ardor by
reading of the love of Mary, and especially to present materials to
priests which may enable them to excite by their sermons devotion to the
divine mother.
Worldly lovers are accustomed to mention frequently and to praise the
persons beloved, that these may be praised and applauded also by others;
then how poor must we suppose the love of those to be who boast of being
lovers of Mary, but who seldom remember to speak of her, and inspire the
love of her also in others! Not so the true lovers of our most lovely
Lady: they would praise her everywhere, and see her loved by all the
world; and therefore in public and in private, wherever it is in their
power, they endeavor to kindle in the hearts of all, those blessed flames
of love with which theirs are burning for their beloved queen.
But that every one may be persuaded of how great benefit it is to
himself and the people to promote devotion to Mary, let us hear what
the Fathers say of it. St. Bonaventure declares that those who are
devoted to publishing the glories of Mary, are secure of paradise; and
Richard of St. Laurence confirms this by saying, that to honor the queen
of angels is to acquire life everlasting;[8] since our most grateful
Lady, adds the same author, pledges herself to honor in the other life
him who promises to honor her in this;[9] and is there any one ignorant
of the promise made by Mary herself to those who engage in promoting
the knowledge and love of her upon the earth? “They that explain me
shall have life everlasting,”[10] as the holy Church applies it on the
festival of her Immaculate Conception. Exult, exult! oh my soul! said St.
Bonaventure, who was so assiduous in proclaiming the praises of Mary,
and rejoice in her, because many good things are prepared for those who
praise her; and since all the Holy Scriptures, he added, speak in praise
of Mary, let us endeavor always with heart and tongue to celebrate this
our divine mother, that we may be conducted by her to the kingdom of the
blessed.[11]
We are told in the revelations of St. Bridget, that the blessed Emingo,
Bishop, being accustomed to begin his sermons with the praises of Mary,
the Virgin herself appeared one day to the saint, and said to her,
“Tell that prelate who is accustomed to commence his discourses with my
praises, that I will be his mother, and that I will present his soul to
God, and that he shall die a good death;”[12] and he indeed died like a
saint, in prayer and in celestial peace. Mary appeared before his death
to another religious, a Dominican, who was accustomed to terminate his
sermons by speaking of her. She defended him from the assaults of the
demons, comforted him, and bore away with her his happy soul.[13] The
devout Thomas à Kempis represents Mary as commending to her Son those
who publish her praises, and saying, “Oh, my Son, have compassion on the
souls of thy lovers, and of those who speak in my praise.”[14]
As far as the advantage of the people is concerned, St. Anselm says,
that the sacred womb of Mary having been made the way of salvation for
sinners, sinners cannot but be converted and saved by discourses in
praise of Mary.[15] If the assertion is true and incontrovertible, as
I believe it to be, and as I shall prove, in the fifth chapter of this
book, that all graces are dispensed by the hand of Mary alone, and that
all those who are saved, are saved solely by means of this divine mother;
it may be said, as a necessary consequence, that the salvation of all
depends upon preaching Mary, and confidence in her intercession. We know
that St. Bernard of Sienna sanctified Italy; St. Dominic converted many
provinces; St. Louis Bertrand, in all his sermons, never failed to exhort
his hearers to practise devotion towards Mary; and many others also have
done the same.
I find that Father Paul Segneri, the younger, a celebrated missionary,
in every mission preached a sermon on devotion to Mary, and this he
called his favorite sermon. And we can attest, in all truth, that in our
missions, where we have an invariable rule not to omit the sermon on
our Lady, no discourse is so profitable to the people, or excites more
compunction among them, than that on the mercy of Mary. I say _on the
mercy of Mary_: for St. Bernard says, we may praise her humility, and
marvel at her virginity; but being poor sinners, we are more pleased and
attracted by hearing of her mercy; for to this we more affectionately
cling, this we more often remember and invoke.[16] Therefore in this
little book, leaving to other authors the description of the other merits
of Mary, I have confined myself especially to treating of her great
compassion and her powerful intercession; having collected, as far as
possible, with the labor of years, all that the holy Fathers and the most
celebrated authors have said of the mercy and power of Mary; and because
these attributes of the blessed Virgin are wonderfully set forth in the
great prayer of the _Salve Regina_, approved by the Church, and required
by her to be recited the greater part of the year by all the clergy,
secular and regular, I have undertaken, in the first place, to explain in
separate discourses this most devout prayer. Besides this, I believed it
would be acceptable to the servants of Mary, if I added discourses on her
principal festivals and upon the virtues of our divine mother, placing at
the conclusion of them the practices of devotion most in use among her
servants, and approved by the Church.
Devout reader, if this little work of mine pleases you, as I hope it
will, I pray you to commend me to the holy Virgin, that I may obtain
great confidence in her protection. Ask for me this grace, and I will ask
the same for you, whoever you may be, who bestow on me this charity. Oh,
blessed is he who clings with love and confidence to those two anchors
of salvation, Jesus and Mary! He certainly will not be lost. Let us both
say, oh my reader, with the devout Alphonso Rodriguez: Jesus and Mary, my
sweet loves, for you I will suffer, for you I will die; may I be wholly
yours, may I be in nothing my own.[17] May we love Jesus and Mary, and
become saints, since we can aspire and hope for no greater happiness than
this. Farewell, till we meet in heaven at the feet of this sweet mother
and her dearly beloved Son, to praise them, to thank them, and love them,
in their immediate presence through all eternity. Amen.
PRAYER TO THE BLESSED VIRGIN TO OBTAIN A GOOD DEATH.
Oh Mary, sweet refuge of miserable sinners, at the moment when my soul
departs from this world, my sweetest mother, by the grief that thou didst
endure when thou wast present at the death of thy Son upon the cross,
then assist me with thy mercy. Keep far from me my infernal enemies, and
come thyself to take my soul and present it to my eternal Judge. Do not
abandon me, oh my queen. Thou, next to Jesus, must be my comfort in that
dreadful moment. Entreat thy Son that in his goodness, he will grant me
the favor to die clasping thy feet, and to breathe out my soul in his
sacred wounds, saying, Jesus and Mary, I give you my heart and my soul.
THE GLORIES OF MARY.
PART FIRST: ON THE SALVE REGINA.
It treats of the various and abundant graces which the mother of God
bestows on her devoted servants, in several discourses on the Salve
Regina.
CHAPTER I.
SALVE REGINA, MATER MISERICORDIÆ.
Hail queen, Mother of mercy.
SECTION I.
OF THE GREAT CONFIDENCE WE SHOULD HAVE IN MARY, BECAUSE SHE IS THE QUEEN
OF MERCY.
The Holy Church justly honors the great Virgin Mary, and would have her
honored by all men with the glorious title of queen, because she has
been elevated to the dignity of mother of the King of kings. If the Son
is king, says St. Athanasius, his mother must necessarily be considered
and entitled queen.[18] From the moment that Mary consented, adds St.
Bernardine of Sienna, to become the mother of the Eternal Word, she
merited the title of queen of the world and of all creatures.[19] If the
flesh of Mary, says St. Arnold, abbot, was the flesh of Jesus, how can
the mother be separated from the Son in his kingdom? Hence it follows
that the regal glory must not only be considered as common to the mother
and the Son, but even the same.[20]
If Jesus is king of the whole world, Mary is also queen of the whole
world:[21] therefore, says St. Bernardine of Sienna, all creatures who
serve God ought also to serve Mary; for all angels and men, and all
things that are in heaven and on earth being subject to the dominion
of God, are also subject to the dominion of the glorious Virgin.[22]
Hence Guerric, abbot, thus addresses the divine mother: Continue, Mary,
continue in security to reign; dispose, according to thy will, of every
thing belonging to thy Son, for thou, being mother and spouse of the king
of the world, the kingdom and power over all creatures is due to thee as
queen.[23]
Mary, then, is queen; but let all learn for their consolation that she is
a mild and merciful queen, desiring the good of us poor sinners. Hence
the holy Church bids us salute her in this prayer, and name her the
_Queen of Mercy_. The very name of queen signifies, as blessed Albertus
Magnus remarks, compassion, and provision for the poor; differing in
this from the title of empress, which signifies severity and rigor. The
greatness of kings and queens consists in comforting the wretched, as
Seneca says.[24] So that whereas tyrants, in reigning, have only their
own advantage in view, kings should have for their object the good of
their subjects. Therefore at the consecration of kings their heads are
anointed with oil, which is the symbol of mercy, to denote that they,
in reigning, should above all things cherish thoughts of kindness and
beneficence towards their subjects.
Kings should then principally occupy themselves with works of mercy, but
not to the neglect of the exercise of justice towards the guilty, when it
is required. Not so Mary, who, although queen, is not queen of justice,
intent upon the punishment of the guilty, but queen of mercy, solely
intent upon compassion and pardon for sinners. Accordingly, the Church
requires us explicitly to call her queen of mercy. The High Chancellor
of Paris, John Gerson, meditating on the words of David, “These two
things have I heard, that power belongeth to God, and mercy to thee, O
Lord,”[25] says, that the kingdom of God consisting of justice and mercy,
the Lord has divided it; he has reserved the kingdom of justice for
himself, and he has granted the kingdom of mercy to Mary, ordaining that
all the mercies which are dispensed to men should pass through the hands
of Mary, and should be bestowed according to her good pleasure.[26] St.
Thomas confirms this in his preface to the Canonical Epistles, saying
that the holy Virgin, when she conceived the divine Word in her womb, and
brought him forth, obtained the half of the kingdom of God by becoming
queen of mercy, Jesus Christ remaining king of justice.[27]
The eternal Father constituted Jesus Christ king of justice, and
therefore made him the universal judge of the world; hence the prophet
sang: “Give to the king thy judgment, Oh God; and to the king’s son thy
justice.”[28] Here a learned interpreter takes up the subject, and says:
Oh Lord, thou hast given to thy Son thy justice, because thou hast given
to the mother of the king thy mercy.[29] And St. Bonaventure happily
varies the passage above quoted by saying: Give to the king thy judgment,
Oh God, and to his mother thy mercy.[30] Ernest, Archbishop of Prague,
also says, that the eternal Father has given to the Son the office of
judging and punishing, and to the mother the office of compassionating
and relieving the wretched.[31] Therefore the Prophet David predicted
that God himself, if I may thus express it, would consecrate Mary queen
of mercy, anointing her with the oil of gladness,[32] in order that all
of us miserable children of Adam might rejoice in the thought of having
in heaven that great queen, so full of the unction of mercy and pity for
us; as St. Bonaventure says: Oh Mary, so full of the unction of mercy and
the oil of pity, that God has anointed thee with the oil of gladness![33]
And how well does blessed Albertus Magnus here apply the history of Queen
Esther, who was indeed a type of our Queen Mary! We read in the 4th
chap. of the Book of Esther, that in the reign of King Assuerus, there
went forth, throughout his kingdom, a decree commanding the death of all
the Jews. Then Mardochai, who was one of the condemned, committed their
cause to Esther, that she might intercede with the king to obtain the
revocation of the sentence. At first Esther refused to take upon herself
this office, fearing that it would excite the anger of the king more.
But Mardochai rebuked her, and bade her remember that she must not think
of saving herself alone, as the Lord had placed her upon the throne to
obtain salvation for all the Jews: “Think not that thou mayest save
thy life only, because thou art in the king’s house, more than all the
Jews.”[34] Thus said Mardochai to Queen Esther, and thus might we poor
sinners say to our Queen Mary, if she were ever reluctant to intercede
with God for our deliverance from the just punishment of our sins. Think
not that thou mayest save thy life only, because thou art in the king’s
house, more than all men. Think not, oh Lady, that God has exalted thee
to be queen of the world, only to secure thy own welfare; but also that
thou, being so greatly elevated, mayest the more compassionate and the
better relieve us miserable sinners.
Assuerus, when he saw Esther before him, affectionately inquired of her
what she had come to ask of him: “What is thy petition?” Then the queen
answered, “If I have found favor in thy sight, oh king, give me my people
for which I request.”[35] Assuerus heard her, and immediately ordered
the sentence to be revoked. Now, if Assuerus granted to Esther, because
he loved her, the salvation of the Jews, will not God graciously listen
to Mary, in his boundless love for her, when she prays to him for those
poor sinners who recommend themselves to her and says to him: If I have
found favor in thy sight, oh King, my King and my God, if I have ever
found favor with Thee (and well does the divine mother know herself to
be the blessed, the fortunate, the only one of the children of men who
found the grace lost by man; she knows herself to be the beloved of her
Lord, more beloved than all the saints and angels united), give me my
people for which I request: if thou lovest me, she says to him, give me,
oh my Lord, these sinners in whose behalf I entreat Thee. Is it possible
that God will not graciously hear her? Is there any one who does not
know the power of Mary’s prayers with God? The law of clemency is on her
tongue.[36] Every prayer of hers is as a law established by our Lord,
that mercy shall be exercised towards those for whom Mary intercedes.
St. Bernard asks, Why does the Church name Mary _Queen of Mercy_? and
answers, Because we believe that she opens the depths of the mercy of
God, to whom she will, when she will, and as she will; so that not even
the vilest sinner is lost, if Mary protects him.[37]
But it may, perhaps, be feared that Mary disdains interposing in behalf
of some sinners, because she finds them so laden with sins? Perhaps the
majesty and sanctity of this great queen should alarm us? No, says St.
Gregory, in proportion to her greatness and holiness are her clemency
and mercy towards sinners who desire to amend, and who have recourse to
her.[38] Kings and queens inspire terror by the display of their majesty,
and their subjects fear to enter their presence; but what fear, says St.
Bernard, can the wretched have of going to this queen of mercy, since she
never shows herself terrible or austere to those who seek her, but all
sweetness and kindness?[39] Mary not only gives, but she herself presents
to us milk and wool: the milk of mercy to inspire us with confidence, and
wool to shield us from the thunderbolts of divine justice!
Suetonius narrates of the Emperor Titus, that he never could refuse a
favor to any one who asked it, and that he even sometimes promised more
than he could perform; and he answered to one who admonished him of this,
that a prince should not dismiss any one from his presence dissatisfied.
Titus said this, but, in reality, was perhaps often either guilty of
falsehood, or failed in his promises. But our queen cannot lie, and can
obtain whatever she wishes for her devoted servants. She has a heart
so kind and compassionate, says Blosius, that she cannot send away
dissatisfied any one who invokes her aid.[40] But, as St. Bernard says,
how couldst thou, oh Mary, refuse succor to the wretched, when thou art
queen of mercy? and who are the subjects of mercy, if not the miserable?
Thou art the queen of mercy, and I the most miserable of all sinners; if
I, then, am the first of thy subjects, then thou shouldst have more care
of me than of all others.[41]
Have pity on us, then, oh queen of mercy, and give heed to our salvation;
neither say to us, oh most holy Virgin, as St. Gregory of Nicomedia
would add, that thou canst not aid us because of the multitude of our
sins, when thou hast such power and pity that no number of sins can
ever surpass it! Nothing resists thy power, since thy Creator and ours,
while he honors thee as his mother, considers thy glory as his own, and
exulting in it, as a Son, grants thy petitions as if he were discharging
an obligation.[42] By this he means to say, that though Mary is under an
infinite obligation to her Son for having elected her to be his mother,
yet it cannot be denied that the Son also is greatly indebted to his
mother for having given him his human nature; whence Jesus, as if to
recompense Mary as he ought, while he enjoys this his glory, honors her
especially by always graciously listening to her prayers.
How great then should be our confidence in this queen, knowing how
powerful she is with God, and at the same time how rich and full of
mercy; so much so that there is no one on earth who does not share in
the mercies and favors of Mary! This the blessed Virgin herself revealed
to St. Bridget: “I am,” she said to her, “the queen of heaven and the
mother of mercy; I am the joy of the just, and the gate of entrance
for sinners to God; neither is there living on earth a sinner who is
so accursed that he is deprived of my compassion; for every one, if he
receives nothing else through my intercession, receives the grace of
being less tempted by evil spirits than he otherwise would be; no one,
therefore,” she added, “who is not entirely accursed” (by which is meant
the final and irrevocable malediction pronounced against the damned), “is
so entirely cast off by God that he may not return and enjoy his mercy if
he invokes my aid. I am called by all the mother of mercy, and truly the
mercy of God towards men has made me so merciful towards them.” And then
she concluded by saying, “Therefore he shall be miserable, and forever
miserable in another life, who in this, being able, does not have
recourse to me, who am so compassionate to all, and so earnestly desire
to aid sinners.”[43]
Let us then have recourse, let us always have recourse to this most sweet
queen, if we would be sure of our salvation; and if the sight of our
sins terrifies and disheartens us, let us remember that Mary was made
queen of mercy for this very end, that she might save by her protection
the greatest and most abandoned sinners who have recourse to her. They
are to be her crown in heaven, as her divine spouse has said: “Come from
Libanus, my spouse, come from Libanus, come; thou shalt be crowned from
the dens of the lions, from the mountains of the leopards.”[44] And what
are these dens of wild beasts and monsters, if not miserable sinners,
whose souls become dens of sins, the most deformed monsters? Now, by
these same sinners, as Rupert, the abbot, remarks, who are saved by thy
means, oh great Queen Mary, thou wilt be crowned in heaven; for their
salvation will be thy crown, a crown indeed worthy and fit for a queen
of mercy;[45] and let the following example illustrate this.
EXAMPLE.
We read in the life of sister Catherine, an Augustinian nun, that in the
place where that servant of God lived, there lived also a woman named
Mary, who, in her youth, was a sinner, and obstinately persevered in
her evil courses, even to extreme old age. For this she was banished by
her fellow-citizens, forced to live in a cave beyond the limits of the
place, and died in a state of loathsome corruption, abandoned by all,
and without the sacraments; and on this account was buried in a field,
like a beast. Now sister Catherine, who was accustomed to recommend
very affectionately to God the souls of those who had departed this
life, after learning the miserable death of this poor old woman, did
not think of praying for her, as she and every one else believed her
already among the damned. Four years having past, a soul from purgatory
one day appeared to her, and said, “Sister Catherine, how unhappy is my
fate! you commend to God the souls of all those who die, and for my soul
alone you have had no pity.” “And who are you?” said the servant of God.
“I am,” answered she, “that poor Mary who died in the cave.” “How! are
you saved?” exclaimed sister Catherine. “Yes, I am saved,” she said,
“by the mercy of the Virgin Mary.” “And how?” “When I saw death drawing
near, finding myself laden with sins, and abandoned by all, I turned
to the mother of God and said to her, Lady, thou art the refuge of the
abandoned, behold me at this hour deserted by all; thou art my only hope,
thou alone canst help me; have pity on me. The holy Virgin obtained for
me the grace of making an act of contrition; I died and am saved, and
my queen has also obtained for me the grace that my pains should be
abridged, and that I should, by suffering intensely for a short time,
pass through that purification which otherwise would have lasted many
years. A few masses only are needed to obtain my release from purgatory;
I pray thee cause them to be offered for me, and I promise to pray God
and Mary for thee.” Sister Catherine immediately caused those masses to
be said for her, and that soul, after a few days, appeared to her again,
more brilliant than the sun, and said to her, “I thank thee, sister
Catherine: behold, I am now going to paradise to sing the mercy of God
and pray for thee.”
PRAYER.
Oh Mother of my God and my Lady Mary, as a poor wounded and loathsome
wretch presents himself to a great queen, I present myself to thee, who
art the queen of heaven and earth. From the lofty throne on which thou
art seated, do not disdain, I pray thee, to cast thy eyes upon me, a poor
sinner. God hath made thee so rich in order that thou mayest succor
the needy, and hath made thee queen of mercy that thou mayest help the
miserable, look upon me, then, and have pity on me. Look upon me, and do
not leave me until thou hast changed me from a sinner into a saint. I see
I merit nothing, or rather I merit for my ingratitude to be deprived of
all the graces which, by thy means, I have received from the Lord. But
thou, who art the mother of mercy, dost not require merits, but miseries,
that thou mayest succor those who are in need; and who is more poor and
more needy than I?
Oh glorious Virgin, I know that thou, being queen of the universe, art
also my queen; and I, in a more especial manner, would dedicate myself
to thy service; that thou mayest dispose of me as seemeth best to thee.
Therefore I say to thee with St. Bonaventure, Oh, Lady, I submit myself
to thy control, that thou mayest rule and govern me entirely. Do not
leave me to myself.[46] Rule me, oh my queen, and do not leave me to
myself. Command me, employ me as thou wilt, and punish me if I do not
obey thee, for very salutary will be the punishments that come from thy
hand. I would esteem it a greater thing to be thy servant than Lord of
the whole earth. _Thine I am, save me!_[47] Accept me, oh Mary, for thy
own, and attend to my salvation, as I am thine own. I no longer will be
my own, I give myself to thee. And if hitherto I have so poorly served
thee, having lost so many good occasions of honoring thee, for the
time to come I will unite myself to thy most loving and most faithful
servants. No one from this time henceforth shall surpass me in honoring
and loving thee, my most lovely queen. This I promise, and this I hope to
perform with thy assistance. Amen.
SECTION II.
HOW MUCH GREATER SHOULD BE OUR CONFIDENCE IN MARY BECAUSE SHE IS OUR
MOTHER.
Not by chance, nor in vain, do the servants of Mary call her mother, and
it would seem that they cannot invoke her by any other name, and are
never weary of calling her mother; mother, indeed, for she is truly our
mother, not according to the flesh, but the spiritual mother of our souls
and of our salvation. Sin, when it deprived our souls of divine grace,
also deprived them of life. Hence, when they were dead in misery and
sin, Jesus our Redeemer came with an excess of mercy and love to restore
to us, by his death upon the cross, that lost life, as he has himself
declared: “I am come that they may have life, and may have it more
abundantly.”[48] _More abundantly_, because, as the theologians teach us,
Jesus Christ by his redemption brought us blessings greater than the
injury Adam inflicted upon us by his sin; he reconciled us to God, and
thus became the father of our souls, under the new law of grace, as the
prophet Isaiah predicted: “The Father of the world to come, the Prince of
peace.”[49] But if Jesus is the father of our souls, Mary is the mother;
for, in giving us Jesus, she gave us the true life; and offering upon
Calvary the life of her Son for our salvation, she then brought us forth
to the life of divine grace.
At two different times, then, as the holy Fathers show us, Mary became
our spiritual mother; the first when she was found worthy of conceiving
in her virginal womb the Son of God, as the blessed Albertus Magnus says.
St. Bernardine of Sienna more distinctly teaches us that when the most
holy Virgin, on the annunciation of the angel, gave her consent to become
mother of the eternal Word, which he awaited before making himself her
Son, she by this consent even from that time demanded of God, with lively
affection, our salvation; and she was so earnestly engaged in obtaining
it, that from that time she has borne us, as it were, in her womb, as a
most loving mother.[50]
St. Luke says, speaking of the birth of our Saviour, that Mary “brought
forth her first-born son.”[51] Therefore, says a certain writer, if the
evangelist affirms that Mary brought forth her first-born, is it to be
supposed that she afterwards had other children? But the same author
adds: If it is of faith that Mary had no other children according to the
flesh except Jesus, then she must have other spiritual children, and
these we are.[52] Our Lord revealed this to St. Gertrude, who, reading
one day the passage of the Gospel just quoted, was troubled, not knowing
how to understand it, that Mary being mother of Jesus Christ alone, it
could be said that he was her first-born. And God explained it to her,
by telling her that Jesus was her first-born according to the flesh, but
that men were her second-born according to the spirit.
And this explains what is said of Mary in the holy Canticles: “Thy belly
is as a heap of wheat, set about with lilies.”[53] St. Ambrose explains
this and says: Although in the pure womb of Mary there was only one grain
of wheat, which was Jesus Christ, yet it is called a heap of grain,
because in that one grain were contained all the elect, of whom Mary was
to be the mother.[54] Hence, William the Abbot wrote, Mary, in bringing
forth Jesus, who is our Saviour and our life, brought forth all of us to
life and salvation.[55]
The second time in which Mary brought us forth to grace was, when on
Calvary, she offered to the eternal Father with so much sorrow of heart
the life of her beloved Son for our salvation. Wherefore, St. Augustine
asserts, that, having then co-operated by her love with Christ in the
birth of the faithful to the life of grace, she became also by this
co-operation the spiritual mother of us all, who are members of our
head, Jesus Christ.[56] This is also the meaning of what is said of the
blessed Virgin in the sacred Canticles: “They have made me the keeper
in the vineyards; my vineyard I have not kept.”[57] Mary, to save our
souls, was willing to sacrifice the life of her Son,[58] as William the
Abbot remarks. And who was the soul of Mary, but her Jesus, who was her
life and all her love? Wherefore St. Simeon announced to her that her
soul would one day be pierced by a sword of sorrow;[59] which was the
very spear that pierced the side of Jesus, who was the soul of Mary. And
then she in her sorrow brought us forth to eternal life; so that we may
all call ourselves children of the dolors of Mary. She, our most loving
mother, was always and wholly united to the divine will; whence St.
Bonaventure remarks, that when she saw the love of the eternal Father for
men, who would have his Son die for our salvation, and the love of the
Son in wishing to die for us, she too, with her whole will, offered her
Son and consented that he should die that we might be saved, in order
to conform herself to that exceeding love of the Father and Son for the
human race.[60]
It is true that, in dying for the redemption of the world, Jesus wished
to be alone. I have trodden the wine-press alone,[61] “Torcular calcavi
solus.” But when God saw the great desire of Mary to devote herself also
to the salvation of men, he ordained that by the sacrifice and offering
of the life of this same Jesus, she might co-operate with him in the
work of our salvation, and thus become mother of our souls. And this
our Saviour signified, when, before expiring, he saw from the cross his
mother and the disciple St. John both standing near him, and first spoke
to Mary: Behold thy son, “Ecce filius tuus;”[62] as if he said to her:
Behold the man who, by the offering thou hast made of my life for his
salvation, is already born to grace. And then turning to the disciple, he
said: Behold thy mother, “Ecce mater tua.”[63] By which words, says St.
Bernardine of Sienna, Mary was then made mother not only of St. John, but
of all men, for the love she bore them.[64] On this account, as Silveira
observes, St. John himself, when recording this fact in his Gospel,
wrote, “After that he said to the disciple: “Behold thy mother.”[65] Let
it be remarked that Jesus Christ did not say this to John, but to the
disciple, to signify that the Saviour appointed Mary for common mother of
all those who, being Christians, bear the name of his disciples.[66]
I am the mother of fair love,[67] “Ego sum mater pulchræ dilectionis,”
said Mary; because her love, as an author remarks, which renders the
souls of men beautiful in the eye of God, prompts her, as a loving
mother, to receive us for her children.[68] And as a mother loves
her children, and watches over their welfare, so thou, oh our most
sweet queen, lovest us, and dost procure our happiness, says St.
Bonaventure.[69]
Oh, happy those who live under the protection of a mother so loving and
so powerful! The prophet David, although Mary was not yet born, besought
of God salvation, by dedicating himself to Mary as her son, and thus
prayed: “Save the son of thy handmaid.”[70] “Whose handmaid?” asks St.
Augustine:[71] “she who says: Behold the handmaid of the Lord.”[72]
And who, says the Cardinal Bellarmine, who would dare to snatch these
children from the bosom of Mary, where they have taken refuge from
their enemies? What fury of hell or of passion can conquer them, if
they place their trust in the protection of this great mother?[73] It
is narrated of the whale, that when she sees her young in peril, from
the tempest or their pursuers, she opens her mouth and receives them
into her bowels. Just so, says Novarino, does this compassionate mother
of the faithful, when the tempest of the passions is raging. She then,
with maternal affection, protects them as it were in her own bowels,
and continues to shelter them until she has placed them in the secure
haven of paradise.[74] Oh, most loving mother! Oh, most compassionate
mother, be ever blessed! and may that God be ever blessed, who has given
us thee as a mother, and as a secure refuge in all the dangers of this
life. The blessed Virgin herself revealed this to St. Bridget, saying:
“As a mother who sees her son exposed to the sword of the enemy, makes
every effort to save him, thus do I, and will I ever do for my children,
sinful though they be, if they come to me for help.”[75] Behold, then,
how in every battle with hell we shall always conquer, and certainly
conquer, if we have recourse to the mother of God and our mother, always
repeating: “We fly to thy protection, oh holy mother of God; we fly to
thy protection, oh holy mother of God.”[76] Oh, how many victories have
the faithful obtained over hell, by having recourse to Mary with this
short but powerful prayer! That great servant of God, sister Mary of the
Crucifixion, a Benedictine nun, by this means always conquered the evil
spirits.
Be joyful, then, all ye children of Mary; remember that she adopts as her
children all those who wish her for their mother. Joyful; for what fear
have you of being lost when this mother defends and protects you? Thus
says St. Bonaventure: Every one who loves this good mother and trusts in
her protection, should take courage and repeat: What do you fear, oh my
soul? The cause of thy eternal salvation will not be lost, as the final
sentence depends upon Jesus, who is thy brother, and upon Mary, who is
thy mother.[77] And St. Anselm, full of joy at this thought, exclaims,
in order to encourage us: Oh, blessed confidence! Oh, secure refuge!
The mother of God is my mother also. With what certainty may we hope,
since our salvation depends upon the sentence of a good brother and of
a kind mother![78] Hear, then, our mother who calls us, and says to us:
“Whosoever is a little one, let him come to me.”[79] Little children have
always on their lips the word mother, and in all the dangers to which
they are exposed, and in all their fears, they cry, mother, mother! Ah,
most sweet Mary! Ah, most loving mother! this is exactly what thou dost
desire; that we become little children, and always call upon thee in our
dangers, and always have recourse to thee, for thou wishest to aid and
save us, as thou hast saved all thy children who have had recourse to
thee.
EXAMPLE.
In the history of the foundations of the Company of Jesus, in the kingdom
of Naples, is related the following story of a noble youth of Scotland,
named William Elphinstone. He was a relation of King James. Born a
heretic, he followed the false sect to which he belonged; but enlightened
by divine grace, which showed him his errors, he went to France, where,
with the assistance of a good Jesuit father, who was like himself a
Scotchman, and still more by the intercession of the blessed Virgin, he
at length saw the truth, abjured heresy, and became a Catholic. He went
afterwards to Rome, where a friend of his found him one day very much
afflicted, and weeping. He asked him the cause, and he answered, that
in the night his mother had appeared to him and said: “My son, it is
well for thee that thou hast entered the true Church; I am already lost,
because I died in heresy.” From that time he became more fervent in his
devotion to Mary, chose her for his mother, and by her was inspired to
become a religious. He made a vow to do so, but being ill, he went to
Naples to restore his health by a change of air. But the Lord ordered it
so that he should die in Naples, and die a religious; for, having become
dangerously ill soon after his arrival there, he by prayers and tears
obtained from the superiors admittance, and when about receiving the
viaticum, he made his vows in presence of the blessed sacrament, and was
enrolled in the society. After this, in the tenderness of his feelings,
he gave thanks to his mother Mary for having rescued him from heresy, and
brought him to die in the true Church, and in a religious house in the
midst of his brethren. Therefore, he exclaimed: “Oh! how glorious it is
to die in the midst of so many angels!” Being exhorted to take a little
rest, he answered: “Ah, this is not the time to rest when the end of my
life is drawing near.” Before dying, he said to the persons present:
“Brethren, do you not see the angels of heaven around me?” One of the
religious having heard him murmuring something to himself, asked him what
he had said. He answered, that his angel-guardian had revealed to him
that he should be in purgatory but a short time, and would soon enter
paradise. Then he began again to talk with his sweet mother Mary, and
repeating the word, mother, mother, he tranquilly expired, like a child
falling asleep in the arms of its mother. Soon after, it was revealed to
a devout religious that he had already entered paradise.
PRAYER.
Oh, my most holy mother, how is it possible that, having so holy a
mother, I should be so wicked? A mother so inflamed with love to God, and
that I should so love creatures? A mother so rich in virtue, and that I
should be so poor? Oh, my most amiable mother! I no longer deserve, it
is true, to be thy son, because by my bad life I have rendered myself
unworthy. I am content if thou wilt accept me as thy servant. I am
ready to renounce all the kingdoms of the earth, to be admitted among
the lowest of thy servants. Yes, I am content, but do not forbid me to
call thee my mother. This name wholly consoles me, melts me, and reminds
me of my obligation to love thee. This name encourages me to confide in
thee. When I am the most terrified at the thought of my sins and of the
divine justice, I feel myself comforted by the remembrance that thou art
my mother. Permit me, then, to call thee my mother, my sweetest mother.
Thus I call thee, and thus I will ever call thee. Thou, next to God,
shalt always be my hope, my refuge, and my love, in this valley of tears.
And thus I hope to die, commending my soul, at the last moment, into thy
sacred hands, saying: “My mother, my mother Mary, help me, have pity on
me.” Amen.
SECTION III.
HOW GREAT IS THE LOVE OF OUR MOTHER FOR US.
If, then, Mary is our mother, let us consider how much she loves us. The
love of parents for their children is a necessary love, and for this
reason, as St. Thomas observes,[80] children are commanded in the divine
law to love their parents; but there is no command, on the other hand,
given to parents to love their children, for love towards one’s own
offspring is a love so deeply planted in the heart by nature herself,
that even the wild beasts, as St. Ambrose says, never fail to love their
young.[81] It is said that even tigers, hearing the cry of their whelps
when they are taken by the hunters, will plunge into the sea to swim
after the vessels where they are confined. If, then, says our most loving
mother Mary, even tigers cannot forget their young, how can I forget to
love you, my children? And, she adds, even if it should happen that a
mother could forget her child, it is not possible that I can forget a
soul which is my child.[82]
Mary is our mother, not according to the flesh, but by love: “I am the
mother of fair love.”[83] Hence she becomes our mother only on account of
the love she bears us; and she glories, says a certain author, in being
the mother of love; because, having taken us for her children, she is all
love towards us.[84] Who can describe the love of Mary for us miserable
creatures? Arnold of Carnotensis says that, at the death of Jesus Christ,
she ardently desired to die with her Son for our sake.[85] So that, as
St. Ambrose adds, when her Son hung dying on the cross, Mary offered
herself to his murderers, that she might give her life for us.[86]
But let us consider the reasons of this love, for thus we shall better
understand how this good mother loves us. The first reason of the great
love that Mary bears to men, is the great love she bears to God. Love to
God and man is contained in the same precept, as St. John has written:
“This commandment we have from God, that he who loveth God, love also
his brother;”[87] so that one increases as the other increases. Hence
what have the saints not done for love of the neighbor, because they have
loved God so much? They have gone so far as to expose and lose liberty
and even life for his salvation. Let us read what St. Francis Xavier
did in India, where, for the sake of the souls of those barbarians, he
climbed mountains, and exposed himself to innumerable dangers to find
those wretched beings, in the caverns where they dwelt like wild beasts,
and to lead them to God. St. Francis de Sales, to convert the heretics of
the province of Chablais, risked his life by crossing a river every day
for a year, on his hands and knees, upon a frozen beam, that he might go
to the other side to preach to those stubborn men. St. Paulinus became
a slave, to obtain liberty for the son of a poor widow. St. Fidelis, to
bring the heretics of a certain place back to God, willingly consented,
in preaching to them, to lose his life. The saints, then, because they
have loved God so much, have done much for love of the neighbor. But
who has loved God more than Mary? She loved God more, in the first
moment of her life, than all the saints and angels have loved him in
the whole course of theirs; as we shall consider at length, when we
speak of the virtues of Mary. She herself revealed to sister Mary of the
Crucifixion,[88] that the fire of love with which she burned for God was
so great, that it would in a moment inflame heaven and earth; and that,
in comparison to it, all the flames of the burning love of the seraphim
were as cool breezes. Therefore, as there is none among the blessed
spirits who loves God more than Mary; so there is, and can be none,
except God, who loves us more than this our most loving mother. If the
love of all mothers for their children, of all husbands for their wives,
and of all saints and angels for their devoted servants, were united,
it would not be so great as the love that Mary bears to one soul alone.
Father Nierembergh says that the love which all mothers have borne to
their children is a shadow when compared with the love which Mary bears
to any one of us. Truly she alone loves us more, he adds, than all the
angels and saints united.
Moreover, our mother loves us much, because we have been commended to
her as children by her beloved Jesus, when, before expiring, he said to
her: “Woman, behold thy son;”[89] signifying by the person of John, all
men, as we have before remarked. These were the last words of her Son
to her. The last remembrances left by beloved friends at the moment of
their death are greatly valued, and the memory of them is never lost.
Moreover, we are children extremely dear to Mary, because we cost her so
much suffering. Those children are much dearer to a mother whose lives
she has preserved:—we are those children, for whom, that we may have the
life of grace, Mary suffered the pain of sacrificing the dear life of her
Jesus; submitting, for our sake, to see him die before her eyes in cruel
torments. By this great offering of Mary we were then born to the life
of divine grace. So, then, we are children very dear to her, because we
were redeemed at such a cost of suffering. Accordingly, as we read of the
love which the eternal Father has manifested for men by giving his own
Son to death for us, “God so loved the world as to give his only-begotten
Son:”[90] as St. Bonaventure remarks, it may be said of Mary also, that
she so loved us as to give her only-begotten Son.[91] And when did she
give him to us? She gave him to us, says Father Nierembergh, when first
she consented to his death; she gave him to us, when others deserted him
through hatred or through fear, and she alone could have defended, before
the judges, the life of her Son. We can easily believe that the words of
so wise and tender a mother would have had a great power, at least with
Pilate, to induce him to abstain from condemning to death a man whom he
knew and declared innocent. But no, Mary would not utter even one word
in favor of her Son, to prevent his death, upon which our salvation
depended; finally, she gave him to us again and again at the foot of the
cross, in those three hours when she was witnessing his death; because
then, at every moment, she was offering up for us his life, with the
deepest grief, and the greatest love for us, at the cost of great trouble
and suffering, and with such firmness, that if executioners had been
wanting, as St. Anselm and St. Antoninus tell us, she herself would have
crucified him in obedience to the will of the Father, who had decreed he
should die for our salvation. And if Abraham showed a similar fortitude
in consenting to sacrifice his son with his own hands, we must believe
that Mary would certainly have done the same, with more resolution, as
she was holier, and more obedient than Abraham. But to return to our
subject. How grateful should we be to Mary, for an act of so much love!
for the sacrifice she made of the life of her Son, in the midst of so
much anguish, to obtain salvation for us all! The Lord, indeed, rewarded
Abraham for the sacrifice he was prepared to make to him of his son
Isaac; but what can we render to Mary for the life of her Jesus, as
she has given us a Son more noble and beloved than the son of Abraham?
This love of Mary, says St. Bonaventure, greatly obliges us to love her,
seeing that she has loved us more than any other created being loves
us, since she has given for us her only Son, whom she loved more than
herself.[92]
And from this follows another reason why we are so much beloved by Mary:
because she knows that we have been purchased by the death of Jesus
Christ. If a mother should see a servant redeemed by a beloved son of
hers, by twenty years of imprisonment and suffering, for this reason
alone how much would she esteem that servant! Mary well knows that her
Son came upon earth solely to save us miserable sinners, as he himself
declared: “I have come to save what was lost.”[93] And to save us he
has consented to lay down his life for us: “Becoming obedient unto
death.”[94] If Mary, then, had little love for us, she would slightly
value the blood of her Son, which was the price of our salvation. It was
revealed to St. Elizabeth, the nun, that Mary, from the time she was in
the temple, was always praying that God would quickly send his Son to
save the world. Now, how much more certainly must we believe that she
loves us, after she has seen us so greatly prized by her Son, that he
deigned to purchase us at such a cost!
And because all men have been redeemed by Jesus, Mary loves and favors
all. She was seen by St. John clothed with the sun: “And there appeared
a great wonder in heaven, a woman clothed with the sun.”[95] She is
said to be clothed with the sun, because, as “There is no one that can
hide himself from his heat,”[96] so there is no one living on the earth
who is deprived of the love of Mary. From the heat of the sun, as it is
explained by the venerable Raymond Jordan, who through humility called
himself the Idiot, that is, from the love of Mary.[97] And who, says St.
Anthony, can comprehend the care which this loving mother has of us all?
Therefore, to all she offers and dispenses her mercy.[98] For our mother
has desired the salvation of all, and has co-operated with her Son in the
salvation of all.
It is certain that she is concerned for the whole human race, as St.
Bernard affirms;[99] hence the practice of some devout servants of Mary
is very useful, who, as Cornelius à Lapide relates, have the habit of
praying our Lord to grant them those graces which the blessed Virgin is
seeking for them, using these words: “Oh Lord, give me what the most holy
Virgin Mary is asking for me.”[100] And this is well, as à Lapide adds,
for our mother desires greater things for us than we think of asking
for ourselves.[101] The devout Bernardine de Bustis says, that Mary is
more desirous to do us good, and bestow favors upon us, than we are to
receive them.[102] Therefore blessed Albertus Magnus applies to Mary the
words of wisdom: “She preventeth them that covet her, so that she first
showeth herself unto them.”[103] So great is the love, says Richard of
St. Laurence, which this good mother bears us, that when she perceives
our necessities, she comes to relieve them. She hastens before she is
invoked.[104]
If Mary, then, is so good to all, even to the ungrateful and negligent,
who have but little love for her, and seldom have recourse to her, how
much more loving must she not be to those who love her and often invoke
her! “She is easily seen by them that love her.”[105] Oh, how easy it is,
exclaims the same blessed Albertus, for those who love Mary to find her,
and find her full of love and pity! “I love them that love me,”[106] she
assures us, and declares that she cannot but love those who love her. And
although our most loving lady loves all men as her children, yet, says
St. Bernard, she recognizes and loves especially those who most tenderly
love her. Those happy lovers of Mary, as the Idiot asserts, are not only
loved, but served by her.[107]
Leonard the Dominican, as we read in the chronicles of his order, who was
accustomed to recommend himself two hundred times a day to this mother
of mercy, when he was on his death-bed, saw one beautiful as a queen by
his side, who said to him: “Leonard, do you wish to die and come to my
Son and me?” “Who are you?” answered the religious. “I am the mother of
mercy,” replied the Virgin; “you have many times invoked me, and now I
come to take you: let us go to paradise.” On that same day Leonard died,
and we hope that he followed her to the kingdom of the blessed.
“Ah, most sweet Mary, blessed is he who loves you!” the venerable brother
John Berchmans, of the Society of Jesus, used to say: “If I love Mary, I
am sure of perseverance, and I shall obtain from God whatsoever I wish.”
And this devout youth was never satisfied with renewing his intention,
and often repeated to himself: “I will love Mary, I will love Mary.”
Oh, how much this our good mother exceeds all her children in affection,
even if they love her to the extent of their power! “Mary is always more
loving than her lovers,” says St. Ignatius, martyr.[108] Let us love
her as much as St. Stanislas Kostka, who loved this his dear mother so
tenderly, that when he spoke of her, every one who heard him desired to
love her also; he invented new titles by which he honored her name; he
never commenced an action without first turning to her image and asking
her blessing; when he recited her office, her rosary, and other prayers,
he repeated them with such affectionate earnestness, that he seemed
speaking face to face with Mary; when he heard the Salve Regina sung,
his soul and even his countenance was all on fire; when asked one day by
a father of the society, as they were going together to visit an altar
of the blessed Virgin, how much he loved her, “Father,” he answered,
“what can I say more than that she is my mother?” And that father tells
us how the holy youth spoke these words with such tender emotion of
voice, countenance, and heart, that he appeared not a man, but an angel
discoursing of the love of Mary.
Let us love her as much as blessed Hermann, who called her his beloved
spouse, whilst he also was honored by Mary with the same name. As much
as St. Philip Neri, who felt wholly consoled in merely thinking of Mary,
and on this account named her his delight. As much as St. Bonaventure,
who not only called her his lady and mother, but, to show the tender
affection he bore her, went so far as to call her his heart and his soul:
“Hail, lady, my mother; yea, my heart, my soul.”[109] Let us love her as
much as her great lover St. Bernard, who loved his sweet mother so much,
that he called her “the ravisher of hearts:”[110] whence the saint, in
order to express to her the ardent love he bore her, said to her, “Hast
thou not stolen my heart?”[111] Let us name her our beloved mistress,
as St. Bernardine of Sienna named her, who went every day to visit her
before her sacred image, in order to declare his love in the tender
colloquies he held with his queen. When he was asked where he went every
day, he answered that he went to find his beloved. Let them love her as
much as St. Louis of Gonzaga, who burned continually with so great love
of Mary, that as soon as he heard the sound of the sweet name of his dear
mother, his heart kindled, and a flame, perceptible to all, lighted up
his countenance. Let us love her like St. Francis Solano, who, distracted
by a holy passion for Mary, sometimes went with a musical instrument to
sing of love before her altar, saying that, like earthly lovers, he was
serenading his beloved queen.
Let us love her as so many of her servants have loved her, who had no
way left of manifesting their love to her. Father Jerome of Trexo, of
the Society of Jesus, delighted in calling himself the slave of Mary,
and as a mark of his servitude went often to visit her in a church:
and what did he do there? He watered the church with the tears of that
tender love which he felt for Mary; then he wiped them with his lips,
kissing that pavement a thousand times, remembering that it was the house
of his beloved mistress. Father Diego Martinez, of the same society,
who, on account of his devotion to our Lady, on the feasts of Mary, was
carried by angels to heaven, that he might see with how much devotion
they were celebrated there, said, “Would that I had all the hearts of
the angels and the saints to love Mary as they love her. Would that I
had the lives of all men, to devote them all to the love of Mary!” Let
others love her as Charles the son of St. Bridget loved her, who said
that he knew of nothing in the world which gave him so much consolation
as the thought of how much Mary was beloved by God; and he added, that
he would accept every suffering rather than that Mary should lose, if it
were possible for her to lose it, the least portion of her greatness; and
if the greatness of Mary were his, he would renounce it in her behalf,
because she was more worthy of it. Let us desire to sacrifice our life
in testimony of our love to Mary, as Alphonso Rodriguez desired to do.
Let us, like Francesco Binanzio, a religious, and Radagunde, wife of King
Clotaire, engrave with sharp instruments of iron upon our breast the
sweet name of Mary. Let us, with red-hot iron, impress upon our flesh
the beloved name, that it may be more distinct and more enduring, as did
her devoted servants Battista Archinto and Agostino d’Espinosa, both of
the Company of Jesus.
If, then, the lovers of Mary imitate, as much as possible, those lovers
who endeavor to make known their affection to the person beloved, they
can never love her so much as she loves them. I know, oh Lady, said
St. Peter Damian, how loving thou art, and that thou lovest us with
unconquerable love.[112] The venerable Alphonso Rodriguez, of the Society
of Jesus, was once standing before an image of Mary; and there burning
with love for the most holy Virgin, broke forth into these words: “My
most amiable mother, I know that thou lovest me, but thou dost not love
me so much as I love thee.” Then Mary, as if wounded in her love, spoke
to him from that image and said: “What dost thou say—what dost thou say,
oh Alphonso? Oh, how much greater is the love I bear thee than the love
thou bearest me! Know that the distance from heaven to earth is not so
great as from my love to thine.”
With how much reason, then, did St. Bonaventure exclaim: Blessed are
those whose lot it is to be faithful servants and lovers of this most
loving mother![113] For this most grateful queen is never surpassed in
love by her devoted servants.[114] Mary, in this respect, imitating our
loving Redeemer Jesus Christ, makes by her favors a twofold return to him
who loves her. I will exclaim, then, with the enamored St. Anselm: May my
heart languish, may my soul melt with your never-failing love.[115] May
my heart always burn and my soul be consumed with love for you, oh Jesus,
my beloved Saviour, oh my dear mother Mary. Grant then, oh Jesus and
Mary, since without your grace I cannot love you, grant to my soul, not
through my merits, but through yours, that I may love you as you deserve.
Oh God! the lover of men, thou hast died for thy enemies, and canst thou
deny to him who asks it, the grace of loving thee and thy mother?[116]
EXAMPLE.
It is narrated by Father Auriemma,[117] that a poor shepherdess loved
Mary so much that all her delight was to go to a little chapel of
our Lady, on a mountain, and there in solitude, while her sheep were
feeding, to converse with her beloved mother and pay her devotion to
her. When she saw that the figure of Mary, in relief, was unadorned,
she began, by the poor labor of her hands, to make a drapery for it.
Having gathered one day some flowers in the fields, she wove them into a
garland, and then ascending the altar of that little chapel, placed it
on the head of the figure, saying: “Oh, my mother, I would that I could
place on thy head a crown of gold and gems; but as I am poor, receive
from me this poor crown of flowers, and accept it as a token of the love
I bear thee.” Thus this devout maiden always endeavored to serve and
honor her beloved Lady. But let us see how our good mother, on the other
hand, rewarded the visits and the affection of her child. She fell ill,
and was near her end. It happened that two religious passing that way,
weary with travelling, stopped to rest under a tree; one fell asleep
and the other watched, but both had the same vision. They saw a company
of beautiful virgins, and among them there was one who, in loveliness
and majesty, surpassed the rest. One of the brothers addressed her, and
said: “Lady, who art thou? and where art thou going?” “I am the mother
of God,” she replied, “and I am going to the neighboring village, with
these holy virgins, to visit a dying shepherdess, who has many times
visited me.” She spoke thus and disappeared. These two good servants of
God proposed to each other to go and visit her also. They went towards
the place where the dying maiden lived, entered a small cottage, and
there found her lying upon a little straw. They saluted her, and she said
to them: “Brothers, ask of God that he may permit you to see the company
that surrounds me.” They were quickly on their knees, and saw Mary, with
a crown in her hand by the side of the dying girl, consoling her. Then
those holy virgins began to sing, and with that sweet music the blessed
soul was released from the body. Mary crowned her, and took her soul with
her to paradise.
PRAYER.
_Oh Lady, Ravisher of hearts!_ I would exclaim with St. Bonaventure; who,
with the love and favor thou dost bestow upon thy servants, dost ravish
their hearts; take my miserable heart also, which desires so earnestly
to love thee. Thou, oh my mother, with thy beauty hast enamored a God,
and hast drawn him from heaven into thy bosom, and shall I live without
loving thee? No. I will say to thee with thy loving child John Berchmans:
“I will never rest until I have attained a tender love for my mother
Mary.”[118] No, I will not rest until I am certain of having obtained a
love—a constant and tender love for thee, my mother, who hast loved me
with so much tenderness even when I was so ungrateful towards thee. And
where should I now be if thou, oh Mary, hadst not loved me, and obtained
so many favors for me? If then thou hast loved me so much when I did not
love thee, how much more may I confide in thy goodness, now that I love
thee? I love thee, oh my mother, and would wish for a heart capable of
loving thee, for all those unhappy beings who do not love thee. Would
that my tongue could praise thee with the power of a thousand tongues, in
order to make known thy greatness, thy holiness, thy mercy, and thy love,
with which thou lovest those who love thee. If I had riches, I would
employ them all for thy honor; if I had subjects, I would make them all
thy lovers; for thee and for thy glory I would give my life, if it were
required. I love thee, oh my mother, but at the same time I fear that
thou dost not love me, for I have heard that love makes lovers like those
they love.[119] If then I find myself so unlike to thee, it is a proof
that I do not love thee. Thou so pure, I so unclean; thou so humble, I so
proud; thou so holy, I so sinful. But this, oh Mary, is to be thy work;
since thou lovest me, make me like unto thyself. Thou hast the power to
change the heart; take then mine and change it. Let the world see what
thou canst do for those who love thee. Make me holy—make me worthy of thy
Son. Thus I hope; thus may it be.
SECTION IV.
MARY IS ALSO MOTHER OF PENITENT SINNERS.
Mary assured St. Bridget that she was mother not only of the just and
innocent, but also of sinners, provided they wish to amend.[120] When a
sinner becomes penitent, and throws himself at her feet, he finds this
good mother of mercy more ready to embrace and aid him than any earthly
mother could be. This St. Gregory wrote to the Princess Matilda: “Desire
to cease from sin, and I confidently promise you you will find Mary more
prompt than an earthly mother in thy behalf.”[121] But whoever aspires
to be the son of this great mother, must first leave off sinning, and
then let him hope to be accepted as her son. Richard, commenting upon
the words, “Then rose up her children,”[122] remarks, that first comes
the word rose up, _surrexerunt_, and then children, _filii_; because he
cannot be a son of Mary who does not first rise from the iniquity into
which he has fallen.[123] For, says St. Peter Chrysologus, he who does
works contrary to those of Mary, by such conduct denies that he wishes to
be her son.[124] Mary is humble, and will he be proud? Mary is pure, and
will he be impure? Mary is full of love, and will he hate his neighbor?
He proves that he is not, and does not wish to be the son of this holy
mother, when he so much disgusts her with his life. The sons of Mary,
repeats Richard of St. Laurence, are her imitators in chastity, humility,
meekness, mercy.[125] And how can he who so much disgusts her with his
life, dare to call himself the son of Mary? A certain sinner once said
to Mary, “Show thyself a mother;”[126] but the Virgin answered him,
“Show thyself a son.”[127] Another, one day, invoked this divine mother,
calling her mother of mercy. But Mary said to him, “When you sinners wish
me to aid you, you call me mother of mercy, and yet by your sins make me
the mother of misery and grief.” “He is cursed of God that angereth his
mother.”[128] His mother—that is, Mary, remarks Richard.[129] God curses
every one who afflicts this his good mother, by his bad life or his
wilfulness.
I have said wilfulness, for when a sinner, although he may not have
left his sins, makes an effort to quit them, and seeks the aid of Mary,
this mother will not fail to assist him, and bring him to the grace of
God. This St. Bridget once learned from Jesus Christ himself, who,
speaking with his mother, said: “Thou dost aid those who are striving
to rise to God, and dost leave no soul without thy consolation.”[130]
While the sinner, then, is obstinate, Mary cannot love him; but if he
finds himself enchained by some passion which makes him a slave of hell,
and will commend himself to the Virgin, and implore her with confidence
and perseverance to rescue him from his sin, this good mother will
not fail to extend her powerful hand, she will loose his chains, and
bring him to a state of safety. It is a heresy, condemned by the sacred
Council of Trent, to say that all the prayers and works of a person in
a state of sin are sins. St. Bernard says that prayer in the mouth of
a sinner, although it is without supernatural excellence, since it is
not accompanied by charity, yet is useful and efficient in obtaining a
release from sin; for, as St. Thomas teaches,[131] the prayer of the
sinner is indeed without merit, but it serves to obtain the grace of
pardon; for the power of obtaining it is based not upon the worth of him
who prays, but upon the divine bounty, and upon the merits and promise
of Jesus Christ, who has said, “Every one that asketh receiveth.”[132]
The same may be said of the prayers offered to the divine mother. If he
who prays, says St. Anselm, does not deserve to be heard, the merits
of Mary, to whom he commends himself, will cause him to be heard.[133]
Hence St. Bernard exhorts every sinner to pray to Mary, and to feel
great confidence in praying to her; because if he does not deserve what
he demands, yet Mary obtains for him, by her merits, the graces which
she asks of God for him.[134] The office of a good mother, says the same
saint, is this: if a mother knew that her two sons were deadly enemies,
and that one was plotting against the life of the other, what would she
do but endeavor in every way to pacify him? Thus, says the saint, Mary
is mother of Jesus, and mother of man; when she sees any one by his sin
an enemy of Jesus Christ, she cannot endure it, and makes every effort
to reconcile them.[135] Our most indulgent lady only requires the sinner
to commend himself to her, and have the intention to reform. When she
sees a sinner coming to implore mercy at her feet, she does not regard
the sins with which he is laden, but the intention with which he comes.
If he comes with a good intention, though he have committed all the sins
in the world, she embraces him, and this most loving mother condescends
to heal all the wounds of his soul; for she is not only called by us the
mother of mercy, but she really is such, and shows herself such by the
love and tenderness with which she succors us. The blessed Virgin herself
expressed all this to St. Bridget, when she said to her, “However great
may be a man’s sins, when he turns to me, I am immediately ready to
receive him; neither do I consider how much he has sinned, but with what
intention he comes; for I do not disdain to anoint and heal his wounds,
because I am called, and truly am, the mother of mercy.”[136]
Mary is the mother of sinners who desire to be converted, and as a mother
she cannot but compassionate them, and it even seems that she regards the
woes of her poor children as her own. When the woman of Chanaan implored
Jesus Christ to liberate her daughter from the demon which tormented her,
she said: “Have mercy on me, oh Lord, thou son of David; my daughter
is grievously troubled by a devil.”[137] But as the daughter, not the
mother, was tormented by the devil, it would seem that she should have
said, “Oh Lord, have mercy on my daughter,” not “have mercy upon me;”
but no, she said, “Have mercy upon me,”[138] and with reason, for all
the miseries of children are felt as their own by their mothers. Exactly
thus Mary prays God, says Richard of St. Laurence, when she commends
to him a sinner who has recommended himself to her: “Have mercy upon
me.”[139] It is as if she said to him, My Lord, this poor creature, who
is in sin, is my child; have pity on him, not so much on him as on me who
am his mother. Oh, would to God that all sinners would have recourse to
this sweet mother, for all would certainly be pardoned by God. Oh Mary,
exclaims St. Bonaventure, in wonder; thou dost embrace, with maternal
affection, the sinner who is despised by the whole world! neither dost
thou leave him until he is reconciled to his Judge![140] The saint here
intends to say that the sinner who remains in sin is hated and rejected
by all men; even insensible creatures, fire, air, the earth, would
punish him, and inflict vengeance upon him in order to repair the honor
of their insulted Lord. But if this wretch has recourse to Mary, does
she banish him from her presence? No: if he comes asking for help, and
intending to amend, she embraces him with the affection of a mother, and
does not leave him until she has reconciled him to God by her powerful
intercession, and re-established him in his grace.
We read in the 2d book of Kings,[141] that the wise woman of Thecua said
to David: “My Lord, I had two sons, and for my misfortune one has killed
the other; so that I have already lost a child; justice would now take
from me my other and only son; have pity on me a poor mother, and do not
let me be deprived of both my children.” Then David had compassion on
this mother, and liberated the criminal, and restored him to her.[142]
It appears that Mary offers the same petition when God is angry with a
sinner, who has recourse to her: Oh my God, she says to him, I had two
sons, Jesus and man; man has killed my Jesus on the cross; thy justice
would now condemn man; my Lord, my Jesus is dead; have mercy upon me, and
if I have lost one, do not condemn me to lose the other also. Ah, God
assuredly does not condemn those sinners who have recourse to Mary, and
for whom she prays; since God himself has given these sinners to Mary for
her children. The devout Lanspergius puts these words into the mouth of
our Lord: I have commended sinners to Mary as her children. Wherefore she
is so watchful in the performance of her office that she permits none to
be lost who are committed to her care, especially those who invoke her,
and uses all her power to lead them back to me. And who can describe,
says Blosius, the goodness, the mercy, the fidelity, and the charity with
which this our mother strives to save us, when we invoke her aid?[143]
Let us prostrate ourselves, then, says St. Bernard, before this good
mother, let us cling to her sacred feet, and leave her not until she
gives us her blessing, and accepts us for her children.[144] Who could
distrust the goodness of this mother? said St. Bonaventure. Though she
should slay me, I will hope in her; and, confident in my trust, I would
die near her image, and be saved.[145] And thus should every sinner say
who has recourse to this kind mother: Oh my Lady and mother, I deserve
for my faults that thou shouldst banish me from thy presence, and
shouldst punish me for my sins; but even if thou shouldst cast me off
and slay me, I shall never lose confidence in thee and in thy power to
save me. In thee I entirely confide, and if it be my fate to die before
some image of thine, recommending myself to thy compassion, I should have
a certain hope of my salvation, and of going to praise thee in heaven,
united to all thy servants who called upon thee for aid in death, and are
saved. Let the following example be read, and let the reader judge if any
sinner can distrust the mercy and love of this good mother, if he has
recourse to her.
EXAMPLE.
It is narrated by Belluacensis that in Ridolio, a city of England, in the
year 1430, there lived a young nobleman named Ernest, who gave all his
patrimony to the poor, and entered a monastery, where he led so holy a
life that he was greatly esteemed by his superiors, particularly for his
special devotion to the most holy Virgin. It happened that a pestilence
prevailed in that city, and the citizens had recourse to that monastery
to ask the prayers of the monks. The abbot ordered Ernest to go and pray
before the altar of Mary, and not to quit it until she had given him an
answer. The youth remained there three days, and received from Mary, in
answer, some prayers, which were to be said. They were said, and the
plague ceased. It happened afterwards that this youth became less ardent
in his devotion to Mary; the devil assailed him with many temptations,
especially to impurity, and to a desire to flee from the monastery; and
having neglected to recommend himself to Mary, he resolved to take flight
by casting himself from the wall of the monastery; but passing before an
image of the Virgin which stood in the corridor, the mother of God spoke
to him, and said: “My son, why do you leave me?” Ernest was overwhelmed
with surprise, and, filled with compunction, fell on the earth, saying:
“My Lady, behold, I have no power to resist, why do you not aid me?” and
the Madonna replied: “Why have you not invoked me? If you had sought
my protection, you would not have been reduced to this; from this day
commend yourself to me, and have confidence.” Ernest returned to his
cell; but the temptations were renewed, yet he neglected to call upon
Mary for assistance. He finally fled from the monastery, and leading a
bad life, he went on from one sin to another, till he became an assassin.
He rented an inn, where in the night he murdered unfortunate travellers,
and stripped them of all they had. One night, among others, he killed
the cousin of the governor of the place, who, after examination and
trial, condemned him to the gallows. But during the examination, a young
traveller arrived at the inn, and the host, as usual, laid his plans and
entered his chamber to assassinate him: but on approaching the bed, he
finds the young man gone, and a Christ on the cross, covered with wounds,
in his place. Our Lord, looking compassionately at him, said: “Is it not
enough that I have died once for thee? Dost thou wish to slay me again?
Do it, then; lift thy hand and kill me!” Then the poor Ernest, covered
with confusion, began to weep, and exclaimed: “Oh Lord, behold me ready
to return to thee, who hast shown me so much mercy.” He immediately left
the inn to go back to the monastery and do penance; but the officers of
justice overtook him on the way, he was carried before the judge, and in
his presence confessed all the murders he had committed. He was at once
condemned to death, without even being allowed time for confession. He
commended himself to Mary. He was hung upon the gallows, but the Virgin
prevented his death. She herself released him, and said to him: “Return
to the monastery; do penance; and when you shall see in my hand a paper
containing the pardon of thy sins, then prepare to die.” Ernest returned,
and having related all to the abbot, did great penance. After many years,
he saw in the hand of Mary the paper containing his pardon; he then
prepared for his last end, and died a holy death.
PRAYER.
Oh Mary, sovereign queen, and worthy mother of my God, most holy Mary!
Finding myself so vile, so laden with sin, I dare not approach thee
and call thee mother. But I cannot let my miseries deprive me of the
consolation and confidence I feel in calling thee mother. I know that
I deserve to be rejected by thee, but I pray thee to consider what thy
son Jesus has done and suffered for me; and then cast me from thee if
thou canst. I am a poor sinner, who, more than others, have despised the
divine Majesty; but the evil is already done. To thee I have recourse:
thou canst help me; oh, my mother, help me. Do not say that thou canst
not aid me, for I know that thou art omnipotent, and dost obtain whatever
thou desirest from thy God. If then thou sayest that thou canst not help
me, at least tell me to whom I must have recourse for succor in my deep
distress. With St. Anselm, I will say to thee, and to thy Son: Have
pity on me, oh thou, my Redeemer, and pardon me, thou my mother, and
recommend me to pardon; or teach me to whom I may have recourse, who is
more compassionate than you, and in whom I may have more confidence. No,
neither in heaven nor on earth can I find one who has more compassion
for the miserable, or who can aid me more than you. Thou, oh Jesus, art
my father, and thou, oh Mary, art my mother. You love those who are the
most wretched, and you seek to save them. I am worthy of hell, and of all
beings the most miserable; you need not to seek me, neither do I ask you
to seek me; I present myself to you with a sure hope that I shall not be
abandoned by you. Behold me at your feet; my Jesus, pardon me; my Mary,
help me.
CHAPTER II.
VITA, DULCEDO.
Our life, our sweetness.
SECTION I.
MARY IS OUR LIFE, BECAUSE SHE OBTAINS FOR US THE PARDON OF OUR SINS.
In order to understand rightly the reason why the holy Church calls
Mary our life, we must consider that as the soul gives life to the
body, so divine grace gives life to the soul; for a soul without grace,
though nominally alive, in truth is dead, as we find in the Apocalypse:
“Thou hast the name of being alive, and thou art dead.”[146] As Mary,
then, obtains for sinners, by her intercession, the gift of grace, she
restores them to life. The holy Church applies to her the following words
of Proverbs: “They that in the morning early watch for me, shall find
me.”[147] They shall find me, or, according to the Septuagint, “they
shall find grace.”[148] Hence, to have recourse to Mary is to find the
grace of God; for, as immediately follows: “He who finds me shall find
life, and shall receive from God eternal salvation.”[149] Listen, as St.
Bonaventure exclaims here upon these words, listen, all ye who desire the
kingdom of God; honor the Virgin Mary, and ye shall have life and eternal
salvation.[150]
St. Bernardine of Sienna says, that God did not destroy man after his
fall, because of the peculiar love that he bore his future child Mary.
And the saint adds, that he doubts not all the mercy and pardon which
sinners received under the Old Law, was granted them by God solely for
the sake of this blessed Virgin.[151]
Therefore St. Bernard exhorts us, if we have been so unfortunate as to
lose divine grace, to strive to recover it, but to strive through Mary;
for if we have lost it, she has found it:[152] and hence she is called by
this saint, “The finder of grace.”[153] This the angel Gabriel expressed
for our consolation, when he said to the Virgin, “Fear not, Mary, for
thou hast found grace.”[154] But if Mary had never been without grace,
how could the angel say to her that she had found it? A thing is said to
be found when it has been lost. The Virgin was always with God and with
grace; she was even full of grace, as the Archangel himself announced
when he saluted her, “Hail! full of grace, the Lord is with thee.”[155]
If, then, Mary did not find grace for herself, for whom did she find it?
Cardinal Hugo answers, when commenting upon the above passage, that she
found it for sinners who had lost it. Let sinners, then, says the devout
writer who have lost grace, flee to Mary; with her they will certainly
find it; and let them say: Oh Lady, what is lost must be restored to
him who has lost it; this grace which thou hast found is not thine,
thou hast never lost it; it is ours, for we have lost it, and to us
thou shouldst restore it.[156] In connection with which, Richard of St.
Laurence remarks: If then we desire to find the grace of God, let us go
to Mary, who has found it, and always finds it.[157] And since she ever
has been, and ever will be, dear to God, if we have recourse to her, we
certainly shall find it. She says, in the holy Canticles, that God has
placed her in the world to be our defence,[158] and therefore she is
ordained to be the mediatrix of peace between the sinner and God. “I am
become in his presence as one finding peace.”[159] By which words St.
Bernard gives encouragement to the sinner, and says: Go to this mother
of mercy, and show her the wounds which thy sins have inflicted upon thy
soul. Then she will certainly pray her Son that he may pardon thee by
the milk with which she has nourished him, and the Son who loves her so
much will certainly hear her.[160] So, too, the holy Church teaches us to
pray the Lord to grant us the powerful intercession of Mary, that we may
arise from our sins, in the following prayer: “Grant us, oh merciful God!
strength against all our weakness; that we who celebrate the memory of
the holy mother of God, may, by the help of her intercession, arise again
from our iniquities.”[161]
Justly, then, does St. Lawrence Justinian call her the hope of
evil-doers, “spes delinquentium,” since she alone can obtain their
pardon from God. St. Bernard rightly names her the ladder of sinners,
“Peccatorum scala;” since she, this compassionate queen, offers her hand
to poor fallen mortals, leads them from the precipice of sin, and helps
them to ascend to God. St. Augustine rightly calls her the only hope of
us sinners, since by her means alone we hope for the remission of all our
sins.[162] And St. John Chrysostom repeats the same thing, namely, that
sinners receive pardon only through the intercession of Mary.[163] Whence
the saint in the name of all sinners thus salutes her: Hail! mother
of God and ours; Heaven where God dwells; Throne from which the Lord
dispenses all graces; always pray to Jesus for us, that by thy prayers
we may obtain pardon in the day of account, and the glory of the blessed
in heaven.[164] Finally, Mary is rightly called aurora: “Who is she that
cometh forth as the morning rising?”[165] Because, as Pope Innocent says,
aurora is the end of night, and the beginning of day, well is the Virgin
Mary, who is the end of vices and the beginning of virtues, designated as
aurora.[166] And the same effect which the birth of Mary produced in the
world, devotion to her produces in the soul; she puts an end to the night
of sin, and leads the soul into the way of virtue. Hence, St. Germanus
says: Oh mother of God, thy protection is immortal! thy intercession is
life.[167] And in his sermon on the _Zone of the Virgin_,[168] the saint
says that the name of Mary, to him who pronounces it with affection, is
either the sign of life, or that soon he will have life.
Mary sang: “For behold, from henceforth all nations shall call me
blessed.”[169] On this account, says St. Bernard, all nations shall call
thee blessed, because all thy servants by thy means shall obtain the life
of grace and eternal glory.[170] “In thee sinners find pardon, and the
just perseverance, and afterwards life eternal.”[171] Do not despair,
as the devout Bernardine de Bustis says, oh sinner, although you have
committed all possible sin, but confidently have recourse to this Lady,
for you will find her hands full of mercies. Then he adds: Mary is more
desirous to bestow favors upon you than you are to receive them.[172]
By St. Andrew of Crete, Mary is called “The security of divine
pardon.”[173] By this is meant, that when sinners have recourse to Mary
that they may be reconciled to God, God assures them of pardon, and gives
them the assurance by also giving them the pledge of it. And this pledge
is Mary, whom he has given us for our advocate, by whose intercession,
in virtue of the merits of Jesus Christ, God pardons all sinners who
place themselves under her protection. It was revealed to St. Bridget
by an angel, that the holy prophets were full of joy when they learned
that God, by the humility and purity of Mary, would become reconciled to
sinners, and receive into his favor those who had provoked his wrath.[174]
No sinner need ever fear that he shall be rejected by Mary, if he has
recourse to her mercy. No, for she is mother of mercy; and as such,
desires to save the most miserable. Mary is that happy ark in which he
who takes refuge will never suffer the shipwreck of eternal ruin; “arca
in qua naufragium evadimus.” Even the brutes were saved in the time of
the deluge in the ark of Noe; so, under the mantle of Mary, even sinners
are saved. St. Gertrude one day saw Mary with her mantle extended,
beneath which many wild beasts, lions, bears, and tigers had sheltered
themselves; and Mary not only did not cast them from her, but received
them with pity and caressed them. And by this the saint understood,
that the vilest sinners, when they flee to Mary, are not cast out, but
welcomed and saved from eternal death. Let us enter, then, into this ark,
and seek refuge under the mantle of Mary; for she certainly will not
reject us, and will surely save us.
EXAMPLE.
It is narrated by Father Bovius,[175] of a very sinful person named
Helen, that having gone to church, she accidentally heard a sermon on the
rosary. As she went out she bought one, but carried it hidden, so that
it should not be seen. Afterwards, she began to recite it; and although
she recited it without devotion, the most holy Virgin infused into her
heart such consolation and sweetness in it, that she could not cease
repeating it. And by this she was inspired with such a horror of her evil
life, that she could find no peace, and was forced, as it were, to go to
confession. She confessed with so much contrition, that the confessor
was amazed. Having finished her confession, she went immediately before
an altar of the blessed Virgin, to thank her advocate; she recited her
rosary, and the divine mother spoke to her from her image, and said:
“Helen, you have too long offended God and me; henceforth change your
life, and I will bestow upon you many of my favors.” The poor sinner,
in confusion, answered: “Ah, most holy Virgin, it is true that hitherto
I have been very sinful, but thou, who art all-powerful, assist me; I
give myself to thee, and will pass the remainder of my life in doing
penance for my sins.” Assisted by Mary, Helen bestowed all her goods
upon the poor, and commenced a rigorous penance. She was tormented by
dreadful temptations, but she continued to recommend herself to the
mother of God; and always, with her aid, came off victorious. She was
favored also with many supernatural graces, as visions, revelations, and
prophecies. At last, before her death, of which she had been warned a few
days previously by Mary, the Virgin herself came with her Son to visit
her; and in death, the soul of this sinner was seen, in the form of a
beautiful dove, ascending to heaven.
PRAYER.
Behold, oh mother of my God, Mary, my only hope, behold at thy feet a
miserable sinner, who implores thy mercy. Thou art proclaimed and called
by the whole Church, and by all the faithful, the refuge of sinners; thou
then art my refuge; it is thine to save me. Thou knowest how much thy Son
desires our salvation.[176] Thou, too, knowest what Jesus Christ suffered
to save me. I offer to thee, oh my mother, the sufferings of Jesus; the
cold which he endured in the stable, the steps of his long journey into
Egypt, his toils, his sweat, the blood that he shed, the torments which
caused his death before thy eyes upon the cross; show thy love for this
Son, whilst I, for the love of him, beg thee to aid me. Extend thy hand
to a fallen creature, who asks pity of thee. If I were a saint, I would
not ask for mercy; but because I am a sinner, I have recourse to thee,
who art the mother of mercies. I know that thy compassionate heart finds
consolation in succoring the wretched, when thou canst aid them, and dost
not find them obstinate in their sins. Console, then, to-day thy own
compassionate heart, and console me; for thou hast a chance to save me,
a poor wretch condemned to hell; and thou canst aid me, for I will not
be obstinate. I place myself in thy hands; tell me what I must do, and
obtain for me strength to do it, and I will do all I can to return to a
state of grace. I take refuge beneath thy mantle. Jesus Christ wishes me
to have recourse to thee, that, for thy glory and his, since thou art his
mother, not only his blood, but also thy prayers, may aid me to obtain
salvation. He sends me to thee that thou mayest assist me. Oh Mary, I
hasten to thee, and in thee I trust. Thou dost pray for so many others,
pray, and say also one word for me. Say to God, that thou desirest my
salvation, and God certainly will save me. Tell him that I am thine; this
is all I ask from thee.
SECTION II.
MARY IS AGAIN OUR LIFE, BECAUSE SHE OBTAINS FOR US PERSEVERANCE.
Final perseverance is a divine gift so great, that, as the holy Council
of Trent has declared, it is a wholly gratuitous gift, and one that
cannot be merited by us. But, as St. Augustine teaches us, all those
obtain perseverance from God who ask it of him; and as Father Suarez
says, they infallibly obtain it if they are diligent to the end of life
in praying God for it; because, as Cardinal Bellarmine writes: This
perseverance is daily to be sought, that it may be daily obtained.[177]
Now, if it is true, which I consider certain, according to the present
very general opinion, as I shall presently demonstrate in chap. 5th—if it
is true that all the graces which are bestowed on us by God pass through
the hands of Mary, it must also be true that only through Mary can we
hope for and obtain this great gift of perseverance. And we certainly
shall obtain it, if, with confidence, we always ask it of Mary. She
herself promises this grace to all those who serve her faithfully in this
life. “They that work by me shall not sin; they that explain me shall
have life everlasting:”[178] which words the holy Church puts into the
mouth of Mary on the Feast of her Conception.
In order that we may be preserved in the life of divine grace, spiritual
strength is necessary to resist all the enemies of our salvation. Now,
this strength can only be obtained by means of Mary: Mine is this
strength, says Mary: “Mea est fortitudo.” God has intrusted this gift
to my hand, that I may bestow it on my devoted servants. “By me kings
reign:” “Per me reges regnant.”[179] By me my servants reign, and rule
their senses and their passions, and thus make themselves worthy of
reigning eternally in heaven. Oh, what strength have the servants of this
great Lady to conquer all the temptations of hell! Mary is that tower
spoken of in the holy Canticles: “Thy neck is as the tower of David,
which is built with bulwarks; a thousand bucklers hang upon it, all the
armor of valiant men.”[180] She is like a strong tower of defence for
her lovers, who take refuge with her in the day of battle; in her all
her devoted servants find shields and weapons of every kind to defend
themselves against the powers of hell.
For this reason, the most holy Virgin is called a plane-tree: “As a
plane-tree by the water in the streets was I exalted.”[181] This passage
is explained by Cardinal Hugo, who tells us that the plane-tree has
leaves like shields.[182] And by this is explained the defence that Mary
affords those who take refuge with her. The blessed Amadeus gives another
explanation, and says that she is called a plane-tree because, as the
plane-tree, with its shade, protects the traveller from the heat of the
sun and from the rain, so, under the mantle of Mary, men find shelter
from the heat of their passions and the fury of temptations.[183]
Unfortunate are those souls who withdraw from this shelter, neglect their
devotion to Mary, and fail to recommend themselves to her in trial. If
the sun should no more rise upon the world, says St. Bernard, what would
the world become but a chaos of darkness and horror?[184] If a soul loses
her devotion to Mary, she will immediately be full of darkness, and that
darkness of which the Holy Ghost says: “Thou hast appointed darkness, and
it is night; in it shall all the beasts of the woods go about.”[185] When
the divine light does not shine in a soul it is night, and it will become
a den of all sins and demons. Woe to those, as St. Anselm says, who turn
away from the light of this sun;[186] that is, who neglect devotion to
Mary. St. Francis Borgia, with reason, feared for the perseverance of
those in whom he did not find a special devotion to the blessed Virgin.
When once he asked some novices to what saint they had the most devotion,
and found that some of them were not especially devoted to Mary, he
warned the master to watch more carefully these unfortunate persons; and
it happened that they all lost their vocation and quitted religion.
St. Germanus justly called the most holy Virgin the breath of Christians;
because, as the body cannot live without breathing, so the soul cannot
live without having recourse and commending itself to Mary, through
whose means the life of divine grace is obtained for us and preserved in
us.[187] As respiration is not only the sign, but also the cause of life,
so the name of Mary, when it is spoken by the servants of God, not only
proves that they are living, but procures and maintains this life, and
obtains for them every aid. The blessed Alanus, when once assailed by a
strong temptation, was on the point of being lost because he omitted to
recommend himself to Mary; but the blessed Virgin appeared to him, and,
to warn him against such neglect in future, gave him a blow on the ear,
and said to him: “If thou hadst commended thyself to me, thou wouldst
not have been exposed to this peril.”
On the other hand: “Blessed is the man,” says Mary, “that heareth me,
and that watcheth daily at my gates, and waiteth at the posts of my
doors.”[188] Mary will certainly be ready to obtain light and strength
for those faithful servants, that they may abandon their vices and walk
in the paths of virtue. Hence is she, as Innocent III. beautifully
expresses it: The moon by night, the dawn of the morning, and the sun
by day.[189] The moon, to him who is groping in the night of sin, to
give him light to see his wretched state of condemnation; the dawn, the
forerunner of the sun, to him who is enlightened, that he may come forth
from sin and return to divine grace; and the sun, to him who is in grace,
that he may not again fall into any precipice.
Theologians apply to Mary these words of Ecclesiasticus: “Her bands are
a healthful binding.”[190] Wherefore are they called bands, asks St.
Lawrence Justinian, unless because she binds her servants, that they
may not wander in forbidden fields?[191] St. Bonaventure explains in a
similar manner the words of the office of Mary: “My abode is in the full
assembly of saints.”[192] He says that Mary is not only established in
the fulness of the saints, but that she also upholds the saints, that
they may not fall away; she sustains their virtue that it may not waver,
and prevents the demons from doing them harm.[193]
It is said that “all her domestics are clothed with double
garments.”[194] Cornelius à Lapide thus describes this double garment:
It is a double garment, because she clothes her servants with the
virtues of her Son, as well as with her own;[195] and, thus clothed,
they will preserve holy perseverance. For this reason, St. Philip Neri
always admonished his penitents by saying to them: My children, if you
desire perseverance, be devout to Mary. The venerable brother John
Berchmans, of the Company of Jesus, also said: He who loves Mary, shall
have perseverance. The reflection which Rupert the Abbot makes upon the
prodigal son is very beautiful. If the mother of this prodigal son had
been living, he would either never have left his father’s house, or would
have returned much sooner.[196] And by this he wished to say, that he
who is a child of Mary, either never departs from God, or if for his
misfortune he departs, by means of Mary he quickly returns.
Oh, if all men loved this most kind and loving Lady, and in temptations
always and immediately had recourse to her, who would fall? Who would
be lost? He falls and is lost who does not flee to Mary. St. Lawrence
Justinian applies to Mary these words of Ecclesiasticus: “I have walked
in the waves of the sea;”[197] and makes her to say: I walk with my
servants in the midst of the tempests to which they are exposed, to
assist them, and prevent them from falling into the precipice of sin.[198]
Father Bernardine de Bustis relates that a hawk darted upon a bird which
had been taught to say Ave Maria; the bird said Ave Maria, and the hawk
fell dead. By this our Lord wished to show us, that if an irrational
bird was saved from destruction by invoking Mary, how much more surely
will he be prevented from falling into the power of evil spirits, who is
mindful to invoke Mary in his temptations. Nothing remains to be done,
says St. Thomas of Villanova, when the devils come to tempt us, but, like
the chickens when the kite appears, to run quickly under the shelter of
the wings of our mother. Let us, then, at the approach of the temptations
which assail us, without stopping to parley with them, place ourselves
at once under the protection of Mary.[199] And then, the saint goes on
to say, our Lady and mother must defend us; for, after God, we have no
refuge but thee, who art our only hope, and the only protectress in whom
we may confide.[200]
Let us, then, conclude with the words of St. Bernard:[201] Oh man,
whoever thou art, thou knowest that in this miserable life thou art
rather tossing on the tempestuous waves, among dangers and tempests, than
walking upon the earth; if thou wouldst not sink, keep thy eye fixed on
this star, namely, Mary. Look at the star, invoke Mary. When in danger
of sinning, when tormented by temptations, when doubts disturb thee,
remember that Mary can aid thee, and instantly call upon her. May her
powerful name never depart from the confidence of thy heart, nor from
the invocation of thy lips. If thou wilt follow Mary, thou shalt never
wander from the path of safety. Commend thyself always to her, and thou
shalt not despair. If she upholds thee, thou shalt not fall. If she
protects thee, thou need not fear ruin. If she guides thee, thou shalt be
saved without difficulty. In a word, if Mary undertakes to defend thee,
thou shalt certainly arrive at the kingdom of the blessed. Thus do, and
thou shalt live.
EXAMPLE.
In the celebrated history of St. Mary of Egypt, which we find in the
first volume of the Lives of the Fathers, we read that, at twelve years
of age, she fled from her parents, and went to Alexandria, where she led
an infamous life, and became the scandal of the city. After sixteen years
spent in sin, she wandered off to Jerusalem; where, on the festival of
the Holy Cross, she was led to enter the church, more from curiosity than
devotion. On the threshold she was thrust back, as if by some invisible
power; she attempted a second time to enter, and again was repelled, and
a third and a fourth time the same thing happened. The wretched creature
withdrew then into a corner of the portico, and there she was interiorly
enlightened, and saw that God had refused her entrance into the church
on account of her wicked life. By chance she raised her eyes, and saw a
picture of Mary which was painted in the vestibule. She turned to it,
weeping, and said: “Oh mother of God, have pity on this poor sinner! I
know that, on account of my sins, I do not deserve that thou shouldst
regard me; but thou art the refuge of sinners: for the love of Jesus, thy
Son, help me. Obtain for me that I may enter the church, for I desire
to change my life, and go and do penance wherever thou shalt direct.”
Then she heard an interior voice, as if the blessed Virgin answered her:
“Come, since thou hast invoked me, and wishest to change thy life, enter
the church, for the door will no longer be closed against thee.” The
sinner entered, adored the cross, and wept. She returned to the picture:
“Oh Lady,” she said, “I am ready; where shall I retire to do penance?”
“Go,” said the Virgin, “beyond the Jordan, and thou wilt find the place
of thy repose.” She made her confession, received holy communion, passed
the river, reached the desert, and understood that there was her place of
penance. During the first seventeen years that she lived in the desert,
the evil spirits fiercely assailed her, to make her fall again. What
did she then do? She recommended herself to Mary, and Mary obtained for
her strength to resist for seventeen years, after which the conflict
ceased. Finally, after fifty-seven years spent in the desert, in the
eighty-seventh of her age, through Divine Providence, she was found by
the abbot St. Zosimus. To him she related the story of her whole life,
and begged him to return there the following year, and bring her holy
communion. The holy abbot returned, and gave her communion. Then she
implored him again to do the same thing. He returned the second time,
and found her dead, her body surrounded with light, and at her head
these words written in the sand: “Bury in this place the body of me, a
miserable sinner, and pray God for me.” A lion came and dug her grave,
the abbot buried her, and, returning to the monastery, he related the
wonders of divine mercy towards this happy penitent.
PRAYER.
Oh mother of mercy! holy Virgin! behold at thy feet the traitor, who,
returning ingratitude for the favors received through thee from God,
has betrayed thee and God. But, oh my Lady! know that my misery does
not destroy, but increases my confidence in thee, because I see that my
misery increases thy compassion for me. Show, oh Mary! that thou art the
same to me as thou art to all those who invoke thee, full of grace and
mercy. It is enough for me that thou regardest me with compassion. If
in thy heart thou hast pity for me, thou wilt not cease to protect me;
and if thou dost protect me, what should I fear? No, I fear nothing; I
fear not my sins, for thou canst remedy their evil consequences; nor the
demons, for thou art more powerful than hell; nor thy Son who is justly
angry with me, for at one word of thine he will be appeased. I only
fear that through negligence I may fail to implore thy protection in my
temptations, and that this may cause my ruin. But I promise thee to-day,
I will always have recourse to thee. Help me to keep this resolution.
Behold the opportunity thou hast of satisfying thy desire to relieve so
miserable a creature as I am.
Oh mother of God, I have great confidence in thee. From thee I expect the
grace to do just penance for my sins, and from thee I hope the strength
never more to fall back into them. If I am sick, thou canst heal me, oh
heavenly physician. If my sins have made me weak, thy help can make me
strong. Oh Mary, I hope every thing from thee, for thou hast all power
with God.
SECTION III.
MARY RENDERS DEATH SWEET TO HER SERVANTS.
_Dulcedo_:—Sweetness.
“He that is a friend loveth at all times; and a brother is proved in
distress.”[202] _True_ friends and relatives are not known in times of
prosperity, but in the season of adversity and misery. Worldly friends do
not desert their friend when he is in prosperity; but if any misfortune
overtakes him, particularly in the hour of death, immediately his
friends abandon him. Not so does Mary desert her devoted servants. In
their distresses, and especially at the trying hour of death, when our
sufferings are the greatest that can be endured on earth, she our good
Lady and mother cannot abandon her faithful servants; and as she is
our life in the time of our exile, so is she also our sweetness in the
hour of death, by obtaining for us that it may be sweet and blessed. For
since that great day in which it was the lot and the grief of Mary to be
present at the death of Jesus, her Son, who was the head of the elect,
she obtained the grace of aiding at death all the elect. Hence the holy
Church requires us to pray the blessed Virgin, that she would especially
aid us in the hour of our death: “Pray for us sinners, now and at the
hour of our death.”[203]
The sufferings of the dying are very great, on account of their remorse
for sins committed, their dread of approaching judgment, and the
uncertainty of eternal salvation. At that moment especially, the devil
puts forth all his power to gain the soul that is passing into eternity;
knowing that the time is short in which he may win her, and that if he
loses her, he has lost her forever. “The devil is come down unto you,
having great wrath, knowing that he hath but a short time.”[204] And
therefore the devil, who has always tempted her in life, will not be
satisfied to tempt her alone in death, but calls companions to his aid:
“Their houses shall be filled with serpents.”[205] When any one is at the
point of death, his house is filled with demons, who unite to accomplish
his ruin.
It is related of St. Andrew Avellino, that at the time of his death, ten
thousand devils came to tempt him; and we read in his life, that at the
time of his agony he had so fierce a struggle with hell, that it caused
all his good religious who were present to tremble. They saw the face of
the saint swell from agitation, so that it became black; they saw all his
limbs trembling, and greatly agitated, rivers of tears flowed from his
eyes, and his head shook violently; all these were signs of the horrible
assault he was suffering from the powers of hell. All the religious wept
in compassion, redoubled their prayers, and trembled with fear when they
saw that a saint died thus. Yet they were consoled by seeing that the
saint often turned his eyes, as if seeking help, towards a devout image
of Mary, for they remembered that he had often said in life, that in
the hour of his death Mary must be his refuge. It finally pleased God
to terminate this struggle by a glorious victory, for the agitation of
his body ceased, his countenance gained its natural shape and color, and
fixing his eyes tranquilly on that image, he devoutly bowed his head to
Mary, who, it is believed, then appeared to him, as if to thank her, and
quietly breathed forth in her arms his blessed soul, with heavenly peace
depicted on his countenance. At the same time a Capuchin nun, in her
agony, turned to the religious who were with her and said: “Say an Ave
Maria, for a saint has just died.”
Ah, how these rebels flee before the presence of their queen! If, in
the hour of death, we have Mary on our side, what fear can we have of
all the powers of hell? David, in dread of the agony of death, comforted
himself with confidence in the death of his future Redeemer, and in the
intercession of the Virgin mother: “For though I should walk in the midst
of the shadow of death, I fear no evils, for thou art with me; thy rod
and thy staff they have comforted me.”[206] Cardinal Hugo understands the
_staff_ to signify the tree of the Cross, and the _rod_ the intercession
of Mary, who was the rod foretold by Isaias: “And there shall come forth
a rod out of the root of Jesse, and a flower shall rise up out of his
root.”[207] This divine mother, says St. Peter Damian, is that powerful
rod by which the fury of the infernal enemies is conquered.[208] Hence
St. Antoninus encourages us, saying: If Mary is for us, who is against
us?[209] Father Manuel Padial, of the Society of Jesus, being at the
point of death, Mary appeared to him, and said, to comfort him: “The hour
has at length come when the angels, rejoicing, say to thee, Oh happy
labors! oh mortifications well recompensed!” At which words an army of
devils was seen taking flight in despair, crying: “Alas! we have no
power, for she who is without stain defends him.”[210] In like manner,
the devils assailed Father Jasper Haywood, when he was dying, with great
temptations against faith; he immediately commended himself to the most
holy Virgin, and then was heard to exclaim: “I thank thee, oh Mary, that
thou hast come to my aid.”[211]
St. Bonaventure says that Mary sends the archangel Michael, with all the
angels, to the defence of her dying servants, to protect them from the
assaults of evil spirits, and to receive the souls of all those who have
especially and constantly recommended themselves to her.[212]
When a man leaves this life, Isaias says that hell is in uproar, and
sends its most terrible demons to tempt that soul before it leaves the
body, and then afterwards to accuse it when it is presented at the
tribunal of Jesus Christ to be judged: “Hell below was in an uproar
to meet thee; at thy coming it stirred up the giants for thee.”[213]
But Richard says, that the demons, when that soul is defended by Mary,
will not even dare to accuse it; knowing that a soul protected by this
great mother is never, and will never, be condemned.[214] St. Jerome
wrote to the virgin Eustochium, that Mary not only assists her dear
servants in their death, but also comes to meet them in their passage
to the other life, to encourage them and accompany them to the divine
tribunal.[215] And this agrees with what the blessed Virgin said to St.
Bridget, speaking of her servants when they are at the point of death:
“Then I, their most loving Lady and mother, hasten to them in death, that
they may have consolation and comfort.”[216] St. Vincent of Ferrer adds:
The blessed Virgin receives the souls of the dying. The loving queen
receives their souls under her protection, and she herself presents them
to the judge her Son, and thus certainly procures their salvation.[217]
This happened to Charles, son of St. Bridget, who, dying in the perilous
profession of a soldier, and far from his mother, the saint feared for
his salvation; but the blessed Virgin revealed to her that Charles was
saved for the love he bore her, in recompense of which she had assisted
him in death, and had suggested to him the christian acts necessary to be
made at that moment. The saint saw at the same time Jesus upon a throne,
and the devil bringing two accusations against the most holy Virgin: the
first, that Mary had prevented him from tempting Charles at the moment of
death; the second, that Mary herself had presented his soul to its judge,
and thus had saved it without even giving him an opportunity to expose
the reasons why he claimed it as his own. She then saw him driven from
the presence of the judge, and the soul of Charles taken to heaven.
“Her bands are a healthful binding; in the latter end thou shalt find
rest in her.”[218] Blessed art thou, oh brother, if in death thou shalt
find thyself bound by the sweet chains of love for the mother of God!
These chains are chains of salvation, which will secure to thee eternal
salvation, and give thee in death that blessed peace which will be the
commencement of thy eternal peace and rest. Father Binetti, in his book
“On the Perfections of our Lord,” relates that having been present at the
death of a devoted servant of Mary, he heard from him these words before
he breathed his last: “Oh, my Father, if you knew what happiness I find
in having served the most holy mother of God! I could not describe to
you the joy I feel at this moment.”[219] Father Suarez, because he was
all his life very devoted to Mary, used to say, that he would willingly
exchange all his knowledge for the merit of one Hail Mary, and died with
so much joy, that he exclaimed at his last moment, “I never imagined it
would be so sweet to die,—non putabam tam dulce esse mori.”[220] You
too, devout reader, will doubtless feel the same peace and joy, if at
death you can remember having loved this good mother, who cannot but be
faithful to her children, when they are faithful to her service, paying
her their offerings of visits, rosaries, and fastings, and especially
thanking her, praising her, and often commending themselves to her
powerful protection.
Neither will you be deprived of this consolation on account of your
sins, if from henceforth you will be careful to live well, and to serve
this very grateful and gracious Lady. In the trials and temptations with
which the devil will assail you, that he may throw you into despair, she
will comfort you, and even come herself to assist you in death. Martin,
brother of St. Peter Damian, as the saint himself relates, finding that
he had offended God, went one day before an altar of Mary to dedicate
himself to her service, putting his girdle around his neck in token of
his servitude, and thus said: “My Lady, mirror of purity, I, a poor
sinner, have offended God and thee by violating chastity: I have no other
remedy than to offer myself as thy servant; to thy service I dedicate
myself to-day; receive this rebel, do not despise me.” He then laid on
the altar a certain sum of money, promising to pay the same every year
as a tribute of his devotion to Mary. After some time Martin died; but
before his death he was heard one morning to say: “Arise, arise, pay
homage to my Lady;” and afterwards: “What a favor is this, oh queen of
heaven, that thou shouldst condescend to visit this thy poor servant.
Bless me, oh Lady, and permit me not to be lost after thou hast honored
me with thy presence.” At this moment his brother Peter entered. Martin
related to him the visit of Mary, and how she had blessed him, lamenting
that the persons present had not arisen at her entrance; and shortly
after quietly passed away to our Lord. Such will be your death also, oh
my reader, if you are faithful to Mary, even if in your past life you
have offended God. She will give you a sweet and happy death.
And if then you are greatly alarmed and lose courage in view of the sins
you have committed, she will come to comfort you as she came to Adolphus,
Count of Alsace, who, having quitted the world and become a Franciscan,
as the chronicles relate, was very devoted to the mother of God. His last
days arrived, and at the remembrance of the life he had led in the world,
and the rigor of divine justice, he began to fear death and doubt of his
salvation. Then Mary, who never sleeps when her faithful servants are
in trouble, accompanied by many saints, appeared to him, and encouraged
him with these tender words of consolation: “My dear Adolphus, thou art
mine, thou hast given thyself to me, then why dost thou so greatly fear
death?”[221] The servant of Mary was consoled by these words; every fear
disappeared, and he died in great peace and contentment.
Let us, too, although we are sinners, take courage and have the
confidence that Mary will come to assist us in death, and console us by
her presence, if we serve and love her during the remainder of our life
on this earth. Our queen, speaking one day to St. Matilda, promised that
she would be present at the death of all those devoted children who had
faithfully served her in life.[222] Oh my God, what a consolation must
it be in that last hour of life, when our lot for eternity is to be
decided, to find close by our side the queen of heaven, who sustains and
comforts us by promising us her protection! Besides the examples already
cited of the assistance afforded by Mary to her faithful servants, there
are innumerable others to be found in various books. This favor was
granted to St. Clare, to St. Felix, a Capuchin, to the blessed Clara
of Montefalco, to St. Theresa, and St. Peter of Alcantara. But for our
common consolation, I will mention the few following examples. Father
Crasset relates[223] that St. Mary of Oignies saw the blessed Virgin
by the pillow of a devout widow of Villembroe, who was tormented by a
burning fever. The most holy Mary was standing by her side consoling
her, and cooling her with a fan. St. John of God, at death, expected a
visit from Mary, to whom he was greatly devoted; but finding she did not
come, he was afflicted, and perhaps complained a little. But at length
the holy mother appeared to him, and as if reproaching him for his want
of confidence, said to him these tender words, which should encourage
all the servants of Mary: “John, it is not in my heart, at this hour, to
desert my children.”[224] As if she had said to him: My John, of what
were you thinking? that I had abandoned you? Do you not know that I
cannot abandon my devoted children at the hour of death? I did not come
before, because it was not yet time; but now I come ready to take you,
let us go to paradise. And soon after the saint expired, and flew to
heaven to give thanks eternally to his most loving queen.[225]
EXAMPLE.
I will now relate another example by way of conclusion to the subject of
which I have been just speaking, and for the sake of showing how great
is the tenderness of this good mother towards her children when they are
dying.
The pastor of a certain place went to assist at the death-bed of a rich
man. He was dying in a splendid house, and a multitude of relations,
friends, and servants, surrounded his bed. But among these, the priest
saw a number of devils in the shape of hounds, who waited to seize upon
his soul, and who actually did so; for he died in sin. At the same time
he was sent for by a poor woman, who was dying, and desired the holy
sacraments; not being able to leave the dying rich man, whose soul was
so much in need of his assistance, he sent another priest to her, who
accordingly went, carrying with him the holy sacrament. He found in
the dwelling of that good woman no servants, no retinue, no splendid
furniture, for she was very poor, and we may suppose had only a little
straw to lie upon. But what does he see? He sees in that apartment a
great light, and near the bed of the dying person was Mary the mother of
God, who was consoling her, and with a cloth was wiping the sweat from
her brow. The priest seeing Mary, had not the courage to enter, but she
made a motion to him to approach. He entered, Mary pointed to a seat,
that he might sit down and hear the confession of her servant. The poor
woman then made her confession, received the holy sacrament with much
devotion, and at last expired happily in the arms of Mary.[226]
PRAYER.
Oh my sweetest mother, what will be the death of me, a poor sinner?
Even now, when thinking of that great moment, in which I must die, and
be presented at the divine tribunal, and remembering how often, by my
wicked consent, I myself have written my own sentence of condemnation,
I tremble, am confounded, and fear greatly for my eternal salvation. Oh
Mary, my hopes are in the blood of Jesus, and in thy intercession. Thou
art the Queen of heaven! the Lady of the universe! it is sufficient to
say that thou art the mother of God. Thou art great, but thy greatness
does not separate thee from us; it even inclines thee to have more
compassion on our miseries. When our earthly friends are raised to any
dignity, they seclude themselves from those whom they have left in a
low estate, and will not condescend even to look at them. But it is not
so with thy loving and noble heart. Where thou dost behold the greatest
misery, there thou art most intent on giving relief. When invoked, thou
dost immediately come to our aid, and even anticipate our supplications;
thou dost console us in our afflictions, dissipate all tempests, put
down our enemies; in a word, thou dost never omit an opportunity of
doing us good. Ever blessed be that divine hand which has united in
thee so much majesty and so much tenderness, so much greatness and so
much love! I always thank our Lord, and congratulate myself that I can
regard thy happiness and mine, thy fate and mine as one. Oh consoler of
the afflicted, console in his affliction one who recommends himself to
thee. I am tortured with remorse for my many sins; I am uncertain whether
I have repented of them as I ought to have done; I see how corrupt and
imperfect are all my works. The devil is awaiting my death in order to
accuse me. Divine justice violated must be satisfied. Oh my mother, what
will become of me? If thou dost not aid me, I am lost. Answer me, wilt
thou aid me? Oh merciful Virgin, console me; obtain for me strength to
amend, and to be faithful to God during what remains to me of life. And
when I shall find myself in the last agony of death, oh Mary! my hope, do
not abandon me; then more than ever assist me, and save me from despair
at the sight of my sins, of which the devil will accuse me. Oh Lady,
pardon my boldness; come, then, thyself to console me by thy presence.
Grant me this favor which thou hast bestowed on so many; I also desire
it. If my boldness is great, greater still is thy goodness, which seeks
the most miserable to console them. In this, thy goodness, I trust. May
it be to thy eternal glory that thou hast saved from hell a miserable
wretch, and brought him to thy kingdom, where I hope to console myself
by being always at thy feet to thank, bless, and love thee throughout
eternity. Oh Mary, I wait for thee, do not leave me then disconsolate.
Come, come. Amen, amen.
CHAPTER III.
SPES NOSTRA SALVE.
Hail, our hope.
SECTION I.
MARY IS THE HOPE OF ALL.
Modern heretics cannot endure that we should salute Mary in this manner
by calling her our hope. Hail, our hope, “spes nostra salve.” They
say that God alone is our hope, and that he who places his hope in a
creature is accursed of God.[227] Mary, they exclaim, is a creature,
and, as a creature, how can she be our hope? Thus say the heretics,
but notwithstanding this, the Church requires all the clergy, and all
religious daily to raise their voices, and in the name of all the
faithful, invoke and call Mary by the sweet name of our hope, the hope of
all: “Hail, our hope!”
In two ways, says the angelic St. Thomas, can we place our hope in a
person: as the principal cause, and as the intermediate cause. Those
who hope for some favor from the king, hope for it from the king as
sovereign, and hope for it from his minister or favorite as intercessor.
If the favor is granted, it comes in the first place from the king, but
it comes through the medium of his favorite; wherefore, he who asks a
favor justly calls that intercessor his hope. The king of heaven, because
he is infinite goodness, greatly desires to enrich us with his graces;
but, because confidence is necessary on our part, in order to increase
our confidence, he has given us his own mother for our mother and
advocate, and has given her all power to aid us; and hence he wishes us
to place in her all our hopes of salvation, and of every blessing. Those
who place all their hope on creatures, without dependence upon God, as
sinners do, who to obtain the friendship and favor of man, are willing to
displease God, are certainly cursed by God, as Isaias says. But those who
hope in Mary, as mother of God, powerful to obtain for them graces and
life eternal, are blessed, and please the heart of God, who wishes to see
that noble creature honored, who, more than all men and angels, loved and
honored him in this world.
Hence, we justly call the Virgin our hope, hoping, as Cardinal Bellarmine
says, to obtain by her intercession what we could not obtain by our
prayers alone.[228] We pray to her, says St. Anselm, in order that the
dignity of the intercessor may supply our deficiencies.[229] Therefore,
the saint adds, to supplicate the Virgin with such hope, is not to
distrust the mercy of God, but to fear our own unworthiness.[230]
With reason does the Church, then, apply to Mary the words of
Ecclesiasticus, with which she salutes her: “Mother of holy hope;”[231]
that mother who inspires us not with the vain hope of the miserable and
transitory advantages of this life, but with the holy hope of the immense
and eternal good of the blessed life to come. St. Ephrem thus salutes
the divine mother: “Hail, hope of the soul! hail, secure salvation of
Christians! hail, helper of sinners! hail, defence of the faithful,
and salvation of the world!”[232] St. Basil teaches us that, next to
God, we have no other hope than Mary, and for this reason he calls her:
After God our only hope, “Post Deum sola spes nostra;” and St. Ephrem,
reflecting on the order of Providence in this life, by which God has
ordained (as St. Bernard says, and we shall hereafter prove at length)
that all those who are saved must be saved by means of Mary, says to her:
Oh Lady, do not cease to receive and shelter us under the mantle of thy
protection, since, after God, we have no hope but thee.[233] St. Thomas
of Villanova says the same thing, calling her our only refuge, help, and
protection.[234]
St. Bernard assigns the reason for this by saying: Behold, oh man, the
design of God, a design arranged for our benefit, that he may be able to
bestow upon us more abundantly his compassion; for, wishing to redeem the
human race, he has placed the price of our redemption in the hands of
Mary, that she may dispense it at her pleasure.[235]
God ordered Moses to make a propitiatory of the purest gold, telling
him that from it he would speak to him: “Thou shalt make also a
propitiatory of the purest gold. Thence will I give orders, and will
speak to thee.”[236] A certain author explains this propitiatory to be
Mary, through whom the Lord speaks to men, and dispenses to them pardon,
graces, and favors.[237] And therefore St. Irenæus says that the divine
Word, before incarnating himself in the womb of Mary, sent the archangel
to obtain her consent, because he would have the world indebted to
Mary for the mystery of the incarnation.[238] Also the Idiot remarks,
that every blessing, every help, every grace that men have received or
will receive from God, to the end of the world, has come to them, and
will come to them, through the intercession and by means of Mary.[239]
Rightly, then, did the devout Blosius exclaim: Oh Mary, who art so
amiable, and so grateful to him who loves thee, who will be so stupid and
unhappy as not to love thee? In doubt and perplexity thou dost enlighten
the minds of those who have recourse to thee in their troubles. Thou art
the comfort of those who trust in thee, in time of danger. Thou dost help
those who invoke thee. Thou art, continues Blosius, next to thy divine
Son, the secure salvation of thy servants. Hail, then, oh hope of the
despairing! Hail, helper of the destitute! Oh Mary, thou art omnipotent,
since thy Son would honor thee by immediately doing all that thou
desirest.[240]
St. Germanus, recognizing Mary to be the source of every blessing and the
deliverance from every evil, thus invokes her: Oh my Lady, thou alone
art my help, given me by God; thou art the guide of my pilgrimage,
the support of my weakness, my riches in poverty, my deliverer from
bondage, the hope of my salvation: graciously listen, I pray thee, to my
supplications, take compassion on my sighs, thou my queen, my refuge, my
life, my help, my hope, my strength.[241]
Justly, then, does St. Antoninus apply to Mary that passage of wisdom:
“Now all good things came to me together with her.”[242] Since Mary is
the mother of God and the dispenser of all good, the world may truly say,
and especially those in the world who are devoted to this queen, that,
together with devotion to Mary, they have obtained every good thing.[243]
Wherefore the Abbot of Celles said positively: He who has found Mary
finds every good thing.[244] He finds all graces and all virtues; since
she by her powerful intercession obtains for him in abundance all that
he needs to make him rich in divine grace. She gives us to know that she
has with her all the riches of God, that is, the divine mercies, that she
may dispense them for the benefit of those who love her. “With me are
riches and glory, that I may enrich them that love me.”[245] Whence St.
Bonaventure says: We should all keep our eyes fixed on the hands of Mary,
that through her we may receive the blessings we desire.[246]
Oh! how many of the proud have found humility through devotion to Mary;
how many of the violent, meekness; how many blind, the light; how many
despairing, confidence; how many lost, salvation! And precisely this
she herself predicted when she pronounced in the house of Elizabeth
that sublime canticle: “Behold, from henceforth all generations shall
call me blessed.”[247] Which words St. Bernard repeats, and says: All
nations will call thee blessed, for to all nations thou hast given life
and glory; in thee sinners find pardon, and the just find perseverance
in divine grace.[248] Whence the devout Lanspergius represents the Lord
thus speaking to the world: Venerate my mother with especial veneration.
Oh men, he says, poor children of Adam, who live in the midst of so many
enemies and so much misery, strive to honor with particular affection
my mother and yours. I have given her to the world as an example of
purity, a refuge and asylum for the afflicted.[249] That is, I have given
Mary to the world for your example, that from her you may learn to live
as you ought; and for your refuge, that you may have recourse to her in
your tribulations. This my child, says God, I have created such that no
one can fear her, or be unwilling to have recourse to her, for I have
created her with so benign and compassionate a nature, that she will not
despise any who seek her protection, and she will deny no favor to any
who ask it. She spreads the mantle of her compassion over all, and never
permits any one to go from her feet unconsoled. May the great goodness of
our God, then, be ever blessed, who has given us this great mother and
advocate, so loving and tender.
Oh! how tender are the sentiments of confidence which filled the heart of
the most loving St. Bonaventure for his dear Redeemer Jesus, and for our
loving intercessor Mary! Let the Lord chastise me as much as seemeth to
him good, I know that he will not refuse himself to those who love him
and who seek him with an upright heart. I will embrace him with my love,
and I will not let him go till he has blessed me, and he will not depart
without me. If I can do nothing else, at least I will hide myself in his
wounds; there I will remain, and out of himself he shall not be able to
find me.[250] Finally, he adds, if my Redeemer, for my sins, drives me
from his feet, I will cast myself at the feet of his mother Mary, and,
prostrate there, I will not depart until she has obtained my pardon; for
this mother of mercy has never failed to take pity on misery and console
the wretched who seek her aid; and therefore, if not from obligation,
at least from compassion, she will not fail to induce her Son to pardon
me.[251]
Look upon us, then, we will conclude with the words of Euthymius, look
upon us, then, with thine eyes of compassion, oh our most merciful
mother, for we are thy servants, and in thee we have placed all our
hope.[252]
EXAMPLE.
It is related in the Fourth Part of the Treasure of the Rosary, miracle
eighty-fifth, that a gentleman who was most devoted to the divine
mother, had set apart in his palace an oratory where, before a beautiful
statue of Mary, he was accustomed often to remain praying, not only by
day, but also by night, interrupting his rest to go and honor his beloved
Lady; but his wife, for he was married, though she was a very devout
person, observing that her husband in the deepest silence of the night
left his bed, and going from his apartment did not return for a long
time, became jealous, and was suspicious of evil; wherefore, one day,
to free herself from this thorn which tormented her, she ventured to
ask her husband if he ever loved any other woman but herself. Smiling,
he answered her: “I assure you that I love the most amiable lady in the
world; to her I have given my whole heart, and rather would I die than
cease to love her; if you knew her, you would say that I ought to love
her more than I do.” He meant the most holy Virgin, whom he loved so
tenderly. But his wife, conceiving a greater suspicion than before, in
order to ascertain the truth better, interrogated him anew, and asked
him if he arose from his bed and left the room every night to meet that
lady. The gentleman, who did not perceive the great trouble of his
wife, answered “Yes.” The wife was completely deceived, and, blinded
by passion, one night when her husband, according to his custom, had
left the chamber, seized a knife in despair, cut her throat, and very
soon died. Her husband having finished his devotions, returned to his
apartment, but, on going to bed, found it wet. He called his wife; she
did not answer: he tried to arouse her; she was immovable. At length he
took a light, found the bed full of blood, and his wife dead, with her
throat cut. Then he perceived that she had destroyed herself through
jealousy. What does he do? He locks the door of his apartment, returns
to the chapel, prostrates himself before the most blessed Virgin, and,
shedding a torrent of tears, said to her: “Oh my mother, behold my
affliction: if thou dost not console me, to whom shall I go? Remember I
am so unfortunate as to see my wife dead and lost because I have come
hither to pay thee honor: oh my mother, who dost help us in all our
troubles, help me now.” How surely does every one obtain what he wishes
if he supplicates with confidence this mother of mercy! No sooner did he
offer this prayer than he heard a servant-maid calling him: “My lord,
come to your apartment, for your lady calls you.” The gentleman could
hardly believe these words for joy. Return, he said to the servant, and
see if she really calls me. She returned, entreating him to go quickly,
for her mistress was waiting for him. He went, opened the door, and
found his wife living; she threw herself at his feet in tears and begged
him to pardon her, saying: “Oh, my husband, the mother of God, through
thy prayers, has delivered me from hell.” Weeping for joy, they went to
their oratory to thank the blessed Virgin. The next day the husband made
a feast for all their relations, to whom the wife herself related the
facts, at the same time showing the marks of the wound, and all were
more deeply inflamed with the love of the divine mother.
PRAYER.
Oh mother of holy love, oh our life, our refuge, and our hope, thou
knowest that thy Son Jesus Christ, not content with making himself our
perpetual intercessor with the eternal Father, would have thee also
engaged in obtaining for us, by thy prayers, the divine mercy. He has
ordained that thy prayers should aid in our salvation, and has given such
power to them that they obtain whatever they ask; I, a miserable sinner,
turn to thee then, oh hope of the wretched. I hope, oh Lady, through the
merits of Jesus Christ and thy intercession, to secure my salvation. In
these I trust; and so entirely do I trust in thee, that if my eternal
salvation were in my own hands, I would wish to place it in thine; for in
thy mercy and protection I would trust far more than in my own works. My
mother and my hope, do not abandon me, as I deserve. Behold my misery,
pity me, help me, save me. I confess that I have often, by my sins, shut
out the light and aid which thou hast obtained for me from the Lord.
But thy compassion for the wretched and thy power with God are far
greater than the number and malignity of my sins. It is known in heaven
and on earth that he who is protected by thee will certainly not
perish. Let all forget me, but do not thou forget me, oh mother of the
omnipotent God. Say unto God that I am thy servant, tell him that I am
defended by thee, and I shall be saved. Oh Mary, I trust in thee; in this
hope I live, and in this hope I wish to die, repeating always: “Jesus is
my only hope, and after Jesus, Mary.”[253]
SECTION II.
HAST THE HOPE OF SINNERS.
After God had created the earth he created two lights, the greater and
the less: the sun to give light by day, and the moon to give light by
night.[254] The sun, says Cardinal Hugo, was the type of Jesus Christ, in
whose light the just rejoice, who live in the daylight of divine grace;
but the moon was the type of Mary, by whom sinners are enlightened, who
are living in the night of sin.[255] Mary, then, being the moon, so
propitious to miserable sinners, if any unhappy person, says Innocent
III. finds that he has fallen into this night of sin, what must he do?
Since he has lost the light of the sun, by losing divine grace, let him
turn to the moon, let him pray to Mary, and she will give him light
to know the misery of his condition, and strength to come forth from
it.[256] St. Methodius says that by the prayers of Mary innumerable
sinners are continually converted.[257]
One of the titles by which the holy Church teaches us to invoke the
divine mother, and which most encourages poor sinners, is the title of
“Refuge of Sinners,” with which we invoke her in the Litanies. There
were anciently, in Judea, cities of refuge; and criminals, who sought
protection in them, were free from the penalty of their offences. Now,
there are not so many cities of refuge, but instead of these there is
one only, Mary; of whom it was spoken: Glorious things are said of thee,
oh city of God—Gloriosa dicta sunt de te civitas Dei.[258] But with this
difference, that not all criminals could find refuge in those ancient
cities, nor for all sorts of crime; but under the mantle of Mary all
offenders may find protection, whatever crimes they have committed. It
is sufficient for any one to have recourse to her for protection. “I am
the city of refuge for all those who flee to me,”[259] as St. John of
Damascus says, speaking in her name.
It is enough that we have recourse to her. He who has been so happy
as to enter this city need not speak in order to secure his safety.
“Assemble yourselves, and let us enter into the fenced city, and let us
be silent there.”[260] This fenced city, as the blessed Albertus Magnus
explains it, is the holy Virgin, whose defence is grace and glory. “Let
us be silent there,” according to the gloss: “since we may not dare to
supplicate the Lord for pardon, it is enough that we enter into the city
and are silent, for then Mary will speak and will pray for us.”[261]
Whence a devout writer exhorts all sinners to seek shelter under the
mantle of Mary, saying: Fly, oh Adam, oh Eve, and ye their children, who
have offended God; fly and take refuge in the bosom of this good mother.
Do you not know that she is the only city of refuge, and the only hope of
sinners?[262] As St. Augustine has called her, The only hope of sinners:
“Unica spes peccatorum.”[263]
Hence St. Ephrem says: Thou art the only advocate of sinners, and
of those who are deprived of every help; and he thus salutes her:
Hail! refuge and retreat of sinners, to whom alone they can flee with
confidence.[264] And this is what David intended to express, says a
certain author, when he said: “He hath protected me in the secret place
of his tabernacle.”[265] And what is this tabernacle, if not Mary? As
St. Germanus calls her, a tabernacle made by God, in which none but
God has entered, in order to complete the great mysteries of human
redemption.[266] On this subject the great Father St. Basil says: The
Lord has given us Mary as a public hospital, where all the infirm who are
poor, and destitute of every other help, may assemble: “Aperuit nobis
Deus publicum valetudinarium.” Now, in hospitals established expressly
for the reception of the poor, I would ask, who have the first claim to
be received, if not the poorest and most infirm?
Wherefore, let him who finds himself most miserable, because most
destitute of merit, and most afflicted by the maladies of the soul,
namely, sins, say to Mary: Oh Lady, thou art the refuge of the infirm;
do not reject me, for, because I am the poorest and most infirm of all,
I have the greater claim upon thee to receive me. Let us say with St.
Thomas of Villanova: Oh Mary, we poor sinners know no refuge but thee.
Thou art our only hope; to thee we intrust our salvation. Thou art the
only advocate with Jesus Christ; to thee we all have recourse.[267]
In the Revelations of St. Bridget, Mary is called the star going before
the sun: “Sidus vadens ante solem.”[268] By which we are to understand,
that when devotion to the divine mother first dawns in a sinful soul, it
is a certain sign that God will soon come to enrich her with his grace.
The glorious St. Bonaventure, in order to revive in the hearts of sinners
confidence in the protection of Mary, represents to us the sea in a
tempest, in which sinners who have fallen from the bark of divine grace,
tossed about by remorse of conscience, and by the fear of divine justice,
without light and without a guide, have almost lost the breath of hope,
and are nearly sinking in despair; at this critical moment the saint,
pointing to Mary, who is commonly called “The star of the sea,” raises
his voice and exclaims: Oh poor, lost sinners, do not despair, lift your
eyes to that beautiful star, take courage and trust, for she will guide
you out of the tempest, and bring you to the port of safety.[269]
St. Bernard has said the same thing: If you would not be overwhelmed
in the tempest, turn to this star, and call Mary to thy aid.[270]
The devout Blosius also says, that she is the only refuge for those
who have offended God: the asylum of all those who are tempted and
afflicted.[271] This mother of mercy is all kindness and all sweetness,
not only with the just, but also with sinners and those who are in
despair; so that when she beholds them turning towards her, and sees that
they are with sincerity seeking her help, she at once welcomes them, aids
them, and obtains their pardon from her Son.[272] She neglects none,
however unworthy they may be, and refuses to none her protection: she
consoles all; and no sooner do they call upon her, than she hastens to
their help.[273] With her gentleness she often wins their devotion, and
raises those sinners who are most averse to God, and who are the most
deeply plunged in the lethargy of their vices, that she may dispose them
to receive divine grace, and at last render themselves worthy of eternal
glory.[274] God has created this his beloved daughter with a disposition
so kind and compassionate, that no one can hesitate to have recourse to
her intercession.[275] The devout writer concludes with saying: It is
not possible that any one can be lost, who with exactness and humility
practises devotion to this divine mother.[276]
She is called a plane-tree: As a plane-tree was I exalted: “Quasi
platanus exaltata sum.”[277] Sinners may understand by this, that as the
plane-tree gives a shelter to travellers, where they may take refuge
from the heat of the sun, thus Mary, when she sees the anger of divine
justice kindled against them, invites them to resort to the shelter
of her protection. St. Bonaventure remarks that Isaias, in his day,
lamented, and said: “Behold, thou art angry and we have sinned ... there
is none that riseth up and taketh hold of thee;”[278] because Mary was
not yet born into the world.[279] But now, if God is offended with any
sinner, and Mary undertakes to protect him, she restrains the Son from
punishing him, and saves him.[280] Also, continues St. Bonaventure, no
one can be found more fit than Mary to place her hand upon the sword of
divine justice, that it may not descend upon the head of the sinner.[281]
Richard of St. Laurence expresses the same thought, when he says: God
lamented, before the birth of Mary, that there was no one to restrain
him from punishing the sinner; but Mary being born, she appeases him.[282]
St. Basil encourages sinners with the same thought, and says: Oh sinner,
be not timid, but in all thy necessities flee to Mary, invoke her aid,
and thou wilt always find her ready to assist thee, for it is the divine
will that she should aid all men in all their necessities.[283] This
mother of mercy has such a desire to save the most abandoned sinners,
that she even goes to seek them; and if they have recourse to her, she
will surely find a method of rendering them dear to God.
Isaac being desirous to eat the flesh of some venison, promised to give
his benediction in exchange for it to Esau; but Rebecca wishing that
her other son Jacob should receive this benediction, ordered him to
bring her two kids, for she would prepare the food that Isaac loved. “Go
thy way to the flock, bring me two kids.”[284] St. Antoninus says that
Rebecca was the type of Mary, who says to the angels, Bring me sinners
(who are typified by the kids), that I may prepare them in such a manner
(by obtaining for them sorrow and good resolutions) as to render them
dear and acceptable to my Lord.[285] The Abbot Francone, pursuing the
same thought, says, that Mary so well understands how to prepare these
kids, that they not only equal, but sometimes even surpass the flavor of
venison.[286]
The blessed Virgin herself revealed to St. Bridget, that no sinner in
the world is so great an enemy to God, that if he has recourse to her
and invokes her aid, does not return to God and is not restored to his
favor.[287] And the same St. Bridget heard one day Jesus Christ saying to
his mother, that she could obtain the divine favor even for Lucifer, if
he would humble himself so far as to ask her help.[288] That proud spirit
will never stoop to implore the protection of Mary, but if such a thing
could happen, Mary would take pity upon him, and the power of her prayers
would obtain from God his pardon and salvation. But what cannot happen to
the devil may well happen to sinners who seek the help of this mother of
mercy.
Noe’s ark also prefigured Mary; because as in that all the animal
creation found refuge, so under the mantle of Mary all sinners find
protection, who have made themselves like the brutes by their vices and
sensuality. With this difference, however, says a certain author: The
brutes entered into the ark and remained brutes still; the wolf remained
a wolf, the tiger a tiger.[289] But under the mantle of Mary the wolf
becomes a lamb, the tiger a dove. St. Gertrude once saw Mary with her
mantle outspread, and under it wild beasts of various kinds, leopards,
lions, and bears; and the Virgin not only did not drive them from her,
but with her gentle hand kindly received them and caressed them. The
saint understood that these wild beasts were miserable sinners, who
when they take refuge with Mary are received by her with sweetness and
love.[290]
Justly, then, did St. Bernard say to the Virgin: Oh Lady, thou dost abhor
no sinner, however abandoned and vile he may be, when he has recourse to
thee; if he asks thy help thou wilt condescend to extend thy kind hand to
draw him from the depths of despair.[291] Oh ever blessed and thanked be
our God, oh most amiable Mary, who made thee so merciful and kind towards
the most miserable sinners. Oh, wretched are those who do not love thee,
and who, having it in their power to seek help of thee, do not trust in
thee! He who does not implore the aid of Mary is lost; but who has ever
been lost that had recourse to her?
It is related in Scripture that Booz permitted the woman named Ruth to
glean the ears that the reapers dropped and left behind them: “Colligebat
spicas post terga metentium.”[292] St. Bonaventure adds, that as Ruth
found favor in the eyes of Booz, so Mary has found favor in the eyes of
the Lord, and is permitted to glean after the reapers.[293] The reapers
are the apostolic laborers, missionaries, preachers, and confessors, who
toil through the day to gather and win souls to God. But there are some
rebellious and obdurate souls who are left behind even by these reapers,
and it is granted to Mary alone by her powerful intercession to save
these abandoned ears. But unhappy are those who do not yield themselves
to this sweet Lady! for they will be entirely lost and accursed! Blessed,
on the other hand, are those who have recourse to this good mother! There
is no sinner in the world, says the devout Blosius, so lost and sunk in
sin, that Mary would abhor him and reject him. Ah, if such would seek
her aid, this good mother could and would reconcile them to her Son, and
obtain for them pardon.[294]
With reason, then, oh my sweetest queen, does St. John of Damascus salute
thee and call thee: “The hope of the despairing.”[295] Justly does
St. Laurence Justinian name thee: “The hope of evil-doers.”[296] St.
Augustine: “The only refuge of sinners.”[297] St. Ephrem: “The secure
haven for the shipwrecked.”[298] The same saint calls thee even by
another appellation: “The protectress of the condemned.”[299] Finally,
St. Bernard, with reason, exhorts the desperate not to despair; whence,
full of joy and tenderness towards this his most dear mother, he asks her
lovingly: Oh Lady, who would not trust in thee, if thou dost thus relieve
even the despairing? I do not doubt in the least, he adds, that if we
always applied to thee we should obtain what we wish. In thee, then, let
the despairing hope.[300] St. Antoninus relates that a sinner finding
himself in disgrace before God, imagined himself standing before the
tribunal of Jesus Christ: the devil was accusing him and Mary defending
him. The enemy presented against this poor criminal the catalogue of his
offences, which, placed in the balance of divine justice, far outweighed
his good works; but what then did his great advocate do? She extended
her kind hand and placed it in the other scale; it descended in favor of
her suppliant, and thus it was given him to understand, that she would
obtain his pardon if he would change his life; and, indeed, after that
vision he was converted and changed his life.
EXAMPLE.
The blessed John Erolto, who, through humility, called himself _the
disciple_, relates[301] that there was once a married man who lived in
disgrace in the sight of God. His wife, a virtuous woman, not being
able to induce him to abandon his vicious courses, entreated him that
at least, while he was in so miserable a condition, he would offer
this devotion to the mother of God, namely, to say a “Hail Mary” every
time he passed before her altar. He accordingly began to practice this
devotion. One night, when he was about to commit a sin, he saw a light,
and, on closer observation, perceived that it was a lamp burning before
a holy image of the blessed Virgin, who held the infant Jesus in her
arms. He said a “Hail Mary,” as usual; but what did he see? He saw the
infant covered with wounds, and fresh blood flowing from them. Both
terrified and moved in his feelings, he remembered that he himself too
had wounded his Redeemer by his sins, and began to weep, but he observed
that the child turned away from him. In deep confusion, he had recourse
to the most holy Virgin, saying: “Mother of mercy, thy Son rejects me;
I can find no advocate more kind and more powerful than thou, who art
his mother; my queen, aid me, and pray to him in my behalf.” The divine
mother answered him from that image: “You sinners call me mother of
mercy, but yet you do not cease to make me mother of misery, renewing
the passion of my Son, and my dolors.” But because Mary never sends away
disconsolate those who cast themselves at her feet, she began to entreat
her Son that he would pardon that miserable sinner. Jesus continued to
show himself unwilling to grant such a pardon, but the holy Virgin,
placing the infant in the niche, prostrated herself before him, saying:
“My Son, I will not leave thy feet until thou hast pardoned this sinner.”
“My mother,” answered Jesus, “I can deny thee nothing; dost thou wish for
his pardon? for love of thee I will pardon him. Let him come and kiss my
wounds.” The sinner approached, weeping bitterly, and as he kissed the
wounds of the infant, they were healed. Then Jesus embraced him as a sign
of pardon. He changed his conduct, led a holy life, and was ever full of
love to the blessed Virgin, who had obtained for him so great a favor.
PRAYER.
I venerate, oh most pure Virgin Mary, thy most sacred heart, which was
the delight and repose of God; a heart filled with humility, purity,
and divine love. I, an unhappy sinner, come to thee with a heart filled
with uncleanness and wounds. Oh mother of mercy, do not on this account
despise me, but let it excite thee to a greater compassion, and come to
my help. Do not look for virtue or merits in me before thou grantest
me thy aid; I am lost, and only merit hell. Look at nothing, I pray
thee, but the confidence I have in thee, and the desire I cherish of
amending my life. Look at what Jesus has done and suffered for me, and
then abandon me if thou canst. I offer to thee all the afflictions of
his life, the cold that he suffered in the stable, his journey to Egypt,
the blood that he shed, his poverty, toil, sweat, and sadness, the death
he endured in thy presence, for love of me; and, for the love of Jesus,
promise to save me. Ah, my mother, I will not and I cannot fear that thou
wilt cast me from thee, when I flee to thee and implore thy help. To fear
this, would be unjust to thy mercy, which seeks the miserable to relieve
them. Oh Lady, do not refuse thy compassion to him to whom Jesus has not
refused his blood; but the merits of this blood will not be applied to
me, if thou dost not recommend me to God. From thee I hope salvation. I
do not ask of thee riches, honors, or the other goods of earth; I only
ask of thee the grace of God, love for thy Son, the fulfilment of his
will, and paradise, where I may love him eternally. Is it possible that
thou wilt not hear me? No, already thou dost hear me, as I hope; already
thou art praying for me, already thou art procuring me the favors I ask,
already thou art receiving me under thy protection. My mother, do not
leave me; continue, continue to pray for me, until thou seest me safe in
heaven at thy feet, to bless and thank thee through all eternity. Amen.
CHAPTER IV.
AD TE CLAMAMUS EXULES FILII HEVÆ.
To thee do we cry, poor banished children of Eve.
SECTION I.
HOW READY MARY IS TO SUCCOR THOSE WHO CALL UPON HER.
We poor children of the unhappy Eve, guilty before God of her sin, and
condemned to the same punishment, go wandering through this valley of
tears, exiles from our country, weeping and afflicted by innumerable
pains of body and soul! But blessed is he who in the midst of so many
miseries turns to the consoler of the world, to the refuge of the
unhappy, to the great mother of God, and devoutly invokes her and
supplicates her! “Blessed is the man that heareth me, and that watcheth
daily at my gates.”[302] Blessed, says Mary, is he who listens to my
counsels, and incessantly watches at the door of my mercy, invoking my
help and intercession! The holy Church instructs us her children with
how great attention and confidence we should have continually recourse
to this our loving protectress; ordaining special devotions to her, that
during the year many festivals should be celebrated in her honor; that
one day of the week should be especially consecrated to her; that every
day, in the divine office, all ecclesiastics and members of religious
orders should invoke her in behalf of the whole Christian people, and
that three times a day all the faithful, at the sound of the bell, should
salute her. This will suffice to show how, in all seasons of public
calamity, the holy Church always directs her children to have recourse
to the divine mother with novenas, prayers, processions, visits to her
churches and altars. This, Mary herself wishes us to do, namely, always
to invoke and supplicate her, not to ask our homage and praise, which
are too poor in comparison with her merit, but that our confidence and
devotion to her thus increasing, she may aid and console us more. She
seeks such as approach her devoutly and reverently, says St. Bonaventure;
these she cherishes, loves, and adopts as her children.[303]
The same St. Bonaventure says, that Mary was prefigured by Ruth, whose
name, being interpreted, signifies _seeing_, _hastening_;[304] for Mary,
seeing our miseries, hastens to aid us by her compassion.[305] To which
Novarino adds, that Mary is so desirous to do us good, that she can
bear no delay; and not being a miserly keeper of her favors, but the
mother of mercy, she cannot restrain herself from dispensing, as soon as
possible among her servants, the treasures of her liberality.[306]
Oh, how ready is this good mother to aid him who invokes her! “Thy
two breasts are like two young roes.”[307] Richard of St. Laurence,
explaining this passage, says that the breasts of Mary readily, like the
roe’s, give the milk of mercy to those who ask it.[308] The same author
assures us that the mercy of Mary is bestowed on all who ask it, though
they offer no prayer but a “Hail Mary.” Hence, Novarino affirms, that the
blessed Virgin not only hastens, but flies to aid those who have recourse
to her. She, says this author, in exercising mercy, cannot but resemble
God; for, as the Lord hastens to succor those who ask help from him,
being very faithful to observe the promise which he has made to us—Ask,
and you shall receive[309]—so Mary, when she is invoked, immediately
hastens to help those who call upon her.[310] And by this is explained
who was the woman of the Apocalypse, with two wings of a great eagle,
that she might fly into the desert.[311] Ribeira explains these two wings
to signify the love with which Mary always hastens to God.[312] But the
blessed Amadeus says, remarking on this passage, that the wings of an
eagle signify the velocity with which Mary, surpassing in swiftness the
seraphs, always comes to the help of her children.[313]
We read in the Gospel of St. Luke, that when Mary went to visit St.
Elisabeth, and bestow blessings on all her family, she was not slow, but
travelled that whole journey with haste.[314] But we do not read that
it was so on her return. For the same reason, it is said in the sacred
Canticles, that the hands of Mary are turned.[315] For, as Richard of
St. Laurence explains it, The art of turning is easier and quicker than
other arts, so Mary is more ready than any other of the saints to aid
her suppliants.[316] She has the greatest desire to console all, and
she scarcely hears herself invoked before she graciously receives the
petition and comes to our aid.[317] Justly, then, St. Bonaventure calls
Mary, The salvation of those who invoke her: “O salus te invocantium!”
signifying, that to be saved it is sufficient to appeal to this divine
mother, who, according to Richard of St. Laurence, is always ready to
aid those who pray to her.[318] For, as St. Bernardine de Bustis says:
This great Lady is more desirous to confer favors upon us than we are to
receive them.[319]
Neither should the multitude of our sins diminish our confidence that
we shall be graciously heard by Mary, if we cast ourselves at her feet.
She is the mother of mercy, and there would be no occasion for mercy, if
there were no wretchedness to be relieved. Therefore, as a good mother
does not hesitate to apply a remedy to her child, however loathsome its
disease, although the cure may be troublesome and disgusting; thus our
good mother does not abandon us, when we recur to her, however great may
be the filth of our sins, which she comes to cure.[320] This sentiment
is taken from Richard of St. Laurence. And Mary intended to signify the
same when she appeared to St. Gertrude, spreading her mantle to receive
all who had recourse to her: at the same time it was given the saint to
understand, that the angels are waiting to defend the devout suppliants
of Mary from the assaults of hell.[321]
So great is the love and pity which this good mother has for us, that
she does not wait for our prayers before giving us her aid. “She
preventeth them that covet her, so that she first showeth herself unto
them.”[322] These words of wisdom St. Anselm applies to Mary, and says
that she anticipates those who desire her protection. By this we are to
understand, that she obtains many graces from God for us before we ask
them from her. Therefore Richard of St. Victor says: Mary is called the
moon: Pulchra ut luna;[323] not only because she hastens as the moon to
shine on those who seek her light,[324] but because she so earnestly
desires our welfare that in our necessities she anticipates our prayers,
and in her compassion she is more prompt to help us than we are to have
recourse to her.[325] For, adds the same Richard, the breast of Mary is
so full of pity that she scarcely knows our miseries before she offers
us the milk of her mercy, neither can this gracious queen perceive the
necessities of any soul without relieving it.[326]
And truly, Mary manifested to us while she was on earth, in the nuptials
of Cana,[327] her great compassion for our sufferings, which prompts her
to relieve them before we pray to her. This kind mother saw the trouble
of that pair who were mortified to find that their wine had failed at
the wedding banquet; and without being requested, moved only by her
compassionate heart, which cannot look upon the afflictions of others
without pity, prayed her Son to console them by merely mentioning to
him the necessities of the family: They have no wine:[328] “Vinum non
habent.” After which, her Son, to comfort that family, and still more to
satisfy the compassionate heart of his mother, performed, as she desired,
the well-known miracle of changing the water contained in vases into
wine. Novarino here remarks, that if Mary, though unasked, is so ready to
aid us in our necessities, how much more so will she be when we invoke
her and implore her aid![329]
If any one doubts that he shall be assisted by Mary when he has recourse
to her, let him listen to the words of Innocent III.: Who has ever
invoked this sweet Lady, and has not been heard by her?[330] Who, oh
holy Virgin, exclaims the blessed Eutychian, has ever sought thy powerful
protection, which can relieve the most miserable and rescue the most
degraded, and has been abandoned by thee? No, this has never happened,
and never will happen.[331] Let him be silent concerning thy mercy, oh
blessed Virgin, whose necessities have been neglected by thee after he
has implored thy aid.[332]
Sooner will heaven and earth be destroyed, says the devout Blosius, than
Mary fail to aid those who, with a pure intention, recommend themselves
to her and put their confidence in her.[333] And to increase our
confidence, St. Anselm adds, that when we have recourse to this divine
mother, we may not only be sure of her protection, but that sometimes
we shall be sooner heard and saved by invoking her holy name than that
of Jesus our Saviour.[334] And he gives this reason: Because it belongs
to Christ, as our judge, to punish, but to Mary, as our advocate, to
pity.[335] By this he would give us to understand, that we sooner find
salvation by recurring to the mother than the Son; not because Mary is
more powerful than her Son to save us, for we know that Jesus is our only
Saviour, and that by his merits alone he has obtained and does obtain for
us salvation; but because when we have recourse to Jesus, considering him
also as the judge to whom it belongs to punish the ungrateful, we may
lose the confidence necessary to be heard; but going to Mary, who has
no other office than that of exercising compassion towards us as mother
of mercy, and defending us as our advocate, our confidence will be more
secure and greater. We ask many things of God and do not obtain them; we
ask them from Mary and obtain them; how is this? Nicephorus answers: This
does not happen because Mary is more powerful than God, but because God
has seen fit thus to honor his mother.[336]
How consoling is the promise that our Lord himself made on this subject
to St. Bridget! We read in her revelations, that one day this saint
heard Jesus speaking with his mother, and that he said to her: “My
mother, ask of me whatever thou wilt, for I will refuse nothing that thou
dost ask;[337] and be assured,” he added, “that all those who for love
of thee seek any favor, although they are sinners, if they desire to
amend, I promise to hear them.”[338] The same thing was revealed to St.
Gertrude, who heard our Redeemer himself say to Mary, that he had in his
omnipotence permitted her to exercise mercy towards sinners who invoke
her, in whatever manner it should please her.[339]
Every one invoking this mother of mercy may then say, with St. Augustine:
“Remember, oh most compassionate Lady! that since the beginning of the
world there never has been any one abandoned by thee. Therefore pardon me
if I say that I do not wish to be the first sinner who has sought thy aid
in vain.”[340]
EXAMPLE.
St. Francis of Sales, as we read in his life, efficaciously experienced
the power of this prayer. At seventeen years of age he was living in
Paris, engaged in study, and at the same time wholly devoted to pious
exercises and holy love of God, which gave him a perpetual foretaste of
heavenly joy. At this time the Lord, to try his faith, and attach him
more strongly to his love, permitted the devil to represent to him that
his efforts were in vain, because he was already condemned by the divine
decree. The darkness and dryness in which it pleased God to leave him at
the time for he was insensible to all consoling thoughts of the divine
goodness, caused this temptation to have more power over the heart of
the holy youth; so that through great fear and desolation he lost his
appetite, sleep, color, and cheerfulness, and excited the compassion of
all those who looked upon him.
Whilst this horrible conflict lasted, the saint could conceive no other
thoughts and utter no other words but those of sorrow and distrust.
“Shall I, then,” he said, as it is related in his life, “be deprived
of the favor of my God, who hitherto has shown himself so gracious and
so kind to me? Oh love! oh beauty! to which I have consecrated all my
affections, shall I never more enjoy your consolations? Oh Virgin mother
of God, the most beautiful of all the daughters of Jerusalem, am I then
never to see thee in paradise? Ah, my Lady! if I am never to see thy
lovely face, do not permit me to be forced to blaspheme and curse thee in
hell.” These were the tender sentiments of that afflicted heart, still
so enamored of God and the Virgin. This temptation lasted for a month,
but at length the Lord was pleased to deliver him from it by means of the
consoler of the world, most holy Mary, to whom the saint had before made
a vow of chastity, and upon whom he used to say he had placed all his
hopes. One evening, on returning home, he entered a church, where he saw
a small tablet suspended from the wall; he found written on it the prayer
of St. Augustine above mentioned: “Remember, oh most merciful Mary! that
no one, in any age, was ever known to have fled to thee for help and
found himself abandoned.” He prostrated himself before the altar of the
divine mother, and recited with deep feeling this prayer; he renewed his
vow of chastity, promised to recite daily the rosary, and then added:
“Oh my queen, be my advocate with thy Son, whom I dare not approach. My
mother, if in the other world I should be so unhappy as not to be able to
love my Lord, whom I know is so worthy to be loved, at least obtain for
me that I may love him as much as I can in this world. This is the grace
that I ask of thee, and from thee I hope for it.” Thus he supplicated the
Virgin, and then abandoned himself to the divine mercy, resigning himself
entirely to the will of God. But hardly had he finished his prayer,
when by his most sweet mother he was suddenly freed from temptation; he
immediately recovered his interior peace, and with it health of body, and
from that time continued to live a most devout servant of Mary, whose
praises and mercies he never ceased to proclaim in his preaching and his
writings to the end of his life.
PRAYER.
Oh mother of God! oh queen of angels! oh hope of men! listen to him
who invokes thee and has recourse to thee. Behold me to-day prostrate
at thy feet; I, a miserable slave of hell, consecrate myself to thee
as thy servant forever, offering myself to serve and honor thee to the
utmost of my power all the days of my life. I know that thy honor is not
increased by the service of so vile and wretched a slave as I am, who
have so grievously offended thy Son and my Redeemer, Jesus. But if thou
wilt accept one so unworthy as I for thy servant, and, changing him by
thy intercession, wilt render him worthy, thy own compassion will confer
upon thee that honor which I, vile as I am, cannot render thee. Accept
me, then, and do not reject me, oh my mother! The eternal Word came from
heaven upon earth to seek the lost sheep, and to save them, became thy
Son. And wilt thou despise a poor sheep, who comes to thee to help him
find Jesus? The price has already been paid for my salvation; my Saviour
has shed his blood, which is enough to save infinite worlds. It only
remains that this blood should be applied to me; and to thee it belongs,
oh blessed Virgin! to thee it belongs, as St. Bernard says, to bestow
the merits of this blood on whomsoever it may please thee. To thee it
belongs, as St. Bonaventure also says, to save whom thou wilt.[341] Oh
my queen, help me, then! my queen, save me! To you this day I commit my
soul; and do thou secure its safety. Oh, salvation of those who invoke
thee! I will exclaim with the same saint, save me.[342]
SECTION II.
HOW POWERFUL IS MARY IN PROTECTING THOSE WHO INVOKE HER IN TEMPTATIONS OF
THE DEVIL.
Not only most holy Mary is queen of heaven and of the saints, but also
of hell and the devils, for she has bravely triumphed over them by her
virtues. From the beginning of the world God predicted to the infernal
serpent the victory and the empire which our queen would obtain over
him, when he announced to him that a woman would come into the world who
should conquer him. “I will put enmities between thee and the woman; she
shall crush thy head.”[343] And what woman was this enemy if not Mary,
who, with her beautiful humility and holy life, always conquered him and
destroyed his forces? St. Cyprian affirms that the mother of our Lord
Jesus Christ was promised in that woman:[344] and hence he remarks, that
God did not use the words I put, but I will put, lest the prophecy should
seem to appertain to Eve.[345] He said, I will put enmity between thee
and the woman, to signify that this his vanquisher was not the living
Eve, but must be another woman descending from her, who was to bring to
our first parents greater blessings, as St. Vincent Ferrer says, than
those they had lost by their sin.[346] Mary, then, is this great and
strong woman who has conquered the devil, and has crushed his head by
subduing his pride, as the Lord added: “She shall crash thy head.”[347]
Some of the commentators doubt whether these words refer to Mary or
to Jesus Christ, because in the Septuagint version we read: “He shall
crush thy head.”[348] But in our Vulgate, which is the only version
approved by the Council of Trent, it is She, and not He. And thus St.
Ambrose, St. Jerome, St. Augustine, St. John Chrysostom, and many others
have understood it. However this may be, it is certain that the Son by
means of the mother, or the mother by means of the Son, has vanquished
Lucifer; so that this proud spirit, as St. Bernard tells us, has been
ignominiously overpowered and crushed by this blessed Virgin.[349] Hence
as a slave conquered in war, he is forced always to obey the commands
of this queen. St. Bruno says, that Eve, by yielding to the serpent,
brought into the world death and darkness; but that the blessed Virgin,
by conquering the devil, brought us life and light: and she has bound him
so that he cannot move to do the least harm to her servants.[350]
Richard of St. Laurence gives a beautiful explanation to these words of
Proverbs: “The heart of her husband trusteth in her, and he shall have no
need of spoils.”[351] Richard says: The heart of her husband, that is,
Christ, trusts in her, and he shall have no need of spoils, for she will
endow him with the spoils which she has taken from the devil.[352] God
has intrusted the heart of Jesus, as à Lapide expresses it, to the care
of Mary, that she may procure for it the love of men; and thus he will
not be in need of spoils, that is, of the conquest of souls, for she will
enrich him with those souls of which she despoils hell, and which she has
rescued from the demons by her powerful aid.
It is well known that the palm is the emblem of victory, and for this
reason our queen has been placed on a high throne in the sight of all
potentates, as a palm, the sign of certain victory, which all can promise
themselves who have recourse to her. “I was exalted like a palm-tree in
Cades.”[353] That is, for a defence,[354] as blessed Albertus Magnus
says: Oh, my children, Mary seems to say to us with these words, when the
enemy assails you, lift your eyes to me, behold me and take courage;
for in me, who defends you, you will behold, at the same time, your
victory. So that recourse to Mary is the most certain means of overcoming
all the assaults of hell; for she, as St. Bernardine of Sienna says,
is queen over hell, and ruler of the spirits of evil, for she controls
and conquers them.[355] And therefore Mary is called terrible against
the power of hell, as an army set in array. “Terrible as an army set in
array.”[356] Set in array, because she knows how to array her powers,
that is, her compassion and her prayers, to the confusion of the enemy
and the benefit of her servants, who, in their temptations, invoke her
powerful aid.
“As the vine I have brought forth a pleasant odor.”[357] “I, like the
vine, as the Holy Spirit puts it in her mouth to say, have given fruits
of sweet odor.” “It is said,” adds St. Bernard, on this passage, “that
every venomous reptile shuns the flowering vines.”[358] As from vines all
poisonous serpents flee, thus the demons flee from those fortunate souls
in whom they perceive the odor of devotion to Mary. On this account she
also is called a cedar: “I was exalted like a cedar in Libanus,”[359] not
only because as the cedar is free from corruption, so Mary is free from
sin, but also because, as Cardinal Hugo remarks upon this passage, as the
cedar with its perfume puts serpents to flight, so Mary with her sanctity
puts to flight the devils.[360]
Victories were gained in Judea by means of the ark. Thus Moses conquered
his enemies. “When the ark was lifted up, Moses said, Arise, oh Lord, and
let thy enemies be scattered.”[361] Thus Jericho was conquered; thus were
the Philistines conquered; “for the ark of God was there.”[362] It is
well known that this ark was the type of Mary. As the ark contained the
manna, thus Mary contained Jesus, whom the manna also prefigured, and by
means of this ark, victories were gained over the enemies of earth and
over hell.[363] Wherefore St. Bernardine of Sienna says that when Mary,
the ark of the New Testament, was crowned queen of heaven, the power of
hell over men was weakened and overthrown.[364]
“Oh, how the devils in hell,” says St. Bonaventure, “tremble at Mary and
her great name!”[365] The saint compares these enemies to those of whom
Job makes mention and says: “He diggeth through houses in the dark....
If the morning suddenly appear, it is to them the shadow of death.”[366]
Thieves enter houses in the dark to rob them, but when the dawn comes
they flee, as if the image of death appeared to them. In the same manner,
as St. Bonaventure expresses it, the demons enter into the soul in times
of darkness, that is, when the soul is obscured by ignorance; they dig
through the houses of our minds in the darkness of ignorance; but then,
he adds, as soon as the grace and the mercy of Mary enter the soul, this
beautiful aurora dissipates the darkness, and the infernal enemies flee
as at the approach of death.[367] Oh, blessed is he who always, in his
conflicts with hell, invokes the beautiful name of Mary!
In confirmation of this it was revealed to St. Bridget that God has given
Mary such power over all evil spirits, that whenever they assail any of
her servants who implore her aid, at the slightest sign from her they
flee far away in terror, preferring that their pains should be redoubled
rather than that Mary should domineer over them in this manner.[368]
À Lapide remarks upon the words with which the divine spouse praises his
beloved bride, when he calls her the lily, and says that as the lily is
among thorns, so is his beloved among the other daughters;[369] that, as
the lily is a remedy against serpents and poisons, so the invocation of
Mary is a special remedy for overcoming all temptations, particularly
those of impurity, as they who have tried it have universally
experienced.[370]
St. John of Damascus said, and every one may say the same who is so happy
as to be devoted to this great queen: Oh, mother of God, if I trust in
thee, I shall surely not be vanquished; for, defended by thee, I will
pursue my enemies, and opposing to them thy protection and thy powerful
support as a shield, I shall surely conquer them.[371] James the Monk,
reputed a doctor among the Greek fathers, discoursing of Mary to our
Lord, says: Thou, oh my Lord, hast given us this mother for a powerful
defence against all our enemies.[372]
It is related in the Old Testament that the Lord guided his people from
Egypt to the promised land, by day in a pillar of cloud, by night in
a pillar of fire.[373] This pillar, now of clouds, now of fire, says
Richard of St. Laurence, was a type of Mary and her double office, which
she exercises continually in our behalf; as a cloud she protects us from
the heat of divine justice, and as fire she protects us from demons.[374]
Fire, as St. Bonaventure adds, for as wax melts at the approach of fire,
thus the evil spirits lose all power in the presence of those souls who
often call upon the name of Mary, and devoutly invoke her, and more than
all, strive to imitate her.[375]
Oh, how the devils tremble, exclaims St. Bernard, if they only hear
the name of Mary uttered![376] As men, says Thomas à Kempis, fall to
the earth through fear, when a thunderbolt strikes near them, so fall
prostrate the devils when but the name of Mary is heard.[377] How many
noble victories have the servants of Mary not gained over these enemies
by the power of her most holy name! Thus St. Anthony of Padua conquered
them, thus the blessed Henry Suso, thus many other lovers of Mary. It is
related in the accounts of the missions to Japan, that a great number of
demons appeared in the form of ferocious animals to a certain Christian
of that country, to alarm him and threaten him, but he spoke to them in
these words: “I have no arms with which to terrify you; if the Most High
permits it, do with me according to your pleasure. Meanwhile I use as my
defence the most sweet names of Jesus and Mary.” Hardly had he uttered
these words, when behold, at the sound of those fearful names, the earth
opened and those proud spirits were swallowed up. St. Anselm also asserts
that he had seen and heard many persons who at the mention of the name of
Mary were delivered from their dangers.[378]
Very glorious, oh Mary, and wonderful exclaims St. Bonaventure, is thy
great name. Those who are mindful to utter it at the hour of death,
have nothing to fear from hell, for the devils at once abandon the soul
when they hear the name of Mary.[379] And the saint adds, that an
earthly enemy does not so greatly fear a great army, as the powers of
hell fear the name and protection of Mary.[380] Thou, oh Lady, says St.
Germanus, by the invocation alone of thy most powerful name, dost render
thy servants secure from all the assaults of the enemy.[381] Oh, if
Christians were only mindful in temptations to invoke with confidence the
name of Mary, it is certain that they would never fall; for, as blessed
Alanus remarks, at the thunder of that great name, the devil flees and
hell trembles.[382] This heavenly queen herself revealed to St. Bridget,
that even from the most abandoned sinners, who had wandered the farthest
from God, and were most fully possessed by the devil, the enemy departs
as soon as he hears her most powerful name invoked by them, if they do
it with a true intention of amending.[383] But the Virgin added, that if
the soul does not amend, and with contrition quit its sins, the demons
immediately return to it and hold it in their possession.[384]
EXAMPLE.
In Reisberg there lived a Canon regular named Arnold, who was very
devoted to the blessed Virgin. Being at the point of death, he received
the sacraments, and calling his religious to him, begged them not to
leave him at the last moment. Scarcely had he said this, when he began
to tremble violently and roll his eyes; cold sweat fell from him, and
with an agitated voice he exclaimed: “Do you not see those demons who
would seize me and carry me to hell?” Then he cried: “My brothers,
invoke for me the help of Mary; I trust in her that she will give me the
victory.” They immediately began to recite the Litany of our Lady, and
at the words, Holy Mary, pray for him, “Sancta Maria, ora pro eo,” the
dying man cried: “Repeat, repeat the name of Mary, for I am even now at
the tribunal of God.” He stopped for a moment, and then added: “It is
true that I did it, but I have done penance for it.” Then turning to the
Virgin, he said: “Oh Mary, I shall be delivered if thou wilt help me.”
The demons soon after made another attack, but he defended himself by
blessing himself with the crucifix, and invoking Mary. Thus he passed
the whole night, but when morning dawned, Arnold, restored to serenity,
joyfully said: “Mary, my Lady and my refuge, has obtained for me pardon
and salvation.” Then beholding the Virgin, who summoned him to follow
her, he said: “I come, oh Lady, I come.” He made an effort to rise, but
not being able to follow her with the body, gently expiring, he followed
her with his soul, as we hope, to the blessed kingdom of glory.[385]
PRAYER.
Behold at thy feet, oh Mary my hope, a poor sinner who many times,
through his own fault, has been the slave of hell. I know that I have
often been conquered by the devil, because I have neglected to recur
to thee, oh my refuge. If I had always sought thy protection, if I had
invoked thee, I should never have fallen. I hope, oh my Lady, most worthy
of love, that by thy help I have escaped the powers of hell, and that God
has pardoned me. But I tremble for the future, lest I again fall into
their power. I know that these enemies of mine have not lost all hope
of reconquering me, and at this moment they are preparing new assaults
and temptations. Oh, my queen and refuge, aid me. Shelter me beneath thy
mantle, let me not become again their slave. I know that thou wilt succor
me and give me victory whenever I invoke thee. I fear only that in my
temptations I may forget thee, and neglect to call upon thee. This, then,
is the grace, oh most holy Virgin, that I seek and wish from thee, that I
may always remember thee, and especially when I find myself in conflict
with the enemy; let me not then fail to invoke thee often with the words:
“Oh Mary, help me, help me, oh Mary.” And when at length the day of my
last conflict with hell, the day of my death arrives, oh, my queen,
powerfully assist me then, and remind me thyself to invoke thee more
frequently, with the voice or with the heart, that expiring with thy most
sweet name, and that of thy son Jesus on my lips, I may go to bless and
praise thee, and never leave thy feet in paradise through all eternity.
Amen.
CHAPTER V.
AD TE SUSPIRAMUS GEMENTES ET FLENTES IN HAC LACRYMARUM VALLE.
To thee we send up our sighs, groaning and weeping in this valley of
tears.
SECTION I.
THE NEED WE HAVE OF THE INTERCESSION OF MARY FOR OUR SALVATION.
To invoke and pray to the saints, especially to the queen of saints, most
holy Mary, that they may obtain for us, by their intercession, the divine
favor, is not only a lawful but a useful and holy practice, and this
is of faith, being established by the Councils, against heretics, who
condemn it as injurious to Jesus Christ, who is our only mediator; but if
a Jeremias, after his death, prays for Jerusalem[386]; if the elders of
the Apocalypse present to God the prayers of the saints; if a St. Peter
promises his disciples to remember them after his death; if a St. Stephen
prays for his persecutors; if a St. Paul prays for his companions; if,
in a word, the saints pray for us, why may we not implore the saints
to intercede for us? St. Paul commends himself to the prayers of his
disciples: Pray for us: “Orate pro nobis.”[387] St. James exhorts the
Christians to pray for each other: “Pray for one another, that ye may be
saved.”[388] We may then do likewise.
No one will deny that Jesus Christ is the only mediator of justice, and
that by his merits he has obtained for us reconciliation with God. But,
on the other hand, it is impious to deny that God is pleased to grant
favors at the intercession of the saints, and especially of Mary his
mother, whom Jesus desires so much to see loved and honored by us. Every
one knows that honor paid to a mother redounds to her children.[389]
Hence St. Bernard says, let not any one think that by greatly praising
the mother he will throw into the shade the glories of the Son; for the
more he honors the mother, so much more he honors the Son.[390] St.
Ildephonsus says, that all the honor which is paid to the mother and the
queen, is rendered to the Son and king.[391] And there is no doubt that
on account of the merits of Jesus, the great privilege has been granted
to Mary to be the mediatrix of our salvation; not, indeed, mediatrix
of justice, but of grace and intercession, as she is called by St.
Bonaventure.[392] St. Lawrence Justinian also says: Can she be otherwise
than full of grace, who has been made the ladder of paradise, the gate of
heaven, the most true mediatrix between God and man?[393]
Wherefore St. Anselm well remarks, that when we implore the holy Virgin
to obtain graces for us, it is not that we distrust the divine mercy, but
rather that we distrust our own unworthiness, and commend ourselves to
Mary that her merits may compensate for our unworthiness.[394]
It cannot be doubted, therefore, except by those who are deficient
in faith, that it is a useful and holy thing to have recourse to the
intercession of Mary. But the point that we here propose to prove is,
that the intercession of Mary is even necessary for our salvation;
necessary, to speak properly, not indeed absolutely, but morally. And we
affirm that this necessity arises from the will of God itself, who has
ordained that all the favors which he dispenses should pass through the
hands of Mary, according to the opinion of St. Bernard, which may well be
considered at the present day the common opinion of doctors and divines,
as the author of “The kingdom of Mary” has already called it. It is
embraced by Vega, Mendoza, Paciucchelli, Segneri, Poiré, Crasset, and
innumerable other learned authors. Even Father Noel Alexander, an author
usually very reserved in his assertions, declares it to be the will of
God that we receive all favors through the intercession of Mary.[395] In
confirmation of this, he quotes the celebrated passage of St. Bernard:
This is the will of him who would have us receive all things through
Mary.[396] The same opinion is held by Father Contensone, who, explaining
the words of Jesus Christ on the cross to John, Behold thy mother, “Ecce
mater tua,” says: It is as if he said, no one shall partake of my blood
except by the intercession of my mother. My wounds are fountains of
grace, but to none can their streams be conveyed except by the channel of
Mary. Oh John, my disciple, even as thou lovest my mother, so shalt thou
be loved by me.[397]
The statement that whatsoever we receive from the Lord comes to us by
means of Mary, does not find favor with a certain modern author, who,
although he treats with much piety and learning of true and false
devotion, yet speaking of the devotion towards the divine mother, has
shown himself very sparing in granting her the glory that a St. Germanus,
a St. Anselm, a St. John of Damascus, a St. Bonaventure, a St. Antoninus,
a St. Bernardine of Sienna, the venerable Abbot of Celles, and so many
other doctors, have not hesitated to attribute to her, who have not
scrupled to declare that for the above-mentioned reason the intercession
of Mary is not only useful, but necessary. The above-named author says
that this proposition, namely, that God grants no favors except through
Mary, is an hyperbole and an exaggeration which has escaped from the
mouth of some saints in a moment of fervor, and properly speaking, is to
be understood only in the sense that through Mary we have received Jesus
Christ, by whose merits we receive all graces. Otherwise, he continues,
it would be an error to believe that God could not grant graces without
the intercession of Mary, since the apostle says: “There is one God and
one Mediator of God and men, the man Christ Jesus.”[398] So far the
above-named author.
But with his leave I will suggest to him what he himself in his book
teaches me, that the mediation of justice by means of merit, and the
mediation of grace by means of prayer, are very different things. Thus
it is also one thing to say that God cannot, another to say he will not
grant favors without the intercession of Mary. We willingly acknowledge
that God is the fountain of every good, and absolute Lord of all graces,
and that Mary is only a pure creature who, through grace, receives
whatever she obtains from God. But who can deny it to be reasonable and
proper to assert that God, in order to exalt this noble creature, who,
more than all other creatures, has loved and honored him in her life,
having chosen her for the mother of his Son the Redeemer of the world,
has also seen fit to dispense through her hands all the graces which
are to be granted to redeemed souls? We acknowledge that Jesus Christ
is the only mediator of justice, as we have stated above, who by his
merits obtains for us grace and salvation; but we affirm that Mary is
the mediatrix of grace, and although whatever she obtains, she obtains
through the merits of Jesus Christ, and because she prays and asks for it
in the name of Jesus Christ, yet whatever favors we ask are all obtained
through her intercession.
In this there is certainly nothing opposed to the sacred doctrines; on
the contrary, it is entirely conformed to the sentiments of the Church,
who, in the public prayers, by her approved, teaches us to appeal
constantly to this divine mother, and invoke her as the Health of the
weak: “Salus infirmorum.” The Refuge of sinners: “Refugium peccatorum.”
The Help of Christians: “Auxilium christianorum.” Our life and our hope:
“Vita et spes nostra.” The same holy Church, in the office which she
requires to be recited on the Festivals of Mary, applying to her the
words of Wisdom, gives us to understand that in Mary we shall find every
hope: “In me is all hope of life and virtue.”[399] That in Mary we shall
find every grace: “In me is all grace of the way and of the truth.”[400]
In a word, that we shall find in Mary life and eternal salvation: “He
that shall find me shall find life, and shall have salvation from the
Lord.”[401] And again: “They that work by me shall not sin. They that
explain me shall have life everlasting.”[402] All which passages signify
the need we have of the intercession of Mary.
This then is the sentiment in which so many theologians and holy fathers
concur, of whom we cannot with justice say, as the author quoted above
has asserted, that to exalt Mary they have uttered _hyperboles_, and that
_excessive exaggerations_ have fallen from their lips. To exaggerate
and utter hyperboles, is to exceed the limits of truth, which cannot be
said of the saints who have spoken, enlightened by the Spirit of God,
who is the Spirit of truth. And here, if I may make a brief digression,
let me express a sentiment of mine, namely: when an opinion is in any
way honorable to the most holy Virgin, and has some foundation, and is
not repugnant to the faith and the decrees of the Church, and to the
truth; the rejection of it, and opposition to it, because the contrary
may also be true, indicates little devotion to the mother of God. I
would not be one of the number of these, nor would I see you, my reader,
one of them, but rather of the number of those who fully and firmly
believe all that can be believed, without error, concerning the greatness
of Mary, as the Abbot Rupert says, who places among the offerings of
devotion most pleasing to this mother, that of a firm belief in her great
privileges.[403] If no one else, St. Augustine at least might remove from
us all fear of exaggeration in the praise of Mary, who asserts that all
we may say in her praise is little in comparison with what she merits on
account of her dignity as mother of God. The holy Church also, in the
Mass of the blessed Virgin, requires these words to be read: “For thou
art happy, oh sacred Virgin Mary, and most worthy of all praise.”[404]
But let us return to our subject, and hear what the saints say of the
opinion in question. St. Bernard says that God has bestowed all graces on
Mary, that men, through her as through a channel, may receive whatever
good is in store for them.[405] Moreover, the saint here makes an
important reflection, and says that before the birth of the most holy
Virgin there flowed no such current of grace for all, since this desired
channel did not yet exist.[406] But for this end, he adds, Mary has been
given to the world, that through this channel the divine graces might
continually flow down upon us.[407]
As Holofernes, in order to gain the city of Bethulia, directed the
aqueducts to be broken, so the devil makes every effort to deprive souls
of their devotion to the mother of God; for, if this channel of grace
were closed, he could easily succeed in gaining them to himself. The
same holy father continues, and says: Observe, then, oh souls, with what
affection and devotion the Lord would have us honor this our queen, by
always seeking and confiding in her protection; for in her he has placed
the fulness of all good, that henceforth we may recognize as coming from
Mary whatever of hope, grace, or salvation we receive.[408] St. Antoninus
says the same thing: All the mercies ever bestowed upon men have all come
through Mary.[409]
For this reason she is called the moon, because, as St. Bonaventure
remarks, as the moon is between the sun and the earth, and reflects
upon the latter what she receives from the former, so Mary receives the
celestial influences of grace from the divine Son, to transfuse them into
us who are upon the earth.[410]
For this reason, too, she is called the gate of heaven by the holy
Church: “Felix cœli porta;” because, St. Bernard again observes, as every
rescript of grace sent by the king comes through the palace gate, so it
is given to Mary, that through her thou shouldst receive whatever thou
hast.[411] St. Bonaventure, moreover, says that Mary is called the gate
of heaven, because no one can enter heaven if he does not pass through
Mary, who is the door of it.[412]
St. Jerome confirms us in the same sentiment (or, as some persons think,
another ancient author of a sermon upon the Assumption, which is inserted
among the works of St. Jerome), when he says, that in Jesus Christ was
the fulness of grace as in the head, whence descend to the members, which
we are, all the vital spirits, that is, the divine aids for attaining
eternal salvation; in Mary likewise was fulness as in the neck, through
which those vital spirits pass to the members.[413] This is confirmed by
St. Bernardine of Sienna, who more clearly unfolded this thought, saying
that through Mary are transmitted to the faithful, who are the mystic
body of Jesus Christ, all the graces of the spiritual life, which descend
upon them from Jesus their head.[414]
St. Bonaventure also attempts to assign the reason for this when he
says: God being pleased to dwell in the womb of this holy Virgin, she
has acquired thereby, in a certain sense, a kind of jurisdiction over
all graces; since Jesus came from her sacred womb, together with him
proceed from her, as from a celestial ocean, all the streams of divine
gifts.[415] St. Bernardine of Sienna expresses this in even clearer
terms. From the time, he asserts, that this mother conceived in her womb
the Divine Word, she acquired, if we may thus express it, a special
right to the gifts which proceed to us from the Holy Spirit, so that no
creature has received any grace from God except by the intervention and
hand of Mary.[416]
And thus is explained by a certain author[417] that passage of Jeremias
where the prophet, speaking of the incarnation of the Word and of Mary
his mother, says, that “a woman shall compass a man.”[418] The author
above named explains this to mean that, as no line proceeds from the
centre of a circle which does not pass through its circumference; thus no
grace comes to us from Jesus, who is the centre of every good, that does
not pass through Mary, who encompassed him after she had received him in
her womb.
Hence, says St. Bernardine, all gifts, all virtues, and all graces, are
dispensed by Mary[419] to whom she will, when she will, and in the manner
she will. Richard likewise says, that God wishes all the good he bestows
on creatures to pass through the hands of Mary.[420] Hence the venerable
Abbot of Celles exhorts every one to have recourse to this treasurer of
graces, as he calls her: “Thesaurariam gratiarum;” for only by her means
the world and men are to receive all the good they may hope for.[421]
By which it is evident that the saints and authors above quoted, in
saying that all graces come to us through Mary, have not intended to say
this only because we have received from Mary, Jesus Christ, who is the
fountain of every good, as the author named above would imply; but they
assure us that God, after having given us Jesus Christ, has decreed that
all the graces which have been dispensed, are dispensed, and shall be
dispensed to men, even to the end of the world, through the merits of
Jesus, shall be dispensed through the hands and by the intercession of
Mary.
Hence Father Suarez concludes it to be the universal sentiment of the
Church at the present day, that the intercession of Mary is not only
useful, but necessary.[422] Necessary, as we said before, not in the
sense of absolute necessity, because only the mediation of Jesus Christ
is absolutely necessary for us, but in the sense of moral necessity; for
the Church holds the opinion, with St. Bernard, that God has chosen to
bestow no grace upon us but by the hands of Mary.[423] St. Ildephonsus
affirmed this before St. Bernard, when, addressing the Virgin, he says:
Oh Mary, God has decreed to commit to thee all the favors that he would
confer upon men; hence he has confided to thee all the treasures and
riches of grace.[424] And therefore St. Peter Damian says,[425] that
God would not become man without the consent of Mary, that, in the first
place, we might remain greatly indebted to her; and secondly, that we
might understand the salvation of all men to be made dependent upon her
good pleasure.
St. Bonaventure, contemplating the words of Isaias, where the prophet
says: From the race of Jesse there shall come forth a rod—that is, Mary;
and from that the flower—that is, the Word incarnate,[426] utters these
beautiful words: Let him who would obtain the grace of the Holy Spirit,
seek the flower in the rod, Jesus in Mary; since by the rod we obtain the
flower, and by the flower we find God.[427] And he afterwards adds: If
thou wouldst have this flower, strive, with prayers, to incline the stem
of the flower in thy favor, and thou wilt obtain it.[428] The seraphic
Doctor, also commenting on the words: “They found the child with Mary his
mother,”[429] says: Jesus is never found but with and through Mary;[430]
and concludes with these words: He seeks Jesus in vain who does not look
for him with Mary.[431] Hence St. Ildephonsus says: I would be a servant
of the Son, and as he can never be a servant of the Son who is not the
servant of the mother, my ambition is to be a servant of Mary.[432]
EXAMPLE.
It is related by Belluacensis[433] and Cesarius,[434] that a noble youth
having lost by his vices the wealth left him by his father, became so
poor that he was obliged to beg. He quitted his native land, that he
might live with less shame in a distant country where he was unknown. On
this journey he met one day an old servant of his father, who, seeing him
so cast down by the poverty he was suffering, told him to cheer up, for
he would take him to a prince who was so liberal that he would provide
him with every thing he needed. Now this wretch was an impious sorcerer.
One day he took the youth with him to a wood on the borders of a moor,
where he began to address some invisible person. The youth asked to
whom he was speaking. “To the devil,” he answered; and seeing the youth
terrified, bade him not to fear. Continuing to speak with the devil, he
said: “This youth, oh my master, is reduced to extreme necessity, and
wishes to be restored to his former condition.” “If he will obey me,”
said the enemy, “I will make him richer than before; but in the first
place, he must renounce God.” At this the youth shuddered, but urged on
by that cursed magician, he yielded, and renounced God. “But this is not
sufficient,” said the demon; “he must also renounce Mary; for it is to
her that we attribute our greatest losses. Oh, how many souls she has
snatched from us, and led back to God and saved!” “Oh, this I will not
do,” exclaimed the youth; “deny Mary! why she is my only hope. I would
rather be a beggar all my life.” With these words he left the place. On
his way he happened to pass a church dedicated to Mary. The unhappy youth
entered it, and kneeling before her altar, began to weep and implore
the most holy Virgin that she would obtain the pardon of his sins. Mary
immediately began to intercede with the Son for that miserable being.
Jesus at first said: “But that ungrateful youth, my mother, has denied
me.” But seeing that his mother still continued to entreat him, he at
last said: “Oh, my mother, I have never refused thee any thing; he shall
be pardoned, since thou dost ask it.” The citizen who had purchased the
inheritance of that prodigal was secretly present at this scene, and
beholding the mercy of Mary towards that sinner, he gave him his only
daughter in marriage, and made him heir of all his possessions. Thus that
youth recovered, through the intercession of Mary, the favor of God and
even his temporal possessions.
PRAYER.
Oh my soul! behold the beautiful hope of salvation, and of life eternal,
which the Lord has granted thee, by giving thee, in his mercy, confidence
in the protection of his mother, when thou hast by thy sins so often
merited his displeasure and the pains of hell. Give thanks, then, to
God, and to thy protectress, Mary, who hath deigned to shelter thee
beneath her mantle, as already thou certainly knowest, by the many graces
that thou hast received through her. Yes, I thank thee, oh my loving
mother! for the good thou hast done me, a miserable sinner, deserving
of hell. From how many dangers hast thou delivered me, oh my queen! How
much light and how many mercies hast thou obtained for me, from God, by
thy intercession! What great advantage, or what great honor hast thou
received from me, that thou art thus intent on doing me good?
Thy goodness alone, then, hath moved thee in my behalf. Ah! if I were to
give my blood, my life for thee, it would be little compared to what I
owe thee, for thou hast delivered me from eternal death; thou, who hast
enabled me to recover, as I hope, the divine favor, and from thee finally
I acknowledge all my blessings to proceed. Oh my Lady! most worthy of
love, I a miserable creature can make thee no return but always to praise
and love thee. Ah! do not disdain to accept the affection of a poor
sinner, who is enamored of thy goodness. If my heart is not worthy to
love thee, because it is evil and full of earthly affections, do thou
change it. Ah! unite me to my God, and unite me so that I can never be
separated from his love. This thou desirest of me, that I may love thy
God, and this I wish from thee. Obtain for me that I may love him, and
love him always, and I ask nothing more. Amen.
SECTION II.
THE SAME SUBJECT CONTINUED.
St. Bernard says, that as a man and a woman have co-operated for
our ruin, so it was fit that another man and another woman should
co-operate for our restoration; and these were Jesus and his mother Mary.
Doubtless, says the saint, Jesus Christ alone was all-sufficient for our
redemption: yet it was more fitting that each sex should take part in our
redemption, when both took part in our corruption.[435] For this reason
blessed Albertus Magnus calls Mary the co-operatrix with Christ in our
redemption: “Adjutrix Redemptionis.” And she herself revealed to St.
Bridget, that as Adam and Eve sold the world for one apple, so her Son
and herself with one heart redeemed the world.[436] God could, indeed, as
St. Anselm asserts, create the world from nothing; but when it was lost
by sin, he would not redeem it without the co-operation of Mary.[437]
In three ways, says Father Suarez, the divine mother shared in the work
of our salvation: first, by having merited, that is, with merit of
congruity, the Incarnation of the Word. Secondly, by praying much for
us while she lived on the earth. Thirdly, by willingly sacrificing to
God the life of her Son for our salvation; and therefore the Lord has
justly ordained that as Mary has, with so much love for man, aided in the
salvation of all, and thereby so greatly promoted the glory of God, all
through her intercession shall obtain salvation.
Mary is called the co-operatrix with her Son in our justification,
because God has committed to her keeping all the graces that he has
destined for us.[438] Wherefore St. Bernard affirms, that all men, past,
present, and to come, should regard her as the medium and negotiator of
the salvation of all ages.[439]
Jesus Christ has said, that no one could find him unless his Eternal
Father drew him by his divine grace.[440] Thus, also, according to
Richard, Jesus said of his mother: No one comes to me unless my mother
draw him with her prayers.[441]
Jesus was the fruit of Mary, as Elizabeth expressed it: “Blessed art
thou among women, and blessed is the fruit of thy womb.”[442] Whoever,
then, wishes for the fruit, must go to the tree; whoever wishes for Jesus
must go to Mary; and he who finds Mary, certainly also finds Jesus. St.
Elizabeth, when the most holy Virgin came to visit her in her house, not
knowing how to thank her, in deep humility exclaimed: “How have I merited
that the mother of my God should come to visit me?”[443] But why! we may
ask: did not Elizabeth already know that not Mary only, but Jesus also,
had entered her dwelling? And why, then, does she call herself unworthy
to receive the mother, and not rather unworthy of receiving a visit
from the Son? Ah, well did the saint understand that when Mary comes
she brings Jesus also; and hence it was sufficient for her to thank the
mother, without naming the Son.
“She is like the merchant’s ship, she bringeth her bread from
afar.”[444] Mary is that blessed ship, which brought to us from heaven
Jesus Christ, the living bread that came from heaven to give us life
eternal, as he has said: “I am the living bread which came down from
heaven: if any man eat of this bread, he shall live forever.”[445] Hence
Richard of St. Laurence says, that all those will be lost in the sea
of this world who are not received into this ship, that is, protected
by Mary.[446] He also adds, that whenever we find ourselves in danger
of destruction from the temptations or passions of the present life,
we ought to flee to Mary, crying quickly, Oh Lady, help us; save us,
if thou wouldst not see us lost.[447] And let it be remarked here, in
passing, that this writer does not hesitate to say to Mary: Save us,
we perish—“Salva nos, perimus;” as the author mentioned several times
in the previous section does, who denies that we can ask the Virgin to
save us, because, as he says, it belongs only to God to save us. But if
a person condemned to death may ask some favorite of the king to save
him by interceding for him with his prince, why cannot we implore the
mother of God to save us, by obtaining for us through her prayers the
grace of eternal life? St. John of Damascus did not hesitate to say
to the Virgin: Oh pure and immaculate queen, save me, deliver me from
eternal damnation.[448] St. Bonaventure called Mary the salvation of
those invoking her.[449] The Church allows us to invoke her: Health of
the weak—“Salus infirmorum;” and shall we hesitate to ask her to save us,
when, according to a certain author, to no one is the door of salvation
open except through her?[450] And before him St. Germanus, speaking of
Mary, said: No one can be saved except through thee.[451]
But let us see what more the saints say of the need we have of the
intercession of the divine mother. The glorious St. Cajetan said that
we could ask for graces, but we could never obtain them without the
intercession of Mary. And St. Antoninus confirms this, expressing himself
thus beautifully: Whoever asks and wishes to obtain graces without the
intercession of Mary, attempts to fly without wings;[452] for, as Pharaoh
said to Joseph, “The land of Egypt is in thy hand;”[453] and as he sent
all those to Joseph who applied to him for assistance, saying: Go to
Joseph—“Ite ad Joseph;” so God, when we supplicate him for favors,
sends us to Mary: Go to Mary—“Ite ad Mariam;” for he has decreed, says
St. Bernard, that he will grant no favors except through the hands of
Mary.[454] Hence Richard of St. Laurence says: Our salvation is in the
hands of Mary, and we Christians can more justly say to her than the
Egyptians to Joseph, our salvation is in thy hand.[455] The venerable
Idiot says the same thing: Our salvation is in her hands—“Salus nostra in
manu illius est.”[456] Cassian asserts the same thing, but in stronger
language. He absolutely affirms that the salvation of the whole world
depends upon the favor and protection of Mary.[457] St. Bernardine of
Sienna thus addresses her: Oh Lady, since thou art the dispenser of all
graces, and we must receive the grace of salvation through thy hand
alone, then our salvation depends on thee.[458]
Richard says rightly then, that as a stone falls so soon as the earth is
removed from beneath it, in like manner a soul, if the support of Mary
is taken away, will fall first into sin and then into hell.[459] St.
Bonaventure adds, that God will not save us without the intercession of
Mary,[460] and goes on to say, that as an infant cannot live without
its nurse, so no one without the protection of Mary can be saved.[461]
Therefore he exhorts us in this way: Let thy soul thirst for devotion to
Mary; preserve it always, never abandon it until you arrive in heaven
and receive her maternal benediction.[462] Who, says St. Germanus, would
ever know God, if it were not through thee, oh most holy Mary? Who would
be saved? Who would be free from peril? Who would receive any favor if
it were not through thee, oh mother of God? Oh Virgin mother, oh full of
grace![463] And in another place he says: If thou didst not open the way,
no one would be free from the sting of the flesh and of sin.[464]
As we have access to the eternal Father only through Jesus Christ, so,
says St. Bernard, we have access to Jesus Christ only through Mary.[465]
And St. Bernard gives us the reason why the Lord decreed that all men
should be saved by the intercession of Mary, namely, that through Mary
we might be received by that Saviour who, through Mary, has been given
to us; and therefore the saint calls her the mother of grace and of our
salvation. Then, resumes St. Germanus, what would become of us? what hope
of salvation would remain to us if thou, oh Mary, didst abandon us, thou
who art the life of Christians?[466]
But, the modern author above quoted remarks: If all graces pass through
Mary, when we implore the intercession of the saints, they must have
recourse to the mediation of Mary to obtain for us these graces. This,
however, says he, no one believes, or has ever thought of. I reply, that
there can be no error or difficulty in believing this. What difficulty is
there in saying that God, to honor his mother, having crowned her queen
of the saints, and having ordained that all graces should be dispensed
by her hands, would have the saints also invoke her to obtain favors for
their clients? As to saying that no one has ever thought of it, I find
that St. Bernard, St. Anselm, St. Bonaventure, Father Suarez[467] also,
and others expressly assert it. In vain, says St. Bernard, would one
pray to the other saints for a desired favor, if Mary did not intercede
to obtain it for them.[468] Thus also a certain author explains, in
this connection, that passage of David: “All the rich among the people
shall entreat thy countenance.”[469] The rich of that great people of God
are the saints, who, when they wish to obtain a favor for one of their
clients, all recommend themselves to Mary, that she may obtain it for
them. Justly, then, says Father Suarez, we implore the saints to be our
intercessors with Mary, who is their lady and queen.[470]
It is precisely this which St. Benedict promised to St. Frances of Rome,
as we learn from Father Marchese.[471] The above-named saint appeared
to her one day, and taking her under his protection, promised to be her
advocate with the divine mother. St. Anselm adds, in confirmation of
this, addressing the blessed Virgin: Oh Lady, what the prayers of all
these saints can obtain, in union with thine, thou canst obtain, by thy
intercession alone without their aid.[472] But wherefore hast thou such
power? “quare hoc potes?” continues the saint. Because thou alone art the
mother of our common Saviour, thou art the spouse of God, the universal
queen of heaven and earth.[473] If thou dost not speak for us, no saint
will pray for us and aid us.[474] But if thou art moved to pray for us,
all the saints will engage to intercede for us and help us.[475] So says
Father Segneri,[476] applying to Mary, as the holy Church does, these
words of Wisdom: “I alone have compassed the circuit of heaven.”[477] As
with its motion the first sphere puts in motion all the others, so when
Mary is moved to pray for a soul, she moves all heaven to pray with her.
St. Bonaventure says even, that then she commands, as being their queen,
all the saints and angels to accompany her and unite their prayers to
hers.[478]
So we see, finally, why the holy Church requires us to invoke and salute
the divine mother with the great name of our hope: Hail our hope, “Spes
nostra salve.” The impious Luther could not endure that the holy Roman
Church should call Mary, our hope;[479] because, as he said, God only and
Jesus Christ as our mediator are our hope; but that God curses those who
place their hope in any creature, as we find in Jeremias: “Cursed be the
man that trusteth in man.”[480] But the Church teaches us everywhere to
invoke Mary, and call her our hope: “Spes nostra salve.” Whoever places
his hope in a creature, independently of God, is certainly accursed of
God, since God is the only fountain and the dispenser of every good, and
the creature, without God, has nothing and can do nothing. But if the
Lord has ordained, as we have proved, that all graces shall pass through
Mary, as a channel of mercy, we can, and ought even to assert that
Mary is our hope, by whose intercession we receive divine graces, and
therefore it is St. Bernard called her the whole cause of his hope.[481]
St. John of Damascus expresses the same thing when, addressing the
blessed Virgin, he says to her: Oh Lady, in thee I have placed all my
hope, and with firm confidence I look to thee for my salvation.[482] St.
Thomas says that Mary is all the hope of our salvation.[483] St. Ephrem
explains: Oh most holy Virgin, receive us under thy protection, if thou
wilt see us saved, since we have no other hope of being saved but through
thee.[484]
We will then conclude in the words of St. Bernard: Let us strive, with
all the affections of our heart, to reverence this divine mother, Mary,
since this is the will of that Lord who would have us receive all good
from her hands.[485] And the saint exhorts us, whenever we desire and
ask any favor, to recommend ourselves to Mary, and trust that we shall
obtain it through her intercession.[486] For, says the saint, if you do
not deserve from God the favor you ask, Mary, who asks it in your behalf,
merits to obtain it.[487] Hence the same Bernard exhorts us each and all,
that, whatever we offer to God, whether works or prayers, we recommend
all to Mary, if we wish our Lord to accept them.[488]
EXAMPLE.
Eutychian, Patriarch of Constantinople, relates the following well-known
story of Theophilus. The Patriarch was an eye-witness of the fact
which we here relate, and which is confirmed by St. Peter Damian, St.
Bernard, St. Bonaventure, St. Antoninus, and others.[489] Theophilus
was archdeacon of the Church of Adanas, a city of Cilicia; and was so
much esteemed, that the people wished him to become their bishop, but
his humility prevented his consent. Some malicious persons afterwards
accused him, and he was deposed from his office. This afflicted him so
much, that, blinded by passion, he went to a Jewish magician, who induced
him to apply to Satan for help in his misfortunes. The devil answered
that if he wished his assistance, he must renounce Jesus, and Mary his
mother, and hand over to him the act of renunciation, written with his
own hand. Theophilus executed this vile document. On the following day
the bishop having heard of the wrong done him by his calumniators, asked
his forgiveness, and restored him to his office. But Theophilus began
then to feel so tortured by remorse of conscience on account of the
great crime he had committed, that he wept continually. What does he
do? He enters a church, prostrates himself in tears before an altar of
the blessed Virgin, and exclaims: “Oh mother of God, I will not despair
having thee, who art so merciful, to aid me.” He persevered forty days in
weeping and praying thus to the holy Virgin; when behold, one night the
mother of mercy appeared to him and said: “Oh Theophilus, what have you
done? you have renounced my friendship and that of my Son; and for whom?
for your own and my enemy.” “Oh Lady,” answered Theophilus, “it belongs
to thee to pardon me, and to obtain my pardon from thy Son.” Then Mary,
seeing his confidence, answered, “Take courage, and I will pray God for
thee.” Theophilus, encouraged by these words, redoubled his tears, his
penance, and his prayers, remaining constantly at the foot of that altar.
And, behold, Mary appeared to him again, and with a joyful countenance
said to him: “Theophilus, rejoice, I have presented thy tears and thy
prayers to God; he hath accepted them, and hath already pardoned thee;
henceforth be grateful and faithful.” “Oh Lady,” replied Theophilus,
“this is not sufficient to console me; the enemy still holds that impious
deed, by which I have renounced thee and thy Son; thou canst obtain it
for me.” After three days Theophilus awoke one night, and found the
paper on his breast. The next day, when the bishop with a large assembly
were present in the church, Theophilus cast himself at his feet, related
the whole story, weeping bitterly, and gave him the infamous writing,
which the bishop immediately ordered to be burned in presence of all the
people, who wept for joy, praising the goodness of God, and the mercy of
Mary towards that miserable sinner. Theophilus returned to the church
of the Virgin, and there, three days afterwards, he died happily, with
thanksgivings to Jesus and his holy mother on his lips.
PRAYER.
Oh Queen and Mother of Mercy! who dost dispense graces to all those who
have recourse to thee, so liberally because thou art queen, and with so
much love because thou art our most loving mother; to thee I commend
myself to-day, destitute of merits and virtues as I am, and laden with
debts to the divine justice. Oh Mary, thou hast the keys of all the
divine mercies, do not forget my miseries, and do not leave me in my
great poverty. Thou who art so liberal with all, and who givest more than
is asked of thee, do so with me. Oh Lady, protect me, this is all I ask.
If thou dost protect me I fear nothing. I do not fear the demons, for
thou art more powerful than all the spirits of hell; nor my sins, for one
word of thine in my behalf can obtain pardon of them all from God. If I
have thy favor I do not fear even the anger of God, for he is appeased
by one prayer of thine. In a word, if thou dost protect me I hope all
things, because all things are possible with thee. Oh mother of mercy,
I know that thou takest pleasure and pride in giving succor to the most
miserable, for thou canst aid them, if not prevented by their obstinacy.
I am a sinner, but I am not obstinate; I wish to change my life. Thou
canst, then, help me; do help and save me. To-day I place myself entirely
in thy hands. Teach me what I must do to please God, and I will do it;
and I hope to do so with thy aid, oh Mary, Mary, my mother, my light, my
consolation, my refuge, and my hope. Amen, amen, amen.
CHAPTER VI.
EJA ERGO ADVOCATA NOSTRA!
Ah, then, our advocate!
SECTION I.
MARY IS AN ADVOCATE POWERFUL TO SAVE ALL.
So great is the authority of mothers over their children, that although
they may be monarchs, having absolute dominion over all the persons in
their kingdom, yet their mothers can never become subject to them. It is
true that Jesus is now in heaven, for he is seated there at the right
hand of the Father even as man, as St. Thomas explains it; by reason
of the hypostatic union with the person of the Word, and has supreme
dominion over all, and even over Mary; yet it will always be true, that
at the time when our Redeemer lived on this earth, he was pleased to
humble himself and make himself subject to Mary, as St. Luke teaches
us: And he was subject to them: “Erat subditus illis.”[490] St. Ambrose
even says, that Jesus Christ having deigned to make Mary his mother, was
obliged as her son to obey her. And therefore, observes Richard of St.
Laurence, it is said of the other saints, that they are with God; but of
Mary alone can it be said, that not only was it her lot to be subject to
the will of God, but that God was also subject to her will.[491] And as
it is said of the other holy virgins, as the same author remarks, that
they follow the divine Lamb wherever he goes: “Sequuntur agnum quocumque
ierit;”[492] of the Virgin Mary it may be said, that the divine Lamb
followed her on this earth, having become subject to her.[493]
Hence we may say, that though Mary is in heaven, and can no longer
command her Son, yet her prayers will ever be the prayers of a mother,
and therefore most powerful to obtain whatever she asks. Mary, says St.
Bonaventure, has this privilege with her Son, that she is most powerful
to obtain by her prayers whatsoever she will.[494] And wherefore?
Precisely for the reason which we have before mentioned, and which we
will now examine more fully, namely, because the prayers of Mary are the
prayers of a mother. And therefore, says St. Peter Damian, the Virgin
has all power in heaven as on earth, being able to raise to the hope
of salvation even the most despairing.[495] And then he adds, that when
the mother asks any favor for us of Jesus Christ (called by the saint
the altar of mercy where sinners obtain pardon from God), the Son has so
great regard for the prayers of Mary, and so great a desire to please
her, that when she prays, she seems to command rather than request, and
to be a mistress rather than a handmaid.[496] Thus Jesus would honor this
his dear mother, who has honored him so much in her life, by granting
her immediately whatever she asks and desires. St. Germanus beautifully
confirms this by saying to the Virgin: Thou art mother of God, omnipotent
to save sinners, and needest no other recommendation with God, since thou
art the mother of true life.[497]
St. Bernardine of Sienna does not hesitate to say that all obey the
commands of Mary, even God himself;[498] signifying by these words, that
God listens to her prayers as though they were commands. Hence St. Anselm
thus addresses Mary: The Lord, oh holy Virgin, has so highly exalted
thee, that by his favor thou canst obtain all possible graces for thy
servants, for thy protection is omnipotent.[499] Thy help is omnipotent,
oh Mary: “Omnipotens auxilium tuum, O Maria;” as Cosmas of Jerusalem
exclaims. Yes, Mary is omnipotent, adds Richard of St. Laurence, since
the queen, by every law, must enjoy the same privileges as the king.
For as the power of the Son and mother are the same, the mother by the
omnipotent Son is made omnipotent.[500] As St. Antoninus says: God has
placed the whole Church, not only under the patronage, but also under the
dominion of Mary.[501]
As the mother, then, must have the same power as the Son, justly was Mary
made omnipotent by Jesus, who is omnipotent; it being, however, always
true, that whereas the Son is omnipotent by nature, the mother is so by
grace. And her omnipotence consists in this, that the Son denies nothing
that the mother asks; as it was revealed to St. Bridget, who heard Jesus
one day addressing Mary in these words: “Oh my mother, thou knowest how
I love thee; ask from me, then, whatever thou dost desire, for there is
no demand of thine that will not be graciously heard by me.”[502] And the
reason that he added was beautiful: “Mother, when thou wast on earth,
there was nothing thou didst refuse to do for love of me; now that I
am in heaven, it is just that I refuse nothing which thou dost ask of
me.”[503] Mary is, then, called omnipotent in the sense in which it can
be understood of a creature, who is not capable of any divine attribute.
She is omnipotent, because she obtains by her prayers whatever she wishes.
With reason, then, oh our great advocate! says St. Bernard, dost thou
only wish, and it is done: “Velis tu et omnia fient.” And St. Anselm:
Whatever thou askest, oh Virgin! cannot but be done.[504] Wish, and it
will be done; dost thou wish to raise the most abandoned sinner to an
exalted sanctity, to thee it is given to do it. The blessed Albertus
Magnus represents Mary speaking thus: I must be asked to wish, for if I
wish it must be done.[505] Hence St. Peter Damian, contemplating this
great power of Mary, and praying her to have pity on us, says: Oh Mary!
oh our beloved advocate! since thou hast a heart so compassionate, that
thou canst not behold the miserable without pity; and, at the same time,
hast so great a power with God to save all those whom thou dost defend;
deign to intercede in behalf of us miserable creatures, who place in
thee all our hopes. If our prayers do not move thee, may thy merciful
heart at least move thee; may thy power at least move thee, since God,
for this end, has enriched thee with so much power, that the richer thou
art in the power to aid us, so much more compassionate thou mayest be
in thy desire to aid us.[506] Of this, St. Bernard assures us, saying,
that Mary is abundant in mercy as well as in power; as her charity is
most powerful, so also is it most merciful in our behalf, and this is
manifested to us continually by its effects.[507]
Even when she was living on this earth, the only thought of Mary, after
the glory of God, was to relieve the wretched. And we know that then
she enjoyed already the privilege of obtaining whatever she asked. This
we know from what took place at the nuptials of Cana of Galilee, when
the wine failed, and the blessed Virgin, compassionating the distress
and mortification of that family, asked the Son to relieve them by a
miracle, making known to him this want: They have no wine: “Vinum non
habent.”[508] Jesus answered: “Woman, what is that to thee and to me? my
hour is not yet come.”[509] Observe, that although the Lord appeared
to refuse this favor to his mother, by saying: Of what importance is
it, oh woman, to me and to thee that the wine has failed? It does not
become me now to perform any miracle, as the time has not arrived, the
time of my preaching, when with signs I must confirm my doctrine; yet,
notwithstanding this, Mary, as if the Son had already granted her the
favor, said to the attendants: Fill the water-pots with water: “Imple
hydrias aqua.”[510] Come fill the water-pots, and you will be consoled;
and Jesus Christ, indeed, to please his mother, changed that water into
the best wine. But how is this? If the time appointed for miracles was
the time of preaching, how could it be anticipated by the miracle of the
wine, contrary to the divine decree? Nothing, it may be answered, was
done contrary to the divine decrees; for although, generally speaking,
the time for signs had not come, yet from eternity God had established
by another general decree, that nothing the divine mother could ask
should be denied her; and therefore Mary, well acquainted with her
privilege, although her Son seemed to have then set aside her petition,
said notwithstanding, that the water-pots should be filled, as though
the favor were already granted. This, St. John Chrysostom would express,
when commenting on the passage of John above mentioned—“Oh woman, what
is that to thee and to me?”—he says, that although Jesus had answered
thus, yet, for the honor of his mother, he did not fail to comply with
her demand.[511] St. Thomas confirms the same, when he observes, that
by these words—“My hour has not yet come”—Jesus Christ wished to show
that he would have deferred the miracle, if another had asked him to
perform it; but because his mother asked it, he immediately performed
it.[512] St. Cyril and St. Jerome confirm this, according to Barrada.
And Jansenius of Ghent says, commenting on the same passage of St. John:
That he might honor his mother, he anticipated the time of working
miracles.[513]
In a word, it is certain that no creature can obtain for us miserable
sinners so many mercies as this good advocate, who is honored by God with
this privilege, not only as his beloved handmaid, but also as his true
mother. William of Paris says this when addressing her.[514] It is enough
that Mary speaks, and the Son does all she wishes. The Lord, speaking
to the spouse of the Canticles, by whom is understood Mary, says: “Thou
that dwellest in the gardens, the friends hearken, make me hear thy
voice.”[515] The friends are the saints, who, when they ask any favor for
their clients, wait until their queen prays to God for it and obtains it;
for, as was said before in Chap. V., no favor is dispensed except by the
intercession of Mary. And how does Mary obtain favors? It is enough that
her Son hears her voice: Make me to hear thy voice: “Fac me audire vocem
tuam.” It is enough that she speaks, and her Son immediately hears her.
William of Paris, explaining in the same way the passage above named,
introduces the Son, who thus addresses Mary: Oh thou who dwellest in the
celestial gardens, intercede with confidence for whomsoever thou wilt,
for I cannot forget that I am thy Son, or think of refusing any thing to
my mother. It is enough for thee to speak, and thy Son will graciously
hear and grant thy petition.[516] The Abbot Godfrey says that Mary,
although she obtains favors by praying, yet prays with a kind of maternal
authority; hence we may be sure that she will obtain whatever she desires
and asks for us.[517]
It is related of Coriolanus, by Valerius Maximus,[518] that when he
held Rome besieged, all the prayers of his friends and of the citizens
could not induce him to withdraw his forces; but when his mother Veturia
came to entreat him he could not resist, and immediately raised the
siege. But the prayers of Mary are as much more powerful with Jesus
than the prayers of Veturia with her son, as the love and gratitude of
Jesus to Mary exceeds that of the son of Veturia for his mother. Father
Justin Micoviensis writes: One sigh of Mary has more power than the
prayers of all the saints united.[519] The devil himself confessed this
same thing to St. Dominic, when, constrained by his commands, he spoke
through the mouth of a possessed person, saying, as Father Paciucchelli
narrates,[520] that one sigh of Mary availed more with God than the
united prayers of all the saints.
St. Antoninus says, that the prayers of the blessed Virgin being the
prayers of a mother, have a certain kind of authority, hence it is
impossible that she should not be heard when she prays.[521] On this
account St. Germanus encourages sinners to recommend themselves to
this advocate with these words: Thou, oh Mary, having the authority of
a mother with God, dost obtain pardon for the vilest sinners; for the
Lord, who in all things recognizes thee for his true mother, cannot
refuse to grant thee whatever thou dost ask.[522] St. Bridget, too, heard
the saints in heaven saying to the Virgin: What is there that thou canst
not do? Whatever thou dost desire is done.[523] To which corresponds that
celebrated verse: What God by a command, thou, oh Virgin, by a prayer
canst effect.[524] Is it not, says St. Augustine, worthy of the goodness
of the Lord thus to guard the honor of his mother? for he asserts that he
has come on the earth, not to break, but to fulfil the law, which, among
other things, commands us to honor our parents.[525]
St. George, Archbishop of Nicomedia, even adds, that Jesus Christ grants
to his mother all her petitions, as if to satisfy the obligation that he
is under to her for having caused, by her consent, that the human nature
should be given him.[526] Wherefore, St. Methodius the martyr exclaims:
Rejoice, oh Mary, that a Son has fallen to thy lot as thy debtor, who
gives to all and receives from none. We are all debtors to God for
whatever we possess, since every thing is his gift; but God has wished
to make himself a debtor to thee, taking from thee his body and becoming
man.[527] So also St. Augustine says: Mary having merited to give flesh
to the Divine Word, and by that to furnish the price of the divine
redemption, that we might be delivered from eternal death; therefore is
she, says the same doctor, more powerful than any other to help us and
obtain for us eternal salvation.[528] Hence St. Theophilus, Bishop of
Alexandria, who lived in the time of St. Jerome, thus wrote: The Son is
pleased to be entreated by his mother, because he wishes to grant for
her sake all that he does grant; and thus to recompense the favor he
has received from her when she gave him flesh. Hence St. John Damascene
addresses the Virgin in these words: Thou, then, oh Mary, being mother of
God, canst save all men by thy prayers, which are enforced by a mother’s
authority.[529]
Let us conclude with the words of St. Bonaventure, who, considering the
great benefit which the Lord has conferred on us in giving us Mary for
our advocate, thus addresses her: Oh truly immense and admirable goodness
of God, who to us miserable, guilty creatures, has granted thee, oh our
Lady, for our advocate, that thou mightest, by thy powerful intercession,
obtain for us whatever good thou wilt.[530] Oh, the great mercy of God,
continues the saint, who, that we might not flee to hide ourselves from
the sentence to be pronounced upon us, has destined his own mother and
the treasurer of graces for our advocate.[531]
EXAMPLE.
Father Razzi, of the order of Camaldoli, relates that a certain youth
having lost his father, was sent by his mother to the court of a
prince.[532] The mother, who had a great devotion to Mary, when she
parted with him made him promise to recite every day a “Hail Mary,” and
add these words: “_Blessed Virgin, help me in the hour of my death_.”
The youth arrived at court, but soon began to lead so dissolute a life,
that his master was obliged to send him away. In despair, without means
of support, he went into the country and became a highway robber; but
even then he did not omit to recommend himself to our Lady, as his mother
had directed him. At length he fell into the hands of justice, and was
condemned to death. Being in prison the evening before his execution,
and thinking of his disgrace, the grief of his mother, and the death
which awaited him, he fell to weeping bitterly. The devil seeing him so
oppressed by melancholy, appeared to him in the form of a beautiful young
man, and said to him that he would release him from death and prison,
if he would follow his directions. The convict engaged to do all that
he required. Then the pretended youth made known to him that he was the
devil and had come to his assistance. In the first place, he ordered him
to renounce Jesus Christ and the holy sacraments. The youth consented.
He then required him to renounce the Virgin Mary and her protection.
“This,” exclaimed the young man, “I will never do,” and turning to Mary,
repeated the accustomed prayer that his mother had taught him: _Blessed
Virgin, help me in the hour of my death_. At these words the devil
disappeared. The youth remained in great affliction for the wickedness he
had committed in denying Jesus Christ. He invoked the blessed Virgin, and
she obtained for him, by her prayers, a great sorrow for all his sins,
so that he made his confession with much weeping and contrition. On his
way to the gallows, happening to pass before a statue of Mary, he saluted
her with his usual prayer: _Blessed Virgin, help me in the hour of my
death_, and the statue, in the presence of all, inclined its head and
saluted him. Deeply moved, he begged to be allowed to kiss the feet of
the image. The executioners refused, but afterwards consented on account
of the clamor of the people. The youth stooped to kiss her feet, and
Mary extended her arm from that statue, took him by the hand and held him
so strongly that no power could move him. At this prodigy the multitude
shouted “Pardon, pardon,” and pardon was granted. Having returned to his
country, he led an exemplary life, and was always most devoted to Mary,
who had delivered him from temporal and eternal death.
PRAYER.
Oh great mother of God, I will say to thee with St. Bernard: Thy Son
hears thee, and will grant thee whatsoever thou dost ask.[533] Speak,
then, speak, oh Mary our advocate, in behalf of us miserable creatures.
Remember that thou hast received thy great power and dignity even for
our benefit. A God has chosen to become thy debtor, by taking from thee
the human nature to the end that thou mayest dispense to the miserable
the riches of divine mercy. We are thy servants, in a special manner
consecrated to thy service, and among these I hope to be one. We glory
in living under thy protection. If thou doest good to all, even to those
that do not know thee and do not honor thee, and who even insult and
blaspheme thee; how much more ought we to hope from thy kindness, who
dost seek for the wretched that thou mayest relieve them! we who honor,
love, and trust in thee! We are great sinners, but God has granted thee
mercy and power greater than all our sins. Thou canst and wilt save us;
and we will so much the more earnestly desire this, as we are unworthy
of it, that we may glorify thee the more in heaven, when we shall have
been received there by thy intercession. Oh, mother of mercy, we present
to thee our souls, once pure and washed with the blood of Jesus Christ,
but since defiled with sin. To thee we present them, wilt thou purify
them? Obtain for us sincere amendment, obtain for us the love of God,
perseverance, paradise. We ask great things of thee, but canst thou not
obtain them all for us? Are they greater than the love which God has for
thee? Thou hast only to open thy lips in prayer to thy Son, and he will
grant thee all things. Pray, then, pray, oh Mary, for us; and surely thou
wilt be heard graciously, and we shall be surely saved.
SECTION II.
MARY IS A MERCIFUL ADVOCATE, WHO DOES NOT REFUSE TO DEFEND THE CAUSE OF
THE MOST MISERABLE SINNERS.
There are so many reasons why we should love this our loving queen, that
if all the earth should praise Mary, and all sermons treat of her alone,
and all men should give their lives for Mary, it would yet be little
compared to the homage and gratitude we owe her, for the very tender love
she bears to all men, even to the most miserable sinners who preserve
towards her any feeling of devotion. Raymond Jordan declares that Mary
cannot but love those who love her. Nay she does not disdain even to
serve those who serve her, using, if they are sinners, all the power of
her intercession to obtain pardon for them from her blessed Son.[534]
And so great, he goes on to say, is her kindness and compassion, that
no one, however degraded he may be, should fear to cast himself at her
feet, since she rejects no one who has recourse to her.[535] Mary, as our
most loving advocate, offers herself to God the prayers of her servants,
especially those which are offered to her; for as the Son intercedes for
us with the Father, thus she intercedes for us with the Son, and never
ceases to intercede with both for our salvation, and to obtain for us
the favors that we ask.[536] Rightly, then, does the blessed Denis, the
Carthusian, call the holy Virgin the peculiar refuge of the lost, the
hope of the wretched, and the advocate of all sinners who have recourse
to her.[537]
But if there ever be any sinner who, indeed, does not doubt the power,
but has no trust in the mercy of Mary, fearing that she may not be
willing to aid him on account of the magnitude of his offences, St.
Bonaventure encourages him by saying: Great and peculiar is the privilege
which Mary has with her Son, of obtaining by her prayers whatever she
desires;[538] but what would this great power of Mary avail us, he adds,
if she should be indifferent to our welfare?[539] No, let us not doubt,
concludes the saint, let us be secure, and always thank the Lord and his
divine mother for it; for, as she is the most powerful of all saints
with God, so she is the most loving advocate, and the most desirous
of our welfare.[540] And who, oh mother of sinners! joyfully exclaims
St. Germanus, who, after thy Jesus, has so much care of us, and of our
welfare, as thou?[541] Who doth defend us in the trials that afflict
us, as thou dost defend us? Who take upon himself to protect sinners,
as if combating in their behalf, as thou dost?[542] Wherefore, he adds,
thy patronage, oh Mary! is more powerful and loving than we are able to
comprehend.[543] Whilst, as the Idiot says, all the other saints can
aid their own servants by their patronage more than others; the divine
mother, as she is the queen of all, so is she the advocate of all, and
cares for the salvation of all.[544]
She cares for all, even for sinners, and glories especially in being
called their advocate; as she herself declared to the venerable sister
Mary Villani, saying: “Next to the title of mother of God, I glory most
in being named the advocate of sinners.” The blessed Amadeus says, that
our queen is always before the divine Majesty, interceding for us with
her powerful prayers.[545] And since in heaven she knows perfectly our
miseries and necessities, she cannot but have pity on us; so, with
the affection of a mother, moved by compassion for us, she kindly and
mercifully endeavors to relieve and save us.[546] It is with good reason,
then, that Richard of St. Laurence encourages every one, however degraded
he may be, to appeal confidently to this sweet advocate, in the certain
belief that he will always find her ready to help him.[547] It is also
well said by Godfrey, that Mary is ever ready to pray for all.[548]
And oh, with how much efficacy and love, St. Bernard exclaims, this
good advocate of ours conducts the cause of our salvation![549] St.
Augustine, contemplating the affection and earnestness with which Mary
is continually occupied in interceding with the divine Majesty for us,
that the Lord may pardon our sins, assist us with his grace, free us
from dangers, and relieve us from our miseries, thus addresses the holy
Virgin:[550] Oh Lady! it is true that all the saints desire our salvation
and pray for us; but the charity and tenderness which thou dost manifest
for us in heaven, by obtaining with thy prayers so many mercies from God,
obliges us to confess, that we have in heaven only one advocate, that
is thyself, and that thou alone art the only true lover watchful of our
welfare. And who can comprehend the solicitude with which Mary is always
waiting on God in our behalf? St. Germanus says: She is never satisfied
with defending us: “Non est satietas defensionis ejus.” The expression is
beautiful. So great is the pity which Mary has for our miseries, and so
great is the love she bears us, that she prays always, and prays again,
and is never satisfied with praying for us, and defending us from evil
with her prayers, and obtaining for us favors—she is never satisfied with
defending us.
What poor sinners we should be if we had not this advocate, so powerful
and so merciful, and at the same time so prudent and so wise, that
the judge, her Son, cannot condemn the guilty, if she defends them,
as Richard of St. Laurence says.[551] Well, then, does St. John
(the geometrician) salute her: Hail, authority which puts an end to
strife.[552] For all the causes defended by this most wise advocate
are gained. Hence Mary is called by St. Bonaventure, the wise Abigail:
“Abigail sapiens.” This was the woman who, as we read in the first
of Kings, knew so well how to appease King David, by her persuasive
entreaties, when he was full of indignation against Nabal, that he
himself blessed and thanked her for having, with her sweet words,
prevented him from revenging himself upon Nabal with his own hands.[553]
Precisely the same thing does Mary continually in heaven, in behalf of
innumerable sinners: she knows so well how to appease the divine justice
with her tender and wise entreaties, that God himself blesses her for it,
and as it were thanks her, that thus she restrains him from abandoning
and punishing them as they deserve. For this end, says St. Bernard, the
eternal Father, desirous to show all possible compassion towards us,
besides Jesus Christ, our principal advocate with himself, has given us
Mary for our advocate with Jesus Christ.
There is no doubt, says St. Bernard, that Jesus is the only mediator
of justice between men and God, who in virtue of his merits can, and
according to his promises will, obtain for us pardon and divine grace;
but because men recognize and fear in Jesus Christ the divine majesty,
which dwells in him as God, it was necessary that another advocate should
be assigned to us, to whom we could have recourse with less fear and
more confidence; and this is Mary, than whom we can find no advocate
more powerful with the divine majesty and more compassionate towards
us.[554] But he would greatly wrong the mercy of Mary, continues the
saint, who should still fear to cast himself at the feet of this most
sweet advocate, who is in nothing severe or terrible, but is in all
things kind, lovely, and compassionate.[555] Read and revolve as much
as you will all the history found in the Gospels, and if you find any
act of austerity in Mary, then fear to approach her. But you will
never find any; go then joyfully to her, for she will save thee by her
intercession.[556]
Exceedingly beautiful is the exclamation which William of Paris puts in
the mouth of a sinner who has recourse to Mary: Oh mother of my God, I
come to thee full of confidence, even in the miserable state to which
I find myself reduced by my sins; if thou dost reject me, I will plead
with thee, for in a certain sense thou art bound to help me, since all
the Church of the faithful calls thee and proclaims thee mother of
mercy.[557] Thou, oh Mary, art so dear to God that he always graciously
listens to thee; thy great mercy has never failed; thy most sweet
condescension has never despised any sinner, however enormous his sins,
who has had recourse to thee.[558] What! could the whole Church falsely
and in vain name thee her advocate and the refuge of sinners?[559] No,
never be it said that my sins prevent thee, oh my mother, from exercising
the great office of mercy which thou dost hold, by which thou art at
the same time the advocate and mediator of peace between God and man,
and next to thy Son the only hope and secure refuge of sinners.[560]
Whatever of grace and glory is thine, even the dignity of being mother
of God itself, if I may so speak, thou owest to sinners, since for their
sake the divine Word has made thee his mother.[561] Far from this divine
mother, who has brought forth into the world the fountain of mercy, be
the thought that she should refuse her compassion to any sinner who
recommends himself to her.[562] Since, then, oh Mary, thy office is that
of peacemaker between God and man, may thy great mercy, which far exceeds
all my sins, move thee to aid me.[563]
Console yourselves, then, oh ye faint of heart, I will say with St.
Thomas of Villanova, take heart, oh miserable sinners; this great Virgin,
who is the mother of your judge and God, is the advocate of the human
race. Powerful and able to obtain whatever she wishes from God; most
wise, for she knows every method of appeasing him; universal, for she
welcomes all, and refuses to defend none.[564]
EXAMPLE.
Our advocate has shown how great is her kindness towards sinners by her
mercy to Beatrice, a nun in the monastery of Fontebraldo, as related by
Cesarius,[565] and by Father Rho.[566] This unhappy religious, having
contracted a passion for a certain youth, agreed to flee with him from
the convent; and in fact she went one day before a statue of the blessed
Virgin, there deposited the keys of the monastery, for she was portress,
and boldly departed. Arrived in another country, she led the miserable
life of a prostitute for fifteen years. It happened that she met, one
day, the agent of the monastery in the city where she was living, and
asked of him, thinking he would not recognize her again, if he knew
sister Beatrice? “I know her well,” he said: “she is a holy nun, and at
present is mistress of novices.” At this intelligence she was confounded
and amazed, not knowing how to understand it. In order to ascertain the
truth, she put on another dress and went to the monastery. She asked for
sister Beatrice, and behold, the most holy Virgin appeared before her in
the form of that same image to which at parting she had committed her
keys and her dress, and the divine mother thus spoke to her: “Beatrice,
be it known to thee that, in order to prevent thy disgrace, I assumed
thy form, and have filled thy office for the fifteen years that thou
hast lived far from the monastery and from God. My child, return, and do
penance, for my Son is still waiting for thee; and strive by thy holy
life to preserve the good name I have gained thee.” She spoke thus and
disappeared. Beatrice re-entered the monastery, resumed the habit of a
religious, and, grateful for the mercy of Mary, led the life of a saint.
At her death she made known the foregoing incident, to the glory of this
great queen.
PRAYER.
Oh great mother of my Lord, I now see that the ingratitude shown by
me for so many years to God and to thee, would justly merit that thou
shouldst abandon all care of me, for the ungrateful are no more worthy
of favors. But, oh Lady, I have a great idea of thy goodness; I believe
it to be far greater than my ingratitude; continue, then, oh refuge of
sinners, to help a miserable sinner who confides in thee. Oh mother of
mercy, extend thy hand to raise a poor fallen creature who implores thy
mercy. Oh Mary, defend thou me, or tell me to whom I shall have recourse,
and who can protect me better than thou? Can I find an advocate with
God more merciful and more powerful than thou, who art his mother? Thou
having been created for the mother of the Saviour, art destined to
save sinners, and hast been given me for my salvation. Oh Mary, save
him who has recourse to thee. I do not merit thy love, but the desire
thou hast to save the lost gives me the hope that thou dost love me;
and if thou lovest me, how can I be lost? Oh my beloved mother, if, as
I hope, I am saved by thee, I will no longer be ungrateful; I will make
amends by perpetual praises and by all the affection of my soul for my
past ingratitude, and will make some return for the love thou bearest
me. In heaven, where thou reignest and wilt reign forever, I will always
joyfully sing thy mercies, and forever I will kiss those loving hands
that have freed me from hell as often as I have deserved it for my sins.
Oh Mary, my liberator, my hope, my queen, my advocate, my mother, I love
thee, I wish thee well, and will always love thee. Amen, amen; thus I
hope, so may it be.
SECTION III.
MARY IS THE PEACE-MAKER BETWEEN SINNERS AND GOD.
The grace of God is a treasure, very great and most earnestly to be
desired by every soul. It is called by the Holy Spirit an infinite
treasure, since by means of divine grace we are raised to the honor of
being made the friends of God: “She is an infinite treasure to men,
which they that use become the friends of God.”[567] Whence it is that
Jesus, our Redeemer and God, did not hesitate to call those who are in
grace, his friends: You are my friends: “Vos amici mei estis.”[568] Oh
accursed sin, that loosens the ties of this blessed friendship: “Your
iniquities have divided between you and your God:”[569] for they make the
soul hateful to God, and from a friend it becomes an enemy of the Lord:
“To God the wicked and his wickedness are hateful alike.”[570] What,
then, must a sinner do who finds himself so unhappy as to have become an
enemy of God? He must find a mediator who will obtain pardon for him and
enable him to recover the lost friendship of God. Take courage, says St.
Bernard, oh sinner, who hast lost God. Thy Lord himself hath given thee
a mediator, even his Son Jesus Christ, who can obtain for thee whatever
thou desirest.[571]
But oh God, the saint here exclaims, why do men esteem severe this most
merciful Saviour, who hath given his life for our salvation? Why do they
look upon him as terrible who is all loveliness? Distrustful sinners,
say, why do you fear? If you fear because you have offended God, remember
that Jesus with his own lacerated hands has nailed your sins to the
cross, and having satisfied the divine justice for them by his death, he
has removed them from your soul.[572] But if ever, adds the saint, you
fear to have recourse to Jesus Christ because his divine majesty alarms
you, since when he became man he did not cease to be God, if you ever
wish for another advocate with this mediator, invoke Mary, for she will
intercede for you with the Son, who will surely graciously listen to
her, and the Son will intercede with the Father, who can refuse nothing
to this Son.[573] And so, concludes St. Bernard, this divine mother, oh
my children, is the ladder of sinners, by which they ascend anew to the
height of divine grace. This is my greatest confidence—this is the whole
ground of my hope.[574]
Let us hear what the Holy Spirit makes the blessed Virgin say in the
sacred Canticles:[575] I am, says Mary, the defence of those who have
recourse to me, and my mercy is to them a tower of refuge; for this I
have been appointed by my Lord as a peacemaker between sinners and him.
Cardinal Hugo, on the same text, says, that Mary is the great peacemaker
who obtains from God, and gives peace to enemies, salvation to the lost,
pardon to sinners, and mercy to the despairing.[576] For this reason she
was called by her divine spouse: Beautiful as the curtains of Solomon:
“Formosa sicut pelles Salomonis.”[577] In the tents of David there was
nothing treated of but war, but in the tents of Solomon peace alone was
spoken of. The Holy Spirit giving us to understand by this, that the
mother of mercy does not treat of war and of vengeance against sinners,
but only of peace and the pardon of their offences.
Again, Mary was prefigured by Noe’s dove, who returned to the ark bearing
in her beak the olive-branch, as a sign of the peace which God granted to
men. Wherefore St. Bonaventure says: Thou art that most faithful dove,
which, mediating with God, hath obtained for the world, which was lost,
peace and salvation. Mary, then, was the heavenly dove who brought to the
lost world the olive-branch, a sign of mercy;[578] for she gave us Jesus
Christ, who is the fountain of mercy,[579] and thus obtained, by the
price of his merits, all the graces which God gives us. And as through
Mary the world received celestial peace,[580] as St. Epiphanius says, so
by means of Mary sinners are constantly becoming reconciled to God. In
the same way, the blessed Albertus Magnus says in her name: I am that
dove of Noe, who brought to the Church universal peace.[581]
Moreover, the rainbow seen by St. John, that surrounded the throne of
God, was also an exact type of Mary.[582] According to the explanation of
Cardinal Vitalis, Mary is always before the divine tribunal to mitigate
the sentence and punishment due to the sinner.[583] And St. Bernardine
of Sienna says, that it was of this rainbow that the Lord spoke, when
he said to Noe that he would place in the clouds the bow of peace, that
when he should see it he might remember the eternal covenant that he
had established with men.[584] And Mary, says St. Bernardine, is that
very bow of eternal peace.[585] For as God, at the sight of the bow,
remembers the peace promised to the earth, thus, at the prayers of Mary,
he pardons sinners the offences committed against him, and establishes
peace with them.[586]
For the same reason Mary is also compared to the moon.[587] For, St.
Bonaventure says, as the moon is in the midst between heaven and earth,
so she continually interposes between God and sinners, that she may
appease the Lord towards them, and enlighten them on their return to
God.[588]
And this was the most important office given to Mary when she was placed
upon the earth—of lifting the souls fallen from divine grace, and
reconciling them to God. Feed thy kids: “Pasce hædos tuos.”[589] This
was said to her by the Lord when he created her. It is well known that
sinners are represented by goats; and as the elect, represented by sheep,
will be placed on the right hand in the valley of judgment, the goats
will be placed on the left. Now these goats, says William of Paris, are
committed to thee, oh great mother, that thou mayest change them into
sheep, and that those who, by their sins, have merited to be banished
to the left, by thy intercession may be placed on the right.[590] Hence
the Lord revealed to St. Catherine of Sienna that he had created this
his beloved child as a sweet bait, that would draw men, and especially
sinners, to God.[591] And here we should note the beautiful reflection
of William, the Englishman, on the passage above cited, who says, that
God recommends to Mary her own goats, “hædos tuos;” because the Virgin
does not save all sinners, but only those who serve and honor her. Those,
on the contrary, who live in sin, and do not honor her with any special
devotion, neither recommend themselves to her in order to escape from
their sins, are not the goats of Mary, but in the judgment will be placed
miserably on the left among the damned.[592]
A certain nobleman who was despairing of his eternal salvation on account
of his sins, was encouraged by a religious to have recourse to the most
holy Virgin, by visiting her sacred image which was in a certain church.
The nobleman went to the church, and on seeing the figure of Mary he
felt himself, as it were, invited by her to cast himself at her feet
and trust. He hastens to do so, kisses her feet, and Mary, from that
statue, extended her hand for him to kiss, and on it he saw these words
written: “I will deliver thee from them that afflict thee.”[593] As if
she had said to him: My son, do not despair, for I will deliver thee
from thy sins, and from the fears that oppress thee. It is related that
on reading these sweet words, that sinner felt such sorrow for his sins,
and conceived such a love for God, and for his sweet mother, that he
died there at the feet of Mary. Oh, how many obstinate sinners does this
magnet of hearts draw daily to God, as she herself said to St. Bridget:
“As the magnet attracts to itself iron, thus I draw to myself the most
obdurate hearts, that I may reconcile them to God;”[594] and this prodigy
is not rarely, but daily experienced. I could myself testify to many
cases that have occurred in our missions alone, where sinners who have
remained harder than iron during all other sermons, while hearing that
on the mercy of Mary, were touched with compunction, and turned to God.
St. Gregory relates that the unicorn is so ferocious a wild beast, that
no hunter can succeed in taking it; but at the voice of a maiden who
calls upon him to surrender, he draws near, and without resistance allows
himself to be bound by her. Oh, how many sinners, more fierce than wild
beasts, who flee from God, at the sound of the voice of this great Virgin
Mary, advance and allow themselves to be gently bound by her to God!
For this end, says St. John Chrysostom, the Virgin Mary was made mother
of God, that those sinners who, by reason of their wicked life, could
not be saved according to the divine justice, might obtain salvation
through her sweet compassion and powerful intercession.[595] St. Anselm
confirms this when he says that Mary has been exalted to be mother of
God for sinners rather than for the just, since Jesus Christ announced
that he came not to call the just, but sinners.[596] And so the holy
Church sings: “Sinners thou dost not abhor, since but for them thou
never wouldst have been worthy of such a Son.”[597] William of Paris
also says: Oh Mary, thou art obliged to help sinners, since for all the
gifts, graces, and honors thou dost possess, which are comprehended in
the dignity thou hast received of being the mother of God, for all, if I
may so speak, thou art indebted to sinners, since for their sakes thou
wert made worthy to have a God for thy Son.[598] If, then, concludes St.
Anselm, Mary, for the sake of sinners, has been made mother of God, how
can I, however great may be my sins, despair of pardon?[599]
The holy Church teaches us, in the Collect of the Mass for the Vigil of
the Assumption, that the divine mother has been removed from this earth,
that she might intercede for us with God, in sure confidence of being
graciously heard.[600] Hence Mary is named by St. Justinian, Arbitress:
“Sequestra.” The Word employed Mary as arbitress.[601] _Sequester_
signifies the same as arbiter, one to whom two contending parties refer
all their questions; so that the saint means to say, that as Jesus is
mediator with the eternal Father, so Mary is our mediatrix with Jesus, to
whom the Son refers all the charges which, as judge, he has against us.
Mary is called by St. Andrew of Crete, the confidence and security of
our reconciliation with God.[602] And by this the saint intends to say,
that God seeks a reconciliation with sinners by pardoning them, and that
they may not despair of pardon, he has given them Mary as a pledge of
it; hence he salutes her: Hail, oh peace of God with men: “Salve divina
hominibus reconciliatio.” Wherefore St. Bonaventure says, encouraging
every sinner: If thou fearest, on account of thy sins, that an angry God
may wish to avenge himself upon thee, what art thou to do? Go to the hope
of sinners, namely, Mary; and if thou fearest that she will refuse to
take thy part, know that she cannot refuse to defend thy cause, for God
himself has assigned her the office of relieving the wretched.[603]
And what does the Abbot Adam say? Should a sinner fear being lost,
to whom the mother of his judge offers herself as his mother and
advocate?[604] And then the same writer adds: Oh Mary! who art mother of
mercy, couldst thou refuse to pray thy Son, who is judge, for another
son, who is the criminal? Canst thou refuse to intercede in behalf
of a redeemed soul with the Redeemer, who, for no other end than to
save sinners, died on the cross?[605] No, thou wilt not refuse, but
earnestly wilt employ thyself in praying for all those who invoke thee,
well knowing that the same Lord who hath constituted thy Son mediator
of peace between God and man, has at the same time made thee mediatrix
between the Judge and the criminal.[606] Here St. Bernard takes up the
subject, and says: Give then thanks to him who has provided thee with
such a mediatrix.[607] Whoever thou art, oh sinner, plunged in the mire
of guilt, hoary in sin, do not despair; thank thy Lord, who, in order
to show mercy to thee, has not only given thee his Son for an advocate,
but, to increase thy confidence and courage, has provided thee with such
a mediatrix, who, by her prayers, obtains whatever she wishes. Have
recourse to Mary, and thou wilt be saved.
EXAMPLE.
It is related by Rupensis,[608] and by Boniface,[609] that in Florence
there lived a young girl, named Benedetta (the blessed), although she
might better have been called Maladetta (the cursed), from the scandalous
and wicked life she led. Happily for her, St. Dominic happened to preach
in that city, and she, from mere curiosity, went one day to hear him. But
the Lord touched her heart during the sermon, so that, weeping bitterly,
she went to make her confession to the saint. St. Dominic heard her
confession, gave her absolution, and directed her to say the rosary. But
the unhappy girl, by the force of her evil habits, returned to her wicked
life. The saint heard of it, and going to her, induced her to confess
once more. God, in order to confirm her in her good life, one day showed
hell to her, and some persons there who had been already condemned on
her account. Then opening a book, he made her read in it the frightful
record of her sins. The penitent shuddered at the sight, and, full of
confidence, had recourse to Mary, asked her help, and learned that this
divine mother had already obtained from God for her, time enough to mourn
for her numerous sins. The vision disappeared, and Benedetta devoted
herself to a good life; but seeing always open before her eyes that dark
catalogue, she one day prayed in these words to her consoler: “Oh mother,
it is true that for my sins I should now be deep in hell; but since thou,
by thy intercession, hast liberated me from it, by obtaining for me time
for repentance, most merciful Lady, I ask of thee one other favor. I will
never cease to weep for my sins; but do thou obtain for me that they may
be cancelled from that book.” After this prayer, Mary appeared to her,
and told her that in order to obtain what she asked, she must preserve
an eternal remembrance of her sins, and of the mercy of God towards her;
and still more, that she must meditate on the passion of her Son, which
he suffered for love of her; and also that she must bear in mind that
many had been damned who had committed fewer sins than she had done. She
also revealed to her that a child of only eight years of age, for one
mortal sin only, had been that day condemned to hell. Benedetta having
faithfully obeyed the most holy Virgin, one day beheld Jesus Christ, who
showed her that book, and said to her: Behold, thy sins are cancelled;
the book is white, inscribe on it now acts of love and of virtue.
Benedetta did this, led a holy life, and died a holy death.
PRAYER.
Then, oh my most sweet Lady, if thy office is, as William of Paris says,
to interpose as a mediatrix between the sinner and God,[610] I will say
to thee with St. Thomas of Villanova: Ah, then, oh our advocate, fulfil
thy office.[611] Fulfil at once thy office also in my behalf. Do not tell
me that my cause is too difficult to be gained; for I know, and all tell
me, that no cause, however desperate, if defended by thee, was ever lost;
and will mine be lost? No, I fear not this. I have only to fear, when I
behold the multitude of my sins, that thou wilt not undertake my defence;
but considering thy vast compassion and the great desire that fills thy
most loving heart to help the vilest sinners, I no longer fear even this.
And who was ever lost that had recourse to thee? I invoke, then, thy aid,
oh my great advocate, my refuge, my hope, and my mother Mary. To thy
hands I commit the cause of my eternal salvation. To thee I consign my
soul; it was lost, but thou must save it. I always thank the Lord that
he gives me this great confidence in thee, which, notwithstanding my
unworthiness, I believe will secure my salvation. One fear alone remains
to afflict me, my beloved queen: it is, that I may one day lose, through
my neglect, this confidence in thee. Therefore I pray thee, oh Mary, by
all thy love for thy Jesus, to preserve and increase more and more in
me this most sweet confidence in thy intercession, by which I certainly
hope to recover the divine friendship, which I have hitherto so foolishly
despised and lost; and once having recovered it, I hope by thy means to
preserve it; and preserving it, I hope finally through thee to go one day
and thank thee for it in paradise, and there to sing the mercies of God
and thine through all eternity. Amen. Thus I hope, so may it be, and so
it _shall be_!
CHAPTER VII.
ILLOS TUOS MISERICORDES OCULOS AD NOS CONVERTE.
Turn thy eyes of mercy towards us.
SECTION I.
MARY IS ALL EYES TO PITY AND RELIEVE OUR MISERIES.
St. Epiphanius calls the blessed Virgin, “Multoculam;” that is, one who
has many eyes, that she may relieve our miseries on this earth. One
day, when a person possessed was being exorcised, the devil was asked
by the exorcist what Mary was then doing. The Evil One replied: “She is
descending and ascending:”[612] by which he intended to say, that this
gracious Lady does nothing else than descend upon the earth to bring
graces to men, and ascend to heaven to obtain there the divine blessing
on our supplications. Rightly, then, was the holy Virgin named by St.
Andrew of Avellino, the active power of paradise; for she is continually
employed in deeds of mercy, imploring favors for all, for the just and
for sinners. “The eyes of the Lord are upon the just,” says David;[613]
but the eyes of our Lady are upon the just and upon sinners,[614] as
Richard of St. Laurence says; for he adds: The eyes of Mary are the eyes
of a mother; and the mother not only guards her child from falling, but
if he falls, she hastens to raise him.[615]
Jesus himself revealed this to St. Bridget, whom the saint heard one day
speaking to his mother, and saying: “Ask of me, oh my mother, whatever
thou dost desire;”[616] and the Son is always in heaven saying this
to Mary, pleased with granting his beloved mother whatever she asks.
But what does Mary ask? St. Bridget understood the mother to answer
him: I ask mercy for sinners: “Misericordiam peto pro miseris.”[617]
As if she would say, my Son, thou hast already destined me for the
mother of mercy, for the refuge of sinners, for the advocate of the
miserable, now thou sayest to me that I may ask whatever I wish; but
what would I ask of thee? I ask of thee that thou wilt have mercy on the
sinner: “Misericordiam peto pro miseris.” Thou art, oh Mary, so full of
compassion, St. Bonaventure tenderly says to her, thou art so watchful
to relieve the wretched, that it seems thou hast no other desire, no
other concern than this.[618] And because, among the wretched, sinners
are the most wretched of all, the venerable Bede affirms, that Mary is
continually praying the Son in behalf of sinners.[619]
Even whilst on earth Mary was so kind and tender to men that, as
St. Jerome says, there never was any person so afflicted by his own
sufferings as Mary by the sufferings of others.[620] She plainly showed
the compassion she feels for the sufferings of others at the nuptials of
Cana (as has been mentioned in previous chapters), where, when the wine
failed, without being requested, as St. Bernardine of Sienna remarks, she
assumed the office of a kind comforter.[621] And from mere compassion for
the troubles of that family, she interceded with her Son, and obtained
the miracle of changing the water into wine.
But, perhaps, says St. Peter Damian, since thou wast exalted to the
dignity of queen of heaven, thou hast forgotten the wretched; and then
he adds, let this never be thought of—it does not belong to a mercy so
great as that which reigns in the heart of Mary, to forget such misery
as ours.[622] The common proverb, honors change customs, “Honores
mutant mores,” certainly does not apply to Mary. It, indeed, applies
to worldlings who, when raised to any dignity, become inflated with
pride, and forget their old and poor friends: but not to Mary, who
rejoices in her greater exaltation, because it gives her more power to
assist others. Considering this point, St. Bonaventure applies to the
blessed Virgin the words spoken to Ruth: “Blessed art thou, my daughter,
and thy latter kindness has surpassed the former.”[623] Meaning, as he
afterwards explains, that if the pity of Mary for the unhappy was great
when she lived on earth, much greater is it now when she is reigning in
heaven.[624] The saint gives the reason for this by saying, that the
divine mother shows now, by the innumerable favors she obtains for us,
this her increased compassion, because now she better understands our
miseries.[625] And he adds, that as the splendor of the sun exceeds that
of the moon, so the mercy of Mary, now that she is in heaven, exceeds the
mercy she had for us when she was upon the earth.[626] And is there any
one living on the earth who does not enjoy the light of the sun?—any one
on whom this mercy of Mary does not shine?[627]
On this account she is called bright as the sun, “Electa ut sol;”[628]
because no one is shut out from the heat of this sun,[629] as St.
Bonaventure says. And St. Agnes revealed this from heaven to St. Bridget,
when she said to her, that our queen, now that she is united with her
Son in heaven, cannot forget her innate goodness; hence she exercises
her compassion towards all, even towards the most impious sinners, so
that as both the celestial and terrestrial bodies are illuminated by the
sun, thus through the goodness of Mary, there is no one in the world who
does not, if he asks for it, share in the divine mercy.[630] A great and
desperate sinner, in the kingdom of Valencia, in order to escape justice,
had resolved to become a Turk, and was actually going to embark, when by
chance he passed a church, in which Father Jerome Lopez, of the Company
of Jesus, was preaching, and preaching of the divine mercy; by that
preaching he was converted, and confessed to the father, who inquired of
him if he had practised any devotion, for which God had shown towards him
that great mercy; he answered that he had practised no other devotion
than praying the holy Virgin every day not to abandon him.[631] The
same Father found in the hospital a sinner, who for fifty-five years had
never been to confession, and had only practised this little devotion,
that when he saw an image of Mary he saluted it, and prayed to her that
he might not die in mortal sin; and then he related that in a quarrel
with an enemy, his sword was broken, and he turned to the Madonna saying:
“Alas, I shall be slain, and damned; oh mother of sinners, help me.”
When he had said this, he found himself, he knew not how, transported
into a secure place. He made a general confession, and died full of
confidence.[632]
St. Bernard writes that Mary becomes all things to all men, and opens to
all the bowels of her mercy, that all may receive of her; the captive
his freedom; the sick man health; the afflicted consolation; the sinner
pardon, and God glory: hence there is no one, since she is the sun, who
does not partake of her warmth.[633] And is there any one in the world,
exclaims St. Bonaventure, who will not love this lovely queen? She is
more beautiful than the sun, and sweeter than honey; she is a treasure
of goodness, and is kind and courteous to all.[634] I salute thee, then,
thus the enamored saint goes on to say, oh my Lady and mother! my heart!
my soul! Pardon me, oh Mary, if I say that I love thee: if I am not
worthy of loving thee, thou art truly worthy of being loved by me.[635]
It was revealed to St. Gertrude,[636] that when any one repeats with
devotion these words to the Virgin: “Turn, then, towards us, oh our
advocate, thy pitying eyes,”[637] Mary never fails to listen to the
prayer. Oh, let the immensity of thy mercy, oh great Lady, fill the whole
earth, exclaims St. Bernard.[638] Whence St. Bonaventure says, that this
loving mother has such a desire to do good to all, that she feels herself
offended not only by those who offer her some positive injury, for there
are souls to be found so perverse, especially gamesters, who sometimes,
to vent their anger, blaspheme and insult this good Lady, but she looks
upon herself as injured by those, also, who neglect to ask of her some
favor.[639] So that, as St. Idelbert says, thou dost instruct us, oh
Lady, to expect favors greater than our merits, for thou dost never
cease to dispense graces that far exceed what we merit.[640]
The prophet Isaias predicted that by the great work of human redemption,
a great throne of divine mercy would be prepared for us: “A throne
shall be prepared in mercy.”[641] Who is this throne? St. Bonaventure
answers: This throne is Mary, in whom all, both the just and sinners,
find the consolations of mercy;[642] and he afterwards adds: As the
Lord is full of compassion, so also is our Lady; and as the Son, so
the mother cannot withhold her mercy from those who ask it.[643] Hence
Guerric, the abbot, represents Jesus thus speaking to Mary: My mother,
upon thee I will establish the seat of my kingdom, for through thee will
I bestow the graces that are asked of me: thou hast given me the human
nature; I will give to thee, as it were, a divine nature, that is, my
omnipotence, by which thou canst assist all who invoke thee to obtain
their salvation.[644]
When St. Gertrude was one day devoutly repeating these words to the
divine mother: “Turn towards us thy merciful eyes,” she saw the Virgin
pointing to the eyes of her Son whom she held in her arms, and she said
to her: “These are the most merciful eyes that I can turn towards all
those who invoke me for their salvation.”[645] A sinner once weeping
before the altar of Mary, and imploring her to intercede with God for his
pardon, was given to understand that the blessed Virgin turned to the
child whom she held in her arms, and said to him: “My son, shall these
tears be in vain?”[646] and he learned that Jesus Christ at once pardoned
him.
And how can any one ever perish who recommends himself to this good
mother, when the Son, as God, has promised, for love of her, to exercise
mercy, as far as it pleases her, towards all those that have recourse to
her? Precisely this our Lord revealed to St. Bridget; permitting her to
hear these words which he spoke to Mary: “By my omnipotence, venerated
mother, I have granted thee the pardon of all sinners, in whatever way it
pleases thee, who devoutly invoke the aid of thy mercy.”[647] Hence the
Abbot Adam Persenius, considering the great compassion that Mary has for
all, full of confidence says to her: Oh mother of mercy, thy power is as
great as thy pity. As thou art powerful to obtain, so thou art merciful
to pardon.[648] And when, he adds, dost thou ever fail to have compassion
on sinners, being the mother of mercy; or art thou unable to help them,
being mother of omnipotence? Ah, thou canst as readily obtain whatever
thou wilt, as thou canst listen to our woes.[649] Satiate thyself, then,
says the Abbot Rupert, satiate thyself, oh great queen, with the glory
of thy Son, and through thy compassion, not certainly through our merit,
be pleased to send down to us, thy poor servants here below, whatever
fragments may remain.[650]
If our sins ever throw us into despair, let us say with William of Paris:
Oh Lady, do not bring forward my sins against me, for I shall bring
forward thy mercy in opposition to them. And let it never be said that
my sins can rival, in the judgment, thy mercy, which is more powerful to
obtain my pardon, than my sins are to obtain my condemnation.[651]
EXAMPLE.
We read in the chronicles of the Capuchin Fathers,[652] that there lived
in Venice a celebrated advocate, who, by fraud and evil practices, had
become rich. His whole life was very bad, and it appears that he had but
one good habit, that of reciting every day a certain prayer to the holy
Virgin. Yet, even this little devotion saved him from eternal death,
through the mercy of Mary. It happened in this way: Happily for himself,
he had a great esteem for Father Matthew da Basso, and urged him so much
to come and dine at his house, that one day the Father gave him this
pleasure. Having arrived, the advocate said to him: “Now, Father, I will
show you something that you have never seen. I have a wonderful ape, who
is my valet, washes my glasses, lays the table, and opens the door.”
“This may not be an ape,” answered the Father: “it may be something more
than an ape; order him to come here.” The ape was called again and again,
search was made for him everywhere, and he could not be found. At length,
he was discovered hidden under a bed in the lower part of the house, but
he would not come out. “Come, then,” said the religious, “let us go and
see him:” and he went with the advocate to his hiding-place. “Infernal
beast,” he said, “come forth, and in the name of God I command you to
tell me what you are.” And behold, the ape answered that he was the
devil, and that he was waiting until that sinner should omit some day
to recite his accustomed prayer to the mother of God; for the first time
he should omit it, God had given him leave to strangle him, and take him
to hell. At these words the advocate cast himself upon his knees to ask
help of the servant of God, who encouraged him, and commanded the devil
to depart from that house without committing any injury, only he gave him
permission, as a sign that he had really gone, to break a piece of the
wall. Scarcely had he finished speaking, when, with a great crash, a hole
was made in the wall, which, although it was several times closed with
stone and mortar, God willed that it should remain open for a long time;
until, by the advice of the servant of God, it was filled up with a slab
of marble, with an angel carved on it. The advocate was converted, and,
it is to be hoped, persevered until death in his new course of life.
PRAYER.
Oh creature, among all others the greatest and most sublime, most holy
Virgin, I from this earth salute thee; I, a miserable, unhappy rebel to
my God, who deserve punishment and not favors, justice and not mercy.
Oh Lady, I do not say this because I distrust thy mercy. I know that
thou dost glory in being merciful as thou art great. I know that thou
dost rejoice in being so rich, that thou mayest share thy riches with
us sinners. I know that the more wretched are those who seek thee, the
greater is thy desire to help and save them. Oh my mother, it is thou
who once did weep for thy Son when he died for me. Offer, I pray thee,
thy tears to God, and with these obtain for me a true sorrow for my
sins. So much did sinners grieve thee, then, and so much did I, too,
grieve thee by my iniquities. Obtain for me, oh Mary, that I at least
from henceforth may no longer continue to afflict thee and thy Son by
my ingratitude. What will thy tears avail me if I should continue to be
ungrateful to thee? What would thy mercy avail me if I should again be
faithless and be lost? No, my queen, do not permit it. Thou hast supplied
all my deficiencies; thou canst obtain from God whatever thou wilt; thou
graciously hearest every one that prays to thee. These two favors do
I ask of thee, and at all events from thee do I hope and desire them:
namely, that thou wilt obtain for me to be faithful to God by never more
offending him, and to love him as much as I have offended him during the
life that remains to me.
CHAPTER VIII.
ET JESUM BENEDICTUM FRUCTUM VENTRIS TUI NOBIS POST HOC EXILIUM OSTENDE.
And after this our exile, show us the blessed fruit of thy womb, Jesus.
SECTION I.
MARY RESCUES HER SERVANTS FROM HELL.
It is impossible that a servant of Mary who faithfully honors her and
recommends himself to her should be lost. This proposition at first
sight may appear to some persons extravagant. But I would beg them not
to condemn it before reading what will hereafter be said on this point.
When it is said that a devoted servant of Mary cannot be lost, those
servants are not intended who abuse their devotion by sinning with less
fear. Therefore it is unjust to say, as some do who disapprove extolling
the mercy of Mary to sinners, that by so doing they are encouraged to
sin the more; for such presumptuous persons for their presumption merit
punishment and not mercy. It is understood, then only of those of her
servants who, with the desire to amend, faithfully honor and commend
themselves to the mother of God. That these should be lost is, I say,
morally impossible. And I find Father Crasset has affirmed the same
thing in his book upon devotion to Mary;[653] and before him Vega,[654]
Mendoza,[655] and other theologians. And that we may know that they have
not spoken unadvisedly, let us see what the Doctors and Saints have
said on this subject. Let no one be surprised if I here quote several
sentences, of different authors, containing the same thing; for I have
wished to record them all, in order to show how unanimously all writers
agree on this point. St. Anselm says, that as he who is not devoted to
Mary and protected by her cannot be saved, so it is impossible that he
should be condemned who recommends himself to the Virgin, and is regarded
by her with affection.[656] St. Antoninus asserts the same thing in
nearly the same words: As it is impossible that those from whom Mary
turns away her eyes of compassion should be saved, so it must be that all
those towards whom she turns her eyes, and for whom she intercedes, shall
be saved and glorified.[657] This saint adds, then, that the servants of
Mary must necessarily be saved.
Let us note, however, the first part of the statements of these saints,
and let those tremble who little esteem, or abandon through negligence,
devotion to this divine mother. They say that it is impossible for
those to be saved who are not protected by Mary. And this is also
asserted by others, as the blessed Albertus Magnus: All those who are
not thy servants, oh Mary, shall perish: “Gens quæ non servierit tibi
peribit.”[658] St. Bonaventure, too: He who neglects the service of Mary
shall die in sin.[659] And in another place: He who has not recourse to
thee, oh Lady, will not reach paradise.[660] And on Psalm xcix. the saint
goes so far as to say that those from whom Mary turns away her face,
not only will not be saved, but can have no hope of salvation.[661] And
before this St. Ignatius, the martyr, said the same thing, asserting
that a sinner cannot be saved except by means of the holy Virgin, who,
on the other hand, saves by her merciful intercession many that would be
condemned by the divine justice.[662] Some persons doubt whether this
passage is from St. Ignatius; at least Father Crasset says that St.
John Chrysostom has adopted it as his own.[663] It is also repeated by
the Abbot of Celles.[664] And in the same sense the holy Church applies
to Mary these words of Proverbs: All that hate me love death: “Omnes
qui me oderunt, diligunt mortem.”[665] For, as Richard of St. Laurence
says, commenting on the words: She is like the merchant’s ship:[666] all
those who are out of this ship shall be submerged in the sea of this
world.[667] Even the heretic Œcolampadius esteemed neglect of devotion
in any one to the mother of God as a certain sign of reprobation; hence,
he said: Let it never be heard of me that I am averse to Mary, to be
ill affected towards whom I should think a certain sign of a reprobate
mind.[668]
On the other hand, Mary says: He that hearkeneth to me shall not be
confounded.[669] He who has recourse to me, and listens to what I say to
him, shall not be lost. From which St. Bonaventure said: Oh, Lady, those
who are mindful to honor thee, shall be far from perdition.[670] Even
when, as St. Hilary says, they have hitherto deeply offended God.[671]
Hence the devil strives so hard with sinners, in order that, having lost
divine grace, they may also lose devotion to Mary. Sarah, seeing Isaac
playing with Ishmael, who was teaching him evil habits, asked Abraham
to send him away, and his mother Agar also: “Cast out this bond-woman
and her son.”[672] She was not satisfied that the son alone should leave
the house without the mother, fearing lest the son would come to visit
his mother, and thus continue to frequent the house. In like manner, the
devil is not satisfied with seeing Jesus cast out from a soul, if he does
not see the mother also cast out: “Cast out this bond-woman and her son.”
Otherwise he fears that the mother, by her intercession, may again obtain
the return of her son. And he has cause to fear, for as the learned
Father Paciucchelli remarks: He who is faithful in honoring the mother
of God, through Mary, will soon receive him.[673] Therefore rightly was
the devotion to our Lady called by St. Ephrem: The passport of escape
from hell: “Charta libertatis.”[674] The divine mother was also named by
him: The protectress of the condemned: “Patrocinatrix damnatorum.” And
with truth St. Bernard says, that Mary is neither wanting in the power
nor the will to save us.[675] Not in the power, because it is impossible
that her prayers should not be heard, as St. Antoninus asserts;[676] and
St. Bonaventure says also, that her requests cannot be unavailing, but
obtain for her what she wishes: Quod quærit invenit et frustrari non
potest.[677] Not in the will to save us, for Mary is our mother, and
desires our salvation more than we desire it ourselves. If this is then
true, how can it ever happen that a servant of Mary should be lost? He
may be a sinner, but if, with perseverance and a desire for amendment,
he commends himself to this good mother, she will take care to obtain
for him light to guide him out of his bad state, contrition for his
sins, perseverance in goodness, and finally a good death. And is there
any mother who would not rescue her child from death, if she could do it
by praying his judge for mercy? And can we believe that Mary, the most
loving mother possible to her servants, would fail to rescue one of them
from eternal death, when she can do it so easily?
Ah, devout reader, let us thank the Lord, if we find that he has given us
the love of the queen of heaven, and confidence in her; for God, as St.
John Damascene says, does not grant this grace except to those whom he
wishes to save. These are the beautiful words of the saint, with which
he would quicken his own and our hope: Oh mother of God, if I place my
confidence in thee I shall be saved. If I am under thy protection, I have
nothing to fear, because to be thy servant is to have certain arms of
salvation, which God only grants to those whom he will save.[678] Hence
Erasmus thus salutes the Virgin: Hail, terror of hell! hail, hope of
Christians! confidence in thee secures salvation.[679]
Oh, how much it grieves the devil to see a soul persevering in its
devotion to the divine mother! We read in the life of Father Alphonsus
Alvarez, who had a special devotion to Mary, that being in prayer, and
finding himself tormented by impure temptations with which the devil
afflicted him, the enemy said to him: Quit thy devotion to Mary, and I
will cease to tempt thee.
The Lord revealed to St. Catherine of Sienna, as we read in Blosius, that
he, in his goodness, had granted to Mary, from love to his only begotten
Son, whose mother she is, that not even one sinner, who commends himself
devoutly to her, should be the prey of hell.[680] The Prophet David, too,
prayed to be rescued from hell, for the honor in which he held Mary: “I
have loved, oh Lord, the beauty of thy house; take not away my soul
with the wicked.”[681] He says of thy house, “Domus tuæ,” because Mary
was, indeed, that house of God, which he himself, when he became man,
built on this earth for his habitation, and for the place of his rest,
as we read in Proverbs: Wisdom hath built herself a house.[682] No, he
surely will not be lost, says St. Ignatius, the martyr, who is constant
in his devotion to this virgin mother.[683] And this is confirmed by St.
Bonaventure, who says: Oh Lady, those who love thee enjoy great peace in
this life, and in the other they shall not see eternal death.[684] No,
for it never did, and never will happen, as the devout Blosius assures
us, that an humble and constant servant of Mary will be lost.[685]
Oh, how many would have been eternally condemned, or remained in
obstinacy, if Mary had not interceded with her Son to exercise mercy!
Thus says Thomas à Kempis.[686] And it is the opinion of many doctors,
especially of St. Thomas, that the divine mother has obtained from
God a reprieve for many persons who had even died in mortal sin, and
their return to life to do penance. We have many examples of this given
by writers of good authority. Among others, Flodoard, who lived about
the ninth century, narrates, in his chronicles,[687] that one Adelman,
a deacon, who appeared to be dead, was about to be buried, when he
returned to life, and said, that he had seen the place in hell to which
he had already been condemned; but that, through the intercession of the
blessed Virgin, he had been sent back to earth to do penance. Surius
also relates, that a Roman citizen, named Andrew, had died without doing
penance, and that Mary had obtained his return to life that he might
procure pardon.[688] Pelbart, moreover, relates, that in his time, when
the Emperor Sigismund was crossing the Alps with his army, a voice was
heard, proceeding from a dead body, of which only the bones remained,
asking for confession, and saying, that the mother of God, to whom he had
been devoted whilst he was a soldier, had obtained for him that he should
live in those bones until he had made his confession. Having confessed,
he died.[689] These and similar examples must not serve as encouragement
for some rash person who would live in sin, in the hope that Mary would
free him from hell, even if he should die in sin; for as it would be a
great folly to throw one’s self into a well, in the hope that Mary would
save us from death, because the Virgin has rescued some persons under
similar circumstances; thus a greater folly would it be for one to run
the risk of dying in sin, on the presumption that the holy Virgin would
rescue him from hell. But these examples should serve to strengthen our
confidence by the consideration, that if the intercession of this divine
mother could deliver those from hell—even those who have died in sin—how
much more will it prevent those from falling into hell who in life have
recourse to her with the intention to amend and serve her faithfully?
Then, oh our mother, let us say with St. Germanus: What will become of
us who are sinners, but who wish to amend and have recourse to thee, who
art the life of Christians?[690] Let us, oh Lady, hear what St. Anselm
says of thee, that he will not be lost for whom thou hast once offered
thy prayers.[691] Pray, then, for us, and we shall be saved from hell.
Who will tell me, says Richard of Victor, that when I am presented at
the divine tribunal, the Judge will not be favorable to me, if I shall
have thee to defend my cause, oh mother of mercy?[692] And the blessed
Henry Suso declared, that he had placed his soul in the care of Mary,
and he said, that if the Judge wished to condemn him, he would have the
sentence pass through the hands of Mary.[693] For he hoped that when the
sentence of condemnation should fall into the kind hands of the Virgin,
its execution would certainly be prevented. I ask and hope the same for
myself, oh my most holy queen. Whence I will always repeat with St.
Bonaventure: Oh Lady, in thee I have placed all my hopes, therefore I
securely hope not to be lost, but safe in heaven to praise and love thee
forever.[694]
EXAMPLE.
In the year 1604 there lived in a city of Flanders two young students,
who, instead of attending to their studies, gave themselves up to
excesses and dissipation. One night, having gone to the house of a
woman of ill fame, one of them, named Richard, after some time returned
home, but the other remained. Richard having gone home, was undressing
to go to rest, when he remembered that he had not recited that day, as
usual, some “Hail Marys.” He was oppressed with sleep and very weary,
yet he roused himself and recited them, although without devotion, and
only half awake. He then went to bed, and having just fallen asleep, he
heard a loud knocking at the door, and immediately after, before he had
time to open it, he saw before him his companion, with a hideous and
ghastly appearance. “Who are you?” he said to him. “Do you not know
me?” answered the other. “But what has so changed you? you seem like a
demon.” “Alas!” exclaimed this poor wretch, “I am damned.” “And how is
this?” “Know,” he said, “that when I came out of that infamous house,
a devil attacked me and strangled me. My body lies in the middle of
the street, and my soul is in hell. Know that my punishment would also
have been yours, but the blessed Virgin, on account of those few ‘Hail
Marys’ said in her honor, has saved you. Happy will it be for you, if
you know how to avail yourself of this warning, that the mother of God
sends you through me.” After these words he opened his cloak, showed the
fire and serpents that were consuming him, and then disappeared. Then
the youth, bursting into a flood of tears, threw himself with his face
on the ground, to thank Mary, his deliverer, and while he was revolving
in his mind a change of life, he hears the matin bell of a neighboring
Franciscan Monastery. “It is there,” he exclaimed, “that God calls me to
do penance.” He went immediately to the convent to beg the fathers to
receive him. Knowing how bad his life had been, they objected. But after
he had related the circumstance which had brought him there, weeping
bitterly all the while, two of the fathers went out to search in the
street, and actually found there the dead body of his companion, having
the marks of strangulation, and black as a coal. Whereupon the young man
was received. Richard from that time led an exemplary life. He went into
India to preach the faith; from thence passed to Japan, and finally
had the good fortune and received the grace of dying a martyr for Jesus
Christ, by being burned alive.[695]
PRAYER.
Oh Mary! oh my most dear mother! in what an abyss of evil I should find
myself, if thou, with thy kind hand, hadst not so often preserved me!
Yea, how many years should I already have been in hell, if thou, with thy
powerful prayers, hadst not rescued me! My grievous sins were hurrying
me there; divine justice had already condemned me; the raging demons
were waiting to execute the sentence; but thou didst appear, oh mother,
not invoked nor asked by me, and hast saved me. Oh my dear deliverer,
what return can I make thee for so much grace and so much love? Thou
hast overcome the hardness of my heart, and hast drawn me to love thee
and confide in thee. And oh, into what an abyss of evils I afterwards
should have fallen, if thou, with thy kind hand, hadst not so many times
protected me from the dangers into which I was on the brink of falling!
Continue, oh my hope, continue to save me from hell, but first of all
from the sins into which I might again fall. Do not permit that I shall
have to curse thee in hell. My beloved Lady, I love thee, and how can
thy goodness endure to see one of thy servants who loves thee, lost?
Ah, obtain for me the grace to be no longer ungrateful to thee and to
my God, who for love of thee hath granted me so many favors. Oh Mary,
what dost thou say to me? Shall I be lost? I shall be lost if I leave
thee. But who will any more venture to forsake thee? Shall I ever forget
thy love for me? Thou, after God, art the love of my soul. I dare live
no longer without loving thee. I bless thee! I love thee! and I hope
that I shall always love thee in time and in eternity, oh creature most
beautiful! most holy! most sweet! most amiable of all creatures in this
world! Amen.
SECTION II.
MARY ASSISTS HER SERVANTS IN PURGATORY.
Too happy are the servants of this most kind mother, since not only in
this world they are aided by her, but also in purgatory they are assisted
and consoled by her protection. For succor being there more needed,
because they are in torment and cannot help themselves, so much the more
does this mother of mercy strive to help them. St. Bernardine of Sienna
says, that in that prison of souls who are spouses of Jesus Christ, Mary
has a certain dominion and plenitude of power to relieve them, as well as
deliver them from their pains.[696]
And, in the first place, as to relieving them, the same saint, applying
the words of Ecclesiasticus: I have walked in the waves of the sea:
“In fluctibus maris ambulavi,”[697] adds, visiting and relieving the
necessities and sufferings of my servants, who are my children.[698] St.
Bernardine says, that the pains of purgatory are called waves, because
they are transitory, unlike the pains of hell, which never end; and they
are called waves of the sea, because they are very bitter pains. The
servants of Mary tormented by those pains are often visited and succored
by her. See, then, how important it is, says Novarino, to be a servant
of this good Lady; for she never forgets such when they are suffering in
those flames. And although Mary succors all the souls in purgatory, yet
she always obtains more indulgences and alleviations for those who have
been especially devoted to her.[699]
This divine mother, in her revelations to St. Bridget, said: “I am the
mother of all the souls in purgatory; and all the sufferings which
they merit for the sins committed in life are every hour, while they
remain there, alleviated in some measure by my prayers.”[700] This kind
mother sometimes condescends even to enter into that holy prison, to
visit and console these her afflicted children. I have penetrated into
the bottom of the deep: “Profundum abyssi penetravi,” as we read in
Ecclesiasticus;[701] and St. Bonaventure, applying these words, adds:
I have penetrated the depth of this abyss, that is, of purgatory, to
relieve by my presence those holy souls.[702] Oh, how kind and beneficent
is the holy Virgin to those who are suffering in purgatory! says St.
Vincent Ferrer; through her they receive continual consolation and
refreshment.[703]
And what other consolation have they in their sufferings than Mary,
and the help of this mother of mercy? St. Bridget one day heard Jesus
saying to his mother: “Thou art my mother, thou art the mother of mercy,
thou art the consoler of those who are in purgatory.”[704] And the
blessed Virgin herself said to St. Bridget, that as a poor sick person,
suffering and deserted on his bed, feels himself refreshed by some word
of consolation, so those souls feel themselves consoled in hearing only
her name.[705] The name alone of Mary, a name of hope and salvation,
which these beloved children often invoke in that prison, is for them a
great comfort. But, then, says Novarino, the loving mother, on hearing
herself invoked by them, adds her prayers to God, by which these souls
receive comfort, and find their burning pains cooled as if by dew from
heaven.[706]
But not only does Mary console and succor her servants in purgatory;
she also releases them from this prison, and delivers them by her
intercession. From the day of her glorious assumption, in which that
prison is said to have been emptied,[707] as Gerson writes; and Novarino
confirms this by saying, that many weighty authors relate that Mary,
when about to ascend to paradise, asked this favor of her Son, that she
might take with her all the souls that were then in purgatory;[708]
from that time, says Gerson, the blessed Virgin has possessed the
privilege of freeing her servants from those pains. And this also is
positively asserted by St. Bernardine, who says that the blessed Virgin
has the power of delivering souls from purgatory by her prayers and
the application of her merits, especially if they have been devoted
to her.[709] And Novarino says the same thing, believing that by the
merits of Mary, not only the torments of these souls are assuaged,
but also abridged, the time of their purgation being shortened by her
intercession:[710] and for this it is enough that she presents herself to
pray for them.
St. Peter Damian relates,[711] that a certain lady, named Marozia, after
death, appeared to her godmother, and told her that on the day of the
Assumption of Mary she had been released by her from purgatory, with a
multitude of souls exceeding in number the whole population of Rome. St.
Denis the Carthusian relates, that on the festivals of the birth and
resurrection of Jesus Christ, Mary descends into purgatory, accompanied
by troops of angels, and releases many souls from their torments.[712]
And Novarino believes that the same thing happens on every solemn
festival of the holy Virgin.[713]
Every one has heard of the promise made by Mary to Pope John, to whom she
appeared, and ordered him to make known to all those who should wear the
sacred scapular of Carmel, that on the Saturday after their death they
should be released from purgatory. And this was proclaimed by the same
pontiff, as Father Crasset relates,[714] in a bull which he published. It
was also confirmed by Alexander V., Clement VII., Pius V., Gregory XIII.,
and Paul V., who, in 1612, in a bull said: “That Christians may piously
believe that the blessed Virgin will aid by her continual intercession,
by her merits and special protection, after death, and principally on
Saturday, which is a day consecrated by the Church to the blessed Virgin,
the souls of the members of the confraternity of holy Mary of Mount
Carmel, who shall have departed this life in the state of grace, worn the
scapular, observing chastity according to their state of life, recited
the office of the Virgin, and if they have not been able to recite it,
shall have observed the fasts of the Church, abstaining from flesh-meat
on Wednesdays, except on Christmas-day.” And in the solemn office of the
feast of holy Mary of Mount Carmel, we read that it is piously believed,
that the holy Virgin, with a mother’s love, consoles the members of the
confraternity of Mount Carmel in purgatory, and by her intercession
conducts them to their heavenly country.[715]
Why should we not also hope for the same graces and favors, if we are
devoted to this good mother? And if with more special love we serve her,
why cannot we hope to obtain the grace of going immediately after death
to paradise, without entering into purgatory? as we read that the holy
Virgin said to the blessed Godfrey, through brother Abondo, in these
words: “Go and tell brother Godfrey to advance in virtue, for thus he
will be a child of my Son, and mine also; and when his soul quits the
body, I will not permit it to go to purgatory, but I will take it and
present it to my Son.”[716] And if we would assist the holy souls in
purgatory, let us endeavor to remember them in all our prayers to the
blessed Virgin, applying to them especially the holy rosary, which
procures for them great relief, as we read in the following example.
EXAMPLE.
Father Eusebius Nierembergh relates,[717] that there lived in the city
of Aragona a girl, named Alexandra, who, being noble and very beautiful,
was greatly loved by two young men. Through jealousy, they one day fought
and killed each other. Their enraged relatives, in return, killed the
poor young girl, as the cause of so much trouble, cut off her head, and
threw her into a well. A few days after, St. Dominic was passing through
that place, and, inspired by the Lord, approached the well, and said:
“Alexandra, come forth,” and immediately the head of the deceased came
forth, placed itself on the edge of the well, and prayed St. Dominic to
hear its confession. The saint heard its confession, and also gave it
communion, in presence of a great concourse of persons who had assembled
to witness the miracle. Then, St. Dominic ordered her to speak and tell
why she had received that grace. Alexandra answered, that when she was
beheaded, she was in a state of mortal sin, but that the most holy Mary,
on account of the rosary, which she was in the habit of reciting, had
preserved her in life. Two days the head retained its life upon the edge
of the well, in the presence of all, and then the soul went to purgatory.
But fifteen days after, the soul of Alexandra appeared to St. Dominic,
beautiful and radiant as a star, and told him, that one of the principal
sources of relief to the souls in purgatory is the rosary which is
recited for them; and that, as soon as they arrive in paradise, they pray
for those who apply to them these powerful prayers. Having said this, St.
Dominic saw that happy soul ascending in triumph to the kingdom of the
blessed.
PRAYER.
Oh Queen of heaven and of earth, oh mother of the Lord of the world,
oh Mary, creature most great, most exalted, most amiable, it is true
that many on the earth do not love thee and do not know thee; but there
are innumerable angels and saints in heaven who love and praise thee
continually. On this earth, too, how many happy souls burn with love of
thee, and live enamored of thy goodness! Ah, if I, too, might love thee,
my most lovely Lady! Oh, that I might always be engaged in serving thee,
in praising thee, in honoring thee, and in striving to awaken love of
thee in others. A God hath been enamored of thee, who, by thy beauty, if
I may so speak, hast drawn him from the bosom of the eternal Father, to
come upon the earth and become man and thy Son; and I, a miserable worm,
shall I not be enamored of thee? Yes, my most sweet mother, I also will
love thee, love thee much, and do all in my power to make thee loved by
others. Accept, then, oh Mary, the desire I have to love thee, and help
me to fulfil it: I know that thy lovers are regarded with much favor by
thy God. Next to his own glory, he desires nothing more than thy glory,
in seeing thee honored and loved by all. From thee, oh Lady, I await
all my blessings. Thou must obtain the pardon of all my sins, thou must
obtain for me perseverance, succor in death, deliverance from purgatory,
in a word, thou must conduct me to paradise. All this thy lovers hope
from thee, and they are not deceived. This I also hope, who love thee
with all my heart, and above all things next to God.
SECTION III.
MARY CONDUCTS HER SERVANTS TO PARADISE.
Oh, what a signal mark of predestination have the servants of Mary! The
holy Church applies to this divine mother the words of Ecclesiasticus,
and makes her say for the comfort of her servants: “In all these I
sought rest, and I shall abide in the inheritance of the Lord.”[718]
Cardinal Hugo, commenting on this, remarks: Blessed is he in whose
habitation the holy Virgin found rest: “Beatus in cujus domo beatæ Virgo
requiem invenerit.” Mary, through the love she bears to all, seeks to
make devotion to her prevail in all hearts. Many do not receive it, or
do not preserve it; blessed is he who receives it and preserves it. In
the inheritance of the Lord will I abide; that is, adds the learned
Paciucchelli, in those who are the inheritance of the Lord.[719] Devotion
to the Virgin abides in all those who are the inheritance of the Lord,
that is, who will be in heaven praising him eternally. Mary continues
in the passage above cited: “He that made me, rested in my tabernacle,
and he said to me: Let thy dwelling be in Jacob, and thy inheritance in
Israel, and take root in my elect.”[720] My Creator has condescended
to come and rest in my bosom, and has willed that I should inhabit in
the hearts of all the elect, whom Jacob prefigured, and who are the
inheritance of the Virgin; and he has ordained that devotion to me and
confidence in me should take root in the hearts of the elect.
Oh, how many would have failed of being among the blessed in heaven,
if Mary, by her powerful intercession, had not conducted them thither!
“I made that in the heavens there should rise light that never
faileth;”[721] thus Cardinal Hugo puts into her mouth these words of the
same chapter of Ecclesiasticus: I have made to shine in heaven as many
eternal lights as I have devoted servants. Whence the same author adds,
commenting on this text: Many saints are in heaven by her intercession,
who never would have been there without it.[722] St. Bonaventure says,
that the gate of heaven will be opened to receive all those who trust
in the protection of Mary.[723] Hence St. Ephrem called devotion to the
divine mother the opening of paradise.[724] And the devout Blosius,
addressing the Virgin, says to her: Lady, to thee are committed the keys
and the treasures of the heavenly kingdom.[725] And, therefore, we
should continually supplicate her in the words of St. Ambrose: Open to
us, oh Virgin, heaven, for thou hast the keys of it.[726] Nay, thou art
even the gate of it, as the holy Church names thee, “Janua cœli.”
For this reason the great mother is also called by the holy Church: Star
of the sea: “Ave, Maris stella.” For as navigators, says the angelic St.
Thomas, are guided to port by means of a star, thus Christians are guided
to heaven by means of Mary.[727]
She is for this reason, finally, called by St. Peter Damian, the ladder
of heaven: “Scala cœlestis;” for, as the saint says, by means of Mary
God has descended from heaven to earth, that by the same, or by her,
men might merit to ascend from earth to heaven.[728] And for this
reason, oh Lady, says St. Anastasius, thou art full of grace, that
thou mightest be made the way of our salvation, and the ascent to the
celestial country.[729] St. Bernard calls the blessed Virgin: The vehicle
to heaven: “Vehiculum ad cœlum.” And St. John the Geometrician salutes
her: Hail, most noble chariot: “Salve clarissime currus;” by which her
servants are conducted to heaven. And, St. Bonaventure addresses her
thus: Blessed are those who know thee, oh mother of God! for to know thee
is the path to immortal life, and to publish thy virtues is the way to
eternal salvation.[730]
In the Franciscan chronicles[731] it is related of brother Leo, that
he once saw a red ladder, upon which Jesus Christ was standing, and a
white one, upon which stood his holy mother. He saw persons attempting
to ascend the red ladder; they ascended a few steps and then fell; they
ascended again, and again fell. Then they were exhorted to ascend the
white ladder, and on that he saw them succeed, for the blessed Virgin
offered them her hand, and they arrived in that manner safe in paradise.
St. Denis the Carthusian asks: Who will ever be saved? Who will ever
reign in heaven? They are saved, and will certainly reign, he himself
answers, for whom this queen of mercy offers her prayers.[732] And this
Mary herself affirms: By me kings reign: “Per me reges regnant.”[733]
Through my intercession souls reign first in the mortal life on this
earth, by governing their passions, and then they go to reign eternally
in heaven, where, as St. Augustine declares, all are kings: “Quot cives,
tot reges.” Mary, in a word, as Richard of St. Laurence says, is the
mistress of paradise, since there she commands according to her pleasure,
and introduces into it whom she will. Therefore, applying to her the
words of Ecclesiasticus, he adds: “My power is in Jerusalem:”[734] I
command what I will, and introduce whom I will.[735] And as she is the
mother of the Lord of paradise, she is with reason, also, says Rupert,
the Lady of paradise. She possesses, by right, the whole kingdom of her
Son.[736]
This divine mother, with her powerful prayers and assistance, has
obtained for us paradise, if we place no obstacle to our entrance
there.[737] Wherefore those who are servants of Mary, and for whom Mary
intercedes, are as secure of paradise as if they were already there.[738]
To serve Mary and to belong to her court, adds St. John of Damascus, is
the greatest honor we can attain; for to serve the queen of heaven is
to reign already in heaven, and to live in obedience to her commands is
more than to reign.[739] On the other hand, he says that those who do
not serve Mary will not be saved; whilst those who are deprived of the
support of this great mother, are deprived of the succor of the Son, and
of all the celestial court.[740]
Forever praised be the infinite goodness of our God who has constituted
Mary our advocate in heaven, that she, as mother of the judge and mother
of mercy may efficaciously, by her intercession, order the great affair
of our eternal salvation. This sentiment is taken from St. Bernard.[741]
And James the Monk, esteemed a doctor among the Greek fathers, says
that God has made Mary a bridge of salvation, by which we are enabled
to pass over the waves of this world, and reach the blessed port of
paradise.[742] Hence St. Bonaventure exclaims: Hear, oh ye people who
desire paradise; serve and honor Mary, and you will certainly find life
eternal.[743]
Not even those who deserve hell should despair of attaining the kingdom
of the blessed, if they faithfully devote themselves to the service of
this queen. Sinners, says St. Germanus, have sought to find God by thy
means, oh Mary, and have been saved![744] Richard of St. Laurence remarks
that Mary is said by St. John to be crowned with stars.[745] On the
other hand, in the sacred Canticles, the Virgin is said to be crowned
with wild beasts, lions and panthers: “Come from Libanus, my spouse,
come from Libanus, come; thou shalt be crowned from the dens of the
lions, from the mountains of the leopards.”[746] What does this signify?
Richard answers that those wild beasts are those sinners, who, through
the favor and intercession of Mary, have become stars of paradise, which
are a crown more worthy of this queen of mercy, than all the material
stars of heaven.[747] The servant of the Lord, sister Seraphina da Capri,
as we read in her life, in her prayers to the most holy Virgin during
the Novena of her assumption, asked of her the conversion of a thousand
sinners; but as she feared that her demands were too extravagant, the
Virgin appeared to her, and reproved her for this her vain fear, saying
to her: “Why do you fear? am I not powerful enough to obtain for thee
from my Son the salvation of a thousand sinners? Behold them, I have
already obtained it.” She then led her in spirit to paradise, and there
showed her the souls of innumerable sinners who had merited hell, and
had afterwards been saved by her intercession, and were already enjoying
eternal bliss.
It is true that in this life no one can be certain of his eternal
salvation: “Man knoweth not whether he be worthy of love or hatred,
but all things are kept uncertain for the time to come.”[748] David
asked of God: Oh Lord, who will be saved? “Who shall dwell in thy
tabernacle?”[749] St. Bonaventure, writing on these words, answers: Oh
sinners, let us follow the footsteps of Mary, and cast ourselves at
her blessed feet, and let us not leave her until she blesses us, for
her blessing will secure to us paradise.[750] It is enough, oh Lady,
says St. Anselm, that thou dost wish to save us, for then we cannot but
be saved.[751] St. Antoninus adds, that souls protected by Mary are
necessarily saved; those upon whom she turns her eyes are necessarily
justified and glorified.[752]
With reason, says St. Ildephonsus, the most holy Virgin predicted that
all generations would call her blessed;[753] for all the elect by
means of Mary obtain eternal blessedness.[754] Thou, oh great mother,
art the beginning, the middle, and the end of our felicity, says St.
Methodius.[755] The beginning, because Mary obtains for us the pardon of
our sins; the middle, because she obtains for us perseverance in divine
grace; the end, because she finally obtains for us paradise. By thee,
St. Bernard continues, heaven has been opened—by thee hell has been
emptied—by thee paradise has been restored—by thee, in a word, eternal
life has been given to many sinners who have merited eternal death.[756]
But above all, we should be encouraged in the certain hope of paradise,
by the rich promise which Mary has herself made to those who honor her,
and especially to those who, by their words and their example, strive to
make her known and honored among others: “They that work by me shall not
sin; they that explain me shall have life everlasting.”[757] Oh happy,
then, are they, says St. Bonaventure, who gain the favor of Mary! they
will be welcomed by the blessed as being already their companions; and
whosoever bears the seal of a servant of Mary, has his name already
written in the book of life.[758] Of what avail is it, then, to trouble
ourselves with the opinions of the schoolmen, on the question, whether
predestination to glory precedes or follows the foreknowledge of merits?
Whether or not our names are written in the book of life? If we are true
servants of Mary and obtain her protection, we certainly are written
there; for, as St. John of Damascus says, God gives the grace of devotion
to his holy mother only to those whom he will save; in conformity with
this, as the Lord seems to have declared expressly through St. John: “He
that shall overcome, I will write upon him the name of my God, and the
name of the city of my God.”[759] And who is this city of God but Mary?
as St. Gregory explains, commenting on this passage of David: “Glorious
things are said of thee, oh city of God.”[760]
We may, then, well say with St. Paul: “Having this seal, the Lord knoweth
who are his.”[761] Whosoever carries the seal of a servant of Mary, is
acknowledged by God as his own. We read in St. Bernard, that devotion
to the mother of God is the most certain sign that we shall obtain
eternal salvation.[762] And the blessed Alanus, speaking of the “Hail
Mary,” says that he who often invokes the Virgin with this angelical
salutation, has a very certain sign of predestination.[763] And again
he says of perseverance in the daily recitation of the holy rosary: Let
it be to thee a most probable sign of eternal salvation, if thou dost
perseveringly honor the blessed Virgin by daily reciting her rosary.[764]
Father Nierembergh still further remarks, that the servants of the mother
of God not only are more privileged and favored in this world, but also
in heaven will be more especially honored. And he adds, that in heaven
they will have a peculiarly rich device and livery, by which they will be
known as servants of the queen of heaven and as the people of her court,
according to those words of Proverbs: “All her domestics are clothed with
double garments.”[765]
St. Mary Magdalen of Pazzi saw a small vessel in the midst of the sea, in
which all the servants of Mary had taken shelter; she herself steering
it, safely conducted them to port. By this the saint understood that they
who live under the protection of Mary, are rescued, in the midst of all
the dangers of this life, from the shipwreck of sin, and from damnation,
for by her they are guided in safety to the port of paradise. Let us,
then, strive to enter this blessed little vessel of the mantle of Mary,
and there let us dwell secure of the kingdom of heaven; for the Church
sings, “Holy mother of God, all those who are to be partakers of eternal
joy dwell with thee, and live under thy protection.”[766]
EXAMPLE.
Cesarius relates,[767] that a certain Cistercian monk, who was a devoted
servant of our blessed Lady, desired very earnestly a visit from his
dear Lady, and was praying her continually to grant him this favor. He
went one night into the garden, and while he stood there looking up to
heaven, breathing forth to his queen in ardent sighs his desire to see
her, a beautiful and radiant virgin descended, and said to him: “Thomas,
wouldst thou like to hear me sing?” “Certainly,” he answered; and then
she sang so sweetly that it seemed to the devout religious that he was in
paradise. Having finished her song, she disappeared, leaving him absorbed
with an ardent desire to know who it could have been; and, soon after,
another extremely beautiful virgin appeared to him, who, like the first,
allowed him the pleasure of hearing her sing. He could not refrain from
asking this one who she was, and the virgin answered: “She whom you
saw a little while ago was Catherine, and I am Agnes, both martyrs for
Jesus Christ, sent by our Lady to console you. Give thanks to Mary, and
prepare for a greater favor.” Having said this she disappeared, but left
the religious with a greater hope of finally seeing his queen. Nor was
he deceived, for shortly after he saw a great light and felt a new joy
flowing into his heart, for in the midst of that light the mother of God
appeared to him surrounded by angels, and of a beauty far surpassing that
of the other two saints who had appeared to him. She said to him: “My
dear servant and son, I have been pleased with the devotion which you
have offered me, and have graciously heard your prayers: you have desired
to see me; look on me, and I will also sing to you.” Then the most holy
Virgin began to sing with so great sweetness, that the devout religious
lost his senses, and fell with his face upon the ground. The matin-bell
sounded, the monks assembled, and not seeing Thomas, searched for him
in his cell and other parts of the convent, and at last going into the
garden they found him there, apparently lifeless. The superior commanded
him to tell what had befallen him. And coming to himself, by the power of
obedience, he related all the favors which the divine mother had bestowed
upon him.
PRAYER.
Oh queen of paradise! mother of holy love! for thou art of all creatures
the most lovely, the most beloved of God and his first lover; ah, suffer
the vilest and most ungrateful sinner on the earth to love thee, who sees
himself released from hell by thy intercession, and without any merit of
his own so blessed by thee, that he is enamored of thy goodness. I would
wish, if I could, to make known to all men who do not know thee, how
worthy thou art to be loved, that all might love and honor thee. I would
willingly die for love of thee, in defending thy virginity, thy dignity
as mother of God, and thy immaculate conception; if it were ever needful
for me to die in defence of these thy great privileges. Oh my most
beloved mother, graciously accept this my affection, and do not permit
that one of thy servants, who loves thee, should ever become an enemy of
thy God, whom thou lovest so much. Ah, unhappy me, such once was I when
I offended my Lord. But then, oh Mary, I did not love thee, and I sought
little to be loved by thee. Now, after the grace of God, I desire nothing
else than to love thee, and to be loved by thee. I do not despair of this
on account of my past offences, for I know that thou, oh most benign and
grateful Lady, dost not disdain to love even the most miserable sinners
who love thee, and never dost allow thyself to be outdone in love by any
one. Oh most lovely queen, I wish to go to thee in paradise, there to
love thee. There, at thy feet, I shall better know how amiable thou art,
and how much thou hast done to save me; therefore I shall love thee there
with greater love, and shall love thee eternally, without the fear that
I shall ever cease to love thee. Oh Mary, I have the certain hope of
being saved through thee. Pray to Jesus for me. I have no other wish. It
is thine to save me; thou art my hope. I will always exclaim, Oh Mary, my
hope, thou must save me.
CHAPTER IX.
O CLEMENS! O PIA!
Oh clement! Oh merciful!
HOW GREAT IS THE CLEMENCY AND MERCY OF MARY.
St. Bernard, speaking of the great mercy of Mary for us poor sinners,
says that she is the very Land promised by God, flowing with milk and
honey.[768] St. Leo says, that to the Virgin has been given such bowels
of compassion, that she not only merits to be called merciful, but should
be called mercy itself.[769] And St. Bonaventure, considering that Mary
was made the mother of God for the sake of us sinners, and that to
her was committed the charge of dispensing mercies; and considering,
moreover, the great care she has for all those in misery, which renders
her so rich in compassion, that she appears to desire nothing else than
to relieve the necessitous, says, that when he looked on Mary, it seemed
to him that he no longer beheld the divine justice, but only the divine
mercy, with which Mary is filled.[770]
In a word, the mercy of Mary is so great, that as Guerric the Abbot says:
Her bowels of love can never for a moment cease to bring forth for us the
fruits of mercy.[771] And what, exclaims St. Bernard, can flow but mercy
from a fountain of mercy? “Quid de fonte pietatis nisi pietas?”[772] For
this reason Mary was called the olive-tree: As a fair olive-tree in the
plains: “Quasi oliva speciosa in campis.”[773] For, as the olive-tree
produces nothing but oil, the symbol of mercy, thus from the hands of
Mary nothing but graces and mercies proceed. Hence, justly, says the
venerable Louis da Ponte, is Mary called the mother of oil, since she is
the mother of mercy.[774] If, then, we have recourse to this mother, and
ask of her the oil of her mercy, we cannot fear that she will refuse us,
as the wise virgins refused the foolish, answering: “Lest there be not
enough for us and for you.”[775] No, for she is, indeed, rich in that
oil of mercy, as St. Bonaventure remarks: Mary abounds in the oil of
mercy: “Maria plena oleo pietatis.”[776] She is called by the Church not
only prudent, but most prudent, and by this we may understand, as Hugo of
St. Victor says, that Mary is so full of grace and mercy that there is
enough for all without exhausting her.[777]
But why, I would ask, is it said that this fair olive is in the midst of
the plains, and not rather in a garden surrounded by walls and hedges?
Cardinal Hugo answers to this question: In order that all may easily see
her, and thus may easily have recourse to her, to obtain relief for their
necessities.[778] St. Antoninus confirms this beautiful thought, when
he says: That as all can go and gather the fruit of an olive-tree that
is exposed in the open fields, so all, both the just and sinners, can
have recourse to Mary to obtain mercy.[779] And then the saint adds: Oh
how many sentences of punishment have been revoked through the merciful
prayers of this most holy Virgin, in favor of sinners who have had
recourse to her![780] And what more secure refuge can we find, says the
devout Thomas à Kempis, than the compassionate heart of Mary? There the
poor find shelter; the sick medicine; the afflicted consolation; the
doubtful counsel; the abandoned help.[781]
Wretched should we be, if we had not this mother of mercy, mindful and
solicitous to help us in our miseries! “Where there is no wife,” says the
Holy Spirit, “he mourneth that is in want.”[782] This wife, remarks St.
John Damascene, is certainly Mary, without whom the sick man suffers and
mourns.[783] So, indeed, it is, since God has ordained that all graces
should be dispensed by the prayers of Mary: where these are wanting,
there is no hope of mercy, as our Lord signified to St. Bridget, saying
to her: “Unless Mary interposes by her prayers, there is no hope of
mercy.”[784]
But perhaps we fear that Mary does not see or pity our miseries. Oh, no!
she sees them and feels them more than we do ourselves. And who among the
saints can be found, says St. Antoninus, who pities us in our miseries
as Mary does?[785] Hence, wherever she sees misery she cannot refrain
from hastening to relieve it with her great compassion.[786] Thus Richard
of St. Victor remarks, and Mendoza confirms it by saying: Therefore,
oh blessed Virgin, wherever thou seest misery, there thou dost pour
forth thy mercies.[787] And our good mother, as she herself declares,
will never cease to exercise this office of mercy: And unto the world
to come I shall not cease to be; and in the holy dwelling-place, I have
ministered before him.[788] Upon which words Cardinal Hugo remarks: I
will not cease, says Mary, even to the end of the world, to succor men
in their miseries, and to pray for sinners, that they may be saved and
rescued from eternal misery.[789]
Suetonius relates of the Emperor Titus, that he was so desirous to grant
favors to those who asked them of him, that on those days when he had
no opportunity of doing so, he would say, sorrowfully, I have lost a
day: “Diem perdidi.” This day has been lost to me, because I have passed
it without benefiting any one. Probably Titus said this more through
vanity, or a desire for esteem, than through a movement of charity.
But our Empress Mary, if a day should ever pass in which she did not
confer some favor, would say it only because she is full of charity,
and of a desire to do us good; for as Bernardine de Bustis says, she is
more desirous to confer favors on us, than we are to receive them from
her.[790] And this same author adds, that when we have recourse to her,
we shall always find her with her hands full of mercy and liberality.[791]
Rebecca was the type of Mary, who, when the servant of Abraham asked
her for a little water, answered that she would give him water enough
not only for himself, but for his camels also.[792] Hence the devout
St. Bernard, addressing the blessed Virgin, says: Oh Lady, not to the
servant of Abraham only, but also to his camels give from thy overflowing
pitcher.[793] By which he intends to say: Oh Lady, thou art merciful
and more liberal than Rebecca, therefore thou dost not rest contented
with dispensing the favors of thy unbounded compassion to the servants
of Abraham alone, by whom are meant the faithful servants of God, but
thou dost bestow them also on the camels, who represent sinners. And,
as Rebecca gave more than she was asked, so Mary bestows more than we
pray for. The liberality of Mary, says Richard of St. Laurence, resembles
the liberality of her Son, who always gives more than is asked, and is
therefore named by St. Paul: “Rich to all that call upon him;”[794] that
is, giving abundantly his graces to all those that have recourse to him
with their prayers. Hear the words of Richard: The bounty of Mary is like
the bounty of her Son; she gives more than is asked.[795] Hence a devout
author, addressing the Virgin, says: Oh Lady, pray for me, for thou wilt
ask favors for me with greater devotion than I can do; and thou wilt
obtain from God graces greater by far than I can pray for.[796]
When the Samaritans refused to receive Jesus Christ and his doctrine,
St. James and St. John said to their Master: “Lord, wilt thou that we
command fire to come down from heaven and consume them?” But the Saviour
answered: “You know not of what spirit you are.”[797] As if he had said:
I am of so mild and merciful a spirit, that I have come from heaven to
save, not to punish sinners, and would you wish to see them lost? What
fire? What punishment? Be silent, speak to me no more of punishment,
that is not my spirit. But we cannot doubt that Mary, whose spirit is
in every thing so like that of her Son, is wholly inclined to exercise
mercy; for, as she told St. Bridget, she is called the mother of mercy,
and the mercy of God itself has made her so compassionate and sweet
towards all.[798] Wherefore Mary was seen by St. John clothed with the
sun: “And there appeared a great wonder in heaven, a woman clothed with
the sun.”[799] Upon which passage St. Bernard remarks, addressing the
Virgin: Thou hast clothed the sun, and art thyself clothed with it.[800]
Oh Lady, thou hast clothed the sun, the divine Word, with human flesh,
but he hath clothed thee with his power and his mercy.
So compassionate, then, and kind is this queen, says St. Bernard, that
when a sinner recommends himself to her mercy, she does not begin to
examine his merits, and whether he is worthy or not of being heard,
but she graciously hears all and succors them.[801] Hence St. Idelbert
remarks, that Mary is called fair as the moon: “Pulchra ut Luna;”[802]
because, as the moon illuminates and benefits the smallest bodies upon
the earth, so Mary enlightens and helps the most unworthy sinners.[803]
And although the moon receives all her light from the sun, she moves more
quickly than the sun; for, as a certain author remarks, what the sun does
in a year, the moon does in a month.[804] Hence, says St. Anselm: Our
relief is sometimes more immediate when the name of Mary is invoked than
when we invoke the name of Jesus.[805] Wherefore Hugo of St. Victor tells
us, that if by reason of our sins we fear to draw near to God, because he
is an infinite majesty that we have offended, we should not hesitate to
have recourse to Mary, because in her we shall find nothing to alarm us.
She is indeed holy, immaculate, queen of the world, and mother of God;
but she is of our flesh, and a child of Adam, like ourselves.[806]
In a word, says St. Bernard, whatever appertains to Mary is full of
grace and mercy; for she, as mother of mercy, has become all things to
all, and by her great charity has made herself a debtor to the just and
to sinners, and opens to all the bowels of her compassion, that all may
share it.[807] As “the Devil,” according to St. Peter, “goeth about
seeking whom he may devour,”[808] so, on the contrary, says Bernardine
de Bustis, Mary goeth about seeking to whom she can give life and
salvation.[809]
We should understand that the protection of Mary, as St. Germanus says,
is greater and more powerful than we can comprehend.[810] And how is it
that the same Lord, who was under the old law so severe in punishing,
exercises so great mercy towards the greatest sinners? Thus asks the
author del Pomerio;[811] and he also answers: He does all this for the
love and merits of Mary.[812] Oh, how long since would the world have
been destroyed, says St. Fulgentius, if Mary had not preserved it by her
intercession![813] But we may with confidence go to God, as St. Arnold
Carnotensis asserts, and hope for every blessing, now that the Son is our
mediator with the divine Father, and the mother with the Son. How can it
be that the Father will refuse to hear graciously the Son, when he shows
him the wounds he has received for sinners? And how can it be that the
Son will not graciously hear the mother, when she shows him the breasts
from which she has nourished us?[814] St. Peter Chrysologus says with
great energy, that this favored Virgin, having received God in her womb,
demands in return, peace for the world, salvation for the lost, life for
the dead.[815]
Oh how many, exclaims the Abbot of Celles, who merit to be condemned
by the divine justice, are saved by the mercy of Mary! for she is the
treasure of God and the treasurer of all graces; therefore it is that
our salvation is in her hands.[816] Let us always then have recourse
to this mother of mercy, and confidently hope to be saved by means
of her intercession; since she, as Bernardine de Bustis encourages
us to believe, is our salvation, our life, our hope, our counsel,
our refuge, our help.[817] Mary is that very throne of grace, says
St. Antoninus, to which the apostle exhorts us to have recourse with
confidence, that we may obtain the divine mercy, with all needed help
for our salvation.[818] To the throne of grace, that is, to Mary, as
St. Antoninus remarks.[819] Hence, Mary was called by St. Catherine of
Sienna: The dispenser of divine mercy: “Administratrix misericordiæ.”
Let us conclude, then, with the beautiful and sweet exclamation of St.
Bernard upon the words: Oh clement, oh merciful, oh sweet Virgin Mary:
“O clemens, O pia, O dulcis Virgo Maria.” Oh Mary, thou art clement to
the unhappy, merciful to those who pray to thee, sweet to those who love
thee: clement to the penitent, merciful to the advancing, sweet to the
perfect. Thou showest thyself clement by rescuing us from punishment,
merciful by bestowing on us graces, sweet by giving thyself to those who
seek thee.[820]
EXAMPLE.
Father Charles Bovius relates that in Domans, in France, lived a married
man who had held a criminal connection with another woman. Now the
wife being unable to endure this, continually besought God to punish
the guilty parties; and one day in particular went to an altar of the
blessed Virgin, which was in a certain church, to implore vengeance upon
the woman who had alienated her husband from her; and this very woman
went also every day to the same altar, to repeat a “Hail Mary.” One night
the divine mother appeared in a dream to the wife, who, on seeing her,
began her accustomed petition: “Justice, mother of God, justice.” But
the blessed Lady answered: “Justice! do you seek justice from me? Go and
find others to execute justice for you. It belongs not to me to do it for
you. Be it known to you,” she added, “that this very sinner offers every
day a devotion in my honor, and that I cannot allow any sinner who does
this, to suffer and be punished for his sins.” The next day the wife went
to hear mass in the above-named church of our Lady, and on coming out
met her husband’s friend; at the sight of her she began to reproach her
and call her a sorceress, who had even enchanted with her sorceries the
blessed Virgin. “Be silent,” cried the people: “what are you saying?” “I
be silent!” she answered: “what I say is only too true; this night the
Virgin appeared to me; and when I implored justice of her, she answered
me, that she could not grant it on account of a salutation which this
wicked woman repeats daily in her honor.” They asked the woman what
salutation she repeated to the mother of God. She answered that it was
the “Hail Mary;” and then on hearing that the blessed Virgin had dealt
with her so mercifully in return for that trivial act of devotion, she
cast herself on the ground before the sacred image, and there, in the
presence of all the people, asked pardon for her scandalous life, and
made a vow of perpetual continence. She afterwards put on a religious
habit, built for herself a little cell near the church, where she
retired, and persevered in continual penance until the day of her death.
PRAYER.
Oh mother of mercy! since thou art so compassionate, and hast so great a
desire to do good to us sinners, and to satisfy our demands, I, the most
wretched of all men, to-day have recourse to thy mercy, that thou mayest
grant my requests. Let others ask what they will, health of body, wealth,
or temporal advantages; I come to ask of thee, oh Lady, those things
which thou thyself dost most desire of me, and which are most conformable
and most pleasing to thy sacred heart. Thou who wast so humble, obtain
for me humility and love of contempt. Thou who wast so patient in the
difficulties of this life, obtain for me patience in things contrary
to my wishes. Thou who didst overflow with love to God, obtain for me
the gift of a holy and pure love. Thou who wast all charity towards the
neighbor, obtain for me charity towards all men, and especially towards
those who are my enemies. Thou who wast wholly united to the divine will,
obtain for me a perfect uniformity with the will of that God in all his
dispositions concerning me. Thou, in a word, art the most holy of all
creatures; oh Mary, obtain for me the grace to become a saint. Thy love
is unfailing; thou canst and wilt obtain all things for me. Nothing,
then, can hinder me from receiving thy graces but my neglect to invoke
thee, or my want of confidence in thy intercession. But thou thyself must
obtain for me the grace to seek thee, and this grace of confidence in thy
intercession. These two greatest gifts I ask from thee—from thee will I
receive them—from thee do I confidently hope for them. Oh Mary! Mary, my
mother, my hope, my love, my life, my refuge, and my consolation. Amen.
CHAPTER X.
OH DULCIS VIRGO MARIA!
Oh sweet Virgin Mary!
HOW SWEET IS THE NAME OF MARY IN LIFE AND IN DEATH!
The great name of Mary, which was given to the divine mother, was
not found on the earth, neither was it invented by the mind or will
of men, as were all other names that are in use among them; but it
came from heaven, and was given to the Virgin by divine ordinance, as
St. Jerome,[821] St. Epiphanius,[822] St. Antoninus,[823] and others
attest. The name of Mary was drawn from the treasury of the divinity, as
Richard of St. Laurence says:[824] “De thesauro divinitatis Mariæ nomen
evolvitur.” From the treasury of the divinity, oh Mary, came forth thy
excellent and admirable name; for the Most Holy Trinity, the same author
goes on to say, gave to thee this name, next to the name of thy Son, so
superior to every name, and attached to it such majesty and power, that
when it is uttered, all in heaven, earth, and hell must fall prostrate
and venerate it.[825] Among all the other privileges which the Lord has
attached to the name of Mary, let us see how sweet he has made it to the
servants of this most holy Lady in life as well as in death.
To begin with life, the holy anchorite, Honorius, says, that the name of
Mary is full of all divine sweetness.[826] And the glorious St. Anthony
of Padua attributes to the name of Mary the same sweetness as St. Bernard
attributed to the name of Jesus. The name of Jesus, said the latter,
the name of Mary, said the former, is joy to the heart, honey to the
mouth, melody to the ear of their devoted servants.[827] It is related
in the life of the venerable Father John Ancina, Bishop of Saluzzo, that
when he pronounced the name of Mary, he experienced so great a sensible
sweetness that he even tasted it on his lips. We also read that a certain
woman in Cologne told the Bishop Marsilius, that whenever she pronounced
the name of Mary she perceived in her mouth a taste sweeter than honey.
Marsilius made the trial, and he also experienced the same sweetness. We
read in the holy Canticles, that at the Assumption of the Virgin, the
angels three times asked her name: “Who is she that goeth up by the
desert as a pillar of smoke?”[828] “Who is she that cometh forth as the
morning rising?”[829] And in another: “Who is this that cometh up from
the desert, flowing with delights?”[830] Richard of St. Laurence inquires
why the angels so often asked the name of this queen, and answers: The
sound of the name of Mary was so sweet to the angels, and they repeated
the question that they might hear it repeated also.[831]
But I do not here speak of this sensible sweetness, since it is not
commonly granted to all, but I speak of the salutary sweetness of
consolation, love, joy, confidence, and strength, which the name of Mary
universally gives to those who, with devotion, pronounce it. Speaking
on this subject, Francone the Abbot says, that next to the holy name of
Jesus, the name of Mary is so rich in blessings, that no other name is
uttered on earth or in heaven from which devout souls receive so much
grace, hope, and sweetness.[832] For the name of Mary, he goes on to say,
contains in itself something admirable, sweet, and divine, which, when
it meets a friendly heart, breathes into it an odor of holy sweetness.
And the wonder of this great name is, he concludes, that if heard a
thousand times by the lovers of Mary, it is always heard as new, the
sweetness they experience in hearing it spoken being always the same.[833]
The blessed Henry Suso, also speaking of this sweetness, says, that in
pronouncing the name of Mary, he felt his confidence so much increased,
and his love so joyfully enkindled, that amidst the joy and tears with
which he pronounced the beloved name, he thought his heart would have
leaped from his mouth; and he affirmed that this most sweet name, as
honeycomb, melted into the depths of his soul. Whereat he exclaims: Oh
most sweet name! oh Mary, what must thou thyself be, if thy name alone is
so lovely and sweet?
The enamored St. Bernard, too, addressing his good mother with
tenderness, says to her: Oh great, oh merciful Mary, most holy Virgin,
worthy of all praise, thy name is so sweet and lovely that it cannot be
spoken without enkindling love to thee and to God in the heart of him who
pronounces it; the thought of it alone is enough to console thy lovers,
and inflame them with a far greater love to thee.[834] If riches are
a consolation to the poor, because by them they are relieved of their
miseries, oh how much more, says Richard of St. Laurence, does thy
name console us sinners, oh Mary; far more than the riches of earth it
relieves us in the troubles of the present life.[835]
In a word, thy name, oh mother of God, is full of grace and divine
blessings, as St. Methodius says.[836] And St. Bonaventure affirms
that thy name cannot be pronounced but it brings some grace to him who
devoutly utters it.[837] So great is the virtue of thy name, oh most
compassionate Virgin, says the Idiot, that no one can pronounce it,
however hardened, however desponding may be his heart, and not find it
wonderfully softened; for it is thou who dost console sinners with the
hope of pardon and of grace.[838] Thy most sweet name, according to St.
Ambrose, is a sweet ointment, which breathes the fragrance of divine
grace.[839] The saint thus invokes the divine mother: May this oil
of salvation descend into the depths of our soul; by which he intends
to say: Oh Lady, remind us often to pronounce thy name with love and
confidence; for thus to name thee, either is a sign that we already
possess divine grace, or it is an earnest that we shall soon recover it.
For as Landolph of Saxony expresses it: The remembrance of thy name,
oh Mary, consoles the afflicted, brings back the wanderer to the path
of salvation, encourages the sinner, and saves him from despair;[840]
and Father Pelbart remarks, that as Jesus Christ by his five wounds has
prepared for the world the remedy for its woes, thus also Mary, with her
most holy name, which is composed of five letters, confers every day
pardon upon sinners.[841]
For this reason, the holy name of Mary in the sacred Canticles is
compared to oil: Thy name is as oil poured out: “Oleum effusum nomen
tuum.”[842] The blessed Alanus, commenting on this passage, says: The
glory of her name is compared to oil poured out. As oil heals the sick,
diffuses odor, and kindles flame; thus the name of Mary heals sinners,
rejoices hearts, and inflames them with divine love.[843] Hence Richard
of St. Laurence encourages sinners to invoke this great name, because
that alone will be sufficient to cure all their maladies; adding, that
there is no disease so malignant that it will not at once yield to the
virtue of this name.[844]
On the other hand, the devils, as Thomas à Kempis affirms, are in such
fear of the queen of heaven that at the sound of her great name they flee
from him who pronounces it as from burning fire.[845] The Virgin herself
revealed to St. Bridget that there is no sinner living so cold in divine
love, that if he invokes her holy name, with the resolution to amend, the
devil will not instantly depart from him.[846] And she at another time
assured her of this, telling her that all the demons so greatly venerate
and fear her name, that when they hear it pronounced they immediately
release the soul which they held in their chains.[847]
And as the rebel angels depart from sinners who invoke the name of Mary,
thus, on the contrary, our Lady herself told St. Bridget, that the good
angels draw more closely around those just souls who devoutly pronounce
it.[848] And St. Germanus assures us, that as breathing is a sign of
life, so the frequent utterance of the name of Mary is a sign that we
are already living in divine grace, or that we shall soon receive that
life; for this powerful name is effectual to obtain help and life for
him who devoutly invokes it.[849] Finally, Richard of St. Laurence adds,
that this admirable name is like a tower of strength, by taking shelter
in which the sinner will be saved from death, since from this celestial
tower the most abandoned sinners come forth securely defended and
saved.[850]
A tower of strength, thus continues the same Richard, which not only
shields sinners from punishment, but also defends the just from the
assaults of hell; and he adds: Next to the name of Jesus there is no
name which gives such support, and through which so great salvation is
bestowed upon men, as this great name of Mary.[851] Especially is it
everywhere known, and the servants of Mary daily experience, that her
great name gives strength to overcome temptations against chastity.
The same author, remarking on the words of St. Luke: And the name of
the Virgin was Mary: “Et nomen Virginis Maria,”[852] says, that these
two names, of Mary and of Virgin, are united by the evangelist to show
that the name of this most pure Virgin can never be separated from
chastity.[853] Hence St. Peter Chrysologus says, that the name Mary is
a sign of chastity: “Nomen hoc indicium castitatis;”[854] meaning, that
whoever is in doubt whether he has yielded to temptations against purity,
if he remembers having invoked the name of Mary may be sure that he has
not violated chastity.
Let us, then, always follow the beautiful counsel of St. Bernard, who
says: In every danger of losing divine grace let us think of Mary, let
us invoke the name of Mary together with that of Jesus, for these names
are always united. Let these two most sweet and powerful names never
depart from our heart and our lips, for they will always give us strength
to keep us from falling, and to conquer every temptation.[855] Very
precious are the graces which Jesus Christ hast promised to those who
are devoted to the name of Mary, as he himself, speaking to his holy
mother, gave St. Bridget to understand, revealing to her that whoever
will invoke the name of Mary with confidence and a purpose of amendment,
shall receive three special graces: namely, a perfect contrition for his
sins, the grace to make satisfaction for them and strength to obtain
perfection, and at last, the glory of paradise;[856] for as the divine
Saviour added: “Thy words are so sweet and dear to me, oh my mother, that
I cannot refuse thee what thou dost ask.”[857]
Finally, St. Ephrem adds that the name of Mary is the key of the gate of
heaven to him who devoutly invokes it;[858] and therefore St. Bonaventure
rightly calls Mary the salvation of all those who invoke her: “O salus te
invocantium;” as if it were the same thing to invoke the name of Mary and
to obtain eternal salvation; for as the Idiot affirms: The invocation of
this holy and sweet name leads to the acquisition of superabundant grace
in this life, and sublime glory in another.[859] If you desire, then,
brethren, concludes Thomas à Kempis, to be consoled in every affliction,
have recourse to Mary, invoke Mary, honor Mary, recommend yourselves to
Mary. Rejoice with Mary, weep with Mary, pray with Mary, walk with Mary,
and with Mary seek Jesus; in a word, with Jesus and Mary desire to live
and to die. Do this, he adds, and you will always advance in the way of
the Lord; for Mary will pray for you, and the Son will surely graciously
listen to the mother.[860] Such are his beautiful words.
Very sweet, then, in life to her servants, is the most holy name of
Mary, on account of the great graces which it obtains for them, as we
have seen above; but sweeter still will it be to them in dying by the
sweet and holy death she will obtain for them. Father Sertorio Caputo, of
the Society of Jesus, exhorted all those who were called to the bedside
of the dying, often to pronounce the name of Mary, saying that this
name of life and of hope, pronounced in death, is alone sufficient to
scatter the enemies and to comfort the dying in all their anguishes.
St. Camillus of Lellis also strongly recommended it to his religious,
that they should remind the dying often to invoke the name of Mary and
of Jesus, as he always practised it with others; but more sweetly he
practised it himself at the moment of his death, when, as we read in
his life, he named with so much tenderness his beloved names of Jesus
and Mary, that he inflamed also with love of them all those who heard
him. And at length, with his eyes fixed on their adorable image, and his
arms crossed, the saint expired in celestial peace, pronouncing with his
last breath the most sweet names of Jesus and Mary. This short prayer of
invoking the holy names of Jesus and Mary, says Thomas à Kempis, which it
is as easy to retain in the memory as it is sweet to consider, is at the
same time powerful to protect whoever uses it from all the enemies of our
salvation.[861]
Blessed is he, says St. Bonaventure, who loves thy sweet name, oh mother
of God.[862] Thy name is so glorious and admirable, that those who
remember to invoke it at the moment of death, do not then fear all the
assaults of the enemy.[863]
Oh, the happy lot of dying as Father Fulgentius of Ascoli, a Capuchin,
died, who expired singing: Oh Mary, Mary, the most lovely of all beings,
let me depart in thy company. Or, as blessed Henry the Cistercian, of
whom it is related in the annals of the order, that he died with the
name of Mary on his lips.[864] Let us pray, then, my devout reader, let
us pray God to grant us this grace, that the last word we pronounce at
death may be the name of Mary; as St. Germanus desired and prayed.[865]
Oh sweet death, oh safe death, that is accompanied and protected by such
a name of salvation, that God does not permit it to be invoked in death,
except by those whom he will save!
Oh, my sweet Lady and mother, I love thee much, and because I love thee,
I love also thy holy name. I purpose and hope with thy aid always to
invoke it in life and death. For the glory, then, of thy name (let us
conclude with the tender prayer of St. Bonaventure), when my soul departs
from this world, wilt thou come to meet it, oh blessed Lady, and take it
in thy arms?[866] Do not disdain, oh Mary, let us continue to pray with
the saint, to come and comfort it, then, with thy sweet presence. Thou
art its ladder and way to paradise. Wilt thou obtain for me the grace of
pardon and eternal rest?[867] And the saint then terminates with saying:
Oh Mary, our advocate, to thee it belongs to shield thy servants, and
defend their cause before the tribunal of Jesus Christ.[868]
EXAMPLE.
It is related by Father Rho, in his Sabbati, and by Father Lireo, in his
Trisagio Mariana, of a certain young maiden of Guelder-land, who lived
about the year 1465, that she was sent one day by her uncle to purchase
something at the market of the city of Nimeguen, with the direction to
go and pass the night at the house of her aunt, who lived in the town.
The girl obeyed, but when she went at night to her aunt’s house, she was
rudely sent away by her, and she set out on her way homewards. Night
overtaking her, she fell into a passion, and called loudly upon the
devil to come to her aid. And behold, he suddenly appeared in the form
of a man, and promised to assist her, provided she would do one thing.
I will do any thing, answered the unhappy creature. I only wish, said
the enemy, that henceforth you will not bless yourself with the sign of
the cross, and will change your name. As to the cross, she answered, I
will no longer sign myself with it, but my name of Mary is too dear to
me, I will not change it. Then I will not help you, said the devil. At
length, after much debate, it was agreed that she should be called by the
first letter of the name of Mary, that is, Emme. They then went together
to Antwerp, and the wretched girl remained there six years with her
diabolical companion, living so sinful a life, that it was the scandal of
the whole place. One day she told the devil that she wished to see her
country again; the enemy objected, but finally was obliged to consent.
When they entered together the city of Nimeguen, there was just then
performing a public representation of the life of the most holy Mary.
At such a sight the poor Emme, from that little devotion she had still
preserved towards the mother of God, began to weep. “What are we doing
here?” said her companion: “would you perform here another comedy?” He
then seized her to take her away, but she resisted, and seeing that she
was escaping from him, in a rage he raised her into the air and let her
fall in the midst of the theatre. The poor girl then related what had
happened to her. She went to the parish priest to confess, but he sent
her to the Bishop of Cologne, and the bishop sent her to the Pope, who,
having heard her confession, imposed it upon her as a penance, that she
should wear three rings of iron, one around her neck, and two around her
arms. The penitent obeyed, and having arrived at Maestricht, she retired
into a convent of penitents, where she lived for fourteen years in severe
penance. One morning she arose from her bed and found the three rings
broken. Two years after, she died in the odor of sanctity, and wished
to have the rings buried with her, which had changed her from a slave of
hell into the happy slave of Mary, her deliverer.
PRAYER.
Oh great mother of God, and my mother Mary, it is true that I am unworthy
to pronounce thy name, but thou who lovest me, and dost desire my
salvation, thou must obtain for me, that, unclean as may be my tongue,
I may yet always invoke thy most holy and most powerful name; for thy
name is the support of the living, and the salvation of the dying. Ah,
most pure Mary! ah, most sweet Mary! make thy name henceforth to be the
breath of my life. Oh Lady, do not delay coming to my help when I call
upon thee, since in all the temptations which may assail me, in all
the necessities I may suffer, I shall never cease calling upon thee,
always repeating Mary, Mary. Thus I hope to do in life, thus especially
I hope to do in death, that I may afterwards come to praise eternally
in heaven thy beloved name: O clemens! O pia! O dulcis Virgo Maria! Ah
Mary! Mary most amiable! what comfort, what sweetness, what confidence,
what tenderness does my soul feel only in pronouncing thy name, only in
thinking of thee! I thank my God and my Lord that he has given thee, for
my good, this name so sweet, so lovely, so powerful.
But, oh my Lady, I am not satisfied with merely pronouncing thy name, I
would pronounce it also with love; I desire that my love may remind me to
speak thy name at every hour, that I may exclaim with St. Anselm: Oh name
of the mother of God, thou art my love. O amor mei nomen matris Dei.
Oh my dear mother Mary! oh my beloved Jesus! may your most sweet names
always live in my own and in all hearts. May I forget all other names,
that I may remember and always invoke none but your adored names. Ah
Jesus, my Redeemer! and my mother Mary, when the moment of my death shall
arrive, and my soul shall depart from this life, by your merits grant me
the grace then to utter my last accents, repeating: _I love you, Jesus
and Mary_; Jesus and Mary, I give you my heart and my soul.
SOME DEVOUT PRAYERS OF VARIOUS SAINTS TO THE HOLY MOTHER.
The following prayers are added, not only for the use of the faithful,
but also because they show the great idea which the saints entertained of
the power and mercy of Mary, and their great confidence in her patronage.
Prayer of St. Ephrem.
Oh immaculate and wholly pure Virgin Mary! mother of God, queen of the
universe, our most excellent Lady, thou art superior to all the saints,
thou art the only hope of the Fathers, and the joy of the blessed. By
thee we have been reconciled to our God. Thou art the only advocate of
sinners, the secure haven of the shipwrecked. Thou art the consolation of
the world, the redemption of captives, the joy of the sick, the comfort
of the afflicted, the refuge and salvation of the whole world. Oh great
princess! mother of God! cover us with the wings of thy compassion: have
pity on us. We have no hope but in thee, oh most pure Virgin! We are
given to thee, and consecrated to thy service; we bear the name of thy
servants; do not permit Lucifer to draw us down to hell. Oh immaculate
Virgin! we are under thy protection; therefore, unitedly we have recourse
to thee, and supplicate thee to prevent thy Son, whom our sins have
offended, from abandoning us to the power of the devil.
Oh full of grace! illuminate my intellect, loosen my tongue that it may
sing thy praises, and especially the Angelic Salutation, so worthy of
thee. I salute thee, oh peace! oh joy! oh salvation and consolation of
the whole world! I salute thee, oh greatest of miracles! paradise of
delight! secure haven of those who are in danger! fountain of grace!
mediatrix of God and of men!
Prayer of St. Bernard.
We raise our eyes to thee, oh queen of the world! After having committed
so many sins we must appear before our Judge, and who will appease him?
None can do it better than thou, oh blessed Lady, who hast loved him so
much, and hast been so tenderly beloved by him. Open thy heart, then,
oh mother of mercy, to our sighs and prayers. We fly to thy protection;
appease the anger of thy Son, and restore us to his favor. Thou dost not
abhor the sinner, however loathsome he may be; thou dost not despise
him, if he sends up his sighs to thee, and with contrition asks thy
intercession; thou, with thy kind hand, dost deliver him from despair;
thou dost encourage him to hope, dost comfort him, and dost not leave
him until thou hast reconciled him to his Judge.
Thou art that only one in whom the Saviour found his rest, and with whom
he has deposited all his treasures. Hence all the world, oh Mary, honors
thy chaste womb, as the temple of God, where the salvation of the world
had its beginning. In thee was effected the reconciliation between God
and man. Thou art the inclosed garden, oh great mother of God, whose
flowers have never been gathered by the sinner’s hand. Thou art the
beautiful garden, in which God has placed all the flowers which adorn the
Church, such as the violet of thy humility, the lily of thy purity, and
the rose of thy charity. Who can be compared to thee, oh mother of grace
and of beauty? Thou art the paradise of God. From thee hath sprung up the
fountain of living water, that waters all the earth. Oh, how many favors
hast thou bestowed upon the world, by meriting to be the channel of the
waters of salvation!
Of thee the Holy Ghost speaks when he says: Who is she that arises like
the dawn, fair as the moon, bright as the sun? Thou art, then, come into
the world, oh Mary, as a resplendent dawn, preceding, with the light of
thy sanctity, the coming of the Sun of Justice. The day in which thou
didst appear in the world may truly be called the day of salvation, the
day of grace. Thou art fair as the moon; for as there is no planet more
like the sun, so there is no creature more like to God than thou art.
The moon illuminates the night with the light which it receives from
the sun, and thou dost illuminate our darkness with the splendor of thy
virtues; and thou art fairer than the moon, because in thee is found
neither stain nor shade. Thou art bright as the sun, I mean as that Sun
which hath created the sun; he has been chosen among all men, and thou
among all women. Oh sweet, oh great, oh most lovely Mary, thy name cannot
be pronounced by any one that thou dost not inflame him with thy love;
neither can those who love thee think of thee without feeling themselves
encouraged to love thee more.
Oh blessed Lady, help our weakness. And who is more fit to speak to our
Lord Jesus Christ than thou, who dost enjoy, so near to him, his sweet
conversation? Speak, speak, oh Lady, because thy Son listens, and thou
wilt obtain from him whatever thou shalt demand.
Prayer of St. Germanus.
Oh my only Lady, who art the sole consolation which I receive from God;
thou who art the only celestial dew that doth soothe my pains; thou who
art the light of my soul when it is surrounded with darkness; thou who
art my guide in my journeyings, my strength in my weakness, my treasure
in my poverty; balm for my wounds, my consolation in sorrow; thou who
art my refuge in misery, the hope of my salvation, graciously hear my
prayer, have pity on me, as is befitting the mother of a God who hath so
much love for men. Thou who art our defence and joy, grant me what I ask;
make me worthy of enjoying with thee that great happiness which thou dost
enjoy in heaven. Yes, my Lady, my refuge, my life, my help, my defence,
my strength, my joy, my hope, make me to come with thee to paradise. I
know that, being the mother of God thou canst obtain this for me if thou
wilt. Oh Mary, thou art omnipotent to save sinners, thou needest nothing
else to recommend us to thee, for thou art the mother of true life.
Prayer of the Abbot of Celles, surnamed the idiot.
Draw me after thee, oh Virgin Mary, that I may run to the odor of thy
perfumes. Draw me, for I am held back by the weight of my sins, and by
the malice of my enemies. As no one goes to thy Son unless the divine
Father draws him, so I would dare to say, in a certain sense, that no
one goes to him if thou dost not draw him with thy holy prayers. It is
thou who teachest true wisdom; thou who dost obtain pardon for sinners,
because thou art their advocate. It is thou who dost promise glory to him
who honors thee, because thou art the treasurer of graces.
Thou hast found grace with God, oh most sweet Virgin, because thou hast
been preserved from the stain of original sin, filled with the Holy
Spirit, and hast conceived the Son of God. Thou hast received all these
graces, oh Mary most humble, not only for thyself, but also for us,
that thou mayest help us in all our necessities. And thou, indeed, dost
so; thou dost succor the good by preserving them in grace; and the bad,
by bringing them to receive the divine mercy; thou dost aid the dying
by protecting them against the snares of the devil; and thou dost aid
them also after death by receiving their souls, and leading them to the
kingdom of the blessed.
Prayer of St. Methodius.
Thy name, oh mother of God, is full of all graces and divine blessings.
Thou hast comprehended him who is incomprehensible, and nourished him
who nourishes all living creatures. He who fills heaven and earth and is
Lord of all, has chosen to have need of thee, since thou hast clothed him
with that garment of flesh that he had not before. Rejoice, oh mother and
handmaid of God! rejoice! rejoice! thou hast for a debtor him to whom
all creatures owe their being. We are all debtors to God, but God is a
debtor to thee. Hence it is, oh most holy mother of God, that thou hast
greater goodness and greater charity than all the other saints, and more
than all others hast near access in heaven to God, because thou art his
mother. Ah, we pray thee that we may celebrate thy glories, and may know
how great is thy goodness, being mindful of us and of our miseries.
Prayer of St. John Damascene.
I salute thee, oh Mary! thou art the hope of Christians; receive the
petition of a servant who tenderly loves thee, especially honors thee,
and places in thee all the hope of his salvation. From thee I have life,
thou dost restore me to the favor of thy Son; thou art the certain pledge
of my salvation. I implore thee, then, to deliver me from the burden of
my sins; dispel the darkness of my mind; banish earthly affections from
my heart; repel the temptations of my enemies, and so order my life, that
I may reach, by thy means and by thy guidance, the eternal felicity of
paradise.
Prayer of St. Andrew of Candia, or of Jerusalem.
I salute thee, oh full of grace! the Lord is with thee. I salute thee,
oh cause of our joy, by whom the sentence of our condemnation has been
already revoked, and changed into a judgment of benediction. I salute
thee, oh temple of the glory of God, sacred house of the King of Heaven.
Thou art the reconciliation of God with men. I salute thee, oh mother of
our joy. In truth thou art blessed, for thou alone, among all women, hast
been found worthy of being the mother of thy Creator. All nations call
thee blessed.
Oh Mary, if I put my confidence in thee I shall be saved; if I am under
thy protection I have nothing to fear, for to be thy servant is to have
the secure armor of salvation, which God does not grant except to those
whom he will save.
Oh mother of mercy, appease thy Son. Whilst thou wast on earth thou
didst only occupy a small part of it; but now that thou art raised above
the highest heaven, the whole world considers thee as the propitiatory of
all nations. We supplicate thee, then, oh holy Virgin, to grant us the
aid of thy prayers with God; prayers which are dearer and more precious
to us than all the treasures of earth; prayers that render God inclined
to forgive our sins; and wilt thou obtain for us abundant graces to
receive the pardon of them and to practise virtue? prayers that conquer
our enemies, confound their designs, and triumph over their forces.
Prayer of St. Ildephonsus
I come to thee, oh mother of God, I supplicate thee to obtain for me the
pardon of my sins, and that I may be purified from all the errors of my
life. I pray thee to grant me thy grace, that I may unite myself with
affection to thy Son and to thee; to thy Son as to my God, to thee as to
the mother of my God.
Prayer of St. Athanasius.
Hearken oh most holy Virgin, to our prayers, and remember us. Dispense
to us the gifts of thy riches, and the abundant graces with which thou
art filled. The archangel salutes thee and calls thee full of grace. All
nations call thee blessed; the whole hierarchy of heaven blesses thee,
and we, who are of the terrestrial hierarchy, also say to thee: “Hail,
full of grace, the Lord is with thee;” pray for us, oh mother of God,
our Lady and our Queen.
Prayer of St. Anselm
We pray thee, oh most blessed Lady, by that grace which God bestowed on
thee when he so greatly exalted thee, rendering all things possible to
thee with him; we pray thee to obtain for us that the fulness of grace
which thou hast merited may make us to share thy glory. Be pleased, oh
most merciful Lady, to procure for us the good for which God consented to
become man in thy chaste womb. Be not slow to hear us. If thou wilt deign
to supplicate thy Son, he at once will graciously hear thee. It is enough
that thou wilt save us, for then we cannot but be saved. Who can restrain
the bowels of thy compassion? If thou hast not compassion on us, thou who
art the mother of mercy, what will become of us when thy Son shall come
to judge us?
Come, then, to our succor, oh most compassionate mother, without
regarding the multitude of our sins. Remember again and again that our
Creator has taken human flesh from thee, not to condemn sinners, but
to save them. If thou hadst been made mother of God only for thine own
advantage, it might be said that it would be to thee of little importance
whether we were saved or condemned; but God has clothed himself with
thy flesh for thy salvation and for that of all men. What will it avail
us that thou art so powerful and so glorious, if thou dost not render
us partakers of thy felicity? Aid us and protect us; remember the need
we have of thy assistance. We recommend ourselves to thee; save us from
damnation, and make us serve and love eternally thy Son Jesus Christ.
Prayer of St. Peter Damian.
Holy Virgin, mother of God, succor those who implore thy assistance. Turn
to us. But, having been deified, as it were, hast thou forgotten men?
Ah, certainly not. Thou knowest in what peril thou hast left us, and
the wretched condition of thy servants; no, it is not befitting a mercy
so great, to forget so great misery as ours. Turn to us with thy power,
because he who is powerful hath given thee omnipotence in heaven and
on earth. To thee nothing is impossible, for thou canst raise even the
despairing to the hope of salvation. Thou must be compassionate as thou
art powerful.
Turn to us, also, in thy love. I know, oh my Lady, that thou art all
kindness, and dost love us with a love that no other love can surpass.
How often dost thou appease the anger of our Judge, when he is on the
point of punishing us for our offences! All the treasures of the mercy of
God are in thy hands. Ah, may it never happen that thou shouldst cease
from doing us good: thou seekest but the occasion of saving all sinners,
and of bestowing thy mercy upon them; for thy glory is increased when,
by thy means, penitents are pardoned, and the pardoned come to paradise.
Turn, then, to us, that we may come to see thee in heaven; for the
greatest glory we can obtain next to seeing God, is to see thee, to love
thee, and to be under thy protection. Ah, graciously hear us, since thy
Son wishes to honor thee, by granting all thy requests.
Prayer of St. William, Bishop of Paris.
Oh mother of God, I fly to thee and I implore thee not to cast me off,
for the whole Church of the faithful calls thee, and proclaims thee the
mother of mercy. Thou art so dear to God, that thou art always graciously
heard; thy compassion has never been wanting to any one; thy most
gracious condescension has never despised any sinner, however enormous
his sin, who has recommended himself to thee. Does the Church falsely
and in vain call thee her advocate, and the refuge of the unhappy? No;
let my sins never prevent thee from exercising thy great office of mercy
by which thou art the advocate, the mediatrix of reconciliation, the
only hope, and the most secure refuge of sinners. Let it never be that
the mother, who, for the good of the whole world, brought forth him who
is the fountain of mercy, should refuse her mercy to any sinner who has
recourse to her. It is thy office to reconcile God to man; let, then, thy
compassion move thee to help me, for it is greater than all my sins.
Prayer to the most Holy Mary to be said every day at the end of the visit.
Oh most holy, immaculate Virgin, and my mother Mary, to thee who art the
mother of my Lord, the queen of the world, the advocate, the hope, the
refuge of sinners, I, the most miserable of all, have recourse to-day. I
adore thee, oh great queen, and thank thee for all the favors thou hast
hitherto granted me, especially for having delivered me from hell, which
I have so often deserved. I love thee, oh most amiable Lady, and through
the love I bear thee promise that I will always serve thee, and do all
that I can that thou mayest also be loved by others. I place in thee all
my hopes of salvation; accept me for thy servant, and receive me under
thy mantle, oh thou mother of mercy. And since thou art so powerful with
God, deliver me from all temptations, or obtain for me the strength to
conquer them always until death. From thee I ask a true love for Jesus
Christ; from thee do I hope to die a good death. Oh, my mother, by the
love thou bearest to God, I pray thee always to help me, but most of
all at the last moment of my life. Do not leave me until thou seest me
actually safe in heaven, blessing thee, and singing thy mercies through
all eternity. Amen. Thus I hope. Thus may it be.
END OF THE FIRST PART.
THE GLORIES OF MARY.
PART SECOND:
Which treats of her principal Festivals; of her dolors in general, and of
each of her seven dolors in particular; of her virtues; and lastly, of
devotions to be practised in her honor.
DISCOURSES ON THE SEVEN PRINCIPAL FEASTS OF MARY, AND ON HER DOLORS.
DISCOURSE I.
ON THE IMMACULATE CONCEPTION OF MARY.
_How befitting it was to all Three of the Divine Persons that
Mary should be preserved from original sin._
The ruin was great which accursed sin brought upon Adam and the whole
human race; for when he unhappily lost grace, he at the same time lost
the other blessings with which, in the beginning, he was enriched, and
drew upon himself, and upon all his descendants, both the displeasure
of God, and all other evils. But God ordained that the blessed Virgin
should be exempt from this common calamity, for he had destined her to
be the mother of the second Adam, Jesus Christ, who was to repair the
injury done by the first. Now, let us see how fitting it was that the
Three Divine Persons should preserve this Virgin from original sin. We
shall see that it was befitting the Father to preserve her from it as his
daughter, the Son as his mother, the Holy Spirit as his spouse.
_First Point._—In the first place, it was fitting that the eternal
Father should create Mary free from the original stain, because she
was his daughter, and his first-born daughter, as she herself attests:
“I came out of the mouth of the Most High, the first-born before all
creatures;”[869] for this passage is applied to Mary by the sacred
interpreters, by the holy Fathers, and by the Church herself, on the
solemn festival of her Conception. Whether she be the first-born on
account of her predestination, together with her Son, in the divine
decrees, before all creatures, as the school of the Scotists will have
it; or the first-born of grace, as predestined to be the mother of the
Redeemer, after the prevision of sin, according to the school of the
Thomists, all agree in calling her the first-born of God; which being the
case, it was not meet that Mary should be the slave of Lucifer, but that
she should only and always be possessed by her Creator, as she herself
asserts: “The Lord possessed me in the beginning of his ways.”[870] Hence
Mary was rightly called by Dionysius, Archbishop of Alexandria: One and
sole daughter of life: “Una et sola filia vitæ;”[871] differing in this
from others, who being born in sin, are daughters of death.
Moreover, it was meet that the eternal Father should create her in his
grace, since he destined her for the restorer of the lost world, and
mediatrix of peace between man and God; and thus the holy Fathers name
her, and especially St. John Damascene, who thus addresses her: Oh
blessed Virgin, thou art born to procure the salvation of the whole
world![872] St. Bernard says that Mary was already prefigured in the ark
of Noe; for as by the ark men were saved from the deluge, so by Mary we
are saved from the shipwreck of sin; but with this difference, that by
means of the ark few only were saved, but by means of Mary the whole
human race has been redeemed.[873] Hence it is that Mary is called by St.
Athanasius: The new Eve, the mother of life: “Nova Eva, mater vitæ.”[874]
A new Eve, because the first was the mother of death, but the most holy
Virgin is mother of life. St. Theophanes, Bishop of Nice, exclaims: Hail
to thee, who hast taken away the sorrow of Eve.[875] St. Basil calls her:
The peacemaker between God and men.[876] St. Ephrem: The peacemaker of
the whole world.[877]
Now, certainly he who treats of peace should not be an enemy of the
offended person, still less an accomplice of his crime. St. Gregory says,
that to appease the judge his enemy certainly must not be chosen, for
instead of appeasing him he would enrage him more. Therefore, as Mary
was to be the mediatrix of peace between God and man, there was every
reason why she should not appear as a sinner and enemy of God, but as his
friend, and pure from sin.
Besides, it was fitting that God should preserve her from original sin,
since he destined her to bruise the head of the infernal serpent, who,
by seducing our first parents, brought death upon all men, as our Lord
predicted: “I will put enmities between thee and the woman, and thy seed
and her seed; she shall crush thy head.”[878] Now, if Mary was to be
the strong woman brought into the world to crush Lucifer, surely it was
not fitting that she should first be conquered by Lucifer, and made his
slave, but rather that she should be free from every stain, and from all
subjection to the enemy. As he had in his pride already corrupted the
whole human race, he would also corrupt the pure soul of this Virgin.
But may the divine goodness be ever praised, who prevented her with so
much grace, to the end that remaining free from every stain of sin, she
could overthrow and confound his pride, as St. Augustine says, or whoever
may have been the author of that commentary upon Genesis: As the devil
was the head from whence original sin proceeded, that head Mary crushed,
because no sin ever entered the soul of the Virgin, and therefore she was
free from all stain.[879] St. Bonaventure still more clearly expresses
the same: It was meet that the blessed Virgin Mary, by whom our shame was
to be removed, should conquer the devil, and that she should not yield to
him in the least degree.[880]
But it was especially fitting that the eternal Father should preserve his
daughter from the sin of Adam, because he destined her for the mother
of his only begotten Son. Thou wast preordained in the mind of God,
before every creature, to bring forth God himself made man.[881] If for
no other reason, then, at least for the honor of his Son, who was God,
the Father would create her pure from every stain. The angelic Doctor
St. Thomas says, that all things ordained by God must be holy, and pure
from every defilement.[882] If David, when he was planning the temple of
Jerusalem with a magnificence worthy the Lord, said: “Not for man a house
is prepared, but for God;”[883] now, how much greater cause have we to
believe that the great Creator, having destined Mary to be the mother
of his own Son, would adorn her soul with every grace, that it might be
a worthy habitation for a God. God, the creator of all things, affirms
blessed Denis the Carthusian, about to construct a worthy habitation for
his Son, adorned her with all pleasing gifts.[884] And the holy Church
herself assures us of this, when she affirms that God prepared the body
and soul of the Virgin to be, on earth, a habitation worthy of his only
begotten Son. “Omnipotent, eternal God!” thus the holy Church prays,
“who, by the co-operation of the Holy Ghost, didst prepare the body
and soul of the glorious Virgin mother, that she might become a worthy
habitation for thy Son,” &c.[885]
It is acknowledged to be the greatest glory of sons to be born of noble
parents. The glory of children are their fathers: “Gloria filiorum,
patres eorum.”[886] So that in the world the imputation of small fortune
and little science is more endurable than that of low birth; for the poor
man may become rich by industry, the ignorant learned by study, but he
who is of low birth can hardly become noble; and if ever this occurs,
the old and original reproach is liable always to be revived. How can we
then believe that God, when he was able to give his Son a noble mother,
by preserving her from sin, would have consented that he should be born
of a mother defiled with sin, and permit Lucifer to reproach him with the
opprobrium of being born of a mother who once was his slave and an enemy
of God! No, the Lord has not permitted this, but he has well provided
for the honor of his Son, by ordaining that his mother should always be
immaculate, that she might be a fit mother for such a Son. The Greek
Church confirms this: “By a singular providence, God ordained that the
most holy Virgin should be perfectly pure from the very beginning of her
life, as was becoming her who was to be a mother worthy of Christ.”[887]
It is a common axiom among theologians, that no gift has ever been
granted to any creature with which the blessed Virgin was not also
enriched. St. Bernard thus expresses it: We certainly cannot suspect
that what has been bestowed on the chosen among mortals should be
withheld from the blessed Virgin.[888] And St. Thomas of Villanova says:
Nothing was ever given to any of the saints that did not shine more
pre-eminently in Mary from the beginning of her life.[889] And if it
be true, according to the celebrated saying of St. John Damascene, that
there is an infinite distance between the mother of God and the servants
of God,[890] it certainly must be supposed, as St. Thomas teaches, that
God has conferred greater graces of every kind on the mother than on the
servants.[891] Now, asks St. Anselm, the great defender of the privileges
of the immaculate Mary, this being granted, was the wisdom of God unable
to prepare a pure abode for his Son, free from every human stain?[892]
Has it been in the power of God, continues St. Anselm, to preserve the
angels of heaven unstained amidst the ruin of so many, and could he not
preserve the mother of his Son and the queen of angels from the common
fall of man?[893] Could God, I add, give the grace even to an Eve to come
into the world immaculate, and afterwards be unable to bestow it on Mary?
Ah, no, God could do it and has done it, since it was altogether fitting,
as the above-named St. Anselm says, that this Virgin, to whom God was to
give his only Son, should be adorned with such purity, that it not only
should surpass the purity of all men and of all angels, but should be
second in greatness only to that of God.[894] And still more plainly
does St. John Damascene declare, that he preserved the soul as well as
the body of this Virgin, as beseemed her who was about to receive God
into her womb; for he being holy, dwells only with the holy.[895] Thus
the eternal Father could say to this beloved daughter: “As the lily among
the thorns, so is my love among the daughters.”[896] Daughter among all
my other daughters, thou art like a lily among thorns; for they are all
stained by sin, but thou wert ever immaculate, and ever my friend.
_Second Point._—In the second place, it was befitting the Son that Mary,
as his mother, should be preserved from sin. It is not permitted to other
children to select a mother according to their good pleasure; but if this
were ever granted to any one, who would choose a slave for his mother
when he might have a queen? who a peasant, when he might have a noble?
who an enemy of God, when he might have a friend of God? If, then, the
Son of God alone could select a mother according to his pleasure, it
must be considered as certain that he would choose one befitting a God.
Thus St. Bernard expresses it: The Creator of men to be born of man
must choose such a mother for himself as he knew to be most fit.[897]
And as it was, indeed, fitting that a most pure God should have a mother
pure from all sin, such was she created, as St. Bernardine of Sienna
says, in these words: The third kind of sanctification is that which is
called maternal, and this removes every stain of original sin. This was
in the blessed Virgin. God, indeed, created her, by the nobility of her
nature as well as by the perfection of grace, such as it was befitting
that his mother should be.[898] And here the words of the apostle may
be applied: “For it was fitting that we should have such a high priest,
holy, innocent, undefiled, separated from sinners,”[899] &c. Here a
learned author remarks, that according to St. Paul, it was meet that our
Redeemer should not only be separated from sin, but also from sinners, as
St. Thomas explains it: It was meet that he who came to take away sins,
should be separate from sinners as far as concerns the sin of which Adam
was guilty.[900] But how could it be said of Jesus Christ that he was
separate from sinners if his mother was a sinner?
St. Ambrose says: Not from earth, but from heaven, Christ selected this
vessel through which he should descend, and consecrated the temple of
modesty.[901] The saint alludes to the words of St. Paul: “The first man
was of the earth, earthy: the second man from heaven, heavenly.”[902] St.
Ambrose calls the divine mother: _A celestial vessel_: not that Mary was
other than earthly in her nature, as heretics have sometimes fancied, but
celestial through grace, for she was superior to the angels of heaven in
sanctity and purity, as it was meet she should be, when a King of glory
was to dwell in her womb; as John the Baptist revealed to St. Bridget:
“It was befitting the King of glory to remain in no vessel but one purer
and more select than all angels and men;”[903] to which we may add what
the eternal Father himself said to the same saint: “Mary was a clean and
an unclean vessel. Clean because she was wholly fair, but unclean because
she was born of sinners; although she was conceived without sin, that my
Son should be born without sin.”[904] And these last words are worthy
of note, that Mary was conceived without sin, so that the divine Son
might be conceived without sin. Not that Jesus Christ could be capable of
contracting sin, but that he might not suffer the opprobrium of having a
mother infected with sin, and a slave of the devil.
The Holy Spirit says, that the honor of the Father is the glory of the
Son, and the dishonor of the Father is the shame of the Son.[905] And
St. Augustine says, that Jesus preserved the body of Mary from being
corrupted after death, since it would have dishonored him if corruption
had destroyed that virginal flesh from which he had clothed himself.[906]
Corruption is the reproach of the human condition, from which the nature
of Mary was exempted, in order that Jesus might be exempt from it, for
the flesh of Jesus is the flesh of Mary. Now, if it were a dishonor
for Jesus Christ to be born of a mother whose body was subject to the
corruption of the flesh, how much greater would be the shame had he been
born of a mother whose soul was corrupted by sin! Moreover, as it is true
that the flesh of Jesus is the same as that of Mary, in such a manner (as
the saint himself here adds) that the flesh of the Saviour after his
resurrection was the very same which he received from his mother;[907]
therefore St. Arnold of Carnotensis says: The flesh of Mary and of Christ
is one, and hence I esteem the glory of the Son to be not so much common
to both as the same.[908] Now, this being true, if the blessed Virgin had
been conceived in sin, although the Son had not contracted the stain of
sin, yet there would always have been a certain stain from the union of
himself with flesh once infected by guilt, a vessel of uncleanness, and a
slave of Lucifer.
Mary was not only the mother, but a worthy mother of the Saviour. Thus
all the holy Fathers name her. St. Bernard says: Thou alone hast been
found worthy, that in thy virginal hall the King of kings should choose
his first mansion.[909] And St. Thomas of Villanova: Before she had
conceived she was fitted to be the mother of God.[910] The holy Church
herself attests that the Virgin merited to be the mother of Jesus
Christ.[911] Explaining which passage, St. Thomas of Aquinas remarks,
that Mary could not merit the incarnation of the Word, but with divine
grace she merited such perfection as would render her worthy to become
the mother of a God;[912] as St. Peter Damian also writes: Her singular
sanctity merited (out of pure grace) that she should alone be judged
worthy to receive a God.[913]
Now, this being granted, that Mary was a mother worthy of God, what
excellency and what perfection, says St. Thomas of Villanova, were
befitting her![914] The same angelic Doctor declares, that when God
elects any one to a certain dignity, he also fits him for it; hence, he
says, that God having chosen Mary for his mother, certainly rendered her
worthy of it by his grace, according to what the angel said to her: “Thou
hast found grace with God, behold thou shalt conceive, etc.”[915] And
from this the saint infers that the Virgin never committed any actual
sin, not even a venial sin; otherwise, he says, she would not have been
a worthy mother of Jesus Christ, since the ignominy of the mother would
also be that of the Son, if his mother had been a sinner.[916] Now, if
Mary, by committing only one venial offence, which does not deprive the
soul of divine grace, might be said not to have been a worthy mother of
God, how much more if she had been stained with original sin, which would
have rendered her an enemy of God, and a slave of the devil! Therefore
St. Augustine says in a celebrated passage of his writings, that speaking
of Mary, he would make no mention of sins, for the honor of that Lord
whom she merited for her Son, and through whom she had the grace to
conquer sin in every way.[917]
We should therefore hold it for certain, that the incarnate Word selected
for himself a befitting mother, and one of whom he need not be ashamed,
as St. Peter Damian expresses it.[918] And also St. Proculus: He
inhabited those bowels which he had created, so as to be free from any
mark of infamy.[919] Jesus felt it no reproach to hear himself called by
the Jews the son of a poor woman: “Is not his mother called Mary?”[920]
for he came on earth to give an example of humility and patience. But
on the other hand, it would doubtless have been a reproach to him if it
could have been said by the demons: Was he not born from a mother who
was a sinner, and once our slave?[921] It would be considered most unfit
that Jesus Christ should have been born of a woman deformed and maimed in
body, or possessed by evil spirits; but how much more unseemly that he
should be born of a woman once deformed in soul, and possessed by Lucifer!
Ah, that God who is wisdom itself well knew how to prepare upon the
earth a fit dwelling for him to inhabit: “Wisdom hath built herself a
house.”[922] “The Most High hath sanctified his own tabernacle.” “God
will help it in the morning early.”[923] The Lord, says David, sanctified
this his habitation _in the morning early_; that is, from the beginning
of her life, to render her worthy of himself; for it was not befitting a
God who is holy to select a house that was not holy: Holiness becometh
thy house: “Domum tuum decet sanctitudo.”[924] And if he himself declares
that he will never enter into a malicious soul, and into a body subject
to sins.[925] How can we think that the Son of God would have chosen
to inhabit the soul and body of Mary without first sanctifying her and
preserving her from every stain of sin? for, as St. Thomas teaches us,
the eternal Word inhabited not only the soul, but the body of Mary.[926]
The Church also sings: Oh Lord, thou didst not shrink from the Virgin’s
womb: “Non horruisti Virginis uterum.” Indeed, a God would have shrunk
from incarnating himself in the womb of an Agnes, of a Gertrude, of a
Theresa, since those virgins, although holy, were for a time stained
with original sin; but he did not shrink from becoming man in the womb
of Mary, because this chosen Virgin was always pure from every guilt,
and never possessed by the infernal serpent. Hence St. Augustine wrote:
The Son of God has built himself no house more worthy than Mary, who was
never taken by the enemy, nor robbed of her ornaments.[927]
On the other hand, St. Cyril of Alexandria says: Who has ever heard of
an architect building a house for his own use and then giving the first
possession of it to his greatest enemy?[928]
Certainly our Lord, who, as St. Methodius declares, gave us the command
to honor our parents, would not fail, when he became man, like ourselves,
to observe it himself, by bestowing on his mother every grace and
honor.[929] Hence St. Augustine says, that we must certainly believe
that Jesus Christ preserved from corruption the body of Mary after
death, as it has been said above; for if he had not done so, he would
not have observed the law, which, as it commands respect to the mother,
so it condemns disrespect.[930] How much less mindful would Jesus have
been of the honor of his mother, if he had not preserved her from the
sin of Adam! That Son would, indeed, commit a sin, says Father Thomas
d’Argentina, an Augustinian, who, being able to preserve his mother
from original sin, should not do so; now that which would be sinful
in us, says the same author, cannot be esteemed befitting the Son of
God, namely, if he should not have created his mother immaculate when
he was able to do so. Ah, no, exclaims Gerson, since thou, the supreme
Prince, dost wish to have a mother, honor will certainly be due to her
from thee; but this law would not appear well fulfilled if thou shouldst
permit her, who was to be the dwelling of all purity, to fall into the
abomination of original sin.[931]
Moreover, the divine Son, as we know, came into the world to redeem
Mary before all others, as we read in St. Bernardine of Sienna.[932]
And as there are two modes of redeeming, as St. Augustine teaches, one
by raising the fallen; the other, by preventing from falling;[933]
doubtless, the latter is the most noble. More nobly, says St. Antoninus,
is he redeemed who is prevented from falling, than he who is raised after
falling;[934] because in this way is avoided the injury or stain that
the soul always contracts by a fall. Therefore we ought to believe that
Mary was redeemed in the nobler manner, as became the mother of a God,
as St. Bonaventure expresses it; for Frassen proves the sermon on the
assumption to have been written by that holy doctor.[935] We must believe
that by a new mode of sanctification the Holy Spirit redeemed her at the
first moment of her conception, and preserved her by a special grace
from original sin, which was not in her, but would have been in her.[936]
On this subject Cardinal Cusano has elegantly written: Others have had
a deliverer, but the holy Virgin had a predeliverer;[937] others have
had a Redeemer to deliver them from sin already contracted, but the holy
Virgin had a Redeemer who, because he was her Son, prevented her from
contracting sin.
In a word, to conclude this point, Hugo of St. Victor says, the tree is
known by its fruit. If the Lamb was always immaculate, always immaculate
must the mother also have been.[938] Hence this same doctor saluted Mary
by calling her: The worthy mother of a worthy Son: “O digna digni.” By
which he meant to say, that none but Mary was the worthy mother of such
a Son, and that none but Jesus was the worthy Son of such a mother.[939]
Therefore let us say with St. Ildephonsus: Give suck, then, oh Mary, give
suck to thy Creator; give suck to him who created thee, and hath made
thee so pure and perfect that thou hast merited that he should receive
from thee the human nature.[940]
_Third Point._—If, then, it became the Father to preserve Mary as his
daughter from sin, and the Son because she was his mother, it also became
the Holy Spirit to preserve her as his spouse. Mary, says St. Augustine,
was the only one who merited to be called the mother and spouse of
God.[941] For, as St. Anselm affirms, the Holy Spirit came bodily upon
Mary and rested in her, enriching her with grace beyond all creatures,
dwelt in her, and made his spouse queen of heaven and of earth.[942]
As the saint expresses it: He was with her really, as to the effect,
since he came to form from her immaculate body the immaculate body of
Jesus Christ, as the archangel predicted: The Holy Ghost shall come upon
thee.[943] For this reason, says St. Thomas, Mary is called the temple of
the Lord, the sanctuary of the Holy Spirit, because, by the operation of
the Holy Spirit, she was made mother of the incarnate Word.[944]
Now, if an excellent painter were allowed to choose a bride as beautiful
or as deformed as he himself might paint her, how great would be his
solicitude to make her as beautiful as possible! Who, then, will say that
the Holy Spirit has not dealt thus with Mary, and that, having it in his
power to make this his spouse as beautiful as it became her to be, he has
not done so? Yes, thus it was fitting he should do, and thus he did, as
the Lord himself attested when praising Mary; he said to her: “Thou art
all fair, oh my love; and there is not a spot in thee;”[945] which words,
as we learn from à Lapide, St. Ildephonsus, and St. Thomas, explain as
properly to be understood of Mary. St. Bernardine of Sienna,[946] and
St. Lawrence Justinian,[947] also declare that the passage above quoted
is precisely to be understood of her immaculate conception; hence the
Idiot says: Thou art all fair, oh most glorious Virgin, not in part, but
wholly; and the stain of sin, whether mortal, or venial, or original, is
not upon thee.[948]
The Holy Spirit signified the same thing, when he called this his spouse:
“A garden inclosed, a fountain sealed up.”[949] Mary, says St. Jerome,
was properly this inclosed garden and sealed fountain; for the enemies
never entered to harm her, but she was always uninjured, remaining holy
in soul and body[950]. And in like manner St. Bernard said, addressing
the blessed Virgin: Thou art an inclosed garden, where the sinner’s hand
never entered to rob it of its flowers.[951]
We know that this divine spouse loved Mary more than all the other saints
and angels united, as Father Suarez, St. Lawrence Justinian, and others
affirm. He loved her from the beginning, and exalted her in sanctity
above all creatures, as David expresses it: “The foundations thereof are
in the holy mountains; the Lord loveth the gates of Sion above all the
tabernacles of Jacob.... This man is born in her, and the Highest himself
hath founded her.”[952] All which words signify that Mary was holy from
her conception. The same thing is signified by what the Holy Spirit
himself says in another place: “Many daughters have gathered together
riches; thou hast surpassed them all.”[953] If Mary has surpassed all in
the riches of grace, she then possessed original justice, as Adam and the
angels had it. “There are young maidens without number: one is my dove,
my perfect one (the Hebrew reads, my uncorrupted, my immaculate); she is
the only one of her mother.”[954] All just souls are children of divine
grace; but among these, Mary was the _Dove_ without the bitter gall of
sin, the _Perfect One_ without the stain of original sin, the _one_
conceived in grace.
The angel, therefore, before she was mother of God, already found her
full of grace, and thus saluted her: Hail, full of grace: “Ave gratia
plena.” Commenting upon which words, Sophronius writes, that to the
other saints grace is given in part, but to the Virgin it was given in
fulness.[955] So that, as St. Thomas says, grace not only made the soul,
but also the flesh of Mary holy, that with it the Virgin might clothe
the eternal Word.[956] Now by all this we are to understand, as Peter
of Celles remarks, that Mary, from the moment of her conception, was
enriched by the Holy Spirit, and filled with divine grace.[957] Hence,
as St. Peter Damian says: She being elected and pre-elected by God, was
borne off by the Holy Spirit for himself.[958] Borne off, as the saint
expresses it, to explain the swiftness of the Divine Spirit in making her
his spouse, before Lucifer should take possession of her.
I will at length close this discourse, in which I have been more diffuse
than in the others, because our little congregation has for its principal
protectress the most holy Virgin Mary, precisely under this title of her
immaculate conception. I will close, I say, by declaring in a few words
what are the reasons which make me certain, and which, as I think, should
make every one certain of this pious sentiment, so glorious to the divine
mother—that she was free from original sin.
There are many doctors who maintain that Mary was even exempt from
contracting the debt of sin; such as Cardinal Galatino,[959] Cardinal
Cusano,[960] De Ponte,[961] Salasar,[962] Catherinus,[963] Novarino,[964]
Viva,[965] De Lugo, Egidius, Richelius, and others. Now this opinion is
very probable; for if it is true that in the will of Adam, as head of the
human race, were included the wills of all, as Gonet,[966] Habert,[967]
and others hold it to be probable, on the testimony of these words of St.
Paul: “In whom (Adam) all have sinned.”[968] If this, then, is probable,
it is also probable that Mary did not contract the debt of sin; for God
having greatly distinguished her in the order of grace from the rest of
mankind, it should be piously believed, that in the will of Adam, the
will of Mary was not included.
This opinion is only probable, but I adhere to it, as being more
glorious for my Lady. But, then, I hold it for certain that Mary has
not contracted the sin of Adam, as Cardinal Everard,[969] Duval,[970]
Raynauld,[971] Lossada,[972] Viva,[973] and many others hold it for
certain, and even proximately definable as an article of faith, as they
express it. I omit, however, the revelations that confirm this opinion;
especially those made to St. Bridget, approved by Cardinal Torrecremata,
and by four supreme Pontiffs, and which we read in the sixth book of
the above-mentioned revelations, in various places.[974] But I can
by no means omit to mention here the opinions of the holy Fathers on
this point, in order to prove how uniform they have been in conceding
this privilege to the divine mother. St. Ambrose says: Receive me not
from Sarah, but from Mary, as an uncorrupted Virgin, a Virgin through
grace preserved pure from every stain of sin.[975] Origen, speaking
of Mary, says: Neither was she infected by the breath of the venomous
serpent.[976] And St. Ephrem: She is immaculate, and remote from every
taint of sin.[977] St. Augustine, meditating on the words of the angel,
“Hail, full of grace,” says: By these words he shows her to be entirely
(note, entirely) excluded from the wrath of the first sentence, and
restored to the full grace of benediction.[978] St. Jerome: That cloud
was never in darkness, but always in the light.[979] St. Cyprian, on
Psalm lxxvii., or whoever may be the author of that treatise, says:
Neither did justice suffer that vessel of election to be open to common
injuries, for, being far exalted above others, she was a partaker of
their nature, but not of their sin.[980] St. Amphilochius also says: He
who created the first virgin without reproach, also created the second
without stain or crime.[981] Sophronius: Therefore she is called the
immaculate Virgin, because she was in no manner corrupted.[982] St.
Ildephonsus: It is certain that she was exempt from original sin.[983]
St. John of Damascus: To this paradise the serpent had no entrance.[984]
St. Peter Damian: The flesh of the Virgin, received from Adam, was free
from Adam’s taint of sin.[985] St. Bruno: This is that uncorrupted earth
which the Lord has blessed, and hence she is pure from all contagion of
sin.[986] St. Bonaventure, also: Our Lady was full of preventing grace in
her sanctification, namely, of grace preservative against the defilement
of original sin.[987] St. Bernardine of Sienna: For it is not to be
believed that the Son of God himself would choose to be born of a virgin,
and assume her flesh, if she were defiled in any way with original
sin.[988] St. Lawrence Justinian: From her conception she was prevented
with blessing.[989] So the Idiot, upon those words, Thou hast found
grace, “Invenisti gratiam,” says: Thou hast found peculiar grace, oh most
sweet Virgin, for thou wast preserved from the original stain, &c.[990]
And many other Doctors express the same.
But there are two arguments which conclusively prove the truth of
this opinion. The first is the universal consent of the faithful on
this point. Father Egidius, of the Presentation, asserts that all the
religious orders follow the same opinion:[991] and although in the order
of St. Dominic, says a modern author, there are ninety-two writers who
are of the contrary opinion, yet one hundred and thirty-six are of
ours. But what should especially persuade us that our pious opinion
is conformable to the common opinion of Catholics, is the declaration
of Pope Alexander VII., in the celebrated bull, “Sollicitudo omnium
ecclesiarum,” issued in the year 1661, namely: “This devotion and worship
to the mother of God again increased and was propagated, ... so that
the universities having embraced this opinion (that is, the pious one),
almost all Catholics embrace it.”[992] And, in fact, this opinion is
defended by the universities of the Sorbonne, of Alcala, of Salamanca,
of Coimbra, of Cologne, of Mayence, and of Naples, and by many others,
in which every one who graduates binds himself by an oath to the defence
of the immaculate Mary. The learned Petavius rests his proof of the
immaculate conception mainly upon this argument of the common consent of
the faithful.[993] Which argument, writes the most learned Bishop Julius
Torni, cannot fail to convince; for, in fact, if nothing else, the
common consent of the faithful renders us certain of the sanctification
of Mary in the womb, and of the glorious assumption of her soul and body
into heaven; why, then, should not this same common sentiment render us
certain of her immaculate conception?[994]
By another reason, still stronger than the first, we are assured of the
truth of the fact, that the Virgin is exempt from the Original stain,
namely, the festival instituted by the universal Church in honor of her
Immaculate Conception. And with regard to this I see, on the one hand,
that the Church celebrates the first moment when her soul was created
and infused into the body, as Alexander VII. declares in the bull above
quoted, in which it is expressed that the Church prescribes the same
veneration for the conception of Mary, as the pious opinion concedes
to her, which holds her to be conceived without original sin. On the
other hand, I know it to be certain that the Church cannot honor any
thing unholy, according to the decrees of the sovereign pontiffs St.
Leo[995] and St. Eusebius: “In the Apostolic See the Catholic religion
has always been preserved pure from stain.[996]” And all the theologians,
including St. Augustine,[997] St. Bernard, and St. Thomas, teach the
same thing. The latter makes use of the argument of the festival of
her birth, instituted by the Church, to prove that Mary was sanctified
before birth; and therefore says: The Church celebrates the nativity
of the blessed Virgin; but no feast is celebrated in the Church except
in honor of some saint; therefore the blessed Virgin was sanctified in
the womb.[998] Now if it is certain, as the angelic Doctor declares,
that Mary was sanctified in the womb, because for this reason the holy
Church celebrates her birth; why should we not then hold it for certain
that Mary was preserved from original sin from the first moment of her
conception, now that we know that in this sense the Church herself
celebrates the festival of it?[999] In confirmation, too, of this great
privilege of Mary, it is well known what numerous and remarkable graces
our Lord has been pleased to dispense daily in the kingdom of Naples, by
means of the little pictures of the Virgin of the Immaculate Conception.
I could relate many that took place under the eyes of the fathers of our
own congregation; but I will relate only two, which are truly wonderful.
EXAMPLE.
There came a woman to one of the houses of our little congregation, in
this kingdom, to tell one of the fathers that her husband had not been to
confession for many years, and that she did not know how to bring him
back to his duties, for whenever she spoke to him of confession he beat
her. The father told her to give him a little picture of Mary immaculate.
Evening came, and the woman again begged her husband to go to confession;
but the man being deaf as before, she gave him the picture. He had no
sooner received it than he said: “When will you take me to confession,
for I am ready?” The wife, at that sudden change, wept for joy. In the
morning he came to our church, and when the father asked him how long it
was since he had been to confession, he answered: “Twenty-eight years.”
“And what has brought you to confession this morning?” said the father.
“Father,” he said, “I was obstinate, but yesterday my wife gave me a
picture of the Madonna, and immediately I felt my heart changed, so that
last night appeared to me a thousand years long, and I thought the day
would never come when I might go to confession.” He made his confession
with great compunction, changed his life, and continued for a long time
to go often to confession to the same father.
In another place, in the diocese of Salerno, during one of our missions,
there was a certain man who had a great enmity against one who had
offended him. One of our fathers spoke to him, and exhorted him to pardon
the offence. “Father, have you ever seen me at the sermon? No, you have
not, and for this reason I stay away: I see that I am damned, but I do
not wish it otherwise, I must have revenge.” The father made every
effort to convert him, but finding that he was wasting his words, “Take,”
he said to him, “this little picture of the Madonna.” “Of what use,” said
he, “is this picture?” But he took it, and as if he had never refused to
pardon his enemy, he said to the missionary, “Father, do you wish any
thing more than reconciliation? for that I am ready.” The next morning
was appointed for the reconciliation; but when the morning came, his mind
was changed, and he would do nothing. The father offered him another
picture. He did not wish for it, and took it unwillingly; but behold, no
sooner had he taken it, than he immediately said, “Let us be reconciled:
where is Mastrodatti?” He then forgave his enemy, and afterwards made his
confession.
PRAYER.
Ah, my immaculate Lady, I rejoice with thee, seeing thee endowed with
so great purity. I give thanks, and make the resolution always to give
thanks to our common Creator, for having preserved thee from every stain
of sin, as I certainly believe; and to defend this great and peculiar
privilege of thy immaculate conception I am ready, and swear to give
even my life if it is necessary. I wish that all the world might know
thee, and acknowledge thee for that beautiful _aurora_, which was always
resplendent with the divine light; that chosen _ark_ of salvation, safe
from the common shipwreck of sin; for that _perfect and immaculate dove_,
as thy divine spouse declared thee; that _inclosed garden_, which was
the delight of God; that _fountain sealed up_, which the enemy never
entered to trouble; finally, that _spotless lily_, which thou art,
springing up among the thorns of the children of Adam; for whereas all
are born defiled with original sin, and enemies of God, thou wast born
pure, all spotless, and in all things a friend of thy Creator.
Let me, then, also praise thee as thy God himself hath praised thee
when he said: Thou art all fair, and there is not a spot in thee: “Tota
pulchra es et macula non est in te.” Oh most pure dove, all white, all
beautiful, and always the friend of God: “O quam pulchra es, amica mea,
quam pulchra es.” Oh most sweet, most amiable, immaculate Mary, thou who
art so beautiful in the eyes of our Lord, do not disdain to look with thy
pitying eye upon the loathsome wounds of my soul. Behold me, pity me,
and heal me. Oh powerful magnet of hearts, draw also my miserable heart
to thee. Thou who even from the first moment of thy life wast pure and
beautiful in the sight of God, have pity on me, for I was not only born
in sin, but after baptism, I again have defiled my soul with sin. Will
God, who hath chosen thee for his child, his mother, and his spouse, and
therefore hath preserved thee free from every stain, refuse any grace to
thee? Virgin immaculate, you must save me; I will say to thee with St.
Philip Neri, make me always to remember thee, and do not forget me. It
seems to me a thousand years before I shall go to behold thy beauty in
paradise, to praise and love thee more, my mother, my queen, my beloved,
most lovely, most sweet, most pure, immaculate Mary. Amen.
DISCOURSE II.
ON THE BIRTH OF MARY.
_Mary was born a saint, and a great saint, for great was the
grace with which our Lord enriched her from the beginning, and
great was the fidelity with which Mary at once corresponded
with it._
Men are accustomed to celebrate the birth of their children with joy
and feasting; but rather ought they to weep and give signs of grief and
mourning, considering that these are born, not only destitute of merits
and of reason, but moreover infected by sin and children of wrath, and
therefore condemned to misery and death. But with reason do we celebrate,
with feasts and universal praise, the birth of our infant Mary, for
she came into this world an infant in age, it is true, but great in
merits and in virtues. Mary was born a saint, and a great saint. But to
conceive the degree of sanctity in which she was born, we must call to
mind, in the first place, how great was the first grace with which God
enriched Mary; and in the second, with how great fidelity Mary at once
corresponded with God.
_First Point._—Commencing with the first point, it is certain that the
soul of Mary was the most beautiful soul that God ever created; indeed,
next to the incarnation of the Word, this work was the greatest and
most worthy of himself that the Omnipotent could accomplish in this
world—a work, as St. Peter Damian terms it, which God alone excels: “Opus
quod solus Deus supergreditur.” Hence it was that the divine grace did
not descend upon Mary in drops as upon the other saints, but as David
predicted: Like rain upon the fleece: “Sicut pluvia in vellus.”[1000] The
soul of Mary was like wool, that happily imbibed all that great shower of
graces without losing a drop. The holy Virgin, says St. Basil, drew into
herself all the graces of the Holy Spirit.[1001] Hence she herself said
by the mouth of Ecclesiasticus: My abode is in the fulness of saints: “In
plenitudine Sanctorum detentio mea;”[1002] which St. Bonaventure thus
explains: I have in fulness all that the other saints have in part;[1003]
and St. Vincent Ferrer, speaking especially of the sanctity of Mary
before her birth, said, that she surpassed all the saints and angels in
sanctity.[1004]
The grace of the blessed Virgin surpassed the grace not only of each
saint in particular, but of all the saints and angels together, as the
most learned Father Francis Pepe, of the Society of Jesus, proves, in
his admirable work on the grandeur of Jesus and Mary;[1005] and he
asserts that this opinion, so glorious for our queen, is now common and
established among modern theologians, as Carthagena, Suarez, Spinelli,
Recupito, Guerra, and others, who have avowedly examined it, which was
not done by the ancients; and he further relates, that the divine mother
sent Father Martin Guttierez to thank Father Suarez in her name for
having, with so much courage, defended this most probable opinion, which
Father Segneri asserts, in his work entitled “The Servant of Mary,” was
maintained by the common consent of the Faculty of Salamanca.
Now if this opinion is universal and certain, the other opinion is also
very probable, namely, that Mary received from the first moment of her
immaculate conception this grace, superior to the grace of all the saints
and angels together. This the same Father Suarez powerfully defends,
and Father Spinelli, Recupito,[1006] and Colombiere,[1007] follow him.
But besides the authority of theologians, there are yet two great and
convincing reasons sufficient to prove the above-mentioned opinion. The
first reason is, that Mary was chosen by God to be the mother of the
divine Word; hence blessed Denis the Carthusian says, that having been
elected to an order superior to all creatures (for in a certain sense
the dignity of mother of God, as Father Suarez affirms, belongs to the
order of the hypostatic union), gifts of a superior order were justly
bestowed upon her from the beginning of her life, so that her graces far
exceeded those granted to all other creatures. And, indeed, it cannot be
doubted, that at the same time, when in the divine decrees the person
of the eternal Word was predestined to become man, a mother was also
destined for him, from whom he was to take the human nature, and this
was our infant Mary. Now St. Thomas teaches that the Lord gives to every
one grace proportioned to that dignity for which he destines him;[1008]
St. Paul taught this before, when he said: “Who also hath made us fit
ministers of the New Testament;”[1009] signifying to us that the Apostles
received from God gifts proportioned to the great office to which they
were elected. St. Bernardine of Sienna adds, that when a man is chosen
by God for any state, he not only receives the dispositions requisite
for that, but also the gifts necessary to fill the office in a becoming
manner.[1010] Now if Mary was chosen to be mother of God, it was meet
that God should adorn her, even from the first moment, with an immense
grace, and of an order superior to the grace of all other men and angels;
it being requisite that the grace should correspond with the most high
and immense dignity to which God exalted her; in which opinion all
theologians agree with St. Thomas, who says: The Virgin was elected to
be the mother of God, and therefore there can be no doubt that God, by
his grace, rendered her fit for it.[1011] Hence Mary, before being made
mother of God, was adorned with a sanctity so perfect, that it rendered
her fit for this great dignity. In the blessed Virgin, therefore, says
the holy doctor, was a perfection, as it were preparative, by which she
was fitted to become the mother of Christ; and this was the perfection of
sanctification.[1012]
And St. Thomas had before said, that Mary was called full of grace, not
on account of the degree of grace, since she had not grace in its highest
possible degree; for even the habitual grace of Jesus Christ (as the same
doctor says) was not the highest possible, so that God, by his absolute
power, could not make it greater; although it was grace sufficient to
correspond to the end for which his humanity was destined by the divine
Wisdom, that is, for the union with the person of the Word.[1013] The
divine power, although it may form something greater and better than the
habitual grace of Christ, yet could make nothing that should be destined
to any thing greater than the personal union of the only begotten Son of
the Father, to which union such a measure of grace would sufficiently
correspond, according to the idea of divine wisdom.[1014]
The same angelic Doctor teaches, that the divine power is so great,
that however much it gives, there always remains something more to
give; and although the natural power of the creature in receiving is in
itself limited, so that it can be entirely filled, yet the power of its
obedience to the divine will is unlimited, and God can always increase
its fulness by making it more capable of receiving;[1015] and hence, to
return to our proposition, St. Thomas declares, that the blessed Virgin,
although not full of grace, in respect to absolute grace; yet is called
full of grace in respect to herself, since she possessed a grace immense,
sufficient, and corresponding to her great dignity, which rendered her
fit to become the mother of a God.[1016] Hence the blessed Fernandez
says, that the measure by which we can know how great was the grace
communicated to Mary is her dignity as mother of God.[1017]
Justly, then, did David say, that the foundations of this city of God,
Mary, should be laid upon the summits of the mountains: “Fundamenta
ejus in montibus sanctis;”[1018] by which we are to understand that the
beginning of the life of Mary was more exalted than the completed lives
of all the saints put together. “The Lord loveth the gates of Sion,” the
prophet continues, “above all the tabernacles of Jacob.”[1019] And David
himself gave this as the reason, namely, that God was to make himself man
in her virginal womb: Man was born in her: “Homo natus est in ea.” Hence
it was fitting that God should give to this Virgin, even from the first
moment he created her, a grace corresponding with the dignity of the
mother of God.
Isaias foretold the same when he said, that in future the mountain of the
house of the Lord, which was the blessed Virgin, should be prepared on
the summit of all the other mountains, and therefore all the nations must
hasten to this mountain, to receive the divine favors.[1020] St. Gregory
explains this by saying: Yea, the mountain on the top of mountains,
because the glory of Mary shone above that of all the saints.[1021] And
as St. John Damascene expresses it: The mountain which it pleased God to
choose for his habitation.[1022] Mary was called a cypress, but a cypress
of Mount Sion: she was also called a cedar, but a cedar of Lebanon; an
olive-tree, but a fair olive-tree; chosen, but chosen as the sun; for,
as the sun, says St. Peter Damian, with his light so far exceeds all the
splendor of the stars, that they are seen no more when he appears, so the
great Virgin Mary surpasses, with her sanctity, the merits of the whole
celestial court.[1023] And as St. Bernard elegantly expresses it: Mary
was so sublime in sanctity, that none but Mary was a fitting mother of
God. And no other Son than God was befitting Mary.[1024]
The second argument which proves that Mary, in the first moment of her
life, was more holy than all the saints united, is founded upon the great
office which she had from the beginning, of mediatrix of men; for which
it was requisite that she should possess a greater treasure of grace than
the whole human race together. It is very well known how universally this
title of mediatrix is applied by theologians and by the very holy Fathers
to Mary, since by her powerful intercession and merits _de congruo_
she has obtained salvation for all, procuring for the ruined world the
great blessing of redemption. It is said by merit _de congruo_, because
Jesus Christ alone is our mediator by way of justice, and by merit _de
condigno_, as it is expressed by the schools, he having offered to the
eternal Father his merits, which he has accepted for our salvation. Mary,
on the contrary, is the mediatrix of grace by way of simple intercession,
and of merit _de congruo_, she having offered to God, as the theologians
say with St. Bonaventure, her merits for the salvation of all men; and
God, through grace, has accepted them in union with the merits of Jesus
Christ. Hence Arnold Carnotensis says: She effected our salvation in
common with Christ.[1025] And Richard of St. Victor, also: She desired,
sought, and obtained the salvation of all; nay, more, the salvation of
all was effected through her.[1026] So that every blessing and every gift
of eternal life which each of the saints has received from God, has been
obtained for them by Mary.
And it is this which the holy Church wishes us to understand, when
she honors the divine mother by applying to her these passages of
Ecclesiasticus: In me is all grace of the way and of the truth: “In me
gratia omnis viæ et veritatis.”[1027] It is said: _Of the way_, because
through Mary all graces are dispensed to those who are still on the road
to heaven: _Of the truth_, because through Mary is given the light of
truth. In me is all hope of life and of virtue: “In me omnes spes vitæ
et virtutis.”[1028] Of life, because through Mary we hope to attain the
life of grace upon earth, and of glory in heaven; and of virtue, because
through Mary virtue is obtained, and especially the theological virtues,
which are the principal virtues of the saints. I am the mother of fair
love, and of fear, and of knowledge, and of holy hope.[1029] Mary by her
intercession obtains for her servants the gifts of divine love, of holy
fear, of celestial light, and of holy confidence. And St. Bernard infers
that it is taught by the Church, that Mary is the universal mediatrix of
our salvation. “Extol the finder of grace, the mediatrix of salvation,
the restorer of ages.” Thus the Church sings of her to me, and hath
taught me to sing the same.[1030]
Therefore, as St. Sophronius, Patriarch of Jerusalem, asserts, the
archangel Gabriel called her full of grace: “Ave gratia plena;” because
whilst to others, as the saint above mentioned remarks, limited grace is
given, to Mary it was given in fulness.[1031] And thus it was ordered, as
St. Basil attests, that in this way she might become the worthy mediatrix
between God and men.[1032] For if the Virgin had not been full of divine
grace, as St. Lawrence Justinian adds, how could she be the ladder of
paradise, the advocate of the world, and the true mediatrix between God
and men?[1033]
The second argument is now made perfectly clear: If Mary, even from the
beginning, as already destined to be the mother of the common Redeemer,
received the office of mediatrix of all men, and consequently also of
all the saints, it was requisite that she, from the beginning, should
have a greater grace than all the saints had, for whom she was to
intercede. To explain myself more clearly, if by means of Mary all men
were to render themselves dear to God, it was meet that Mary should be
more holy and more dear to God than all men united. Otherwise, how could
she intercede for all others? In order that an intercessor may obtain
from his prince favor for all his vassals, it is absolutely necessary
that he, more than all the other vassals, should be dear to his monarch.
And Mary, therefore, concludes St. Anselm, merited to be the worthy
restorer of the ruined world, because she was the most holy and most pure
of all creatures.[1034]
Mary was, then, the mediatrix of men, some one will say, but can she be
called also the mediatrix of angels? Many theologians are of opinion that
Jesus Christ obtained by his merits the grace of perseverance also for
the angels; so that as Jesus Christ was their mediator _de condigno_,
Mary may also be called their mediatrix _de congruo_, having hastened
by her prayers the coming of the Redeemer. At least, having merited _de
congruo_ to be chosen for the mother of the Messias, she merited for the
angels the restoration of their seats which had been lost by the demons.
Then, at least, she merited for them this accidental glory; hence,
Richard of St. Victor says: Every creature by her is restored, the ruin
of the angels by her is repaired, and human nature is reconciled.[1035]
And St. Anselm before had said: All things by this Virgin are reclaimed
and restored to their pristine state.[1036]
So that our heavenly child, because she was appointed mediatrix of the
world, as well as predestined for the mother of the Redeemer, even from
the first moment of her life, received grace greater than that of all
the saints united. Hence how lovely in the sight of heaven and earth was
the beautiful soul of that happy infant, although still inclosed in the
womb of its mother! In the eye of God she was the creature most worthy
of love, because, already full of grace and of merit, she could, even at
that time, exult and say: When I was a little child I pleased the Most
High: “Cum essem parvula, placui Altissimo.” And at the same time she was
the creature most full of love for God that until that time had appeared
in this world; so that Mary, had she been born immediately after her most
pure conception, would have come into the world more rich in merits, and
more holy, than all the saints united. Now, let us consider how much more
holy she was at her birth, coming to the light after the acquisition of
those merits which she made during the nine months that she remained
in her mother’s womb. Let us now go on to consider the second point,
namely: how great was the fidelity with which Mary at once corresponded
with the divine grace.
_Second Point._—It is not now an individual opinion of some few divines,
says a learned author,[1037] it is the opinion of the whole world, that
the holy infant, when she received sanctifying grace in the womb of St.
Anna, received at the same time the perfect use of reason, with a great
divine light corresponding to the grace with which she was enriched.
Hence we may believe, that from the first moment when her pure soul was
united to her most pure body, she was enlightened with divine wisdom to
comprehend eternal truths, the beauty of virtue, above all, the infinite
goodness of her God, and how much he deserves to be loved by all men,
but especially by her, on account of the peculiar graces with which he
had adorned her and distinguished her from all creatures, preserving her
from the stain of original sin, bestowing on her a grace so abundant, and
destining her for the mother of the Word and the queen of the universe.
Hence Mary, from that moment grateful to her God, began to effect all
that she could, using faithfully all that great treasure of grace that
she had received; and wholly applying herself to please and love the
divine goodness. From that moment she loved him with all her strength,
and thus continued to love him through all those nine months that she
lived before her birth, in which she did not cease for a moment to unite
herself to God by fervent acts of love. She was free from original sin,
and therefore she was also exempt from every earthly attachment, from
every irregular tendency, from every distraction, from all strife of the
senses, which could have prevented her from advancing constantly in the
divine love. All her senses united with her blessed spirit in drawing her
near to God. Hence her pure soul, freed from every hindrance, without
lingering, always rose to God, always loved him, and always increased in
love to him. Therefore she called herself a plane-tree planted by the
waters: “Quasi platanus exaltata sum juxta aquam;”[1038] for she, indeed,
was that noble tree of God that always grew beside the stream of divine
grace. She also called herself a vine: As the vine I have brought forth
a pleasant odor: “Ego quasi vitis fructificavi suavitatem odoris;”[1039]
not only because she was so humble in the eyes of the world, but also
because, as the vine never ceases to grow: “Vitis nullo fine crescit:”
according to the Proverb, so the most holy Virgin always increased in
perfection. The growth of other trees, as the orange, mulberry, pear,
&c., is determinate, but the vine always increases, and increases in
proportion to the height of the tree by which it is supported. Hail, oh
vine, always vigorous! thus St. Gregory Thaumaturgus salutes her;[1040]
for she was always united to her God, who was her only support. Thus
it was of her that the Holy Spirit spoke, when he said: Who is this
that cometh up from the desert flowing with delights, leaning on her
beloved?[1041] Commenting on this, St. Ambrose says: Who is this that,
accompanied by the divine Word, increases like the vine supported by a
lofty tree?[1042]
Many grave theologians teach, that the soul which possesses a habit
of virtue, whenever she corresponds faithfully with the actual graces
which she afterwards receives from God, always produces an act equal in
intensity to the habit she possesses; so that each time she acquires a
new and double merit, equal to the aggregate of all the merits before
acquired. This increase, as they say, was granted to the angels in the
time of their probation; and if it were granted to the angels, who shall
say that it was not also given to the divine mother while she lived on
this earth, but especially in the time of which I am speaking, when she
remained in the womb of her mother, and was certainly more faithful
than the angels, in corresponding with grace? Mary, then, during all
that time was redoubling continually that sublime grace, which from the
first moment she possessed; for, corresponding with all her power and
perfection in every act she performed, at every successive moment she
redoubled her merits. Hence, if, in the first moment, she had received
a thousand degrees of grace, in the second she had two thousand, in the
third four thousand, in the fourth eight thousand, in the fifth sixteen
thousand, in the sixth thirty thousand; and yet we have only reached the
sixth moment. But multiply in this way for a whole day, multiply for nine
months, and consider what treasures of grace, of merits, and of sanctity
Mary brought into the world when she was born.
Let us rejoice, then, with our infant, who was born so holy, so dear to
God, and so full of grace; and let us rejoice not only for her, but also
for ourselves, since she came into the world full of grace, not only for
her own glory, but for our good. St. Thomas says the most holy Virgin
was full of grace in three ways: 1st, She was full of grace in soul, so
that from the beginning her holy soul belonged entirely to God. 2d, She
was full of grace in body, so that she merited to clothe the eternal Word
with her pure flesh. 3d, She was full of grace for the common benefit, so
that all men might share it.[1043] Some saints, adds the angelic Doctor,
have so much grace, that not only is it enough for themselves, but also
to save many others, not, however, all men; only to Jesus Christ and Mary
was given so great a grace that it was sufficient to save all men. If any
one had enough for the salvation of all, that would be the greatest; and
this was in Jesus Christ and the blessed Virgin.[1044] Thus St. Thomas
writes. Hence, what St. John said of Jesus—“And of his fulness we all
have received”[1045]—the saints say of Mary. St. Thomas of Villanova
says: Full of grace, of whose fulness all receive.[1046] Therefore
St. Anselm remarks, there is no one who does not share in the grace
of Mary.[1047] And is there any one in the world to whom Mary is not
merciful, and on whom she does not bestow some favor?[1048] From Jesus,
however (we should understand), we receive grace as from the author of
grace, from Mary as the mediatrix; from Jesus as the Saviour, from Mary
as the advocate; from Jesus as the fountain, from Mary as the channel.
Therefore St. Bernard says that God has established Mary as the channel
of the mercies which he wishes to dispense to men; and for this reason
he filled her with grace, that every one might receive his portion of
her fulness. A full channel, that all might partake of its fulness, but
not receive the fulness itself.[1049] Hence the saint exhorts all to
consider with how much love God will have us honor this great Virgin,
since in her he has placed all the treasure of his blessings; that
whatever we possess of hope, grace, and salvation, we may thank our most
loving queen for it; since it all comes to us through her hands, and by
her intercession.[1050] Miserable is that soul who closes for herself
this channel of grace, by neglecting to recommend herself to Mary! When
Holophernes wished to make himself master of the city of Bethulia, he
ordered the aqueducts to be destroyed: “And he commanded their aqueduct
to be cut off.”[1051] And this the devil does when he wishes to make
himself master of a soul, he makes her abandon the devotion to the most
holy Mary. When this channel is closed, she will at once lose the light
and the fear of God, and finally eternal salvation. By the following
example it will be seen how great is the compassion of the heart of Mary,
and the ruin which he brings upon himself who closes this channel, and
abandons devotion to this queen of heaven.
EXAMPLE.
It is narrated by Tritemius, Canisius, and others, that in Magdeburg, a
city of Saxony, there was a certain man named Udo, who, from his youth,
had been so destitute of talent that he was the ridicule of all his
school-fellows. Now one day, being more than usually disheartened, he
went to pray to the most holy Virgin before her image. Mary appeared to
him in a dream, and said to him: “Udo, I will console you, and not only
will I obtain from God for you abilities which will protect you from
derision, but even talents which will make you admired; and moreover,
after the death of the bishop, I promise that you shall be elected in his
place.” Thus Mary said, and thus it came to pass. Udo made great progress
in the sciences, and obtained the bishopric of that city. But Udo was
so ungrateful to God and to his benefactress for these favors, that he
neglected all his devotions and became the scandal of the place. Whilst
he was in bed one night with a wicked companion, he heard a voice saying
to him: “Udo, cease this sinful pastime, you have sinned enough.”[1052]
At first he was irritated by these words, thinking it was some one who
was reproving him; but hearing it repeated a second and a third night,
he began to tremble a little, lest it should be a voice from heaven.
Notwithstanding all this, he continued in his wickedness. But after God
had given him three months for repentance, behold the punishment! One
night a devout canon, named Frederic, was praying, in the church of
St. Maurice, that God would remove the scandal which Udo gave; when,
behold, the door of the church was burst open by a strong wind. Two
youths entered with lighted torches in their hands, and stood on each
side of the high altar. Then two others followed, who spread before the
altar a carpet, and placed upon it two thrones of gold. Another youth,
in military attire, followed, with a sword in his hand, and stopping in
the midst of the church, cried: “Oh ye saints of heaven, whose relics
are preserved in this church, come to assist at the great justice which
the sovereign Judge is about to execute.” At these words many saints
appeared, and also the twelve apostles, as assistants in this judgment.
Lastly, Jesus Christ entered, and seated himself on one of these thrones.
Afterwards Mary appeared, attended by many holy virgins, and seated
herself on the other throne at the side of her Son. The Judge now ordered
that the culprit should be brought forward, and he was the miserable
Udo. St. Maurice spoke, and demanded, in the name of the people whom he
had scandalized, justice for his infamous life. All present raised their
voices and said: “Oh Lord, he merits death.” “Let him die, then,” said
the eternal Judge. But before the sentence was executed (see how great is
the mercy of Mary) she, the kind mother, that she might not be present at
that tremendous act of justice, left the church; and then the heavenly
minister, who entered among the first, with the sword, approaching Udo,
with one blow severed the head from the body, and the vision vanished.
The place was left dark. The canon, trembling, went for a light from a
lamp which was burning under the church; and when he returned, saw the
body of Udo with the head cut off, and the pavement all covered with
blood. When daylight came, the people thronged the church, and the canon
related the whole vision and the circumstances of that fearful tragedy.
And on the same day the wretched Udo, who was condemned to hell, appeared
to one of his chaplains, who knew nothing of what had taken place in the
church. The body of Udo was thrown into a marsh, and his blood remained
for a perpetual memorial on that pavement, which was always covered with
a carpet; and from that time it became the custom to uncover it when a
new bishop took possession of the church, that at the sight of such a
punishment he might be mindful to lead a good life, and not be ungrateful
for the graces of the Lord and of his most holy mother.
PRAYER.
Oh holy and heavenly infant Mary! thou who art the destined mother of my
Redeemer and the great mediatrix of miserable sinners, have pity on me.
Behold at thy feet another ungrateful creature who has recourse to thee
and implores thy mercy. It is true that, for my ingratitude towards God
and thee, I am deserving of being abandoned by God and by thee; but I
have been told, and thus I believe, knowing how great is thy compassion,
that thou wilt not refuse to help him who, with confidence, recommends
himself to thee. Thou, oh most exalted of all creatures, since there is
no one above thee but God, and, in comparison with thee, the greatest
in heaven are but small; oh saint of saints, oh Mary, abyss of grace,
full of grace, help a miserable sinner who has lost it by his own fault.
I know that thou art so dear to God that he denies thee nothing. I know
also that thou dost rejoice to employ thy greatness in relieving the
distressed. Ah, make known how great is thy favor with God by obtaining
for me a divine light and a flame so powerful that it may change me from
a sinner into a saint, and, detaching me from every earthly affection,
may wholly inflame me with divine love. Do this, oh Lady, because thou
canst do it; do this for the love of that God who has made thee so great,
so powerful, and merciful. Thus I hope. Amen.
DISCOURSE III.
ON THE PRESENTATION OF MARY.
_The offering which Mary made of herself to God was prompt,
without delay; entire, without reserve._
There never has been, and there never will be, any offering of a pure
creature greater and more perfect than that which Mary made to God,
being yet only a child of three years, when she presented herself in the
temple to offer him, not spices, nor calves, nor talents of gold, but her
whole self as a perfect holocaust, consecrating herself as a perpetual
victim in his honor. Well did she understand the voice of God, which
even then called her to dedicate herself wholly to his love, with these
words: Arise, make haste, my love, and come: “Surge, propera, amica mea,
et veni.”[1053] And therefore her Lord would have her from thenceforth
forget her country, her parents, and every thing, to attend to nothing
but to love and please him: “Hearken, oh daughter, and see and incline
thy ear; and forget thy people and thy father’s house.”[1054] And she
at once obeyed promptly the divine voice. Let us consider, then, how
acceptable to God was this offering which Mary made of herself, as she
presented herself promptly and entirely to him; promptly without delay;
entirely without reserve; these are the two points.
_First Point._—Mary offered herself to God promptly. From the first
moment when this heavenly infant was sanctified in the womb of her
mother (which was at the first moment of her immaculate conception),
she received the perfect use of reason, that she might from thenceforth
begin to merit, as the Doctors universally agree; and one of them,
Father Suarez, says, that as the most perfect mode by which God
sanctifies a soul is its sanctification by its own merits, as St. Thomas
teaches,[1055] so it is to be believed that the blessed Virgin has
been thus sanctified.[1056] And if this privilege was granted to the
angels and to Adam, as the angelic Doctor says,[1057] much more should
we believe that it was granted to the divine mother, on whom we cannot
doubt that God, having deigned to make her his mother, conferred greater
gifts than on all other creatures, as the same Doctor teaches. From her
he received his human nature, hence before all others she must have
obtained from Christ the fulness of grace;[1058] for, being mother, as
Father Suarez says, she has a certain peculiar right to all the gifts of
her Son.[1059] And as, by the hypostatic union, Jesus must of right have
the fulness of all graces; thus by the divine maternity, it was meet that
Jesus should confer on Mary, as a natural debt, greater graces than those
bestowed on all the other saints and angels.
Thus, from the beginning of her life, Mary knew God, and knew him so
well, that no tongue, as the angel declared to St. Bridget, shall
suffice to tell how the intellect of the holy Virgin clearly saw God in
the first moment she knew him.[1060] And even in that first moment of
light by which she was illuminated, she offered herself wholly to her
Lord, dedicating herself entirely to his lore and glory, as the angel
continued to say to St. Bridget: “At once our queen resolved to sacrifice
her will to God, with all her love, for the whole time of her life; and
no one can understand how completely her will submitted itself then to
embrace all things pleasing to him.”[1061]
Yet, when the immaculate infant understood afterwards that her holy
parents, Joachim and Anna, had promised to God, even by a vow, as
various authors relate, that if he should grant them a child, it should
be consecrated to his service in the temple; for it was an ancient
custom of the Jews to place their children in cells which were near
the temple, that there they might be properly educated, as we learn
from Baronius, Nicephorus, Cedrenus, and Suarez, as also from Josephus,
the Jewish historian, St. John Damascene, St. Gregory of Nicomedia,
St. Anselm,[1062] and St. Ambrose.[1063] As it is also clearly seen
in Macchabees, where, speaking of Heliodorus, who wished to enter the
temple by force, in order to take from it the treasures deposited
there, it is said: “Because the place was like to come into contempt
... the virgins that were shut up hastened to Onias.”[1064] When Mary
knew of this vow, as I have before said, she wished solemnly to offer
and consecrate herself to God, by presenting herself in the temple,
as Germanus asserts, and also St. Epiphanius, who says, that when she
was hardly three years old she was presented in the temple,[1065] at an
age when children have the greatest desire for the assistance of their
parents, and need it the most. She was even the first to entreat her
parents earnestly that they would take her to the temple, to fulfil their
promise; and her holy mother, Anna, as St. Gregory of Nyssa says, did not
delay to bring her there, and offer her to God.[1066]
And behold, Joachim and Anna, generously sacrificing to God what was
dearest to them on earth, set out from Nazareth, carrying by turns, in
their arms, their beloved little daughter, who could not walk so great a
distance as was that from Nazareth to Jerusalem, a journey, as several
authors assert, of eighty miles. They thus went on their way, accompanied
by only a few of their relations, but by hosts of angels, as St. George
of Nicomedia asserts,[1067] who attended and ministered to the immaculate
Virgin, as she went to dedicate herself to the Divine Majesty. How
beautiful are thy steps, oh prince’s daughter! “Quam pulchri sunt gressus
tui, filia principis!”[1068] Oh, how beautiful, how pleasing to God, as
the angels sung, are thy steps, as thou goest to offer thyself to him,
oh great and chosen daughter of our common Lord! God himself on that
day, says Bernardine de Bustis, celebrated a great feast with the whole
celestial court, when he beheld his spouse conducted to the temple.[1069]
For he never saw a creature more holy and more beloved offering herself
to him.[1070] Go, then, said St. Germanus, Archbishop of Constantinople,
go, oh queen of the world, oh mother of God, go joyfully to the house of
the Lord, to wait for the coming of the Holy Spirit that will make thee
mother of the eternal Word.[1071]
When the holy company had arrived at the temple, the eager child turned
to her parents, kneeling kissed their hands, and asked for their
benediction; and then, without turning back, she ascended the fifteen
steps of the temple, as Arias Montanus relates upon the authority of
Josephus, the Jewish historian, and presented herself to the priest, who,
according to St. Germanus, was Zachary; then, taking leave of the world,
and renouncing all the goods which it promises to its followers, she
offered and consecrated herself to her Creator.
At the time of the deluge, the raven which was sent by Noe from the ark
remained to feed upon the bodies of the dead, but the dove without
stopping to rest her foot, returned quickly to the ark: She returned to
him into the ark: “Reversa est ad eum in arcam.”[1072] Many who are sent
by God into this world, unhappily stop to feed on earthly things. Not so
Mary, our celestial dove; she knew that God should be our only good, our
only hope, our only love; she knew that the world is full of dangers,
and that he who the soonest leaves it, is freest from its snares;
therefore she sought promptly to flee from it in her tenderest years, and
seclude herself in the sacred retirement of the temple, where she could
better hear the voice of God, and better honor and love him. And thus
the holy Virgin, from the beginning of her life, rendered herself dear
and acceptable to her Lord, as the holy Church makes her say: “Rejoice
with me, all ye who love the Lord, for when I was little I pleased the
Most High.”[1073] For this reason she was compared to the moon; for as
the moon completes her course more quickly than the other planets, so
Mary attained perfection sooner than all the saints, by giving herself
promptly to God without delay; and entirely without reserve. And now let
us pass to the second point, upon which we shall have much to say.
_Point Second._—The enlightened infant well knew that God does not
accept a divided heart, but wishes it entirely consecrated to his love,
according to the precept he has given: “Thou shalt love the Lord thy
God with thy whole heart.”[1074] Hence, from the first moment of her
existence, she began to love God with all her strength, and gave herself
wholly to him. But her most holy soul awaited with earnest desire the
time when she could in reality consecrate herself entirely, and with a
public solemnity, to God. Let us consider, then, with how great a fervor
the loving Virgin, seeing herself actually inclosed in that holy place,
first prostrated herself to kiss that ground as the house of the Lord,
then adored his infinite majesty, and thanked him for the favor she
had received of being brought so early to inhabit his house. Then she
offered herself entirely to her God; entirely, without reserving any
thing. She offered to him all her powers and all her senses, her whole
mind and her whole heart, her whole soul and her whole body, for it was
then, as we are told, that to please God, she made the vow of virginity.
A vow, according to Rupert the Abbot, that Mary was the first to make:
“Votum virginitatis prima emisit.”[1075] And she offered herself without
limitation of time, as Bernardine de Bustis asserts: Mary offered and
dedicated herself to the perpetual service of God.[1076] Since she had
then the intention of dedicating her whole life to the service of
his Divine Majesty in the temple, if it should so please God; and of
never quitting that sacred place, Oh, with what affection must she have
exclaimed: My beloved to me, and I to him: “Dilectus meus mihi, et ego
illi.”[1077] I for him, as Cardinal Hugo remarks, will wholly live and
will wholly die: “Ego illi tota vivam, et tota moriar.” My Lord and my
God, she said, I have come hither only to please thee, and to give thee
all the honor I can; here I will live wholly for thee and die for thee,
if it so please thee; accept the sacrifice which this thy poor servant
makes to thee, and help me to be faithful to thee.
And here let us consider how holy was the life that Mary led in the
temple, where, like the rising morn, “Quasi aurora consurgens,”
increasing always in perfection, as the dawn increases in light; who can
describe how, from day to day, in her more brightly shone her virtues;
charity, modesty, humility, silence, mortification, meekness? This fair
olive-tree, planted in the house of God, as St. John Damascene says,
under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, became the habitation of all
the virtues.[1078] The same saint says in another place: The countenance
of the Virgin was modest, her mind humble, her words kind, proceeding
from a recollected heart.[1079] And he elsewhere asserts: The Virgin
withdrew her thoughts from all earthly things, embracing all the virtues.
Thus, then, by the practice of perfection, she made so great progress in
a short time, as to merit being made a temple worthy of God.[1080]
St. Anselm, also, speaking of the life of the holy Virgin in the temple,
says: Mary was docile, spoke little, was always composed, never laughed,
was never distracted. She persevered in prayer, in the reading of the
Holy Scripture, in fasting, and all virtuous works.[1081] St. Jerome goes
more into detail, and tells us how Mary’s life was ordered: From early
in the morning till nine o’clock she remained in prayer; from nine to
three she was engaged in labor; at three she resumed her prayers, until
the angel, as usual, brought her food. She was the most constant in
vigils, the most exact in obedience to the divine law, the most profound
in humility, and the most perfect in every virtue. No one ever saw her
angry; all her words were so full of sweetness, that when she spoke it
always appeared that God was with her.[1082]
The divine mother herself revealed to St. Elizabeth, a Benedictine nun,
in the convent of Sconaugia, as we read in St. Bonaventure,[1083] that
when she was left in the temple by her parents, she resolved on having
God alone for father, and often thought what she could do to please
him.[1084] She determined, moreover, to consecrate to him her virginity,
and to possess nothing in the world, giving her entire will to God.[1085]
She also told her that above all the divine precepts to be observed,
she placed before her eyes the precept, “Thou shalt love the Lord thy
God,”[1086] and that she went in the middle of the night to pray the
Lord before the altar of the temple, that he would grant her the grace
to observe the commandments, and to see the mother of the Redeemer born
while she lived, praying him that he would preserve her eyes to see her,
her tongue to praise her, her hands and feet to serve her, and her knees
to adore in her arms, his divine Son. St. Elizabeth, on hearing this,
said to her: “But, my Lady, were you not full of grace and virtue?”
and Mary answered her: “Know that I esteemed myself the most vile, and
unworthy of divine grace; therefore I prayed thus for grace and virtues.”
And, finally, that she might persuade us of the absolute necessity we are
all under, of asking from God the graces that we need, she added: “Do
you think that I obtained grace and virtue without effort? Know that I
received no grace from God without great effort, constant prayer, ardent
desire, and many tears and penances.”
But above all, we should consider the revelations made to St. Bridget,
of the virtues and exercises practised by the blessed Virgin in her
childhood, in these words: “Even from an infant Mary was filled with the
Holy Spirit, and as she increased in age, she increased also in grace.
Even from that time she resolved to love God with all her heart, so that
he should never be offended by her actions or her words, and for this
reason all the goods of earth were despised by her. She gave all she
could to the poor. In her food she was so temperate that she only took
what was absolutely necessary to support life. Discovering then from the
sacred Scriptures, that this God was to be born from a virgin to redeem
the world, her spirit was so kindled with divine love that she desired
and thought only of God; and taking pleasure only in God, shunned the
conversation even of her parents, that they might not hinder her from
thinking on God. And more than all did she desire that the coming of the
Messiah might be in her day, that she might be the servant to that happy
Virgin who merited to be his mother.” Thus the revelations made to St.
Bridget.[1087]
Ah, for love of this exalted child the Redeemer hastened his coming into
the world, for whilst she through her humility did not esteem herself
worthy of being the servant of the divine mother, she was herself
chosen for this mother, and by the odor of her virtues and her powerful
prayers, she drew into her virginal womb the divine Son. Hence was Mary
called the turtle by her divine spouse: The voice of the turtle is heard
in our land: “Vox turturis audita est in terra nostra.”[1088] Not only
because she, like the turtle, always loved solitude, living in this world
as in a desert, but also because, like the turtle who makes the fields
mournful with its sad note, Mary was always mourning in the temple over
the miseries of the lost world, and asking from God, the Redeemer of the
world. Oh, with how much greater affection and fervor than the prophets
did she repeat to God in the temple their supplications and sighs, that
he might send the Redeemer! “Send forth, oh Lord, the Lamb, the ruler of
the earth.”[1089] “Drop down dew, ye heavens, from above, and let the
clouds rain the just.”[1090] “Oh, that thou wouldst rend the heavens and
wouldst come down.”[1091]
In a word, it was an object of delight to God to see this young Virgin
always ascending to a higher perfection, like a pillar of smoke, rich
in the odors of all virtues, as the Holy Spirit exactly describes her
in the sacred Canticles: “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?”[1092] This holy child, says
Sophronius, was in truth the garden of delights of the Lord, for he found
there flowers of every kind, and all the odors of the virtues.[1093]
This St. John Chrysostom affirms, that God chose Mary for his mother on
earth, because he found not on the earth a more perfect and more holy
Virgin than Mary, neither a place more worthy for him to dwell in than
her sacred womb;[1094] as St. Bernard also says: On the earth there was
no more worthy place than the womb of the Virgin.[1095] St. Antoninus
asserts that the blessed Virgin, in order to be elected and predestined
to the dignity of mother of God, must have possessed a perfection so
great and consummate, that it should surpass the perfection of all other
creatures.[1096]
As then the holy young child Mary, presented and offered herself in the
temple promptly and entirely, so let us, at this day, without delay and
without reserve, present ourselves to Mary, and entreat her to offer us
to God, who will not refuse us when he sees us offered by the hand of her
who was the living temple of the Holy Spirit, the delight of her Lord,
and the chosen mother of the Eternal Word. And let us place a great hope
in this exalted and most gracious Lady, who rewards with so much love the
devotions that are offered to her by her servants, as may be seen by the
following example.
EXAMPLE.
We read in the life of Sister Domenica of Paradise, written by Father
Ignatius of Niente, a Dominican, that in a village called Paradise, near
Florence, this little girl was born of poor parents. From her infancy
she practised devotion to the divine mother. She fasted every day of
the week in her honor, and on Saturday she distributed to the poor the
food of which she had deprived herself; and every Saturday she went
into the garden, or into the neighboring fields, and there gathered all
the flowers she could find, and placed them before a statue of the holy
Virgin with the infant Jesus in her arms, which she had in her house.
But let us see now with what favors our most grateful Lady compensated
this her servant, for the homage she paid her. As she stood one Sunday at
the window, when she was about ten years of age, she saw in the street
a woman with a beautiful countenance, accompanied by a little child,
and they both extended their hands as if to ask alms. She went for some
bread, and, behold, before she could open the door, they stood beside
her, and she saw wounds on the hands, feet, and breast of the child. Then
she said to the woman: “Who has wounded this child?” “It was love,”
answered the mother. Domenica, charmed by his beauty and modesty, asked
him if his wounds pained him; but he only answered with a smile. As they
were standing near the images of Jesus and of Mary, the mother said
to Domenica: “Tell me, little girl, what makes you crown these images
with flowers?” She answered: “The love I have for Jesus and Mary makes
me do it.” “And how much do you love them?” “I love them as much as I
can.” “And how much can you love them?” “As much as they will help me.”
“Continue, then,” said the mother, “continue to love them, for they will
richly return your love in paradise.”
Then the little girl perceived a celestial odor coming forth from those
wounds, and she asked the mother with what ointment she had anointed
them, and if that ointment could be purchased? “It is purchased,”
answered she, “with faith and works.” Domenica then offered them the
bread. The mother said: “The food of this my Son is love; tell him that
you love Jesus and he will be satisfied.” The child at mention of this
word love, began to show great signs of joy, and turning to the little
girl, he asked her how much she loved Jesus. She answered that she loved
him so much, that day and night she was always thinking of him, and
desired nothing else but to please him as much as she could. “Well,”
answered he, “love him; and love will teach you what you must do to
satisfy him.” The odor then increasing which came from those wounds,
Domenica exclaimed: “Oh God, this odor makes me die of love; if the
odor of a child is so sweet, what must be the odors of paradise?” But
behold the scene was changed; the mother appeared robed as a queen, and
surrounded with light, and the child resplendent as a sun of beauty. He
took those flowers and strewed them on her head. She at once saw that
these persons were Jesus and Mary, and prostrated herself in adoration
before them. And thus ended the vision. Domenica afterwards took the
Dominican habit, and died in the year 1553, with the reputation of a
saint.
PRAYER.
Oh beloved of God! most amiable child Mary! oh, that like thee, who didst
present thyself in the temple, and at once and wholly didst consecrate
thyself to the glory and love of thy God, I might offer to thee to-day
the first years of my life, and dedicate myself entirely to thy service,
oh my most holy and sweet Lady! But it is now too late, for, unhappily,
I have lost so many years in serving the world and my caprices, as it
were entirely forgetful of thee and of God. Alas for the time in which I
did not love thee![1097] But it is better to commence late than not at
all. Behold, oh Mary, to-day I present myself to thee, and offer myself
entirely to thy service, for the longer or shorter time that remains
for me to live on the earth; and with thee I renounce all creatures,
and dedicate myself entirely to the love of my Creator. I consecrate
to thee, then, oh queen, my mind, that I may always think of the love
that thou dost merit, my tongue to praise thee, and my heart to love
thee. Accept, oh most holy Virgin, the offering which the most miserable
sinner presents to thee; accept it, I pray thee, for the sake of that
consolation which filled thy heart when in the temple thou gavest thyself
to God. And if late I begin to serve thee, it is right that I should
make good the time lost by redoubling my devotion and my love. Aid my
weakness, oh mother of mercy, with thy powerful intercession, and obtain
for me perseverance and strength to be faithful to thee until death; that
always serving thee in this life, I may come to praise thee eternally in
paradise.
DISCOURSE IV.
ON THE ANNUNCIATION OF MARY.
_Mary could not humble herself more than she did in the
incarnation of the Word. On the other hand, God could not exalt
her more than he has exalted her._
“Whosoever shall exalt himself shall be humbled, and he that shall humble
himself shall be exalted.”[1098] These are the words of our Lord, and
cannot fail. Therefore, God having determined to make himself man, in
order to redeem lost man, and thus manifest to the world his infinite
goodness, being about to choose on earth his mother, sought among women
the holiest and most humble. Among them all he saw one, the youthful
virgin Mary, who, as she was the most perfect in all virtues, so was
she the most simple; and humble as a dove in her own esteem. “There are
young maidens without number; one is my dove, my perfect one.”[1099] Let
this one, then, said God, be my chosen mother. Let us, then, see how
humble Mary was, and how God exalted her. Mary could not humble herself
more than she did in the incarnation of the Word; this will be the first
point. That God could not exalt Mary more than he exalted her, will be
the second.
_First Point._—Our Lord in the holy Canticles, speaking precisely of the
humility of this most humble Virgin, said: “While the king was at his
repose, my spikenard sent forth the odor thereof.”[1100] St. Antoninus,
commenting on these words, says that the spikenard, inasmuch as it is a
small and lowly plant, was a type of the humility of Mary, whose odor
ascended to heaven, and drew, even from the bosom of the eternal Father,
into her virginal womb the divine Word. The spikenard is a small herb,
and signifies the blessed Virgin, who exhaled the odor of humility;
which odor ascended even to heaven, and in heaven as it were awakened
him who was in his repose, and brought him to rest in her womb.[1101]
Thus the Lord, drawn by the odor of this humble Virgin, chose her for his
mother, when he wished to become man to redeem the world. But he, for the
greater glory and merit of this his mother, would not make himself her
Son without first obtaining her consent. He would not take flesh from
her without her consent.[1102] Therefore, when the humble young Virgin
was in her poor dwelling, sighing and praying to God more earnestly than
ever that he would send the Redeemer, as was revealed to St. Elizabeth,
a Benedictine nun, behold the Archangel Gabriel came, bearing the great
embassy. He enters and salutes her, saying: “Hail, full of grace, the
Lord is with thee; blessed art thou among women.”[1103] Hail, oh Virgin,
full of grace, for thou wast always rich in grace above all the other
saints. The Lord is with thee because thou art so humble. Thou art
blessed among women, for all others have incurred the curse of original
sin; but thou, because thou art to be the mother of the Blessed One,
hast been and wilt always be blessed, and free from every stain.
But what does the humble Mary answer to this salutation so full of
praises? She answered nothing, but she was disturbed thinking on such a
salutation: “And when she had heard, she was troubled at his saying, and
thought with herself what manner of salutation this should be.”[1104] And
why was she disturbed? through fear of illusion, or through modesty at
the sight of a man, as some suppose, remembering that the angel appeared
to her in human form? No, the text is plain; she was troubled at his
saying, “turbata est in sermone ejus,” as Eusebius Emissenus remarks:
Not by his appearance, but by his speech: “Non in vultu, sed in sermone
ejus.” Such a disturbance was then wholly owing to her humility at
hearing those praises, so far beyond her humble esteem of herself. Hence
the more she is exalted by the angel, the more she humbles herself, and
the more she considers her nothingness. St. Bernardine remarks: If the
angel had said that she was the greatest sinner in the world, Mary would
not have been thus surprised; but in hearing those exalted praises she
was greatly disturbed.[1105] She was troubled because, being so full
of humility, she abhorred every praise, and desired that none but her
Creator, the giver of every good, should be praised and blessed. Mary
said exactly this to St. Bridget, speaking of the time when she became
mother of God. “I disliked my own praise, and only wished to hear that of
the giver and Creator.”[1106]
But I would remark, that the blessed Virgin had already well learned from
the Holy Scriptures that the time foretold by the prophets for the coming
of the Messiah had arrived; that the weeks of Daniel were now completed;
that already, according to the prophecy of Jacob, the sceptre of Judah
had passed into the hands of Herod, a strange king, and she well knew
that a virgin was to be the mother of the Messiah; and she hears those
praises offered by the angel to herself, which seemed to belong only
to the mother of God; did it then come into her mind that perhaps she
herself might be that chosen mother of God? No, her profound humility did
not permit this thought. These praises had no other effect than to cause
her great fear; so that, as St. Peter Chrysologus remarks: As Christ
wished to be consoled by an angel, so must the Virgin be encouraged by
an angel.[1107] As the Saviour willed to be comforted by an angel, so
it was necessary that St. Gabriel, seeing Mary so full of fear at that
salutation, should encourage her, saying: “Fear not, Mary, for thou hast
found grace with God.”[1108] Do not fear, oh Mary, nor be surprised by
the great titles by which I have saluted thee, for if thou art so little
and humble in thine own eyes, God, who exalts the humble, has made thee
worthy to find the grace lost by man; and therefore has he preserved thee
from the common stain of all the children of Adam; therefore, even from
the moment of thy conception he has adorned thee with a greater grace
than that of all the saints; and therefore, finally, he now exalts thee
to be his mother: “Behold, thou shalt conceive and shalt bring forth a
son, and thou shalt call his name Jesus.”[1109]
Now why this delay? The angel, oh Lady, awaits thy answer, as St. Bernard
says: We rather await it who are condemned to death.[1110] Behold, oh
our mother, continues St. Bernard, to thee is now offered the price of
our salvation, which will be the divine Word in thee made man; if thou
wilt accept him for a son, we shall be immediately delivered from death;
behold the price of our salvation is offered to thee; immediately we are
liberated if thou dost consent.[1111] Thy Lord himself, as he is greatly
enamored of thy beauty, so much the more desires thy consent, on which
he has made the salvation of the world depend.[1112] Answer quickly, oh
Lady, adds St. Augustine, delay no longer the salvation of the world,
which now depends on thy consent.[1113]
But, behold, Mary already answers; she answers the angel, and says:
“Behold the handmaid of the Lord, be it done unto me according to thy
word.”[1114] Oh, what more beautiful, more humble, and more prudent
answer could all the wisdom of men and of angels united have invented, if
they had thought of it for millions of years! Oh powerful answer, which
gave joy in heaven, and poured upon the earth a vast flood of graces and
blessings! Answer, that hardly came forth from the humble heart of Mary
before it drew from the bosom of the eternal Father, the only begotten
Son, to become man in her most pure womb! yes, for hardly had she uttered
these words: Behold the handmaid of the Lord; be it done to me according
to thy word; when immediately the Word was made flesh: “Verbum caro
factum est;” the Son of God became also the Son of Mary. Oh powerful
Fiat! exclaims St. Thomas of Villanova; oh efficacious Fiat! oh Fiat to
be reverenced above every fiat![1115] for by another fiat God created
the light, the heaven, and the earth; but by this fiat of Mary, says the
saint, God became man like us.
But let us not wander from our point, let us consider the great humility
of the Virgin in this answer. She was indeed well enlightened to
understand how great was the dignity of the mother of God. She already
had been assured by the angel that she was this happy mother chosen by
the Lord. But with all this she is not at all raised in her own esteem,
stops not at all to enjoy her exaltation, but considering on one side her
own nothingness, and on the other the infinite majesty of her God, who
chose her for his mother, she knows how unworthy she is of such an honor,
but would by no means oppose herself to his will. Hence, when her consent
was asked, what does she do? what does she say? Wholly annihilated as to
self; all inflamed, on the other hand, with the desire of uniting herself
thus more closely to God, by entirely abandoning herself to the divine
will: Behold, she answers, behold the handmaid of the Lord: “Ecce ancilla
Domini.” Behold the slave of the Lord; obliged to do whatever her Lord
commands. And she intended to say: If the Lord chooses me for his mother,
who have nothing of my own; if all that I have is his gift, who could
think that he selects me for any merit of my own? Behold the handmaid
of the Lord. What merit can a slave have, to be made the mother of her
Lord? Behold the handmaid of the Lord. Let the goodness of God alone be
praised, and not the slave; since it is wholly his goodness which has led
him to place his eye on a creature so lowly as I, and make her so great.
Oh humility, exclaims here Guerric the Abbot; small in its own eyes,
great in the eyes of God! Insufficient to itself, sufficient to him whom
the whole world cannot contain![1116] But still more beautiful on this
occasion is the exclamation of St. Bernard, which he makes in the fourth
sermon on the Assumption of Mary, in which, admiring the humility of
Mary, he says: Oh Lady, how have you been able to unite in your heart
such an humble esteem of yourself with so much purity, so much innocence,
and with such fulness of grace[1117] as thou dost possess! And whence,
oh blessed Virgin, did this humility, this so great humility, take such
deep root in thee, when thou wast so honored and exalted by God?[1118]
Lucifer, seeing himself endowed with great beauty, aspired to exalt
his throne above the stars, and make himself like to God.[1119] Now
what would not that proud spirit have said and attempted if he had seen
himself adorned with the privileges of Mary? Not so the humble Mary;
the more she saw herself exalted, the more she humbled herself. Ah Lady,
for this beautiful humility, concludes St. Bernard, thou hast indeed
merited to be regarded by God with peculiar love, to charm thy King with
thy beauty; to draw him with the sweet odor of thy humility from his
repose in the bosom of God, into thy most pure womb.[1120] Hence St.
Bernardine de Bustis says, that Mary merited more by that answer: “Behold
the handmaid of the Lord,” than all creatures could merit by their
works.[1121]
Thus, says St. Bernard, this innocent Virgin, although by her virginity
she rendered herself dear to God, yet by humility afterwards rendered
herself worthy, as much as a creature can render itself worthy, to be
made the mother of her Creator. Although she pleased by her virginity,
by her humility she conceived: “Etsi placuit ex virginitate, tamen ex
humilitate concepit.”[1122] And St. Jerome confirms this by saying,
that God chose her for his mother more for her humility, than for all
her other sublime virtues.[1123] Mary herself expressed this to St.
Bridget, by saying to her: How did I merit such a grace to be made the
mother of my Lord, if not because I knew my nothingness, and humiliated
myself?[1124] And this she declared before in her Canticle, so full
of the deepest humility, when she said: “Because he hath regarded the
humility of his handmaid.... He that is mighty hath done great things
to me.”[1125] Upon which words St. Lawrence Justinian remarks, that the
blessed Virgin does not say, he regarded my virginity, my innocence, but
only my humility.[1126] And by this humility, as St. Francis de Sales
remarks, Mary did not intend to praise the virtue of her humility, but
wished to proclaim that God had regarded her nothingness, _humility, that
is, nothingness_: “Humilitatem, id est nihilitatem,” and through his pure
goodness had willed thus to exalt her.
In a word, St. Augustine says that the humility of Mary was like a
ladder, by which our Lord deigned to descend upon earth to become man
in her womb.[1127] And St. Antoninus confirms this by saying that the
humility of the Virgin was her most perfect and the next preparation to
become the mother of God.[1128] And by this is explained what Isaias
predicted: “And there shall come forth a rod out of the root of Jesse,
and a flower shall rise up out of his root.”[1129] The blessed Albertus
Magnus remarks, that the divine flower, namely, the only-begotten of
God, according to Isaias, would come forth, not from the top or the
trunk of the tree of Jesse, but from its root, which precisely denotes
the humility of the mother.[1130] And this is more clearly explained by
the Abbot of Celles. Observe, says he, that not from the top, but from
the root the flower is to spring up.[1131] And therefore our Lord said
to this his beloved daughter: “Turn away thy eyes from me, for they have
made me flee away.”[1132] And from whence flee, unless from the bosom of
the Father to the womb of Mary?[1133] as St. Augustine says. Upon which
the learned interpreter Fernandez observes, that the most humble eyes
of Mary, with which she always contemplated the divine greatness, never
losing sight of her nothingness, did such violence to God himself that
they drew him into her bosom.[1134] And by this we are to understand,
says Francone the Abbot, why the Holy Spirit so much praised the beauty
of this his spouse for her eyes, which were like those of a dove: “How
beautiful art thou, my love! how beautiful art thou! thy eyes are like
doves’ eyes;”[1135] because Mary, looking on God with the eyes of a
simple, humble dove, he was so much enamored of her beauty, that with the
bands of love she made him a prisoner in her virginal womb; these are
the words of the abbot: In what place on the earth could so beautiful a
virgin be found, who could allure the King of heaven by her eyes, and by
a holy violence lead him captive, bound in the chains of charity?[1136]
We will conclude this point by remarking that Mary, in the incarnation of
the Word, as we have seen from the beginning, could not have humiliated
herself more than she did. Let us now see how God could exalt her no
higher than he did by making her his mother.
_Point Second._—In order to comprehend the greatness to which Mary was
elevated, it would be necessary to comprehend the sublime majesty and
grandeur of God. It is sufficient, then, only to say, that God made this
Virgin his mother, to have it understood that God could not exalt her
more than he did exalt her. Rightly did St. Arnold Carnotensis affirm,
that God, by making himself the Son of the Virgin, established her in a
superior rank to all the saints and angels: “Maria constituta est super
omnem Creaturam.”[1137] So that, next to God, she is incomparably higher
than the celestial spirits, as St. Ephrem asserts: “Nulla comparatione
cæteris superis est gloriosior.”[1138] St. Andrew of Crete confirms this,
saying: God excepted, she is the highest of all: “Excepto Deo, omnibus
est altior.”[1139] And St. Anselm also says: Oh Lady, there is none equal
to thee, because every other is above or beneath thee; God alone is
superior to thee, and all others are inferior.[1140] So great, in a word,
says St. Bernardine, is the exaltation of this Virgin, that God alone is
able to comprehend it.[1141]
This removes the surprise expressed by some persons, remarks St. Thomas
of Villanova, that the holy Evangelists, who have so fully recorded
the praises of a Baptist and a Magdalene, have been so brief in their
descriptions of the privileges of Mary; for, says the saint, it was
enough to say of her, that from her Jesus was born.[1142] What more would
you wish the Evangelists to say, continues the saint, of the grandeur
of this Virgin? let it be enough for you, that they attest her to be
the mother of God. Having recorded in these few words the greatest,
and, indeed, the whole of her merits, it was not necessary for them to
describe each separately.[1143] And why not? because, as St. Anselm
answers: To say of Mary this alone, that she was the mother of a God,
transcends every glory that can be attributed to her, in thought or word,
after God.[1144] Peter of Celles adds, remarking on this same thought: By
whatever name you may wish to call her, whether queen of heaven, ruler
of the angels, or any other title of honor, you will never succeed in
honoring her so much as by calling her only the mother of God.[1145]
The reason of this is evident, for as the angelic Doctor teaches: The
nearer a thing approaches its author, the greater the perfection it
receives from him; therefore, Mary being the creature nearest to God,
she has partaken more than all others of his grace, perfection, and
greatness.[1146] To this Father Suarez traces the cause why the dignity
of mother of God is of an order superior to any other created dignity;
because it appertains, in a certain manner, to the order of union with
a divine person, with which union it is necessarily connected.[1147]
Hence St. Denis the Carthusian asserts, that after the hypostatic union,
there is none more intimate than the union of the mother of God with
her Son.[1148] This, as St. Thomas teaches, is the highest union that a
pure creature can have with God.[1149] And the blessed Albertus Magnus
affirms, that to be mother of God is a dignity next to that of being
God;[1150] therefore he says, that Mary could not be more united to God
than she was, without becoming God.[1151]
St. Bernardine affirms, that in order to become mother of God, it was
requisite that the holy Virgin should be exalted to a certain equality
with the divine Persons, by a certain infinity of graces.[1152] And as
children are esteemed morally one with their parents, so that their
possessions and honors are in common, therefore St. Peter Damian says,
that if God dwells in creatures in different modes, he dwelt in Mary in
a singular mode of fitness, making himself one with her.[1153] And he
exclaims in these celebrated words: Here let every creature be silent and
tremble, and scarcely dare to behold the immensity of so great a dignity.
God dwells in a virgin with whom he has the identity of one nature.[1154]
St. Thomas asserts, that Mary, being made mother of God, by reason of
this close union with an infinite good, received a certain infinite
dignity, which Father Suarez calls infinite of its kind.[1155] The
dignity of mother of God is the highest dignity which can be conferred
on a pure creature. The angelic Doctor teaches, that the humanity of
Jesus Christ, though it might have received greater habitual grace
from God, yet, as to the union with a divine Person, could not receive
greater perfection; so, on the other hand, the blessed Virgin could
receive no greater dignity than to be the mother of God. For as habitual
grace (this is his reasoning) is a created gift, we must acknowledge
that its essence is finite. The capacity of every creature is limited
in measure, which however prevents not the divine power from being able
to form another creature of greater capacity.[1156] Though the divine
power may create something greater and better than the habitual grace
of Christ, yet it could not destine it to any thing greater than was
the personal union of the only begotten Son with the Father.[1157] The
blessed Virgin, because she is mother of God, has a certain infinite
dignity from the infinite good, which is God; and in this respect nothing
greater can be created.[1158] St. Thomas of Villanova says the same
thing: Certainly there is something infinite in being the mother of the
Infinite One.[1159] And St. Bernardine says, that the state to which God
exalted Mary as his mother was the highest, so that he could exalt her
no higher.[1160] And this is confirmed by Albertus Magnus. The Lord
conferred on the blessed Virgin the highest gift which any pure creature
was capable of receiving, namely, the maternity of God.[1161]
Therefore St. Bonaventure wrote that celebrated sentence, that God could
make a greater world, a greater heaven, but could not exalt a creature to
greater excellence than by making her his mother.[1162] But better than
all others has the divine mother herself described the height to which
God had elevated her when she said: He that is mighty hath done great
things to me: “Fecit mihi magna qui potens est.”[1163] And why has the
holy Virgin never made known what were the great favors conferred upon
her by God? St. Thomas of Villanova answers, that Mary did not explain
them, because they were so great that they could not be explained.[1164]
St. Bernard therefore, with reason, says that God has created all the
world for this Virgin, who was to be his mother: “Propter hanc totus
mundus factus est.”[1165] And St. Bonaventure says that the preservation
of the world is at the disposal of Mary.[1166] The saint in this place
adheres to the words of Proverbs, applied by the Church to Mary: I was
with him forming all things: “Cum eo eram cuncta componens.”[1167] St.
Bernardine adds, that God, for love of Mary, did not destroy man after
the sin of Adam.[1168] Hence the Church, with reason, sings of Mary: She
has chosen the best part: “Optimam partem elegit.”[1169] For this virgin
mother not only chose the best things, but she chose the best part of
the best things; the Lord bestowing upon her, in the highest degree, as
the blessed Albertus Magnus attests, all the graces, and the general and
particular gifts conferred on all other creatures, wholly in consequence
of the dignity granted her of becoming mother of God.[1170] Thus Mary
was an infant, but of this state she had only the innocence, but not the
defect of incapacity, for from the first moment of life she always had
the perfect use of reason. She was a virgin, but without the reproach of
sterility. She was a mother, but with the privilege of virginity. She
was beautiful, even most beautiful, as Richard of St. Victor asserts,
and also St. George of Nicomedia, and St. Dionysius the Areopagite,
who, as many believe, once had the happiness of enjoying the sight of
her beauty, and said that if faith had not taught him that she was a
creature, he should have adored her as God. And the Lord himself revealed
to St. Bridget, that the beauty of his mother surpassed the beauty of all
men and Angels, allowing the saint to hear him say to Mary: “Thy beauty
exceeds that of all the angels, and of all creatures.”[1171] She was most
beautiful, I repeat, but without injury to those who looked upon her,
for her beauty put to flight impure emotions, and suggested even pure
thoughts, as St. Ambrose attests: So great grace had she, that she not
only preserved her own virginity, but also conferred a remarkable gift
of purity on those who beheld her.[1172] And St. Thomas confirms this:
The grace of sanctification not only repressed in the Virgin illicit
emotions, but also had efficacy for others; so that although she was
beautiful in person, she never excited impure desires.[1173] Therefore
she was called myrrh, which prevents corruption: I yielded a sweet odor
like the best myrrh: “Quasi mirrha electa dedi suavitatem odoris;” as
the holy Church applies it. She was occupied in active life, but labor
did not interrupt her union with God. In the contemplative life she was
recollected in God, but without neglect of the temporal life and of
the charity due to the neighbor. Death came upon her, but without its
suffering, and without the corruption of the body.
To conclude then: this divine mother is infinitely inferior to God, but
immensely superior to all creatures; and if it is impossible to find a
Son more noble than Jesus, it is also impossible to find a mother more
noble than Mary. This should cause the servants of such a queen not
only to rejoice in her greatness, but also to increase their confidence
in her most powerful protection; for, being mother of God, says Father
Suarez, she has a certain right to his gifts, to obtain them for those
for whom she prays.[1174] St. Germanus, on the other hand, says that God
cannot but hear the prayers of this mother, for he cannot but recognize
her for his true and immaculate mother. Thus says the saint, addressing
the Virgin: But thou, who dost prevail with God by a maternal authority,
even for those who grievously sin, thou dost obtain the great grace
of reconciliation; for thou canst not but be graciously heard, as God
in all things conforms to thy wishes as to those of a true and pure
mother.[1175] Therefore, oh mother of God, and our mother, in thee is
not wanting the power to help us. The will, too, is not wanting. Nec
facultas, nec voluntas illi deesse potest.[1176] For thou knowest, I will
say with thy servant the Abbot of Celles, that God has not created thee
for himself alone, but has given thee to the angels for their restorer,
to men for their deliverer, and to the demons for their conqueror, for by
thy means we recover divine grace, and by thee the enemy is conquered and
crushed.[1177]
And if we wish to please the divine mother, let us often salute her by
saying the “Hail Mary.” One day Mary appeared to St. Matilda, and told
her that no one could honor her better than by this salutation; and we
shall certainly obtain through it, peculiar graces from this mother of
mercy, as will be seen by the following example.
EXAMPLE.
A well-known incident is related by Father Paul Segneri in his “Christian
Instructed.”[1178] A Roman youth, of evil habits and laden with sins,
went to confession to Father Niccolas Zucchi. The confessor received
him kindly, compassionated his misery, and told him that devotion to
the blessed Lady would free him from his accursed vices. He therefore
imposed it upon him as a penance, that until the time of his next
confession, every morning and evening, on rising and going to bed, he
should recite a “Hail Mary” to the Virgin; making an offering to her
of his eyes, hands, and his whole body, praying her to keep him as her
own; and that he should kiss the ground three times. The young man
practised this penance, and at first with very little improvement; but
the father continued to exhort him never to give it up, encouraging him
to trust in the patronage of Mary. In the mean time, the penitent left
home with some other companions, and travelled over the world. Having
returned to Rome, he went again to seek his confessor, who to his great
joy and surprise, found him entirely changed, and free from his former
impurities. “My son,” he said, “how have you obtained from God so happy
a change?” “Father,” answered the youth, “the blessed Virgin, for that
little devotion which you taught me, has obtained for me this grace.” But
the wonder did not cease here. The same confessor related this fact from
the pulpit. An officer, who, for several years, had kept up an illicit
intercourse with a certain woman, heard it, and proposed also himself to
practise the same devotion, in order to free himself from that horrible
tie which held him a slave of the devil (which intention is necessary for
all such sinners, that the Virgin may aid them); and he also quitted his
bad practices and changed his life.
But what followed? At the end of six months, foolishly and too
confidently trusting in his strength, he wished, one day, to go and
find that woman, to see if she had also changed her way of life. But
on approaching the door of her house, where he was in manifest danger
of falling again into sin, he felt himself thrust back by an invisible
force, and soon found himself distant from the house the whole length
of the street, and before his own door; he was then enlightened to see
clearly that Mary had thus rescued him from his destruction. Thus we
perceive how solicitous is our good mother, not only to save us from sin,
if we for that end commend ourselves to her, but also to protect us from
the danger of falling into it again.
PRAYER.
Oh immaculate and holy Virgin! oh creature the most humble and the
greatest before God! thou wast so small in thy own eyes, but so great
in the eyes of thy Lord, that he exalted thee even to choose thee for
his mother, and therefore to make thee queen of heaven and of earth. I
then thank that God who hath so much exalted thee, and rejoice with thee
in seeing thee so closely united to God, that more is not permitted to
a pure creature. I am ashamed to appear before thee who art so humble,
with so many graces; I, a miserable sinner, and so proud with so many
sins. But wretched as I am, I, too, wish to salute thee: Hail Mary, full
of grace: “Ave Maria, gratia plena.” Thou art already full of grace;
obtain a share of it also for me. The Lord is with thee: “Dominus tecum.”
That Lord who hath ever been with thee even from the first moment of thy
creation, is now more intimately with thee, by making himself thy Son.
Blessed art thou among women: “Benedicta tu in mulieribus.” Oh woman,
blessed among all women, obtain for us also the divine benediction. Oh
blessed plant which hath given to the world a fruit so noble and so holy:
“Et benedictus fructus ventris tui.” Holy Mary, mother of God: “Sancta
Maria, mater Dei.” Oh Mary, I confess that thou art the true mother of
God, and for this truth I would give my life a thousand times. Pray for
us sinners: “Ora pro nobis peccatoribus.” But if thou art the mother of
God, thou art also the mother of our salvation, and of us poor sinners;
since it is to save sinners that God made himself man; and he has made
thee his mother that thy prayers may have the power to save every sinner.
Pray for us, oh Mary. Now and in the hour of our death: “Nunc et in hora
mortis nostræ.” Pray always; pray now, while we are in life, in the midst
of so many temptations and so great danger of losing God; but still more,
pray in the hour of our death, when we are on the point of leaving this
world and being presented at the divine tribunal; that being saved by the
merits of Jesus Christ, and by thy intercession, we may one day come,
without the danger of losing thee any more, to salute thee and praise
thee, with thy Son, in heaven, for all eternity. Amen.
DISCOURSE V.
ON THE VISITATION OF MARY.
_Mary is the treasurer of all the divine graces. Therefore he
who desires graces should have recourse to Mary; and he who has
recourse to Mary, should be secure of obtaining the graces he
wishes._
Happy is that house esteemed which is visited by some royal personage,
both for the honor it receives from him, and the advantages it hopes
for; but more happy should that soul be called which is visited by the
queen of the world, most holy Mary, who cannot but fill with mercies and
graces those blessed souls whom she deigns to visit with her favors. The
house of Obededom was blessed when it was visited by the ark of the Lord:
The Lord blessed his house: “Benedixit Dominus domui ejus.”[1179] But
with how much greater blessings are those persons enriched who receive
some loving visit from this living ark of God, as was the divine mother!
Happy that house which the mother of God visits,[1180] wrote Engelgrave.
This was experienced by the house of the Baptist, wherein scarcely had
Mary entered, when she filled all that family with celestial graces and
benedictions; and for this reason, the present feast of the Visitation
is commonly called the feast of our Lady of graces. We shall consider
to-day, in the present discourse, how the divine mother is the treasurer
of all graces. We shall divide the discourse into two points. In the
first, we shall prove that he who desires graces must have recourse to
Mary. In the second, that he who has recourse to Mary, should be certain
of obtaining the graces that he desires.
_Point First._—After the holy Virgin had heard from the archangel St.
Gabriel, that her cousin Elizabeth had been six months pregnant, she
was interiorly enlightened by the Holy Spirit to know that the Word
which had taken human flesh and had already become her Son, wished
to commence manifesting to the world the riches of his mercy, by the
first graces that he desired to impart to all that family. Therefore,
without interposing any delay, as St. Luke relates: Rising up, Mary went
into the mountainous country in haste: “Exurgens abiit in montana cum
festinatione.”[1181] Rising then from the quiet of her contemplation,
to which she was always devoted, and leaving her dear solitude, she
immediately set out for the house of Elizabeth. And because holy charity
suffers all things: “Charitas omnia suffert;” and can bear no delay,
as St. Ambrose remarks, when treating of this gospel: The grace of the
Holy Spirit knows no slow movements: “Nescit tarda molimina Spiritus
Sancti gratia:” therefore not heeding the fatigue of the journey, the
tender and delicate maiden quickly set forth on her way. Having arrived
at that house, she saluted her cousin: “She entered into the house of
Zachary, and saluted Elizabeth.”[1182] And, as St. Ambrose remarks, Mary
was the first to salute Elizabeth: “Prior salutavit.” But the visit of
the blessed Virgin was not like the visits of the worldly, which, for
the most part, consist in ceremonies and false display; the visit of
Mary brought into that house an abundance of graces. For at her first
entrance, and at that first salutation, Elizabeth was filled with the
Holy Spirit, and John was delivered from guilt and sanctified, and
therefore gave that sign of joy, exulting in the womb of his mother;
for he wished in this way to make known the grace received by means
of the blessed Virgin; as Elizabeth herself declared: “As soon as the
voice of thy salutation sounded in my ears, the infant in my womb leaped
for joy”.[1183] So, as Bernardine de Bustis observes, in virtue of the
salutation of Mary, John received the grace of the Divine Spirit, who
sanctified him: When the blessed Virgin saluted Elizabeth, the voice of
the salutation entering through her ears, descended to the child, by
virtue of which salutation he received the Holy Spirit.[1184]
Now if these first-fruits of the redemption all passed through Mary,
and she was the channel by means of which grace was communicated to the
Baptist, the Holy Spirit to Elizabeth, the gift of prophecy to Zachary,
and so many other blessings to that house, which were the first graces
that we know to have been given upon earth by the Word, after he had
become incarnate; we have great reason to believe that God, even from
that time, had constituted Mary a universal channel, as St. Bernard calls
her, through which thenceforth should be dispensed to us all the other
graces which the Lord wishes to bestow on us, as it was said in p. 1, c.
5, of this work.
Rightly then is this divine mother called the treasure, the treasurer,
and the dispensatrix of divine graces. Thus she is called by the
venerable Abbot of Celles: The treasure of the Lord and the treasurer
of graces: “Thesaurus Domini, et thesauraria gratiarum.”[1185] By St.
Peter Damian, also: The treasure of divine graces: “Thesaurus divinarum
gratiarum.” By blessed Albertus Magnus: The treasurer of Jesus Christ:
“Thesauraria Jesu Christi.” By St. Bernardine: The dispensatrix
of graces: “Dispensatrix gratiarum.” By a Greek Doctor, quoted by
Petavius:[1186] The store-house of all good things: “Promptuarium omnium
bonarum.” Thus, also, St. Gregory Thaumaturgus says: Mary is called so
full of grace, because in her the treasure of grace was hidden.[1187]
And Richard of St. Laurence says that God has placed in Mary, as in a
treasury of mercy, the gifts of all the graces, and from this treasure he
enriches his servants.[1188]
St. Bonaventure, speaking of the field of the Gospel where the treasure
is hidden which should be bought at any great price, as Jesus Christ
hath said: “The kingdom of heaven is like unto a treasure hidden in a
field, which, when a man hath found, he hideth, and for joy thereof goeth
and selleth all that he hath, and buyeth that field;”[1189] remarks
that this field is our Queen Mary, in whom is the treasure of God, that
is, Jesus Christ, and with Jesus Christ the source and fountain of all
graces.[1190] St. Bernard also affirms that the Lord has placed in the
hands of Mary all the graces that he wishes to dispense to us, that we
may know that whatever of good we receive, we receive it all from her
hands.[1191] And of this Mary herself assures us, when she says: In me
is all grace of the way and of the truth: “In me gratia omnis viæ et
veritatis.”[1192] In me are all the graces of true blessings that you
men can desire in your life. Yes, our mother and our hope, well do we
know, to use the words of St. Peter Damian, that all the treasures of the
divine mercies are in thy hands.[1193] And before Damian, St. Ildephonsus
asserted it with more force, for addressing the Virgin he said to her:
Oh Lady, all the graces which God has determined to bestow upon men, he
has determined to dispense by thy hands; and therefore has he committed
to thee all the treasure of graces.[1194] Hence, oh Mary, concluded St.
Germanus, no grace is dispensed to any one except by thy hands; no one
is saved except by thee; no one receives the gift of God except through
thee.[1195] The blessed Albertus Magnus makes a beautiful reflection upon
the words of the angel to the most holy Virgin: “Fear not, Mary, for thou
hast found grace with God,”[1196] saying: Oh, Mary, thou hast not stolen
grace as Lucifer wished to steal it; thou hast not lost it as Adam lost
it; thou hast not bought it as Simon the Magician wished to buy it; but
thou hast found it because thou hast desired and sought it. Thou hast
found the uncreated grace, that is, God himself, become thy Son; and
at the same time thou hast found and obtained all created good.[1197]
St. Peter Chrysologus confirms this thought, by saying that the great
mother found this grace by restoring salvation to all men.[1198] And
elsewhere he says, that Mary found grace in its fulness, sufficient to
save all men.[1199] In like manner as God made the sun, says Richard
of St. Laurence, that by it the earth may be illuminated, so hath he
created Mary, that by her means all divine mercies may be dispensed to
the world.[1200] And St. Bernardine adds that the Virgin, as soon as she
was made mother of the Redeemer, acquired, as it were, a jurisdiction
over all graces: when the Virgin Mary conceived the Word of God in her
womb, she obtained, as I should say, a certain jurisdiction over all the
temporal manifestations of the Holy Spirit; so that no creature obtained
any grace from God, unless according to the disposal of this pious
mother.[1201]
Let us conclude this point in the words of Richard of St. Laurence, who
says, that if we wish to obtain any grace, we must have recourse to Mary,
who cannot but obtain for her servants whatever she demands; since she
has found, and always will find, divine grace.[1202] And this he took
from St. Bernard, who said: Let us seek grace, and let us seek it through
Mary, for what she seeks she finds, and cannot be frustrated.[1203] If,
then, we desire graces, we must go to this treasurer and dispensatrix of
graces; for this is the sovereign will of the Giver of every good, as St.
Bernard himself assures us, that all graces are dispensed by the hand of
Mary.[1204] All, all: Totum, totum; he who says all, excludes nothing.
But, because confidence is necessary in order to obtain grace, we now
will pass on to consider how certain we should be of obtaining graces, if
we have recourse to Mary.
_Second Point._—And why should Jesus Christ ever have placed in the
hands of this his mother all the riches of the mercies which he wishes
to use for our benefit, if not that she may enrich with them all her
servants who love and honor her, and with confidence recur to her? With
me are riches ... that I may enrich them that love me: “Mecum sunt
divitiæ ... ut ditem diligentes me.”[1205] Thus the Virgin herself speaks
in this passage, which the holy Church applies to her on so many of her
festivals. Therefore, for no other use, but for our benefit, says Adam
the Abbot, are the riches of eternal life preserved by Mary, in whose
bosom the Saviour has deposited the treasure of the wretched, that,
supplied from this treasure, the poor may become rich.[1206] And St.
Bernard adds, as I learn from another author, that for this purpose Mary
has been given to the world, for a channel of mercy, that by her means
graces may continually descend from heaven upon men.[1207]
From this the holy Father goes on to ask, why St. Gabriel, having found
the divine mother already full of grace, according to his salutation:
Hail, full of grace: “Ave gratia plena;” afterwards says that the Holy
Spirit was to come to her, to fill her still more with grace; if she
was already full of this grace, what more could the coming of the
Holy Spirit effect? Mary was already full of grace, thus answers St.
Bernard, but the Holy Spirit came upon her for our good, that from her
superabundance we poor sinners might be provided.[1208] For this reason
Mary was called the moon, of which it is said: The moon is full, for
herself and others: “Luna plena sibi, et aliis.”
“He that shall find me, shall find life, and shall have salvation from
the Lord.”[1209] Blessed is he who having recourse to me finds me,
says our mother. He will find life, and will find it easily; for, as
it is easy to find and draw water (as much as one wishes) from a great
fountain, so it is easy to find graces and eternal salvation by going
to Mary. A holy soul hath said, we have only to ask graces of our Lady
and we shall have them. And St. Bernard says, that before Mary was born,
the world was without this abundance of graces, that now are overflowing
the earth, because this desirable channel (Mary) was wanting.[1210] But
now that we actually have this mother of mercy, what graces can we not
obtain, if we cast ourselves at her feet? I am the city of refuge, thus
St. John of Damascus makes her to say, for all those who have recourse
to me: come, then, my children, and you will obtain from me graces, in
greater abundance than you can imagine.[1211]
It is true that many experience what the venerable Sister Maria Villani
saw in a heavenly vision. This servant of God once saw the mother of
God, in the likeness of a great fountain, to which many went to draw the
waters of graces; but what then happened? Those who carried vessels which
were whole, preserved afterwards the graces received; but those who carry
broken vessels, that is, souls laden with sins, received the graces, but
quickly lost them again. As for the rest, it is certain that by means of
Mary, men, even the most ungrateful and wretched sinners, daily obtain
innumerable graces. St. Augustine says, addressing the Virgin: Through
thee the wretched obtain mercy, the ungrateful grace, sinners pardon, the
weak support, the earthly heavenly things, mortals life, and travellers
their country.[1212]
Let our confidence, then, ever revive, oh devoted servants of Mary,
as often as we have recourse to her for graces. And to revive this
confidence, let us ever remember the two great privileges which this
good mother possesses, namely: the desire she has to do us good, and
the power she has with her Son to obtain whatever she asks. That we
may know the desire Mary has to aid all, it would be sufficient only
to consider the mystery of the present festival, namely, the visit of
Mary to Elizabeth. The journey from Nazareth, where the most holy Virgin
lived, to the city of Hebron (called by St. Luke a city of Judah), where,
according to Baronius and other authors, Elizabeth dwelt, was about
sixty-nine miles, as the author of the Life of Mary, Father Giuseppe
of Jesus, one of the barefooted Carmelites, asserts,[1213] as also
Bede and Brocardo. But this did not prevent the blessed Virgin, tender
and delicate as she then was, and not accustomed to such efforts, from
immediately setting forth—moved by what?—moved by that great charity with
which her most tender heart was ever filled, to go and commence from
that time her great office of dispenser of graces. Precisely thus does
St. Ambrose speak of this her journey: She did not go as if incredulous
of the announcement, but happy in her desire, hastening for joy, and
intent upon her office.[1214] Not that Mary, as the saint says, went to
inform herself of the truth of what the angel had told her concerning
Elizabeth, but joyful through her desire to help that household,
hastening for the joy she felt to do good to others, and wholly intent on
that charitable errand. Rising up, she went with haste: “Exurgens abiit
cum festinatione.” Here let it be observed that the Evangelist, when
he spoke of Mary going to the house of Elizabeth, said that she went in
haste: Abiit festinatione; but speaking of her return from that house, he
makes no more mention of haste, but simply says: “And Mary abode with her
about three months, and she returned to her own house.”[1215] What other
object, then, says St. Bonaventure, caused the mother of God to hasten
when going to visit the house of the Baptist, except the desire to do
good to that family?[1216]
Certainly, since the assumption of Mary into heaven, this her affection
of charity towards men has not ceased; nay, it has ever been increasing,
for there she better knows our necessities, and feels more pity for our
miseries. Bernardine de Bustis writes, that Mary more earnestly desires
to do us good than we desire to receive it from her.[1217] To such a
degree, that St. Bonaventure says, she considers herself injured by those
who do not ask favors of her;[1218] for this is the desire of Mary, to
enrich all with her graces; for, indeed, according to the assertion of
the Idiot, she superabundantly enriches her servants.[1219]
Hence the same author says, that he who finds Mary finds every good:
“Inventa Maria, invenitur omne bonum.” And he adds, that every one can
find her, were he even the most abandoned sinner in the world; for she
is so gracious that she sends away none who have recourse to her.[1220]
I invite all to come to me, thus Thomas à Kempis makes her say, I wait
for all, I wish that all may come; neither do I ever despise any sinner
who comes to seek my help, however unworthy he may be.[1221] All who go
to her asking favors, says Richard, will find her always ready, always
inclined to succor them, and obtain for them every grace of eternal
salvation by her powerful prayers: “Inveniet semper paratam auxiliari.”
I have said by her powerful prayers, for this is the other reflection
which should increase our confidence, namely, knowing that she obtains
from God whatever she asks in favor of her servants. Observe especially,
says St. Bonaventure, in this visit that Mary made to Elizabeth, the
great virtue of the words of Mary; for at the sound of her voice the
grace of the Holy Spirit was given to Elizabeth as well as to her son,
as the Evangelist has written: “And it came to pass that when Elizabeth
heard the salutation of Mary, the infant leaped in her womb, and
Elizabeth was filled with the Holy Ghost.”[1222] On which St. Bonaventure
remarks: Behold, how great is the virtue of the words of our Lady, for
at the sound of them the Holy Spirit is given.[1223] Theophilus of
Alexandria says that Jesus is much pleased when Mary prays to him for us,
for then all the graces which he bestows on us through the supplications
of Mary, he does not consider to be conferred on us, but rather on Mary
herself.[1224] And let these words be noted: Persuaded by the prayers
of his mother, he gives: “Precibus suæ genitricis evictus, donat.” Yes,
because Jesus, as St. Germanus attests, cannot but graciously hear Mary
in all her petitions, wishing in this, as it were, to obey her as his
true mother; hence the saint says, that the prayers of this mother have a
certain authority with Jesus Christ, so that she obtains pardon even for
the greatest sinners, who commend themselves to her.[1225]
And this is indeed confirmed, as St. John Chrysostom observes, by what
took place at the nuptials of Cana, where Mary, asking of her Son
the wine that was wanting, said: “They have no wine;” Jesus answered:
“Woman, what is that to me and to thee? my hour is not yet come.”[1226]
But although the time for miracles had not yet arrived, as Chrysostom
and Theophilactus explain; yet, says the same Chrysostom, our Saviour,
in order to obey his mother, performed the miracle she requested, and
converted the water into wine.[1227]
“Let us go therefore,” thus the apostle exhorts us, “with confidence
to the throne of grace; that we may obtain mercy, and find grace in
seasonable aid.”[1228] The throne of grace is the blessed Virgin Mary,
says the blessed Albertus Magnus: “Thronus gratiæ est beata Virgo
Maria.”[1229] If, then, we wish for graces, let us go to the throne of
grace, which is Mary; and let us go with the hope of being certainly
heard; for we have the intercession of Mary, who obtains whatever she
asks of her Son. Let us ask for grace, I repeat with St. Bernard, and
through Mary let us ask: “Quæramus gratiam et per Mariam quæramus,”
trusting to what the Virgin mother said to St. Matilda, that the Holy
Spirit, filling her with all his sweetness, had rendered her so dear to
God that every one who, through her intercession, asked for graces, would
certainly obtain them.[1230]
And if we give credit to that celebrated saying of St. Anselm: We shall
sometimes find grace sooner by having recourse to Mary, than by having
recourse to our Saviour Jesus himself;[1231] not that he is not the
source and Lord of all graces, but because if we go to Mary, and she
intercedes for us, her prayers will have more power, as the prayers of a
mother, than ours. Let us never then leave the feet of this treasurer of
graces, but say to her with St. John Damascene: Open to us, oh blessed
mother of God, the door of thy mercy, for thou art the salvation of the
human race.[1232] Oh mother of God, open to us the door of thy mercy, by
praying always for us; for thy prayers are the salvation of all men. And
when we have recourse to Mary, it would be best to ask her to pray for
us, and obtain for us those graces which she knows are most expedient for
our salvation; which is precisely what Brother Reginald, a Dominican,
did, as is related in the chronicles of the order.[1233] This servant of
Mary was infirm, and asked of her the grace of bodily health. Our Lady
appeared to him, accompanied by St. Cecilia and St. Catherine, and said
to him with the greatest sweetness: “My son, what shall I do for thee?”
The religious at this kind offer of Mary was troubled, and knew not what
to answer. Then one of those saints gave him this counsel: “Reginald,
do you know what you should do? Do not ask for any thing, place every
thing at her disposal, because Mary knows how to obtain for thee a grace
greater than you could ask.” The sick brother followed her advice, and
the divine mother obtained for him the grace of health.
But if we also desire the happy visits of this queen of heaven, it will
greatly aid us if we often visit her before some image, or in some church
dedicated to her. Let us read the following example, and learn with what
special favors she rewards the devout visits of her servants.
EXAMPLE.
It is related in the Franciscan chronicles, that two religious of that
order, who were going to visit a sanctuary of the Virgin, were overtaken
by night in a great wood; where they became bewildered and so troubled
that they knew not what to do. But advancing a little, they discerned
through the darkness something which seemed to them a house. They went
groping along with outstretched hands, and at length touched a wall; they
found the door, knocked, and heard some one within asking who they were?
They answered that they were two poor religious who had lost their way
by accident in that wood, and were seeking a shelter, that at least they
might not be devoured by wolves. But suddenly they heard the door open,
and saw two pages richly dressed, who received them with great courtesy.
The religious asked them who inhabited that palace? The pages answered
that a very kind, good Lady inhabited it. We wish to pay our respects
to her, said they, and thank her for her charity. We will take you to
her, said the pages, for she too wishes to speak to you. They ascended
the stairs, found the apartments all illuminated, richly furnished, and
perfumed as with an odor of paradise; they finally entered the apartment
of the Lady, who was majestic and most lovely in her appearance, and who
welcomed them with the greatest kindness, and then asked them in what
direction they were travelling? They answered that they were going to
visit a certain church of the blessed Virgin. If that is the case, said
the Lady, when you go I will give you a letter from myself, which will
greatly aid you. And whilst the Lady was speaking to them, they felt all
inflamed with love of God, and filled with a joy such as they had never
before experienced. They afterwards went to rest, if perchance they could
sleep in the midst of so much joy, and in the morning they went again
to take leave of the Lady of the mansion, thank her, and at the same
time receive the letter: they did so and departed. But when they had
gone a little distance from the house, they perceived that there was no
superscription to the letter; but they turned and returned, and could not
find the house again. At last they opened the letter, to see to whom it
was sent, and what it contained, and found that it was from the most holy
Mary, and was written to themselves, and let them know that she was the
Lady whom they saw the night before, and that on account of the devotion
they cherished for her, she had provided a house and refreshment for
them in that wood. She exhorted them to continue to serve and love her,
for she would well reward their devotion, and assist them in life and in
death. At the bottom of the letter they read the signature of the Virgin
Mary. We may easily imagine the thanks that those good religious offered
to the divine mother, and how greatly they were inflamed with the desire
of loving her and serving her to the end of their lives.
PRAYER.
Immaculate and blessed Virgin, since thou art the universal dispenser of
all divine graces, therefore thou art the hope of all, and also my hope.
I always thank my Lord that he hath given me to know thee, and the means
that I must use to obtain graces and save myself. Thou art this means, oh
great mother of God, for I now understand that it is principally through
the merits of Jesus Christ, and after those, through thy intercession,
that I am to be saved. Ah, my queen, thou didst make so great haste
to visit, and sanctify with thy visit, the house of Elizabeth; ah,
visit, and visit quickly, the poor house of my soul. Ah, hasten! thou
knowest better than I how poor it is, how infected with many maladies,
with irregular affections, bad habits, and actual sin, all those fatal
diseases which will bring it to eternal death. Thou canst enrich it,
oh treasurer of God! and thou canst heal all its infirmities. Visit me
then in life, and visit me especially at the hour of my death, for then
thy help will be more necessary to me. I do not, indeed expect, neither
am I worthy that thou shouldst visit me on this earth with thy visible
presence, as thou hast done to so many of thy servants, but servants
not so unworthy and ungrateful as I am. I will be content to be allowed
then to see thee in thy kingdom of heaven, there to love thee better,
and thank thee for whatever good thou hast done me. At present I will be
content that thou shouldst visit me with thy mercies. It is enough that
thou dost pray for me.
Pray for me then oh Mary, and commend me to thy Son. Thou knowest better
than I know myself, my miseries and my necessities. What more would I say
to thee? Have pity on me. I am so miserable and ignorant that I do not
even know, and cannot even ask, the graces that are most necessary for
me. Oh my queen and most sweet mother, ask thou and obtain for me, from
thy Son, those graces which thou knowest to be most useful and necessary
for my soul. Into thy hands I entirely abandon myself, and only pray the
divine Majesty, that through the merits of my Saviour Jesus, he may
grant me those graces that thou dost ask of him for me. Ask, ask then for
me, oh most holy Virgin, whatever thou esteemest best. Thy prayers are
never rejected. They are the prayers of a mother to a Son, who loves thee
so much, and finds his joy in granting whatever thou dost ask of him,
thus the more to honor thee, and at the same time, show thee the great
love he bears thee. Oh Lady, thus let it be. I will live trusting in
thee. Thou must think only on saving me. Amen.
DISCOURSE VI.
ON THE PURIFICATION OF MARY.
_The great sacrifice which Mary this day made to God, in
offering him the life of her Son._
There were two precepts of the ancient law concerning the birth of
first-born sons. One was, that the mother should remain as an unclean
person, retired in her house, for forty days; after which she should go
to purify herself in the temple. The other was, that the parents of the
first-born should take him to the temple, and there offer him to God. On
this day the most holy Virgin desired to obey both precepts. Although
Mary was not bound by the law of purification, since she was always a
virgin, and always pure; yet, by her love of humility and obedience, she
wished to go, like other mothers, to be purified. At the same time she
obeyed the second precept, to present and offer her Son to the eternal
Father: “And after the days of her purification, according to the law
of Moses, were accomplished, they carried him to Jerusalem, to present
him to the Lord.”[1234] But the Virgin offered him in a different manner
from that in which other mothers offered their sons. Others offered them,
but they knew that this was a simple ceremony of the law, through which,
by redeeming them, they made them their own, without the fear that they
should be obliged to offer them again, and to death. Mary really offered
her Son to death, knowing certainly that the sacrifice of the life of
Jesus which she then made, should one day be actually consummated upon
the altar of the cross; so that Mary, by offering the life of her Son,
through the love she bore this Son, really sacrificed herself entirely to
God. Laying aside, then, all the other considerations which we might make
upon the various mysteries of this festival, let us only consider how
great was this sacrifice that Mary made of herself to God, by offering to
him, on this day, the life of her Son. And this will be the only subject
of the following discourse.
The eternal Father had already determined to save man, who was lost
through sin, and free him from eternal death. But because he wished that,
at the same time, his divine justice should not be defrauded of a full
and due satisfaction, he did not spare the life of his own Son, already
made man in order to redeem man; but he required that he should pay, to
its most rigorous extent, the penalty merited by men: “He that spared
not even his own Son,” says the apostle, “but delivered him up for us
all.”[1235] He sent him therefore on the earth to become man, destined
for him a mother, and chose the Virgin Mary; but as he did not wish his
divine Word to become her Son before she accepted him by her express
consent, so he did not wish that Jesus should sacrifice his life for the
salvation of men without the concurrence of the consent of Mary, that
together with the sacrifice of the life of the Son, the heart of the
mother might be sacrificed also. St. Thomas teaches, that the relation
of mother gives an especial right over her children; hence Jesus, being
innocent in himself and not deserving any punishment for his own sins, it
seemed fitting that he should not be destined to the cross as the victim
for the sins of the world without the consent of his mother, by which she
should voluntarily offer him to death.
But although Mary, from the moment she was made mother of Jesus,
gave her consent to his death, yet the Lord wished her, on this day,
to make, in the temple, a solemn sacrifice of herself, by offering
solemnly her Son, and sacrificing to the divine justice his precious
life. Hence St. Epiphanius called her a priest: “Virginem appello velut
sacerdotem.”[1236] Now we begin to see how much this sacrifice cost her,
and what heroic virtue she was obliged to practice when she had herself
to sign the sentence of condemnation of her dear Jesus to death.
Now behold Mary actually on her way to Jerusalem to offer her Son; she
hastens her steps towards the place of sacrifice, and she herself carries
her beloved victim in her arms. She enters the temple, approaches the
altar, and there, filled with modesty, humility, and devotion, she
presents her Son to the Most High. At this moment St. Simeon, who had
received the promise from God that he should not die before seeing the
expected Messias, takes the divine child from the hands of the Virgin,
and, enlightened by the Holy Spirit, announces to her how much sorrow
this sacrifice must cause her, this sacrifice which she was about to
make of her Son, with whom must her blessed soul also be sacrificed.
Here St. Thomas of Villanova contemplates the holy old man, who, when
he had to announce the fatal prophecy to this poor mother, is agitated
and silent.[1237] Then the saint considers Mary, who asks: Why, oh
Simeon, in the time of so great consolation, are you thus disturbed?
“Unde tanta turbatio?” To whom he answers: Oh, noble and holy Virgin, I
wished not to announce to thee such bitter tidings, but since the Lord
wishes it thus, for thy greater merit, hear what I say to thee.[1238]
This infant who now causes thee, and with reason, so much joy, oh God,
shall one day bring thee the most cruel suffering that any creature has
ever experienced in the world; and this will be when thou shalt see him
persecuted by men of every sort, and placed on the earth as the mark
of their sneers and derision, even until he is put to death before thy
eyes.[1239] Know that after his death there will be many martyrs who, for
love of this thy Son, will be tormented and slain; but if their martyrdom
will be of the body, thy martyrdom, oh divine mother, will be of the
heart.[1240]
Yes, of the heart, for nothing but compassion for the sufferings of
this Son so dear could be meant by the sword of sorrow that St. Simeon
predicted was to pierce the heart of the mother: “And thy own soul a
sword shall pierce.”[1241] Already the most holy Virgin, as St. Jerome
says, had been enlightened through the divine Scriptures to know the
sufferings which the Redeemer was to endure in his life, and still more
at the time of his death. She well understood from the prophets, that he
was to be betrayed by one of his friends: “Who ate my bread hath greatly
supplanted me;”[1242] as David predicted. Abandoned by his disciples:
Strike the shepherd, and the sheep shall be scattered: “Percute Pastorem,
et dispergentur oves.”[1243] Well did she know the insults, spitting,
blows, and derision that he was to suffer from the people: “I have given
my body to the strikers, and my cheeks to them that plucked them; I
have not turned away my face from them that rebuked me and spit upon
me.”[1244] She knew that he was to become the scandal of men, and the
outcast of the lowest of the people: “But I am a worm and no man, the
reproach of men and the outcast of the people,”[1245] even to be laden
with insults and outrages: “He shall be filled with reproaches.”[1246]
She knew that at the end of his life his sacred flesh would be torn and
bruised by scourges: “He was wounded for our iniquities, he was bruised
for our sins,”[1247] so that his body would be wholly disfigured by them,
become as a leper, all sores: “There is no beauty in him, nor comeliness,
and we have thought him, as it were, a leper,”[1248] even till the bones
were uncovered: “They have numbered all my bones.”[1249] She knew that
he was to be pierced by nails.[1250] That he was to be reputed with the
wicked.[1251] And that finally he was to die, hanging on the cross, slain
for the salvation of men: “And they shall look upon me whom they have
pierced.”[1252]
Mary, I repeat, already knew all the sufferings that her Son was to
endure, but in the above quoted words of St. Simeon: “And thy own soul
a sword shall pierce,” as the Lord revealed to St. Theresa, all the
minute circumstances of the external as well as internal sufferings
which her Lord Jesus was to endure in his passion, were made known to
her. She consented to all with a firmness which made the angels wonder,
and pronounced the sentence that her Son should die, and die by a death
so ignominious and painful, in these words: Eternal Father, since thou
dost will it, not my will, but thine be done: “Non mea voluntas, sed tua
fiat;” I unite mine to thy holy will, and sacrifice to thee this my Son;
I am satisfied that he should lose his life for thy glory, and for the
salvation of the world. And I also sacrifice to thee my heart; let grief
pierce it as much as pleases thee; it suffices to me that thou, oh my
God, art glorified and satisfied; not my will, but thine be done. Oh,
charity without measure! oh, constancy without example! oh, victory that
merits the eternal admiration of heaven and of earth!
And hence Mary, in the passion of Jesus, was silent when he was unjustly
accused; she said nothing to Pilate, who was inclined to liberate him,
for he had already known his innocence; but she only appeared in public
to be present at the great sacrifice, which was to be offered on Calvary.
She accompanied him to the place of punishment; she was with him from the
first moment he was placed upon the cross: There stood by the cross of
Jesus his mother: “Stabat juxta crucem Jesu mater ejus;” until she saw
him expire, and the sacrifice was consummated. And all this to complete
the offering which she had already made of him to God in the temple.
In order to understand the violence that Mary had to offer herself in
making this sacrifice, it would be necessary to comprehend the love which
this mother bore to Jesus. Generally speaking, the love of mothers is so
tender for their children, that when they are at the point of death, and
they are about to lose them, they forget all their faults, their defects,
and even the injuries they have received from them, and they suffer an
inexpressible grief. And yet the love of those mothers is a love divided
among other children, or among other creatures. Mary has one only Son,
and he is the most beautiful of all the children of Adam; he is most
amiable, for he has all lovable qualities; he is obedient, virtuous,
innocent, holy, in one word, he is God. The love of this mother, too, is
not divided among other objects; she has centered all her love upon this
only Son, neither does she fear loving him to excess, for this her Son is
God, who merits an infinite love. And this Son is the victim whom she had
voluntarily to offer to death.
Let every one consider, then, how much it must have cost Mary to
sacrifice on the cross the life of a Son so amiable, and what strength of
mind she must have exercised in this act. Behold the most fortunate of
mothers, because she is the mother of a God, but she is at the same time
a mother most worthy of compassion, because the most afflicted; being
the mother of a Son whom she saw destined to the cross from the day when
he was given her for a Son! What mother would accept a son, knowing that
afterwards she should lose him by such a painful and infamous death,
and that she should be present to see him die? Mary willingly accepted
this Son with so hard a condition; and not only accepted him, but offers
him herself this day, with her own hands, to death, sacrificing him
to the divine justice. St. Bonaventure says, that the blessed Virgin
would willingly have taken upon herself the sufferings and death of her
Son; but to obey God she made the great offering of the divine life of
her beloved Jesus, conquering, but with the greatest grief, all the
tenderness of love that she bore him.[1253] Hence it is, that in this
offering Mary had to do more violence to herself, and was more generous,
than if she had offered herself to suffer all her Son was to suffer.
Therefore she surpassed all the martyrs in generosity, for the martyrs
offered their own lives; but the Virgin offered the life of her Son, whom
she loved and esteemed infinitely more than her own life.
Neither did the suffering of this painful offering end here; rather it
commenced here; for from that time forward, through the whole life of
her Son, Mary had always before her eyes death, and all the pains he was
to suffer in his death. Hence, the more this Son discovered to her how
beautiful, graceful, and amiable he was, so much more did the anguish
of her heart constantly increase. Ah, afflicted mother! if thou hadst
loved thy Son less, or if thy Son had been less lovely, and had loved
thee less, thy suffering would certainly have been less in offering him
to death. But there never has been, and there never will be, a more
loving mother than thou, because there never has been, and never will be,
a son more amiable and more loving towards his mother than thy Jesus.
Oh God! if we had seen the beauty, the majesty of countenance of that
divine child, could we have had the courage to sacrifice his life for our
salvation? And thou, oh Mary! who art his mother, and a mother so loving,
couldst thou offer thy innocent Son for the salvation of men, to a death
more painful and more cruel than any criminal had ever endured on this
earth?
Alas! what a fearful scene from that day forward did love continually
place before the eyes of Mary, representing to her all the injuries
and mockeries which were to be offered to her poor Son! Behold love
already representing him to her in his agony in the garden, then torn
by scourges, and crowned with thorns in the hall of Pilate, and finally
hanging from the infamous wood on Calvary! Behold, oh mother, said love,
what a lovely and innocent Son thou hast offered to such sufferings, and
to so dreadful a death! And of what avail will it be to thee to rescue
him from the hands of Herod, in order to reserve him for so piteous an
end?
Thus Mary not only offered her Son to death in the temple, but was
offering him up at every moment of her life; for she revealed to St.
Bridget, that this grief which St. Simeon announced to her, never left
her heart till she was assumed into heaven.[1254] Hence St. Anselm says:
Oh Lady, I cannot believe, that with such a sorrow thou wouldst have
been able to live one moment, if God himself, who gives life, had not
strengthened thee by his divine power.[1255] And St. Bernard affirms,
speaking of the great sorrow that Mary endured on this day, that
henceforth she suffered a living death, bearing a grief more cruel than
death.[1256] She lived, dying at every moment, because grief for the
death of her beloved Jesus, which was more cruel than any death, was at
every moment assailing her.
The divine mother then, on account of the great merit she acquired in
this great sacrifice, which she made to God for the salvation of the
world, was justly called by St. Augustine: The restorer of the human
race: “Reparatrix generis humani.”[1257] By St. Epiphanius: The redeemer
of captives: “Redemptrix captivorum.”[1258] By St. Ildephonsus: The
restorer of the ruined world: “Reparatrix perditi orbis.”[1259] By St.
Germanus: The consolation of our miseries: “Restauratio calamitatum
nostrarum.”[1260] By St. Ambrose: The mother of all believers: “Mater
omnium credentium.”[1261] By St. Augustine: The mother of the living:
“Mater viventium.”[1262] By St. Andrew of Crete: The mother of life:
“Mater vitæ.”[1263] For, as St. Arnold Carnotensis says: In the death
of Jesus, Mary united her will to that of her Son in such a manner,
that both offered the same sacrifice; and therefore the holy abbot
says, that thus the Son and the mother effected the human redemption,
obtaining salvation for men.[1264] Jesus by satisfying for our sins,
Mary by obtaining for us that this satisfaction should be applied to
us. And hence blessed Denis the Carthusian likewise affirms, that the
divine mother may be called the salvation of the world, since by the pain
she endured in commiserating her Son (voluntarily sacrificed by her to
divine justice), she merited that the merits of the Redeemer should be
communicated to men.[1265]
Mary, then, having been made the mother of all the redeemed, by the merit
of her sufferings, and of the offering of her Son; it is just to believe
that only by her hand may be given them the milk of those divine graces,
which are the fruits of the merits of Jesus Christ, and the means to
obtain life eternal. And it is to this that St. Bernard alludes, when
he says that God has placed in the hands of Mary the whole price of
our redemption.[1266] By which the saint gives us to understand, that
by means of the intercession of the blessed Virgin, the merits of the
Redeemer are applied to souls, as by her hand these graces are dispensed,
which are precisely the price of the merits of Jesus Christ.
And if the sacrifice of Abraham in offering up to him his son Isaac so
pleased God that he promised, as a reward, to multiply his descendants
as the stars of heaven: “Because thou hast done this thing, and hast
not spared thy only begotten Son for my sake; I will bless thee, and I
will multiply thy seed as the stars of heaven;”[1267] we must certainly
believe that the more remarkable sacrifice which this great mother made
of Jesus was much more agreeable to the Lord; and, therefore, it has
been granted her, that by her prayers, the number of the elect should
be multiplied, that is, the favored succession of her children, for she
holds and protects as such her devoted servants.
St. Simeon received a promise from God that he should not die until he
had seen the Messiah born: “And he had received an answer from the Holy
Ghost, that he should not see death before he had seen the Christ of the
Lord.”[1268] But he did not receive this grace except by means of Mary,
for he did not see the Saviour until he saw him in the arms of Mary.
Hence, whoever wishes to find Jesus, will not find him except through
Mary. Let us, then, go to this divine mother if we wish to find Jesus;
and let us go with great confidence. Mary said to her servant Prudentiana
Zagnoni,[1269] that every year, on this day of the purification, a great
mercy would be shown to some sinner. Who knows but one of us may to-day
be that favored sinner? If our sins are great, greater is the power of
Mary. The Son can deny nothing to this mother, says St. Bernard.[1270]
If Jesus is offended with us, Mary immediately appeases him. Plutarch
relates that Antipater wrote to Alexander the Great a long letter of
accusations against Olympias, the mother of Alexander. Having read the
letter, he answered: “Does not Antipater know that one tear of my mother
is enough to cancel an endless number of letters of accusation”?[1271]
Thus we may imagine Jesus would also answer to the accusations which
the devil presents him against us when Mary is praying him for us: Does
not Lucifer know that one prayer of my mother, in favor of a sinner,
is enough to make me forget all the accusations of offences committed
against me? The following example is a proof of this.
EXAMPLE.
This example is not recorded in any book, but a priest, a companion of
mine, related it to me, as having happened to himself. While this priest
was hearing confessions in a certain church (for sufficient reasons he
did not mention the place where this occurred, although the penitent gave
him leave to publish the fact), a youth stood before him, who appeared
to wish and not to wish to come to confession. The Father, after looking
at him several times, at length called him, and asked him if he wished to
make his confession. He answered, yes; but as he required a long time for
it, the confessor took him into a retired room. There the penitent began
by telling him that he was a foreigner, and of noble birth, but he could
not believe that it was possible for God to pardon him after the life he
had led. Besides innumerable other sins he had committed of impurity,
homicide, &c., he said, that being entirely in despair of salvation, he
had set about committing sins, not so much for his own gratification, as
to defy God, and manifest the hatred he bore him. He said, that among
other things, he had with him a crucifix, which he had beaten out of
contempt. He said that just before, on that very morning, he had made
a sacrilegious communion, and for what object? That he might put under
his feet the consecrated wafer. And that, in fact, he had actually
received, and was about to put in execution his horrible intention, but
was prevented by the people who observed him. He then consigned to the
confessor the consecrated host, wrapped in a paper, and told him that
as he was passing by that church he had a great desire to enter. He
could not resist this desire, and had entered. That then he felt great
remorse of conscience, together with a certain confused and irresolute
desire to make his confession. For this reason he had placed himself
before the confessional, but while standing there he felt so confused
and timid, that he wished to go away, but it seemed as if some one had
retained him by force: “Until,” he said, “you, Father, called me; and now
I find myself here; I find myself making my confession; but I know not
how to do it.” The Father then asked him if he had practiced any act of
devotion during that time; meaning towards the most holy Mary; for such
sudden conversions only come through the powerful hands of the Virgin.
“None, Father; what devotion could I offer,” answered the youth, “when
I believed myself lost?” “But try to remember more carefully,” replied
the Father. “Father, nothing.” But accidentally putting his hand to his
breast, he remembered that he wore the Scapular of the Seven Dolors of
Mary: “Maria addolorata.” “Ah, my son,” said the confessor to him, “do
you not see that our blessed Lady has bestowed this grace upon you? And
know,” he added, “that this church is a church of our blessed Lady.”
Hearing this, the youth was moved to contrition, and began to weep. He
confessed his sins, and his compunction increased to such a degree that,
bursting into tears, he fell, overcome with grief, as it seemed, at
the feet of the Father, who, having restored him by a cordial, finally
finished hearing his confession, and absolved him with the greatest
consolation, as he was entirely contrite and resolved to amend his
life. The Father sent him back to his own country after having obtained
from him full liberty to preach and publish everywhere the great mercy
exercised by Mary towards him.
PRAYER.
Oh holy mother of God and my mother Mary, didst thou then feel so great
care of my salvation that thou didst even consent to offer up to death
the object dearest to thy heart, thy beloved Jesus? If thou, then, hast
so greatly desired to see me saved, it is just that next to God I should
place in thee all my hopes. Oh blessed Virgin, I do indeed confide
entirely in thee. Oh, by the merit of this great sacrifice of the life of
thy Son which to-day thou hast offered to God, pray him to have pity on
my soul, for which this immaculate Lamb did not refuse to die upon the
cross.
To-day, oh my queen, I also, in imitation of thee, wish to offer my poor
heart to God; but I fear that he will refuse it, seeing it thus filthy
and loathsome. But if thou wilt offer it to him, he will not refuse
it. All the offerings made him by thy most pure hands he accepts and
receives. To thee, then, oh Mary, I present myself to-day, miserable as I
am, and to thee I give myself entirely. Offer me as thine to the eternal
Father and to Jesus, and pray him that through the merits of his Son, and
by thy favor, he may accept me, and take me for his own. Ah, my sweetest
mother, for the love thou bearest this Son whom thou hast sacrificed, aid
me always, and do not abandon me. Do not permit that I should one day
lose, through my sins, this my most loving Redeemer, to-day offered by
thee with so much anguish to die on the cross. Say to him that I am thy
servant; say to him that in thee I have placed all my hope; say to him,
in a word, that thou dost wish for my salvation, and he will certainly
graciously hear thee. Amen.
DISCOURSE VII.
ON THE ASSUMPTION OF MARY.
On this day the Church proposes to us to celebrate two solemn observances
in honor of Mary: one, her happy departure from this earth; the other,
her glorious assumption into heaven. In the present discourse we shall
speak of her departure from this earth, and in the next of her assumption.
How precious was the death of Mary! 1st, On account of the special graces
which attended it; 2d, On account of the manner of it.
Death being the punishment of sin, it would seem that the divine mother,
all holy and exempt from every stain, should not be subject to death,
nor suffer the same misfortune as the children of Adam, who are infected
by the poison of sin. But God, wishing Mary in all things to be like to
Jesus, required, as the Son had died, that the mother should also die;
and because he wished to give to the just an example of the blessed death
prepared for them, he decreed that the Virgin should die, but by a sweet
and happy death. Hence we will enter upon the consideration, how precious
was the death of Mary. 1st. On account of the special graces by which it
was accompanied. 2d. On account of the manner in which it took place.
_Point First._—Three things render death bitter, namely, attachment to
earth, remorse for sin, and the uncertainty of salvation. But the death
of Mary was entirely free from any such causes of bitterness, and was
attended by many circumstances which rendered it precious and joyful.
She died as she had always lived, entirely detached from all earthly
things; she died in the most perfect peace of conscience; she died in the
certainty of eternal glory.
And in the first place, there is no doubt that attachment to the goods
of earth renders the death of the worldly bitter and miserable, as the
Holy Spirit says: “Oh, death, how bitter is the remembrance of thee to
a man that hath peace in his possessions!”[1272] But because the saints
die detached from the things of the world, their death is not bitter, but
sweet, lovely, and precious; or, as St. Bernard explains, it is worth
being purchased at any price. Blessed are the dead who die in the Lord:
“Beati mortui qui in Domino moriuntur.”[1273] Who are they that being
dead, die? Precisely those happy souls that pass into eternity, already
detached, and, as it were, dead to all affections for terrestrial
things, having found in God alone their every good; as St. Francis of
Assisium, who exclaimed: My God, and my all: “Deus meus et omnia.” But
what soul was ever more detached from the things of the world, and more
united to God, than the beautiful soul of Mary? She was indeed entirely
detached from her parents, since at the age of three years, when children
are most dependent on their parents, and have the greatest need of their
assistance, Mary with so great resolution left them, and went to shut
herself up in the temple to attend to the things of God. She was detached
from riches, contented to live always poor, and supporting herself with
the labor of her hands. She was detached from honors, loving an humble
and abject life, although queenly honor belonged to her, for she traced
her descent from the kings of Israel. The Virgin herself revealed to St.
Elizabeth, a Benedictine nun, that when she was left in the temple by her
parents, she resolved in her heart to have no other father, and to love
no other good but God.
St. John saw Mary represented in that woman clothed with the sun, who
held the moon under her feet. “And there appeared a great wonder in
heaven; a woman clothed with the sun, and the moon under her feet.”[1274]
Interpreters explain the moon to signify the goods of this earth, that
are uncertain, and change as the moon does. All these goods Mary never
had in her heart, but always despised them and kept them under her feet;
living in this world as a solitary turtle-dove in a desert; placing her
affection on no earthly thing, so that it was said of her: The voice
of the turtle is heard in our land: “Vox turturis audita est in terra
nostra.”[1275] And again, “Who is she that goeth up by the desert?”[1276]
whence Rupert says: “Thou hast gone up by the desert, that is, having a
solitary soul.”[1277] Mary, then, having always lived entirely detached
from the things of earth, and only united to God, not bitter, but very
sweet and dear to her was death, which united her more closely to God, by
the eternal bonds of paradise.
Secondly, peace of conscience renders the death of the just precious.
The sins committed in life are those worms that the most torment and
gnaw the heart of poor dying sinners, who, about to be presented at
the divine tribunal, see themselves at that moment surrounded by their
sins, which terrify them, and pursue them with cries, as St. Bernard
says: “We are thy works, we will not desert thee.”[1278] Certainly Mary
could not be afflicted in death by any remorse of conscience, for she
was always holy, always pure, and always free from every shade of actual
and original sin; hence it was said of her: Thou art all fair, oh my
love, and there is not a spot in thee: “Tota pulchra es, amica mea, et
macula non est in te.”[1279] As soon as she had the use of reason, that
is, from the first moment of her immaculate conception in the womb of
St. Ann, from that time she began with all her powers to love her God;
and thus she continued to do, ever advancing more in perfection and love
through her whole life. All her thoughts, her desires, her affections,
were wholly given to God; not a word, not a motion, not a glance of the
eye, not a breath of hers that was not for God and for his glory, never
departing one step, nor separating herself for one moment from the divine
love. Ah! in the happy hour of her death how did all the lovely virtues
which she practised during her life surround her blessed bed! That faith
so constant, that affectionate confidence in God, that patience so
strong in the midst of sufferings, that humility in the midst of so many
privileges, that modesty, that meekness, that compassion for souls, that
zeal for the divine glory, and above all, that perfect charity towards
God, with that entire uniformity to the divine will—all, in a word,
thronged around her, and consoling her, said: We are thy works, we will
not desert thee: “Opera tua sumus, non te deseremus.” Oh Lady and mother,
we are all children of thy loving heart; now that thou art leaving this
miserable life, we will not leave thee, we also will go to attend thee
and honor thee in paradise, where, by our means, thou wilt be crowned
queen of all men and of all the angels.
In the third place, the certainty of eternal salvation renders death
sweet. Death is called a passage, since through death we pass from this
short life to life eternal. And, as the dread is great of those who die
in doubt of their salvation, and who approach the solemn moment with
just fear of passing into an eternal death, thus, on the other hand,
very great is the joy of the saints at the end of life, hoping with
some security to go and possess God in heaven. A nun of the order of
St. Theresa, when the physician announced to her that death was near,
was so full of joy that she said to him: “And how does it happen, sir,
that you tell me this good news and ask no fee for it?” St. Lawrence
Justinian being at the point of death, and seeing his friends weeping
around him, said to them: “Away, away with your tears, this is no time
for tears.”[1280] Go elsewhere to weep; if you will remain with me you
must rejoice, as I rejoice, in seeing the gate of paradise open to unite
me with my God. And thus, also, a St. Peter of Alcantara, a St. Louis of
Gonzaga, and so many other saints, on hearing that death was at hand,
burst forth into exclamations of joy and gladness. And yet they were not
certain of the divine favor, nor secure of their own sanctity, as Mary
was secure of hers. But what joy must the divine mother have felt in
learning that her death was at hand; she, who had the fullest security
of enjoying the divine favor, especially after the angel Gabriel had
assured her that she was full of grace, and already possessed God! “Hail,
full of grace, the Lord is with thee ... thou hast found grace.”[1281]
And well did she herself know that her heart was burning continually with
divine love, so that as Bernardine de Bustis says, Mary, by a singular
grace not granted to any other saint, loved, and was always actually
occupied in loving God every moment of her life, and so ardently, that,
as St. Bernard says, it required a perpetual miracle to preserve her life
in the midst of such burning flames.
It was before said of Mary in the sacred Canticles: “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?”[1282]
Her entire mortification was prefigured in the myrrh, her fervent prayers
were signified by the incense, and all her holy virtues united to her
perfect charity towards God, kindled in her a flame so great, that
her holy soul, wholly devoted to, and consumed by divine love, arose
continually to God as a pillar of smoke that on all sides breathed sweet
odor. As a pillar of smoke, oh blessed Lady, wrote Rupert, thou hast
breathed forth a sweet odor to the Most High.[1283] And Eustachius still
more strongly expresses it: A pillar of smoke, because burning interiorly
as a holocaust with the flame of divine love, she sent forth a most sweet
odor.[1284] As the loving Virgin lived, such she died. As divine love
gave her life, so it gave her death; for she died as the holy Doctors and
Fathers of the Church generally affirm, of no other infirmity than pure
love; for St. Ildephonsus says, that Mary either ought not to die, or
only die of love.
_Second Point._—But let us now see what were the circumstances of her
happy death. After the ascension of Jesus Christ, Mary remained on earth
to attend to the propagation of the faith. Hence the disciples of Jesus
had recourse to her, and she resolved their doubts, comforted them in
their persecutions, and encouraged them to labor for the divine glory
and for the salvation of the souls redeemed by her Son. She, indeed,
willingly remained on earth, understanding this to be the will of God
for the good of the Church; but she could not but feel the pain of being
far from the presence and sight of her beloved Son, who had ascended
into heaven. “Where your treasure is,” said the Redeemer, “there will
your heart be also.”[1285] Where any one believes his treasure and his
happiness to lie, there he always holds the love and desire of his
heart fixed. If Mary then loved no other good than Jesus, he being in
heaven, in heaven were all her desires. Taulerus wrote of Mary: The cell
of Mary was heaven: “Mariæ cella fuit cœlum,”[1286] for being in heaven
with her affection, she made of it her continual abode. Her school was
eternity: “Schola æternitas,” for she was always detached from temporal
possessions. Her teacher, divine truth: “Pædagogus divina veritas,” for
she was always guided in her actions by the divine light. Her mirror,
the Divinity: “Speculum divinitas,” for she looked upon nothing but God,
in order to conform always to the divine will. Her ornament, devotion:
“Ornatus ejus devotio,” for she was always ready to fulfil the divine
commands. Her repose, union with God: “Quies unitas cum Deo,” for her
peace was only in uniting herself with God. In a word, the place and
treasure of her heart was God alone: “Cordis illius locus et thesaurus
solus Deus erat.” The most holy Virgin consoled her loving heart during
this cruel separation, by visiting, as it is narrated, the holy places
of Palestine, where her Son had been in his lifetime: she often visited
now the stable of Bethlehem, where her Son was born; now the workshop at
Nazareth, where her Son had lived so many years poor and despised; now
the garden of Gethsemane, where her Son commenced his passion; now the
hall of Pilate, where he was scourged; the place where he was crowned;
but more often she visited Calvary, where her Son had expired; and the
holy sepulchre, where she finally had left him. And thus the most loving
mother used to soothe the pains of her cruel exile. But this was not
enough to satisfy her heart, which could not find its perfect rest upon
this earth; hence her continual sighs were ascending to her Lord, as
she exclaimed with David, but with more ardent love: “Who will give me
wings like a dove, and I will fly and be at rest.”[1287] Who will give
me wings like a dove to fly to my God and there to find my rest? “As
the hart panteth after the fountains of water, so my soul panteth after
thee, oh God.”[1288] As the wounded stag pants for the fountain, so my
soul, wounded by thy love, oh my God, desires and sighs for thee. Ah,
the sighs of this holy turtle-dove could not but reach the heart of her
God, who loved her so much: “The voice of the turtle is heard in our
land.” Wherefore not being willing to defer any longer consolation to
his beloved, behold, he graciously hears her desire and calls her to his
kingdom.
Cedrenus,[1289] Nicephorus,[1290] and Metaphrastes,[1291] relate, that
the Lord, some days before her death, sent to her the angel Gabriel, the
same who once announced to her that she was the blessed woman chosen
to be the mother of God: My Lady and Queen, said the angel to her, God
has already graciously heard thy holy desires, and he has sent me to
tell thee to prepare to leave the earth, for he wishes thee with him in
paradise. Come then, to take possession of thy kingdom, for I and all
its holy citizens await and desire thee. At this happy annunciation what
should our most humble and holy Virgin do but conceal herself more deeply
in the centre of her most profound humility, and reply in those same
words with which she answered St. Gabriel when he announced to her that
she was to become mother of God: Behold the handmaid of the Lord: “Ecce
ancilla Domini?” Behold, she again answered, the servant of the Lord; he
in his pure goodness has chosen me and made me his mother; now he calls
me to paradise. I neither merited the one nor the other honor; but since
he wishes to manifest his infinite liberality towards me, I am ready to
go where he wishes. “Behold the handmaid of the Lord;” may the will of my
God and Lord always be fulfilled in me.
After receiving this precious intelligence, she imparted it to St. John,
and we may imagine with what grief and tender emotion he heard this news;
he who for so many years had been near her as a son, and had enjoyed the
celestial conversation of this most holy mother. She then visited anew
the holy places of Jerusalem, tenderly taking leave of them, especially
of Calvary, where her beloved Son had died. And then she returned to her
poor dwelling to prepare for death. During this time the angels did not
cease to come and visit this their beloved queen, consoling themselves
with the thought that they should soon see her crowned in heaven. Many
authors assert,[1292] that before she died, by a divine miracle, the
apostles and also some of the disciples came from the different places
where they were dispersed, and all assembled in the apartment of Mary,
and that when she saw all these her dear children united together in
her presence, she thus addressed them: My dear children, for love of
you, and to help you, my Son left me on this earth. But now the holy
faith is spread throughout the world, already the fruit of the divine
seed is grown up; hence my divine Son, seeing that my assistance was no
longer needed upon the earth, and compassionating me for the pain of
separation, has graciously heard my desire to depart from this life, and
go to see him in glory. If I leave you, my heart does not leave you; I
will carry with me the great love I bear you, and it shall always remain
with me. I am going to paradise to pray for you. At these sad tidings,
who can realize how great were the tears and lamentations of these holy
disciples, knowing that they were shortly to be separated from their
mother? Then, they all in tears exclaimed, then, oh Mary, thou wilt leave
us! It is true that this earth is not a worthy and fit place for thee,
and that we are not worthy to enjoy the society of a mother of God; but
remember that thou art our mother; thou hast until now enlightened us
in our doubts, consoled our sorrows, strengthened us in persecutions,
and how canst thou now abandon us, leaving us alone without thy comfort
in the midst of so many enemies and so many conflicts? We have already
lost on earth Jesus, our Master and our Father, who has ascended into
heaven; we have since been consoled by thee, our mother; and now how
canst thou leave us orphans, without father or mother? Oh remain with us,
oh our Lady! or take us with thee. Thus writes St. John Damascene.[1293]
“No, my children (thus sweetly the loving queen began to speak) this
is not according to the will of God; content yourselves to do what he
has appointed for you and for me. To you it yet remains to labor on
the earth for the glory of your Redeemer, and to perfect your eternal
crown. I do not leave you to abandon you, but to help you more by my
intercession with God in heaven. Be satisfied. I commend to you the holy
Church; I commend to you the souls redeemed by my Son; let this be my
last farewell, and the only remembrance that I leave you. If you love me,
labor for souls, and for the glory of my Son; for we shall one day meet
again in paradise, never more to separate throughout eternity.”
Then she begged them to give burial to her body after death, blessed
them, and directed St. John, as Damascene relates,[1294] that after
her death he should give her two garments to two virgins who had served
her for some time, and then she decently composed herself upon her poor
little bed, where she laid herself to await death, and with death the
meeting with her divine spouse, who shortly was to come and take her
with him to the kingdom of the blessed. Behold, she already feels in her
heart a great joy, the forerunner of the coming of the spouse, which
overwhelms her with a great and new sweetness. The holy apostles, seeing
that Mary already was about to depart from this earth, burst forth into
fresh weeping, and knelt around her bed: some kissed her holy feet,
others asked her special blessing, one recommended to her some particular
necessity of his, and all wept bitterly, for their hearts were pierced
with grief at being obliged to separate forever in this life from their
beloved Lady. And she, their most loving mother, compassionated all,
consoled all, promising to some her protection, blessing others with
peculiar affection, and encouraging others to labor for the conversion
of the world; especially did she call St. Peter to her, and as head of
the Church, and vicar of her Son, she recommended to him in particular
the propagation of the faith, promising him her special protection from
heaven. But in a very special manner did she call to her St. John, who
felt a greater sorrow than all the others at the moment of separation
from that holy mother; and the most grateful Lady, calling to mind the
affection and attention with which this holy disciple had served her
through all the years they had passed on earth since the death of her
Son, said to him with great tenderness: My John, I thank thee for all the
assistance thou hast afforded me; my son, be certain that I never will be
ungrateful to thee for it. If I leave thee now, I am going to pray for
thee. Remain in peace in this life until we meet in heaven, where I will
await thee. Do not forget me; in all thy necessities call me to thy aid,
for I never will forget thee, my beloved son. My son, I bless thee, I
leave thee my benediction; rest in peace—adieu.
But the death of Mary draws near. The divine love, with its blessed and
ardent flames, having almost entirely consumed the vital spirits, the
celestial phœnix is going to lose her life in the midst of this fire.
Then the hosts of angels come to meet her, as if to be ready for the
great triumph with which they were to accompany her to paradise. Mary
was indeed consoled at the sight of these holy spirits; but not fully
consoled, for she did not yet see her beloved Jesus, who was the whole
love of her heart. Hence she often repeated to the angels who descended
to salute her: “I adjure you, oh daughters of Jerusalem, if you find my
beloved, that you tell him that I languish with love.”[1295] Oh holy
angels! oh blessed citizens of the heavenly Jerusalem! ye come in hosts
kindly to console me, and ye all console me with your sweet presence; I
thank you, but ye all do not fully satisfy me, for I do not yet see my
Son coming to console me. Go, if you love me, return to paradise, and
tell my beloved, from me, that I languish and faint for his love. Tell
him to come, and come quickly, for I am dying with my desire to see him.
But behold, Jesus himself comes to take his mother to the kingdom of
the blessed. It was revealed to St. Elizabeth, that the Son appeared to
Mary before she expired, with the cross in his hand, to show the special
glory he had obtained from the redemption, having by his death made the
acquisition of this great creature, who through the ages of eternity
was to honor him more than all men and all angels. St. John of Damascus
relates, that he gave to her the viaticum, saying to her, tenderly: Take,
oh my mother, from my hands, that same body which thou hast given me. And
the mother having received with the greatest love that final communion,
with her last sighs said to him: My Son, into thy hands I commend my
spirit; I recommend to thee this soul that thou, in thy goodness, didst
create even from the beginning, rich in so many graces, and by a peculiar
privilege hast preserved from every stain of sin. I commend to thee my
body, from which thou hast deigned to take flesh and blood. I commend to
thee, also, these my dear children (speaking of the holy disciples who
were around her); they are afflicted at my departure; do thou console
them, who lovest them more than I do; bless them, and give them strength
to do great things for thy glory.[1296]
The end of the life of Mary having now arrived, there was heard, as St.
Jerome relates, in the apartment where she lay, a great harmony; and
also, as it was revealed to St. Bridget, a great brightness was seen. By
this harmony and unusual splendor the holy Apostles perceived that Mary
was then departing, at which they broke forth again in tears and prayers,
and raising their hands, with one voice exclaimed: Oh, our mother,
now thou art going to heaven, and art leaving us, give us thy last
benediction, and do not forget us in our misery. And Mary, turning her
eyes around upon them all, as if bidding them for the last time farewell,
said: Adieu, my children: I bless you; do not fear that I shall forget
you. And now death came, not indeed clothed with mourning and sadness,
as it comes to others, but adorned with light and joy. But why death,
why death? Rather should we say that divine love came to cut the thread
of that noble life. And as a lamp before going out, her life, amid these
last flickerings, flashed forth more brightly, and then expired. Thus,
this beautiful soul, her Son inviting her to follow him, wrapped in the
flame of her charity, and in the midst of her amorous sighs, breathed
forth a greater sigh of love, expired and died; and thus that great soul,
that beautiful dove of our Lord, was released from the bonds of this
life, and entered into the glory of the blessed, where she sits, and will
sit, as queen of paradise, for all eternity.
Now Mary has left the earth, now she is in heaven. From thence this
kind mother looks down upon us, who are still in this valley of tears,
compassionates us, and promises us her support if we wish for it. Let us
pray her always that by the merits of her blessed death she may obtain
for us a happy death; and if it please God, that she may obtain for us to
die on a Saturday, which is dedicated to her honor, or on a day of the
Novena, or of the octave of some of her feasts, as she has obtained for
so many of her servants, and especially for St. Stanislas Kostka, for
whom she obtained to die on the day of her glorious Assumption, as Father
Bartoli relates in his life of the saint.[1297]
EXAMPLE.
During the lifetime of this holy youth, who was wholly devoted to the
love of Mary, it happened that on the first day of August, he heard a
sermon of Father Peter Canisius, in which, preaching to the novices of
his society, he fervently urged upon all, the important advice, to live
every day as if it might be the last of their life, after which they
were to be presented at the divine tribunal. The sermon being finished,
St. Stanislas told his companions that this counsel had been for him
especially the voice of God, for that he was to die on that very month.
He said this either because God had expressly revealed it to him, or
at least because he gave him a certain internal presentiment of what
afterwards happened. Four days after, the blessed youth went with Father
Emmanuel to St. Mary Major, and beginning to speak of the approaching
festival of the Assumption, he said: “Father, I believe that on that day
there is seen in paradise a new paradise, the glory being seen there of
the mother of God crowned queen of heaven, and seated so near the Lord
above all the choirs of angels. And if it is true that every year, as
I believe it to be certain, this festival is renewed in heaven, I hope
to see the next one.” The glorious martyr St. Lawrence, having fallen
to the saint by lot as his monthly patron, according to the custom of
that society, it is said that he wrote a letter to his mother Mary, in
which he prayed her to obtain for him that he might be a spectator of
this festival of hers in paradise. On St. Lawrence’s day he received
communion, and after it supplicated the saint to present that letter to
the divine mother, by interposing his intercession that the most holy
Mary might graciously hear his prayer. At the close of this very day
a fever came upon him, and although it was very light, he, however,
from that hour esteemed it for certain that he had obtained the favor
asked for him, namely, an early death. Indeed, on going to bed he said
joyfully, with a smiling countenance: “From this bed I shall never
arise.” And speaking to Father Claudius Aquaviva, he added: “I believe
that St. Lawrence has already obtained for me the grace from Mary that
I should be in heaven on the festival of her Assumption.” But no one
thought much of these his words. The vigil having arrived, his malady
continued to appear light, but the saint told a brother that he should
die the next night, and the brother answered: “Oh, brother, it would be
a greater miracle to die of so slight an illness, than to be cured.”
But, behold, after noon he fell into a deadly swoon, and then came a
cold sweat, and he entirely lost his strength. The superior hastened
to him, and Stanislas prayed him to order him to be placed on the bare
floor, that he might die as a penitent, which was granted in order to
satisfy him, and he was laid on the floor on a mattress. Then he made his
confession, received the viaticum, not without the tears of all present,
for when the divine sacrament was brought into the apartment, his eyes
kindled with celestial joy, and his whole countenance was radiant with
holy love, so that he seemed a seraph. He also received extreme unction,
and meanwhile did nothing but now raise his eyes to heaven, now look
upon, kiss, and lovingly press to his breast, an image of Mary. A father
said to him: “Of what use is it to wear that rosary around your hand,
if you cannot recite it?” He answered: “It serves to console me, for
it is something belonging to my mother.” “Oh, how much more,” said the
Father, “will you be consoled by seeing her, and kissing, in a short
time, her hands in heaven!” Then the saint, with his countenance all on
fire, raised his hands, thus to express his desire of finding himself
soon in her presence. Then his dear mother appeared to him, as he himself
declared to those around him, and soon after, at the dawn of day on the
fifteenth of August, he expired as a saint, his eyes fixed on heaven,
without a motion, so that not until afterwards, when the image of the
most holy Virgin was presented, and he made no movement towards it, it
was perceived that he had already gone to kiss in paradise the feet of
his beloved queen.
PRAYER.
Oh, our most sweet Lady and Mother, thou hast already left the earth,
and hast reached thy kingdom, where thou sittest as queen over all the
choirs of angels, as the holy Church sings: She was exalted above the
choirs of angels in the celestial kingdoms: “Exaltata est super choros
angelorum ad cœlestia regna.” We know that we sinners are not worthy of
having thee with us in this valley of darkness. But we know also, that
thou in thy grandeur hast never forgotten us in our misery, and by being
exalted to such glory hast never lost compassion for us poor children of
Adam, but rather that it is increased in thee. From the high throne then,
where thou dost reign, turn, oh Mary, even upon us, thy pitying eyes,
and take compassion upon us. Remember, too, that on leaving this world,
thou didst promise not to forget us. Look upon us and succor us. See in
what tempests and in how many dangers we are, and always shall be, till
the end of our life arrives. By the merits of thy holy death, obtain
for us holy perseverance in the divine friendship, that we may finally
depart from this life in the grace of God, and thus come one day to kiss
thy feet in paradise, and unite ourselves with the blessed spirits in
praising thee, and singing thy glories, as thou dost merit. Amen.
DISCOURSE VIII.
ANOTHER DISCOURSE ON THE ASSUMPTION OF MARY.
_1st. How glorious was the triumph of Mary when she ascended to
heaven! 2d. How exalted was the throne to which she was raised
in heaven!_
It would seem just that the holy Church, on this day of the Assumption of
Mary to heaven, should rather invite us to weep than to rejoice, since
our sweet mother has quitted this earth, and left us bereft of her sweet
presence, as St. Bernard says: It seems that we should rather weep than
exult: “Plangendum nobis, quam plaudendum magis esse videtur.”[1298] But
no, the holy Church invites us to rejoice: “Let us all rejoice in the
Lord, celebrating a festival in honor of the blessed Virgin Mary.”[1299]
And justly, if we love this our mother, we ought to congratulate
ourselves more upon her glory than upon our own particular consolation.
What son does not rejoice, although separated from his mother, if he
knows that she is going to take possession of a kingdom? Mary, to-day, is
to be crowned queen of heaven, and shall we not make a feast and rejoice
if we truly love her? Let us all rejoice, let us rejoice: “Gaudeamus
omnes, et gaudeamus.” And that we may be consoled the more by her
exaltation, let us consider, in the first place, how glorious was the
triumph of Mary ascending to heaven; secondly, how exalted was the throne
to which she was elevated in heaven.
_First Point._—After Jesus Christ our Saviour had completed the work
of our redemption by his death, the angels earnestly desired to have
him with them in their heavenly country; hence they were continually
supplicating him, repeating the words of David: “Arise, oh Lord, into thy
resting-place, thou and the ark which thou hast sanctified.”[1300] Come,
oh Lord, now that thou hast redeemed men, come to thy kingdom with us,
and bring with thee also the living ark of thy sanctification, namely,
thy mother, who was the ark sanctified by thee when thou didst inhabit
her womb. Thus St. Bernardine puts it into the mouth of the angels to
say: Let thy most holy mother Mary also ascend, sanctified by thy
conception.[1301] At length, then, our Lord wished to satisfy this desire
of those citizens of the heavenly country, by calling Mary to paradise.
But, if he wished that the ark of the covenant should be conducted with
great pomp into the city of David—And David and all the house of Israel
brought the ark of the covenant of the Lord with joyful shouting, and
with sound of trumpet[1302]—with far more splendid and glorious pomp he
ordained that his mother should enter into heaven. The prophet Elias
was carried up to heaven in a chariot of fire, which, according to the
interpreters, was but a company of angels who raised him from the earth.
But to conduct thee into heaven, oh mother of God, as Rupert the Abbot
says, a company of angels was not enough, but the King of heaven himself,
with all his celestial court, came to accompany thee.[1303]
St. Bernardine of Sienna is of the same opinion, namely: that Jesus
Christ, in order to honor the triumph of Mary, came himself from paradise
to meet and accompany her.[1304] And precisely for this object it was,
says St. Anselm, that the Redeemer wished to ascend before his mother,
not only to prepare for her a throne in that palace, but also to render
her entrance into heaven more glorious, by accompanying her himself, with
all the blessed spirits.[1305] Hence St. Peter Damian, contemplating
the splendor of this assumption of Mary into heaven, says that we shall
find it more glorious than the ascension of Jesus Christ; for the angels
only came to meet the Redeemer, but the blessed Virgin went to glory met
and accompanied by the Lord of glory himself, and by all the blessed
company of saints and angels.[1306] Hence Guerric the Abbot represents
the divine Word speaking thus: I descended from heaven upon earth to give
glory to my Father; but afterwards, to pay honor to my mother, I ascended
again into heaven, that I might thus be enabled to come to meet her, and
accompany her by my presence to paradise.[1307]
Let us now consider how the Saviour really did come from heaven to meet
his mother, and at the first interview said, to console her: “Arise,
make haste, my love, my dove, my beautiful one, and come; for winter
is now past ... and gone.”[1308] Come, my dear mother, my beautiful and
pure dove, leave that valley of tears where thou hast suffered so much
for my love; come from Libanus, my spouse, come from Libanus, come, thou
shalt be crowned.[1309] Come with soul and body, to enjoy the reward of
thy holy life. If thou hast suffered much upon earth, far greater is the
glory that I have prepared for thee in heaven. Come there to sit near me;
come to receive the crown that I will give thee as queen of the universe.
Now, behold, Mary leaves the earth, and calling to mind the many graces
she had there received from her Lord, she looks at it at the same time
both with affection and compassion, leaving in it so many poor children,
in the midst of so many miseries and dangers. And now Jesus offers her
his hand, and the blessed mother rises in the air and passes beyond the
clouds and spheres. Behold her now arrived at the gates of heaven. When
monarchs make their entrance to take possession of their kingdom, they do
not pass through the gates of the city, for either these are taken off
entirely, or they pass over them. Hence the angels, when Jesus Christ
entered paradise, cried: “Lift up your gates, O ye princes, and be ye
lifted up, O eternal gates; and the King of glory shall enter in.”[1310]
Thus, also, now that Mary is going to take possession of the kingdom
of the heavens, the angels who accompany her cry to the others who are
within: “Lift up your gates, ye princes, and be ye lifted up, O eternal
gates, and the queen of glory shall enter in.”[1311]
And now Mary enters into the blessed country. But on her entrance, the
celestial spirits seeing her so beautiful and glorious, ask of those who
are without, as Origen describes it, and exclaim, all rejoicing in heaven
in one (voice): “Who is this that cometh up from the desert, flowing
with delights, leaning upon her beloved?”[1312] And who is this creature
so beautiful, that comes from the desert of the earth, a place full of
thorns and tribulation? But this one comes so pure and so rich in virtue,
supported by her beloved Lord, who deigns to accompany her with so great
honor. Who is she? The angels who accompany her answer: This is the
mother of our King, she is our queen, and the blessed one among women,
full of grace, the saint of saints, the beloved of God, the immaculate,
the dove, the most beautiful of all creatures. And then all those blessed
spirits begin to bless and praise her, singing, with more reason than the
Hebrews said to Judith: “Thou art the glory of Jerusalem, thou art the
joy of Israel, thou art the honor of our people.”[1313] Ah! our Lady and
our queen, then thou art the glory of paradise, the joy of our country,
thou art the honor of us all; be ever welcome, be ever blessed; behold
thy kingdom, behold us, we are all thy servants, ready for thy commands.
Then all the saints who were at that time in paradise came to welcome her
and salute her as their queen. All the holy virgins came: They saw her,
and declared her most blessed ... and they praised her.[1314] We, they
said, oh most blessed Lady, are also queens of this kingdom, but thou
art our queen; for thou wast the first to give us the great example of
consecrating our virginity to God; we all bless and thank thee for it.
Then came the holy confessors to salute her as their mistress, who had
taught them so many beautiful virtues by her holy life. The holy martyrs
came also to salute her as their queen, because by her great constancy
in the sorrows of the passion of her Son, she had taught them, and also
obtained for them by her merits, strength to give their life for the
faith. St. James came also, the only one of the apostles who was then in
paradise, to thank her in the name of all the other apostles, for the
great comfort and support she had given them while she was upon earth.
The prophets next came to salute her, and they said to her: Ah, Lady,
thou wast foreshadowed in our prophecies. The holy patriarchs came and
said to her: Oh Mary, thou hast been our hope, so much and so long sighed
for by us. And among those came our first parents, Adam and Eve, to thank
her with greater affection. Ah, beloved daughter, they said to her, thou
hast repaired the injury done by us to the human race; thou hast obtained
for the world that blessing lost by us, on account of our crime; by thee
we are saved, and for it be forever blessed.
Then came holy Simeon to kiss her feet, and with joy reminded her of that
day on which he received from her hands the infant Jesus. St. Zachary and
St. Elizabeth also came, and thanked her again for that loving visit,
that with so much humility and charity she made them in their dwelling,
and through which they received so many treasures of grace. St. John the
Baptist came with greater affection to thank her for having sanctified
him by means of her voice. But what could her parents, St. Joachim and
St. Anna, say to her, when they came to salute her? Oh God! with what
tenderness must they have blessed her, saying: Ah! beloved daughter,
what happiness was ours in having such a child! Ah! be thou our queen
now, because thou art the mother of our God; as such we salute thee and
adore thee. But who can comprehend the affection with which her dear
spouse St. Joseph came to salute her? Who can describe the joy that the
holy patriarch experienced at seeing his spouse arrive in heaven with
so much triumph, made queen of all paradise? With what tenderness did he
say to her: Ah! my Lady and spouse, how shall I ever be able to thank
our God as I ought for having made me thy spouse, thou who art his true
mother? Through thee I merited on earth to attend upon the childhood of
the incarnate Word, to bear him so often in my arms, and receive from
him so many special favors. Blessed be the moments that I spent in life
serving Jesus and thee, my holy spouse. Behold our Jesus; let us console
ourselves that now he is no more lying in a stable upon hay, as we saw
him at his birth in Bethlehem; he does not now live poor and despised
in a shop, as once he lived with us in Nazareth; he is not now nailed
to a shameful cross, as when he died for the salvation of the world in
Jerusalem; but he sits at the right hand of the Father, as king and Lord
of heaven and of earth. And now, oh my queen, we shall never more depart
from his holy feet, where we shall bless and love him eternally.
Then all the angels came to salute her, and she, the great queen, thanked
all for the assistance they had given her on earth, especially thanking
the Archangel St. Gabriel, who was the happy ambassador of all her
glories, when he came to announce to her that she was to be made mother
of God. Then the humble and holy Virgin, kneeling, adores the divine
majesty, and, wholly lost in the consciousness of her nothingness, thanks
him for all the graces bestowed upon her solely by his goodness, and
especially for having made her mother of the eternal Word. Let those who
can, comprehend with what love the most holy Trinity blessed her. Let
them comprehend what a welcome the eternal Father gave to his daughter,
the Son to his mother, the Holy Spirit to his spouse. The Father crowns
her by sharing with her his power, the Son his wisdom, the Holy Spirit
his love. And all the three divine persons establishing her throne at
the right hand of Jesus, declare her universal queen of heaven and of
earth, and command angels and all creatures to recognize her for their
queen, and as queen to serve and obey her. And here we pass on to the
consideration of how exalted was this throne to which Mary was elevated
in heaven.
_Second Point._—If the human mind, says St. Bernard, cannot attain to
comprehend the immense glory which God has prepared in heaven for those
who have loved him on earth, as the apostle declares, who will ever
attain to comprehend what he has prepared for her who bore him? “Quid
præparavit gignenti se”? What glory did he prepare for his beloved
mother, he who on earth loved her more than all men; who, even from the
first moment of her creation, loved her more than all men and angels
united! Justly, then, does the holy Church sing that Mary having loved
God more than all the angels, she has been exalted above all the angels
in heaven.[1315] Yes, she was exalted, says William the Abbot, above the
angels, so that she sees no one above her but her Son, who is the only
begotten Son of God.[1316]
Hence the learned Gerson asserts, that all the orders of angels and
of saints being divided into three hierarchies, as the angelic Doctor
declares,[1317] and St. Dionysius also, Mary constitutes in heaven a
hierarchy of herself, the most sublime of all, and next to God.[1318]
And as the mistress, St. Antoninus adds, is incomparably above her
servants, so is the glory of Mary incomparably greater than that of the
angels.[1319] And in order to understand this, it is enough to know what
David said, that this queen was seated at the right hand of the Son: The
queen stood on thy right hand: “Astitit regina a dextris tuis.”[1320]
Which St. Athanasius exactly explained by saying: Mary is placed at the
right hand of God.[1321]
The works of Mary, as St. Ildephonsus says, certainly incomparably
surpassed in merit the works of all the saints, and therefore the
reward and the glory she merited cannot be conceived.[1322] And if it
is certain that God rewards according to merit, as the apostle says,
“Who will render to every man according to his works;”[1323] it is also
certain, says St. Thomas, that the Virgin, who excelled in merit all,
both men and angels, must have been exalted above all the celestial
orders.[1324] In fine, adds St. Bernard, let us measure the singular
grace that she acquired on earth, and then we may measure the singular
glory that she has obtained in heaven.[1325]
The glory of Mary, remarks a learned author,[1326] which was a full
glory, a complete glory, is different from that which the other saints
have in heaven. It is true that in heaven all the blessed enjoy a perfect
peace and full content; yet it will always be true that no one of them
enjoys that glory that he could have merited if he had loved and served
God with greater fidelity. Hence, although the saints in heaven desire
nothing more than what they possess, yet, in fact, there is something
they could yet desire. It is also true that the sins which they have
committed, and the time which they have lost, do not bring suffering; but
it cannot be denied that the most good done in life, innocence preserved
and time well employed, give the greatest content. Mary in heaven desires
nothing, and has nothing to desire. Who of the saints in paradise,
says St. Augustine, if asked whether he has committed sins, can answer
no, except Mary?[1327] It is certain, as the holy Council of Trent has
defined,[1328] that Mary never committed any sin, not even the least; not
only she has never lost divine grace—never bedimmed it, but she has never
kept it unemployed; she never did an action that was not meritorious;
she never said a word, or had a thought, or drew a breath, that was not
directed to the greatest glory of God; in a word, she never relaxed or
stopped one moment in her onward course to God; she never lost any thing
through negligence, for she always corresponded with grace with all her
power, and loved God as much as she could love him. Oh Lord, she now says
to him in heaven, if I have not loved thee as much as thou dost merit, at
least I have loved thee as much as I could.
The graces of the saints were different in each, as St. Paul said: There
are diversities of graces: “Divisiones gratiarum sunt.” So that each
of them corresponding with the grace received, has rendered himself
excellent in some virtue; one in saving souls, one in leading a life
of penance, one in suffering torments, one in contemplation; hence the
holy Church, when celebrating their festivals, says of each: And there
was not found the like to him: “Non est inventus similis illi.” And
as in their merits, so are they in heaven different in glory: For star
differeth from star in glory: “Stella enim a stella differt.”[1329] The
Apostles differ from the martyrs, confessors from virgins, the innocents
from penitents. The holy Virgin being full of all graces, excelled each
saint in every kind of virtue; she was the apostle of the apostles; she
was queen of the martyrs, for she suffered more than all of them; she was
the standard-bearer of the virgins, the model of spouses; she united in
herself a perfect innocence with a perfect mortification; in a word, she
united in her heart all the most heroic virtues which any saint has ever
practised. Hence it was said of her: “The queen stood on thy right hand
in gilded clothing, surrounded with variety;”[1330] for all the graces,
privileges, and merits of the other saints were found united in Mary, as
the Abbot of Celles says: The prerogatives of all the saints, oh Virgin,
thou hast united in thyself.[1331]
Thus as the splendor of the sun exceeds the splendor of all the stars
united, so, says St. Basil, the glory of the divine mother exceeds that
of all the blessed.[1332] And St. Peter Damian adds, that as the light of
the stars and of the moon disappears as if they were not, at the rising
of the sun, thus Mary so far obscures in glory the splendor of men and
of angels, that, as it were, these do not appear in heaven.[1333] Whence
St. Bernardine of Sienna agrees with St. Bernard in asserting that the
blessed participate in part in the divine glory, but that the Virgin, in
a certain manner, has been so enriched with it, that it seems no creature
could be more united with God than is Mary.[1334] Which is confirmed by
the blessed Albertus Magnus, when he says that our queen contemplates
God very near, incomparably more so than all the other celestial
spirits.[1335] And the above-named St. Bernardine says, moreover, that as
the other planets are illuminated by the sun, so all the blessed receive
greater light and joy from the sight of Mary.[1336] And in another
place he likewise asserts, that the mother of God, ascending to heaven,
increased the joy of all its inhabitants.[1337] Hence St. Peter Damian
says, that the blessed have no greater glory in heaven, after God,
than to enjoy the presence of that most beautiful queen: “Summa gloria
est post Deum te videre.”[1338] And St. Bonaventure: Next to God, our
greatest glory and our greatest joy is from Mary.[1339]
Let us rejoice, then, with Mary, in the exalted throne to which God has
elevated her in heaven. And let us rejoice also for our own sake, since
if our mother has ceased to be present with us, by ascending in glory to
heaven, she has not ceased to be present with us in her affection. Nay,
being there nearer and more united to God, she better knows our miseries,
and therefore pities them more, and is better able to relieve us. And
wilt thou, as St. Peter Damian asks, oh blessed Virgin, because thou hast
been so exalted in heaven, be forgetful of us miserable creatures?[1340]
No, may God preserve us from the thought; a heart so merciful cannot
but pity our miseries which are so great.[1341] If the pity of Mary
for us was so great when she lived upon earth, much greater, says St.
Bonaventure, is it in heaven, where she reigns.[1342]
Meanwhile let us dedicate ourselves to the service of this queen, to
honor and love her as much as we can; for she is not, as Richard of St.
Lawrence says, like other rulers, who oppress their vassals with burdens
and taxes, but our queen enriches her servants with graces, merits, and
rewards.[1343] And let us pray her with Guerric the Abbot: Oh mother of
mercy, thou who sittest so near to God, queen of the world, upon a throne
so sublime, satiate thyself with the glory of thy Jesus, and send to us
thy servants the fragments that are left. Thou dost now enjoy the banquet
of the Lord; we who are still on earth, like the dogs under the table,
ask thy pity.[1344]
EXAMPLE.
Father Silvanus Razzi relates,[1345] that a devout ecclesiastic who had
a tender love for our Queen Mary, had heard her beauty so much extolled
that he ardently desired once to see his Lady, and with humble prayers
asked this favor. The kind mother sent an angel to tell him that she
would gratify him by allowing him to see her, but on this condition,
namely, that after seeing her he should become blind. He accepted the
condition. On a certain day, behold the blessed Virgin appeared to him,
and that he might not become wholly blind, he at first wished to look
at her with one eye only; but afterwards becoming enamored of the great
beauty of Mary, he wished to contemplate her with both, and then the
mother of God disappeared. Deeply grieved at having lost the presence of
his queen, he could not cease weeping; not indeed for his lost eye, but
that he had not seen her with both. Then he began to supplicate her anew,
that she would again appear to him, and he would be willing to lose the
other eye and become entirely blind. “Happy and satisfied,” oh my Lady,
he said, “I will remain, if I become wholly blind for so good a cause,
which will leave me more enamored of thee, and of thy beauty.” Again Mary
was willing to satisfy him, and again she consoled him with her presence;
but because this loving queen can never injure any one, when she appeared
to him the second time, not only she did not take from him the other eye,
but she even restored to him the one he had lost.
PRAYER.
Oh great, excellent, and most glorious Lady, prostrate at the foot of
thy throne, we adore thee from this valley of tears. We rejoice at the
immense glory with which our Lord has enriched thee. Now that thou art
really queen of heaven and of earth, ah, do not forget us thy poor
servants. Do not disdain from thy lofty throne, from which thou dost
reign, to turn thy pitying eyes towards us miserable sinners. As thou
art so near the source of graces, thou art able so much the more to
obtain them for us. In heaven thou seest more plainly our miseries, and
therefore thou must pity and relieve us the more. Make us on earth thy
faithful servants, that we may thus go to bless thee in paradise. On this
day, when thou hast been made queen of the universe, we also consecrate
ourselves to thy service. In thy great joy console us also this day, by
accepting us for thy vassals. Thou, then, art our mother. Ah, most sweet
mother! most amiable mother! thy altars are surrounded by many people who
ask of thee, one to be healed of some malady, another to be relieved in
his necessities, one prays thee for a good harvest, and another success
in some litigation. We ask of thee graces more pleasing to thy heart.
Obtain for us that we may be humble, detached from earth, resigned to
the divine will. Obtain for us the holy love of God, a good death, and
paradise. Oh Lady, change us from sinners to saints. Perform this miracle
that will redound more to thy honor, than if thou didst restore sight to
a thousand blind persons, or raise a thousand from the dead. Thou art so
powerful with God, it is enough to say that thou art his mother, his most
beloved, full of his grace; what can he then deny thee? Oh most lovely
queen, we do not pretend to behold thee on the earth, but we desire to go
and see thee in paradise; thou must obtain this for us. Thus we certainly
hope. Amen, amen.
DISCOURSE IX.
ON THE DOLORS OF MARY.
_Mary was queen of martyrs, because her martyrdom was longer
and greater than that of all the martyrs._
Who can have a heart so hard that it will not melt on hearing of a most
lamentable event which once happened in the world? There was a noble
and holy mother who had but one only Son; and he was the most amiable
that could be imagined, innocent, virtuous, beautiful, and most loving
towards his mother; so much so, that he never had caused her the least
displeasure, but always had showed her all respect, obedience, and
affection. Hence the mother had placed on this Son all her earthly
affections. Now what happened? It happened that this Son, through envy,
was falsely accused by his enemies, and the judge, although he knew and
confessed his innocence, yet, that he might not offend his enemies,
condemned him to an infamous death, precisely as they had requested him
to do. And this poor mother had to suffer the affliction of seeing that
amiable and beloved Son so unjustly taken from her, in the flower of his
age, by a barbarous death; for he was made to die in torment, drained
of his blood before her own eyes, in a public place, upon an infamous
gibbet. Devout souls, what do you say? Is this case and this unhappy
mother worthy of compassion? Already you know of whom I speak. This Son
so cruelly slain was our loving Redeemer, Jesus, and this mother was the
blessed Virgin Mary, who, for love of us, was willing to see him offered
up to the divine justice by the barbarity of men. This great pain,
then, which Mary suffered for us—a pain which was more than a thousand
deaths—merits our compassion and gratitude. And if we can return nothing
else for so much love, at least let us for a little time to-day stop to
consider the severity of the suffering by which Mary became queen of
martyrs; for her great martyrdom exceeded in suffering that of all the
martyrs,—being, in the first place, the longest martyrdom; and in the
second place, the greatest martyrdom.
_First Point._—As Jesus is called King of sorrows and King of martyrs,
because he suffered in his life more than all the other martyrs, so is
also Mary called, with reason, queen of the martyrs, having merited this
title by suffering the greatest martyrdom that could be suffered, next to
that of her Son. Hence she was justly named by Richard of St. Laurence,
the martyr of martyrs: “Martyr martyrum.” And to her may be applied
what Isaias said: He will crown thee with the crown of tribulation:
“Coronans coronabit te tribulatione.”[1346] For that suffering itself
which exceeded the suffering of all the other martyrs united, was the
crown by which she was shown to be the queen of martyrs. That Mary was a
true martyr cannot be doubted, as is proved by the Carthusian, Pelbart,
Catharinus, and others; for it is an established opinion that suffering
sufficient to cause death, constitutes martyrdom, although death may
not then take place. St. John the Evangelist is revered as a martyr,
although he did not die in the caldron of boiling oil, but came out more
sound than he went in: “Vegetior exiverit quam intraverit.”[1347] It is
sufficient to procure the glory of martyrdom, says St. Thomas, that any
one should be obedient even to offer himself to death.[1348] Mary was a
martyr, says St. Bernard, not by the sword of the executioner, but by the
bitter sorrow of her heart.[1349] If her body was not wounded by the hand
of the executioner, yet her blessed heart was pierced by grief at the
passion of her Son; a grief sufficient to cause her not only one, but a
thousand deaths. And from this we shall see that Mary was not only a true
martyr, but that her martyrdom surpassed that of all the other martyrs,
for it was a longer martyrdom, and, if I may thus express it, all her
life was a long death.
The passion of Jesus commenced with his birth, as St. Bernard
says;[1350] and Mary also, in all things like unto her Son, suffered
her martyrdom through her whole life. The name of Mary, among its other
significations, as the blessed Albertus Magnus affirms, signifies a
_bitter sea_: “Mare amarum.” Wherefore to her is applied the passage of
Jeremias: Great as the sea is thy destruction: “Magna est enim velut mare
contritio tua.”[1351] For as the sea is all salt and bitter, thus the
life of Mary was always full of bitterness at the sight of the passion of
the Redeemer, which was ever present to her. It cannot be doubted that
being more enlightened by the Holy Spirit than all the prophets, she
better comprehended than they the predictions concerning the Messias,
which they recorded in their holy Scriptures. Precisely this the angel
revealed to St. Bridget.[1352] Whence, as the same angel declared,
the Virgin knowing how much the incarnate Word was to suffer for the
salvation of men, even before she became his mother, and compassionating
this innocent Saviour, who was to be so cruelly put to death for crimes
not his own, she commenced, from that time, her great martyrdom.[1353]
Her grief afterwards increased immeasurably when she was made mother
of this Saviour. So that at the painful thought of all the sufferings
which her poor Son was to endure, she indeed experienced, says Rupert
the Abbot, a long martyrdom—a martyrdom continued through her whole
life.[1354] And exactly this was signified by the vision which St.
Bridget had at Rome, in the church of St. Mary Major, where the blessed
Virgin appeared to her with St. Simeon, and an angel, having a sword
which was very long and red with blood; by which was prefigured the
long and bitter grief that pierced the heart of Mary during her whole
life.[1355] Whence the above-named Rupert puts into the mouth of Mary
the following words: Oh redeemed souls and my beloved children, do not
pity me only for that hour in which I saw my dear Jesus dying in my
presence, for the sword of sorrow, predicted to me by Simeon, pierced my
soul during my whole life; when I was giving suck to my Son, when I was
warming him in my arms, I already saw the bitter death that awaited him;
consider then what long and cruel sorrows I must have endured.[1356]
Wherefore Mary might truly say in the words of David: My life is wasted
with grief and my years in sighs.[1357] My sorrow is continually before
me: “Dolor meus in conspectu meo semper.”[1358] My life was wholly passed
in grief and tears; for my grief, which was compassion for my beloved
Son, never departed from before my eyes, seeing, as I did, continually
the sufferings and death that he was one day to endure. The divine mother
herself revealed to St. Bridget, that even after the death and ascension
of her Son into heaven, the memory of his passion, whether she ate or
worked, was deeply impressed and ever recent in her tender heart.[1359]
Taulerus therefore says, that Mary passed her whole life in perpetual
sorrow; for her heart was always occupied with thoughts of sadness and of
suffering.[1360]
So that time, which usually mitigates the sorrows of the afflicted, did
not relieve Mary; nay, time itself increased her sorrow, for as Jesus
increased in years, on the one hand, he continually showed himself
more lovely and amiable; and on the other, the time of his death was
ever drawing nearer, and grief at having to lose him on this earth,
continually increased in the heart of Mary. As the rose grows up among
thorns, said the angel to St. Bridget, so the mother of God advanced
in years in the midst of sufferings; and as the thorns increase with
the growth of the rose, thus this rose selected by the Lord, Mary, as
she increased in age, was so much the more pierced by the thorns of her
dolors.[1361] Having considered the length of this suffering, let us now
pass on to the second point, namely, the consideration of its greatness.
_Point Second._—Ah, Mary was not only queen of the martyrs, because
her martyrdom was longer than that of all others, but also because it
was the greatest of all. But who can measure its greatness? Jeremias
appears to be unable to find any one with whom he may compare this mother
of sorrows, when considering her great suffering at the death of her
Son. “To what shall I compare thee, or to what shall I liken thee, oh
daughter of Jerusalem; for great as the sea is thy destruction; who shall
heal thee?”[1362] Wherefore Cardinal Hugo, commenting on these words,
says: Oh blessed Virgin, as the bitterness of the sea exceeds all other
bitterness, so thy grief surpasses all other griefs.[1363] Hence St.
Anselm affirms, that if God, by a special miracle, had not preserved the
life of Mary, her grief would have been sufficient to cause her death at
each moment of her life.[1364] And St. Bernardine of Sienna even says,
that the grief of Mary was so great, that if it were divided among all
men, it would be enough to cause their immediate death.[1365]
But let us consider the reasons why the martyrdom of Mary was greater
than that of all the martyrs. In the first place, it must be remembered
that the martyrs suffered their martyrdom in the body, by means of fire
or steel; Mary suffered martyrdom in her soul, as St. Simeon had before
prophesied: And thy own soul a sword shall pierce: “Et tuam ipsius animam
pertransibit gladius:”[1366] as if the holy old man had said to her: Oh
holy Virgin, the bodies of the other martyrs will be torn with iron, but
thou wilt be pierced and martyred in thy soul, by the passion of thy
own Son. Now, as the soul is more noble than the body, so much greater
was the suffering of Mary than that of all the martyrs; as Jesus Christ
himself said to St. Catharine of Sienna: There is no comparison between
the sufferings of the soul and the body: “Inter dolorem animæ et corporis
nulla est comparatio.” Whence the holy abbot Arnold Carnotensis says,
that whoever had been present on Calvary at the great sacrifice of the
immaculate Lamb, when he was dying on the cross, would have there beheld
two great altars, one in the body of Jesus, the other in the heart of
Mary; for there, at the same time that the Son sacrificed his body in
death, Mary sacrificed her soul in compassion.[1367]
Moreover, while the other martyrs, as St. Antoninus says,[1368]
suffered by sacrificing their own lives, the blessed Virgin suffered
by sacrificing the life of her Son, whom she loved far more than her
own life; so that she not only suffered in spirit all that her Son
suffered in body, but, moreover, the sight of the sufferings of her Son
brought more grief to her heart than if she had endured them all in her
own person. There can be no doubt that Mary suffered in her heart all
the tortures by which she saw her beloved Jesus tormented. Every one
knows that the sufferings of children are also the sufferings of their
mothers, when they are the witnesses of them. St. Augustine, considering
the anguish that the mother of the Macchabees experienced in witnessing
the tortures which her sons endured, says: “She suffered in them all,
because she loved them all; and endured with her eyes what they all
endured in the flesh.”[1369] Thus also was it with Mary; all those
torments, scourgings, thorns, nails, and the cross, which tortured the
innocent flesh of Jesus, entered at the same time into the heart of Mary
to complete her martyrdom. He in the flesh, she in the heart suffered,
writes St. Amadeus: “Ille carne, illa corde passa est.”[1370] So that,
as St. Lawrence Justinian says, the heart of Mary became as it were
a mirror of the agonies of her Son, in which were seen the spitting,
the scourging, the wounds, and all that Jesus suffered.[1371] And St.
Bonaventure remarks, that these wounds which were scattered all over the
body of Jesus, were all united in the one heart of Mary.[1372]
The Virgin, then, through compassion for her Son, was scourged, crowned
with thorns, insulted, and nailed to the cross. Whence the same saint
considering Mary on Mt. Calvary, where she was present with her dying
Son, asks of her: Oh Lady, tell me where you then stood? Perhaps only
at the foot of the cross! Might I not rather say thou wast on the cross
itself crucified with thy Son?[1373] And Richard, remarking on the words
of the Redeemer, which he spoke by the mouth of Isaias: “I have trodden
the wine-press alone, and of the Gentiles there is not a man with
me,”[1374] adds: Oh Lord, thou dost rightly say that in the work of human
redemption thou didst suffer alone, and there was no man that could pity
thee sufficiently; but there was a woman with thee, thy own mother, who
suffered in her heart whatever thou didst suffer in thy body.[1375]
But all this is saying only too little of the sorrows of Mary; for, as I
have before said, she suffered more in seeing her beloved Jesus suffer,
than if in her own person she had endured all the tortures and the death
of her Son. Erasmus has written, speaking of parents, generally, that
they feel the sufferings of their children more than their own.[1376] But
this is not always true. It was no doubt true of Mary, for she certainly
loved her Son and his life far more than herself, and a thousand lives of
her own. Therefore St. Amadeus well declares, that the afflicted mother,
at the sorrowful sight of the agony of her beloved Jesus, suffered much
more than if she herself had endured his whole passion.[1377] The reason
is plain, since, as St. Bernard says: The soul is more where it loves,
than where it lives: “Anima magis est ubi amat, quam ubi animat.” And
the Saviour himself had before said, that our heart is where our treasure
is.[1378] If Mary, then, through love, lived more in her Son than in
herself, a much greater grief did she suffer at the death of her Son,
than if the most cruel death in the world had been inflicted on her.
And here is to be considered the other circumstance that rendered the
martyrdom of Mary far greater than the sufferings of all the martyrs,
for in the passion of Jesus she suffered much, and she suffered without
alleviation. The martyrs suffered under the torments which their tyrants
inflicted upon them, but love to Jesus rendered their pains sweet and
delightful. A St. Vincent suffered in his martyrdom; he was tortured
on the rack, torn with hooks, burned with red-hot iron plates; but St.
Augustine says: One seemed to suffer, and another to speak: “Alius
videbatur pati, alius loqui.” The saint addressed the tyrant with such
power, and with such contempt of his torments, that it seemed as if one
Vincent suffered and another Vincent spoke, so greatly did his God, with
the sweetness of his love, comfort him in the midst of his sufferings. A
St. Boniface suffered; his body was torn with irons, sharp-pointed reeds
were thrust between his nails and flesh, melted lead was poured into his
mouth, and at the same time he could not often enough repeat: I give
thanks to thee, oh Jesus Christ: “Gratias tibi ago, Domine Jesu Christe.”
A St. Mark and a St. Marcellinus suffered; they were bound to a stake,
their feet pierced by nails, and the tyrant appealed to them, saying:
“Miserable beings, look at your condition, and save yourselves from these
torments.” And they answered: “What torments, what pains do you speak of?
We have never feasted with more joy than now, when we are suffering with
pleasure for the love of Jesus Christ.”[1379] A St. Lawrence suffered,
but while he was burning on the gridiron, the interior flame of love,
as St. Leo says, was more powerful to cheer his soul, than the flames
without were to torture his body.[1380] Hence love made him so strong,
that he even braved the tyrant by saying to him: Tyrant, if you wish to
feed on my flesh, a part is sufficiently cooked, turn and eat: “Assatum
est jam, versa et manduca.” But in such torture and lingering death,
how could the saint thus exult? Ah, St. Augustine answers, because,
intoxicated with the wine of divine love, he felt neither torments nor
death.[1381]
For the holy martyrs, the more they loved Jesus, the less they felt
torments and death, and the sight alone of the sufferings of a
crucified God was sufficient to console them. But was not our afflicted
mother, also, thus consoled by love for her Son, and the sight of his
sufferings? No, for this very Son who suffered, was the whole cause
of her grief; and the love she bore him was her only, and too cruel
executioner; for the whole martyrdom of Mary consisted in seeing and
pitying her innocent and beloved Son, who suffered so much. Therefore,
the more she loved him, the more bitter and inconsolable was her sorrow.
“Great as the sea is thy destruction, who shall heal thee?”[1382] Ah,
queen of heaven, love hath alleviated the sufferings of other martyrs,
and has healed their wounds; but who has ever soothed thy great sorrow?
Who has ever healed the cruel wounds of thy heart? Who will heal thee?
“Quis medebitur tui?” if that same Son, who could give thee consolation,
was by his sufferings the sole cause of thy sorrows, and the love that
thou didst bear him, caused all thy martyrdom? Therefore, whilst the
other martyrs, as Diez remarks, are all represented with the instrument
of their passion—St. Paul with the sword, St. Andrew with the cross, St.
Lawrence with the gridiron—Mary is represented with her dead Son in her
arms, because Jesus himself alone was the instrument of her martyrdom,
by reason of the love which she bore him. In a few words St. Bernard
confirms all I have said: With the other martyrs their great love
soothed the anguish of their martyrdom; but the more the blessed Virgin
loved, so much the more she suffered, and so much more cruel was her
martyrdom.[1383]
It is certain that the greater is our love for a thing, the greater pain
we feel in losing it. The loss of a brother certainly afflicts us more
than the loss of a beast of burden; and the death of a son, more than
that of a friend. Now Cornelius à Lapide says, that to comprehend how
great was the grief of Mary at the death of her Son, we should comprehend
how great was the love she bore him.[1384] But who can measure that love?
The blessed Amadeus says, that in the heart of Mary two kinds of love to
her Jesus were united: the supernatural love with which she loved him as
her God, and the natural love with which she loved him as her son;[1385]
so that, of these two loves, one only was formed, but a love so immense
that William of Paris even said, that the blessed Virgin loved Jesus
to such a degree that a pure creature could not love him more.[1386]
And Richard of St. Laurence says, as there was no love like her love,
so there was no grief like her grief.[1387] If, therefore, the love of
Mary for her Son was immense, immense, also, must have been her grief
in losing him by death. Where love is greatest, says blessed Albertus
Magnus, there grief is greatest: “Ubi summus amor, ibi summus dolor.”
Let us imagine, then, that the divine mother, standing near her Son dying
upon the cross, and justly applying to herself the words of Jeremias,
says to us: “Oh, all ye that pass by the way attend, and see if there be
any sorrow like to my sorrow.”[1388] Oh ye that are passing your lives
upon this earth, and have no pity for me, stop a while to look upon me,
now that I behold this beloved Son dying before my eyes; and then see if
among all who are afflicted and tormented, there be sorrow like to my
sorrow. No, answers St. Bonaventure, there can be found no sorrow, oh
afflicted mother, more bitter than thine, for no son can be found more
dear than thine.[1389] Ah, there has never been in the world, says St.
Lawrence Justinian, a son more worthy of love than Jesus, nor a mother
who loved her son more than Mary; if, then, there has never been in the
world a love like the love of Mary, how can there be a grief like the
grief of Mary?[1390]
Therefore, St. Ildephonsus did not hesitate to affirm, that it was
little to say that the sufferings of the Virgin exceeded all the torments
of the martyrs, even were they united together.[1391] And St. Anselm
adds, that the most cruel tortures inflicted upon the holy martyrs were
light or nothing, in comparison with the martyrdom of Mary.[1392] St.
Basil likewise writes, that as the sun surpasses in splendor all the
other planets, so Mary in her sufferings exceeded the sufferings of all
the other martyrs.[1393] A certain learned author[1394] concludes with
an admirable sentiment, saying, that so great was the sorrow which this
tender mother suffered in the passion of Jesus, that she alone could
worthily compassionate the death of a God made man.
But St. Bonaventure, addressing the blessed Virgin, says: Oh Lady, why
hast thou wished to go and sacrifice thyself also on Calvary? Was not a
crucified God sufficient to redeem us, that thou his mother wouldst be
crucified also?[1395] Indeed, the death of Jesus was more than enough
to save the world, and also an infinity of worlds; but this good
mother wished, for the love she bore us, likewise to aid the cause of
our salvation with the merits of the sorrows which she offered for us
on Calvary. And, therefore, says the blessed Albertus Magnus, as we
are indebted to Jesus for what he suffered for love of us, we are also
indebted to Mary for the martyrdom which she, in the death of her Son,
voluntarily suffered for our salvation.[1396] I have added voluntarily,
since, as the angel revealed to St. Bridget, this our so merciful and
kind mother was willing to suffer any pain, rather than to see souls
unredeemed or left in their former perdition.[1397] It may be said
that this was the only consolation of Mary in the midst of her great
sorrow at the passion of her Son, to see the lost world redeemed by his
death, and men, who were his enemies, reconciled with God. Grieving, she
rejoiced, says Simon da Cassia, because the sacrifice was offered for the
redemption of all, by which wrath was appeased.[1398]
Such love as that of Mary merits our gratitude, and let us show our
gratitude by meditating upon and compassionating her sorrows. But of this
she complained to St. Bridget, that very few pitied her, and most lived
forgetful of her sorrows. “I look around upon all who are in the world,
if perchance there may be any to pity me, and meditate upon my sorrows,
and truly I find very few. Therefore, my daughter, though I am forgotten
by many, at least do not thou forget me; behold my anguish, and imitate,
as far as thou canst, my grief.”[1399] In order to understand how much
the Virgin is pleased by our remembrance of her dolors, it is sufficient
to relate, that in the year 1239, she appeared to seven of her servants,
who then became the founders of the order of the Servants of Mary, with
a black garment in her hand, and told them that if they wished to please
her, they should often meditate upon her dolors; and therefore she
wished, in memory of them, that they would hereafter wear that garment of
mourning.[1400] And Jesus Christ himself revealed to the blessed Veronica
Binasco, that he takes more pleasure, as it were, in seeing his mother
compassionated than himself; for thus he addressed her: “My daughter, the
tears shed for my passion are dear to me; but loving with so great love
my mother Mary, the meditation of the dolors which she suffered at my
death is more dear to me.”[1401]
Wherefore the graces are very great which Jesus promises to those who
are devoted to the dolors of Mary. Pelbart relates,[1402] that it was
revealed to St. Elizabeth, that St. John the Evangelist, after the
blessed Virgin was assumed into heaven, desired to see her again. This
favor was granted him; his dear mother appeared to him, and Jesus Christ
with her; and he then heard Mary asking of her Son some peculiar grace
for those who were devoted to her dolors; and Jesus promised her for them
the four following special graces: 1st. That those who invoke the divine
mother by her sorrows, before death will merit to obtain true repentance
of all their sins. 2d. That he will protect such in their tribulations,
especially at the hour of death. 3d. That he will impress upon them the
memory of his passion, and that they shall have their reward for it in
heaven. 4th. That he will commit such devout servants to the hands of
Mary, that she may dispose of them according to her pleasure, and obtain
for them all the graces she desires. In proof of this, let us see in the
following example how devotion to the dolors of Mary may aid our eternal
salvation.
EXAMPLE.
We read in the revelations of St. Bridget,[1403] that there was once
a lord as noble by birth as he was low and sinful in his habits. He
had given himself by an express compact as a slave to the devil, and
had served him for sixty successive years, leading such a life as may
easily be imagined, and never approaching the sacraments. Now, this
prince was about to die, and Jesus Christ, in his compassion, commanded
St. Bridget to tell his confessor to visit him, and exhort him to make
his confession. The confessor went, and the sick man told him that he
had no need of a confessor, for that he had often made his confession.
The confessor visited him a second time, and that poor slave of hell
persevered in his obstinate determination not to make his confession.
Jesus again directed the saint to tell the confessor to go to him again.
He obeyed, and this third time related to him the revelation made to
the saint, and that he had returned so many times because the Lord, who
desired to show him mercy, had directed him to do so. On hearing this,
the dying man was moved, and began to weep. But how, he exclaimed, can I
be pardoned, when for sixty years I have served the devil, made myself
his slave, and have laden my soul with innumerable sins? “Son,” answered
the father, encouraging him, “do not doubt: if you repent of them, in the
name of God I promise you pardon.” Then beginning to gain confidence, he
said to the confessor: “Father, I believed myself lost, and despaired
of salvation; but now I feel a sorrow for my sins, which encourages
me to trust; and as God has not yet abandoned me, I wish to make my
confession.” And in fact on that day he made his confession four times,
with great sorrow; the next day he received communion, and on the sixth
he died, contrite and entirely resigned. After his death, Jesus Christ
further revealed to St. Bridget, that this sinner was saved, and was in
purgatory, and that he had been saved by the intercession of the Virgin,
his mother; for the deceased, although he had led so sinful a life, yet
had always preserved devotion to her dolors, whenever he remembered them
he pitied her.
PRAYER.
Oh my afflicted mother! queen of martyrs and of sorrows, thou hast shed
so many tears for thy Son, who died for my salvation, and yet what will
thy tears avail me, if I am lost? By the merits, then, of thy dolors,
obtain for me a true sorrow for my sins, and a true amendment of life,
with a perpetual and tender compassion for the passion of Jesus and thy
own sufferings. And if Jesus and thou, being so innocent, have suffered
so much for me, obtain for me that I, who am deserving of hell, may
also suffer something for love of you. Oh Lady, I will say to thee with
St. Bonaventure, if I have offended thee, wound my heart in punishment;
if I have served thee, now I beg to be wounded as a reward. It is a
shameful thing to see our Lord Jesus wounded, and thee wounded with him,
and I uninjured.[1404] Finally, oh my mother, by the grief thou didst
experience on seeing thy Son before thy eyes bow his head and expire
upon the cross, I entreat of thee to obtain for me a good death. Ah, do
not cease, oh advocate of sinners, to assist my afflicted and struggling
soul in that great passage that it has to make into eternity. And,
because at that time it may easily be the case that I shall have lost the
use of speech with which to invoke thy name, and that of Jesus, who are
all my hope, therefore I now invoke thy Son and thee to succor me at that
last moment, and I say: Jesus and Mary, to you I commend my soul. Amen.
REFLECTIONS ON EACH OF THE SEVEN DOLORS OF MARY IN PARTICULAR.
ON THE FIRST DOLOR.
OF ST. SIMEON’S PROPHECY.
In this valley of tears, every man is born to weep, and every one must
suffer those afflictions that daily befall him. But how much more
miserable would life be, if every one knew also the future evils which
are to afflict him! Too unhappy would he be, says Seneca, whose fate was
such.[1405] The Lord exercises this compassion towards us, namely, that
he does not make known to us the crosses that await us; that if we are
to suffer them, at least we may suffer them only once. But he did not
exercise this compassion with Mary, who, because God wished her to be
queen of dolors, and in all things like his Son, had to see always before
her eyes, and to suffer continually all the sorrows that awaited her; and
those were the sufferings of the passion and death of her beloved Jesus.
For St. Simeon in the temple, after having received the divine child in
his arms, predicted to her that this child was to be the mark for all
the opposition and persecution of men: “Set for a sign which shall be
contradicted;” and that therefore the sword of sorrow should pierce her
soul: “And thy own soul a sword shall pierce.”[1406]
The holy Virgin herself said to St. Matilda, that at this announcement
of St. Simeon all her joy was changed into sorrow.[1407] For, as it was
revealed to St. Theresa, the blessed mother, although she knew before
this that the life of her Son would be sacrificed for the salvation of
the world, yet she then learned more particularly and distinctly the
sufferings and cruel death that awaited her poor Son. She knew that
he would be contradicted in all things. Contradicted in doctrine; for
instead of being believed, he would be esteemed a blasphemer for teaching
that he was the Son of God, as the impious Caiaphas declared him to be,
saying: “He hath blasphemed, he is guilty of death.”[1408] Contradicted
in his reputation, for he was noble, of royal lineage, and was despised
as a peasant: “Is not this the carpenter’s son?”[1409] “Is not this
the carpenter, the son of Mary?”[1410] He was wisdom itself, and was
treated as an ignorant man: “How doth this man know letters, having
never learned?”[1411] As a false prophet: “And they blindfolded him and
smote his face ... saying: Prophesy who is this that struck thee.”[1412]
He was treated as a madman: “He is mad, why hear you him?”[1413] As a
wine-bibber, a glutton, and a friend of sinners: “Behold a man that is a
glutton, and a drinker of wine, a friend of publicans and sinners.”[1414]
As a sorcerer: “By the prince of devils he casteth out devils.”[1415] As
a heretic and possessed person: “Do we not say well of thee, that thou
art a Samaritan, and hast a devil?”[1416] In a word, Jesus was considered
as so bad and notorious a man, that no trial was necessary to condemn
him, as the Jews said to Pilate: “If he were not a malefactor, we would
not have delivered him up to thee.”[1417] He was contradicted in his
soul, for even his eternal Father, in order to give place to the divine
justice, contradicted him by not wishing to hear him when he prayed to
him, saying: “Father, if it be possible, let this chalice pass from
me;”[1418] and abandoned him to fear, weariness, and sadness, so that
our afflicted Lord said: “My soul is sorrowful even unto death.”[1419]
His interior suffering even caused him to sweat blood. Contradicted and
persecuted, in a word, in his body and his life, for he was tortured in
all his sacred members: in his hands, in his feet, in his face, in his
head, in his whole body, till, drained to the last drop of his blood, he
died an ignominious death on the cross.
When David, in the midst of all his pleasures and royal grandeur, heard
from Nathan the prophet that his son should die—“The child that is born
to thee shall surely die”[1420]—he could find no peace, but wept, fasted,
and slept upon the ground. Mary received with the greatest calmness the
announcement that her Son should die, and peacefully continued to submit
to it; but what grief she must have continually suffered, seeing this
amiable Son always near her, hearing from him words of eternal life, and
beholding his holy demeanor. Abraham suffered great affliction during
the three days he passed with his beloved Isaac, after he knew that he
was to lose him. Oh God! not for three days, but for thirty-three years,
Mary had to endure a like sorrow. Like, do I say? A sorrow as much
greater as the Son of Mary was more lovely than the son of Abraham. The
blessed Virgin herself revealed to St. Bridget,[1421] that while she
lived on the earth there was not an hour when this grief did not pierce
her soul: As often, she continued, as I looked upon my Son, as often
as I wrapped him in his swaddling clothes, as often as I saw his hands
and his feet, so often was my soul overwhelmed as it were with a fresh
sorrow, because I considered how he would be crucified.[1422] Rupert the
Abbot, contemplating Mary, while she was suckling her Son, imagines her
addressing him in these words: “A bundle of myrrh is my beloved to me,
he shall abide between my breasts.”[1423] Ah, my Son, I clasp thee in my
arms, because thou art so dear to me; but the dearer thou art to me, the
more thou dost become to me a bundle of myrrh and of sorrow, when I think
of thy sufferings. Mary, says St. Bernardine of Sienna,[1424] considered
that the strength of the saints was to pass through death; the beauty
of paradise to be deformed; the Lord of the universe to be bound as a
criminal; the Creator of all things to be livid with stripes; the Judge
of all to be condemned; the glory of heaven despised; the King of kings
to be crowned with thorns, and treated as a mock king.
Father Engelgrave writes, that it was revealed to the same St. Bridget,
that the afflicted mother, knowing all that her Son would have to suffer,
when suckling him, thought of the gall and vinegar; when she swathed him,
of the cords with which he was to be bound; when she bore him in her
arms, she thought of him being nailed to the cross; and when he slept,
she thought of his death.[1425] As often as she put on him his clothes,
she reflected that they would one day be torn from him, that he might be
crucified; and when she beheld his sacred hands and feet, and thought of
the nails that were to pierce them, as Mary said to St. Bridget: “My eyes
filled with tears, and my heart was tortured with grief.”[1426]
The evangelist says, that as Jesus Christ advanced in years, so also
he advanced in wisdom and in grace with God and men.[1427] That is,
he advanced in wisdom and in grace before men, or in their estimation;
and before God, according to St. Thomas,[1428] inasmuch as all his
works would continually have availed to increase his merit, if from the
beginning grace in its complete fulness had not been conferred on him
by virtue of the hypostatic union. But if Jesus advanced in the esteem
and love of others, how much more did he advance in Mary’s love! But,
oh God, as love increased in her, the more increased in her the grief
of having to lose him by a death so cruel. And the nearer the time of
the passion of her Son approached, with so much greater pain did that
sword of sorrow, predicted by St. Simeon, pierce the heart of the mother;
precisely this the angel revealed to St. Bridget, saying: “That sword of
sorrow was every hour drawing nearer to the Virgin as the time for the
passion of her Son drew nearer.”[1429]
If, then, Jesus our King and his most holy mother did not refuse, for
love of us, to suffer during their whole life such cruel pains, there is
no reason that we should complain if we suffer a little. Jesus crucified
once appeared to sister Magdalene Orsini, a Dominican nun, when she had
been long suffering a great trial, and encouraged her to remain with him
on the cross with that sorrow that was afflicting her. Sister Magdalene
answered him complainingly: “Oh Lord, thou didst suffer on the cross only
three hours, but it is more than three years that I have been suffering
this cross.” Then the Redeemer replied: “Ah! ignorant soul, what dost
thou say? I, from the first moment I was conceived, suffered in heart
what I afterwards suffered on the cross.” If, then, we too suffer any
affliction and complain, let us imagine that Jesus and his mother Mary
are saying to us the same words.
EXAMPLE.
Father Roviglione, of the Company of Jesus, relates,[1430] that a certain
youth practised the devotion of visiting every day an image of the
sorrowful Mary, in which she was represented with seven swords piercing
her heart. One night the unhappy youth fell into mortal sin. Going next
morning to visit the image, he saw in the heart of the blessed Virgin
not only seven, but eight swords. As he stood gazing at this, he heard a
voice saying to him, that his sin had added the eighth sword to the heart
of Mary. This softened his hard heart; he went immediately to confession,
and through the intercession of his advocate, recovered the divine grace.
PRAYER.
Oh my blessed mother, not one sword only, but as many swords as I have
committed sins have I added to those seven in thy heart. Ah, my Lady,
thy sorrows are not due to thee who art innocent, but to me who am
guilty. But since thou hast wished to suffer so much for me, ah, by thy
merits obtain for me great sorrow for my sins, and patience under the
trials of this life, which will always be light in comparison with my
demerits, for I have often merited hell. Amen.
ON THE SECOND DOLOR.
OF THE FLIGHT OF JESUS INTO EGYPT.
As the stag, wounded by an arrow, carries the pain with him wherever he
goes, because he carries with him the arrow that has wounded him; thus
the divine mother, after the prophecy of St. Simeon, as we saw in our
consideration of the first grief, always carried her sorrow with her by
the continual remembrance of the passion of her Son. Ailgrin, explaining
this passage of the Canticles, “The hairs of thy head as the purple of
the king bound in the channel,”[1431] says: These hairs of Mary were her
continual thoughts of the passion of Jesus, which kept always before her
eyes the blood which was one day to flow from his wounds. Thy mind, oh
Mary, and thy thoughts tinged in the blood of the passion of our Lord,
were always moved with sorrow as if they actually saw the blood flowing
from his wounds.[1432] Thus her Son himself was that arrow in the heart
of Mary, who, the more worthy of love he showed himself to her, always
wounded her the more with the sorrowful thought that she should lose him
by so cruel a death. Let us now pass to the consideration of the second
sword of sorrow which wounded Mary, in the flight of her infant Jesus
into Egypt from the persecution of Herod.
Herod having heard that the expected Messiah was born, foolishly feared
that the new-born King would deprive him of his kingdom. Hence St.
Fulgentius, reproving him for his folly, thus says: “Why, oh Herod,
art thou thus disturbed? This King who is born has not come to conquer
kings by arms, but to subjugate them, in a wonderful manner, by his
death.”[1433] The impious Herod, therefore, waited to learn from the holy
magi where the King was born, that he might take from him his life; but
finding himself deceived by the magi, he ordered all the infants that
could be found in the neighborhood of Bethlehem to be put to death. But
an angel appeared in a dream to St. Joseph, and said to him: “Arise, and
take the child and his mother, and fly into Egypt.”[1434] According to
Gerson, immediately, on that very night, Joseph made this command known
to Mary; and taking the infant Jesus, they commenced their journey, as
it seems clearly from the Gospel itself: “Who arose and took the child
and his mother by night, and retired into Egypt.” Oh God, as blessed
Albertus Magnus says in the name of Mary, must he, then, who came to save
men flee from men? “Debet fugere qui salvator est mundi?”[1435] And then
the afflicted Mary knew that already the prophecy of Simeon, regarding
her Son, was beginning to be verified: “He is set for a sign which shall
be contradicted.”[1436] Seeing that scarcely is he born, when he is
persecuted to death. What suffering it must have been to the heart of
Mary, writes St. John Chrysostom, to hear the tidings of that cruel exile
of herself with her Son! Flee from thy friends to strangers, from the
holy temple of the only true God, to the temples of demons. What greater
tribulation than that a new-born child, clinging to its mother’s bosom,
should be forced to fly with the mother herself![1437]
Every one can imagine how much Mary must have suffered on this
journey. It was a long distance to Egypt. Authors generally agree with
Barrada[1438] that it was four hundred miles; so that at least it was
a journey of thirty days. The way, as St. Bonaventure describes it, was
rough, unknown, through woods, and little frequented.[1439] The season
was winter, and therefore they had to travel in snow, rain, wind, and
storms, and through bad and difficult roads. Mary was then fifteen years
of age, a delicate virgin, unaccustomed to such journeys. They had no
servant to attend them. Joseph and Mary, said St. Peter Chrysologus, had
no man-servant nor maid-servant; they were themselves both masters and
servants.[1440] Oh God, how piteous a spectacle it was to see that tender
Virgin, with that newly born infant in her arms, wandering through this
world! St. Bonaventure asks, Where did they obtain food? Where did they
rest at night? How were they lodged?[1441] What other food could they
have, than a piece of hard bread which Joseph brought with him or begged
in charity? Where could they have slept (particularly in the two hundred
miles of desert through which they travelled, where, as authors relate,
there were neither houses nor inns) except on the sand, or under some
tree in the wood, in the open air, exposed to robbers, or those wild
beasts with which Egypt abounded? Ah, if any one had met these three
greatest personages of the world, what would he have believed them to be
but three poor, roving beggars?
They lived in Egypt, according to Brocard and Jansenius, in a district
called Maturea, though, according to St. Anselm, they dwelt in
Heliopolis, first called Memphis, and now Cairo. And here let us consider
the great poverty they must have suffered for the seven years they
were there, as St. Antoninus, St. Thomas, and others assert. They were
foreigners, unknown, without revenues, without money, without kindred;
hardly were they able to support themselves by their humble labors.
As they were destitute, says St. Basil, it is manifest what efforts
they must have made to obtain there the necessaries of life.[1442]
Moreover, Landolph of Saxony has written, and let it be repeated for the
consolation of the poor, that so great was the poverty of Mary there,
that sometimes she had not so much as a morsel of bread, when her Son,
forced by hunger, asked it of her.[1443]
St. Matthew also relates that when Herod was dead, the angel again
appeared, in a dream, to St. Joseph, and directed him to return to Judea.
St. Bonaventure, speaking of this return, considers the greater pain
of the blessed Virgin, on account of the sufferings which Jesus must
have endured in that journey, having arrived at about the age of seven
years—an age, says the saint, when he was so large that he could not be
carried, and so small that he could not go without assistance.[1444]
The sight, then, of Jesus and Mary wandering like fugitives through this
world, teaches us that we should also live as pilgrims on the earth,
detached from the goods which the world offers us, as having soon to
leave them and go to eternity. “We have not here a lasting city, but
seek one that is to come.”[1445] To which St. Augustine adds: Thou
art a stranger, thou givest a look, and then passest on: “Hospes es,
vides et transis.” It also teaches us to embrace crosses, for we cannot
live in this world without a cross. The blessed Veronica da Binasco,
an Augustinian nun, was carried in spirit to accompany Mary and the
infant Jesus in this journey to Egypt, and at the end of it the divine
mother said to her: “Child, hast thou seen through what difficulties we
have reached this place? Now learn that no one receives graces without
suffering.” He who wishes to feel least the sufferings of this life, must
take Jesus and Mary with him: “Accipe puerum et matrem ejus.” For him
who lovingly bears in his heart this Son and this mother, all sufferings
become light, and even sweet and dear. Let us then love them, let us
console Mary by receiving her Son within our hearts, whom, even now, men
continue to persecute with their sins.
EXAMPLE.
One day the most holy Mary appeared to the blessed Colletta, a Franciscan
nun, and showed her the infant Jesus in a basin, torn in pieces, and
then said to her: “Thus sinners continually treat my Son, renewing his
death and my sorrows; oh, my daughter, pray for them that they may be
converted.”[1446] Similar to this is that other vision which appeared to
the venerable sister Jane, of Jesus and Mary, also a Franciscan nun. As
she was one day meditating on the infant Jesus, persecuted by Herod, she
heard a great noise, as of armed people, who were pursuing some one; and
then appeared before her a most beautiful child, who was fleeing in great
distress, and cried to her: “My Jane, help me, hide me; I am Jesus of
Nazareth, I am flying from sinners who wish to kill me, and who persecute
me as Herod did: do thou save me.”[1447]
PRAYER.
Then, oh Mary, even after thy Son hath died by the hands of men who
persecuted him unto death, have not these ungrateful men yet ceased from
persecuting him with their sins, and continuing to afflict thee, oh
mother of sorrows? And I also, oh God, have been one of these. Ah, my
most sweet mother, obtain for me tears to weep for such ingratitude. And
then, by the sufferings thou didst experience in thy journey to Egypt,
assist me in the journey that I am making to eternity, that at length I
may go to unite with thee in loving my persecuted Saviour, in the country
of the blessed. Amen.
ON THE THIRD DOLOR.
OF THE LOSS OF JESUS IN THE TEMPLE.
St. James the Apostle has said, that our perfection consists in the
virtue of patience. “And patience hath a perfect work, that you may be
perfect and entire, failing in nothing.”[1448] The Lord having then given
us the Virgin Mary as an example of perfection, it was necessary that she
should be laden with sorrows, that in her we might admire and imitate her
heroic patience. The dolor that we are this day to consider is one of the
greatest which our divine mother suffered during her life, namely, the
loss of her Son in the temple. He who is born blind is little sensible of
the pain of being deprived of the light of day; but to him who has once
had sight and enjoyed the light, it is a great sorrow to find himself
deprived of it by blindness. And thus it is with those unhappy souls
who, being blinded by the mire of this earth, have but little knowledge
of God, and therefore scarcely feel pain at not finding him. On the
contrary, the man who, illuminated with celestial light, has been made
worthy to find by love the sweet presence of the highest good, oh God,
how he mourns when he finds himself deprived of it! From this we can
judge how painful must have been to Mary, who was accustomed to enjoy
constantly the sweet presence of Jesus, that third sword which wounded
her, when she lost him in Jerusalem, and was separated from him for three
days.
In the second chapter of St. Luke we read that the blessed Virgin, being
accustomed to visit the temple every year at the paschal season, with
Joseph her spouse and Jesus, once went when he was about twelve years
old, and Jesus remained in Jerusalem, though she was not aware of it, for
she thought he was in company with others. When she reached Nazareth she
inquired for her Son, and not finding him there, she returned immediately
to Jerusalem to seek him, but did not succeed until after three days. Now
let us imagine what distress that afflicted mother must have experienced
in those three days in which she was searching everywhere for her Son,
with the spouse in the Canticles: “Have you seen him whom my soul
loveth?”[1449] But she could hear no tidings of him. Oh, with how much
greater tenderness must Mary, overcome with fatigue, and yet not having
found her beloved Son, have repeated those words of Ruben, concerning his
brother Joseph: The boy doth not appear, and whither shall I go? “Puer
non comparet, et ego quo ibo?” My Jesus doth not appear, and I know not
what to do that I may find him; but where shall I go without my treasure?
Weeping continually, she repeated during these three days with David:
“My tears have been my bread day and night, whilst it is said to me
daily, Where is thy God?”[1450] Wherefore Pelbart with reason says, that
during those nights the afflicted mother had no rest, but wept and prayed
without ceasing to God, that he would enable her to find her Son.[1451]
And, according to St. Bernard, often during that time did she repeat to
her Son himself the words of the spouse: “Show me where thou feedest,
where thou liest in the mid-day, lest I begin to wander.”[1452] My Son,
tell me where thou art, that I may no longer wander, seeking thee in vain.
Some writers assert, and not without reason, that this dolor was not
only one of the greatest, but that it was the greatest and most painful
of all. For in the first place, Mary in her other dolors had Jesus with
her; she suffered when St. Simeon uttered the prophecy in the temple; she
suffered in the flight to Egypt, but always with Jesus; but in this dolor
she suffered at a distance from Jesus, without knowing where he was: “And
the light of my eyes itself is not with me.”[1453] Thus, with tears,
she then exclaimed: Ah, the light of my eyes, my dear Jesus, is no more
with me; he is far from me, I know not where he is! Origen says, that
through the love which this holy mother bore her Son, she suffered more
at this loss of Jesus than any martyr ever suffered at death.[1454] Ah,
how long were these three days for Mary! they appeared three ages. Very
bitter days, for there was none to comfort her. And who, she exclaimed
with Jeremias, who can console me if he who could console me is far from
me? and therefore my eyes are not satisfied with weeping: “Therefore do I
weep, and my eyes run down with water, because the comforter is far from
me.”[1455] And with Tobias she repeated: “What manner of joy shall be to
me who sit in darkness, and see not the light of heaven?”[1456]
_Secondly._—Mary well understood the cause and end of the other dolors,
namely, the redemption of the world, the divine will; but in this she
did not know the cause of the absence of her Son. The sorrowful mother
was grieved to find Jesus withdrawn from her, for her humility, says
Lanspergius, made her consider herself unworthy to remain with him
any longer, and attend upon him on earth, and have the care of such a
treasure.[1457] And perhaps, she may have thought within herself, I have
not served him as I ought. Perhaps I have been guilty of some neglect,
and therefore he has left me. They sought him, lest he perchance had
left them, as Origen has said.[1458] Certainly there is no greater grief
for a soul that loves God than the fear of having displeased him. And
therefore Mary never complained in any other sorrow but this, lovingly
expostulating with Jesus after she found him: “Son, why hast thou done so
to us? Thy father and I have sought thee sorrowing.”[1459] By these words
she did not wish to reprove Jesus, as the heretics blasphemously assert,
but only to make known to him the grief she had experienced during his
absence from her, on account of the love she bore him. It was not a
rebuke, says blessed Denis the Carthusian, but a loving complaint: “Non
erat increpatio, sed amorosa conquestio.” Finally, this sword so cruelly
pierced the heart of the Virgin, that the blessed Benvenuta, desiring one
day to share the pain of the holy mother in this dolor, and praying her
to obtain for her this grace, Mary appeared to her with the infant Jesus
in her arms; but while Benvenuta was enjoying the sight of that most
beautiful child, in one moment she was deprived of it. So great was her
sorrow that she had recourse to Mary, to implore her pity that it should
not make her die of grief. The holy Virgin appeared to her again three
days after, and said to her: “Now learn, oh my daughter, that thy sorrow
is but a small part of that which I suffered when I lost my Son.”[1460]
This sorrow of Mary ought, in the first place, to serve as a comfort to
those souls who are desolate and do not enjoy the sweet presence they
once enjoyed of their Lord. They may weep, but let them weep in peace,
as Mary wept the absence of her Son. Let them take courage, and not fear
that on this account they have lost the divine favor, for God himself
said to St. Theresa: “No one is lost without knowing it; and no one is
deceived without wishing to be deceived.” If the Lord departs from the
sight of that soul who loves him, he does not therefore depart from the
heart. He often hides himself that she may seek him with greater desire
and love. But those who would find Jesus must seek him, not amid the
delights and pleasures of the world, but amid crosses and mortifications,
as Mary sought him: We sought thee sorrowing, as she said to her Son:
“Dolentes quærebamus te.” Learn from Mary to seek Jesus, says Origen:
“Disce a Maria quærere Jesum.”
Moreover, in this world we should seek no other good than Jesus. Job
was not unhappy when he lost all that he possessed on earth; riches,
children, health, and honors, and even descended from a throne to a
dunghill; but because he had God with him, even then he was happy. St.
Augustine, speaking of him, says: He had lost all that God had given
him, but he had God himself: “Perdiderat illa quæ dederat Deus, sed
habebat ipsum Deum.” Unhappy and truly wretched are those souls who have
lost God. If Mary wept for the absence of her Son for three days, how
ought sinners to weep who have lost divine grace, to whom God says: “You
are not my people, and I will not be yours.”[1461] For sin does this,
namely, it separates the soul from God: “Your iniquities have divided
between you and your God.”[1462] Hence, if even sinners possess all the
goods of earth and have lost God, every thing on earth becomes vanity
and affliction to them, as Solomon confessed: “Behold, all is vanity
and vexation of spirit.”[1463] But as St. Augustine says: The greatest
misfortune of these poor blind souls is, that if they lose an ox, they
do not fail to go in search of it; if they lose a sheep, they use all
diligence to find it; if they lose a beast of burden, they cannot rest;
but they lose the highest good, which is God, and yet they eat and drink,
and take their rest.[1464]
EXAMPLE.
We read in the Annual Letters of the Society of Jesus, that in India,
a young man who was just leaving his apartment in order to commit sin
heard a voice, saying: “Stop, where are you going?” He turned round
and saw an image, in relief, of the sorrowful Mary, who drew out the
sword which was in her breast, and said to him: “Take this dagger and
pierce my heart rather than wound my Son with this sin.” At the sound of
these words the youth prostrated himself on the ground, and with deep
contrition, bursting into tears, he asked and obtained from God and the
Virgin pardon of his sin.
PRAYER.
Oh blessed Virgin, why art thou afflicted, seeking thy lost Son? Is it
because thou dost not know where he is? But dost thou not know that he
is in thy heart? Dost thou not see that he is feeding among the lilies?
Thou thyself hast said it: “My beloved to me and I to him who feedeth
among the lilies.”[1465] These, thy humble, pure, and holy thoughts and
affections, are all lilies, that invite the divine spouse to dwell with
thee. Ah, Mary, dost thou sigh after Jesus, thou who lovest none but
Jesus? Leave sighing to me and so many other sinners who do not love
him, and who have lost him by offending him. My most amiable mother,
if through my fault thy Son has not yet returned to my soul, wilt thou
obtain for me that I may find him. I know well that he allows himself to
be found by all who seek him: The Lord is good to the soul that seeketh
him: “Bonus est Dominus ... animæ quærenti illum.”[1466] Make me to seek
him as I ought to seek him. Thou art the gate through which all find
Jesus; through thee I too hope to find him.
ON THE FOURTH DOLOR.
OF THE MEETING OF MARY WITH JESUS, WHEN HE WENT TO DEATH.
St. Bernardine says, that to form an idea of the grief of Mary in losing
her Jesus by death, it is necessary to consider the love that this
mother bore to this her Son. All mothers feel the sufferings of their
children as their own. Hence the woman of Chanaan, when she prayed the
Saviour to deliver her daughter from the devil that tormented her,
said to him, that he should have pity on the mother rather than on the
daughter: “Have mercy on me, oh Lord, thou son of David, my daughter
is grievously troubled by a devil.”[1467] But what mother ever loved a
child so much as Mary loved Jesus? He was her only child, reared amidst
so many troubles and pains; a most amiable child, and most loving to his
mother; a Son, who was at the same time her Son and her God; who came on
earth to kindle in the hearts of all the holy fire of divine love, as he
himself declared: “I am come to cast fire on the earth, and what will I
but that it be kindled?”[1468] Let us consider how he must have inflamed
that pure heart of his holy mother, so free from every earthly affection.
In a word, the blessed Virgin herself said to St. Bridget, that through
love her heart and the heart of her Son was one: “Unum erat cor meum, et
cor filii mei.” That blending of handmaid and mother, of Son and God,
kindled in the heart of Mary a fire composed of a thousand flames. But
afterwards, at the time of the passion, this flame of love was changed
into a sea of sorrow. Hence St. Bernardine says: All the sorrows of the
world united would not be equal to the sorrow of the glorious Mary.[1469]
Yes, because this mother, as St. Lawrence Justinian writes: The more
tenderly she loved, was the more deeply wounded.[1470] The greater the
tenderness with which she loved him, the greater was her grief at the
sight of his sufferings, especially when she met her Son, after he had
already been condemned, going to death at the place of punishment,
bearing the cross. And this is the fourth sword of sorrow which to-day we
have to consider.
The blessed Virgin revealed to St. Bridget, that at the time when the
passion of our Lord was drawing nigh, her eyes were always filled with
tears, as she thought of her beloved Son whom she was about to lose
on this earth. Therefore, as she also said, a cold sweat covered her
body from the fear that seized her at that prospect of approaching
suffering.[1471] Behold, the appointed day at length arrived, and Jesus
came in tears to take leave of his mother before he went to death. St.
Bonaventure, contemplating Mary on that night, says: Thou didst spend it
without sleep, and while others slept, thou didst remain watching.[1472]
Morning having arrived, the disciples of Jesus Christ came to this
afflicted mother, one, to bring her this tidings, another, that; but all
tidings of sorrow, for in her were then verified the words of Jeremias:
“Weeping, she hath wept in the night, and her tears are on her cheeks;
there is none to comfort her of all them that were dear to her.”[1473]
One came to relate to her the cruel treatment of her Son in the house of
Caiphas; another, the insults received by him from Herod. Finally, for
I omit all the rest to come to my point, St. John came, and announced
to Mary that the most unjust Pilate had already condemned him to death
upon the cross. I say the most unjust, for, as St. Leo remarks, this
unjust judge condemned him to death with the same lips with which he had
pronounced him innocent.[1474] Ah, sorrowful mother, said St. John to
her, thy Son has already been condemned to death, he is already on his
way, bearing himself his cross on his way to Calvary, as he afterwards
related in his Gospel: “And bearing his own cross, he went forth to that
place which is called Calvary.”[1475] Come, if thou dost desire to see
him, and bid him a last farewell in some of the streets through which he
is to pass.
Mary goes with St. John, and she perceives by the blood with which the
way was sprinkled, that her Son had already passed there. This she
revealed to St. Bridget: “By the footsteps of my Son I traced his course,
for along the way by which he had passed, the ground was sprinkled with
blood.”[1476] St. Bonaventure imagines the afflicted mother taking a
shorter way, and placing herself at the corner of the street to meet her
afflicted Son as he passed by.[1477] This most afflicted mother met her
most afflicted Son: Mœstissima mater mœstissimo filio occurrit, said
St. Bernard. While Mary stopped in that place how much she must have
heard said against her Son by the Jews, who knew her, and perhaps also
words in mockery of herself! Alas! what a commencement of sorrows was
then before her eyes, when she saw the nails, the hammers, the cords,
the fatal instruments of the death of her Son borne before him! And
what a sword pierced her heart when, she heard the trumpet proclaiming
along the way the sentence pronounced against her Son! But behold, now,
after the instruments, the trumpet, and the ministers of justice had
passed, she raises her eyes and sees; she sees, oh God, a young man
covered with blood and wounds from head to foot, with a crown of thorns
on his head, and two heavy beams on his shoulders; she looks at him and
hardly knows him, saying, then, with Isaias: “And we have seen him, and
there was no sightliness.”[1478] Yes, for the wounds, the bruises, and
clotted blood, made him look like a leper: “We have thought him, as it
were, a leper;”[1479] so that he could no longer be recognized. “And
his look was, as it were, hidden and despised, whereupon we esteemed
him not.”[1480] But at length love recognizes him, and as soon as she
knows him, ah, what was then, as St. Peter of Alcantara says in his
meditations, the love and fear of the heart of Mary! On the one hand, she
desired to see him; on the other, she could not endure to look upon so
pitiable a sight. But at length they look at each other. The Son wipes
from his eyes the clotted blood, which prevented him from seeing (as was
revealed to St. Bridget), and looks upon the mother; the mother looks
upon the Son. Ah, looks of sorrow, which pierced, as with so many arrows,
those two holy and loving souls. When Margaret, the daughter of Sir
Thomas More, met her father on his way to the scaffold, she could utter
only two words, oh, father! oh, father! and fell fainting at his feet.
At the sight of her Son going to Calvary, Mary fainted not; no, because
it was not fitting that this mother should lose the use of her reason,
as Father Suarez remarks, neither did she die, for God reserved her for
a greater grief; but if she did not die, she suffered sorrow enough to
cause her a thousand deaths.
The mother wished to embrace him, as St. Anselm says, but the officers of
justice thrust her aside, loading her with insults, and urge onward our
afflicted Lord. Mary follows. Ah, holy Virgin, where art thou going? To
Calvary! And canst thou trust thyself to see him who is thy life hanging
from a cross? And thy life shall be as it were hanging before thee: “Et
erit vita tua quasi pendens ante te.”[1481] Ah! my mother, stop, says
St. Lawrence Justinian, as if the Son himself had then spoken to her;
where dost thou hasten? Where art thou going? If thou comest where I go,
thou wilt be tortured with my sufferings, and I with thine.[1482] But
although the sight of her dying Jesus must cost her such cruel anguish,
the loving Mary will not leave him. The Son goes before, and the mother
follows, that she may be crucified with her Son, as William the Abbot
says: The mother took up her cross, and followed him, that she might be
crucified with him.[1483] We even pity the wild beasts: “Ferarum etiam
miseremur;” St. John Chrysostom has said. If we should see a lioness
following her whelp as he was led to death, even this wild beast would
call forth our compassion. And shall we not feel compassion to see Mary
following her immaculate Lamb, as they are leading him to death? Let
us then pity her, and endeavor also ourselves to accompany her Son and
herself, bearing with patience the cross which the Lord imposes on us.
Why did Jesus Christ, asks St. John Chrysostom, desire to be alone in his
other sufferings, but in bearing the cross wished to be helped by the
Cyrenean? And he answers: That thou mayest understand that the cross of
Christ is not sufficient without thine.[1484] The cross alone of Jesus is
not enough to save us, if we do not bear with resignation also our own,
even unto death.
EXAMPLE.
The Saviour appeared one day to sister Diomira, a nun, in Florence, and
said to her: “Think of me, and love me, and I will think of thee, and
love thee” and at the same time he presented her with a bunch of flowers
and a cross, signifying to her by this, that the consolations of the
saints on this earth are always to be accompanied by the cross. The cross
unites souls to God. Blessed Jerome Emilian, when he was a soldier, and
leading a very sinful life, was shut up by his enemies in a tower. There,
feeling deeply his misfortune, and enlightened by God to amend his life,
he had recourse to the most holy Mary, and then with the help of this
divine mother, he began to live the life of a saint. By this he merited
to see once in heaven the high place which God had prepared for him. He
became founder of the order of Sommaschi, died a saint, and has been
lately beatified by the holy Church.
PRAYER.
My sorrowful mother, by the merit of that grief which thou didst feel
at seeing thy beloved Jesus led to death, obtain for me the grace also
to bear with patience those crosses which God sends me. Happy me, if I
also shall know how to accompany thee with my cross until death. Thou and
Jesus, both innocent, have borne a heavy cross; and shall I a sinner, who
have merited hell, refuse mine? Ah, immaculate Virgin, I hope that thou
wilt help me to bear my crosses with patience. Amen.
ON THE FIFTH DOLOR.
OF THE DEATH OF JESUS.
And now we have to admire a new sort of martyrdom, a mother condemned to
see an innocent son, whom she loved with all the affection of her heart,
put to death before her eyes, by the most barbarous tortures. There stood
by the cross of Jesus his mother: “Stabat autem juxta crucem mater ejus.”
There is nothing more to be said, says St. John, of the martyrdom of
Mary: behold her at the foot of the cross, looking on her dying Son, and
then see if there is grief like her grief. Let us stop then also to-day
on Calvary, to consider this fifth sword that pierced the heart of Mary,
namely, the death of Jesus.
As soon as our afflicted Redeemer had ascended the hill of Calvary, the
executioners stripped him of his garments, and piercing his sacred hands
and feet with nails, not sharp, but blunt: “Non acutis, sed obtusis;” as
St. Bernard says,[1485] and to torture him more, they fastened him to
the cross. When they had crucified him, they planted the cross, and thus
left him to die. The executioners abandon him, but Mary does not abandon
him. She then draws nearer to the cross, in order to assist at his death.
“I did not leave him,” thus the blessed Virgin revealed to St. Bridget,
“and stood nearer to his cross.”[1486] But what did it avail, oh Lady,
says St. Bonaventure, to go to Calvary to witness there the death of
this Son? Shame should have prevented thee, for his disgrace was also
thine, because thou wast his mother; or, at least, the horror of such
a crime as that of seeing a God crucified by his own creatures, should
have prevented thee.[1487] But the saint himself answers: Thy heart did
not consider the horror, but the suffering: “Non considerabat cor tuum
horrorem, sed dolorem.” Ah, thy heart did not then care for its own
sorrow, but for the suffering and death of thy dear Son; and therefore
thou thyself didst wish to be near him, at least to compassionate him.
Ah, true mother! says William the Abbot, loving mother! for not even the
terror of death could separate thee from thy beloved Son.[1488] But,
oh God, what a spectacle of sorrow, to see this Son then in agony upon
the cross, and under the cross this mother in agony, who was suffering
all the pain that her Son was suffering! Behold the words in which Mary
revealed to St. Bridget the pitiable state of her dying Son, as she saw
him on the cross: “My dear Jesus was on the cross in grief and in agony;
his eyes were sunken, half closed, and lifeless; the lips hanging, and
the mouth open; the cheeks hollow, and attached to the teeth; the face
lengthened, the nose sharp, the countenance sad; the head had fallen upon
his breast, the hair black with blood, the stomach collapsed, the arms
and legs stiff, and the whole body covered with wounds and blood.”[1489]
Mary also suffered all these pains of Jesus. Every torture inflicted
on the body of Jesus, says St. Jerome, was a wound in the heart of the
mother.[1490] Any one of us who should then have been on Mount Calvary,
would have seen two altars, says St. John Chrysostom, on which two great
sacrifices were consummating, one in the body of Jesus, the other in
the heart of Mary. But rather would I see there, with St. Bonaventure,
one altar only, namely, the cross alone of the Son, on which, with the
victim, this divine Lamb, the mother also was sacrificed. Therefore the
saint interrogates her in these words: Oh Lady, where art thou? Near
the cross? Nay, on the cross, thou art crucified with thy Son.[1491]
St. Augustine also says the same thing: The cross and nails of the Son
were also the cross and nails of the mother; Christ being crucified, the
mother was also crucified.[1492] Yes, because, as St. Bernard says, love
inflicted on the heart of Mary the same suffering that the nails caused
in the body of Jesus.[1493] Therefore, at the same time that the Son was
sacrificing his body, the mother, as St. Bernardine says, was sacrificing
her soul.[1494]
Mothers fly from the presence of their dying children; but if a mother
is ever obliged to witness the death of a child, she procures for him
all possible relief; she arranges the bed, that his posture may be more
easy; she administers refreshments to him; and thus the poor mother
relieves her own sorrows. Ah, mother, the most afflicted of all mothers!
oh Mary, it was decreed that thou shouldst be present at the death of
Jesus, but it was not given to thee to afford him any relief. Mary heard
her Son say: I thirst: “Sitio;” but it was not permitted her to give him
a little water to quench his great thirst. She could only say to him, as
St. Vincent Ferrer remarks: My Son, I have only the water of my tears:
“Fili, non habeo nisi aquam lacrymarum.”[1495] She saw that her Son,
suspended by three nails to that bed of sorrow, could find no rest. She
wished to clasp him to her heart, that she might give him relief, or at
least that he might expire in her arms, but she could not.[1496] She saw
that poor Son in a sea of sorrow, seeking one who could console him,
as he had predicted by the mouth of the prophet: “I have trodden the
wine-press alone; I looked about and there was none to help; I sought and
there was none to give aid.”[1497] But who was there among men to console
him, if all were his enemies? Even on the cross they cursed and mocked
him on every side: “And they that passed by blasphemed him, wagging
their heads.”[1498] Some said to him: “If thou be the Son of God, come
down from the cross.”[1499] Some exclaimed: “He saved others, himself he
cannot save.”[1500] Others said: “If he be the King of Israel, let him
now come down from the cross.”[1501] The blessed Virgin herself said to
St. Bridget: “I heard some call my Son a thief; I heard others call him
an impostor; others said that no one deserved death more than he; and
every word was to me a new sword of sorrow.”[1502]
But what increased most the sorrows which Mary suffered through
compassion for her Son, was to hear him complain on the cross that
even the eternal Father had abandoned him: “My God, my God, why hast
thou forsaken me?”[1503] Words which, as the divine mother herself
said to St. Bridget, could never depart from her mind during her whole
life.[1504] Thus the afflicted mother saw her Jesus suffering on every
side; she desired to comfort him, but could not. And what caused her
the greatest sorrow was to see that, by her presence and her grief, she
increased the sufferings of her Son. The sorrow itself, says St. Bernard,
that filled the heart of Mary, increased the bitterness of sorrow in the
heart of Jesus.[1505] St. Bernard also says, that Jesus on the cross
suffered more from compassion for his mother than from his own pains: he
thus speaks in the name of the Virgin: I stood and looked upon him, and
he looked upon me; and he suffered more for me than for himself.[1506]
The same saint also, speaking of Mary beside her dying Son, says, that
she lived dying without being able to die: Near the cross stood his
mother, speechless; living she died, dying she lived; neither could she
die, because she was dead, being yet alive.[1507] Passino writes that
Jesus Christ himself, speaking one day to the blessed Baptista Varana,
of Camerino, said to her, that he was so afflicted on the cross at the
sight of his mother in such anguish at his feet, that compassion for
his mother caused him to die without consolation. So that the blessed
Baptista, being enlightened to know this suffering of Jesus, exclaimed:
Oh my Lord, tell me no more of this thy sorrow, for I cannot bear it.
Men were astonished, says Simon of Cassia, when they saw this mother then
keep silence, without uttering a complaint in this great suffering.[1508]
But if the lips of Mary were silent, her heart was not so; for she
did not cease offering to divine justice the life of her Son for our
salvation. Therefore we know that by the merits of her dolors she
co-operated with Christ in bringing us forth to the life of grace, and
therefore we are children of her sorrows: Christ, says Lanspergius,
wished her whom he had appointed for our mother to co-operate with him
in our redemption; for she herself at the foot of the cross was to bring
us forth as her children.[1509] And if ever any consolation entered into
that sea of bitterness, namely, the heart of Mary, it was this only one;
namely, the knowledge that by means of her sorrows, she was bringing
us to eternal salvation; as Jesus himself revealed to St. Bridget: “My
mother Mary, on account of her compassion and charity, was made mother
of all in heaven and on earth.”[1510] And, indeed, these were the last
words with which Jesus took leave of her before his death; this was his
last remembrance, leaving us to her for her children in the person of
John, when he said to her: Woman, behold thy Son: “Mulier ecce filius
tuus.”[1511] And from that time Mary began to perform for us this office
of a good mother; for, as St. Peter Damian declares, the penitent thief,
through the prayers of Mary, was then converted and saved: Therefore the
good thief repented, because the blessed Virgin, standing between the
cross of her Son and that of the thief, prayed her Son for him; thus
rewarding, by this favor, his former service.[1512] For as other authors
also relate, this thief, in the journey to Egypt with the infant Jesus,
showed them kindness; and this same office the blessed Virgin has ever
continued, and still continues to perform.
EXAMPLE.
A young man in Perugia once promised the devil that if he would help him
to commit a sinful act which he desired to do, he would give him his
soul; and he gave him a writing to that effect, signed with his blood.
The evil deed was committed, and the devil demanded the performance of
the promise. He led the young man to a well, and threatened to take him
body and soul to hell if he would not cast himself into it. The wretched
youth, thinking that it would be impossible for him to escape from his
enemy, climbed the well-side in order to cast himself into it, but
terrified at the thought of death, he said to the devil that he had not
the courage to throw himself in, and that, if he wished to see him dead,
he himself should thrust him in. The young man wore about his neck the
scapular of the sorrowing Mary; and the devil said to him: “Take off that
scapular, and I will thrust you in.” But the youth, seeing the protection
which the divine mother still gave him through that scapular, refused to
take it off, and after a great deal of altercation, the devil departed
in confusion. The sinner repented, and grateful to his sorrowful mother,
went to thank her, and presented a picture of this case, as an offering,
at her altar in the new church of Santa Maria, in Perugia.[1513]
PRAYER.
Ah, mother, the most afflicted of all mothers, thy Son, then, is dead;
thy Son so amiable, and who loved thee so much! Weep, for thou hast
reason to weep. Who can ever console thee? Nothing can console thee but
the thought that Jesus, by his death, hath conquered hell, hath opened
paradise, which was closed to men, and hath gained so many souls. From
that throne of the cross he was to reign over so many hearts, which,
conquered by his love, would serve him with love. Do not disdain, oh my
mother, to keep me near to weep with thee, for I have more reason than
thou to weep for the offences that I have committed against thy Son.
Ah, mother of mercy, I hope for pardon and my eternal salvation, first
through the death of my Redeemer, and then through the merits of thy
dolors. Amen.
ON THE SIXTH DOLOR.
THE PIERCING OF THE SIDE OF JESUS, AND HIS DESCENT FROM THE CROSS.
“Oh, all ye that pass by the way attend, and see if there be any sorrow
like to my sorrow.”[1514] Devout souls, listen to what the sorrowful Mary
says to you to-day: My beloved children, I do not wish you to console
me; no, for my heart can never again be consoled on this earth after the
death of my dear Jesus. If you wish to please me, this I ask of you,
turn to me and see if there has ever been in the world a grief like
mine, when I saw him who was all my love torn from me so cruelly. But,
oh Lady, since thou dost not wish to be consoled, and hast such a thirst
for suffering, I must say to thee that thy sorrows have not ended with
the death of thy Son. To-day thou wilt be pierced by another sword of
sorrow, when thou shalt see a cruel lance piercing the side of this thy
Son, already dead, and shalt receive him in thy arms after he is taken
from the cross. And now we are to consider to-day the sixth dolor which
afflicted this sorrowful mother. Attend and weep. Hitherto the dolors of
Mary tortured her one by one, but to-day they are all united to assail
her.
To make known to a mother that her child is dead, is sufficient to kindle
her whole soul with love for the lost one. Some persons, in order to
lighten their grief, will remind mothers whose children have died, of the
displeasure they have once caused them. But if I, oh my queen, should
wish to lighten thy sorrow for the death of Jesus in this way, what
displeasure has he ever caused thee, that I could recall to thy mind?
Ah, no; he always loved thee, obeyed thee, and respected thee. Now thou
hast lost him, and who can describe thy sorrow? Do thou who hast felt it
explain it. A devout author says, that when our Redeemer was dead, the
heart of the great mother was first engaged in accompanying the most holy
soul of the Son, and presenting it to the eternal Father. I present thee,
oh my God, Mary must then have said, the immaculate soul of thy and my
Son, which has been obedient to thee even unto death: receive it, then,
in thy arms. Thy justice is now satisfied, thy will accomplished; behold,
the great sacrifice to thy eternal glory is consummated. And then turning
to the lifeless members of her Jesus: Oh wounds, she said, oh loving
wounds, I adore you, I rejoice with you, since through you salvation has
been given to the world. You shall remain open in the body of my Son,
to be the refuge of those who will have recourse to you. Oh how many,
through you, shall receive the pardon of their sins, and then through you
shall be inflamed to love the Sovereign Good!
That the joy of the following Paschal Sabbath should not be disturbed,
the Jews wished the body of Jesus to be taken down from the cross; but
because they could not take down a criminal until he was dead, they came
with iron mallets to break his legs, as they had already done to the
two thieves crucified with him. And Mary, while she remains weeping at
the death of her Son, sees those armed men coming towards her Jesus.
At this sight she first trembled with fear, then she said: Ah, my Son
is already dead, cease to maltreat him, and cease to torture me a poor
mother longer. She implored them not to break his legs: “Oravit eos,
ne frangerent crura,” as St. Bonaventure writes. But while she is thus
speaking, oh, God! she sees a soldier with violence brandishing a spear,
and piercing the side of Jesus: “One of the soldiers with a spear opened
his side, and immediately there came out blood and water.”[1515] The
cross shook at the stroke of the spear, and, as was revealed to St.
Bridget, the heart of Jesus was divided: “Ita ut ambæ partes essent
divisæ.”[1516] There came out blood and water, for only a few drops of
blood remained, and those also the Saviour wished to shed, in order to
show that he had no more blood to give us. The injury of that stroke
was offered to Jesus, but the pain was inflicted on Mary: Christ, says
the devout Lanspergius, shared with his mother the infliction of that
wound, for he received the insult and his mother the pain.[1517] The
holy Fathers explain this to be the very sword predicted to the Virgin
by St. Simeon; a sword, not of iron, but of grief, which pierced through
her blessed soul in the heart of Jesus, where it always dwelt. Thus,
among others, St. Bernard says: The spear which opened his side passed
through the soul of the Virgin, which could not be torn from the heart
of Jesus.[1518] And the divine mother herself revealed the same to St.
Bridget, saying: “When the spear was drawn out, the point appeared red
with blood; then I felt as if my heart were pierced when I saw the heart
of my most dear Son pierced.”[1519] The angel told St. Bridget, that such
were the sufferings of Mary, that she was saved from death only by the
miraculous power of God.[1520] In her other dolors she at least had her
Son to compassionate her; and now she had not even him to take pity on
her.
The afflicted mother, still fearing that other injuries might be
inflicted on her Son, entreats Joseph of Arimathea to obtain from Pilate
the body of her Jesus, that at least after his death she may be able
to guard it and protect it from injuries. Joseph went to Pilate, and
made known to him the sorrow and the wish of this afflicted mother; and
St. Anselm thinks that compassion for the mother softened the heart of
Pilate, and moved him to grant her the body of the Saviour. And now Jesus
is taken from the cross. Oh most holy Virgin, after thou with so great
love hadst given thy Son to the world for our salvation, behold the world
returns him to thee again! But oh, my God, how dost thou return him to
me? said Mary to the world. My Son was white and ruddy: “Dilectus meus
candidus et rubicundus:” but thou hast returned him to me blackened
with bruises, and red, not with a ruddy color, but with the wounds thou
hast inflicted upon him; he was beautiful, now there is no more beauty
in him; he is all deformity. All were enamored with his aspect, now he
excites horror in all who look upon him. Oh, how many swords, says St.
Bonaventure, pierced the soul of this mother, when she received the body
of her Son after it was taken from the cross: “O quot gladii animam
matris pertransierunt!” Let us consider what anguish it would cause any
mother to receive the lifeless body of a son! It was revealed to St.
Bridget, that to take down the body of Jesus, three ladders were placed
against the cross. Those holy disciples first drew out the nails from
the hands and feet, and according to Metaphrastes, gave them in charge to
Mary. Then one supported the upper part of the body of Jesus, the other
the lower, and thus took it down from the cross. Bernardine de Bustis
describes the afflicted mother as raising herself, and extending her
arms to meet her dear Son; she embraces him, and then sits down at the
foot of the cross. She sees his mouth open, his eye shut, she examines
the lacerated flesh, and those exposed bones; she takes off the crown,
and sees the cruel injury made by those thorns, in that sacred head;
she looks upon those pierced hands and feet, and says: Ah, my Son, to
what has the love thou didst bear to men reduced thee! But what evil
hast thou done to them, that they have treated thee so cruelly? Thou
wast my father, Bernardine de Bustis imagines her to say, my brother,
my spouse, my delight, my glory, my all.[1521] Oh, my Son, behold how
I am afflicted, look upon me and console me; but thou dost look upon
me no more. Speak, speak to me but one word, and console me; but thou
dost speak no more, for thou art dead. Then turning to those barbarous
instruments, she said: Oh cruel thorns, oh nails, oh merciless spear, how
could you thus torture your Creator? But what thorns, what nails? Alas!
sinners, she exclaimed, it is you who have thus cruelly treated my Son.
Thus Mary spoke and complained of us. But if now she were capable of
suffering, what would she say? What grief would she feel to see that
men, after the death of her Son, continue to torment and crucify him by
their sins! Let us no longer give pain to this sorrowful mother; and
if we also have hitherto grieved her by our sins, let us now do what
she directs. She says to us: Return, ye transgressors, to the heart:
“Redite, prævaricatores, ad cor.”[1522] Sinners, return to the wounded
heart of my Jesus; return as penitents, for he will receive you. Flee
from him to him, she continues to say with Guerric the Abbot; from
the Judge to the Redeemer, from the tribunal to the cross.[1523] The
Virgin herself revealed to St. Bridget that she closed the eyes of her
Son when he was taken down from the cross, but she could not close his
arms: “Ejus brachia flectere non potui.” Jesus Christ giving us to
understand by this, that he desired to remain with open arms to receive
all penitent sinners who return to him. Oh world, continues Mary, behold,
then, thy time is the time of lovers: “Et ecce, tempus tuum, tempus
amantium.”[1524] Now that my Son, oh world, has died to save thee, this
is no longer for thee a time of fear, but of love; a time to love him
who has desired to suffer so much in order to show thee the love he bore
thee. Therefore, says St. Bernard, is the heart of Jesus wounded that,
through the visible wound, the invisible wound of love may be seen.[1525]
If, then, concludes Mary, in the words of the Abbot of Celles, my Son has
wished his side to be opened that he might give thee his heart,[1526] it
is right, oh man, that thou shouldst give him thy heart. And if you wish,
oh children of Mary, to find a place in the heart of Jesus without fear
of being cast out, go, says Ubertino of Casale, go with Mary, for she
will obtain grace for you;[1527] and in the following example we have a
beautiful proof of this.
EXAMPLE.
_The Disciple_ relates[1528] that there was once a poor sinner who, among
other crimes, had killed his father and a brother, and therefore became
a fugitive. Happening to hear one day during Lent, a sermon upon the
divine mercy, he went to the preacher himself to make his confession. The
confessor having heard his crimes, sent him to an altar of the sorrowful
mother to pray that she might obtain for him compunction and pardon of
his sins. The sinner obeyed, and began to pray, when behold, suddenly
overpowered by contrition, he falls down dead. On the following day
when the priest recommended to the people to pray for the deceased, a
white dove appeared in the church and let fall a card at the feet of the
priest. He took it up, and found these words written on it: “The soul of
the dead, when it left the body, immediately went to paradise; and do you
continue to preach the infinite mercy of God.”
PRAYER.
Oh afflicted Virgin! oh soul, great in virtues and great also in sorrows!
for both arise from that great fire of love thou hast for God; thou whose
heart can love nothing but God; ah mother, have pity on me, for I have
not loved God, and I have so much offended him. Thy sorrows give me great
confidence to hope for pardon. But this is not enough; I wish to love my
Lord, and who can better obtain this for me than thou—thou who art the
mother of fair love? Ah Mary, thou dost console all, comfort me also.
Amen.
ON THE SEVENTH DOLOR.
THE BURIAL OF THE BODY OF JESUS.
When a mother is by the side of a suffering and dying child, she no
doubt then feels and suffers all his pains; but when the afflicted child
is really dead and about to be buried, and the sorrowful mother takes
her last leave of him, oh God! the thought that she is to see him no
more is a sorrow that exceeds all other sorrows. Behold, the last sword
of sorrow which we are to consider, when Mary, after being present at
the death of her Son upon the cross, after having embraced his lifeless
body, was finally to leave him in the sepulchre, never more to enjoy his
beloved presence.
But that we may better understand this last dolor, let us return to
Calvary, again to look upon the afflicted mother, who still holds,
clasped in her arms, the lifeless body of her Son. Oh my Son, she seems
then to continue to say in the words of Job, my Son, thou art changed to
be cruel towards me: “Mutatus es mihi in crudelem.”[1529] Yes, for all
thy beauty, grace, virtue, and loveliness, all the signs of special love
thou hast shown me, the peculiar favors thou hast bestowed on me, are all
changed into so many darts of sorrow, which the more they have inflamed
my love for thee, so much the more cause me cruelly to feel the pain of
having lost thee. Ah, my beloved Son, in losing thee I have lost all.
Thus St. Bernard speaks in her name: Oh truly begotten of God, thou wast
to me a father, a son, a spouse; thou wast my life! Now I am deprived of
my father, my spouse, and my Son, for with my Son whom I have lost, I
lose all things.[1530]
Thus Mary, clinging to her Son, was dissolved in grief; but those holy
disciples, fearing lest this poor mother would expire there through
agony, went to take the body of her Son from her arms, to bear it away
for burial. Therefore, with reverential force they took him from her
arms, and having embalmed him, wrapped him in a linen cloth already
prepared, upon which our Lord wished to leave to the world his image
impressed, as may be seen at the present day in Turin. And now they
bear him to the sepulchre. The sorrowful funeral train sets forth; the
disciples place him on their shoulders; hosts of angels from heaven
accompany him; those holy women follow him; and the afflicted mother
follows in their company her Son to the grave. When they had reached the
appointed place, how gladly would Mary have buried herself there alive
with her Son! “Oh how willingly,” said the Virgin to St. Bridget, “would
I have remained there alive with my Son, if it had been his will!”[1531]
But since this was not the divine will, the authors relate that she
herself accompanied the sacred body of Jesus into the sepulchre, where,
as Baronius narrates, they deposited the nails and the crown of thorns.
In raising the stone to close the sepulchre, the disciples of the Saviour
had to turn to the Virgin, and say to her: Now, oh Lady, we must close
the sepulchre; have patience, look upon thy Son and take leave of him for
the last time. Then, oh my beloved Son, must the afflicted mother have
said, then shall I see thee no more? Receive, then, this last time that
I look upon thee, receive the last farewell from me thy dear mother,
and receive my heart which I leave buried with thee. The Virgin, says
St. Fulgentius, earnestly desired that her soul should be buried with
the body of Christ.[1532] And Mary herself made this revelation to St.
Bridget: “I can truly say, that at the burial of my Son, one sepulchre
contained as it were two hearts.”[1533]
Finally, they take the stone and close up in the holy sepulchre the body
of Jesus, that great treasure, greater than any in heaven and on earth.
And here let us remark, that Mary left her heart buried with Jesus,
because Jesus was all her treasure: “Where your treasure is, there will
your heart be also.”[1534] And where shall we keep our hearts buried?
With creatures? In the mire? And why not with Jesus, who, although he has
ascended to heaven, has wished to remain, not dead but alive, in the most
holy sacrament of the altar, precisely in order that he may have with
him and possess our hearts? But let us return to Mary. Before quitting
the sepulchre, according to St. Bonaventure, she blessed that sacred
stone, saying: Oh happy stone that doth now inclose that body which was
contained nine months in my womb, I bless thee, and envy thee; I leave
thee to guard my Son for me, who is my only good, my only love. And then
turning to the eternal Father, she said: Oh Father, to thee I recommend
him, who is thy Son and mine; and thus bidding a last farewell to her
Son, and to the sepulchre, she returned to her own house. This poor
mother went away so afflicted and sad, according to St. Bernard, that she
moved many to tears even against their will: “Multos etiam invitos ad
lacrymas provocabat;” so that wherever she passed, all wept who met her:
“Omnes plorabant qui obviabant ei,” and could not restrain their tears.
And he adds, that those holy disciples, and the women who accompanied
her, mourned for her even more than for their Lord.[1535]
St. Bonaventure says, that her two sisters covered her with a mourning
cloak: The sisters of our Lady wrapped her in a veil as a widow, covering
as it were her whole countenance.[1536] And he also says, that passing,
on her return, before the cross, still wet with the blood of her Jesus,
she was the first to adore it: Oh holy cross, she exclaimed, I kiss thee
and adore thee; for thou art no longer an infamous wood, but a throne
of love, and an altar of mercy, consecrated by the blood of the divine
Lamb, who has been sacrificed upon thee, for the salvation of the world.
She then leaves the cross and returns to her house; there the afflicted
mother casts her eyes around, and no longer sees her Jesus; but instead
of the presence of her dear Son, all the memorials of his holy life
and cruel death are before her. There she is reminded of the embraces
she gave her Son in the stable of Bethlehem, of the conversations held
with him for so many years in the shop of Nazareth: she is reminded of
their mutual affection, of his loving looks, of the words of eternal life
that came forth from that divine mouth. And then comes before her the
fatal scene of that very day; she sees those nails, those thorns, that
lacerated flesh of her Son, those deep wounds, those uncovered bones,
that open mouth, those closed eyes. Alas! what a night of sorrow was
that night for Mary! The sorrowful mother turned to St. John, and said
mournfully: Ah, John, where is thy Master? Then she asked of Magdalen:
Daughter, tell me where is thy beloved? Oh God! who has taken him from
us? Mary weeps, and all those who are with her weep. And thou, oh my
soul, dost thou not weep! Ah, turn to Mary, and say to her with St.
Bonaventure: Let me, oh my Lady, let me weep; thou art innocent, I am
guilty.[1537] At least entreat her to permit thee to weep with her: “Fac
ut tecum lugeam.” She weeps for love, and thou dost weep through sorrow
for thy sins. And thus weeping, thou mayest have the happy lot of him of
whom we read in the following example.
EXAMPLE.
Father Engelgrave relates,[1538] that a certain religious was so
tormented by scruples, that sometimes he was almost driven to despair,
but having great devotion to Mary, the mother of sorrows, he had
recourse to her in the agony of his spirit, and was much comforted by
contemplating her dolors. Death came, and the devil tormented him more
than ever with scruples, and tempted him to despair. When, behold our
merciful mother, seeing her poor son so afflicted, appeared to him, and
said to him: “And why, oh my son, art thou so overcome with sorrow, thou
who hast so often consoled me by thy compassion for my sorrows?[1539] Be
comforted,” she said to him; “Jesus sends me to thee to console thee; be
comforted, rejoice, and come with me to paradise.” And at these words the
devout religious tranquilly expired, full of consolation and confidence.
PRAYER.
My afflicted mother, I will not leave thee alone to weep; no, I wish to
keep thee company with my tears. This grace I ask of thee to-day: obtain
for me a continual remembrance of the passion of Jesus, and of thine
also, and a tender devotion to them, that all the remaining days of my
life may be spent in weeping for thy sorrows, oh my mother, and for those
of my Redeemer. I hope that these dolors will give me the confidence
and strength not to despair at the hour of my death, at the sight of the
offences I have committed against my Lord. By these must I obtain pardon,
perseverance, paradise, where I hope to rejoice with thee, and sing the
infinite mercy of my God through all eternity: thus I hope, thus may it
be. Amen, amen.
* * * * *
Whoever wishes to practise the devotion of reciting the chaplet of the
dolors of Mary, will find it at the end of the book. I composed this many
years since, and insert it anew here for the convenience of the servants
of Mary, whom I pray in their charity to recommend me to her when they
meditate upon her dolors.
Oh Lady, who dost ravish the hearts of men with thy sweetness, hast
thou not ravished mine? Oh, ravisher of hearts, when wilt thou restore
to me my heart? Do with it as with thine own, and place it in the side
of thy Son. Then I shall possess what I hope for, because thou art our
hope.[1540]
OF THE VIRTUES OF THE MOST HOLY MARY.
St. Augustine says, that in order to obtain more certainly and abundantly
the favor of the saints, it is necessary to imitate them, for when they
see us practising the virtues which they practised, then they are more
moved to pray for us. The queen of saints, and our first advocate, Mary,
after she has rescued a soul from the grasp of Lucifer, and has united
her to God, wishes her to begin to imitate her example, otherwise she
will not be able to enrich her, as she would wish, with her graces,
seeing her so opposed to her in conduct. Therefore Mary calls those
blessed who diligently imitate her life: “Now, therefore, children, hear
me; blessed are they that keep my ways.”[1541] He who loves, is like,
or seeks to make himself like, the person beloved, according to the
celebrated proverb: Love either finds or makes like: “Amor aut pares
invenit aut facit.” Hence St. Jerome tells us, that if we love Mary,
we must seek to imitate her, for this is the greatest honor we can pay
her.[1542] Richard says, those are and may call themselves true children
of Mary, who strive to imitate her life: “Filii Mariæ imitatores ejus.”
Let the child then endeavor, concludes St. Bernard, to imitate the
mother, if he desires her favor; for when Mary sees that he honors her as
a mother, she will treat and favor him as a child.
Although there is little recorded in the Gospels of the virtues of Mary
in particular, yet, when they tell us that she was full of grace, it
is given us to understand that she had all the virtues, and all in the
heroic degree. So much so, that, as St. Thomas says, whereas the other
saints have excelled, each in some one particular virtue, the blessed
Virgin has excelled in all, and in all the virtues has been given us for
an example.[1543] And St. Ambrose also says: Such was Mary, that her
life alone is the example for all.[1544] And he afterwards adds: Let the
virginity and life of Mary be to you as an image, in which the form of
virtue shines forth. From thence obtain the model of your life ... what
you should correct, what avoid, what retain.[1545] And because, as the
holy Fathers teach, humility is the foundation of all the virtues, let us
in the first place consider how great was the humility of the mother of
God.
SECTION I.
OF THE HUMILITY OF MARY.
Humility, says St. Bernard, is the foundation and guardian of the
virtues;[1546] and with reason, for without humility a soul can possess
no other virtue. Let her possess all the virtues, they will all depart
when humility departs. On the other hand, said St. Francis of Sales, in
a letter to St. Jane de Chantal, God so loves humility that he instantly
hastens to the soul in which he sees it.[1547] This virtue, so lovely
and so necessary, was unknown in the world; but the Son of God himself
came on earth to teach it by his example, and he desired that in this
we should especially strive to imitate him: “Learn of me, because I am
meek and humble of heart.”[1548] And Mary, as she was the first and most
perfect disciple of Jesus Christ in all the virtues, was so in that of
humility, by which she merited to be exalted above all creatures. It was
revealed to St. Matilda that the first virtue which the blessed mother
especially practised from childhood, was humility.[1549]
The first act of humility of heart is to have an humble opinion
of ourselves; and Mary always thought so lowly of herself, as was
revealed to the same St. Matilda, that although she saw so many more
graces bestowed upon her than upon others, she preferred all others
before herself.[1550] Rupert the Abbot, explaining that passage, “Thou
hast wounded my heart, my sister, my spouse ... with one hair of thy
neck,”[1551] says, that this hair of the neck of the spouse was
precisely that humble opinion which Mary had of herself, with which
she wounded the heart of God.[1552] Not that the holy Virgin esteemed
herself a sinner, for humility is truth, as St. Theresa says, and Mary
knew that she had never offended God; nor that she did not confess having
received greater graces from God than any other creature, for an humble
heart always acknowledges the special favors of the Lord, that it may
humble itself the more; but the divine mother, by the greater light she
had to see the infinite greatness and goodness of her God, saw still
more her own littleness, and therefore more than all others did she
humiliate herself, and say with the spouse of the Canticles: “Do not
consider that I am brown because the sun hath altered my color.”[1553]
Approaching him, I find myself black, as St. Bernard explains it:
“Appropinquans illi me nigram invenio.”[1554] Yes, adds St. Bernardine,
for the Virgin had always present before her eyes the divine majesty
and her own nothingness.[1555] As a beggar, when she is clothed with a
costly garment which has been given her, is not made proud by it, but
humbles herself more before the giver, because she is reminded then more
of her poverty; thus, Mary, the more she saw herself enriched, the more
humble she became, remembering that all was the gift of God; whence she
herself said to St. Elizabeth, a Benedictine nun: “Know for certain that
I esteemed myself most abject, and unworthy of the grace of God.”[1556]
And therefore, says St. Bernardine, no creature in the world has been
more exalted, because no creature has ever humbled herself more than
Mary.[1557]
Moreover, it is an act of humility to conceal the gifts of heaven.
Mary wished to conceal from St. Joseph the grace of having been made
the mother of God, although it seemed necessary to make it known to
him, in order, at least, to remove from the mind of her poor spouse
the suspicions he might have of her virtue, when he saw her pregnant;
or at least his perplexity, for in fact St. Joseph, on the one side,
unwilling to doubt the chastity of Mary, and, on the other, ignorant of
the mystery, in order to free himself from perplexity, was minded to
put her away privately: “Voluit occulte dimittere eam.”[1558] And if
the angel had not revealed to him that his spouse was pregnant by the
operation of the Holy Spirit, he would really have left her. Moreover,
an humble soul also refuses praise, and gives it all to God. Behold,
Mary is disturbed at hearing herself praised by St. Gabriel. And when St.
Elizabeth said to her, “Blessed art thou among women ... and whence is
this to me, that the mother of my Lord should come to me.... Blessed art
thou that hast believed, &c.,”[1559] Mary, referring all these praises
to God, answered with that humble Canticle: My soul doth magnify the
Lord: “Magnificat anima mea Dominum,” as if she had said: You praise me,
oh Elizabeth, but I praise the Lord, to whom alone honor is due; you
wonder that I come to you, and I wonder at the divine goodness in which
alone my spirit exults. And my spirit hath rejoiced in God my Saviour:
“Et exultavit spiritus meus in Deo salutari meo.” You praise me because
I have believed; I praise my God, because he has wished to exalt my
nothingness; because he hath regarded the humility of his handmaid: “Quia
respexit humilitatem ancillæ suæ.” Hence Mary said to St. Bridget: “Why
did I humble myself so far, or why have I merited so much grace, unless
because I thought and knew that of and from myself I was nothing, and had
nothing? therefore I would have no praise for myself, but only for the
Giver and Creator.”[1560] Wherefore, speaking of the humility of Mary,
St. Augustine says: Oh truly blessed humility, which has brought forth
God to men, opened paradise, and liberated souls from hell![1561]
It is also a part of humility to serve others; and Mary did not refuse
to go and serve Elizabeth for three months. Wherefore St. Bernard has
said: Elizabeth wondered that Mary should come to visit her, but she
should wonder still more that she did not come to be ministered unto,
but to minister.[1562] The humble retire and choose the lowest place;
and therefore, as St. Bernard remarks, Mary, when her Son was preaching
in a certain house, as St. Matthew relates,[1563] wished to speak with
him, but would not enter the house unbidden.[1564] Therefore, when she
was in the “upper room” with the apostles, she wished to take the lowest
place, as St. Luke has related: “All these were persevering with one
mind in prayer, with the women and Mary the mother of Jesus.”[1565] Not
that St. Luke did not know the merit of the divine mother, on account of
which he should have given her the first place; but because she had taken
the lowest, after the apostles and the other women, therefore St. Luke
described all, as a certain author remarks, just in the order of their
places. Hence St. Bernard says: Justly has the last become first, who,
when she was first of all, became last.[1566] Finally, the humble love
contempt; therefore we do not find that Mary appeared in Jerusalem on
Palm Sunday, when her Son was received with so much honor by the people;
but, on the other hand, at the time of the death of her Son, she did not
shrink from appearing in public on Calvary, through fear of the disgrace
of being known as the mother of one who was condemned as a criminal to
die by an infamous death. Therefore she said to St. Bridget: “What more
contemptible than to be called a fool, to be in want of all things, to
believe one’s self the most unworthy of all? Such, oh daughter, was my
humility, this was my joy, this my entire will, with which I thought of
nothing but to please my Son.”[1567]
The venerable sister Paula of Foligno was given to understand in an
ecstasy how great was the humility of the holy Virgin. In relating what
she had seen to her confessor, she said, scarcely able to utter the words
through astonishment: “Oh the humility of the blessed Virgin! Oh father!
oh the humility of our blessed Lady! In the world there is no humility,
not even the lowest degree of humility, to be compared with the humility
of Mary.” And our Lord, at another time, showed St. Bridget two females,
one all pomp and vanity: “This one,” he said, “is Pride; but the other
whom you see with her head bent down, respectful to all, having God alone
in her mind, and having no esteem for herself, is Humility, and is called
Mary.”[1568] By this God wished to make known to us that his blessed
mother was so humble that she was humility itself.
It is not to be doubted, as St. Gregory of Nyssa says, that for our
nature, corrupted by sin, there is perhaps no virtue more difficult
to practise than humility. But there is no escape; we can never be
true children of Mary if we are not humble. If, says St. Bernard,
you cannot imitate the virginity, imitate the humility of the humble
Virgin.[1569] She abhors the proud, she invites none to come to her but
the humble: Whosoever is a little one, let him come to me: “Si quis
est parvulus, veniat ad me.” Mary, says Richard, protects us under the
mantle of humility: “Maria protegit nos sub pallio humilitatis.” The
mother of God herself explained this to St. Bridget, saying: “Come,
then, oh my daughter, and hide thyself under my mantle; this mantle is
my humility.”[1570] And she then added, that the contemplation of her
humility was a good mantle, that keeps us warm; but, as she afterwards
said: “The mantle only warms him who wears it, not only in thought but
in fact; thus my humility does not profit unless every one strives to
imitate it. Therefore, my daughter,” she concludes, “clothe thyself
with this humility.”[1571] Oh, how dear to Mary is the humble soul! St.
Bernard writes: The Virgin recognizes and loves those who love her, and
she is near to all who invoke her, especially to those whom she sees
like herself in chastity and humility.[1572] Wherefore the saint then
exhorts all those who love Mary, to be humble: Emulate this virtue if you
love Mary.[1573] Marino, or Martino d’Alberto, of the Society of Jesus,
through love of the Virgin, was accustomed to sweep the house and collect
the filth. The divine mother once appeared to him, as Father Nierembergh
relates in his Life, and as if thanking him, said: “How dear to me is
this humble action done for love of me!” Then, oh my queen, I shall never
be a true child of thine, if I am not humble. But do you not see that my
sins, after having rendered me ungrateful to my Lord, have also made me
proud? Oh, my mother, cure me; by thy merits obtain for me that I may be
humble, and thus become a child of thine. Amen.