Theotokia or Addresses to the Blessed Virgin

^A habitat, rendered it void; O incorrupt Mother Virgin, you were raised up to resurrect mortals, as He who rose again raised up with Himself the mass of mankind.

O you who are higher than the heavens, superior to the Cherubim, and more precious than the whole world, most holy Virgin, intercede for those who always glorify you in faith.

Make us alive, O Mother of God, who gave birth to Everlasting Life, past our death in sins, and prosper us so that we may do those things which lead to true life, that we may faithfully bless you forever.

From the Canon of Saturday, Week 11. Our Lady of all (for you conceived God the King, O chaste one), you truly are, O most immaculate one: implore Him for your servants.

How, O Virgin, did you give birth to your Creator? ^B by bringing about a holy temple, for the Virgin Mother was the temple of Christ, but Christ was the temple of the Word. Regarding this place, Gregorius de Valentia, in tom. IV, in 3, p. d. 2, q. 2, a. 1, adds: "It seems also to be said of the Virgin herself, as far as she was the temple of God, that she was holily constructed, that is, formed." So he says. Saint Proclus agrees, in Oration 6, in which, having spoken concerning Joseph, he said: "He did not remember that she (Mary) could be made the temple of God, who was formed from the mud of the earth": as if to say, Mary was made the temple of God, because she was formed from the mud of the earth, that is, conceived without original stain. Regarding the original purity of this temple, Joannes Taulerus, in his sermon on the Purification, said: "Eternal wisdom prevented this, not wishing its most elect temple to be sprinkled with any stain." Furthermore (as Bernardinus Bustensis says in his Marial Sermon 6, on the Conception of the B. Virgin), "a wise architect, wishing to construct a certain distinguished and admirable palace, conceives it in his mind long before he sets it up and brings it into being." Therefore God, who is the artificer of all things, looking upon all things, as is said in Wis. 1, wishing to fabricate a virginal temple for His Son and to construct a house worthy of Himself, first, that is from eternity, preordained to preserve her from the submergence of original sin, lest, if she were infected in it, she might be rendered an incongruous dwelling for His Majesty. For if He preserved the body of the same Virgin from all corruption, He much more preserved her soul, which is called the temple of God more excellently than the body. Whence Ambrose in lib. 1, *De Virginibus*, says: "For if the body of the Virgin is the temple of God, what is her soul?" as if to say, a much worthier temple. And after much: "The glorious Virgin Mary is figured by the house and temple which Solomon built for God, of which we have an account in I Reg. vi. But the material temple is called holy according to that Psal. x: The Lord is in his holy temple. Therefore the Mother of God herself was also holy and never sullied. Whence concerning her is said that of Haggai: The glory of this latter house shall be greater than the former. And therefore of this divine house, namely the blessed Virgin, David says in Psal. xc: Holiness befits thy house, O Lord, in length of days. Which would not be true if she had at any time been infected by sin. Similarly, that would be false which is said in III Reg. vi, in the figure of the Virgin, namely, that there was nothing in the temple which was not covered with gold, that is, clothed with charity. False also would be that which is written in the same chapter, namely: A hammer and an axe and any iron tool were not heard in the house of the Lord while it was being built. Therefore the blessed Virgin was not struck or wounded by the hammer of original sin, or by an axe, or by other iron tools of actual sin." Thus Bustus: "Rightly (says P. Simon Vuagnerek in *Mariana Pietate Graecorum*, n. 196, where he assimilates Mary to the temple of Solomon) was this temple untainted from its first origin, nor was a dwelling prepared for any man ^D but for God." (1 Paral. xxix, 1.) And P. Hieronymus Lanuza, of the Order of Preachers, to prove that the B. Virgin was conceived without original sin, said among other things: "The B. Virgin was foreshadowed by that notable temple built by Zorobabel, by whose mouth the Holy Spirit declared: The hands of Zorobabel have begun to build this house. (Zachar. iv, 9.) B. Hieronymus relates that the name Zorobabel signifies a distinguished Master in Babel: and refers to Christ: You call me Master, and you say well. (Joan. xiii, 13.) His two hands gave endeavor in forming the Virgin, when she was conceived. He does not say hand in the singular: because he employed both for this construction. Not only the hand, by whose aid he concedes the natural being, but also the other, which confers the being of grace. In our formation, he first employs a hand, by whose aid he confers the natural being, which operates in our conception: then subsequently another hand, by which spiritual being is conferred, and thus the entrance of the demon is easily open to it, because at that time only the one hand of God is employed. But in the conception of the Virgin, God used two hands simultaneously; that which confers the being of human nature; this by which [he confers] the supernatural being of grace: His left hand under my head, and his right hand shall embrace me. (Cant. viii, 3.) The left in respect to natural goods, the right in respect to the goods of grace, with which he surrounded the Virgin, just as one is accustomed to do who embraces another, and binds with both hands extended." Thus Lanuza. See Bartholomaeus de los Ríos in *Horizonte Mariano*, tract. 1, cap. 6.

(54) The title *Immaculate*, which our Joseph so often attributes to the B. Virgin, excellently explains the exemption and immunity from original sin in the B. Virgin, which Hieronymus ab Angesto rightly observes in lecture 3 of his *Propugnaculum*, where he proves that the title *Immaculate* cannot apply to the Virgin if the stain of original guilt had tainted her for an instant. Therefore the Church of the saints never attributes to anyone, if you except Christ and the Virgin, the title *Immaculate* by way of a surname, and absolutely stated, which title rests upon those words of the Canticles cap. IV: Thou art all fair, my friend, and there is no spot in thee. Where it intimates every communicable purity of nature, and removes every mark of a stain far from her, as can be seen in Christophorus de la Vega in *Theologia Mariana*, Palaestra 4, certam. 3, n. 519.

(55) To give birth without pain and injury to virginity is the connatural effect of original justice and the state of innocence. Therefore if the Virgin incorrupt, that is without pain and injury to virginal integrity, gave birth to the holy Lord of Virtues, she did not contract original sin. See for this argument Andreas Peruzzinus in *Analysis purissimae Conceptionis*, pag. 165, and Ludovicus Crespi a Boria in *Propugnaculo theologico pro definibilitate immaculate Conceptionis B. Virginis Mariae*, pag. 62 and 63.

^A An unexpected and ineffable miracle! For where God wills, He overcomes the order of nature. We, the race of mortals, celebrate you, most Laudable one (56), as the salvation of all, being recalled to life. For through you we have all obtained liberation from the curse of death.

^B Free from the laws of nature and knowing not the custom of mothers, you gave birth to a Son without pain, O Virgin, Who formed you with His own hand in your mother's womb. Whence all generations, rightly praising you, proclaim you ever blessed.

*From the Canon of the second Sunday after Antipascha, of the holy myrrh-bearing women, and of Joseph the Just.*

Loosing the ancient curse in your womb, O venerable one, you have sprouted for us the blessing, giving birth to Christ. For He is God, and He bears flesh. Blessed and venerable are you from the root of Jesse, from which the rod, and the flower, Christ, sprouted according to the flesh for our sake. ^C Your great deeds (57), O uncontaminated one, who shall suffice to declare? Who among earth-born men shall tell how you conceived the Creator, being free from corruption, and Him who looses the bonds of many sins? For He is able to do whatever He wills.

We, the faithful, proclaim as God Him who was born of a conception without seed, who surpassed nature, and who renewed nature—Christ, the only Lord. In your womb, without the work of a husband, you conceived Christ, the cluster of incorruption, as a vine: from whom the springs of immortality, like wine, pour out eternal life for us.

In your womb, O immaculata, how did you contain that infant, whom, as God, the angelic powers tremble before? Certainly, as He Himself willed, as He Himself knew, He dwelt in me, desiring to save all those born of Adam, who absolved Adam himself from that curse which came from the bitter food.

In your womb, O chaste one, you brought forth the ever-living bread mixed without leaven into our mass, immutably one Son and Christ in two substances.

Let Jesse rejoice, let David dance: for behold, the Virgin, the divinely-planted rod, has blossomed with the flower, the ever-living Christ.

*From the Canon of the second day, third week.*

You have seen Christ risen from the dead, the Sun of Justice, O most pleasing to God, whom you entreat that He may illuminate the hearts of those who praise you.

We glorify you with most sacred voices as Mother of God, because you illuminate the hearts of those who praise you. ^D With most holy voices we glorify you as the Mother of God, whom the same Balinghem, in the place cited on page 34, reports that the Mother of God was greeted in the Hours of the B. Virgin according to the Roman use, in these words:

*Hail, Queen of heaven,* *Among all most mild:* *Hail, glory of Angels* *Among all most beautiful,* *Together with the Archangels* *Worthy of all praise,* *You who were conceived without* *Stain of vices, most pure.*

(56) Among other praises which we ought to attribute to the B. Virgin, that we may obtain favors and graces from her, her Immunity from original sin should not be the last. Whence, in the ancient Roman Missal, in the *Parnassum Marianum* by Balinghem, page 25, it was sung:

*Let us therefore with sweet song* *Praise in this Virgin* *(Him) conceived without cloud.* *Her, conceived from seed* *And pure from the beginning,* *Let the chorus praise with joy,* *That with sweet measure* *She may keep us in this age* *Pure from every crime.* *And at the article of death* *May deliver from danger* *And the abyss of hell.* And in a certain Office of the Immaculate Conception, PATROL. GR. CV.

(57) Since no one denies that the B. Virgin is affirmed by Joseph and other Fathers to be «uncontaminated» and to possess an actual purity such that she was never even infected by venial sin; why should not original purity also be signified, since original sin contaminates much more than venial?

^A And from the storm of disturbances, and from the darkness and the snares of the devil, he transmits mortals to the supermundane choirs.

Virgin, mother of Light, illuminate our thoughts and hearts with your divine light: dissipating the gloom of disturbances by your intercessions, and making all, through grace, partakers of the day that knows no evening.

*From the canon of Tuesday, 3rd week.* You conceived Him who contains all things, immaculate Lady. Him who crushed the gates of hell, and who rose, as He had said, on the third day. You are the life of all: the consolation of the living and the dead, O Word, joy and illumination, who shone forth from the Virgin, and on the third day rose gloriously from the sepulcher. Having seen your Son and God risen from the dead, O Theotokos, you were filled with joy and the cause of joy for all. Therefore, 327 every soul joyfully celebrates you, and glorifies you forever, O Virgin.

*From the canon of Wednesday, 4th week.* A sword pierced your soul, immaculate Virgin, when you saw Christ affixed to the cross: but you rejoiced upon seeing the same One alive again from the sepulcher. We, praising you, O most pleasing to God, proclaim you the radiant cloud of the spiritual sun. Illuminate our hearts, expelling the darkness of neglect and disturbances from all, O Bride of God. O you who are entirely devoid of any stain (58), pray without ceasing to Christ our God, that He may deliver those who always proclaim you blessed from temptations, ^B and from the snares of the devil.

You gave birth to the Holy of Holies above the grasp of the mind, O Theotokos, who grants sanctification, redemption, and the remission of sins to the faithful, through you, who glorify His resurrection.

*From the canon of Thursday, 3rd week.* Sorrow, O immaculate Virgin, was turned for you into joy, when you saw your Son and Lord Christ risen gloriously from the dead on the third day, and illuminating the world. You appeared more capacious than the heavens, O Virgin, embracing God, who had sustained being hidden under the earth, and in wondrous kindness had granted immortality to all by His own death; whom, piously glorifying you, as is fitting, we call blessed.

328 *From the canon on Good Friday, 3rd week.* Sanctify our hearts, most holy Bride of God (59), you who saw the most holy God the Word rising from the dead, and cried out in joy: Let all substance praise the Lord. You appeared, Virgin Mother, as the dawn of the Sun of Justice: whom, when you saw Him awakened from the dead, as He had said, and illuminating the whole world, you rejoiced, O holy one, praising Him as benign. Beyond the law of nature you gave birth ineffably to the Word of God; whom, by the counsel of the impious, most blameless Lady, when you saw Him crucified, buried, and rising from the dead, you were filled with joy, praying to Him for us who praise you.

*From the canon on Saturday, 3rd week.* You did indeed give birth to a Child, but remained a Virgin ^C from the dawning of infant age. Thus he. From whose doctrine it is clear that original sin is followed by actual sins, and conversely in the descendants of Adam, where no actual stains are found, original sin did not precede. Since, therefore, the Blessed Virgin was always entirely devoid of the stain of any actual sin, it follows manifestly that she was also entirely devoid of the stain of original sin. For, as Bernardinus de Busto says in his *Mariale*, sermon 7, on the Conception, part II: "It was becoming and consonant to reason that the most chaste Bride of God should never lack the grace of her Bridegroom, but should always be joined to Him by the glue of charity, so that not even for a moment would enmity be contracted between her and the Bridegroom, nor a divorce made." But if the Blessed Virgin had been conceived in original sin, for that reason she would not then have been His friend, but His enemy, and would have turned away from her Bridegroom and been separated. But between her and God there was always friendship and love. Whence she herself says in Cant. VI: "I to my Beloved, and my Beloved to me," that is, he is joined, and was always united. Therefore, she was conceived without sin. Thus Bustus. Hence St. Peter Chrysologus in his sermon on the Annunciation, no. 140, said: "The swift messenger flies to the Bride, so that he may ward off from the Bride of God the human marriage and suspend affection; and he does not take the Virgin away from St. Joseph, but returns her to Christ, to whom she is pledged in the womb when she was made." By which words he not only supposes, but also expressly confesses that the Virgin Bride of God lacked original sin: for if she had been conceived with it in the womb when she was made, that is, when she was conceived, she would not have been pledged to Christ, but to the demon.

You remained, even as you were before you gave birth, O incorrupt Virgin-Mother of God. For God, whom you bore, renewed nature. ^A To you and you alone it is fitting, as the provider of salvation and joy, to offer that which the angel brought, "Hail," and which we faithfully sing to you, O Mary, ever-Virgin. Through you, the first Mother was delivered from the ancient curse. She no longer gives birth in pain. For since you are free from pain, O Mother of God, you bore Christ. Wherefore we deservedly proclaim you blessed, and praising you, we glorify the Lord. You received unto yourself the holy nation, those who were far from you, making them nigh by the body taken from the Virgin, O Savior; and you did call those who were not your people, your own divine people; therefore we all now adore you, O almighty One.

From the Canon of the third Sunday, on [Christ as] the Paralytic.

^B This city, which faithfully adores you, O Virgin, do you on every side protect from the dangers of the captivity of Barbarians, from the darkness of civil wars, from the sword, and from the ill-omened auguries of all evils.

You had a conception without seed, and a birth beyond understanding, O unblemished Virgin-Mother; a work of awe, a most great miracle, honored by angels, glorified by men, O Lady Virgin.

How do you nurse, O Virgin? And how did you give birth to an infant older than Adam? How do you carry in your arms the Son who is borne upon the shoulders of the Cherubim? As He Himself knows and understands, He who gave being to all things.

Your birth without seed, O pure one, and your incomprehensible delivery we praise, calling you blessed, as the Mother of the Creator of all and our Lord.

He who sustains all things by a divine nod is held, O Virgin Mother of God, in your arms, snatching us all from the servitude of the devil, as the compassionate One.

You remain a Virgin after having given birth ineffably to the One begotten before all ages without succession from the Father who is without beginning: therefore, O pure one, we proclaim you blessed.

[D ] Isaiah beheld you of old as a scroll, O ever-virgin, in which the Word of the Father, who is without beginning, was written by the Finger; He who delivers us from all irrational act and movement, as we hymn you with sacred words.

The great Sun, Christ, came forth from your light-bearing womb, and illuminated the world, O immaculate one, with most joyful rays, and expelled the darkness of transgression. Whence we praise you as the cause of all good, O Bride of God.

From the Canon of Monday, the fourth week.

You glorified and magnified with great joy [the Incarnate Lord, ineffably from your most pure blood, O Mother of God, and because of us, beholding Him dead in the flesh and risen from the sepulcher].

You conceived, O most blameless One, Him who contains all things, bringing forth in the flesh Him who then [by restoring us, rendered us immune from original mortality; for if He had been an object worthy of the hatred of God, and a daughter of wrath and abomination, and if He had not rendered her immune from venial sins, He would still have retained the right to the eternal inheritance, which is the clear vision of Himself; but by not rendering her immune from the infection of original sin, she would be excluded in fact from the attainment of that glory. Likewise, if light sins had been posited in the B. Virgin, it could in no way be said, "Cursed is the day and the hour in which she had been conceived"; but while original sin truly existed]

we all concede, as it is written: "Before you came forth from the womb, I sanctified you" (Jer. 1, 5). Therefore, the aurora alone would not have been rightly excepted in its rising, as if free from the sin of that night, if by "rising" the later birth were signified, since this would also be true of certain stars. And yet the most holy Job, that he might join her to the Light, that is, to Christ, and might singularly magnify her above all stars, that is, the saints, excepts only her rising, so that he might make all the stars obscured before her. Thus Catherinus.

Evaluating the aforementioned words of Job cited by St. Thomas, Andreas Pintus Ramirez in his work *De concept. B. Virg.*, n. 367, writes in this manner: "How freely the rising from the womb is explained here, we can as freely explain the rising in the womb, that is, the passive conception, and perhaps more fittingly, conciliating our Vulgate (which is the best method of explanation) with other versions." For Sanctes Pagninus, a Thomist, faithfully translates from the Hebrew thus: "Let it expect the light, and let it not be, nor see the splendor of the aurora." Therefore, "rising" with our interpreter signifies "splendor," and splendor is to be used absolutely of any instant of Mary. Vatablus reads: "Let it expect the light, and let it not be present, nor see the eyelids of the aurora." You would refer these "eyelids" to the birth more in vain than to the conception. In a doubtful matter, therefore, the text is more fittingly led to the honor of the Virgin than dragged to the impious. But hear what Pineda says there for the letter: "Among the other translations, this one of the eyelids is the more illustrious, because it respects the eye of the heavens: for the aurora seems to render the sun, the eye of the heavens, to the world, as if after the nocturnal sleep, and with closed eyes, again with eyelids spread apart and opened, watching and seeing." Therefore, the eyelid of the Divine Eye, that is, of the Word, will be Mary, if she is the Aurora according to the mind of St. Thomas, and who will deem the eyelids of such an Eye to be sore and occasionally closing? If nothing polluted runs into the Divine light, Christ, why is his Mother, where this light flashed for us as if between eyelids, blackened? If Mary is the Aurora of the immaculate Sun, why is she, conceived, profaned, or rather, why does she suffer defilement? Greater is that which blessed Peter Damian wished, in his sermon *De Assumpt.* on this passage: "This is," he says, "the Aurora which he did not see, who saw everything sublime, as was blessed Job, so that it is closed to him with much suppression, saying: 'Let it not see the rising of the dawning Aurora.'" Just as the Aurora testifies that the end of the night and the beginning of the day is present, so also the Virgin expelled the everlasting night. For our Aurora is said to be closed with much suppression, that is, with hiding, less congruously if the demon oppressed the very first fruits of her who desires; it would be closed less congruously if the enemy unsealed her first door. Far be it: the prince of pride, that spectator of the sublime, not only did not touch her, but did not even dare to look upon her; whom he feared would now oppress him and his own, and shut them in an eternal prison. Thus far Ramirez. See St. Thomas on Psalm XLV, where explaining those words about the Blessed Virgin: "God will help her in the morning, early," he says, "that God had helped the God of Mary while still existing in the womb: And

^A from thee, O most blameless Virgin, whom [God] the most beautiful of light, whom thou didst behold shining forth from the sepulcher, victor of Hades, thou didst see, overflowing with joy. Thou didst give birth to the Giver of Light; having become a gate and a cause of joy, O venerable Virgin, entreat Him to grant me sorrow that brings joy, a pledge and cause of future consolation.

331 From the canon of Wednesday, week IV, for holy Mesopentecost.

Thou alone wert able to comprehend thy Creator in thy womb, O Mother of God, and didst bring Him forth in the flesh, remaining an incorrupt Virgin, with thy modesty nowhere defiled. This Son and thy God, O Holy One, cease not to entreat for thy flock.

Unus Trinitatis, etsi caro factus, agnitus es non mutasse, Domine, substantiam, nec ambussisse Genitricis incorruptum ventrem, cum Deus omnino et ignis sis.

Thou who in thy womb didst bring forth the uncircumscribable God, O Spouse of God, Virgin Mother chaste, cease not to intercede for us, that through thee we may be delivered from surrounding evils: for to thee we always flee.

Thy womb became a holy table containing the heavenly bread, Christ, from whom whosoever eats shall not die, as the Nourisher of all, O Mother of God, said.

We praise thee as a Virgin after childbirth, O Mother of God; we glorify thee alone as Virgin and Mother, O chaste Spouse of God, maiden; for from thee truly God was incarnate, who renewed us.

In thy womb thou didst contain the uncontainable Word, from thy breasts thou didst suckle the Nourisher of the world, in thy arms thou didst carry Him who sustains us, O chaste Mother of God.

How didst thou give birth, tell us, to Him who shone forth from the Father before time, and is glorified with the Holy Spirit? As He alone knows who saw fit to be born of thee, O Theotokos. ^B

This is what [the text] means when it says, "God will help her in the morning, early."

Andreas Duvallius, a doctor of the Sorbonne, in his treatise on the Conception of the B. Virgin, citing these words of Job: "Let it wait for light and see it not, nor the rising of the dawning day," which ^C S. Thomas in the literal, though metaphorical, sense explains concerning Christ and the B. Virgin, says: "Just as the dawn, because of the proximity it has to the sun, is never darkened, being always distant from it by only fifteen degrees, according to the astronomers; so too the soul of the Virgin, so near to God, has never been touched by the shadows of any sin, even original." And do not reply that by the "rising of the dawn" the birth of the Virgin must be understood, which is properly called the "rising," since conception can no less, nay, even more, be called a rising than birth, as it is the beginning of existence by which a thing is said to be extracted from the potentiality of its causes. Whence it is written in Luke 1 regarding Christ, ^D who was still being detained in His Mother’s womb: "That which is born in her is of the Holy Spirit." And do not say that the fetus conceived and still detained in the womb is not yet outside its cause, namely the Mother, who it is certain is the cause *per se*: and hence it is that the fetus itself does not have a guardian angel until it has exited from the womb itself; and likewise if the Mother undergoes martyrdom, that fetus—which we suppose to be animated—is also crowned with martyrdom, because it is in reality killed on account of the hatred of Christ and the Christian religion for the killing of the pregnant mother. From which it is concluded that a fetus conceived and informed with a soul can very well be called born and "outside its causes." Thus far Duvallius. Bernardinus. Finally, de Busto in his Mariale, sermon 5, on the Conception, part III, proving that the B. Virgin was prefigured in the dawn in Canticles vi, where it is said: "Who is this that comes forth like the rising dawn?" says among other things: "The dawn begins from light, and always grows in light until it is joined to the sun, and is never deprived of light; so the B. Virgin, beginning from the light of divine grace, is never obscured by any shadows of sins, but always increasing in the brightness of all virtues, is finally joined with the Sun of Justice, her sweetest Son, in heavenly glory, surrounded by wondrous radiances." So he.

You contained in your womb, Virgin Mother, the One of the Trinity, Christ the King, whom the whole creation praises, and whom the heavenly hosts tremble before. Entreat Him, O most august one, that He may save our souls.

332 From the canon of Thursday, week 4.

Upon you the wisdom of the eternal Father descended like rain upon a fleece, O chaste one and incarnate without change, revealing to us, who know you as Virgin after childbirth and Mother, the paths of life.

Having become Lady of the whole world, Mother of God, deliver me from worldly scandals and vices of the body, and from the eternal torments of Gehenna, that I may praise you.

O miracles higher than your own thought, most holy Virgin! For you gave birth to the incarnate God, who by His divine resurrection made all things whole.

From the canon of Friday, week 4.

Holy Mother of God, who gave birth to the Holy of Holies, the Word of the eternal Father who is without beginning, resplendent from Him. Entreat Him incessantly, that He may sanctify and illuminate our souls and hearts, we who desire to praise you.

You are acknowledged as the House of God, most chaste Virgin Theotokos ^A (62), since you imparted to Him flesh truly animated from your blood, without defilement, O most immaculate one, for which we honor you.

Christ is incarnate from you, the Word existing ineffably as the Father, Virgin Theotokos, and is crucified for us, and by His resurrection after three days illuminates the ends of the world, with whom we, as is right, proclaim you blessed.

From the canon of Saturday, week 4.

With milk you nourish the Nourisher of the world, and you carry in your arms, O Virgin, Him who by His divine power carries the universe. Therefore we praise you as Theotokos.

Helper of those who are pressed by dangers, Harbor ^B and 333 Safety of those who flee to you, holy Mother of God, protect those who praise you with faith, and by your intercessions deliver from all evils those who faithfully sing your praises.

You who gave birth to joy, and annihilated sadness, most praiseworthy Lady, through your intercessions obtain divine gladness for those who with fervent faith celebrate you as truly the Mother of God.

We beseech you as Lady of the world, Holy One ^C (63), that you may deliver your people from all evils, famine, pestilence, and hostile vexation, since you are the impregnable bulwark of Christians, Virgin Mary.

From the canon of Sunday, week 4, of the Samaritan Woman.

Hail, fiery throne; hail, lampstand entirely gold; hail, cloud of light; hail, palace of the Word ^D and intelligible table, who worthily bore Christ, the bread of life.

Inexplicably conceiving in your womb the God of all things, Virgin Mother, beyond thought and...

^A speech, having remained a virgin as you were before birth, O Bride of God.

The legislator saw you long ago as the unburnt bush, and Daniel discerned you as the holy mountain, O only Mother-Virgin Lady. We name you, O Pure One, an impenetrable gate, a field untilled, an ark bearing manna, and a jar, and a lampstand, and a censer of the immaterial coal.

We hymn you, O Pure One, the only one to bring forth while remaining a virgin, and who kept your womb incorrupt; we praise you as the throne of the Lord, and gate, and mountain, and intelligible lampstand, the all-luminous bridal chamber of God, and tabernacle of glory, clearly, ^B and ark, and jar, and table.

After the fearful childbirth, O Virgin, you were preserved pure, O holy Theotokos; wherefore all the choir of angels and all generations of men praise you with unceasing voices, O pure dwelling-place of Him who cannot be contained.

Isaiah, prophesying, is purified by the coal, foretelling the intelligible coal incarnate, O Virgin, from you beyond thought, burning up the material sins of all mortals, and mercifully deifying our nature, O all-blameless one.

Having become the dwelling-place of Light, O Pure One, illumine the pupils of my soul, darkened by many wiles of the enemy, and count me worthy to see clearly with a pure heart the brightness that shone forth from you beyond thought. ^C

*From the Canon of Tuesday of the 5th week.*

Having become the dwelling-place of Light, O Virgin, illumine the pupils of my soul darkened by many wiles of the enemy, and make me worthy so that I may clearly see with a pure heart that radiance which shone forth from you beyond the grasp of mind.

He has risen as the beautiful Bridegroom from the dead, who in his goodness, exceeding our thoughts, was incarnate from your bowels. Wherefore, having seen him with the apostles resurrected after three days, you glorified him.

How venerable is your giving birth, O most praiseworthy one, we cry aloud: Hail, salvation of all men: hail, raising up of the fallen world.

Having seen Him who inspires life to the dead, O all-immaculate one, risen from the sepulcher with glory, you were filled with sweetness of soul, crying: My Son and my God, I magnify your kindness which is superior to thought. ^D

*From the Canon of Wednesday of the 5th week.*

He who is above essence was seen incarnate from your blood, O most chaste one, and He who is the life of all was reckoned among the dead, through whom He powerfully resurrected us all from horrible condemnation: whom you, when you saw... (64) For Virgin Mary’s Bridal Chamber [Thalamus] is indeed, in every respect and in every kind, as if it had shone with light, had it appeared wrapped in the dark shadows of original sin at the very beginning of its existence. Speaking of this Bridal Chamber of God, Bernardine of Bustis in *Mariale*, serm. 6, *De Conceptione*, part 1, says among other things: "Who would rather consent to lie in a foul bed, full of filth, than in a most clean bed, removed from all filth? For no one is presumed to hate his own flesh (as the Glossa says in the Rubric, *In jus voc.*). Therefore, Blessed Virgin Mary, because she was the bridal chamber of divine glory, was not polluted by any filth of sin." So he says. Hence, holy Melito, Bishop of Sardis, in his homily *On the Passing of the Virgin*, said: "Lord, you chose this handmaid of yours to be an immaculate bridal chamber for you."

Where it seems to be sufficiently implied (says P. Joan. Eusebius Nierembergius in his *Exceptiones*, cap. 13) the Virgin's immunity from original sin, when he said [she was] not only the chosen immaculate bridal chamber of God, but pre-chosen, indeed by a singular privilege of purity from the beginning of her Conception. John Geometra in the *Catena Graeca* on chapter 1 of Luke intended to imply the same immunity from original sin when he called Mary the "pre-pure bridal chamber." And the author of the Greek hymn consulted by Buteo and Raynaud in the *Nomenclator Marianus*, when he called the same the "incontaminate bridal chamber of the Word," and "the bridal chamber shining on every side." For how could a pre-pure, incontaminate, and all-shining bridal chamber [have existed] if it had at any time been subject to the impurity, foulness, and darkness of original sin?

^A

*From the canon of Friday of the 5th week.* You, filled with the alacrity of soul, were praising the same. When you, chaste Lady, beheld Jesus—whom you had clothed in a body beyond conception—risen from the dead, you cried out: "How beautiful is your radiance, my Son, through whom Adam, now transformed, is renewed into his ancient form. With the rays of your light, dissipate the darkness of my ignorance, Mother of God, that I may proclaim your wonders forever with the voices of faith."

*From the canon of the Wednesday of the 5th week.* He who in his own nature was invisible, became visible, having been incarnate from you, O most immaculate Lady, and willed to endure the cross and death. You who gave birth to the Lord God, who rules over life and death, grant us, O chaste one, to escape the dominion of the evil foe who lies in wait for us. As a gate of light, having beheld the Sun risen from the depths of Hades, O Virgin, and illuminating the ends of the earth, you were filled with divine sweetness, O most immaculate one.

*From the canon of the Thursday of the 5th week.* When you saw your Son rising from the sepulcher, O inviolate Virgin, you rejoiced with his apostles, with whom we glorify you. Save me from the fire of Gehenna and from eternal damnation, O immaculate one: break the violent storm of my perturbations, and direct me to the tranquil ports of life. You saw Christ risen with the women bearing ointments, and when your mourning was turned into joy, you glorified him; whence with a loud voice we proclaim you blessed, O Mother of God.

337 *From the canon of the 5th Sunday, regarding the Blind Man from birth.* The Lord inhabited your womb, which was free from wedlock, O Virgin, through the bowels of his mercies, wishing to save man corrupted by the guile of the enemy. Supplicate him, therefore, that he may deliver this city from all destruction and from the incursion of enemies. From your virginal womb you brought forth the incarnate God; beseech him, most holy Lady, that he may have mercy on us. We glorify your birth-giving, O incorrupt one, which is above nature, proclaiming you blessed, O most immaculate one, by faith, as the Mother of the God of all. How did you give birth without the experience of male union, O chaste Virgin Mother? How did you feed him who feeds all creation? As he alone knows, who is the Author of all and God.

^B *From the canon for Great Friday of the 5th week.* Most holy and immaculate one, having brought forth the holy One resting in the holies, when you saw him shining from the sepulcher like a bridegroom from his bridal chamber, you raised him high with praises, commending his kindness. Just as God came forth from you into view, O Virgin, with the seals of your virginity not at all broken; so he shone forth from the grave, leaving the seals of the closed stone inviolate, upon seeing which you abounded with joy, blessing his divine power. You carried in your womb God, who carries all things by his nod, O Virgin; being made man through his mercy, most pleasing to God, entreat him fervently that he may illuminate the hearts of us who bless you as the truly chaste Mother of God.

*From the canon of the Saturday of the 5th week.* Your divine birth-giving exceeds all conception: for you bring forth in the flesh the Maker of all and God, whom you should entreat, O Lady, for the salvation of those who sing your praises. You appeared as a Virgin after birth-giving, just as you were before birth-giving, O chaste one. For the laws of nature, O immaculate one, were changed in you. Therefore, O chaste one, we the faithful call you blessed. The Virgin conceives in her womb the one Emperor of the world, God clothed in human flesh, whom we rightly celebrate as Empress of the world and Lady. An unexpected miracle occurred in you, Mother of God; ^C for no mother and Virgin has ever been seen from the beginning of the age, except you, who having brought forth the incarnate God, remained a Virgin after birth-giving: wherefore all we faithful praise you piously.

*From the canon of the 5th Sunday, of the Blind Man.* The Lord dwelt in your womb, which knew no man, O Pure One, wishing through the bowels of his mercies to save man who had been corrupted by the wiles of the enemy; supplicate him, therefore, to save this city from every capture and from hostile invasion. From your virginal womb you brought forth the God who was incarnate, whom entreat, O all-holy Lady, to have mercy upon us. We glorify your birth-giving, O undefiled one, which is above nature, blessing you with faith, O all-blameless one, as the Bearer of the God of all. How did you give birth, O pure Virgin-Mother, having known no trial of a man, O you who are full of grace? How do you feed him who feeds all creation? As he himself alone knows, who is the Creator of all and God. ^D

^A Who, O holy one, shall recount your greatness? For you gave birth in a supernatural way to God in the flesh, who through you delivers the world, O most immaculate Virgin, from every sin. After childbirth you appeared a virgin, O holy one; for you gave birth to God who changed natures, O undefiled one, by his power—whom you must entreat to make us all saved. O undefiled Virgin, filled with divine grace, entreat your Son at all times not to put me to shame on the day of judgment, but to enroll me with his chosen sheep. Having appeared to be wider than the heavens, O holy Virgin, you contained within you bodily God, the uncircumscribable, and you gave birth to him for the redemption of all who hymn you with unwavering faith.

^B

From the Canon of Monday, the sixth week.

From the Canon of Tuesday, the sixth week.

From the Canon of Wednesday, the sixth week, on the eve of the Ascension.

From the Canon of Thursday, the sixth week, on the Assumption of our Lord Jesus Christ.

^D (66) It is enough to say that the Blessed Virgin was the Mother of God, in order that we may understand her to be entirely free and immune from every impurity, not only of actual sin, but also of original sin. For it would have redounded to the ignominy of Christ, as the angelic doctor says (3, p. q. 27), if he had not preserved his own Mother from venial fault, because the infamy of the mother redounds to the son. Therefore, it would have turned to the still greater disgrace of the same Christ to allow his own Mother to be defiled by the impurity of original guilt. Would she not have departed further from the Son, being holy by essence, and drawn closer to Belial, and contracted a greater commerce with him, than through venial sins, even if she had committed them infinitely? If the Son of God consulted his own honor, by preserving the soul and womb of his Mother everywhere beautiful and free from every lightest actual sin, since Wisdom does not enter into a body subject to sins; how much more does the Son require the same body, the same beautiful soul, so that it might never be blackened or infected by lethal original guilt? Hence, in a certain ancient Office of the Immaculate Conception at Balinghem in the *Parnasso Mariano*, p. 41, it is sung thus:

It was fitting for such a noble Son To protect from the original Stain of mother Eve The soul whom he truly chose As his Mother, allowing her to be Subject to no guilt at all.

^A We praise you, Virgin, after the birth as Mother of God: for you bore the God-Word incarnate to the world. We worthily glorify you, O glorious Mary, pride of the orthodox, as the unburnt bush, and the mountain, and the ensouled ladder, and the heavenly gate. Blessed is the God of our fathers, who was born of the Virgin whom he rendered Mother of God. Priests, praise the Son and God, who out of his great compassion was incarnate of the Virgin, by whom the Spirit, the Comforter, was proclaimed. Rejoice, Mother of God, Mother of Christ the God, whom you bore, seeing him ascending today from the earth with the angels, you magnified him.

*From the canon of Friday after the Assumption.*

Let us, O people, praise the chaste one; let us illumine the image of Jacob with divine actions, and religiously praise her as the Mother of our God. Let us glorify the Mother of God, the propitiatory of the faithful, the prompt and ready help of men, the bridge transporting to the Creator, through whom all are carried over to salvation. Being present with the divine disciples, most chaste one, and seeing him whom she brought forth exalted from the earth, she cried out: "Return to the Father who lacks a source, you who have filled all things with your glory, O most glorious Lord SUN."

340 *From the canon of Saturday after the Assumption.*

We have in you, O Virgo, a fortress as a refuge, and a storehouse, from which perfect salvation and riches are poured out into our souls pressed by anxieties. For your light always rejoices us, O Lady: both now save us from vices and dangers. Without leaving the Father's bosom, the Word was laid in your womb, freeing us from irrationality, O Virgin, as we sing: "Lord God." ^B Most chaste Mother of God, wipe away the wounds of my soul and the scars of sin, and cleanse them with those fountains that flow from the side of your Son, and with the waters flowing from him. Cleanse me, for I cry to you, to you I take refuge: I call upon you, O full of grace. We offer you the voice of Gabriel with all the angels: "Hail, most lucid palace of the King: Hail, you who joined earth to heaven, O Virgin, through whom we are saved, who know you as the Virgin Mother of God."

*From the canon of Monday before Pentecost.*

Your Son is all sweetness, all desirable, O immaculate Virgin, the Lord Christ, whom you should entreat with the countless saints who dwell on high, with the virtues, that he may deliver us from the bitterness of sins that destroys souls. ^C

*From the canon of Tuesday before Pentecost.*

O Unplowed Earth, you who didst germinate the nourisher of the Universe, confirm with divine power those who open their hand and fill every living creature with blessing; confirm with the life-giving bread the languid hearts, 341 and those sickening from the fullness of our grievous offences.

She who bore you, the Savior, the beautiful girl, when she saw him in the passion having neither form nor beauty, weeping, she said: "I am struck with stupor, my Son, considering your inconceivable humiliation, which has besieged our darkness, or rather possessed it. What glory, what purity, what light did he bring to her, when he rendered her so immune from every affection of sin?" ^D See St. Theodore the New Confessor, in his oration on the Nativity of the Virgin, where he calls the Mother of God "the bush joined to the miracle of fire, which the rust of sin did not touch"; and Ambrosius Catharinus in his *Disputation on the Conception of the Blessed Virgin* to the Fathers of the Order of Preachers, lib. II, near the end, where, speaking to the Blessed Virgin, he uses these words: "You are that burning and uncombusted bush, which Moses seeing admires, in whom the Church recognized your perpetual and laudable virginity of both body and mind." See also Bernardinus Bustensis in his *Mariale*, sermon 6, on the Conception, part III, where he speaks thus on our subject: "The salamander remains in the fire, and passes through it, and yet is not burned, nor does it feel the heat of the fire; so the undefiled Mother of God remained in the loins of parents burning with the fire of sin, and passed through them, and yet did not receive in herself the burning of that sin."

^A granting salvation to the nature of men humbled.

*From the canon of Wednesday before Pentecost.* The Word of God, having become incarnate from thee, O immaculate one, came forth, restoring the fall of our first parents through the bowels of mercy. From thee the Wisdom of God, having fashioned for itself a home, was incarnate with ineffable condescension, O Virgin untouched by wedlock. For thou alone among all generations hast been chosen as the incorrupt dwelling place of the incorruptible Word (68). Thou wast a receptacle of Light, O pure one, of Him who shines before the daystar from the Father, and who in these last times made in thee a dwelling, bearing our human form and without admixture deifying it. Wherefore all of us, as the Mother of God, magnify thee.

*From the canon of Thursday before Pentecost.* Thou refashionest that which was broken and collapsed in corruption, and thou bringest forth beyond the law of nature the Lawgiver, without nuptial touch, to whom we cry: Glory, O Christ, to thy power. O Gate of God, closed, through which alone the Most High entered, direct me into the ways of God, and open to me the gates of salvation, O most pleasing to God; for to thee, O Virgin, I take refuge, the only protection of the human race.

342 Spare me, O Christ, when thou shalt come in glory to judge the world: scatter the cloud of my passions through the intercessions of thy Mother, and make me an heir of thy heavenly kingdom.

*From the canon of Good Friday before Pentecost.* Taking upon thyself human nature from a Virgin as a garment, O Word, because of thy supreme mercy, thou hast given the same to us forever as a firm covering and wall, recognizing thee as God and lover of men.

(68) Nicolaus Cusanus, Cardinal of the Holy Roman Church, in book 5 of his *Exercitationes*, concerning the words: "Heaven and Earth shall pass away," says: "The glorious Virgin, since she was predestinate before the ages, so that the Son of God might receive from her human nature, so that the Son of God might become the son of man: she was so conceived that she might become a dwelling place worthy of this. God had to clothe himself in the humanity of Mary, wherefore the human nature of the Virgin was made worthy from the beginning." So he. And William of Paris the Younger, or Bitontinus, in his *Postillae maiores* on the feast of the Conception, q. 3, while he says: "The Virgin Mary ought to have become a special dwelling place of God. Therefore she ought to have been prepared more specially. But if she had been conceived in original sin, she would not have been prepared more specially. Therefore she was not conceived in original sin." So William. Hence Fulbert of Chartres in his *Sermon on the Nativity of the Blessed Virgin*, says unto our matter: "Therefore, with the first things, it is lawful to assert this, that her soul and flesh, in which the Wisdom of God the Father chose for Himself a dwelling place, were most pure from all malice and filth: for Scripture affirms that Wisdom will not enter into a malicious soul, nor dwell in a body subject to sins." So Fulbert. From whose words St. Thomas seems to have taken [material] in 3, p. q. 27, a. 4, to prove the actual purity of the Virgin, but Fulbert (as note ^B Nieremberg notes in his *Exceptiones*, chap. 5) contends for original purity in these [writings], which he expressed more fully in other places: and that it seems to have greater force to persuade regarding immunity from original sin than from venial sin, it must not be doubted, since a body formed and conceived in original sin is more subject to sin than one which admits a single venial sin, if it had not contracted the original. Velasquez *de Maria Concepta*, book 1, Dissert. 3, annotation 7, n. 4, bringing forth that prayer of the Church: "Almighty ever-living God, who by the co-operation of the Holy Spirit didst prepare the body and soul of the glorious Virgin Mary, that she might deserve to become a dwelling worthy of thy Son," says among other things: "He made mention of the body and soul of Mary notably, which the Holy Spirit prepared as a worthy dwelling for the Son of God, so that there is no doubt that the Church speaks of the first moment of her formation, lest the Holy Spirit be seen a tardy preparer of the dwelling, who would have permitted a foreign guest, and indeed a savage enemy, first to enter and pollute the dwelling." So he. A special dwelling of God ought to be prepared in a special way. But the Blessed Virgin was a special dwelling of God both according to body and according to soul. Therefore she ought to have been prepared in a special way. But in what special way would she have been prepared, if she had been conceived in original sin? The prayer of the Mass for the Conception of the Virgin, which the Roman Church has used, as it is had in the Missal, which has the title: "Missale ad usum Sacrosanctæ Ecclesiæ Romanæ," recently recognized with diligent study at Lyons in the year 1515, and in the Office of the Conception of the B. Virgin edited by master Leonard of Nogorolis, and approved by Sixtus IV, Pont. Max., has huge weight indeed, which Ambrose Catherinus also reports ^C and on it lays force in his book 11, *Disput. pro immaculata Virginis conceptione* in this manner: "Hear, I pray, the prayer, which the Church long ago consultedly and from certain knowledge received, and recognize how perspicuously it declares what we say: God who through the immaculate conception of the Virgin didst prepare a dwelling worthy for thy Son, etc." So he. For the series of the expression is to be observed, by which the dwelling prepared by the Supreme Father for his Son is called worthy through the immaculate conception of Mary, as if otherwise it were not worthy. Take away, therefore, the immaculate conception of the Virgin, you also take away the worthy dwelling of the Son of God, you take away also the sacrament of the Lord's incarnation. But place the immaculate conception of Mary, and you will see immediately with the undefiled Him who sanctifies all things, for as before the most holy Mary no dwelling was found for the assumption of divine flesh, so where it was found, God assumed human flesh. Unless there had been a Son, for whom it was worthy that a dwelling be prepared by the Father, there would not have been the immaculate conception of the Virgin, nor any other cause, fountain, and origin of the immaculate conception than the Son of God. Moreover, that the Mother of God, the Virgin, was conceived without original stain, in that she was prepared as a dwelling for the humanity of God, L. Germanus, Patriarch of Constantinople, affirmed in express words in the *Menæa* of the Greeks on the 9th of December and in his *Mariale*, fragm. 9, while he said: "Today in the bowels of chaste Anna, Mary, the Daughter of God, is conceived, prepared as a dwelling for the universal King of the ages." For what else is Mary conceived in the bowels of St. Anna being the Daughter of God, ^D except that she was conceived in grace, and by consequence, conceived without original sin? For if she had been conceived in original sin, she could not be proclaimed as having been conceived the Daughter of God, but conceived the daughter of the devil, and a daughter of wrath (which Christian ears shudder to hear). But the Daughter of God was conceived without original sin, for no other cause, except because she was prepared as a dwelling for the universal King of the ages. For it behooved her, who was to be the singular dwelling of God, to be shining with most incontaminate purity, and most alien from every stain whatsoever.

^A ...immaculate and most blameless Mary, Mother of God. Wherefore, I beseech you, illuminate my miserable soul, darkened by the pleasures of life, that I may walk, as in the day, through the paths of God. O Virgin, who dissipates the shadows of the law and pours forth the splendors of grace, grant me, who am now most grievously harassed by the law of sin, to be free and to have the leisure to praise my Liberator, the Lord. You have been shown to be the sole vessel of the light that illuminates the whole world.

From the Canon of the Sunday of Pentecost

Hail, Queen, glory of maternity and virginity; for no mouth, however eloquent or gifted in speech, is able to celebrate you according to your dignity. Every mind falters, and, as it were, suffers vertigo in the consideration of your childbirth; wherefore we glorify you with one voice. ^B

From the Canon of Tuesday after the Sunday of Pentecost

From the Holy Spirit, O chaste one, you conceived Him who shone forth before time, the Word from the unbegotten Father, and by supreme goodness you brought forth this Word incarnate, O Mother Virgin, Mother of God.

From the Canon of Friday after Pentecost

God has loved the most luminous mount, the most shaded mount, the fruitful and curdled mount—that is to say, you, O holy Virgin; keep your servants safe.

Divine Wisdom, Architect of the world, from you, O maiden, the Holy Spirit built a temple, wishing to save those living according to the prescription of the faith.

You have become the bridal chamber of the Holy Spirit, O Mother of God, from whom the Word of the Father, Maker of the world, proceeded as man, and having conversed with us, now has manifested the knowledge of the Trinity.

From the Canon of Saturday after Pentecost

The Holy Spirit, descending into you, a pure sanctuary of virginity, has made you a splendid and most holy tabernacle of the Son of the Most High, O most blessed one.

O venerable one, when the Holy Spirit overshadowed you, the divine organ of the Incarnation of the Word, He made you a divine ark, and adorned you, O blessed Virgin, who brought forth God in the flesh.

You have appeared as a kind of earthly heaven, O holy one, conceiving in your womb the celestial Word, who dwelt upon the earth.

You, O Virgin, miraculously reconciled God to men, 344 interceding as mediatrix between Him and us.

...stain, whereby there was discord, and whereby there was original sin and every other. So he. Bernardine of Busti also, in his *Mariale*, sermon 6, part 1, on the conception, speaks in this manner: "Whenever there is enmity between some, it is fitting for the sake of reconciliation to accept a third party, unless he be a friend of the offended; but much less ought such a mediator be a participant in the guilt, through which participation he himself might be treacherous: for an enemy's friend is an enemy, and therefore he is not to be trusted as an enemy." Therefore the Virgin, who had to mediate between human nature and the Christ who was to come, ought not to be guilty and conscious of the offense, otherwise she would be an unworthy reconciliatrix, as Gregory says in the *Moralia*: "When one who is displeasing is sent to intercede, the mind of the angry judge is provoked to anger." The ^C blessed Virgin, therefore, was sent to the exiles condemned by the Fathers as a worthy reconciliatrix to God, for had she not been worthy, she would have deserved punishment. But because she was not rejected, but rather appeased the angry God, she was found most worthy, and consequently, without original sin. Christ, therefore, mediated between the Father and the people; the Virgin between the Son and the delinquents; and if she herself had sinned, where would be our hope? Where the rest for our head? If the Mother were guilty, what would she be to us useless servants? We could despair, were she not flourishing in a singular privilege of purity. Thus Busti. Pelbart agrees with him in these words in the *Stellarium B. Virginis*, lib. IV, part 11, a. 3: "Mary is the mediatrix between Christ and men, but the medium ought to participate with the extremes (5, *Phys.*); therefore it is fitting that she, Mary, the mediatrix of the human race, be assimilated to men in her conception, namely, in the natural, common propagation, and this notwithstanding, be assimilated to Christ, the Head, in this, that she is preserved by grace from original sin." So Pelbart. ^D

Through Thee, O most holy one, those things which before were at discord have been brought into unity; for we are participants in the mercy of happiness, and of the heavenly and divine hope. ^A

From the Canon of the Sunday after the holy Pentecost, in which the memory of all the saints is celebrated.

Taking up a manly spirit, O most chaste one, the virgins clearly and steadfastly emulated the contests of martyrdom, and according to the Psalm, after Thee, O Virgin, they were offered rejoicing to Thy Son, the Supreme King.

From a virginal womb Thou broughtest forth for us the Word, God of God, O Mother of God, whom chaste maidens have worthily loved, and after Thee all have clearly followed Him.

Thou hast become the Bride of God, O Mother of God; for Thou hast brought forth for us in the flesh the Word of Him who was begotten before the ages, in whom even women, having lived a holy life and having been adorned through Thee with crowns of manifold struggles, ^B have rectified the fall of the first parent.

Having loved Thy super-wonderful birth, O most venerable women, they counted the pleasant things of life as nothing, O most chaste one, longing erotically only for His splendor and divine illumination.

We all acknowledge Thee as the true Mother of God, through whom the nature of women, being strengthened, O most immaculate one, has struggled for Christ even unto death, and has lived a life piously filled with every virtue.

(71) For those who acknowledge the Virgin as the true Mother of God, it is also fitting that they acknowledge her as immaculate from every stain of original sin. For, as Thomas of Argentina argues most excellently (lib. ii, d. 3, q. 1, a): "It behooved the Son of God to preserve the Virgin Mother from original stain, because it behooved the Son of God to observe in His own Mother that which every pure man is obligated to do by divine precept. But whichever son could preserve his mother even from a lesser evil than original guilt, he himself would be held to this by divine precept, because otherwise he would not honor his Mother, nor would he assist her in greatest necessity. Therefore, etc. That, then, which it behooves ^C someone to do, and for which he has no excuse of impotence, if he does not do it, he may in some way be charged with having acted inappropriately. But it behooved the Son of God to preserve the Virgin from every stain, and He Himself was able to do so. Therefore, in some way, it seems inappropriate if He did not do so." So Argentina. Consonant with this is Ambrosius Catharinus (or Spiera), Sermon on the Sabbaths, considerat. 2, conclus. 3, writing in this manner: "God saved his people from the waters of the Red Sea, and for forty years preserved their garments and footwear unharmed, and this because of the dignity of his people: and how would He not have preserved His own Mother from every stain because of the dignity of her maternity?" Thus he. But concerning the immunity of the Blessed Virgin from original stain, by reason of her divine maternity, Ambrosius Catharinus deals with it best of all in his *Disputation on the Conception of the Blessed Virgin* to the Fathers of the Order of Preachers, lib. ii, cap. ult., where he says: "I say boldly, God willing, that if the Blessed Virgin is considered according to the condition of her nature, according to which she was a daughter of Adam conceived from seed in itself odious, or worthy of hate, and propagated, without doubt she was worthy of being understood as under the sin of Adam with the rest. But if she is considered as the Mother of God, and she who was to bring forth Salvation to the world, it is pious and beautiful to believe that she was worthy ^D of being entirely removed from such a great evil, so that the Salvation which was from her might benefit her first, and in a supreme manner, by preventing and meeting the evil rather than by punishing it afterward. If, therefore, anyone asks: 'In what manner, then, is she to be considered?' Should it be as a daughter of Adam, so that she is with sin, or as the Mother of Christ, so that she is preserved by Him? I, indeed, learning from the Scriptures, will not consider her in this part as a daughter of Adam, but as the Mother of Christ. For I read no other genealogy in Scripture concerning her, except that she is the Mother of Christ. Furthermore, her father and mother I have not learned at all from Scripture. Therefore, this clearly intimates to those who wish to grasp it, and to whom there is a spirit of intelligence, that she is to be so considered by us, just as the Scriptures present her to us and show her. For it is similar to that which Paul notes concerning Melchizedek, that both his father and his mother were sent forth in the Scriptures in silence, and he himself without genealogy, for the reason that he signified Christ the Son of God. When, therefore, it is not without the teaching of this truth and mystery (as I certainly know they will be able to see to whom there are blessed eyes) that the father and mother of our Lady are hidden, and only she is shown openly to us in the Holy Scriptures as the Mother of Christ, so that we might acknowledge her—in that grace not only overcame nature, but absorbed it and reduced it to nothing—I confidently assert that the Lord from the beginning, when He saw that indeed by the rigor of the law she ought to have fallen from His grace likewise with others, exempting her by a singular prerogative, did not wish to see this evil in her, whom He had pre-elected in ineffable grace as Mother, so that from this she might be deemed worthy of all honor. He did not wish the state of so great a Mother and her due grace to be changed in any way forever, or to hang under jeopardy through the act of one so unworthily, since it is far more equitable, and more congruent to divine wisdom, that she be looked upon in the eye of perpetual charity in her Son, than that she be acknowledged as a sinner sometime under wrath in her parent." Thus far Catharinus.

OF SAINT JOSEPH THE HYMNOGRAPHER

^A The young maidens, with affection, now lead a divine dance for the inviolate and most holy Mother of God, and praising her with loud voices, they cry out to you, "Rejoice, you who have poured forth for us the fountain of joy." You have proven to be, in very deed, the conciliatrix of those who were at variance; for through you, men have truly become tent-mates of the angels in the heavens, and the orders of all the saints now bear witness to this, singing hymns to your child-bearing, O Virgin Theotokos, with eternal melodies. With gladness, all women endowed with divine wisdom, and perfected in Christ and the Holy Spirit, surrounding the inviolate and true Mother of God—who redeemed us from the curse of our first ancestress, Eve—with reverence, praise her fruit for all ages.

*From another canon of the same, for the Sunday after Pentecost.*

^B O blessed one, [clothed] in unquenchable fire, that is to say, the God of our Fathers.

Who would not vehemently stand amazed at the excess of your mercy, O eternal Word? For our sake you became poor, though you were rich, and you dwelt in the womb of the holy Virgin as in a tabernacle; wherefore, worshipping you, we chant together: Hail, O glory of virginity; hail, O inviolate Mother of God, whom all creatures magnify with divine songs.

*From the canon for the Sunday of the Blind Man, the fifth after Pascha.*

The Lord dwelt in your virginal womb, O chaste one, wishing through the bowels of [His] mercies to save man corrupted by the snares of the enemy. Entreat Him, therefore, that He may defend this city from every assault and hostile incursion.

From your virginal womb you brought forth the incarnate God; entreat Him, O most holy Lady, that He may deign to have mercy upon us.

We glorify your birth-giving, which was above nature, O immaculate one, calling you blessed with faith, O you who are free from every stain, as the Mother of God of all.

^C (72-74) If the terms "Apostle," "Protomartyr," "Philosopher," "City" are used, we immediately understand by antonomasia Paul, Stephen, Aristotle, [and] Rome. And if this epithet "immaculate" is written or pronounced alone, as it is most frequently pronounced by Joseph, the Blessed Virgin is immediately understood; for this title is proper to her and antonomastic, especially by reason of the Immaculate Conception. Hence the authors of the *Armamentarium Seraphicum* (col. 153) observe that no one—Christ the Lord and His most holy Mother alone excepted—has ever been honored by the Church or by any of the doctors of the saints with the appellation of "immaculate," at least by way of surname or title: although there are not wanting those who piously assert that blessed John the Baptist was freed even from the lightest venial sins. From this it is argued that the Blessed Virgin, especially by reason of her preservation from original stain, obtains the appellation of "immaculate," and from the fact that she alone was free from original sin in the instant of her conception, she ascended to this honor of a surname that excludes all stain.

^D (75) ...that she was the Mother of God, she was also adorned with every kind of purity and free from every stain, both actual and original), although to some it seems only congruous, yet to many it appears conclusive, as Father John Eusebius Nieremberg says in his *Theoria* (§ 50). And why, I ask, in the feast of the Immaculate Conception does the Church propose nothing in the Gospel about Mary except her divine maternity, saying, "Of whom was born Jesus"? What, asks Celada (in *Tractatus de Esthere figurata*, cap. 11, § 345), does the divine maternity have to do with the most pure Conception, which occurred long before? Father Alphonsus Salmeron, a man most cultivated in all literature, writes thus grandly on this matter in *Evang.*, tract. 30: "Of whom was born Jesus," etc.; Mary's maternity, so to speak, was the companion and administrator of that conception. What is more sublime? What is more august than the divine maternity, by which the Virgin is truly called the Theotokos, and is the true Mother of God? Do you wish to know the purity and dignity of the immaculate conception of the Theotokos? Weigh the words of this great doctor: "Mary's maternity, so to speak, was the companion and administrator of that conception." Do not think of a divorce of time