Chapter IV. Of the Blessed Virgin

Article I

The dignity of the Moat Holy Virgin, The dignity of the Mother of God is something so great, that the Blessed Virgin cannot herself fully comprehend it. We may form some idea of it from the following considerations.

1. What preparation the Blessed Virgin brought to this august dignity ! It was in prescience of the divine maternity that God exempted her, not only from original sin, but also from the obligation of contracting it, and from the first instant of her being bestowed upon her more graces than on all angels and men together. Indeed, her graces and her merits being multiplied every moment twofold, threefold, and on certain occasions, as at her presentation, fourfold, it is scarcely possible to conceive how she increased in grace and merit in a single day. To what a height, then, had she attained at fourteen years ? and what purity, what charity, what virtues did she acquire by so faithful and so admirable a correspondence with grace ? All this was but a preparation for the divine maternity, which she was to merit by a merit qfcongruity, 2. This dignity is in a manner infinite, differing in this respect from the light of glory, since the latter is more or less excellent, according to the different degrees of merit. But there cannot be more or less in the hypostatic union, or in the divine maternity. As both one and the other are unique in their kind, and incommunicable to any beside Jesus Christ and Mary, there cannot be others of like dignity more perfect. It is impossible to conceive another mother more excellent than the Mother of God, or another Mother of Gk)d beside Mary.

2. Dignities, graces, prerogatives of every sort, are due to this Virgin Mother ; her Son, who is Gk>d, being bound, even by natural duty, to love her. Now what is it to be naturally the object of Gbd's love ! Hence theologians conclude that all favours that have been communicated to any creature whatsoever have been bestowed upon the Blessed Virgin, with the exception of those which would not have been suitable to her sex or condition, as the priesthood, the apostolical nunistry, the government of the Church. Accordingly some suppose that at the moment of the incarnation she had a clear vision of Him she conceived, and of God His Father, and of their mutual love, which is the Holy Spirit.

3. It is on the divine maternity that those high titles of queen, lady, mediatrix, advocate, are grounded, which mark either the sovereign authority which she exercises over creatures, or the power of her intercession with God.

4. This dignity of Mother of God merits a peculiar worship, which is called hyperduliay and which is due to the Blessed Virgin alone, seeing that it could not be rendered even to one who, not being the Mother of God, should possess as much grace and holiness as she possesses, if that were possible.

Article II

T?i£ Blessed Virgin stcmds alone in each of her alliances uoith the three Persons of the Holy Trinity, My dove is but one.

1. She stands alone in her quality of Mother of the Son, since she is truly and properly His Mother, and there can be but one Mother of God.

2. Slie stands alone in her quality of Daughter of the Father, since her adoption is altogether singular, and she alone of the children of God was adopted at the instant of her conception.

3. She stands alone in her quality of Spouse of the Holy Spirit, since she alone contracted with Him, in the name of all human nature, a holy marriage, that she might be Mother of a Man-God without ceasing to be a virgin.

The solenmisation of these holy espousals took place publicly in the Temple, when the Blessed Virgin was presented there.

How high is this dignity, and what great advantages it carries with it ! What participation in the possessions of this Divine Spouse 1 what plenitude of His gifts ! what sanctity ! Never did this holy bride resist the movements of the Holy Spirit ! Never did she perform a single action of which the Holy Spirit was not the principle ! Alas, how far removed are we from such fidelity ! We are continually resisting the Spirit of God. We follow only our own inclinations. Daily do we reject, every one of us, a thousand graces, and hold the gifts of the Holy Spirit in a disgraceful bondage.

Article III

The glory of the Blessed Virgin in the Inca/montion, It is in the chaste bosom of Mary that the greatest marvels of time and eternity are beheld : a God man ; a God adoring Gk)d ; a God the servant of God ; a Gk)d an infant ; a God clothed with a mortal body, and with all the infirmities of men ; a God a victim ; a man the Son of the living God ; a child the offspring of a virgin mother.

The Incarnate Word continued to retain the suhstance of the body which the Holy Spirit had formed for Him from the most pure blood of the Holy Virgin at the moment of the incarnation. That which the food wherewith He was nourished^ like other men, added afterward thereto^ was consumed as in the rest of men. This is the opinion of Suarez ; and the Blessed Virgin, appearing one day to St. Ignatius when he was at the altar^ told him that a portion of her substance was in the Most Holy Sacrament.

How glorious is the Incarnation of the Son of Gk)d to His holy Mother, and how full of profit to her wag the union she enjoyed with Him during the nine months that He abode within her womb ! He was united to her as the fruit to the tree that bears it. He lived only by dependence on her, and on the substance He derived from her.

But what communications did He not make her in •return ! What mutual converse passed between the soul of the Son and the soul of the Mother ! Jesus Christ disposing her by a profusion of graces to be the mother of His mystical body, as she was mother of His natural body; for He willed that we should receive through her the life of the Spirit, as He had received through her the life of the body ; that we should depend on her for the support and increase of our spiritual life, as He depended upon her for the support and increase of His corporal life.

Let us enter into the sentiments of our Lord towards His Mother, who is our Mother also. Let us willingly accept the dependence He wishes us to have on her, and by this humble and loving subjection honour that in which He was pleased to place Himself.