Cornelius a Lapide
Table of Contents
Synopsis of the Chapter
The purification and offering to be made by a woman after childbirth is prescribed: on the 40th day from the completed birth, if she bore a male; on the 80th day, if she bore a female: namely, that she offer a lamb as a holocaust, and a young pigeon or a turtledove for sin; but if she is poor, let her offer two young pigeons or two turtledoves.
Vulgate Text: Leviticus 12:1-8
1. And the Lord spoke to Moses, saying: 2. Speak to the children of Israel, and you shall say to them: If a woman, having received seed, shall bear a male child, she shall be unclean for seven days, according to the days of the separation of her menstrual period. 3. And on the eighth day the infant shall be circumcised; 4. but she herself shall remain thirty-three days in the blood of her purification. She shall touch no holy thing, nor enter the Sanctuary, until the days of her purification are fulfilled. 5. But if she shall bear a female child, she shall be unclean for two weeks, according to the rite of the menstrual flow, and she shall remain sixty-six days in the blood of her purification. 6. And when the days of her purification are fulfilled, for a son or for a daughter, she shall bring a one-year-old lamb as a holocaust, and a young pigeon or a turtledove for sin, to the door of the tabernacle of the testimony, and shall hand them to the priest, 7. who shall offer them before the Lord, and shall pray for her, and so she shall be cleansed from the flow of her blood: this is the law for her who bears a male or a female child. 8. But if her hand does not find, and she is not able to offer a lamb, she shall take two turtledoves or two young pigeons, one for a holocaust and the other for sin; and the priest shall pray for her, and so she shall be cleansed.
Verse 2: If a Woman, Having Received Seed, Shall Bear a Male Child, She Shall Be Unclean for Seven Days
For "having received seed," in Hebrew it is תזריע tazria, which Oleaster, Cajetan here, and Jansenius in his Gospel Harmony, chapter X, translate as "if she shall have made seed," that is, offspring -- that is, if she shall have begotten. For tazria is in the hiphil active form; and "seed" is everywhere taken in Scripture for offspring.
But that our translator rendered it better as "from seed received" is evident first from what follows, "and shall bear;" for from this it is clear that תזריע tazria, which precedes, should be translated as "if she shall have received seed," or "conceived," and formed a fetus: for otherwise the same thing would be said, and it would be a tautology to say: If she shall have begotten, and shall have borne.
Second, because with our translator agree the Septuagint, who translate it as "if she shall have received seed"; and the Chaldean, "if she shall have conceived"; and the Hebrews, Lyranus, and Vatablus, who translates it as "if having received seed she shall have borne a male."
Third, because the Hebrew tazria properly means "if she shall have made seed," "if she shall have produced and emitted seed," that is, in the natural and ordinary way, namely, if having received the man's seed and also emitting her own, she shall have conceived. For a woman in conception, receiving the man's seed, also emits her own into the womb, "which is soon retained, coagulated, and strengthened by the male seed, and so it grows, and finally rises into limbs; and thus an embryo, or infant, is conceived," say the Hebrews and Vatablus, who add: "From the male seed nerves and bones are formed, but from the woman's seed the flesh, blood, and hair of the infant are produced." But physicians deny this last point, asserting that all limbs are formed together from the seed of both the woman and the man.
The Blessed Virgin and This Law
Hence the common opinion of the Fathers and Doctors of old, with the sole exception of Abulensis, was that the Blessed Virgin in bearing Christ was not comprehended by this law, because she did not conceive by receiving the seed of a man and emitting her own, but from the Holy Spirit -- the Holy Spirit by His providence forming Christ's body from her most pure blood -- she conceived Christ, as if by a singular providence of the Holy Spirit, who wished to exempt this Virgin, it came about that Moses in this place did not use the word נהרה hara, which means simply "to conceive," but tazria, which means "to emit one's own seed upon receiving a man's seed," and thus to conceive. So teach Origen, Rupert, and Radulphus here, as well as Eusebius, Emissenus, St. Ildefonsus, St. Eligius, Lawrence Justinian in his sermon On the Purification of the Blessed Virgin; St. Bernard, sermon 3 on the same; Euthymius, Theophylact, Anselm, Bede on Luke II, Chrysostom, homily On the Meeting of the Lord; and most weightily St. Cyril of Alexandria, book II of On the Faith, addressed to the Empresses, near the beginning, confirms the same against the Arians: "It is clearly evident, he says, into how great an impiety the Arians fall, who assert that Mary the Mother of God needed those sacrifices which it was customary to offer for women after childbirth according to the law."
Hence even our heretics Melanchthon, Artopaeus, Sarcerius and others, otherwise unjust toward the Blessed Virgin, confess the same, as Peter Canisius shows in book IV of his Marian work, chapter XII. In a similar way, on Exodus XIII, 2, I showed from the Fathers that Christ was not comprehended by that law of the firstborn, because Christ did not open the womb of His mother, but was born from the Virgin with it closed.
Objection from the Flow of Blood
You will say: This law of purification is established for women after childbirth on account of the flow of blood, which naturally occurs for them in childbearing, as is stated in verse 4; for on account of this, women after childbirth were considered unclean, and had to be purified. But this flow also occurred in the Blessed Virgin: therefore she too was comprehended by this law, and had to be purified. So argues Abulensis.
I reply that the minor premise is false, and it is against the common opinion of the Fathers, who assert that the birth of the Blessed Virgin was most pure and free from all filth and flow of blood. So explicitly says Sophronius at the Sixth Council, session II: "The birth, he says, of the Virgin was incorruptible, because it was accomplished without the flow of blood or any similar suffering." So also Epiphanius, book III Against Heresies, at the end; St. Cyprian, sermon On the Nativity of Christ; St. Augustine, book On the Five Heresies, heresy 3: "Foolishly, he says, whence is there filth in a Virgin mother, where there is no intercourse with a human father? Whence filth in her who suffered neither lust in conceiving nor pain in giving birth?" So also the Council in Trullo of more than 200 Fathers, Canon 79, defined that the Virgin's birth was without the afterbirth (though others translate, without pain). The Holy Spirit therefore wished to indicate the excellence of the Virgin here, so that her humility and obedience might shine forth all the more, in that although she was not subject to this law, she nevertheless fulfilled it as one of the other unclean women after childbirth. "Be, says St. Bernard in sermon 3 On the Purification, O Virgin, among women as one of them; for your Son likewise is numbered among the children."
This Law of Purification Is Now Abolished
Note: This law of purification has now been abolished, as have the other ceremonial laws of the Old Testament; our women after childbirth therefore are not bound by it, and can enter the church without sin immediately after giving birth to give thanks, as Innocent III replied in the single chapter On Purification after Childbirth. However, out of veneration and imitation of the Blessed Virgin, many abstain from entering the church for 40 days after giving birth, says Radulphus, book VIII, chapter VI, at the beginning. Whence Innocent also adds: "If however out of devotion she shall wish to abstain for some time from the church, we do not consider their devotion to be blameworthy."
Objection from the Ethiopian Mass
You will say: In the Mass of the Ethiopians it is said in the blessing of the woman after childbirth: "You, O Lord, taught Moses the clean ordinance, etc.: we beseech You therefore for Your handmaid who has kept Your ordinance." Therefore this ordinance of Moses also binds Christian women.
I reply: "Who has kept Your ordinance" -- understand, as regards the ceremony of purification itself, but not as regards the actual reason and obligation of the law, or ordinance; for our women after childbirth conform to this ordinance not because they are bound by it, but voluntarily and out of the devotion already mentioned.
Tropology: Purification as a Symbol of Penance
Tropologically, this purification was a symbol of penance, by which we recover purity of soul. Nazianzen says excellently in oration 6: Nothing, he says, does God, who is pure, hold in such high esteem as purity, or purification. And Barlaam on his deathbed commends purity of soul to his disciple Josaphat, as a treasure of immense value, according to Damascene. Hence, to wash away the stains of sins, Christ prepared for us a bath from His own blood. For, as St. John says in Apocalypse I: "He washed us from our sins in His blood." And Paul in Titus II: "He gave Himself for our sins, that He might redeem us from all iniquity and cleanse for Himself an acceptable people." Wherefore Tertullian, in his book On Penance, teaches that penance must be done immediately, and shows by the example of brute animals that a soul wounded by sin must be healed and purified at once. "For the deer, pierced by an arrow, in order to expel the iron and its irremovable delay from the wound, knows it must heal itself with dittany. The swallow, if she has blinded her chicks, knows how to restore their sight with her own celandine. Shall the sinner, knowing that the public confession instituted by the Lord exists for his restoration, pass it by?" Pacian says the same in his Exhortation to Penance; whence Tertullian adds: "Penance, O sinner, so attack it, so embrace it, as a shipwrecked man trusts in some plank: this will lift you up when submerged in the waves of sins, and will carry you forward into the port of divine mercy."
St. Ephrem, in his book On the Day of Judgment: "Compunction, he says, is the health of the soul, it is the illumination of the mind; compunction obtains for us the remission of sins." St. Jerome in the epitaph of Fabiola, speaking of her contrition: "What sins, he says, does this weeping not wash away? What ingrained stains do these laments not cleanse?" And below: "O happy penance, which draws the eyes of God to itself!" St. Ambrose, book II On Penance: "Most clearly, he says, it was commanded by the Lord's preaching that even to those guilty of the gravest crime, if with their whole heart and open confession of sin they do penance, the grace of the heavenly Sacrament is to be restored." St. Chrysostom, sermon On Penance: "O penance, he says, which with God's mercy remits sin and opens paradise, which heals the broken man and cheers the sorrowful, calls life back from destruction, restores one's state, renews honor, gives confidence, reforms strength, and pours back more abundant grace! O penance, what new thing shall I say of you? All things bound, you loose; all things loosened, you open; all adversities, you soften; all things broken, you heal; all things confused, you illuminate; all things despaired of, you revive. O penance, more gleaming than gold, more splendid than the sun, which sin does not overcome, nor defection does not overpower, nor does despair destroy! Penance rejects avarice, abhors lust, etc. O penance, mother of mercy and teacher of virtues! Great are your works, by which you absolve the guilty and restore the delinquent, raise up the fallen and revive the despairing. Through you Christ suddenly snatched the thief to His kingdom; through you David after his crime happily received the Holy Spirit again," etc.
Again St. Ambrose, book II On Penance: "More easily, he says, have I found those who have preserved innocence than those who have fittingly done penance." If you ask, What then, Ambrose, do you call fitting penance? he answers in the same place: "One must renounce the world; one must indulge sleep less than nature demands; one must interrupt it with groans, break it with sighs, set it aside with prayers. One must live in such a way that we die to this vital use of life; a man must deny himself to himself, and be wholly changed, just as the stories tell of a certain young man who, after love affairs with a courtesan, went abroad, and having extinguished his love, upon returning later met his former beloved: when she, marveling that she had not been addressed, supposed she had not been recognized, and meeting him again said: 'It is I'; he replied: 'But I am not I.' Whence the Lord rightly says: He who wishes to come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross and follow Me." Ambrose speaks of exact and perfect penance, which few perform: for the common penance, which especially with the Sacrament of Penance suffices for the remission of sins and for salvation, many embrace and perform.
She Shall Be Unclean for Seven Days
SHE SHALL BE UNCLEAN FOR SEVEN DAYS -- so that no one, not even her husband, was permitted to associate with her for seven days. Then for the remaining 33 days, which remain until the 40th, she was indeed excluded from the sanctuary, but it was permitted to speak, eat, and associate with her (though not to have marital relations, says Abulensis: for she was considered as menstruating). Therefore during these seven days she was called "separated," and these were the days of separation; the remaining 33 were the days of purification.
ACCORDING TO THE DAYS OF THE SEPARATION OF HER MENSTRUAL PERIOD -- as if to say: During these seven days she shall be as unclean as a menstruating woman, and she shall conduct herself as separated and unclean in the same manner as a menstruating woman, about which see chapter XV, verse 19.
Verse 4: She Shall Remain Thirty-Three Days in the Blood of Her Purification
BUT SHE HERSELF SHALL REMAIN THIRTY-THREE DAYS IN THE BLOOD OF HER PURIFICATION -- that is, in the blood by which she is continually purged, says Jansenius in chapter X of his Gospel Harmony. Second, by hypallage, as if to say: She shall remain in the purification of her blood, that is, until she is purged from the flow of blood, about which more at verse 5. A similar hypallage is found in Exodus XII, 11, Jeremiah XI, 19, and elsewhere.
Tropology: Remaining in the Blood of Purification
Tropologically, to remain in the blood of purification is to endure the hardship of mortality, into which we fell by sinning, through which nevertheless we are cleansed from what we have committed: so that on the fortieth day of resurrection, we may stand before the Lord in the heavenly temple, immortal and glorious. So says Radulphus.
The Blood and Filth of Childbirth: Symbolism of Chastity
Again, symbolically and properly, the blood and filth of childbirth were the effects, punishment, and indicators of the lust which the woman experienced in conjugal union and conception. For what is conceived with shameful love is born with pain, and purged with stench. So it was ordained by the just and eternal law of God. God therefore wished by this purification to signify that the chastity of marriage does not approach that of celibacy, but is impure; and that spouses in marriage need purification. Rightly Cassian, Conference XXI, chapter XXXIII: "In the law, he says, in which the rights of marriage are preserved, although the wandering of lust is restrained, it is still enslaved to one woman only. Hence the stings of carnal desire cannot in any way fail to be active, and it is difficult for a fire, to which fuel is even diligently supplied, to be so enclosed within fixed boundaries that it does not also burn whatever it touches when it strays beyond them." Full purity therefore consists in chastity and continence, whose splendor, beauty, and praises St. Cyprian thus depicts in his book On the Good of Modesty: "Modesty, he says, is the honor of bodies, the ornament of morals, the sanctity of the sexes, the bond of shame, the fountain of chastity, the peace of the home, the head of concord. Modesty is not concerned to please except itself. Modesty is always modest, since it is the mother of innocence. Modesty is always adorned by shame alone, well conscious then of its beauty, if it displeases the wicked. Modesty seeks no ornaments; it is its own adornment. This commends us to the Lord, connects us to Christ; itself blessed, and making blessed those with whom it deigns to dwell: whom those who do not possess it can never accuse -- venerable even to its enemies, since they admire it all the more who cannot conquer it."
Praises of Chastity
St. Ephrem, sermon On Chastity: "O chastity, mother of love, and the way of the angelic life! O chastity, who are pure of heart, and of sweet throat and joyful countenance! O chastity, who make men like angels! O chastity, who so exalted the friend of God in a foreign land, that he redeemed even those who had bought him! O chastity, gift of God, of kindness, of discipline, and the price of knowledge! O chastity, tranquil harbor, established in supreme peace and security," etc. And the author of the book On the Singularity of Clerics, attributed to St. Cyprian (for that this book is not Cyprian's is evident from the style): "Chastity, he says, is the unconquered defense of sanctity, and the strong conquest of infamy: the firmness of fortitude, and the weakness of wanton lust: the bulwark of uprightness, and the destruction of wickedness: the victory of the soul, and the spoil of the body: the abundance of glories, and the barrenness of crimes: the bridesmaid of sanctity, and the repudiation of turpitude: the sign of sincerity, and the abolition of scandals: the exercise of continence, and the complete emptying out of lust: the secure peace of virtues, and the restless vanquishing of wars: the summit of purity, and the prison of lust: the harbor of honor, and the shipwreck of ignominy, a place of frugality: the mother of virginity, and the enemy of uncleanness: the breastplate of modesty, and the spoil of shamefulness: the destruction of corruption, the wall of severity, and the overthrow of vulgarity: the sword of strictness, the conqueror and slayer of dissoluteness: the armor of strength, and the disarming of weaknesses: the dignity of integrity, and the condemnation of fornication: the summit of glory, and the precipice of disgrace: the will for good works, and the affliction of vices: the refreshment of chastity, and the punishment of wantonness: the acquisition of triumphs, and the loss of crimes: the rest of salvation, and the exile of perdition: the life of the spirit, and the death of the flesh: the state of angelic quality, and the funeral of human substance. By its restraints all obscenity is bridled, and by its shackles the heels of raging lust are fixed in place."
St. Ephrem, sermon On Chastity: "O chastity, the bridle of the eyes, which transfers the whole body from darkness to light! O chastity, which chastises the flesh, and brings it into servitude, and most swiftly penetrates to heavenly things! O chastity, which gladdens the heart of the one who possesses you, and joins wings to the soul for heavenly things! O chastity, which brings forth spiritual joy, and takes away sorrow! O chastity, which diminishes the passions, and frees the mind from disturbances! O chastity, which illuminates the just, and pours darkness upon the devil! O chastity, which drives away laziness, and brings patience! O chastity, a spiritual chariot lifting its possessor on high! O chastity, which like a rose blooms in the midst of soul and body, and fills the whole house with the fragrance of its scent! O chastity, forerunner and co-dweller with the Holy Spirit!" In order to attain this purity, certain illustrious married couples preserved continence in marriage by mutual consent. So did St. Ammon with his wife, Euphraxia descended from the family of the Emperor Theodosius with her husband Antigonus, Anastasius with Theognia, Eucharistus with Maria, Magna with her husband, Olympia with Nebridius, as is evident from their Lives. I cited more at 1 Cor. ch. 7, v. 6.
Chastity as a Gift of God
Wherefore this great gift of chastity comes to no one without a special grace of God, and much prayer. St. Augustine is a witness concerning himself, Book X of the Confessions, ch. 19: "My whole hope, he says, is only in Your exceedingly great mercy. O love who always burns and is never extinguished, charity, my God, set me on fire. You command continence; give what You command, and command what You will." Hence also God is accustomed to protect virgins and the chaste, so that like asbestos they are inviolable by fire. For fire finds in them no sticky substance or filth to burn. Thus St. Cunegund, wife of the Emperor Henry, in order to prove her virginity to her husband, walked with bare and unharmed feet upon red-hot iron. Thus Theognia, at the command of St. Basil, receiving burning coals into her bosom, carried them with her bosom unharmed, because she preserved continence in marriage with her husband Anastasius: the witness is Amphilochius in the Life of St. Basil. Likewise the Abbot who converted the harlot Porphyria, when he fell under suspicion
Verse 5: If She Shall Have Borne a Female, She Shall Be Unclean for Two Weeks, and for Sixty-Six Days She Shall Remain in the Blood of Her Purification
So that with the prior 14 days added, during which she was completely separated, there would be 80 days of purification, which is double the purification for a male birth: for in that case only 40 days were appointed, v. 4.
Why Double the Days for a Female?
You will ask why in the birth of a male only 40, but in the birth of a female, 80 days of purification are appointed.
Isychius and Cyril, Book XV On Adoration, and Maldonatus on Luke 11:22, respond that so many days were appointed fittingly according to the natural formation of the male and female: for a male is formed and perfectly organized in 40 days, and therefore is animated on the 40th day. For as soon as the fetus is perfectly formed, it is animated, as physicians teach; but a female is formed and organized over 80 days, and this because of the weakness of heat and seminal power. Now this formation of male and female occurs from menstrual blood: hence a pregnant woman does not then suffer menstruation, on account of which she would have been unclean by the law of Numbers ch. 15, 19; and therefore after birth she is considered unclean for as many days as she retained the menses and from the menstrual blood formed the fetus, because she shed these menses through the birth.
The moral cause, however, is that for as many days as she formed the offspring, she, as it were, transmitted original sin into it during the same number of days; hence she ought to be purified for the same number of days.
But physicians contradict this opinion: for Levinus Lemnius, in his book On the Hidden Miracles of Nature, ch. 11, teaches that the formation of a male is completed sometimes on day 30, sometimes 35, sometimes 40, sometimes 45; but of a female, now 35, now 40, now 45, now 50. Hippocrates, however, in his book On the Nature of the Fetus, no. 10, teaches that a male is formed in at most 30 days; a female in at most 42 days: and he proves this from the purgation, which after a male birth lasts 30 days, after a female's 42 days, at the longest.
Hence secondly, others think that what is considered here is not the time of the formation or animation of the fetus, but the movement by which the fetus makes itself known in the womb: for, as Aristotle teaches, Book VII of the History of Animals, ch. 3, males for the most part begin to move around the 40th day on the right side of the womb, but females around the 90th day, and that on the left side of the uterus. But neither does this in all respects correspond to this law and timing, nor is it certain or universally true: for Hippocrates, in his book On Nutriment, and others teach that neither for formation, nor for movement, nor for human birth is there a simple and common time appointed for all, but a varied and manifold. Add that this purgation should be considered not so much from the formation or movement, as from the uncleanness of childbirth.
Hence thirdly, Francisco Valles, physician to King Philip II of Spain, responds more probably in his book On Sacred Philosophy, ch. 18: "It should be noted, he says, that a twofold evacuation from the womb occurs after childbirth: the first of blood flowing copiously, as is accustomed to happen for women each month; the second of other excretions, flowing gradually with a small amount of blood. Both are shorter for her who has borne a male; for since females are more humid and full of excretions than males, it is necessary that their beginnings at birth be more humid than those of males. Hence experience confirms that not males, but females are conceived by those women who either naturally are, or whom it happened by accident at the time of conception to be, more full of excretions; such women will therefore need a longer purgation. And although Hippocrates, in his book On Generation, considers the longest purgation of her who has borne a male to be 30 days, and of her who has borne a female 42 days, nevertheless from this authority and law of Sacred Scripture, it is inferred that the first evacuation for males can occur within seven days, for females within fourteen; the latter in males can extend to 40 days, in females to 80." Thus far Valles.
For this is what the words of Moses imply when he says: "For sixty-six days she shall remain in the blood of her purification," although this passage does not clearly prove it; for it could be said with Vatablus that she who bears a female is considered unclean for 80 days, and is commanded to remain in the blood of her purification, not because blood flows for so long after childbirth, but because legally, by this law, she is held unclean for so long, on account of the flow of blood which she suffered for seven days from the birth, and therefore for the 33 following days she is still considered to be in the flow of her blood, and in its legal purification, which she is commanded to perform by this law.
I say therefore: The proper and genuine cause of this ordinance and disparity is the will and good pleasure of God, who in the birth of a male appointed 40 days of purification, in a female's 80; and this fittingly according to nature, namely on account of the greater flow of humors in the birth of a female, and the corruption of blood, and the greater weakness of the mother: for, as Theodoret teaches, women are accustomed to labor more heavily when they bear a female than when they bear a male. To this add the congruence of Valles already mentioned, namely that the flow of blood in the birth of a male can last to the fortieth day, in a female's to 80, or rather that it never exceeds these limits, so that these limits define, not so much the maximum or the most that it does, but the most and maximum that it does not exceed, as the natural philosophers say.
Tropology: Male and Female Births
Tropologically, the woman bearing a male is the perfect soul, cultivating perfect virtues; she is purified by one Lent, that is, by the penance of this life before death, so that immediately after it she may fly to heaven; but the one bearing a female, that is, she who is more lax and does not strive for the heights of virtues, after this Lent of penance will undergo another in Purgatory. So Radulphus.
Verse 6: And When the Days of Her Purification Shall Have Been Completed, She Shall Bring a Lamb and a Pigeon
The question here is to what the phrase "for a son or for a daughter" should be referred: whether to the following "she shall bring a lamb as a holocaust," or to the preceding "days of purification." For the days of purification for the birth of a daughter were more and longer than those for a son. On this question depends and must be resolved another question: whether the sacrifices here prescribed were offered for the offspring, or only for the mother giving birth, or for the mother and offspring together? Various are the opinions of interpreters and Doctors here.
For Whom Were These Sacrifices Offered?
Many hold that these sacrifices were offered as a holocaust and for sin, both for the mother and for the offspring. So St. Augustine, Question 40, Hugh, Rupert here, Bede, and Euthymius on Luke 2, Barradius, Book X, ch. 4, 5, 6, and St. Eligius, homily On the Purification; for although through the sacrament of circumcision the infant had been purged of original sin, nevertheless he was still considered legally unclean together with the mother: for he was still, as it were, one with the mother. Hence together with the mother he was expiated and further sanctified through this sacrifice, and was consecrated to God by this legal ceremony. This opinion is favored by what the Church sings in Responsories 2 and 3 of the first nocturn on the feast of the Purification: "They offered for Him (the child Jesus) a pair of turtledoves, or two young pigeons."
But more probably Jansenius, ch. 10 of the Concordance, Toletus and Maldonatus on Luke 2:22, and others, hold that the woman giving birth offered these for the purification not of the offspring, but of herself alone; for this is expressly said in v. 7: "He (the priest) shall offer her before the Lord, and shall pray for her (not for him, that is, the child), and thus she shall be cleansed from the flow of her blood." Again, in the last verse: "And the priest shall pray for her, and thus she shall be cleansed." Therefore what is sung on the feast of the Purification, "They offered for Him," should be understood indirectly and concomitantly, as if to say: They offered for her childbirth, or because the Blessed Mary bore Him. The offspring therefore was purged from original sin not by this sacrifice, but by circumcision; then if it was a firstborn, it was presented to the Lord and redeemed for five shekels, as is clear from Numbers 3:47, compared with Exodus 13:13; which law of redemption of the firstborn offspring is different from this law of purification: for this latter concerns the mother in childbed alone. Hence in v. 7 it is said: "This is the law for her who bears a male or a female."
Hence it follows that "for a son or for a daughter" should be referred, not to "she shall bring," but to "the days of purification," which were different for the birth of a daughter, namely 80, and different for the birth of a son, namely 40 to be completed, before the mother would come to the temple and there expiate herself through the sacrifices here prescribed. This is more clearly indicated by the Hebrew and the Septuagint.
She Shall Bring a Year-Old Lamb as a Holocaust
So that she may give thanks to God for having escaped the dangers of childbirth, and that she may offer her offspring together with the lamb as a holocaust to God, that He may bless her, and bestow upon her and preserve the lamb-like innocence.
A Young Pigeon or a Turtledove for Sin
That is, for the removal of the legal uncleanness and irregularity contracted in childbirth. For this uncleanness is called sin, namely legal sin; especially because it, arising from original sin, clearly signifies our stock vitiated in Adam, as Isychius and St. Augustine say. Thus legal uncleanness contracted from leprosy or menstruation is called sin, ch. 14:12, and ch. 15:30. Secondly, the woman in childbed would also offer these at the same time for sins properly so called, if she had committed any during her lying-in or at other times.
The Symbolism of the Turtledove
Fittingly, the turtledove or pigeon is prescribed as a purificatory victim for married women and mothers in childbed; for the turtledove, groaning, is a symbol of mourning and penance. For as the Poet says:
Nor shall the turtledove cease to moan from the lofty elm.
So let the penitent not cease to groan until she is purified. The voice of the turtledove heard in our land, therefore, is the voice of Magdalene groaning.
Again: "The natural philosophers, says St. Jerome, Book I Against Jovinian, report this to be the nature of the turtledove: that if it has lost its mate, it does not join with another; and let us understand that second marriage is also rejected by many birds." Christ, however, does not condemn second marriages, but prefers widowhood and continence to them.
The Symbolism of the Pigeon
Pigeons, moreover, are a symbol of chastity and conjugal fidelity. For as Pliny says, Book X, ch. 34: "Modesty is foremost among pigeons, and adultery is known to neither sex; they do not violate the fidelity of the marriage bed, and they keep a common home; they bear with imperious males, and even unjust ones." So let chastity be foremost for married couples as for pigeons, let adultery be known to neither, let them keep the fidelity of marriage and a common home, love their children, and instruct them in the law of God; let the wife bear the authority of her husband, even if it be difficult.
Examples of Fidelity Among the Gentiles
Such turtledoves and pigeons existed even among the Gentiles. Valeria, asked why, after the death of her husband Servius, she refused to marry again, said: "Because my Servius, although dead to others, lives in my heart, and will live forever." Annia, flourishing in age and beauty, advised by friends to take a second husband after the death of her first, both for the hope of offspring and for mutual love, replied: "I will by no means do this. For if I marry a good man, I do not want henceforth to fear losing him; but if a bad one, what madness would seize me, to admit such a one after the best?" Martia, daughter of Cato, asked why after the death of her husband she refused to marry another, replied: "Because I would not easily find a man who would want me more than my possessions;" and again: "Happy, she said, and chaste is the matron who marries only once." The same woman, when she was mourning her husband for a long time, was asked what day she would have as the last of her mourning? She replied: "The same as the last day of my life."
Rightly does Propertius say, Epigram 15:
Let paired pigeons be your example in love,
Male and female, the whole of marriage.
Stories of Pigeons and Chastity
Finally St. Ambrose, Book V of the Hexameron, ch. 19: "God's law, he says, chose this bird as the gift of a chaste offering; which was offered when the Lord was presented, because it is written in the law of the Lord that they should give a pair of turtledoves, or two young pigeons. For this is the true sacrifice of Christ: bodily chastity and spiritual grace: chastity is referred to the turtledove, grace to the pigeon."
But hear a wonderful story, from which you will learn how much the pigeon is a symbol of chastity and piety. Gregory of Tours relates the matter in his book On the Glory of the Confessors, ch. 34, and from him Baronius, at the year of Christ 480.
There was in Auvergne a certain devout young woman, devoted to God, who, dwelling in the countryside, that being removed from the city's crowd she might more freely offer worthy sacrifices of praise to God, devoted herself daily to fasts and prayers. It happened therefore that when she departed from this world, she was carried to the basilica of the town for burial. But when the bier had been lifted and the body began to be carried along the road, a great flock of pigeons arrived and began to fly over her, and fluttering here and there to follow wherever she was carried by her neighbors. When she had been brought into the basilica, the whole flock was seen to have settled upon the roof of the church itself; and when she had been buried, the pigeons flew away to the heavens. Hence she was not undeservedly called Georgia, who so exercised her mind with spiritual cultivation that, having obtained the sixtyfold fruit of virginity, departing from this world she was honored with heavenly obsequies, says St. Gregory.
Ado relates, and from him Baronius, at the year of Christ 440, that the holy virgin and martyr Julia was tortured by the prince Felix, and at last crucified, and from her mouth a pigeon came forth and flew up to heaven.
St. Gregory, Book IV of the Dialogues, in the chapter on the Abbot Spes as he was dying, writes thus: "All the brethren saw a pigeon come forth from his mouth, which soon, having passed through the opened roof of the oratory, penetrated into heaven. His soul is therefore to be believed to have appeared in the form of a pigeon, so that Almighty God might show by this very form with how simple a heart that man had served Him."
Verse 7: And Thus She Shall Be Cleansed from the Flow of Her Blood
That is, from the legal uncleanness which she contracted on account of the flow of blood of childbirth (it is a metonymy or catachresis), so that henceforth she might approach the sanctuary, touch holy things, offer other victims, and partake of them.
Verse 8: But If Her Hand Does Not Find, Nor Is She Able to Offer a Lamb
In Hebrew: if her hand does not find the sufficiency of a lamb, that is, the price which suffices to buy a lamb (so the Chaldean and the Septuagint), namely if she is poorer, she shall take two turtledoves or two young pigeons: one as a holocaust, and the other for sin. The wealthy therefore mothers in childbed were required to offer a lamb as a holocaust, and a turtledove or a young pigeon for sin; but the poor only two turtledoves or two young pigeons: one as a holocaust, the other for sin, as the Blessed Virgin did, poor both in spirit and in wealth; although she did it, not because she was poor in spirit, that is, because she loved poverty, as Abulensis holds, but because she was truly poor and needy in possessions: for it is of such persons that this law speaks.
Moral Lesson: Generosity of the Poor
Morally, learn here what St. Gregory Nazianzen says, in his oration On Holy Baptism: "Nothing, he says, is highly esteemed before God, which even a poor person cannot give." For God demands not so much the gift as the affection of the giver; and, as St. Gregory says, homily 5 on the Gospel, "before the eyes of God the hand is never empty of a gift, if the treasury of the heart is filled with good will: for nothing is offered to God more richly than good will." Hence Jean Gerson, Chancellor of Paris, says: "God does not seek nouns, but adverbs," that is, "He does not consider what you do, but how you do it," as St. Bernard says.
Hence the widow offering only two small coins pleased Christ more than all others who offered great amounts. If therefore you have much, give much; if little, give little, but with a great and generous will to give more, if you had it; thus the generosity of your heart will provoke the generosity of God toward you so that you may receive more: for God does not allow Himself to be surpassed in generosity. Leontius relates a wonderful thing about St. John the Almsgiver, Patriarch of Alexandria: "God, he says, sends him many blessings, but he does not keep back anything that he does not immediately give to the poor. Many times some people found him saying in exultation to God: 'So, so, either You by sending, or I by distributing, we shall see who conquers. For it is clear that You are rich, O Lord, and the one who has mercy on our life.'"
Note on the Ceremony of Purification
Note: Together with the purification of the mother in childbed, the infant was also offered to God, if it was a firstborn, as is clear from Luke 2:22, and was redeemed for five shekels, as is clear from Numbers 18:16. Moreover, it is likely that the mother was first purified, and then offered her infant, as Francisco Lucas holds on Luke 2. Where note: this was the rite and order of both these ceremonies.
First, the mother in childbed came to the court of the unclean, and stood there; for she could not enter the court of the clean, being unclean, before her purification.
Second, she offered turtledoves or a young pigeon for sin: it is likely that she was also sprinkled with the ash-water of the red heifer; for that was, as it were, the lustral water in every purification.
Third, she offered the infant to God, and redeemed him.
Fourth, when all was completed, as a thanksgiving she offered to God a lamb or a turtledove, or a young pigeon as a holocaust. But more on these matters at Luke 2. These last two acts the mother in childbed performed (being now purified) while standing in the court of the clean. For there she offered the infant at the entrance of the tabernacle, and there from a distance she watched her holocaust, which was offered in the court of the priests; for between the court of the priests and that of the laity there was only a wall, or a partition three feet high, so that the laity from their court could watch the victims and other things that were done in the court of the priests.