Cornelius a Lapide

Luke I

Table of Contents

Synopsis of the Chapter

First. Luke here describes the conception of John the Baptist, announced by the archangel Gabriel; and then the conception of Christ by the Holy Spirit at verse 26. Second, the Blessed Virgin Mary's visitation and greeting of Elizabeth, through which John leaped for joy in his mother's womb, Elizabeth prophesied, and the Blessed Virgin Mary sang the Magnificat. Third, at verse 57, the nativity of St. John, in which Zacharias the father, though mute, received the power of speech and sang: "Blessed be the Lord God of Israel," etc. — in which he prophesied many and great things concerning Christ and John.

Vulgate Text: Luke 1:1-80

1. Forasmuch as many have taken in hand to set forth in order a narration of the things that have been accomplished among us, 2. just as they have delivered them unto us, who from the beginning were eyewitnesses and ministers of the word; 3. it seemed good to me also, having diligently attained to all things from the beginning, to write to you in order, most excellent Theophilus, 4. that you may know the truth of those words in which you have been instructed. 5. There was in the days of Herod, king of Judea, a certain priest named Zacharias, of the course of Abia; and his wife was of the daughters of Aaron, and her name Elizabeth. 6. Now they were both just before God, walking in all the commandments and justifications of the Lord without blame; 7. and they had no son, for that Elizabeth was barren, and they both were well advanced in years. 8. And it came to pass, when he executed the priestly function in the order of his course before God, 9. according to the custom of the priestly office, it fell to him by lot to offer incense, going into the temple of the Lord; 10. and the whole multitude of the people was praying outside at the hour of incense. 11. And there appeared to him an angel of the Lord, standing on the right side of the altar of incense. 12. And Zacharias, seeing him, was troubled, and fear fell upon him. 13. But the angel said to him: Fear not, Zacharias, for your prayer has been heard, and your wife Elizabeth shall bear you a son, and you shall call his name John. 14. And you shall have joy and gladness, and many shall rejoice at his birth: 15. for he shall be great before the Lord; and he shall drink no wine nor strong drink, and he shall be filled with the Holy Spirit even from his mother's womb; 16. and he shall convert many of the children of Israel to the Lord their God; 17. and he himself shall go before Him in the spirit and power of Elias, to turn the hearts of the fathers to the children, and the unbelievers to the wisdom of the just, to prepare for the Lord a perfect people. 18. And Zacharias said to the angel: How shall I know this? For I am an old man, and my wife is advanced in years. 19. And the angel answering, said to him: I am Gabriel, who stand before God; and I am sent to speak to you, and to bring you this good news. 20. And behold, you shall be silent and unable to speak until the day when these things shall come to pass, because you have not believed my words, which shall be fulfilled in their time. 21. And the people were waiting for Zacharias; and they wondered that he tarried so long in the temple. 22. And when he came out, he could not speak to them; and they knew that he had seen a vision in the temple. And he was making signs to them, and remained mute. 23. And it came to pass, when the days of his office were fulfilled, he went to his own house. 24. And after those days Elizabeth his wife conceived, and she hid herself for five months, saying: 25. Thus has the Lord dealt with me in the days in which He looked upon me, to take away my reproach among men. 26. And in the sixth month, the angel Gabriel was sent from God into a city of Galilee, called Nazareth, 27. to a virgin espoused to a man whose name was Joseph, of the house of David; and the virgin's name was Mary. 28. And the angel, having come in, said to her: Hail, full of grace; the Lord is with you; blessed are you among women. 29. Who having heard, was troubled at his saying, and thought with herself what manner of salutation this should be. 30. And the angel said to her: Fear not, Mary, for you have found grace with God: 31. behold, you shall conceive in your womb, and shall bring forth a son, and you shall call His name Jesus. 32. He shall be great, and shall be called the Son of the Most High; and the Lord God shall give Him the throne of David His father; and He shall reign in the house of Jacob forever, 33. and of His kingdom there shall be no end. 34. And Mary said to the angel: How shall this be done, since I know not man? 35. And the angel answering, said to her: The Holy Spirit shall come upon you, and the power of the Most High shall overshadow you. And therefore also the Holy One who shall be born of you shall be called the Son of God. 36. And behold your cousin Elizabeth, she also has conceived a son in her old age; and this is the sixth month with her who is called barren; 37. because no word shall be impossible with God. 38. And Mary said: Behold the handmaid of the Lord; be it done to me according to your word. And the angel departed from her. 39. And Mary rising up in those days, went into the hill country with haste into a city of Juda; 40. and she entered into the house of Zacharias, and saluted Elizabeth. 41. And it came to pass, when Elizabeth heard the salutation of Mary, the infant leaped in her womb, and Elizabeth was filled with the Holy Spirit; 42. and she cried out with a loud voice and said: Blessed are you among women, and blessed is the fruit of your womb. 43. And how have I deserved that the mother of my Lord should come to me? 44. For behold, as soon as the voice of your salutation sounded in my ears, the infant in my womb leaped for joy. 45. And blessed are you who have believed, because those things shall be accomplished that were spoken to you by the Lord. 46. And Mary said: My soul magnifies the Lord, 47. and my spirit has rejoiced in God my Savior, 48. because He has regarded the lowliness of His handmaid; for behold, from henceforth all generations shall call me blessed. 49. Because He who is mighty has done great things for me, and holy is His name. 50. And His mercy is from generation to generation unto them who fear Him. 51. He has shown might in His arm; He has scattered the proud in the thoughts of their heart. 52. He has put down the mighty from their seat, and has exalted the humble. 53. He has filled the hungry with good things, and the rich He has sent empty away. 54. He has received Israel His servant, being mindful of His mercy; 55. as He spoke to our fathers, to Abraham and to his seed forever. 56. And Mary abode with her about three months, and she returned to her own house. 57. Now Elizabeth's full time of being delivered came, and she brought forth a son. 58. And her neighbors and kinsmen heard that the Lord had shown His great mercy toward her, and they congratulated her. 59. And it came to pass, that on the eighth day they came to circumcise the child, and they called him by his father's name, Zacharias. 60. And his mother answering, said: Not so, but he shall be called John. 61. And they said to her: There is none of your kindred that is called by this name. 62. And they made signs to his father, what he would have him called. 63. And demanding a writing tablet, he wrote, saying: John is his name. And they all wondered. 64. And immediately his mouth was opened, and his tongue loosed, and he spoke, blessing God. 65. And fear came upon all their neighbors; and all these things were noised abroad over all the hill country of Judea. 66. And all they that had heard them laid them up in their heart, saying: What do you think this child shall be? For the hand of the Lord was with him. 67. And Zacharias his father was filled with the Holy Spirit; and he prophesied, saying: 68. Blessed be the Lord God of Israel, because He has visited and wrought the redemption of His people; 69. and has raised up a horn of salvation to us in the house of David His servant, 70. as He spoke by the mouth of His holy ones, who are from the beginning, His prophets; 71. salvation from our enemies, and from the hand of all that hate us; 72. to perform mercy to our fathers, and to remember His holy testament; 73. the oath, which He swore to Abraham our father, that He would grant to us 74. that being delivered from the hand of our enemies, we may serve Him without fear, 75. in holiness and justice before Him all our days. 76. And you, child, shall be called the prophet of the Most High; for you shall go before the face of the Lord to prepare His ways, 77. to give knowledge of salvation to His people, unto the remission of their sins, 78. through the bowels of the mercy of our God, in which the Orient from on high has visited us, 79. to enlighten those who sit in darkness and in the shadow of death, to direct our feet into the way of peace. 80. And the child grew, and was strengthened in spirit; and was in the deserts until the day of his manifestation to Israel.

Verse 1: Many Have Taken in Hand

1. FORASMUCH AS MANY HAVE TAKEN IN HAND TO SET FORTH IN ORDER A NARRATION OF THE THINGS THAT HAVE BEEN ACCOMPLISHED AMONG US (Christians) — concerning Christ, Christ's Church, and the origin and progress of Christians. "Many:" Maldonatus holds that Matthew and Mark the Evangelists are here denoted. But these are few, not many, and only two. Wherefore Luke seems here to strike at the apocryphal Gospels which were circulated under the names of Matthias, Thomas and other Apostles, likewise of Nicodemus, the Nazarenes, the Egyptians, and the Hebrews, as I said in the Proemium.

HAVE BEEN ACCOMPLISHED. — In Greek πεπληροφορημένων, which word signifies two things: first, "have been fulfilled or completed;" second, "have been ascertained with certainty," as S. Ambrose, Theophylact, Euthymius and more recent commentators render it here. Hence the Syriac renders, wherein we have acquiesced in contentment; Vatablus, of things certainly ascertained. Hear S. Ambrose: "He who is founded on the rock, and who has taken up the fullness of faith and the steadfastness of conscience, rightly says: The things which among us are of matters."

Verse 2: Eyewitnesses and Ministers of the Word

2. EVEN AS THEY DELIVERED THEM UNTO US, WHO FROM THE BEGINNING WERE EYEWITNESSES AND MINISTERS OF THE WORD. — In Greek elegantly and forcefully: αὐτόπται καὶ ὑπηρέται γενόμενοι τοῦ λόγου, that is, who were eyewitnesses and beholding ministers of the word, or speech: which you may take first of Christ; for He Himself is the Word of the eternal Father, as if to say, As the Apostles delivered to us, who saw Christ Himself and ministered unto Him. Secondly, of the common speech and preaching; as if to say, As those delivered who saw the deeds of Christ, and being sent by Him ministered themselves in the speech and preaching of the Gospel, and, as Titus says, "who subserved the doctrine which the Saviour had sown." This is what John says, Epist. I, ch. 1, v. 1: "That which was from the beginning, which we have heard, which we have seen with our eyes, which we have looked upon, and our hands have handled of the Word of life, that, I say, we have seen and heard, we declare unto you." The former sense is brought forth by S. Jerome in his preface to Matthew; the latter by the rest, which is also plainer and simpler than the former, though both at length come back to the same.

Verse 3: Most Excellent Theophilus

3. IT SEEMED GOOD TO ME ALSO, HAVING ATTAINED (Greek παρηκολουθηκότι, that is, having followed after and diligently investigated, and therefore attained. Differently the Syriac, who have been intimately close to them) ALL THINGS FROM THE BEGINNING CAREFULLY, IN ORDER (Greek καθεξῆς, that is, first, "afterwards;" second, "distinctly in order," namely, that I may first describe Christ's conception, then nativity, next His life, finally His death and resurrection) TO WRITE TO THEE, MOST EXCELLENT (Syriac, most victorious) THEOPHILUS. — This Theophilus, to whom Luke wrote the Gospel, and then the Acts of the Apostles, was a noble and foremost man of Antioch, who, converted by S. Peter to Christ, wished his house to be consecrated into a church, in which S. Peter, leading the gathering of Christians, set up his primary chair, as S. Clement of Rome narrates, bk. X Recog., last ch. Thus Baronius conjectures, namely, that Luke of Antioch, the physician and painter, wrote these things to Theophilus as to a fellow-citizen and familiar of his own. Theophylact adds that this Theophilus was a disciple, or catechumen, of Luke; for S. Peter, since he alone did not suffice for the crowds streaming to the faith of Christ, employed the labor of many to catechize it and instruct the faithful. See what is said on Acts 1:1.

Furthermore, Theophilus is called "Most Excellent," that is, Optimas, in Greek κράτιστος, meaning most distinguished, most excellent, which was an epithet of governors and magistrates, as of Festus, Felix, etc. See what is said on Acts 23:26. Theophilus therefore here seems to have been a senator or governor of Antioch. Thus the Emperor Trajan rejoiced in the title of "most excellent" above the rest, though he had more honorific eulogies.

Verse 4: The Truth of Those Words

4. THAT THOU MAYEST KNOW THE TRUTH OF THOSE WORDS WHEREIN THOU HAST BEEN INSTRUCTED. — In Greek ἀσφάλειαν, that is, certainty, security, firmness, solidity; as if to say, That thou mayest know that the things about Christ in which thou hast been instructed are most certain, most firm, and most solid.

Verse 5: In the Days of Herod

5. THERE WAS IN THE DAYS OF HEROD, KING OF JUDAEA, A CERTAIN PRIEST NAMED ZACHARIAS, OF THE COURSE OF ABIA; AND HIS WIFE OF THE DAUGHTERS OF AARON, AND HER NAME WAS ELISABETH. — Luke sets forth the name of Herod, first that he may designate the time at which John was born, as also Christ: for thus in the Fasti, by the names of the Consuls and Emperors, deeds and the birthdays of illustrious men are recorded; then, that he may indicate that the sceptre had now departed from Judah, and had been transferred to Herod, a foreigner, and therefore that the time was at hand for the coming of the Messiah, or Christ promised to the Jews, according to Jacob's oracle, Gen. 49:10. This Herod was the first of that name, the father and grandfather of the rest, surnamed the Great, by nation an Idumaean, by fatherland an Ascalonite, by disposition a tyrant, by cruelty a killer of infants. He himself, by the favor of Caesar and the Romans, seized the kingdom of Judaea, but Christ cast him and his descendants down from this kingdom, and within a hundred years, as Josephus witnesses, bk. XVIII, ch. VII, utterly abolished his whole progeny, though most numerous, with a few exceptions, and claimed for Himself, by every right due, the kingdom of Israel — but spiritual and holy.

Hence he is aptly called Herod. For "Herod" in Syriac is the same as a fiery dragon; in Greek it is the same as the hero of Pluto, or the prince of the nether world: for ἥρως is hero, ᾅδης is Pluto or the underworld. Finally in Hebrew, Herod is the same as "skin-clad" or "glorious," says S. Isidore, bk. VII Etymol., ch. x. For "Herod" means, says Pagninus in Nomin. Hebr., skin of glory, or glorying in skins, or mount of glory or arrogance; for עור ur is skin, הר har, mount, הוד hod, glory. Again Herod, says Pagninus, is the same as "conceived of threshing;" for הרה hara is to conceive, דוש dush, to thresh; because Herod threshed and killed the infants conceived and born in Bethlehem: wherefore he himself too, with all his progeny, within a hundred years was threshed and shaken out from the world.

A PRIEST — of the Law and of Aaron's line.

ZACHARIAS. — This man was both a priest and a prophet, and full of the Holy Spirit, as will be clear from verses 64 and 67. Hence he is also reckoned among the Saints in the Roman Martyrology on November 5, where Baronius, following Origen, Gregory of Nyssa, Cyril and Peter of Alexandria, judges this Zachariah to be the martyr slain by Herod between the temple and the altar, and therefore the one of whom Christ speaks in Matt. 23:35. His head is kept and shown at Rome in the Lateran basilica, from which, they report, blood at one time flowed for several days. I saw it there and venerated it. Furthermore, "Zacharias" in Hebrew is the same as "memorial of the Lord," because he sings the memorial of His holy covenant, says Isidore, bk. VII Etymol., ch. VIII.

OF THE COURSE OF ABIA. — The Syriac, from the ministry of the house of Abia; the Arabic, from the ministry of Abia's family; as if to say, Of that class of priests of which, in David's time, the chief was Abia. For David, seeing the descendants of Aaron multiply into a vast multitude of priests, so that they could not all sacrifice and minister together in the temple, distributed them into 24 families or classes, so that each class in order might serve the temple successively for one week. And lest there should be strife among them about the order — which should be first, which second, which third, etc. — he settled this dispute by lot; for these families cast lots, and he to whom the first lot fell obtained the first place, to whom the second the second place, and so on. In this casting of lots the eighth place and the eighth course fell to Abia and his descendants, such as was Zacharias. All these things are clear from 1 Chron. 24:1 and 2 Kings 11:6, 7, 9. Hence Josephus, bk. VII Antiq., ch. XI, speaks thus of David: "He found twenty-four kinships of priests, and appointed that each kinship should minister to God for eight days, from sabbath to sabbath," to avoid confusion, rivalry, lawsuits and quarrels among the priests.

AND HIS WIFE OF THE DAUGHTERS OF AARON. — Priests could take a wife from another tribe, because they had no inheritance in the land of Israel (as the other tribes had) which through marriage (if she, the male line failing, were heir of her father) would pass to the husband of another tribe and thus to that tribe, and so there would be confusion of inheritances and tribes — which was forbidden by law. Zacharias, however, being more religious, took a wife from his own priestly tribe, namely from the daughters not only of Levi, but of Aaron, who was thus the daughter not merely of a Levite, but of a priest: for all the descendants of Aaron were priests; while the other descendants of Levi (who was the great-great-grandfather of Aaron) were Levites. Euthymius gives the reason: "He showed," he says, "that the forerunner descended from the priestly tribe not only according to his father, but also according to his mother, and was priestly on both sides." Wherefore S. Ambrose infers: "Not only from his parents, but also from his ancestors is the nobility of S. John derived; he is exalted not by worldly power, but venerable by succession of religion." She was called Elisabeth, from the wife of the first high priest Aaron, who was the sister of Nahshon, the leader in the tribe of Judah; for she was called Elisabeth, Exodus 6:23. Moreover, this Elisabeth was holy, indeed a prophetess and full of the Holy Spirit, as will appear from verse 41. Hence her memory is honored in the Roman Martyrology on November 5; and from her name, with its sanctity, took their own names S. Elisabeth, daughter of Andrew king of the Hungarians, surnamed mother of the poor, and her niece S. Elisabeth, queen of Portugal, mother of all subsequent kings of Spain and likewise of Portugal.

And her name was Elisabeth. — "Zacharias" in Hebrew is the same as "God hath remembered," or "memory of God;" "Elisabeth" is the same as "the oath of God" or "sceptre and dominion," or "rest," or "fullness;" as if to say, God, mindful of His oath, joined these two together in marriage, that He might raise up the sceptre of the house of David, and bestow rest, abundance and fullness upon His own, "that being delivered without fear from the hand of our enemies, we may serve Him in holiness and righteousness before Him," Luke 1:69. Thus S. Isidore, bk. VII Etymol., ch. x: "Elisabeth," he says, "is interpreted 'the fullness of my God,' or 'the oath of my Lord.'"

Verse 6: Both Just Before God

6. AND THEY WERE BOTH JUST BEFORE GOD. — Many appear just before men, but few before God; because men look upon the face, but God upon the heart and the conscience. So S. Ambrose and Titus. Truly did S. Francis say: "Each man is as much as he is in God's eyes, and no more." For God's judgment is most true and most certain, but that of men often deceives and is deceived.

WALKING IN ALL THE COMMANDMENTS AND JUSTIFICATIONS OF THE LORD WITHOUT BLAME. — That is, observing all God's "commandments," that is, the moral precepts of the decalogue, and "justifications," that is, the ceremonial precepts, namely sacrifices, lustrations and the other sacred rites prescribed by the law of God.

Note: God gave the Hebrews through Moses three kinds of precepts of the law. The first in Hebrew are called מצות mitsvoth, that is, moral precepts, which are contained in the two tables of the decalogue, and contain the laws of nature — both what we owe to God and what we owe to our neighbors. The second are called משפטים mispatim, that is, judgments or judicials, which regard justice and human polity, and especially concern rulers in administering justice, such as the civil laws among Christians. The third are called חקים chuckim, that is, statutes, decrees sanctioned by God, namely ceremonials — sacrifices and sacred rites for the due worship of God: these are here and elsewhere called "justifications," says Euthymius and others; and this, first, because those who observe and fulfill them do what is most fitting and just, namely to render to God latreia, and the worship due and proper to Him by every right. For thus religion is the greatest and transcendent justice. Second, because by these and their observance men were legally justified of old under the old Law: for those who fulfilled them were reckoned by the Synagogue as just and true and faithful Israelites; and this not only by men, but also by God, if they fulfilled them from a true affection of piety and love of God: "For the doers of the law shall be justified," Rom. 2:13. "Know," says Theophylact, "that a commandment can be called a justification, inasmuch as it makes a man just."

Without blame. — In Greek ἄμεμπτοι, that is, blameless, irreproachable; the Syriac, blamelessly; the Arabic, without stain. Note here that the faithful can, indeed must, observe all God's commandments; wherefore they are possible to keep, not impossible, as Calvin blasphemously claims, who twists himself here strangely and all but says that Luke the Evangelist is lying.

Furthermore, "without blame," that is, without crime and mortal sin. For the just man cannot in this life avoid all venial sins. So S. Augustine, epist. 93, and tract 42 on John, past the middle.

Verse 7: Elisabeth Was Barren

7. AND THEY HAD NO SON, BECAUSE ELISABETH WAS BARREN (by her nature and constitution), AND THEY WERE BOTH WELL STRICKEN IN YEARS, — that is, they were aged and old, when men, their warmth failing, cease to beget. He says this to show that John was begotten from them not naturally, but by God's gift and a miracle, as were also other eminent Saints such as Isaac, Joseph, Samuel. Hear S. Augustine, sermon 3 On S. John the Baptist: "S. Elisabeth was indeed barren in body, but fruitful in virtues: her childbearing was not taken away, but deferred, until the time of the flesh should pass, and the passion of the body, the necessity of marriage, the cause of pleasure, the feeling of desire, and all that confounds, weighs upon, and burdens the human conscience. For the sacrificial house was being long purified, the lodging of holiness measured out by Christ the harbinger, the dwelling of an angel, the court of the Holy Spirit, God's temple." And after a few words inserted: "Finally, when all the body's complaint was quieted, and they became in all things without complaint, the voice of barrenness fled, old age revived, faith conceived, chastity bore, and there was born one greater than man, equal to the angels, trumpet of heaven, herald of Christ, secret of the Father, messenger of the Son, standard-bearer of the heavenly King, pardon of sinners, correction of the Jews, calling of the Gentiles, and, to speak properly, the clasp of the Law and of Grace, which joined the robe of the high priest to the holy Father in the body."

Verse 8: When He Executed the Priestly Office

8. AND IT CAME TO PASS, WHEN HE EXECUTED THE PRIESTLY OFFICE IN THE ORDER OF HIS COURSE (which was the eighth, and was called Abia from his first ancestor, as I have already said. Hence the Arabic renders, in the days of the order of his ministry) BEFORE GOD.

Verse 9: His Lot Was to Offer Incense

9. ACCORDING TO THE CUSTOM OF THE PRIESTLY OFFICE, HIS LOT WAS TO OFFER INCENSE (that he might burn incense to God and offer it upon the altar of incense, which by law had to be burned to God twice daily, namely morning and evening), WHEN HE WENT INTO THE TEMPLE OF THE LORD.

BY LOT, — that is, by his course, says Bede, which had first fallen by lot to his family, namely Abia's, namely that it should be eighth in order; for then his courses summoned him to minister in the temple. But in verse 8 mention has already been made of this course; wherefore the lot of which verse 9 speaks is different from the course, and limits and determines the course more particularly; as if to say, When Zacharias was ministering as a priest in the temple in the order of his course, among the various offices of the priests, by lot — that is, by casting lots — it fell to him to perform the office of burning incense. For the priests of the course or class of Abia, because they were many, therefore cast lots for what each should do in the temple and what office he should perform. For there were four principal offices of the priests, as is clear from Exodus 30: the first was to sacrifice the victims and slay and immolate them; the second, to light the lamps on the seven-headed candelabrum; the third, on the sabbath day, to set twelve new loaves on the table of showbread, the old ones having been removed; the fourth, to burn incense on the altar of incense. This fourth, then, fell by lot to Zacharias here, while the other three were allotted to other priests of the same class of Abia. For by lot some were to sacrifice, others to light the lamps, others to prepare and set forth the showbread on the table of God; but to Zacharias fell by lot to burn incense, or to offer it to God by fumigation. This is clear from the Greek ἔλαχε τοῦ θυμιάσαι, that is, having obtained by lot, or having obtained by lot the burning of incense; the Syriac, it fell to him to compound sweet odors; the Arabic, when it was his turn in time to set on incense, namely thymiama, which was composed and compounded of four sweet-smelling substances, that is, stacte, onycha, galbanum and frankincense, Exodus 30:34. See what is said there.

Some think, as S. Ambrose, Bede, Theophylact and S. Augustine, tract 49 on John, that Zacharias was the high priest, led to this by the reason that he himself burned incense on the altar of incense; for they judge that this was in the Holy of Holies, which none could enter except the high priest. But that this altar was not in the Holy of Holies, but in the Holy Place into which the common priests entered daily, I have shown at Exodus 40:24. The phrase "came forth by lot" here confirms the same thing. For the high priest was outside, indeed above, every lot, and could minister in the temple whenever he wished. Add that at this time not Zacharias but Joazar was high priest, as Josephus teaches, bk. XVII Antiquities, ch. VIII. Wherefore Zacharias was not high priest (for this Luke would not have passed over in silence), but a common priest, as Lyranus, Toletus, Maldonatus, Baronius, Salmeron, Abulensis, Jansenius, Carthusianus, Cajetan and Suarez teach, part III, vol. II, disp. XXIII, sect. 1.

Verse 10: The Multitude Praying Without

10. AND THE WHOLE MULTITUDE OF THE PEOPLE WAS PRAYING WITHOUT AT THE HOUR OF INCENSE, — namely in the court outside the Holy Place or temple, for only the priests were permitted to enter this. Before the Holy Place, therefore, was a double court: the first, interior, belonging to the priests, containing the altar of holocausts on which the victims were burned in the open air; the second, exterior, belonging to the laity, who from this court of theirs watched at a distance the sacrifices offered by the priests on the altar of holocausts; but the incense and the altar of incense, which was in the Holy Place covered on every side, they could not see.

The hour of incense. — In Greek, of thymiama, that is, when the priest burned the thymiama on the altar, with the fire placed beneath, and offered the smoke of fumigation in honor and worship of God. For by the custom of all nations incense is burned to God.

Verse 11: An Angel Standing at the Right Side of the Altar

11. AND THERE APPEARED UNTO HIM AN ANGEL (Gabriel, as is clear from verse 19) OF THE LORD, STANDING AT THE RIGHT SIDE OF THE ALTAR OF INCENSE. — "At the right side," first, "because he had come to announce prosperous and good tidings," says Euthymius; second, "because he was bearing a signal mark of divine mercy," says S. Ambrose; "For the Lord is at my right hand, that I may not be moved."

Learn here that angels attend at altars, priests and sacrifices, and cooperate with them, so that by these they worship, honor and adore God; on which subject many examples are found in the Lives of the Saints, some of which I have reviewed at Exodus 29:38; Leviticus 9, last verse; Numbers 4, at the end of the chapter.

Morally: learn here that angels appear while we are engaged in holy places and things, and that God speaks to the soul either by Himself or through angels, when we are engaged in prayer, sacrifice, or similar worship of God, as here the angel appeared to Zacharias while he was burning incense, and brought him the most joyful tidings concerning the John and the Christ who were to be born.

Verse 12: Zacharias Was Troubled

12. AND ZACHARIAS WAS TROUBLED, SEEING HIM: — Both because of the new and unusual vision, and because of the beauty and majesty of the angel appearing; for he appeared in an august and heavenly form which human weakness could scarcely look upon with its eyes: "for man," says Titus, "is not of such strength that he could bear without agitation a vision so strange and unusual." "We are perturbed," says S. Ambrose, "and estranged from our own affection, when we are confronted by the approach of any superior power."

Thus Daniel, ch. 10:8, when the same Archangel Gabriel appeared to him, says: "And there remained no strength in me, but my appearance also was changed in me, and I withered away, nor had I any strength."

Hence it is a sign of a good angel, if he first terrifies, then gladdens: but of an evil one, if at first he gladdens, then makes one sad. Whence S. Anthony, as S. Athanasius testifies in his Life: "If after fear," he says, "joy follows, the vision is from the Lord; for the soul's security is the mark of a present majesty: but if the terror struck remains, it is an enemy that is seen."

Verse 13: Thy Prayer Is Heard

13. BUT THE ANGEL SAID UNTO HIM: FEAR NOT, ZACHARIAS, FOR THY PRAYER IS HEARD, — that prayer by which thou didst pray to God not for having offspring, for he so far despaired of that, says S. Augustine, that he did not even believe the angel promising, v. 20; but that prayer by which as a priest thou didst pray for the sins of the people and the coming of the Messiah, for about His coming Zacharias below, in v. 69, when John had now been born, gives thanks, when by God's prompting he recognized that John would be the paranymph of the Messiah, that is, the forerunner of Christ, as presently the angel here promises him. The sense therefore is: Thy prayer is heard, O Zacharias, that prayer by which as a priest thou didst pray for the salvation of the people and their Saviour the Messiah, for He shall be born very soon. Moreover God, who exceeds the merits and prayers of suppliants, shall give thee a son who shall be His prophet and forerunner. Thus Bede, Euthymius, Theophylact here, and S. Augustine, bk. II De Consensu Evang., ch. 1; and S. Chrysostom, hom. On the Nativity of S. John, vol. II.

Secondly, however, some not badly hold that this prayer of Zacharias was for obtaining offspring, if thou understand that it was poured out by Zacharias not at this time, but long ago when, being younger, he had hope of offspring: for all that follows speaks of this offspring.

AND THY WIFE ELISABETH SHALL BEAR THEE A SON, AND THOU SHALT CALL HIS NAME JOHN. — Why "John?" I answer first: Because "John," says Maldonatus, in Hebrew is the same as "gracious," or as Pagninus, "the Lord's gift" or "mercy." Isidore, bk. VII Etymol., ch. VIII: "John," he says, "is interpreted 'grace of the Lord,' because he is the boundary of prophecy, the forerunner of grace, or the beginning of baptism, through which grace is ministered." Rightly, but not precisely: for so he would rather have had to be called Hanania than John; for חנינה hanina, or chanina, signifies grace. Properly, therefore, and precisely, "John," Hebrew Jehochanan, and by contraction Johanan (whence the Syriac renders Jouchanon), is the same as "God hath shown mercy." For Jehovah, and by contraction Ja, is God's proper name: and חנן chanan or hanan (whence it is clear that "Johannes" should be written with the aspirate h, not Joannes) means "hath had mercy, hath shown grace;" and this God did first and most immediately when, as it has been said, He heard Zacharias's prayer, which in Hebrew is called תחנה techinna, from the same root chanan.

Second, because God had now had mercy on the people by destining a forerunner for the Messiah, namely John, and by very soon sending the Messiah Himself; for through Christ, not through Moses and the law, grace and truth came, John 1:17. So the son of Anna was called "Samuel," that is, "the asked-for" and obtained by the mother's tears from God for the salvation of the whole people, 1 Kings 1:20.

Third, God also had mercy on John, filling him with His grace in a copious and manifold way, says Bede, Jansenius and Maldonatus, a grace by which He made him a teacher of Israel, a prophet, a virgin, an anchorite, a martyr, and the indicator and forerunner of Christ. John was therefore, as it were, a son of the graces, a son, I say, of favors, in whom, in adorning, beautifying and dignifying him, all the graces, all the favors of God, seem to have conspired.

Note here the threefold mystery of the three names: for "Elisabeth," that is, the oath of God promising, and "Zacharias," that is, the memory of God, mindful of His promise, beget for us John, that is, the mercy and grace of God.

Verse 14: Thou Shalt Have Joy and Gladness

14. AND THOU SHALT HAVE JOY AND GLADNESS, — because of thy son John, born by so great a miracle to such great things, as if to say, This son shall be for thee and for many others a cause of the highest joy and exultation. He adds the cause:

Verse 15: He Shall Be Great Before the Lord

15. FOR HE SHALL BE GREAT BEFORE THE LORD, — for it belongs to Him alone, as the best and greatest, to estimate and judge what is great, what is middling, what is small. He therefore alone being truly and absolutely great, knows those things that are truly great. Many, says Theophylact, are called great, but before men, who being themselves small esteem small things as great; but John was great before the Lord, who being great weighs great things.

HE SHALL BE GREAT. — First, by sanctification in his mother's womb; second, by most profound humility; third, by surpassing chastity; fourth, by exemplary penance; fifth, by seraphic zeal; sixth, by his whole life, which was not so much human as angelic, so that John was thought by the Jews and Scribes to be the Messiah; seventh, by sublime prophecy; eighth, by his eremitic life; ninth, by the office of preacher and forerunner of Christ; tenth, by most noble martyrdom. See the 28 privileges granted to John which our Barradius enumerates here. In all these gifts John was great, because he had them not in a common and indifferent way, but in a great, singular and eminent degree. Whence the Church fittingly sings to him:

O exceedingly blessed, and of exalted merit, / Knowing no stain upon thy snow-white purity, / Most mighty martyr, and dweller in the forest groves, / Greatest of prophets.

AND HE SHALL DRINK NEITHER WINE NOR STRONG DRINK. — "Sicera" signifies everything that can intoxicate, as S. Jerome renders it, Lev. 10:9 and elsewhere: for שכר sachar is to be intoxicated; שכור sichor, drunk; שכר sechar, that which intoxicates, sicera. To abstain from wine and strong drink was proper to the Nazarites, such as from this passage John seems to have been throughout his whole life; as if to say, John throughout his whole life shall be a Nazarite and consecrated to God. See Numbers 6. John, says S. Ambrose, crushed the delights of men and the wantonness of the body with great virtue of soul.

AND HE SHALL BE FILLED WITH THE HOLY SPIRIT (Syriac, the Spirit of holiness) EVEN FROM HIS MOTHER'S WOMB, — When, as the Gloss says, upon the Virgin's entering, he leaped in his mother's womb, and fulfilled the office of forerunner as far as he could, as will appear from vv. 41 and 42. John, therefore, was first reborn of God's Spirit before he was born from his mother.

FROM THE WOMB. — The Arabic, in the womb, as if to say, John shall begin to be holy from his very mother's womb, and such shall he remain always to the end of his life.

Thou wilt ask, whether John was truly and really cleansed from original sin and justified in the womb. S. Augustine denies it, epist. 57 to Dardanus, and S. Jerome in ch. 1 of Jeremiah: for they themselves say that John, as also Jeremiah, is said to have been sanctified in the womb, not in reality, but only according to God's predestination; namely because they were destined by God to future holiness, so that the same is said here of John which the Apostle says of himself, Gal. 1: "Who separated me from my mother's womb," etc. Augustine's reason is that to be reborn presupposes being born; but John, existing in the womb, was not yet born: therefore he could not at that time be reborn in reality, but only according to God's predestination.

But the common opinion of the Fathers is to the contrary — Saints Athanasius, Cyprian, Cyril, Ambrose, Gregory, Bernard — whom Toletus, Barradius, Jansenius, Franciscus Lucas and others generally cite and follow. It is proved: First, because here the angel most clearly promises this to John, saying: "And he shall be filled with the Holy Spirit even from his mother's womb," as if to say, From the womb he shall be holy, indeed full of the Holy Spirit. Second, because John at the Blessed Virgin's salutation, while in the womb, believed in Christ, adored Him, loved Him, and leaped for joy, as I shall say on v. 44. For then, when he was visited and saluted by the Blessed Virgin, in the sixth month from his conception, this wondrous sanctification befell him. The same privilege S. Athanasius, S. Bernard and others attribute to Jeremiah, as is clear from Jer. 1:5. See what is said there. To S. Augustine's reason, I answer that a man, in order that he may be reborn through grace, is to be reckoned born when, conceived in the womb, he has received soul and life from God: for then, as he is born with original sin, so through grace he can be cleansed from it and reborn; indeed he can even be baptized, as is clear, if an infant existing in its mother's womb be baptized — whether the mother be dead and cut open, or alive, for example if the infant put out a hand or a foot, which can be washed with water, as the practice of the Church holds.

Verse 16: He Shall Convert Many of Israel

16. AND HE SHALL CONVERT MANY OF THE CHILDREN OF ISRAEL TO THE LORD THEIR GOD, — namely to the Messiah, or Christ. Whence against the Arians it is clear that Christ is God. Hence Bede: It is clear, he says, that Christ is the God of Israel, for in His faith John baptizes.

Verse 17: In the Spirit and Power of Elias

17. AND HE SHALL GO BEFORE HIM IN THE SPIRIT AND POWER OF ELIAS. — He does not say "in the soul of Elias," says Origen, but "in spirit and power," because, as S. Ambrose says, never is there spirit without power, nor power without spirit; for all force and power is from the Holy Spirit, according to that word: "The Holy Spirit shall come upon thee, and the power of the Most High shall overshadow thee," Luke 1:35. "He shall go before Him," namely, the Lord God, that is, Christ the Son of God. For John preceded Christ: first, by being born, for six months before Christ, even as he was conceived, so was he born; second, by baptizing, for he baptized before Christ did; indeed, he who was to baptize Christ first baptized Him; third and especially, by preaching penance, that he might prepare the way for Christ; fourth, by pointing with his finger to Jesus, and by asserting that He was the Messiah and the Lamb of God who would take away the sins of the world; fifth, by dying by martyrdom before Christ; sixth, by descending to the fathers in limbo and announcing to them that Christ would soon come and free them. For in all these things Christ followed John going before.

IN THE SPIRIT AND POWER. — That is, in the spirit of power, that is, of strength and efficacy. For in Greek it is δυνάμει, not ἀρετῇ. It is a hendiadys, as if to say: As Elijah excelled, and at the end of the world will excel, by a spirit robust and efficacious for contending against Antichrist, in order to convert the Jews and the rest from him to Christ; so too John shall wholly excel with the same powerful spirit, that by his preaching and by the example of his most holy life he may move the hardened Jews to penance, and so prepare them for Christ's baptism and grace.

Note: the spirit of John's power was like Elijah's. First, in austerity of life; for John fed on locusts, and was clothed with camel's hair as with a hair shirt, and a leathern girdle, just as Elijah. Second, each dwelt in solitude and was a hermit. Third, in poverty and contempt of the world. Fourth, and more aptly, in the zeal, freedom and ardor of preaching, by which each converted many Israelites to penance, and to God and Christ, and Elijah shall convert them again at the end of the world, according to that passage Ecclus. 48:1: "Elijah arose as fire, and his word burned as a torch." For in a similar way Christ says of John: "He was a burning and shining lamp," John 5:35. Behold, this is the spirit of Elijah's power. Fifth, in fortitude and suffering. For just as Elijah most bravely contended against the priests of Baal and their supporters King Ahab and Jezebel, 1 Kings chs. 18 and 19, and will again contend at the end of the world against Antichrist and his followers, and has suffered and shall suffer many things from them, and at last shall be slain and be a martyr. So likewise John contended against Herod and Herodias, and being beheaded by them obtained the laurel of martyrdom.

The spirit of power therefore signifies two things, namely the power and efficacy of doing good, and thereby of bravely enduring all adversities, both of which was similar in John and Elijah. But rather John is here compared to Elijah as one about to come than as one past, because namely, just as Elijah will go before the Second Coming of Christ with great spirit and efficacy, that he may overcome unbelievers and convert them to the faith; so likewise John went before the first coming of Christ in the same spirit and efficacy, "that he might turn the hearts of the fathers to the children, and the unbelievers to the wisdom of the just," as Gabriel here explains in adding, and Christ in Matthew XI, 14; and this is carefully noted and remarked here by St. Ambrose, Bede, Theophylact, Titus, and St. Gregory, Homily 7 on the Gospel, who explains the phrase "in the spirit and power of Elijah" thus: "Just as Elijah will be the herald of the Judge to come, so also this one has been made the forerunner of the Redeemer." Hear St. Ambrose: "In the spirit and power of Elijah; namely because Elijah had both great virtue and grace, to bring back the souls of the peoples from unbelief to the faith; the virtue of abstinence and of patience, and the spirit of prophesying. Elijah in the desert, John in the desert. The one was fed by ravens; the other by wild berries, and trampling on every enticement of pleasure, he preferred frugality and despised luxury. The one did not seek the favor of King Ahab; the other spurned Herod's. The one divided the Jordan; the other converted it to a saving laver. The latter lives with the Lord on earth; the former appears with the Lord in glory. The latter is the forerunner of the first coming of the Lord, the former of the second. The one after three years watered the earth with rain; and this one after three years soaked the parched ground of our body with the rain of faith," etc.

Finally, fittingly for conferring this spirit of power, that is, of fortitude, upon John, the angel Gabriel was sent, whose name in Hebrew means the same as "fortitude of God," so that he himself might breathe upon John, through this oracle, the fortitude which he drew from God.

THAT HE MAY TURN THE HEARTS OF THE FATHERS TO THE SONS; — namely, that Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, and the other Patriarchs may be well disposed toward their descendants, the Jews living in the time of John and of Christ. John did this, by urging them with word and example to imitate the faith and piety of their fathers: for thus did the fathers recognize their sons as legitimate imitators of themselves and true worshipers of God, when "in what the fathers thought, the sons too shall agree," as St. Augustine, St. Jerome, and Bede say. See what is said on Malachi IV, 6. For these words are taken from Malachi, who speaks literally of Elijah, typically of John, where I have explained these words at length about both; I shall not repeat them here.

AND THE UNBELIEVERS (Greek ἀπειθεῖς, that is, as the Syriac, "the disobedient," namely to the law and the precepts of their forefathers and of Christ, i.e., John will convert the Jews) TO THE WISDOM (Syriac and Arabic, "knowledge") OF THE JUST, — that is, to the faith, wisdom, and understanding, says Euthymius, which the just have had and have in Christ, which consists in this, that we fear and love God and heavenly things, not perishable things, according to Christ's doctrine and life. So Maldonatus. Secondly, more properly Toletus says, John will bring it about that the unbelieving Jews carefully consider the signs of the Messiah's coming given by God to their forefathers, and from them recognize and believe that Christ has already come, and that this Jesus Himself is the One whom John pointed out to the Jews as such with his finger. For this is the work and act of prudence; for this was the voice and preaching of John: "Do penance, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand," Matt. III, 2. This is the knowledge of the saints, Wisdom chap. X, verse 10. See what is said on Malachi IV, 6.

TO PREPARE (so that by his preaching and example of life he may prepare) UNTO THE LORD A PERFECT PEOPLE. — The translator reads κατηρτισμένον, that is, "perfect"; others now read κατεσκευασμένον, that is, "well and perfectly prepared and instructed," namely to receive the faith and doctrine of Christ, and the perfection of grace, justice, and Christian life, brought and preached by Christ from heaven. Hence Theophylact renders "capable"; others, "disposed to the faith of Christ"; the Arabic, "he shall prepare for the Lord a just people."

Verse 18: Whereby Shall I Know This?

18. AND ZACHARIAH SAID TO THE ANGEL: WHEREBY SHALL I KNOW THIS? FOR I AM OLD, AND MY WIFE IS ADVANCED IN DAYS. — That is: Give a sign or miracle whereby you may prove to me that such great things as you promise will truly come to pass. For you promise things so great that I cannot believe your bare words. Zachariah hesitates and doubts the angel's promises, partly because of the magnitude of the things he promised and his desire for them; because these were so great that they far surpassed the powers of nature, he did not compare them with the omnipotence of God, measuring the matter by merely human reckoning; partly because he did not altogether certainly believe that this was a good angel making these promises, although the angel had given him sufficient signs, as is clear from what follows. This hesitation and distrust of Zachariah, however, seems to have come from an unconsidered and ill-deliberated state of mind, and therefore was only a venial sin, for which he was punished and deprived of the faculty of speech. Abraham did otherwise, who believed immediately the angel who promised him the son Isaac from the barren Sarah; because "he was strengthened in faith, giving glory to God, most fully knowing that whatsoever He has promised, He is able also to perform," Rom. IV, 17.

Verse 19: I Am Gabriel

19. AND THE ANGEL ANSWERING, SAID TO HIM: I AM GABRIEL, WHO STAND BEFORE GOD; AND I AM SENT (by God) TO SPEAK TO YOU, AND TO BRING YOU THESE GLAD TIDINGS, — that is, to bring you this good news. For the Gospel (Evangelium) in Greek means the same as "good news." Hence Pagninus renders: "and I may announce these good things to you."

WHO STAND, — that is, I am accustomed to stand, as one ready to minister to God at His every nod, just as servants stand before a king. In Greek παρεστηκώς, that is, "one who has stood," namely in heaven; for now I do not stand there before Him, but have been sent from there to you on earth: although on earth too the angels stand before God and see His face; for God is everywhere, Matt. XVIII, 10. From this you may conclude that the same angels both minister and stand attendant before God, although St. Dionysius the Areopagite and St. Gregory deny this; for Gabriel here both stands and ministers to God, and is sent to Zachariah. Further, that word "I stand" means that Gabriel stands closest before God, and is one of the seven chief angels who are the princes of the heavenly court, just as are Michael and Raphael, who in Tobit chapter XII, verse 15, says: "I am the angel Raphael, one of the seven who stand before God." About these seven angels I have said much on Revelation I, 4. Therefore, although some, like Toletus here, judge that Gabriel is of the second-to-last order, which is that of the Archangels, because elsewhere he is called an Archangel, it seems more truly that he is of the first order, which is the Seraphim, and so is one of the first princes of the heavenly court, and therefore called by many an Archangel, that is, a chief and princely angel; nay, there are those who think him to be the very first among the Seraphim. So thinks Mark Viguerius the Cardinal, in his Christian Decachord, chord I, chapter II, and he proves it with eight reasons, or rather congruities, which I have recounted on Daniel chapter IX, verse 21, all of which reduce to this one: "For the supreme work," he says, "it was fitting to send the supreme angel; but the supreme work of God is the Incarnation of the Word; therefore, Gabriel here, verse 26, sent to announce it, is the supreme angel." But this reason is not conclusive, as I showed there. For the common opinion of theologians is that Michael is the supreme of all the angels and the adversary of Lucifer, Rev. XII, 7.

Furthermore, "Gabriel," says St. Jerome, in his Book on the Etymologies of Hebrew Names, on Luke, in Hebrew means the same as "God has strengthened me," or "fortitude of God," or "God my power." Fittingly, then, he himself was sent so that, in announcing the conception of John, he might breathe into him the spirit of power, that is, the fortitude of Elijah. The same angel announced the conception and incarnation of the eternal Word, verse 26, because this work was one of the supreme virtue, power, and fortitude of God.

Verse 20: Thou Shalt Be Silent

20. AND BEHOLD, YOU SHALL BE SILENT, AND NOT ABLE TO SPEAK, UNTIL THE DAY WHEREIN THESE THINGS SHALL COME TO PASS, BECAUSE YOU HAVE NOT BELIEVED MY WORDS, WHICH SHALL BE FULFILLED IN THEIR TIME. — Theophylact, Titus, and St. Ambrose translate: "And behold, you shall be deaf," and thus it is clearly distinguished from what follows: "and not able to speak"; for otherwise it would be a tautology. For although the Greek σιωπῶν properly signifies silent and mute, nevertheless "deaf" can also be understood by the same word; for these two are by nature connected, so that those born mute are also deaf, and vice versa; wherefore the Greeks call the deaf as well as the mute κωφόν, in Hebrew חרש chares; the Syrians, hares. Zachariah, therefore, was here made both deaf and mute. Hence, in verse 22, he is called κωφός. And hence, in verse 62, they do not speak to Zachariah as to one deaf, but his kinsmen and neighbors signal to him by nods and signs, that he might write by what name he wanted the son just born to him to be called. He, then, because he had been disobedient, is punished with deafness; because he contradicted the angel's words, he is penalized with the loss of the faculty of speech, and is stricken with silence. "The unbelief," says St. Ambrose, "had taken away Zachariah's speech and his hearing." "But deservedly did he suffer these two things," says Theophylact, "so that he neither heard nor spoke; for because he had not obeyed, he is condemned to be deaf, and because he had contradicted, to be silent."

UNTIL THE DAY WHEREIN THESE THINGS SHALL BE DONE, — that is, until John is born to you; Titus says: "Because you uttered an utterly unbelieving word, for that reason you shall be deprived of voice for a while, until, when the thing has now been accomplished, you may acknowledge both your tardiness in believing and again the power of God." Zachariah had asked, distrusting the angel's promises, in verse 18, that the angel give him a sign that John would be born; therefore the angel, complying with him, gives a sign, which at the same time is a punishment, and chastises his unbelief and contradiction, namely, by striking him with deafness and muteness.

Verse 21: The People Were Waiting

21. AND THE PEOPLE WERE WAITING FOR ZACHARIAH, — so that from the Sanctuary, where he had burnt the incense, when it was finished, he might return to them in the court that was before the Sanctuary. AND THEY WONDERED THAT HE TARRIED IN THE TEMPLE. — "He tarried," partly as he was conversing with the angel, partly as he was pondering within himself the magnificent sayings and promises of the angel.

Verse 22: He Could Not Speak

22. AND COMING OUT, HE COULD NOT SPEAK TO THEM (because he was mute), AND THEY KNEW THAT HE HAD SEEN A VISION IN THE TEMPLE (from the fact that they saw him mute, astonished, and bewildered); AND (that is, because) HE WAS MAKING SIGNS TO THEM (with gestures and signs, that he was mute, and had seen a vision), AND HE REMAINED MUTE. — In Greek κωφός, in Syriac hares, that is, deaf as well as mute, as I said on verse 20.

Verse 23: The Days of His Office Were Fulfilled

23. AND IT CAME TO PASS, AFTER THE DAYS OF HIS OFFICE (in Greek λειτουργίας, that is, of the liturgy, that is, of his sacred ministry in the temple) WERE FULFILLED, THAT HE WENT INTO HIS OWN HOUSE, — which was situated in the hill country of Judæa, as is clear from verse 39, where his wife Elisabeth was.

Verse 24: Elisabeth Conceived

24. AND AFTER THOSE DAYS HIS WIFE ELISABETH CONCEIVED. — "He came together with his wife," says Euthymius, "on account of the promised offspring, being taught by the scourge of silence to believe the angelic words." Moreover, Elisabeth conceived John around September 24, on which day many of the Christian churches celebrate the conception of St. John. Hence Usuard and Molanus record the same in the Martyrology on this day: for John was born nine months later on June 24, and six months afterward Gabriel was sent to announce to the Blessed Virgin the conception of Christ, which happened on March 25, as is clear from verses 26 and 36; for from September 24 to March 25 there are six months. Therefore this incense-offering by Zachariah, and his vision and the angelic promise concerning John to be born, seems to have happened shortly before, during the Feast of Tabernacles, or Booths. For this feast was celebrated on the 15th day of the month Tisri, and lasted eight days, as is clear from Lev. XXIII, 34, and Num. XXIX, 12. Now Tisri corresponded partly to our September, partly to October. Fittingly, namely, that it might be signified that John was to be born who, as the future herald of Christ, and through him the unlocking of heaven, would be the cause of common joy for the whole world; for he himself was to teach men that they themselves are pilgrims on earth, and dwell in it as in a temporary tabernacle, and that they are enrolled by God as citizens of heaven, where they shall obtain an eternal and most blessed home. For the joyous Feast of Tabernacles signified all these things, in which the Hebrews, rejoicing with palm branches, danced and leaped, because from the desert, where for 40 years they had lived in tabernacles, they had been led by God into the promised land of Canaan, and had been enriched in it with the goods of the land, as I said on Lev. chap. XXIII, 24. From this it follows that John was conceived about the autumn equinox, and born about the summer solstice, after which the days decrease; Christ conversely was conceived about the spring equinox, and born about the winter solstice, after which the days increase; because, as John said: "He must increase, but I must decrease," as St. Augustine carefully notes, Tractate 14 on John.

AND SHE HID HERSELF FOR FIVE MONTHS, SAYING: — This hiding was a sign of modesty and shame: "For she was ashamed of the age of her childbearing," says St. Ambrose, namely, that being barren and an old woman she had given herself to the marriage-bed, until in the sixth month, as follows, she heard and saw that the Blessed Virgin her kinswoman had conceived while her virginity remained (which was by far more new, rare, and wondrous); for then, coming out in public, she laid aside her shame. Therefore, for five months beforehand, for modesty's sake, she abstained from public appearance, although in the secret of her heart and chamber she rejoiced and congratulated herself on this divine conception of St. John. So Sarah, being barren, when she had received the announcement that Isaac would be born from her, Gen. XVIII, 12: "She laughed secretly, saying: After I have grown old, and my lord (Abraham her husband) is an old man, shall I give myself to pleasure?" For, as St. Ambrose says: "Old men are restrained by their very age, and are called back by a just shame at intemperance from performing the works of marriage." Hence the saying: A shameful thing is an old soldier, a shameful thing an old man's love.

Verse 25: Thus Hath the Lord Dealt With Me

25. FOR THUS HATH THE LORD DEALT WITH ME IN THE DAYS WHEREIN HE HATH HAD REGARD TO TAKE AWAY MY REPROACH (of barrenness, which in that age was a great reproach among the Jews, and as it were a sign of God's curse) AMONG MEN. — "Thus," namely, so magnificently, astoundingly, and miraculously God dealt with me, that He made me, an old and barren woman, fruitful with such offspring. For Elisabeth admires God's kindness toward her, and gives Him thanks with the whole depth of her heart, just as the Blessed Virgin did when she was made Mother of Christ, when she sang in verse 47: "My soul doth magnify the Lord."

Verse 26: In the Sixth Month

26. AND IN THE SIXTH MONTH THE ANGEL GABRIEL WAS SENT FROM GOD INTO A CITY OF GALILEE, NAMED NAZARETH. — "In the sixth month," that is, from the conception of John the Baptist, after his mother Elisabeth had hidden herself for five months; as I said on the preceding verse. Christ therefore was six months younger than John the Baptist; for the latter, being the forerunner of Christ, had to be earlier and older than He. This sixth month must be understood not as beginning but as ending, or rather as completed. For from September 24, when John was conceived, to March 25, when, by the angel being sent to the Blessed Virgin, Christ was conceived, six complete months intervene. "In the sixth month" therefore means at the end of the sixth month, or when the sixth month was finished.

This Annunciation of Gabriel, therefore, and consequently the Incarnation of the Word, happened on March 25, on which same day likewise Christ, after 34 completed years of life, was crucified and died for the salvation of men, as I said on Matt. XXVII, 37. On the same day many think that the world was first founded and created by God, Gen. I, so that on the same day He was created by God on which afterward He was recreated and restored by Christ in the Incarnation and on the Cross. Hence from this day and this month the English, the Venetians, the Pisans, and several other nations (and recently the French) begin and number the years of Christ, as Covarruvias attests, Book I Variar. resol., chap. XII, no. 2; and Henriquez, book VIII On the Eucharist, chap. XI, § 10, letter L; and John Lucidus, treatise On the Passion of Christ. For conception is, as it were, the first nativity of a man, according to the saying: "That which is born in her is of the Holy Spirit," Matt. I, 21.

Angel Gabriel. — St. Jerome notes, on chap. VIII of Daniel, that three angels are named and celebrated in Holy Scripture, namely Michael, Raphael, and Gabriel, of whom he says Michael presides over the prayers and offerings of the faithful, and therefore is called Michael, that is, "who is like God?" — meaning: It is of God alone to hear the prayers of penitents, to be propitious to their sins, and to justify and save them. Secondly, Raphael presides over the health of bodies, and therefore restored sight to blind Tobit: hence he is called Raphael, that is, "the physician, or medicine of God." Thirdly, Gabriel, that is, "the strong one," or "fortitude of God"; he presides over the battles and wars of the faithful, as is clear from Daniel chap. XII, verse 13 and following. Hence he himself is here sent to announce Christ, who was to wage a most fierce war against Lucifer and the other demons and wicked men. Again, Gabriel is said to be as if גבראל geber el, that is, "man God," meaning: God will become incarnate and will be a boy man as to nature, age, and bodily growth, yet nevertheless He will be a man, because from the first moment of conception His soul will be full of all knowledge, grace, and fortitude, according to the saying of Jer. XXXI, 22: "A woman shall encompass a man." Moreover Toletus, from Sts. Dionysius, Basil, Gregory, and Damascene, judges that Michael is of the Principalities, which by St. Dionysius is placed as the first order of the third hierarchy of Angels; but Gabriel is of the order of the Archangels. The truer view, however, is that Michael is the first among the Seraphim, while Gabriel is nearest and adjacent to him, as I said on verse 19.

NAZARETH. — Hence Christ was surnamed a Nazarene, as it were from His homeland where He was conceived (for He was born in Bethlehem), Matt. II, 23. The Blessed Virgin therefore dwelt in Nazareth with Joseph her spouse. Moreover, her house or chamber, in which she conceived Christ at the angel's announcement, was consecrated by St. James and the other Apostles as a church, as L. Dexter relates in his Chronicle at the year of Christ 42, and others. There, three hundred years later, St. Helena built an elegant temple, as Nicephorus attests, book VIII, chap. XXX. St. Paula, St. Louis, and other pilgrims visited the same place. See Tursellinus, in his History of Loreto, chap. I and following. The same [Holy House], after a thousand years, was translated by angels from Galilee and Nazareth into Dalmatia, and thence into Italy, namely to Loreto, where it still stands and is piously visited by the concourse of the whole world, to such a degree that even Erasmus himself (whom the Novators follow as their standard-bearer), in his prayer to the Virgin, thus salutes the Virgin of Loreto: "Hail, illustrious offspring of kings, the glory of priests, the boast of the patriarchs, the triumph of the citizens of heaven, the terror of those below, the hope and solace of Christians; you are nearest to the Divinity, lest there you might be absent from us. Your trust is sure; prostrate I throw myself at your feet, preserve this little soul, which, such as it is, entrusts itself to you."

Verse 27: To a Virgin Betrothed to Joseph

27. TO A VIRGIN BETROTHED TO A MAN, WHOSE NAME WAS JOSEPH, OF THE HOUSE (that is, tribe and family) OF DAVID (to whom Christ had been promised as a son), AND THE VIRGIN'S NAME WAS MARY. — "Betrothed," not by betrothal alone, but also by a true marriage already contracted, although not yet consummated by use. See what is said on Matt. I, 18. "Gabriel was sent," says St. Gregory Thaumaturgus, Sermon 3 On the Annunciation, "to prepare a worthy bridal chamber for the most pure Bridegroom. Gabriel was sent to contract the betrothal between creature and Creator. Gabriel was sent to the living palace of the King. Gabriel was sent to a virgin indeed betrothed to Joseph, but reserved for Jesus the Son of God. The lamp was sent, that it might point out the Sun of righteousness."

TO A VIRGIN. — St. Bernard admirably says, Sermon 1 On the Assumption: "Neither on earth is there a place more worthy than the temple of the virginal womb, in which Mary received the Son of God, nor in heaven than the royal throne on which her Son has exalted Mary." And in Sermon 4: "What even angelic purity dare be compared to that virginity, which was worthy to become the sanctuary of the Holy Spirit and the dwelling-place of the Son of God? This is what the Church sings: The house of the chaste breast / Suddenly becomes a temple of God: / The untouched one, knowing not man, / Conceived a Son by the Word."

MARY. — Note: "Mary," or, as it is said in Hebrew, Miriam, in Greek Μαριάμ, is the same in Hebrew, meaning mor iam, that is, "myrrh," or "the bitterness of the sea." For the Hebrews hand down that Moses' sister was called Mary because, when she was born, began the bitter tyranny of Pharaoh of drowning the Hebrew infants, Exodus II. But this was, by a better omen and divine ordaining, changed into another meaning: for, after the Red Sea had been crossed and Pharaoh drowned, she was called Mary, as if Mara rum, that is, "mistress or lady of the sea"; for just as Moses was the leader of the men, so Mary was the leader of the women in the passage of the Red Sea; whence she also led them in the victory song, Exodus XV. Moreover, this Mary was a type, says St. Ambrose in his Exhortation to Virgins, of the Blessed Virgin, who was called Mary, that is, the mistress and lady of the sea of this world, that through it she may lead us safely into the promised land, that is, into heaven. Hence R. Haccados in Galatinus, book VII, XIII, predicted that the mother of the Messiah would be called Lady (Domina); and that Mary means the same as "Lady" is taught by Philo, St. Jerome, Epiphanius, and others, indeed also by the ancient liturgies. All Christians in every language call and address the Blessed Virgin as, by her own name, Our Lady. Hence St. Isidore, book VII of the Etymologies, chap. X: "Mary," he says, "is interpreted as 'illuminatrix,' or 'star of the sea'; for she gave birth to the Light of the world. In the Syriac language, however, Mary is called Lady: beautifully so, because she gave birth to the Lord." St. Jerome indeed, in his Hebrew Names on Exodus: "Mary," he says, "is the same as 'my illuminatrix,' or 'enlightening them,' or 'myrrh of the sea,' or 'star of the sea.'" So also St. Gregory Thaumaturgus, Sermon On the Annunciation: "Mary is interpreted as illumination." I have said more about the name of Mary on Exodus chap. XV, 20, and on Proverbs and the Canticles.

For this reason Mary was full of grace, and therefore a sea of graces; wherefore, just as "all rivers run into the sea," Eccl. I, 7, so all the graces whatsoever that the Angels, Patriarchs, Prophets, Apostles, Martyrs, Confessors, and Virgins had, flowed together into Mary, says St. Bonaventure in the Mirror, chap. III. Finally, St. Bridget teaches how delightful the name of Mary is to the angels and how terrible to the demons, in book I of the Revelations, chap. IX.

Pagninus adds, in his Hebrew Names: "Mary," he says, "can be interpreted as the early rain (for this in Hebrew is called more) of the sea," according to the saying: "A free rain You shall set apart for Your inheritance," Psalm LXVII, verse 10. Hence also the Psalmist sang beforehand of Christ: "He shall come down like rain upon the fleece," Psalm LXXI, 6. This Gabriel here signifies by his secret entrance.

AND THE ANGEL HAVING COME IN TO HER, SAID. — "Having come in," that is, having slipped in to the enclosed chamber of the Virgin, who was secretly praying for the coming of the Messiah and the salvation of men, through a window or through a door. For the angels, since they are most pure spirits, by their subtlety and efficacy penetrate and pass through all walls and all bodies. Thus St. Bernard, sermon 3 on "Missus est." Although Andrew, Bishop of Jerusalem, in his Sermon On the Annunciation, thinks that the angel secretly opened the door, and modestly addressed and greeted the Virgin.

HAIL. — That is: "greetings, rejoice, be glad." It is likely that the angel used the common Hebrew greeting שלום לך schalom lach, that is, "peace to you," as the Syriac, Ethiopic, and Persian versions have; for the Hebrews use this when they wish to take away fear, and indicate that they are bringing a joyful message. Unless you prefer, with our Serarius on Ruth chap. II, question X, that "Ave," or, as St. Augustine writes in Epistle 43, is in Hebrew חוה chauve, or have, that is, "live," namely, sound as well as holy, glad and cheerful, happy and blessed in the grace of God and in the highest glory, to which He Himself has chosen you, so as to allude to the name of Eve, who in Hebrew is called חוה chauva, that is, the one "living and life-giving," or "mother of all the living," Gen. III, 20 — meaning: Eve was not chauva, that is, the mother of life, but of death, because she handed over all her sons to death through sin; but you, O Mary, are truly Eve or chauva, because you are the mother of life, grace, and glory. Hence fittingly the Latin Ave is Eva reversed, because Mary turned Eve's curses in Gen. III into blessings. Hence the Church chants to her: Taking that "Ave" / from Gabriel's mouth, / establish us in peace, / changing the name of Eve.

"Hail," says St. Gregory Thaumaturgus, Sermons 2 and 3 On the Annunciation, "animated temple of God, because you shall bring forth the supreme joy for the whole world; you shall be the boast of virgins, and the jubilation of mothers." Hence again, in former times, the morning salutation was "Ave," that is, "live today sound and glad"; but the evening salutation was "Vale" ("farewell"). Whence Martial, Epigram 56, book I: "And the inept one brings the morning Ave." And book IV, Epigram 79: "To whom you restless one do not bear a morning Ave."

Andrew of Crete gives the reason, in his Oration On the Annunciation: "It was fitting," he says, "that Gabriel should salute the Queen with joyful proclamations, she who is both the instrument of gladness and the Mother of immense joy."

FULL OF GRACE. — In Greek κεχαριτωμένη, which the Zurich version and the Novators render coldly as "gracious"; Beza, "freely beloved": for he himself holds that the just do not have inherent and intrinsic righteousness, but only extrinsic, which consists in this, that God, although they are sinners in themselves, nevertheless by His benevolence holds and reputes them as just — which is a heresy.

But κεχαριτωμένη corresponds to the Hebrew מחננה nechena, or מחנה muchana, which properly means the same as "made gracious, filled with grace, made gratifying"; for χαριτόω is the same as "I make gracious, pleasing, and dear; I fill with grace." For God judges nothing as pleasing unless it is really pleasing in itself; wherefore, when He makes someone just and pleasing to Himself, He truly endows and adorns him with inherent justice and grace; wherefore κεχαριτωμένη is the same as "full of grace," as our Vulgate, the Syriac, the Arabic, the Egyptian, the Ethiopic, the Persian render it; likewise St. Ambrose, Bede, St. Augustine, Enchiridion chap. XXXVI; St. Jerome, Epistle to Principia; St. Bernard, and others everywhere. This word therefore means two things: First, that the Blessed Virgin was endowed by God with grace, and this fully and pre-eminently above other just and holy persons; for this epithet is here appropriated to the Blessed Virgin alone, namely that through this eminent grace she might be fitted and made worthy soon to become the Mother of God. Secondly, that by this grace she was wondrously pleasing to God and to all His angels, and in their eyes was utterly lovable, beautiful, and gracious, to such a degree that Christ chose her as His mother above all others. So the Fathers everywhere; as Scripture says elsewhere: "She found grace in the eyes of the Lord."

You will say: Christ was fuller of grace than the Blessed Virgin. Other saints, too, are said to have been full of the Holy Spirit, as St. Stephen.

I reply that they are said to be full of grace, but in different ways: for, as Maldonatus rightly says, a spring is full of water, a river is full, the brooks are full, although it is more and purer in the spring than in the river, and more in the river than in the brooks. Christ is full of grace as a spring, in which grace both gushes forth and remains, and is derived to all men just as from a head to the members. Christ's Mother is full, like a river closest to the spring, which, although it has less water than the spring, nevertheless flows in a full channel. Stephen is full, but like a brook.

Elegantly, piously, and solidly St. Peter Chrysologus, Sermon 143 on these words: "This," he says, "is the grace that gave glory to heaven, God to earth, faith to the gentiles, an end to vices, order to life, discipline to morals. This grace the angel brought, the Virgin received, to restore salvation to the ages." The same, Sermon 146: "One maiden so receives, entertains, and delights God in the hospitality of her breast, that she exacts peace for the earth, glory for heaven, salvation for the lost, life for the dead, kinship of earthly things with heavenly, the commerce of God Himself with flesh, as the rent for her very house, she earns it as the price for her very womb, and fulfills that prophecy: Behold, the inheritance of the Lord is sons; the reward is the fruit of the womb."

Hear St. Augustine, Sermon 18 On the Saints: "She (Mary) was filled with grace, and Eve was emptied of guilt. Eve's curse is changed into Mary's blessing." See Toletus here, annotation 67, where he shows that the Blessed Virgin was full of every grace, both sanctifying grace and grace gratuitously given, and this as much in body as in soul. For she was without the fomes of concupiscence: wherefore her flesh was wholly subject to reason and spirit, as was the case with Adam in paradise through original justice. Hence he adds that in her nature conspired with grace, and cooperated with it in all things. Again the Blessed Virgin was pre-eminent in each and in all the virtues: for thus it was fitting that she who was to be the Mother of God should be adorned and prepared. See also what I have said of her throughout the Canticle of Canticles, especially chap. IV, verse 7, on the words: "You are all fair, My love, and there is no spot in you." And Ecclesiasticus chap. XXIV, verses 5 and 16, at the end.

Wherefore St. Athanasius (or whoever is the author; for he seems to have been later than St. Athanasius, as Baronius and Bellarmine carefully note, in their On Ecclesiastical Writers), in the Homily On the Mother of God: "Thus," he says, "the Holy Spirit descended into the Virgin with all His essential virtues, which belong to Him by reason of divine sovereignty, imbuing her with grace, that she might be gracious in all things, and therefore she was named 'full of grace,' because by the fulfilling presence of the Holy Spirit she abounded in all graces." St. Jerome, Sermon On the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin, adds: "Well," he says, "is she 'full,' because it is granted to others by parts; but into Mary the whole fullness of grace pours itself." And a little lower: "Into Mary came the whole fullness of grace that is in Christ, though in another way, because although grace is believed to have been in the holy Fathers and Prophets, yet not in such a full measure."

Further, the Blessed Virgin was so full of grace that, by cooperating strenuously and assiduously with it, she merited that it should be increased and made fuller: for although she was full as far as her present capacity went, so that she had as much grace as she could contain, nevertheless, by cooperating with this grace assiduously and strenuously through fervent acts, she prepared for herself new merit, and consequently a new capacity and disposition to obtain new grace, and this continually, as I have said. See Francisco Suárez, Part III, disputation XVIII, section 4, where he shows that the grace of the Blessed Virgin at the first instant of her conception was greater than the grace which the highest angel had, who consummated all his merits in one act or two; and that she merited more than thousands upon thousands of men merit throughout their whole life. Wherefore the Blessed Virgin, at this first instant, most intensely loving and praising God, surpassed the love, and consequently the merit, of the highest angel. At the second instant of her activity and love, by the increase of grace which at the first instant her merits had indeed received, she doubled the degree of her love and consequently of her merit. At the third instant, doubling the same, she quadrupled her merit with her grace. At the fourth instant, with an equal doubling of the quadruplication and progress, she multiplied the same eightfold; and so on consequently, through each instant of love and operation, continually doubling the grace received, up to the 72nd year of her age, in which she died, she so increased the degrees of grace and merit that in these she surpassed all men and angels whatsoever taken together. Wherefore she alone is more pleasing to God than all others. God therefore loves the Blessed Virgin alone more than the whole Church, that is, more than all men and angels taken together. Thus Suárez. See St. Bridget's Revelations, book I, chap. X, where the Blessed Virgin narrates to her her progress in virtue and the love of God, and the annunciation made to her through the angel, and she asserts that she had been suffused with the same ineffable joy, and that continually; yet she always had her joy mixed with sorrow.

Hear the same, book IV of the Revelations, chap. CVIII: "There are three saints who have pleased Me above the others, namely Mary My mother, John the Baptist, and Mary Magdalene. My Mother, therefore, when and after she was born, was so beautiful that there was no spot in her; which the demons, recognizing well, took so ill, speaking by way of similitude, as though a certain voice of demons had then sounded from hell saying: One virgin proceeds so virtuously and marvelously that she surpasses all in earth and in heaven, and will reach even to the throne of God."

Finally, see the nine fullnesses of grace proper to the Blessed Virgin, which Rutilius Benzonius recounts, book II on the Magnificat, chap. XXVI, doubt 7.

THE LORD IS WITH YOU. — Understand "is," rather than "may be." He gives the reason why she is full of grace: namely, because the Lord is with her and assists her and is at hand in a singular way, that He may work in her the singular work of the Incarnation of the Word. Hence St. Augustine, Sermon 18 On the Saints: "The Lord is with you," he says, "in mind, with you in help, with you in the womb." And St. Bernard, Sermon 3 on "Missus est": "What wonder," he says, "if she was full of grace, with whom the Lord was? But rather this is to be wondered at, how He who had sent the angel to the Virgin was found by the angel to be with the Virgin. Was God then swifter than the angel, so that He Himself more quickly preceded the hastening messenger to earth? And no wonder. For while the King was on His couch, the Virgin's nard gave forth its odor, and the smoke of aromatic perfumes ascended in the sight of His glory, and she found grace before the eyes of the Lord, as those standing by cried out: Who is she that comes up through the desert, like a pillar of smoke from the aromatic spices of myrrh and frankincense?"

And lower down he teaches that God is in all creatures by efficacy: in rational ones by knowledge, in the good by love, and therefore is with them by harmony of will; for through this they join God to themselves. He then adds: "But although it is so with all the Saints, yet especially with Mary, with whom indeed there was so great a consensus, that He joined to Himself not only her will but also her flesh, as though from His own substance and the Virgin's He were making one Christ, or rather becoming one Christ: who, although neither wholly of God, nor wholly of the Virgin, was nevertheless wholly God's and wholly the Virgin's, nor were they two Sons, but one Son of both." Then he teaches that the Lord was with the Blessed Virgin, that is, the whole Holy Trinity. Whence he says: "Not only the Lord the Son is with you, whom you clothe with your flesh, but also the Lord the Holy Spirit, from whom you conceive, and the Lord the Father, who begot Him whom you conceive. The Father, I say, is with you, who makes His Son also yours. The Son is with you, who for the founding of this great mystery takes flesh from you; and you have brought forth among women. The mother of our race brought punishment upon the world; the Mother of our Lord brought salvation to the world. Eve was the author of sin, Mary the author of merit. Eve by killing was harmful; Mary by giving life was profitable. The one struck down, the other healed. For obedience is exchanged for disobedience, faith is compensated for faithlessness." In very truth, therefore, the angel here salutes and praises the Blessed Virgin with the very same laudations with which Joachim the high priest, together with the whole people, saluted Judith on her return from the slaying of Holofernes in chapter 15:10: "You are the glory of Jerusalem, you the joy of Israel, you the honor of our people, for you have acted manfully, and your heart has been strengthened, because you have loved chastity, etc.; therefore also the hand of the Lord has strengthened you, and therefore you shall be blessed forever." Hear also Blessed Peter Chrysologus, Sermon 145 on these words: "Truly blessed is she who was greater than heaven, stronger than earth, wider than the world. For she alone contained Him Whom the world cannot contain. She bore Him Who bears the globe, she begot her own Begetter, she nourished the Nourisher of all living things. Once there was the blessing of the Patriarchs in the fatness of the earth. Behold, our earth has given its fruit." And Andrew of Jerusalem on these same words: "Truly," he says, "blessed are you, whom Ezekiel proclaimed as the true rising of the sun. You alone are truly blessed, whom that man of desires, Daniel, saw as a great mountain, and whom the wondrous Habakkuk saw as the overshadowing mountain; moreover, a mountain of God, a rich mountain, a mountain in which it has pleased God to dwell. Blessed are you, whom Zechariah, that most divine man, saw as a golden candlestick adorned with seven lamps, namely bright and shining with those seven gifts of the Holy Spirit. Truly blessed are you, the paradise of our living wood, who have within you the very Cultivator of the garden of Eden — Christ, I say, the Lord — prefigured in types, Who by a certain ineffable power, like a living river, went forth from your small womb and, as by four sources, watered the face of the world through His Gospel."

AMONG WOMEN. — That it may signify that whatever is best in the threefold state of women is in the Blessed Virgin. For women are either virgins, widows, or joined in matrimony. In virginity integrity is praised, but not sterility. In widows freedom of mind is commended, but not solitude, since it is written in Ecclesiastes 4: "Woe to him that is alone, for when he falls, he has none to lift him up," etc. In marriage the rearing of offspring is reckoned among the goods, but the loss of virginity is not. The Blessed Virgin alone among all women had virginity without sterility; freedom of mind without the lack of companionship, since she was truly espoused to Joseph; and, what is greater than these, the fruitfulness of offspring without violation of virginal modesty. Thus, from the threefold state of women, whatever is good she took to herself; whatever is evil she rejected. Hence deservedly the angel proclaims her blessed above all women.

Finally, St. Bridget, in Book I of the Revelations, chapter 8, heard the Blessed Virgin saying to her: "All praise of the Son is my praise; and he who dishonors Him, dishonors me, because I so fervently loved Him, and He me, that we two were as it were one heart." That she rules over them, as it were, as a queen in heaven, on earth, in purgatory, and in hell, the same St. Bridget teaches in the Angelic Sermon, chapter 20. The same saint, in Book III, chapter 29, addressing the Blessed Virgin: "You," she says, "are likened to the temple of Solomon, in which the true Solomon walked, and He sat enthroned Who made peace between God and men. Blessed therefore are you, Blessed Virgin, in whom the great God was made a little child, the most ancient Lord was made a tiny son, the eternal God and invisible Creator was made a visible creature." The Blessed Virgin replies: "Why do you compare me to Solomon and his temple, since I am the mother of Him Who has neither beginning nor end? For the Son of God, Who is my son, is a priest and the King of kings. Finally, in my temple He clothed Himself spiritually with priestly vestments, in which He offered sacrifice for the world."

In like manner God says in Joshua 1:5: "As I was with Moses, so will I be with you." And the angel to Gideon: "The Lord is with you, most valiant of men," Judges 6:12. Again God to Jeremiah, chapter 1:8: "I," He says, "am with you." And to Paul: "I am with you," Acts 18:10; but so much the more excellently was He with the Blessed Virgin, as the mystery which He wrought in her was more sublime, more powerful, and more divine.

Furthermore, St. Thomas, in Part III, Question 30, article 4, expounds "The Lord is with you" by reference to the conception and incarnation of the Word — understand, soon to be accomplished, not yet accomplished, as I shall show at verse 38. In like manner as St. Thomas speak St. Peter of Alexandria at the Council of Chalcedon, action 1; St. Augustine, Sermon 2; Blessed Peter Damian, Sermon 1 On the Nativity of the Virgin; St. Jerome, Epistle 140 to Principia; but these likewise must be expounded in the future tense, not in the present or past.

BLESSED ARE YOU AMONG WOMEN. — The same was said to Jael, who killed Sisera, Judges 5:24; and to Judith, 16:11. But far more excellently is this same thing said here to the Blessed Virgin, who surpassed Jael, Judith, and all other virgins and matrons with a thousand blessings, gifts, and graces; as if to say: You, O Mary, alone of all women are blessed in a singular manner, because just as you are a virgin, so shall you also be a mother; and just as you will conceive without lust, so also you will bring forth the only-begotten Son of God without pain, whereas other women, descendants of Eve, conceive with lust and bring forth wretched infants with pain, or indeed are sterile.

Verse 29: She Was Troubled at His Saying

29. WHO HAVING HEARD, WAS TROUBLED AT HIS SAYING, AND CONSIDERED WHAT MANNER OF SALUTATION THIS SHOULD BE. — In Greek ἰδοῦσα, that is, "when she had seen"; and so read S. Ambrose (who also for "at his saying" reads "at his entrance"), Theophylact, and Euthymius; whence it is gathered that the Blessed Virgin was troubled, first, from the unusual appearance, brightness, and majesty of the angel; secondly, from the unusual character of his salutation, whence "she considered what manner of salutation this should be." Hear St. Ambrose, Book I On Duties, chapter 8: "At the strange appearance of the male sex the countenance of the Virgin is troubled." Likewise St. Jerome, Epistle 7, which is to Laeta: "Let her imitate," he says, "Mary, whom Gabriel found alone in her chamber, and therefore perhaps she was terrified with fear, because she beheld a man whom she was not accustomed to see."

For although the Blessed Virgin was accustomed to the visions and conversations of angels, nevertheless she had never seen an angel with such great majesty, nor had she heard one saluting her so magnificently. Moreover, St. Bridget in the Angelic Sermon, chapter 16, suggests that she was alarmed because she feared lest the one saluting her so gloriously was not an angel but the devil wishing to delude her. Further, St. Bernard in Sermon 3 on 'Missus est': "She was troubled," he says, "but not perturbed: that she was troubled was a mark of modesty; that she was not perturbed, of fortitude; that she was silent and reflected, of prudence."

SHE WAS TROUBLED. — That is, she feared and was filled with a certain sacred dread, with a certain bodily commotion which is wont to accompany great fear and dread of the soul. Moreover, this troubling of fear was not a passion but a pro-passion, that is, voluntarily permitted and assumed by the Blessed Virgin. For no passions could hold dominion in the Blessed Virgin, nor even arise, nor anticipate her reason and liberty. For she excelled in original justice more than Adam. So Toletus. In like manner Christ, as His passion drew near, praying in the garden, began to fear and to be sorrowful — freely, that is, not unwillingly or under constraint.

WHAT MANNER — in itself, that is, how magnificent, august, surpassing the powers and merits of all men, and therefore her own as well. For she herself, being most humble, judged far different, nay even contrary things about herself. For she thought within herself: I seem to myself unworthy of every grace; how then does the angel call me "full of grace?" I, a poor little one, dwell and converse with poor virgins; how then does the angel sound in my ears: "The Lord is with you?" I esteem myself the least and most worthless of all women; how then does the angel say to me: "Blessed are you among women?"

Again "what manner," namely in its end, as if to say: The Blessed Virgin was considering to what end, and for what purpose she was being saluted so honorably by the angel. For so magnificent an angelic salutation was directed toward the magnificent mystery of the Incarnation to be accomplished in her, so that, esteeming herself unworthy of it, she might not excuse herself and refuse, but knowing that God had adorned her with graces and gifts sufficient for it, she might consent to it and assent; and so, with her assenting, the Word might take flesh to Himself from her most pure blood. Since therefore she did not know this end, she was considering and marveling why she was being saluted so splendidly by the angel. Nevertheless she answered nothing, because, as St. Ambrose says in Book I On Duties, "out of modesty she did not return the greeting, nor did she give any reply," because modesty and amazement absorbed her mind and tied her tongue, and because she was prudently considering what she should answer.

Hear St. Ambrose: "Learn modesty from the Virgin, because she was afraid; for it follows: Who having heard, etc. It belongs to virgins to tremble, and at every approach of a man to be afraid, to fear every word of a man. Learn, O virgin, to avoid wantonness of speech. Mary feared even the salutation of an angel." And the Greek Scholiast in the Catena of St. Thomas: "Since she was accustomed to these visions," he says, "the Evangelist attributes the troubling not to the vision but to the report, saying: She was troubled at his words. Note, moreover, both the modesty and prudence of the Virgin, her soul and her voice alike. Having heard the joyful word, she examined it, and neither manifestly opposed it through unbelief, nor immediately obeyed out of levity, avoiding both Eve's levity and Zechariah's hardness." "Preferring doubtless," says St. Bernard, Homily 4 on 'Missus est', "humbly not to answer, than rashly to speak what she did not know."

Verse 30: Thou Hast Found Grace With God

30. AND THE ANGEL SAID TO HER: FEAR NOT, MARY, FOR YOU HAVE FOUND GRACE WITH GOD. — The angel wipes away the fear and the modesty arising from it in the Virgin through 'grace,' that is, the favor and benevolence which he says she has found in the eyes of God above all women: first, because God from eternity, above all others, without merit, out of His gratuitous love chose her to be His mother, from whom He would take flesh; secondly, because in time, as soon as she was conceived and born, He so adorned her with every virtue and grace that in His sight she appeared plainly pleasing and worthy to be loved by Him and exalted above all others; as if to say: Do not, O Mary, wonder, fear, and be astonished at such unusual titles of honor with which I have saluted you, because, although in your own eyes you acknowledge yourself small and humble and not to have merited them of yourself; yet God, Who exalts the humble, has adorned and exalted you with these same graces.

St. Bridget, in the Angelic Sermon, chapter 5, writes that when God was creating this great world, there stood before Him a lesser world, namely the Blessed Virgin, "from whom greater glory was to come to God, and greater joy to the angels, and greater benefit to every man willing to enjoy His goodness, than was to proceed from this greater world." And in the same place, chapter 12, she asserts that the Blessed Virgin pleased God as a bride: God the Father through angelic virginity; the Son, through the most profound humility by which she drew Him into her womb; the Holy Spirit, through the most ready obedience, on account of which she was filled by Him with the gifts of all graces.

"O if thou didst know," he says (St. Bernard, continuing from hom. 3 on Missus est), "how much thy humility pleases the Most High, what great loftiness awaits thee with Him, thou wouldst judge thyself unworthy of the angelic address and service." Hence learn how great was the humility of the Virgin, who by the Most High merited to be so exalted.

The second was her angelic virginity: for this drew God, who is the purest spirit, and the uncreated Virgin, as a rhinoceros into her bosom. Whence Venantius Fortunatus sings of her thus: "Blessed virginity, worthy to bring forth the Thunderer, / Which merited to generate her own Lord." And Basil, in homily On the human generation of Christ: "Virginity," he says, "was chosen as apt and most akin to holiness." Hear St. Bernard, sermon on the Nativity of Blessed Mary: "Fear not, Mary, marvel not at the angel coming, for One greater than the angel comes. Marvel not at the angel of the Lord; for the Lord of the angel is with thee. Finally, why shouldst thou not see the angel, when thou dost already live angelically? Why should not the angel visit a companion of his life? Why should he not salute a fellow-citizen of the Saints and a member of God's household? Virginity is plainly an angelic life, and they who shall not marry nor be given in marriage shall be as the angels of God."

The third was her most ardent charity, by which the Blessed Virgin, solicitous for the redemption of men and the coming of the Messiah, poured forth constant and fervent prayers for both, and thus obtained both, and so merited to become the Mother of the Messiah herself, not by condign, but by congruous merit. So St. Bernard, hom. 3 on Missus est: "Thou hast found," he says, "what thou soughtest. Thou hast found what no one before thee was able to find. Thou hast found grace with God: what grace? The peace of God and men, the destruction of death, the reparation of life." Thus the Scholastics commonly teach that the Blessed Virgin merited the Motherhood of God. See Suarez and Vasquez, III part., Quest. II, disp. II, num. 2 and following; who teach that the Blessed Virgin merited by congruity, not by condignity, that she should become the Mother of God, but did not merit the very Incarnation of the Word; for this precedes all merit, and is its cause, principle, and origin.

Verse 31: Thou Shalt Conceive and Bring Forth a Son

31. BEHOLD, THOU SHALT CONCEIVE IN THY WOMB (Arabic: thou shalt receive a pregnancy) AND SHALT BRING FORTH A SON, AND THOU SHALT CALL HIS NAME JESUS. — The Syriac reads: for behold. The angel proves that Mary had found grace with God from the fact that she would conceive and bring forth Jesus, that is, God and man. He alludes to, nay, cites the oracle of Isaiah, VII, 14; as if to say: Thou art that most blessed among all humans, of whom Isaiah, 700 years before, stunned and exulting, prophesied: "Behold, a Virgin shall conceive and bring forth a son, and His name shall be called Emmanuel." See what is said there and on Matt. I, 23, where I have said much concerning the name Jesus, that is, Saviour.

Hence are refuted: firstly, Manichaeus, saying that Christ did not assume true flesh from the Virgin, but phantastic flesh; for a son who is conceived in the womb and brought forth is real, not phantastic. Secondly, Valentinus, teaching that Christ brought His flesh from heaven, and merely passed through the Blessed Virgin, as water passes through a channel. Thirdly, Nestorius, asserting that the Blessed Virgin is not the Mother of God, because she is not the mother of the divinity; to whom St. Cyril rightly responds that she is truly the Mother of God, even though she did not generate His divinity, but only His humanity, because she bore this man, namely Jesus, who truly is God, just as a father is truly called the father of his son, even though he does not generate his soul, but only his flesh; because he generates this man, who consists of both soul and flesh.

Verse 32: He Shall Be Great, the Son of the Most High

32. He shall be great, and shall be called the Son of the Most High. — "Great" both as God and as man, because "He who was great God shall be great man, a great teacher, a great Prophet, nay the Messiah, Saviour of the world, etc., who shall merit to be called the Son of the Most High, plainly great, who is as great as He is most high, because He Himself is also the Most High," says St. Bernard, sermon 3 on Missus est. John the Baptist was only a great man; but Jesus was great God and man: for, as St. Gregory says, "neither does the assumption of flesh detract from the loftiness of the Divinity, but rather the humility of the humanity is exalted. Hence follows: And He shall be called the Son of the Most High," that is, He shall truly be so through hypostatic union, so that He may and ought rightly to be called the Son of God. It is a metonymy, whereby a thing is said to be so called because such it shall be.

St. Bernard adds, in the homily 3 already cited: "For He shall be great, because God shall magnify Him in the sight of kings; so that all kings shall adore Him, and all nations shall serve Him."

Verse 33: Of His Kingdom There Shall Be No End

33. AND THE LORD GOD SHALL GIVE UNTO HIM THE THRONE OF DAVID HIS FATHER. AND HE SHALL REIGN IN THE HOUSE OF JACOB FOR EVER, AND OF HIS KINGDOM THERE SHALL BE NO END. — He alludes to, nay cites, Isaiah, chapter IX, verses 6 and 7, as if to say: In the son to be born of thee, O Mary, namely in Jesus, shall be fulfilled the prophecy of Isaiah and of the other Prophets, concerning the kingdom of David His father to be consigned to Him in perpetuity. For Isaiah prophesied thus concerning Him: "The government is laid upon His shoulder, etc., His dominion shall be multiplied, and of peace (of His peaceful kingdom) there shall be no end: upon the throne of David, and upon His kingdom shall He sit." See what is said there.

AND HE SHALL REIGN IN THE HOUSE OF JACOB. — That is, in the Church, as Bede, Titus, and others everywhere say, or in the faithful people, which at the birth of Christ was the people of Israel, that is, the children and descendants of Jacob, namely the Church.

This kingdom in David was temporal, but in Christ it is spiritual and eternal; for through it Christ reigns in the faithful and the saints here through grace, and shall reign in heaven through glory, says St. Bernard, sermon 4 on Missus est. Moreover, God gave this kingdom to Christ as it were in first act in the very Incarnation of Christ, while in second act this kingdom began when Christ was preaching, and was then advanced by the preaching of the Apostles; it was made perfect after Christ's resurrection and ascension; and shall be wholly consummated and glorious after the general judgment in heaven. See what I said about this kingdom of Christ on Matt. XXVIII, 11.

Tropologically: St. Bernard, hom. 4 on Missus est: "Come," he says, "Lord Jesus, take away the stumbling blocks from Thy kingdom, which is my soul, that Thou, who oughtest to, mayest reign in it. For avarice has come, and claims a seat for itself in me; boasting desires to rule over me; pride wishes to be king to me; lust says: I shall reign; ambition, detraction, envy, and wrath contend within myself over whose I shall chiefly appear, etc. And I say: I have no king but the Lord Jesus. Come therefore, Lord, scatter them by Thy power; Thou shalt reign in me, because Thou art Thyself my King, and my God, who commandest the salvation of Jacob."

Verse 34: How Shall This Be Done?

34. BUT MARY SAID TO THE ANGEL: HOW SHALL THIS BE DONE, BECAUSE I KNOW NOT MAN? — "How?" The Virgin therefore does not doubt about the truth of the prophecy and the angelic promise, as Calvin blasphemes, who portrays her as unbelieving; but she is anxious about the manner, lest this conception and birth of a son should be done with any loss of her virginity and of the vow she had made concerning it. So St. Ambrose, Theophylact, Bede, St. Bernard, and others passim here; St. Augustine, De S. Virginitate, chap. IV.

Learn here how great was the zeal and love of virginity in the Blessed Virgin, because she herself preferred chastity to the angelic message, as Nyssen says, and she preferred to be a virgin rather than precisely to be the Mother of God, as St. Anselm says. For virginity in itself is a virtue most pleasing to God, while maternity precisely is not. So St. Gregory of Nyssa, oration On the Nativity of Christ: "Hear," he says, "the modest voice of the Virgin. The angel announces a birth; but she clings to virginity, and judges her integrity to be preferred to the angelic announcement (Behold, thou shalt conceive and bring forth a son, and thou shalt call His name Jesus)." And after some lines: "But because it was necessary that flesh consecrated to God, as some holy gift offered, should be kept intact and whole, therefore," he says, "though thou be an angel, though thou come from heaven, though that which is shown surpass human nature, yet for me to know man is unlawful. How shall I be a mother without a man? For I know Joseph as a betrothed; but I know no man." I said precisely: for otherwise the maternity of God is an incomprehensible dignity (just as God Himself is incomprehensible) and an abyss of all graces. For this reason the Blessed Virgin was endowed with more than angelic virginity, humility, charity, and other virtues, so that she might be worthy to become the Mother of God. So St. Augustine, St. Thomas, and the Theologians cited above.

Wherefore Bede, hom. On the Annunciation of the Virgin, says: "It was granted by divine gift, that she first among women should offer to God the gift of virginity." And Albertus Magnus, on Missus est, ch. LXXXII: "The Blessed Virgin," he says, "is the mother of all in virginity, who first, without precept, counsel, or example, offered the gift of virginity to God, by which she generated all virgins through the imitation of virginity." Therefore the Blessed Virgin, most zealous of virginity and of the vow she had made concerning it, proposes this and as it were sets it in opposition to the angel. For there was contending in her the desire of conceiving the Son of God with the fear of losing her virginity, and therefore she obtained both, says Toletus, who in his Annotation V. 96 gives six causes why the Blessed Virgin always, even after giving birth, remained a virgin. The sense therefore is, as if to say: I fully believe thy promises, O Gabriel, which thou announcest to me from the mouth of God. I certainly believe that I shall conceive and bring forth Jesus the Son of God, but I am in doubt about the manner. "I know not man;" because I have made a vow of virginity. I doubt therefore whether it shall be done with my vow preserved or released; if God wishes to dispense me in this vow and wishes me to enter upon the conjugal work, even though this be hard for me, nevertheless, God being willing, I shall obey; but if God requires my desire, I candidly confess that I most greatly wish to preserve my virginity offered to Him by vow; for He Himself inspired this disposition in me, He, I say, who is the purest spirit, and therefore the first virgin, as Nazianzen says in his poem On Virginity, and this will be honorable to Jesus my son, if He be born of a virgin. For I know that Isaiah foretold: "Behold, a virgin shall conceive and bring forth" Emmanuel; and perhaps God wishes me to be this virgin. If so, let it be, let it be. Hence when she presently heard from Gabriel that she would conceive, not from a man but from the Holy Spirit, she immediately applauded with great joy of heart, and said: "Behold the handmaid of the Lord, be it done unto me according to thy word." And this God wished to hear, namely that she herself through the profession of virginity should merit to become the Mother of God.

BECAUSE I KNOW NOT MAN. — As if to say: I have Joseph as a husband, but I do not know him, that is, I am not accustomed to know, I cannot know, because of the vow of virginity which I have made to God. So abstainers say, I do not drink wine, that is, I cannot drink, I abhor wine. For no just cause of excuse or hesitation can be given or feigned in the Virgin here other than moral impossibility from a vow, which the Blessed Virgin made before the angelic Annunciation — as St. Augustine, Nyssen, Bede, Bernard, Anselm, Rupert teach, whom our Canisius cites, book II of the Marial, ch. XIV. Whence Nyssen: "Joseph," he says, "indeed I know as a betrothed, but a husband I do not know." Which truly, says St. Augustine, she would not say unless she had previously vowed herself a virgin to God; but because the customs of the Israelites still refused this, she was betrothed to a just man, who would not violently take away, but rather keep against the violent, what she had already vowed." Thus far Augustine. For, as Nyssen says, "flesh dedicated and consecrated to God, as a certain holy offering, had to be preserved intact."

From the cited words of St. Augustine it is clear that the Blessed Virgin made a vow of virginity not only before the angel's annunciation, but even before her betrothal, that is, before she was betrothed to Joseph. For this befitted her who was to be the Mother of God. She therefore declared her vow to Joseph, and Joseph consented to the observance of the vow and promised it before he took her as wife. Hence the Blessed Virgin, now certain of the guardianship of her virginity and her vow, wedded Joseph. For the essence of matrimony consists in the mutual power over the bodies of husband and wife, not in its use, as Calvin maintains. See what was said on Matt. I, 18. Moreover, Rupert, Canticle III, thinks that the Blessed Virgin was the first of all to vow virginity to God. So also Abulensis on Exodus, ch. XXXV, at the end of the chapter: "We grant," he says, "that certain men, such as Elijah, Jeremiah, Elisha, and the Essenes, cultivated virginity, etc., but that the Mother of God was the first to make a vow of virginity we most certainly know. She therefore raised the standard of admirable virginity, so that she is called the most illustrious exemplar, mother, princess, and leader of all other virgins."

Verse 35: The Holy Spirit Shall Come Upon Thee

35. AND THE ANGEL ANSWERING SAID TO HER: THE HOLY SPIRIT SHALL COME UPON THEE, AND THE POWER OF THE MOST HIGH SHALL OVERSHADOW THEE; AND THEREFORE ALSO THE HOLY THING WHICH SHALL BE BORN OF THEE, SHALL BE CALLED THE SON OF GOD.

THE HOLY SPIRIT. — Note first, the Incarnation was terminated in the Person of the Word alone, or the Son of God; for He alone was incarnated and made man, not the Father, not the Holy Spirit. Yet the whole Holy Trinity effectively wrought this Incarnation, not the Son alone; because works ad extra are common to the whole Trinity, as the Theologians say. Hear the XVI Council of Toledo: "When He says that the Holy Spirit shall come upon her, and forewarns her that the power of the Most High, who is the Son of God the Father, shall overshadow her, He shows that the whole Trinity co-operates in the flesh of the same Son." Yet this work of the Incarnation is appropriated to the Holy Spirit: firstly, because this work was most holy; secondly, because the works of our redemption and of the supreme goodness of God are appropriated to the Holy Spirit, in that He Himself proceeds as the notional love of the Father and the Son, just as wisdom is appropriated to the Son as the Word, and omnipotence to the Father as principle and source. So St. Augustine, Enchiridion, ch. XL. Moreover, the Holy Spirit was the Artificer of Christ's humanity, because He formed, organized, disposed, and animated it; yet He cannot be called its father, because He conferred or communicated nothing of His own substance to it, as St. Augustine teaches in the Enchiridion, ch. XXXVIII.

Furthermore, that a virgin by the power of God can conceive and bring forth is demonstrated by St. Cyril, Catechesis 12, and he first refutes the Gentiles with these arguments: "You who say," he says, "that stones cast are changed into men, how can you deny that a virgin can bring forth? You who fable a daughter born from the brain of Jove, how can you say it is impossible for anyone to be born from a virginal womb? You who falsely say that Bacchus was begotten from the thigh of your Jove, why do you reject our truth?" And he binds the Jews with these arguments: "Sarah was barren, and when her female functions were already failing, she gave birth beyond nature; either deny both, or grant both. For the same God wrought both." He adds: "God who changed Moses' dry rod into a living animal, namely a serpent, why cannot He produce a living man from a living virgin? God formed from a man, namely from the virgin Adam, a virgin woman, namely Eve; why can He not equally form from a virgin woman a virgin man? Eve was begotten from man alone. Let Mary therefore render the mutual service of this grace, and she gave birth not from a man, but from herself alone, immaculately from the Holy Spirit, and by the power of God." Finally, God formed the living Adam from dry dust; why cannot He form a man from a living virgin? For a virgin is more than dust.

SHALL COME UPON (Arabic: shall descend upon) THEE, — to this end, that the conception of Christ and Christ Himself should be holy, not only by virtue of the hypostatic union with the Word, but also by virtue of such and so divine a conception, namely that He was conceived not from man or angel, but from the Holy Spirit. Wherefore, by virtue of this conception, Christ was not a son of Adam such as to contract original sin from him and to be born a sinner, as we are all born, but He was most pure and most holy.

Toletus adduces six other causes why Christ was conceived of the Holy Spirit, Annotation 95, among which the principal is that of Origen and Maximus, hom. 3 On the Nativity, namely that it befitted God to be conceived in a new manner, that is, from a virgin by the operation of the Holy Spirit. For since Christ, who was being conceived, was God and man, it was fitting that both should be made known in the conception; for the conception itself declared Him to be man, for He would not be conceived unless He were a man; and the manner of the conception showed Him also to be God, for to be conceived of a virgin without a man indicated that He who was conceived was more than man.

Hence Tertullian, in his book On the Flesh of Christ, says that it was altogether fitting that the Son of God, as the new dedicator of a new birth, should be born of a Virgin. And Sophronius, in his sermon On the Assumption, asserts that Christ, the bridegroom of virgins, for this reason chose a Virgin Mother, that she might be to all an example of chastity, in which as in a mirror the form of virtue shines forth.

Mystically: St. Cyril of Jerusalem, Catechesis 12: The Lord, he says, willed to be born of a Virgin, in order to signify that His members would be born according to the spirit of the Virgin Church.

Lactantius gives another cause, namely that Christ, who in heaven is ἀμήτωρ (without mother), on earth is ἀπάτωρ (without father). But the first cause is the principal one, namely that Christ should be born pure and holy, without original sin, as the son of a Virgin, not of Adam — which St. Augustine gives, book I On Marriage and Concupiscence, ch. XII. Whence St. Anselm learnedly concludes, book On the Conception of the Virgin, ch. XI, that if any man were born miraculously from a woman alone, without the work of a man, he would not contract original sin, from the fact that he is not a son of Adam, nor does he proceed from him by seminal force. Finally St. Bernard, sermon 2 on Missus est: "Such a nativity," he says, "befitted God, that He should be born of none but a Virgin. Such a birth was fitting for the Virgin, that she should bring forth none but God."

Wherefore Proclus, patriarch of Constantinople, contemporary of St. Cyril, in his homily On the Nativity of Christ: "Mary," he says, "is the spiritual paradise of Adam, Mary is the workshop of natures united together, Mary is the festive assembly of saving reconciliation, Mary is the bridal chamber in which the Word espoused human flesh to Himself, Mary is the animate bush of nature which the fire of the divine birth did not consume." And after some lines: "Mary, handmaid and mother, Virgin and heaven. She alone is the bridge by which God descended to man. This is that admirable loom of His economy, from which and in which, in some ineffable manner, was fashioned the admirable tunic of that union; the weaver of which was the Holy Spirit; the spinner, the Power overshadowing from on high; the wool, the ancient and hairy skin of Adam; the warp, the undefiled flesh of the Virgin; the shuttle of the weaver, the boundless grace of the One bearing Him; the artificer, the Word entering in through hearing."

AND THE POWER OF THE MOST HIGH SHALL OVERSHADOW THEE. — "Power," that is, the strength, vigor, and omnipotence of God, for the accomplishing of the Incarnation of the Word, a work so difficult and arduous that by no power, or force of nature, or of the most powerful Angel, can it be effected. Again, not unsuitably, Euthymius and Maldonatus: "The Power of the Most High," they say, is the Holy Spirit, who powerfully accomplishes the holy works of God, so that the angel may explain what he has said, "The Holy Spirit shall come upon thee," by adding: "And the Power of the Most High shall overshadow thee." So below, chap. XXIV, v. 49, Christ says to the Apostles: "Sit in the city until you be clothed with power from on high," that is, with the Holy Spirit. This is what the Church sings: "Almighty and eternal God, who by the co-operation of the Holy Spirit didst prepare the body and soul of the glorious Virgin Mother Mary, that she might be made a worthy habitation of Thy Son."

SHALL OVERSHADOW. — In Greek, ἐπισκιάσει. The Holy Fathers variously and fittingly explain the metaphor of this overshadowing. First, St. Gregory, book XXXIII of the Morals, ch. III: "Shall overshadow," that is, shall make a shadow, or produce a shadow in thee; as if to say: The Word of God shall take up in thee a body, which shall be as it were a shadow of the Deity; because like a shadow it shall veil and hide Him. Hence the same, book XVIII of the Morals, ch. XII: "The Power of the Most High shall overshadow thee," that is, he says, the incorporeal light of the Divinity shall receive in thee a body of humanity. Origen adds, hom. 3 on Joshua, that the body of Christ is called a shadow, because in the Passion, like a shadow, it was humbled, darkened, and obscured.

Secondly, St. Ambrose, sermon 8 on Psalm CXVIII, takes the shadow for the present mortal life, which the Spirit gave to Christ; for this is as it were a shadow of the true life and of eternity.

Thirdly, the same St. Ambrose, book On Those Who Are Initiated into the Mysteries, ch. III; Bede; St. Gregory, book III of the Morals, ch. III; and St. Augustine, epistle 57 to Dardanus, and book of 50 Homilies, hom. 44, explain this "shall overshadow" thus, as if to say: The grace of the Holy Spirit, as a shadow cooling the heat of carnal concupiscence, shall protect thee, O Virgin, in the conception of Christ, so that thou mayest conceive Christ without concupiscence from most pure charity.

Fourthly, St. Augustine, in the book of Questions of the Old and New Testament, ch. LI: "The Power of the Most High shall overshadow," that is, he says, shall adapt itself to thee, as a shadow fits itself to a body; for thy human weakness could not bear its whole force and efficacy.

Fifthly, St. Hilary, book II On the Trinity: "The Power of the Most High shall overshadow thee," that is, he says, shall protect and strengthen thee, so that thou mayest be able to sustain the activity of the Holy Spirit in so great a work and in conceiving the Son of God.

Sixthly, Theophylact takes the Greek ἐπισκιάζειν, that is, to overshadow, for σκιαγραφῶν, that is, to draw the outer lines of a picture, as if to say: The power of God in thee, O Virgin, shall describe and complete the outlines of the body of Christ, as a painter does in the man whom he paints. For painters have learned to paint the very thing from shadow, as from a natural likeness of the body. Therefore, just as the body is recognized from a shadow as from a picture, so from the humanity of Christ as from a shadow we recognize His divinity, says Nyssen, oration On the Nativity of Christ.

Seventhly, Jansenius and Toletus, as if to say: The Power of the Most High shall embrace thee, and shall make thee fruitful by its power, as a man overshadows a woman and makes her fruitful in the work of generation. But this seems too gross and little modest to chaste ears.

Eighthly, more simply and more chastely: "The Power of the Most High shall overshadow thee," that is, shall veil thee, that is, shall work in thee secretly the greatest mystery; for it shall be so great and of such a kind that no man or angel can penetrate and comprehend it: for in the Old Testament the invisible and incomprehensible power of God is accustomed to represent itself, or rather to cover and veil itself, in a shadow or cloud and mist; for this spiritual shadow of the Holy Spirit the angel chastely sets against the carnal embrace of a husband; as if to say: The power of God like a shadow shall most secretly and most chastely work in thee what a husband is accustomed to do carnally, that is, shall make thee fruitful and pregnant and the Mother of God; namely first, He shall form in thee the most perfect humanity of Christ; secondly, He shall unite it in some ineffable manner to the Person of the Word.

By a similar trope Virgil, in book I of the Aeneid, sings thus concerning Aeneas and his companions being protected and led through a mist by their mother goddess, namely Venus: "But Venus enclosed them as they walked with a hidden air, / And the goddess poured around them a thick cloak of cloud, / That no one might see them, nor any might touch them." Hence again ἐπισκιάζειν, that is, to overshadow, can fittingly be taken with Maldonatus as corresponding to the Hebrew עָנַן (ghanan), that is, to cover with a cloud, that is, to rain upon; for a cloud brings forth rain: hence by shadow and cloud is signified rain; as if to say: As a cloud, by the rain it pours forth, overshadowing the earth makes it fruitful; so the Power of the Most High, by overshadowing thee, O Virgin, shall make thee fruitful. For it seems to allude to that passage about Christ, Psalm LXXI, 6: "He shall descend like rain upon the fleece." With a similar figure the Poets feign that Jove, turned into a golden shower, fell upon Danaë, and begot Perseus from her.

Hear St. Bernard, sermon 4 on Missus est: "Shall overshadow thee, because the matter truly was a mystery, and what the Trinity alone, with the sole Virgin alone, willed to work, it was given to her alone to know, to whom alone it was given to experience." And soon after: "As if the Angel should answer to the Virgin: Why dost thou ask of me what thou shalt presently experience in thyself? Thou shalt know it full well, and happily know it, but by that same Teacher who is the Author. I, however, am sent to announce a virginal conception." So also Eusebius, book XIV On Demonstration, ch. VIII: "Thou hast overshadowed," he says, "that the conception itself from the Holy Spirit and the holy Virgin might be hidden from the princes of this age."

AND THEREFORE ALSO THE HOLY THING WHICH SHALL BE BORN OF THEE, SHALL BE CALLED (that is, shall truly be, so that He may and ought rightly to be so called) the Son of God. — As if to say: Because the Holy Spirit shall come upon thee and shall cause thee to conceive a son: hence the son who shall be born of thee, that is, who shall be formed in thee, conceived, and after nine months come forth into the light, from His very conception shall be holy, nay, Holy of Holies, because He shall be called, and truly shall be by the hypostatic union with the Word, the natural and only-begotten Son of God, and as such shall be called by God, angels, and men: for that word "holy" is to be referred to "shall be born," as if to say: Jesus thy son, from His very birth, that is, from His very conception and by its power, shall be holy and the Son of God; for He who is conceived of the Holy Spirit must be most holy, and therefore the Son of God. So Bede, Jansenius, and others here, and St. Gregory, book XVIII of the Morals, ch. XXVII.

SHALL BE BORN. — In Greek γεννώμενον, in the present tense, is "that which is being born," that is, which is presently about to be born. Moreover γεννώμενον properly denotes what is being begotten, or generated, that is, about to be begotten. For the matter in question here is the conception rather than the nativity of Christ. The expression is similar to Matt. I, 20.

HOLY. — That is, holy. Hence the Arabic translates: "because He who is born of thee is holy"; the Syriac: "therefore He who is born of thee, He shall be holy (that is, shall be) and shall be called the Son of God." Yet he says "holy" (in the neuter), not "a holy one" (masculine), both to signify that this son would not be a mere man and male, but above man, would also be God. So St. Gregory, book XVIII of the Morals, ch. XXVII; St. Leo, sermon 4 On the Nativity; St. Augustine, book XIII On the Trinity, ch. XVIII; and also to indicate that Jesus would be holy with an entirely perfect and connatural holiness, on account of the hypostatic union, says Suarez, III part, disp. XVIII, sect. 1, that is, that He would be the Holy of Holies, that is, the most holy, indeed Holiness itself by excellence, as if to say: Jesus who shall be born of thee shall be most holy, indeed Holiness itself.

Moreover, the humanity of Christ is equally most holy, not only through the exceptional habitual grace infused into it, but also through the very Deity hypostatically united to it, as Suarez, Vasquez, and others teach, III part, Quest. VII and LVII.

Hear St. Bernard, sermon 4 on Missus est: "Wherefore," he says, "is it said thus simply 'holy' without addition? I believe because he had nothing by which to name properly or worthily that Eminent One, that Magnificent One, that Reverend One, who from the most pure flesh of the Virgin, with her soul, was to be united to the only Father; if he should say 'Holy flesh,' or 'Holy man,' or 'Holy infant,' whatever such thing he should set down, he would seem to himself to have said too little. He therefore put 'holy' indefinitely, because whatever that is which the Virgin bore, it was beyond doubt holy and singularly holy, both through the sanctification of the Spirit and through the assumption of the Word."

THE SON OF GOD, — by nature, who is also to make all the faithful and the saints sons of God through grace. Whence St. Bernard, sermon 1 on the Vigil of the Nativity: "Why," he says, "did the Son of God become man, unless that He might make men sons of God?" So also St. Anselm, treatise Cur Deus Homo.

Verse 36: Thy Kinswoman Elisabeth

36. AND BEHOLD, ELIZABETH THY KINSWOMAN HATH ALSO CONCEIVED A SON (John) IN HER OLD AGE; AND THIS IS THE SIXTH MONTH WITH HER (since she conceived, that is, since she is pregnant) WHO IS CALLED (was formerly called and truly was) barren. — The angel confirms the miracle of Jesus to be born of a Virgin and of the Holy Spirit by a similar miracle — that of John conceived by the barren Elizabeth; at the same time he tacitly admonishes the Blessed Virgin to visit John and Elizabeth, and by her greeting to fill them with the Holy Spirit. "And hearing," says St. Bernard, sermon 4, "of her aged and pregnant kinswoman, let the young maiden think of doing her service, and so as she hastens to visit, let a place and occasion be given, whereby to the still lesser Lord (Jesus) she may be able to offer the first-fruits of her service."

He makes mention of the sixth month, to indicate that the conception of Elizabeth is certain and firm; for a fetus in the sixth month from its conception is commonly viable, vigorous, and firm, and no abortion is to be feared. The sense is, as if to say: Thou hast asked, O Virgin, the manner in which, remaining a virgin, thou shalt conceive a son. I have answered that this manner shall be supernatural, namely, that this work and miracle shall be the Holy Spirit's; for in the same manner in which He formed John in Elizabeth by miracle through His divine power, so the same shall cause Jesus to be conceived in thee by the same power, and this "that while miracle is added to miracle, joy may be heaped upon joy," says St. Bernard, sermon 4 on Missus est; for the Blessed Virgin rejoiced over the miraculous conception of Elizabeth just as over her own.

Verse 37: No Word Shall Be Impossible With God

37. BECAUSE NO WORD (Syriac: thing) SHALL BE IMPOSSIBLE (Syriac: difficult) WITH GOD. — It is a Hebraism, "not every word," that is, no word, that is, no thing, however grave, difficult, and incredible to man; or, as others hold, "no word," that is, no promise, as if to say: God can do all things that He has promised, because He is omnipotent; and therefore He shall really perform them, because He is faithful. He says "word," because for God to act is as easy as for us to speak a word, and because by a word alone He said, and all things were made. "Truly with God," says St. Bernard, sermon 4, "the word does not differ from the intention, because He is truth; nor the deed from the word, because He is power; nor the manner from the deed, because He is wisdom." Therefore God, says St. Augustine, book V of the City of God, ch. X, and book XXVI Against Faustus, ch. V, can do all things, except those which to be able to do is not of power, but of impotence, and which if He could do, He would not be omnipotent — such as to die, to deceive, to err, to sin.

Here the angel stood and fell silent, eagerly awaiting the Virgin's answer and consent. Whence St. Bernard, sermon 4 on Missus est, says that for this consent Adam, Abraham, David, and all the Patriarchs and Prophets, solicitous for the coming of the Messiah and the salvation of mankind, were waiting. And he adds: "For this the whole world, prostrate at thy knees, is waiting. Nor without reason, since upon thy word hangs the consolation of the wretched, the redemption of captives, the liberation of the damned, and finally the salvation of all the sons of Adam, of thy whole race. Give, O Virgin, thy answer quickly. O Lady, answer the word which earth, which the lower world, which even the higher world awaits. He Himself too, the King and Lord of all, as much as He has desired thy beauty, so much does He desire also the assent of thy answer: in which, indeed, He has purposed to save the world."

Verse 38: Behold the Handmaid of the Lord

38. AND MARY SAID: BEHOLD THE HANDMAID OF THE LORD; BE IT DONE UNTO ME ACCORDING TO THY WORD. — The Ethiopic and Persian read: let it be to me according to thy word. Note the humility, obedience, modesty, charity, and resignation of the Virgin: for, saluted by the angel as Mother of God, she calls herself His handmaid, not His mother; and she resigns herself entirely to His will, that in her, and with her, and through her He may do whatever pleases Him. "Handmaid by nature, mother by grace," says Blessed Peter Damian, sermon 3 On the Nativity of the Virgin. "I am a painter's tablet," says Theophylact, "let the painter paint what He will, let God do what He will."

Hence St. William, Duke of Aquitaine, converted by St. Bernard and made a hermit and father of the Hermits, gathered from this saying of the Blessed Virgin that the more loftily anyone is raised up in contemplation toward God, and becomes nearer and more familiar to Him, the more he sees and despises his own littleness. And he proved this by induction of the Saints: "Whence Abraham," he said, "after the height of divine familiarity, confessed himself to be dust. Moses after the miracle of the bush, professed himself of slow tongue. Isaiah after hearing the Seraphic concert, asserted himself to be of unclean lips. Job also, after hearing the divine voice, censured himself in dust and ashes. Lastly, the Virgin Mary, after the privilege of her election as Mother of God, professed herself a humble handmaid." Finally St. Bernard, sermon on that saying of Apoc. XII, "A great sign": "Deservedly," he says, "she was made the Lady of all, who showed herself the handmaid of all."

BE IT DONE. — This word is both of one consenting and giving her assent to the angel for the conception of the Word: so Bede and Maldonatus and St. Irenaeus, book III, ch. XXXIII, and Damascene, book III, ch. II; and also of one wishing, desiring, praying, and beseeching that the Messiah be incarnate, and so redeem and save mankind. For this the Blessed Virgin most ardently desired and besought. So St. Ambrose, Euthymius, Bede. "'Be it done,'" says Bernard from St. Augustine, sermon 4 on Missus est, "is a sign of desire, not an indication of doubt."

ACCORDING TO THY WORD. — That I may conceive and bring forth the Word of God the Father in human flesh, namely Jesus the Son of the Most High. Hear St. Bernard, sermon 4 on Missus est: "Let it be done unto me of the Word, according to thy word: the Word which was in the beginning with God, let Him be made flesh and of my flesh, according to thy word: let the word, I beseech, be done unto me, not a word uttered which passes away, but one conceived which abides, clothed, namely, in flesh, not in air. Let it be done unto me, not only audible to the ears, but visible to the eyes, palpable to the hands, bearable upon the shoulders." And soon after: "Let it be done, not dreamed in imagination, but silently inspired, personally incarnate, bodily enfleshed."

Note here the prudence and chastity of the Blessed Virgin; for she does not simply say: I shall become the Mother of God, but: "Be it done unto me according to thy word;" namely

Verse 39: Mary Rising Up Went Into the Hill Country

Finally, Damascene, On the Dormition of the Mother of God, and Anselm, On the Excellence of the Virgin, chapters III and IV and following, teach that the Blessed Virgin in the conception of the Word received a clear revelation of her predestination and of her future exaltation above all the choirs of angels.

AND THE ANGEL DEPARTED FROM HER — his task of legation now completed, namely the Virgin's consent having been obtained; and therefore the Incarnation of the Word in her now accomplished. Moreover, the Blessed Virgin revealed to some that the angel Gabriel did not depart at once, but remained with her for nine hours, astonished at the Incarnation of the Word in the Virgin, and adored the Incarnate Word and offered and actually showed Him all homage. For the records of the Congregation of St. Gregory in Alga in Lusitania relate that those who founded it received from the Blessed Virgin Mary that Gabriel, when he announced the Incarnation, remained with her for a full nine hours, as though because of the unbelievable modesty of the Virgin and her majesty greater than human, and because of the presence of the divine Word clothed in flesh, being caught up in admiration he could not depart. This the sacred writer indicated with these words: "And the angel departed from her." For he seems to wish to indicate that, astounded by the novelty and magnitude of these things, he thus clung there that he could not be torn away, until at last, the matter somehow requiring it, he departed from the place unwillingly. But these things, while they are piously related, do not have certain credence.

Finally, it is believed that Gabriel greeted the Virgin on bended knees, and remained in this posture throughout the whole time of his mission, both to venerate the Virgin Mother of God, and to adore the Word incarnate in her. Therefore after his example St. Margaret, daughter of the king of Hungary, and St. Mary of Oignies, as often as they recited the Angelic Salutation, so often bent their knees before the image of the Virgin Mother of God.

Furthermore, the Blessed Virgin in this conception of the Son received an extraordinary increase of grace and perfect sanctification; nor can this be doubted without rashness, says Suarez, III part, disputation XVIII, section 4. Hence Bede, homily On the Visitation: "Who can tell, who can adequately estimate what grace then filled the spirit of the Mother of God, when such a light of heavenly gift shone forth upon the mother of the forerunner?" St. Bernard gives the reason, volume 1, conclusion 61, art. 1, chapter XII: "That God should beget God, required no disposition in God, since it belonged to Him by nature that by the way of nature the intellect should produce the Word in all things equal to itself; but that a woman should conceive and bring forth God, is and was a miracle; for it was necessary, so to speak, for a woman to be elevated to a certain divine equality, through a certain quasi-infinity of perfections and graces, which equality no creature has ever experienced. Hence, as I believe, to that unsearchable abyss of all the charisms of the Holy Spirit which had descended upon the Blessed Virgin in the hour of the divine conception, the human or angelic intellect could never attain."

He then adds another reason, namely, that to be the Mother of God is a certain infinite dignity which requires a grace proportionate to itself. "From these things it can be gathered that the Blessed Virgin, in her consent to the conception of the Son of God, merited more than all creatures, both angels and men, in all their acts, movements, and thoughts; for all who merited anything could merit nothing other than eternal glory according to various states and degrees: but this Virgin in that admirable consent merited the total extinction of concupiscence, dominion and primacy over the whole world, the fullness of all graces, of all virtues, of all gifts, of all beatitudes, of all fruits of the Spirit, of all sciences, the interpretation of discourses, the spirit of prophecy, the discernment of spirits, the working of miracles. She merited fecundity in virginity, the motherhood of the Son of God; she merited that she should be the star of the sea, the gate of heaven, and above all, that she should be called queen of mercy, and obtain the effect of such a name. Hence deservedly, in the last chapter of Proverbs, Solomon says of the Blessed Virgin herself: 'Many daughters have gathered together riches, but you have surpassed them all.'"

Indeed St. Antoninus, IV part, title XV, chapter XVII, § 1, suspects that the Blessed Virgin at the conception of the Son of God saw the essence of God, inasmuch as she was receiving Him into herself, just as St. Augustine, St. Thomas and others say that St. Paul saw the same in his rapture. And certainly if Paul saw it, much more did the Blessed Virgin see it. Rupert is of the same opinion, on Canticle IV, at those words: "Your eyes are as doves"; Dionysius the Carthusian, on I dist. XVI, Question II; Gerson, alphabet XV, title VIII, and St. Bernard, sermon on the Blessed Virgin, volume II, and today many great theologians hold the same opinion.

39. AND MARY RISING UP IN THOSE DAYS WENT INTO THE HILL COUNTRY WITH HASTE, INTO A CITY OF JUDAH. — "In those days." Therefore she did not depart on the same day on which, greeted by the angel, she conceived and gave body to the Son of God — as Theophylact, Bede, and St. Ambrose suggest — but after two or three days; for she spent these in contemplating, giving thanks, praying, and conversing sweetly with the Son of God now incarnated within her. So Franciscus Lucas, Barradius, and others.

SHE WENT. — Why? I answer: First, so that she might announce to others the Word conceived within her, and breathe His grace upon them. For Christ, incarnate in her, wished at once to begin the office of Savior, for which He had been sent by the Father. Hence St. Ambrose: "She went, not as one doubting the oracle, nor as one uncertain of the messenger, nor as one in doubt about the example (that she might investigate whether Elizabeth had really conceived, as the angel had announced to her), but as one joyful in her vow, devout in duty, hastening for joy."

Second, to cleanse John from original sin, and to fill him together with his mother Elizabeth with the Holy Spirit; and thus the honor of Christ and the devotion of all would grow. Thus Origen here, homily 7: "Jesus, who was in the womb of the Virgin, hastened to sanctify John still placed in the womb of his mother."

Third, that she might congratulate her kinswoman Elizabeth on John conceived by miracle, and might serve her pregnant and aged, and therefore she remained with her for all the rest of the time she was pregnant, namely for three months, until she gave birth to John. So Bede and others.

Fourth, that she might give to all future ages a signal example of humility and charity, by which she, already made Mother of God and queen of the world, deigned to visit Elizabeth, who ought rather to have served and ministered to her: that we too, after her example, may willingly resolve to visit, greet, serve and help the lowly, poor, and others inferior to us.

Therefore, after the example and under the title of the Visitation of the Blessed Virgin, many Congregations have been instituted to visit the poor, guests, the sick, prisoners, etc. And recently under this title St. Francis de Sales, bishop of Geneva, a man of great piety and zeal, founded a Congregation of distinguished Religious women throughout all France, who serve the sick.

Jansenius and others are of the opinion that Blessed Joseph went with the Blessed Virgin, as her spouse and husband. Others more truly deny this, because if Joseph had gone with her, he would certainly have heard her greeted by Elizabeth as Mother of God, and consequently, when upon their return he saw her swelling with child, he would not have wished to dismiss her: which nevertheless he did wish to do, as appears in Matthew I, 19. Therefore Joseph, kept at home by the care of the household, joined to the Blessed Virgin his spouse, as she went into the hill country, a handmaid or some grave matron, to be her faithful companion on the journey, helper, and witness of all her actions.

INTO THE HILL COUNTRY — e.g., Hebron, as Baronius, Toletus, and others hold; or of Judea, as the Geographers of the Holy Land hold; concerning which more shortly.

Tropologically: a soul full of God, as was the soul of the Blessed Virgin, ascends into the hill country, that is, strives toward the heights of the virtues. Thus St. Ambrose: "Where then, filled with God, should she ascend with haste, if not to higher things?" And Bede: "Once the Word of God has been conceived in the mind, one must ascend to the summits of the virtues with the step of love, and the city of Judah — that is, of confession and praise — must be penetrated; and one must remain for as it were three months in the perfection of faith, hope and charity." Hence to Lot fleeing the burning of Sodom it is said: "Save yourself in the mountain," Gen. XIX, 17. And Habakkuk III, 19: "The Lord God is my strength, and He will make my feet like the feet of harts; and He the conqueror will lead me upon my high places, singing in psalms." See what is said there.

WITH HASTE. — Syriac: carefully, or diligently; in Greek μετὰ σπουδῆς, that is, with zeal, diligence, care, haste, agility. For action makes one agile, movement makes one strenuous, spirit makes one strong, body makes one robust, says Cornelius Fronto. St. Ambrose gives the first cause of her haste: "The Virgin hastened, lest she should linger long outside the house in public, etc. Learn, virgins, not to linger in the street, nor to mingle conversations with anyone in public. Mary lingers in the house, hastens in public." The same Ambrose adds a second cause, because she was full of joy and of the Holy Spirit: "The grace of the Holy Spirit knows no slow undertakings." For joy and devotion and charity urged the Blessed Virgin to haste.

Origen gives a third cause, that Christ in the womb of the Virgin was hastening to purge and sanctify John from sin. "Therefore Mary, who before was alone in the innermost recesses, was not held back from public by the modesty of her virginity, nor from her purpose by the ruggedness of the mountains, nor from her duty by the length of the journey," says St. Ambrose.

INTO A CITY OF JUDAH. — That is, into Jerusalem, say Albertus Magnus and St. Bonaventure; but Jerusalem, when it is spoken of everywhere else, is usually named by name. Add that Jerusalem was in the tribe of Benjamin, not of Judah. Therefore Toletus and Baronius better take it as Hebron; for this was in the tribe of Judah, situated on a mountain, and was the first of those cities assigned in the tribe of Judah to the priests for dwelling, Joshua XXI, 9 and following, just as others were assigned to them in the tribes of Simeon and Benjamin. Moreover, Hebron is distant eight hours from Jerusalem. Finally, Brochardus, Bredembachius, Adrichomius, etc., in the Description of the Holy Land, say that this city was Emmaus, where the hill country of Judea begins, which is distant from Jerusalem an hour and a half; concerning which more shortly. Near Hebron therefore are the hill country of Hebron; near Emmaus the hill country of Judea, as appears from the geographical tables.

It is likely that the Blessed Virgin first went to Jerusalem, since the feast of Passover was at hand, and there gave thanks to God in the temple and offered herself and her Jesus already conceived to Him. Thus Clictoveus, Franciscus Lucas, Barradius, and others, especially because the road from Nazareth into the hill country led directly through Jerusalem. This journey of the Virgin therefore was easily of four days: for from Nazareth to Jerusalem is a three-day journey, namely a journey of 26 hours; then on the fourth day the Blessed Virgin went from Jerusalem to the house of Zechariah; concerning which now more.

Verse 40: And She Entered Into the House of Zechariah

40. AND SHE ENTERED INTO THE HOUSE OF ZECHARIAH. — Adrichomius thus describes this house in his Description of the Holy Land, part 53, number 243, following Brochardus, Bredembachius, and Nicephorus: "The house of Zechariah the priest was distant one mile from Emmaus, near the hill country. That house was still inhabited in the village in the time of Saligniacus, whom travelers had been accustomed reverently to greet; and there John the Baptist was born, circumcised and hidden in a cave, lest he be killed with the Bethlehemite children by Herod. Next to this is the fountain of the Blessed Virgin, from which she herself used to draw water when she was staying with Elizabeth, which flows thence to the great sea. In the upper part of the same house there was formerly a church, today entirely destroyed: but it had been founded in the place where Zechariah, filled with the Holy Spirit, prophesied: 'Blessed be the Lord God of Israel,' etc."

AND SHE GREETED ELIZABETH — by saying, "Peace be with you," because this was the customary greeting among the Hebrews. Hence the Syriac renders it: she prayed for peace, or salvation. The Blessed Virgin did this by the instinct of God, who through the angel had suggested to her Elizabeth's conception, for this reason, that He might tacitly intimate to her that it would be pleasing to God if she visited and greeted her. For God intended through Elizabeth, as a matron of great age, prudent and holy, to disclose to the world the conception of the Blessed Virgin, the hidden Incarnation of the Word accomplished in her, to reveal as it were a treasure hidden in the Virgin's womb to all who needed Him. For this is what Elizabeth did, when she said: "Whence is this to me, that the mother of my Lord should come to me?"

ELIZABETH — not Zechariah, both because he was mute and deaf, and because it was not fitting for a man to be greeted by the Virgin, nor did virginal modesty permit it. Moreover, the Blessed Virgin greeted first, says St. Ambrose; for it is fitting that the chaster a virgin is, the more humble she should be, and should know how to defer to her elders. "Let her be a teacher of humility, in whom there is the profession of chastity," etc. See St. Chrysostom, homily 48 on Matthew, near the end, where he teaches that those who do not wish to greet first, and do not return a greeting unless they are first greeted, are ridiculous and proud: but those who greet first are wise and humble; and this first, because they anticipate the duty of virtue and humility and snatch it from the other; second, because they tame pride both their own and another's; third, because they take away and dissipate rivalries, quarrels and hatreds.

Verse 41: The Infant Leaped in Her Womb

41. AND IT CAME TO PASS THAT WHEN ELIZABETH HEARD THE SALUTATION (Syriac, the peace) OF MARY, THE INFANT (John) LEAPED IN HER WOMB, AND ELIZABETH WAS FILLED WITH THE HOLY SPIRIT. — Note, with St. Ambrose, that Elizabeth heard first the salutation and the voice of Mary, but John first felt the power, the spirit, and the efficacy of the salutation, since he was more worthy and more noble than his mother; for to him as the future forerunner of Christ, this salutation of the Virgin, nay rather of Christ, was chiefly directed: for, as Origen shrewdly observes, Christ hidden in the womb of His mother suggested this salutation to her. And Theophylact: "The voice of the Virgin was the voice of God incarnate in her." And Euthymius: "Christ spoke through the mouth of His mother; but John heard through the ears of his mother, and having supernaturally recognized the Lord, by his own exultation proclaimed Him." Moreover, John exulting in the womb of his mother, made her also exult. For from the exultation of John, the Holy Spirit suggesting it, Elizabeth recognized that the Blessed Virgin had conceived Christ, and therefore greeted her in return as the Mother of God and venerated her.

For "exulted" the Greek has ἐσκίρτησε, which properly does not mean to rejoice, but to leap, to spring out, to jump up from exuberance, as lambs and well-fed calves leap about.

It is asked here, therefore, whether this exultation of the infant John was a natural motion, or an animal motion, or rational; or whether John leaped with the sense and use of reason and with joy properly so called, or whether rather only with a motion of the body, in the way that Balaam's ass spoke without understanding what she spoke, Numbers XXII, and as Jacob and Esau in Rebecca's womb moved and struck against each other, not understanding what this meant, Gen. XXV, 22. Calvin holds that this motion and leaping of John was merely natural. For it is natural, he says, that while the mother leaps for joy, the infant in the womb also moves and as it were leaps.

But all the Fathers and orthodox Doctors hold the contrary. Hence St. Augustine, epistle 57 to Dardanus, and Eucherius, Question III on Luke, and Jansenius here are of the opinion that this leap of John was supernatural, but without the use of reason. But all the others generally add the use of reason to John's leap. Thus Origen, St. Ambrose, Theophylact, Euthymius here, and St. Chrysostom, Maximus, St. Bernard, Chrysologus, sermon On the Nativity of St. John. Hence St. Ambrose: "He had the sense of understanding, who had the affection of exulting." Origen: "Holy was the soul of blessed John, and still enclosed in his mother's womb, and about to come into the world, he knew as if by the sense of experience what Israel did not know. Hence he leaped, and not simply leaped, but in joy; for he had felt that his Lord had come to sanctify His servant, before he came forth from his mother's womb." And a little before: "Then Jesus first made His forerunner a Prophet." Similarly Euthymius: "The infant who was being borne in the womb of the Virgin, immediately gave prophetic grace to the infant who was being borne in the womb of the barren woman." Lastly Theophylact: "He followed the forerunner with grace in the womb, and made him a Prophet." Moreover St. Irenaeus, book III, chapter XVIII: "He recognized the Lord in the womb, and greeted Him with exultation." St. Leo, sermon On the Epiphany: "John not yet born was moved with prophetic exultation, as if even within the womb of his mother he were crying out: Behold the Lamb of God." St. Gregory, book III of the Morals, chapter V: "Within the womb of his mother he was filled with the spirit of prophecy." So too St. Cyril of Jerusalem, Catechesis 5; and Cyril of Alexandria, book On the Faith to the Queens, chapter on the Gospel according to Luke; St. Ambrose also, sermon 63, and St. Chrysostom, homily 2 on John, volume III, assert that John prophesied in the womb, because by his leap and joy he indicated Christ already conceived in the womb of the Virgin, and because he stirred up his mother Elizabeth to prophesy the same thing. Finally, the Church teaches this, when on the feast of St. John she sings of him:

"Reclining in the hidden chamber of the womb,
You had perceived the King dwelling in the bridal-chamber:
Hence by the merits of the son, each parent
Discloses hidden things."

For merits presuppose the use of reason, freedom, and virtue. All these therefore assert that this leap of John was not only supernatural, but was also endowed with the use of reason, and proceeded from true joy of soul. And this is clear from verse 44, where Elizabeth says: "The infant leaped in joy in my womb"; Syriac, in great joy; Arabic, the infant moved with exultation in my womb.

Second, the same is clear from the fact that John communicated and breathed this joy of his upon his mother, when he imparted to her a similar joy together with prophecy, as appears from the following.

Third, because in a similar way, verse 47, the Blessed Virgin exulted singing the Magnificat, being of course endowed with the use of reason and with rational joy; therefore also John, who was the first end and aim of the visitation of the Blessed Virgin and of all these marvelous things.

The use of reason therefore was accelerated for John, six months old in his mother's womb, so that, with God revealing it, he might recognize, adore, love Christ incarnate in the womb of the Virgin, and show Him reverence with the gesture and leap of his body, and greet in return the Virgin as she greeted him. Second, John then received the gift of prophecy concerning Christ, as the Fathers already cited teach: indeed St. Ambrose and Theophylact are of the opinion that John, addressed by his father Zechariah, understood that oracle of the same about himself: "And you, child, shall be called the prophet of the Most High, for you shall go before the face of the Lord to prepare His ways." Third, in the same instant John was cleansed from original sin. Fourth, he received grace not of any ordinary sort, but extraordinary, such as befitted one who would soon be the forerunner of Christ — grace, I say, with all the infused virtues. For this the Angel had foretold, verse 15, saying: "He shall be filled with the Holy Spirit even from his mother's womb." In John therefore is true that saying of St. Chrysostom, homily 30: "Leaping is a sign of perfect health" — add, and of holiness.

Hence some think that John was free from the tinder of concupiscence, and never sinned even venially; but this privilege seems proper to the Blessed Virgin, than whom John was inferior. He therefore had the tinder of concupiscence, and sinned venially, namely by surprise; but deliberately perhaps never. So Barradius. For it is the rule of St. Augustine and the Theologians: Whoever has or has had original sin, also has the tinder of concupiscence, and sins venially from time to time; but John had original sin: therefore, etc.

You may ask whether this use of reason continuously endured and persevered in John. Some more recent writers deny it, but St. Ambrose and Origen here, homily 3, affirm it. Their reasoning is this: If John received the use of reason at the presence of Christ and of the Blessed Virgin, therefore as long as their presence lasted, so long did the use of reason last in John; but their presence lasted for three months, that is, up to the birth of John: therefore up to that time the use of reason lasted in him. Moreover, it is not likely that John outside the womb was deprived of the gift which he had in the womb: therefore he had this use of reason thereafter continuously and always. So Toletus and Suarez, III part, Question XXVII, disputation IV, section 7, who teaches that with far stronger reason the same must be asserted of the Blessed Virgin.

Morally: learn here how useful and effective is the greeting and prayer of the Saints, and especially of the Blessed Virgin, who by a single word of greeting filled both John and Elizabeth with the Holy Spirit, and heaped upon them all His gifts. "Not only the words of the Saints, but their very spiritual looks are full of grace," says St. Chrysostom, homily 3 to the People. The same on II Timothy, chapter 1, verse 1: "It suffices for Paul's greeting alone to fill with grace him who is so greeted." For the Saints, and above all the Blessed Virgin, are full of the fiery spirit of charity: wherefore they breathe it out through mouth, eyes, and countenance, and breathe it into the bystanders, just as one filled with new wine exhales its warmth and power upon his neighbors, as the Apostles did at Pentecost, Acts II. Therefore whoever strives to make others spiritual, let him first fill himself with the divine Spirit: thus by speaking he will breathe and blow it upon the hearers, for out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaks, and the stomach belches forth that with which it is full. Add that God uses such men as instruments united and fitting to Himself; for He Himself is the purest and most effective Spirit: wherefore through spiritual and zealous men, as it were like Himself, He powerfully works spiritual and great things.

AND ELIZABETH WAS FILLED WITH THE HOLY SPIRIT. — "With the Holy Spirit," that is, with the grace of the Holy Spirit, both that which makes one pleasing and that which is gratuitously given: for she who before was just and holy, as is clear from verse 6, now became far more just and more holy, and in addition received the gift of prophecy, and from the Holy Spirit she began to prophesy, that is, to reveal the hidden Incarnation of the Word accomplished in the Virgin, and to foretell future things to her.

Moreover John, as I have said, was first filled with the Spirit, and then with the same Spirit filled his mother also; both because by his leap he stirred her up to investigate the mystery of the Incarnation hidden in the Virgin, and because by his holiness, merits, and prayers he merited that his mother also should be filled with the Holy Spirit, of whom he himself was full. Thus St. Ambrose: "The voice Elizabeth first heard, but John first felt the grace. The infant exulted, the mother was filled: the mother was not filled before the son; but when the son was filled with the Holy Spirit, he also filled his mother." Thus also Origen, Euthymius and Theophylact.

Verse 42: Blessed Are You Among Women

42. AND SHE CRIED OUT WITH A LOUD VOICE, AND SAID: BLESSED ARE YOU AMONG WOMEN, AND BLESSED IS THE FRUIT OF YOUR WOMB. — "She cried out," both from the vehemence of spirit and ardor breathed into her by the Holy Spirit, and from the novelty and wonder at the mysteries revealed to her by the Holy Spirit, namely the Incarnation of the Word, the conception of the Blessed Virgin, the leap and sanctification of John in her own womb, etc. For marvelling at these things, and unable to contain herself, as if travailing with things divine, she broke out into a loud cry.

BLESSED ARE YOU AMONG WOMEN. — That is, above all women; as if to say: Of all women you are the most fortunate and the most blessed, because chosen as Mother of God, "whom the whole world cannot contain, has enclosed Himself in your womb, made man." The same was the angel's salutation, verse 28.

AND BLESSED IS THE FRUIT OF YOUR WOMB. — The "and" is causal, and has the same force as "because," as if to say: Because the fruit of your womb is blessed, that is, the Son of God, whom you have suddenly conceived and clothed with your flesh, therefore you also are blessed. For the source of all blessings and graces conferred on the Blessed Virgin by God is the divine maternity, namely that she conceived God and caused Him to be incarnate within herself; for God adorned His mother with every grace so that He might make her a worthy dwelling for Himself, indeed so that she might be worthy to become the Mother of God. For whom should a son bless more than his mother, and such a son, who is at once God and man? Elizabeth therefore, inspired by the Spirit, here recognized that the Blessed Virgin had already conceived and that the Son of God was incarnate in her, which she could not know by any other sign or indication. "Blessed," not only among women as you are; but absolutely above the angels, men and all creatures, as the Creator and Lord of all. Moreover, all the other children of Eve are cursed, because from her and Adam they contract original sin; Christ alone is blessed, because He is not the natural son of Adam, but was supernaturally conceived in the Virgin by the Holy Spirit.

THE FRUIT OF YOUR WOMB. — He alludes to that oracle and promise of God made to David: "Of the fruit of your womb will I set upon your throne," Psalm CXXXI, 11, as if to say: Blessed be the son of David, namely the Messiah promised to David as His Son, who is the fruit of your womb, as having been formed and incarnated in your womb from your purest blood. Hear St. Bernard, sermon 3 On the Annunciation: "He is indeed in a singular way the fruit of your womb, but through you as mediatress He comes to the minds of all. Thus, to be sure, of old the dew was wholly on the fleece, wholly on the threshing floor, but not wholly on any part of the floor as He was on the fleece. In you alone was that rich and most rich King emptied, the exalted One humbled, the immense One abbreviated, and made lower than the angels; truly finally He is God and the Son of God incarnate, but to what fruit: namely that we all may be enriched by His poverty, lifted up by His humility, magnified by His being made less, and that by His Incarnation, cleaving to God, we may begin to be one spirit with Him."

Verse 43: The Mother of My Lord

43. AND WHENCE IS THIS TO ME, THAT THE MOTHER OF MY LORD SHOULD COME TO ME? — These are words of the deepest humility and reverence, by which she "confesses that this is not of her merit, but of divine gift," says St. Ambrose, and following him Bede. The son John imitated his mother, when Christ came to him to be baptized: "I ought to be baptized by You, and You come to me?" To whom Christ: "Suffer it to be so now: for thus it becomes us to fulfill all justice," Matthew III, 14.

OF THE LORD — that is, of God, who is absolutely called Lord, because He is King of kings and Lord of lords. From this therefore, first, it is already clear that the humanity of Christ in Christ was animated and united to the Word, or Son of God, as I said on verse 38. Second, that the Blessed Virgin is rightly called Θεοτόκος, that is, Mother of God, not merely χριστοτόκος, that is, Christ-bearer, as Nestorius wished, just as against him the Council of Ephesus and the whole Church defined. Third, that in Christ there are two natures, namely the human — for this alone the Virgin Mother could give Him — and the divine, which the Father alone communicated to Him; but only one Person, that is, not human, but divine, namely the hypostasis of the Word. For if there were two persons in Christ, just as there are two natures, it would not rightly be said that God was born of the Virgin, suffered, and was crucified, but another, namely a man, or a human person. But now this is rightly said, because there is one Person in Christ, sustaining both the divine and the human nature; which therefore brings it about that the attributes of one nature are attributed to the other in the concrete, so that this man, namely Jesus, is rightly said to be God, eternal, omnipotent, and conversely God is said to be in Him a man, passible, mortal, indeed to have suffered and died; because the Person is the same, who on account of the two natures which He possesses, is at once God and man, and therefore takes upon Himself the actions and attributes of both God and man. For actions belong to supposita, or persons; and this one Person in Christ is signified both by the word "this man" or "Jesus," and by the word "God" or "Son of God": wherefore what is truly said of one, is also truly said of the other.

Verse 44: The Infant Leaped for Joy

44. FOR BEHOLD, AS SOON AS THE VOICE OF YOUR SALUTATION SOUNDED IN MY EARS, THE INFANT IN MY WOMB LEAPED FOR JOY. — The Greek has ἐσκίρτησεν ἐν ἀγαλλιάσει, that is, "he leaped in exultation"; for although ἀγαλλιᾶν signifies gesticulation, it also signifies joy and exultation, by which gesturing and leaping is shown. Hence the Syriac renders: in (from) great joy. See what is said on verse 41, and what will be said on verse 47.

Symbolically: John leaping in the womb was as it were a fore-dancer of his own martyrdom; for by his leap he foreshadowed the dance of the daughter of Herodias, who, when she had pleased Herod on that account, asked from him the head of John the Baptist.

Verse 45: Blessed Are You Who Have Believed

45. AND BLESSED ARE YOU WHO HAVE BELIEVED, BECAUSE THOSE THINGS SHALL BE ACCOMPLISHED THAT WERE SPOKEN TO YOU BY THE LORD. — The Blessed Virgin appropriately responds to her own praises celebrated by Elizabeth by turning them back to their source, namely to God. Hear St. Bernard, in his sermon on that passage of Apocalypse XII: "A great sign appeared in heaven"; for so he says: "The proclamations indeed were great, but so also was her devoted humility; suffering herself to retain nothing, she poured all back upon Him whose benefits toward her were being praised. You magnify the Mother of the Lord, but my soul magnifies the Lord." Elizabeth therefore knew by the Holy Spirit that the Blessed Virgin had believed the angel announcing the conception and nativity of Christ. She was "Blessed" in deed, because she was already carrying Christ in her womb; and blessed in hope, because she would bring forth Him who would make her and all who believe in Him blessed in heaven. You are therefore blessed before God and men. You are blessed, and shall be so for all eternity. Blessed, I say, in the antonomastic sense, that is, the most blessed and most happy of all angels and men. Elizabeth tacitly touches upon the unbelief of her husband Zechariah regarding the yet-to-be-born John, verse 20, and sets against it the faith of the Virgin. Hence Bede: "Truly blessed, she who is more excellent than the priest; for when the priest denied, the Virgin corrected the error."

You call her blessed, she who had believed, but the cause of her belief and of her blessedness was the regard of supernal goodness, so that from this all generations may more greatly call me blessed, because God has regarded His humble and lowly handmaid. Then St. Bernard goes on to show that the Blessed Virgin, although she was most humble, was nevertheless supremely magnanimous in her faith in the promise made to her by the Angel, such that she did not doubt that she had been chosen for so great a mystery, but believed that she would soon become the true Mother of God and Man. For the grace of God effects this in the elect, "that humility does not make them faint-hearted, nor magnanimity make them arrogant."

TO YOU. — The interpreter reads in the Greek αὐτῇ, or αὑτῇ with rough breathing; now others less correctly read αὐτῇ with smooth breathing, that is "to her" in the third person: for "you have believed" is of the second person; therefore "to you" should be subjoined, rather than "to her," lest suddenly and without cause the second person be changed into the third. I admit that the Greek ἡ πιστεύσασα can be translated in the third person: Blessed is she who believed, because those things shall be accomplished which were spoken to her, as the Syriac, Vatablus and others translate it; nevertheless, because everything preceding is directed to the Blessed Virgin in the second person by way of salutation and dialogue, hence it is better, more pleasing, and more forceful here also to translate "you have believed" in the second person, as the Arabic also renders it.

Verse 46: My Soul Magnifies the Lord

46. AND MARY SAID: MY SOUL MAGNIFIES THE LORD. — So too the Syriac, Arabic, Egyptian (Coptic); the Persian and Ethiopic.

MAGNIFIES. — God magnifies man in one way, man magnifies God in another: God magnifies man, because He makes him great, when He heaps upon him great riches, honors, graces and gifts, and exalts him above others. But man cannot in this way magnify God, because he can add nothing small or great to Him. To magnify God, therefore, is said when one praises and proclaims His greatness, that is, His majesty, magnificence, omnipotence, holiness, wisdom, beneficence, etc. The sense then is, as if she said: You, O Elizabeth, magnify me when you adorn me with the magnificent title of Mother of God, and celebrate the great things of God bestowed on me; but I magnify and celebrate God, who made me great, when He gave me so great a Son, namely God Himself; and deigned to work in me the great mystery of the Incarnation of the Word. Hence Bede explains it paraphrastically thus: "The Lord has so greatly exalted me, and with such an unheard-of gift, that it cannot be expressed by any service of the tongue, but can scarcely be comprehended even by the inmost affection of the heart; and therefore I offer all the powers of my soul in giving praises of thanksgiving, and I gratefully spend all that I live, feel, and discern wholly upon the contemplation of His greatness, to which there is no end."

Tropologically, Origen says: God is magnified when His image is made great; namely, when the soul, made in the image of God, is increased by the great works, increases and merits of humility, charity, patience, and the other virtues. The Gloss says: God is magnified in us, when we are conformed to Christ through justice. For, as St. Ambrose says here, "Christ is the image of God; and therefore, if a soul does anything just and religious, it magnifies that image of God according to whose likeness it was created. And therefore, while it magnifies that image, by a certain participation in His greatness it becomes more sublime, so that it seems to express that image in itself by the splendid hue of its good deeds, and even by a certain emulation of virtue."

Theophylact says that the soul magnifies God when a man performs heroic and heavenly works. "He magnifies God, who walks worthily according to God, being called a Christian, not diminishing the name and dignity of Christ by doing what he should not, but magnifying it by doing great and heavenly works." St. Basil, on Psalm XXIX:1, on the words, "I will extol Thee, O Lord": "He who hastens to beatitude with knowledge exalts God; he who takes the opposite path, how much does he humble God in himself!" The same, on Psalm XXXIII, on the words, "O magnify the Lord with me": "That man magnifies the Lord, who with great mental purpose, and a lofty and upright soul, endures trials for the sake of piety; and so too does he who, with more than ordinary understanding and a loftier contemplation of the soul, considers the manifold greatness of created things, in order that from their greatness and beauty he may contemplate the Maker of such things." St. Augustine, sermon 2 On the Assumption: "Any holy soul can conceive the Word by believing, bring it forth by preaching, and magnify it by loving, so that she may say: My soul magnifies the Lord."

MY SOUL. — As if she said: Not only my tongue, nor my hand alone, but my very soul, in its entirety, magnifies God; that is, from the inmost recesses, depths, and senses of my soul, with all the faculties of my mind, I praise and glorify God; I bring forth and exhaust all the powers of my soul in His praise; so that my intellect may consider nothing but Him; my will may love and celebrate none but Him; my memory may think of nothing but Him; my mouth may speak and proclaim nothing but Him; my hand may do nothing but what pertains to His worship; my feet may advance and proceed only toward what pertains to His glory.

Symbolically, Toletus says: Rightly does the Blessed Virgin say "my soul," first, because she alone had her soul in her own power, and was its mistress and lady, because she possessed it through patience, and she alone had dominion over all her affections and passions; but we do not possess our own soul, because we are possessed by anger, pride, concupiscence, or a similar passion. Secondly, because she had handed over her whole soul to her Son: and whatever was her Son's was also hers. Hence her soul, given over to her Son, returned whole into her own power, and she says perfectly "my soul"; for it was wholly hers, which was wholly possessed by her Son as to all its parts. Thirdly, because of the affection of love: for the more one loves God, the more one loves one's own soul. Since therefore the Blessed Virgin loved God most of all men, and committed no sin, she certainly loved her own soul most. And what we love we call our own out of love: therefore she who so loved her soul truly called it her own.

This work of the Incarnation of the Word was the greatest of all the works of God; for it was a work, first, of supreme power, to unite God to man, heaven to earth, spirit to flesh, for these are two extremes infinitely distant from one another; secondly, of supreme goodness, by which God communicated Himself entirely and all His goods to man; thirdly, of supreme wisdom, by which He effected this union in a divine Person, so that to each nature, the human and the divine, its integrity should be preserved. See St. Thomas, III part, Quest. I, art. 4. Therefore, in Psalm VIII, the Psalmist sings: "Thy magnificence is exalted above the heavens." On which Euthymius says: "By 'magnificence' he here calls the humanization of God, which is great and surpasses all understanding; for it is exalted and transcends even those powers which are above the heavens, because it cannot even be comprehended by them. Hence it is a great wonder to them: for not only men, but even they themselves are astonished at this mystery."

Here therefore begins the Canticle of the Blessed Virgin, the most excellent of all the canticles of Sacred Scripture — namely, those of Moses, Deborah, Anna, Ezechias, the three children, etc. — inasmuch as it is most full of the divine Spirit and of rejoicing, so that it seems to have been composed and dictated by the Word already conceived and rejoicing in the Virgin's womb. Therefore the Church daily uses it in the Office of Vespers, and chants it with solemn rite, that by it she may supremely celebrate and glorify God, and give Him the greatest thanks for the Word incarnate and the other gifts; and that she may draw and drink in those affections of devotion, piety, love, and exultation which the Blessed Virgin drew from heaven when she dictated it.

Moreover, there are three parts of this canticle: First, from this verse 46 to verse 50, the Virgin praises God for her own benefits, bestowed by God upon her alone, especially for the conception of the Word. Second, from verse 50 to 54, she praises God for the common benefits bestowed upon the whole people before the coming of Christ, alluding especially to the victories given to Israel against Pharaoh and the Canaanites. Third, from verse 54 to the end of the canticle, she returns to this greatest benefit, the Incarnation of the Word promised to the fathers and bestowed on her.

THE LORD. — As if she said: You, O Elizabeth, magnify me as Mother of the Lord, because the Lord, that is God, is my Son; but I myself magnify the Lord: first, God the Father, who deigned to raise me to the fellowship of His generation, that I might be mother of the same Son of whom He is Father; for He whom the Father begot as God, I have begotten as man. Secondly, I magnify God the Son, because He deigned to assume flesh from my blood and to become my Son. Thirdly, I magnify the Holy Spirit, who chose to fill me with His holiness, and to work in me alone so great a work as the Incarnation of the Word.

Verse 47: My Spirit Has Rejoiced in God My Savior

47. AND MY SPIRIT HAS REJOICED IN GOD MY SAVIOR. — "Has rejoiced," namely from the beginning of the conception and Incarnation of the Word in me, and continuously rejoices. The Greek is ἠγαλλίασε, that is, was exceedingly glad, leapt, exulted, shouted for joy; for ἀγαλλιάω, says Eustathius, is said as if ἄγαν ἅζω, that is, to marvel exceedingly. The Blessed Virgin therefore, marveling in spirit at the divine power, holiness, justice, kindness, and beneficence of God incarnate in her, exults, and in her joy leaps and rejoices. Hence Euthymius, on Psalm IX, "I shall be glad and exult in Thee": "Exultation is a certain greater intensification of joy, which from excessive gladness makes the heart strongly leap up and be lifted."

Hear Albert the Great: "Exultation is a certain exaltation in jubilation, when the joy of the heart leaps into bodily gladness; and then it is clear that for the spirit to exult is for the spirit to rejoice even in the dancing of the body, according to that saying of Zechariah IX: Rejoice greatly, O daughter of Sion; shout, O daughter of Jerusalem: behold thy King cometh to thee meek." Albert adds: "In the womb of the Mother of God a certain divine echo is produced, and a reverberation of the sound and voice of Christ existing in the womb, into the mouth of Mary, which is then reflected back to the same Christ, when she says: My spirit hath rejoiced in God my Savior."

Cajetan adds: Exultation is an overflowing joy, which breaks forth in outward signs of gesture, song, jubilation, etc., yet modestly and gravely.

She alludes to that passage of Isaiah chapter LXI, 10: "Rejoicing I shall rejoice in the Lord, and my soul shall exult in my God"; and more to that of Hannah, 1 Kings [1 Samuel] II: "My heart hath rejoiced in the Lord, and my horn is exalted in my God." For just as the barren Hannah exulted when, by the help and miracle of God, she conceived Samuel, so too did the Blessed Virgin exult when she conceived Emmanuel by the Holy Spirit: for Samuel was a type of Him. For just as Emmanuel in Hebrew is the same as עמנו אל immanu el, that is, God with us, so Samuel is the same as שאול מאל shaul meel, that is, asked for and given by God; or, as R. Abraham and Pagninus say, Samuel is the same as שם אל shem el, that is, there is God, namely in the womb, not so much of Hannah as of the Blessed Virgin. For Samuel was a most holy prophet, prince and savior of Israel, as Christ is of all the faithful. Hence this canticle of the Blessed Virgin plainly corresponds to the canticle of Hannah, 1 Kings [1 Samuel] chapter II. For the subject of both is the same, the same exulting spirit of humility, gratitude, and devotion to God, according to the saying of the Psalmist: "My soul shall exult in the Lord, and shall be delighted in His salvation," Psalm XXXIV, 9.

Further, St. Augustine, writing on the Magnificat, teaches that the Virgin does two things here: first, she proclaims the goodness and mercy of God, just as in the preceding verse she proclaimed His power and majesty; secondly, she pours forth the sweetness and delight which she had drunk in at the conception of her Son. And in this matter he says that the Mother of God imitated the angels, who do these two things in heaven — namely, they meditate on God's incomprehensible majesty, and fully enjoy His ineffable goodness and sweetness; and they so marvel that they love and rejoice. His words are these: "You beheld His majesty, you tasted His sweetness, therefore what you had drunk within you poured out without, and you rejoiced in His justice; because my spirit hath rejoiced: the soul magnifies, the spirit exults." And again: "In God my Savior; 'God' denotes power, 'Savior' denotes mercy. For there are two things which the spirits of angels and blessed men draw in eternal contemplation from that fountain of good — the incomprehensible majesty of God and His ineffable goodness; of which the one produces chaste fear, the other begets love: for His majesty they venerate God, and for His goodness they love Him, lest love without reverence be dissolute, or reverence without love be painful. For those who wonder love, and those who love wonder, so that love may burn inextinguishably through wonder, and wonder may sweetly glow in love."

Finally, just as the supreme benefit of the conception of the Word was here bestowed on the Blessed Virgin, so also was her exultation over it supreme, so that from joy her spirit seemed to leap out of her body and to leap over into God — and perhaps would really have leapt out, had not God by His own power kept it in her body. For in this same way she, some years later, died not of disease but of love, joy, and longing to see her Son, and enjoying Him, as Suarez, Canisius, a Castro, and other weighty theologians hold.

Livy relates that two Roman women expired from joy when they saw, beyond their hopes, their sons alive and as if returned from the dead — sons whom they had thought had fallen in the disaster at Lake Thrasymene. Plutarch writes that Polycrata also, when all applauded her virtues, died from gladness. Chilon, embracing his son — victor and crowned at the Olympic games — breathed out his exulting soul. Sophocles and Dionysius the tyrant of Sicily did the same, each upon receiving news of tragic victory, as Pliny, Valerius Maximus, Volaterranus, and others relate. Diagoras of Rhodes, when he had seen his two sons (or, according to Gellius, three) athletes win on the same day and be crowned as victors, and the crowd, in congratulation, vied in tossing flowers upon him, in the arms of his sons breathed out his last breath along with his life from exultation, as Cicero witnesses in the Tusculan Questions, and Gellius in the Attic Nights. Philistion of Nicaea, a comic poet contemporary with Socrates, ended his life from excessive laughter. Hence the saying: "To die of laughter."

How much more would the Blessed Virgin, suffused with far greater joy and as it were drunk, have breathed out her exulting, nay leaping, spirit, had not God by His mighty hand kept it in her body. For she so exulted that her spirit was entirely caught up and absorbed into God incarnate within her, and, as it were, transformed into Him. Moreover, this exultation was not transient, but endured in the Virgin throughout her whole life as a habit, says Albert; especially because she continually conversed and lovingly communed with her Jesus. Albert adds that, on account of this continual possession of rejoicing in God, the Mother of God was utterly dead to the world and to this mortal life beyond all other wayfarers, so that her life was always hidden with Christ in God, and she dwelt present to the angelic court within God's sanctuary, and so she could say — even in a more excellent way than Paul or any other creature — "I live, now not I, but Christ lives in me," Gal. VI [2:20].

MY SPIRIT. — That is, my soul, say Euthymius, Titus, and Franciscus Lucas; as if "my spirit has rejoiced in God" were the same as "my soul magnifies the Lord." Better do Toletus, Benzonius, and others consider "spirit" to mean something more than "soul": and so by "soul" they understand the intellect, and by "spirit" the will — as if to say: With all the powers of both my intellect and my will I magnify God, and I exult in Him. More simply, you may take "soul" for the lower part of the soul, which looks to natural things, and "spirit" for the higher part, which looks to things spiritual and divine. For "soul" denotes the nature of the soul, while "spirit" denotes the mind imbued with grace and the impulse of the mind inspired by the Holy Spirit. The soul therefore is natural and considers natural things; but the spirit considers supernatural and heavenly things. Thus "spirit" signifies, first, the mind; secondly, the vehement impulse and fervor of the mind toward joy and jubilation; thirdly, that this impulse is inspired by the Holy Spirit. Moreover, the spirit, as being superior, draws with it both soul and body, so that they also may exult, according to that saying: "My heart and my flesh have rejoiced in the living God," Psalm LXXXIV. For the heart pours forth its joy into the flesh and into the whole body; but first the spirit, or mind, communicates its joy to the soul, the soul to the heart, the heart to the body.

IN GOD MY SAVIOR. — In Greek σωτῆρι μου, that is, "in my savior." And σωτῆρι corresponds to the Hebrew ישוע Jeshua, that is, Jesus, that is, savior, and is salvation itself formally and causally. Hence you may render it here, "in God my Jesus." For she alludes to Habakkuk III, 18: "But I shall rejoice in the Lord, and I shall exult in God my Jesus [Savior]." See what is said there. The Syriac translates, "in God my life-giver," namely He who has conferred or will confer life — that is, freedom, grace, and glory — upon me and upon all the faithful: for this is the salvation which Christ has brought us.

"MY" properly, first, because Jesus is my Son; secondly, because He is also my Savior — both because He preserved me above all others from all sin and heaped every grace upon me; and because He made me the mediatrix of the salvation of all men, so that I may be, as it were, a cause and mother of the salvation of all who are to be saved.

For this reason St. Cyril, in his sixth homily delivered in the Council of Ephesus in the very temple of the Mother of God, calls her "the joy of the world." St. Fulgentius, in his sermon On the Praises of Mary: "From the childbirth of the Savior, Mary has been made the window of heaven, because through her God poured forth the true light upon the ages. Mary has been made the heavenly ladder, because through her God descended to earth, in order that through her men might merit to ascend to heaven. Mary has been made the restoration of women, who through her are shown to have been withdrawn from the ruin of the first curse."

See St. Ephrem, in his oration to the Virgin, where among many other august praises he bestows on her these encomia: "Queen of all, hope of the Fathers. Glory of the Prophets, proclamation of the Apostles, honor of the Martyrs, gladness of the Patriarchs, gathering of all the Saints, crown of Virgins." And further on: "Hail, most splendid vessel of God. Hail, most brilliant star, from which Christ came forth. Hail, canticle of the Cherubim and hymn of the Angels. Hail, peace, joy, and salvation of the world. Hail, gladness of the human race. Hail, proclamation of the Fathers and adornment of the Prophets. Hail, beauty of the Martyrs and crown of the Saints. Hail, glory of the pious. Hail, most excellent miracle of the whole earth. Hail, paradise of delights and immortality. Hail, tree of life, joy and pleasure. Hail, rampart of the faithful and salvation of the world. Hail, resurrection of our forefather Adam. Hail, parent of all. Hail, fountain of grace and consolation. Hail, refuge of sinners and shelter. Hail, propitiation of those who labor." Should not then the Blessed Virgin most deservedly rejoice in God her Jesus?

Finally, Blessed John of Damascus, seeing his hand — with which he had written an apology for the veneration of holy images, and which had been cut off by the fraud of Leo the Isaurian, the iconoclast emperor — miraculously restored through the Blessed Virgin, sang: "My spirit has rejoiced in God my Savior, and in His Mother, because He that is mighty hath done great things to me," as our Canisius relates from John, Patriarch of Jerusalem, in book V, On the Mother of God, chapter XIX, and others.

Verse 48: He Has Regarded the Humility of His Handmaid

48. BECAUSE HE HAS REGARDED THE HUMILITY OF HIS HANDMAID: FOR BEHOLD, FROM HENCEFORTH ALL GENERATIONS SHALL CALL ME BLESSED. — She gives the reason why she rejoices in God her Jesus, namely because He Himself looked upon, that is, beheld with kindly eyes, approved, loved, and embraced the humility of the Virgin, and took pleasure in it. Hence Theophylact: "He looked upon me, lowly as I am; I did not look upon Him: He pursued me with mercy, I did not seek Him." And St. Augustine, on the Magnificat: "This is the grace of her rejoicing, that He regarded the humility of His handmaid — as if she said: Because I exult in His grace, therefore my rejoicing is from Him; and because I love His gifts for His own sake, therefore I rejoice in Him."

HE HAS REGARDED. — Hear St. Augustine here: "To regard by grace is first to visit those who are cast off and abandoned, when, appeased by mercy, He restores the goods that were withdrawn. Again, through the regard of grace, one turns toward Him. Therefore Mary rightly testifies that the Lord looked only upon humility, because the propitiation of divinity, which human nature in our first parents lost through pride, it recovered in Mary through humility." St. Bernard, sermon 57 on the Canticles: "God looks upon the earth and makes it tremble; from the opposite side He looks upon Mary, and pours grace into her. 'He has regarded the humility of His handmaid: for behold, from henceforth all generations shall call me blessed'; these are not the words of one weeping or trembling, but of one rejoicing." Hence He says to her: "Arise, make haste, My love, My beautiful dove, and come," Canticles II and following.

HUMILITY. — In Greek ταπείνωσιν, that is, lowliness, littleness, abjectness; for she sets this in contrast with the greatness of God: "For high is the Lord, and regards lowly things, and high things He knows from afar," Psalm CXXXVII [Vulg. CXXXVIII:6]. As if to say: I magnify God and I rejoice in Him, because He, although He is the greatest and supreme Lord of all, deigned to look with the eyes of His kindness upon me, the least of women — nay, of all creatures, that is, the most lowly, the poorest, and the most abject — and to choose me as His Mother. "Humility" here therefore properly signifies lowliness, not the virtue of humility opposed to pride; for that is called ταπεινοφροσύνη: for humility alone among the virtues is unaware of itself, and he who boasts that he is humble is proud, not humble. So Theophylact, Euthymius, Toletus, Franciscus Lucas, Cajetan, Maldonatus, and others. Thus Leah says, Genesis XXIX, 32: "The Lord saw my humility," that is, my abjectness, in that I was neglected and as it were despised by my husband Jacob in preference to Rachel. And Mardochai to Esther, chapter XIV [Vulgate XV], 2: "Remember the days of thy humility," in which of old thou wast a commoner and poor, not a queen, as thou now art. So in Judith VI, 15, she prays to God: "Look upon our humility," that is, our affliction and abjectness. So Christ "shall reform the body of our humility," that is, our most lowly and wretched body, through the glory of the resurrection, Philippians III, 21. Hence ταπεινός is said as if ἐδαφεινός, from ἔδαφος, that is, pavement, as humilis is from humus; or, as Eustathius says, ταπεινός by metathesis as if πατεινός, that is, trodden down, depressed, from πατέω, that is, I tread upon, trample, wear down. Hence τάπης means a tapis or coverlet, which is trodden upon and worn down.

Secondly, however, "humility" may be taken to mean the virtue of humility itself; for on account of this God regarded the Blessed Virgin and chose her as His Mother. For the humble person acknowledges her virtues in herself as gifts of God, and therefore sees among them also her own humility — not, however, attributing it to her own powers, but ascribing it to the grace of God. Hence ταπείνωσις is sometimes used by the Septuagint for ταπεινοφροσύνη, as St. Jerome notes, epistle 151 to Algasia, Question X. So Origen, St. Augustine, Bede, Albert, and Barradius here at length, and St. Bernard, homily 1 on "He was sent"; St. Ildephonsus, sermon 2 On the Assumption; Rupertus, book I on the Canticles; Ansbertus, book II on the Apocalypse; Emissenus, on the Gospel for Friday in Advent; Ribera, on Sophonias, chapter II, n. 4.

Therefore, just as the Blessed Virgin here acknowledges herself chosen to be the Mother of God, which was by far the greater thing, so likewise she acknowledges herself to have been disposed and fittingly adorned for so great a dignity through her humility, virginity, and the other virtues given her by God. For the humble person recognizes her own lowliness, misery, poverty — nay, her own nothingness — and ascribes all that she is and has to God, to whom it belongs, and she says with the Psalmist: "Not to us, O Lord, not to us, but to Thy name give glory," Psalm CXIII [Vulg. 115:1]; and with Paul: "Let him who glories, glory in the Lord," 2 Corinthians XI [Vulg. 2 Cor. 10:17].

Hear St. Augustine, sermon 2 On the Assumption: "O true humility, which brought forth God for men, gave life to mortals, renewed the heavens, purified the world, opened paradise, and freed the souls of men! Mary's humility was made a heavenly ladder by which God descended to the earth! For what is it to say 'He has regarded,' except to say 'He approved'? For many seem in men's sight to be humble, but their humility is not regarded by the Lord. For if they were truly humble, they would not wish to be praised by men; their spirit would rejoice not in this world, but in God." For, as St. Basil says in the Monastic Constitutions, chapter XVII: "Humility is the safest treasury of all the virtues, their root and foundation." And St. Chrysostom, homily 2 on Psalm L: "The greatest sacrifice is humility; for he who by sinning withdraws himself from God, the same by humility subjects himself when he is converted to penance." Finally, St. Bernard: "There is a humility which truth begets in us, and it has no warmth; and there is a humility which charity forms and inflames. The latter consists in affection, the former in knowledge: by the first we know how nothing we are, and we learn it from ourselves and from our own infirmity; by the second we trample on the glory of the world, and we learn this from Him who emptied Himself, etc., and who, sought out to be made king, fled away, but sought out for insults — and for the cross — did not flee, but offered Himself willingly." The Blessed Virgin had both in a heroic and eminent degree.

FOR BEHOLD, FROM HENCEFORTH ALL GENERATIONS SHALL CALL ME BLESSED (the Arabic: shall give me blessedness). — The Blessed Virgin proves that God has regarded her humility by assuming flesh in her, from the effect — namely, that on account of this Incarnation of the Word in her, all the generations of all ages will marvel at her as Mother of God, venerate her, and proclaim her blessed. As if, says St. Augustine here: "You, O Elizabeth, say of me: Blessed art thou who hast believed; but I say: From this moment (in which I have conceived the Son of God) all generations shall call me blessed." And after some intervening words: "Mary, who was humble before the Lord and, for God's sake, abject before men, testifies that she was regarded in both respects; because her humility was acceptable to God, and her humiliation before men was changed into glory. Therefore it follows: From henceforth all generations shall call me blessed."

She alludes to the words of Leah, who, when her handmaid Zilpah had borne a son, called him Asher — that is, Blessed — saying: "This for my blessedness: all women shall call me blessed." This is what that wise woman proclaimed to Christ: "Blessed is the womb that bore Thee, and the breasts that gave Thee suck," Luke XI.

BEHOLD. — This adverb is, first, a mark of wonder: as if she said, Behold a new thing, a marvel unheard of in all ages: that one woman should be blessed and happy — nay, the most blessed before all angels and men, seeing that hitherto all women, in Eve, had been cursed by God and condemned to three punishments, namely servitude, pain, and labor, Genesis III. Secondly, it is a mark of beginning and inception, as if she said: Behold, from now I begin to be made blessed, and thereafter I shall be continually proclaimed blessed by all ages. Thirdly, it is a mark of indication and admonition, as if she said: Behold, take heed, O wretched mortals who desire to be blessed: learn from me that blessedness is placed in humility, obedience, grace, and the favor of God, which you will obtain through me. For I am the first blessed woman, through whom God has decreed to bless all others. Therefore have recourse to me, and implore my help, that you may become blessed.

BLESSED. — with many names and titles, which John Gerson, Chancellor of Paris, enumerates in tractate IV, note 1, on the Magnificat: "Deign to let us praise you, holy Virgin, thrice and four times blessed. Blessed first, 'who hast believed,' cries Elizabeth. Blessed secondly, because you are 'full of grace,' according to Gabriel's salutation. Blessed thirdly, and blessed, because 'blessed is the fruit of thy womb.' Blessed fourthly, because 'He that is mighty hath done great things to thee.' Blessed fifthly, because you are Mother of the Lord. Blessed sixthly, because you were made fruitful with the honor of virginity. Blessed seventhly, because 'neither before you was any found like you, nor shall you have any who follows.'" Among all these titles, the chief and the fountain of the rest is that the Blessed Virgin was chosen by God and made the Mother of the Incarnate Word.

ALL GENERATIONS. — all ages, all centuries, all the faithful to come. Hear Hugh the Cardinal: "All generations, that is, all nations, namely of Jews and Gentiles, of men and women, of rich and poor, of angels and men, because all have received through her the saving benefit — men, reconciliation; angels, repair. For Christ the Son of God worked salvation in the midst of the earth, that is, in the womb of Mary, who by a certain wonderful propriety is called the midst of the earth. For to Him they look, as Bernard says, both those who dwell in heaven, and those who dwell in the infernal regions — that is, in purgatory — and those who dwell in the world: the first, that they may be perfected; the second, that they may be rescued; the third, that they may be reconciled." Then, assigning the reason, he adds: "From this then all generations shall call thee blessed, O blessed Virgin, because to all generations thou didst bring forth life, grace, and glory: to the dead life, to sinners grace, to the wretched glory; therefore it is said in Judith XV, 10: 'Thou art the glory of Jerusalem, thou art the joy of Israel, thou art the honor of our people, because thou hast done manfully.' The first is the voice of the angels, whose ruin was repaired by her; the second is the voice of men, whose sorrow was turned to joy by her; the third is the voice of women, whose disgrace was wiped away by her; the fourth is the voice of the dead, whose captivity was led back by her." So also Albert the Great here.

The Virgin here prophesies that she shall be proclaimed blessed, celebrated, and invoked by all ages. The truth of this prophecy is clear from the event. For we see the Blessed Virgin honored and celebrated by all nations and ages with so many chapels, churches, feasts, confraternities, religious orders, vows, supplications, litanies, etc., as the other saints combined do not obtain; indeed, to the Blessed Virgin alone is given the cult of hyperdulia, as to God the cult of latria, while to the other saints is given the cult of dulia. Therefore, O Virgin Mother of God, all generations shall proclaim thee blessed. Thy holiness, thy virginity, thy humility, thy motherhood, all Christians of all times have celebrated, do celebrate, and shall celebrate: long live thy honor, thy praise, thy glory, as long as angels shall live, as long as men shall live, as long as Christ shall live, as long as God shall be God, unto all the ages of ages.

Verse 49: He That Is Mighty Has Done Great Things to Me

49. BECAUSE HE THAT IS MIGHTY HATH DONE GREAT THINGS TO ME (in Greek μεγαλεῖα, that is, great things) WHO IS MIGHTY. — Syriac: because He has done magnificent things with me, He who is mighty. For the Incarnation of the Word is a greater work than the creation of the whole world. Therefore the Blessed Virgin, as Mother of God, is greater than all the angels, all men, and all creatures taken together. Hear St. Augustine here: "It was a great thing that a virgin should conceive a son without the seed of man. It was a great thing that she should carry in her womb the Word of God the Father clothed in her own flesh. It was a great thing that, while confessing herself a handmaid, she should become the mother of her own Maker." The same Father, in Sermon 25 On the Saints, which is the second On the Assumption of Mary, says: "What great things has He done for you, Lady, what glorious things, Virgin, that you should be called blessed? I think, nay I truly believe, that as a creature you should bring forth the Creator, as a handmaid you should give birth to the Lord." Titus says: "That Mighty One has worked wondrous things through me: for although I am a virgin, by His all-powerful will, passing beyond the bounds of nature, I conceived, and without any commerce with man I was made worthy to become the mother not of just anyone indiscriminately, but of the only-begotten Son of God."

The Blessed Virgin adds this, says Titus, first, "lest anyone should withdraw his faith from so great a mystery; for what she says has this meaning: Let no one marvel that I have conceived as a virgin; for He who has done this is Almighty God." Therefore in this mystery "the whole reason for the fact," as St. Augustine says in Epistle 3, "is the power of the one doing it, who alone does great wonders," Psalm 135:4, and as Job says (5:9), "who does great and unsearchable things, and marvelous things without number." Secondly, that the Virgin may show that there was fulfilled in her what the angel had promised in verse 35: "The power (in Greek δύναμις, whence δυνατός) of the Most High shall overshadow you." She alludes to Isaiah 7:14: "Behold, a virgin shall conceive and bear a son, and his name shall be called Emmanuel," that is, God strong with us; and chapter 9:6: "A little child is born to us, and a son is given to us, etc. And His name shall be called wonderful, counselor, God the strong": in Hebrew אל גבור el ghibbor, that is, strong, mighty as a giant. Whence Gabriel announced His birth, a name which signifies the power and strength of God.

AND HOLY IS HIS NAME. — The Virgin shows that there was fulfilled in her that promise of the angel in verse 35: "The Holy Spirit shall come upon you"; and therefore she says: "And holy is His name," namely the Holy Spirit, as if to say: Because the power of the Most High has overshadowed me, and the Holy Spirit has come upon me, all generations shall call me blessed: for these two things have blessed me and made me blessed.

Now as to the sense: first, Toletus and Franciscus Lucas think the Virgin here celebrates two great things done to her by God, namely: first, the Incarnation of the Word, through which she was made the Mother of God, and therefore Lady and Queen of all angels and men, and on account of this she says: "Because He who is mighty has done great things for me"; for this was the work of God's supreme power; second, her own disposition and sanctification for this Incarnation to be accomplished in her, and on account of this she says: "And holy is His name." For just as it was a work of power that God should become man from a virgin, so was it a work of holiness that the virgin should be prepared, preserved from all filth and stain, sanctified in body and soul, and rendered entirely such as would be fit to conceive in her womb the holy and immaculate Word of God. Therefore, since the Virgin knew that on account of both of these she would be proclaimed blessed among Christians, she ascribes both to God, wishing all things to be referred to God, who has so displayed in her both His most renowned power and His holiness, piety, goodness, and mercy, that not so much she herself as He deserves to be praised and proclaimed by all ages. For the Blessed Virgin was so sanctified by the Holy Spirit that she contracted no sin whatever, and far surpassed all the angels, even the Seraphim, in grace and holiness.

Hear also Hugh the Cardinal enumerating the twelve great things of the Virgin: "The first was the sanctification in her mother's womb; the second, the angel's salutation; the third, the fullness of grace; the fourth, the conception of the Son; the fifth, fruitful virginity; the sixth, virginal fecundity; the seventh, honored humility; the eighth, promptness of obedience; the ninth, the devotion of faith; the tenth is prudent modesty; the eleventh, modest prudence; the twelfth, dominion of heaven." See St. Thomas, I part, Question XXV, article 6, where he teaches that God can do better works than He has done, with three exceptions, namely the Incarnation of the Word, the Motherhood of God, and the beatitude of man, which consists in the vision of God; for than these nothing better nor greater can God do, because nothing can be greater or better than God Himself.

Finally, see the seven great, indeed greatest, privileges given by God to the Blessed Virgin, which St. Bonaventure enumerates in the Mirror, chapter VI and following. For this reason the Blessed Virgin is called by St. Cyril, in his Homily against Nestorius, "the Form of God (most beautiful indeed), the pearl of the whole earth." By Damascene, Oration 1 On the Nativity of the Virgin, "the living image of God." By St. Bernard, Sermon 2 On Pentecost, "the business of the ages, to which look both those who dwell in heaven, and those in hell, and the children of children, and those who shall be born of them." By St. Ignatius, Epistle 1 to John the Apostle, "a heavenly prodigy and a most sacred spectacle." By St. Peter Chrysologus, Sermon 146, "the college of holiness," in which God gathers, as if drawn together, all the graces distributed among other Saints. By Hesychius, bishop of Jerusalem, Homily 2 On St. Mary, "the entire completion of the Trinity; because both the Holy Spirit was coming and lodging, and the Father was overshadowing, and the Son, carried in her womb, was dwelling within."

WHO IS MIGHTY. — In Greek ὁ δυνατός. This is one of the ten names of God: for thus the Septuagint is accustomed to translate the Hebrew גבור ghibbor, that is, mighty, strong, giant; whence "Gabriel," that is, the strength of God; and our Vulgate is accustomed to translate the Hebrew שדי saddai as "omnipotent": of which name I have said much on Genesis 17:1, where among other things I showed that saddai is the same as "breast-like," or sufficient and abounding in all goods, so that like a breast He pours them abundantly upon all; for God has never done this more than in the Incarnation of the Word.

Secondly, and more plainly and fully, you may refer both praises of the Virgin to both things, namely both to the Incarnation of the Word, and to her preparation and sanctification for this: for each was the work of God's exceptional power and holiness, because each was performed by the Holy Spirit coming upon the Virgin to sanctify both Christ and the Blessed Virgin, according to that oracle of the angel: "For that which shall be born of you holy shall be called the Son of God," verse 31. For Christ was the Holy of Holies, that is, the fount of holiness sanctifying the whole world.

The sense therefore is: "And holy is His name," as if to say: God's name is "holy," that is, God Himself signified by His name is "holy," in Hebrew קדש cados, that is, having all purity, holiness, virtue, perfection, and therefore He is in all ways to be venerated, adored, and celebrated; for ἅγιος, that is, holy, is said from ἅζω, that is, I cherish, I venerate. Hence ἅγιος is said of one who, because of virtue and holiness, is to be revered by all. God therefore is holy both in all His works, and most of all in this most holy mystery of the Incarnation of the Word, by which He sanctified Christ, the Blessed Virgin, and all the faithful.

Note: The conjunction "and" here denotes both cause and effect: cause, as if to say: "And," that is, "because," God is holy, indeed uncreated and immense holiness itself, therefore He did in me these most holy great things of the Incarnation of the Word, that from me, a virgin, with the Holy Spirit at work, there might be born what is holy, that is, the Holy of Holies, as the angel foretold and promised: for the Virgin alludes to him and applauds him; and He did this for the most holy end, namely that through holy Christ He might abolish sins and sanctify sinners, and thus lead them to eternal salvation. She alludes to that passage in Daniel 9:24: "That transgression may be finished, and sin may have an end, and iniquity may be abolished, and everlasting justice may be brought, etc., and the Holy of Holies may be anointed." Effect, as if to say: From this great work of God, namely from this wondrous mystery of the Incarnation of the Word in me, this effect shall follow, that all the faithful shall highly sanctify and glorify God, the author of so great a sacrament. Thus St. Augustine, Jansenius, and others. Yet more properly and primarily the "and" seems to denote cause, and secondarily and consequently effect.

Finally, the incarnate God is called holy, because He assumed flesh and blood to be offered to God, both in life and on the cross and in death for the salvation of men. For, as St. Isidore says (Origins, Book XV, chapter 14): "Nothing was called holy among the ancients except what was consecrated or sprinkled with the blood of a victim. Likewise what exists sanctified by blood is holy: for to sanctify is to confirm." See the Apostle, Hebrews 9:12 and following. St. Augustine, however, in Book II On the Lord's Sermon on the Mount, chapter 31, says: "Holy is that which it is wicked to violate and corrupt, of which crime the attempt and will is certainly held guilty, although that holy thing remains by nature inviolable and incorruptible." St. Bernard, however, in Sermon 5 on the Vigil of the Nativity, places holiness in clemency and meekness, according to that saying about Moses: "In faith and gentleness He made him holy," Sirach 45. Hence he adds: "Indeed, that sanctification may be perfect, we must learn meekness and the grace of social life also from the Holy of Holies, as He Himself says: Learn from Me, for I am meek and humble of heart. For what prevents a man of this kind, abounding in delights, from learning — He who is sweet and meek, and of great mercy, who has become all things to all, and who drenches all men with a certain oil of meekness and gentleness, in which He is so infused, so drenched and overflowing, that He seems to drip on every side?"

Hence some moderns refer "and holy is His name" to the next verse, "and His mercy," etc., as though this were God's holiness. But it is to be referred literally to what preceded, as I have said. Moreover, St. Bernard, in his sermon on the death of the monk Humbert, graphically depicts for our imitation the idea of divine holiness: "He was humble of heart, sweet of speech, strenuous in work, fervent in charity, faithful in what was committed to him, circumspect and prudent in counsel. He was more composed than all the men whom I have seen in these days, remaining one and the same at every time and every hour. Plainly he set his footsteps in the paths of the Lord Jesus, nor did he draw back his foot until he had completed the course of his journey. He was poor, and this man too was poor. He lived in labors, and this one also in many labors. He was crucified, and this one was fastened to many and great crosses, bore the stigmata of Jesus in his own body, filling up those things that were lacking of the sufferings of Christ even in his own flesh; He rose again, this man rises again; He ascended into heaven, this one is believed to be about to ascend."

Hence Euthymius, on Psalm 11: "Properly, he is called ὅσιος who cultivates piety and religion, which pertain to God; but he is ἅγιος who is made a partaker of divinity through the path of the virtues." Moreover, "holy" in Hebrew is קדש cados, that is, removed and separated from every vice, stain, indeed even from the ways of the crowd; such especially is God, whose holiness and majesty is so remote, lofty, and eminent, that it infinitely transcends all gods, angels, and men. Whence St. Dionysius, On the Divine Names, chapter 12: "Since holiness is free from every stain, and wholly perfect and immaculate purity; hence God, from the exuberance of purity and of all virtues, with which He is most full, is called the Holy of Holies." I have condensed the words of St. Dionysius into a few words, because they are diffuse. And Bede: "His name is called holy, because by the singular height of His power He transcends every creature, and is far separated from all the things which He has made. This is better understood by a Greek expression, in which the very word used, ἅγιον, signifies as it were being outside the earth: and in imitation of this we too, according to our measure, are commanded to be separated from all who are not holy nor dedicated to God, as the Lord says: Be ye holy, because I am holy; for whoever has consecrated himself to God will justly seem to be outside the earth and outside the world. For he too can say: Though walking upon the earth, we have our conversation in heaven."

Symbolically: God revealed His name שדי saddai, that is, breast-like, bountiful, to Abraham (Genesis 17:1); but to Moses His proper name יהוה Jehovah (which Varro, as St. Augustine says in Book I On the Harmony of the Gospels, chapter 22, supposed, because of the similarity of name, to be Jove, the god of the Romans; but wrongly), that is, "being," or "He who is and gives being to all things," Exodus 6:3; but to the Blessed Virgin in this passage He reveals His name "holy," because He poured His holiness into her through the Holy of Holies, that is, Christ, who was to diffuse His holiness upon all the faithful as the sun.

Hence some take the "holy" name of God to be the name of Jesus; for this is more holy and venerable than the name "Jehovah," as I have shown on Numbers 13:17. Christians therefore, called by Christ to full holiness, ought to be holy; whence by Paul they are everywhere called saints, indeed holier than all the faithful who lived under Moses, Abraham, Noah, Adam, etc. For Christianity is nothing other than the life of Christ, or the profession of Christ's holiness. Let the Christian therefore so live as befits a disciple of Christ, that his life may be a living image of Christ's holiness; that whoever sees him and hears him may seem to see and hear Christ in him.

Verse 50: His Mercy From Generation to Generations

50. AND HIS MERCY IS FROM GENERATION TO GENERATIONS (Syrus, ages; Arabicus, to the generation of generations) ON THOSE WHO FEAR HIM. — "Mercy," in Greek ἔλεος, which word corresponds to the Hebrew חסד chesed, that is, piety, goodness, kindness, generosity, as if to say: God, as He is supremely powerful and holy, as I have already said, is likewise supremely merciful, and this continually and always upon all who in every age love Him and therefore fear to offend Him; wherefore they zealously obey His commandments, as I have always loved Him, feared Him, and striven to obey Him in all things. For this is the second part of this canticle, in which the Blessed Virgin passes from the benefits bestowed by God upon herself to the common ones granted to all Israel, that is, to all the faithful, as I said on verse 46.

Verse 51: He Has Shown Strength in His Arm

51. HE HAS SHOWN STRENGTH (Syrus, victory; Arabicus, might) IN HIS ARM: HE HAS SCATTERED (Syrus, dissipated) THE PROUD IN THE THOUGHT OF THEIR HEART. — The Virgin praised God's clemency and mercy toward the pious who fear Him; now on the opposite side she praises His severity and justice toward the impious who despise Him.

IN HIS ARM. — Anthropopathically, God's strength and power is signified by hand, finger, right hand; but most of all by the arm; for the strength of men resides in, and exerts itself through, the arms and muscles. The sense therefore is, as if to say: God by His mighty strength as by His arm has mightily wrought many things from all ages, as when He crushed, conquered, and subdued Pharaoh through Moses; the Canaanites through Joshua and the Judges; the Philistines, Ammonites, Moabites, and Edomites through David: much more now the same God mightily makes Christ to be incarnate in me, through whom He will mightily vanquish Lucifer, hell, death, sin, and all the impious. Hence Bede and Theophylact mystically understand here by "arm" the Arm of the Lord, the Son of God incarnate in the Virgin. For He is the power of God, 1 Corinthians 1:24. She alludes to Isaiah 53:1: "To whom has the arm of the Lord been revealed?" See what has been said there.

HE HAS SCATTERED THE PROUD IN THE THOUGHT OF THEIR HEART. — As He scattered, threw down, and overthrew Pharaoh, Nebuchadnezzar, Arphaxad, Shalmaneser, Belshazzar, Antiochus, etc. Note: Some refer "their" to the heart of God, as if to say: God by His own heart, that is, by His will and decree, scattered the proud. Thus St. Augustine here: "And this in the thought of His heart; that is, in the depth of His counsel He scattered them. It was a deep counsel, that for me God should become man, and, innocent, should suffer, that the guilty might be redeemed; and this was the counsel, nor could the devil foresee it, but the man Leviathan was captured." Carthusianus follows this exposition: "In mind, that is, in the intention and pleasure of the heart, that is, of His intellect, by which He discerns, judges, and arranges all things." But from the Greek it is clear that "their" is to be referred not to the heart of God, but to the heart of the proud. For in Greek it is αὐτῶν, that is, "of them," as the Syriac and Arabic translate it. Whence Euthymius: "God scattered those who were proud in their heart."

Others more significantly refer "their" to "scattered," as if to say: God scattered the proud by mind, that is, through the mind, or, as it is in Greek, διανοίᾳ, that is, through the thought of their own heart, because indeed He turns their proud counsels and machinations to their own destruction, so as to scatter them, according to that passage in Job 5: "Who catches the wise in their craftiness," as He did to Pharaoh pursuing the Hebrews through the Red Sea, submerging him in the same sea with all his men; and to the brothers of Joseph, who sold him to destroy him, but God through this very means exalted Joseph and compelled his brothers to adore him.

It is a pleasing story which St. Antoninus, part II, title III, chapter II, relates about a certain tyrant, who commanded the following to be erased from books, from Mary's canticle: "He has scattered the proud in the thought of their heart: He has put down the mighty from their seat, and has exalted the humble"; because he denied that he could be deposed from his own seat. Once, after his bath, an angel, impersonating him, put on his clothes and came home with the courtiers, while he, forced to take shabby and worthless garments, returned there and hurled curses and threats at the courtiers, and being thought a fool was led to the angel, who was held to be the true prince; and after the courtiers had laughed at him profusely, he was admitted to the inner chamber, admonished about modesty, put on his own clothes, and thereafter was treated with honor as the lawful master. I have related another similar example about a cleric laughing at Christ's saying: "He who humbles himself shall be exalted," from Blessed Peter Damian, on Matthew 23:12.

THE PROUD. — Some derive the word "superbus" (proud) from the Greek ὑπέρβιος, that is, "over-violent," that is, very violent, because those who are proud are also violent, and insulting and injurious to others, as were the emperors and tyrants already cited; but God has scattered their strength by the greater strength of His counsel. Others derive "superbio" from "super" and "eo": for the proud man wishes to go beyond others. So "mens" (mind) is called as it were "eminens" (eminent); for it is the loftier part of the soul, by which the proud fashion their lofty counsels. Albertus, however, here notes that "mens" is said from "metiendo" (measuring); because those things which we revolve and consider in our heart are measured by the mind. But the mind of the proud is their measure, insofar as they bring to effect the pride and height which they consider in their heart: and they are scattered by the thought of their heart when they cannot complete what they have wickedly conceived and considered, according to that saying of Isaiah 8:10: "Take counsel together, and it shall be dissipated: speak a word, and it shall not come to pass."

Verse 52: He Has Put Down the Mighty

52. HE HAS PUT DOWN (Syrus, cast down) THE MIGHTY FROM THEIR SEAT, AND HAS EXALTED THE HUMBLE. — As He put down proud Saul from the royal throne, replacing him with humble David; so He replaced proud Haman with humble Mordecai, and Vashti with Esther. So Joshua (12:7) struck down thirty-one kings of the Canaanites, and subdued their kingdoms to himself and to Israel. The same God has done, does, and will do in every age. Wherefore these past tenses — "has done, has scattered, has put down, has exalted," etc. — are to be taken most broadly, so that they signify any time, future as well as present and past, after the manner of the Hebrews. "He has put down," therefore, also means He puts down and shall put down.

THE MIGHTY. — In Greek δυνάστας, that is, dynasts, princes; for from δύνασθαι, that is, power, are called dynasts, that is, the mighty. The Virgin alludes to David, who in Psalm 112:6 thus sings of God: "Raising up the needy from the earth, and lifting up the poor out of the dunghill; that He may place him with princes, with the princes of His people." And to Hannah who, in 1 Samuel 2:7, thus rejoices: "The Lord makes the poor and makes rich; He humbles and exalts: He raises up the needy from the dust, and lifts up the poor from the dunghill, that they may sit with princes, and hold the throne of glory."

Moreover, both often at other times and especially around the time of Christ's nativity, God put down the mighty from their seat, in almost the whole world, which, after Julius Caesar, Pompey, Lepidus, Antony, and the other kings, princes, and tyrants had been removed, He subjected to Augustus Caesar alone, who was a type of Christ, as Cyrus had also been (Isaiah 45:1). Whence, when Christ was born, he refused the title of Lord when offered to him. So Baronius, from Philo and others, at the beginning of the Annals. At that time also God deposed from their seat Hyrcanus and Aristobulus, who were contending with each other for the principate of Judea; and in them ceased the stock and succession of the Hasmoneans, namely Judah, Jonathan, and Simon the Maccabees. Herod the child-killer also was deprived of kingdom and life; and a little afterward his entire royal progeny perished, as did also Augustus Caesar's, so as to signify that Christ had now been born and that every kingdom was owed and prepared for Him, as Daniel foretold in chapter 7, verse 13.

Verse 53: He Has Filled the Hungry With Good Things

53. HE HAS FILLED THE HUNGRY (πεινῶντας, that is, the famished) (Syrus, satisfied) WITH GOOD THINGS, AND THE RICH HE HAS SENT AWAY EMPTY. — Thus He fed the hungry Hebrews (who were about three million in number) for forty years in the desert by raining down manna from heaven. Thus He brought the same people into the promised land flowing with milk and honey, after the Canaanites had been expelled and were wasting with hunger. Thus God fed Elijah when hungry through an angel, Daniel in the lions' den through Habakkuk, Paul the first hermit through a raven. Thus also He fed the Blessed Virgin, hungering and thirsting after righteousness, with the Incarnate Word, and with the same He feeds all the faithful in the Eucharist, and shall feed them still more in heaven. For this is what the Holy Spirit here intends to signify, and this pertains to the present business of the Incarnation.

She alludes to that saying of Hannah, 1 Samuel 2:5: "They that were full before have hired themselves out for bread, and the hungry have been filled." And to that of David: "The rich have wanted, and have been hungry, but those who seek the Lord shall not be deprived of any good thing," Psalm 33:11. By "the hungry" therefore are meant the poor; for to these he opposes the rich.

Verse 54: He Has Received Israel His Servant

54. HE HAS RECEIVED ISRAEL HIS SERVANT, REMEMBERING HIS MERCY. — "To receive" (suscipere) in Scripture, especially in the Psalms, has the widest meaning. For it signifies to take up, to stretch out the hand, to help, to embrace, to raise up, to defend, to promote, etc. The sense therefore is, as if to say: God, who tenderly loved the Israelite people as a child, that is, as His son or servant, now, as it were, took them up in His hand when they had fallen, raised them up, helped them, restored them, and treated them with every kind of benevolence and beneficence. God did this often in old times through Moses, Joshua, Samuel, David, Hezekiah, Josiah, Ezra, Zerubbabel, the Maccabees, etc., but now He has done it most of all by sending to Israel the Messiah promised to them; for He has received flesh in my womb, from me, who am an Israelite. For at that time the commonwealth and Church of Israel, that is, of the Jewish people, was completely collapsed, since both the scepter had been taken away from them and transferred to Herod and the Romans, and the pontiffs and priests, intent on their own gains and conveniences, neglected the salvation of the people: wherefore the people were then grievously afflicted, laboring with various miseries of soul and body. Therefore God then seasonably sent Christ, so that out of them all He might rescue His Israel, that is, all the faithful, both from the Jews and from the Gentiles, converted to Him. Whence St. Augustine: "He received Israel, not that He found Israel, but that He might make Israel, He received: as a physician receives the sick, to heal the infirm and redeem the captive; to justify the ungodly and save the just." For "Israel" in Hebrew means the same as a man seeing God, or rather ruling with God, Genesis 32:28. For this is the third part of this canticle, in which the Blessed Virgin goes from the common benefits once bestowed by God upon Israel, back to this proper and particular benefit of the Messiah now incarnate in her, which was the greatest and most excellent of all.

REMEMBERING HIS MERCY. — For the reason why God sent Christ was the common misery of Israel and of the whole human race, condemned to death and hell because of sins, which God, taking pity on, sent Christ that He might rescue us from it, and restore us to God and heaven. Whence St. Leo, Sermon 1 On the Fast of the Tenth Month: "The cause of our reparation is nothing but the mercy of God."

Of this God is said to have "remembered" as if returning from exile, because after four thousand years, during which, leaving men in their misery, He seemed to have forgotten the mercy promised to the fathers, now as if remembering it, He exhibited it in deed through Christ. For this mercy is none other than the salvation brought through Christ.

Verse 55: As He Spoke to Our Fathers

55. AS HE SPOKE TO OUR FATHERS, TO ABRAHAM AND HIS SEED FOREVER. — The "as" and what follows up to "Abraham" are to be enclosed in parentheses, as is clear from the Greek, and from the fact that it adds "to his seed"; otherwise it would have had to say "to seed," as it had said "to the fathers." Therefore the Virgin indicates that this mercy, that is, the salvation brought through Christ, had been promised long ago by God to the fathers, namely to Adam (Genesis 3:15), to Abraham (Genesis 22:18), to David (2 Samuel 7:12), and to others, as if to say: This Incarnation of Christ is not a fortuitous thing, but from eternity was foreseen and decreed by God with great counsel for the salvation of Israel and of the whole world, and in time, from the origin of the world, was promised to all the Patriarchs: wherefore they most eagerly desired it, and with the most fervent sighs begged it of God, but did not obtain it, because God decreed to reserve and display so great a gift for this time and age.

TO ABRAHAM AND HIS SEED FOREVER. — "Abraham" is in the dative case, as is clear from the Greek, and from "to his seed." For these words must be referred not to "our fathers," as that phrase is intercepted by a parenthesis, but to "remembering His mercy," which preceded, as if to say: God, by incarnating Christ, remembered His mercy, once promised by Him to Abraham and his seed, that is, to his Israelite descendants. For Christ was properly promised to the Israelites; yet, since they rejected Christ, God redirected this mercy to the Gentiles, who eagerly received Christ. He mentions Abraham, both because he was the first Patriarch of Israel, and because he excelled in faith, and therefore was called by God the Father of believers, and received the promise about Christ to be born from his seed, through whom all nations were to be blessed, that is, saved (Genesis 22:18).

Wherefore this seed, that is, the sons and descendants of Abraham, are to be understood not as the carnal, that is, the Jews descended from Abraham according to the flesh, but as the spiritual, that is, the faithful, both from the Gentiles and from the Jews, believing in Christ: for these imitate the faith of Abraham as the father of believers, as I said on verse 32, and as the Apostle clearly teaches in Romans chapter 9, verse 8.

FOREVER. — This word can be referred both to "to the seed," as if to say: to the seed of Abraham which shall endure "forever," that is, perpetually; and to "mercy," in verse 54, as if to say: God remembered His mercy, that is, the salvation to be given through Christ, and He willed that it should endure not for a hundred or a thousand years, but forever and ever, that is, eternally. Both senses come to the same thing. So Jansenius, Maldonatus, Franciscus Lucas, and others.

Verse 56: Mary Abode With Her About Three Months

56. AND MARY ABODE WITH HER ABOUT THREE MONTHS, AND SHE RETURNED TO HER OWN HOUSE. — "She abode," serving her kinswoman Elizabeth who was now near childbirth, refreshing her and sanctifying her still more by her holy services and conversations, as also John contained in her womb. Thus St. Ambrose: "Not only friendship is the cause why she abode long, but also the advancement of so great a prophet. For if at her first entrance there was so great an advance, that at Mary's greeting the infant leapt in the womb and the infant's mother was filled with the Holy Spirit: how much do we think the presence of St. Mary during so long a time added!" So also Origen here, in Homily 9, teaches that during these three months both John and Elizabeth made wonderful progress in holiness from the presence of the Virgin: "Therefore he was being exercised, and as it were in an athletic gymnasium, with his holy mother (so that the mother of John was as it were the arena and place of athletic contest), for three months John was being anointed and prepared in his mother's womb, that having been born wonderfully, he might be more wonderfully nurtured": for no mention is made here of his nursing, or nurses, or those who carry infants, but only it is said: "And he was in the desert until the day of his manifestation to Israel."

ABOUT THREE MONTHS — that is, until the nativity of John. For she came in the sixth month from the conception of John, as is clear from verse 26. But John was born three months later, namely in the ninth month from his conception.

It is asked here whether the Blessed Virgin remained until the birth and nativity of John, and was present at it.

Theophylact, Euthymius, and Jansenius deny it. They prove it first because the Blessed Virgin came in the sixth month, and remained about three months; therefore she departed before the ninth month was complete, and so before Elizabeth's childbirth; second, because after the Virgin's departure Luke narrates Elizabeth's childbirth and in it makes no mention of the Virgin; third and most especially, because it was not fitting for the most chaste Virgin to be present at a birth; fourth, because it was fitting that she should avoid the crowd that would throng to the birth.

Yet the opposite is equally probable, indeed more probable, and is the view of more authors, namely Origen, St. Ambrose, Bede, Maldonatus, Toletus, Franciscus Lucas. It is proved first, because it would have been uncivil to stay until the birth and depart immediately before it; second, because at the birth Elizabeth especially needed the Virgin's presence, help, and consolation; third, because the Virgin stayed for this three-month period so that she might see, embrace, and bless John, the wonder of the world and the forerunner of her Christ, and in turn that John, once born, might see, greet, and venerate the Mother of the Lord, and in her Christ the Lord. Hence Bede: "Mary abode so long until Elizabeth, the time of delivery being complete, should see the nativity of her Lord's forerunner, for whose sake chiefly she had come."

To the first I reply that "about" here signifies not diminution but increase, as if to say: she abode about three months, and a little more. Add that John could have been born at the end of the three months; for many offspring are born in the ninth month not yet complete. To the second, Luke wished first to finish the whole history of the Visitation of the Blessed Virgin, then to narrate the nativity of John in order, so as not to confuse one event with another. To the third, the Blessed Virgin, at the very hour of the birth, withdrew to her chamber, praying for a happy delivery: and she left the care of the childbirth to the midwives, to whom it belonged; for it is reasonable to believe that she observed this or some similar propriety. To the fourth, the crowd flocking there was small, and if it had been great, the Virgin would have produced greater fruit by announcing to more people that the forerunner of Christ had been born, and by her other pious discourses.

AND SHE RETURNED TO HER OWN HOUSE — in Nazareth. This house of the Virgin, translated by angels to Loreto, is reverently visited and venerated there, as I have said.

Verse 57: Elizabeth Bore a Son

57. BUT ELIZABETH'S TIME OF DELIVERY WAS FULFILLED, AND SHE BORE A SON. — To the Visitation of the Blessed Virgin Luke subjoins Elizabeth's childbirth, as the effect of a cause. For the Blessed Virgin by her merits and prayers obtained her happy delivery, and John's nativity as well as his holiness; for to this end she had come from Nazareth and remained with her for three months.

Symbolically: Origen here, Homily 9: "In Scripture it is nowhere said at the birth of a sinner that 'the time was fulfilled for her to give birth'; but wherever a just man is born, there the days are fulfilled. The birth of the just has fullness, the nativity of the sinner has emptiness and vanity."

AND SHE BORE A SON — John the Baptist, on June 24: for then each year the Church celebrates the birthday of him alone with the common joy of all, likewise that of Christ. For in the other saints she celebrates not the day of birth but the day of death, on which they passed from this wretched life to the blessed one.

Verse 58: Her Neighbors and Kinsfolk Congratulated Her

58. AND HER NEIGHBORS AND KINSFOLK HEARD THAT THE LORD HAD MAGNIFIED HIS MERCY WITH HER, AND THEY CONGRATULATED HER. — In Greek συνέχαιρον, that is, they rejoiced together with her. Thus was fulfilled that promise of the angel in verse 14: "And many shall rejoice at his birth." "Mercy," by which God freed her from the reproach of barrenness, and gave her such offspring. Indeed, as St. Ambrose says, "the birth of saints brings joy to many, because it is a common good; for righteousness is a common virtue." For the just by their example benefit all, and many also by their preaching, as St. John benefited. Zechariah is not mentioned here, because he was deaf and mute.

Verse 59: They Came to Circumcise the Child

59. AND IT CAME TO PASS ON THE EIGHTH DAY, THEY CAME TO CIRCUMCISE THE CHILD, AND THEY CALLED HIM BY HIS FATHER'S NAME, ZECHARIAH. — "They came," namely the priests and kinsmen, whose duty it was to perform the circumcision or to honor it.

TO CIRCUMCISE. — Observe here that the Jews were not always circumcised in the synagogue. For it is gathered that John was circumcised at home from the following verse, where it is indicated that the mother was present at the circumcision, and she, being a woman just delivered, was unable to leave the house, according to the law of Leviticus 12:4.

Moreover, through circumcision an infant was cleansed from original sin and joined to the Church, that is, to the faithful people. Hence then the name of some faithful person, especially of the father, grandfather, or kinsman, was imposed on him, as now is done at baptism; because then the infant gave his name to God and to the people of God, namely the Synagogue, or Church. See what is said about circumcision at Genesis, chapter 17, verse 10.

Verse 60: He Shall Be Called John

60. AND HIS MOTHER ANSWERING SAID: NOT SO, BUT HE SHALL BE CALLED JOHN. — The Arabic: call him John. Note that Elizabeth, not so much from Zechariah, since he was deaf and mute, as from the Holy Spirit, by whom, when the Virgin greeted her, she was filled and had known the mystery of the Incarnation of the Word in the Virgin and other great things, had also known her son's name, which had been given to him by God through the angel in verse 13, and revealed to Zechariah, and all the other things which had happened to Zechariah while he was offering incense in the temple. Thus St. Ambrose, Origen, Bede, Euthymius, and Theophylact. For, as St. Ambrose says: "She could not be ignorant of the forerunner of the Lord, since she had prophesied Christ," by calling the Blessed Virgin the mother of the Lord, that is, of God.

Verse 61: None in Your Kindred Is Called by This Name

61. AND THEY SAID TO HER: FOR (the "for" corresponds to the Hebrew כי ki and abounds by pleonasm) THERE IS NONE IN YOUR KINDRED WHO IS CALLED BY THIS NAME. — For the Jews used, as Christians even now do, to impose on infants the names of their fathers or of illustrious kinsmen, both so that they might imitate their heroic deeds, and so that the memory and glory of those men might survive in their sons and descendants. This is the custom of the earth, but John was a citizen of heaven, not of earth, and so received a heavenly name from heaven. "Notice that this name is not of family, but of prophecy," say St. Ambrose and Bede.

Verse 62: They Made Signs to His Father

62. AND THEY MADE SIGNS TO HIS FATHER, WHAT (Syrus, how) HE WOULD HAVE HIM CALLED? — The Arabic: whom do you wish him to be called? lest perhaps the mother had erred in assigning the infant's name, they consult the father, to whom, as the infant belonged, so too the naming of the infant pertained. "They made signs; because his unbelief had taken from him speech and hearing, he is questioned by a nod," says St. Ambrose.

Verse 63: John Is His Name

63. AND DEMANDING A WRITING TABLET, HE WROTE, SAYING, John is his name. — "Writing tablet," in Greek πινακίδιον, that is, a little tablet on which one writes with a stylus, such as those we have made of parchment or thin tiles (of old they were made of wax) which merchants carry about for the sake of memory, to write down things they wish to remember. Saying — not with his mouth, but with his hand and with letters, says St. Ambrose.

JOHN IS HIS NAME. — St. Ambrose notes that it says "is," not "will be," as if to say: We do not impose this name on him, because he has already received it from God, verse 13; "he has his own name which we have recognized, not which we have chosen." Thus also Bede. Concerning the name of John I spoke at verse 13. To which add that names were given to the ancients from some event, either present or future. Thus Isaac received his name from his mother's laughter; Jacob from the supplanting of his brother; Esau, because he was born hairy; Cain, because he was his mother Eve's possession; Noah, because he was to be the consoler of the world which was to be submerged by the flood; Phares, because he broke through the wall; Moses, because he was drawn out of the waters; Gershom, because he was a sojourner; Joseph, because he was added to his mother, etc. So also John is named from the grace and mercy which he received, not in his conception, but in the visitation of the Blessed Virgin.

AND ALL MARVELED — both at the agreement of the father with the mother, and at the name of John, which was unusual and unheard of in that family; for they did not know that it had been revealed from heaven to Zechariah, verse 13.

Verse 64: His Mouth Was Opened

64. AND IMMEDIATELY HIS MOUTH WAS OPENED, AND HIS TONGUE, AND HE SPOKE BLESSING (praising) GOD. — "His mouth was opened," that is, he began to speak. This is catachresis. For the mouths of mutes seem to be closed so that they cannot speak. St. Ambrose gives the reason: "Rightly was his tongue immediately loosed; because faith loosed what unbelief had bound." Seeing John truly born to him, he believed the promises made to him by the angel concerning him, about which he had previously doubted. Therefore John, just as he had filled his mother with the Holy Spirit while in the womb, so now once born breathed the same Spirit upon his father. Hence St. Gregory Nazianzen: "When John was brought forth, he loosed Zechariah's silence: for it was absurd that, after the voice of the Word had gone forth, the father should remain tongueless."

Further, "all these things were done by divine dispensation," says Theophylact, "so that John might be held a trustworthy witness of Christ." And Bede: "The future prophet is commended by preceding auspices." That Zechariah's ears were loosed together with his mouth and tongue, so that from deaf he became hearing, is not in doubt. "It is manifest," says Euthymius, "that his hearing too was loosed at the same time; for just as it had been taken away together, so also it was restored together."

Symbolically: St. Ambrose, on Luke chapter III, 4: "Because John was a voice (according to that saying: I am the voice of one crying in the wilderness, John I, 23), therefore at his birth his mute father recovered his voice."

Verse 65: Fear Came Upon All Their Neighbors

65. AND FEAR (Syrus, dread) CAME UPON ALL THEIR NEIGHBORS; AND OVER ALL THE HILL COUNTRY (Syrus, in the whole mountain country) OF JUDAEA ALL THESE WORDS WERE SPREAD ABROAD. — "Fear," that is, religion, reverence toward God, who so powerfully works so many marvels concerning John in the mother and the father. This is clear from what follows. For wherever God displays His power, there arises in men a holy fear and reverence toward Him and His majesty. Thus here, as commonly elsewhere, fear is taken for religion and reverence toward God or holy men, as is clear in chapter 7:16 and Mark 4:40.

Verse 66: What Shall This Child Be?

66. AND ALL WHO HAD HEARD LAID THEM UP IN THEIR HEART, SAYING: WHAT, THINK YOU, SHALL THIS CHILD BE? FOR THE HAND OF THE LORD WAS WITH HIM. — "They laid up in their heart," that is, they impressed them on their heart or mind; they thought more earnestly about these wonders and miracles, studiously considered them, weighing what they meant and what they portended concerning John.

What, think you, shall this child be? — The Arabic: what do you think will become of this child? God did this that by these signs He might stir up everyone's minds to consider and venerate John, as the future forerunner and herald of Christ, to win authority for John, and so that his testimony concerning Christ might be beyond all exception; "that signs going before might prepare the way for the forerunner of truth," says Bede. Christ revealed to St. Bridget, in Book I of Revelations, chapter 108, that three Saints had pleased Him above the others, namely the Blessed Virgin, Mary Magdalene, and John the Baptist; and so at his birth the demons, in dismay, lamented, while the angels and the devout Israelites rejoiced.

For the hand of the Lord was with him. — "Hand," that is, the power, providence, care, grace, and favor (for the hand is the symbol of all these) of the wondrous God, was showing itself in this child, namely John, so that He seemed to have singularly brought him forth, chosen and destined him for great things, and therefore to exercise a special care for him, and to be with him and to assist him in all things. He showed this first, by announcing his birth to his father Zechariah through an angel; secondly, by loosing Zechariah's mute tongue and his deaf ears at the birth of John, directing them to the praises of God; thirdly, by enlightening and impelling him to prophesy concerning the child; fourthly, by giving this offspring to the barren and aged Elizabeth through a miracle; fifthly, by giving the child a new and unusual name, namely "John," that is, "God has had mercy," or "God holds pleasing." All these things — partly miracles — as preludes portended that John would be a great man and Prophet, and that God would work extraordinary things through him; and they filled all who saw or heard these things with great fear, joy, and hope.

St. Ambrose, Origen, and Euthymius add that John himself felt this hand of God within him, since day by day he perceived himself, through God's working, to grow and advance above nature, along with his age, in the use of reason, in holy inspirations and desires, in the love and worship of Christ, and in grace and merits.

Verse 67: Zechariah Was Filled With the Holy Spirit

67. AND ZECHARIAH HIS FATHER WAS FILLED WITH THE HOLY SPIRIT, AND PROPHESIED, SAYING. — Zechariah already had the Holy Spirit; for he was just, as we heard in verse 6; yet here, through the birth of John, he received such an abundance of the grace of the Holy Spirit — both of sanctifying grace and of gratuitously given grace, namely prophecy — and was so filled with love, joy, and jubilation at Christ now incarnate in the Virgin, that he burst forth, exulting, into this prophetic canticle, most full of faith, reverence, and devotion: which therefore the Church daily chants solemnly at Lauds in the divine Office.

Verse 68: Blessed Be the Lord God of Israel

68. BLESSED (be, that is, let Him be blessed, praised, celebrated) BE THE LORD GOD OF ISRAEL, BECAUSE HE HAS VISITED AND WROUGHT THE REDEMPTION OF HIS PEOPLE. — Syriac: He visited His people, and wrought also redemption, that is, by visiting He redeemed him. This is a hendiadys. In this canticle Zechariah does two things: first, he praises God for the Messiah incarnate in the Virgin, whose work of redeeming the world and power of grace he celebrates; secondly, from verse 76 to the end, he praises God by addressing his son John, and sings in advance of his office and duty as, so to speak, the forerunner of Christ.

God of Israel. — In Greek τοῦ Ἰσραήλ, that is, of Israel: for although God is the God of all men, yet He is in a special way God — that is, caretaker, provider, savior — of Israel, that is, of the faithful people, such as the Jews or Israelites were of old, and Christians are now.

HE HAS WROUGHT THE REDEMPTION OF HIS PEOPLE. — As if to say: God, through Christ now incarnate, has wrought inchoatively, that is, has begun to work the redemption and deliverance of the whole world from the yoke and servitude of the demon, sin, death, and hell, under which it had been held and oppressed from Adam for four thousand years down to the present; but especially of Israel, that is, of the Jewish people, to whom the Messiah or Christ had been first and properly promised. Therefore Zechariah, by the prophetic spirit, recognized the incarnation of the Messiah in the womb of the Virgin, and consequently that the redemption of the world had already been begun, inasmuch as the Redeemer had been conceived, who in completed fashion, after a few years, was to redeem the world by His death on the cross. Hence Euthymius: "Blessed Zechariah narrates, in prophetic fashion, as though already done, what he knew was to be done presently — add, what had already been begun."

Verse 69: He Has Raised Up a Horn of Salvation

69. AND HE HAS RAISED UP A HORN OF SALVATION FOR US IN THE HOUSE OF DAVID HIS SERVANT. — Note: "Horn," by catachresis, in Scripture signifies strength, power, victory, glory, and consequently kingdom; for all the glory and strength of horned animals, says Theophylact from Chrysostom, consists in their horns. Hence St. Cornelius, pope and martyr, is painted with a horn, and took his name from it, because with horny fortitude he resisted Decius, the most savage persecuting Emperor, and induced the whole Roman Church to resist, so that he gloriously triumphed over him through martyrdom: for which reason St. Cyprian wonderfully praises his horn-like strength, in Epistle 1 to Cornelius. See what I said on Habakkuk 3:4, on those words: "Horns in his hands," where I treated of the horns of Christ, by which He subdued death and hell. And on Daniel 8:4, on those words: "The he-goat had a notable horn." And on Deuteronomy 33:17, on those words: "His horns are the horns of a rhinoceros; with them he shall toss the nations even to the ends of the earth."

The sense therefore is, as if to say: God raised up again, through Christ the son of David, the horn of salvation, that is, the saving power and glory of the Israelite kingdom, which of old had flourished by subduing its enemies the Canaanites, Philistines, Moabites, etc., in the time of Joshua, David, and Solomon, but had now collapsed; a horn, I say, not temporal, but spiritual, as I said at verse 32. He alludes to Ezekiel 29:21: "In that day shall a horn bud forth for the house of Israel." Thus Theophylact, Bede, Euthymius, Jansenius, Maldonatus, and others. Hence it is clear that the horn of salvation is Jesus Christ Himself the Savior, and His power, victory, and kingdom: for He brought sturdy salvation to Israel and the whole world after conquering the demons and His other enemies, for Christ sprang from the house, that is from the family and stock, of David, according to that saying of Anna: "The Lord shall give empire to His king, and shall exalt the horn of His Christ," 1 Kings 2:10; and that of David: "There will I bring forth a horn to David," Psalm 131:17. Hence Bede says tropologically: "The horn exceeds the flesh, and in the kingdom of Christ the joys of the world and of the flesh are overcome," in figure of which David and Solomon were consecrated kings with the horn of oil. And Origen, on those words of Isaiah 5:1: "A vineyard was made in a horn," says: that is, the Church planted in Christ.

Verse 70: As He Spoke by the Mouth of His Holy Prophets

70. AS HE SPOKE BY THE MOUTH OF HIS HOLY PROPHETS, WHO HAVE BEEN FROM THE BEGINNING (that is, who were in ancient times: it is an enallage of tense). — For all the holy Prophets prophesied concerning Christ, and His strength, victory, and kingdom. Thus Bede. Examples are Jeremiah (cf. 30:10): "They shall cry to the Lord from the face of the one troubling them, and He will send them a savior and defender, who shall deliver them"; Isaiah (cf. 49:25): "Behold, I will save you from a far country, and your seed from the land of their captivity"; Ezekiel 13:21: "And I will deliver My people out of your hand, nor shall they be any more in your hands to be made a prey."

Verse 71: Salvation From Our Enemies

71. SALVATION (Syrus, that He will deliver us) FROM OUR ENEMIES, AND FROM THE HAND OF ALL WHO HATE US — that is, of all demons and wicked men, says the Gloss, namely Satan and his ministers. "Salvation" refers back to "He spoke," verse 70, as if to say: Just as God spoke through the Prophets and promised salvation, that is, the deliverance and saving of Israel and the whole world from the captivity of the devil, sin, death, and hell; so now He has granted the same, by giving a horn of salvation, that is, a sturdy Savior, namely Jesus Christ. Note that Zechariah here interprets the old prophecies concerning the kingdom and salvation of Christ, not as temporal, as the Jews crudely understand, but as spiritual, as is clear from verse 73 and following, where he says: "That we may serve Him in holiness and righteousness before Him, all our days"; and verse 77: "To give knowledge of salvation to His people, unto the remission of their sins."

Verse 72: To Show Mercy to Our Fathers

72. TO SHOW MERCY TO OUR FATHERS — with which mercy He promised Christ to the fathers, so now He has stood by His promises, and displayed Christ to their descendants, through whom He will also deliver and beatify the fathers themselves from limbo, and lead them with Him into heaven. Hence Theophylact: "The grace of Christ is extended even to those who had died; for all will rise through Him": He also fulfilled the hope and desire of the fathers; for, as the same Theophylact says, "when the fathers see their sons enjoying such goods, they rejoice and share in the gladness, just as if these had been conferred upon themselves."

AND TO REMEMBER (in Greek μνησθῆναι, that is, to bring to mind, to recollect, to be mindful) HIS HOLY COVENANT. — It is a Graecism, as if to say: That He might be mindful and show Himself mindful of the testament, that is, of the covenant entered with the fathers concerning the Messiah to be born. This covenant, ratified by God with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, is found in Genesis 12:3, and chapter 22:18, and chapter 28:14. And it is this: "In your seed shall all the tribes of the earth be blessed." Jeremiah explains this blessing in chapter 31:31, saying: "And I will make with the house of Israel and with the house of Judah a new covenant, etc. I will give My law in their bowels, and in their heart will I write it, and I will be to them a God, and they shall be to Me a people, etc., because I will be merciful to their iniquity, and their sin I will remember no more."

Verse 73: The Oath Which He Swore to Abraham

73. THE OATH WHICH HE SWORE (Arabicus, promised) TO ABRAHAM OUR FATHER, THAT HE WOULD GRANT TO US. — "The oath": first, this can be referred to the verb "to remember," as if to say: that He might remember the oath, and show Himself mindful of it. For the Greek μνησθῆναι is construed with the accusative just as with the genitive, like the Latin memorari. So Euthymius.

Secondly, "the oath" can be referred to "mercy," as if to say: This mercy is what was promised by God with an oath, and therefore it itself is that great oath uttered by God and sworn to the fathers.

Thirdly, more fitly it can be referred to the word "covenant," as if to say: God sent Christ so as to be mindful of His covenant, because He had promised that to the fathers — which covenant is that great "oath" "which He swore to Abraham," etc. For the Greeks speak thus, so as to say ὅρκον ὅς instead of ὅρκον ὅν: so Maldonatus and Franciscus Lucas. Hence Origen reads "of the oath" in the genitive; and more clearly the Syriac: that He might be mindful of His holy testament, and of the oath.

Fourthly, most plainly and easily, you may refer "the oath" to the words "to show" in verse 72, so that three causes are signified here on account of which God raised up this horn of salvation, that is, incarnated Christ; namely, first, "to show mercy"; secondly, that He might remember and call to mind His covenant; thirdly, that He might fulfill and accomplish His oath, which He swore to Abraham — that He would multiply his seed (spiritual rather than carnal) like the stars of heaven, and in his seed (Christ) bless all nations, Genesis 22:16: "By Myself I have sworn, says the Lord, because you have done this thing, and have not spared your only begotten son for My sake; I will bless you, and multiply your seed, etc. And in your seed shall all the nations of the earth be blessed, because you have obeyed My voice." And the Apostle, Hebrews 6:17: "For God, meaning more abundantly to show to the heirs of the promise the immutability of His counsel, interposed an oath, that by two immutable things, in which it is impossible for God to lie, we may have the strongest comfort, who have fled for refuge to hold fast the hope set before us." So Theophylact. For the Hebrews often pass over words in silence, leaving them to be understood from what precedes or follows. So here he says "the oath," namely, that He might accomplish and fulfill it; for these are the words of Zechariah exulting and almost absorbed by joy, the sort that looks not to words but to things and bursts forth: hence in his words he often commits solecisms and other deficiencies.

THAT HE WOULD GIVE TO US. — That He might grant to us, delivered from our enemies, to serve Him without fear, as follows; for so these words must be joined, as is clear from the Greek and the Arabic, which translates thus: "The oath which He promised to Abraham our father, that He would grant us salvation without fear from the hands of our enemies, that we might serve Him," etc. For he explains the oath of God, that is, the blessing which God promised to Abraham and confirmed with an oath, and teaches that it consists in the salvation which Christ brought, so that, delivered by His grace from our enemies — namely, from sin, the demon, and hell, which we previously served as slaves — we may now serve God in holiness. Hence follows:

Verse 74: That We May Serve Him Without Fear

74. THAT WITHOUT FEAR, DELIVERED FROM THE HAND OF OUR ENEMIES (demons and wicked men, likewise sins, death, and hell), WE MAY SERVE HIM — with latria, which is the worship owed to God alone; for in Greek it is λατρεύειν.

Verse 75: In Holiness and Righteousness Before Him

75. IN HOLINESS AND RIGHTEOUSNESS BEFORE HIM ALL OUR DAYS. — This is the oath, or this is the blessing of God sworn to Abraham, namely, the salvation and grace of Christ and of His Gospel, whose excellence and perfection above Moses and the old law he beautifully describes with these epithets. The first part is liberty, namely that He delivers us from the servitude of sin and of the devil. The second is servitude, that is, the worship of the true and highest God. The third is love, not servile fear; for the Jews served God out of fear of punishment, but Christians serve with a liberal love, as sons. Hence the Apostle, Romans 8:15: "For you have not received the spirit of bondage again in fear; but you have received the spirit of the adoption of sons, whereby we cry: Abba, Father." The fourth is inward and true holiness and righteousness, not external, placed in washings, sacrifices, and other ceremonies, such as the Jews had. The fifth, "before God," that, considering ourselves to live in the eyes of God who looks upon the hearts of each one, we may strive to present to Him a pure and holy heart, and to perform all our works from a pure and holy heart, knowing that we have God as beholder, who sees through to the bottom of the heart, and will judge our works from that. The sixth, that we do these things not for one day, month, or year, but all our days, that is, by persevering in them until death, and successively until the end of the world. So Theophylact, Bede, and others.

IN HOLINESS AND RIGHTEOUSNESS. — "Holiness" regards God, and consists in the holy worship of God; "righteousness" regards the neighbor, and consequently oneself. Therefore holiness gives to God His right, righteousness to men, so that each may render to each what he owes him, whether out of justice or out of charity, and consequently may render to himself temperance, modesty, humility, by which he rightly composes himself according to the norm of law and virtue; for this he owes to himself. Therefore by "holiness" and "righteousness" is signified every duty of virtue prescribed in the Decalogue: for holiness regards the precepts of the first table, which concern God; righteousness those of the second, which concern the neighbor and oneself.

These then are the duties and functions of the evangelical life, to which Christ calls us. This therefore is the calling of the faithful: to this we are all called, namely, "that denying ungodliness and worldly desires, we should live soberly and justly and godly in this world, looking for the blessed hope and coming of the glory of the great God and our Savior Jesus Christ," Titus 2:12; that is, that we may imitate the holiness of God and of Christ, and represent it in our conduct; so that His life, virtue, and holiness may shine forth in our actions as in a living image of Himself, and Christ Himself may seem to live, act, and speak in us — "Who gave Himself for us, that He might redeem us from all iniquity, and cleanse to Himself a people acceptable, a pursuer of good works," Titus 2:14, according to that saying of Paul: "I live, now not I; but Christ lives in me," Galatians 2; and that of Peter, First Epistle 1:15: "But according to Him who has called you, the Holy One, you also in all manner of conversation may be holy." See what is said there, and Gregory of Nyssa, in his treatise What the name and profession of a Christian means, where among other things he says: "Christianity is the imitation of the divine nature: the profession of Christianity is that man be led back to his pristine and ancient felicity; Christianity is a participation in Christ. Since therefore Christ is righteousness, purity, and truth, he cannot be a Christian who does not show in himself communion and fellowship with these." Hence he concludes that the actions of a Christian ought to be like the actions of Christ and of God, that is, heavenly, angelic, divine, such as we read in the Gospel. Therefore let each man examine the life and manners of Christ, and gaze upon his own manners in them as in a mirror, and he will see whether he is a true Christian, or merely a counterfeit and painted one.

Verse 76: And You, Child, Shall Be Called the Prophet of the Most High

76. AND YOU, CHILD (in Greek παιδίον, that is, as the Syriac says, little boy), SHALL BE CALLED THE PROPHET OF THE MOST HIGH. — As if to say: You, O John, although you are still a little boy, only eight days old, yet after 29 years, when you have become a man, you will be a prophet announcing and pointing out Christ. This is the second part of this canticle, in which Zechariah the father passes from Christ to John his newly born son, and prophesies that he will be a Prophet and forerunner of Christ, so that those now hearing these things, and those who in his time will hear John preaching, being mindful of this oracle, may receive John as a prophet and pointer to Christ, and consequently Christ Himself pointed out by him, with that devotion and reverence which are fitting. St. Ambrose, Origen, Theophylact, and Titus add here that the infant John, inasmuch as he had been granted the use of reason by God in his mother's womb, heard these words of his father addressing him and understood them. "He was able," says Ambrose, "to hear his father's voice, who heard Mary's greeting before he was born. He certainly knew that the ears of a Prophet are other, being opened by the Spirit of God, not by the age of the body." Bede adds: "Unless perhaps we should think that Zechariah, for the sake rather of those present who needed instruction, wished to proclaim, as soon as he was able to speak, the future offices of his son, which he had long since learned through the angel."

FOR YOU SHALL GO BEFORE THE FACE OF THE LORD (Christ, who, though He is man, is nevertheless also the Lord, that is, God) TO PREPARE HIS WAYS. — As if to say: Just as roads are wont to be prepared, leveled, and adorned for coming kings by removing wood, stones, filth, and other obstacles or unseemly things; so you, O John my son, will prepare the way for Christ the king, removing whatever could be a stumbling block to Him in the minds of the Jews, namely, exhorting them by word and example to repentance, and that they may receive Jesus as the true Messiah sent by God, and believe Him and obey Him, and so obtain from Him salvation, forgiveness of sins, and the grace of God. Hence, explaining, he adds:

Verse 77: To Give Knowledge of Salvation to His People

77. TO GIVE KNOWLEDGE OF SALVATION (Syrus, of life, that is, life-giving) TO HIS PEOPLE, UNTO THE REMISSION OF THEIR SINS. — As if to say: That you, O John, may give to the Jews knowledge of salvation, so that they may know they must hope for and ask for salvation from Christ the Savior; "unto," that is, "for the remission of sins," so that they may obtain it from Christ through His faith and baptism; for Christ's salvation consists in this: for sins are not forgiven except through Christ's salvation and grace. Hence Bede: "As if wishing to expound the name Jesus and to commend it more diligently, he frequently mentions salvation." And, with some words interposed: "Lest you should think that a temporal and carnal salvation is promised, he says, unto the remission of their sins."

Verse 78: The Dayspring From on High Has Visited Us

78. THROUGH THE BOWELS OF THE MERCY OF OUR GOD, IN WHICH (that is, by whose impulse, or on account of which) THE DAYSPRING FROM ON HIGH HAS VISITED US. — He opens the cause of such great works, namely of the Messiah incarnate and of His forerunner John now born, and assigns it to "the bowels of mercy," that is, the visceral, inmost mercy of our God flowing from the deepest recess and depth of His heart, who, taking pity on our extreme misery, to succor it, gave His bowels — that is, His only-begotten Son — in His incarnation, and as it were poured them out upon us. Anthropopathically, therefore, "bowels" signify the inmost and highest mercy of God, both because in great compassion the bowels are wont to be stirred, and because the Father's bowels are the Son, whom God the Father, begotten as it were from His own bowels, gave to us.

THE DAYSPRING FROM ON HIGH. — It is asked who this "Dayspring" is, and why He is so called.

Note first: In place of "Dayspring," the Greek has ἀνατολή, that is, "a rising," as one says the rising of the sun, or the rising (sprouting) of a shoot. "Dayspring" therefore here is a substantive and proper name of Christ. Hence the Chaldee, at Zechariah chapters 3 and 6, in place of "Dayspring," translates Messiah, that is, Christ.

Note secondly, from St. Jerome, on Zechariah chapters 3 and 6, that Zechariah here alludes first to that saying of Malachi 4:2: "Unto you that fear My name, the Sun of righteousness shall arise, and health in His wings." And to that of Wisdom 5:6: "Therefore we have erred from the way of truth, and the light of righteousness has not shined upon us, and the sun of understanding has not risen upon us." And Isaiah 60:1: "Arise, be enlightened, O Jerusalem, for your light has come, and the glory of the Lord has risen upon you." And Numbers 24:17: "A star shall rise out of Jacob, and a scepter shall spring up from Israel," namely, Christ, who as a star and sun will enlighten us, inflame us, gladden us with every grace, and will go before us as leader and sun on our way to heaven. Secondly, and properly, Zechariah here alludes to Zechariah 3:8: "Behold, I will bring forth My servant, the Dayspring (Branch)." And chapter 6:12: "Behold a man, the Dayspring (Branch) is His name." And Isaiah 4:2: "In that day shall the branch of the Lord be in magnificence and glory," where the Septuagint translates: "in that day God shall shine forth in the council with glory." And Jeremiah 23:5: "I will raise up to David a righteous branch." For at Zechariah 3 and 6, the Septuagint translates "Dayspring" by ἀνατολή, which Luke has transferred from those passages to here: for it is not repeated elsewhere.

Note thirdly: In Zechariah 3 and 6, in place of "Dayspring," and the Greek ἀνατολή, the Hebrew is צמח tsemach, which properly signifies a shoot or sprout, as St. Jerome and all the Hebrews teach. Hence the Septuagint elsewhere translates it βλάστημα, that is, a sprout: but the word tsemach, by metaphor — which among the Hebrews is sometimes far-fetched — is transferred to many other things. For the Hebrews say that righteousness, will, salvation, a lamp, and light "sprout," in place of "to produce" righteousness, will, salvation, a lamp, and light; just as the Latins say that not only herbs "shoot forth," but also the rays of the sun, light, joy, salvation, etc. This is clear from 2 Kings 23:5, Ezekiel 29:21, and often elsewhere. Likewise from the Lexicons, and from the Septuagint, which at Isaiah 4:2, in place of "shall be a sprout" or "shall sprout," translates "shall shine forth," as I have already said; and in Zechariah, in place of tsemach, that is, sprout, they translate ἀνατολή, that is, rising — which, though it can in general be said of any rising, even of herbs (as Suidas testifies), is yet properly said of the rising of the sun, moon, and stars.

I say therefore that Christ is called tsemach, that is, a sprout — but a solar sprout, that is, heavenly and divine. This is clear first because ἀνατολή properly signifies this; secondly, because what follows is: "Dayspring from on high," that is, from God and from heaven; and "To give light to them who sit in darkness and in the shadow of death" — all of which plainly indicate the rising not of an earthly shoot, but of a sun or star. Thus Theophylact, Euthymius, Bede here, and Jerome, Cyril, and Theodoret on Zechariah chapter 3, and others everywhere.

Here note that Christ is called "sprout," both heavenly and earthly; for both senses are in some way signified by ἀνατολή and "Dayspring": for Christ has two generations, namely divine — and so He is the sprout of the eternal Father; and human — and so He is the sprout of His mother and of David. Thus therefore Christ is called "sprout" by Isaiah, Zechariah, and others. First, because from the root of Jesse or of David, which seemed to have withered away, with no king or leader yet coming forth from it, Christ will sprout again and shoot forth like a sprout to reign and to bring forth the fruit of every grace, salvation, and good: a sprout, I say, first born in heaven, then transplanted to earth; for this is what is meant by "Dayspring from on high," or coming forth from heaven, as it were a sprouting sun to enlighten those who on earth sit in the shadow of death, as follows. Secondly, by the word of a sprout or a sprouting sun, that is, one being born, is signified the smallness and humility of Christ being born, which afterward grew into so great a body that with its shadow and light it encompassed the whole world, according to the parable of the mustard seed, Matthew 13. Thirdly, it signifies Christ as, so to speak, another Melchizedek, ἀπάτωρ (fatherless), as man — namely, as a sprout born most chastely from the earth alone, that is, from the virgin mother; but as God, ἀμήτωρ (motherless), that is, lacking a mother, namely, begotten as a ray from the sun, that is, from the Father. Again, as the sun, with its most pure rays, penetrates and comes through glass, so Christ penetrated the closed womb of His mother by being born.

Here note that there are rightly attributed to Christ the properties both of the sun and of a sprout, and the word ἀνατολή or "Dayspring" signifies both — which answers to the Hebrew tsemach, as if to say: a solar and rising sprout, or a sprouting and rising sun, or a sprout: which first in heaven with supreme clarity and glory, then from heaven sprouting upon the earth, has risen. For Christ is the tree of life, transplanted from the heavenly paradise to earth through the incarnation; thence ascending again into heaven and His own paradise, by His vision and enjoyment He gives to the Saints immortal life with supreme glory, and with His leaves and fruits of every delight He continually soothes and satisfies the Blessed for all eternity, as I said on Revelation 22:2. Hence St. Jerome, on Zechariah chapter 6, interprets "oriens" (dayspring), from the Hebrew tsemach, as "sprout," by which he understands Christ. "He is therefore called Dayspring — that is, ἀνατολή, or ἀναφυή, or βλάστημα — that is, a sprout, because He suddenly shoots up from Himself, and sprouts from His own root in the likeness of a shoot." And then, explaining the same mystically: "He Himself is called Jesus, because He saved the world; and He is called Dayspring, because in His days righteousness has arisen; and it is sung in the Psalm: Truth has sprung out of the earth, because, generated from a virginal womb at the consummation of the ages, He said: I am the truth." And after a few words: "This one therefore, who is crowned with our virtues, might bring [this light], both to the fathers who had departed this life and to sinners still living, both of whom were sitting in darkness and in the shadow of death." For the fathers were properly sitting in the dark limbo of hell, as though in the shadow of death. But mystically, sinners were sitting in darkness, that is, in the dark errors, ignorances, vices and sins. Furthermore, St. Chrysostom, Theophylact, Euthymius and Titus understand by "darkness" errors, and by "the shadow of death" sins; but you may better take each phrase in both senses. Therefore "darkness" refers to common errors and crimes, while "the shadow of death" refers to the gravest errors and wicked deeds.

Verse 79: To Enlighten Them That Sit in Darkness

79. TO ENLIGHTEN THEM THAT SIT IN DARKNESS AND IN THE SHADOW OF DEATH, TO DIRECT OUR FEET INTO THE WAY OF PEACE. — The Greek ἐπιφᾶναι, or, if you read it with a different accent, ἐπιφάναι, is of both the imperative and infinitive mood. Hence first, ἐπίφαναι, "enlighten," that is, shine forth, arise as a new sun of the world, you, O John my son (as Zechariah the father continues to speak to him), that you may enlighten through faith in Christ the sinners sitting in the darkness of errors and sins, and restore them to the light of truth, justice and salvation, and thus free them from the tyranny of the demon. With a similar figure Dido speaks in Aeneid IV: "Arise, some avenger, from our bones, who will pursue the Dardanian colonists with torch and sword." She means Hannibal, who afflicted the Romans, the descendants of Aeneas, with many disasters.

Secondly, and rather, ἐπιφᾶναι, that is, "to enlighten" in the infinitive, that is, "so that He may enlighten" (Syrus: "that He may shine"), namely Christ rising from on high. Hence the Arabic translates: "He has risen from on high to enlighten (to shine upon) those sitting in darkness and the shadow of death," as if to say: Christ has visited us as a sun rising from on high, that He may bring the light of true doctrine, grace, justice and joy which conversation with men suggests. Hence by Isaiah 9:6 He is called "the Prince of peace, and the Father of the world to come"; and he adds: "And of His peace there shall be no end." For, as David sings in Psalm 71:7: "In His days shall justice spring up, and abundance of peace, till the moon be taken away," that is, forever.

AND IN THE SHADOW OF DEATH. — He alludes to Isaiah IX, 2: "The people that walked in darkness have seen a great light: to them that dwelt in the region of the shadow of death, a light is risen."

Note first: Properly, the shadow of death refers to darkness and a horrid place, or the horror of death and hell; for these accompany death and hell as a shadow accompanies its body. Hence it is here said to John the Baptist, the forerunner of Christ: "To enlighten them that sit in darkness, and in the shadow of death"; namely, that you may enlighten sinners sitting in the darkness of sin, and the just sitting in the dark limbo of the fathers. Indeed, Virgil in Aeneid Book X sings of the same thing: "Upon him a hard rest and iron sleep press his eyes, his lights are shut in everlasting night."

Note secondly: By this shadow of death, or by this darkness, is signified the saddest state of affairs and extreme misery, and the time of captivity, prison, infirmity, death and damnation; for nothing is sadder than the shadowy tombs of the dead, just as on the contrary light, because it is most welcome, is a symbol of happiness. Again, "the shadow of death" signifies imminent dangers, and thence the agonies of death, as a shadow is close to the body. Thus it is taken in Psalm 22:4. Thirdly, it signifies long oblivion. Hence St. Gregory, IV Moralia, chapter XX: "To sit in the shadow of death is to lie hidden in oblivion from the knowledge of divine love." For God is life and light, because He is furthest removed from the shadow of death. Fourthly, the shadow of death is ignorance of God and of salvation. Hence mortal sin is the shadow of death, on account of the analogies I have recounted at Isaiah chapter 9, verse 2.

TO DIRECT OUR FEET INTO THE WAY OF PEACE. — Namely, that Christ by the light of His faith and grace may direct us into the way of justice; for this is the way of peace: for justice is the way and means of obtaining peace and tranquility of soul; likewise peace with God and men in this life, and beatific peace in heaven, according to Isaiah 32:17: "And the work of justice shall be peace, etc. And My people shall sit in the beauty of peace, and in the tabernacles of confidence, and in wealthy rest." For by the name of peace the Hebrews signify every good, and happiness itself and eternal blessedness. Hence Christ was born, will arise, and will be called the Orient: to whom the Father spoke: "You are My Son, this day have I begotten You"; according to Isaiah 11:1: "There shall come forth a rod out of the root of Jesse, and a flower shall rise up out of his root."

But truly other Fathers also rightly interpret the "Orient" as the sun rising from on high, that is, from heaven, by which they understand Christ, who is the light of the world, and therefore was born on earth, so that through His flesh He might be as a transparent sun illuminating every man who comes to Him. Thus Bede, Theophylact, Euthymius, Titus here, and St. Gregory in Book XX on Job ch. 18, whose words are these: "For because the light rises from the east, He is rightly called the Orient, by the light of whose justice the night of our injustice is illumined." Bede: "He is therefore rightly called the Orient because, opening to us the rising of the true light, He makes the sons of night and darkness to be sons of light, according to what He consequently sets forth, 'to enlighten,'" etc.

So also St. Chrysostom, in his homily on that passage of Zechariah: "Behold a man, the Orient is His name"; Eusebius, Book VII On the Demonstration, in the ninth chapter; St. Athanasius, in his tractate on "all things are delivered to Me"; Origen, Homily 13 on Leviticus. Wherefore Beza, wrongly following the former signification of tsemach, in this place translates: "by which the sprout from on high has visited us." For this is plainly a novelty, and the Greek ἀνατολή properly signifies a rising, not a sprout; the Syriac also translates dancho, which is said of the rising of the sun; and the Arabic: "He has risen from on high."

Therefore in both ways the "Orient" ought here to be taken, so that it alludes to the rising both of the sprout and of the sun; for Christ is a solar and heavenly sprout, and in turn He is the sun sprouting and being born of the Virgin on earth, as I have said.

Verse 80: The Child Grew and Was Strengthened in Spirit

80. AND THE CHILD (Syrus, little child) GREW (Arabicus, grew up) AND WAS STRENGTHENED IN SPIRIT. — As if to say: John, as he grew in body, so also grew in spirit and in its strength, because the Holy Spirit imbued him daily with greater wisdom, grace, and fortitude. From this it is gathered that the use of reason which John received in the womb (verse 41) remained and grew in him after his birth. So Theophylact: "The more the child grew, the more the efficacies of the spirit were shown forth in him, as the organ of the body became capable of receiving them"; as if to say: The more the growing organs of John's childish body were capable of reason, wisdom and spirit, the more of these the Holy Spirit infused into him. And Titus: "According to the analogy and increase of his age, he advanced in grace and spirit." The same is said of the child Jesus in chapter 2:52, but in another way and sense.

AND HE WAS IN THE DESERTS UNTIL THE DAY OF HIS MANIFESTATION TO ISRAEL. — From this it is gathered that John from boyhood withdrew into the desert, and there remained continuously until his thirtieth year, at which time he began to show himself to the people, and to preach to them repentance and faith in Christ.

Baronius, in his Apparatus to the Annals, from Peter of Alexandria in the Ecclesiastical Rules (canon 3, which the Sixth Synod approved), and from Nicephorus, History Book I, ch. 14, and from Cedrenus in the Compendium of History, thinks that this withdrawal and flight of John into the desert happened because of and through fear of Herod's infanticide, of which I spoke at Matthew 2:16; for although John was not within the borders of Bethlehem (where the infants were slain), yet Herod extended his fear and wrath to him also on account of the report of his wonderful birth, when that saying was in everyone's mouth: "What a one, think ye, shall this child be?" For fearing that he himself might be the king of the Jews sought by the Magi, namely the Messiah, Herod ordered him to be killed. Therefore John, to escape Herod's slaughter, was taken by his mother into the desert as a two-year-old, and there hid in a cave. Cedrenus adds that John's mother after 40 days died in the same cave, and that an angel took on the care of rearing John. So also Nicephorus: "And thence, being accustomed to dwell willingly in solitary places, and using an angel as his guide, he withdrew into the more remote recesses of the forests." Indeed Peter of Alexandria adds that Zechariah the father was ordered by Herod to be killed between the temple and the altar, because he had withdrawn his son John from slaughter and from his infanticide.

Therefore the cause of John's withdrawal into the desert was fear of Herod's infanticide, to which several greater reasons were added from the side of God and of John. The first was that in the desert he might flee the occasions of sinning which conversation with men suggests. Hence the Church sings of him: "The caves of the desert in your tender years, / Fleeing the crowds of citizens, you sought, / Lest by even a light breath / You might stain your life."

The second cause was that he might freely rebuke the vices of the Jews, revering no one, inasmuch as he knew no one, but as if an angel fallen from heaven preaching heavenly things. For, as St. Chrysostom says, "He never saw any of his fellow servants, nor was he seen by any of them." And Theophylact: "He withdrew that he might be reared outside the malice of the many, and might fear no one in reproving them."

The third cause was that, being about to be a preacher of repentance, he himself might first give an example of it, living strictly in the wilderness, so that he might more freely withdraw his hearers from the allurements of the world, inasmuch as he himself had spurned them, says Bede. For austerity of life gives a preacher great weight of authority.

The fourth cause, that continually conversing with God and the angels, he might live angelically, according to the saying: "Behold I send My angel, and he shall prepare the way before My face," Malachi 4:1 [3:1]. For John in the desert, separated from the world, gave himself to fasting, prayer, and contemplation. "He was always in hymns, always in prayers," says St. Chrysostom; "to no man did he speak before he came forth to baptize, but always offering his conversations to God alone." And Origen: "That he might give himself to prayers and converse with the angels, and call upon the Lord and hear Him answering and saying: Behold, here I am," etc.

The fifth cause was that John might be a witness and pointer-out of Christ beyond all exception. For in the desert he could be taught by no man, but by God alone and the angels; wherefore he himself was θεοδίδακτος (taught by God), and received the sacred Scriptures and the other things he preached as infused from God. Hence Euthymius: "It was necessary that he from his tenderest years, as they say from the fingernails, be exercised in virtue, that he might both reproach freely, and be a trustworthy witness of Christ, who was to be announced by him." And Titus: "That being about to bear witness to Christ, and also to rebuke undauntedly the wickedness of men, he might be held a witness and teacher beyond all exception." Therefore John in the desert was a heaven-dweller, both because he had heaven for his home and roof, and because assiduously contemplating heaven, he dwelt mentally in the heavens, and imitated the life of the heavenly ones. Hear Gregory Nazianzen in his Precepts to Virgins singing of John in the desert: "With wild honey and cheap locusts he repelled his hunger, / The son begotten of Zechariah, and he covered / His limbs with camel's hair, and had for his home the ever-turning heaven; / And on the hard ground he gave his body to sleep."