SACRED MEMORIAL OF THE ANNUNCIATION OF THE BLESSED VIRGIN MARY AND THE INCARNATION OF THE SON OF GOD.
CommentaryThe Annunciation of the Blessed Virgin Mary, and the Incarnation of the Son of God
§ I. The ancient celebration of this feast among the Greek Fathers.
[1] The first and principal mystery of Jesus Christ our Redeemer, accomplished on this day, is set before us: namely, the Angelic Annunciation to the most holy Virgin Mary, Whether this feast was begun by the Virgin Mother of God and the ineffable Incarnation of the divine Word and Son of God in the town of Nazareth in Galilee. This solemn feast stands out in such great antiquity that one may piously reflect that its origin ought to be ascribed to the most grateful affection of the Virgin Mother of God, who with singular veneration and most devout worship was accustomed each year to recall the divine benefit bestowed on this day upon herself and the whole human race; when the Word of God was made flesh in her virginal womb, and she herself, giving her assent to the Angelic Annunciation, was established as the Mother of God. Contemplating this custom of most pious gratitude in the most holy Mother of God, the Apostles recognized the obligation owed, and observed it with venerable imitation, and decreed that it should be observed throughout the whole world. Did the Apostles decree that it should be celebrated? Certainly, according to the rule proposed by Saint Augustine in his work On Baptism against the Donatists, book 4, chapter 24: "What the universal Church holds, and was not instituted by Councils but has always been retained, is rightly believed to have been handed down by Apostolic authority alone."
[2] A trace of this Apostolic institution shines forth in most ancient monuments, This is shown to be ancient from Saint Gregory Thaumaturgus which survive, written by most holy Fathers when the Church in its quasi-adolescence still groaned under Gentile Emperors and enemies of Christian truth. Among these Fathers, Saint Gregory Thaumaturgus stands out, Bishop of Neocaesarea in Pontus in the third century of Christ, who, though born of infidel parents, was taught the mystery of the faith by the most holy Mother of God and John the Theologian through a vision, as the Greeks relate in the Menologion of the Emperor Basil, and in various Synaxaries and Menaia, both manuscript and printed, dedicated to his veneration on November 17. There exists a homily of this Saint for this day, which William Lindanus, Bishop of Ruremonde, when he had gone to Rome on account of the persecutions of heretics arising in Belgium, translated from Greek into Latin, having received it from the treasury of antiquities of Cardinal Sirleto, whose opening Baronius presents in his Notes on the Roman Martyrology: "Today the praises of God shine more joyfully from the angelic host."
Gerard Vossius of Borchloon, Homily 1. Provost of Tongeren, among the works of Saint Gregory collected by him, also published this Homily in Greek, found at Grottaferrata, and collated with Vatican and Sirletan copies: whose opening in his translation is as follows: "Today from the Angelic choirs divine praises are celebrated, whose opening is: and the light of Christ's advent shines upon the faithful. Today Adam is renewed and joins the choirs with the Angels, having been raised to heaven. Today the whole earth is filled with joy at the coming of the Holy Spirit upon mankind. Today divine grace, the hope of invisible things, shines forth, and miracles which surpass mind and understanding, and the mystery which was hidden from eternity, make plain to us. Today crowns of everlasting virtue are woven. Today God, willing to crown the sacred heads of the benevolent and religious and those who devoutly observe feast days, calls the lovers of firm faith as those called and heirs: and summons the heavenly kingdom with zeal those who savor heavenly things, that they may join themselves to the divine ministry of the incorporeal choirs. Today the Davidic oracle is fulfilled, which says: 'Let the heavens rejoice and the earth exult; the fields shall be glad and all the trees of the forest at the presence of the Lord, for he comes.' Psalm 95:11 Today the celebrated and ineffable mystery of Christians, who have willingly sealed their hope in Christ, is plainly announced to us. Today Gabriel, who stands before God, coming to the most chaste Virgin, announces to her that greeting, 'Hail, full of grace.'" And then he pursues the history of the Virgin saluted by the Angel and of the Son of God conceived, assuming human nature, and adorns it with an illustrious paraphrase, and also honors the Virgin Mother of God with exquisite titles.
[3] The same is done in the second and third Sermon, also Homily 2 which were delivered on the Annunciation of the Most Holy Mother of God and ever-Virgin Mary by the same Saint Gregory Thaumaturgus, published from the same exemplars by the aforementioned Gerard Vossius. The opening of the second is of this kind: "It is fitting that we offer all festive celebrations and hymns to God as sacrifices: but first of all, the Annunciation of the most holy Mother of God, comprehended in those words, 'Hail, full of grace,' which was made to her by the Angel: since that salutation in the New Testament was the first of all wisdom and saving doctrine, sent to us by the Father of lights. But saying 'full of grace,' it embraced all human nature," etc. The third sermon begins thus: "Again good and auspicious tidings of joy, again signs of liberty, again a recall, and 3. again a return, again a promise of gladness, again liberation from servitude. The Angel speaks with the Virgin, so that the serpent may no longer speak with a woman," etc. This third sermon is found in Lipomanus and Surius at March 25, but under the name of Saint Chrysostom, as it also appears among the works of the latter in the new translation by Fronto Ducaeus; but Francis Combefis judges from the style that it does not sufficiently reflect Chrysostom, although he published it rather under his name than that of Saint Gregory Thaumaturgus in the Concionary Library of the Fathers. But Leo Allatius, whose judgment in a similar controversy we esteem very highly, in his Diatribe on the writings of the Simeons attributes it to Saint Gregory, p. 105, with its Greek opening indicated thus: Πάλιν χαρᾶς Εὐαγγέλια πάλιν ἐλευθερίας μηνύματα. "Of Gregory, Bishop of Neocaesarea, λόγος ἐις τὸν Εὐαγγελισμὸν τῆς παναγίας Θεοτόκου." The same Allatius, p. 92, has this concerning the indicated second sermon: Ἐορτὰς μὲν ἁπάσας καὶ ὑμνῳδίας. "Of Gregory, Bishop of Neocaesarea, ἐγκώμιον εἰς τὸν Εὐαγγελισμὸν τῆς παναγίας Θεοτόκου." The aforementioned three sermons are attributed to Saint Gregory Thaumaturgus by Theophilus Raynaud in volume 12 of his works, in Miscellaneous Philological Works, p. 551. Meanwhile, Anthony Riccardi, because some allusion is made in this oration to Virgins meeting the bridegroom with lamps, which he also found in the sixth Oration of Saint Proclus, Archbishop of Constantinople, asserts in his Notes, p. 247, that he greatly doubts and hesitates whether it is truly by Gregory Thaumaturgus: the diction seems rather to be that of Saint Proclus, etc., especially because the word Θεοτόκος is repeatedly used: but these considerations do not deter the aforementioned Allatius, Vossius, Raynaud, Combefis, and others.
[4] But even if it were by Saint Proclus, this is confirmed from the orations of Saint Proclus it would have its authority from this illustrious man, since the first part of the Council of Ephesus, containing the proceedings that preceded the Council, begins with a Homily of Proclus, then still Bishop of Cyzicus, delivered εἰς τὴν ἐνανθρώπησιν, "On the Incarnation of our Lord Jesus Christ," as it is printed under this title in volume 5 of the Royal Councils, p. 13, with this opening: "A virginal festival and a frequent and celebrated assembly, Brothers, on this festive day provokes the tongue to praise, and the present solemnity with good reason wins an occasion of profit for the present gathering." This is the first oration of Saint Proclus in Riccardi, who observes that elsewhere it is said to have been delivered on the Assumption of the Virgin Mother of God or the Nativity of Christ: he himself, from the principal manuscripts, prefixes the title Ἐγκώμιον τῆς ὑπεραγίας Θεοτόκου. But he says the second and third orations were delivered εἰς τὴν Ἐνανθρώπησιν, "On the Incarnation of our Lord Jesus Christ." The opening of the second oration is as follows: "Fair indeed is the Lyre of the Psalms: the harp of the Spirit is divinely inspired." In the third oration, however, there is more allusion to the solemnity of the day, and the opening contains these words: "Frequent and diverse festive solemnities gladden human life; while by the recurrence of feast days they convert the sorrowful burden of this toilsome life into delight." And after relating the custom of the Gentiles and Jews, he adds: "But the solemnities of Christians are divine and admirable, and true fountains and treasures of salvation. For our first celebration sings of the coming of God to mankind," etc. Those which are then named by Riccardi in fifth and sixth place as Orations in praise of the Virgin Mother of God are transferred to the feast of the Annunciation of the same Virgin Mary in the Library of Combefis.
[5] But it would perhaps be tedious to others if we were to bring forth more sermons of the Greek Fathers on this feast of the Incarnation of Christ and the Angelic Annunciation, and of other Greek Fathers, since they can be read in the said Library: and they are by Saints Athanasius, Archbishop of Alexandria, or certainly by a most learned man but some centuries younger than he; Epiphanius, Bishop of Constantia on the island of Cyprus; John Chrysostom; Cyril, also Archbishop of Alexandria; Achatius, Bishop of Melitene; Basil, Bishop of Seleucia; Titus, Bishop of Bostra; Anastasius, Archbishop of Antioch; Hesychius, Priest of Jerusalem; Chrysippus, likewise Priest of Jerusalem; Jobius the monk; Andrew of Jerusalem, Archbishop of Crete; Theophanes Cerameus, Archbishop of Taormina; and Leo the Emperor. There also exist, brought forth by the effort and study of Hippolytus Maraccius, orations of Saint Germanus, Archbishop of Constantinople, and Isidore, Archbishop of Thessalonica; others are indicated by Gerard Vossius in his Notes on Gregory Thaumaturgus. Of the indicated authors, Saint Hesychius, Priest of Jerusalem, is venerated on March 28, having died in the year 434.
[6] And from the Alexandrian Chronicle. In place of these orations or homilies, it seems better to add for the reader's benefit what is reported in the Chronicle commonly called Alexandrian (which we have shown to be more properly Constantinopolitan), concerning the day and solemnity of this mystery, after the Evangelical history from Saint Luke has been recited; and these are the words: "On this day, the 25th of March," it says, "as the Romans reckon, the Catholic and Apostolic Church of God, having received the custom from the divine Fathers, celebrates the Annunciation of our holy Lady, the glorious Mother of God and ever-Virgin Mary. In the sixth month, therefore, with respect to Elizabeth, on the 25th day of March, on this very day, the beginning of the seventh month, the most holy and immaculate and blessed ever-Virgin Mother of God Mary conceived in her womb, according to his humanity, the eternal and only-begotten Son, of the same essence as the Father and the Holy Spirit, the Word, Christ, our true God; and immediately in her womb the hypostatic union began: into which ark, exempt from corruption, entered the promised land, and the untouched and most holy flesh of the Word of God, which was not corrupted, began to be formed in the animate earth, the Mother of God: and with the Holy Spirit coming upon her and the power of the Most High overshadowing her, the flower from the root of Jesse germinated in the Virgin Mother of God: That is, the Conception according to the flesh of one of the Holy Trinity, the Word of God, began, as it is written: 'Our land has given its fruit.' Psalm 66:7 Under the consuls Lentulus and Piso, on the 25th of Dystrus or March, according to the Egyptians on the 30th of Adar, the eighth before the Kalends of April, in the year of the world five thousand five hundred and seventh, in the first lunar month of Adar, on the tenth of the month, as was declared through the figure of the lamb received and kept, the Lord and Master of all, Christ our true God, his own Conception according to the flesh, being himself perfect, thus perfected and fulfilled: perfect, I say, the Architect of the whole world in the perfect number of Conception: and again, as he had described and prescribed in the tabernacle, he formed his untouched and undefiled, most holy body, and brought it into the promised land. Thus in this month, on this very day of the month, on the second day of the week (at the voice of the Angel saying to the blessed Virgin, 'The Holy Spirit will come upon you and the power of the Most High will overshadow you, therefore that which is born holy shall be called the Son of God') on which day in the creation of the world Christ our God made the heavens, on the same day he is found to have put on human nature; and was made perfect man, as one who is the Sun of justice, and salvation shall be in his wings," etc.
Thus far this source. The consulate of Lentulus and Piso is also attributed to the Incarnation of the Divine Word in the common or Dionysian Era of Christ, which Baronius anticipates by two years with the consulate of Lentulus and Messalinus; others, adding four years, take refuge in the consulate of Augustus XII and Lucius Sulla; others think differently: why we abstain from this disputation, we shall set forth below some matters when we treat of the Crucifixion of Christ the Lord. The year of the world indicated above is according to the Constantinopolitan Era, which in the Nativity of Christ (for the year among the Greeks begins from September) they count as the five thousand five hundred and eighth year from the creation of the world. How the tenth day of the first lunar month is to be found is explained at length here in the Chronicle itself.
§ II. The antiquity of this same feast indicated in Greek Menaia and Odes. The celebration among the Egyptians and other Orientals.
[7] That this day of the Incarnation of the Son of God was always considered the greatest and most sacred by the Greeks is confirmed by all the Ecclesiastical books, The same feast is indicated which contain the divine Offices and the use of sacred rites of the Greek Church, that are found written. In these, historical matters more suited to our use are read in the Menologia, Menaia, in the Menologion of the Emperor Basil. Synaxaries, and similar treatises. The manuscript Menologion which was compiled by order of Basil the Younger in the tenth century of Christ presents these words, rendered by us into Latin: "On the 25th day of March, the Annunciation of the most holy Mother of God. Our God, most loving and merciful toward human salvation, who always bears solicitous care for the human race, when he beheld man, the creature of his hands, reduced to servitude by the devil, willed to send his only-begotten Son, our Lord Jesus Christ, into the world, to rescue man from the power of the devil. But since he wished this mystery to be unknown not only to Satan but even to the heavenly powers themselves, he entrusts this secret to one of the Archangels, the glorious Gabriel. By his providence he brought it about that the holy Virgin would be born pure and immaculate, who would be worthy of so great a good. Gabriel therefore came to a city called Nazareth, and said to her: 'Hail, full of grace, the Lord is with you.' And she asked: 'How shall this be?' And he said to her: 'The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you.' And she said: 'Behold the handmaid of the Lord; be it done to me according to your word.' At which word, beyond nature, she conceived the Son and Word of God: and then all the mysteries of the Word of God through his humanity were fulfilled, which pertained to our salvation." In the Menaia, The same things, with a few additions, are read in the printed and unpublished Menaia. In the very ancient Parisian Synaxary of the Claromontane College of the Society of Jesus, this mystery is published thus: "March 25, Commemoration of the Annunciation of our most holy Lady, the Mother of God, Manuscript Synaxary, when the secret and hidden mystery of the divine Incarnation of the Son of God, unknown even to the Angels from eternity, was made known to the Archistrategos, that is, the commander of the heavenly host, Gabriel, who was sent to the most pure and never-stained Mary in the city of Nazareth, to declare to her the will of God the Father, and the good pleasure and efficacious aid of the most holy and life-giving Spirit for the salvation of mankind: and he said to her: 'Hail, full of grace, the Lord is with you.'" In the Menologion of Cardinal Sirleto, these few words are expressed: Menologion of Sirleto "On the 25th day, the Annunciation of the same most Blessed Virgin Mary, our Lady, ever-Virgin Mary." Mention had already been made in the same Menologion under the end of the preceding day concerning the Pre-feast or Vigil in these words: also the day before, in the pre-feast. "On the same day, the Vigil of the Annunciation of the Blessed ever-Virgin Mother of God Mary." In the Greek Menaia it is called Προεορτία τοῦ Ἐυαγγελισμοῦ, the Pre-feast of the Annunciation: and there are similar Pre-feasts or Vigils only before feasts dedicated to Christ the Lord and the Blessed Virgin.
[8] It is pleasing to add here certain Odes which are recited on these days among the Greeks, on this feast, Odes of Saint Sabbas, and indeed on March 24, the Pre-feast, these were composed by Saint Sabbas about a thousand and nearly two hundred years ago: the first of which, addressed to the Virgin Mother of God, is of this kind: "The matter of a most hidden mystery, unknown even to the Angels themselves, is now entrusted to Gabriel the Archangel. He will soon visit you, as the sole Dove of incorruptible beauty and truly the Restoration of our race. He, O Virgin perfect in every kind of holiness, will bid you hail with a resounding voice. Prepare yourself, therefore, so that upon hearing the Angel's word you may receive the Word, who is God, into your womb." Another, addressed to the eternal Word, is recited thus: "Already for you, O Lord, an illustrious palace has been prepared, namely the incorrupt womb of a truly divine maiden. Come now and descend from heaven into that palace, moved by mercy toward your handiwork, which, overcome by envy, the infernal fury has oppressed with cruel servitude, and which, having long since lost its former beauty, now awaits your saving descent." In a third Ode of the same Sabbas, our prayers are added in these words: "As gifts prepared in advance of the feast, we offer to you, O most chaste among all, riches joined with love of the poor, likewise continence and temperance, hymns also, prayers and tears, and finally fasting united with humility. Moved by these virtues, O Lady, you most willingly add your approval to our desires."
[9] The Greek Church proposes other odes on the same pre-feast, composed by George the ancient hymnographer, in approximately this form: "O Earth, of George the hymnographer, who until now with great sorrow have sprouted thorns, now come, dance and leap: for behold the immortal Farmer, who will purge you of the thorns of the curse, now approaches. And you, undefiled Virgin, as a truly divine fleece, prepare yourself to receive the Godhead, who will descend upon you like rain, to dry up the torrents of transgression of the commandments. Be ready, O book of divine purity, for the Wisdom of God, but Incarnate, will be inscribed upon you by the finger of the Holy Spirit, to remove the transgression of my folly. O golden candlestick also, receive the fire of divinity; that through you it may illuminate the world, and together dispel the darkness of our wickedness. O palace of the Great King, Virgin, open the divine vestibules of your ears: for soon Truth itself, Christ, will enter to you, to dwell in the midst of you. O uncontaminated ewe-lamb, the Lamb of our God, who takes away our sins, hastens to enter your womb. Isaiah 11:1 The mystical rod also will soon germinate a divine flower, manifestly sprung from the root of Jesse, as Scripture says. O vine also, Mary, prepare yourself, so that made fruitful by the Angelic voice, you may bring forth a mature grape, not subject to corruption. O finally, hail, mountain, which Daniel foresaw in the Spirit, from which that spiritual stone shall be cut, which will crush the inanimate idols of the demons. O Ark endowed with reason, whom the true Lawgiver, pursuing with singular love, has now determined to inhabit as a tenant, may the joy of mind fill you: for through you he will renew the destroyed. Moreover the chorus of Prophets, taught to give divine presages, as if sensing the peaceful entry of the Redeemer into you, exclaims: 'Hail, redemption of all, hail, sole salvation of mankind.' O airy cloud of divine light, prepare yourself for the sun soon to rise. For behold the inaccessible Sun will shine upon you from heavenly abodes, so that somewhat hidden in you, he may illumine the world and dispel the darkness of wickedness. He who never departed from the right hand of the Father, who transcends all substance, approaches to choose a lodging in you: that he may place you at his right hand, as a Queen near to him in dignity and endowed with excellent beauty, and that he may extend you as his right hand to all the fallen for their rising. Among the Angels, moreover, the chief minister of God sends forth a joyful voice to you, to signify the Angel of great counsel to be embodied from you. O divine Word, incline the heavens and now descend to us. For the womb of the Virgin has been prepared for you as a throne, on which as most splendid King you may sit, raising up from ruin the work of your right hand. You also, O Virgin, as Earth never sown, prepare now to receive under the Angel's word the heavenly Word, most fruitful like wheat, which germinating from you will nourish the seeds into the bread of understanding."
[10] These and other things the Greeks sing on the Pre-feast of this solemnity. and of Saint John Damascene, On the feast itself, among other odes, one stands out composed by Saint John Damascene with this opening: "Your progenitor
David, striking the harp of the Holy Spirit, may sing these strains to you: 'Listen, daughter, to the voice of the Angel full of joys: for such joy does he announce to you as no one can express.'" And then the Evangelical dialogue of the Archangel Gabriel with the Virgin Mary, Mother of God, is set forth in this sweet paraphrase. The Angel: "Joyfully I cry out to you: Incline your ear, and attend to me who announces to you the divine Conception without seed. For you have found such grace before God as no other creature has found." The Mother of God: "I wish you would signify to me more clearly, Angel, what your words involve: for how will what you have said come to pass? Tell me, I beseech you, and most clearly, how shall I both be made fruitful and remain a Virgin, and how shall I become a mother bearing my Creator?" The Angel: "You are wisely resolved, as it appears, to be attentive to yourself, lest perhaps some deception lurk in my words. But I greatly rejoice, knowing you to be beyond the danger of error. Only be of good courage, Lady: for when it pleases God, unexpected miracles are easily performed." The Mother of God: "The Prince has departed from the house of Judah, and therefore the time now approaches when the glorious hope of the nations, Christ, shall come forth. But you, Angel, explain the manner by which I am to bear Christ as a virgin." The Angel: "You seek to learn from me the manner of your Conception, but that manner cannot be sufficiently illuminated by any eloquence: nevertheless the Holy Spirit will accomplish this work, overshadowing you with the proper power of the Creator." The Mother of God: "Eve, my ancestress, when she had accepted the counsel of the serpent, was driven from the garden of divine pleasure into exile: and I therefore dread this unaccustomed kind of greeting, anxious to avoid a similar fall." The Angel: "I, one of the Angels who stand before God, have been sent here to declare to you the divine will. Why do you fear me, O you who were never subject to any blemish: me, who rather owe you reverence as a subordinate? Why do you venerate me, Lady, when I far more justly venerate you with a kind of adoring worship?" The Mother of God: "Indeed I have long since heard that a certain sacred virgin would bear Emmanuel, as the Prophet foretold. Therefore I am possessed with a desire to know by what powers mortal nature can endure the Divinity communicated to it." The Angel: "O full of grace, the bush persevering unconsumed when the flame was received, signified the hidden subtlety of the mystery to be accomplished with you. For after the birth you will enjoy perpetual Virginity." The Mother of God: "O herald of Truth, shining with the light of almighty God, tell me, I pray you, Gabriel, and do so most accurately: how at last, without detriment to inviolate modesty, shall I bring forth the divine Word in the flesh, since his nature lacks the mass of a body?" The Angel: "Not without fear do I stand before your face, as a servant before his Lady: indeed I dare not even look at you, from reverential dread of you. As rain upon fleece, so the Word of the Father will descend into your womb, moved by his benevolence toward you." The Mother of God: "Not yet is the depth of your words fully clear to me in every respect: for miracles have been wrought very often by the prodigious arm of Divine power, and these served as signs and figures in the law. But never has any virgin given birth without the use and experience of a husband." The Angel: "You are rightly astonished, Lady, for an astonishing prodigy will be wrought in you. For you alone will bring forth the King of all, to be clothed in flesh in your womb: and therefore the veiled oracles of the Prophets and the symbols or marvels of hidden meaning of the old law prefigured you." The Mother of God: "He who is grasped by none and seen by none, how will he endure to dwell in the womb of a virgin created by himself? By what means also shall I give a beginning of life to God the Word through the Conception, when that Word is no less without beginning than the Father and the Spirit?" Psalm 131:11 The Angel: "Indeed God promised your progenitor David that he would place from the fruit of his womb upon the throne of his kingdom: he, I say, chose you as the sole beauty of Jacob, that you might become for him a living and wise habitation." The Mother of God: "As I drink in, Gabriel, the most joyful sound of your words to me, I am truly filled with divine joys: for you announce a joy, and such a joy as no day shall end." The Angel: "To you, O Mother of the Godhead, has been given the joy of the inmost divinity. To you also, with acclamation, all that anywhere exists of created things offers congratulations for your gladness." The Mother of God: "Now therefore through me let the condemnation of Eve be removed: let her pay her debt today through the intervention of my fruitfulness: and finally through me, by a most full payment, let her expunge this name contracted from the origin of the world." The Angel: "God pledged to Abraham your progenitor that the nations would be blessed in his seed: through you, therefore, that promise shall today obtain its fulfillment." Genesis 22:18 The Mother of God: "O you who are the messenger of incorporeal Light to be united with the matter of a body, on account of the multitude of his mercies, you announce to me delightful and truly divine news, and with acclamation and applause." The Angel: "Rejoice, O height, Mary, to whose supreme summit the thoughts of men cannot ascend. Rejoice, depth, whose subtle recess not even the Angelic vision penetrates. Rejoice, through whom creatures are renewed. Rejoice, through whom the Creator himself becomes an infant. Rejoice, O temple most illustriously sanctified. Rejoice, O bridal chamber of immortality." The Mother of God: "The Holy Spirit coming upon me has sanctified my soul and body, and together made me a temple capable of the Godhead, a tabernacle also adorned with Divine majesty, and finally a living Sanctuary of God." The Angel: "Now I behold you as a lamp brilliant as many lights, and as a bridal chamber constructed by the artistry of God, and finally as an ark fashioned of gold. Receive now him who gave the law, and who by his singular will has decreed to recall the corrupt human race to its pristine integrity through you. Therefore do not doubt this embassy of mine as a fiction: but rather judge it worthy of your Faith as pregnant with realities." The Mother of God: "Indeed this law has been divinely imposed upon mankind: that no birth can occur except from the common love of two beings. Therefore all human thought is here overcome, when it examines the paradoxes you have told me. I have been truly gladdened by your words, and I acknowledge you as an Ambassador sent by Truth itself. For you are a messenger of a joy so broadly extending that its fruit reaches absolutely everyone. Since therefore the Holy Spirit has endowed my soul with the gift of holiness, be it done to me according to your word, and let God dwell in my womb: to whom together with you I cry out: 'Bless the Lord, all works of the Lord.'" Here ends the Angelic dialogue with the Virgin Mother of God, to which as a conclusion I add these words of the same Damascene: "Let no hand of a profane person touch the animate Ark of God. Rather let the lips of the faithful incessantly sing the Angelic voice with exultant cry: 'Hail, full of grace, the Lord is with you,'" etc. I omit the rest, which can be read in the Menaia themselves and in the New Anthologion dedicated to Pope Clement VIII.
[11] Another feast of the Virgin Mother of God, τῆς Ἀκαθίστου, was celebrated at Constantinople every year on the Saturday of the fifth week of Lent, on the feast of the Virgin of the Acathist on account of the city having been defended with the help and aid of the Virgin Mother of God under Heraclius against the Chagan, leader of the Mysians and Scythians, and Sarbarum, Archisatrapa of the Persians. Hence the whole night the people of Constantinople were accustomed to sing the Acathist hymn: of Saint Joseph the hymnographer. one such, composed by Saint Joseph the hymnographer, was published in his Marian work by Hippolytus Maraccius, with this opening: "Gabriel the great Archangel, when he saw you, O Chaste one, as a living book of Christ sealed by the Holy Spirit, exclaimed to you: 'Rejoice, O house of joy, through whom the curse of our first mother has been abolished.'" The said hymn can be read there on p. 29 and the five following pages. Codinus Curopalates, On the Offices of Constantinople, chapter 12, relates that four Vigils were held annually in the Palace: the Great Canon on the Thursday of the fifth week of Lent, the Virgin of the Acathist, the Annunciation, and the Thursday of Holy Week at the Lord's Supper: where Gretser learnedly explains these solemnities, and shows that the aforementioned Acathist hymn is so called because it was sung standing, without any sitting.
[12] The solemn veneration of this feast among the Egyptians is recorded in a Martyrology composed in the Arabic language, veneration among the Egyptians, which exists in manuscript at Rome in the Maronite College, in which at March 25 these words are found: "The memorial of the Annunciation of the Mother of God and the Incarnation of the Son of God: today is the beginning of our salvation, and the manifestation of the mystery before all ages. The Son of God becomes the Son of a Virgin and Gabriel announces the grace. Now let us also say with him, Rejoice, O full of grace, the Lord is with you." In the second Coptic Calendar with the Synhedria of the ancient Hebrews published by Selden, at the 29th of Barmahath, the Copts, which corresponds to March 25, is read "The Annunciation of the Angel Gabriel to the Lady." In a manuscript Syrian Calendar, translated into Latin by Archbishop Damascenus Risius, the Syrians, there is inscribed at the same March 25 "the solemnity of the Mother of God Mary with Gabriel the Archangel." Similar things are read in the Chaldaic or Syrian Calendar printed at Rome in the year 1624 and in other manuscript Calendars of the Eastern Churches which we have in our possession. the Chaldeans, The Calendar of the Ruthenians in the Sacred Apparatus of Possevinus, p. 364, agrees with the same, the Ruthenians. which he himself asserts to be in use both in Muscovy and in the rest of Russia: and in book 1 of Muscovite Affairs, the same Possevinus relates that the People scarcely ever cease from work except on the very day of the most blessed Virgin Annunciate: and on the remaining feasts and Sundays they work, and are persuaded that it pertains to the nobles to go so often to churches and sacred offices.
§ III. The solemnity of this mystery among the Latins on March 25 and on other days.
[13] That the feast of the Annunciation of the Virgin Mother of God and of the divine Word incarnate in her most sacred womb was received by most ancient tradition among the Latins, Saint Augustine teaches in book 4 of On the Trinity, chapter 5, pronouncing these things about Christ our Redeemer: Saint Augustine agrees "As the authority of the Church preserves, having received it as handed down from the elders, he is believed to have been conceived on the eighth before the Kalends of April, on which day he also suffered." We shall treat below of Christ's death on the cross. In the more ancient Martyrologies, the memory of this feast is celebrated. The Martyrology of Saint Jerome, printed at Paris, and the manuscript of Blumius, have these words: "The Annunciation of Saint Mary through the Angel." with the ancient Martyrologies. The same Annunciation of Saint Mary is indicated in a double manuscript of Monte Cassino, and another of the Altemps collection, written in the ancient Lombard script, likewise in that of Saint Ulrich at Augsburg, that of Saint Mary ad Gradus at Cologne, and another of Saint Cyriacus, highly praised by Baronius. "The Annunciation of Saint Mary the Virgin," in the Vatican manuscript of Saint Peter under Bede's name. "The Annunciation of Saint Mary, Mother of the Lord," in very ancient manuscripts of Reichenau, Rheinau, and Labbe. "The Lord's Annunciation," in the genuine manuscript of Bede, in the old Roman Martyrology of Rosweyde, and the manuscript of Trier, Saint Martin's. "The Annunciation of the Lord's Incarnation," in Rabanus and in the manuscript of Laetium and in one of Queen Christina of Sweden formerly written in Franconia. In another manuscript of the same Queen, from which Holstenius published his Observations on the Roman Martyrology, it reads thus: "Of Saint Mary, when she was greeted by the Angel, that is, the Conception of our Lord Jesus Christ." The manuscript of Trier, Saint Maximin's, small but very ancient: "The Conception of Saint Mary by the Holy Spirit." The place is added in others, and thus Usuard, Ado, and the printed Bede and the manuscript of Liege, Saint Lambert's, have: "At Nazareth, a city of Galilee, the Lord's Annunciation or of the Lord's Incarnation," as Notker, the manuscripts of Aachen, Cologne Carmelites, Trier Saint Maximin's (the larger) report. In the manuscript of Ado belonging to Queen Christina of Sweden is added: "and the Conception of our Lord Jesus Christ according to the flesh." In place of this, in the manuscript of Centula, these words are read: "When, with the Angel announcing and the power of the Most High overshadowing, the immaculate Virgin conceived the Son of the living God whom she was to bear." In the Lucca copy of the Martyrology of Saint Jerome, this encomium is found: "And in Galilee, in the city of Nazareth, the Annunciation of Saint Mary concerning the Conception, when she was greeted by the Angel." The manuscript of Tournai, Saint Martin's: "At Nazareth, a city of Galilee, as the faith of the faithful adores, venerates, and proclaims, the Angel Gabriel greets with veneration the Virgin who is to bear the Lord." Wandelbert comprised this day and mystery in this verse:
"On the eighth day the Angel announces the coming Lamb."
[14] Behold the consensus of the principal and more ancient Martyrologies, Saint Gregory in his Book of Sacraments, which is plainly found to be the same in the ancient Breviaries and Missals of all nations: from these we bring forward only the Book of Sacraments of Saint Gregory the Great, in which at the eighth before the Kalends of April the Annunciation of the Angel to Blessed Mary is celebrated, and in the Preface, after the words "through Christ our Lord," these are inserted: "Whom the Archangel Gabriel announced would be born for the salvation of mankind, whom the Virgin Mary conceived by the cooperation of the Holy Spirit: so that what the Angelic sublimity announced, Virginal purity would believe, and ineffable Deity would accomplish. We therefore desire, with your help, to see without confusion the face of him whose Incarnation we celebrate with solemnity." Much more can be seen in the Milanese Missal according to the use prescribed by Saint Ambrose, and in the ancient Missal of the Mozarabs ordained by Saint Isidore and other Prelates of Spain: from this, Tamayo Salazar inserts much into his Spanish Martyrology at this March 25 and at December 18, when formerly in Spain this feast was celebrated by decree of the Bishops assembled in the Tenth Council of Toledo in the Spanish Era 694, that is, the year of Christ 656: who in the first canon reported by Garcia Loaysa, p. 490, decreed as follows: "It is found in many parts of Spain that the feast of this holy Virgin is not celebrated on one day throughout all the cycles of years. The Council of Toledo transfers the feast to December 18. For this reason, since on the day on which it is found that the Angel both announced to the Virgin in words the conception of the Word and wrought it by miracles, the same festivity cannot be celebrated worthily, since sometimes the days of Lent or the Paschal feast appear to interfere, during which nothing of the solemnities of the Saints, as has been cautioned from ancient regular practice, is fitting to celebrate: since also it is not fitting that the Incarnation of the Word itself should then be proclaimed with celebrations, when it is established that the same Word is being exalted by the glory of the Resurrection after the death of the flesh; therefore by special constitution it is decreed that before the eighth day on which the Lord was born, the day of his Mother also shall be held most celebrated and illustrious. For it is established from equal honor that, just as the dignity of the following days follows the Nativity of the Son, so a sacred solemnity of so many days should follow the feast of the Mother. For what is the feast of the Mother, if not the Incarnation of the Word? Which indeed ought to be as solemn as the Nativity of the same Word. Which, however, seems to be instituted not without the example of a departing custom, which is known to be observed in diverse parts of the world. For in many Churches, remote from us both in distance and in lands, this custom is known to be retained. Therefore, that henceforth whatever is doubtful may be removed, let the solemnity of the Lord's Mother be celebrated in every way on the fifteenth before the Kalends of January, and the Nativity of her Son, our Savior, on the eighth before the Kalends of the same, as is the custom, be held solemnly in all places."
[15] Thus the source, which on this day in the Church of Toledo is recited in the second Nocturn, distributed into two Lessons, to which this is added: resumed on March 25, "Although the feast of the Annunciation of Blessed Mary now holds its proper place, and is celebrated on the eighth before the Kalends of April in the universal Catholic Church, the Toledan Church nevertheless retains both solemnities: one in the month of March, so that it may follow the most holy institution of the Roman Church (which is the mistress and mother of all Churches): the other on the eighth day before the Lord's Nativity: both because this solemnity was instituted by the Toledan Church itself and, received with great veneration by other Churches, is celebrated to this day throughout all of Spain; and because on that very day the most holy Virgin deigned to consecrate the Toledan temple with her presence, and to adorn her servant Ildephonsus with sacred gifts." We treated of Saint Ildephonsus and the vestment offered to him by the Virgin Mother of God on January 27. That this feast of the Virgin Mother of God, which is celebrated on December 18, was adorned with the name of the Expectation of the Birth of the Mother of God by this holy Bishop, John Bonifacius relates in his Virginal History, book 2, chapter 5, Augustine Herrera in book 2 of On Divine Offices, chapter 57, and many others passim. This feast of the Expectation was approved by Gregory XIII in his Bull, which is prefixed to the Proper Offices of the Saints of Spain, and in the second Nocturn, Lessons from the book of Saint Ildephonsus On the Virginity of Blessed Mary are prescribed.
[16] Among the remote Churches where the feast of the Incarnation of the Word or of the Annunciation in the Ambrosian Church the Office is celebrated on the last Sunday of Advent, is mentioned in the cited Council of Toledo as having been celebrated not long before the feast of the Nativity of Christ, the Ambrosian Church could be assigned, in which during the entire time of Lent the Saints are never celebrated, and the Office of the Annunciation of the Blessed Virgin Mary is celebrated on the sixth Sunday of Advent, as the Rubric inserted at March 25 in the Ambrosian Breviary indicates. Advent itself begins from the Vespers of the Saturday nearest to the feast of Saint Martin. Hence the sixth Sunday of Advent is the Sunday immediately preceding the Lord's Nativity, as Galesinius calls it in his Notes at March 25. But the commemoration of the Annunciation of Blessed Mary and the Incarnation of the eternal Word celebrated throughout Advent is also indicated passim by the entire Ecclesiastical Office which is performed during that time in the Roman Church: indeed the Prefaces confirm this, in this the Incarnation is treated. which are then prescribed in the Book of Sacraments of Saint Gregory the Great, of which one is the same that we gave above to be recited on the feast of the Annunciation; another, customarily recited on the third Sunday before the Lord's Nativity, is of this kind: "Eternal God, who by your inexpressible gift have granted that human nature, created in your likeness, though made unlike through sin and death, should by no means perish in eternal damnation: but that whence it had contracted sin and death, thence the immensity of your mercy would restore life, and the crime of the ancient virgin would be expiated by the new and immaculate Virgin Mary. Who, greeted by the Angel, overshadowed by the Holy Spirit, merited to bear him who granted all things to be born by his nod. Who marveled at both the integrity of her body and the fruitfulness of her conception, and rejoiced that she was about to bear her own parent, Jesus Christ our Lord."
[17] The solemnity of the feast in Belgium, In Belgium the feast of the Annunciation of Blessed Mary on March 25 is held in great veneration among both Clergy and people; if this day falls on a Sunday of Lent other than Palm Sunday, it is celebrated throughout the whole Province under the Archbishop of Mechlin also by the people on the Monday immediately following: if it ever falls on Palm Sunday or thereafter, it is celebrated both by the people and by the Clergy on the Tuesday after Low Sunday. There is moreover a pious custom throughout Belgium that on the Wednesday of the Ember Days in Advent a solemn pre-dawn Mass of the Annunciation of Blessed Mary is sung, which on account of its excellence is called the Golden Mass: in which the Deacon singing the Gospel pronounces the words of the Evangelist, and two performers, and on Advent Wednesday in the Golden Mass, one dressed in the habit of the Blessed Virgin Mary, the other of the Angel Gabriel, recite the words proper to each. When the concluding clause is said, "Behold the handmaid of the Lord, be it done to me according to your word," in many places a dove or the likeness of a dove with abundant light, signifying the Holy Spirit, is released from on high. In some places nearly the entire Office is celebrated as on the feast of the Annunciation under the rite of a Greater Double. John Cousin in book 4 of his History of Tournai, chapter 8, relates that in the Church of Tournai this feast was instituted by John Abraham, Archdeacon, around the year 1230, but the solemn Mass was endowed with richer revenues around the year 1540 by Peter Cotrellius, Canon, as the same Cousin writes in chapter 53. Another solemnity of the said Wednesday is explained by Durandus in book 6 of Divine Offices, chapter 8. "In the Morning Office," he says, "in certain Churches, when the psalmody is finished, also celebrated elsewhere. the Deacon and Subdeacon and Acolytes in white vestments with candlesticks and thurible proceed in procession by order of the Prelate to the pulpit: where the Deacon pronounces the Gospel, 'The Angel Gabriel was sent from God,' and his homily, then incensing the altar, and afterward he and the Subdeacon sit until one Acolyte has incensed the choir. This is done out of reverence for the Lord's Incarnation, which is contained in that Gospel." These are then explained mystically.
§ IV. Particular veneration of the Annunciation in various Churches and places.
[18] Saint Jerome, on Hebrew places: "There is Nazareth," he says, Churches at Nazareth, "where Christ lived, a village in Galilee near Mount Tabor, whence our Lord Jesus Christ was called the Nazarene, and it has a church in the place where the Angel entered to announce the good news to Blessed Mary, and also another where the Lord was nourished." Adrichomius in Zabulon, number 73, treating of Nazareth, observes the following: "The Apostles after the Ascension of Christ into heaven dedicated the dwelling of the Blessed Virgin Mary, in which, greeted by the Angel, she conceived Christ the Savior, to sacred uses, and sometimes also performed sacred rites there: and afterward in the same place a most beautiful temple was erected for the Mother of God, one which excelled with an Archiepiscopal See, in which three altars were hewn from the rock... Furthermore, as regards the sacred dwelling of the Angelic salutation, after it had been frequented here for a long time and held in honor, when Palestine rejected the Christian religion, it was transported by Angels in a wondrous manner to Fiume, and the house of Saint Mary to Dalmatia, which was a town of Illyria." Others bring forward other causes for the destruction of the magnificent church of the Annunciation and the Translation of the sacred Nazarene dwelling to Christian lands, which first, as was said, rested in Dalmatia near the town of Fiume, and at length was carried to the territory of Picenum, where the city of Loreto possesses this treasure, and displays a temple of squared stone, and translated to Loreto. with lofty vaults and a dome covered with leaden plates, and august with twelve great columns: in this temple the holy dwelling of the most sacred Virgin is seen, in which the Virgin Mother of God, greeted by the Angel Gabriel and overshadowed by the Holy Spirit, conceived in her womb the eternal Word and Incarnate Son of God. The 10th of December is sacred to the Translation of this Marian chapel, when we ourselves offered the sacrifice of the Mass to God before the altar in its innermost part in the year 1660, and observed all things with the greatest joy of our soul in the great concourse of pilgrims, whose Confessions are heard by Priests of the Society of Jesus, summoned from the principal regions of all Europe, so that each arriving visitor may be assisted in their native language, and then refreshed at the table of the heavenly Eucharist.
[19] The following year we saw another distinguished temple dedicated to the Blessed Virgin Mary Annunciate in the city of Florence, among the Servite Fathers, The Annunciate church at Florence. in which an image of the Annunciate Mother of God was begun in colors by a painter, but the face of the same Virgin is shown to have been delineated by an Angelic hand, and is celebrated with great throngs of people and miracles. We were benevolently received by the Reverend Fathers, who granted us the faculty of transcribing whatever we wished from their manuscript codices, and of celebrating as often as we desired at the altar of the Annunciate Mother of God: which kindness we willingly acknowledge with most grateful affection. We forbear to narrate the miracles that occurred both there and at Loreto, because they require a singular work.
[20] We were at Rome on the very feast of the Annunciate Virgin and witnessed two remarkable things: namely, the approach of the Supreme Pontiff, carried in his chair, and of the Most Eminent Cardinals of the Holy Roman Church, riding in illustrious order, to the church of Blessed Mary above the Minerva, of the Order of the Preaching Fathers of Saint Dominic, At Rome, the Confraternity of the Annunciation above the Minerva: where the Confraternity of the Annunciation of the Blessed Virgin Mary flourishes, for dispensing dowries to poor girls and relieving orphans and the needy: where on this day very many girls approaching receive from His Holiness a certificate, upon presenting which when they are about to enter some monastery or even contract marriages, they obtain the assigned dowry, and a more generous one if they have chosen to serve God in holiness of life. Concerning this Confraternity there exists Constitution 144 of Pope Pius V in volume 2 of the Bullarium.
[21] Another thing observed by us as singular was the primary Sodality of the Annunciation of the Blessed Virgin, which Gregory XIII at Rome in the College of the Society of Jesus in the year 1584 erected and enriched with many sacred gifts, the beginning of the Sodalities in the houses of the Society of Jesus, and Sixtus V in the year 1587 confirmed, granting the General Superior of the Society the faculty of erecting everywhere similar Congregations in the churches, houses, and colleges of the Society, and seminaries and other places under its governance, and of aggregating them to the primary Roman one, and of communicating Indulgences and other privileges. These Sodalities of the Blessed Virgin Mary have therefore been propagated through the whole world together with the Society of Jesus, and since there is no house that does not gather several such assemblies under the name of the Mother of God, and the larger ones rejoice in six or seven or even more, many thousands of these Sodalities will be found if all are brought to account.
[22] Before these should be placed the ancient solemnity of the Rosary of the Blessed Virgin Mary, in which the Angelic salutation, the solemnity of the Rosary of Blessed Mary: spoken by Gabriel on this day, is frequently repeated, were it not that this festive celebration had been transferred to the first Sunday of October; which day all the Fraternities militant under the name of the Rosary, throughout the whole world according to their laudable institutions and custom, devote to divine praises and sacred processions for the veneration of God and the Mother of God. Concerning the use of this Rosary some things must be said in the Life of Saint Dominic, Founder of the Order of Preaching Fathers, by whom the diplomas of the Supreme Pontiffs testify that the Rosary was instituted and ordained, and called the Psalter of Blessed Mary, consisting of one hundred and fifty Angelic Salutations, with fifteen Lord's Prayers interspersed.
[23] Here also belongs the Order of the Annunciate Virgins instituted by Blessed Joan of Valois, Queen of France, the Order of the Annunciate Virgins begun in France, about which we treated at length in her Life on February 4, on which day the feast of the ten Evangelical virtues of Blessed Mary is celebrated by these Virgins, from which the Rule is prescribed for these Virgins. Another Order under the name of the Annunciates was begun at the beginning of this century at Genoa by Maria Victoria Fornari, a congregation of nuns, who, having been first joined in marriage, after the death of her husband, another at Genoa: received from the hands of the Archbishop the habit of holy life, namely a white garment and scapular with a cloak of sky-blue color, whence they are also called Celestines: Spondanus treats of this Order at the year 1604, number 9. To the honor of this feast also pertains the institution of the equestrian Order under the title of the Annunciation of the Virgin Mother of God, another equestrian in Savoy: begun by Amadeus VI, Count of Savoy, in the year of Christ 1362, having chosen fourteen men from the first nobility, over whom he himself would preside as the fifteenth: each of whom he endowed with a golden collar, whence from the beginning it was called the Order of the Collar or Torque. That an image of the Annunciate Mother of God was added to this collar by Charles the Good, Duke of Savoy, who ruled from the year 1504 to the year 1553, Guichenon relates in book 1 of the Genealogical History of the Royal House of Savoy, chapter 13.
[24] It would not be easy to make an end of things to be said if we undertook to set forth the particular devotions toward this feast of the Annunciation of Blessed Mary. Veneration and miracles in various places, Masini in his survey of Bologna enumerates eighteen sacred places in which the Bolognese pursue with particular worship this mystery of the divine Incarnation and the Angelic Annunciation to the Virgin Mother of God. The same is done by the remaining Catholic cities throughout the Christian world, in most of which there are places, illustrious both for veneration and for miracles wrought at the invocation of the Virgin Mother of God, all of which being omitted, we reverence the miracle of this very day, so great and so unexpected that no intellectual power of men or Angels could have sufficed to foresee it before it occurred. That this immense mass of heavens and earth should be produced from nothing, the greatest miracle is the Incarnation itself, indeed that thousands of worlds equal to or even superior to this one should be created, the bare and simple will of divine omnipotence sufficed. But a greater work, more admirable even to the heavenly beings, occurred on this day, when God, the Maker of heaven and earth, became a true man, and a man became true God; when a Virgin becomes a Mother, and a Mother remains a Virgin; and one and the same woman is constituted at the same moment the daughter, spouse, and mother of God: when he who is begotten from eternity is truly begotten in time; and he whose essence, existence, subsistence, substance, and nature on account of their simplicity are one and the same, is truly composed of two natures conjoined in one individual person. Nothing greater, therefore, has been done than this mystery; nor will be done; indeed whether it could perhaps be done by divine omnipotence is debated by Theologians, to whom we leave the sublime disputations on this mystery. From the ancient Fathers various things could be adduced, praised by Theologians and ancient Fathers. but let them rather be read in the Concionary Library of the Fathers, where there are Homilies of Saints Ambrose, Augustine (if indeed they are his), Peter Chrysologus, the Venerable Bede, Peter Damian, Hildebert Archbishop of Tours, Bernard, Amadeus Bishop of Lausanne, Ivo Bishop of Chartres, Lawrence Justinian. To whom are added, by Theophilus Raynaud in the New Library of Homilies, the indicated sermons of Eleutherius Bishop of Tournai, Odilo the Abbot, Bruno the Carthusian, Bruno Bishop of Segni, Peter of Blois, Adam of Perseigne, Guerric, Innocent III, Thomas Aquinas, William of Paris, and others.