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Chapter 3HoresNDona.1.3

De Prima

The Mystery of the Conception

The author contemplates the miraculous nature of the Virgin's conception through the power of the Holy Spirit.

On her conception. Oh, God! How great a wonder it is that a virgin queen has conceived a true man who has become true God.✦1 Yet I'm not amazed at it, since it was by the Holy Spirit, who can accomplish whatever he wills if he has the will, with his power. But the power of which she was full when she was given the gift of a Son—God and man—who would be hers: God could not make that greater.2

The Wonder of the Nativity

The author reflects on the paradox of the Nativity and the Virgin's painless joy in giving birth.

On the Nativity. When I consider the Nativity—that a true man could be born of a virgin, and one body pass through another without breaking—I am filled with awe until I think of the conception, which was accomplished by a miracle through the Holy Spirit. But when I consider the great joy the Virgin had, without pain, in giving birth to both man and God, I marvel beyond my understanding.34

Sorrow and Joy at the Cross

The author meditates on the Virgin's profound suffering and simultaneous joy while witnessing the Passion.

On the Passion. No body or mind has ever endured such suffering, or any act of it, as the Virgin humbly endured when she saw her son so shamed, dead, and hanging on the cross. She longed to die then, for she could not hold herself up; but because she found such great joy in looking upon her beloved son, death could not take her—she stood in both joy and desolation.✦56

The Descent and the Harrowing of Hell

While Christ descends to liberate the fathers from hell, the Virgin mourns at the tomb.

He descended into hell. When Jesus Christ was laid in the tomb, the Queen asked, "What will you do?"7 Will you go home to die, or will you stay here to live, looking upon this monument?8 While she was in this thought, her Son's soul went down into hell, from which he cast out Adam and all his companions for victory and pardon.✦9 Ah! said Abraham, of my kinswoman—and how he is medicine for us!10

The Joy of the Resurrection

The Virgin's sorrow is transformed into incomparable joy upon the resurrection of her Son.

On the Resurrection. When the risen Jesus was felt, the queen's spirit recovered its sense and strength in joy, where it was restored without pain; and laughing she said to her son: "What has suddenly become of the heavy pain I am feeling!"11 And you, my son—can you ever die?✦ And when she regained her understanding and knew clearly that her son had risen, no joy could compare to hers.12

The Ascension and the Example of Poverty

Christ ascends to the Father, leaving his mother as an example of poverty and a constant intercessor.

The ascension of Jesus Christ into heaven.✦ When Jesus had finished his work for the Father and the Holy Spirit in this world, the Lord went up to his Father with Saint Gabriel and all the angels of heaven, to heaven, which is his home. And he left his mother in the world where he had lived in such poverty, so that he would be a great example to the rich, the greedy, and the proud, and so that every day she would pray to her Son that he would forgive sinners.✦✦13

The Final Judgment

The author looks toward the final judgment, where Christ invites his mother to gather her children into glory.

Of the Day of Judgment.✦ All people will rise again and come to the judgment of Jesus Christ, who is Lord, who will say to the sinner: "Go into the fire of hell to suffer everlasting pain."✦ And He will say to the maiden: "Mother!14 Call your children to eternal glory, and give them their judgment in full according to all their desire, since you have prayed so much for them to me."15

Read the original Latin

De la sua concepció. Ah Deus! ¿con gran maravella Es que regina puncella Haje ver home conçebut Qui ver Deus sia sdevengut? Emper no'n so y maravellat Pus que fo per lo esperit Sant, Qui pot complir quant vol haver, Si voluntat ha, ab son poder. Mas la virtut d'on fó plena Quant li fó fayta estrena De fill Deu home qui fos seu No la pográ far major Deu.

De la nativitat. Quant consir la nativitat Qu'home ver pusca esser nat De fembre verge é passar Un cors per altre sens trencar, Molt stay en gran spaven Tro que pens lo conçebimen Qui fó per miracle complit Per lo Senyor Sant Esperit; Mas quant consir lo gran plaer Que la Verge hac sens doler En enfantar home é Deu, Me maravell sobre'l seyn meu.

De la passió. Anc pasio de passió Ne de neguna acció Poch sofrir cos ne pensament, Com soferi la Verge humilment, Quant vi son fill tant ahontat Sus en la crotz mort é penjat; E adonchs desirá morir Car no's podia sostenir; Mas car havia gran plaer En son amorós fill veser No la podia pendre mort, Estava en guayg é desconort.

Devallá als inferns. Quant Jesu—Christ fó mes al vas, Dix la regina: — ¿Qué farás? Irás á mayso per morír, O estarás say per vivir En veent aquest moniment? — De mentra era en est pensament L'arma de son fill devallá En infern, de lo qual gitá Adam é tots sos companyons Per victoria é perdons. —Ah! dix Abraham, de ma cusina, E com es de nos medicina!

De resurrecció. Jesus resucitat, sentit Recobrá é virtut l'esperit De la regina en plaer: On fo conformat sens doler; E dix á son fill en rien: —¿Que s'es feta soptosamen La greu dolor qu'eu suy sentir! E vos fill ¿podets may morir? — E quant recobrá son scient, E conech manifestament Que son fill fó resucitat, Null gaug al seu es comparát.

Del pujamenent de Jesu-Christ al cel. Quant Jesus hach son fayt complit Al payre, al Sant Esperit En est mon, ab san Gabriel E ab tots los ángels del cel, Puja el sen á son payre, Al cel qui es son repayre; E sa mayre'n lo mon lexet En qui molt paubrement visquet, Per ço que gran eximpli fós A hom rich, avar é ergullós, E que tots jorns son fill pregás Que als peccadors perdonás.

Del dia del judici. Resucitará tota gent E venrá á lo jutjament De Jesu-Christ qui es Senyor, Qui dirá á li peccador: —Anats á lo foch infernal A haver dolor perpetual. — Edirá á la puncella: —Mayre! vostres fills apella A la gloria eternal, E dona lur juy per cabal A tota la lur voluntad, Pus que per ells m'has tant pregat.

Scripture echoes

  1. ↩Luke.1.26-Luke.1.38 — In the sixth month the angel Gabriel was sent from God to a city of Galilee whose name was Nazareth, Luke.1.27 — to a virgin pledged in marriage to a man whose name was Joseph, of the house of David, and the virgin's name was Mary. Luke.1.28 — And coming to her, he said, 'Greetings, favored one! The Lord is with you.' Luke.1.29 — But she was troubled at his message, and she kept pondering what sort of greeting this might be. Luke.1.30 — And the angel said to her, "Do not be afraid, Mary, for you have found favor with God. Luke.1.31 — And behold, you will conceive in your womb and bear a son, and you shall call his name Jesus. Luke.1.32 — He will be great and will be called Son of the Most High, and the Lord God will give to him the throne of his father David. Luke.1.33 — And he will reign over the house of Jacob forever, and of his kingdom there will be no end. Luke.1.34 — But Mary said to the angel, "How will this be, since I have not known a man?" Luke.1.35 — And the angel answered her, "The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you; therefore also the one to be born will be called Son of God." Luke.1.36 — And behold, Elizabeth your kinswoman—she too has conceived a son in her old age, and this is the sixth month for her who was called barren. Luke.1.37 — For nothing will be impossible with God. Luke.1.38 — And Mary said, 'Behold, the servant of the Lord; let it be to me according to your word.' And the angel departed from her.
  2. ↩John.19.25-John.19.27 — Near the cross of Jesus stood his mother, his mother's sister, Mary the wife of Clopas, and Mary Magdalene. John.19.26 — When Jesus saw his mother and the disciple whom he loved standing nearby, he said to his mother, "Woman, behold, your son." John.19.27 — Then he said to the disciple, 'Behold, your mother.' And from that hour the disciple took her into his own home.
  3. ↩1Pet.3.19 — in which also he went and proclaimed to the spirits in prison,
  4. ↩Rom.6.9 — knowing that Christ, having been raised from the dead, dies no longer; death no longer has dominion over him.
  5. ↩Acts.1.9-Acts.1.11 — And after he said these things, as they were watching, he was lifted up, and a cloud took him from their sight. Acts.1.10 — And as they were looking intently into the sky as he was going, behold, two men stood beside them in white garments. Acts.1.11 — Men of Galilee, why do you stand looking into heaven? This Jesus, who was taken up from you into heaven, will come in the same way you saw him go into heaven.
  6. ↩Acts.1.9-Acts.1.11;Mark.16.19 — And after he said these things, as they were watching, he was lifted up, and a cloud took him from their sight. Acts.1.10 — And as they were looking intently into the sky as he was going, behold, two men stood beside them in white garments. Acts.1.11 — Men of Galilee, why do you stand looking into heaven? This Jesus, who was taken up from you into heaven, will come in the same way you saw him go into heaven. Mark.16.19 — So then, after the Lord Jesus had spoken to them, he was taken up into heaven and sat down at the right hand of God.
  7. ↩2Cor.8.9;Matt.8.20 — For you know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that though he was rich, yet for your sake he became poor, so that by his poverty you might become rich. Matt.8.20 — And Jesus said to him, "Foxes have dens, and the birds of the sky have nests, but the Son of Man has nowhere to lay his head."
  8. ↩Acts.17.31 — because he has set a day on which he is going to judge the inhabited world in righteousness by a man whom he has appointed, and he has given proof of this to all by raising him from the dead.
  9. ↩John.5.28-John.5.29 — Do not marvel at this, for an hour is coming in which all who are in the tombs will hear his voice John.5.29 — and they will come forth—those who have done good, to the resurrection of life, and those who have done evil, to the resurrection of judgment.

Notes

  1. 1 ↩puncella is maiden/virgin; regina puncella rendered as virgin queen. ver home / ver Deus = true man / true God (Incarnation).
  2. 2 ↩virtut can mean virtue or power; rendered power to catch the Lukan virtus Altissimi sense with plena. estrena = gift/present bestowed.
  3. 3 ↩Old Catalan stay = estay ('I remain/stay'); spaven = espaven/espant ('fright, dread, awe'). Rendered as remaining in great awe rather than mere terror, given the contemplative context.
  4. 4 ↩seyn likely = seny ('sense, mind, judgment'): 'I marvel beyond my understanding.' Less likely seyn = 'bosom/breast' (heart-level wonder).
  5. 5 ↩guayg (gaig) is joy/gladness; desconort is desolation or disconsolate distress. The couplet keeps the paradox of simultaneous delight in seeing her son and grief at his death.
  6. 6 ↩Medieval comparative: no bodily or mental passion of suffering, and no act of suffering, ever matched how the Virgin suffered. 'Poch sofrir' is read as the ordinary measure of suffering that falls short of hers, not as a claim that she suffered little.
  7. 7 ↩vas: medieval Catalan for the sepulcher/tomb (literally 'vessel'); rendered as 'tomb'.
  8. 8 ↩mayso = house/home (maison); moniment = monument/tomb. Mary addresses herself (or her situation) after the burial.
  9. 9 ↩L'arma = l'ànima (the soul); medieval Catalan arma for anima. Per victoria é perdons: purpose/result of the harrowing—victory and pardons/forgiveness.
  10. 10 ↩cusina = cosina (kinswoman/cousin). Abraham's 'my kinswoman' most likely points to Mary (salvation-history kinship), with Christ as the medicine; subject of es is slightly ambiguous (he/she) but the Harrowing context favors Christ as medicina.
  11. 11 ↩"sentit Recobrá é virtut" read as recovery of sense and strength (sentit + virtut) by Mary's spirit once the risen Christ is perceived; "conformat sens doler" taken of that interior restoration, not of Christ's body. "en rien" rendered as "laughing" (riant).
  12. 12 ↩"son scient" rendered as "her understanding" (awareness/knowledge recovered), parallel to the spirit's recovery of sense in s2.
  13. 13 ↩Old Catalan 'el sen' is taken as 'el Senyor' (the Lord). 'repayre' is rendered as 'home' in the sense of dwelling/refuge. 'En qui' after 'lo mon' is read as referring to the world ('where he had lived'); it could also be taken as referring to Mary ('with whom he had lived').
  14. 14 ↩Source surface Edirá is read as E dirá ('And he will say'); puncella is the Virgin (maiden).
  15. 15 ↩juy per cabal is rendered as their judgment in full (complete favorable judgment/due); lur voluntad as their desire/will. Christ addresses Mary with imperatives after Mayre! in s3.

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