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Chapter 45Ansl.1.45

ORATIO XLVI [ol. XLV]. AD SANCTAM VIRGINEM MARIAM. Cum recordatione meritorum ejusdem, et malorum nostrorum.

A Sinner's Shame Before the Virgin

The speaker stands before the Virgin Mary overwhelmed with grief and shame over the deformity of sin, fearing final judgment and pleading for healing.

O most blessed and most holy, ever-virgin Mary: here I stand grieving before the face of your love, and I am deeply ashamed because of the abominations of my sins, by which I have become deformed and hideous before God, before you, and before all his angels and saints. I am terrified of that final judgment of damnation, when God will repay each one according to what they have done, whether good or evil. And because of this, fear and trembling have come over me, and the darkness of my evil deeds has enfolded me, and I see myself as leprous and unclean; therefore I know I deserve to be separated from the company of the faithful, from whom the brightness and purity of chastity set me apart. So, weeping and crying out, I beg you, Lord: do not turn your face away from me, now dead these four days and filled with an unbearable stench, but rather look at how severely I am stricken, and consider how you would heal me with heavenly medicine, and restore me, cleansed, to your Son, our Lord Jesus Christ, whose mother you are and who was born of you.1

The Virgin's Singular Holiness and Motherhood

The speaker extols Mary's perpetual virginity, her virginal conception and birth of Christ, and her role as the one through whom the Savior entered the world.

For you know, most merciful queen, that you were born for this: that through you our Lord Jesus Christ, true God and true man, should be born, in whom I most truly believe and whose love I do not despair of; so that he who was the Maker of humanity might also become its Savior, and would have you as such a mother, who, interceding for sinners, would obtain for them the fullness of salvation. But you, Lady, his mother, are virgin in childbirth, virgin before childbirth, and virgin after childbirth. In you chastity remains untouched, modesty unshaken, and steadfast constancy. You who rejoice that you conceived as a virgin, and that you carried the Lord of heaven in your chaste womb, and that you brought forth your child as a virgin, and that you were greeted by an angel and overshadowed by the Holy Spirit.✦ And through the angelic announcement purity declared, the ineffable Godhead perfected it, and you deserved to bring forth that God who granted all things to be born by his will.

Mary's Joy and the Fountain of Mercy

The speaker marvels that Mary rejoices in both her virginity and her fruitfulness, recognizes her as the mother of the fountain of all mercy, and recalls how through her God restores what Eve destroyed.

You, Lady, marveled both at the integrity of your body and at the fruitfulness of your conception, and you rejoiced that you were about to bring forth our Lord Jesus Christ as parent: for in these two things you exulted —2 with gifts.3 You wonder that you bore a virgin, and you rejoice that you brought forth the Redeemer of the world, Jesus Christ the Son of God.✦ Therefore, Queen of ineffable mercy, I believe that you are not empty of the tender mercies of piety, you who gave birth to the very fountain of all mercy.45 And you who nursed the Angel of great counsel can also be for me an angel of great counsel, if you intercede for me with the Son of God, who through you appeared to the world in flesh, so that the world, which had him hidden and unknown with the Father, might recognize him appearing through the flesh, and having recognized him might believe, and by believing in him might be saved through faith.✦✦67 Who by his gift beyond all telling granted that human nature, created in the likeness of its Creator, though made unlike through sin and death, should by no means perish in eternal damnation; but that through you he would restore it by his immense piety, and that you, a new and undefiled virgin, would expiate the crime of the ancient woman.✦89

Blessed Among Women, Yet I Have Strayed

The speaker blesses Mary as the virgin mother, confesses personal failure to obey Christ's commandments, describes being stripped of baptismal grace by the enemy, and begs the Queen of mercy not to abandon him.

O, how wondrous is the work of God's saving plan! You are blessed among all women: you knew no man, and yet you are a mother, and after your Son was born you remained a virgin.✦✦ Ever since I received this holy faith, Lady, I have not always held to the straight path, because I have not obeyed his commandments. If I had set myself to obey them, you would easily have heard me as I cried out to you, for you would know how to please your Son. But the ancient enemy has led me astray; he has wounded me with his arrows, stripped me of my white garments, and clothed me in black and tear-stained rags, singed with the fire of my own sins. And so it is that I will appear before you dressed in these shameful clothes.✦✦ Therefore, most merciful Queen and Lady, do not look down on me. Remember how fragile we are as human beings, and grant that I may not flee in despair, but wait for your comfort. I will then experience its coming, if the fires of my crimes and sins within me — and especially of those sins with which I am ceaselessly consumed — begin, by your power and through the outpouring of your intercessions, to die down in my heart and in my body, and I come to feel it.✦10

Nowhere to Flee, Nothing to Claim

The speaker laments his darkness and inability to escape the omnipresent Judge, acknowledges that even baptism did not keep him from sin, and confesses he has become fouler than before.

O my lady, what shall I say, or what shall I do? I am in darkness, and I do not see the light of heaven. Where shall I go, or where shall I flee from the face of your Son as he judges? I have no escape — not to the east or the south, not to the west or the north, not in the depth of the abyss. Everywhere your Son, everywhere wholly present, everywhere discerning and judging all things, dwelling above the heavens. If he should judge me justly for my deeds, it would have been better for me never to have been conceived, or to have perished the moment I was born. Nor could that have profited me, because conceived and born in sins, and dead without baptism, I would have perished beyond all doubt. I, you see, was conceived and born of sinners — a sinner myself — baptized and saved, and yet again made a sinner. And I am not as I was before, but fouler and more monstrous — because the world holds nothing worse than what I am.

The Supreme Helper Above All Saints

The speaker declares that though the world has many holy helpers, Mary surpasses them all as mistress of heaven and earth, and that her intercession activates the help of the entire communion of saints.

That is the kind of helper I need — one greater and better than your Son, whom the world cannot find. The world has apostles, patriarchs, prophets, martyrs, confessors, virgins — good and excellent helpers — and it is to them I long to pray as a humble suppliant. But you, Lady, are better and higher than all those helpers — because you are mistress of them and of all the other holy ones, of angelic spirits too, as well as of the kings and powers of the world, of the rich and the poor, of masters and servants, of the great and the small — and what all of them together can do with your help, you alone can do without any of them. Why can you do this? Because you are the mother of our Savior, the bride of God, the queen of heaven and earth and of all the elements. So I turn to you, I flee to you for refuge, and I humbly beg you to help me in everything. When you are silent, no one will pray; no one will help. When you pray, everyone will pray; everyone will help.

Cry Out and Be Healed

The speaker resolves to cry out to Mary despite feeling the worst of all sinners, begs her to hear his wretchedness, heal his wounds, and clothe him in fresh garments to be presented to Christ.

A thousand times a hundred thousand people cry out to you, most devout Queen, and all are saved; and I will cry out to you, and I shall not be helped? Perhaps not — because I am worse than all of them, and the worst. What of it? For that reason I will not be silent. So crying out, I cry aloud to you. Excellent Virgin, and most devout Lady, spare me and hear me. Hear me in my wretchedness, and comfort me in my grief; gather me back as I wander, and revive me as I despair. Heal the wounds you see in me, through your holy remedies, and taking away from me my filthy garments, offer fresh and splendid robes, with which, renewed, you may present me to your Son, our Lord Jesus Christ.✦11

Mary, Tower Against the Devil

The speaker asks Mary to be his impregnable defense against the crafty devil, to fight on his behalf, and to ensure that temptation confounds the tempter rather than the suppliant.

Be for me against the devil a tower of strength, an impregnable wall, a defending arm. Receive him as he rages against me, and so that his cunning does not stab through me — weak as I am in my own strength — fight back against him on my behalf, invincibly. He is crafty and deceitful, and he does not fear to fight against the strong, but he brings greater forces of temptation against the powerful than against the weak. You, however, heavenly helper, who know his deceits, so share your common strength with me that no crafty suggestion of his may deceive me by tempting me; but when he strives to deceive, let him himself be confused, overcome by your power, depart — and I, wretched as I am, protected by your defense, will never cease from the praise of you and your Son.

Final Penance and Eternal Rest

The speaker asks Mary to obtain true penance for a lifetime of sin, that virtue may justify and cleanse him, that he may persevere to the end, and that at death he may be received by an angel of light and carried to eternal rest.

Grant, O blessed Lady, most worthy of all praise, that I, your servant, who have miserably fallen throughout the whole long span of my days through the steep precipices of sin, now placed in my final days, may do penance for my sins — for whatever I have committed in thought, in will, in deed, and through negligence.12 And although for a very long time — that is, from the beginning of my life right up to this hour — I have persisted in the very sins I began with; you nevertheless, Queen of heaven, prevail upon your most merciful Son, that sin may no longer reign in me, but rather the power of the divinity.✦13 May the abundance of virtues and prayers justify me, cleanse me, and strengthen me, and by leading me along the paths of justice to the good of perseverance, may it bring me through and carry me forward.14 And when I am placed at the end of life too, let no forgetfulness dull me, let no failing of passion hinder the duty of my tongue.1516 And when the number of my days is complete, and the holy ministry of the Church has been fulfilled in me, may I deserve to be received by an angel of light, and to be freed from the angel of death, and to be carried before the tribunal of the most merciful Judge, where through you, Lady, I may receive the peace and rest of eternal life.✦1718 Amen.

Read the original Latin

O beatissima et sanctissima semper virgo Maria, ecce asto moerens ante faciem pietatis tuae, et confundor nimis pro abominationibus peccatorum meorum, quibus deformis factus sum et horribilis coram Deo et te, et angelis ejus et sanctis omnibus. Expavesco vehementer judicium extremum damnationis, quando unicuique divinitus reddetur, prout gessit sive bonum, sive malum. Et quia propter hoc timor et tremor venerunt super me, et contexerunt me tenebrae, malorum actuum meorum, et intueor me leprosum et immundum; idcirco me dignum scio separari a societate fidelium, quos a me discernit candor et puritas castitatis: propterea flens et ejulans, deprecor, Domine, quatenus a me quatriduo mortuo, intolerabili fetore jam pleno, faciem tuam non avertas; sed potius aspicias quam gravi ulcere percussus sum, et consideres qualiter me coelesti medicamine cures, atque Filio tuo Domino nostro Jesu Christo, cujus tu mater es et qui de te natus est, me emundatum restituas. Tu enim nosti, misericordissima regina, quod ad hoc nata es, ut per te nasceretur idem Dominus noster Jesus Christus, verus Deus, verus homo, in quem veracissime credo, et de cujus pietate non despero; ut et ipse qui erat Conditor hominum, fieret et Salvator; teque talem haberet matrem, quae pro peccatoribus interveniens, perfectam obtineres ei salutem. Tu autem, domina mater ejus, virgo in partu, virgo ante partum, et virgo post partum. In te manet intacta castitas, pudor integer, et firma constantia. Quae laetaris quod virgo concepisti, et quod coeli Dominum castis visceribus portasti, et quod virgo partum edidisti, et quod es ab angelo salutata, a Spiritu sancto obumbrata. Et quod angelica nuntiavit puritas, ineffabilis perfecit Deitas, atque Deum illum gignere meruisti, qui cuncta nasci suo nutu concessit

Tu, domina, mirabaris et corporis tui integritatem, et conceptus fecunditatem, et gaudebas tuum paritura parentem, Dominum nostrum Jesum Christum: duobus enim gavisa es. muneribus. Miraris quod virgo peperisti, et laetaris quod Redemptorem mundi edidisti, Jesum Christum Filium Dei. Quapropter, ineffabilis misericordiae regina, credo quod non es vacua a visceribus pietatis, quae genuisti ipsum fontem totius. Et quae lactasti magni consilii Angelum, potes et mihi esse magni consilii angelus, si pro me depreceris Dei Filium, qui per te mundo, in carne apparuit, ut quem latentem apud Patrem incognitum habebat mundus, apparentem per carnem agnosceret, et agnitum crederet, et credendo in eum salvaretur per fidem. Qui suo inenarrabili munere praestitit ut natura humana ad similitudinem sui condita Creatoris, dissimilis per peccatum et mortem effecta nequaquam in aeterna damnatione periret; sed illam per te sua immensa pietate repararet, et ut tu nova et intemerata virgo facinus antiquae viraginis expiares.

O admirandam divinae dispensationis operationem? Tu benedicta inter omnes mulieres virum non cognovisti; et mater es, et post Filium natum virgo permansisti. Hanc fidem sanctam postquam suscepi, domina, non semper recto tramite tenui, quoniam praeceptis ejus non obedivi. Quibus si parere studuissem, me ad te clamantem facile audires, quem placere filio tuo scires. At quia seduxit me hostis antiquus, et sagittis suis vulneravit me, et vestibus candidis exuit, atque nigris et lacrymosis ac semiustis igne peccatorum meorum induit, idcirco deformibus vestibus indutus apparebo tibi. Propterea, clementissima regina et domina, ne contemnas me; sed memor fragilitatis humanae, annue ne desperans fugiam, sed exspectem consolationem tuam, quam tunc evenire probabo, si ea quae sunt in me incendia criminum et iniquitatum, et praecipue illarum quibus infatigabiliter uror, paulatim in me deficere tua virtute atque imbre intercessionum tuarum exstingui in corde meo et corpore persensero.

O mi domina, quid dicam, vel quid faciam? In tenebris sum, et lumen coeli non video. Quo ibo, aut quo a facie filii tui judicantis fugiam? Non ad orientem aut meridiem, vel ad occasum aut ad aquilonem, vel in profundo abyssi habeo effugium; ubique filius tuus, ubique totus, ubique praesens, ubique discernens et omnia judicans, et super coelestia habitans. Qui si me pro meis actibus juste judicaverit, expediisset mihi magis ut conceptus non essem, aut natus statim interiissem. Nec hoc mihi proficere potuisset, quia in peccatis tunc conceptus et natus, et sine baptismo mortuus absque dubio periissem. Ego namque de peccatoribus conceptus et natus peccator, baptizatus et salvatus, iterum peccator factus sum. Et non talis ut antea, sed sordidior et immanior; quoniam talis sum qualem pejorem non habet mundus.

Ideo talem adjutorem requiro, qualem post fillum tuum potiorem et meliorem invenire non potest mundus. Habet orbis apostolos, patriarchas, prophetas, martyres; confessores, virgines, bones et optimos adjutores, quos ego supplex orare concupisco. Tu vero, domina, omnibus iis adjutoribus melior et excelsior es; quia istis et aliis sanctis omnibus, etiam angelicis spiritibus, nec non regibus et potestatibus mundi, divitibus, pauperibus, dominis, servis, majoribus et minoribus domina es, et quod possunt omnes isti tecum, tu sola potes sine illis omnibus. Quare hoc potes? Quia mater es Salvatoris nostri, sponsa Dei, regina coeli et terrae, et omnium elementorum. Te ergo requiro, ad te confugio, et tu me per omnia adjuves, suppliciter peto. Te tacente, nullus orabit, nullus juvabit. Te orante, omnes orabunt, omnes juvabunt.

Millies centena millia hominum (regina piissima) ad te clamant, et omnes salvantur; et ego clamabo ad te, et non auxiliabor? forsitan non; quia illis omnibus sum pejor et pessimus. Quid inde? Propterea non tacebo. Clamans igitur vociferor ad te. Egregia virgo, et piissima domina, parce mihi et exaudi me. Exaudi miserum, et solare moerentem; recollige errantem, refove desperantem. Sana in me quae conspicis vulnera, per tua sancta medicamina, tollensque a me sordida indumenta, viridia et splendida porrige vestimenta, quibus me renovatum repraesentes filio tuo Domino nostro Jesu Christo.

Esto mihi contra diabolum turris fortitudinis, murus inexpugnabilis, brachium defensionis. Illum contra me saevientem suscipe, et ne me viribus imbecillem astutia sua confodiat, tu invincibiliter repugna. Ille callidus est et fraudulentus, et non metuit pugnare contra fortes, sed majores vires infert tentationis contra validos quam contra infirmos. Tu tamen, coelestis auxiliatrix, quae nosti dolositates ejus, sic commune robur ejus, ut me nulla ipsius callida suggestio decipiat tentando; sed cum nititur decipere, ipse confusus, ex tua virtute superatus discedat, et ego misellus tua defensione protectus, a tua filiique tui laude nunquam quiescam.

Fac, o felix domina et omni laude dignissima, ut ego famulus tuus qui in tota longaevitate dierum meorum miserabiliter per abrupta peccatorum corrui, nunc in extremis positus diebus, agam poenitentiam pro peccatis meis quaecunque gessi in cogitatione, voluntate, operatione et negligentia. Et quamvis diutissime, hoc est, ab exordio vitae meae, usque in hanc horam, perseveraverim in ipsis quae coepi peccatis; tu tamen, coelorum regina, obtine apud clementissimum filium tuum, ut ultra non regnet iniquitas in me, sed virtus divinitatis. Virtutum et orationum copia me justificet, mundet et muniat, et per semitas justitiae deducendo ad bonum perseverantiae perducat et provehat. In extremis quoque vitae positum nulla me oblivio hebetet, linguae officium nullius passionis vitium impediat. Expletoque dierum meorum numero, atque perfecto in me Ecclesiae sancto ministerio, merear suscipi ab angelo lucis, et liberari ab angelo mortis, ac perferri ante tribunal piissimi judicis, ubi per te, domina, percipiam quietem pacis vitae aeternae. Amen.

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.4.42;1John.4.14 — and they were saying to the woman, "It is no longer because of your word that we believe, for we ourselves have heard, and we know that this one is truly the Savior of the world." 1John.4.14 — And we have seen and testify that the Father has sent the Son as Savior of the world.
  3. ↩Isa.9.6 — For the increase of his government and for peace there will be no end, upon the throne of David and over his kingdom, to establish it and to uphold it with justice and with righteousness from this time forth and forevermore. The zeal of the LORD of hosts will do this.
  4. ↩John.1.14;Rom.10.9 — And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we beheld his glory, glory as of the only-begotten from the Father, full of grace and truth. Rom.10.9 — If you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord, and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved.
  5. ↩Gen.1.26-Gen.1.27 — Then God said, "Let us make man in our image, according to our likeness. And let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, over the birds of the air, over the livestock, over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth." Gen.1.27 — So God created man in His own image; in the image of God He created him; male and female He created them.
  6. ↩Luke.1.34 — But Mary said to the angel, "How will this be, since I have not known a man?"
  7. ↩Luke.1.48 — For he has looked upon the lowliness of his servant. For behold, from now on all generations will call me blessed.
  8. ↩Eph.6.16 — In all circumstances, take up the shield of faith, with which you will be able to extinguish all the flaming arrows of the evil one.
  9. ↩Zech.3.3-Zech.3.5 — Now Joshua was clothed in filthy garments, and he was standing before the angel. Zech.3.4 — And he answered and said to those standing before him, 'Remove the filthy garments from off him.' And he said to him, 'See, I have removed your iniquity from you, and I will clothe you with rich garments.' Zech.3.5 — And I said, "Let them set a clean turban on his head." So they set the clean turban on his head and clothed him with garments, and the angel of the LORD was standing by.
  10. ↩Ps.51.9 — Purge me with hyssop, and I shall be clean; wash me, and I shall be whiter than snow.
  11. ↩Zech.3.3-Zech.3.5 — Now Joshua was clothed in filthy garments, and he was standing before the angel. Zech.3.4 — And he answered and said to those standing before him, 'Remove the filthy garments from off him.' And he said to him, 'See, I have removed your iniquity from you, and I will clothe you with rich garments.' Zech.3.5 — And I said, "Let them set a clean turban on his head." So they set the clean turban on his head and clothed him with garments, and the angel of the LORD was standing by.
  12. ↩Rom.6.12 — Therefore do not let sin reign in your mortal body, so that you obey its desires.
  13. ↩2Cor.11.14 — And no wonder, for even Satan disguises himself as an angel of light.

Notes

  1. 1 ↩The image of being 'dead four days' echoes Lazarus (John 11); the prayer leaves the metaphor in place without resolving it into a single doctrinal sense.
  2. 2 ↩The explanatory 'enim' links the twofold cause of Mary's joy to the preceding marveling; rendered as 'for' to preserve the logical connection.
  3. 3 ↩'muneribus' continues from the previous sentence as an ablative of cause or respect, completing the thought of the two things in which Mary exulted.
  4. 4 ↩'totius' at the end of the sentence is a genitive without an expressed head noun; the most plausible supplement is 'totius misericordiae' (of all mercy), completing 'fontem' (fountain). The translation supplies 'mercy' based on the surrounding context of 'misericordiae' and 'pietatis'.
  5. 5 ↩'Quapropter' (wherefore) renders the logical inference from the preceding wonder at Mary's gifts to the speaker's confident belief in her merciful disposition.
  6. 6 ↩The 'ut' clause (token 26) introduces a purpose clause after 'apparuit': Christ appeared in flesh so that the world might recognize, believe, and be saved. The chain 'agnosceret...crederet...salvaretur' forms a purpose sequence in the imperfect subjunctive.
  7. 7 ↩'magni consilii Angelum' renders Isaiah 9:6 (Vulgate), where the Messiah is called 'Magni consilii Angelus' (Angel of Great Counsel). The title is transferred to Christ here.
  8. 8 ↩The first 'ut' (token 5) introduces a result/purpose clause after 'praestitit': God granted that human nature should not perish. The second 'ut' (token 33) introduces a further purpose: that Mary would expiate Eve's crime. 'sed' (token 24) is adversative, contrasting perishing with restoration.
  9. 9 ↩'viraginis' (genitive of 'virago') refers to Eve, the 'ancient woman,' playing on the Eve-Mary typology. 'facinus' (crime) refers to the original sin.
  10. 10 ↩imbre intercessionum tuarum ('the outpouring/rain of your intercessions'): the image blends the idea of abundant prayer with the notion of a quenching rain that extinguishes fire. The translation preserves both senses.
  11. 11 ↩Viridia vestimenta ('green/fresh garments') evokes new life and renewal; rendered as 'fresh' to capture the sense of spiritual regeneration rather than a literal color.
  12. 12 ↩abrupta (lit. 'steep places, precipices') is used figuratively for the dangers and downfalls of sin.
  13. 13 ↩virtus divinitatis ('power of the divinity') contrasts with iniquitas ('sin/iniquity') — the prayer asks that divine power replace sinful dominion within the soul.
  14. 14 ↩Virtutum et orationum copia ('the abundance of virtues and prayers') likely refers to the treasury of merits and intercessions associated with Mary, invoked here as the source of the graces described.
  15. 15 ↩linguae officium ('duty of the tongue') refers to the office of speech — prayer, confession, praise — that should remain active even in extremis.
  16. 16 ↩nullius passionis vitium ('fault/vice of any passion') — the prayer asks that no disordered emotion or affliction impede the tongue's devotional function.
  17. 17 ↩angelus lucis ('angel of light') and angelus mortis ('angel of death') reflect a traditional eschatology of the soul's departure — the prayer asks for a good angel to receive the soul and for deliverance from the angel of death.
  18. 18 ↩piissimi judicis ('most merciful/pious Judge') refers to Christ, combining justice and mercy in the judgment scene.

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