Verba sancte Agnetis ad virginem gloriosam ipsam laudancia et benedicencia; et qualiter rogat virginem pro filia; et de responsione Domini et virginis dulci et consolatoria ad sponsam; et qualiter iste mundus per ollam designatur.
The Praise of the Virgin Mother
Saint Agnes offers a prayer of praise to the Virgin Mary, honoring her humility and unique role in the Incarnation.
Agnes says, "O Mary, mother and virgin of virgins." You may rightly be called the dawn, whom the true sun, Jesus Christ, has illuminated. But do I call you the dawn because of your royal lineage, or because of riches and honors? Not at all. But you deserve to be called the dawn because of your humility, because of the light of faith, and because of your unique vow of chastity. For you are the herald and guide to the true Sun; you are the joy of the just, the expulsion of demons, and the comfort of sinners. Therefore, I ask you, because of this marriage that God has celebrated with you this very hour, that your daughter may be able to stand in the honor and love of your Son. The Mother of God replied, "How do you understand these nuptials?" Speak for the sake of her who hears this!" Agnes replied, "You are truly mother, virgin, and wife all at once."
The Mystery of the Incarnation
Agnes reflects on the divine mystery of the Incarnation and petitions Mary for mercy on behalf of her daughter.
For the marriage was most beautifully accomplished in you at that hour, when God was joined to humanity in you without any confusion or diminution of His divinity. Virginity and motherhood are united, leaving the modesty of your virginity untouched, and you have become both mother and daughter to your Creator. You truly gave birth in time to Him who, eternally begotten by the Father, has worked all things together with the Father. For the Holy Spirit was in you, outside you, and all around you—the One who made you fruitful when you consented to God's messenger. The very Son of God, who is born of you today, was already within you before His messenger even reached you. Therefore, show mercy to your daughter!
The Parable of the Mountain and the Pot
Through a parable of a poor woman and a mountain, the Lord illustrates the nature of sacrificial love and divine provision.
For she is like that poor woman who had nothing in the valley but a little bit of livestock, such as a hen or a goose; she was so devoted to the Lord who lived on the mountain of the valley that she offered Him, out of love, whatever livestock she had on the mountain. The Lord answered her, "I have an abundance of all things and don't need what you have; but perhaps you give these small things so that greater things might be given to you?" She answered him, "I don't offer these things because you need them, but because you've allowed me, as small and poor as I am, to live on your mountain, and I've been honored by your servants." I offer you this small gift—which is, however, a comfort to me—so that you might see that I would do even more if I could, and so that I might not be ungrateful for your grace. The Lord answered: 'Because you love me with such great charity, I will lift you up to my mountain, and I will provide you and yours with clothing and your daily bread.'1 This is how your daughter is now prepared. She has left to you the only thing she still had that was alive—that is, her love of the world and of her children. Therefore, it is up to your mercy to provide for her.
The Promise of Heavenly Sustenance
Mary comforts the bride with the promise of divine care, while the Lord uses the image of a pot to describe the transience of the world versus the eternal value of the soul.
The Mother answered the Son's bride, "Daughter, stand firm." I will ask my Son, and He will give you your daily bread and place you on the mountain where thousands upon thousands of angels serve.2 If you were to count every human being born from Adam down to the very last person born at the end of the world, you'd find more than ten angels for every one of them. The world is really nothing more than a pot; the fire beneath it and the ashes are the friends of the world, but the friends of God are like the finest food inside the pot. So, once the table is set, the sweet food will be presented to the Lord, and He will take delight in it. The pot will be broken, but the fire will not go out.
Read the original Latin
Agnes loquitur: "O, Maria, mater et virgo virginum. Tu merito vocari poteris aurora, quam sol verus Ihesus Christus illuminauit. Sed numquid voco te auroram propter progeniem regalem aut propter diuicias et honores?
Nequaquam. Sed merito dicenda es aurora propter humilitatem, propter fidei illuminacionem, propter singulare votum castitatis. Tu enim es veri solis nuncia et perductiua, tu iustorum leticia, tu demonum expulsio, tu consolacio peccatorum.
Ergo rogo te propter nupcias istas, quas Deus fecit tecum hora ista, ut filia tua stare possit in honore et amore filii tui."
Respondit mater Dei: "Quomodo intelligis nupcias istas? Edicito propter istam que hec audit!" Respondit Agnes: "Tu vere utrumque mater et virgo et uxor es.
Nam pulcherrime facte sunt in te nupcie hora ista, cum Deus homini in te coniunctus est absque confusione et diminucione deitatis.
Virginitas quoque et maternitas sociate sunt illeso virginitatis pudore simulque mater et filia facta es tui creatoris.
Illum quippe genuisti hodie temporaliter, qui a Patre eternaliter genitus omnia cum Patre operatus est. Nam Spiritus sanctus fuit in te et extra te et circumquaque tecum; qui fecundauit te consencientem nuncio Dei.
Ipseque filius Dei, qui hodie natus est de te, eciam fuit in te antequam nuncius suus perueniret ad te. Ideo fac misericordiam cum filia tua!
Ipsa enim similis est illi paupercule mulieri, que in conualli nichil habebat nisi modicum viuidum, utputa gallinam vel anserem; que ad dominum, qui in monte vallis habitabat, tantum affecta est, quod quidquid habebat viuidum domino in monte ex caritate offerebat.
Cui respondit dominus: 'Superhabundo in omnibus nec tua sunt michi necessaria; sed forte ideo parua tribuis, ut tibi maiora tribuantur?'
Cui illa: 'Non,' inquit, 'hec ideo offero, quia tibi sunt necessaria, sed quia me tantillam pauperculam fecisti monti tuo cohabitare, a seruisque tuis honorata sum.
Ideo tantillum, quod michi tamen est consolatorium, offero tibi, ut probes, quod facerem maiora, si valerem et ne gracie tue sim ingrata.'
Respondit dominus: 'Quia me tanta caritate diligis, ego eleuabo te ad montem meum et dabo tibi et tuis vestes et victum annualem.'
Sic nunc est filia tua disposita. Ipsa enim illud solum quod habebat viuidum, id est amorem mundi et filiorum reliquit tibi. Ideo tue pietatis est prouidere ei."
Respondit Mater ad sponsam Filii dicens: "Filia, sta stabilis. Ego rogabo filium meum, qui dabit tibi victum annualem et collocabit te in monte, ubi milia milium seruiunt angelorum.
Nam si computarentur omnes homines, qui nati sunt ab Adam usque ad nouissimum, qui nasciturus est in fine mundi, plus quam decem angeli inueniuntur pro unoquoque homine.
Mundus quippe non est nisi quasi quedam olla; ignis vero subtus ollam et cinis sunt amici mundi; sed amici Dei sunt quasi optimus cibus in olla.
Ergo quando mensa parata fuerit, tunc cibus dulcis presentabitur domino, et delectabitur in eo. Olla vero frangetur, sed tamen ignis non extinguetur."
Notes
- 1 ↩The term 'charity' is used here to reflect the theological depth of 'caritas' in the context of a divine promise, distinguishing it from general affection.
- 2 ↩The phrase 'victum annualem' is rendered as 'daily bread' to capture the sense of spiritual sustenance provided by the Son, echoing the petition for daily bread in the Lord's Prayer, while 'annualem' in this context suggests a perpetual or lasting provision.
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