On the Maternity of the Blessed Virgin Mary
from "The Book of the Holy Rosary"--page 32, 1872


"We must remember," writes St Augustine, "that there are two nativities of Jesus Christ taught by the Catholic faith--the one Divine, the other human; the one from all eternity, the other in time. Both marvellous--the one without a Mother, the other without a Father. If we are not able to comprehend the latter, how shall we be able to declare the former? And who is there who can comprehend a marvel so entirely beyond all human experience; so completely a thing alone and by itself in the world; so incredible, and yet, in fact, actually received, and even universally believed, in spite of its incredibility--to wit, that a virgin should conceive, give birth, and yet remain a virgin? What human reason cannot grasp, faith holds fast; where reason fails, faith advances. Who is there who would say that the Eternal Word, by whom all things were made, could not have taken flesh without a mother, as He made the first man without either father or mother? But, inasmuch as beyond all doubt He was the Creator of both sexes, the male and the female, so in His birth He wished to pay honour to them both, seeing that He came to redeem both. In neither sex, therefore, ought we to do any injury to our Creator, for our Lord, in His holy nativity, has opened the way for both sexes to hold fast to the hope of their salvation. The honour of the male sex is in the Humanity of Christ; the honour of the female sex is in the Mother of Christ. The grace of Jesus Christ has overcome the craftiness of the serpent" (St Augustine, Seventh Sermon on the Nativity of Christ).

 "Eve's maternity," writes the same Abbot Amedeus, "was in the way of nature; Mary's was that of mother and virgin. Eve's maternity was in pain and sorrow; Mary's in joy. Eve's maternity belonged to the old world; Mary's to the new. Eve became the mother of a servant; and Mary of the Lord of all. Eve gave birth to a transgressor; and Mary to the Just One. Eve brought into the world a sinner; Mary Him who justifies from sin. Eve's parturition multiplies deaths; Mary's delivers from death. The serpent stands by at the side of Eve's childbirth to watch for his occasion; Mary is ministered to by angels. Eve is seized with trembling of heart; Mary is filled with heavenly joy. Eve exposes those to whom she gives birth to many dangers; Mary preserves her children from every evil. Wickedness follows close upon Eve's childbirth; grace on that of the Virgin Mary. In the maternity of Mary the heavens rejoiced and the earth was glad, hell also was moved to its depths. The clouds above displayed the brightness of their star, and sent forth a glorious company of the angels praising God, and saying, Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace to men of good-will" (Sermon on the Virgin Childbirth of Mary).

 "Think not, O man," writes St. Proclus, the Archbishop of Constantinople, "that this birth is a thing to be ashamed of; for it is become the cause of our salvation. For if God had not been born of a woman, He would not have subjected Himself to death; nor would He "by His death have overcome him who hath the dominion of death, that is, the devil" (Heb. ii. 14). It is no disparagement to the honour of the architect to dwell in the house which he has himself made; nor does the clay reproach the potter when he remoulds the vessel which he had formed; and in the like manner God, who is all pure, contracts no stain by His being born from the womb of a Virgin. O most blessed womb! in which the writing of discharge from their prison was accomplished for the whole race of man, and a spiritual armoury forged against the deceits of the devil. O blessed field! in which the Husbandman has reaped the ears of corn that sprung up without being sown. O temple! in which God was made Priest, not changing His own nature, but in His mercy clothing Himself with that which is according to the order of Melchisedec'' (St. Proclus of Constantinople, Sermon on the Praises of Mary).