Dom Prosper Guéranger:
Our Lady’s visit to her cousin Elizabeth already engaged our attention while we were preparing for the Christmas Festival. But it is only fitting to return again to an event so important in our Lady’s life. The mere commemoration of this mystery made on Ember Friday in Advent would be insufficient to bring forward all it contains of deep teaching and holy joy. Since in the course of centuries, the Holy Liturgy has been gaining more and more completeness, it is but natural that this precious mine should come to be further opened in honour of the Virgin Mother. The Order of Saint Francis, it would seem, as well as certain particular Churches such as Rheims and Paris, for example, had already taken the initiative when Urban VI, in 1389, instituted today’s solemnity. The Pope counselled a fast on the vigil of the feast and ordered that it should be followed by an octave. He granted for its celebration the same indulgences as Urban IV had in the previous century attached to the festival of Corpus Christi. The Bull of promulgation stopped by the Pontiff’s death was again taken up and published by Boniface IX, his successor on the Chair of Peter.
We learn from the Lessons of the Office formerly composed for this feast that the end of its institution was, as Urban conceived it, to obtain the cessation of the Schism then desolating the Church. The Papacy exiled from Rome for seventy years had barely re-entered it when Hell, infuriated at a return which crossed all its plans ever opposed to those of Christ, had taken revenge by ranging under two leaders the Flock of the one Sheepfold. So deep was the obscurity with which miserable intrigues contrived to cover the authority of the legitimate Shepherd that numbers of Churches, in all good faith, began to hesitate and ended at last in preferring the deceptive staff of a hireling. Thicker yet was the darkness to grow till night should be so dense that for a moment the conflicting mandates of three Popes would simultaneously spread through the world, while the Faithful, struck with stupor, would be at utter loss to discern accurately which was the true Voice of Christ’s Vicar. Never had the Bride of the Son of God been in a more piteous situation. But Our Lady, to whom the true Pontiff had turned at the first rising of the storm, deceived not the Church’s confidence. During all those years while the unfathomable Justice of the Most High let the powers of Hell hold sway, She stood for the defence of Holy Church, trampling the head of the old serpent so thoroughly under Her victorious foot, that despite the terrific confusion he had stirred up, his filthy spume could not sully the faith of the people. Their attachment was steadfast to the unity of the Roman See whoever might be, in the midst of their uncertainty, its veritable occupant. Thus the West, divided in fact but, in principle ever one and undivided, spontaneously, as it were, re-united herself as soon as God’s moment came for the return of light.
However, the hour having arrived for the Queen of Saints to assume the offensive. She would not content Herself with merely re-establishing at its former post the army of the Elect. Hell now must expiate his audacity by being forced to yield back to Holy Church those conquests which for centuries had seemed his forever. The tail of the dragon had not yet ceased to whisk at Basle when Florence already beheld the heads of the Greek schism — the Armenians and Ethiopians, the cavillers of Jerusalem, of Syria, and of Mesopotamia, all compensating by their unhoped for adhesion to the Roman Pontiff for the anguish just suffered in the West. It was now to be shown that such a return of nations, in the very midst even of the tempest, was indeed the work of Her who had been called on by the Pilot half a century before to succour the Barque of Peter. Even they of the factious assembly of Basle gave proof of this in a way which has unfortunately been too much overlooked by historians who undervalue the high importance that liturgical facts hold in the history of Christendom. When about to separate, these last abettors of the schism devoted the forty-third session of their pretended Council to the promulgation of this very feast of the Visitation in the first establishment of which Urban VI had, from the outset, placed all his hopes. Notwithstanding the resistance of some of the more obstinate, the schism may, from that hour, be said to have ended: the storm was subsiding. The name of Mary, invoked thus by both sides, shone resplendent as the sign of peace amidst the clouds (Genesis ix. 12-17) even as the rainbow in its sweet radiance unites both extremities of the horizon. “Look upon it,” says the Holy Ghost, “and bless Him that made it: it is very beautiful in its brightness. It encompasses the heaven about, with the circle of its glory, the Hands of the Most High have displayed it” (Ecclesiasticus xliii. 12-13).
But, it may be asked, why was the feast of the Visitation specially chosen, more than any other, as the monument of restored peace? The answer seems to be suggested in the very nature of the mystery itself and in the manner of its accomplishment. Here more particularly does Mary appear as the Ark of the Covenant, bearing within her the Emmanuel, the living Testimony of a more true reconciliation — of an alliance more sublime between Earth and Heaven than that limited compact of servitude entered into between Jehovah and the Jews amid the roar of thunder. By her means, far better than through Adam, all men are now brethren, for He whom she hides within her is to be the first-born of the great family of the sons of God. Scarce is He conceived than there begins for Him the mighty work of universal propitiation. Arise, then Lord, into your resting place, you and the Ark which you have hast sanctified, from which your own sanctity will pour down upon our Earth! (Psalms cxxxi. 8). During the whole of her rapid passage from Nazareth to the mountains of Judea, she will be protected by wings of Cherabim jealously eager to contemplate her glory. Amid his truest warriors, amidst Israel’s choirs of singing men, David conducted the figurative Ark from the house of Abinadab to that of Obed-Edom (2 Kings vi.), but better far, the escort deputed by the Eternal Father for this sacred Ark of the New Covenant, troops of the noblest princes of the heavenly phalanx.
Favoured with benediction was that Levite’s house while for three months it sheltered the Most High hidden on the golden Propitiatory. More favoured still, the home of the Priest Zachary harbouring for the same lapse of time Eternal Wisdom enshrined in the virginal womb in which that union, so ambitioned by His Love, had just been accomplished. Yet beneath Zachary’s roof, blessed as it was, the enemy of God and man was still holding one captive: the angelic embassy that had announced John’s miraculous conception and birth could not exempt him from the shameful tribute that every son of Adam must pay to the prince of deaths on entering into this life. As formerly at Azotus, so now, Darjon may not remain standing erect in face of the Ark (1 Kings v.) Mary appears and Satan at once overturned, is subjected to utter defeat in John’s soul, a defeat that is not to be his last, for the Ark of the Covenant will not stay its victories till the reconciliation of the last of the Elect be effected.
Let us then hymn this day with songs of gladness, for this Mystery contains the germ of every victory gained by the Church and her sons: henceforth the sacred Ark is borne at the head of every combat waged by the new Israel. Division between man and his God is at an end, between the Christian and his brethren! The ancient Ark was powerless to prevent the scission of the Tribes — henceforth if schism and heresy do hold out for a few short years against Mary, it will be but to evince more fully her glorious triumph, at last. In all ages, because of Her, even as today, under the very eyes of the enemy now put to confusion, little ones will rejoice. All, even the desolate, will be filled with benediction, and Pontiffs will be perfected. Let us join the tribute of our songs to John’s exulting gladness, to Elizabeth’s sudden exclamations, to Zachary’s canticle. Yes, therewith let all earth re-echo! Thus in by-gone days was the Ark hailed, as it entered the Hebrew camp. Hearing their shout the Philistines thereby learned that help had come from the Lord ; and seized with terror, they groaned aloud saying: “Woe to us, for there was no such great joy yesterday and the day before: Woe to us!” (1 Kings iv. 5-8). Verily this day the whole human race, together with John, leaps for joy and shouts with a great shout. Verily this day has the old enemy good reason to lament: the heel of the woman (Genesis iii. 15), as she stamps him down, makes his haughty head to wince for the first time: and John, set free, is hereby the precursor of us all. More happy are we, the new Israel, than was the old, for our glory will never be taken away. Never will be wrested from us that sacred Ark which has led us dry-shod across the River (Josue iii-iv) and has levelled fortresses to the dust at its approach (Josue vi.).
Justly then is this day on which an end is put to the series of defeats begun in Eden the day of new canticles for a new people! But who may intone the hymn of triumph save She to whom the victory belongs? “Arise, arise, Debbora, arise, arise and utter a canticle (Judith v. 12). The valiant men ceased and rested in Israel, until Mary arose, the true Debbora, until a Mother arose in Israel (Judith v. 7). ‘It is I, it is I,’ says she, ‘that will sing to the Lord, I will sing to the Lord, the God of Israel (Judith v. 3). O Magnify the Lord with me, as says my grand-sire David, and let us extol His Name together (Psalms xxxiii. 4). My heart has rejoiced, like that of Anna, in God my Saviour (1 Kings ii. 1). For even as in his handmaid Judith, by me He has fulfilled His mercy (Judith xiii. 18) so that my praise will not depart out of the mouth of men who will be mindful of the power of the Lord forever (Judith xiii. 25-31; xv. 11). For mighty is He that has done great things in me (Exodus xv. 2-3-11). There is none holy as He (1 Kings ii. 2). Even as by Esther, he has throughout all generations saved those who feared him (Esther ix. 28). In in the power of His arm (Judith ix. 11) He has turned against the impious one the projects of his own heart, driving proud a man out of his seat and uplifting the humble. The bow of the mighty is overcome, and the weak are girt with strength. The abundance of them that were rich has passed to the hungry and they are filled (1 Kings ii. 4-5). He has remembered His people and has had pity on His inheritance (Esther x. 12). Such indeed was the promise that Abraham received and our fathers have handed down to us: and He has done to them even as He had promised” (Esther xiii. 15; xiv. 5).
Daughters of Sion and all you who groan in the thraldom of Satan, the hymn of deliverance has sounded in our land! Following in Her train, who bears within her the Pledge of alliance, let us form into choirs, better than Mary, Aaron‘s sister, and by yet juster title, does she lead the concerts of Israel (Exodus xv. 20-21), So sings she on this day of triumph, and the burthen of her song gathers into one all the victorious chants which erstwhile, in the ages of expectation, preluded this divine canticle of hers. But the past victories of the elect people were but figures of that which is gained by our glorious Queen on this day of her manifestation. For she, beyond Deborah, Judith or Esther, has truly brought about the deliverance of her people. In her mouth the accents of her illustrious predecessors pass from the burning aspiration of the prophetic age to the calm ecstasy which denotes her being already in possession of the long expected God. A new era is meetly inaugurated by sacred chants: divine praise receives from Mary that character which henceforth it is never to lose, not even in eternity.
The preceding considerations have been suggested by the special motive which led the Church to institute this feast in the fourteenth century. Again, in our own day has Mary shown that this date is indeed for her a day of victory, for on the Second of July in 1849, Rome was restored to the exiled Pontiff Pius IX. But we should far exceed the limits of our present scope were we to strive to exhaust the teachings of this vast mystery, the Visitation.Epistle – Canticles ii. 9‒15
Behold he comes, leaping upon the mountains, skipping over the hills. My beloved is like a roe or a young hart. Behold he stands behind our wall; looking through the windows, looking through the lattices. Behold my beloved speak to me, Arise, make haste, my love, my dove, my beautiful one, and come. For winter is now past, the rain is over and gone. The flowers have appeared in our land, the time of pruning is come, the voice of the turtle is heard in our land: the fig-tree has put forth her green figs, the vines in flower yield their sweet smell. Arise, my love, my beautiful one, and come. My dove in the clefts of the rock, in the hollow places of the wall, show me your face, let your voice sound in my ears, for your voice is sweet and your face comely.Thanks be to God.
Dom Prosper Guéranger:
The Church introduces us into the depth of the Mystery. What she has just been reading to us is but the explanation of that word of Elizabeth’s which sums up the whole of today’s feast: “When your voice sounded in my ear, the infant in my womb leaped for joy.” Voice of Mary, voice of the turtle, putting winter to flight and announcing spring-tide, flowers and fragrance! At this sweet sound, John’s soul, a captive in the darkness of sin, casts off the badge of slavery and suddenly developing germs of highest virtues appears beauteous as a bride decked in nuptial array: and therefore, how Jesus hastes to this well-beloved soul! Between John and the Bridegroom, what ineffable out-pourings! What sublime dialogues pass between them, from womb to womb of Mary and Elizabeth! Admirable Mothers! Sons yet more admirable! In this happy meeting, the sight, the hearing, the voice of the Mothers belong less to themselves than to the blessed fruit each bears within her. Thus their senses are the lattices through which the Bridegroom and Friend of the Bridegroom see one another, understand one another, speak one to the other!
The animal man, it is true, understands not this language (1 Corinthians ii. 14) “Father,” the Son of God will soon exclaim: “1 give you thanks for that you have hidden these things from the wise and prudent and have revealed them to little ones” (Matthew xi. 25). “Let him, therefore, that has ears to hear, hear (Matthew xi. 15; xii. 9), but Amen, I say to you, unless you become as little children, you will not enter into the kingdom of Heaven (Matthew xviii. 3) nor know its mysteries (Matthew xiii. 11).” Wisdom will nevertheless be justified by her children, as the Gospel says (Matthew xi. 19). The simple-hearted in quest of light, with all the straightforwardness of humility, let pass unheeded those mocking flickers that sport across the marshes of this world. They know right well that the first ray of the Eternal Sun will disperse these thin phantoms, leaving sheer emptiness before those who run in pursuit of them. For their part, these wise little ones already feed on that which eye has not seen, nor ear heard (1 Corinthians ii. 9), having a foretaste, here below, of eternal delights.
Ineffably is John the Baptist experiencing all this. Accosted by the divine Friend who has been beforehand in seeking him, his soul at once awakens to full ecstasy. Jesus on His side, is now making His first conquest. For it is to John that is first addressed among all creatures (Mary of course excepted) the sacred Nuptial-song uttered in the Soul of the Word made Flesh, making His divine Heart throb with emotion. Yes, it is today (our Epistle tells us so), that in concert with the Magnificat, the divine Canticle of Canticles is likewise inaugurated in the entire acceptance that the Holy Ghost wishes to give it. Never more fully than on this happy day will the sacred ravishments of the Spouse be justified. Never will they find a more faithful response! Let us warm ourselves at these celestial fires. Let us join our enthusiasm to that of Eternal Wisdom who makes His first step, this day, in His royal progress towards mankind. Let us unite with our Jesus in imploring the Precursor at last to show himself. Were it not ordered otherwise from on High, his inebriation of love would verily have made him at once break down the wall that held him from appearing, then and there, to announce the Bridegroom. For well knows he that the sight of his countenance, preceding the Face of the Lord Himself, will excite the whole Earth to transports. He knows that sweet will his own voice be, when once it has become the organ of the Word calling the Bride to Him.Gospel – Luke i. 39‒47
At that time, Mary rising up, went into the hill country with haste, into a city of Judah. And she entered into the house of Zachary, and saluted Elizabeth. And it came to pass that when Elizabeth heard the salutation of Mary, the infant leaped in her womb. And Elizabeth was filled with the Holy Spirit; and she cried out with a loud voice, and said, “Blessed are you among women, and blessed is the Fruit of your womb. And whence is this to me, that the Mother of my Lord should come to me? For behold, as soon as the voice of your salutation sounded in my ears, the infant in my womb leaped for joy. And blessed are you that have believed, because those things will be accomplished that were spoken to you by the Lord.” And Mary said: “My soul magnifies the Lord, and my spirit has rejoiced in God my Saviour.”Praise be to you, O Christ.
Dom Prosper Guéranger:
Mary, having learned from the Archangel that Elizabeth was about to become a mother, is pre-occupied with the thought of the services that will soon be needed by her cousin and the infant. She therefore starts at once on her journey across the mountains, amidst which stands the house of Zachary. Thus does the charity of Christ (2 Corinthians v. 14) act, thus does it press, when it is genuine. There is no state of soul in which, under pretext of more exalted perfection, the Christian may be allowed to forget his brethren. Mary had just contracted the highest union with God, and our imagination might perhaps be inclined to picture her, as it were, in a state of powerlessness, lost in ecstasy during these days in which the Word, taking Flesh of her flesh, is inundating her, in return, with the floods of His Divinity. The Gospel, however, is explicit on this subject: it particularly says that it was in those days (Luke i. 39) even, that the humble Virgin, hitherto quietly hid in the secret of the Lord’s face (Psalms xxx. 21) rose up to devote herself to all the bodily as well as the spiritual needs of a neighbour in such condition. Does that mean to say that works are superior to prayer, and that contemplation is not the better part? No, certainly not, for indeed never did Our Lady so directly and so fully adhere to God with her whole being as at this very time. But the creature when, he has attained the summits of the unitive life, is all the more apt and fitted for exterior works, inasmuch as no lending of himself thereunto can distract him from the immoveable centre in which he is fixed.
A signal privilege is this, resulting from that division of the spirit and the soul (Hebrews iv. 12), to which all attain not, and which marks one of the most decisive steps in the spiritual life. For it supposes a purification of man’s entire being so perfect, that in very truth he is no other than one spirit with the Lord (1 Corinthians vi. 17). It entails so absolute a submission of the powers, that without clashing one with the other, they yield, each in its particular sphere, obedience simultaneously, to the Divine Breathing.
So long as the Christian has not yet crossed this last defile, defended with such obstinacy by nature to the last, so long as he has not yet won that holy liberty of the children of God (Romans viii. 21; 2 Corinthians iii. 17), he cannot possibly turn to man without in some way quitting God. Not that he ought, on that account, to neglect his duties towards his neighbour, in whom God wishes us to see no other than Himself. But, nevertheless, blessed is he who (like Mary,) loses nothing of the better part the while he attends to his obligations towards others! Yet how few are such privileged souls! And what an illusion it is to persuade ourselves to the contrary!
We will return to these thoughts on the day of Our Lady’s triumphant Assumption, but the Gospel to which we have just been listening makes it a duty for us, even now, to draw the attention of the reader to this point. Our Lady has especially on this feast a claim to be invoked as the model of those who devote themselves to works of mercy. And if to all it is by no means given to keep their spirit, at the same moment, more than ever immersed in God — all, nevertheless, ought constantly to strive to approach by the practice of recollection and divine praise to those luminous heights on which their Queen shows herself this day in all the plenitude of her ineffable perfections.
The fourteenth and fifteenth centuries have hymned, in graceful compositions, the mystery of this day. The following one, by its warm expressions of tender piety towards the Mother of God, more particularly excited the rage of the pretended Reformers. What specially roused their spleen was the call to unity which it addresses to the erring. According to what we were saying above as to the motive which prompted Holy Church to establish this festival of the Visitation, Mary is in like manner invoked, in other formulae of this period, proper to the same feast, as the light which dissipates clouds, which puts an end to schisms.
“Come, sovereign Lady, Mary, visit us, illumine our sickly souls, by the example of your duties performed in life.
Come, Co-redemptrix of the world, take away the filth of sin, by visiting your people, remove their peril of chastisement.
Come, Queen of nations, extinguish the flames of the guilty, rectify whatever is wrong, give us to live innocently.
Come, and visit the sick, Mary, fortify the strong with the vigour of your holy impetuosity, so that brave courage droop not.
Come, Star, Light of the ocean waves, shed your ray of peace upon us; let the heart of John exult with joy before the Lord.
Come, Regal Sceptre, lead back the crowd of erring ones to the unity of the faith, in which the heavenly Citizens are saved.
Come, and right willingly implore for us the Gifts of the Holy Spirit, so that we may be directed aright, in the actions of this life.
Come, let us praise the Son, let us praise the Holy Spirit, let us praise the Father, One God, who gives us succour. Amen.”
Who is she that comes forth beautiful as the morning rising, terrible as an army set in array? (Canticles vi. 9) Mary, this is the day that your exquisite brightness for the first time gladdens our Earth. You bear within you the Sun of Justice, and His early beams striking first the mountain tops while the vales below are yet left in darkness, he at once illumines the Precursor, than whom a greater has not been born of woman. The divine Luminary, swift on his ascending course, will soon bathe the lowly valleys in his radiant fires. But how full of grace and beauty are these his first gleams peering through the veiling cloud! For you, Mary, are the light cloud, the hope of Earth, the terror of Hell (3 Kings xviii. 44; Isaias xix. 1): contemplating from afar, through its heavenly transparency, the mystery of this day, Elias the father of prophets, and Isaias their prince, did both of them descry the Lord. They beheld you speeding your way across the mountains, and they blessed God, “for,” says the Holy Ghost, “when winter has congealed the waters into crystal, withered the valleys, and consumed as with fire the green mountains, a present remedy to all is the speedy coming of a cloud” (Ecclesiasticus xliii. 21-24).
Hasten, then, Mary! Come to all of us, and let not the mountains alone enjoy your benign influence. Bend down to those lowly ignoble regions in which the greater part of mankind but vegetates, helpless to scale yonder mountain heights. Yes, let your kindly visit reach down even to the deepest abyss of human perversity well near bordering on the gulf of Hell — let the beams of saving light reach even there. Oh would that from the thraldom of sin, from the plain where the vulgar throng is swaying to and fro, we were drawn to follow in your train! How beauteous are your footsteps along these our humble pathways (Canticles vii. 1), how aromatic the perfumes with which you inebriate Earth this day! (Canticles i. 5). You were all unknown — no, you were even an enigma to yourself, you fairest among the daughters of Adam — until this your first going forth led you to our poor hovels (Canticles i. 7) and manifested your power. The desert, suddenly embalmed with heavenly fragrance, hails the passage, not of the figurative Ark, but of the “Litter of the true Solomon” in these days of the sublime Nuptials which He has vouchsafed to contract (Canticles iii. 6-11). What wonder then, if at rapid pace, you speed across the mountains, since you are bearing the Bridegroom who, as a giant, strides from peak to peak (Psalms xviii. 6-7).
Far different are you, Mary, from her who is portrayed in the Divine Canticle as hesitating, in spite of the heavenly call, to betake herself to active work, foolishly captivated by the sweets of mystic repose, in such way as to dream of finding it elsewhere than in the absolute good pleasure of the Beloved! You are not one, at the Voice of the Spouse, to make difficulties about cladding yourself again with the garment of toil, of exposing your feet, were it never so little, to be soiled with the dusty roads of earth (Canticles v. 2-6). No. rather: scarce has He given Himself to you immeasurably, as none else can know, than (ever on your guard against the mistake of remaining all absorbed in selfish enjoyment of His love) you yourself invites Him to begin at once the great work which brought Him down from Heaven to Earth: “Come, my Beloved, let us go forth into the fields, let us get up early to see if the vineyard flourish, to hasten the budding out of the fruits of salvation in souls. There, there it is that I wish to be all yours” (Canticles vii. 10-13). And, leaning on Him, no less than He upon you, without thereby losing anything of heavenly delights, you traverse our desert (Canticles viii. 5), and the Holy Trinity perceives between this Mother and her Son sympathies, harmonious agreements, unknown until then even to Her. And the friends of the Bridegroom, hearing your sweet voice (Canticles viii. 13) on their side also, comprehend His love and partake in your joy. With Him, with you, O Mary, age after age will behold souls innumerable who swift footed even as the mystic roe and the young hart, will flee away from the valleys and gain the mountain heights where, in the warm sunshine, Heaven’s aromatic spices are ever fragrant (Canticles viii. 14).
Bless, Mary, those whom the better part so sweetly attracts. Protect that Order whose glory is to honour in a special manner your Visitation. Faithful to the spirit of their illustrious founders, they still continue to justify their sweet title by perfuming the Church on Earth with the fragrance of that humility, gentleness, and hidden prayer, which made this day’s mystery so dear to the angels [two thousand] years ago. In fine, Lady, forget not the crowded ranks of those whom grace presses, more numerously than ever, nowadays, to tread in your footsteps, mercifully seeking out every object of misery. Teach them the way in which alone it is possible to devote themselves to their neighbour, without in any way quitting God: for the greater glory of God and the happiness of man, multiply such faithful copies of you. May all of us, having followed in the degree measured out to us by Him who divides His gifts to each one as He wills (1 Corinthians xii. 11) meet together in our Home yonder, to sing in one voice together with you an eternal Magnificat.On this day according to the ROMAN MARTYOLOGY:
At Rome, on the Via Aurelia, the birthday of the holy martyrs Processus and Martinian, who were baptised by the blessed Apostle St. Peter in the Mamertine Prison. After being struck on the mouth, racked, scourged with thongs and whips tipped with pieces of metal, and being beaten with rods and exposed to the flames, they were beheaded in the days of Nero, and thus obtained the crown of martyrdom.
Also at Rome, three holy soldiers, who were converted to Christ by the martyrdom of the blessed Apostle St. Paul, and with him merited to be made partakers of heavenly glory.
The same day, the holy martyrs Ariston, Crescentian, Eutychian, Urbanus, Vitalis, Justus, Felicissimus, Felix, Marcia and Symphorosa, who were all crowned with martyrdom when the persecution of the emperor Diocletian was raging.
At Winchester in England, St. Swithin, bishop, whose sanctity was illustrated by the gift of miracles.
At Bamberg, the holy bishop Otho, who preached the Gospel to the people of Pomerania and converted them to the faith.
At Tours, the demise of St. Monegundes, a pious woman.
And in other places, many other holy martyrs, confessors and virgins.
Thanks be to God.
