entirely to any of the means which I employ to efface it. Amplius lava me ab iniquitate mea et a peccato meo munda me. Purify me, then, Thyself, O Lord, and that more and more; for my sin is ever there, and Thou alone canst consume it in the fire of Thy love. I know, also, O my God, that to preserve us from the deepest of stains, the dark stain of pride, Thou wilt leave within us, even to the end of this poor life of ours, that which makes us to fear, to pray, to implore; that weakness which feels ever in danger of falling, that inclination to evil over which all the just have mourned; but grant, at least, O Lord, that I may mourn with them, that the presence of Thy grace may make me feel my misery, and that I may combat manfully the evil which I bear within me, that each victory of my life may be to me a consolation in death and a joy in eternity.

And thou, my Mother, in whom God has prepared a sanctuary worthy of His Son, by thine Immaculate Conception, obtain for thy poor child strength and courage in the conflict, patience in suffering, resignation to the will of God in death, and, above all, that perseverance in prayer which obtains all other graces; that, living and dying, pure in body and in heart, I may one day be admitted to kiss those motherly hands which have lavished so many graces upon me, and which I have a full confidence will open to me the gates of heaven. Janua cæli, memorare.

CHAPTER VIII.

MARY, VIRGIN AND MOTHER.

EVER since the fall of man, when he broke by his disobedience the bonds which united him with God, and thus lost the divine life of grace, he has been degraded in all his powers, but above all in the power of reproduction by the union which propagates natural life. In

this power especially the original rebellion of his spirit has been punished, and punished by the degrading rebellion of the flesh; which, like an insolent slave, no longer obeys the command of the spirit, and whose blind instinct tends to enslave the intellectual nature of man, and to level it with that of the brutes. Thus the conscience of man has always and every where acknowledged the pollution attached to generation. It is not only the inspired Psalmist who mourns over it: In peccatis concepit me mater mea; it is not only the virgin Evangelist who extols virgins because they are without spot: Hi sunt qui cum mulieribus non sunt coinquinatil ("These are they who have not defiled themselves with women"); it is not only the Apostle who proclaims the superiority of virginity to the holiest marriage ("Qui matrimonio jungit virginem suam, bene facit; qui non jungit, melius facit2 ("He that giveth his virgin in marriage, doth well; and he that giveth her not, doth better"). All ages, all nations, have felt the same, even at periods when reason was most degraded and morals most depraved. The Romans honoured vestals, even when they had ceased to exist among them; and never has the lily of purity budded upon this miserable earth without attracting the love of man, without touching his heart, or at least troubling his conscience.

This great fact remains, and must remain, inexplicable to all who do not acknowledge the fall of our nature, and the consequences which result from it. We Christians, who are conscious of both, know also why shame is ever attached to the communication of natural life, and why virginity always appears to the eyes of men as an aureola of the victory of the spirit over the flesh. It is not surprising, then, that the great victory of humanity, its great revenge upon its former conqueror, was begun by a virgin. That victory was promised to man immediately after the fall, and at the same time his defeat by redemption was foretold to Satan: Inimicitias 2 Apoc. xiv. 4.

1 1 Cor. vii. 38.

ponam inter te et mulierem, inter semen tuum et semen illius: ipsa conteret caput tuum1 ("I will put enmities between thee and the woman, between thy seed and her seed; she shall crush thy head"). The woman who was to crush the serpent's head is called by Isaias, not only a virgin, but the virgin-i. e. the Virgin of virgins, whom the Gospel calls "the woman blest among all women."

Let us see, then, how the victory which was consummated on the cross began with virginity. "And in the sixth month, the Angel Gabriel was sent from God into a city of Galilee called Nazareth, to a virgin espoused to a man whose name was Joseph, of the house of David; and the name of the virgin was Mary. And the Angel being come in, said to her: Hail, full of grace, the Lord is with thee: blessed art thou among women. And when she had heard, she was troubled at his saying, and thought with herself what manner of salutation this should be. And the Angel said to her: Fear not, Mary, for thou hast found grace with God. Behold, thou shalt conceive in thy womb, and shalt bring forth a Son; and thou shalt call His name Jesus. He shall be great, and shall be called the Son of the Most High; and the Lord God shall give unto Him the throne of David His father; and He shall reign in the house of Jacob for ever. And of His kingdom there shall be no end. And Mary said to the Angel: How shall this be done, because I know not man? And the Angel answering, said to her: The Holy Ghost shall come upon thee, and the power of the Most High shall overshadow thee and therefore also the Holy which shall be born of thee shall be called the Son of God. And behold thy cousin Elizabeth; she hath also conceived a son in her old age; and this is the sixth month with her that is called barren: because no word is impossible with God. And Mary said: Behold the handmaid of the Lord; be it done to me according to thy word" 1 Gen iii. 15.

(Ecce ancilla Domini; fiat mihi secundum verbum tuum).1

All is divine in this dialogue; but the two sentences uttered by Mary show that virginity was the very condition of the Incarnation, both on the part of God and on the part of man; or rather, of human nature represented by the second Eve. It is manifest, in fact, that Mary refuses the glory offered her by God, if it is to be purchased at the cost of her virginity: Quomodo fiat istud, quoniam virum non cognosco? ("How can this be, because I know not man ?") Unless these words express her irrevocable determination to remain a virgin, they have no meaning at all. Is it not clear, that if a young woman, to whom a child was promised, should simply reply: "How can this be, because I have hitherto observed continence in the marriage state?" the reply would be: "You will observe it no longer." The words of Mary, therefore, can bear no other sense than that of her unchangeable resolution to remain a virgin. And therefore it is that the saints have brought them forward as a proof of the vow of perpetual virginity by which she consecrated herself to the supreme object of her love. Yes, the virum non cognosco ("I know not man”) has manifestly the same sense as the lumen coli non video; and signifies not only "I know not," but "I cannot know;" as "I see not," in the mouth of the holy Tobias, signifies "I cannot see;" and as "I do not such a thing," in the mouth of one who is determined to abstain from it, signifies "I will not do it."

But for this resolution to remain a virgin, Mary would never have been the Mother of the New Man-of the second Adam-Who was to be like the first, though after a different manner-the immediate work of the Omnipotence of God, for the regeneration of the human race, wholly polluted in its source. The Word made Flesh would not receive that Flesh by the stream of generation, because that stream carried with it pollution 1 Luke i. 38.

throughout its course. No, He first preserved from pollution the womb which was to bear Him, and then formed there Himself, by the operation of the Holy Ghost, the Sacred Body which was to be the Lamb without spot, the Victim for the whole world: Spiritus Sanctus obumbrabit tibi, et quod nascetur ex te SANCTUM vocabitur Filius Dei. The Eternal Word, the Uncreated Son of God, became thus the true Son of Man, because He was the true Son of Mary, who was herself, like all other human beings, the child of Adam; but He became the Son of Man by a direct operation of the Almighty, as the first man was the work and the child of God by another direct operation of the power of Him who created him to His own Image. The virginity of Mary, therefore, was the condition of the Incarnation on the part of the Incarnate Word and on the part of His Mother. Mary did not consent to become a mother until assured that she should remain a virgin; and the Word became Incarnate in her womb because He saw that this humble Virgin's love of purity was greater than her desire for the ineffable glory of the Divine Maternity.

The assurance given to Mary was followed by her consent; and humility finished the work of virginity, by those words which the Spirit of God awaited, to perform the greatest of His works: Ecce ancilla Domini; fiat mihi secundum verbum tuum ("Behold the handmaid of the Lord; be it done unto me according to thy word").

The first who, after Mary herself, the holy Baptist, and his mother, received the revelation of that great work, was he who knew her resolution to remain, like himself, a virgin; and who, unable to understand how she was about to become a mother, thought, in his anguish, of separating from her. Joseph, thou son of David, said the Angel of God to him, fear not to take unto thee Mary thy wife; for that which is conceived in her is of the Holy Ghost."

1 Matt. i. 20.

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