Pourquoi je t'aime, ô Marie (Why I love thee, O Mary)

Ste Thérèse de l'Enfant Jésus

Today at the beginning of October, the month of the Most Holy Rosary, we remember the feast day of St Thérèse of Lisieux. She died aged 24 on the 30th September 1897, promising to spend her time in Heaven doing good on earth. It was only after 67 years that I discovered I was baptised in a church dedicated to St. Theresa of the Child Jesus and she seems to have played am important role at significant points in my life. I am reposting a translation I made in 2020-21 of her poem entitled: Pourquoi je t'aime, ô Marie (Why I love thee, O Mary). The translation seeks to follow fairly closely the words and images of the original and has sought to reflect the same metre and rhyming scheme. St Thérèse wrote the poem in May 1897 and it was the last poem she wrote before her death. In this poem, Thérèse sets forth the reasons she loves Mary, our Blessed Mother. 

Pourquoi je t'aime, ô Marie

(Why I love thee, O Mary)

1.

Oh ! je voudrais chanter, Marie, pourquoi je t'aime
Pourquoi ton nom si doux fait tressaillir mon cœur
Et pourquoi la pensée de ta grandeur suprême
Ne saurait à mon âme inspirer de frayeur.
Si je te contemplais dans ta sublime gloire
Et surpassant l'éclat de tous les bienheureux
Que je suis ton enfant je ne pourrais le croire
O Marie, devant toi, je baisserais les yeux !…

Oh Mary I would sing of reasons I love thee,
Of how thy sweetest name doth thrill my very heart;
Thou greatest art of all, as Faith reveals to me,
Yet calm remains my soul, no fears doth thou impart.
Exalted and sublime thy glory I perceive,
Eclipsing all the saints with thy refulgent light;
To be a child of thine, I scarcely can conceive —
Oh Mary I incline my gaze before thy sight.

2.
Il faut pour qu'un enfant puisse chérir sa mère
Qu'elle pleure avec lui, partage ses douleurs
O ma Mère chérie, sur la rive étrangère
Pour m'attirer à toi, que tu versas de pleurs !....
En méditant ta vie dans le saint Evangile
J'ose te regarder et m'approcher de toi
Me croire ton enfant ne m'est pas difficile
Car je te vois mortelle et souffrant comme moi....

The child who wants to love his mother more and more
Responds when she doth share his worries and his fears;
Beloved Mother dear, upon this foreign shore,
Thou drawest me to thee with thy maternal tears.
Whilst musing on thy life, revealed in Holy Writ,
I dare to contemplate and aye draw close to thee;
To think that I’m thy child is no hard requisite,
A mortal thou art too, who suffereth like me.

3.
Lorsqu'un ange du Ciel t'offre d'être la Mère
Du Dieu qui doit régner toute l'éternité
Je te vois préférer, ô Marie, quel mystère !
L'ineffable trésor de la virginité.
Je comprends que ton âme, ô Vierge Immaculée
Soit plus chère au Seigneur que le divin séjour
Je comprends que ton âme, Humble et Douce Vallée
Peut contenir Jésus, l'Océan de l'Amour !...

From Heav’n an angel came who asked would thou be Mother
Of God Himself Whose reign doth o’er us all perdure;
Thy preference expressed a myst’ry like no other:
To guard thy maiden’s vow, a life forever pure.
I see thy soul is graced with chastity’s own veil,
Delightful to our Lord for more than passing visit;
I see thy humble soul as like a little dale
That holds the mighty tides of Jesus’ love exquisite.

4.
Oh ! je t'aime, Marie, te disant la servante
Du Dieu que tu ravis par ton humilité
Cette vertu cachée te rend toute-puissante
Elle attire en ton cœur la Sainte Trinité
Alors l'Esprit d'Amour te couvrant de son ombre
Le Fils égal au Père en toi s'est incarné....
De ses frères pécheurs bien grand sera le nombre
Puisqu'on doit l'appeler : Jésus, ton premier-né !...

Oh Mary, I love thee — thou “handmaid of the Lord,”
Whose humble virtue filled thy Lord with such delight;
This very same to thee all power doth afford
And draws the Triune God to thee from Heaven’s height.
The Holy Spirit’s Love didst overshadow thee,
The Father’s equal Son within thee was begun;
His brethren, sinners all, how numerous they be,
Since he perforce is called thy very first-born son!

5.
O Mère bien-aimée, malgré ma petitesse
Comme toi je possède en moi Le Tout-Puissant
Mais je ne tremble pas en voyant ma faiblesse :
Le trésor de la mère appartient à l'enfant
Et je suis ton enfant, ô ma Mère chérie
Tes vertus, ton amour, ne sont-ils pas à moi ?
Aussi lorsqu'en mon cœur descend la blanche Hostie
Jésus, ton Doux Agneau, croit reposer en toi !...

Oh Mother dearly loved, I know I’m only small
But God Almighty lives in me just like in thee;
I know I’m also weak but have no fear at all,
For Mother loves to share her treasures all with me.
Oh Mother, I’m thy child and thou art my delight,
Thy virtues and thy love, don’t they belong to me?
When greeting in my heart the little Host so white,
Then Jesus, Gentle Lamb, believes He rests in thee! 

6.
Tu me le fais sentir, ce n'est pas impossible
De marcher sur tes pas, ô Reine des élus,
L'étroit chemin du Ciel, tu l'as rendu visible
En pratiquant toujours les plus humbles vertus.
Auprès de toi, Marie, j'aime à rester petite,
Des grandeurs d'ici-bas je vois la vanité,
Chez Sainte Elisabeth, recevant ta visite,
J'apprends à pratiquer l'ardente charité.

Thou makest me to feel I almost could believe
I’m walking in thy steps, O Queen of souls elect;
The strait and narrow way through thee I now perceive,
Thy humble virtues grant my practice to perfect.
Oh Mary when with thee ‘tis small I choose to be,
The great are often vain, I see with clarity;
To help Elizabeth thou journeyed selflessly,
Grant I may practise too such ardent charity.

7.
Là j'écoute ravie, Douce Reine des anges
Le cantique sacré qui jaillit de ton cœur.
Tu m'apprends à chanter les divines louanges
A me glorifier en Jésus mon Sauveur.
Tes paroles d'amour sont de mystiques roses
Qui doivent embaumer les siècles à venir.
En toi le Tout-Puissant a fait de grandes choses
Je veux les méditer, afin de l'en bénir.

The sacred canticle which from thy heart doth spring,
Oh angels’ Gentle Queen, I hear with such delight;
The praises all divine thou teachest me to sing
And glorify myself in Jesus’ saving might.
Thy fragrant words of love, with mystic roses’ scent,
The ages yet to come adorn in sweet prediction;
Within thee great things worked thy Lord Omnipotent,
Grant I may think on them and pray God’s benediction.

8.
Quand le bon Saint Joseph ignore le miracle
Que tu voudrais cacher dans ton humilité
Tu le laisses pleurer tout près du Tabernacle
Qui voile du Sauveur la divine beauté!.....
Oh ! que j'aime, Marie, ton éloquent silence,
Pour moi c'est un concert doux et mélodieux
Qui me dit la grandeur et la toute-puissance
D'une âme qui n'attend son secours que des Cieux.....

St Joseph knowing not the miracle God sent
(Which thou wouldst fain conceal in meek and humble duty),
Thou leavest Him to weep close by the Sacred Tent
That hid from human gaze the Saviour’s Godly beauty.
Oh Mary, how I love thy silent eloquence,
To me a symphony melodiously intoned
That shows almighty power and high magnificence
Within a little soul that trusts in Heaven alone.

9.
Plus tard à Bethléem, ô Joseph et Marie !
Je vous vois repoussés de tous les habitants
Nul ne veut recevoir en son hôtellerie
De pauvres étrangers, la place est pour les grands.....
La place est pour les grands et c'est dans une étable
Que la Reine des Cieux doit enfanter un Dieu.
O ma Mère chérie, que je te trouve aimable
Que je te trouve grande en un si pauvre lieu !....

With Joseph, Mary came to David’s Royal city
Where entry was refused by all the residents;
There was no room for them and none showed any pity
To strangers who were poor; the rich had precedence.
The rich had precedence — so in a stable lowly
The Queen of Heaven bore her tender babe Divine;
Oh Mary Mother dear, so lovable and holy,
How truly great thou art in such a poor confine.

10.
Quand je vois l'Eternel enveloppé de langes
Quand du Verbe Divin j'entends le faible cri
O ma Mère chérie, je n'envie plus les anges
Car leur Puissant Seigneur est mon Frère chéri !...
Que je t'aime, Marie, toi qui sur nos rivages
As fait épanouir cette Divine Fleur !........
Que je t'aime écoutant les bergers et les mages
Et gardant avec soin toute chose en ton cœur !...

When swaddled Babe I see as Lord Omnipotent,
The Word made flesh I hear a-mewling piteously,
Then angels’ joy no more I envy or resent,
Their Lord of Hosts is just a brother dear to me.
Oh Mary I love thee who in this vale of tears
Didst make to blossom forth a little Flower Divine;
The shepherds and wise men brought joy unto thine ears,
In mother’s heart all things with care thou didst consign.

11.
Je t'aime te mêlant avec les autres femmes
Qui vers le temple saint ont dirigé leurs pas
Je t'aime présentant le Sauveur de nos âmes
Au bienheureux Vieillard qui le presse en ses bras,
D'abord en souriant j'écoute son cantique
Mais bientôt ses accents me font verser des pleurs.
Plongeant dans l'avenir un regard prophétique
Siméon te présente un glaive de douleurs.

With women in a group thou didst with one intent
Toward the Temple gate proceed with steady pace;
The Saviour of our souls therein thou didst present
To God through Simeon, who did the child embrace;
At first with smiles I hear his words of thanks and praise
But then my tears do flow, his words grow dark and fierce,
Thy grief he doth foretell in fell prophetic phrase:
A sword of sorrows will thy tender soul transpierce.

12.
O Reine des martyrs, jusqu'au soir de ta vie
Ce glaive douloureux transpercera ton cœur
Déjà tu dois quitter le sol de ta patrie
Pour éviter d'un roi la jalouse fureur.
Jésus sommeille en paix sous les plis de ton voile
Joseph vient te prier de partir à l'instant
Et ton obéissance aussitôt se dévoile
Tu pars sans nul retard et sans raisonnement.

Of Martyrs thou art Queen who ‘til thine end is near,
This sword of sorrows will thy heart impenetrate;
Already thou must flee thy native land in fear,
Avoiding Herod’s rage of jealousy and hate.
Now Jesus is asleep, within thy veil concealed,
When Joseph doth explain the time has come to flee;
Thy meek obedience is graciously revealed,
Thou makest no delay, to leave compliantly.

13.
Sur la terre d'Egypte, il me semble, ô Marie
Que dans la pauvreté ton cœur reste joyeux,
Car Jésus n'est-Il pas la plus belle Patrie,
Que t'importe l'exil, tu possèdes les Cieux ?...
Mais à Jérusalem, une amère tristesse
Comme un vaste océan vient inonder ton cœur
Jésus, pendant trois jours, se cache à ta tendresse
Alors c'est bien l'exil dans toute sa rigueur !…

In Egypt’s land, O Mary, I seem to understand,
Midst poverty thou dwelt, but joy thy heart did leaven;
For Jesus is not He the dearest native land?
Who cares for exile when on earth thou hast thy Heaven?
But in Jerusalem, a sorrow sharp and keen
O’erwhelms thy tender heart with bitter inundation;
For Jesus thou hast lost, for three days He’s unseen,
Thou art in truth exiled by this intense privation.

14.
Enfin tu l'aperçois et la joie te transporte,
Tu dis au bel Enfant qui charme les docteurs :
«O mon Fils, pourquoi donc agis-tu de la sorte?»
«Voilà ton père et moi qui te cherchions en pleurs.»
Et l'Enfant Dieu répond (oh quel profond mystère !)
A la Mère chérie qui tend vers lui ses bras :
«Pourquoi me cherchiez-vous?... Aux œuvres de mon Père»
«Il faut que je m'emploie; ne le savez-vous pas?»

Thou findest Him at last and joy replaces woe,
Thou askest Him Who charm’d the Doctors’ eyes and ears
“Why didst Thou act this way, my Son we fain would know?
Thy father and myself have searched for thee in tears."
The Child Divine replies (O mystery profound!)
Unto His Mother dear who offers loving hands:
“Wherefore did ye seek me? For know that I am bound
To do my Father’s work, do ye not understand?”

15.
L'Evangile m'apprend que croissant en sagesse
A Joseph, à Marie, Jésus reste soumis
Et mon cœur me révèle avec quelle tendresse
Il obéit toujours à ses parents chéris.
Maintenant je comprends le mystère du temple,
Les paroles cachées de mon Aimable Roi.
Mère, ton doux Enfant veut que tu sois l'exemple
De l'âme qui Le cherche en la nuit de la foi.

The Gospel tells us how the Child in wisdom grows,
Submitting to your rule through all His hidden days;
My heart is touched to see what tenderness He shows
To both His parents dear, whom meekly He obeys.
I think I understand the Temple mystery,
Our loving Sovereign’s words a secret signify:
O Mother dear thy Child example gives through thee
To souls who here below do seek the Lord on high.

16.
Puisque le Roi des Cieux a voulu que sa Mère
Soit plongée dans la nuit, dans l'angoisse du cœur ;
Marie, c'est donc un bien de souffrir sur la terre ?
Oui souffrir en aimant, c'est le plus pur bonheur !...
Tout ce qu'Il m'a donné Jésus peut le reprendre
Dis-lui de ne jamais se gêner avec moi.....
Il peut bien se cacher, je consens à l'attendre
Jusqu'au jour sans couchant où s'éteindra ma foi.....

Because the King of Heav’n His Mother did allow
To plunge in sorrow deep as in the darkest night,
O Mary is it bless’d to suffer here and now?
Yes, suffering in love is purest of delights!
Each gift Our Lord has given, he can reclaim from me,
So tell Him don’t hold back, remove whate’er the grace;
And if He hides Himself, I’ll wait all patiently
The day when time’s no more, to see Him face to face….

17.
Je sais qu'à Nazareth, Mère pleine de grâces
Tu vis très pauvrement, ne voulant rien de plus
Point de ravissements, de miracles, d'extases
N'embellissent ta vie, ô Reine des Elus !....
Le nombre des petits est bien grand sur la terre
Ils peuvent sans trembler vers toi lever les yeux
C'est par la voie commune, incomparable Mère
Qu'il te plaît de marcher pour les guider aux Cieux.

O Mary full of grace, at Nazareth I see
Thy life is poor yet thou withal dost keep serene;
No raptures, miracles nor ecstasies for thee
But unembellished life for thee the Chosen’s Queen.
The little ones on earth, how numerous they are,
Quite unafraid they raise to thee their trusting eyes;
‘Tis by the common way, O Mother great by far,
Thou guidest them on earth to Heaven as their prize.

18.
En attendant le Ciel, ô ma Mère chérie,
Je veux vivre avec toi, te suivre chaque jour
Mère, en te contemplant, je me plonge ravie
Découvrant dans ton cœur des abîmes d'amour.
Ton regard maternel bannit toutes mes craintes
Il m'apprend à pleurer, il m'apprend à jouir.
Au lieu de mépriser les joies pures et saintes
Tu veux les partager, tu daignes les bénir.

In hope for life in Heaven, beloved Mother dear,
I choose to live with thee, to follow thee each day;
And while I think on thee, I seem to plunge down sheer
Abysses in thy heart, bedecked in love’s array.
Thy tender mother’s gaze is for my fears a cure,
It teaches me in joy, as also in affliction;
Instead of pouring scorn on blessed joys and pure,
To share them is thy wish, with thine own benediction.

19.
Des époux de Cana voyant l'inquiétude
Qu'ils ne peuvent cacher, car ils manquent de vin
Au Sauveur tu le dis dans ta sollicitude
Espérant le secours de son pouvoir divin.
Jésus semble d'abord repousser ta prière
«Qu'importe», répond-Il, «femme, à vous et à moi?»
Mais au fond de son cœur, Il te nomme sa Mère
Et son premier miracle, Il l'opère pour toi...

 At Cana thou didst note the wedding couple’s plight,
They could no more conceal their wine was running out;
The Saviour thou didst ask if He could put things right,
Invoking pow'r Divine to heal the nuptial drought.
At first it seemed thy Son this prayer He might ignore,
"Oh woman what,"quoth He, "is this to thee or me?"
But in His heart He saw the mother who Him bore,
This miracle, His first, He gladly worked for thee.

20.
Un jour que les pécheurs écoutent la doctrine
De Celui qui voudrait au Ciel les recevoir
Je te trouve avec eux, Marie, sur la colline
Quelqu'un dit à Jésus que tu voudrais le voir,
Alors, ton Divin Fils devant la foule entière
De son amour pour nous montre l'immensité
Il dit : «Quel est mon frère et ma sœur et ma Mère,»
«Si ce n'est celui-là qui fait ma volonté?»

One day some sinners came and listened to the teaching
Of Him Whose wish was they might all in Heaven be;
O Mary, thou wast there, and while thy Son was preaching,
Someone didst tell the Lord His Mother would Him see.
Thy Son Divine to show His love for us forsooth
Addressed the multitude before Him on the hill:
“My ‘brethren,’ ‘mother’, who deserves this name in truth
If not that person who doth carry out My will?"

21.
O Vierge Immaculée, des mères la plus tendre
En écoutant Jésus, tu ne t'attristes pas
Mais tu te réjouis qu'Il nous fasse comprendre
Que notre âme devient sa famille ici-bas
Oui tu te réjouis qu'Il nous donne sa vie,
Les trésors infinis de sa divinité !...
Comment ne pas t'aimer, ô ma Mère chérie
En voyant tant d'amour et tant d'humilité ?

O Virgin without stain, with mother’s tender heart,
On hearing Jesus’ words, no sorrow troubles thee,
Rejoicing how thy Son doth here a truth impart:
Our little souls belong in Christ’s own family;
Rejoicing how He gives His life for us down here
And treasures without end from His divinity!
How can we not love thee, beloved Mother dear,
Beholding so much love and such humility?

22.
Tu nous aimes, Marie, comme Jésus nous aime
Et tu consens pour nous à t'éloigner de Lui.
Aimer c'est tout donner et se donner soi-même
Tu voulus le prouver en restant notre appui.
Le Sauveur connaissait ton immense tendresse
Il savait les secrets de ton cœur maternel,
Refuge des pécheurs, c'est à toi qu'Il nous laisse
Quand Il quitte la Croix pour nous attendre au Ciel.

Thy love, O Mary dear, is just like Jesus’ love,
And thou permittest us to part thee from the Lord;
To love means giving all, oneself all else above,
In proof whereof the help to us thou dost afford.
The Saviour understood thy love is unconfined,
The secret He knew well of thy maternal heart:
In thee poor sinners have a refuge He assigned
In hope of Heaven when the Cross He did depart.

23.
Marie, tu m'apparais au sommet du Calvaire
Debout près de la Croix, comme un prêtre à l'autel
Offrant pour apaiser la justice du Père
Ton bien-aimé Jésus, le doux Emmanuel...
Un prophète l'a dit, ô Mère désolée,
«Il n'est pas de douleur semblable à ta douleur!»
O Reine des Martyrs, en restant exilée
Tu prodigues pour nous tout le sang de ton cœur !

O Mary I see thee on Calvary appear
And standing near the Cross, thy role is like a priest
Who offers, to appease the Father’s justice here,
Thy Son, Emmanuel, upon the Cross deceased.
A prophet said to thee, O Mother broken-hearted,
“No one hath e’er endured a pain like unto thine;”
O Queen of Martyrs, still in exile not departed,
Each drop of thy heart’s blood for us thou dost consign.

24.
La maison de Saint Jean devient ton seul asile
Le fils de Zébédée doit remplacer Jésus.....
C'est le dernier détail que donne l'Evangile
De la Reine des Cieux il ne me parle plus.
Mais son profond silence, ô ma Mère chérie
Ne révèle-t-il pas que Le Verbe Eternel
Veut Lui-même chanter les secrets de ta vie
Pour charmer tes enfants, tous les Elus du Ciel ?

Saint John took thee to live with him just like a mother,
Thy Jesus is replaced by John bar-Zebedee;
This Gospel reference is final, there’s no other,
O Heaven’s Queen the texts no more do speak of thee.
Beloved mother dear, this silence so profound
Perhaps reveals a wish by Christ the Word Eternal
Himself to praise in song His mother’s life renowned
And charm the little saints in Paradise supernal.

25.
Bientôt je l'entendrai cette douce harmonie
Bientôt dans le beau Ciel, je vais aller te voir
Toi qui vins me sourire au matin de ma vie
Viens me sourire encor... Mère... voici le soir !...
Je ne crains plus l'éclat de ta gloire suprême
Avec toi j'ai souffert et je veux maintenant
Chanter sur tes genoux, Marie, pourquoi je t'aime
Et redire à jamais que je suis ton enfant !......

La petite Thérèse 1897

Sweet harmony of grace, pray soon I shall be drawn
To thee in Paradise, where thou shalt be my guide;
Thou who didst smile when I emerged at my life’s dawn,
O Mother, smile once more in my life’s eventide!
Thy glory’s brightness now no longer gives me fear,
I’ve suffered too with thee and now have one request:
Upon thy lap to sing why thou to me art dear,
Forever to repeat: “I am thy infant blest!”

© Peter Bloor 2021

Ste Thérèse in death; after a painting by her sister Céline.

The text in the scroll reads: “Au soir de cette vie vous serez jugés sur l’amour,” “In the evening of this life, you will be judged on love.” (St. John of the Cross)

🌹🌹🌹🌹🌹🌹 St Thérèse, pray for us! 🌹🌹🌹🌹🌹🌹

The Vladimirskaya Icon. >12th century.

SUB tuum præsidium confugimus, Sancta Dei Genitrix. Nostras deprecationes ne despicias in necessitatibus, sed a periculis cunctis libera nos semper, Virgo gloriosa et benedicta. Amen. 

 

Totus tuus ego sum

Et omnia mea tua sunt;

Tecum semper tutus sum:

Ad Jesum per Mariam. 

Wolfgang Smith (1930-2024) : Requiescat in Pace

Wolfgang Smith: 18 February 1930 – 19 July 2024.  

Following the death of this most remarkable man on the 19th of July this year, I am posting an excerpt below which is taken from the Philo-Sophia website and will give you some idea of his extraordinary achievements and range of interests:

Born in Vienna in 1930, Wolfgang Smith graduated from Cornell University at age 18 with degrees in physics, mathematics, and philosophy. In a few short years he took his master’s degree in physics at Purdue University, climbed the Matterhorn, and published the first theoretical solution to the re-entry problem for space flight.

Finding himself irreconcilably at odds with the prevailing Zeitgeist, he decided to forego a professional career in the fields of his primary interest—physics and philosophy—in favour of pure mathematics, and after taking his doctorate at Columbia University, he served as professor of mathematics at M.I.T., U.C.L.A., and Oregon State University until his retirement in 1992.

At heart a philosopher in the most traditional sense, Dr. Smith became deeply attracted to the Platonist and Neoplatonist schools early in life, and ultimately took extensive sojourns in India and the Himalayan regions to contact such vestiges of ancient tradition as still could be found. One of the basic lessons he learned from these encounters is that there actually exist higher sciences in which man himself plays the part not merely of the observer, but of the “scientific instrument”: becomes himself, as it were, the “microscope” or “telescope” by which he is enabled to perceive invisible reaches of the integral cosmos.

Over the years, Dr. Smith came to recognize the stringent limitations to which our contemporary sciences are subjected by virtue of their “extrinsic” modus operandi: the folly of presuming to fathom the depths of the universe, having barely scratched the surface in the discovery of man himself.

It is no wonder, then, that when he finally confronted the so-called quantum reality problem, Dr. Smith perceived the issue in a very different light than his peers. The problem actually never was of a “technical” nature to begin with! It was not a question to be resolved by way of differential equations, nor primarily a matter of finding something new—but one of jettisoning the entire Weltanschauung of the modern West. And the key to the latter is to be found in the long lost cosmology of antiquity, which conceives of the integral cosmos as tripartite—even as man himself is traditionally viewed as a composite of corpus, anima, and spiritus.

But Wolfgang Smith is no obscurantist: he neither rejects nor advocates rejecting one iota of legitimate science. He does, however, insist that we distinguish actual scientific facts from counterfeit scientistic beliefs masquerading in the hallowed name of “Science.” And the latter condition is endemic, afflicting every segment of modern civilization: it is this widespread delusion that Dr. Smith has missioned himself to combat.

In 2020, the Philos-Sophia Initiative produced a feature documentary on the life and work of Dr. Smith, The End of Quantum Reality, which is available on disc and digital platforms worldwide.

The length and the breadth and the height of Wolfgang Smith's knowledge and insight were quite remarkable and probably unique. Let us pray not only for the repose of his soul but also for the dissemination of his work and its continuation by worthy successors.

 R.I.P. 

+       +        +

 

The Vladimirskaya Icon. >12th century.

SUB tuum præsidium confugimus, Sancta Dei Genitrix. Nostras deprecationes ne despicias in necessitatibus, sed a periculis cunctis libera nos semper, Virgo gloriosa et benedicta. Amen.

 

 

 

Totus tuus ego sum

Et omnia mea tua sunt;

Tecum semper tutus sum:

Ad Jesum per Mariam. 

The prostitution of language

An innocent perusal of an article on Scriptural exegesis prompted an arousal of interest which is summarised in the lines which follow.

I am a subscriber to the excellent Kolbe Centre site's newsletter. The latest issue touches on a number of subjects, including the interpretation of the following text from the Book of Genesis:

I will put enmities between thee and the woman, and thy seed and her seed: she shall crush thy head, and thou shalt lie in wait for her heel.

Inimicitias ponam inter te et mulierem, et semen tuum et semen illius : ipsa conteret caput tuum, et tu insidiaberis calcaneo ejus. [Gen. iii. 15]

The relevant text of the newsletter may be found at the end of this post (see The Symphony of Catholic Scriptural Exegesis). For the moment, I invite readers to note the pronouns she and ipsa highlighted above. Of this text, the Kolbe article states:

Genesis contains a grammatical feature that cannot be found anywhere in the Old Testament except in the first five books of the Bible—the epicene personal pronoun [emphasis added]. This is a pronoun that has no gender so that the correct gender is determined by the verb—a feature that would surely be present in some other part of the Old Testament if the consensus view in Catholic academia were correct and the first five books of the Bible were produced one thousand years after the time of Moses. One of the places where the epicene personal pronoun appears has a special significance for all Catholics but most especially for those who strive to defend the traditional reading of Genesis. It is in Genesis iii. 15, the protoevangelium, where God says to Satan, “I will put enmities between you and the woman, between your seed and her seed.” But should the next sentence read “He,” “She” or “It” “will crush your head”?

To read the answer to that question, please see the Addendum below.

I looked up the word epicene in the OED and was quite surprised to discover that its etymology is traced through epicœnus / epicœnos all the way back to the ancient Greek ἐπῐ́κοινος, meaning:

promiscuous, sluttish...

I wonder whether the epicene pronoun might not address the ever-wakeful (wokeful?) sensitivities of the wandering word-crawlers who patrol our language nowadays? Or does the promiscuous and sluttish etymology render the epi-cene too ob*-cene...?

Methinks Nigel Molesworth would have had great fun with all this...

Latin master declining an epicene pronoun.

"If latin masters are slo starters, once they get a latin ex. they go like a rocket...

...as any fule kno."

With grateful acknowledgements (and apologies) to Geoffrey Willans and Ronald Searle. 

Requiescant In Pace.

 

Addendum : The Symphony of Catholic Scriptural Exegesis

    For many decades the consensus view in Catholic academia has been that Moses did not write or redact the sacred history of Genesis and that the text was cobbled together by scribes around the time of the Babylonian Captivity. One of the many reasons why the Kolbe Center has never abandoned the patristic view that Moses was the author/redactor of Genesis is that Genesis contains a grammatical feature that cannot be found anywhere in the Old Testament except in the first five books of the Bible—the epicene personal pronoun. This is a pronoun that has no gender so that the correct gender is determined by the verb—a feature that would surely be present in some other part of the Old Testament if the consensus view in Catholic academia were correct and the first five books of the Bible were produced one thousand years after the time of Moses. One of the places where the epicene personal pronoun appears has a special significance for all Catholics but most especially for those who strive to defend the traditional reading of Genesis. It is in Genesis iii. 15, the protoevangelium, where God says to Satan, “I will put enmities between you and the woman, between your seed and her seed.” But should the next sentence read “He,” “She” or “It” “will crush your head”?
    Readers of this newsletter know that St. Lawrence of Brindisi is the last Doctor of the Church to have written a detailed commentary on Genesis. He knew the whole Bible by heart, knew all the Biblical languages and was familiar with all of the greatest commentators in Hebrew, Latin and Greek. Readers also know that Cornelius a Lapide was commissioned by the Pope to devote his life to preparing a commentary on the Holy Bible. He, too, mastered all the Biblical languages and was familiar with the greatest commentators on the Bible in Hebrew, Latin and Greek. These two giants in the field of Biblical commentary agree that none of the three readings of the epicene personal pronoun in Genesis 3:15 should be rejected. Lapide writes:
Note first that none of these three readings [of Genesis 3:15] is to be rejected. No, indeed: All [the masculine, the feminine and the neuter] are true readings. For in this verse, when God sets the two against each other as if they were opponents in a contest — the woman with her seed against the serpent with its seed — He consequently wishes to say that the woman with her seed will crush the head of the serpent, just as, on the other hand, the serpent lies in wait for the heel of both the woman and her seed. And therefore in this verse Moses seems to have mixed the masculine verb with the feminine pronoun, saying ישוף היא, hî’ yəšūp̄, she shall crush, in order to signify both the woman and her seed; or rather, the woman through her seed, namely through Christ, shall crush the head of the serpent. 
    It is interesting to note that St. Jerome in at least one of his writings took the view that “He” and not “She” (“Ipsa,” as in the Latin Vulgate) was the correct translation of the pronoun in that verse. However, He Who Is Truth Itself saw to it that the Vulgate became the official version of the Bible for the Church of Rome and that "ipsa" emerged as the primary reading in the Vulgate ("She" in the Douai-Rheims English translation of the Vulgate), even if that was not the original preference of St. Jerome himself. 

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The Vladimirskaya Icon. >12th century.

SUB tuum præsidium confugimus, Sancta Dei Genitrix. Nostras deprecationes ne despicias in necessitatibus, sed a periculis cunctis libera nos semper, Virgo gloriosa et benedicta. Amen.

 

 

Totus tuus ego sum

Et omnia mea tua sunt;

Tecum semper tutus sum:

Ad Jesum per Mariam.

The intoxication of words

Noe's drunkenness. J-J Tissot. 1896-1902. The Jewish Collection online.

When comparing Challoner's Douay-Rheims Gospel of St Luke with the original version of 1582, I was surprised to come across an unusual English word:  ſicer (sicer):

15. For he shall be great before the Lord; and shall drink no wine nor strong drink: and he shall be filled with the Holy Ghost, even from his mother's womb.

[Luc. i. 15, Challoner]

15. For he ſhal be great before our Lord; and wine and ſicer he ſhal not drinke ; and he ſhal be repleniſhed with the Holy Ghoſt euen from his mothers womb. [1582 version]

Here is the verse in the Latin Vulgate...

15. erit enim magnus coram Domino : et vinum et siceram non bibet, et Spiritu Sancto replebitur adhuc ex utero matris suæ :

and the Greek...

15. ἔσται γὰρ μέγας ἐνώπιον ⸀τοῦ κυρίου, καὶ οἶνον καὶ σίκερα οὐ μὴ πίῃ, καὶ πνεύματος ἁγίου πλησθήσεται ἔτι ἐκ κοιλίας μητρὸς αὐτοῦ,

The OED says of sicer:

a1400–1609. sicer, n. Intoxicating liquor, strong drink.A borrowing from Latin. Etymon: Latin sicera.

Lewis Short (on Logeion) says:

sīcĕra, n., = σίκερα [from the Heb. ],a kind of spirituous, intoxicating drink (eccl. Lat.). There are seven instances of the word siceram in the Latin Vulgate, all from the Old testament except one, which is in chapter xv of St Luke's Gospel. The word is always written paired with vinum (wine). [See: Deuteronomy xiv. 26, Deuteronomy xxix. 6, Judges xiii. 4, Judges xiii. 7, [Judges xiii.14 & Luke i.15].

There are many Hebrew sources which explain sicer actually refers to beer... Here is one excerpt:

The importance of beer in the ancient Near East can be seen by the fact that, in time,

the word for beer came to designate the state of drunkenness. The word for beer

became synonymous with inebriation in Akkadian, Aramaic, Ugaritic and Arabic.

Similarly in the Egyptian language, “beer” (hnqt) was used for general drunkenness.

And in the Bible, shekhar is often a verb that means “to get drunk” (e.g., Genesis ix. 21;

Isaiah xxix.9), a parallel linguistic usage that furthers the case for shekhar as “beer.”

(This parallel usage has also survived in modern Hebrew: A drunk is a shekhor (שכור),

and shekhar (שכר) means beer, although beer is also commonly called simply beera.)

[Taken from Beer in the Bible, arranged by Rabbi Drew Kaplan]

It seems that this beer would have been much stronger and sweeter than the northern European variety, perhaps more akin to "amber nectar." 

For a selection of Jewish interpretations of the word shekar, see Shekhar: Is it Wine or Beer? by Dr.Elaine Goodfriend. 

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SUB tuum præsidium confugimus, Sancta Dei Genitrix. Nostras deprecationes ne despicias in necessitatibus, sed a periculis cunctis libera nos semper, Virgo gloriosa et benedicta. Amen.

 

Totus tuus ego sum

Et omnia mea tua sunt;

Tecum semper tutus sum:

Ad Jesum per Mariam.

On the Feast of Christ the King

 The Holy Infant of Prague.
Fotobanka ČTK, René Fluger.

Today, on the great feast of Christ the King, we launch the first of a new series of posts on the life of Christ according to the Gospel of St Luke. You can read this Life (and others in the series) by clicking here: 👉 The Life of Christ Our Lord.

The Life includes the Douay-Rheims [1] and Vulgate texts of the Gospel, followed by annotations which make extensive use of the commentary by Cornelius Cornelii a Lapide (1567-1637). The illustrations are by Jacques-Joseph Tissot (1836-1902), except where otherwise stated.

[1] With revisions by Bishop Richard Challoner, 1749-52. Taken from a hardcopy of the 1899 Edition by the John Murphy Company. See here for DRBO site.

The Holy Infant of Prague

👈This is the original statue of the Holy Infant, Lord Jesus Christ our King.   It was given by Princess Polyxena von Lobkowicz to the Discalced Carmelites in 1628 and is now located in the Discalced Carmelite Church of Our Lady of Victories in Prague. The author is blessed to have a statue of the Holy Infant received as a gift from the late Fr Dodd, parish priest of Corpus Christi Church, Maiden Lane (Covent Garden).

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The Icon of Vladimir. ?12th century.
  Church of St. Nicholas, Moscow.

I offer our work on St Luke's Gospel as a gift to the Sorrowful and Immaculate Heart of Mary, our gentle Queen and Mother, with a petition that she present it as an act of reparation to her Divine Son so that He, in His mercy, may heal the wounds, repair the damage and undo the scandal caused by sins.

O Lord Jesus Christ our King who hast said, "Ask and you shall receive, seek and you shall find, knock and it shall be opened,"[1] through the intercession of Mary, Your Most Holy Mother, I knock, I seek, I ask that my prayer be granted.

Domine Jesu Christe, Rex noster, qui dixisti: Petite, et dabitur vobis; quærite, et invenietis; pulsate, et aperietur vobis,[1] per intercessionem Mariæ Sanctissimæ Matris Tuæ, pulso, quæro et peto ut deprecationes meas exaudias.

[1] [Luc. xi. 19]

The Icon of Vladimir

This ancient Icon of the Mother of God is said to be based on one painted by the Evangelist St Luke himself on a board taken from the table used by the Holy Family in Nazareth. In 1131, the icon was sent from Constantinople to Rus and was installed in the Devichi monastery in Vyshgorod. In 1155, it was brought to the city of Vladimir and was installed in the Dormition cathedral. It was from this time that the icon received its name of the Vladimir Icon. The icon was first brought to Moscow in 1395 where it is now housed in the Church of St. Nicholas.

Let us pray that our Blessed Mother will gather together her faithful sons from the East and the West so as to be reunited as once they were in the One, Holy, Catholic and Apostolic Church.

WE fly to thy patronage, O holy Mother of God;

 despise not our petitions in our necessities,

 but deliver us always from all dangers,

O glorious and blessed Virgin. Amen.

 

SUB tuum præsidium confugimus, Sancta Dei Genitrix.

 Nostras deprecationes ne despicias in necessitatibus,

sed a periculis cunctis libera nos semper,

 Virgo gloriosa et benedicta. Amen.

Totus tuus ego sum

Et omnia mea tua sunt;

Tecum semper tutus sum:

Ad Jesum per Mariam.

The Life of Christ : St Matthew

Three Archangels with Tobias. c.1471 Uffizi, Florence. 

Today, the feast of St Raphael, sees the last posting on the Life of Christ according to the Gospel of St Matthew on The Life of Christ website. I established the Life of Christ site in 2019 to provide a platform for presenting and illustrating the life of Christ. This was in response to an idea which seemed to speak from the last line of the motto I had adopted as a seal in the same year (see below and at the end of each post):

Ad Jesum per Mariam.

It also reflects the emphasis found in the opening lines of The Imitation of Christ, by Thomas a Kempis:

     He that followeth me, walketh not in darkness, saith Our Lord. (John viii.12). These are the words of Christ, by which we are admonished, that we must imitate His life and manners, if we would be truly enlightened, and delivered from all blindness of heart. Let it then be our chief study to meditate on the life of Jesus Christ. [From The Imitation of Christ, Thomas a Kempis (c. 1418–1427); translated by Bishop Richard Challoner (1755)]

     Qui sequitur me non ambulat in tenebris dicit Dominus. Hæc sunt verba Christi, quibus admonemur quatenus vitam eius et mores imitemur, si volumus veraciter illuminari, et ab omni cæcitate cordis liberari. Summum igitur studium nostrum, sit in vita Jesu meditari.

     Celui qui me suit, ne marche point dans les ténèbres, dit le Seigneur. Ce sont les paroles de Jésus-Christ, par lesquelles il nous exhorte à imiter sa conduite et sa vie, si nous voulons être vraiment éclairés et délivrés de tout aveuglement du cœur. Que notre principale étude soit donc de méditer la vie de Jésus-Christ. [L'Imitation de Jésus-Christ, traduction avec des réflections par M l'Abbé F De Lamenais (1859)]

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Here is a summary of the projects completed to date:

1. The first Life followed the format of The Life of Our Lord Jesus Christ by the remarkable artist James J. Tissot (1897). The posts began on the 14th of October 2019 and concluded on the feast of the Ascension, the 21st of May 2020.
2. The second Life followed the work of l'Abbé Constant Fouard:  La Vie de N-S Jésus-Christ (1880). The first post was published on the feast of Corpus Christi (11th of June 2020) and the series concluded on the 4th of October 2020.
3. The third Life followed the Gospel of St Mark, making use of a work by Madame Cecilia published in 1904 entitled The Gospel according to St Mark. This Life opened on the Feast of St Mark (25th April 2022) and concluded on the 26th of June 2022.
4. The fourth project featured the Acts of the Apostles and also made use of Madame Cecilia's work published in 1907 entitled The Acts of the Apostles. The series began on the 29th June 2022 and concluded on the 11th of September in the same year.
5. The most recent project featured the Gospel of St Matthew.  Making use of Madame Cecilia's commentaries published in 1906, it began on the 29th of June 2023, the feast of St Peter and St Paul, and concluded today, the 24th of October, on the feast of St Raphael.

I offer this work to the Sorrowful and Immaculate Heart of Mary, our gentle Queen and Mother, with a petition that she present it as an act of reparation to her Divine Son's most Sacred Heart so that He, in His mercy, may heal the wounds, repair the damage and undo the scandal caused by sins.

O Lord, graciously send Your holy Archangel Raphael to help us, that he who we know stands ever in the presence of Your Majesty, may present our humble prayers for Your blessing.

Dirigere dignáre, Dómine Deus, in adiutórium nostrum sanctum Raphaélem Archángelum: et, quem tuæ maiestáti semper assístere crédimus, tibi nostras exíguas preces benedicéndas assígnet.

Totus tuus ego sum

Et omnia mea tua sunt;

Tecum semper tutus sum:

Ad Jesum per Mariam.