Volume 37 · pp. 386–387
Book of Judith, page 386
LIBER JUDITH.
Arphaxad itaque, rex Medorum 1.
1. In nostra Judith, id est, in Virgine Maria commendatur pulchritudo admiranda, et sapientia prae cunctis mortalibus veneranda. Judith, XI, 18 et 19: Dicebant servi Holofernis, quia non solum servi Dei ipsam admirantur, sed etiam servi mundi et diaboli, alter ad alterum: Non est talis mulier super terram, imo nec supra caelum, in adspectu, quia etiam macula peccati caruit venialis. In pulchritudine exteriori credimus eam pulcherrimam fuisse, et optime dispositam, quoad Deum, quando dixit, Luc. I, 38: Ecce ancilla Domini, etc. Quoad Angelum, quando dixit, ibidem, v. 34: Quomodo fiet istud? Quoad homines justos, quando salutavit Elisabeth. Quoad peccatores, quando dixit ministris in nuptiis, Joan. II, 5: Quaecumque dixerit vobis, facite. Et etiam quoad Filium suum, quando dixit, Luc. II, 48: Fili, quid fecisti nobis sic?
2. Commendatur etiam Domina mundi, nominis praeclara excellentia. Ipsa enim est post Deum nominatissima. Judith, XI, 21, dixit Holofernes ad Judith. Glossa: quae interpretatur confitens, vel laudans, et significat Mariam: Magna eris, et nomen tuum, id est, Maria, vel maris stella, nominabitur, quia nominabitur mater Dei a Deo, ab Angelis, a justis, a peccatoribus, a Patriarchis, etc.: in universa terra, imo in universo caelo.
3. Commendatur etiam sanctissima Virgo amplissima charitate, quae consideratur in hoc, quod non tam propriam exaltationem, quam nostram quaerebat liberationem. Judith, XII, 8: Judith orabat Dominum, Deum Israel, ferventissime, ut dirigeret viam ejus ad liberationem populi sui captivi et afflicti.
4. Commendatur etiam in ea maxima gratitudo. Gratis enim agebat indesinenter, pro beneficiis sibi collatis, et nobis per eam conferendis, scilicet ut diabolus superaretur, peccatum deleretur, mundus liberaretur. Judith, XIII, 10 et seq.: Abscidit caput Holofernis, id est, diaboli, laudando Deum, et nos consolando, et dixit a longe ad custodes murorum: Aperite portas. Glossa: id est, cordis devotionem, quoniam nobiscum est Deus. Glossa: "Ut carnem infirmitatis nostrae in me assumens, divinitatis suae nos participes faceret, ut propugnator, et victor a potestate diaboli nos eriperet." Et concurrerunt ad eam omnes, scilicet Angeli, quibus dedit laetitiam: justi, quibus gratiam: peccatores, quibus veniam impetrat. Illa autem ascendens in eminentiorem locum. Glossa: ad laudandum Deum pro beneficiis suis, auditores attollens, dixit: Laudate Dominum Deum nostrum. Glossa: Non me, qui non deseruit sperantes in se, quia fidelissimus est: et in me ancilla sua humili, devota, adimplevit mirabiliter, largiter,
BOOK OF JUDITH.
And so Arphaxad, king of the Medes 1.
1. In our Judith, that is, in the Virgin Mary, admirable beauty and wisdom venerable before all mortals are commended. Judith XI, 18 and 19: The servants of Holofernes were saying, because not only the servants of God admire her, but also the servants of the world and the devil, one to another: There is no such woman upon the earth, indeed not even above heaven, in appearance, because she also lacked the stain of venial sin. In exterior beauty we believe she was most beautiful and most perfectly disposed: toward God, when she said, Luke I, 38: Behold the handmaid of the Lord, etc.; toward the Angel, when she said in the same place, verse 34: How shall this be?; toward just men, when she greeted Elizabeth; toward sinners, when she said to the servants at the wedding, John II, 5: Whatever he shall say to you, do; and also toward her Son, when she said, Luke II, 48: Son, why have you done this to us?
2. The Lady of the world is also commended by the renowned excellence of her name. For she, after God, is the most named. Judith XI, 21: Holofernes said to Judith. The Gloss: which is interpreted confessing or praising, and signifies Mary: You will be great, and your name, that is, Mary, or star of the sea, will be named, because she will be named Mother of God by God, by Angels, by the just, by sinners, by Patriarchs, etc., in the whole earth, indeed in the whole heaven.
3. The most holy Virgin is also commended for widest charity, which is considered in this, that she sought not so much her own exaltation as our liberation. Judith XII, 8: Judith prayed to the Lord, the God of Israel, most fervently, that he would direct her way to the liberation of his captive and afflicted people.
4. The greatest gratitude is also commended in her. For she gave thanks without ceasing for benefits conferred on her and to be conferred on us through her, namely that the devil might be overcome, sin destroyed, the world freed. Judith XIII, 10 and following: She cut off the head of Holofernes, that is, of the devil, by praising God and consoling us, and she said from afar to the guards of the walls: Open the gates. The Gloss: that is, the devotion of the heart, because God is with us. The Gloss: "So that, taking on in me the flesh of our weakness, he might make us sharers of his divinity, so that as defender and victor he might snatch us from the power of the devil." And all ran together to her, namely the Angels, to whom she gave gladness; the just, to whom grace; sinners, for whom she obtains pardon. But she, ascending to a higher place. The Gloss: to praise God for his benefits, lifting up her hearers, said: Praise the Lord our God. The Gloss: Not me, but him who did not abandon those hoping in him, because he is most faithful; and in me, his humble and devout handmaid, he fulfilled wondrously, generously,
utiliter, et sapienter, misericordiam suam, quia incarnatus est in me propter peccatores, quam promisit per os Prophetarum domui Israel, id est, Ecclesiae: et interfecit in manu mea, id est, per Filium, qui manus mea est, hostem populi sui. Glossa: id est, diabolum, hac nocte gratiae et misericordiae. Ecce caput Holofernis. Ipsa, de qua dicitur, Genes. III, 15: Ipsa conteret caput tuum.
5. Commendatur etiam in ea maxima fortitudo. Judith, XIII, 22 et seq.: Universi, scilicet Patriarchae, et Prophetae, et omnes fideles, dixerunt ad eam Judith, id est, ad Virginem gloriosam Mariam: Benedixit te Dominus in virtute sua, tibi gratiam et fortitudinem tribuens, quia per te, non per Angelorum, vel Sanctorum aliquem, ad nihilum redegit inimicos nostros, diabolum superando, peccata delendo, mundum vivificando. Quia hodie, scilicet in die annuntiationis, quando mater Dei effecta est, vel in die assumptionis, quando super omnes choros Angelorum exaltata est, nomen tuum, Angelis reverendum, hominibus amandum, daemonibus tremendum, ita magnificavit in caelo, et in terra, ut non recedat laus tua de ore hominum, et omnium Angelorum, qui memores fuerint virtutis Domini, per te manifestata in aeternum, pro quibus non pepercisti animae tuae, in die amarissimae mortis praedilecti Filii tui, propter angustias et tribulationem generis tui, miserorum filiorum Adam: sed subvenisti misericorditer, viriliter, et fideliter, ruinae magnae, amarae, ignominiosae, et aeternae, ante conspectum Dei nostri. Et dixit omnis populus: Fiat! fiat! ... Et dixit Judith ad Achior: Caput omnium incredulorum incidit hac nocte in manu mea.
6. Commendatur etiam Regina Angelorum a maxima humilitate quae consideratur in hoc, quod omnes vermiculos, perditos filios perditi Adam, fratres suos vocat. Judith, XIV, 1 et seq.: Dixit Judith ad omnem populum: Audite me, fratres, quorum soror ego sum ex natura. Item, vocat alibi nos filios. Proverb. VIII, 32: Nunc ergo, filii, audite me, tamquam matrem: sed hic, audite me, tamquam fratres sororem. Suspendite caput hoc crudele, nequam, omni fallacia plenum, quod ego abscidi, super muros nostros. Glossa: "In doctrina Evangelica, quae est murus credentium, in illa parte, in qua ostendatis aperte hostis superbiam esse contritam." Cum exierit sol. Glossa: "Docet qualiter hostem nostrum persequamur." Cum exierit de utero meo, tamquam sponsus de thalamo suo 2: quod factum est in nativitate Domini, sol, id est, Christus filius meus, illuminans caecos, inflammans frigidos, foecundans steriles, et se, ut sol, omnibus largiens, et diffundens. Exite cum impetu nihil formidantes, ad pugnam contra mundum, diabolum, et peccatum.
7. Commendatur etiam beatissima Virgo a summa sapientia, per quam diaboli regnum confudit, et caput suum contrivit. Judith, XIV, 16: Una mulier Hebraea, id est, Maria, fecit confusionem magnam, et inopinabilem, in domo regis Nabuchodonosor, id est, diaboli. Confudit enim superbiam ejus per humilitatem suam, astutiam per sapientiam, et sic de aliis.
8. Ipsa est illa, quae traxit Filium Dei de caelo in uterum suum, ut ipsa sibi mater fieret incarnationis, et domus habitationis. Judith, XV, 9 et seq.: Joacim. Glossa: "Qui interpretatur Domini resurrectio, significat Christum," qui de Jerusalem venit in Bethuliam. Glossa: id est, in uterum Virginis, ut videret Judith. Glossa: id est, probaret fidem, et dilectionem. Quae cum exiisset ad illum, per nativitatem, benedixerunt eam omnes una voce, dicentes: Tu gloria Jerusalem,
usefully, and wisely, his mercy, because he was incarnate in me for sinners, which he promised through the mouth of the Prophets to the house of Israel, that is, the Church; and he killed in my hand, that is, through the Son, who is my hand, the enemy of his people. The Gloss: that is, the devil, on this night of grace and mercy. Behold the head of Holofernes. She is the one of whom it is said, Genesis III, 15: She will crush your head.
5. The greatest fortitude is also commended in her. Judith XIII, 22 and following: All, namely Patriarchs and Prophets and all the faithful, said to her, Judith, that is, to the glorious Virgin Mary: The Lord has blessed you in his power, granting you grace and strength, because through you, not through any Angel or Saint, he has reduced our enemies to nothing, by overcoming the devil, destroying sins, and vivifying the world. Because today, namely on the day of the annunciation, when she was made Mother of God, or on the day of the assumption, when she was exalted above all the choirs of Angels, he so magnified your name, reverend to Angels, beloved to men, fearful to demons, in heaven and on earth, that your praise may not depart from the mouth of men and of all Angels, who shall remember the power of the Lord manifested through you forever; for them you did not spare your soul on the day of the most bitter death of your beloved Son, because of the anguish and tribulation of your race, the miserable sons of Adam, but you mercifully, manfully, and faithfully came to the aid of the great, bitter, shameful, and eternal ruin before the sight of our God. And all the people said: Let it be! Let it be! ... And Judith said to Achior: The head of all unbelievers has fallen this night by my hand.
6. The Queen of Angels is also commended for the greatest humility, which is considered in this, that she calls all little worms, the lost sons of lost Adam, her brothers. Judith XIV, 1 and following: Judith said to all the people: Hear me, brothers, whose sister I am by nature. Likewise, elsewhere she calls us sons. Proverbs VIII, 32: Now therefore, sons, hear me, as a mother; but here, Hear me, brothers, as a sister. Hang up this cruel, wicked head, full of every deceit, which I cut off, upon our walls. The Gloss: "In evangelical doctrine, which is the wall of believers, in that part in which you openly show that the enemy's pride has been crushed." When the sun goes out. The Gloss: "She teaches how we should pursue our enemy." When he goes out from my womb, like a bridegroom from his bridal chamber 2, which was done in the nativity of the Lord: the sun, that is, Christ my son, illuminating the blind, inflaming the cold, making the sterile fruitful, and giving and diffusing himself to all like the sun. Go out with force, fearing nothing, to battle against the world, the devil, and sin.
7. The most blessed Virgin is also commended by the highest wisdom, through which she confounded the kingdom of the devil and crushed his head. Judith XIV, 16: One Hebrew woman, that is, Mary, made a great and unexpected confusion in the house of King Nabuchodonosor, that is, the devil. For she confounded his pride through her humility, his craftiness through wisdom, and so concerning the others.
8. She is that one who drew the Son of God from heaven into her womb, so that she herself became for him mother of incarnation and house of habitation. Judith XV, 9 and following: Joachim. The Gloss: "Which is interpreted resurrection of the Lord, signifies Christ," who came from Jerusalem into Bethulia. The Gloss: that is, into the womb of the Virgin, that he might see Judith. The Gloss: that is, prove faith and love. And when she had gone out to him through the nativity, they all blessed her with one voice, saying: You are the glory of Jerusalem,
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