Works › The Mariale: Questions on “Missus est”
Volume 37 · pp. 122–123
Question 66. Whether the gift of fortitude was in her
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QUAESTIO LXVI.
Utrum donum fortitudinis fuerit in ipsa?
Post haec quaeritur de dono fortitudinis. Quod autem fuerit in beatissima Virgine in summo, probatur hoc modo:
1. Quidquid est fortius fortiore, est fortius infirmiore: beatissima Virgo fuit fortior tribus fortioribus omni viatore: ergo ipsa fuit fortior omni viatore. Tres fortiores omni viatore sunt Deus, mors, diabolus. Humilitas beatissimae Virginis Deum superavit quodammodo, quando eum de caelis ad terras humilitate deducens, charitate vinculatum pariter et humiliatum et vulneratum in sua virginitate incarceravit. Unde in Canticis, I, 11: Dum esset rex in accubitu suo, nardus mea dedit odorem suum. Et in Proverbiis, XXXI, 10: Mulierem fortem quis inveniet? procul et de ultimis finibus pretium ejus. Ultimi fines sunt divinitas et humanitas maxime a se distantes. Unde fortissima mulier haec fuit quae haec conjunxit. Sic igitur fortitudo beatissimae Virginis rigorem fortitudinis divinae severitatis superavit, de quo, Numer. XXIII, 22 et XXIV, 8: Cujus fortitudo similis est rhinocerotis, cujus fortitudo in gremio virginis mansuescit. Et sic patet per quem modum beatissima Virgo Dei fortitudinem superavit. Item, secundus fortis est mors, cui nemo mortalium resistere potest. Omnes enim morimur, et quasi aquae dilabimur in terram 1. Hac fortior erat beatissima Virgo, quae mortem destruxit: sicut enim mors intravit per feminam, quae vitam destruxit, sic et vita rediit per beatam Virginem, quae mortem destruxit. Et ita beatissima Virgo fuit destructio mortis, et ita fortior fuit morte. Tertius fortis est diabolus, de quo dicit Job: Non est super terram potestas quae comparatur ei 2. Beatissima Virgo fuit illo fortior, juxta illud: Ipsa conteret caput tuum 3, etc.
QUESTION 66.
Whether the gift of fortitude was in her.
After these things inquiry is made concerning the gift of fortitude. That it was in the most blessed Virgin in the highest degree is proved in this way:
1. Whatever is stronger than the stronger is stronger than the weaker. The most blessed Virgin was stronger than three things stronger than every wayfarer; therefore she was stronger than every wayfarer. The three things stronger than every wayfarer are God, death, and the devil. The humility of the most blessed Virgin in a certain way overcame God, when, drawing him down by humility from heaven to earth, and at the same time bound by charity, humbled, and wounded, she imprisoned him in her virginity. Hence in the Song of Songs 1:11: While the king was at his repose, my nard gave its fragrance. And in Proverbs 31:10: Who will find a strong woman? her price is far off and from the furthest ends. The furthest ends are divinity and humanity, most distant from one another. Hence this was the strongest woman, who joined these things. Thus, therefore, the fortitude of the most blessed Virgin overcame the rigor of the fortitude of divine severity, concerning which, Numbers 23:22 and 24:8: Whose fortitude is like that of the rhinoceros, whose fortitude grows gentle in the lap of the virgin. And thus it is clear by what mode the most blessed Virgin overcame the fortitude of God. Likewise, the second strong thing is death, which no mortal can resist. For we all die and flow away like waters into the earth 1. The most blessed Virgin was stronger than this, she who destroyed death; for just as death entered through a woman, who destroyed life, so also life returned through the blessed Virgin, who destroyed death. And so the most blessed Virgin was the destruction of death, and so she was stronger than death. The third strong thing is the devil, concerning whom Job says: There is no power on earth that is compared to him 2. The most blessed Virgin was stronger than he, according to that saying: She shall crush your head 3, and so forth.
2. Item, Actus fortitudinis essentialis est inseparabiliter adhaerere Deo. Beatissima Virgo adhaerebat Deo inseparabiliter, omnes alii separabiliter. Ergo fuit aliis fortior improportionabiliter.
3. Item, Actus fortitudinis est terrenas cupiditates non tantum opprimere, sed penitus oblivisci: hoc autem non contingit in aliquo viatore in via interim quod fomes aliquo modo viget, sed solum in ipsa minime potuit in qua fomes exstinctus fuit: ergo habuit actum fortitudinis per modum patriae et super omnem viatorem sine proportione 4.
2. Likewise, the essential act of fortitude is to cling inseparably to God. The most blessed Virgin clung to God inseparably, all others separably. Therefore she was disproportionately stronger than others.
3. Likewise, the act of fortitude is not only to suppress earthly desires, but to forget them entirely. But this does not occur in any wayfarer on the way while the tinder of sin flourishes in any way, but could occur least of all only in her in whom the tinder was extinguished; therefore she had the act of fortitude through the mode of the homeland and above every wayfarer without proportion 4.
Notes
- 2 Kings 14:14. (II Regum, XIV, 14.) ↩
- Job 41:24. (Job, XLI, 24.) ↩
- Genesis 3:15. (Genes. III, 15.) ↩
- For the solution of the objections, see below after Question 69. (Pro solutione objectorum, vide infra post Quaest. LXIX.) ↩
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