Works › The Mariale: Questions on “Missus est”
Volume 37 · p. 178
Question 125. Whether she was announced?
QUAESTIO CXXV. Utrum fuerit annuntiata?
Post haec probatur, quod fuerit annuntiata, hoc modo:
1. Joannes fuit annuntiatus et alii sancti minores, ut Isaac et Samson: ergo et beatissima Virgo debuit annuntiari.
2. Item, Appropinquante lucifero annuntiatur aurora: sed Joannes fuit lucifer et fuit annuntiatus: beatissima autem Virgo aurora: ergo potius debuit annuntiari.
3. Item, Laborantibus maxime debuit annuntiari ortus aurorae, juxta illud Genesis, XXXII, 26: Dimitte me, jam enim ascendit aurora. Ergo nobis debuit maxime annuntiari ortus consurgentis aurorae, quae quando surrexit, nos secum surgere fecit, et ad surgendum excitavit.
4. Item, Damascenus: « Joachim ergo venerandam et dignam laude Annam in matrimonium duxit. Sed quemadmodum vetus Anna sterilis facta per votum et repromissionem habuit Samuelem, ita et haec per supplicationem et repromissionem a Deo Deiparam profert, ut et in hoc a nullo illustrium vincatur 1. » Ecce expresse patet, quod beata Virgo fuit annuntiata.
QUESTION 125. Whether she was announced?
After this it is proved that she was announced, in this way:
1. John was announced, and other lesser saints, such as Isaac and Samson. Therefore the most blessed Virgin also ought to have been announced.
2. Likewise, when the morning-star approaches, the dawn is announced. But John was the morning-star and was announced; but the most blessed Virgin was dawn. Therefore she ought rather to have been announced.
3. Likewise, the rising of dawn especially ought to be announced to those laboring, according to Genesis 32:26: Let me go, for now the dawn ascends. Therefore the rising of the rising dawn especially ought to have been announced to us, which, when it rose, made us rise with itself and stirred us up to rising.
4. Likewise, Damascene says: “Therefore Joachim took venerable and praiseworthy Anna in marriage. But just as the old Anna, having been made barren, through vow and promise had Samuel, so also this one through supplication and promise brings forth from God the God-bearer, so that in this too she is surpassed by none of the illustrious 1.” Behold, it is expressly clear that the blessed Virgin was announced.
Notes
- John of Damascus, Book IV On the Orthodox Faith, chapter 15. (J. F. Damascenus, Lib. IV de fide orthodoxa, cap. 15.) ↩
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