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MYSTICAL, CITY OF GOD
BOOK 1
CHAPTER 16.
OF THE HABITS OF VIRTUE, WITH WHICH GOD GIFTED THE SOUL OF THE MOST HOLY MARY, AND OF HER
FIRST EXERCISES OF THESE VIRTUES IN THE WOMB OF HER MOTHER ANNE; SHE HERSELF GIVES ME INSTRUCTIONS
FOR IMITATING HER.
225. The impetuous floods of the Divinity met in this holy City of the sanctified soul
of Mary. It took its origin from the foundation of his Wisdom and Goodness, by which and whence
He had resolved to deposit within this heavenly Lady the greatest graces and virtues ever
to be given to any other creature for all eternity. And when the hour had arrived for
giving them to her possession, namely the very moment of her coming into natural life,
the Almighty fulfilled according to his pleasure and full satisfaction the desire, which He
had held suspended from all eternity until the time for gratifying this wish should arrive.
The most faithful Lord executed his design, showering down all his graces and gifts in
the most holy soul of Mary at the time of her Conception in such an overpowering measure
as no other saint, nor all of them combined, can ever reach, nor ever human tongue can
manifest.
226. Although She was adorned as the Bride, descending from heaven, endowed with all perfections
and with the whole range of infused virtues, it was not necessary that She should exercise
all of them at once, it being sufficient that She exercise those, which were befitting her
state in the womb of her mother. Among the first thus exercised were the three theological
virtues, faith, hope and charity, which relate immediately to God. These She at once practiced
in the most exalted manner recognizing by a most sublime faith the Divinity with all
its perfections and its infinite attributes, and the Trinity with its distinction of Persons.
This knowledge by faith was not impeded by the higher knowledge which God gave her, as
I will soon demonstrate. She exercised also the virtue of hope, seeing in God the object
of her happiness and her ultimate end. Toward this her sanctified Soul at once hastened
and aspired with the most intense desires of uniting Herself with God and without having
for one moment turned to any other object or tarried one moment in her upward flight.
At the same instant also She put into action the virtue of charity, seeing in God the infinite
and highest Good, and conceiving such an intense appreciation of the Divinity, that not all
the seraphim could ever reach such an eminent degree of fervor and virtue.
227. The other virtues which adorn and perfect the rational part of the creature, She possessed
in a proportion corresponding to the theological virtues. The moral and natural virtues were
hers in a miraculous and supernatural measure, and in a still more exalted manner was She
possessed of the gifts and fruits of the Holy Ghost in the order of grace. She had an infused
knowledge and habit of all these virtues and of all the natural arts, so that She knew
and was conversant with the whole natural and supernatural order of things, in accordance
with the grandeur of God. Hence from her first instant in the womb of her mother, She was
wiser, more prudent, more enlightened, and more capable of comprehending God and all
his works, than all the creatures have been or ever will be in eternity, excepting of
course her most holy Son. And all this perfection consisted not only in the habits, which were
infused in Her in such a high degree; but in the acts which She exercised in correspondence
with the excellence of her state and in proportion to the activity of the divine power. Therefore
her perfection was not circumscribed by any other bounds, nor was subject to any other
limits than God's divine and most just pleasure.
228. Since much will be said in the course of this history, of all these virtues and
graces and of their exercise, I mention here only a little of that which She achieved at
the instant of her Conception by the help of the infused habits and the actual light
bestowed upon Her. In the exercise of the theological virtues, as I have said, and of
the virtue of religion, and of the cardinal virtues consequent upon it, She perceived
God as He is and as the Creator and Glorifier; in heroic acts She reverenced Him, praised
Him, gave Him thanks for having created Her, loved Him, feared Him and adored Him, offering
sacrifices of worship, praise and glory because of his immutable Being. She recognized the
gifts, which She had received, although some of them were yet hidden to Her, and She gave
thanks with profound humility and prostrated Herself immediately in the womb of her mother,
though yet in a body so small; and by these acts She merited more than all the saints
in the highest state of perfection and sanctity.
229. In addition to the facts of faith She possessed other knowledge of the mystery of
the Divinity and of the most holy Trinity. Although in this instant of her Conception
She did not see Him intuitively as the saints, yet She saw Him in abstraction by a light
and vision which though inferior to the beatific vision, were nevertheless superior to all
the other ways, in which God can manifest Himself or does manifest Himself to the created
intelligence; for there were shown to Her images of the Divinity so clear and manifest
that She understood the immutable being of God, and in Him, all creation, with a greater
light and clearness than any creature ever is understood by another. And these images
were like a shining mirror from which was resplendent the whole Divinity and in It all
creatures; so that in God She saw and recognized, by means of this light and by means of these
images of the divine nature, all things with a greater distinctness and clearness than
was possible by the images of the infused science already vouchsafed Her.
230. In all these different ways was laid open to Her from the very instant of her Conception
the vision of all men and angels in their hierarchies, dignities and operations, and
of all the irrational creatures with their natures and conditions. She saw the fall of
the angels and their ruin; the justification and glory of the good ones, and the rejection
and punishment of the bad ones; the first state of Adam and Eve in their innocence;
their deception, their guilt, and the misery in which the first parents were thrown on
account of it; and in what misfortune the whole human race was cast through them; the
divine resolve to repair it; the pre-ordaining and the disposing of the world, the nature
of the heavens, the stars and planets; the condition and the arrangement of the elements;
She saw purgatory, limbo and hell; She saw how all these things and whatever is contained
in them were created by the divine power and were maintained and preserved by the infinite
goodness, without having need of any of them (II Mach. 14, 35). Above all She was informed
of the most high sacraments connected with the Incarnation, by which God was to become
man in order to redeem the whole human race, while the fallen angels were left without
a remedy.
231. In correspondence with this wonderful knowledge of her most holy soul at the instant
of its union with the body, Mary exerted Herself by eliciting heroic acts of virtue, of incomparable
admiration, praise, glorification, adoration, humility, love of God and sorrow for the sins
committed against Him, whom She recognized as the Author and end of these admirable works.
She hastened to offer Herself as an acceptable sacrifice to the Most High, beginning from
that instant with fervent desire to bless Him, love Him and honor Him, because She perceived
that the bad angels and men failed to know and love Him. She requested the holy angels
whose Queen She already was, to help Her to glorify the Creator and Lord of all, and to
pray also for Her.
232. The Lord in this instant showed Her also her guardian angels, whom she recognized and
accepted with joyful submission, inviting them to sing canticles of praise to the Most
High alternatively with Her. She announced to them beforehand that this was to be the
service which they were to render Her during the whole time of her mortal life, in which
they were to act as her assistants and guards. She was informed moreover of her whole genealogy,
and the genealogy of all of the rest of the holy people chosen by God, the Patriarchs
and Prophets, and how admirable his Majesty was in the gifts, graces and favors wrought
in them. It is worthy of admiration, that, although the exterior faculties of her body
at the creation of her most holy Soul were hardly large enough to be distinguished, nevertheless,
in order that none of the miraculous excellence with which God could endow his Mother might
be wanting, He ordained by the power of his right hand that in perceiving the fall of
man She shed tears of sorrow in the womb of her mother at the gravity of the offense against
the highest Good.
233. In this wonderful sorrow at the instant of her coming into existence, She began to
seek a remedy for mankind and commenced the work of mediation, intercession and reparation.
She offered to God the clamors of her ancestors and of the just of the earth, that his mercy
might not delay the salvation of mortals, whom she even then looked upon as her brethren.
Before She ever conversed with them She loved them with the most ardent charity and with
the very beginning of her existence She assumed the office of Benefactress of men and exercised
the divine and fraternal love enkindled in her heart. These petitions the Most High accepted
with greater pleasure than the prayers of all the saints and angels and this pleasure
of God was also made known to Her, who was created to be the Mother of God. She perceived
the love of God and his desire to descend from heaven in order to redeem men, though
She knew not how it should be consummated. It was befitting that God should feel Himself
impelled to hasten his coming on account of the prayers and petitions of this Creature;
since it was principally for the love of Her that He came, and since in Her body He was
to assume human flesh, accomplish the most admirable of all his works, and fulfill the
end of all other creatures.
234. She also prayed at the moment of her Conception for her natural parents, Joachim
and Anne, whom She knew in God before She had seen them in the body. Immediately She
exercised the virtues of love, reverence and gratitude of a daughter, acknowledging them
as the secondary causes of her natural being. She made many other petitions in general and
for particular objects. By aid of the infused science given to Her, She began to compose
songs of gratitude in her mind and heart for having, at the portal of life, found the precious
drachm, which we all have lost in our first beginning (Luke 15, 9). She found the grace,
which issued forth to meet her (Ecc1i. 15, 2), She found the Divinity, which met Her
at the threshold of her existence (Sap. 6, 15). Her faculties of body and soul found,
at the instant of her creation, the most noble Object, which attracted and entranced them;
for they were created solely for It, and, as they were to be hers entirely, it was proper
also that the first fruits of their activity, which were the knowledge and love of God,
should be devoted to that Object. In this Queen there was no existence without knowledge
of God! no knowledge without love, and no love without its merit. Nor was there in Her
anything small, or measured merely by the common laws or by the general rules. Great
was She altogether and great did She come forth from the hands of the Most High in order
to proceed and arrive at such an excellence of being, that God alone would be greater.
Oh how beautiful were those steps of thine, Daughter of the King, since with thy first
one Thou didst reach the Godhead! (Cant. 7, 1). Twice beautiful wert Thou, for thy grace
and beauty! (Cant. 4, 1). Heavenly are thine eyes (Cant. 7, 5), and thy thoughts are like
the kingly carmine, since Thou hast enraptured his heart and hast made Him Prisoner by a
thread of thy hair (Cant. 4, 9) and drawn Him captured by the love of thy virginal womb
and heart.
235. There in truth the spouse of the King did sleep, while her heart was awake (Cant.
5, 2). There those bodily faculties, which scarcely had yet attained their natural form
and had not yet seen the material light, were asleep, and that heavenly heart, more marvelous
on account of the greatness of its gifts than by the smallness of its size, was watching
in the chamber of her mother's womb with the light of the Divinity, which bathed it and
enkindled it in the fire of its immense love. It was not befitting that in this heavenly
Creature the inferior faculties of the soul should act before the superior ones, nor that
they should operate in an inferior, or merely in a manner equal to those of any other creature.
For if the operations correspond to the essence of each creature, She, who always was superior
to all of them in dignity and excellence, was also to be superior in her operations
to all creatures, angelic and human. Not only was She to be nothing short of the angelic
spirits in so far as they immediately made use of their faculties at the instant of their
creation, but this prerogative was due to Her in superior excellence as She was created
as their Queen and Lady. And this by so much more, as the name and office of Mother of
God excels that of servants, and that of Queen, the estate of vassals; for to none of the
angels had the Word said: thou shalt be my Mother (Heb. 1, 5) ; nor could anyone of them
say to Him: Thou art my Son. Mary alone could claim this commerce and relationship, which
is therefore the real measure and foundation of the greatness of Mary, in the same way
as the Apostle measured the greatness of Christ by his being the Son of the eternal Father.
236. In writing of these sacraments of the King, howsoever honorable it is to reveal
his works, I confess my inaptitude and incapacity, being only a woman, and I am afflicted, because
I am speaking in such common and vague terms, which fall entirely short of that, which I
perceive in the light given to my soul for the understanding of these mysteries. In order
to do justice to such sublimity, there were need of other words, more particular and especially
adapted terms and expressions, which are beyond my ignorance. And even if they were at my
service, they would be weighed down and made insipid by human weakness. Let therefore this
human imbecility acknowledge itself unequal and incapable of fixing its eyes on this heavenly
sun, with which the rays of the Divinity break upon the world, although yet beclouded in
the maternal womb of holy Anne. If we seek permission to approach this wonderful sight,
let us come near free and unshackled. Let us not allow ourselves to be detained, neither
by our natural cowardice nor by a base fear and hesitation, even though it be under the
cloak of humility. Let us all approach with the greatest devotion and piety, free from
the spirit of contention (Rom. 13, 12); then we will be permitted to examine with our own
eyes the fire of the Divinity burning in the bush without consuming it (Exodus 2, 2).
237. I have said that the most holy soul of Mary, at the moment of her purest Conception,
saw the divine Essence abstractively, for it was not revealed to me, that She saw the
essential Glory; rather I understood that this latter privilege was peculiar to the
most holy soul of Christ, such being due and consequent upon the substantial union of the
Divinity in the Person of the Word. For it was befitting that for not one moment should
the soul of Christ be deprived in all its faculties of the highest grace and glory.
Just as the man, Christ, our highest Good, commenced to be conjointly God and man, so
He began at the same instant also to know and love God as one already possessing Him,
that is as a comprehensor. But the soul of his most holy Mother was not united substantially
with the Divinity and therefore She did not begin her activity as a possessor of God,
but entered into life as a wayfarer. However, She entered this state of wayfarer as one
in closest proximity to the hypostatic union, and therefore She was endowed with a vision
of God proportionate and most immediate to the beatific vision. Her vision was inferior
to the beatific, but superior to all the visions and revelations which have been vouchsafed
to other creatures, always excepting the clear vision and fruition of the Blessed. Nevertheless
in some respects and in regard to some qualities, the perception of God by the Mother of Christ
in her first instant, excelled even the intuitive vision of other creatures, in so far as She
penetrated abstractively into greater mysteries than they. Moreover, though, She did not see
God face to face at that moment of her Conception, She was favored with that kind of vision many
times afterwards during the course of her life, as I will say later on.
INSTRUCTION WHICH THE QUEEN OF HEAVEN GAVE ME REGARDING THIS CHAPTER.
238. In the preceding chapters of this history I said a few times that the Queen and Mother
of mercy had promised that when I should begin to describe the first operations of her faculties
and virtues She would instruct me how to model my life after her own; for this would be the
principal purpose of showing it to me as in a mirror. And this great Lady, most faithful
to her promises, besides continuing to assist me by her heavenly presence and the explanation
of these mysteries, began to acquit Herself of this promise in this chapter and told me
to expect the same as long as I should continue to write this history. Accordingly at the
end of each chapter I will write down what her Majesty shall teach me, as She has done
even now, speaking to me in the following manner:
239. My daughter, I wish that thou reap for thyself the fruits which thou desirest from
the description of the mysteries and sacraments of my holy life; and let the reward of thy
labors be the greater purity and perfection of thy life, disposing thyself by the grace
of the Most High to practice what thou hearest. It is the will of my divine Son, that thou
exert all thy powers toward that which I shall teach thee, and that thou apply thyself with
all thy heart to my virtues and works. Hear me with attentive faith, for I will speak
to thee words of eternal life and teach thee the most holy things of a perfect Christian
life and what is most acceptable to God. Begin even now to dispose thyself for the reception
of the light, in which thou shalt see the hidden mysteries of my most holy life and
the doctrine, which thou desirest. Continue in this exercise and write down that which
I will teach thee in this regard. And now listen.
240. It is an act of justice due to the eternal God that the creature coming to the use of
reason, direct its very first movement toward God. By knowing, it should begin to love Him,
reverence Him and adore Him as its Creator and only true Lord. The parents are naturally
bound to instruct their children from their infancy in this knowledge of God and to direct
them with solicitous care, so that they may at once see their ultimate end and seek it
in their first acts of the intellect and will. They should with great watchfulness withdraw
them from the childishness and puerile trickishness to which depraved nature will incline them
if left without direction. If the fathers and mothers would be solicitous to prevent
these vanities and perverted habits of their children and would instruct them from their
infancy in the knowledge of their God and Creator, then they would afterwards easily
accustom them to know and adore Him. My holy mother, who knew not of my wisdom and real
condition, was most solicitously beforehand in this matter, for when She bore me in her
womb, she adored in my name the Creator and offered worship and thanks for his having
created me, beseeching Him to defend me and bring me forth to the light of day from the
condition in which I then was. So also parents should pray with fervor to God, that the souls
of their children, through his Providence, may obtain Baptism and be freed from the servitude
of original sin.
241. And if the rational creature has not known and adored the Creator from the first
dawn of reason, it should do this as soon as it obtains knowledge of the essential God
by the light of faith. From that very moment the soul must exert itself never to lose Him
from her sight, always fearing Him, loving Him, and reverencing Him. Thou, my daughter,
owest this adoration to God from the beginning of thy life; but now I desire thee to practice
it in a more perfect manner, as I shall show thee. Direct the eyes of thy soul toward the
essence of God, which is without beginning and without limit, contemplate his infinite
attributes and perfections. Consider that He alone is the true holiness, the highest
good, the most noble object of creatures, that He alone gave being to all things and
without having need of them, sustains and governs them. He is consummate beauty without
defect, He is eternal in his love, true in his words and most faithful in his promises.
He it was who gave his own life and subjected Himself to sufferings for the good of his
creatures without waiting for any merits on their part. Over this wide field of goodness
and of benefits extend thy vision and occupy thy faculties without forgetting or wandering
away therefrom. For, having obtained such a great knowledge of the highest Good, thine
would be a loathsome meanness and disloyalty to forget Him, and horrible would be thy ingratitude,
if, after having received an enlightenment so much above the common and ordinary, and
divinely infused by faith, thou wouldst allow thy understanding and will to swerve from
the course of divine love. If at any time in thy weakness it should nevertheless happen,
then quickly seek it again with all dispatch and diligence and return more humbly to the
Most High to give Him honor, glory and eternal praise. Remember that thou must consider it
thy special duty to do this incessantly for thyself and for all the other creatures and
in this I desire thee to exert all thy diligence.
242. In order to excite thyself to greater efforts, confer in thy heart what thou knowest
of my own conduct; how at the first sight of the highest Good, my heart was wounded
with love, giving myself entirely to Him in order never to separate myself thereafter.
My whole life was consumed in this and I ceased not to press forward in order to arrive at
the centre of my desires and affections; for since the Object is infinite, so love can
have no rest or cessation until It is attained. With the knowledge of God and the love of
Him should also go the knowledge of thyself, remembering and considering thy insignificance
and vileness. Advert that when these truths are well understood, repeated, and meditated
upon, they will cause divine effects in the soul.
Having heard these teachings and others of the Queen, I said to her Majesty:
243. "My Mistress, whose slave I am and to whom I dedicate and consecrate myself anew;
not without cause has my heart desired and asked for this day, on which, according to
thy maternal condescension, I might come to know thy heavenly doings and hear thy sweet
and salutary words. I confess, O Queen, from all my heart, that I can claim no goodness
on my part, which deserves such a benefit as a reward and, if I were not obeying thy
will and that of thy divine Son, I would look upon the attempt to write thy life as an unpardonable
presumption. Accept, O my Lady, this sacrifice of praise from me and speak, that my servant
may hear. Let thy most delightful voice, O sweetest Lady, resound in my ears,
(Canticles, 2, 14),
for Thou hast the words of life.
(John, 6, 69).
Continue to teach me and enlighten me, O Lady, that my heart may dilate in the sea of thy
perfections, furnishing me with worthy material for the praise of the Almighty. In my ***
burns the fire, enkindled by thy kindness and longing for that, which is most holy and
most acceptable to thy eyes. In my inferior members, however, I feel the law of repugnance
to the law of the spirit, retarding me and embarrassing me. I justly fear that it will
hinder me from attaining the good which Thou, most loving Mother, dost offer to me. Look
upon me, therefore, my Lady, as a daughter, teach me as thy disciple, correct me as thy
servant, and compel me as thy slave, whenever I am tardy or disinclined; for, though unwillingly,
I fall short through weakness. I will raise my aspirations to know the being of God, and,
may his divine grace govern my affections, so that they may become enamored with his
infinite perfections and if I attain Him, I will not dismiss Him.
But Thou, O Lady, Mother of knowledge and of beautiful love, beseech thy Son and my
Lord, that He forsake me not in consideration of His liberality toward Thee, Thou Queen
and Mistress of all creation."