" Mary," says St. Thomas, "practised every virtue. Other Saints were conspicuous for certain virtues—one was given us as an example of humility, another of chastity, another of mercy, but the Blessed Virgin of all virtues."
So also St. Antoninus: " In Mary the Virgin are found the perfections of all the Saints."
There is a beautiful tradition, caught at by many devout painters, which tells us that in His Human Features our Lord resembled His Blessed Mother, so that when He was yet a Child, those passing Him in the streets would say, as they looked upon His Face: "There is the Son of Mary of Nazareth." However this may be, it is certain that in the dis positions of her soul our Lady was marvellously near to the dispositions of the Sacred Heart of Jesus Christ. She is called by the Church Speculum lustitice, the Mirror reflecting the Image of her Lord. It is, then, indeed good for us to strive to imitate her as she imitated Christ, to watch the manner in which she reflected the Divine Example.
Throughout this book I am endeavouring constantly to keep before the minds of my readers the virtues of the Blessed Mother of God. Thus when we dwelt on her Sorrows and Joys, who could have failed to note Mary's obedience and patience, her submission in all things to the holy Will of God? It may, however, be well to devote some space to the considerations of her virtues one by one—for the various perfections of her immaculate soul, but especially her faith and hope and charity, her perfect example of prayer to God, her sublime humility, her spotless purity and her absorbing love for her Incarnate Lord should never be forgotten by her children.
St. Bernard writing on the words: " Wisdom hath built herself a house, she hath hewn her out seven pillars," first shows that by Wisdom is here signified Christ our Lord, and that the house thus built by God is the Blessed Virgin Mary. By the seven pillars he understands the adornment of Faith and Morals, by the presence of which there might be prepared a fitting dwelling for the Lord:
"Assuredly the threefold number belongs to Faith, in consequence of the Holy Trinity; the fourfold to Morals on account of the four cardinal virtues. That the Holy Trinity dwelt in Mary (dwelt, I mean by the Presence of the Divine Majesty, where the Son alone dwelt by taking upon Himself Humanity) is testified by the heavenly Ambassador when he said: Hail, thou that art full of grace, the Lord is with thee,' and after a short while: ' the Holy Ghost shall come upon thee, and the Virtue of the Most High shall overshadow thee.' Behold I You have the Lord, you have the Virtue of the Most High, you have the Holy Ghost. You have the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Ghost"
