Miriam, or Mary, the sister of Moses and Aaron, is regarded by the Fathers as a figure of our Lady. We read in the Book of Exodus: " So Mary the Prophetess, the sister of Aaron, took a timbrel in her hand and all the women went forth after her with timbrels and with dances, and she began the song to them, saying: Let us sing to the Lord, for He is gloriously mighty, the horse and the rider He hath thrown into the sea." (Exodus xv. 20-21.) Miriam led the people of God, after the passage of the Red Sea and the destruction of the hosts of evil, to the chosen land, flowing with milk and honey, the vision of peace, which is a type of the heavenly country, whither Christians are journeying through a wilderness of temptation, pursued by sin and Satan. With some such thoughts as these, mingled with the familiar words of Holy Scripture running in his mind, in order to console and encourage his well-loved spiritual daughter Eustochium, St. Jerome wrote as follows:
"What a day shall that be when Mary, the Lord's Mother, shall come to meet thee, attended with virgin choirs. When, after the Red Sea is passed, and Pharaoh with his host, have been overwhelmed, Mary, the sister of Aaron, bearing in her hand the timbrel, will lead the chant, to which they will make response : ' Let us sing to the Lord, for He is gloriously magnified, the horse and its rider He hath thrown into the sea.
