The History Of The Blessed Virgin, Translated From The French By The Very Rev. F. C. Husenbeth, D.D., V.G. Part 25.

Chapter 8.

The Annunciation. Part 2.

As to the Virgin, she lived on so little that ancient authors, fond of the marvellous, believed that she was fed by angels.

When Joseph, fatigued with the labours of the day, returned at sunset to his little low apartment, he found his young companion hastening to offer him, by turns, warm water, which she had heated to wash his feet, and cold clear water from the fountain, in a vessel pure from all unclean contact, 1 for the ablutions before the repast. That grave and simple man, with his fine patriarchal countenance, where every passion was silent; that angelical young female all eager to serve him with the solicitude of a dear daughter, formed a group worthy of the golden age. 2

Meantime, the hour marked out by the Eternal in his divine counsels for the Incarnation of his Christ had arrived. The angel Gabriel, one of the four 3 who are always before the face of the Lord, received a mysterious mission, which removed him, for a short time, from the kingdom of heaven. Clothed in one of those beautiful coverings of dense air, with which the pure spirits are surrounded when they would be perceptible to the gross senses of the children of men, 4 the angel left behind him the golden palaces and the emerald walls of the heavenly Jerusalem, the gates of which are twelve pearls, 5 and spread his vast white wings, 6 with his brow all radiant with benignant joy; for the holy angels are as glad at the happiness of men as the had angels are at their ruin and sufferings.

After traversing the immeasurable deserts of the sty, of which the stars are the oasis, the angel who had foretold to Daniel the coming of the Messias, and who came to act for the accomplishment of that grand promise of God, directed his course, with the rapidity of thought, towards our little planet, which his piercing eye discovered at an immense distance, in the state of a nebulous star, which next shone with a feeble milky light; and ..which finally took the rotundity and tranquil light of the moon, whose phases it has. 

As he approached this little globe,-which man has proudly divided into zones and hemispheres, and in which he bestirs himself, with insane ardour, to pick up a few bits of gold, which he makes his god,—the angel began to distinguish expanses of blue and shining water, surmounted with dark points like small submarine rocks: these were our oceans and our high mountains. The towns were not yet visible, nor men; they are so small! But at last, the earth, which had at first presented itself under a microscopic form, was gradually enlarged into vast countries covered with kingdoms, divided by deserts, and planted with forests. Arrived directly over Palestine, the angel from on high directed his look, as a benediction, down upon the beautiful town of Nazareth, and descending softly from the clouds like the falling stars, he came down gracefully, like a fine swan.

The sun was declining towards the lofty promontory of Carmel, and would soon set in the horizon of the sea of Syria, when the angel presented himself in the modest oratory of the Blessed Virgin. 7  As a faithful observer of the religious customs of her people, Mary, with her head turned in the direction of the temple, 8 was then making her evening prayer to the God of Jacob. 9 "Hail, full of grace," said the celestial envoy, bowing his radiant head; "the Lord is with thee; blessed art thou among women."

Mary felt an involuntary trembling at this marvellous apparition. Perhaps, like Moses, she feared that she should see God, and die; perhaps, as St. Ambrose thought, her virginal purity was alarmed at the sight of this son of heaven, who entered, like the rays of light, into that solitary cell where no man penetrated; perhaps it was the respectful attitude and the magnificent eulogy of the angel which disconcerted her humility. Whatever may have been the cause, the Evangelist relates that she was troubled at his saying, and thought with herself what manner of salutation this should be, seeking, but in vain, to understand the object of this astonishing visit, and the hidden meaning of this mysterious salutation.

1 There was among the Jews a multitude of precautions to be taken for the purity of the vessels in which they drew water, and in which they prepared their food; not only did they take care that they had not belonged to strangers, but they carried their scruples much farther, for a thousand circumstances rendered them unclean.— (Misnah, Ordo, Puritatum.)

2 An ancient author makes the Virgin say, "Non dedignabar parare et ministrare quæ erant necessaria Joseph; and this is in perfect conformity with the customs still existing.

3 "There are four angels who are hardly ever seen upon earth," say the rabbins, " because they are always round about the throne of God, these angels are, Michael, who is on the right; Gabriel, who is on the left; Uriel, who is before 0od; and Raphael, who is behind him."

4 St. Thomas of Aquin, Quæst. Univ. de creat. Spirit., Art 6.

5 Apocal., c. xxi. v. 21.

6 The Jews represent the angels with wings, as do the Christians. The Koran gives a hundred and forty pairs of wings to the angel Gabriel, and says that he took but one hour to come from heaven upon earth.—(Legend of Mahomet.)

7 It is commonly thought that the visit of the angel to the Blessed Virgin took place towards the evening.

8 The people of the East turn to a certain point in the heavens when they pray; it is what they call the Kebla, The Jews turn towards the temple of Jerusalem, the Mahometans towards Mecca, the Sabeans towards the south, and the Ghebers towards the rising sun.

9 The Jews prayed three times in the day; in the morning, at sunrise ; in the afternoon, at three o'clock, when they offered sacrifice; and in the evening, at sunset. According to the rabbins, Abraham established morning prayer; Isaac, that of the afternoon; and Jacob, that of the evening.—(Basn., liv. vii. c. 17.)

The History Of The Blessed Virgin, Translated From The French By The Very Rev. F. C. Husenbeth, D.D., V.G. Part 24.

Chapter 8.

Paolo Veronese The Annunciation

The Annunciation. Part 1.

It is easy to imagine the tranquil and blessed life which the married couple led during the first months of their chaste union; the peace of God reigned in their humble dwelling, and work divided their time with prayer, which made it less laborious by sanctifying it. After an ancient custom, which still subsists among the Arabs and in a great part of the East, Joseph exercised his trade in a different place from that where Mary lived. 1 His workshop, where Jesus himself worked, was a low room of ten or twelve feet square: a stone seat outside offered rest to the passer-by, or the traveller, which was protected from the burning rays of the sun by a kind of awning of twisted palm-leaves. 2 There it was that the laborious workman formed his ploughs, his yokes, and rustic carts. Sometimes he built under his own inspection the huts of the valley; sometimes his arm, yet strong, cut down the tall sycamores and black turpentine-trees of Mount Carmel. 3 The pay which he received for so much fatigue was but small, and this little he shared with the poor.

His gentle and holy companion was not idle on her side ; gifted with a mind enlightened, judicious, and wise, without regret for the past, without illusions for the future, viewing the world such as it is, and her own position in its true light, she piously conformed herself to it, and desired to fulfil its sacred obligations with religious exactitude. From the moment that she took possession of the house of her mother, she put on poverty as a garment of honour sent her from God, and became what it behoved her to be in the obscure condition to which Providence had reduced her—a young and simple daughter of the people. All the brilliant and fancy works belonging to the elegancies of life were at once laid aside, and replaced by the fatiguing cares and monotonous occupations of a poor household, where the mistress of the house has neither slaves nor servants. The delicate hands of Mary, accustomed to handle silken tissues, platted with leaves of the date-palm, or rushes pulled from the banks of the Jordan, the matting which covered the rough floor of her dwelling; her spindle was covered with coarse flax; she had to grind the grains of wheat, barley, and doura, 4 the coarse and yellow flour of which she kneaded into round and thin cakes. Covered with her white veil, with an antique urn upon her head, 5 she went to draw water at a fountain at a little distance, 6 like the wives of the patriarchs, or to wash her blue robes in the running water of the brooks, like the princesses of Homer.
Jesus Christ, witness of the laborious habits of this valiant woman, sometimes alludes to them in his parables; and these simple occupations of Mary are preserved in the gospel narrative, like a sea-weed in amber. We see, in fact, the industrious woman putting leaven into three measures of meal, 7 carefully sweeping her floor to recover something lost, 8 and economically mending an old garment. 9 When Jesus seeks a comparison, to recommend purity of heart, he draws it from the remembrance of her who carefully cleans " both the inside and outside of the cup; " 10 and we suspect that his thought is of Mary when he praises the offering of the widow " who gives not of her abundance, but of her indigence."Thus the poet of Chios represents to us Justice under the features of his mother, a poor woman of the people, weighing exactly the wool which she is going to spin for the support of herself and her son, and remaining upright and just towards the rich, in the midst of deep misery.

At the approach of night, 11 when the birds seek a shelter beneath the foliage, Mary placed upon a neat polished table, the work of Joseph's hands, little loaves of barley and doura, savoury dates, butter, and cheese, dry fruits and herbs, which composed the frugal banquet of the descendant of the princes of Israel. These dishes, simply prepared, were the chief food of the ancient Hebrews,—a sober race, who knew how to be contented with bread and water when necessity required it. 12

1 This house of St. Joseph is a hundred and thirty or a hundred and forty paces from that of St. Ann. The place is still pointed out, under the name of the workshop of Joseph, This shop had been transformed into a large church ; the Turks have destroyed one part of it; hut there remains a chapel where the holy sacrifice of the mass is daily offered.—(Pelerinage a Jerusalem, par le P. de Geramb.)

2 These shops are still the same all over the Levant.—(See Burckhardt, Voyage en Arabie, t. i.)

3 St. Justin, martyr (Dialog, cum Tryphone), records that Jesus Christ helped his adopted father in making yokes and ploughs. St. Ambrose (in Luc., lib. iii. 2) assures us that St. Joseph worked at felling and cutting out trees, at building houses, and other such work.

4 The first mills that were invented were hand-mills. In Egypt, Arabia, Palestine, and even in Greece, they were turned by women. There is still shown at Mecca, in a fine house, which is believed to have been that of Khadidje, a hollow place, where it is said that Fatima, surnamed w the Brilliant,*' daughter of Mahomet, and who of Ali, turned her own hand-mill when she was grown up.—(See* Burckhardt, Voyage en Arabie.) The wives of the Arab sheiks have still this painful occupation allotted to them. Under the reign of the eons of Clovis, St. Radegundes, Queen of France, ground herself, in imitation of the Blessed Virgin, all the corn that she consumed during Lent—(Le Grand d'Aussy, Hist, privee des Fran9ais.) The invention of water-mills is attributed to Mithridates. It is certain that they were in existence in his time. Among other proofs, is cited that fine epigram of Antipater of Thessalonica, of which the following is a translation:—"You women who have been hitherto employed in grinding our corn, let your arms rest henceforth, and sleep without care; the birds will no longer proclaim with their songs the break of day for you. Ceres has commanded the Naiads to do your work: they obey, and quickly turn a wheel which rapidly moves by itself the heavy millstones." The Romans did not bring water-mills to perfection till Constantino had abolished slavery.

5 These urns are enormous earthen vessels, of a height out of all proportion. The women of Nazareth carry them on their heads, and beneath so great a weight, sometimes even with an infant in their arms, they walk with an activity quite astonishing.—(F. de Geramb, t ii. p. 239.)

6 This fountain is called in the country the fountain of Mary. Tradition relates that the divine Mother of Jesus went habitually to draw the water which she required, and to be convinced that it must have been so, it would suffice to consider that water is extremely rare at Nazareth. The road which leads to this fountain, where the pious mother of Constantino had had fine basins and reservoirs constructed, is bordered With nopals and fruit-trees.—(F. de Geramb, loco citato.)

7 St. Luke xiii. 21, and St. Matt. xiii. 34.

8  Ibid., v. 36.

9 Ibid., xv. 8.

10 St. Luke xi. 39, and St. Matt. xxv: 25.

11 In Israel, those who kept regular hours eat after their work, and pretty late.—(Fleury, Moeurs des Israelites.) The principal meal of Joseph and Mary was about six o'clock in the evening.

12 Fleury, Moeurs des Israel., p. 61.