The Flower Of The Field

Ego flos campi, et lilium convallium. Sicut lilium inter spinas, sic amica mea inter filias. Ego flos. Vox sponsi, et commovet Ecclesiam ad passionem sustinendam, et proponit se eis ad exemplum, quia sine sua necessitate multa sustinuit, ut si diceret: Vocavi te pulchram et tu es, sicut lilium inter spinas. Sicut enim spinae vento motae lacerant lilium ac perforant, sic filiae, id est, mollitiis saeculi dediti, inspiratione diaboli agitati, laniant sanctam Ecclesiam, nec tu debes fugere, imo sis lilium, quia ego cum non indigebam fui lilium, id est, ego fui flos campi, et fui lilium, scilicet punctus multis persecutionibus, ego quidem qui fui lilium ut pungerer, fui et lilium, id est decus convallium, id est humilium. Anselmus Laudunensis, Enarrationes in Cantica canticorum, Caput II Source: Migne PL 162.1196d-1197a

I am a flower of the field and a lily of the valley. Like a lily among thorns, so my love among the maidens. 1 The voice of the spouse, and He encourages the Church to the endurance of suffering, and proposes Himself to them as an example, because without necessity He endured many things. As if He said, 'I have called you beautiful, and you are, as a lily among thorns. For as thorns moved by the wind scratch and pierce the lily, so the maidens, that is, those shaped by the softness of the world, agitated by the influence of the devil, wound the holy Church, which you should not flee, though you are a lily, because I did not scorn to become a lily, that is, I was a flower of the field, and a lily, that is, I was pierced by many blows. I certainly was one who was a lily that was assaulted, I was a flower of the field and a lily, that is, the adornment of the valley, that is, of the humble.' Anselm of Laon, Commentary On The Song of Songs, Chapter 2 1 Song 2.1-2