Mother and Teacher

Primus discendi ardor nobilitas est magistri. Quid nobilius Dei matre? quid splendidus ea, quam Splendor elegit? quid castius ea quae corpus sine corporis contagione generavit? Nam de caeteris ejus virtutibus quid loquar? Virgo erat non solum corpore, sed etiam mente, quae nullo doli ambitu sincerum adulteratet affectum: corde humilis, verbis gravis, animi prudens, loquendi parcior, legendi studiosior: non incerto divitiarum, sed in prece pauperum spem reponens: intenta operi, verecunda sermone, arbitrum mentis solita non hominem, sed Deum quaerere: nullum laedere, bene velle omnibus, assurgere majoribus natu, aequalibus non invidere, fungere jactantiam, rationem sequi, amare virtutem. Quando ista vel vultu laesit parentes? quando dissensit a propinquis? quando fastidivit humilem? quando derisit debilem? quando vitavit inopem; eos solos solita coetus virorum invisere, quos misericordia non erubesceret, neque praeteriret verecundia? Nihil torvum oculis, nihil in verbis procax, nihil in actu inverecundum: non gestus fractior, non incessus solutior, non vox petulantior; ut ipsa corporis species simulacrum fuerit mentis, figura probitatis. Bona quippe domus in ipos vestibulo debet agnosci, ac primo praetendat ingressu nihil  intus latere tenebrarum; ut mens nostra nullis repagulis corporalibus impedita, tamquam lucernae lux intus posita foris luceat Sanctus Ambrosius Mediolanensis, De Virginibus Ad Marcellinam Sororem Sua, Liber II

The first flame of learning is the greatness of the teacher. Who is greater than the Mother of God? Who more glorious than she whom Glory chose? Who more chaste than she who bore a body without contact of body? For why should I speak of her other virtues? A virgin she was not only in body but even in mind, she who did not pollute honest disposition with ambitious cunning, she who was humble in heart, sincere in speech, prudent in mind, sparing in speaking, studious in reading, placing her hope not on uncertain wealth but on the prayer of the poor, intent on works, modest in discourse, accustomed to seek not man but God as the judge of thoughts, to injure no one, to have goodwill towards all, to rise up before her elders, not to envy her equals, to avoid boastfulness, to follow reason, to love virtue. When did she hurt her parents even by a look? When did she argue with her neighbours? When did she hurry by  the lowly? When did she deride the unfortunate? When did she avoid the needy, accustomed only to appear in such gatherings of men as mercy would not blush at, nor modesty pass by. There was nothing grim in her eyes, nothing frivolous in her words, nothing unseemly in her acts, there was no affectation in gait, no unrestrained step, nor was the voice petulant, that the very bodily appearance be the image of the soul, a figure which is approved. For as a good house should be recognized on the very threshold and should show at the first entrance that no darkness is hidden within, so let our soul, unimpeded by bonds of the body, like the light of lamp placed within shine without. Saint Ambrose, On Virgins, To Marcellina His Sister, Book 2