Judith's Blessing

Joacim autem summus pontifex de Jerusalem venit in Bethuliam cum universis presbyteris suis ut videret Judith. Quae cum exisset ad illum, benedixerunt eam omnes una voce, dicentes: Tu gloria Jerusalem; tu laetitia Israel; tu honorificentia populi nostri: quia fecisti viriliter, et confortatum est cor tuum, eo quod castitatem amaveris, et post virum tuum, alterum nescieris : ideo et manus Domini confortavit te, et ideo eris benedicta in aeternum. Et dixit omnis populus : Fiat, fiat. Quid per Joachim summum pontificem de Jersualem nisi Redemptor noster intelligitur, qui factus est a Deo nobis pontifex in aeternum secundum ordinem Melchisidech, per quem habemus accessum ad Patrum, et spem vitae aeternae. Quod etiam nominis ejus interpretatio exprimere videtur: interpretatur enim Joachim Domini resurrectio. Unde ipsa Veritas in Evangelico ait: Ego sum resurrectio et vita: qui credit in me, non morietur in aeternum. Hic ergo pontifex venit de Jerusalem in Bethuliam, cum de coelis descendit in uterum virginis, ex qua carnem assumens homo factus est pro nobis. Unde elegit discipulos, quos ipse fratres suos in Evangelico nominavit; qui merito presbysteri propter honoris dignitatem et sapientiae perfectionem nominantur, ut videret Judith, ut probaret scilicet Ecclesiae suae fidem et confessionem. Quae cum exisset ad illum, hoc est, devotionem mentis sua bona operatione ostenderet, benedixerunt illam omnes una voce dicentes: Tu gloria Jerusalem, tu laetitia Israel, tu honorificentia populi nostri. Benedixit ergo Ecclesiam suam Dominus, cum eam gratiarum suarum ubertate replet, et omnibus laudabilem esse demonstrat, pro quo et ad Patrem gratias agens in Evangelio ait: Confiteor, tibi, Pater, Domine coeli et terrae, quia abscondisti haec a sapientibus et prudentibus, et revelasti ea parvulis. Hinc e per Salomonem dicitur: Surrexerunt filii ejus, et beatissimam praedicaverunt; vir ejus, et laudavit eam. Gloria ergo Jersulaem est sancta Ecclesia, quia ad coelestem pertinet civitatem Dei, et societatem et beatitudinem sanctorum angelorum, quae fecit viriliter, contra mundi confligens principatum, contemnendo minas e persecutione hostium; castitatem amavit, quia sinceritatem fidei servavit, per quam omnem multitudinem fidelium Apostolus se colesti regi deponasse gloriabatur dicens: Desponsavi enim vos uni viro, virginem castam exhibere Christo. Cujus thoro immaculatam ipsa se custodit, nec haereticoum errori communicare ullo modo consentit. Ad benedictionem pontificis e presbyterorum respondit: Fiat, fiat, hoc est: Amen, amen: quia a majoribus sive minoribus filiis matris Ecclesiae ipsa sola in toto orbe predicabitur, et condigna coelesti sponso ubique et semper laudabitur. Rabanus Maurus, Expositio in Librum Judith, Caput XIII Source: Migne PL 109.579b-580a

Joachim the high priest came from Jerusalem to Bethulia with all his elders to see Judith. When she had come out to him, they all blessed her with one voice, saying, 'You are the glory of Jerusalem, you are the joy of Israel, you are the honour of our people, for you have acted bravely and your heart has been strengthened because you loved chastity, and after your husband you have not known any other, therefore the hand of the Lord has strengthened you and you will be blessed forever.' And all the people said: 'So be it, so be it.' 1 What is to be understood by Joachim the high priest coming from Jerusalem but that he is our Redeemer, who was made by God a high priest for us in eternity according to the order of Melchizedek, through whom we have access to the Father, and hope of eternal life. Whence his name seems to be expressed by the interpretation 'the raising of the Lord,' 2 and the Truth Himself says in the Gospel: 'I am the resurrection and the life, he who believes in me shall not die in eternity.' 3 Therefore this high priest comes from Jerusalem to Bethulia when from heaven He descended into the womb of the Virgin, from whom He took up flesh and was made man for us. Whence He chose disciples, who He names in the Gospel His brothers, 4 and who are rightly named here elders on account of the dignity of their honour and consummate wisdom, and so he sees Judith so that He might approve the faith and confession of the Church. And she came out to him, that is, she showed the devotion of her mind in good works, and all blessed her with one voice, saying, 'You are the glory of Jerusalem, you are the joy of Israel, you are the honour of our people.' Thus the Lord blessed His Church, filling it abundantly with His graces, and He shows it to be worthy of praise by everyone, for which He gives thanks to the Father in the Gospel, saying, 'I confess to you, Father, Lord of heaven and earth, that you have hidden these things from the wise and the clever and revealed them to children.' Whence He says through Solomon, 'Her children have risen up, and they have spoken blessings, and her husband praised her.' 5 Therefore the Church is the glory of Jerusalem, because it refers to the heavenly city of God and the society and blessedness of the holy angels. And she acted bravely by fighting against the powers of the world, and by scorning the threats of the enemy's persecutions, and living chastely, by which she guarded the purity of the faith, and through the whole multitude of the faithful the Apostle himself glories in having presented her to the heavenly king, saying, 'I have espoused you to one man, exhibiting you as a chaste virgin to Christ.' 6 And she guarded herself unstained for His throne by not consenting to any touch of the errors of heretics. And then to the blessing of the high priest and elders it was answered, 'So be it, so be it,' because by the greatest and the least of the sons of mother Church she herself, the Church, will alone be proclaimed throughout the whole world, and everywhere and always praised as being worthy of the heavenly husband. Rabanus Maurus, Commentary On Judith, Chapter 13 1 Judith 15.9-12 2 The Hebrew translates litterally as 'God raises up' 3 Jn 11.25 4 Jn 20.17 5 Mt 11.25, Prov 31.28 6 2 Cor 11.2

Judith And The Watchmen

Et dixit Judith a longe custodibus murorum: Aperite portas, quoniam nobiscum est Deus, qui fecit virtutem in Israel. Custodes murorum, hoc est, tutores castrorum Ecclesiae, sunt doctores sancti qui verbo et exemplo, atque etiam oratione assidua muniunt vitam credentium, et ad aeternam beatitudinem illis praeparant introitum; de quibus per prophetam dicitur: Super muros tuos, Jerusalem, constitui custodes, tota die, et tota nocte non tacebunt laudare nomen Domini. Possunt angelicae virtutes custodes murorum intelligi spiritualium, quae nobis deputatae sunt, ut nos suis solatiis contra malignos spiritus defendant. Clamat ergo Judith a longe custodibus, postulans sibi aperiri portas, eo quod secum sit Deus. Sic et Ecclesia in peregrinatione istius mundi, et via praesentis vitae constituta totis medullis cordis clamans postulat, ut per suffragia sanctorum sibi supernae patriae pandatur introitus, ut ibi nominis sui expleat officium, dicens cum propheta: Aperite portas justitiae, et ingressus in eas confitebor Domino, haec porta Domini, justi intrabunt per eam. Et unde hoc deposcat addit dicens: quia nobiscum est, qui fecit virtutem in Israel. Valde enim justum est ut qui se unitum cum capite suo agnoscit, de quo scriptum est, Dominus virtutem populo suo dabit, et benedicet populum suum in pace, cum eo ad coelestis regni apicem ascendat, quia sine eo nullo modo illuc pervenire potest. Unde ipsa Veritas in Evangelio ait: Nemo ascendit in coelum, nisi qui descendit de coelo filius hominis, qui est in coelo. Potest et hoc quod dicit Judith custodibus murorum, Aperite portas, devotio cordis auditorum suorum ab ea postulata intelligi, hoc est, ut praeparet intentionem cordis ad accipienda ea quae sibi dicuntur; sicut Salvator in Evangelio per parabolas docens dixit: Qui habet aures audiendi audiat. Et Joannes apostolus in Apocalypsi sua eamdem sententiam saepius repetit dicens: Qui habet aures audiendi audiat quid spiritus dicat ecclesiis. Merito ergo illa, quae virtutes Domini, quas fecit, expromere vult, auditores devotos quaerit, quia scriptum est: Beatus qui causam suam loquitur in aurem audientis. Rabanus Maurus, Expositio in Librum Judith, Caput XIII Source: Migne PL 109.574a-d

And from afar Judith said to the watchman on the walls: 'Open your gates, because God is with us, He who has power in Israel.' 1 The watchman on the walls, that is, the teachers of the fortresses of the Church, who with their words and example, and even with their prayers, diligently fortify the lives of the faithful, and prepare entry into eternal blessedness, concerning which it is said by the prophet: 'Upon your walls, Jerusalem, I have set watchmen, all day and all night, and they shall not cease to praise the name of the Lord.' 2 It is also possible to understand the angelic powers to be the guards of the spiritual walls, who are given to us so that with their support we might defend ourselves against malignant spirits. Therefore Judith cries out from afar to the guards, asking them to open the gates, because God is with them. So even the Church in its journey in this world, set in the way of this present life, with all the strength of its heart cries out and asks that by the assistance of the saints entry be opened to the heavenly fatherland, so that there may be fulfilled the office of the name, saying with the prophet, 'Open the gates of righteousness, and entering in, I shall confess to the Lord. These are the gates of the Lord, the righteous shall enter through them.' 3 And whence earnestly entreating this, she adds to it, saying: 'Because He is with us, He who has power in Israel.' Certainly it is right that he who knows himself united to the head, concerning whom it is written: 'The Lord shall give strength to his people, and He shall bless His people with peace,' 4 ascends with Him to the height of the heavenly kingdom, because without Him there is no way he can come there. Whence the truth says in the Gospel: 'No one has ascended to heaven, unless He who has descended from heaven, the son of man, who is in heaven.' 5 It is possible that this which Judith says to the the watchmen on the wall, 'Open the gates' is to be understood as touching on the attention of the hearts of her hearers to her requests, that is, she is preparing the intention of the heart for the reception of the things that are said, as the Saviour in the Gospel says, 'He who has ears, let him hear.' And John the Apostle in his Apocalypse often repeats the same meaning, saying, 'He who has ears to hear let him hear what the spirit says to the churches.' Rightly, then, this woman, who is the virtue of the Lord, wishing to show what she has done, seeks devout hearers, because it is written: 'Blessed he who speaks his cause in the ear of one who will hear.' 6 Rabanus Maurus, Commentary On Judith, Chap 13 1 Judith 13.13 2 Isaiah 62.6 3 Ps 117.19-20 4 Ps 28.11 5 Jn 3.13 6 Sirach 25.12

Prudent Feasting

Et dixit ad eam Holofernes: Bibe inde et accumbe in jucunditate, quoniam gratiam invenisti coram me. Et dixit Judith: Bibam, Domine, quoniam magnificata est anima mea hodie prae omnibus diebus meis. Et accepit et manducavit, et bibit coram ipso omnia quae paraverat illi ancilla ejus. Nota quod Judith apud Holofernem conversans, non coinquinata est cibis vel potu gentilium, sed ea manducavit et bibit quae sibi praeparaverat ancilla ejus: quia Ecclesia inter gentes habitans nullo modo polluitur idololatria aut superstitione gentilitatis, sed his utitur quae victui suo judicat esse condigna, quae devotio fidelium per obedientiam et exercitium boni operis sibi praeparat. De quo cibo ipsa Veritas in Evangelio ait: Operamini cibum, non qui perit, sed qui permanet in vitam aeternam. Et alibi discipulis rogantibus eum, ut manducaret, respondit. Ego cibum habeo manducare, quem vos nescitis; meus enim cibus est ut faciam voluntatem ejus qui misit me et perficiam opus ejus. Rabanus Maurus, Expositio in Librum Judith, Caput XII Source: Migne PL 109.572a-b

And Holofernes said to her, 'Drink and recline as you will, because you have found favour before me.' Judith said, 'I shall drink, lord, because my soul is exalted today above all my days.' And she took and ate and drank before him all that her handmaid had provided for her. 1 Note that while Judith conversed with Holofernes she was not defiled by the food and drink of Gentiles, but she ate and drank what was prepared for her by her handmaid, because the Church dwelling among the nations is in no way is polluted by pagan idolatry or superstition, but it makes use of what victuals it judges to be most appropriate, which the devotion of the faithful through obedience and exertion in good works prepares for her. Concerning this food the Truth says in the Gospel: 'Do not work for the bread which perishes but that which remains in eternal life.' And in another place He replies to His disciples who were asking Him to eat, 'I have my own food to eat, which you do not know. For my food is to do the will of Him who sent me and to fulfill His work.' 2 Rabanus Maurus, Commentary On Judith, Chap 12 1 Judith 12.17-19 2 Jn 6.27, Jn 4.32-34

Conquest In War

Dominus conterens bella, Dominus nomen est illi qui posuit castra sua in medio populi sui ut eriperet nos de manu omnium inimicorum nostrorum. Redempter noster, de quo in Psalmo scriptum est: Dominus fortis, Dominus potens in praelio, ipse per sanguinem crucis suae contrivit saevitiam diaboli, et mundum subjecit suae ditioni, qui resurgens a mortuis ad discipulos suos ait: Data est mihi omnis potestas in coelo et in terra. Euntes docete omnes gentes, baptizantes eos in nomine Patris, et Filii, et Spiritus sancti, docentes eos observare omnia, quaecunque mandavi vobis. Et ecce ego vobiscum sum omnibus diebus, usque ad consummationem saeculo. Castra ergo sua in medio populi sui posuit, cum Ecclesiam suam in medio nationum constituit, in qua semper manens quotidie electos suos de manibus inimicorum liberat, sed in fine mundi perfectam liberationem eis praestabit, quando absorbetur id quod mortale est a vita, et ipsa novissima destruetur mors; quando sancti fulgebunt, sicut sol in regno Patris eorum, et interitum omnium hostium suorum, cum capite suo ipsi videntes ridebunt et dicent: Ecce homo, qui non posuit Deum adjutorem sibi, sed speravit in multitudine divitiarum suarum, et praevaluit in vanitate sua. Ego autem sicut oliva fructifera in domo Dei speravi in misericordia ejus in aeternum, et in saeculum saeculi confitebor illi. Rabanus Maurus, Expositio in Librum Judith, Caput XVI Source: Migne PL 109.582c-583a

The Lord conquers in war, the Lord is His name, He who has placed His camp in the midst of His people, that He might seize us from the hand of all our enemies. 1 Our Redeemer, concerning whom it is written in the Psalm: 'The Lord is strong, the Lord is powerful in war,' 2 crushed down the savagery of the devil by the power of the cross and subjected the world to his Deity, He who rising from the dead said to His disciples, 'All power is given to me in heaven and on earth. Go out and teach all the peoples, baptising them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe everything which I have commanded you. And behold I am with you every day, even to the consummation of the world.' 3 Therefore He placed His camp in the midst of His people when He established His Church in the midst of the nations, in which He is always, every day, freeing his chosen ones from the hands of enemies, but at the end of the world He will give them a perfect liberation, when that which is mortal is stripped from life, and the final death is destroyed, 4 when the saints shine as the sun in the kingdom of the father, and all their enemies are ruined, when with their own heads they look and laugh and say: 'Behold the man, who did not have God as a helper, but hoped in his own riches, and prevailed in is vanity. But I am like a fruitful olive in the house of the Lord, I hoped in His mercy forever, and I shall confess Him to eternity.' 5 Rabanus Maurus, Commentary On Judith, Chap 16 1 Judith 16.3-4 2 Ps 23.8 3 Mt 28.18-20 4 1 Cor 15.53-54 5 Ps 51.8-11

Differing Generations

Vae genti insurgenti super genus meum: Dominus enim omnipotens vindicabit in eis. Genus suum dicit viros cultores Dei, de quo in Psalmo scriptum est Haec est generatio quaerentium Dominum requirentium faciem Dei Jacob. Et contrario est illa generatio, hoc est, prava et perversa, de qua Dominus in Evangelio ait: Ecce ego mitto ad vos prophetas et sapientes et scribas. Ex illis occidetis et crucifigetis, et ex eis flagellabitis in synagogis, et persequemini de civitate in civitatem, ut veniat super vos omnis sanguis justus, qui effusus est super terram, a sanguine Abel justi usque ad sanguinem Zachariae filii Barachiae, quem occidistis intra templum et altare. Amen dico vobis, venient haec omnia super generationem istam. Huic ergo generationi vae erit perpetuum, quia sine ullo fine aeternum illi manet tormentum, justo judice sibi recte retribuente, quae illa antea malitiose in proximos suos egerat; unde subjungitur In die judicii visitabit illos. Visitabit utqiue illos, non ut superna cum sanctis mercede coronet, sed ut cum diabolo et angelis ejus perpetuis poenis excruciet in inferno. Rabanus Maurus, Expositio in Librum Judith, Caput XVI Source: Migne PL 109.586d-587a

Woe to the people who rise up against my people, for the almighty Lord shall be revenged upon them. 1 His people are those who revere God, concerning which it is written in the Psalm: 'This is the generation of the seekers of the Lord, who seek the face of the God of Jacob.' 2 And on the contrary there is another generation, that is, one which is depraved and perverse, concerning which the Lord says in His Gospel: 'Behold, I sent the prophets to you, and wise men, and scribes, and some of these you killed and some you crucified and some you whipped in your gatherings, and you pursued them from city to city, so that upon you shall come the blood of the righteous man, which has been poured out on the earth, from the blood of the righteous Abel, even to Zechariah the son of Barachiah, whom you slew between the temple and the altar. Amen, I say to you, all these things shall come upon this generation.' 3 Therefore to this generation will come eternal woe, because their eternal torments shall be without end, when they are rightly punished by the righteous judge, they who have worked wickedness against their neighbours, whence it then continues: On the day of judgement it shall be visited upon them. It shall be visited upon them that they are not crowned with supernal reward with the saints, but they are tormented with the devil and his angels by perpetual punishments in hell. Rabanus Maurus, Commentary On Judith, Chap 16 1 Judith 16.17 2 Ps 23.5 3 Mt 23.34-36

Curses And Prophecy

Fac, Domine, ut gladio proprio ejus superbia amputetur: capiatur laqueo oculorum suorum in me, et percuties eum ex labiis charitatis meae. Da mihi in animo constantiam, ut contemnam illum, et virtutem, et evertam illum. Erit enim hoc mermoriale nominis tui, cum manus feminae dejecerit eum. Non enim in multitudine est virtus tua, Domine, neque in in equorum viribus voluntas tua est, nec superbi ab initio placuerunt tibi; sed humilium et mansuetorum semper tibi placuit deprecatio. Videtur quibusdam minus intelligentibus, quod precationes sanctorum contra reprobos, quae in Scripturis aliquando commemorantur, quasi maledictiones sint, cum nullo modo haec verba ex voto malitiae, quod in sanctorum cordibus nequaquam fieri potest, sed ex spiritu prophetiae processerint. Quod enim Spiritus sanctus praesciebat esse justo judicio reprobis futurum, hoc per sanctorum ora praedixit faciendum. Ut est illud in psalmis: Fiat mensa eorum coram ipsis in laqueum, et in retributionem, et in scandalum. Obscurentur oculi eorum, ne videant, et dorsum eorum semper incurvetur. Et Paulus in Epistola sua ita scripsit dicens: Alexander aerarius multa mihi mala ostendit, reddet illi Dominus secundum opera sua. Qui et in Actibus apostolorum ad Ananiam pontificem os ejus percutere jubentem ait: Percutiet te Deus, paries dealbate. Unde et verba ista Judith, quibus dicit: Capietur laqueo oculorum suorum in me, et percuties eum ex labiiis charitatis meae, non sunt maledictiones intelligendae, sed de venturis praeconia prophetiae. Hoc enim Spiritus sanctus per os sanctae feminae voluit praemonstrare, quod sciebat nefarium principem nequitia sua promereri: nec non illud in mystico opere praesagere, quod omnis haereticus, sive schismaticus, sive Judaeus, sive etiam paganus, qui Ecclesiam pravo dogmate, sive perverso exemplo corrumpere voluerit, proprio superbiae suae gladio caput voluntatis iniquae sententiam justi judicis amputabitur, et inferni cruciatibus subiiciendus poenas dolorum sentiet in aeternam. Rabanus Maurus, Expositio in Librum Judith, Caput IX Source: Migne PL 109.564b-d

Let it be, O Lord, that his pride is cut off with his own sword. May he be taken by the snare of his own eyes on me, and strike him by the charm of my lips. Give constancy to my soul, that I may scorn him, and virtue that I may overthrow him. For this shall be a memorial of your name, when by the hand of a woman you cast him down. Not in the multitude is your strength, O Lord, nor in men on horseback is your will, nor have the proud ever been pleasing to you, but the prayer of the humble and the meek has always been pleasing to you. 1 It seems to some with less understanding that the prayers of the holy against the wicked, which are sometimes recorded in Scripture, are just like curses, when in no way do these words come from a wish for evil, because in the hearts of the holy this is never possible, but rather they proceed from a spirit of prophecy. For the Holy Spirit foreknows what the just judgement of the wicked will be, and this He foretells through the mouths of the holy. As it says in the Psalms: 'May their table be before them as a snare, and as a punishment, and as a scandal. Blind their eyes, lest they see, and bend down their backs always.' 2 And Paul in his letter writes, saying: 'Alexander the coppermsith has caused me much evil, the Lord shall reward him according to his works.' 3 He who said in the Acts of the Apostles to Ananias the High Priest, who ordered him to be struck on the mouth, 'God strike you, you whitewashed wall!' 4 Whence these words of Judith, 'May he be taken by the snare of his own eyes on me, and strike him by the charm of my lips' should not be understood as a curse, but a prophetic declaration of things to come. For this is what the Holy Spirit wished to foreshow through the mouth of this holy woman, that He knew what the evil prince deserved for his wickedness. And in this mystical deed it is foretold that every heretic or schismatic or Jew or pagan who with depraved teaching or perverse example shall wish to corrupt the Church, by the sword of his own pride will have the head of his wicked will cut off by the sentence of the righteous judge, and subjected to the torments of hell he shall experience the punishments of the wicked forever. Rabanus Maurus, Commentary On Judith, Chap 9 1 Judith 9.12-16 2 Ps 68.23-24 3 2 Tim 4.14 4 Act 23.3

Judith And The Elders

Et nunc, fratres, quoniam vos estis presbyteri in populo Dei, et ex vobis pendet anima illorum, ad eloquium vestrum corda illorum erigite, ut memores sint quia tentati sunt patres nostri, ut probarentur si vere colerent Deum suum. Memores esse debenet quomodo pater noster Abraham tentatus est, er per multas tribulationes probatus Dei amicus effectus est. Sic Isaac, sic Jacob, sic Moyses, et omnes qui placuerunt Deo, per multas tribulationes transierunt fideles, Illi autem, qui tentationes non suspecperunt cum timore Domini, et impatientiam suam, et improperium murmurationis suae contra Dominum protulerunt, exterminati sunt ab exterminatore, et a serpentibus perierunt. Praeteritorum principum fortia gesta, praesentium sunt documenta salubria. Unde Judith summos patriarchas gentis Israelitarum, hoc est, Abraham, Isaac, et Jacob, et primum ducem eorum Moysen in exemplum fidei ac patientiae narratione sua introducit; et e contrario impios murmuratores et quaerulosos in testimonium pusillanimitatis et impatientiae suae exhibuit, ut ex bonis utile nobis ad imitandum sumamus exemplum, et ex malis discamus pravitatis suae opus vitare nefarium, ne forte exterminii illorum patiamur tormentum. Unde adhuc subditur: Et nos ergo non ulciscamur nos pro his quae patimur, sed reputantes peccatis nostris haec ipsa minora esse supplicia, flagella Domini, quibus quasi servi corripimur, non ad perditionem nostram evenisse credamus. Haec est enim via veritatis, ut in flagellis Domini humiliemus animas nostras, et patientiam habarere studeamus, reputantes peccatis nostris, quae juste patimur, imo etiam minorem meritis nostris esse vindictam, sed per bonitatem Dei nobis as sufferendum temperatam credamus, qui vult omnes homines salvos esse, et ad agnitionem veritatis pervenire. Miseretur omnium, et nihil odit eorum quae fecit, dissimulans peccata hominum propter poenitentiam, et parcens illis propter magnam misericordiam, quia ipse solus est Deus noster. Et dixerunt illi Ozias et presbyteri: Omnia quae locuta es, vera sunt, et non est in sermonibus tuis ulla reprehensio. Nunc ergo ora pro nobis, quoniam mulier sancta es et timens Deum. Nulla reprehensio est in sermonibus Judith, sed omnia vera sunt quae leguntur. Quia omnia quae Ecclesia catholica in confessione verae fidei, seu in doctrina sanctae religionis profet, laudabilia sunt valde et absque ulla reprehensione. Cujus merito et dignitate credendum est singulos quoque fideles apud Domini clementiam multum adjuvari. Quod ita digne fit, si unusquisque curet, ut sicut probavit verum esse, quod Ecclesia docet, ita actibus imitetur, quod ipsa honestis exemplis persuadet, de quo et subditur. Et dixit illis: Sicut quod potui loqui, Dei esse cognoscitis, ita quod facere disposui, probate si ex Deo est, et orate ut firmum faciat Deus consilium meum. Stabitis vos ad portam nocte ista, et ego exeam cum abra mea; et orate ut, sicut dixistis, in diebus quinque respiciat Dominus populum suum Israel. Commendat Judith presbyteris portam, quia sacerbotibus Christi sancta Ecclesia sollicitam castrorum Dei commendat custodiam, ut pervigili intentione ac solerti cura per arma orationum ea munire, et contra hostium insidias illaesa servare studeant. Rabanus Maurus, Expositio in Librum Judith, Caput VIII Source: Migne PL 109.362b-363b

And now, brothers, because you are elders among the people of God, and their souls hang from you, lift up their hearts with your speech, so that they might remember our fathers were tested so that they be proved if they truly worshipped their God. They should be mindful of how our father Abraham was tested and how through many trials he was made an approved friend of God. So Isaac, so Jacob, so Moses, and all who have been pleasing to God, passed faithfully through many trials. But they who did not receive their tribulations in the fear of God and were impatient and murmured improperly against God, they were exterminated by the exterminator, and perished by serpents. 1 The great deeds of the foremost men of the past are wholesome examples for the present. Whence Judith introduces the patriarchs of the Israelite people, that is, Abraham and Isaac and Jacob, and their first leader Moses, as an example of faith and patience. And on the contrary she exhibited the impious murmurers and querelous folk as a witness of weakness and impatience, so that from the good we take up for ourselves an example to imitate, and from the wicked we learn to avoid the works of depravity of the vile, lest we suffer the torments of those exterminated. Whence she continues: And therefore we are not punished in these things we suffer, but for the repudiance of our sins are these little trials and whips of the Lord, by which we are corrected as a servant, lest we think ourselves to have come to our ruin. For this is the way of truth, that by the whips of the Lord our souls are humbled and we are zealous to maintain endurance, repudiating our sins, for which we justly suffer, not indeed that the least punishment matches what we merit, but that through the benevolence of God we believe our suffering to have been tempered, He who wishes all men to be saved and to come to the knowledge of truth. 2 He is merciful to all, and He hates nothing which He has made, dismissing the sins of men through penance, and sparing them on account of His great mercy, because He alone is our God. And Ozias and the elders said to her: All that you have said is true, and there is nothing reprehensible in your speech. Now therefore pray for us, because you are a holy woman, and fear God. There is nothing reprehensible in the speech of Judith but everything said is true. For everything which the Catholic Church proclaims in the confession of the faith and in the teaching of the sacred religion is extremely praiseworthy and lacks all reprehension. For which with merit and dignity it must be that each and everyone of the faithful is aided by the great mercy of the Lord. By which it is thus right, if a man will care for it, that as what the Church teaches has been proved true, so its deeds are imitated, which with upright example persuades. Concerning which it is written below: And she said to them: As I was able to speak, that you know it to be of God, what I am resolved to do, test and see if it is from God and pray that God makes my counsel firm. Stand at the gate this night, and I shall go out with my handmaid, and pray that, as you have said, in five days the Lord looks on His people Israel. Judith commends the elders to the gate which is the holy Church of Christ, commending the priests to the careful guardianship of the camps of God, that with vigilant attention and sagacious care, through the arms of prayer, they set a wall about them and strive to protect them against the harmful plots of the enemy. Rabanus Maurus, Commentary On Judith, Chap 8 1 Judith 8.24-26 Vulg 2 1 Tim 2.4

A Woman Adorns Herself

Quid est quod Judith post peractam orationem exuit se vestibus lugubribus, et induit se vestimentis jucunditatis, nisi quod sancta Eccleisa, licet aliquando pro peccatis suis poenitentiae gerat affectum, tamen spe remissionis et futuri praemii anxium satis exhilarat animum. Lavat corpus suum, cum actus corporis sui poenitentiae lacrymis mundat. Unxit se myrrho optimo, cum in propriae mortificatione carnis, charitatis ac caeterarum virtutum se replet odore. Discriminat crinem capitis sui, cum solerti discretione singulas cogitationes distinguit cordis. Imponit mitram capiti, cum galeam salutis circumdat menti. Induit pedes suos sandaliis, cum gressus operum suorum evangelicis munit doctrinis. Assumit dextraliola et lilia, et inaures et annulos. In dextraliolis spes futurorum bonorum exprimitur, quae in dextra Dei sanctis in futuro dantur. In liliis castitas, in inauribus obedinetiae devotio, et in annulo signaculum fidei designatur. His ergo omnibus ornamentis se sancta Ecclesia ornat, quia omnium virtutum decore se illustrare certat. Cui etiam Dominus contulit splendorem gratiae suae, quoniam omnis ista composito non ex libidine praesentis vitae, sed ex virtute pendebat futura. Et ideo Dominus hanc in illa pulchritudinem ampliavit, ut incomparabili decore omnium oculis appareret. Quia valde justum est, ut qui dilectionis perfectae Dei fevet amore, omnium dignus habeatur honore. Rabanus Maurus, Expositio in Librum Judith, Caput X Source: Migne PL 109.565a-d

Why is it that after prayer Judith takes off her garments of mourning and puts on her joyful garments, 1 unless because the holy Church permits that when for sins the grief of penance has been borne for a time the hope of forgiveness and future reward shall lift up the anxious soul. She washes her body when she cleans with the tears of penance the deeds of the body. She anoints herself with myrrh when in her mortification of the flesh she is redolent of charity and the other virtues. She combs the hair of her head, when with acute discrimination she distinguishes every thought of the heart. She places a covering on her head, when she binds the helm of salvation around the mind. She places shoes on her feet when the step of her good works beautify the evangelical doctrine. She puts on bracelets and lilies and earrings and rings. In the bracelets is the hope of future goods expressed, which in the right hand of God is given to the saints in the future, and by the ring is signified the seal of faith. By these ornaments, then, the holy Church adorns herself, because she strives to adorn herself with the beauty of every virtue. And the Lord brings to it the splendour of His grace because all this adornment is not on account of lust for this present life, but for future virtue. And therefore the Lord increases her beauty, that it appears as an incomparable fairness to every eye. Because most certainly it is just that the one who burns with the perfect love of God shall be worthy of every honour. Rabanus Maurus, from the Commentary On Judith, Chap 10 1 Judith 10.1-4

Perfection of Man and Woman

Ταύτης τοι τῆς τελειότητος ἔξεστιν ἐπίσης μὲν ἀνδρὶ, ἐπίσης δὲ καὶ γυναικὶ μεταλαβεῖν. Αὐτίκα οὐχ ὁ Μωϋσῆς μόνος ἀκούσας παρὰ τοῦ Θεοῦ· 'Λελάληκα πρὸς σὲ ἄπαξ καὶ δὶς, λέγων· Εὠρακα τὸν λαὸν τοῦτον, καὶ ἰδού ἐστι σκληροτραχελος· ἔασόν με ἐξολοθρεῦσαι αὐτοῦς, καὶ ἐξαλείψω τὸ ὄνομα αὐτῶν ὑποκάτωθεν τοῦ οὐρανοῦ ποιήσω σε εἰς ἔθνος μέγα καὶ θαυμαστιον, καὶ πολὺ μαλλον ἤ τοῦτο·' ἀποκρίνεται δεόμενος, μὴ τὸ ἑαυτοῦ σκοπῶν, ἀλλὰ τὴν κοινὴν σωτηρίαν· 'Μηδαμῶς, Κυριε· ἀφες τὴν ἁμαρτίαν τῷ λαῷ τουτῳ, ἢ κάμὲ ἐξάλειψον ἐκ βίβλου ζώτων,' Ὅση τελειότης τοῦ συναποθανεῖν ἐθελήσαντος τῷ λαῷ, ἢ σώζεσθαι μόνος; Ἀλλὰ καὶ Ἰουδὶθ, ἡ ἐν γυναιξὶ τελειωθεῖσα, ἐν συγκλεισμῷ τῆς πόλεως γενομένης, δεηθεῖσα τῶν πρεσβυτέρων, εἰς μὲν τὴν παρεμβολὴν τῶν ἀλλοφύλων ἐξέρχεται, τοῦ παντὸς καταφρονήσασα κινδύνου ὑπὲρ τῆς πατρίδος ἑαυτὴν ἐπιδοῦσα τοῖς πολεμίοις ἐν πίστει Θεοῦ· λαμβάνει δ' εὐθὺς τὰπίχειρα τῆς πίστεως, ἀριστεύσασα γυνὴ κατὰ τοῦ πολεμίου τῆς πίστεως, κυρία τῆς Ὀλοφέρνου γενομένη κεφαλῆς. Πάλιν τε αὖ ἡ τελεία κατὰ πίστιν Ἐσθὴρ, ῥυομένη τὸν Ἰσραὴλ τυραννικῆς ἐξουσίας καὶ τῆς τοῦ σατράπου ὠμότητος, μόνη γυνὴ νηστείαις τεθλιμμέναις πρὸς μυρίας ὁπλισαμένας ἀντετάξατο δεξιὰς, τυραννικὸν διὰ πίστεως ἀναλύουσα δόγμα· καὶ δὴ τὸν μὲν ἐτιθάσσευσεν, ἀνέστειλε δὲ τὸν Ἀμὰν, καὶ τὸν Ἰσραὴλ τῇ τελείᾳ πρὸς τὸν Θεὸν δεήσει ἀπαθῆ διεφύλαξεν. Κλήμης ὁ Ἀλεξανδρεύς, Στρωματεων, Λόγος Τέταρτος, Κεφ ΙΘ'

In this perfection man and woman may equally share. It is not only Moses who heard from God, 'I have spoken to you once and twice, saying, I have seen this people, and, behold, it is stiff-necked. Allow me to exterminate them and blot out their name from under heaven, and I will make you into a great and wonderful nation, one much greater than this one,' 1 who not regarding himself, but concerned for the common salvation, answers beseechingly: 'By no means, O Lord! Forgive this people their sin or blot me out of the book of the living.'2 Such perfection in wishing to suffer together with the people, rather than to be saved alone. But Judith too, she who became perfect among women, during the siege of the city, at the entreaty of the elders, went out into the camp of foreign peoples, despising all danger for the sake of her country, giving herself to the enemy with faith in God, and immediately she obtained the reward for faithfulness: a woman prevailing over the enemy of the faithful, mistress of the head of Holofernes. And again Esther, perfect in faith, rescued Israel from the power of the king and a satrap's cruelty, a woman alone, suffering through fasting, set herself against ten thousand armed hands,  and by faithfulness cancelled a tyrannical decree. She tamed him, she restrained Haman, and Israel, by perfect prayer to God, she preserved unharmed. Clement of Alexandria, Stromata, Book 4, Ch 19.  1 Ex 32. 9-10  2 Ex 32. 31-32

In Defence of Women

Scio me, Principia,in Christo filia, a plerisque reprehendi, quod interdum scribam ad mulieres, et fragiliorem sexum maribus praeferam. Et idcirco debeo primum obtrectatoribus meis respondere, et sic venire ad disputatiunculam, quam rogasti. Si viri de Scripturis quaererent, mulieribus non loquerer. Si Barae ire ad praelium voluisset, Debbora de victis nostibus non triumphasset. Jeremias carcere clauditur, et qui periturus Israel virum non receperat prophetantem, Olda eis mulier suscitatur. Sacerdotes et Pharisaei crucifigunt Filium Dei et Maria Magdalene plorat ad crucem, unguenta parat, quaerit in tumulo, hortulanum interrogat, Dominum recognoscit, pergit ad Apostolos, repertum nuntiat. Illi dubitant, ista confidit. Vere πυργίτης, vere turris candoris et Libani, quae prospicit faciem Damasci, sanguinem videlicit Salvatoris ad sacci poenitentiam provocantem. Defecerant Sarae muliebria, et ideo Abraham ei subjicitur, et dicitur ad eum: Omnia quae dicit tibi Sara, audi vocem ejus. Illi defecerant muliebria, tu numquam habuisti muliebria. Sexus devoratur a virgine, Christum portat in corpore. Jam possidet quod futura est. Rebecca pergit ad interrogandum Deum: et sua responsione condigna audit oracula: 'Duae gentes in utero tuo, et duo populi de vente tuo dividentur.' Illa duos generat dissidentes: tu unum quotidie concipis, paturis, generas, unione fecundum, majestate multiplicem, trinitate concordem. Maria soror Moysi, victorias Domini canit, et Rachel Bethleem nostram atque Ephratham stirpe nominis sui signat in posteros  Filiae Salphaad haereditatem inter fratres merentur accipere. Ruth et Esther et Judith tantae gloriae sunt, ut sacris voluminibus nomina indiderint. Anna prophetissa generat filium Levitam, Prophetam, Judicem, sacro crine venerabilem, et offert cum in tabernaculo Dei. Thecuites mulier, regem David interrogatione concludit, aenigmate docet, exemplo Dei mitigat. Legimus et aliam sapientem feminam, quae cum obsideretur civitas, et propter unum perduellem, dux exercitus Joab muros ariete quateret, locuta est ad populum in sapientia sua, et tantae multitudinis periculum, muliebri auctoritate sedavit. Quid loquar de regina Saba quae venit a finibus terrae audire sapientiam Salomonis, et testimonio Domini condemnatura est omnes viros Jerusalem? Elisabeth utero propheta et voce. Anna filia Phanuelis in templo, templum efficitur Dei, et quotidiano jejunio, coelestem invenit panem. Sequuntur mulieres Salvatorem, et ministrant ei de substania sua. Ille qui de quinque panibus, quinque millia hominum, exceptis mulieribus et parvulis, aluit, escas sanctarum mulierum non recusat accipere. Cum Samaritana loquitur ad puteum, et saturatus conversione credentis, cibos qui coempti fuerunt negligit. Apollo virum Apostilicum et in lege doctissimum, Aquila et Priscilla erudiunt, et instruunt eum de via Domini. Si doceri a femina non fuit turpe Apostolo, mihi quare turpe sit post viros docere et feminas? Sanctus Hieronymus, Epistula LXV, Ad Principiam Virginem

I know I am, Principia, daughter in Christ, reproved by many because I sometimes write to women and choose the weaker sex to husbands. I therefore should first respond to my detractors and then come to the matter about which you asked. If men had studied the Scriptures I would not talk to their wives. If Barac had wished to go to battle, Deborah would not have triumphed over the conquered. Jeremiah was shut up in prison and no man would receive the prophecy of Israel's coming destruction, but the woman Hulda took it to them. The Priests and Pharisees crucified the Son of God and Mary Magdalene wept at the cross, she prepared ointment, she sought the tomb, she questioned the gardener, she recognised the Lord, she went to the Apostles, she announced the discovery. They doubted, she was confident. Truly she was a tower of brightness and of Lebanon which looks down on the face of Damascus, the blood of the Saviour provoking penance in sackcloth. To the womanhood of Sarah they fell, and so Abraham was subject to her and it was said to him, 'Everything which Sarah says to you, listen to her voice.' They failed by womanhood, you never had it. Sex devoured by virginity you carry Christ in your body. Already it possesses what will be. Rebecca went to question God and by way of response she heard a worthy oracle: 'Two nations from your womb, and two peoples from your belly.' She bore two dissentiant, you conceive one every day, you carry, you give birth, fruitful in union,  increase in majesty, in harmony with the Trinity. Mariam sister of Moses sang the victory of God and Rachel our Bethlehem and Ephrata by naming of child signified to posterity. The daughter of Salphaad were worthy to receive the inheritance among brothers. Ruth and Esther and Judith had such glory that sacred volumes were named after them. Hannah the prophetess gave birth to a son, a priest, prophet, and venerable judge with sacred hair and offered when in the tabernacle of God. The woman from Thecua caught king David with a question and taught a mystery and softened him with an example of God. We read of another wise woman who when a city was besieged and on account of one enemy, Joab the leader of the army shook with a ram, she spoke to the people in their wisdom and such a multitude a danger calmed with womanly authority. Why should I speak of the Queen of Sheba who came from the ends of the earth to hear the wisdom of Solomon and by the testimony of the Lord condemned all the men of Jerusalem. Elizabeth had a prophetic voice in her womb. Anna the daughter of Phanuel dwelling in the temple, going about God's work, fasting daily, discovered the bread of heaven. Women followed the Saviour and ministered to him from their own substance. He who five thousand loaves, five thousand men, excepting woman and children,  fed, the food of the holy woman did not refuse. When he spoke to the Samaritan woman at the well she saturated with his words believed, food which they bought neglected. Apollo was an apostolic man and most learned in the law, Aquila and Priscilla educated and instructed him in the way of the Lord. If to be taught by a woman was not disgraceful for an Apostle, why should it disgrace me that after men I teach women? St Jerome, from Letter 65, To Principia

Judith's Final Victory

Nam cum manu solum Holophernem vicisset, consilio omnem hostium vicit exercitum. Suspenso enim Holophernnis capite, quod virorum non potuit excogitari consilio, suorum erexit animos, hostium fregit: suos pudore excitans, hostes quoque terrore percellens, eoque caesi sunt et fugati. Ita unius viduae temperantia atque sobrietas non solam naturam suam vicit, sed quod est amplius, fecit viros etiam fortiores. Nec his tamen elata successibus, cui utique gaudere et exsultare licebat jure victoriae, viduitatis reliquit officium: sed contemptis omnibus qui ejus nuptiae ambiebant, vestem jucunditatis deposuit, viduitatis resumpsit: nec triumphorum suorum amavit ornatus, illos existimans esse meliores quibus vitia corporis, quam quibus hostium arma vincuntur. Sanctus Ambrosius Mediolanensis, De Viduis, Caput VII Source: Migne PL 16.247a-b

For with the hand she conquered Holofernes alone, by prudence she conquered a whole army of enemies. The head of Holofernes hung up, a deed the wisdom of men had been unable to plan, she raised up the souls of her own and crushed those of the enemy. Rousing her own by modesty, she struck terror into the enemy so that they fled and were slain. Thus the temperance and sobriety of one widow not only triumphed over her own nature, but, moreover, even made men more brave. However, she was not elated by these achievements, though indeed she had the right of rejoicing and exulting in her victory, that she would give up her state of widowhood; but rather scorning all who aspired to wed her, she laid aside her garments of joy and resumed those of widowhood, not loving the adornments of her own triumphs, but judging those things to be better which conquer the faults of the body rather than the arms of an enemy. Saint Ambrose of Milan, On Widows, Chapter 7