Two Mothers

Τυπικῶς ἡ πρώτη Εὖα ζωὴ ἐκλήθη, ἴνα σημάνῃ τὴν δευτέραν, τουτέεστι, τὴν ἁγίαν Μαρίαν τὴν γεννήσασαν τὴν ζωὴν τῶν ἀνθρώπων Χριστὸν τὸν Κύριον τῆς δόξης. Αὕτη γὰρ ἀληθῶς μήτηρ δείκνυται πάντων τῶν εὐαγγελικῶς ζώντων, καὶ μὴ ἀποθνησκόντων τὰς ψυχὰς διὰ τῆς ἀπιστίας. Ἅγιος Νειλος, Βιβλιον Πρῶτον, Ἐπιστολὴ ΣΞϚ' Κυριλλῳ Προτευοντι

As a figure the first Eve life was named, 1 by which may be shown the second, that is, the Holy Mary who birthed the life of men Christ, the Lord of Glory. For she truly is a mother of all those who live according to the Gospel, and not of those whose souls have perished on account of lack of faith. Saint Nilus of Sinai, Book 1, Letter 266, To the Primate Cyrllius 1 Gen 2.19

Receiving The Word

Ecce enim ut facta est vox salutationis tuae in auribus meis, exsultavit gaudio infans in utero meo: et beata quae credidisti.   Vides non dubitasse Mariam, sed credidisse; et ideo fructum fidei consecutam. Beata, inquit, quae credidisti. Sed et vos beati, qui audistis, et credidistis; quaecumque enim crediderit anima et concipit et generat Dei Verbum, et opera ejus agnoscit. Sit in singulis Mariae anima, ut magnificet Dominum: sit in singulis spiritus Mariae, ut exsultet in Deo. Si secundum carnem una mater est Christi; secundum fidem tamen omnium fructus est Christus. Omnis enim accipit Dei Verbum, si tamen immaculata et immunis a vitiis, intemerato castimoniam pudore custodiat. Sanctus Ambrosius Mediolanensis, Expositio Evangelii Secundum Lucam, Liber II

For behold the voice of your greeting in my ears, the child in my womb jumped for joy, and blessed you who have believed. 1 You see that Mary had not doubted but believed, and therefore the fruit of faith followed.  Blessed, she said,  you who have believed. But even you are blessed, you who have heard and have believed, for that soul which has believed conceives and generates the Word of God, and knows His works. May the soul of Mary be in each one of you so that it magnifies the Lord. May the spirit of Mary be in each one of you so that it exults in God. If according to the flesh one woman is the mother of Christ, Christ is the fruit of everyone according to faith. Everyone receives the word of God, if immaculate and cleansed from vice he guard his chastity undefiled from shame. Saint Ambrose, Commentary on the Gospel of Luke, Book 2 1 Lk. 1.44

Educating A Girl

Fiant ei litterae vel buxae, vel eburneae, et suis nominibus appellentur. Ludat in eis, ut et lusus ejus eruditio sit. Et non solum ordinem teneat litterarum, et memoria nominum in canticum transeat; sed ipse inter se crebro ordo turbetur, et mediis ultima, primis media misceantur, ut eas non sono tantum, sed et visu noverit: cum vero ceperit trementi manu stylum in cera ducere, vel alterius superposita manu teneri regantur articuli, vel in tabella sculpantur elementa, ut per eosdem sulcos inclusa margnibus trahuntur vestigia, et foras non queant evagari. Sylabbas jungat ad praemium: et quibus illa aetas delectari potest, munusculis invitetur. Habeat et in discendo socias, quibus invideat: quarum laudibus mordeatur.  Non est objurganda, si tardior sit, sed laudibus excitandum ingenium, ut et vicisse gaudeat, et victa doleat. Cavendum in primis, ne oderit studia, ne amaritudo eorum praecepta in infantia, ultra rudes annos transeat. Ipsa nomina, per quae consuescit paulatim verba contexere, non sint fortuita, sed certa, et coacevata de industria, Prophetarum videlicet atque Apostolorum, et omnis ab Adam Patriarcharum series, de Matthaeo Lucaque descendat, ut dum aliud agit, futurae memoriae praeparetur. Magister probae aetatis et vitae, eruditionisque est eligendus, nec puto erubescet vir doctus id facere in propinqua, vel in nobili virgine, quod Aristotles fecit in Philippi filio, ut ipse librariorum utilitate initia traderet litterarum. Non sunt contenenda quasi parva, sine quibus magna constare non possunt. Ipse elementorum sonus, et prima institutio praeceptorum, aliter de erudito, aliter de rustico ore profertur. Sanctus Hieronymus, Epistola CVII, Ad Laetam Source: Migne PL 22 871-872

Let there be letters of boxwood or ivory, each called by its proper name. Let her play with these, so that even in her play there may be learning. And not only make her grasp the right order of the letters and see that she forms their names into a rhyme, but constantly disarrange their order and put the last letters in the middle and the middle ones at the beginning that she may know them all by sight as well as by sound. Moreover, so soon as she begins to use the style upon the wax, and her hand is still faltering, either guide her soft fingers by laying your hand upon hers, or else have simple copies cut upon a tablet; so that her efforts confined within these limits may keep to the lines traced out for her and not stray outside of these. Offer prizes for good spelling and draw her onward with little gifts such as children of her age delight in. And let her have companions in her lessons to excite emulation in her, that she may be stimulated when she sees them praised. You must not scold her if she is slow to learn but must employ praise to excite her mind, so that she may be glad when she excels others and sorry when she is excelled by them. Above all you must take care not to make her lessons distasteful to her lest a dislike for them conceived in childhood may continue into her maturer years. The very words which she tries bit by bit to put together and to pronounce ought not to be chance ones, but names specially fixed upon and heaped together for the purpose, those for example of the Prophets or the Apostles or the list of Patriarchs from Adam downwards as it is given by Matthew and Luke. In this way while her tongue will be well-trained, her memory will be likewise developed. Again, you must choose for her a master of approved years, life, and learning. A man of culture will not, I think, blush to do for a kinswoman or a highborn virgin what Aristotle did for Phillip's son when, descending to the level of an usher, he consented to teach him his letters. Things must not be despised as of small account in the absence of which great results cannot be achieved. The very rudiments and first beginnings of knowledge sound differently in the mouth of an educated man and of an uneducated. Saint Jerome, from Letter 107, To Laeta

Epitaph For Pulcheria

Clauditur hoc tumulo Benedicti fida iugalis, quae tenuit castam defuncto coniuge vitam. nomine Pulcheria fuit, sed nomine formam signavit mentemque, simul vitamque decentem. filius his Thomas, aluit quem blanda relictae simpliciter pietas cari post fata mariti, officium sola exibuit commune parentum, ipsius hic collo genetrix portata quiescit: tale decus meruit funeris pia mater habere Epitaphios Pulcheriae

This tumulus holds Benedict's faithful wife, She who was chaste with spouse deceased. Her name was Pulcheria, that name signifying Form and mind, as well as a decorous life. Their son Thomas, whom this gentle widow raised, She ever pious after the death of her husband, The common office of parents alone fulfilling, He carried her to this mound to rest Such an honour a pious mother merited. Epitaph for Pulcheria

The Soul's Rest

Cur plangimus quod immutare non possumus? Mortuus ad vitam praesentem revocari non valet; vivus ad mortuum pervenire poterit. Corpus quod tanta cura colimus, postmodum vermium esca erit. Anima itaque meritorum qualitate vel gaudebit, vel contristatur; et qualem sibi in paucis his diebus praeparabit habitationem, talem aeternis recipiet temporibus. Quapropter singulis momentis laborandum est pro requie animae, ut dum semper vivere debet, et semper beate et feliciter vivat. Alcuinus, Epistola LVIII, Ad Matrem de Morte Filii Source: Migne PL 100.227a-b

Why do we weep what we are not able to change? One is not able to recall the dead to the present life; the living was able to come to the dead. The body on which we expend so much care shall be food for worms. The soul by the value of its merits shall rejoice or lament; and as in these few days it prepares its habitation, so it shall receive in eternity. Thus every single moment we must labour for the soul's rest, that as it will always live, so always it might live blessed and happy. Alcuin of York, from Letter 58, To a Mother on the Death of a Son