The resurrection of nature

Anselm on Mary as mother of restored creation

It’s been more than six months since my last post, as all my writing energy has been invested getting my doctoral thesis project off the ground. But I couldn’t help dedicating part of this morning to translating and posting this amazing sermon of Saint Anselm of Canterbury, which is included in the official prayer of the Latin rite of the Catholic Church for the feast of the Immaculate Conception of Mary (normally December 8, but shifted to the 9th in most dioceses when it falls on a Sunday). For those of you who read Latin, I’ve included the original at the bottom of the page — the translation is far from doing justice to the power of Anselm’s prose.

Heaven, stars, earth, rivers, day, night, and whatever is subject to human power or use rejoice in their restored honor, O Lady: resurrected through you and endowed with a certain ineffable grace. For it was as if everything had died when, having lost the innate dignity of supporting the dominion and use of those who praise God, the purpose for which they were created, they were overwhelmed by oppression and discolored by the abuse of those serving idols, for whose sake they were not made. But they rejoice in this same dignity as if resurrected, now that they are governed by the dominion, and adorned with the use, of those who confess God. They exulted with a new and inestimable grace when they not only sensed God himself, their own Creator, invisibly ruling over them, but also saw Him visibly among them, sanctifying them by using them. These great blessings came through the blessed fruit of the blessed womb of blessed Mary.

But why do I speak only of how your benefits fill this world, O Lady? They penetrate hell and surpass the heavens. Through the fullness of your grace, those who were in hell rejoice in being liberated, and those above the world rejoice in being restored. For through the same glorious Son of your glorious virginity, all the just who died before His life-giving death exult in the breaking of their captivity, and the angels rejoice in the restoration of their half-ruined city.

O woman wonderfully unique, and uniquely wonderful, through whom the elements are renewed, hell is healed, demons are trampled, humans are saved, and angels are restored to their full number! O woman full and overfull of grace, from whose gushing-forth of fullness every creature is so showered that it grows green again! O blessed and over-blessed Virgin, through whose blessing every nature is blessed - not only created nature by the Creator, but also the Creator by the created!

O you who are too exalted, whom my soul's affection tries to follow - whither do you flee from the gaze of my mind? O beautiful to look upon, lovely to contemplate, delightful to love - whither do you evade the capacity of my heart? Wait, O Lady, for the weak soul following you: do not hide yourself, Lady, from one who sees little, from the soul that seeks you. Have mercy, Lady, on the soul languishing in sighing after you.

What a marvelous reality, in which I contemplate Mary placed in such a sublime position. There is nothing equal to Mary; nothing is greater than Mary, except God. God gave His Son, whom He alone had begotten from His own heart, loving Him as Himself, to Mary. And from Mary, He made for Himself a Son - not another, but the same - so that naturally He would be one and the same common Son of God and Mary.

All that is born was created by God, and God was born of Mary. God created everything, and Mary gave birth to God. God, who made everything, made Himself from Mary; and thus He remade all that He had made. He who could make everything from nothing did not wish to restore them from their violation without Mary. Therefore, God is the Father of created things, and Mary is the mother of recreated things. God is the Father of the establishment of all things, and Mary is the mother of the restoration of all things. For God begot Him through whom all things are made, and Mary bore Him through whom all things are saved. God begot Him without whom absolutely nothing is, and Mary bore Him without whom absolutely nothing is well. O truly “the Lord is with you,” to whom the Lord granted that all of nature should stand in debt to you alone along with Him.

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Anselmus Episcopus, Oratio 52, PL 158, 955-956

Coelum, sidera, terra, flumina, dies, nox et quaecunque humanae potestati vel utilitati sunt obnoxia, in amissum decus sese gratulantur, domina, per te quodammodo resuscitata, et nova quadam ineffabili gratia donata. Quasi enim omnia mortua erant, cum amissa congenita dignitate favendi dominatui vel usibus Deum laudantium, ad quod facta erant; obruebantur oppressione, et decolorabantur abusu idolis servientium, propter quos facta non erant. Quasi vero eamdem resuscitata laetantur, cum jam Deum confitentium et dominatu reguntur, et usu decorantur. Nova autem et inaestimabili p. 0955B| gratia quasi exsultaverunt, cum ipsum Deum, ipsum Creatorem suum, non solum invisibiliter supra se illa regentem senserunt, sed etiam visibiliter intra se eisdem utendo sanctificantem viderunt. Haec tanta bona per benedictum fructum benedicti ventris benedictae Mariae provenerunt.

Sed cur solum loquor, domina, beneficiis tuis plenum esse mundum? Inferna penetrant, coelos superant. Per plenitudinem enim gratiae tuae, et quae in inferno erant, se laetantur liberata; et quae supra mundum sunt, se gaudent restaurata. Per eumdem quippe gloriosum filium gloriosae virginitatis tuae, omnes justi qui obierunt ante vitalem ejus mortem, exsultant diruptione captivitatis suae, et angeli gratulantur p. 0955C| restitutione semirutae civitatis suae. O femina mirabiliter singularis, et singula mirabilis, per quam elementa renovantur, inferna remediantur, daemones conculcantur, homines salvantur, angeli redintegrantur! O femina plena et superplena gratia, de cujus plenitudinis exundantia respersa sic revirescit omnis creatura! O Virgo benedicta et superbenedicta, per cujus benedictionem benedicitur omnis natura, non solum creata a Creatore, sed et Creator a creatura! O nimis exaltata, quam sequi conatur affectus animae meae, quo aufugis aciem mentis meae? O pulchra ad intuendum, amabilis ad contemplandum, delectabilis ad amandum, quo evadis capacitatem cordis mei? Praestolare, Domina, infirmam animam te sequentem: nec p. 0955D| abscondas te, domina, parum videnti, animae te p. 0956A| quaerenti. Miserere, domina, animam post te anhelando languentem.

Mira res, in quam sublimi contemplor Mariam locatam. Nihil est aequale Mariae: nihil, nisi Deus, majus Maria. Deus Filium suum, quem solum de corde suo aequalem sibi genitum, tanquam seipsum diligebat, ipsum dedit Mariae: et ex Maria fecit sibi filium, non alium, sed eumdem; ut naturaliter esset unus idemque communis Filius Dei et Mariae. Omnis natura a Deo est creata, et Deus ex Maria est natus. Deus omnia creavit, et Maria Deum genuit. Deus qui omnia fecit, ipse se ex Maria fecit; et sic omnia quae fecerat, refecit. Qui potuit omnia de nihilo facere, noluit ea violata sine Maria reficere. Deus igitur est pater rerum creatarum, p. 0956B| et Maria mater rerum recreatarum. Deus est Pater constitutionis omnium, et Maria est mater restitutionis omnium. Deus enim genuit illum, per quem omnia sunt facta; et Maria peperit illum, per quem omnia sunt salvata. Deus genuit illum, sine quo penitus nihil est; et Maria peperit illum, sine quo omnino nihil bene est. O vere Dominus tecum, cui dedit Dominus, ut omnis natura tantum tibi deberet secum.