Undusted Texts

 For ease of reading, I have consolidated three prior posts from Jean Gerson ( Letters on the Espousals of Mary and Joseph , Office of the Espousals , and Matins Readings for the Espousals ) into a single PDF.       Direct Download  

For more details on Jean Gerson's idea for a Feast of the Espousals of Mary and Joseph, to be hold on the Thursday between the Third and Fourth Sundays of Advent, see my recent post , quoting some of his letters.  For the other texts of the Office Gerson wrote for this proposed feast, see this older post .  What I translate here are the Matins readings Gerson wrote for this office.   In the Tridentine Divine Office, the Office of Matins was generally equivalent to the modern Office of Readings; however, while the Office of Readings can be read at any time of day, Matins was a midnight office (though its name means "morning").  The traditional arrangement of readings was three groups (Nocturns), each consisting of three readings.  For a normal day, these would consist Psalms or portions of Psalms; on feast days, or during certain liturgical seasons, some or all of these Psalms would be replaced by other readings (maybe Epistles; maybe lives of the saints; ma...

  Wedding of Joseph and Mary, from St. John the Baptist Basilica in Berlin, Germany    Earlier this year, I translated the main text of an Office that Jean Gerson (1363-1429) composed for a Feast of the Espousals of Mary and Joseph. Here, I summarize two letters he wrote promoting such a feast.    Letter of August 13-17, 1400 In this letter, Jean Gerson discusses his proposal for a Feast of the Marriage ( conjugium ) of Mary and Joseph: " It has pleased divine wisdom (who reaches from end to end strongly, disposes all things sweetly (Wis 8:1)) to, in these last times, incline the hearts of many to teach that the virginal (so Jerome calls it) marriage of the just Joseph and Mary should be venerated with the solemn cult of the Church, and to promote its devotion.They are moved (so I deem) by the Gospel’s word, excellently and often preaching the prerogatives with which that just Joseph shone. They are moved by the honor and love of his most blessed wife, who ca...

Back in 2016, I drafted a paper contrasting two views of Mary's doubt and faith at the time of the Annunciation.  The first view was that of St. Jacob of Serugh (452-521), one of the most famous Syriac homilists; the second view is that of Antipater of Bostra (fl. 457), a Greek metropolitan, well-regarded for his writings against Apollinarianism and the heresies of Origenism, though only fragments have so far been discovered.  For St. Jacob, I had to rely on English translations of some of his Marian homilies; for Antipater, I was able to use the original Greek of what few homilies survive.   I tried submitting the paper to a journal or two, but I never was able to get it published.  (I have a bit of antipathy with academic journals.)  After a few rejections, the paper, like much of my work, languished in an electronic box for years.  Now I've uploaded it, so that it might, at least, be read once or twice by other eyes. Two Views of Mary's Faith  ...

  Introduction St. Albert the Great (1200-1280) needs little introduction: a German Dominican, teacher of St. Thomas Aquinas, and Doctor of the Church, he was one of the major philosophers of his age, as well as an important theologian.  His little treatise On Adhering to God  (or On Union with God ) is a beloved spiritual text.  Yet he also wrote much on Mary, though it is little known.  In particular, he wrote a twelve-book compilation entitled On the Praises of the Blessed Virgin Mary (De laudibus beatæ Mariæ Virginis) , which cover various Marian topics.  For instance, Book I is about Gabriel's greeting to Mary, Book IV is on her virtues, and Book V is on her beauty (spiritual and bodily).  (II.7 also has an interesting title: "On the Feast of the Eternity of Blessed Mary.")  Books VI-XI discuss Mary's "titles," though generally this means "images in Scripture that are applied to Mary."  These get very specific, such as "Mary, conch-shell...

  Introduction Jean Gerson (1363-1429) was a prolific and highly influential French scholar and theologian, especially while serving as the Chancellor of the illustrious University of Paris.  (I previously translated a small portion of one of his sermons on St. Nicholas, under the title "False Hopes and Immortality." )  Amidst his copious sermons and his harsh critiques of popular poems (notably the Romance of the Rose by Guillaume de Lorris and Jean de Meun), Gerson had a special devotion to St. Joseph.  Part of this devotion included an attempt to establish a Feast of the Nuptials (or Betrothals) of Mary and Joseph.  Though Gerson's attempt failed, there eventually was a Feast of the Espousals of Mary (lacking Gerson's Josephite emphasis) which enjoyed a sizable popularity, usually celebrated on January 23.  For a history of the Feast and a discussion of its underlying theology, see Michael P. Foley, "The Feast of the Espousals of Mary and Joseph," New ...