[Rank]
Sexta die infra Octavam Nativitatis Beatae Mariae Virginis;;Semiduplex;;2;;vide C11

[Rule]
vide C11
9 lectiones

[Lectio4]
From the Book against heresies written by St. Epiphanius, Archbishop (of Salamis.)
!Bk. iii. 78
Eve, who received the mystic title of Mother of all living (Gen. iii. 20), was a type of Mary, the Blessed Mother of God. It was even after she had heard the words, Dust thou art, and unto dust shalt thou return, that Eve was called Mother of all living. And it is certainly strange that after the transgression she should receive this great title. In respect of carnal things all men upon the earth do indeed draw their genealogy from Eve, and in respect of spiritual things life was born upon the earth from Mary, who gave birth to Him That liveth, and so becometh Mother of all that live by Him. And so Mary hath a mystic right to the title of Mother of all living.

[Lectio5]
Unto Eve was given a coat of skins to clothe the natural body withal when she knew that she was naked, (Gen. iii. 21,) but unto Mary it was given to bring forth for us a Lamb with Whose glorious fleece (of merits) we may through wisdom be clothed in a robe of immortality. Eve was a cause of death to all men, for by her, death entered into the world; but Mary is a cause of life whereby life is sprung up for us all, since through her the Son of God entered into the world. ' ' Where sin abounded, grace did much more abound. (Rom.
v. 20.) Whence death was brought in, thence hath life also come forth, that life may take the place of death, and He Who by a woman hath become life unto us may put away the death which was invented by a woman. On the one hand Eve, being still a virgin, transgressed by disobedience; on the other hand, by a virgin came the obedience of grace, the announcement of Him Who came from heaven and took flesh, and life everlasting.

[Lectio6]
We may be permitted to say so, the following words, written of the Church, may be taken of Mary Therefore shall a man leave his father and his mother, and shall cleave unto his wife; and they shall be one flesh. (Gen. ii. 24.) The holy Apostle saith This is a great mystery, but I speak concerning Christ and the Church. (Eph. v. 32.) See the scrupulous accuracy of the Scriptural language. Concerning Adam it is said that God formed him, but concerning Eve that He builded her. And the rib which the Lord God had taken from man, builded He into a woman. (Gen. ii. 22.) Hereby is shown that the Lord formed unto Himself a Body out of Mary, but that out of His Rib He builded up the Church, namely, when His Side was pierced and opened, and the mystic streams of Blood and Water flowed for the remission of sin.

[Lectio7]
From the Holy Gospel according to Matthew
!Matt 1:1-17
The Book of the generation of Jesus Christ, the Son of David, the son of Abraham. Abraham begat Isaac, and Isaac begat Jacob. And so on.
_
Homily by St. Augustine, Bishop (of Hippo.)
!Bk. iii. upon the Harmony of the Gospels, I.
The Evangelist Matthew beginneth thus The book of the generation of Jesus Christ, the Son of David, the son of Abraham. By this beginning he sufficiently showeth that he taketh upon him to tell the generation of Christ according to the Flesh. It is by this generation that Christ is the Son of Man, a title whereby He oftentimes calleth Himself, pointing out unto us what He hath been mercifully pleased to become for our sakes. As to His higher and eternal Generation, by Which He is the Only-begotten Son of God, begotten before any creature, and by Whom all things were made, it is so indescribable that the Prophet may be understood to point to it where he saith who shall declare His generation? (Isa. liii. 8.)

[Lectio8]
Matthew therefore followeth the human pedigree of Christ, tracing down the line of His forefathers from Abraham to Joseph, the husband of Mary, of whom was born Jesus. That it was not from lying with Joseph, but as a virgin, that Mary gave birth to the Christ, is deemed by the Evangelist no reason why he should not give Joseph the name of husband. By this it is clearly indicated that even where the faithful who are married abstain from one another by common consent, their union may continue and be called wedlock, albeit it be a tie which consisteth in the tender attachment of minds and not the coupling of bodies, and this more especially, since they were able to have a Son born unto them without that carnal embrace the only right end of which is the begetting of children.

[Lectio9]
!Cap. 2
Since the Apostle Paul clearly saith that Jesus Christ our Lord was made of the seed of David according to the flesh, (Rom. i. 3,) we must not doubt that Mary was in someway descended from the stock of David. But it is also asserted that she was a woman with Priestly blood, by the statement that she was cousin to Elizabeth, (Luke i. 36,) who was of the daughters of Aaron. We are therefore bound to believe that in Christ flowed the blood of the two great races, namely, the Kingly and the Priestly. In these two races was found among the Hebrews that mysterious anointing which typified the anointing or Chrisma from which the title of the Christ or Anointed is taken, and which Anointing was so long beforehand in these clear types so plainly foreshadowed.
&teDeum