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Roman Mazurkiewicz
‘LOVER OF THE HOLY TRINITY’
The Virgin and the Holy Trinity in Medieval Polish Literature
Medieval Polish literature, Mariological or Marian as it may be, was not (for it could not be) a
result of fully independent reflection by native theologians and artists — an obvious and
understandable fact in view of the historical and the cultural background of the Polish Middle Ages. It
is now known that most texts in Polish dealing with the theme of Mary and originating between the
14th and mid-16
th centuries are translations, paraphrases or, at most, compilations and adaptations of
Latin or Czech works1.
This does not signify that native Polish artists — translators, copiers, preachers, hagiographers,
poets — while remaining faithful to the tradition of the universal Church, especially in its mainstream
doctrine, did nothing to enrich its impact with new forms of artistic expression of, at times, high
quality, as well as with their own and individual values not deprived of a depth of religious experience
and theological reflection.2
In the recent decades, almost all major elements of medieval Polish Marian culture have interested
historians of the Church, theologians, scholars of spirituality, literature, and art3. My purpose here is to
point out a single aspect of this field: the enormous — even in terms of the postulates of contemporary
Mariology4 — wealth of trinitarian reflection in Polish-language texts (i.e. those addressed to a
relatively wide audience) on Mary. The scope of the present study is such that it will contain more
citations of sources than their historical, theological or philological commentaries. It is my belief that,
1I adopt here Teresa Michałowska’s assumption of a lingering yet active traditional-Medieval trend in
religious literature at least until the middle of the 16th
century. T. Michałowska, Średniowiecze, Warszawa
1995, 783–784. 2 It would be unthinkable not to mention here the poetry of Władysław of Gielniów, author of several
valuable Marian songs. It is hardly a coincidence, too, that almost all Polish Marian songs that stand out
in the religious and/or artistic sense (Bogurodzica, Posłuchajcie, bracia miła, Radości wam powiedam,
Kwiatek czysty, smutnego sierca ucieszenie etc.) are probably original works; or, at the very least, their
possible prototypes have not been yet found. 3 C.f. J. Wojtkowski, ‘Kult Matki Boskiej w polskim piśmiennictwie do końca XV wieku,’ Studia
Warmińskie 3 (1966); J. Kopeć, Bogarodzica w kulturze polskiej XVI wieku (Lublin 1997); T.
Michałowska, Średniowiecze, (Warszawa 1995). 4 I refer to e.g. the so-called ‘trinitarian rule’ in the restoration of the Marian cult as remembered by
Paul VI in his adhortation Marialis cultus (1974).
2
in view of the scant knowledge of the subject, it is best to let our forefathers in faith and culture speak
— to contemplate the authentic testimony of their own reflection and piety.
‘For ages by the Council foretold’ – the Virgin in the Holy Trinity’s everlasting plans
Polish medieval Marian works very clearly stress the everlasting roots of the mystery of Divine
Maternity in the trinitarian plan of creation, interpreting Mary’s pre-selection as the future Birth-giver of
the Word as a design on the part of the Holy Trinity that is of a key importance for the future fate of the
world. Authors of apocrypha, sermons and songs usually refer to that in the context of Mary’s miraculous
conception by Anna and Joachim, of her birth or of the later Annunciation at Nazareth. The most detailed
presentation of matters discussed ‘at the Trinity’s Council’ on the possibilities of humanity’s salvation can
be found in Kazanie o narodzeniu Panny Maryjej [Sermon on the birth of the Virgin Mary] by Jan
‘Paterek’ of Szamotuły: even before the Creation, foreseeing the fall of the first man, ‘God our Lord asked
the Council of the Holy Trinity if God should create a woman to mend the world’s fall’5.
Paterek’s another sermon, O poczęciu Przenaczystszej Dziewice Panny Maryjej [On the birth of the
Most Chaste Virgin Mary], makes Her an even more intrinsic part of the Divine plan. For all that was to
be fulfilled in time as a consequence of Mary’s eternal election as the Mother of the Saviour — her
conception, sanctification and birth — has been realised ‘before time’ in God Unique in the Trinity. As
Paterek states after Bernard, Anselm, Rupert of Deutz and other ‘saintly Doctors:’
That good Virgin was created for ages in Divinity by the most blessed Holy Trinity and
elected the noblest of all Divine Creation, and threefold conceived in Divinity before all time6.
Before all time, Mary has also been anointed in the Divinity of the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit:
Her first anointment since the ages of ages was by the Holy Trinity so that she never
succumb to the original or any other sin...7
Finally, Mary’s triple birth in the womb of Triple and Unique Love occurred ‘before all time’:
5 Quoted after L. Malinowski, Magistra Jana z Szamotuł, dekretów doktora, Paterkiem zwanego,
Kazania o Maryi Pannie Czystej z kodeksu toruńskiego, ‘Sprawozdania Komisji Językowej Akademii
Umiejętności’, vol. 1 (1880), p. 78. 6 Ibid., p. 29.
7 Ibid., p. 38.
3
God the Father bore her of eternity in His vision of His Divinity and made her His maiden
(...). Her second birth of eternity was in God’s Son (...); and God’s Son strengthened her before
all time so that she might bear his Divinity (...). The third birth of the good Maiden was of
God’s eternity through the Holy Spirit, for He multiplied the holiest love in her when he elected
her Mother of God from eternity and kindled in her the fire of Divine love (...)8.
It is thanks to the ‘learned’ sermons by Paterek, with their abundant sources in medieval syntheses of
the ‘Mariale’ type, that Polish Marian literature assimilated the major themes of scholastic reflection on
the mystery relationship between the Virgin and the Holy Trinity.
The mystery of Mary’s eternal pre-election as the mother of the Saviour is referred to by other Marian
works. Those written even before the sermons by Jan of Szamotuły include an anonymous song on the
Annunciation of the first half of the 15th century:
For ages by the Council foretold,
Blessed by God the Father,
To be His Son’s Mother,
To comfort the sad
Tribe of Adam.
(God’s mighty mysteries…)9
Here, a special role is ascribed to the Father, who imparts on Mary his blessing, which, in turn,
predisposes her to fulfil her mission of Divine Maternity. Worth noting here is the dialogic element visible
in the words przejrzana (foretold) i przeżegnana (blessed), which respects the freedom of Mary’s future
answer, making her more ‘predisposed’ than ‘predestined’. The primordial plan of the Triple and Unique
accounts for the mystery relationship of human and divine kinship: God the Father imparts on Mary his
8 Ibid., p. 41–42.
9 I quote song texts after: M. Bobowski, Polskie pieśni katolickie od najdawniejszych czasów do końca
XVI wieku, ‘Rozprawy Akademii Umiejętności. Wydział Filologiczny’, vol. 4 (19), Kraków 1893;
Średniowieczna pieśń religijna polska, A. Brückner ed., Kraków 1923; Średniowieczna pieśń religijna
polska, M. Korolko ed., Wrocław 1980; Pieśni postne starożytne człowiekowi krześcijańskiemu należące..., z
przyczynieniem piosnek wyrobione, Raków, Sebastian Sternacki, 1607–1618, Warszawa 1978; W. Wydra i
W.R. Rzepka, Chrestomatia staropolska. Teksty do roku 1543, Wrocław 1984; W. Wydra, Władysław z
Gielniowa. Z dziejów średniowiecznej poezji polskiej, Poznań 1992.
4
blessing (predisposition) to undertake the role of God’s Birth-giver. To ‘foretell’ Mary is an act of the
whole ‘Council’; to ‘bless’ her is the will of the Father.
The mystery of Mary’s pre-election as the earthly mother of God’s Son is mainly contemplated in
Annunciation songs:
To Nazareth an embassy
Was ordained by the faithful God,
So that Gabriel visit,
the Virgin his embassy to declare.
Who was chosen by the Heavenly
Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit
To become herself a mother,
To give birth to Christ.
(Joys I tell ye…, 1st half of 15th c.)
The quoted stanzas also stress Mary’s personal exceptionality both in the Trinity’s eternal plan and in
historical reality. She is the only representative of mankind worthy of becoming God’s Birth-giver, of
uniting Heaven and Earth, of becoming herself Christ’s ‘Heaven on Earth’:
It is God’s Son, present at the Creation,
It is He who entered thy holiest womb, O Virgin.
He lived in thee as in Heaven;
The Good Holy Trinity willed thee to be His mother.
(O dearest flower…, 1st half of 16
th c.)
The final line imparts an additional trinitarian meaning on the mystery of Mary’s maternity: the act
of Mary’s election as Christ’s birth-giver by the whole Holy Trinity also has consequences, through
the Divine Triple Uniqueness, for the relationship of the future mother with all Divine Persons: Mary
becomes a spiritual bride and, at the same time, an adopted daughter for the Father, a vessel of grace
for the Holy Spirit, and a birth-giver for the Son. Her election as the mother of God’s Son is at the
5
same time Mary’s ‘spiritual adoption’ by the whole Trinity and the origin of the new, divine-human
‘Holy Family.’
All medieval authors consistently stress the predetermined nature of this fact and its roots in God’s
plan of Salvation. ‘For ages by the Council foretold,’ ‘eternally ordained in Divinity,’ ‘for ages willed by
the Holy Trinity to be the mother of God and man,’ are all almost topical phrases in Polish Marian works
which inscribe the person and the mission of the Mother of God into the perspective of God’s design. This
tenet was also a basic element of medieval catechism:
O, how gloriously are we to ponder
What God our Lord in His Trinity deigned to deliberate
How to save man
Who was all but lost since ages.
(...)
And the Virgin had long been foretold,
Elected by God from the Creation,
Of her God’s Son was to be born,
To shrive all our sins.
(The salvation of all men…, 1st half of 16
th c.)
It should be noted that Mary’s election by the Trinity to be the Mother of God refers to the integral,
spiritual and physical whole of her being:
O holiest Virgin Mary, Mother of God, I call on thee in the abundance of joy, in honesty and
dignity experienced by thy soul and thy holiest body when the heavenly God the Father, the Son
and the Holy Spirit elected thee the Mother at the Holy Trinity’s council before He created
Heaven and Earth10
.
The eternal act of Mary’s election concerns both her future maternity and her eternal virginity; and,
therefore, her virginal maternity:
10
Quoted after Modlitewnik dla kobiet z w. XVI. Ułomek z rękopisu senatora Konstantego
Małkowskiego, published by Ptaszycki, Kraków 1905, no page numbering.
6
Hail Mary, eternally chosen by the Holy Trinity to be the Virgin and the Mother of God11
.
Mary’s pre-election is a manifestation of God’s triple-unique action: the power of the Father, the
wisdom of the Son, and the love of the Holy Spirit:
There He showed his Divinity,
All his deeds,
He imparted on her His power and His wisdom,
and informed her with His love.
(Thousandfold brighter than the sun…, 1st half of 16
th c.)
Thus it is already in the eternal plan of the Holy Trinity that the Virgin becomes an abode of God’s
power, wisdom and love, a reflection of the perfect light of the Divine Triple Uniqueness:
Thousandfold brighter than the sun,
Mary, the light of the Holy Trinity,
One eternally ordained by Divinity,
To be the Mother of God.
(Thousandfold brighter than the sun…, 1st half of 16
th c.)
The privileges, virtues and grace associated with Mary have been informed with a trinitarian stigma at
the very moment of her eternal pre-election. This truth will gradually unfold in Mary’s earthly life,
beginning with her immaculate conception.
‘Preserved by the Holy Trinity’ – Mary’s Immaculate Conception
As is known even from studies by historians of theology or liturgy12
, late medieval literature in Poland
was as diversified as elsewhere on the then-evolving dogma of Mary’s immaculate conception. Yet both
the Scotist tendency, promoted in Poland with the greatest zeal by the Bernardine order (the already-
quoted Jan of Szamotuły, a staunch defender of the belief in Mary’s eternal preservation from original sin,
11
Quoted after W. Wisłocki, Modlitewnik siostry Konstancji z r. 1527 z rękopisu Biblioteki
Jagiellońskiej, ‘Sprawozdania Komisji Językowej Akademii Umiejętności’, vol. 3 (1884), p. 173.
7
was for a time its member) and certain maculist views, accepting Mary’s sanctification after her
conception in her mother’s womb, often stressed the participation of the whole Holy Trinity in the
mystery of the ‘preservation’ of Christ’s Birth-giver from the power of sin:
O Mary, thou art God’s daughter,
All sinners’ greatest joy,
Unsullied by original sin,
Preserved by the Holy Trinity.
(O Mary, virginal flower..., late 15th/early 16
th c.)
This privilege becomes the source of joy for all sinners, their hope for a prompt deliverance from
Satan’s power. Obviously, a special role in the act of Mary’s sanctification is ascribed to the Third Person
of the Holy Trinity, for whom the Virgin becomes a plentiful vessel of all grace:
Hail and be joyful, O purest and holiest Virgin, whom in her own mother’s womb the Holy
Trinity hath cleansed and sanctified, and imparted with the gifts of the Holy Spirit, and blessed
with the might of its Divinity13
.
The conception of Mary herself is interpreted as a ‘prelude’ to the incarnation of God’s Son, inscribed
into the Holy Trinity’s eternal plan of salvation and realised through its Triple and Unique Will:
(...) that fruit, welcome and awaited, is Jesse’s rod, the Virgin Mary, God’s Mother and
Heavenly Princess, who by a singular divine gift is second to none. Thus it is only just to
believe that she is later given to the world by a singular mystery of the Holy Trinity14
.
Mary is the most perfect creation of God, the most beautiful earthly fruit of the Holy Trinity’s love
of mankind:
12
See e.g. J. Wojtkowski, Wiara w Niepokalane Poczęcie Najświętszej Maryi Panny w Polsce w świetle
średniowiecznych zabytków liturgicznych. Studium historyczno–dogmatyczne, Lublin 1958. 13
From the so-called Modlitewnik Nawojki; quoted after J. Wojtkowski, Kult Matki Boskiej w polskim
piśmiennictwie do końca XV wieku, ‘Studia Warmińskie’ 3 (1966), p. 112.
8
Hail Holiest Princess, full of the love of the Holy Trinity; He created thy equal neither before
nor after15
.
What is the origin of the beauty of the Immaculate’s spiritual and physical virtues, maturing since her
very conception to her conscious pronouncement of the human fiat:
From the depth of God’s treasury
She emerged adorned in her beauty
Between priests in sanctity
Between maidens in beauty
She grew for her vocation.
(God’s mighty mysteries…, mid-15th c.)
‘By a mystery of the Holy Trinity’ – Annunciation and Incorporation
Christ’s Annunciation and Incorporation constitute two key moments in Mary’s earthly life of her co-
operation with the will of the Triple and Unique God. The eternal design of the Trinity becomes flesh
thanks to the Virgin’s fiat. No wonder, then, that it is in the works devoted to the mystery of Annunciation
and Incorporation that one finds the greatest wealth of trinitarian elements. The Gospel account of the
Annunciation was usually enhanced, especially in Biblical-apocryphal narratives, by motives adding
detail and interpretation to the event itself and, at the same time, its trinitarian character. This manifests
itself in a series of usually epic episodes of the Annunciation, complete with apocryphal elements of the
story.
Before Archangel Gabriel arrives to Nazareth as the bearer of the good news, the whole Holy Trinity
deliberate on his embassy and then state their decision:
He heard the command
The statement of the Holy Trinity
14
Żywot świętej Anny..., translated by Jan z Koszyczek, Kraków, Hieronim Wietor, ca. 1532, quoted after
‘Cały świat nie pomieściłby ksiąg’. Staropolskie opowieści i przekazy apokryficzne, W.R. Rzepka and W.
Wydra eds., with an introduction by M. Adamczyk, Warszawa–Poznań 1996, p. 119. 15
Quoted after W.A. Maciejowski, Pamiętniki o dziejach, piśmiennictwie i prawodawstwie Słowian, vol.
2, Petersburg 1839, p. 359.
9
Forthwith to the Virgin
He inclined his visage.
(Joys I tell ye…, 1st half of 15th c.)
The scene of ‘delegating’ Gabriel with the message to Nazareth is presented in some apocryphal
tales in way highly meaningful for the scope of the present study. It is certainly the case in Baltazar
Opeć’s translation of Pseudo-Bonaventura’s Life of God’s Almighty Son:
Thus I give thee my Only Son so that he have a mother like I am his father. I give her the name
of Birth-giver, yet her virginal essence will be preserved. This is why thou must carry this message
from the Holy Trinity. Thou wilt find her in prayer to God. As thou approachest her, first give her
the heavenly statement, saying: Hail, full of grace, the Lord is with thee. The Archangel, having
accepted the embassy and reverently bowed to thy Holy Trinity, joyfully went to the blessed
virgin16
.
The trinitarian character of the Angelic ave is constantly emphasised: Gabriel utters it to Mary in the
name of the whole Trinity:
Archangel Gabriel was sent to her
To tell her of the grace
of the mystery of the Holy Trinity,
To free the holy fathers
From darkness and slavery.
(God’s mighty mysteries…, mid-15th c.)
The so-called Modlitewnik siostry Konstancji [Prayerbook of Sister Constance] contains a paraphrase
of the Angelic Salutation enhancing even more the trinitarian sense of the heavenly ave:
Hailed be by the almighty power of God the Father, hailed be by the wisdom of God the Son,
hailed be by the grace of the Holy Spirit, sweetest Mary, as thou shineth over heaven and earth;
full of grace, imparting it on all those who love thee; the Lord is with thee, God the Father’s
10
only Son and thy virginal heart’s sole Friend and sweetest Betrothed; blessed art thou amongst
women who hast lifted Eve’s curse; and blessed is the fruit of thy womb, Creator and Lord of
all, who blesseth and sanctifieth all, who enliventh and enricheth all. Amen17
.
Even much later, during Christ’s passion, in response to her protestations, Archangel Gabriel will
remind the despairing mother of the trinitarian character of the Annunciation:
I know full well that I brought thee the message, O princess, yet it was not of my doing, for I
had been sent by the Holy Trinity, who bade me tell thee what thou hast heard from me18
.
In fact, Polish authors followed here an exegetic tradition well-established in the Middle Ages,
interpreting the Angelic Salutation as a ‘letter’ to Mary from the Triple and Unique God. ‘Ista salutatio in
secretario Trinitatis Dei facta est et digito Dei scripta’ – states St. Bernard of Clairvaux19
. He is also the
author of the significant commentary to the words ‘the Lord is with thee’:
Not only is God the Son with Thee, whom thee makest flesh with thy body; so is the Holy
Spirit, of whom thou hast conceived, and God the Father, of whom begotten is the one
conceived of thee. 20
The words of Gabriel are similarly explained by St. Thomas Aquinas in his Explanation of the Angelic
Salutation:
With her dwell God the Father, God the Son and God the Holy Spirit, i.e. the whole Holy
Trinity21
.
By dialogic symmetry, Mary’s fiat also becomes an answer given to the entire Holy Trinity, an answer
inviting the action of trinitarian grace in the mystery of Incorporation. Mary’s self-description as ‘the
16
Baltazar Opeć, Żywot Wszechmocnego Syna Bożego Pana Jezu Krysta..., Kraków, Hieronim
Wietor, 1522; quoted after ‘Cały świat nie pomieściłby ksiąg’..., p. 242. 17
Quoted after W. Wisłocki, Modlitewnik siostry Konstancji z r. 1527..., p. 160. 18
Rozmyślanie przemyskie, Quoted after ‘Cały świat nie pomieściłby ksiąg’..., p. 197. 19
Quoted after Jacobi de Voragine (...) Mariale. De laudibus Deipare Virginis (...), opera et industria
Rudolphi Clutii, Moguntiae 1616, p. 16. 20
Quoted after Kiełtyka SoCist., Święty Bernard z Clairvaux, Kraków 1984, p. 342.
11
handmaid of the Lord’ should also be interpreted in trinitarian terms. This truth has been preserved by
medieval hymns in Mary’s title of ‘ancilla Sanctae Trinitatis’. Mary’s fiat initiates the causative action of
the whole Holy Trinity:
When she heard that
She acquiesced
She believed the messenger;
She conceived at that instant
The wondrous son,
The almighty counsellor
Of mankind,
By his Son’s wisdom,
By the gift of the Holy Spirit
Constant in this faith.
(An archangel he sent…, late 15th c.)
The Annunciation is interpreted as God’s gift to the Virgin of Nazareth, a gift deeply trinitarian as the
angelic ave contains the entirety of the whole Holy Trinity’s grace and love. At the same time, however, it
is a gift of the Triple and Unique given through Mary to the whole humanity — a gift of ‘freedom from
darkness, from slavery.’
Fear not anymore, Mary,
Thou art greatly blessed;
Inspired by the Holy Spirit
Governed by God’s grace
Thou wilt bear the Saviour
(God’s mighty mysteries…, mid-15th c.)
Mary’s answer, the answer of human freedom, is awaited with an incertitude of loving self-limitation
by the whole Trinity:
21
Quoted from a Polish translation by W. Giertych after St. Thomas Aquinas, Wykład pacierza, Poznań
12
Consider that the Holy Trinity awaits thy answer and thy maidenly acquiescence for the
incorporation of God’s Son22
.
The whole universe, overrun by the darkness of Satanic slavery, awaits her answer:
Saints called out, pining in the abyss:
‘Do not tarry, Maria, answer the angel,
That messenger of the Holy Trinity!
Our salvation hath been placed in thy little hands ,
If thou dost not allow, mankind will be condemned,
Sorrowfully damned for ages!’
(At Nazareth the Virgin pure…, 1st half of 16
th c.)
The triple and unique will of the whole Trinity manifests itself in the mystery of Incorporation:
And so incline to me the ears of thy mercy by the innards of thy merciful Son and by that
sweetness with which He hath loved mankind and agreed with the Father, with the Holy Spirit to
accept a human form our salvation through the angelic salutation and the Holy Spirit’s inspiration23
.
The very act of Incorporation is the work of the Holy Trinity and, as such, constitutes a trinitarian
theophany:
Hail, Mother of God’s Word,
With that he created the world and its wonders,
With the power of the third person.
One took flesh from thee,
Three performed the deed
in the blessed Trinity24
.
1987, p. 96.
22 Baltazar Opeć, Żywot Wszechmocnego Syna...; quoted after ‘Cały świat nie pomieściłby ksiąg’..., p.
244. 23
A prayer from Rozmyślanie przemyskie; quoted after Rozmyślanie o żywocie Pana Jezusa. Z rękopisu
Grecko–Katolickiej Kapituły Przemyskiej A. Brückner ed., Kraków 1907, p. 463.
13
Similarly to the mystery of Mary’s immaculate conception, the Holy Spirit is the immediate
performer of Christ incorporation as He imparts on the Virgin the ‘shadow’ of God’s Light. His action
results in a complexity of mystical kinship between the Father, the Mother and the Son based on the
reciprocal love of God and man, a complexity paradoxical from a human point of view:
Be blessed, God’s Spirit has sanctified thee,
When he made God and man one in thee,
Motherless, eternally derived from the Father,
Fatherless, gloriously born of thee,
O holy family!25
The deeply trinitarian character of the Annunciation, as well as the crucial significance of the
Annunciation in the story of Salvation, are the reasons why the Church praises its memory in a major
holiday of the liturgical year. It is not only a feast of Mary but also of the Trinity, as explained by
Baltazar Opeć after Pseudo-Bonaventura:
Behold then the greatness of today’s feast. (…) Today is the feast of God the Father, who
married the maiden to his only Son and gave her to Him. Today is also the feast of the birth of
God’s Son, which will be followed by his nativity from her holy womb. Today is also the feast
of the Holy Spirit for the wondrous and unfathomable making the body of God’s Son, for that
matter is ascribed by the holy Church to the Holy Spirit. Today is also the feast of the most saint
Virgin Mary, whom God the Father chose as his particular daughter, and God the Son as his
mother26
.
24
Psałterz najświętszej i najchwalebniejszej Dziewicy Maryi..., quoted after W. Wydra, W.R. Rzepka,
Teksty polskie z pierwszej połowy XVI wieku (z rękopisu nr 19/R Biblioteki Prowincji OO. Bernardynów w
Krakowie), cz. 2, ‘Slavia Occidentalis’ 36 (1979), p. 136. The Marian psalter of ca. 1540 is a paraphrased
translation of Psalterium Beatae Mariae Virginis by St. Edmund, Archbishop of Canterbury (AH 35, p.
137–149). 25
Ibid., p. 141. 26
Baltazar Opeć, Żywot Wszechmocnego Syna Bożego...; quoted after ‘Cały świat nie pomieściłby
ksiąg’..., p. 245.
14
‘Holy Trinity’s Testimony’ – the life of Mary
Apart from the Annunciation scene, evangelical history has preserved no facts from the life of the
Virgin that could constitute a direct testimony of her spiritual communion with the mystery of the Holy
Trinity. Much more abundant in this respect are sermons, prayers and apocrypha, which emphasise the
trinitarian aspect of major events in Mary’s life, associated with the gradual realisation of God’s design of
the Immaculate.
Mary’s birth in God’s ‘vision of Divinity’ is fulfilled in time in her immaculate conception and her
earthly birth. Their redeeming sense, known to the Holy Trinity yet so far undisclosed to the world is a
source of general joy in Heaven:
This birth was first joyful for the Holy Trinity, for the Holy Trinity was praised for the
maiden, for the Father was joyful that his bride was born; for the Son was joyful that his mother
was born; and the Holy Spirit —for his abode was thus made27
.
There is some emphasis on the apocryphal tradition according to which Mary went into the service of
the temple at the age of three. More than that — it she herself who, in a first conscious act of a child’s
will, decided then to devote herself entirely to the service of God and offer herself to Him in ‘a spiritual
adoption:’
When the Virgin Mary had already been raised and when she had turned three, Anna and
Joachim took Mary and gave offerings for her to God Almighty28
.
We are here to ponder the life of the Virgin Mary. When she turned three and was taken by
her parents, her father and mother, into God’s service in church, she forthwith knelt down in the
middle of the church and decided to take God as her mother and father29
.
27
Jan z Szamotuł (Paterek), Kazanie o Narodzeniu NMP; quoted after L. Malinowski, Magistra Jana z
Szamotuł (...) Kazania o Maryi Pannie Czystej..., p. 95. 28
Rozmyślanie przemyskie; quoted after ‘Cały świat nie pomieściłby ksiąg’..., p. 147. 29
Baltazar Opeć, Żywot Wszechmocnego Syna Bożego...; quoted after ‘Cały świat nie pomieściłby
ksiąg’..., p. 234.
15
This event might be best commented upon, in an illustration of the sensitivity of medieval exegesis to
numerical trinitarian symbolism, by a sentence from a homily by St. German for the feast of Presentation
of the Virgin:
If, then, one Person of the holiest and eternal Trinity, by God’s will through the action of the
Holy Spirit, was placed in the womb of the maiden — the Virgin Mary — it was only fitting
that she herself be sanctified after being thus honoured by such a number. That is why, after
three years, she was brought to the temple — by the will of her Creator and Son30
.
Signs of the presence and of the action of the Holy Trinity also accompany the most important event of
Mary’s life — the birth of Christ, of which the whole Trinity is the cause:
That night, all over the world, all rivers stopped for three hours, not flowing down. (…) That
night Noah’s old ark, stranded in the mounts of Armenia, gave its spiritual testimony of the
Holy Trinity in the birth of Jesus Christ, God’s Son, from the Virgin Mary, for three trees fell
out31
of that selfsame ark, flowered anew and bore fruit32
.
Before the Virgin Mary was born, three suns had been seen in the sky; they then flocked
together and became one. This is for us a spiritual representation of God Unique in the Trinity,
in whom we believe by Jesus Christ, his Son33
.
The joy of the Saviour’s birth fills not only the angelic and the earthly world but also, and above all,
the highest Heaven, the Trinity’s empireum:
For the whole Holy Trinity rejoiced in the birth of the Maiden [in her giving birth to Christ
— RM], as written in Bridget34
.
30
St. German, Homilia na Ofiarowanie NMP, translated by W. Kania, in ‘Beatam me dicent’. Teksty o
Matce Bożej, C. Napiórkowski OFMConv. ed., vol. 1: Ojcowie Kościoła greccy i syryjscy, Niepokalanów
1981, p. 157. 31
Polish translator’s mistake: ‘wypadły’ (‘fell out’) should be rendered as ‘zazieleniły się’ (‘grew green’ or
‘sprouted leaves’). 32
Rozmyślanie przemyskie; quoted after ‘Cały świat nie pomieściłby ksiąg’..., p. 163. 33
Ibid., p. 164. 34
Quoted after W. Wisłocki, Modlitewnik siostry Konstancji z r. 1527..., p. 162.
16
Finally, it can be assumed that Mary, throughout her whole ‘adult’ life since the Annunciation, as she
was accompanying her Son in his earthly journeys, was acquiring an increasing consciousness of the
mystery of the Holy Trinity. The phrase in S. Luke’s Gospel, ‘his mother kept all these sayings in her
heart’ (Luke 2:51–52), might be also interpreted in terms of this aspect of the Marian meditation on the
mystery of salvation. This intuition is confirmed by apocryphal tales, such as the fine Rozmyślanie
przemyskie [Przemyśl meditation], reporting a significant dialogue of Mary and her Son on the mystery of
His Incarnation, where Christ also explains the rudiments of the ‘theology’ of the Holy Trinity:
Mary asketh: Before that [creation — RM] was created, where werest thou or where didst
thou dwell, or the Father in whom thou werest or in whom thou didst dwell? Jesus: We were in
our famous Trinity, where our divine powers still dwell (…). Mary: Why dost thou thus
remember the Trinity, which is the Trinity of divine reverence? Jesus: We are three persons in
one deity, in one being of equal power: the Father, the Holy Spirit and the Son; each of these
honours is equal. Mary: If these three persons truly make up one God, how is it that thou hast
become my child? Jesus: My deity hath centred on one person, on thy womb and thy body; the
eternal Son hath been now made flash by God the Father and thus, dearest mother, born of
thee35
.
Modlitewnik siostry Konstancji also includes a beautiful cycle of Marian salutations, associating her
whole life with the mystery of the Holy Trinity in terms of bridal love and its constant flow from the
Triple and Unique Source to the heart of our Lord’s Mother, the Divine Bride:
Blessed be, O Virgin most exalted of the holiest priest, whose heart for ages hath flowed
unto thee from the Holiest Trinity in that happiest design.
Blessed be, O Virgin, in that sweetest flow, which from the heart of the Holiest Trinity
flowed unto thee, O Maiden sweet, in that most true communion.
Blessed be, O Virgin most noblest in the sweetest priest, which flowed unto thee from the
Holy Trinity by thy only Son’s sweetest preaching and sermon.
Blessed be, O Virgin dearest in that sweet flow, which flowed from the Holy Trinity from
thy only son at the time of his bitter death’s torture.
35
Rozmyślanie przemyskie; quoted after Rozmyślanie o żywocie Pana Jezusa..., p. 116–117.
17
Blessed be, O Virgin most distinguished in the flow that flowed unto thee from the blessed
Holy Trinity in the full glory of joy, in which thou now rejoicest and wilt rejoice for ages, above
all creatures of Heaven and Earth elected before Creation36
.
‘Exalted by the Holy Trinity’ – Mary’s glory
O heavenly princess, holiest above all,
Thou art exalted by the Holy Trinity,
Thou art enlightened by the heavenly hosts…
(O pure Virgin most famous…, late 15th c.)
Mary’s exaltation by the Holy Trinity and by all the powers of Heaven constitutes an eschatological
fulfilment of the ave of the Annunciation. It is only then that Gabriel’s phrase ‘thou art full of love’ takes
on an eternal, a timeless sense. It is not the messenger but the Holiest Trinity itself that now salutes the
Assumpta with their heavenly ave. Mary’s Assumption is itself the work of the whole Trinity:
When thou hast expired, O Virgin,
The Holy Trinity took thee
Into its heavenly glory37
.
According to apocryphal tradition, it is Christ who comes for Mary’s soul, who ‘himself led her holiest
soul with great joy into heaven and seated her close to the Holy Trinity’38
. Most Assumption works stress
Mary’s direct proximity to the seat of the Holy Trinity, treating this as one of the greatest privileges of
the Assumpta. Thus e.g. Modlitewnik siostry Konstancji lists as one of her seven joys ‘the closeness of
dwelling, for the good Virgin has been placed near the Holiest Trinity.’
Mary, arriving to Heaven, is greeted by the whole Trinity: by the Father as his daughter and
betrothed, by the Son as his mother, by the Holy Spirit as the vessel of sevenfold grace:
36
Quoted after W. Wisłocki, Modlitewnik siostry Konstancji z r. 1527..., p. 160. 37
Psałterz najświętszej i najchwalebniejszej Dziewicy Maryi..., p. 153. 38
Baltazar Opeć, Żywot Pana Jezu Krysta, Stworzyciela i Zbawiciela rodzaju ludzkiego..., printed by
Florian Ungler i Jan Sandecki-Malecki, Kraków 1522 (2nd
edition); quoted after ‘Cały świat nie
pomieściłby ksiąg’..., p. 270.
18
Then, as she entered Heaven bright, the dwelling of all holy angels, all the angels of all the
choirs met her as did the Holy Trinity itself, honouring her with more praise of all kind. (...)
[Then,] Mary was received by the Holy Trinity: the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit,
and they placed her on a royal seat with great joy, praising and cheering her sweetly with their
Divinity beyond description and understanding.
First God the Father, having greeted her, said: Hail, dearest daughter elected before Creation
to be, as my betrothed, the queen of the whole world. (...) Come, come then, my betrothed from
the mountain of purity, and take the royal crown so that I may place thee on my seat, in endless
glory.
Then God’s Son, the Lord Jesus Christ embraced his mother with the greatest reveration,
saying: Come, Mother dear, Virgin pure, sweet Mary, into thy Son’s delightful temples, for thou
hast given me my abode in thy saintliest womb, when thou hast conceived me in the Holy Spirit
in thy womb and gave me flesh. (...) It is my will that, as I am declared King, thee be as Queen
declared, honoured and praised with glory second only to God’s for the ages of ages.
Finally, the Holy Spirit praised the Virgin Mary, saying: Hail, blessed Mother of Christ,
elected above all, who hast paid for the sins of the world through thy Son. Thou art the one in
whom I rested with sevenfold grace, filling thee with my gifts, and by entering thee I have
prepared an abode for the Son of God, and of thy blood I have made his body and filled it with
all virtues, so that thou becomest revered mother and betrothed, saviour of all39
.
The last three of the twelve stars adorning the crown of the Assumpta are the gift of the Holy
Trinity: the tenth, of the Holy Spirit, the eleventh, of the Son of God, the twelfth, of God the Father.
After being crowned Queen of Heaven and Earth, Mary
was praised by the souls for three days and seated on a throne close to the Holy Trinity,
greeted by all, praised, honoured and adored as merciful Princess and powerful Empress40
.
After the three days, by decree of the Holy Trinity, Mary’s resurrected body joins her soul and both are
raised together to the greatest glory:
39
Ibid., p. 275 i 281. 40
Ibid., p. 274.
19
Be blessed, thy soul with thy body
Remaineth in the closeness of the Holy Trinity41
.
Mary fully participates in the joy as well as in the glory of the Holy Trinity: ‘Rejoice, O Virgin Mary,
with the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit. Amen’42
.
Various Marian titles, especially those from litanies, also present the trinitarian aspect of the
Assumpta’s heavenly glory:
Thou art the abode of the Holy Spirit,
Thou art elected from the beginning,
Thou art famed by the Holy Trinity,
Thou art the good princess of thy servants…
(Our kindest hope…, 1st half of 15
th c.)
She is the vessel of the Comforter himself, the Holy Spirit; she is the most glorious abode of
God most holy in the Trinity…43
It is evident from the above quotations that the Assumpta’s heavenly glory possesses a clearly
trinitarian context. It should be remembered here that the title ‘Bogiem sławiena’ [praised by God]
from Bogurodzica (the oldest Polish religious hymn) should be interpreted in this, i.e. trinitarian,
41
Psałterz najświętszej i najchwalebniejszej Dziewicy Maryi..., p. 151. 42
Quoted after W. Wisłocki, Modlitewnik siostry Konstancji z r. 1527..., p. 174. 43
Ibid., p. 165. Medieval hymns create a highly abundant repertoire of Marian titles with
trinitarian associations. It is dominated by metaphors of Mary as the temple and the abode of the
Trinity: templum Sanctae Trinitatis (also: triclinum, cella, aula, tabernaculum, arca, camera,
thalamus, vas, cubile, claustrum, hospitium, thesaurus, atrium, sedes, thronus, solium). Other
phrases illustrate various aspects of the presence of the mystery of the Holy Trinity in the life of
Mary and in her heavenly glory: decus, gloria, gemma, speculum, imago, sigillum, codex,
secretum, umbra, flos, rosa, stilla, ancilla, gerula (see Analecta hymnica medii aevi, G.M. Dreves,
C. Blume, H. Bannister eds., vol. 1–55, Leipzig 1886–1922, passim). Not always were Polish
translations a faithful rendering of the trinitarian sense in the Latin originals. Thus e.g. the
translator of the Latin song Imperatrix gloriosa, plena laudum titulis (Cesarzowno wszech
naświętsza..., early 16th
c.) replaced the original’s appelation of Mary as ‘Templum Sanctae
Trinitatis’ by ‘refuge of all sanctity, ‘interpreting’ the conventionalised Latin title in a more subjective
sense: as a ‘Temple of the Holy Trinity,’ Mary herself becomes ‘full of sanctity.’
20
sense, contrarily to erstwhile suggestions by Ewa Ostrowska and other scholars that this phrase be
associated with God the Father alone44
.
It should finally be noted that medieval Marian texts often stressed an interdependence (a subjugation)
of Mary’s glory to that of the Holy Trinity in their closing trinitarian doxologies. In a typical example of
the practice, the hymn Ave maris stella, opening with a salutation of Mary, ‘Hail thou star of the see,
Mother Of the Lord Most High...’, ends with a praise of God Unique in Trinity:
To the almighty Three
Father, Son, and Spirit,
One same glory be.
Alleluia.
(Hail thou star of the see..., late 15th c.)
It is with the greatest subtlety that proportions of Marian worship and trinitarian doxology have
been brought together by the author of a Polish translation of Psalterium Beatae Mariae Virginis:
Praise to thee, kind Virgin,
And praise separate to the Trinity
Be without end45
.
‘Great comforter of sinners, lover of the Holy Trinity’ – Mary’s intercession
Mary’s reign in Heaven is, as stated by John Paul II in his homily at the Angelus of 22. August 1999, a
reign of servitude and love. The Assumpta’s service to the pilgrim Church draws its strength from the
mystery of love imparted on Mary by the Holy Trinity:
Hail, thou art our advocate,
Great comforter of sinners,
Lover of the Holy Trinity,
44
See E. Ostrowska, Bogurodzica – najstarszy wiersz polski, w: Z dziejów języka polskiego i jego
piękna, Kraków 1978, p. 16; p. Nieznanowski, Średniowieczna liryka religijna, w zbiorze: Polska liryka
religijna, p. Sawicki and p. Nowaczyński eds., Lublin 1984, p. 16. 45
Psałterz najświętszej i najchwalebniejszej Dziewicy Maryi..., p. 154. The Latin original reads: ‘Honor
tibi virgini, / Patri, nato, flamini / Sit virtus perpetua’ (AH vol. 35, p. 149).
21
Mystery unfolded
Of Christ of Nazareth.
(Hail, princess perfect…, late 15th c.)
Mary’s description in the probably earliest Polish paraphrase of the antiphone Salve regina as ‘Świętej
Trojce miłośnica’ [Lover of the Holy Trinity] is an illustration of the whole wealth of dynamic
relationships between the Mother of God Assumpta and God Triple and Unique, of the dialogic nature of
the love between God and man. The Old Polish word ‘miłośnica’ combines two aspects, the active and the
passive: it signifies here both ‘venerator,’ ‘adorer, ’ and ‘favorite’, ‘darling’ of the Holy Trinity46
.
Particularly important is that word’s context of intercession; after all, the quoted stanza amplifies the title
of ‘rzecznica,’ ‘advocate,’ of Salve regina: ‘A przeto ty, rzecznica nasza’ [So thou, our Advocate]. Thus
it anchors the idea of Mary’s intercession in the mystery of trinitarian love, of bridal love, and in the
mystery of Incorporation ‘through her achieved.’ Mary’s closeness to the Holy Trinity, the love
bestowed on her by the Triple and Unique, both place Marian intercession in Polish medieval prayers
in a trinitarian as well as a christological context. In fact, prayers for intercession to the Most Holy
Virgin Mary are often motivated in trinitarian terms: through the power of the Father, the wisdom of
the Son and the grace of the Holy Spirit, as e.g. in Modlitwa o ulgę w mękach czyśćcowych [Prayer for
relief in purgatorial pain] from the so-called Modlitewnik Nawojki [Nawojka’s Prayerbook]:
In whichever torture be I thrown, I ask thee, by the highness of God the Father, who hath elected
thee his sweetest daughter and endowed thee with his only son; by the wisdom of God’s Son, who
loved thee as a mother and entered thy womb; by the meek goodness of the Holy Spirit, who hath
thee cleansed and sanctified, and made thy womb a fitting abode for the Saviour; in a word, by the
mercy of God Unique in Trinity, thee, Mother of compassion, for which I, N, entreat, deign to visit
me, lighten and shorten my pain, so I can behold thy most beautiful face and reign with thee forever
and ever47
.
The Angelic Salutation possesses a deeply trinitarian sense, a fact well known to the authors of
medieval books of prayer. This consciousness is perfectly visible in Modlitewnik siostry Konstancji, in its
fragment adapted from Liber gratiae spiritualis, visionum et revelationum beatae Mechtildis:
46
See Słownik staropolski, vol. 4, 4 (23), p. 265.
22
First Hail Mary. Almighty Maiden, heavenly and earthly Virgin Mary, I ask thee that, as God
the Father in his all-powerful greatness hath placed thee on the highest seat, thou intercede for
me to receive, in all my actions and all prayers, the power so that I, strengthened and endowed
by it, surmount all temptation and predicaments, so that I resist them, and be with me in the
hour of my death, comforting me and chasing away all inimical powers. Amen.
Second Hail Mary. O Mistress wisest, Apostolic Virgin Mary, I ask thee, as God’s Son in his
unfathomable greatness hath endowed, beautified, and filled thee, O Mistress, with wisdom
enhanced by learning and with intelligence that thou art revered more than any other saint by the
Holy Trinity, and who hath enlightened thee with such great light that thou shineth forth in the
night shining as the sun, intercede for me to receive, in all my actions and all prayers, the
wisdom so that I do not err, so that I be not tempted away from righteousness by any error, and,
in the hour of my death, enlighten my soul with the light of faith and fear, and discernment, so
that my faith be not tempted by ignorance or in any other way. Amen.
Third Hail Mary. O most merciful comforter of the unhappy, Virgin Mary, I ask thee, as the
Holy Spirit in the power of his Divine and utter love hath informed thee and made thee sweet,
meekest and most merciful, so that, second in sweetness to God alone, intercede for me to
receive, in all my actions and all prayers, the gift of mercy and love, which would comfort me in
all my sorrows and all my prayers, so that I never be overwhelmed by sorrow or sadness, so that
I do not tire; and be with me at my death, inspiring my soul with the delight of God’s love, so
that it help me so much, and reign in me, that all pain of sorrow and bitterness of death become
sweet. Amen48
.
It would be difficult to imagine a clearer and, at the same time, a better-substantiated example of a
theological combination of Marian intercession with the mystery of the Holy Trinity. The powerful
Queen, endowed with the power of the Father, is asked for the strength to abide by virtue, especially in the
hour of death. The Mistress, inspired with the wisdom of the Son, is asked for the light of wisdom in
action and prayer, in the faith and in the fear of God. Finally, Mary ‘full of love’ is asked to intercede with
the Holy Spirit for ‘the gift of mercy and love,’ for the sweetness of comfort and mercy in moments of
doubt, especially in the ‘sorrow and bitterness of death.’
47
Modlitewnik Nawojki; quoted after F. Krček, Modlitewnik Nawojki. Studium językowe..., p. 217. 48
Quoted after W. Wisłocki, Modlitewnik siostry Konstancji z r. 1527..., p. 127–128.
23
Mary, Comforter and Guide, leads the faithful people to the eternal home, so that it can contemplate
and praise with her the Most Holy Trinity:
Intercede for us, thy servants, for the forgiveness of sins,
Endow us with lucid agony and salvation of the soul,
So that we can behold thee, praise thy Son
With the Father and with the Holy Spirit forever and ever. Amen
(O Mary, Mother of Christ..., early 16th c.)
Let us end this trinitarian-Marian ‘inventory’ of medieval Polish literature with a short prayer formula
recited before the sermon as late as in the first half of the 16th century, which could be used, even today, as
a perfect instance of a trinitarian context for Marian intercession:
The power of God the Father Almighty, the wisdom of his generous Son, the gift of the Holy
Spirit, the assistance of the heavenly Princess, Virgin Mary, be with us, with all sinners.
Amen49
.
49
Quoted after Glosy i drobne teksty polskie do 1550 roku z inkunabułów Kalisza, Kazimierza
Biskupiego, Koła, Sieradza i Warty, collected and edited by J. Wojtkowski, linguistic notes by W.
Kuraszkiewicz, Poznań 1965, p. 108; Glosy i drobne teksty polskie do 1550 roku z inkunabułów
Archiwum Archidiecezjalnego w Poznaniu, collected and edited by J. Wojtkowski, linguistic notes and
index by Zofia Krążyńska, Poznań 1992, p. 24–25.
