Mother Mectilde and the Ave Maria

Our Lady of Victory

Leading up to October 7, 1571, Pope St Pius V, as GK Chesterton was to put it, “cast his arms abroad for agony and loss, and called the kings of Christendom for swords about the Cross”. The response was less than desired. In Chesterton’s words, the “cold queen of England”, namely Elizabeth I, was “looking in the glass”. She was consumed with herself, how own interests and position, like someone looking in the mirror. “The shadow of the Valois”, the French Royal House of Valois, was “yawning at the Mass”. In fact, the French King did not respond to the Pope’s summons, whatever his reasons. “From evening isles fantastical” rang “faint the Spanish gun”, for the Spanish were spread too thinly between an empty treasury, revolts in Andalusia and the Netherlands, and concerns such as empire building in the Americas and the situation in England, and they could not readily respond. “And the Lord upon the Golden Horn”, the Sultan, was “laughing in the sun”, for it seemed the time had at last come to conquer Christendom.

When at last John of Austria, the half brother of Philip of Spain, answered the call, and an alliance between Venice and Spain was formed, Pope St Pius V begged Christendom to pray the rosary for victory. He had, apparently, a vision of the victory when it happened, and announced it to those with him before official news had come. For him, credit for the victory was due to the Blessed Virgin Mary, to the Ave Maria, to the Rosary.

A Very Rich Liturgy

Today’s Office and Mass, the office and Mass for the Blessed Virgin Mary of the Rosary (or the feast of the Rosary) is among the richest of the year. It would not be possible for us to comment upon it exhaustively. Let us simply bring out a few points.

First, the Collect is the famous Collect so many of us pray at the end of our Rosary:

O God, Whose only-begotten Son, by His life, death and resurrection, has purchased for us the rewards of eternal life; grant, we beseech Thee, that, meditating upon these mysteries of the Most Holy Rosary of the Blessed Virgin Mary, we may imitate what they contain and obtain what they promise.

It is worth noting that the Latin word translated here as “meditating” is recoléntes, from colo which literally means to cultivate, i.e. a garden. Recoléntes, then, has the sense of cultivating again. There is a theme of roses all the way through today’s Liturgy. The readings in Matins told us why Mary is fittingly thought of as a rose, and the Rosary is seen as giving roses to her.

The second point concerns the Offertory, which also has the theme of roses.

In me is all grace of the way and of the truth, in me is all hope of life and of power. Like a rose planted near running waters I have borne fruit.

The key to interpreting liturgical texts is to ask who is speaking. At first blush, we might think the Blessed Virgin Mary herself is speaking, and that is plausible. But it seems to me that it is the Rosary itself speaking to us. What does it have to say?

“In me (the Rosary) is all the grace of the way (of the Cross), and of the Truth (the mysteries of the Lord), and all hope of life (the Resurrection) and of power (the descent of the Holy Spirit). I am like a rose (the Rosary) planted near running waters (of the Blessed Virgin Mary, the Aqueduct). I have borne fruit (in all who turn to me).”

It is this same fruit that is referenced in the Communion Antiphon when we hear:

Break forth in blossoms like the lily, and yield a smell, and bring forth leaves in grace, and praise with canticles, and bless the Lord in His works.

The blossoms, like the fruitful lily, are today seen in the blossoms of the Rosary. They are experienced with each Ave Maria that is said. The Rosary has born this fruit for us, the fruit of the many Aves, the fruit of life and virtues that each Ave contains, the fruit of the Mysteries of the Lord each Ave has invited us to meditate upon. The Rosary causes us to blossom forth with fruit-bearing Aves, each one a flower to bring to Our Lady.

Mother Mectilde and the Hail Mary

About 60 years after Lepanto, Mother Mectilde was having difficulties in adjusting to religious life. She turned to the Blessed Virgin Mary:

At the beginning of her religious life with the Annunciades [a Franciscan order] we also note how much she was subject to “ups and downs.” After entering religious life in the greatest fervor, she fell into aversions no less profound: “the solitude caused her an overwhelming boredom” (though solitude would be her greatest temptation later); her “sorrow was at not loving and serving God.”

[The virgin Mary] consoled her, but her Superior overwhelmed her [purposefully], for the sake of “forming” her.
In this situation where she needed support that she was not receiving in her formation, she continually turned to Our Lady. Then:

During an epidemic which devastated the community, her distress reached its peak. At this time, she asked Mary to be her Novice Mistress.

This is how she recounted it later:

Finding myself in great distress one day, and having no one to whom I could open my heart, I turned to the holy Mother of God with these words, “O Blessed Virgin, have you led me here to make me perish? Shouldn’t I have stayed in the world since I am not finding here the means to serve God with more holiness and purity? You see that I have no one to teach me my duties; that I have nobody; that I do not know how to pray or make an invocation. Please, then, serve as my Mother and Teacher. Teach me all I need to know.”

Our Lady responded by pointing to the Ave Maria:

That most gracious Mother then served in reality as her Novice Mistress and taught her quickly by an interior impression how to pray with the Ave Maria, in such a way that, day and night, she remained occupied with it. Later on, this heavenly teacher gave her Our Lord’s sufferings to contemplate, and with the same fidelity, she made it her constant focus, and thus the holy Mother of God helped her to get through these temptations with the interior help she gave her. The worthy Mother added, “I can say that it is from the Blessed Virgin that I learned everything I know. She was always, from that time, my holy teacher. I always went to her for help, turning to her for everything.” — From The Spiritual Itinerary, translated by a Benedictine Oblate

The Hail Mary as a Prayer of the Heart

In the long tradition of monasticism, again and again the Lord has helped those He has called to the monastic life to bridge that gap between head and heart that can seem greater than any spatial distance by a repeated prayer that begins to pray itself within the one that prays. It is called the Prayer of the Heart. It is a prayer that is prayed with the whole self, with the tongue, the inner senses, the understanding, and the affections — in a word, the heart.

For Mother Mectilde the Ave became this Prayer of the Heart. Through it, Our Lady taught her all the lessons she needed to know.

On this Feast of the Rosary, let us not forget that, in addition to praying the Rosary in mysteries and decades, we might sometimes reap great benefit by simply praying the Ave as a constant prayer of the heart and letting Our Lady string it together into her rose garlands. In cultivating the Ave again and again, we will surely break forth in blossoms like the lily and experience the way, the truth, the hope of life, and the power spoken of in the Offertory Antiphon. This prayer will bear fruit in us, and we comfort Our Lady for all the ingratitude she receives, giving her flowers.