Ambrose of Milan, on Isa 11:1

“And there shall come forth a rod out of the root of Jesse, and a flower shall rise up out of his root.”

“The root of Jesse the patriarch is the family of the Jews, Mary is the rod, Christ the flower of Mary, who, about to spread the good odor of faith throughout the whole world, budded forth from a virgin womb, as he himself said: "I am the flower of the plain, a lily of the valley."”

Imported from an open dataset — not yet checked against the printed edition.