Cornelius a Lapide

THE VOICE OF THE BRIDEGROOM.

VERSE 1. I AM THE FLOWER OF THE FIELD, AND THE LILY OF THE VALLEYS.

I am the flower of the field, and the lily of the valleys. — The Arabic: "of the torrents" (for lilies, because they are dry, rejoice in waters); the Septuagint translate as Ours does; but the Tigurine: "I am the rose of Sharon, and the lily rejoicing in the valleys"; Vatablus: Saron is interpreted as of fullness, or rather abundance: just as God, he says, is called Saddai, that is, the fullness and abundance of all good things: for Sharon, says Adrichomius, is a city and a level region, rich and most fertile, very suitable for fattening flocks, and therefore the king's animals were pastured there. It extends from Caesarea of Palestine, and reaches as far as Joppa. This region, on Jerome's testimony, according to the quality of its soil, at once brought forth the fruit of faith when Peter was preaching, Acts 2:41, to which Solomon here alludes. For "flower" in Hebrew is חבצלת chabatstelet, which Pagninus, Marinus and Vatablus translate as "rose"; the Septuagint and St. Jerome here, "flower"; the same, at Isaiah 35:1, translate it "lily"; hence the Syriac for "flower of the field" translates "lily of a most fertile place"; others, "vaccinium," concerning which Virgil: "the white privets fall, the dark hyacinths are gathered." No wonder, for the Hebrew names of trees, flowers, and gems are polysemous, common to many species. For "lily" in Hebrew is שושנה schoschanna, which Guidacerius here translates "violet"; but the Chaldean and Galatinus, book VII, chapter 5, translate "rose," because this one grows among thorns, not the lily. Hence for what follows, "As the lily among thorns," they themselves translate, "as the rose among thorns." But the Septuagint, Aquila, Symmachus at Psalm 45:1, and St. Jerome, Aben-Ezra, R. Salomon, the Tigurine, Vatablus and others here translate sosanna as "lily," from שוש sches, that is, six, namely from the leaves by which it is adorned, says R. David.

Hence also the Phoenicians and Arabs call the lily susana. Whence Athenaeus, book XII, Eustathius on Dionysius, and others testify that Susa, the royal city of the Persians, was so named from the abundance of lilies growing there: just as the island of Rhodes was named from the rose, because it displays the appearance of a rose, and Florence from the flower; from Susanna too is named the oil susinum, which is made from lilies, concerning which Pliny, book XIII, chapter 1.

Further, the Chaldean, inverting the words, translates thus: the assembly of Israel said: At the time when the ruler of the age places his majesty among me, I am like a green lily from the paradise of delight, and my works are beautiful as the rose which is in the field of the garden of delight.

FIRST, ADEQUATE SENSE, Concerning Christ and the Church.

Theodoret, Gregory of Nyssa, St. Ambrose on Psalm 118, sermon 5, the Chaldean, the Hebrews, Philo Carpathius, likewise Genebrardus, Vatablus, Luis of León and Osorius judge that these are still the words of the bride, not of the bridegroom. For she had said, "Our bed is flowery"; now she shows from where it is flowery, namely, because, she says, "I am the flower of the field and the lily of the valleys." Or, as our Sanchez holds, with the sense turned back from Christ toward the Church, as though Christ were to say to her: You, O bride, say that the bed is flowery, and that the ceiling of our house smells sweetly, being of cedar and cypress; but I ought to be a flower to you, to whom nothing ought to please or give fragrance except me. This exposition is favored by the fact that there is immediately added, "As the lily among thorns, so is my friend among the daughters"; no one doubts that these words are the bridegroom's, not the bride's. As if the bridegroom should say: What wonder is it, if I require of you, O bride, that you hold me in place of a flower, in place of cypress and cedar, and that nothing flower or give fragrance to you except me, since you are in that place to me that the other daughters of Jerusalem are, in comparison with you, thorns and thorny bushes, while you are composed with the fragrance and whiteness of lilies; wherefore I ask or wish nothing great or undue, since I wish to appear to you just as you yourself appear to me. Obedient to this voice, the faithful bride often sings, in this wedding-song: "My beloved is mine, and I am his."

Furthermore, the Church is called the flower of the field and the lily of the valleys, for various reasons: first, Philo Carpathius offers this reason, as if to say: I, the Church, am the flower of the field on account of the prophecies of the prophets, but the lily of the valleys on account of the Gospel which I preach; for this breathes more sweetly and more health-giving, since it suggests not only precepts, but also counsels of perfection, saying: "Blessed are the poor in spirit: for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. Blessed are the meek. Blessed are they that mourn," etc. And therefore Christ: "Consider, he says, the lilies of the field, how they grow: they labor not, neither do they spin. But I say to you, that not even Solomon in all his glory was arrayed as one of these," Matthew 6:28.

Second, St. Ambrose, sermon 5 on Psalm 118, verse 1: the Church, he says, is the flower of the field on account of the fragrance of faith and the other virtues; but the lily, on account of the splendor of works. The same, in the book On the Institution of Virgins, chapter 15: the Church, he says, is the flower of the field, and the lily of the valleys, because in the valley of this world she breathes forth the grace of a good fragrance by the diligent confession of sin.

Third, three Fathers, in Theodoret, judge the Church to be the flower of the field among the Jews, but the lily of the valleys among the Gentiles, as if the Church were to say: "I, as regards the Gentiles, who through unbelief were deprived of natural equality, and weighed down by a whirlwind of vices, were like a lily rising from the depths to the heights, and ascending from the root through the stem to a fitting greatness, lest it be hidden by the depth of the valleys, but display its lofty beauty — I rest upon faith in Christ, and, having emerged through purification from the confusion of vices, and at the summit of contemplation, I am adorned with the beauty of the virtues."

Fourth, others judge that the Church here invites the bridegroom to the little bed, that is, to the leisure and secrecy of contemplation, from the fact that she herself, wandering among the Gentiles in the action of evangelizing, was despised and trodden down by them, like a flower which is born in the open field, and like a lily in the valleys, which is trodden underfoot or plucked equally by all men and by beasts.

Finally, some expound it thus by antithesis, as if to say: I indeed, who am the bride, that is, the Church of Christ, am a flower, but of the field, not of the garden, that is, common, ordinary, cheap and lowly; but you, O my bridegroom, shine forth in splendor as much as in fragrance, like the whitest and most fragrant lily of the valleys.

But better, the same Theodoret, Origen, Aponius, Cassiodorus, Bede, Anselm, Rupert, Honorius here, and St. Ambrose, in the book On the Soul and Isaac, chapters 4 and 5, Cyril, On the Incarnation of the Only-begotten, chapter 9, judge these to be the words of the bridegroom, not of the bride, and this is required by what immediately follows: "As the lily among thorns, so is my friend among the daughters"; no one doubts that these words are the bridegroom's, not the bride's. Christ therefore is the flower of the field, or, as it is in Hebrew, the rose of Sharon, and the lily of the valleys, and therefore he makes his own little bed flowery for the Church (for he alludes to this), as he said a little before, as if to say: You have rightly said, O bride, "Our bed is flowery," but know that it is flowery, not from you, but from me: "for I am the flower of the field," etc. Thus Bede: Christ therefore is the flower of the field.

First, because just as the flower is the ornament of the field, so Christ is the ornament of the world, say Origen, St. Ambrose, Bede and others: for Christ is so much the flower and glory of the world, that he contains in himself the appearance, the fullness and the excellence of all flowers and glories. Whence Justus of Urgel explains thus: "I am the flower of the field, and the lily of the valleys, that is, I am the glory of the world in the humility of virginity." Christ therefore is a flower, by reason of his exceptional glory and the fullness of grace, by which he is beautiful above the sons of men. That flower, namely, of which it is said in Isaiah, chapter 11:1: "There shall come forth a rod out of the root of Jesse, and a flower shall rise up out of his root. And the spirit of the Lord shall rest upon him." He is a flower that never withers, whose beauty never fails, whose fragrance is never diminished, whose vigor never perishes, equally always white and ruddy, equally always fragrant, equally full of grace and truth. Thus Titelmann.

Second, because just as the flower of the field is abundant and manifold, and is not enclosed in a garden, but is exposed to be plucked and cherished by all, so also is Christ.

Hear Alan: "The field is called the human nature of Christ; for just as in a field a variety of flowers springs up, so in the human nature of Christ a plurality of virtues. In it was the violet of humility, the rose of patience, the lily of chastity. The flower of this field was Christ, that is, glory according to his divinity, because also from the power of his divinity he had in his human nature the fullness of gifts. Now the human nature of Christ is elegantly signified by a field, on account of its breadth and flatness, because in it there was no stumbling-block of error. Whence also it is said of him: The lily of the valleys. Because perfect humility was in Mary, and in the human nature of Christ, therefore the person of the Virgin, and the human nature of the Word, are called valleys, on account of the eminence of their humility; and not only valleys, but also convalles, by reason of the resemblance, because the Virgin was especially like Christ." For this reason Christ willed to be born outside the city, in a field and open country, just as the Blessed Virgin was born in a field amid the bleating of sheep, says Damascene, book IV, On the Faith, chapter 15.

Third, just as a flower springs up in a field of its own accord, without seed, without ploughing, so also Christ was born of a virgin without the work of a man. Therefore, just as a flower has the sun in the sky for its father, and a plant in the earth for its mother: so Jesus's Father in heaven is God, and on earth his mother is the Virgin. And just as flowers are begotten by the heat of the sun, and the falling of the dew: so, without the work of a man, with the Holy Spirit overshadowing, and the dew of divine grace falling, this flower of Jesse came forth; a flower, that is, the glory of the field. Again, just as a flower is born from earth and dung: so Christ sprang up, like a most pure flower, from an earth defiled by sins. Whence he himself is called צמח tsemach, that is, the rising one, namely the shoot and the flower, Zechariah 3 and 6. Hear St. Ambrose, book II, On the Holy Spirit, chapter 5: "Christ, he says, is the flower of Mary, who, about to scatter the good fragrance of faith over the whole world, sprang up from a virginal womb. A flower, when cut, keeps its fragrance, and when crushed, increases it, and does not lose it when plucked away; so also the Lord Jesus, on that gibbet of the cross, neither withered when crushed, nor vanished when plucked away; but, cut by that piercing of the lance, he flowered forth more beautiful with the sacred blood of a poured-out color, himself not knowing how to die, and breathing out upon the dead the gift of eternal life."

Fourth, Christ is the flower of the field, in Hebrew saron, that is, of the plain, because he was born humble, in a level land, from a humble virgin. Again, saron, that is, most beautiful, because in Sharon, being, as I said a little before, most rich and most fertile, the roses and flowers were more beautiful and more fragrant than in other places, according to that, Isaiah 35:2: "The glory of Libanus is given to it, the beauty of Carmel and Sharon."

Fifth, the flower signifies that the time of Christ's incarnation would be spring: for in spring the flowers shine forth. Thus Christ was conceived and made incarnate on the 25th day of March, for which reason on that day the Church celebrates the feast of so great a mystery under the name of the Annunciation of the Blessed Virgin. Thus Cassiodorus, Honorius and St. Bernard.

Sixth, the flower here is the rose, as Vatablus and others also translate. But what is more beautiful than the rose, what more fragrant, what more wholesome? So also Christ is the beauty, the fragrance and the health of the world. See what I said about the rose at Ecclesiasticus 24:18, on the words, "And as a plantation of roses in Jericho." Therefore the bridegroom Christ is beautiful, like a rose turning purple and a whitening lily, according to that, chapter 5:10: "My beloved is white and ruddy."

AND THE LILY OF THE VALLEYS.

But here understand "lily," not that fragrant little flower which the common run of herbalists now improperly calls "lily of the valley." This lily is called "of the valleys," because lilies more easily come forth in valleys, into which dew and rain run down from the mountains, and there they are more fragrant and more beautiful; for since they are dry, they need much moisture. So also Christ is a white and fragrant lily, born from a humble earth and a virgin. "In the lily," says Honorius, "five things are considered, because it is white, having a prominent golden color, and it is fragrant, and open, and always bent: so Christ is white in his humanity, golden in his deity, fragrant in his preaching, open in receiving penitents, bent in condescending to sinners, and in raising them up"; he himself is the lily of the valleys, namely the ornament of the faithful. For just as valleys are between two mountains, so the faithful are between two laws, or between two peoples, the Jews and the Gentiles.

Second, the petals of the lily are, on the outside, most white, but within, in the middle of the flower, there appears a threefold ray of yellow color, and plainly golden: thus Christ outwardly displayed a most pure humanity, but within contained a golden deity, indeed the whole Holy Trinity: "Because in him dwells all the fullness of the Godhead bodily," Colossians 2:9. Thus Aponius: "The flower of the field, he says, Christ was before the incarnation, because, shining in the whole field of the heavens, he stood forth admirable to the heavenly spirits; but after the incarnation he was made the lily of the valleys, when he descended into the valley of tears, and brought three things: the abolition of sin, the wiping away of falsehood, and the refreshment of concupiscence: just as the lily displays three things from itself, whiteness, fragrance, and, for whatever is burned by fire, a remedy." And Bede: "Beautifully, he says, in the lily the outer whiteness first opens itself little by little, and thus at last the grace of the golden color, which lay hidden within, comes into view: because the Lord, born in the world, was at first a man, exalted to those who truly believed in him; but as time went on, he became known as true God." But St. Ambrose, on Psalm 118, sermon 5, inverting the comparison: In Christ, he says, just as in the lily, there was the whiteness of divinity and the ruddiness of humanity. To this Cyril of Alexandria adds, in the book On the Incarnation of the Only-begotten, chapter 9, who explains thus, as if to say: Just as fragrance is invisible in the visible lily, so the incorporeal deity in Christ the man, through the hypostatic union, was as it were embodied.

Third, St. Ambrose, book II, On the Holy Spirit, chapter 5: "Christ, he says, is the flower of the field, because, like a flower, when crushed and torn in the Passion, he gave forth a greater fragrance."

Fourth, great is the fecundity of the lily. For "nothing is more fruitful than it," says Pliny, book XXI, chapter 5, "a single root often sending out fifty bulbs." So what is more fruitful than Christ, from whom so many thousands, indeed millions, of Christians have been born?

Fifth, no flower is loftier than the lily: so nothing is loftier than Christ. Hear Pliny vividly depicting the glory of the lily, book XXI, chapter 5: "Nor does any of the flowers have a greater height, sometimes of three cubits, with a stalk always languid and not sufficient for its burden. Its whiteness is exceptional, with the petals striped on the outside, and gradually loosening themselves from narrowness into breadth, in the shape of a cup, with the lips turned back around the rim, and with a slender thread and seed; with saffron-colored stamens standing in the middle. Thus the fragrance and the color are twofold, one of the calyx, another of the stamen, a narrow difference."

Mystically, Origen: Christ, he says, was a flower without glory to the Jews, because he was despised by them; but a glorious lily to the Gentiles, because they acknowledged and honored the glory of Christ.

Symbolically, Honorius: the field, he says, that is, unploughed ground, is the order of virgins in the Church, whose flower is Christ, because he is their delight, their crown, and their reward. But the valley is the order of the married, situated between virgins and the continent, as it were between two mountains, of whom Christ is the lily, namely their whiteness and joy. "And as the lily is among thorns," in comeliness and fragrance: so the Church of the perfect is among the daughters of Jerusalem, that is, among the imperfect, standing out by the comeliness of her life and the fragrance of her doctrine. The perfect are so called, because they have left behind all worldly things, the Lord saying: "If you wish to be perfect, go, sell what you have, and give to the poor," Matthew 19:21. They are called imperfect, because they still make use of the world, of whom it is said: "Your eyes have seen my imperfection, and in your book all shall be written," Psalm 138:16.

Fifth, Christ is the lily of the valleys, because in the valleys, that is, in the humble, he awakens the hope of future glory: for God exalts and glorifies the humble. For the lily is a symbol of hope. I gave the reason at Hosea 14:6, on the words, "Israel shall spring forth as the lily." The valley of humility, therefore, is the lily-bed of virginity, of grace, and of glory.

Finally, Christ flowers and gives fragrance, like a lily, in all the saints, namely as a lily of purity in virgins, of patience in martyrs, of humility in cenobites, of penitence in penitents, of doctrine in doctors, etc. Whence St. Gregory: "Rightly, he says, does Christ name himself a flower, who, while he exterminates the thorns of sinners, adorns the mind of the bride with the beauty of his justice, and, while he applies the heavenly desire to the nostrils of the heart, refreshes the interior of the soul, as it were, with fragrance."

More clearly, St. Bernard, sermon 47: "The flower, he says, is virginity, the flower is martyrdom, the flower is good action. Virginity is in the garden, martyrdom in the field, good work in the bridal-chamber." And after some words: "He himself is the flower of the garden, a virgin, a rod born of a virgin. The same is the flower of the field, a martyr, the crown of martyrs, the form of martyrdom. Finally, he was led forth outside the city, he suffered outside the camp, he was lifted up on the wood, to be gazed upon by men, to be mocked by all. He is likewise the flower of the bridal-chamber, the mirror and example of all beneficence."

SECOND, PARTIAL SENSE, Concerning Christ and the holy soul.

First, Gregory of Nyssa, homily 4, teaches that Christ is the flower of the field in holy souls, whom he makes fruitful by his grace, so that they become like a very ample and most fertile field, which brings forth every kind of flower. Origen adds, homily 3 of the four, that Christ is the flower of the field to beginners and the simple, but the lily of the valleys to those who are advancing, for the brightness of wisdom and modesty. For he himself is the brightness of eternal light, the splendor and figure of the substance of God, Wisdom 7:26.

Second, Cassiodorus, Bede and St. Ambrose, in the place already cited, say that Christ is the flower of the field in any of the faithful whatever; but the lily of the valleys, that is, of the humble, because in the humble his grace shines forth the more.

Third, Ambrose, book III, On Virgins: "The flower of the field, he says, is Christ, because he frequents the simplicity of pure-minded parents; but the lily of the valleys, because he is the flower of humility and simplicity."

Fourth, and most fittingly, Christ is the lily in chaste and pure minds, such as are those of the valleys, that is, of the humble: for the shoot and flower of humility is chastity and virginity. Thus St. Jerome, epistle 8 to Demetrias: "Christ, he says, as it were the author and prince of virginity, speaks confidently: I am the flower of the field, and the lily of the valleys." Again, the chaste soul itself is a lily. For, as Theodoret explains: "The lily, while it shines with outward comeliness, also contains within a golden little flower. Such is the soul, surrounded by the splendor of justice, and bearing in its inmost recesses the spiritual gift of wisdom and knowledge."

Hence also the bees, chaste and virgin, seeing that they produce their offspring without intercourse and make honey, delight in the lily as in something virginal, on the testimony of Pliny, book XXI, chapter 12. For this reason an angel brought down from heaven, to St. Cecilia and St. Valerian, who preserved virginity in marriage, crowns of roses and lilies, as their Life relates. The same thing happened to Sts. Julian and Basilissa, as appears from their Life in Surius, on the 9th of January, and to others of the same kind and virtue. Give, therefore, lilies to the virgins with full baskets.

Anagogically, Eucherius, on the third book of Kings: "Christ, he says, is a lily on account of the glory of the resurrection, white outside on account of the glory of the body, but golden within on account of the brightness of the soul. And indeed before the Passion he was a lily as it were closed, since indeed through the Passion he was crowned with glory and honor; but after the Passion, a lily opened wide, insofar as, in the humanity he had assumed, he showed the power of the divine brightness which he had with the Father, before the world was." But Theodoret asserts that Christ was the flower of the field in the incarnation, but the lily of the valleys in the descent to the dead: for among the dead are the lowest valleys of the world.

THIRD, PRINCIPAL SENSE, Concerning Christ and the Blessed Virgin.

All these things belong pre-eminently, above all others, to the Blessed Virgin. Singularly indeed, in that from her, as from an unploughed field, there came forth a beautiful flower, namely Christ, and from her womb, as from a most humble valley, there was born a most beautiful and most fragrant lily, namely the same Christ, as I said a little before from Alan and others.