Dist. 30, Art. 1, Q. 2
by St. Bonaventure
Source text: Public Domain Mark 1.0. English translation/apparatus/encoding: CC BY-NC 4.0, Wroot Press.
https://bonaventure.wrootpress.com/browse/4/d/30/q/bon-sent-IV-d30-a1-q2
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### Question II. *Whether the marital consent of blessed Mary was in itself pleasing and honorable to God.*

In the second place inquiry is made whether the marital consent of blessed Mary was in itself pleasing and honorable to God. For it happened in this order: first the virgin made a vow, second she married, and married Joseph himself.

In the first place she seems to have been reprehensible in this, that she made a vow:

1. Because, as is said in Matthew eleven, *the Law and the Prophets [prophesied] until John*: therefore it seems that blessed Mary was at the beginning under the Law; but under the Law the barren woman was accursed, as is intimated in Deuteronomy seven: therefore, in making her vow, she seems to have incurred the curse.

2. Likewise, the vow of chastity belongs to counsel; but the counsels were first promulgated by Christ and in the evangelical preaching: therefore it seems that, before the coming of Christ, it did not pertain to the Virgin to vow virginity.

Likewise, further, she does not seem to have done well in that she married another:

3. First, on account of danger, since a woman who wishes to preserve her virginity hands over the power of her body to a man at peril, and especially by cohabiting: therefore if the blessed Virgin had made a vow, she was exposing herself to danger when she was cohabiting with a man.

4. Likewise, it is more perfect to lack all male companionship, whether as to society or as to intercourse, than to cleave to a man in any way: therefore if it was fitting for the Mother of the Lord to be most perfect, it was in no way fitting for her to be married to any man.

Further it seems that she ought not to have married such a man as this:

5. Since the Virgin Mary was a kinswoman of Elizabeth, who was the wife of the priest Zachary, as is said in Luke one; but persons who were of different tribes ought not to intermarry, as is proved by what is said in the last chapter of Numbers: therefore, since Joseph was of the tribe of Judah, as is clear in Matthew, it seems that the blessed Virgin did wrong in marrying him.

6. Likewise, blessed Mary was of royal stock, of the lineage of David, as the Church sings: "Mary, of royal lineage"; but Joseph was a carpenter, as is said in Matthew thirteen: therefore, if it is not fitting for virgins of royal stock to be betrothed to carpenters, it seems that the blessed Virgin Mary married unfittingly.

### Conclusion.

> The marital consent of the most glorious Virgin was pleasing to God; for it was fitting that she vow, and afterward marry, and this to Joseph himself.

**I respond:** It must be said that this whole affair, which was transacted in that marriage, was done by the intimate counsel of the Holy Spirit.

For in the first place it was fitting that the Virgin vow virginity, for a threefold reason. The first is, that she might be the most fitting dwelling-place of God. For since wisdom is the brightness of eternal light and a mirror without blemish, on which nothing defiled falls; it was fitting that he be conceived from a Mother incorrupt both in deed and in firm will; but the perfect incorruption of the will consists in the vow of virginity. — The second reason is, that she might be for women an example of complete virginity. For just as God the Father set forth Christ to men as an example, so he set forth his Mother to women as an example; and since this — namely, the vow of virginity — is most to be imitated and praised, it must without doubt have been present in her. — The third reason is, that there had to be in her the privilege of every nobility and holiness. For far be it that any other virgin should surpass blessed Mary; rather the Most High, who founded her, adorned her with the privilege of every dignity, so that, just as he himself loved her above all others, so she herself might be holier and more lovable than all. Whence, apart even from her divine motherhood, she herself ought still to be loved and praised above the rest of the Saints; and therefore the Holy Spirit, who inspired others with the vow of virginity, did not withhold it concealed from her.

But it was fitting not only that she vow, but also that she marry, for a threefold reason: first on account of signification, second on account of the avoidance of infamy, third on account of the concealment of the divine plan. On account of signification: because the Church is a spiritual spouse, both virgin and mother, and this had to be signified; and no other was fit to signify this except she who was at once Virgin and mother: and therefore, that she might signify it perfectly, she also had to be betrothed. — The second reason is on account of the avoidance of infamy: because, as Bernard says, everyone would have believed that she was a fornicatress; and "it was not fitting that this be believed of the Mother of God, nor even of Christ, that he was born of adultery; but it was more tolerable that for a time it be believed that he was born of a lawful marriage." For if the Virgin and her Son had been defamed, then a pretext of excuse would have been left to the Pharisees, and a veil to infamous women themselves. — The third reason is on account of the concealment of the divine plan, lest the counsel of God become known to the adversary. And this was concealed from the adversary in this way: because, as Bernard says, "the devil could not fail to notice what men knew"; hence he could not know it through men, nor by himself, since he was kept far away from the Virgin.

It was also fitting that she marry such a man for a threefold reason, namely by reason of lineage, by reason of faithfulness, and by reason of poverty. By reason of lineage: because he was of the tribe of Judah and of the seed of David, and a kinsman of the blessed Virgin, and through him the genealogy of Christ is set down, which ought not to be traced through women, as Jerome says on Matthew. — The second reason is, that he was a chaste and just man, as the Gospel says; and that he might be a comfort to the Virgin and a witness to her when she went into Egypt, he was given to her by God as a husband. — The third reason is on account of poverty: because Christ, who above all things came to confound pride, did not wish to be called the son of a king, but rather the son of a carpenter. In which is shown the humility of Christ, and also that of the glorious Virgin herself, and the pride of worldly men is confounded. — From these things the objections are answered.

*To 1 and 2.* To what is objected first, then — that she ought not to have vowed, since this pertains to the Gospel — it must be said that the most holy Virgin was not under the Law. For how was she under the Law, who bore the author of the Law? And again, if those who are led by the Spirit of God are not under the Law, since she was full of the Holy Spirit, she did not belong to the Law but to the Gospel, which the finger of God — that is, the Holy Spirit himself — had written in her heart from her very infancy.

*To 3 and 4.* To what is objected concerning danger and imperfection, I say that the Virgin was assured, either by divine inspiration or by angelic revelation, of the continence of Saint Joseph himself; and she herself was certain of herself, since she felt no stirring of the flesh whatsoever: and therefore she could and ought to marry without any imperfection or danger, since God so inspired it.

*To 5 and 6.* To what is objected — that she was of priestly lineage — it must be said that this is true on the mother's side, but on the father's side she was of the tribe of David; and therefore she both ought to have married him, and could do so, even according to the Law. Moreover, girls of priestly lineage were not bound by that law, nor were those to whom no inheritance pertained, on account of this: that that law was instituted so that inheritances might not be confounded. — The last point is evident.

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