throned in her son's worship,—she is the bringer of sanctity and peace.
Profound depths stir within us, in presence of the intensely Christian conception of God—a child in His mother's arms. This ideal of the heart of a woman—pierced by its seven sorrows, on fire with love, mother beside the cradle, worshipper beneath the cross, and glorified in great humility,—has been one of the richest gifts of the Catholic Church to humanity.
Peerless in its own way is the womanhood of Rossetti's sonnet:—
"This is that blessed Mary, pre-elect
God's Virgin. Gone is a great while, and she
Dwelt young in Nazareth of Galilee . .
Unto God's will she brought devout respect,—
Profound simplicity of intellect,
And supreme patience . . . . . .
Thus held she through her girlhood,
As it were an angel-watered lily,
That near God grows, and is quiet."
Jesus Himself—to those who kneel before no Madonna in the Vatican—sounds this note of the
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