Now we will
examine the opposite current; the current which emanates from the
Madonna of dogma, the Lady of Heaven who is the same to all men, in her
last stage, that is to say when she is finally enthroned by the side of
God. Many a monk--earthly love being denied to him--was driven to a
purely spiritual, metaphysical love by the fact of his being permitted
to love the Lady of Heaven without hesitation or remorse. She was the
fairest of women, and he was at liberty to interpret the meaning of "the
fairest" in any sense he chose.
The climax of the emotional worship of the ecclesiastical Mary was
reached by St. Bernard, the _Doctor Marianus_ mentioned on a previous
occasion. He was the author of sermons and homilies in honour of Mary,
and has been instrumental in dogmatising her worship by placing her side
by side with the Saviour. "It was more fitting that both sexes should
take part in the renewal of mankind," he says, "because both were
instrumental in bringing about the fall.
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