The vision of the woman clothed with the sun and of the great dragon her persecutor.
4 The great dragen (the Diuel) vvatching the vvoman that brought forth a man childe, to deuoure it, God tooke avvay the childe to him self, and fed the vvoman in the desert. 7 Michael fighting vvith the dragon ouercōmeth him. 13 vvho being throvven dovvne to the earth, persen•teth the vvomā & her seede.
1And a great sign appeared in heaven: A woman clothed with the sun, and the moon under her feet, and on her head a crown of twelve stars.E un gran prodigio fu veduto nel cielo: una donna vestita di sole, e la luna sotto i piedi di lei, o sulla testa di lei una corona di dodici stelle:AND a great signe appeared in heauen: a vvoman clothed vvith the sunne, and the moone vnder her feete, & on her head a crovvne of tvvelue starres:Et signum magnum apparuit in cælo: mulier amicta sole, et luna sub pedibus ejus, et in capite ejus corona stellarum duodecim: 2And being with child, she cried travailing in birth: and was in pain to be delivered.Ed essendo gravida gridava pe' dolori del parto, patendo travaglio nel partorire.& being with childe, she cried also traueling, and is in anguish to be deliuered.et in utero habens, clamabat parturiens, et cruciabatur ut pariat. 3And there was seen another sign in heaven. And behold a great red dragon, having seven heads and ten horns and on his heads seven diadems.E un altro prodigio fu veduto nel cielo: attesoché ecco che un gran dragone rosso, che avea sette teste, e dieci corna, e sette diademi sulle sue teste,And there vvas seen an other signe in heauen, and behold a great red dragon hauing seuē heades; & ten hornes: and on his heades seuen diademes,Et visum est aliud signum in cælo: et ecce draco magnus rufus habens capita septem, et cornua decem: et in capitibus ejus diademata septem, 4And his tail drew the third part of the stars of heaven and cast them to the earth. And the dragon stood before the woman who was ready to be delivered: that, when she should be delivered, he might devour her son.E la coda di lui traeva la terza parte delle stelle del cielo, le quali egli precipitò in terra: e questo dragone si pose davanti alla donna, che stava per partorire: per divorare il suo figliuolo, quando l'avesse dato alla luce.& his taile drevv the third part of the starres of heauen, and cast them to the earth, and the dragon stoode before the vvoman vvhich vvas ready to be deliuered: that vvhen she should be deliuered, he might deuoure her sonne.et cauda ejus trahebat tertiam partem stellarum cæli, et misit eas in terram: et draco stetit ante mulierem, quæ erat paritura, ut cum peperisset, filium ejus devoraret. 5And she brought forth a man child, who was to rule all nations with an iron rod. And her son was taken up to God and to his throne.Ed ella partorì un figliuolo maschio, il quale è per governare tutte le nazioni con iscettro di ferro: e il figliuolo di lei fu rapito a Dio, e al trono di lui,And she brought forth a man childe, vvho vvas to gouerne al nations in an yron rodde: & her sonne vvas taken vp to God and to his throne,Et peperit filium masculum, qui recturus erat omnes gentes in virga ferrea: et raptus est filius ejus ad Deum, et ad thronum ejus,
6And the woman fled into the wilderness, where she had a place prepared by God, that there they should feed her, a thousand two hundred sixty days.E la donna scappò alla solitudine, dove aveva luogo preparatole da Dio, perché ivi la nudriscano per mille dugento sessanta giorni.& the vvoman fled into the vvildernesse where she had a place prepared of God, that there they might feede her a thousand tvvo hundred sixtie daies.et mulier fugit in solitudinem ubi habebat locum paratum a Deo, ut ibi pascant eam diebus mille ducentis sexaginta. 7And there was a great battle in heaven: Michael and his angels fought with the dragon, and the dragon fought, and his angels.E segui in cielo una gran battaglia: Michele co' suoi Angeli combatterono contro il dragone, e il dragone, e gli angeli di lui combatterono:And there vvas made a great battel in heauen, Michael and his Angels fought vvith the dragon, and the dragon fought and his Angels:Et factum est prælium magnum in cælo: Michaël et angeli ejus præliabantur cum dracone, et draco pugnabat, et angeli ejus: 8And they prevailed not: neither was their place found any more in heaven.Ma non la vinsero, né vi fu più luogo per essi nel cielo.and they preuailed not, neither vvas their place found any more in heauen.et non valuerunt, neque locus inventus est eorum amplius in cælo. 9And that great dragon was cast out, that old serpent, who is called the devil and Satan, who seduceth the whole world. And he was cast unto the earth: and his angels were thrown down with him.E fu gittate quel gran dragone, quell'antico serpente, che diavolo appellasi, e satana, il quale seduce tutta la terra: e fu gittate per terra, e con lui furon gittati i suoi angeli.And that great dragon vvas cast forth, the old serpent, vvhich is called the Deuil and Satan, vvhich seduceth the vvhole vvorld: and he vvas cast into the earth, & his Angels vvere throvven downe vvith him.Et projectus est draco ille magnus, serpens antiquus, qui vocatur diabolus, et Satanas, qui seducit universum orbem: et projectus est in terram, et angeli ejus cum illo missi sunt. 10And I heard a loud voice in heaven, saying: Now is come salvation and strength and the kingdom of our God and the power of his Christ: because the accuser of our brethren is cast forth, who accused them before our God day and night.E udii voce sonora in cielo, la qual diceva: adesso è compiuta la salute, e la potenza, e il regno del nostro Dio, e la Potestà del suo Cristo: perché o stato discacciato l'accusatore de' nostri fratelli, il quale gli accusava dinanzi al nostro Dio di, e notte.And I heard a great voice in heauen saying: Novv is there made saluation and force, and the kingdom of our God, and the povver of his Christ: because the accuser of our brethren is cast forth, vvho accused them before the sight of our God day and night.Et audivi vocem magnam in cælo dicentem: Nunc facta est salus, et virtus, et regnum Dei nostri, et potestas Christi ejus: quia projectus est accusator fratrum nostrorum, qui accusabat illos ante conspectum Dei nostri die ac nocte.
11And they overcame him by the blood of the Lamb and by the word of the testimony: and they loved not their lives unto death.Ed essi lo superarono in virtù del sangue dell'Agnello, e in virtù della parola di loro testimonianza, e non amarono le anime loro sino alla morte.And they ouercame him by the bloud of the Lambe, and by the vvord of their testimonie, and they loued not their liues euen vnto death.Et ipsi vicerunt eum propter sanguinem Agni, et propter verbum testimonii sui, et non dilexerunt animas suas usque ad mortem. 12Therefore, rejoice, O heavens, and you that dwell therein. Woe to the earth and to the sea, because the devil is come down unto you, having great wrath, knowing that he hath but a short time.Per questo rallegratevi, o cieli, e voi, che in essi abitate. Guai alla terra, e al mare, imperocché a voi scende il diavolo con ira grande, sapendo di avere poco tempo.Therfore reioyce ô heauens, and you that dvvel therein. Vvo to the earth and to the sea, because the Diuel is descēded to you, hauing great vvrath, knovving that he hath a litle time.Propterea lætamini cæli, et qui habitatis in eis. Væ terræ, et mari, quia descendit diabolus ad vos habens iram magnam, sciens quod modicum tempus habet. 13And when the dragon saw that he was cast unto the earth, he persecuted the woman who brought forth the man child.E dopo che vide il dragone, com'era stato gittato sulla terra, perseguitò la donna, che avea partorito il maschio:And after the dragon savv that he vvas throvven into the earth, he persecuted the vvomā vvhich brought forth the man-childe:Et postquam vidit draco quod projectus esset in terram, persecutus est mulierem, quæ peperit masculum: 14And there were given to the woman two wings of a great eagle, that she might fly into the desert, unto her place, where she is nourished for a time and times, and half a time, from the face of the serpent.E furon date alla donna due ale di grossa aquila, perché volasse lungi dal serpente nel deserto al suo posto, dov'è nudrita per un tempo, per tempi, e per la metà d'un tempo.and there vvere giuen to the vvoman tvvo vvinges of a great egle, that shee might flie into the desert vnto her place, vvhere she is nourished for a time & times, & halfe a time, from the face of the serpent.et datæ sunt mulieri alæ duæ aquilæ magnæ ut volaret in desertum in locum suum, ubi alitur per tempus et tempora, et dimidium temporis a facie serpentis. 15And the serpent cast out of his mouth, after the woman, water, as it were a river: that he might cause her to be carried away by the river.E il serpente gettò fuori dalla sua bocca quasi un fiume d'acqua dietro alla donna, affin di farla portar via dalla fiumana.And the serpent cast out of his mouth after the vvoman, vvater as it vvere a floud: that he might make her to be caried avvay vvith the floud.Et misit serpens ex ore suo post mulierem, aquam tamquam flumen, ut eam faceret trahi a flumine.
16And the earth helped the woman: and the earth opened her mouth and swallowed up the river which the dragon cast out of his mouth.Ma la terra diè soccorso alla Donna, ed apri la terra la sua bocca, e assorbì la fiumana, che il dragone aveva gettato dalla sua bocca.And the earth holpe the vvoman, and the earth opened her mouth, and svvallovved vp the floud vvhich the dragon cast out of his mouth.Et adjuvit terra mulierem, et aperuit terra os suum, et absorbuit flumen, quod misit draco de ore suo. 17And the dragon was angry against the woman: and went to make war with the rest of her seed, who keep the commandments of God and have the testimony of Jesus Christ.E s'irritò il dragone contro la Donna: e andò a far guerra con quei, che restavano del seme di lei, i quali osservano i precetti di Dio, e ritengono la confessione di Gesù Cristo.And the dragon vvas angrie against the vvoman: and vvent to make battel vvith the rest of her seede, vvhich keepe the, commaundements of God, and haue the testimonie of IESVS Christ.Et iratus est draco in mulierem: et abiit facere prælium cum reliquis de semine ejus, qui custodiunt mandata Dei, et habent testimonium Jesu Christi. 18And he stood upon the sand of the sea.Ed ei si posò sull'arena del mare.And he stood vpon the sand of the sea.Et stetit supra arenam maris.
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A woman clothed with the sun, and the moon under her feet. By this woman, interpreters commonly understand the Church of Christ, shining with the light of faith, under the protection of the sun of justice, Jesus Christ. The moon, the Church, hath all changeable things of this world under her feet, the affections of the faithful being raised above them all.
Challoner
A woman: the Church of God. It may also, by allusion, be applied to our blessed Lady[the Virgin Mary]. The Church is clothed with the sun, that is, with Christ: she hath the moon, that is, the changeable things of the world, under her feet; and the twelve stars with which she is crowned, are the twelve apostles: she is in labour and pain, whilst she brings forth her children, and Christ in them, in the midst of afflictions and persecutions. (Challoner)
Under the figure of a woman and of a dragon, are represented the various attempts of Satan to undermine the Church.
Witham
On her head....twelve stars, her doctrine being delivered by the twelve apostles and their successors. (Witham)
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Witham
With child, etc., to signify that the Church, even in the time of persecutions, brought forth children to Christ. (Witham)
Pastorini
It likewise signifies the difficulties which obstructed the first propagation of Christianity. (Pastorini)
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Another wonder in heaven; that is, in the Church of Christ, though revealed to St. John, in the visions, as if they were seen in heaven.
Witham
A great red dragon; a fiery dragon, with seven heads and ten horns; that is many heads and many horns. By the dragon is generally understood the devil, (see ver. 7 and 9) and by the heads and horns, kings and princes, who act under him, persecuting the servants of God. (Witham)
Calmet
Dragon, etc. the devil; and by the seven heads and ten horns, are meant those princes and governors who persecute the Church of Christ. (Calmet)
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Witham
His tail drew the third part of the stars: a great part of mankind. This is spoken with an allusion to the fall of Lucifer from heaven, with the rebellious angels, driven from thence by St. Michael. (Witham)
According to Pastorini, this passage refers to the angels whom Lucifer drew after him by sin to the earth. Menochius interprets it of those bishops and eminent persons who fell under the weight of persecution, and apostatized.
Witham
And the dragon stood before the woman, etc. The devil is always ready, as far as God permits him, to make war against the Church and the faithful servants of God. The woman, the Church, brought a man child, or rather many men children, stout and valiant in the profession of the true faith, able to resist and triumph over the attempts of the persecutors in all nations, not of themselves, but by the grace and power of Jesus Christ, their protector, who is able to rule all nations as it were with a rod of iron, to frustrate all their attempts, and turn their hearts as he pleaseth. (Witham)
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Calmet
A man child; that is, a masculine race of Christians, willing to confess the name of the Lord, and to fight his battles; who, through the merits of Jesus Christ, should triumph over all the attempts of the world. (Calmet)
Witham
Her son (or children) was taken up to heaven, guarded by the special favour of God. They always overcome the devil, and all their adversaries, by reason of the blood of the Lamb, by the merits of Christ. And they loved not the life of the body, so as to preserve it, by incurring the death of the soul. (Witham)
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Witham
The woman fled into the wilderness. The Church, in the times of persecutions, must be content to serve God in a private manner; but by divine Providence, such persecutions never lasted with violence only for a short time, signified by 1260 days, or as the same is expressed here, (ver. 14) for a time, and times, and half a time, that is for a year, and two years, and half a year. (Witham)
The Christians were accustomed to fly during the times of persecution into the deserts, to avoid the fury of the pagans. This was done by the greatest saints; and St. Jerome remarks, that it was this which gave rise to the eremitical state of life.
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Witham
Now is come salvation....rejoice, O ye heavens. The blessed in heaven rejoice for the victories of the faithful on earth, and also for the reward and glory which would shortly be given them in heaven. (Witham)
Woe to the earth, etc. Both Pastorini and Calmet refer this woe to the persecution of Dioclesian. The dragon, the devil, is more irritated than ever against the Christians; he therefore stimulates the pagans to exercise their utmost cruelty against them, knowing that a Christian emperor (Constantine) would in a short time extend the reign of Jesus Christ over the whole world.
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Witham
There were given to the woman two wings of a great eagle. By these two wings, some understand the love of God, and the fear of offending him; others, piety, prudence, etc. (Witham)
Pastorini
The Church, on account of the severe pressure of the persecution, obtained from the Almighty a special protection and assistance. (Pastorini)
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Witham
The serpent (the dragon, the devil) came out of his mouth, etc. He endeavoured to destroy the Christian religion; but the earth, that is, the princes of the earth, as God was pleased to turn their hearts, helped to turn away the persecutions. (Witham)
As a last effort, the devil raises a more bloody persecution than was ever known before. See Eusebius, History of the Church.
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And the earth helped the woman. A prince of the earth, Constantine, came to the succour of the Church, and caused the persecution to cease.
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Witham
And he stood upon the sand of the sea;[Ver. 18. Et stetit super arenam maris. The ordinary Greek copies, estathen, steti, which the Protestant translators followed, beginning chapter xiii. with these words, and I stood upon the sand of the sea, as if St. John spoke of himself. But Dr. Wells, in his amendments, has corrected the Protestant translation, and restored the reading estathe, stetit, as we find it in the Latin Vulgate. I have reckoned near upon a hundred places in the Apocalypse only, wherein Dr. Wells has preferred those readings in the Greek manuscripts which are conformable to our Latin Vulgate.] that is the dragon seemed to be at a stand, to rest a while, not being able to raise any more persecutions. Now as to the time that these things should come to pass, many by seven heads and ten horns understand many powerful wicked kings, who should persecute the good, especially about antichrist's time, when the faithful at different times should be oppressed, and forced to fly as it were into the wilderness to worship God in private. And when the end of the world seems to draw near, the devil with greater malice will persecute God's servants, his time being short. Others apply these predictions to the particular persecutions in the Church by the Jews, and by the heathen emperors in the first three Christian ages[centuries] before Constantine's time, when idolatry was destroyed, when the face of the Church was changed, and when she became victorious, and publicly triumphed over her former enemies, the heathens; and by the man child, whom God took under his special protection, they will have to be understood Constantine himself. (Witham)
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A woman.... The church of God. It may also, by allusion, be applied to our blessed Lady. The church is clothed with the sun, that is, with Christ: she hath the moon, that is, the changeable things of the world, under her feet: and the twelve stars with which she is crowned, are the twelve apostles: she is in labour and pain, whilst she brings forth her children, and Christ in them, in the midst of afflictions and persecutions.
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Concordance THE 3 PART.
This is properly & principally spoken of the Church: and by allusion, of our B. Lady also.
The Dragons incredulous & persecuting multitude, and Antichrist the cheefe head thereof.
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The great Diuel Lucifer.
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The spirites that fall from their first state into Apostasie vvith him and by his meanes.
The Diuels endeuour agaīst the Churches children, and specially our B. Ladies onely sonne the head of the rest.
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Concordance Ps 2, 9.
Concordance Apoc. 2, 27.
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6. The vvoman fled.] This great persecution that the Church shal flee from, is in the time of Antichrist, and shal endure but three yeres and a halfe, as is noted v. 14 in the margent. In vvhich time for al that, The Church shal flee as to a desert in Antichrists time, but not decay or be vnknowen, no not for so short a time. she shal not vvant our Lordes protection, nor true Pastors, nor be so secrete, but al faithful men shal knovv and folovv her: much lesse shal she decay, erre in faith, or degenerate and folovv Antichrist, as Heretikes do vvickedly feine. As the Church Catholike novv in England in this time of persecution, because it hath no publike state of regiment nor open free exercise of holy functions, may be said to be fled into the desert, yet it is neither vnknovven to the faithful that folovv it. nor the enemies that persecute it: as the hidde company that the protestants talke of, vvas for some vvorldes together, neither knovven to their frendes nor foes, because there vvas in deede none such for many ages together. And this is true, if vve take this flight for a very corporal retiring into vvildernes. Vvhere in deede it may be, and is of most expounded, to be a spiritual flight, by forsaking the ioyes and solaces of the vvorld, and giuing her self to contemplation and penance, during the time of persecution vnder Antichrist. And by enlarging the sense, it may also very vvel signifie the desolation and affliction that the Church suffereth and hath suffered from time to time in this vvildernes of the vvorld, by al the forerunners and ministers of Antichrist, Tyrants and Heretikes.
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7. A great battel.] S. Michael fighting vvith the dragon. In the Church there is a perpetual combat betvvixt S. Michael (protector of the Church militant as he vvas sometime of the Ievves Synagogue Dan. 10, 21) and his Angels, and the Deuil and his ministers the perfect victorie ouer vvhom, shal be at the iudgement. Marke here also the cause vvhy S. Michael is commonly painted fighting vvith a dragon.
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Vvhen the Angels or vve haue the victorie, vve must knovv it is by the bloud of Christ, and so al is referred alvvaies to him.
12:14
This often insinuatiō that Antichrists reigne shal be but three yeres & a halfe (Dan. 7, 25. Apoc. 12, 2. 3. & in this chap. v. 6. c. 13, 5.) proueth that the heretikes be excedingly blinded vvith malice, that hold the Pope to be Antichrist, who hath ruled so many ages.
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15. To be caried avvay.] Antichrists attēpts to draw from the true faith. By great persecution he vvould dravv her, that is, her children from the true faith: but euery one of the faithful elect, gladly bearing their part thereof, ouercome his tyranoie At vvhose constancie he being the more offended, vvorketh malicious attempts in assaulting the frailer sort, vvho are here signified by the rest of her seede that keepe the commaundemants, but are not so perfect as the former.
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St Hippolytus † AD 235 Treatise on Christ and Antichrist 60
… And the earth helped the woman, and opened her mouth, and swallowed up the flood which the dragon cast) out of his mouth. And the dragon was wroth with the woman, and went to make war with the saints of her seed, which keep the commandments of God, and have the testimony of Jesus.”
St Methodius † AD 311 The Banquet of the Ten Virgins; or Concerning Chastity 8.4
John, in the course of the Apocalypse, says:
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St Augustine of Hippo † AD 430 The Confessions 7.21
… for “Thou hast hid those things from the wise and prudent, and hast revealed them unto babes.” For it is one thing, from the mountain’s wooded summit to see the land of peace, and not to find the way thither,—in vain to attempt impassable ways, opposed and waylaid by fugitives and deserters, under their captain the “lion” and the “dragon;”
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St Augustine of Hippo † AD 430 The Confessions 5.3
… This way, by which they might descend to Him from themselves, they knew not; nor that through Him they might ascend unto Him. This way they knew not, and they think themselves exalted with the stars and shining, and lo! they fell upon the earth,
John Cassian † AD 435 The Conferences of John Cassian 8.8
… I will ascend above the heights of the clouds. I will be like the Most High.” But Holy Scripture relates that these fell not alone from that summit of their station in bliss, as it tells us that the dragon dragged down together with himself the third part of the stars.
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St Cyril of Jerusalem † AD 386 The Catechetical Lectures of S. Cyril 1.4
4. Thou art receiving not a perishable but a spiritual shield. Henceforth thou art planted in the invisible
Pseudo-Clement The First Epistle of the Blessed Clement, the Disciple of Peter the Apostle 5
… If so be, then, that thou longest for all these things, conquer the body; conquer the appetites of the flesh; conquer the world in the Spirit of God; conquer these vain things of time, which pass away and grow old, and decay, and come to an end; conquer the dragon;
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St Irenaeus of Lyons † AD 202 Against Heresies 1.27.4
… and thus they destroy multitudes, wickedly disseminating their own doctrines by the use of a good name, and, through means of its sweetness and beauty, extending to their hearers the bitter and malignant poison of the serpent, the great author of apostasy.
St Irenaeus of Lyons † AD 202 Against Heresies 4.pref.4
… And at that time, indeed, the apostate angel, having effected the disobedience of mankind by means of the serpent, imagined that he escaped the notice of the Lord; wherefore God assigned him the form
Tertullian † AD 220 To His Wife i.6
… At Rome, for instance, they who have to do with the type of that “inextinguishable fire,” keeping watch over the omens of their own (future) penalty, in company with the (old) dragon
St Jerome † AD 420 The Letters of St. Jerome 88
… The voice of your holiness has rung throughout the world, and to the joy of all Christ’s churches the poisonous suggestions of the devil have been silenced. The old serpent
St Augustine of Hippo † AD 430 Sermons on Selected Lessons of the New Testament 23.2
… “Know ye not that your adversary the Devil walketh about as a roaring lion, seeking whom he may devour?” Both the one and the other then is a lion; the one a lion by reason of His strength; the other for his savageness; the one a lion for His “prevailing;” the other for his injuring. The devil again is a serpent, “that old serpent;”
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Tertullian † AD 220 A Treatise on the Soul 35
… you must never think of getting back any of the things which you have abjured, and have restored to him, lest he should summon you as a fraudulent man, and a transgressor of your agreement, before God the Judge (for in this light do we read of him, in another passage, as “the accuser of the brethren,”
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St Irenaeus of Lyons † AD 202 Against Heresies 2.31.3
… But they are altogether full of deceit of every kind, apostate inspiration, demoniacal working, and the phantasms of idolatry, and are in reality the predecessors of that dragon
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Anonymous A Treatise Against the Heretic Novatian by an Anonymous Bishop 14
… Thou reconsiderest now, whether the wounds of the lapsed who have fallen, stripped bare by the devil, ought to be cured; dashed down, as they are , by the “violence of the flood which the serpent sent forth from his mouth after the woman.”
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"A sign," that is a portent, a prodigy, a portentous vision and spectacle, and that "great," both in itself: for in this sign St. John saw a great woman clothed with the sun, crowned with stars, treading upon the moon, bringing forth a male child, and fighting with a dragon; and also in the matter signified and adumbrated by this sign: for this was great and remarkable, as I shall presently explain. Some think there is an allusion here to the constellations of the virgin and the dragon which are in the sky, as if through a vision these were shown to John like the virgin and dragon fighting with each other. But even if he alludes to these constellations by name only, it is certain that he did not see those, but truly saw a person of a woman contending with a dragon. Symbolically Viegas says: The Church, he says, is a "sign," that is a miracle, because the institution of the Church by Christ was prodigious, and its propagation and increase among so many enemies through the Apostles was prodigious. Second, a "sign" is the standard of the cross erected in the Church. Third, a "sign," that is a target: for all tyrants and heretics aimed their weapons at the Church as at a target, so that the Church could truly say with Jeremiah, Lamentations III, 12: "He hath set me as a mark to the arrow, he hath shot into my reins the daughters of his quiver." In Heaven Not in the empyrean, nor in the starry heaven, but in the aerial: for from there this woman flew into the desert. For if we were to carry the woman up to the starry heaven, so that the sun, moon and stars each persist in their own places, and stars crown her, and the moon subject itself to her feet, surely she would have had to be of immense size and more than gigantic, says Alcazar. It is therefore feigned here symbolically, that the sun and stars are seen to descend from their places into the air, and there clothe this woman, and the moon subject itself to her feet: so that by this it may be signified that the Church (for this woman represents her) descended from heaven, because her life, morals, doctrine, author, language, affections, hope and end, or term and crown, are heavenly. Second, because the greater and more powerful part of the Church is in heaven, namely the Saints and the Blessed. Whence the Apostle, exhorting the other part of her, namely those still fighting here, says in Hebrews XII, 22: "You are come to Mount Sion, and to the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem." Third, because it alludes to the first battle of Lucifer with Michael, as I shall presently say, which was waged in heaven. Fourth, because the dragon, that is the devil, persecutes the Church and the Saints even to heaven, and even to the throne and judgment of God, where he accuses them: for although judgment is carried out on earth or in the air, yet because in it is the throne of God the judge, hence it is called by the name of heaven. Where God is and God's throne is, there also is heaven: just as where the King is, there is the royal court. And to this especially does St. John look, both because he deals with the elect who are caught up to heaven to God; and because in verse 9, he says the devil, the accuser of the brethren, was cast down from heaven to the earth. For otherwise it is clear that in fact this battle which is described in what follows was not waged in heaven, but on earth, from verse 6, where it is said the woman fled from this battle and the place of battle into the wilderness. The Woman First, some understand by the woman the Synagogue of the Jews, which was pregnant and heavy with child for Christ: thus Aretas, Rupertus and besides Sebastian Barradius, vol. 1, book X, chapter XII. Second, Alcazar takes all these things of the primitive Church of Christ: for he thinks that from this chapter to the end of the book is described the victory of Christ and the Church over the Gentiles; just as from chapter IV up to this point has been described their victory over the Jews. His reason is, because in chapter XX, verse 2, it is said Satan is bound for a thousand years, and to be loosed at the end of the world. But those thousand years signify the time of the primitive Church, and thenceforward to the end of the world: therefore it is dealt with here; but John will begin to deal with the end of the world only in chapter XX. But I answer that chapter XX is a hysteron proteron, as I shall show more fully there; for hysteron proteron is frequent in the Prophets. Wherefore those things which are here clearly said of the Antichrist and the end of the world, and are thus commonly received by the Fathers and Interpreters, ought not to be twisted to another meaning, especially to mystical or invented interpretations, on account of one passage, which, as I have said, can conveniently be adapted to the common exposition of the Doctors through hysteron proteron. Wherefore I say with Ambrose, Ticonius, Primasius, Andrew of Caesarea, Haymo, Richard, Bede and Methodius whom Arethas cites, that by this Woman is understood the Church, especially as it will be at the end of the world: for the discourse here is continuous about this, as I said at chapter vi, verse 12. That this is so is evident from what follows, especially verses 6, 10, 11, 14. For the Church, aided by St. Michael its protector and his Angels, struggles continually, and especially will struggle at the end of the world with the dragon, that is Lucifer and his demons. The Church is called a woman because she is the Bride of Christ. It must be noted, however, with Arethas, that in this struggle of the Church with the devil, there is alluded to, first, and as it were a refreshing of the memory of that first battle of the Angels once waged in heaven, in which Lucifer with his own was vanquished and cast down into Tartarus. Whence he sets forth the two leaders of that battle on either side here, and that in heaven, namely Michael and the dragon, that is Lucifer, and the Angels of each, and he adds that he who was vanquished here drew with him a third part of the stars, that is of the illustrious Angels, whose natural place was heaven, as it is also of the stars; and that their place was no longer found in heaven, but that Lucifer with his own was cast out from thence to the earth. For these things in the grammatical or historical sense are clearer in that first battle of the Angels than in the battles of the Church against demons, to which nevertheless they also symbolically apply, as I shall presently say. In a similar manner Isaiah, chapter xiv, describes the fall of the king of Babylon, under the type and parable of the fall of Lucifer; and Ezekiel, chapter xxviii, the riches and fall of the king of Tyre under the type of the riches and fall of a certain Cherub. St. John uses a similar scheme and parable here, and he does this so that from that first victory of Michael against Lucifer the faithful might hope that they also, by the aid and help of the same God and Michael and the Holy Angels, would overcome him. For he signifies that Michael and the Angels fight ardently for us, as it were for their clients and citizens. Wherefore deservedly the Christian Poet thus celebrates and invokes St. Michael the Archangel, the triumpher over demons: Thou who didst drive the Stygian dragon from heaven with martial might, / With like hand drive him hence to Styx from the earth. Secondly, there is alluded here also on the other part to the mystery of the Incarnation of the Word, and to the childbearing of the Blessed Virgin, and her offspring Christ. For he is the male child, of whom verse 5 speaks, who is especially hated by the devil: on account of him indeed the devil conceived the greatest hatred against the Church, because he saw that through him men would succeed to his place and that of his own, from which they had been cast out. Wherefore raging with envy and malice, the devil wished to kill Christ while still a child through Herod, and when he escaped through flight and God's protection into Egypt, on account of him he killed so many thousands of infants: but when he was taken up into heaven, he persecutes with deadly hatred and war his Apostles, Martyrs, and all the faithful, and will persecute them until the end of the world. Wherefore, whatever Erasmus and the Novations may cry out, these things can aptly be understood, as also other things which elsewhere in the Canticles and in the Sapiential books are said of the Church in the literal sense, with Ambrose, Andrew, Ansbert, Haymo, Arethas, Pannonius, Gagneius and others here, and with St. Augustine, book IV On the Creed for Catechumens, chapter 1, and St. Bernard, sermon On the Blessed Virgin, concerning this passage of the Apocalypse, also be understood and applied to the Blessed Virgin, especially because, as Ambrose says, the Blessed Virgin is the mother, nay the grandmother of the Church: because she bore him who is the head and parent of the Church. Whence Ansbert: "It is no wonder," he says, "if she presents the type of the Church, in whose blessed womb she merited to be united to her head, the same Church. She is she who bore a male child, not an effeminate one, not one torpid in cowardice, but one vigorous and strong in body and head for overcoming the aerial powers." Again, she herself is a part, citizen and most choice daughter of the Church, because she herself is the most noble member of the Church. Finally, because she strives and wonderfully desires to spiritually bear Christ her Son continually anew in the souls of all the faithful, and especially applies herself to this at the end of the world, both through herself and through Angels and holy preachers. For she herself, as one burning with charity, is most zealous for the honor of God and of His Son, as well as for the salvation of souls. Whence concerning the Blessed Virgin our Blasius Viegas explains this entire chapter fully and learnedly here. Hear St. Bernard in the place cited: The Virgin, he says, Mary "has become all things to all, opens to all the bosom of mercy, so that from her fullness all may receive: the captive redemption, the sick healing, the sorrowful consolation, the sinner forgiveness, the just grace, the Angel joy, finally the whole Trinity glory, the Person of the Son the substance of human flesh, so that there is none who can hide himself from her warmth. Do you think she is the woman clothed with the sun? who has put on herself as it were another sun. In the sun there is both heat and stable splendor: in the moon only splendor, and that altogether changeable and uncertain, which never remains in the same state. Rightly therefore Mary is said to be clothed with the sun, who has penetrated the abyss of the most profound divine wisdom, beyond what can be believed. By that fire indeed the lips of Prophets are purged, by that fire Seraphim are kindled. But Mary merited far otherwise, not as it were to be touched summarily, but rather to be covered on all sides and surrounded, and as it were to be enclosed in the very fire itself. Most pure indeed, but also most ardent is the garment of this woman, whose all things are known to be so excellently irradiated, that nothing in her, I do not say dark, but obscure at least, or less bright, but not even tepid anything, or not most fervent may be suspected." She therefore is a great sign, because, as St. Bonaventure says in the Mirror of the Blessed Virgin, chapter viii: "She is that than which God could not make greater; God could make a greater world, God could make a greater heaven: God could not make a greater mother than the mother of God." And St. Thomas, I part., Question XXV, article 8, asks whether God can make better things than whatever He makes, and answers that He can. He excepts however three things, namely Christ, the Blessed Virgin, and our beatitude. For "the humanity of Christ, he says, from the fact that it is united to God; and created beatitude, from the fact that it is the enjoyment of God; and the Blessed Virgin from the fact that she is the mother of God, have a certain infinite dignity from the infinite good, which is God; and from this aspect nothing better can be made for them, just as nothing can be better than God." Thus he himself in the response to the 4th. The first sense concerning the struggle of the Church with the devil at the end of the world is most proper and genuine, as being prophetic (for the Apocalypse is prophecy, and the only one of the New Testament), and therefore most intended by the Holy Spirit. The second sense, concerning the battle of Michael and Lucifer in heaven, is allusive and symbolic. The third, concerning the struggle of the virgin and the devil, is historical, and as it were original and fundamental: and to these two the first also alludes. The Woman Clothed with the Sun The Arabic: clothed with the sun, that is, the Church surrounded by Christ her spouse: for Christ is the sun of justice, Malachi chapter iv, 2, as the Apostles are stars, which borrow their light from the sun, that is Christ. Again, Christ like a garment and clothing surrounds, clothes and adorns the Church: whence the Apostle so often exhorts the faithful saying: "Put on the Lord Jesus Christ." Secondly, Christ so protects and covers His Church on all sides, that He appears to clothe her; and this is signified by the Greek phrase, περιβεβλημένη τὸν ἥλιον, that is, clothed round about with the sun. Thirdly, because the Church is irradiated and surrounded on all sides by Christ with the rays of faith, truth, grace and virtues, and this will happen especially at the end of the world, lest the Antichrist obscure or overwhelm her. In this phrase John alludes to Psalm lxxxviii, verse 38, where concerning the throne of David and Solomon literally, and in antitype concerning the throne of Christ, that is the Church, it is said: "His throne as the sun in my sight, and as the moon perfect forever." Thus St. Bernard in the place cited, understands by the sun Christ, applying these things to the Blessed Virgin: "In you, he says, remains (the sun Christ), and you in him; and you clothe him, and you are clothed by him. You clothe the sun with the substance of flesh, and he clothes you with the glory of his majesty. You clothe the sun with a cloud, and you yourself are clothed with the sun." And the Moon Under Her Feet Alcazar expounds this thus: The moon, he says, is more noble than the stars, yet here it is placed beneath the feet, not that it may be trampled upon, but that it may support and sustain the woman, that is the Church. For the lower place in symbols is of the greatest dignity, and signifies the base, foundation and support. Hence it is attributed to the Church, and to the earth, which is the mother and source of all things, just as Pythagoras said, "the moon is the mother of the stars." Therefore he holds that this woman is clothed with the sun, that is with God, crowned with twelve stars, that is with the twelve Apostles; and below as it were with a base and foundation, is supported and sustained by the moon, that is by Christ. For she is presented here as if bringing forth, and therefore is expressed as if aided and assisted by the operation and help of the mystical moon: for the Gentiles, looking to the fecundity of the moon, implored it in childbirth; and believing it as it were a midwife, called it Juno Lucina, whose temple still stands in Rome, but changed from the name of Juno to that of St. Lawrence, for the church is called St. Lawrence in Lucina. Happy therefore was the primitive Church, whose childbirth was fostered by the aid of Christ, and therefore that this childbirth might be auspicious and favourable, the mystical Lucina was elegantly introduced, bringing aid by her touch and power to the woman in labour, and sustaining her upon herself, lest she fail. Thus Alcazar, too subtly, and poetically rather than genuinely and solidly. He continues: Moreover, the Godhead is rightly compared to the sun, the humanity of Christ to the moon. For first, as the sun is the source of light, the parent of other lights: so God the Father is the source of all divinity, and the father of lights. And as the moon borrows its light from the sun: so the humanity of Christ receives its wisdom, grace and glory from the Godhead, and therefore "directs all the draught of its light back to that from which it receives it;" which Pliny says of the moon, lib. II, cap. ix. Secondly, God created the sun as it were "the greater light, to rule the day;" but the moon as "the lesser light, to rule the night," Genesis cap. i, 16. In like manner the divinity of Christ is as it were the greater light, which rules the day of blessedness in heaven; but the humanity is the lesser light, which rules the night of this age, as St. Augustine says in Psalm. lxxiii, 16. Thirdly, as the moon at full moon is great, whence by Jeremiah vii, 18, it is called "Queen of heaven;" and by Horace in the Secular poem, "Queen of the stars;" but gradually decreases and as it were vanishes: so Christ emptied himself in the manger, and on the cross, so that there was in him neither form nor comeliness, Isaiah liii; but soon, like the moon growing again, by rising and ascending into heaven, he returned to his glory. Fourthly, the moon is by nature less than the fixed stars, but greater in light: so Christ is less than the Angels, as to the nature of his humanity (whence the Psalmist says of him, Psalm. viii, vers. 6: "Thou hast made him a little less than the angels"), but far transcends all in grace and glory. Fifthly, great is the influence of the moon on sublunary things, so that the sun seems to produce nothing by itself alone, unless joined with the moon. Whence the moon was called by the ancient Romans the mother of the world. See Pliny, lib. II, cap. xli and xlix. The reason is, because the great force and heat of the sun joined with the moisture and softness of the moon (for the moon itself effects and produces both qualities) act like mother and father and cause and preserve the generation of natural things, which consists in suitable heat and moisture. In like manner spiritual generation, namely justification, and the increase of justice and grace, depends not only on the power of God, but also on the merits, kindness and grace of Christ, so that God gives nothing to men in grace except through Christ and Christ's merits. Wherefore, as Pliny, lib. II, cap. xcix, said, "the moon is the spirit of things:" so of Christ Jeremiah says, Thren. iv, 20: "The Spirit of our mouth is Christ the Lord." Sixthly, as the approach and recession of the moon causes the tide of the sea, so that namely the sea increases daily for six hours, and decreases for the following six: so that now these nations approach the faith and Church of Christ, now those, Christ effects. Again, as the moon is the humanity of Christ, so the moon is also the Virgin Mother of God: for she is as it were the Lucina of the Church bringing forth, so that of her may be said that Virgilian verse: Chaste Lucina, favour us; thy Apollo now reigns. For Christ cannot be torn away or separated from the Blessed Virgin, just as a son cannot be separated from his mother. Wherefore the Church applies many things which are said in Scripture of Christ in the primary sense, secondarily to the Blessed Virgin, such as that passage from Proverbs viii: "The Lord possessed me in the beginning of his ways, before he made any thing from the beginning: I was set up from eternity," etc. Thus also the Song of Songs, which in the primary sense is the Epithalamium of Christ and the Church, are secondarily attributed to the Epithalamium of God and the Blessed Virgin. Whence Peter Damian, in his sermon On the Nativity of Blessed Mary, explains that passage from the Song of Songs, chapter vi, 9: "Fair as the moon," of the Blessed Virgin, saying: "Just as there is no star, except the sun, so beautiful as the moon: thus the highest glory after God is to see the Virgin, to cleave to her, and to dwell in the protection of her muniment." And in his sermon On the Assumption of the Virgin: "However much other stars may shine, the moon nevertheless surpasses them both in magnitude and in splendor. Thus the singular Virgin surpasses both natures, both in the immensity of grace and in the splendor of virtues." Secondly, just as "the moon is above all things pure and full of light," as Pliny says: so also is the Blessed Virgin. The Poets feigned that Diana (that is, the moon) for love of virginity fled the commerce of men, and sought the forests accompanied by virgins. Whence Virgil calls her chaste. What is more chaste than the Blessed Virgin? Wherefore St. Bernard, in his tract On the Passion of the Lord, chapter xxxi: "Who," he says, "of the chorus of Saints is better compared to the moon than virgins?" namely on account of their brightness and beauty. Whence he adds: "They shall be honored before others, just as we see the moon to stand out before other stars." An ancient author said, "the moon is seen to be the idea of pearls." What pearl is purer and more beautiful than virginity and the Blessed Virgin? Thirdly, the moon joins fecundity with purity: for it is the parent of things. Whence on the coins of Cornelia Augusta (as Pierius relates, Hieroglyphics 44) with the image of the moon, on some this inscription is placed, fecundity; on others, chastity. Thus in the Blessed Virgin are joined the highest virginity and the highest maternity and fecundity. So that of Christ it may rightly be said: Neither by thy mother, nor by any fecundity of parents is there, / So many goods by birth which one alone hath given. Fourthly, just as the moon, so also the Blessed Virgin is and is called Queen of heaven. Fifthly, just as the moon here sustains woman, so the Blessed Virgin sustains and supports the Church by her prayers and merits, as it were a base and column. Sixthly, just as the moon by its benign influence nourishes plants and animals; whence by Pliny, book II, chapter xviii, it is said, "the color of the moon is mild": so the Blessed Virgin benignly embraces the faithful both just and sinners, indeed even unbelievers, imploring her aid, obtains grace, advances them to salvation. For she herself is the mother of mercy. Seventhly, just as the moon suffers eclipse and defect, when the earth interposes itself between the moon and the sun, and intercepts the rays of the sun, lest they be carried to the moon and illuminate it: so also the Blessed Virgin and the humanity of Christ in the passion suffered eclipse and defect of strength and life, when the earthly Jews interposed their malice between them and God, and set up the cross for Christ. Hence Christ on the cross cried out: "My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me?" These things in summary, which Alcazar pursues at length, and which he pursues elegantly, ingeniously and mystically rather than literally and genuinely. I answer therefore and say: According to the letter it is said here that the moon is under the feet of the woman, that is the Church, because she herself despises all temporal things and all the mutability of creatures, and tramples them under foot, as St. Gregory says, book XXXIV of the Morals, chapter xii, or according to another edition vii. Again, the moon is always either waxing or waning, and, as Pliny says, lib. II, cap. xix: "Now curved into horns, now divided into equal parts, now bent into a circle; spotted, and yet suddenly shining, immense when full, and suddenly nothing." For this reason the moon is a symbol, equally as a cause of inconstancy: for it itself causes the tides and reciprocations of the sea, and makes the sea so unstable that every six hours it now flows, now ebbs. From the moon also lunatics are called, upon whom the moon acts, and, as Apuleius says, those who suffer the course of the moon: such are especially those who labor under the falling sickness, or madness, or some other kind of disease which is aggravated and stirred up at certain times of the moon. Wherefore Eccles. xxvii, 12, it is said: "A holy man continueth in wisdom as the sun; but a fool is changed as the moon." But the Church is constant in faith, doctrine, morals, persecutions, martyrdoms; hence she treads the moon under her feet. The moon therefore is here proposed not as supporting the woman (for how could it support her who is most wandering, variable, erring and unstable?), but as trampled by the woman. For this is what τὸ and the moon under her feet signifies, and therefore the sun here, which is above, is opposed to her placed below. The sun therefore is taken in a good sense, but the moon in a bad sense here, and signifies sublunary things, variable, flowing, and placed in perpetual motion, flux and reflux. For here is treated of the war, nay the duel of the Church with the dragon: but the dragon's weapons are earthly and sublunary, either allurements or plagues, which it either promises, or threatens and inflicts on the faithful; all these the most pure woman, enriched with all virtues and graces, and Queen of Angels and men, tramples under her feet. And on His Head a Crown of Twelve Stars Namely of the twelve Apostles, who shone forth for the Church as stars, and that on the head, that is, at the beginning of the Christian Church: thus the Fathers and Interpreters everywhere. The Arabic version renders it, and twelve stars a crown upon his head. Viegas notes here sect. 7, that the twelve Apostles were prefigured, first, in the twelve Patriarchs and tribes of Israel; secondly, in the twelve titles which Moses set up when making a covenant between God and the people, Exod. xxiv, 4; thirdly, in the twelve fountains of Elim, Exod. xv, 27; fourthly, in the twelve gems which were in the Breastplate of the High Priest, Exod. xxviii, 17; fifthly, in the twelve loaves of proposition, Levit. xxiv, 5; sixthly, in the twelve spies whom Moses sent into Chanaan, Numer. xiii, 3; seventhly, in the twelve stones which Josue set up as a sign of crossing the Jordan with dry feet, iv, 4; eighthly, in the twelve brazen oxen upon which Solomon placed the brazen sea, lib. III Reg. vii, 25; ninthly, in the twelve lions surrounding the throne of Solomon, III Reg. x, 20; tenthly, in the twelve stars here, and in the twelve signs of the Zodiac. Tropologically, Pannonius notes that the twelve stars are any Prelates whatsoever, who are here admonished of eminent wisdom and sanctity. For they themselves are the crown of Christ and the Church, so that just as a crown encircles and adorns the head, so they adorn the head of the Church, that is Christ, by their eloquence and conduct. Furthermore St. Bernard, serm. De B. Virgine, in these words of the Apocalypse: "A great sign appeared," understands by these twelve stars twelve prerogatives of graces, by which the Blessed Virgin is crowned before all others. "For first, he says, a singular brightness shines forth in Mary's generation; secondly, in the Angelic salutation; thirdly, in the coming of the Spirit; fourthly, in the ineffable conception of the Son of God; fifthly, that she has the primacy of virginity; sixthly, that she is fruitful without corruption; seventhly, that she is pregnant without burden; eighthly, that she gives birth without pain; ninthly, is the gentleness of modesty; tenthly, the devotion of humility; eleventhly, the magnanimity of faith; twelfthly, the martyrdom of the heart:" which he then pursues at length. From this place certain religious men and devotees of the Blessed Virgin make a crown, or Rosary of twelve stars, and recite it in this manner. In honor of the Holy Trinity they read the Lord's Prayer three times interspersed, namely three Pater nosters; and in honor of the twelve stars, that is, the twelve illustrious virtues of the Blessed Virgin, they read as many Ave Marias. At each one asking her help, that they may imitate her in that virtue, and grow in it and perfect themselves in it. First therefore they recite the Pater noster in honor of God the Father, asking from him hyperdulia, and singular reverence toward the Blessed Virgin, as the most pure mother of His Son, enriched with all virtues and graces, and Queen of Angels and men. Then they recite four Ave Marias in honor of four virtues which concern God, in which the Blessed Virgin excelled. The first virtue is faith, by which she believed herself to be a virgin and at the same time the Mother of God, and beneath the cross remained firm and steadfast in faith in the divinity, redemption and resurrection of Christ. The second is hope, by which, pressed in the conception, birth, flight into Egypt, passion and death of Christ, and other extreme afflictions, she resigned and committed herself entirely to divine providence. The third is charity: first, pure and free from all personal advantage; second, fervent, laborious and never ceasing; third, strong and constant beside the cross; fourth, generous, communicating herself entirely with her Son to us. The fourth is religion toward God and Christ, serving Him, clothing Him, nursing Him, etc., preserving His words in her heart, observing the circumcision, purification and other ceremonies of the law and temple. Then they recite a second Our Father to the Son, who is our hope, asking for the gift of hope, so that in all necessities with great confidence we may have recourse to the Blessed Virgin, who is the mother of mercy, our life, our sweetness and our hope. Soon they recite four Ave Marias in honor of four virtues of the Blessed Virgin, in which she was perfect toward herself. The first is humility, by which first, greeted by the Angel and chosen to be the Mother of God, she called herself His handmaid; second, she visited Elizabeth and served her; third, she concealed the mystery of the incarnation, and returning praise to God when praised, said: "My soul doth magnify the Lord;"; fourth, she served the Blessed Joseph, and finally sat in the last place both in the house and among the Apostles and the faithful, and therefore in the Acts of the Apostles she is named in the last place. The second is virginity, by which first, she was the first of all to vow virginity to God; second, she guarded it with the greatest zeal, saying: "How shall this be done, because I know not man?" Third, she remained at home; and therefore is called a garden enclosed and a gate shut. Fourth, she drove away the impure thoughts of others by her very appearance alone, as St. Ambrose, On Virgins, and other grave authors testify. Moreover, the conception and birth of Christ did not violate the virginity of the Blessed Virgin, but sanctified it, and made it so that by an unheard-of prodigy through the ages she herself was at once virgin and mother, and therefore the Mother of God. Hear the Blessed Chrysologus, sermon 148: "What violation of modesty is there, where the divinity enters into union with her who was always dear to Him in her integrity, where an Angel is the interpreter, faith the bridesmaid, betrothal chastity, the gift virtue, conscience the judge, God the cause, the conception integrity, the birth virginity, the virgin mother?" The third is fortitude, which shone forth in the death of Christ, in which she stood beside the cross; second, in enduring the injuries of the Jews; third, in serving the Son and helping all Christians. The fourth is poverty, which was so great that there was no place for her in the inn, but she was forced to withdraw into a stable, and there to give birth to Christ the Lord of the world. Finally, they recite a third Our Father in honor of the Holy Spirit, asking from Him a grateful heart toward the Blessed Virgin, to whom as the Mother of the Redeemer and our Mediatrix with God, as our most loving Mother, we owe all things. Then they read four Ave Marias, meditating upon four outstanding virtues of the Blessed Virgin toward her neighbor. The first is fraternal charity, by which she helped Elizabeth and the spouses at the wedding in Cana of Galilee, when they had no wine; and she earnestly desires and helps the salvation of all men. The second is obedience, by which she obeyed both the pagan Emperor Augustus in paying the census, and the law of Moses in purification, and Joseph her spouse, and took care that others obey the precepts of her Son, as when she said to the servants at the wedding: "Whatsoever he shall say to you, do ye." The third is mercy, by which she pours out the bowels of her mercy to anyone invoking her in any affliction; and equally she has mercifully and generously bestowed her Son upon us for our redemption on the cross, and as food in the Eucharist. The fourth is modesty, which was so great that St. Dionysius, in his letter to St. Paul, which Christopher of Castro recites in his History of the Mother of God, xix, writes that he would have held her for a goddess, had not faith taught him otherwise. Hence in speech she was sparing: her individual words were premeditated, pious, modest, humble, full of mercy, charity and praise of God, as when, having conceived the Word of God and being greeted by Elizabeth as the Mother of God, she answered: "My soul doth magnify the Lord." Finally, Father Anthony Spinellus in his Mariale, pages 599 and 604, piously and beautifully adapts these twelve stars to the twelve mysteries of the life of the Blessed Virgin.
12:2
The Church at the end of the world, on account of the most bitter persecutions and persecutors, shall bring forth sons, that is, the faithful, to Christ with great sorrows and afflictions, as it were in travail: thus the Fathers and Interpreters everywhere. Historically, the Blessed Virgin was also tormented, not by the pain of childbirth, but by the desire of bringing forth and seeing Christ the Saviour of the world. Again she was tormented by poverty and the hardships of the journey, and of lodging and sustenance, in which she foresaw and grieved that she would bring forth and rear Christ. Thirdly, she is tormented even now (whence in Greek it is κρίνει, that is, she cries out) so that she might bring forth Christ in others, in every age, and especially at the end of the world: for then like Rachel she shall bring forth the last offspring, and as it were Benjamins to Christ. She is tormented, I say, in her instruments, namely the Apostles and preachers, and others who are moved by zeal for souls. She is tormented also in herself by metonymy, that is, she most ardently desires and labours for the bringing forth, life and salvation of the faithful, and on that account would be tormented if torment could now fall upon her: in the same way God is said to grieve, to repent, to be saddened. John alludes to Isaiah lxvi, 7: "Before she travailed, she brought forth: before her pain came, she was delivered of a man child." And soon after: "Who hath heard such a thing? and who hath seen the like? shall the earth bring forth in one day? or shall a nation be brought forth at once, because Sion hath travailed and brought forth her children?" Where, when he says "Before she travailed," he does not signify that this childbirth was without the pain of travail; but that both the pains and the childbirth flowed together at once, so that she travailed and brought forth at the same time; indeed briefly, but with great effort and torment. Tropologically, let those who study the conversion of souls learn here that they should constitute them for themselves at great labour and pain, namely so much, nay more, than that of women in travail; but for such and so great offspring let them strongly endure and overcome all things, and, if need be, let them lay down their soul and life with Rachel for their Benjamins. Thus Paul did; whence he says Galatians iv, 19: "My little children, of whom I am in travail again." Christ himself foretold the same to his disciples, John xvi, 21: "A woman, he says, when she is in travail, hath sorrow, because her hour is come; but when she hath brought forth the child, she remembereth no more the anguish, etc. And you therefore now indeed have sorrow," etc. Wherefore St. Gregory, lib. XXX Moral., cap. ix and x, explaining that passage of St. Job cap. xxxix: "Knowest thou the time when the wild goats bring forth young, or hast thou marked when the hinds do calve?" truly and aptly compares those who study the conversion of souls to hinds and wild goats bringing forth young, whose childbirth is most difficult. Where among other things he notes "marked": "Because, he says, it is the lot of very few to weigh what labour there is in the preachings of the fathers; with what sorrows, as it were with what efforts, they bring forth souls in faith and conversion; how carefully they observe themselves with circumspection, that they may be strong in precepts, compassionate in infirmities, terrible in threats, gentle in exhortations, humble in showing doctrine, ruling in the contempt of temporal things, rigid in enduring adversities, and yet while they do not attribute their strength to themselves they are weak; what pain they have for those who fall, what fear for those who stand, with what fervour they desire to acquire other things, with what dread they preserve those already acquired." To these labours and sorrows are added vexations and temptations, which the demon is wont to stir up, both from anger and envy, and lest the prey, namely a soul subject to sin, be snatched from him. That she herself experienced these whenever she led some sinner to a better life, St. Teresa confesses, and thus by long experience she learned that this is a sign of the fruit of pious labour, namely a converted or to-be-converted soul, if one perceives them; wherefore they are to be despised and strongly overcome. For if you resist strongly, the demon, who is most timid, like a woman confounded will flee: but if you yield, the demon will rise up against you and rage like a lion. Beautifully St. Gregory, lib. V Moral., cap. xvi: "The devil, he says, is a myrmicoleon, that is, a lion of ants, or an ant-lion: for the myrmicoleon is a very small animal hostile to ants, which hides itself under dust, and kills ants carrying grain, and consumes those killed; it is therefore to other animals an ant, but to ants themselves a lion. For it devours them as a lion, but is devoured by them as an ant: thus the devil is timid against the upright, bold against the submissive." Such a woman in travail was St. Monica, who both others and her son Augustine brought forth to God both in flesh and in spirit, namely by many prayers, tears and labours; of whom St. Augustine, lib. V Confess., cap. ix: "I cannot, he says, sufficiently express what affection she had towards me, and with how much greater solicitude she travailed with me in spirit, than she had brought me forth in the flesh." Whence also she heard from a certain Bishop: "It cannot be that the son of such tears should perish," as the same Augustine testifies, lib. III Confess., cap. xii. Who again lib. IX, cap. ix, describing her death: "She had nourished, he says, her children, bringing them forth so many times as she saw them deviating from thee. Finally towards us, O Lord, all of us who before her sleep lived united in thee, she showed such care, as if she had brought forth all; she served, as if she had been born of all."
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Pliny, book VIII, chapter xiv, records a serpent 120 feet long, which was attacked and overcome like a city by ballistas. And he adds that in India there are serpents so large that they swallow whole bulls and deer. Note: This dragon, that is the devil, appeared to St. John in heaven: first, because he fell from there; second, properly, because he dominates in this aerial heaven, and tempts men, and is worshipped by many in idols as a god, presiding over heaven. Whence by the Apostle, Ephesians ii, 2, he is called the prince of the power of the air; and chapter vi, verse 12, he says to us there is a struggle "against spiritual wickedness," that is against spiritual villains, namely demons, who are "in the heavenly places." Thus also this woman, that is the Church militant, was seen in the aerial heaven, not the starry, as I said verse 1. Third, because he attacks and persecutes the Church, whose conversation is in the heavens, and her faithful, who are like stars pure and bright. Alcazar adds fourth, that symbolically by heaven is signified the arrogance and confidence of the demon, by which with a certain hope he had devoured the primitive Church as being small, and against which both Jews and Gentiles, and almost the whole world opposed itself. For he hoped that he, whose conversation is heavenly, and who dwells as it were in heaven, he would cast down from his degree and place, and would occupy it. He will hope the same at the end of the world. Thus of the same under the type of the king of Babylon it is said in Isaiah xiv, 13: "I will ascend into heaven;" and of Antiochus the proud king, and his kingdom it is said Daniel viii, 10: "It was magnified even to the strength of heaven;" and II Maccabees ix, 10: "He thought he could touch the stars of heaven;" and I Maccabees i, 4, of Alexander the Great it is said: "His heart was exalted and lifted up," namely above the earth, above men, even to heaven. Note secondly: The demon is called a serpent, or dragon (for a dragon is the same as a larger and more savage serpent; whence it is commonly said: "A serpent does not become a dragon unless it devours a serpent"), both because he first deceived Eve in the form of a serpent, and from this perpetual enmities and wars were kindled between him and the woman and her offspring, Genesis iii: whence below he is called the ancient serpent; and because he imitates the cunning, savagery and horror of the serpent and dragon. See the sayings Daniel chapter xiv, verse 22. Note thirdly: Although Alcazar understands by the dragon the whole commonwealth of demons, because it is said to have seven heads and ten horns, yet it is more true that by the dragon is understood only Lucifer the prince of demons. This is evident first, because he is opposed to Michael, as a leader to a leader; second, because the others are called his angels; for, verse 9, it is said: "That great dragon was cast out, etc., and his angels were sent with him;" third, because, verse 4, it is said his tail drew the third part of the stars, that is of the Angels, who became demons. Finally Aureolus, proceeding in order through his series of times, and the chronicles of the Church, understands by the dragon Chosroes, king of the Persians; by the woman, the Church; by the male child, Heraclius the Emperor, who by the aid of God and the Angels defeated Chosroes, and received the cross of Christ taken by him. This sense is accommodated, not genuine and literal. Red Because he is a murderer, John viii, 44; for he was the cause of death to Adam and Eve, and to all his posterity, through his temptation by the forbidden fruit; secondly, because through his ministers, namely infidels and heretics, he has afflicted many of the faithful with martyrdom, and will afflict more with the same through Antichrist at the end of the world; thirdly, the red color, say Viegas and Alcazar, signifies fraud and malice: for what is more fraudulent or malicious than a demon? fourthly, Alcazar says that for red, in Greek it is πυρρός. Now it is known that a serpent is found of red color, which in Greek is called πυρρίας, and it is more cunning and more deadly than others; and perhaps red is the same as fiery, as if πυρρός were said from πῦρ, that is fire, so as to allude to the fiery serpents which were sent among the murmuring Jews, Num. xxi, 6. Moreover, historians relate that dragons have been seen from time to time vomiting fire. Leslaeus in his Scotia, in the year 1558, reports that in the March and Laudonia a certain dragon vomited fire, by which it set crops and fruits ablaze, and therefore the people were forced to keep vigil in order to extinguish these fires. Alcazar adds that, just as in the book of Job the demon has three names, namely Satan, cap. ii, vers. 1, Leviathan, cap. xl, vers. 20, and Behemoth, cap. xl, vers. 10, so here likewise three are given to him. For to the name Satan corresponds the name dragon; to the name Leviathan, that is whale or sea-monster, corresponds the beast of the sea, cap. xiii, vers. 1; the beast of the earth, cap. xiii, vers. 11, is Behemoth, that is elephant. But concerning these beasts I shall speak at cap. xiii. Hear from the Fathers concerning the nature, savagery, frauds, arts and weapons of this dragon. B. Isidore, lib. I De Summo Bono: "Demons," he says, "are vigorous with a threefold acuteness of foreknowledge, namely the subtlety of nature, the experience of times, and the revelation of superior powers. The closer the devil sees the end of the world, the more cruelly does he exercise persecutions, so that he who continually sees himself damned may multiply companions for himself, with whom he may be consigned to the fires of hell." St. Cyprian, tract. 3 De Praelat. simplic.: "The devil," he says, "is called a serpent, because he creeps in secretly, and deceiving through the appearance of peace, he creeps with hidden approaches (whence he received the name of serpent), such is his cunning, such is his blind and hidden deception in circumventing men, so that he seems to assert night for day, poison for health, desperation under the pretense of hope, perfidy under the pretext of faith, Antichrist under the name of Christ; so that, while he utters things that seem true, he frustrates the truth by subtlety. For he transforms himself into an angel of light." Basil compares the devil in some passages of Scripture to a leopard, which is a mortal enemy of man: whence hunters, in order to deceive the beast, show it an image of a man made of paper; it immediately, enraged, seizes and tears it to pieces. So also the devil persecutes the image of God appearing in man, when he cannot touch God himself. Hence his chosen food is, as St. Gregory teaches from Job, lib. XXXII Moral., cap. ii. St. Martin, as related by Sulpitius, seeing cormorants in a river catching and devouring fish: "This," he says, "is the form of demons. They lie in wait for the unwary, they capture the unknowing, they devour the captured, they cannot be satisfied with what they have devoured." St. Gregory, lib. XXXIII Mor., cap. xiv: "The devil," he says, "is called a beast, a dragon and a bird. He tempts the human race with three vices, lust, malice and pride. In those therefore whom he incites to lust, he is a beast; in those whom he inflames to the malice of harming, he is a dragon; in those whom he elevates to pride, he is a bird; in those whom lust, malice and pride pollute equally, he is a beast, a dragon and a bird at the same time." St. Augustine in Serm. commun., serm. 4: "What is more depraved, what more malicious, what more wicked than our adversary? who placed war in heaven, fraud in paradise, hatred among the first brothers, and sowed tares in all our works. For in eating he placed gluttony, in generation lust, in exercise sloth, in conversation envy, in governance avarice, in correction anger, in prelacy or dominion pride, in the heart he placed evil thoughts, in the mouth false utterances, in the members wicked deeds; in waking he moves to wicked works, in sleeping to shameful dreams. He moves the joyful to dissolution, but the sad to desperation. But to speak more briefly, all the evils of the world have been committed by his wickedness." St. Chrysostom, homil. 4 in Isaiam: Just as empty ships do not fear pirates, but those laden with gold, silver and precious stones: so also the devil does not easily persecute the sinner, but rather the just man, where there are many riches, that is virtues and merits. St. Salvian, book VI On Providence: "Just as," he says, "armies about to fight occupy those places through which they know the enemy forces will come, and are said to block them with ditches, or set them with stakes, or infest them with caltrops; namely so that even if someone does not fall into all of them, yet no one completely escapes all of them: so also demons spread so many snares of temptations in this way for mankind, that even if someone escapes many of them, yet he is caught by some." St. Anselm in Similitudes, chapter eighty, compares the devil to an unjust litigant, who when his case is judged against him by a jurist or judge, after some time, when he thinks this judgment buried in oblivion, again raises the suit, saying the former sentence was unjust. So also the demon, where he is defeated, again suggests the same temptations, and tempts the soul of man, whom he knows to be fickle and inconstant. He suggests a remedy. But he, he says, "who once rightly overcame the world and the devil himself, does not care about those things which he fraudulently says; but holds firm whatever was once rightly established, that it is not to be destroyed again; and what he rightly determined was to be abandoned, is not to be desired again. For thus, God assisting, he will be able to overcome the devil." Having Seven Heads, and Ten Horns: and upon His Heads Seven Diadems Only the primary head of the dragon had ten horns; the remaining ones had only their own diadem, which the primary head also had. Hence Alcazar thinks this dragon shown in the vision to John was the hydra: for this is said by the Poets to have been of many heads, or rather is feigned to be so. Again the hydra is a symbol of envy, as Pierius teaches, Hieroglyphics 16. Now as to the sense, Alcazar understands by the seven heads seven wicked spirits, which the holy Fathers ascribe to the demon, namely the spirit of pride, avarice, lust, wrath, gluttony, envy and sloth. And although Scripture does not describe these heads, yet it is permissible to suspect that they were those of these seven animals, namely the lion, tiger, bear, viper, wolf, serpent and ass. For the demon, while tempting, now shows us the head and face of the proud lion, now of the envious serpent, now of the wrathful viper, now of the slothful ass, now of the gluttonous wolf, now of the avaricious tiger, now of the lustful bear, concerning which Pliny speaks, for thus concerning the beast of the sea it is said in the following chapter, verse 7: "And power was given him to make war with the saints, and to overcome them." But I say with St. Gregory, book XXXII of the Morals, chapter XIV, Ribera and others, that just as the principal head of this dragon, so also the tail corresponding to it represents the Antichrist. For he himself is the head of the dragon, because he will be the primary leader and prince of all tyrants and the impious. He is the same as the tail, because he himself will be the extreme part of the dragon, that is, of the body of the devil. He will draw after him into his perfidy a third part of the stars, that is, of illustrious Saints, who, as leaders, or teachers, or eminent above others, shone forth to others like stars. For from the common people he will draw and pervert many more. "Stars fall from heaven," says St. Gregory, "is that some, abandoning hope of heavenly things, under that leader strive for the ambition of worldly glory." Thus concerning Antiochus Epiphanes it is said in Daniel VIII, 10: "He cast down of the strength, and of the stars, and trod upon them;" where he calls stars the Jews illustrious in doctrine, piety, or birth, whom Antiochus bent to apostasy and idolatry by his threats: thus St. Jerome, Theodoret and others there. It alludes to the first sin of Lucifer's pride, as Victorinus teaches, by which he himself, rebelling against God, drew after him by his tail, that is, by persuading and soliciting, a third part of the stars, that is, of the angels. Whence from this place and some similar ones, many modern Scholastic Doctors, among whom is Francis Suarez, III part., vol. II, disp. 31, sect. 4, § From these therefore, probably hold the opinion that Lucifer's and his followers' ambition was situated in this, that having received from God a revelation concerning the future hypostatic union of the Word with human nature, he envied human nature this dignity; for he saw it placed before him and the angels. Wherefore he desired it for himself, and thus wished to become God not by essence (for he knew this to be impossible and to imply contradiction), but by hypostatic union. For this reason he pursued the male child whom the woman bore, namely Christ, and fought with him in heaven with Michael, as is said here, wishing to deliver him to death, because he envied him this union. For all his war is against this child, and so the duel which he began with him in heaven, he continues constantly on earth. Hence the Church called these seven capital vices from these heads of the dragon, as it were; because to them, as to principal heads, the others are reduced, as St. Gregory teaches, XXXI Moral., XXXI, and Cassian, Collat. V, cap. II. Moreover, by the ten horns is denoted both the multitude of demons and also the power and strength of each individual, so that it may be signified that the war which they have waged, do wage, and shall wage against the Church and Christians is most bitter, and equally most dangerous. Thus in Daniel VII, 7, the fourth beast signifying the Roman empire has ten horns, which signify the polyarchy of the Romans, namely Senators numerous in number and powerful in strength: for these formerly ruled Rome and the Roman Empire, and these alone before Julius Caesar, but after him together with the Emperor. For the Senate was a most weighty assembly of princes, which supported the Emperor and the Empire by number, virtue and counsel, so that, when the Emperor died, it itself did not die, but remained perpetually. But these are more mystical than literal. Hence Haymo and others throughout, mystically understand by these seven heads the seven capital vices. Again, Richard understands by the ten horns secular power, namely all kings who oppose the Decalogue, God's law and worship. According to the letter, therefore, the ten horns of the dragon, that is of Lucifer, are ten kings (for a horn is a symbol of strength and kingdom, as I showed in Daniel VII) who shall rule in the world when Antichrist comes, of whom three Antichrist shall slay; whence the remaining seven, struck with fear, shall of their own accord submit themselves, and with him as with an instrument of the demon, shall strive to destroy and overthrow Christians and the Church. That this is so is evident from Daniel VII, 24, and cap. XI. See the things said there. Similarly, the seven heads are seven other kings, of whom one, and he the principal, shall be Antichrist: the remaining six shall be his precursors, and shall go before him, some through many, others through fewer centuries; thus shall it be explained in John XVII, 9 and 12, where I shall explain who these kings are. Wherefore only the principal head of the dragon had ten horns, that is, ten kings subject to him; but the remaining lateral and smaller heads of his lacked these horns, and had only single diadems each, as Alcazar rightly observed, and expressed in the image of the woman and the dragon, page 614, because Antichrist alone shall subject to himself ten kings of the world, not the other six. Symbolically, Peter Galatinus here thinks that by the seven heads of the dragon are signified seven persecutions of the Church, to succeed one another in order, which he himself enumerates.
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That is, the demon killed many of the Apostles, and the first faithful and preachers of the Gospel, says Alcazar. For "drew" in Greek is ἔβαλεν, which signifies to cast down by the blows and coils of the tail, and thence to hurl to the earth, so that they might be dashed and killed by the fall. Furthermore, in this allusion (for the literal sense primarily intended is different, as I have already said), that Lucifer drew after him a third part of the stars, that is, of the angels, is to be understood not arithmetically, but popularly, namely a third, that is, a great part. For it does not appear that he drew precisely a third; for from this it would follow that there are more men than there are angels and demons joined together. That this follows is evident, because the blessed men alone, namely the elect, make up this third part of the fallen angels and fill their ruins. Now the blessed men are not a third part, indeed not even a tenth of all men. For far more men are damned than are saved, namely scarcely one out of ten, indeed if we believe St. Chrysostom, scarcely one out of a hundred is saved. Therefore the blessed men are scarcely a tenth, and according to Chrysostom scarcely a hundredth part of men. Wherefore if the blessed men fill the number of the third part of the angels that fell, the damned will not only fill the two remaining parts of the angels that persisted, but also moreover seven, and according to St. Chrysostom 97 times as many. But this does not appear to be true. For St. Dionysius, in the book On the Celestial Hierarchy, teaches that the angels are in the greatest number and as it were innumerable, and surpass the number of corporeal things: therefore also of men. Either therefore it must be said that precisely a third part of the angels did not fall; or if precisely a third fell, not so many blessed men precisely succeed to it as the angels that fell; which latter is very probable. For when it is said that men succeed in the place of the fallen angels, so as to repair their ruins, this is to be understood generically and indefinitely, not singularly and definitely, namely that the assembly of the elect from men will succeed to the assembly of the fallen angels, even if that be smaller and not equal to it in number: but not that individual men succeed to individual angels, and consequently that there are as many men to be saved as there are angels that became demons. That this is so will be clear to one reading what I said on Apocalypse III, 11, to those words: "Hold fast that which thou hast, that no one take thy crown." For just as men suffice for men, so also for the fallen angels, but in a secondary end. For primarily God created, destined and called all men, equally as angels, to His end, namely salvation and eternal life; and would have created, destined and called them, even if no angels had fallen: for God primarily willed to establish this universe, and its inhabitants, namely angels and men, not for any other reason, but for Himself; indeed He willed to establish this whole universe for the sake of men: for He decreed and established man as the end and purpose of the universe; and consequently He created the empyrean heaven, so that it might be the corporeal place of the beatitude and glory of men, who consist of body equally as of soul. For the angels, since they are incorporeal, have no need of a corporeal place. Tropologically, Origen, tract. 30 on Matthew: "The faithful one," he says, "who ought to hear: After the Lord thy God thou shalt go, and: Come after me; and to these things indeed he stops his ears, but sin he follows, he is drawn by the tail of the dragon, going after him. But if it should happen to one who has so lived that he hears: You are the light of the world, and his good works have sometimes shone forth, this one, being constituted a star at some time, and having his conversation in heaven, if he be torn away from the dragon to the earth, this will be a star drawn by the tail of the dragon, and cast to the earth." And the Dragon Stood Before the Woman Who Was About to Bring Forth, That, When She Had Brought Forth, He Might Devour Her Son Pliny relates, lib. VIII, cap. XIV, that under the Emperor Claudius a serpent of those which are called Boas was killed in Rome in the Vatican, and in its belly was found a solid infant. Whence also Hercules, who is said to have been born to overcome the most terrible monsters that infested the world, is said or feigned to have been attacked, while still an infant in his cradle, by two serpents, who strove to devour him. Thus Herod the infanticide, to whom allusion is made here, who wished likewise to kill the child Christ, is rightly called a dragon; indeed, as Arias Montanus says in the Apparatus, Herod in Syriac is the same as a fiery dragon: for Herod is compounded from ירוד ierud, that is, dragon, and אש esh, that is, fire. Now who this offspring and son is I shall now say.
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First, because according to the historical allusion the Blessed Virgin, and consequently the ancient Church, gave birth to Christ, who is male both in sex and in strength, who is Lord and ruler of all nations. For to Him it was said in Psalm II: "Thou shalt rule them with an iron rod." Hence also the dragon wished to devour Him through Herod: thus Barradius, book X, chapter XII, where he teaches this to be the proper sense of this place; but it is more truly allusive: thus Aretas and others. Second, properly and genuinely, the male son is the faithful and holy people, whom the Church bears to Christ. For it alludes to Isaiah LXVI, verse 7, where it is said that a woman, that is the Church, bears a male son, that is the Christian people. In a similar manner the people of Israel is called a son, and that the firstborn of God, as in Hosea chapter XI, verse 1: "Israel is my son, and I loved him; and I called my son out of Egypt." The sense therefore is, as if to say, the Church bears, and especially at the end of the world (for it is properly of this that we speak here) will bear to Christ males, that is the faithful and holy, who in soul are male, strong and unconquered, and therefore will undergo martyrdom under the Antichrist. Or what amounts to the same thing, as if to say, the Church bears, and will bear at the end of the world Christ in the souls of those firmly believing and strongly loving God. For what follows: "And he shall rule the nations with an iron rod," belongs properly and perfectly to Christ alone, yet participatively it belongs also to other Saints, as St. John said in chapter II, 27. One therefore is the male, says Ambrose, whom the Blessed Virgin bore, and whom the Church bears: because Christ with all His members, namely the faithful, is one body, and as it were one person, as the Apostle says I Corinthians XII, verses 12 and 27. See the things said there: thus also Richard, Primasius and others here. Note: In order that the faithful may be dear to Christ and His genuine sons, they must be male, so that they may strongly rule over their desires, and constantly endure whatever adversities. For females, that is the voluptuous, the soft, the timid and the inconstant, are as it were rejected by Him as spurious. See the things said in Exodus I, 16, and Numbers chapter XXXVI, verses 2 and 11. In the male faithful therefore the name and glory of Christ, as it were of a father, endures. For male in Hebrew is called זכר sachar from secher, that is memory, because in it the father's name and memory endure after death, according to that in Ecclesiasticus chapter XXX, verse 4: "His father is dead, and he is as if he were not dead: for he hath left one behind him that is like himself." Conversely females in Hebrew are called נשים nasim, from נשה nasa, that is he forgot, because in females the father's name perishes, and memory is consigned to oblivion. Alcazar in his manner refers these things to the primitive Church: hence by the male son he understands the Roman Church, as if to say, the Primitive Church bore and founded the Roman Church, before it flew from the Jews to the desert of paganism. For to the Roman Pontiff was given by Christ the iron rod, by which he rules all nations subjected to Christianity. And His Son Was Caught Up to God, and to His Throne It touches upon the ascension of Christ into heaven; but according to the letter, as I have said, it signifies Christians, as if to say, Christians who at the end of the world will be holy, strong and elect of God, will be caught up through death, or through martyrdom, into heaven, so that they may enjoy God, and thus escape the mouth and hands of the dragon. Thus Ambrose and Ribera. It alludes to the snatching away of the boy Joas, whom Josaba his aunt stole away, lest he be killed with the other royal sons by Athaliah, and she hid him in the house of the Lord, that is in the court of the temple, as it is said in IV Kings XI, 2. Where note. Joas in Hebrew aptly signifies the fire of God, as if to say, Athaliah wished to extinguish the fire, that is the lamp, of David, lest anyone of his descendants should reign: thus also will the dragon wish to extinguish the lamp of Christ, but it will be preserved in the house of the Lord under the wings and protection of God; for, as it is said in Psalm XC: "He that dwelleth in the aid of the Most High, shall abide under the protection of the God of heaven." Just as therefore God in the temple keeps His lamp burning in the candlestick, so will He keep and Joas, as it were a spark of the lamp of David and His own, and much more will He keep the sparks, that is the faithful, at the end of the world, nor will He permit the lamp to be extinguished, that is the faith, religion and worship of His Christ.
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That is to say: When the male child, that is those strong heroes through martyrdom shall be caught up to the throne of God, then the woman, that is the faithful people, namely the other Christians and the weaker Saints in the time of Antichrist, shall flee into deserts and hiding places; namely at that time when Elias and Henoch, and their generous followers, shall openly and fearlessly fight hand to hand with Antichrist. But this is a hysteron proteron, or a transposition and anticipation. For this flight shall happen after the dragon is cast down, as is related in verse 14. Note: He alludes to the flight of the Blessed Virgin and Christ into Egypt. Again to the flight of Christians into solitudes and caves in the time of Decius (as under him St. Paul the first Hermit fled, according to the testimony of St. Jerome) and of other persecutors. Thus the Poets relate, or rather feign, that Latona, about to bear a son to Jupiter, suffered keen persecution from the serpent Python, and fled to the island of Delos, and there brought forth Apollo and Diana in a single birth. Mystically, solitude is solitary rest from earthly things, and contemplation of divine things and heavenly joys, into which as into a refuge, one must flee from the tumult and persecution of the world, says Primasius. To this David fled, Psalm 54:7: "Who will give me wings like a dove, and I will fly and be at rest? Behold I have gone far off flying away, and I abode in the wilderness;" and Job chapter 29, verse 18: "I shall die in my nest, and as a palm tree I shall multiply my days;" and the Bride, Canticles 3:1: "In my bed by night I sought him whom my soul loveth;" which St. Gregory explaining, in the eighth book of Morals, chapter 17, says: "In bed, he says, and by night the beloved is sought, because the invisible form of the Creator, with all image of bodily vision repressed, is found in the chamber of the heart." Whence Psalm 149 is said: "The saints shall rejoice in glory, they shall be glad in their beds; because namely when they flee from evils from without, secure within the secrets of their minds they glory;" and Isaiah chapter 30, verse 15: "In silence and in hope shall your strength be;" and Jeremiah, Lamentations chapter 3, verse 28: "It is good for a man when he hath borne the yoke from his youth. He shall sit alone and hold his peace, because he hath lifted it up upon himself." And St. Ambrose, book 3 of the Duties, chapter 1: "Not first, he says, did Scipio know that he was not alone when he was alone: Moses knew it before him, who when he was silent, cried out; when he stood idle, he fought. So idle that his hands were upheld by another: and no less busy than others, he who with idle hands conquered the enemy, whom those could not overcome who fought. But what greater business than his idleness, who in forty days placed on the mountain, comprehended the whole law? When therefore is the just man alone, who is always with God? when is he solitary, who is never separated from Christ?" And Ansbertus here: "Solitude, he says, to which the woman fleeing found a place prepared by God, is the rest of the mind, which casting out the disordered movements of desires from the secret of the heart, finds solace in God. For holy men, because they cannot elsewhere escape the snares of the dragon, make themselves a desert of quiet, that they may have whither to flee healthfully. First indeed they cast out by the hand of consideration the movements of earthly desires from the heart, and afterwards they find in that very solitude a place of quiet where they may hide. Because they despise all transitory things, they do not suffer the insolences of thoughts arising from these. For they desire only the eternal homeland, and because they love nothing of this world, they enjoy great tranquility of mind. To this refuge the Psalmist desired to fly, when he said: One thing have I asked of the Lord, this will I seek after, that I may dwell in the house of the Lord all the days of my life. Fleeing namely from the frequency of earthly desires, to a great solitude (turning) to himself, where he might see nothing foreign, whereby being unfit he might love nothing, from the tumult of bodily things he had sought a great secret, a quiet mind, in which he might see God so much more purely, the more he found himself alone with Him alone." Finally, Caelius Pannonius treats the same matter more copiously and in greater detail thus: "The mind," he says, "separated from the tumults of the world is rightly a solitude, which desires nothing in the world, but yearns for heavenly things alone, as it is written: He shall sit solitary, and shall hold his peace, and shall lift himself above himself, Lamentations III. And in the mystical psalms the spiritual man speaks: Behold I have gone far away, that is, I have made myself far from the desires of the world, fleeing, and I remained in solitude; and he adds: I waited for him that saved me from pusillanimity of spirit, and from the storm, Psalm LIV. In which words the prophet David gives us to understand whence we must withdraw from the tumult of this world, and what we must do afterwards. First therefore we must withdraw far, and not remain on the border. For it is not lawful for a just man to dwell anywhere in any region near sinful cities; but to hasten to the mountain, unless he prefer to perish. Secondly, that not hesitantly, not fearfully, not sluggishly, not as if refusing, but strenuously, and (so to speak) as a gladiator, but hastily. The sluggard wills and wills not. The kingdom of heaven does not fall to the drowsy, but plainly to those who use force; and the violent seize it. Let not affection for dear ones delay him who hastens, let not the allurements of the world call him back, let not domestic cares hinder him. The chain of worldly business must be cut once, since otherwise man cannot be freed from it. The Prophet cries out that we flee from the midst of Babylon: the exodus from Egypt is called a flight. And this woman is remembered to have fled into solitude, not to have emigrated gradually. But you would see most people procrastinating, and with counsels too slow making their flight from vices. Where, they say, shall I extricate myself from these cares. Where shall I finish this and that business. Not knowing in this matter the most useful precipitation. One business is sown from business, one vice is invited by vice. Do not reckon what or how much you leave behind, be assured that Christ alone will suffice for you in place of all things. Dare now to commit yourself to him with your whole heart; dare to entrust all your care to him: he will receive you, he will nourish you. The Lord ruleth me, says the Prophet, and I shall want nothing. Thirdly, that you leave the world with a fixed purpose, so that you do not slip back again, nor look back. Thus Egypt must be abandoned, lest you ever return in mind to the fleshpots. It is not lawful to look back. The woman looked back, and was turned into a statue of salt. Do not wish to divide yourself between two, the world and Christ. You cannot serve two masters. There is no fellowship of God with accursed Belial. He does not bear those who halt on both knees in two parts. He vomits out those who are neither cold nor hot, but lukewarm. God, the lover of souls, is exceedingly jealous. He wishes to possess you alone and wholly. He does not suffer partnership with the devil, whom he once conquered by his death. There are only two ways: one, which through the service of the affections leads to destruction; the other, which through the mortification of the flesh leads to life. Why do you hesitate? There is no third: you must go by one of these, whether you will or not. But this narrow one, if you wish to keep it, you must rather go by, than Christ himself trod." He then adds four things which must be observed in this solitude, saying: "Now indeed the Prophet explains what must be done in solitude, saying: He shall sit solitary, and shall hold his peace, and shall lift himself above himself. And David: I waited for him who saved me, etc., where four things are taught: first, that he be solitary, that is, free from the desires of the world, with the denial of his own and the same harmful will. For to desire nothing in this world is a faithful and tranquil solitude of mind, in which the Church has a place prepared by God; second, his eternal purpose: in which whoever dwells, dwells in the help of God the most high, and shall remain in his protection. Hence immediately taciturnity is taught, according to what is written: In silence and in hope shall your strength be, Isaiah XXX. But silence of the mind is rest from the noise of vain and superfluous thoughts: in which whoever is placed, shall gather strength for what follows; third, that through contemplation he lift himself up to God, considering his great miracles, that he is good, that he is merciful, just and holy; fourth, what follows upon these, namely a certain expectation of God's majesty, that he alone saves from pusillanimity of spirit, and from the storm of temptations: God has prepared this place for his faithful ones and prepares it, who fleeing to him he promises rest and refreshment, saying: Come to me, all you that labour, and are burdened, and I will refresh you, Matthew XI." Thus Caelius, or rather Caelestial. That There They May Feed Her (Namely the Bishops, Pastors, Religious, and Other Ministers of the Word of God Sent by Elias and Henoch) In the Days of One Thousand Two Hundred and Sixty For so many days shall Elias and Henoch preach, as it is said verse 3.
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(In the air, namely in the Church here contending with aerial powers and warring, and through the heavenly life tending toward heaven): Michael and His Angels Fought Against the Dragon. Alcazar understands by Michael Christ; by his angels, the Apostles and preachers, who cast out the dragon, that is the devil and his worship and idolatry, from the Gentiles. For Michael in Hebrew signifies "Who is like God?" Thus Christ was most humble and most zealous for the glory of God. Whence he says: "I seek not my own glory." Hence again he says in John, chapter XII, verse 31: "Now shall the prince of this world be cast out." Let preachers therefore know that they have fellowship with angels, and are wonderfully aided by them, indeed that they are angels on earth. On the other hand the dragon and his angels are Nero, Simon Magus, Apollonius of Tyana and other tyrants, infidels and impious men, through whom the demon fought and assailed Christ and the Church. But just as formerly through Michael in the empyrean heaven, so now through Christ in the earthly heaven, that is the Church, he has been cast out, and deprived of possession of the whole earth and world. For to be cast down from heaven is the same as to fall in cause, and to lay down and cast away the confidence conceived in the mind of supplanting Christ and the Church. Again, just as Mattathias is called Michael, Daniel XII, 1, because he opposed himself to Antiochus Epiphanes, even as Michael to Lucifer: so here, although the name of Michael is attributed primarily to Christ, it is attributed secondarily to St. Peter: for he opposed himself to Simon Magus, and raised the standard of Christ against the dragon, and his worship and idolatry in Rome the metropolis of the Empire. The angels of Peter are preachers, Bishops and Religious, who root out infidelity, heresies and other seeds of the dragon throughout the whole world. For these say with Paul: "But we preach Jesus Christ, and him crucified," I Corinthians, chapter I, 23. Thus he himself notes in verse 6, aptly to his principles; but not to the sequence of the latest times, which John here wove together. I say that historically here is alluded to the battle of Lucifer with his own, waged with Michael and his followers in heaven: for that is here most clearly touched upon. For then Lucifer with his own cast down from heaven, was made a devil from an angel. Whence Rupert notes here is hinted at that battle of Michael and the angels against Lucifer strongly begun, and that victory happily won, not so much to be attributed to angelic virtue, as to that divine power of the most holy offspring. Whence also David speaks not of an angel, but of God himself: "Thou, he says, hast broken the heads of the dragon," Psalm LXXIII, verse 14. Indeed the angels themselves victors and triumphers: "Now, they say, is made salvation, and strength, and the kingdom of our God, and the power of his Christ." But through this battle is symbolically signified the war which Lucifer wages daily against the faithful in the Church, and their guardian angels; prophetically however and genuinely according to the letter, is signified the battle which he himself will wage most fiercely and finally at the end of the world against the Saints. For this is properly intended here. For this is a continuous prophecy concerning the end of the world: thus Bede, Haymo, Aretas, Viegas, Ribera here, and St. Gregory, homily 34 in the Gospel and XXXII Moral., XII: "The stars, he says, to fall from heaven, is for some to be left without hope of heavenly things, under that leader to aspire to the ambition of worldly glory." And that this is so is evident from Daniel XII, 1. Then therefore Michael with his angels will fight against Lucifer and his demons, by aiding, strengthening and encouraging Christians to be stronger and more steadfast, so that they may openly and generously oppose themselves to Antichrist with Elijah and Enoch, against whom and for whom Lucifer will fight through fair speech, cunning, frauds, feigned miracles, hypocrisy, threats, torments, and other arts and weapons which he himself will suggest to Antichrist. Again then Michael will fight defending these his faithful in the judgment of God especially after their death, against the accuser the devil. For to that place, namely to the throne of God, the male child was caught up, as he said in verse 5, whom the devil pursued even to that point, wishing by his accusations to tear him thence and snatch him with him into tartarus; but with the angels defending him, that accuser of the brethren was rejected and cast down, as will be said in verse 9. From this place the Doctors gather that St. Michael was and is the prince of all the angels, who persisted in the service of God, and consequently in heaven: just as Lucifer was the prince of all those who fell. Wherefore St. Michael was formerly the guardian of the Synagogue of the Jews, as he is now the guardian and prince of the Christian Church. Whence by the Church, in the office of St. Michael, he is called "Prince of the heavenly host, victor and trampler of the devil, prince of the heavenly militia, prefect of Paradise;" and St. Basil, homily On Angels: "To thee, he says, O Michael, leader of the supreme spirits, who art set over all others in dignity and honors among the supreme spirits: to thee, I say, I make supplication." Hence also St. Michael by Nicetas Choniates, book III, folio 208, is called "Archistrategus of the divine armies:" thus Ribera, Viegas, Bellarmine and others, whom Nicholas Serarius cites and follows in chapter V of Joshua, Question XLV. See the prerogatives of St. Michael, which I have reviewed in Daniel XII, 1.
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This is a Hebrew hypallage. For the sense is: they themselves were not found in heaven, that is, among the saints and the elect taken up to heaven, so that they might tempt them, kill them and accuse them; because, defeated by them, they were cast down to the earth, that is, they betook themselves to earthly men, demons cast down and defeated by the holy men and heroes. For he deals with these literally, as is evident from what has been said; yet he alludes to the first fall of Lucifer from heaven: for then they were properly cast out from their own place, namely heaven. There is also a metonymy: for the container is put for the thing contained, namely place for the thing placed; because place relatively regards the thing placed, hence place is said not to be found for the thing placed, when the thing placed exceeds its place and is no longer found in it. Thus St. Augustine, tract. 68 in John, explaining that passage: "In my Father's house there are many mansions. If it were not so, I would have told you, because I go to prepare you a place," thus says: "He prepares mansions, preparing mansions by preparing those who dwell in them. For what is the house of God, except the temple of God? And the temple of God is holy, which you are," I Corinthians III.
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Note: Here six epithets are given to Lucifer and his demons. First, that he is a "great dragon," for the reason given in verse 3; second, that he is the "ancient serpent," because namely he once in paradise seduced, perverted and killed Adam and Eve, our first parents, speaking through a serpent and tempting them: for he then assumed a serpent, and as it were put it on, not by himself and willingly, as Diodorus wishes, but because God did not permit him to assume and enter any other animal, as Bar-Cepha teaches, lib. On Paradise, cap. XXVII. And this was so that through the serpent his serpentine cunning, fraud and malice, and his desire to harm man, as well as his lubricity, might be declared, as St. Gregory noted, XVII Moral., XX, when he says: "Because therefore if resistance is not made to his suggestion at first, suddenly he glides entirely into the interior of the heart, while not being felt, he made words to man through a slippery animal." Third, that he is the "devil," that is, an accuser. For devil in Greek is derived ἀπὸ τοῦ διαβάλλειν, that is from accusing and slandering; the Syriac, however, translates it as casting down, or declining; fourth, in Hebrew he is called שטן satan, that is adversary, because he opposes God, Angels, Saints and all good things, and sets himself up as it were as an antagonist; fifth, that he "seduces," that is he strives to seduce and labors with all his might, "the whole world," namely the men inhabiting the whole world; sixth, that he "was cast down to the earth," in the sense which I gave a little before. He alludes to the punishment of the serpent, because it had deceived Eve, inflicted by God, Genesis III, 14: "Upon thy belly shalt thou crawl," that is you shall creep upon the earth. By which is signified first, that the demon shall be overcome and cast down by the holy strong and steadfast ones at the end of the world; second, that with all his cunning he shall never be able to raise himself from the earth, that is, that he shall always remain in his abjection, vileness and misery, as happens to the wise men of this world, who always covet and cling to earthly goods; third, that excluded by men who seek heavenly things, he betakes himself to those who seek earthly things, and increases and kindles in them the thirst for earthly things. Alcazar adds that the devil, deprived of the honor of divinity which he had vainly sought in the heavens and unjustly usurped on earth, by inducing men to his worship and adoration, was cast down by Christ in idols; for Christ and the Apostles eliminated idolatry and idols from the world. But this is mystical. Hence, why, and how the devil is called and is a "serpent," St. Cyprian describes graphically, tract. On the Unity of the Church: "More, he says, must the enemy be guarded against and feared, when he creeps in secretly, when deceiving through the appearance of peace he creeps with hidden approaches, whence also he received the name of serpent. Such is always his cunning, such is his blind and hidden deception in circumventing man." And more clearly tract. On Zeal and Envy, citing that passage I Peter cap. V, Be sober and watch, because your adversary the devil, as a roaring lion, goes about seeking whom he may devour, he says: "He circles around each of us, and as an enemy besieging the enclosed, he explores the walls, and tries whether there is any part of the walls less stable and less trustworthy, by access through which he might penetrate to the interior. He offers to the eyes alluring forms and easy pleasures, so that by sight he might destroy chastity. He tempts the ears through melodious music, so that by the hearing of sweeter sound he might dissolve and soften Christian vigor. He provokes the tongue with insults, he incites the hand with injuries to petulance of striking; so that he might make a defrauder, he sets before him unjust gains; so that he might capture the soul with money, he injects pernicious profits; he promises earthly honors, so that he might take away heavenly ones; he shows false things, so that he might steal away true ones; and when he cannot deceive secretly, he threatens openly and manifestly: in peace he is treacherous, in persecution he is violent. Wherefore, most beloved brethren, against all the devil's either deceitful snares or open threats, the instructed and armed mind must stand, always as prepared to resist as the enemy is always prepared to attack." Moreover, why the devil is called "the ancient serpent," the same Cyprian explains most excellently in his treatise On the Exhortation to Martyrdom to Fortunatus, at the beginning: "The adversary," he says, "is old, and an ancient enemy, against whom we wage war. Nearly six thousand years have now been completed, since the devil has assailed man. He has learned by long use all kinds of temptation, and arts and snares for casting down. If he finds a soldier of Christ unprepared, if ignorant, if not careful and watchful with his whole heart, he circumvents the unwary, deceives the incautious, tricks the inexperienced. But if anyone, keeping the precepts of the Lord and adhering strongly to Christ, stands against him, he must be overcome; because Christ whom we confess is unconquerable."
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"And I heard a great voice in heaven saying: Now is made salvation, and virtue (in Greek δύναμις, that is strength, power), and the kingdom of our God, and the power of His Christ." — It is the acclamation of the Angels and the Blessed, or the shout and congratulation of those exulting over the prostrate and defeated demon, and over the victory which the Saints contending with the Antichrist and the devil will obtain. For they will attribute this to God and Christ, inasmuch as He conferred upon them salvation, that is redemption, grace and strength in the struggle to overcome the dragon, and after the struggle and victory, kingdom and power, that is heavenly and eternal dominion; see what is said in chapter XI, verse 15. Because the Accuser Is Cast Down In Greek κατήγορος, that is an objector, calumniator, detractor, accuser, who accused the Saints before God with calumnies and false accusations, as he once accused St. Job, chapter XVIII.
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"And they overcame him by the blood of the Lamb" (for by the merit of the blood and passion of Christ they received strength, fortitude and constancy to resist and overcome), "and by the word of their testimony," — namely because they constantly, and by preaching, and dying for their faith and preaching, bore witness to Christ against the Antichrist. And They Loved Not Their Lives Unto Death That is to say, Because they, for the sake of faith, strongly exposed their souls, that is their lives, to death. It is a meiosis, or understatement: for less is said, and more is signified, as if to say, They so did not love their souls, that is their lives, that they even exposed them for Christ, neglected them and as it were hated them. For they preferred to die rather than deny Christ, they preferred death rather than to be deprived of life and of Christ and of confession of Christ. Therefore some Theologians wrongly conclude from this passage that angels received grace and victory from the blood and merits of Christ, and consequently glory and crown. For John speaks of men, not of angels. Most excellently St. Augustine in his Sentences, sentence 374: "Whoever," he says, "loves himself and not God, does not love himself. And whoever loves God and not himself, he loves himself. For since he cannot live from himself, he certainly dies by loving himself. When therefore he is loved from whom one lives, by not loving himself he loves himself more, because he does not love himself in order that he may love him from whom he lives." Whoever therefore loves both God and himself, must be prodigal of his own life and of himself. This is what Christ says in Luke IX, 24: "Whosoever will save his life, shall lose it; for he that shall lose his life for my sake, shall save it." Whoever therefore wishes to save himself and to love God, and in turn to be loved by Him and to be blessed, let him esteem himself lost for God's sake, and give himself as prey to labors, scourges, crosses and deaths, as Christ gave Himself as prey to these same things. This the nobility of God, of charity, of blessedness and of eternal reward demands.
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That is to say, both the common Church which is in heaven rejoices, and individual faithful in it, says Alcazar. For it befits the blessed Church with this praise alone: "All and each." For just as the sun illuminates, gladdens and warms all and each, and thus all as each, and thus each as all: so also the happiness and joy, equally as the glory of the triumphant Church is of individuals, and is of all: for all goods and joys there, as being among friends, indeed most intimate friends, are common to all and each. Secondly, more simply, by personification the heavens are invited here to rejoicing, so that it may be signified that it will be so great, so broad and so common, that the heavens themselves seem to exult. See the sayings at chapter V, verse 13. Woe to the Earth and Sea (He alludes to sea dragons and land dragons, which are accustomed to infest both seas and lands), because the devil is come down unto you, having great wrath,—that is, "woe to them that dwell on the earth and to them that dwell in the sea!" as some Greek codices have it. The sense is, as if he said: The devil, seeing himself conquered and cast down by the Heroes and Martyrs, and by Elias and Henoch, and as if cast out of heaven, will be indignant, and will pour forth his angers upon the rest of men, who dwell on the earth or on islands, so that he seems to breathe forth smoke and flames upon them. Knowing That He Hath but a Short Time Namely three years and a half, as will be evident from verse 14. Hence it is clear that these things pertain to the end of the world and to the times of Antichrist. Thus hawks in Norway fly most swiftly to their prey, because they have only three hours of light in which they can fly and hunt: they therefore hasten, because they feel the day growing old. The devil, who is the hawk of the north, will do the same at the end of the world. To this pertains what we read in the Lives of the Fathers, book VII, chapter xxv: "A certain brother," it says, "asked Abba Sisoes, saying: Do you think, Abba, that the devil now persecutes us as he did the ancients? He answered: Rather now he persecutes men of our age, because the kinds of punishments draw near, where he with his legions is straitened. Since he knows the pool where he will be burned in fire and brimstone: therefore he harasses men. Yet he does not deign to attack the weak, whom, whenever he wishes, he quickly overthrows; but he strives rather to supplant the strong and great through various precipices. Likewise the wise Abba Abraham: "Demons," he says, "do not fight with us, because we do their wills; but our wills have become demons to us, and trouble us." And Abba Achilles, being asked how demons can prevail against us, answered: "Through our wills. And he added, saying: The woods of Lebanon said: How great and tall are we, and we are cut down with the smallest tool! Therefore let us give him nothing of ourselves, and he will not be able to cut us. Then men came, and made the handle of an axe from those very woods, and thus cut them down. The woods therefore are souls; the axe, the devil; the handle, our will is. Through our evil wills therefore we are cut down."
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Alcazar thinks that the first persecution of the Church is signified here, which Nero exercised against the woman, that is, the Roman Church. But here the matter concerns the final times, and the persecution which Antichrist will stir up.
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First, Primasius: The eagle, he says, is a symbol of wisdom; hence its two wings are the two testaments, new and old, which elevate us to wisdom by teaching us. Hence again, properly the two wings are two primary effects of Holy Scripture and wisdom, namely fear of sin and damnation, and love of God and salvation. For this fear and love will spur the faithful to flee the persecution of Antichrist and hide themselves in deserts. From this fear and love will proceed two other acts of wisdom like two wings, namely contempt of temporal things, and esteem and desire for divine and eternal things. By these spiritual wings, spiritual men, withdrawn from the contagion of earthly things, are lifted on high, they abandon their possessions in persecution and squander them all, they flee the dangers of sins, they seek hiding places, and in God alone they seek true consolation. For it is an act and effect of wisdom to esteem each thing as much as it is worth, namely small things as small, great things as great, temporal things as temporal, eternal things as eternal. Hence again Victorinus and Ticonius: The two wings, they say, will be preachers of wisdom and truth, especially Elias and Henoch. Thus in Exodus cap. xix, 4, many understand by the wings of eagles the Prophets and preachers, especially Moses and Aaron: thus Origen, Ambrose, Augustine, Hilary, Basil and others. For these preachers will persuade and encourage the faithful to flee into deserts and caves. This sense is very apt: by these actions as by wings, we are lifted above the dragon persecuting us on earth, and we escape to God. Second, Richard: The two wings, he says, are the active and contemplative life. Third, Aretas: The two wings, he says, are love of God and love of neighbour. Fourth, Ribera: The two wings are desire of the glory of God, and zeal for innocence and holy life. Fifth, Alcazar: Just as, he says, the twelve stars on the head of the woman are the twelve Apostles: so the two wings are Paul and Barnabas, by whom the primitive Church was adorned and equipped, so that it might boldly enter into the desert of paganism, and that by the command and guidance of the Holy Spirit, as is said in Acts xiii, 2 and 46. But he notes at the end that this is more homiletical than literal, which Alcazar himself finally admits. Moreover these wings are like the wings of an eagle: first, because not by force, nor from fear, but willingly and gladly like an eagle, and from love of God the Church flies; second, because like an eagle it beholds the sun of justice, that is God, with unwavering eyes of the mind; third, because it is lifted on high by its conversation, and is not cast down by any persecution; fourth, because as the flight of an eagle is the highest, so also is it the swiftest: such also is the flight of the Church; fifth, because of the Church it is said Psalm cii, 5: "Thy youth shall be renewed like the eagle's;" and Isaiah xl, 31: "They that hope in the Lord shall renew their strength, they shall take wings as eagles;" see the things said there. Epiphanius disputes, haeres. 78, whether the Blessed Virgin truly died, or was rather taken up into heaven like Elias and Henoch, and he brings forth testimonies of Holy Scripture for both sides. For the affirmative side, that Simeon foretold that a sword would pierce her soul: for the negative, that here wings are said to be given to her, by which she fled into the desert. But Epiphanius does not interpose his own judgment here with resolution, knowing certainly that from either passage of Scripture nothing can be defined in this question. Now it is certain that she died, and shortly after was raised up and ascended into heaven: for the Church professes and celebrates this in the feast of her Assumption. Where She Is Nourished (Removed and Separated) from the Face of the Serpent Otherwise Ribera: for he thinks there is a hyperbaton here. For τὸ from the face of the serpent is to be connected with "that she might fly," not with "is nourished," and thus the sentence is to be arranged: "There were given to the woman two wings, that she might fly from the face of the serpent into the desert, into her place, where she is nourished," etc. Where She Is Nourished for a Time, and Times, and Half a Time That is, for a year, for two years, and half a year, namely for three years and a half, or for 42 months, as he said cap. xi, vers. 2; or for 1260 days, as he said cap. xi, vers. 3. Thus time is put for a year in Daniel iv, 20 and 29, and Daniel vii, 25, to which place John here alludes: see the things said there. Let the Church therefore be nourished at the end of the world, that is, the assembly of the faithful, in solitude from Pastors by the word of God throughout the whole time of Antichrist, and of Elias and Henoch contending against him. In a similar manner the Synagogue was nourished by Mathathias and the Machabees in the desert, fleeing the persecution of Antiochus, I Machabees II, 29. Therefore less correctly do Ambrose, Primasius and certain others interpret by time and times, and half a time, the whole time which flows from Christ even to the end of the world. Mystically, Haymo, and from him Pannonius: "The desert place," they say, "are the hearts of the Saints very far removed from these earthly desires; for first they cast down from themselves the disordered motions of desires, and having put to flight all delights whatsoever, they make themselves a desert of quietude. For this is indeed the desert, which is the flight of delights, and of whatsoever bodily pleasures. In which sense the just man speaks in the Prophet, saying: In a desert land and where there is no water, so in holiness have I appeared before thee, that I might see thy power and thy glory, Psalm lxii. A desert land and where there is no water is that place where neither the necessaries of life are supplied: expressing that the life of the Saints shall be so narrow in this world, that neither the necessaries of life shall be supplied to them: who all the delights of the flesh remove from themselves, that they may become as a desert, where nothing is found that may even supply necessity. And he who is of such a kind, and institutes his life thus, desires continually to see the power of God, and his glory. Which alone is his refuge, and protection in all the persecutions of the world. And it is also great consolation to the just man, because while he loves not the evils of this world, but only desires the eternal homeland, he enjoys great tranquility of mind: in which solitude he dwells, who in the desert of the mind is found by those who seek; to whom it is said through the Psalmist: Be thou unto me a God, a protector, and a place of refuge, that thou mayest save me. The desert therefore is the renunciation of worldly pleasure, by which Christ wishes his soldier to be at leisure. Hence thou hast, that the proper place of the Church is solitude, namely that it be far from the knowledge of the world, and from the anxiety of worldly cares, the Lord saying: Be not solicitous for your life, what you shall eat, nor for your body, what you shall put on, Matthew vi. And Peter says: Casting all your care upon him, for he hath care of you, I Peter v, 7." Morally, John teaches here that the faithful ought to be constant and longsuffering in persecution. For many have overcome the severity of persecution, but have been overcome by its duration. Most excellently does Theodore of Studium in his Catechetical address to the scattered brethren, which Cardinal Baronius recounts, in the year of Christ 818, exhort them to constancy in the persecution of Leo the Armenian, the Iconoclast Emperor, which had already lasted four years, and shall last as long as that of Antichrist, in this manner: "Let not the duration of persecution trouble you at all; we have endured not many years, as the ancient Confessors did. That seed of Abraham, to whom the promise of God had given the inheritance of the holy land, God permitted to serve servitude under the hand of Pharaoh for 430 years. The Church of Christ from the preaching of the Apostles even to Constantine, the first Christian king, suffered burning persecution for more than three hundred years. Those who followed endured it more remissly indeed, yet for a longer time, except under Julian the Apostate. And dost thou languish in the space of five years? Clement (the Martyr of Ancyra with Agathangelo) was a man of many contests for twenty-eight years in perpetual martyrdom. And dost thou fail within a few years? Hast thou not heard of the patience of Job? Was he not vexed for fifteen years and more with a grievous sore, besides others which were added, mournful calamities? and this when he was conscious of no evil deed of his own, but rather of very many praiseworthy deeds. But what does the oracle answer to him? That thou mayest appear just, it says. Let us bear still, O valiant soldiers of Christ. Days pass as a shadow." Thus also Blessed Thomas More to his wife tempting him to approve the king's illicit marriages: "What," he said, "are twenty years of the king's favor, or of hatred and persecution, compared to the eternity of the joys of heaven, and the torments of hell?"
12:15
Arabian, a river of water. Parabolically it alludes to whales and other fish, which vomit forth masses and as it were mountains of waters: such above all others is that one which is called a blower, that is, a spouter, which by blowing forth emits so great a quantity of waters that it even depresses the channels of ships, as Rondelet testifies, lib. XVIII, cap. xiv. Furthermore, Ribera probably judges that these waters which the dragon vomits forth were like a wave which would roll around the woman and draw her to the dragon. For the dragon wished to draw to himself and devour the woman; for this seems to be signified when it is said: "That he might cause her to be drawn by the river." For thus a whale vomits forth waters, and by them rolls and draws other fish to itself, that it might devour them. Others, however, more simply judge that the dragon sent forth this river after the woman, that he might submerge her by it (for this is what τὸ water as a river signifies, for neither do rivers on land raise such waves as to draw remote men), and thus "cause her to be drawn," that is, to be absorbed, "by the river." For in Greek it is elegantly said in one word, ἵνα ποταμοφόρητον ποιήσῃ, that is, that he might make her to be carried away and swept by the river, as Vatable, Erasmus and others translated it; for it was sufficient for the dragon, angry and envious, to submerge and destroy the woman, whether this happened by itself or by his river. Now by this parable of water and river is signified the multitude and violence of persecutors, namely the army which the Antichrist will send forth, that the faithful who had fled to mountains and solitudes might be searched out there, pursued and captured or killed. Thus elsewhere often an inundation of waters signifies keen tribulation and persecution, as Psalm LXVIII, verse 2: "Save me, O God, for waters are come in even unto my soul. I stick fast in the mire of the deep, and there is no sure standing. I am come into the depth of the sea, and a tempest hath overwhelmed me." And Psalm CXXIII, verse 4: "Perhaps the waters had swallowed us up." Thus Ticonius, Andreas, Bede, Primasius, Ansbert and Haymo. Otherwise Alcazar: for by this river he understands Nero, who stirred up the first and that cruel persecution against Christians; but God protecting them, Nero was soon killed, and as it were absorbed from the earth. For Nero was a magician, and therefore delighted in Simon Magus and others like him, so much so that Pliny writes of him, lib. XXX, cap. II: "The greatest of all sorcerers who ever existed, who consulted demons on any suspicion whatsoever;"; he was therefore himself the instrument and river of the dragon. But truly this pertains not to the times of Nero, but to the final times of the world.
12:16
That is to say, God and the angels protecting the woman, that is the Church, brought it about that the earth opened itself by a chasm and swallowed up the persecutors sent by the Antichrist, just as of old it opened itself and swallowed up Core, Dathan and Abiron, Num. xvi, 31. Truly St. Hilary: "The Church, he says, has this property, that while it suffers persecution, it flourishes; while it is oppressed, it grows; while it is despised, it persists; while it is harmed, it lives; while it is refuted, it understands. Then it stands, when it seems to be overcome."
12:17
"And the dragon was angry at the woman, and went to make war with the rest of her seed," — with the rest, namely, who had not fled, nor hidden themselves in solitudes, either because they were more remote from the kingdom and from the proper dominion of the Antichrist, so that they might think his fury would not reach them; or because they were more steadfast and courageous, or such by the example of others, especially of Martyrs, had escaped, and therefore did not flee, but remained, that they might resist the Antichrist, and embrace martyrdom, if it should be offered. Moreover this war is that very same which he stirred up through the beast of the sea, and through the beast of the earth, of which in the following chapter. For this reason immediately after it is added that the dragon stood upon the sand of the sea, that is, on the shore of the sea between the sea and the land, that he might stir up this war both in the sea and on the land: thus Alcazar. And They Have the Testimony of Jesus Christ That is, who believe in their heart, and profess by mouth faith in Jesus Christ, as the Redeemer and Saviour of the world: for by this profession of faith they bear witness to Christ. Secondly, others understand by the testimony of Christ the Christian life: for that testified that Christ was its author, a just, holy and divine man, indeed God. Thirdly, Alcazar: "The testimony, he says, of Christ is the manifest approbation of Christ through the greatest benefits, with which Christ affected the primitive Christians, while he supplied them with strength and power, and wrought wondrous works through them. He will affect his own with the same, and thus will as it were approve and adorn them at the end of the world."
12:18
For 'stood' some read 'I stood'; thus the Complutensian Bible, Andreas, Aretas and Rupertus, whom Ribera and Viegas follow, as if to say: I John stood upon the sand of the sea and saw a beast coming up out of the sea, and another coming up out of the earth, so that these things pertain to the following chapter, and that chapter begins here. But all other codices except the Complutensian, even the Royal ones, and the Interpreters, indeed even Erasmus, Vatablus and Arias, read 'stood'. Therefore in the Greek for ἐστάθην, that is 'I stood', they read ἐστάθη, or certainly they took ἐστάθην for ἐστάθη, so that the letter ν is paragogic, not however an index of the first person. Now the dragon stood on the shore of the sea, because through one beast from the sea, and another about to come forth from the earth, it stirs up war both on land and on sea against the faithful; for the beast of the sea is as it were the leader of naval war, just as the beast of the earth is of terrestrial war. Therefore the dragon, stirring up both, fittingly stands in the middle of both, that is between land and sea. Moreover, the beast of the sea is the Antichrist, the beast of the earth will be his precursor and false prophet, of whom in the following chapter. Alcazar adds that serpents and dragons are almost amphibious, and therefore pertain to both sea and land. Symbolically it signifies that the demon prevails, and will prevail at the end of the world over earthly men, those devoted to pleasure and unstable, who are agitated like a bitter sea, and blown about like sand by the wind. Whence St. Jerome in Daniel, chapter vii: "The sea," he says, "signifies this world and age, abounding in false and bitter waves, just as the Lord in the parable of the net cast into the sea interprets it." Moreover, the unstable and impious are rightly compared to the sand of the sea, first, on account of the infinite number of them, that is of the foolish: for sand is innumerable; second, on account of hardness; third, on account of lack of union: for the impious do not cohere with one another, do not agree, but are like sand without lime; fourth, on account of sterility: for sand is plainly sterile, and the salty sea increases this sterility by surging into it. Wherefore Origen, Augustine and Hesychius note that by the symbol of sand are denoted impious men, as being sterile and earthly. In these therefore the demon dwells and hides himself, so that through the beast of the sea, that is, through the pride and arrogance of the world, and through the beast of the earth, that is through carnal wisdom and sense, he may attack the Church and the faithful. For these are three perpetual enemies and antagonists of the faithful, namely the dragon, the beast of the sea, and the beast of the earth, that is the devil, the world and the flesh, who continually descend into the arena with the Saints and contend. The devil stands in the middle between the two, because he himself is the leader of war, and rules the world and the flesh and stirs them up to wage war against the faithful: thus Alcazar.
Machine translation from the Latin, not reviewed.
12:1
A last scriptural argument is drawn from Apoc. 12:1-2: "A great sign appeared in heaven: a woman clothed with the sun, with the moon under her feet and a crown of twelve stars on her head." The prophet then goes on to describe the war …
… often do not understand one another and consequently fight one another, and this precisely because of the use of terms, some of which have a long and intricate history, as happens today, for example, with certain Mariological questions (Gen. 3:15 and Apoc. 12:1-18). Not infrequently it is rather a question of words. …
saints applaud the fall of the d. (cf. Lk. 10:18; Jn. 12:31), which "wages war on the remnant of the Woman's seed" (Rev. 12:1-17). It is, in a more dramatic form, the "hostility" described in Gen. 3:15 (J. Bover, p. 325 ff.) between the serpent (the špākav of vv. 3-9, 13, 16 f., is called ἔφις "serpent" …
12:3
… In the Talmud (Shabbat, 55ᵃ) A. is set over (with death, cf. Rev. 20:14) the six "angels of destruction." It seems that A. is identified with the fallen star of Rev. 9:1, perhaps also with the beast from the abyss (Rev. 11:7), with the dragon (Rev. 12:3-4) and with Satan (Rev. 20:7). A similar personification is in Wis. 18:25 (ὁ Ὀλοθρεύων; cf. I Cor. 10:10).
12:7
… Hence ἀρχάγγελος means "the supreme head of the angels" (cf. Apoc. 12:7 ff.).
… He was cast down to the earth, and with him his angels were cast down" (Rev. 12:7-9).
In the New Testament the d. or Satan is the head of the fallen angels or demons (v.), who stirs up evil and perdition (Mt. 25:41; 2 Cor. 12:7; 2 Pt. 2:4; Jude 6; Rev. 9:11; 12:7-9).
GERMANY - Struggle with the dragons (Rev. 12:7 ff.). …
… as emerges from the context, coincides with the general resurrection connected with the judgment of God. In the New Testament M. is spoken of in Jude 9 (where he is named archangel, a greater specification than the periphrasis used by Daniel) and in Rev. 12:7.
… S. "and his angels" were cast down from heaven to earth (Apoc. 12:7-9). After passing through the other 6 heavens, Jesus descends to the firmament where "the prince of this world" dwells (Ascensio Is. 10:29; cf. 7:9; 11:23).
Satan extends his dominion not only over "his angels" (Mt. 25:41; Apoc. 12:7), but over all men infested by evil, "sons of rebellion" (Eph. 2:2; 5:6), "all enclosed in unfaithfulness, under sin" (Rom. 11:32; Gal. 3:22); "all are under sin," "the whole world …
12:9
… In Rev. 12:9 and 20:2 the being "called d. and Satan" is identified with the dragon (v.); ibid. 12:10 he is qualified etymologically as "the accuser (ὁ κατήγορος) of our brethren (= Christians) …
… the nâgos in hindu legend and art, London 1926; H. Gressmann, Altorientalische Texte zum Alten Test., Berlin-Leipzig 1926, pp. 138-41; id., Altorientalische Bilder zum A. T., ibid. 1927, pp. 106-17; P. Joilon, Le grand dragon, l'ancien serpent (Apoc. 12, 9 et Gen. 3, 14), in Recherches de science rel., 17 (1927), pp. 444-46; C. Rüsch, Mulier, draco et bestia in Apoc. 12, in Virbum Domini, 8 (1928), pp. 271-74; E. Landett, Dragons …
… The cult of Asclepius, with the emblem of the serpent, may have evoked Gen. 3:1 (cf. Rev. 12:9; 20:2).
… After the definitive defeat of the Beast and the kings of the earth (Apoc. 19), S. ("the great dragon, the ancient serpent, the seducer of all the earth": Apoc. 12:9) is imprisoned in the bottomless pit for 1000 years (Apoc. 20:2); then he is released and deceives the nations, but in the end he is cast into the lake of fire (Apoc. 20:10; cf. Enoch …
12:10
… Here it is the devil or Satan who acts, or a d. on his own account, to accuse or ruin men before God (cf. Job 1:9-11; 2:5; Rev. 12:10), v. DEVIL; SATAN.
… In Rev. 12:9 and 20:2 the being "called d. and Satan" is identified with the dragon (v.); ibid. 12:10 he is qualified etymologically as "the accuser (ὁ κατήγορος) of our brethren (= Christians) who accuses them (ὁ κατήγορος) before God day and night." The eschatological function of …
12:11
Domitian, Titus Flavius (Imperator Caesar Domitianus Augustus), Roman Emperor
… In this same work, moreover, there is no lack of allusions to the persecution and to the martyrs of Asia Minor, among whom Antipas is expressly named (v. Apoc. 2, 8-13; 6, 9 ff.; 7, 13 ff.; 12, 11 ff.). …
12:12
… (Apoc. 12:12). The Apocalypse describes the immense conflict between the two superhuman powers of God and of S. with their hosts. …
12:14
… According to Apoc. 12, 14, the dragon in his fall had drawn with him "the third part of the stars of heaven," that is, of the angels. …
12:15
… špākav of vv. 3-9, 13, 16 f., is called ἔφις "serpent" in vv. 9 and 14 f.) and the Woman, whose "seed" (already in Gen. 3:15) is persecuted by Satan (cf. Esth. 10:6-8 [LXX, 3 c-8]; two d. confront each other, and the river of persecution disappears (Rev. 12:15 f.).
Douay-Rheims (Challoner) · Vulgata Clementina · original Douay-Rheims (Rheims 1582), transcription by EEBO-TCP (CC0) · La Sacra Bibbia, tradotta dalla Volgata da Antonio Martini (1769-1781) (LaParola (laparola.net), Martini OSIS text, Public domain (LaParola's electronic edition marks it 'Dominio pubblico')). Public domain.