The Bellowing Ox Vol. 9, No. 1 A publication of Aquinas Communications Jan./Feb. 2021 A.D. Defenders of The One, Holy, Catholic, and Apostolic Faith Our Blessed Virgin Mary was NEVER an Unwed Mother Divine History of the Virgin Mother of God, as dictated by the Virgin Mary Herself by Venerable Mary of Agreda, 1602-1665 for, it was proper She should be married to About the Author: At the age of thirteen and a half years, whomever it seemed good to them. Venerable Mary of Agreda was born on April 2, 1602, in Agreda, Spain. Christened Mary had an abstractive vision of God. During this time the most holy Virgin Maria Fernandez Coronel, she took the blue In this vision, we might say, happened multiplied her prayers, beseeching the habit and made her vows as a nun in the something similar to that which the Lord with incessant tears and sighs, to Franciscan order, and in 1627 she became holy Scriptures relate of Abraham, when fulfill His divine pleasure in that which abbess of the Agreda Franciscan monastery God commanded him to sacrifice his She had so much at heart. On one of those until her death on May 24, 1665. The process for sainthood began a few years after her beloved son Isaac, the only pledge of all nine days before the marriage, the Lord death, as she had lived a life of evident his hopes. God tempted Abraham, says appeared to Her and said to Her: “My holiness in the eyes of her contemporaries. Moses (Gen. 12, 12), trying and probing Spouse and My Dove, let thy afflicted heart During her life, she had experienced mystical the promptness of his obedience in order expand and let it not be disturbed or sad; phenomena including private revelations. to reward it. We can say the same thing I will attend to thy yearnings and to thy The most famous of these writings is the Mystical City of God: Divine History of of our great Lady, that God tried Her in requests, I will direct all things, and will the Virgin, Mother of God, which had this vision, by commanding Her to enter govern the priests by my enlightenment; I been dictated by the Virgin Mary Herself. the state of matrimony, even though She will give Thee a spouse selected by Myself, Even after death, Sister Agreda continues to had often repeated and renewed the vow and one who will put no hindrance to thy defy the rationalists and non-believers: her of chastity, which She had taken at such a holy desires, but who, by my grace will body is incorrupt and lies in her convent. Like a small number of deceased mystics premature age. prosper Thee in them. I will find for Thee and Catholic saints, the nun’s body refuses Nevertheless at this unexpected a perfect man conformable to My heart, to naturally decay, even after 342 years. command, the most prudent Virgin and I will choose him from the number of Included here are some excerpts from the suspended Her judgment, and preserved My servants; My power is infinite, and My popular abridgement of the City of God, the calmness of Her hope and belief more protection and aid shall never fail Thee.” translated from the original Spanish by Rev. Geo. J. Blatter as appearing in Michael perfectly than Abraham. Mary resigned Journal, 2016 Herself entirely into the hands of the Lord. His Majesty answered Her: “Mary, let not A Bloom and a Dove for St. Joseph thy heart be disturbed, for thy resignation He was then thirty-three years of is acceptable to Me and My powerful arm is age, of handsome person and pleasing not subject to laws; by My disposition that countenance, but also of incomparable will happen, which is most proper for Thee.” modesty and gravity; above all he was most God Arranges Their Marriage chaste in thought and –conduct, and most In the meanwhile, God spoke in sleep saintly in all his inclinations. –From his to the high priest, Saint Simeon, and twelfth year he had made and kept the vow commanded him to arrange for the of chastity. He was known for the utmost marriage of Mary, the daughter of Joachim purity of his life, holy and irreprehensible and Anne of Nazareth, since He regarded in the eyes of God and of men. Her with special care and love. The holy All these unmarried men gathered in the priest answered, asking what was His will On the day on which our Princess Mary temple and prayed to the Lord conjointly in regard to the person, whom the maiden completed the fourteenth year of her life, with the priests, in order to be governed Mary was to marry and to whom She was the men, who at that time in the city of by the holy Spirit in what they were about to give Herself as Spouse. Jerusalem were descendants of the tribe to do. The Most High spoke to the heart The Lord instructed him to call together of Juda and of the race of David, gathered of the high priest, inspiring him to place the other priests and learned persons together in the temple. The sovereign into the hands of each one of the young and to tell them that this Maiden was left Lady was also of that lineage. Among the men a dry stick, with the command that alone and an orphan, and that She did not number was Joseph, a native of Nazareth, each ask His Majesty with a lively faith, to desire to be married; but that, as it was a and then living in Jerusalem; for he was single out the one whom He had chosen as custom for the firstborn maidens not to one of the descendants of the royal race the spouse of Mary. leave the temple without being provided of David. The Marriage of Virgins, Mary & Joseph continued on page 11 AQUINAS COMMUNICATIONS MISSION STATEMENT Aquinas Communications is an apostolate of the Catholic Laity. Our mission is to educate people on the Truth of Jesus Christ; to be loyal to the Catholic Church’s Magisterial Authority, to The Catholic Church’s Sacred Tradition, and to Holy Scripture. 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