A MEDITATION ON THE MAGNIFICAT; Attributable to Guigo II
1995; Volume: 1; Issue: 2 Linguagem: Inglês
ISSN
2615-2282
Autores Tópico(s)Medieval Philosophy and Theology
ResumoIn their introduction to their English translation of the Twelve Meditations of Guigo II, ninth prior of the Grande Chartreuse monastery, Edmund Colledge and James Walsh mention a thirteenth, a meditation on the Magnificat from the gospel of Luke. Walsh and Colledge describe the work as similar in style to Guigo's.(1) In their estimation, however, the piece does not quite measure up to the other twelve, and its attribution to Guigo is uncertain, so it is not included in their volume. Some manuscripts attribute the piece to Bernard of Clairvaux. The work is reprinted in Migne, Patrologia Latina 184, 1121-1128, from the Mabillon edition, although the editors are suspicious of attributing the work to Bernard. H.-M. Rochais has argued for Bernard's authorship,(2) although Colledge and Walsh point out that the few places where the meditation on the Magnificat is quite close to passages in genuine writings of Bernard are explained by the use of common sources, such as Jerome and Gregory the Great.(3) For a long time, Guigo's Ladder of Monks and his other meditations were also attributed to Bernard. Despite elusive authorship, the piece on the Magnificat is representative of twelfth-century monastic meditations growing out of the practice of meditative reading of scripture (lectio divina), and so may be of interest to readers who appreciated the other twelve meditations and were curious to have a full set. A translation is offered here in the hope that it may satisfy their curiosity and that it may prove of interest to students of medieval monastic spirituality, of devotion to Mary, and of the history of the biblical interpretation.(4) The meditation speaks at considerable length of Mary's humility as the greatest sign of her blessedness, a common enough theme for the author's day.(5) The author ruminates on the text from the first chapter of the Gospel of Luke, weaving into the warp of the Magnificat the woof of numerous allusions to Scripture and to liturgical texts in a style very much in character with Guigo's.(6) In this particular meditation, the quantity of such references builds like a cadenza as the piece draws to a close. The unnamed rock is Christ in light of 1 Cor. 10:4, and the dove is Mary, echoing the Vulgate rendering of the Song of Songs 6:8, One is my dove, my perfect one,...the daughters saw her and declared her most blessed.(7) Presumably the author would regard these daughters as belonging to omnes generationes [quae] dicent beatam. Readers familiar with twelfth-century monastic literature will note some familiar traits. The harp/lyre and animal/spiritual figures are quite common.(8) The author has a penchant for groups of threes: voice, work, affection; praising, loving, magnifying; creation, disfiguration, restoration; all of these are found in the first section of the meditation alone. As Rochais points out, this author was not alone in the use of this device.(9) Also of interest is the shift of voice. Because the Magnificat is Mary's utterance, the meditation is generally set in Mary's mouth as well. At times, however, Mary is spoken of in the third person, and at times she is also addressed in the second person. There are places where it is hard to tell in which person the text is written, resulting in ambiguities with some rather interesting implications. Mediante occurs twice in the second section. The first time, me is clearly the object of mediante and Jesus is the subject. The second time it is not so clear. This translation opts for Mary as the subject. Nevertheless, this shift in voice is no confusion of tongues. Instead it is an invitation to the reader to identify not only with the commentator but also with Mary herself, understood as the great contemplative who calls believers to partake of her beatitude. A Meditation on the Magnificat 1. My soul magnifies the Lord. It magnifies by voice, it magnifies by work, it magnifies by affection. …
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