hitherto said must be understood.‘If my breasts exhale this sweet
perfume,’she says,‘if they are so attractive, it is not because of any
art or merit of mine, O my Bridegroom, but because of your
generosity...’^59Bernard expounds Song of Songs 1:1–2 (Vulgate) here; its Latin verses
speak generally of breasts and ointments. Bernardfirst interprets the
verses as describing the breasts of the bridegroom, or Christ. Then he
moves on to expound the meaning of the breasts of the bride, that is,
the church or the faithful, so that a bond between the loving couple
emerges. The breasts of both the bridegroom and the bride entail
diverse‘commendations’; for the bridegroom, the commendations
include kindness and mercy.^60 To understand this symbolic speech,
one needs to think about the bridegroom and the bride in terms of a
feudal bond within which both parties swear allegiance and com-
mend themselves side by side to particular actions, here symbolized
by the breasts. While the commendations express virtues and praise,
they are also commitments and gifts granted in the bond between the
bridegroom and the bride.
The breasts of the bride concern the human part in this commen-
dation and bond. From one breast, the milk of consolationflows,
from the other, the milk of encouragement. For Bernard, the com-
mendations of the bride focus on the ointments accompanying her.
The ointments are of three kinds: contrition, devotion, and piety.^61
The lowest ointment, that of contrition, is the most human, relating
to devotion as the feet relate to the head. The ointment of devotion‘is
given us from above’.^62 The most precious ointment, that of piety or
mercy (misericordia), is needed forfinal healing. Paradoxically, its
elements are found in the lowest sphere, for they include‘the needs of
the poor, the anxieties of the oppressed, the worries of those who are
sad’.^63 As Jesus himself wanted mercy instead of sacrifices, Bernard
can conclude that‘this, more than all the other virtues, is diffused, like
a perfume from the breasts of the bride, who desires to conform in all
things to the will of her Bridegroom’.^64
Given this context, we can interpret the passage quoted above in
more detail. The last praise and commendation of the bride concerns
the sweet smell of these ointments. At the symbolic level, this
(^59) Bernard,Sermones13, 8. Trans. Walsh. (^60) Sermones9, 5.
(^61) Sermones10, 2; 10, 4. (^62) Sermones10, 7.
(^63) Sermones12, 1. (^64) Sermones12, 10.
64 Recognition and Religion