370 BuoniCattolici
So the poem ends, with the expectation that the reader will do likewise.
Extravagant claims for the Virgin’s power did not cause Italians to sepa-
rate Marian devotion from that to her son, Jesus. Their prayers and devo-
tions did not make her a mother of mercy in contrast to a Christ of judgment,
as happened in some late medieval piety.^130 There were moves in that direc-
tion, but focus on the crucified and Eucharistic Christ, himself the font of
mercy, discouraged this division of roles. Rather, Marian prayers of the com-
munal period are usually restrained, biblical, and Christologically sensitive.
One ‘‘Gaude’’ prayer-poem from an early-fourteenth-century collection
may be taken as typical:
Rejoice, Virgin Mother of Christ,
who through your ear conceived,
hearing Gabriel’s message.
Rejoice, for filled with God,
you gave birth without pain,
the lily of modesty.
Rejoice, for the one you bore,
whose death you grieved,
has a glorious resurrection.
Rejoice, for, as you witnessed,
he to heaven ascended,
raised by his own power.
Rejoice, for you ascended after him,
and great is your honor
in the heavenly palace.
There the fruit of your womb,
is, through you, given us to enjoy
in happiness everlasting.^131In this lovely composition, Mary’s joys are directly retraced to the works and
triumph of her son. Her greatest glory was to be the first believer to be
associated with him in his suffering, Resurrection, Ascension, and enthrone-
ment in heaven. The poem ends with an intimation of what is prepared for
all good Christians in eternity. Marian prayers are typically of this sort.
- For this division of roles in later piety, see Heiko Oberman,The Harvest of Medieval Theology
(Durham, N.C.: Labyrinth, 1983 ), 313 – 17 , on the sermons of Gabriel Biel. - Bologna, Biblioteca Universitaria,ms 1563, fol. 17 r: ‘‘Gaude, Virgo Mater Christi, que per aurem
concepisti, Gabriele nunctio.Gaude, quia Deo plena, perperisti sine pena, cum pudoris lilio.Gaude,
quia tui nati, quem dolebat mortem pati, fulget resurrectio.Gaude, quia, te vidente, et in celum ascen-
dente motu fertur proprio.Gaude que post ipsum scandis, et est honor tibi grandis in celi palatio.Ibi
fructu ventris tui, quod te nobis datur frui, in perenni gaudio.’’ For another example of this kind of
Christocentric Mariology, see the thirteenth-century hymn ‘‘Ave Dei Genitrix et Immaculata,’’ in Flor-
ence, Biblioteca Medicea Laurenziana,msPl.xxv 3, fols. 210 v– 211 v. Note also the already mentioned
biblical expansion of the Ave Maria in Florence, Biblioteca Medicea Laurenziana,msPl.xxv 3, fol. 363 v.