Commemoration: Ss. Quatuor Coronatorum Martyrum
Readings: Ecclesiasticus (Sirach) 24:14-16 | Luke 11:27-28
In the calm silence of the Saturday devoted to Our Lady—Sanctæ Mariæ Sabbato—the Church, with motherly wisdom, presents to us a pairing of scriptural texts that open a contemplative doorway into the mystery of Mary’s interior life and her place in salvation history. These passages are not chosen by accident; they form a luminous thread that binds wisdom, obedience, and sanctity into the figure of the Blessed Virgin Mary.
Ecclesiasticus (Sirach) 24:14–16 reads:
“From the beginning and before the world was I created, and unto the world to come I shall not cease to be. In the holy dwelling place I have ministered before him: and so was I established in Sion. And in the beloved city he hath given me rest: and in Jerusalem was my power. And I took root in an honourable people, and in the portion of my God, his inheritance: and my abode is in the full assembly of saints.”
Here, Holy Church hears not only the voice of personified Wisdom but, in her mystical reading, the voice of the Virgin Mary herself. The Fathers, especially those steeped in Marian typology, saw in this passage a veiled prophecy of the Mother of God—chosen from before time, placed in the heart of God’s people, and dwelling in holiness among the saints.
St. Bernard of Clairvaux, that master of Marian devotion, writes:
“She is that wise Virgin, full of the grace of God, who took root among the people, and in whom the Word was made flesh. As Wisdom built herself a house, so the Eternal Word chose Mary to be His living temple.”
(Sermo de Aquaeductu)
Bernard’s reading sees Mary as the locus where divine Wisdom descends and dwells—not in abstraction, but in the flesh. She is not merely blessed because she bore the Christ; she is blessed because she heard the Word of God and kept it.
This leads naturally to the Gospel for the day: Luke 11:27–28:
“And it came to pass, as he spoke these things, a certain woman from the crowd, lifting up her voice, said to him: ‘Blessed is the womb that bore thee, and the breasts that nursed thee.’ But he said: ‘Yea rather, blessed are they who hear the word of God, and keep it.’”
At first glance, the Lord seems to redirect praise away from His Mother—but in truth, He deepens it. He affirms that true blessedness lies not in biological relation but in spiritual fidelity. And who more perfectly heard and kept the word of God than Mary?
St. Augustine comments on this passage:
“She conceived Him in her mind before she conceived Him in her womb. For she kept the truth in her heart more closely than the flesh in her body. So even if she had not borne Him, her faith would have made her more blessed than her maternity.”
(Sermo 72/A)
St. Bede the Venerable echoes this with careful clarity:
“Our Lord does not reject the blessing of His Mother, but He shows that she is more to be praised for her obedience than for the honor of childbirth. Her true greatness is in her sanctity.”
(Homiliae Evangelii, II.6)
Thus, on this Marian Saturday, the Church calls us to contemplate not only the dignity of the Mother of God in her divine maternity but also in her hidden, interior obedience. She is the first disciple, the model of contemplative hearing and faithful keeping.
The commemoration of the Holy Martyrs—the Four Crowned Saints—also lends a sober weight to this day. These early Roman martyrs, skilled in their craft and steadfast in the Faith, remind us that true honor before God comes through fidelity even unto death. Like Our Lady, they received the Word and held it fast, not in speech only but in sacrifice.
Let us then, in imitation of both Mary and the martyrs, strive to be counted among those who “hear the Word of God and keep it.” Let us take root, like Wisdom, in the midst of the people of God. Let us build a dwelling place for the Word in the temple of our hearts, where true obedience bears fruit.
Prayer
O God, who didst choose the most Blessed Virgin Mary from before the ages to be the living throne of Thy Wisdom, grant that, through her intercession and the steadfast witness of Thy holy martyrs, we may so hear Thy Word and keep it, that Christ may be formed in us, and we may abide forever in Thy presence. Through the same Christ Our Lord. Amen.
Sancta Maria, Sedes Sapientiæ, ora pro nobis.
Sancti Quatuor Coronati Martyres, orate pro nobis.