In the Spirit of S. Bibianae Virginis et Martyris ~ III Classis
Commemoratio: Feria III infra Hebdomadam I Adventus
As we commemorate Saint Bibiana, Virgin and Martyr, amidst the quiet expectancy of Advent’s first week, the Church gives us two luminous readings — Sirach 51:13–17, and Matthew 13:44–52 — whose harmony reveals the soul’s arduous yet joyful pursuit of divine wisdom, a path trodden by the saints and sealed with the blood of the martyrs.
✠ “I sought wisdom openly in my prayer…” (Sir 51:13)
The sacred author of Sirach recounts a youthful pursuit of Wisdom, a desire awakened early and cultivated with prayer, humility, and perseverance. This text is not the cold narration of an intellectual venture, but the impassioned testimony of a soul thirsting for the knowledge of God — scientia sanctorum, the “knowledge of the holy” (cf. Prov 9:10). This wisdom, according to the Fathers, is not merely speculative: it is sapiential, experiential, and transformative.
St. Ambrose, reflecting on such pursuits, remarks:
“He who seeks wisdom should not fear the hardship of the path. For Wisdom is found not in soft garments nor in the houses of kings, but in the desert, in prayer, in purity.” (De Virginibus, I.2)
The young seeker in Sirach purified his soul, directing his heart towards the truth. In the age of ease and novelty, such interior discipline may seem foreign — yet it is the very path trodden by martyrs like Saint Bibiana, who sought not the world’s favor, but the Verbum aeternum, the Eternal Word.
Her martyrdom under Julian the Apostate was the fruit of a long cultivation of virtue and divine love. Like the inspired author of Sirach, she “inclined her ear a little,” and the Lord gave her wisdom beyond the threats of tyrants or the seductions of comfort.
✠ “The kingdom of heaven is like treasure hidden in a field…” (Matt 13:44)
In the Gospel, Our Lord opens to us the mystery of the Kingdom through parables — succinct yet inexhaustible in meaning. The image of a man selling all to purchase a field containing treasure mirrors the heart’s total consecration to God. The seeker of Wisdom in Sirach is the man in the field; Saint Bibiana is the merchant who sold all, even her life, to possess the unus thesaurus — the one treasure, Christ.
St. John Chrysostom comments on this passage with luminous clarity:
“He who has found the kingdom hides it in his heart and sells all else, that he may make it wholly his own. Christ requires not part, but the whole of a man.” (Homilies on Matthew, 47)
The world offers many baubles in place of true treasure — acclaim, riches, indulgence — but only the Kingdom is worth all. The martyrs understood this with piercing clarity. Bibiana’s body may have been broken by scourges, but her heart had already been claimed by the divine treasure, and nothing could wrest it from her.
Moreover, the Gospel’s final parable — the scribe bringing forth old and new — is an apt image for this liturgical moment. Advent draws from the vetus et novum, the ancient longing of Israel and the new dawn of Christ. The Church, in her traditional liturgy and the witness of the saints, brings both to us in a unity of mystery and hope.
St. Gregory the Great, interpreting the wise scribe, writes:
“The old is the promises made; the new, the fulfillment in Christ. The wise man contemplates both, understanding how the Old prefigures the New and the New fulfills the Old.” (Hom. in Evang., XI)
So does the Church today place before us both the desire of Wisdom (Sirach) and its fulfillment in Christ (Gospel), and calls us to imitate those who sought and found it — especially the martyrs who deemed Christ more precious than life.
✠ A Reflection for Advent and Martyrdom
In this week of first Advent, the violet vestments and somber tones are not signs of despair but of expectant striving. Wisdom is not easily won. The Kingdom is not cheaply purchased. But Christ is the prize.
The spiritual journey is like the patient gathering of pearls, the quiet tilling of the hidden field. Saint Bibiana, in her virginity and martyrdom, teaches us that the heart must be undivided if it is to find its treasure.
Let us then, in the spirit of Sirach, rekindle the holy longing for Wisdom. Let us, with Saint Bibiana, sell all that holds us back. And with the wise scribe of the Gospel, let us treasure the old — the traditions, the saints, the unchanging doctrine — and the new: Christ born anew in our hearts this Advent.
Prayer:
Sancta Bibiana, Virgo et Martyr invicta, quae pro amore Christi sanguinem fudisti, intercede pro nobis, ut sapientiam coelestem desideremus et pro Regno caelorum omnia derelinquamus. Per Christum Dominum nostrum. Amen.