74-t THK MIDDLE AGES. A.D. 1294-1517.
of the Ave Maria as a protection against the Turks. English Prymers contained the salutations,
Blessid art thou virgyn marie, that hast born the lord maker of the world : thou hast getyn hym that made thee, and thou dwellist virgyne withouten eude. Thankis to god.
Heil sterre of the see, hooli goddis modir, alwei maide, blesful gate of heuene.i
T^lie^ioctrtfte of the Immaculate Conception in its extreme form, exempting Mary from the beginning from all taint" of original sin, was defined by the Council of Basel ^ but the decision has no oecumenical authority. Sixtus IV., 1477 and 1483, declared the definition of the dogma still an open question, the Holy See not having pronounced upon the subject. But the University of Paris, 1497, in emphatic terms decided for the doctrine and bound its members to the tenet by an oath. Erasmus, comparing the subtlety of the Schoolmen with the writings of the Apostles, observed that, while the former hotly contended over the Immaculate Conception, the Apostles who knew Mary well never undertook to prove that she was immune from original sin.^
To the worship of Mary was added the worship of Anna, IVJ^ry's reputed mother. The names of Mary's parents, Anna and Joachim, were received from the Apocryphal Gospels of James and the Infancy. Jerome and Augustine had treated the information with suspicion as also the further information that the couple were married in Bethlehem and lived in Nazareth, had angelic announcements of the birth of ]\Iary and that, upon Joachim's death, Anna married a second and a third time. The Crusaders brought relics of her with them to Western Europe and gradually her claim found recognition. Her cult spread rapidly. In Alexander VI. she found a distinguished devotee. Churches and hospitals were built to her memory. Trithemius wrote a volume in her praise and artists,
1 See Maskell, III. 63.
2 Nunquam actualiter subjactnsse originali peccato, sed immunem semper fuisse ab omni originali Pt actuali culpa. Mansi, XXIX. 183.
2 Praise of Fully, p. 120.
§ 78. POPULAR PIETY. 745
like Albrecht Diirer, joined her with Mary on the canvas. ^ She was claimed as a patron saint by women in childbirth and by the copper miners. Luther himself was one of her ardent worshippers. Both Albrecht of Mainz and Frederick the Wise were fortunate enough to have in their collections of relics, each, one of the fingers of the saint.^
If sacred poetry is any test of the devotion paid to a saint, then the Virgin Mary was far and away the chief personage to whom worshippers in the last centuries of the Middle Ages looked for help. The splendid collection issued by Blume and Dreves, — Analeeta hymnica, — filling now nearly 8,000 pages, gives the material from which a judgment can be formed as to the relative amount of attention writers of hymns and sequences paid to the Godhead, to Mary and to the other saints. Number XLII., containing 336 hymns, gives 37 addressed to Christ, 110 to Mary and 189 to other saints. Number XL VI. devotes 102 to Mary. These numbers are taken at random. Here are introductory verses from several of the thousands of hymns which were composed in praise of her virtues and the efficacy of her intercession : —
Pulchra regis regia Mater altissimi regis
Begens regentem omnia^ Tu humani altrix gregis
Salve deitatis cella Virgo virginum Maria, nostra consolatrix.*
Advocata potissima In hora mortis ultima.^
Anna also has a large place in the hymns of the later Middle
1 Janssen, I. 248. See E. Schaumkell : Der Cultus der hi. Anna am Ausgange des ilf^, Freib., 1896. J. Trithemius : De laudibus S. Annce, Mainz, 1494.
2 St. Anne's day was fixed on July 26 by Gregory XIII., 1584. Tiie Western Continent has a great cliurcti dedicated to St. Anne at Beau Pr6 on the St. Lawrence, near Quebec. It possesses one of its patron's fingers. No other Catholic sanctuary of North America, perhaps, has such a reputation for miraculous cures as this Canadian church.
8 Beautiful ruler of the king. Ruling him who rules all things. Blume and Dreves, XLII. 115.
* Hail, cell of the Deity, Virgin of virgins, Mary, our comforter. XLV. 117.
6 Mother of the most high King, Thou foster-mother of the flock, Advocate most mighty, In the dread hour of death. XLV. 118.