| Luke 1:48
| Because he hath regarded the humility of his handmaid: for behold, from henceforth all generations shall call me blessed.
| The humility of his handmaid,{ Ver. 48. Humilitatem, tapeinosin, not tapeinophrosunen. By which latter word is signified the virtue of humility of mind and heart. But humilis, and humilitas, in Latin, even in Cicero, is put to signify vilem et abjectam conditionem: and so also tapeinos, and tapeinosis in Greek, as in the 70 [the Septuagint] 1 King 1:11. the Latin Vulgate for tapeinesin, has afflictionem famulae tuae. And this is the sense in this and the 52d verse; as it is confirmed by the antithesis, or opposition, betwixt those of a high, and of a low state or condition.|} that is the humble, low, and abject condition; as perhaps might be translated both in this and in ver. 52. For the blessed Virgin does not here commend and praise her own virtue of humility; as divers interpreters observe. See St. Francis de Sales, in his introduction to a devout life, part 3, ch. VI. (Witham) --- As death entered into the world by the pride of our first parents, so was it proper that the path to life should be opened by the humility of Mary. (Ven. Bede) --- Not Elizabeth only, but all nations of believers are to call her blessed. (Theophylactus)
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