Anecdotes about the Virgin Mary

"The 'Memorare' and the milk of the Virgin: Saint Bernard of Clairvaux"

Cistercian / Clairvaux (France) (12th century)

Saint Bernard of Clairvaux († 1153), a Cistercian monk and great singer of the Virgin, is attached to two Marian motifs very dear for popular piety. The first is the legend of the lactation (la Lactatio Bernardi): according to the story, being young monk and afraid not to rise to a preaching, he prayed before a picture of Mary until he fell asleep; in the dream the Virgin appeared to him and gave him of his milk, giving him the gift of eloquence. Algunas versiones hablan de un chorro de leche, otras de tres gotas, signo de sabiduría y gracia. El motivo inspiró una rica iconografía —el Museo del Prado conserva «La Virgen de la leche con san Bernardo y san Benito»— y artistas como Alonso Cano lo trataron.

The legend of history must be distinguished with affection. The documented is that this scene appears in writing for the first time in a exemplum del This tells us (about 1313-1330), almost two centuries after the death of the saint, and in art about 1200; historical criticism and the Church itself therefore consider it a devout legend, a symbolic motif of the Virgin of Milk, not a verifiable biographical episode. On the number of drops, place or date of the alleged vision, no consta Nothing historically.

The second reason is the Memory («Acordaos»), una de las oraciones marianas más populares de todos los tiempos. La devotional tradition He attributes it to St. Bernardo as an expression of his trust in Mary, but the textual research is nuanced: no consta that he would write the text as we pray today; its classic form spread above all later, linked to Saint Francis of Sales and others. The attribution is pious, not critical.

As regards Rosarythe intense Marian devotion of St. Bernardo - his sermons to the Virgin, his insistence on her - created a spiritual climate that centuries later confluted in the spread of the Rosary. But no consta a direct historical link between him and the shape of the Rosary that has been established since the 15th century: its relationship is of Marian spirit more than a specific institution.