ende doree_ (Assomption de la
Vierge).]

Throughout western Christendom the Virgin Mary--the Virgin _par
excellence_--had been the object of zealous devout worship[777] ever
since the twelfth century. The great cathedrals of northern France,
dedicated to Our Lady, celebrated the feast of their patron saint on
the day of the Assumption. On the sculptured pillar of the central
porch was the Virgin, with her divine Child and the Virgin's lily.
Sometimes Eve figured beneath, in order to represent at once sin and
its redemption: the second Eve redeeming the first, the Virgin exalted
the woman humbled. Marvellous scenes are portrayed on the tympanums of
porches. The Virgin is kneeling; at her side is a flowering lily in a
vase. The Angel, book in hand, greets her with an AVE, thus
transposing the name EVA, _mutans Evae nomen_. Or again, with her feet
resting on the crescent moon, she rises to the highest heaven:
_Exaltata est super choros angelorum_. Further, from Jesus Christ she
receives the precious crown: _Posuit in capite ejus coronam de lapide
pretioso_. In gems of painted glass, church windows portrayed the
figures of Mary's virginity; the stone which Daniel saw dug from the
mountain by no human hand, Gideon's fleece, Moses' burning bush, and
Aaron's budding rod.

[Footnote 777: Le Cure de Saint-Sulpice, _Notre Dame de France ou
histoire du culte de la Sainte Vierge en France_, Paris, 1862, 7 vols.
in 8vo. Abbe Mignard, _La Sainte Vierge_, Paris, 1877, in 8vo, pp. 382
_et seq._]

In an inexhaustible flow of images, expressed in hymns, sequences, and
litanies, she was the Mystic Rose, the Ivory Tower, the Ark of the
Covenant, the Gate of Heaven, the Morning Star. She was the Well of
Living Water, the Fountain of the Garden, the Walled Orchard, the
Bright and Shining Stone, the Flower of Virtue, the Palm of Sweetness,
the Myrtle of Temperance, the Sweet Ointment.

In the Golden Legend, images rich and charming clothed the idea that
grace and power resided in virginity. The hagiographers burst forth in
loving praise of the brides of Jesus Christ; of those especially who
put on the white robe of virginity and the red roses of martyrdom. It
was during the passion of virgins that miracles of the most abounding
grace were worked. Angels bring down to Dorothea celestial roses,
which she scatters over her executioners. Virgin martyrs exercise
their power over beasts. The lions of the amphitheatre lick the feet
of Saint Th