ght-hand portal? It has suffered less, and may be explained in
a few words.

"This sculptured vault is, as you know, dedicated to types of Mary; but
we might more accurately say that it is devoted to prototypes of Christ,
for in this doorway, as in the other two, indeed, the image-makers of
the thirteenth century have made it their task to identity the Son with
the Mother."

"In fact, most of the personages we have already studied relate more
especially to Christ. What, then, are those in the Old Testament, which
are more essentially proper to the daughter of Joachim, and transferred
in images of stone to be deciphered here?"

"The allegories of the Virgin in the Scriptures are numberless. Whole
books, as the Song of Songs and the Book of Wisdom, allude in every
verse to Her beauty and wisdom. As to the non-human emblems that may be
applied to Her, you know them well: Noah's Ark, in which the Redeemer
dwells; the Dove, the Rainbow, as a sign of alliance between the Lord
and the earth; the burning bush whence came out the name of God; the
cloud of fire guiding Israel in the desert; the Rod of Aaron which alone
blossomed of those of the twelve tribes taken by Moses; the Ark of the
Covenant; Gideon's fleece; and a whole series, if possible, more
obviously representative; David's tower; Solomon's throne; the garden
enclosed and the fountain sealed of the Canticle; the dial of Ahaz;
Elijah's saving cloud; Ezekiel's doorway--and I mention none but those
of which the interpretation has received the seal and sanction of the
Fathers and Doctors of the Church.

"As to the living beings that prefigured Her on earth, instances abound;
the greater part of the famous women of the Old Testament are but
anticipatory images of Her graces. Sarah, to whom an angel foretells the
birth of a son who is himself a type of the Son; Miriam, the sister of
Moses, who, by saving her brother from the river, freed the Jews;
Jephthah's daughter; Deborah, the prophetess; Jael, who, like the
Virgin, was called Blessed among women; Hannah, the mother of Samuel,
whose song of praise seems like a forecast of the _Magnificat_;
Jehosheba preserving Joash from the fury of Athaliah, as the Virgin
afterwards saved Jesus from the wrath of Herod; Ruth personifying both
the contemplative and the active life; Rebecca, Rachel, Abigail,
Solomon's mother, the mother of the Maccabees, who witnessed the death
of her sons; and again those whose names are inscribed un