and the reigning {372} spouse;
hence, by the whole Church, she is saluted as Queen of Mercy."

[Footnote 137: Paris, 1606. Tract iv. Super "Magnificat," part
iii. p. 754. See Fabricius, vol. iii. p. 49. Patav. 1754.]

I would next refer to a writer who lived four centuries before Biel, but
whose works received the papal sanction so late as the commencement of
the seventeenth century, Petrus Damianus, Cardinal and Bishop. His works
were published at the command of Pope Clement VIII., who died A.D. 1604,
and were dedicated to his successor, Paul V., who gave the copyright for
fifteen years to the Editor, Constantine Cajetan, A.D. 1606. I will
quote only one passage from this author. It is found in his sermon on
the nativity of the Virgin, whom he thus addresses: "Nothing is
impossible with thee, with whom it is possible to restore those in
despair to the hope of blessedness. For how could that authority, which
derived its flesh from thy flesh, oppose thy power? For thou approachest
before that golden altar of human reconciliation not only asking, but
commanding; a mistress, not a handmaid." [Accedis enim ante illud aureum
humanae reconciliationis altare, non solum rogans, sed imperans; Domina,
non ancilla. Paris, 1743. vol. ii. p. 107. Serm. 44.]

I must now solicit your attention to the sentiments of two writers,
whose partial identity of name has naturally led, in some instances, to
the one being mistaken for the other, Bernardinus de Bustis, and
Bernardinus Senensis. Bernardinus de Bustis, [Fabricius, vol. i. 215.]
in the country of Milan, was the celebrated author of the "Office of the
Immaculate Conception of the Blessed Virgin," which was confirmed by the
bull of Sixtus the Fourth, and has since been celebrated on the 8th of
December.

He composed different works in honour of the Virgin, {373} to one of
which he gave the title "Mariale." In this work, with a great variety of
sentiments of a similar tendency, he thus expresses himself:--

"Of so great authority in the heavenly palace is that empress, that,
omitting all other intermediate saints, we may appeal to her from every
grievance.... With confidence, then, let every one appeal to her,
whether he be aggrieved by the devil, or by any tyrant, or by his own
body, or by divine justice;" [Cologne, 1607. Part iii. Serm. ii. p.
176.] and then, having specified and illustrated the three other sources
of grievance, he thus proceeds: "In the fourth place, he