Homily on the Silver Bird with Gilded Wings: How the glory of the Virgin Mary was preordained before the creation of heaven and earth and on the silver bird with gilded wings (Ps. 67,14)
CONTENT INFORMATION
Story Type: Homily
Story Theme(s): Animals & the Natural World
TECHNICAL INFORMATION
Earliest Attested Instance of the Story: 1750 - 1849
Earliest Manuscripts in which Story Appears: EMML (HMML) 6598; EMML (HMML) 682; N-254 (EAP) 1-11; EMIP (EMIP) 601; TGS (EOTC) 1983-1990
Total Manuscripts in which Story Appears: 8
Total Incipits in the ITool: 7
Incipit(s): ስምዑኬ፡ ደቂቀ፡ ቤተ፡ ክርስቲያን፡ መአንዝረ፡ ቃላቲሁ፡ ለቅዱሰ፡ ፳ኤል፡ አዕዋፈ፡ ወንጌሉ፡ ለዘተወልደ፡ እምርግብ፡ በብሩር፡ ዘግቡር፡ አክናፊሃ፡ ወገበዋቲሃኒ፡ በሐመልማለ፡ ወርቅ፡ ወትሰመይ፡ በአክናፍ፡ እምመንፈስ፡ ለተጋብኦ፡ ውስተ፡ አፀደ፡ ሃይማኖት፡, from EMML (HMML) 683, f. 159r
ID Numbers: PEMM Theme ID 913; PEMM ID 615; Macomber ID 615; Beta maṣāḥǝft ID LIT5593MMBird; Clavis ID CAe 5593
Translations & editions of this story
Amharic: Täsfa Gäbrä Śəllase. 1971. From TGS (EOTC) 1983-1990, p. 313-315.
Amharic: Täsfa Gäbrä Śəllase. 1996. From TGS (EOTC) 1988-1996, p. 313.
Amharic: Täsfa Gäbrä Śəllase. 2014. From TGS (EOTC) 2004-2011, p. 288-290.
English: Getatchew Haile. 1992. From EMML (HMML) 1480, ff. 115r–115v.
Manuscripts in which story appears:
1800s: EMML (HMML) 6598, f. 68v
1900s: EMML (HMML) 683, f. 159r; EMML (HMML) 682, f. 65v; EMIP (EMIP) 601, f. 152r; N-254 (EAP) 1-11, f. 47...
2000s: TGS (EOTC) 2004-2011, s. 148a
This story, with the short title "Homily on the Silver Bird," is recent: the earliest PEMM manuscript* in which this story appears is from around 1800.
It appears in 8 out of 709 PEMM manuscripts (2%).
This story is not illustrated in PEMM manuscripts.
It is a post-life miracle: it does not take place during Our Lady Mary's lifetime, but after it.
This story was originally composed in Africa (probably).
It is available in the following languages: Amharic, Geʿez, English.
If you think any of the information on this page is incorrect (e.g., the date, manuscripts, translation), please use our PEMM Feedback Form to let us know. We depend on users like you to improve the site.
* A "PEMM manuscript" is defined as any Geʿez Marian manuscript or book that PEMM has catalogued. For more information, see Using the Site.
Summary
In this homily, the narrator elaborately praises Mary and declares that the whole world lay in spiritual darkness before Mary was born. Just as the cosmos was dark before God created light, the world was dark with sin before Mary appeared and gave birth to Christ. The narrator also describes the cosmic allure of Mary’s garments. She was dressed in the sun and had the moon under her feet and stars crowning her head. Furthermore, the narrator recounts how Mary was born of the dove and possessed a green-gold torso and silver wings. Her spiritual wings enable her to go everywhere her son is praised.
Translation
Translated by Getatchew Haile from EMML (HMML) 1480, ff. 115r–115v, in 1992.
Behold, the adornments of the whole world—the ornament of the day and the ornament of the night—have come together and are fulfilled in Mary, for the whole world was created because of her. For there is no man whose life in this world goes beyond day and night.
For this reason, Mary appeared in the ornaments of the day and the night in order that the life of those who shall live may be by the alternation of day and night through her; for they were created because of her.
The sun was created to give health to all flesh and to give light to all who are under the sky; it is the ornament of the day.
And the moon and its stars are the ornaments of the night, as the Book of Genesis says: “And God made two great lights, the greater light to rule the day, and the lesser light to rule the night with its stars.”1
Listen, therefore, O children of the Church, musicians of the words of the Holy One of Israel, the birds of the gospel of the one who was born of the dove whose wings are made of silver and whose torso is of green gold,2 [you] who fly with spiritual wings to assemble in the precinct of the faith3 to blow the horn of praise of the one whose glory of virginity would not be exhausted by telling, and to give battle to the children of demon[s] who became an organ to Satan, the revilers of the virginity of Mary, Mother of Light.
You, children of God, who call Mary light to drive away the darkness from you, listen with a spiritual ear.
As for us, we say that as the whole world was in darkness before light was created, and as the times in days, months, and years were not known before the sun, the moon, and the stars were created, likewise, the salvation of man and the light of the son of man were not known and did not take place before Mary was born and before she bore the savior of the world, who said, as the whole world was darkness, “Let there be light,” “and there was light,”4 and who created the sun, the moon, and the stars so that they would separate the day from the night.
For the world was in the darkness of sin, to which [the] thousands of lights of the sun were unable to give light.
While the whole world was drowned in a sea of the darkness of sin, [and] while all nations were wailing, lacking the light of righteousness that would bring them out of the deep sea of darkness, the darkness which is sin, a woman came out from that world which was in the sea of darkness.
The dress of that woman is the sun, with the moon under her feet and the stars crowning her head. There was no time before her when a woman like her appeared. And there will be no time after her when another like her will appear. The beauty of her attire is delightful, and her outfit is splendid.
She did not appear only clothed with the sun alone, which is the ornament of the day; nor did she appear only in the light of the moon and the stars, which are the ornaments of the night. Rather, she appeared at one time and in one rising, in the ornament of the day and in the ornament of the night, clothed with the sun, with the moon under her feet and a crown of stars on her head.
And the moon under her feet took light from the light of the sun with which she is clothed. Also, the stars on her head are ornamented with light from the light of the sun with which the woman is garbed.
That sun, the dress of that woman, does not set like the sun of this world. And the moon under her feet does not darken like the moon of this world. And the stars on her head do not disappear like the stars of this world.
Her sun does not set, her moon does not darken,5 and her stars do not disappear.
Furthermore, the woman has large spiritual wings with which she flies to arrive at every place where the glory of her son is proclaimed and where the remembrance of her name is invoked by the mouth of every faithful Christian.
TO CITE THIS TRANSLATION
Getatchew Haile. 1992. "ID 615: Homily on the silver bird with gilded wings (Ps. 67,14)." The Mariology of Emperor Zära Yaʻeqob of Ethiopia, edited by Getatchew Haile, page 74–79. Updated by PEMM Copyeditor Taylor Eggan. From EMML (HMML) 1480, ff. 115r–115v. https://pemm.princeton.edu/stories/615.
This story, with the short title "Homily on the Silver Bird," is recent: the earliest PEMM manuscript* in which this story appears is from around 1800.
It appears in 8 out of 709 PEMM manuscripts (2%).
This story is not illustrated in PEMM manuscripts.
It is a post-life miracle: it does not take place during Our Lady Mary's lifetime, but after it.
This story was originally composed in Africa (probably).
It is available in the following languages: Amharic, Geʿez, English.
If you think any of the information on this page is incorrect (e.g., the date, manuscripts, translation), please use our PEMM Feedback Form to let us know. We depend on users like you to improve the site.
* A "PEMM manuscript" is defined as any Geʿez Marian manuscript or book that PEMM has catalogued. For more information, see Using the Site.