Antiphona ad Benedictus

This antiphon celebrates Mary's divine maternity with paradox: 'Beata es, Virgo Maria, quae Dominum portasti Creatorem mundi: genuisti qui te fecit' (Blessed art thou, Virgin Mary, who didst bear the Lord, Creator of the world: thou didst give birth to him who made thee). The Creator-creature inversion reaches its apex: Mary 'portasti' (bore) Him who made all things. The perpetual virginity is affirmed: 'in aeternum permanes Virgo.' At Lauds on the Presentation of Mary (November 21), this antiphon grounds the feast's temple-theme in the greater temple: Mary's womb that contained the uncontainable God.