MARY is grave and sedate. By her side a lily is growing in
a pitcher. Gabriel, discreetly robed in white, stands behind
the Virgin and speaks to her. He looks somewhat heavy,
as if flight might be difficult to him, but his aspect is very
benignant. He is such an angel as such a Virgin would have
liked to see. —Henry Van Dyke.
Gabriel, the gentle angel of the Annunciation, the Trumpeter
of the Judgment Day, is particularly dear to us, as it was
through him came the glad tidings of redemption. —By M.
Gabriel (God is my strength) is the guardian of the celestial
treasury ; a bearer of important messages ; the angel of the Annunciation;
and the preceptor of the patriarch Joseph. His
symbol is the lily. Gabriel naturally came to be regarded as the
angel who presides over child-birth. —Clara E. Clement.
Medieval tradition assumed to know the names and functions
of heavenly beings. Modern thought makes no such claim.
Early Catholic teaching told of Michael, Raphael, Gabriel, and
gave to one his warrior's sword, to the other his pilgrim's staff,
to the third his perfumed branch of lilies. In place of these legends
there has grown up a larger symbolism—vague, yet understood
of all men, whatever their creed or nationality. We speak
of the Recording Angel, the Angel of Peace, of Death, of the
Resurrection. Again, in olden times tradition had devised a
species of heavenly livery corresponding with the wearer's rank
in supposed celestial hierarchy. The color for seraphs was red,
cherubs blue, and so on. —Isabel McDougal.
We are lilies fair,
The flowers of virgin light;
Nature held us forth and said
"Lo! my thought of white."
Ever since then, angels
Hold us in their hands;
You may see them when they take
In picture their sweet stands.
—Leigh Hunt.
Lowliest of women, and most glorified!
In ihy still beauty sitting calm and lone,
A brightness round thee grows— and by thy siik',
Kindling the air, a form ethereal shone,
Solemn, yet breathing gladness. —Mrs. Hemans.
