1. Introduction

"As for May she treasured all these things and pondered them in her heart" (Lk 2:19,51). The Virgin Mary who was directly involved in the event of the incarnation never lost sight of any mysterious happenings in her life but kept them all in her heart that. as it were, a greater desire be induced in her to reach all the full depth of the descent of God, descendit de caelo. In fact the grace she received far surpasses all other creatures, both in heaven and on earth and was called the sanctuary of the Holy Spirit (Sacrarium Spiritus sancti) because by receiving the Word of God in her heart and in her body she gave Life to the world (1). Many in later generations who were in search of God (quaerere Deum) followed the examples of the humble Virgin by meditating upon the same marvels that God has achieved.

The Holy Scripture as divinely inspired is precisely a record of God's words and deeds (2). Meditation on the Scripture thus offered the beginnings of the eternal vision of God. This is especially true in the monastic culture (3). A reverent approach to the text, careful consideration of every detail of expression and cultivation of a quiet receptiveness which allows the Holy Spirit to speak in a man's heart as it will, all these had long been the traditional features of the "holy reading" (lectio divina) of the monastic life (4). Regarding the Marian title "Sacrarium Spiritus Sancti", we confine ourselves to a presentation of a lectio divina of a twelfth-century abbot, Rupert of Deutz (5). To be more precise, we are going to present some of his reflections (on this title) taken from his treatise On the Works of the Holy Spirit (6) which was the fruit of his prayerful meditation.

The twelfth-century has been considered a period of theological renewal (7). It witnessed the first stirrings of scholasticism and a flowering of the patristic traditions, specially, among monks. Many great authors belonged to this period like Anselm of Laon (d.1117), Rupert of Deutz (d.1129), Hugh of St Victor (d.1141), Abelard (d.1141), William of St. Thierry (d.1148). St. Bernard (d.1153), Gilbert of Poitiers (d.1154). Peter the Venerable (d.1156), Peter Lombard (d.1160) and so on (8). Among them Rupert of Deutz is considered the founder of biblical theology (9). Whatever one may think of the accuracy of this title it does bear witness to the fact that his writings had a great influence on monastic theology (10). Besides, he was also a "Mystiker" (11) and was endowed with the special gift of understanding the Scriptures. He did not deny the value of human learning, but simply they cannot be compared with "a visit from on high" (vistatio ab altissimo) (12) and he claimed himself among those who were privileged to have the gift of understanding with which he could do nothing but keep writing (13). Obviously this visitatio ab altissimo has enriched his lectio divina so much so that his commentary was intended to be a help for his readers to have an initial contact with divine mysteries (14).

What then is lectio divina? It means a text itself to be read, a selected passage or a lesson taken from the Scripture. In the Middle Ages as in antiquity, the reading involved the participation of body and mind. The readers had to pronounce the words they saw them, listening to the words pronounced and hearing the so-called "voices of the pages". It is a real acoustic reading: legere and audire. At the same time the lectio is accompanied by meditatio. The mind should think of the words read. It implies the thinking of a thing with the intention of doing it: in other words, to prepare oneself for it, to prefigure it in the mind, to desire it, in a way, to do it in advance－briefly, to practice it. This results in more than a visual memory of the written words. What results is a muscular memory of the words pronounced and an aural memory of the words heard. The meditatio consists in applying oneself with attention to this exercise in total memorization; it is, terefore, inseparable from the lectio. It is what inscribes, so to speak, the sacred text in the body and in the soul. This repeated mastication of the divine words is sometimes described as spiritual nutrition. In this case the vocabulary is borrowed from eating, from digestion, and from the particular form of digestion belonging to ruminants. For this reason, reading and meditation are sometimes described by the word ruminatio which will lead to the depths of the words and taste of their flavour (in ore cordis). The way of uniting reading, meditation and prayer, this "meditative prayer" as William of St. Thierry calls it, had great influence on religious psychology. It occupies and engages the whole person in whom the Scriptures take root, later on to bear fruit. It is this deep impregnation with the words of Scripture that explains the extremely important phenomenon of reminiscence whereby the verbal echoes so excite the memory that a mere allusion will spontaneously evoke whole quotations and, in turn. a scriptural phrase will suggest quite naturally allusions elsewhere in the sacred books. Each word is like a hook, so to speak; it catches hold of one or several others which become linked together and make up the fabric of the expose. The monastic lectio is aimed at meditatio and oratio. It is a prayerful reading. Obviously lectio divina is one of the principal occupations of the monk as described in the Rule of St. Benedict. In order to achieve this, it is necessary to know, to learn, and for some. to teach. In fact literature is a conditioning factor of Benedictine life (15).

(1)See Lumen Gentium 53: Virgo enim Maria, quae Angelo nuntiante Verbum Dei corde et corpore suscepit et Vitam mundo protulit (...) ut sit Genitrix Dei Filii (...) sacrarium Spiritus Sancti quo eximiae gratiae dono omnibus aliis creturis, coelestibus et terrestribus, longe antecellit.

(2)See Dei Verbum 2: Placuit Deo in sua bonitate et sapientia Seipsum revelare et notum facere sacramentum voluntatis suae (cf eph 1:9), quo homines per christum, Verbum camem factum, in Spiritu Sancto accessum habent ad Patrem et divinae naturae consortes efficiuntur (cf Eph 2:18; 1Pt 1:4). (...)Haec revelationis oeconomia fit gestis verbisque intrinsece inter se connexis, ita ut opera, in historia salutis a Deo patrata, doctrinam et res verbis significatas manifestent ac corroborent, verba autem opera prociament et mysterium in eis contentum elucident.

(3)LECLERCQ J., The Love of Learning and the Desire for God. A Study of Monastic Culture (New York－Fordhanm Univ. 1982, repr. 1985) 71-86. This is a translation from L' Amour des lettres et le desir de Dieu: Initiation au auteurs monastiques du moyen age (Paris 1957); EVANS G. R., The Language and Logic of the Bible. The Earlier Middle Ages (Cambridge Univ. 1984); SPICQ C., Esquisse d' une histoire de 1' exegese latine au Moyen Age (Paris 1944).

(4)See EVANS G. R., o.c. 13; LECLERCQ J., o.c. 15-17, 72-73; 212-217; ROUSSE J.－SIEBEN H. J.－BOLAND A., Lectio Divina et Lecture Spirituelle, in Dictionnaire de Spiritualite t. 9 (Pris 1976-77) 470-510; Von SEVERUS E. －SOLIGNAC A.－GOOSSENS M.－SAUVAGE M.－SUDBRAK J., Meditation, in Dictionnaire de Spirtualite t. 10 (Paris 1977-80) 906-934.

(5)Rupert of Deutz (ca. 1075-1129) was born and brought up in the environs of Liege. During his adolescence he had a series of mystical experiences and was convinced he had been granted the gift of understanding the Scriptures. As zealous Gregorian reformer he refused ordination until his simoniacal bishop had been reconciled to Rome (1106). As a biblical theologian he wrote many biblical commentaries and had not a few controversies with the secular clergy of Liege, the school of Laon, the Canon Regulars. He was appointed Abbot of Deutz near Cologne in 1120 and died March 4, 1129.　

Further details on his life can be found in MAGRASSI M., Teologia e storia net pensiero di Ruperto di Deutz (Roma 1959); ARDUINI M. L., Contribute alla biografia di Ruperto di Deutz, in Studi Medievali 3 ser. 16 (1975) 537-582; EADEM, Neue Studien uber Rupert von Deutz, Siegburger Studien 17 (Siegburg 1985); VAN ENGEN J., Rupert of Deutz (Berkeley 1983).

(6)The De Operibus Spiritus Sancti (abbrv. Spir) belongs to the third part of Rupert's most comprehensive exgetical work De sancta Trinitate et Operibus eius, in HAACKE Rh. (ed.). Corpus Christianorum Continuatio MedMevalis (abbrv. CCCM) 21-24 (Turhnolti 1971-72). The whole work contains 42 books in three parts. It deals with the greater part of the Bible, associating the Three Persons of the Trinity with the principal epochs of history: the Father with Creation (in part one from book I to book 3), the Son with Redemption (which begins already with the expulsion from Paradise and culminates in the Incarnation in part two from book 4 to book 33) and God the Holy Spirit active through His seven gifts from the Incarnation to the Last Judgment in part three from book 34 to book 42). The thirty-two books in the first two parts deal with differnt Old Testament books except one with the Gospels. When Rupert comes to Part three De Operibus Spiritus Sancti on the works of the Holy Spirit he draws freely from the whole Bible. It can be taken as an independent unit. Rupert follows the Augustine's influential tripartite division of salvation-history (ante legem, sub lege, sub gratia). These nine books deals with the Holy Spirit who is at work through His seven gifts. The history of the Church is organized in seven epochs corresponding to the seven gifts though without defining clearly their time divisions.

(7)See the stimulating volume of BENSON R.L., －CONSTABLE G. (eds). Renaissance and Renewal in the Twelfth Century (Oxford 1982). Especially CONSTABLE G., Introduction xxvii: "By their self-imposed chronological limits, the authors imply that the renaissance was mainly bracketed in the century from the 1060s or 1070s to 1160s and that the early twelfth century was its center of gravity",

(8)See LECLERCQ J., The Renewal of Theology, in BENSON R.L－CONSTABLE G. (eds), o.c. 68-87, here 69-70.

(9)See SPICQ C., o.c. 117

(10)See LECLERCQ J., The Love of Learning and the Desire for God 218: Rupert "is the source par excellence for traditional monastic theology".

(11)HAACKE Rh., Die mystischen Visionen Ruperts von Deutz, in Sapientiae Doctrina: Melanges de theologie et de litterature medievales offerts a Dom Hildebrand Bascour O. S. B. (louvain 1980) 68-90.

(12)See De gloria et honore Filii hominis super Matthaeum XII ed. HAACKE Rh. CCCM 29, 386: Ego quamvis et ipse nonnullos in disciplinis scholaribus patres habuerim, et in libris artium liberalium non segniter studiosus exititerim, hoc profiteor quia vistatio ab altissimo melior roihi est quam decern patres huiusmodi.

(13)IBID., CCCM 29, 384: (...) cito subsistit inundans ilia vis amoris paulatimqu decessit; ego autem os meum aperuit et cessare quando scriberem nequaquam potui, et etiam si velim, tacere non possum.

(14)See Spir 1, 2 24, 1823-24: Verum speculandae huius gratiae via recta legitimusque ordo, tune demum nobis servabityr, si gratiae principem et largitorem, mediatorem Dei et hominum, hominern Iesum Christum prius cognoverimus.

(15)See note 4.