Northern French Breviary Leaf,
c. 1400, Recto: The first illuminated initial marks the start of the second
Magnificat Antiphon for the third Sunday in Lent, conforming to the use still in
practice for Latin masses sung by the Carmelites, the Dominicans, and other
monastic orders.
Extollens vocem quaedam
mulier de turba dixit: Beatus
venter qui te portavit, et ubera
quae suxisti. At Iesus ait illi: Quinimmo beati, qui audiunt verbum Dei, et
custodiunt illud.
(Followed by an “Ave” in
response, suggesting that the sense of the woman’s shouted praise of Mary was
understood to be the significance of the passage.)
King James Version
(1611):
11:27 And it came to pass, as
he spake these things, a certain woman of the company lifted up her voice, and
said unto him, Blessed is the womb that bare thee, and the paps which thou hast
sucked.
11:28 But he said, Yea
rather, blessed are they that hear the word of God, and keep it.