Saint Baldwin of Canterbury More Saints
From a sermon by Saint Baldwin of Canterbury, bishop (d. 1190)
A flower rises from the root of Jesse
Every day we devoutly greet the most Blessed Virgin Mary with the angel's greeting and we usually add:
Blessed is the fruit of your womb. After she was greeted by the Virgin, Elizabeth added this phrase as if she were echoing the salutation of the angel: Blessed are you among women and blessed is the fruit of your womb. This is the fruit of which Isaiah spoke: On that day the shoot of the Lord shall be splendid and radiant - the sublime fruit of earth. What is this fruit but the holy one of Israel, the seed of Abraham, the shoot of the Lord, the flower arising from the root of Jesse, the fruit of life, whom we have shared?
Blessed surely in seed and blessed in the shoot, blessed in the flower, blessed in the gift, finally blessed in thanksgiving and praise, Christ, the seed of Abraham, was brought forth from the seed of David into the flesh.
He alone among men is found perfected in every good quality, for the Spirit was given to him without measure so that he alone could fulfill all justice. For his justice is sufficient for all nations, according to the Scriptures. As the earth brings forth its buds, and as the garden germinates its own seed, so the Lord God shall bring forth justice and praise before all the nations. For this is the shoot of justice, which the flower of glory adorns with its blessings when it has grown. But how great is this glory? How can anyone think of anything more glorious, or rather, how can anyone conceive of this at all? For the flower rises from the root of Jesse. you ask: "How far?" Surely it rises even to the highest place, because Jesus Christ is in the glory of God the Father. His magnificence is elevated above the heavens so that he, the issue of the Lord, is splendid and glorious, the sublime fruit of earth.
But what is our benefit from this fruit? What other than the fruit of blessing from the blessed fruit? From this seed, this shoot, this flower, surely the fruit of blessing comes forth. It has come even to us; first as a seed it is planted through the grace of pardon, then germinated with the increase of perfection, and finally it flowers in the hope or the attainment of glory. For the fruit was blessed by God, and in God, so that God may be glorified through it. For us, too, the fruit was blessed, so that blessed by God we may be glorified in him through the promise spoken to Abraham. God made the fruit a blessing for all nations.Source: The Liturgy of the Hours - Office of Readings
Saint Baldwin (d. 1190) was attracted to the monastic life and became a
Cistercian monk at the Abbey of Ford, in Devonshire, England. Within a year he was made abbot and in 1180 he was appointed Bishop of Worcester and then appointed Archbishop of Canterbury. In 1188, after hearing of the loss of Jerusalem to the Muslims, Baldwin was active in preaching the Third Crusade to rescue the relics in the holy land.
In 1190 he set out for the Holy Land, in company with Hubert, Bishop of Salisbury, and others, providing at his own costs two hundred knights and three hundred retainers. Baldwin is described as gentle, kindly disposed, learned and deeply spiritual. He died in 1190 during the siege of Acre, a seaport town west of Galilee, leaving all he possessed for the relief of the Holy Land. A number of his works including De Commendiatione Fide, De Sacramento Altaris and other discourse are still extant.