Empress of the highest, Mistress over the lowest, Chosen path of Heaven, Held fast by faithful hope, Those separated from you far, Recalled to you, unite In your fold! To delight in the childish jingle of the mediaeval Latin is a sign of a futile mind, no doubt, and I beg pardon of you and of the Church for wasting your precious summer day on poetry which was regarded as mystical in its age and which now sounds like a nursery rhyme; but a verse or two of Adam's hymn on the Assumption of the Virgin completes the record of her rank, and goes to complete also the documentary proof of her majesty at Chartres:-- Salve, Mater Salvatoris! Vas electum! Vas honoris! Vas coelestis Gratiae! Ab aeterno Vas provisum! Vas insigne! Vas excisum Manu sapientiae! Salve, Mater pietatis, Et totius Trinitatis Nobile Triclinium! Verbi tamen incarnati Speciale majestati Praeparans hospitium! O Maria! Stella maris! Dignitate singularis, Super omnes ordinaries Ordines coelestium! In supremo sita poli Nos commenda tuae proli, Ne terrores sive doli Nos supplantent hostium! Mother of our Saviour, hail! Chosen vessel! Sacred Grail! Font of celestial grace! From eternity forethought! By the hand of Wisdom wrought! Precious, faultless Vase! Hail, Mother of Divinity! Hail, Temple of the Trinity! Home of the Triune God! In whom the Incarnate Word had birth, The King! to whom you gave on earth Imperial abode. Oh, Maria! Constellation! Inspiration! Elevation! Rule and Law and Ordination Of the angels' host! Highest height of God's Creation, Pray your Son's commiseration, Lest, by fear or fraud, salvation For our souls be lost! Constantly--one might better say at once, officially, she was addressed in these terms of supreme majesty: "Imperatrix supernorum!" "Coeli Regina!" "Aula regalis!" but the twelfth century seemed determined to carry the idea out to its logical conclusion in defiance of dogma. Not only was the Son absorbed in the Mother, or represented as under her guardianship, but the Father fared no better, and the Holy Ghost followed. The poets regarded the Virgin as the "Templum Trinitatis"; "totius Trinitatis nobile Triclinium." She was the refectory of the Trinity--the "Triclinium"--because the refectory was the largest room and contained the whole of the members, and was divided in three parts by two rows of columns. She was the "Templum Trinitatis," the Church itself, with its triple aisle. The Trinity was absorbed in her.