‘give us to drink from your over-abundant pitcher’

The painted panel illustrates the miraculous lactation of Saint Bernard of Clairvaux. A century after his death in 1153, legends arose in which the Virgin Mary appears to him as he prays, revealing secrets of the faith — and spouting milk from her breast into his mouth.

“She bared the breast of mercy to all men so that they might all receive of its abundance, and so that the captive might be granted Redemption; the ailing, health; the afflicted, comfort; the sinner, forgiveness,” Bernard wrote in one sermon. “Feed your poor today, our Lady; and give us to drink from your over-abundant pitcher.”

‘She bared the breast of mercy to all men’

In a legend that arose long after the death of Bernard of Clairvaux in 1153, the Virgin Mary appears to the saint and shares with him drops of her holy breast milk.

“She bared the breast of mercy to all men so that they might all receive of its abundance, and so that the captive might be granted Redemption; the ailing, health; the afflicted, comfort; the sinner, forgiveness,” Bernard wrote in one sermon. “Feed your poor today, our Lady; and give us to drink from your over-abundant pitcher.”

Saint Bernard’s miraculous ‘lactatio’

‘She bared the breast of mercy to all men’

A century after the death of Saint Bernard of Clairvaux in 1153, legends emerged in which Mary appears to him as he prays. She reveals to him secrets of the faith, and she grants him a taste of her sacred milk. 

Bernard was a French abbot, a founder of the Cistercian order, and influential writer who shaped Catholic ideas about the virgin mother of Jesus.

“She bared the breast of mercy to all men so that they might all receive of its abundance, and so that the captive might be granted Redemption; the ailing, health; the afflicted, comfort; the sinner, forgiveness,” Bernard wrote in one sermon. “Feed your poor today, our Lady; and give us to drink from your over-abundant pitcher.”

‘Show thyself to be a mother’

The image is from a 16th century manuscript in the Bodleian Libraries at the University of Oxford.

The scroll reads: ‘Monstra te esse matrem’ (‘Show thyself to be a mother’), a line from a hymn popular in the Middle Ages with lyrics possibly composed by the man pictured, Bernard of Clairvaux. He was a French abbot, a founder of the Cistercian order, and influential writer who shaped Catholic ideas about Mary the virgin mother of Jesus.

Lactation of St. Bernard