[Rank]
Quinta die infra Octavam Nativitatis Beatae Mariae Virginis;;Semiduplex;;2;;ex Sancti/09-08

[Rule]
ex Sancti/09-08;
9 lectiones
Doxology=Nat

[Lectio7]
From the Holy Gospel according to Matthew
!Matt 1:1-17
The book of the generation of Jesus Christ, the Son of David, the son of~
Abraham. Abraham begat Isaac, and Isaac begat Jacob. And so on.
_
Homily by St. Hilary, Bishop (of Poitiers.)
!Comment. on Matth. i.
It mattereth nothing who is actually inserted in the genealogy, as long as the whole line are understood to proceed from one source. Hence, since Joseph and Mary were of the same family, and Joseph is shown to have been a descendant of Abraham, Mary is shown to have been the same. It was a rule of the Law that if a man died without children, his next brother should take his widow to wife, and the first son begotten of her was counted as the son of her first husband. And thus the inheritance was kept in the line of the first-born, since the descendants who inherited were always the sons of the first-born, in name, if not in fact.

[Lectio8]
The next thing is, that, since we have said that, according to the ordinary~
value of terms, this genealogy is inconsistent with itself both as regards~
number and order, we should produce some explanation of this phenomenon. It is~
not a trifle that the statements should be one thing and the facts another,~
since the summary is not in accordance with the details. From Abraham to David~
are counted fourteen generations, and from David until the carrying away into~
Babylon, are found in other books seventeen. But this is neither a falsehood nor a~
piece of carelessness. There are three generations passed by. Joram begat~
Ahaziah, and Ahaziah begat Joash, and Joash begat Amaziah, and Amaziah begat~
Uzziah. But in Matthew it is stated that Joram begat Uzziah, whereas they are~
separated from each other by three clear generations. This is so because the~
woman of whom Joram begat Ahaziah was a foreign heathen, namely (Athaliah, the~
daughter) of Ahab, and Jezebel his wife.

[Lectio9]
It was declared by the Prophet that the descendants of Ahab should not sit upon~
the throne of Israel beyond the fourth generation. The stain of heathenism is~
therefore left out by omitting the three kings tainted therewith, and fourteen~
generations are counted to Mary, although they were actually in number seventeen,~
and this can seem no blunder to any that know that our Lord Jesus Christ hath~
not only that origin which He drew from Mary, but that in His bodily generation~
is comprehended a signification of His eternal generation.
&teDeum