Ipsa conteret caput tuum, et
insidiaberis calcaneo eius. Mulier conterit caput serpentis, cum Ecclesia
sancta insidias diaboli et suasiones venenosas in ipso mox initio deprehensas
abigit, et quasi conculcans ad nihilum deducit. Conterit caput serpentis, cum
superbiae, per quam Eva decepta est, saepe sub potenti manu Dei humiliando
resistit: initium enim omnis peccati superbia. Et serpens insidiatur calcaneo
mulieris, quia circuiens Ecclesiam diabolus velut leo rugiens quaerit quem
devoret, quomodo gressus bonae nostrae actionis evertat. Insidiatur calcaneo, cum in fine vitae praesentis
nos rapere satagit. Calcaneo
namque qui finis est corporis, non immerito finis vitae nostrae designatur,
quod utrumque ipsa quoque serpentis conditio figurate denuntiat, qui conteri
solet ab omnibus qui possunt, et ipse ferientis hominum vestigiis insidiari non
desinit. (Bede, Hexaemeron on Genesis, Book I [Migne, PL 91:58])
She shall crush your head, and you shall lie in wait
for her heel.” The woman crushes the serpent’s head when the holy Church drives
away the devil’s snares and poisonous suggestions, detected right at the
outset, and, as it were trampling them down, reduces them to nothing. She
crushes the serpent’s head when she resists pride—the pride by which Eve was
deceived—often humbling herself beneath the mighty hand of God; for pride is
the beginning of all sin. And the serpent lies in wait for the woman’s heel, because
the devil, going around the Church like a roaring lion, seeks whom he may
devour and how he may overthrow the steps of our good conduct. He lies in wait
for the heel when he strives to seize us at the end of this present life. For
since the heel is the end of the body, it not unfittingly signifies the end of
our life; and this is figuratively declared by the very condition of the
serpent itself, which is commonly crushed by all who can do so, yet does not
cease to lurk among the footprints of those who strike it.
