The following is taken from Migne, PL 65:898-90. While the sermon has traditionally been ascribed to Fulgentius of Ruspe (d. 533), it is part of the pseudo-Augustine sermons (sermon 123). For a fuller discussion of how (1) neither Augustine or Fulgentius wrote/gave this sermon and (2) how it post-dates both these theologians, see:
Pierre-Maurice Bogaert and Matthieu Pignot, “À propos du
sermon De laudibus Mariae (PS-AU s 123 ; PS-FU s 36): sa tradition dans les
imprimés de Fulgence,” in Latin Anonymous Sermons from Late Antiquity and
The Early Middle Ages (AD 300-800): Classification, Transmission, Dating,
ed. Matthieu Pignot (Instrumenta Patristica et Mediaevalia: Research on the
Inheritance of Early and Medieval Christianity 86; Ministerium Sermonis 4; Turnhout,
Belgium: Brepols, 2021), 193-206.
However, here is a transcription of the sermon and an
English translation for those curious. I have seen one popular Roman Catholic
apologist refer to this sermon and its interpretation of Luke 1:28 as evidence
that Fulgentius held to the Immaculate Conception:
SERMO XXXVI.
De laudibus Mariae ex partu Salvatoris.
Nativitas Domini nostri Jesu
Christi totum mundum nova adventus sui hodie luce perfudit.
Hodie de coelo Deus descendit ad
hominem, ut in coelo homini praepararet ascensum. Hodie accepimus natum Dei,
Virginis filium, omnium credentium Salvatorem, Deum de Patre, hominem de matre,
Deum occultum, hominem manifestum. Et quoniam diabolus per serpentem Evæ
locutus, per Evæ aures mundo intulit mortem, Deus per angelum ad Mariam pertulit
verbum, et cunctis sæculis vitam effudit. Angelus sermonem ejecit, et Christum
virgo concepit. O conjunctio sine sordibus facta, ubi maritus sermo est, et
uxor auricula! Hoc splendore concipitur Dei Filius, hac munditia generatur. Nulla fieri potuit gravedo concipienti,
nulla tristitia parturienti. Qui enim venerat triste lætificare sæculum,
ventris non contristavit hospitium.
De coelis medicus transiens per virginem, post transitum suum illæsam fecit
virginem permanere. Qui enim disrupta corporum membra in aliis poterat
redintegrare tangendo, quanto magis in sua matre, quod invenit integrum, potuit
non violare nascendo? Crevit enim in ejus partu integritas corporis potius quam
decrevit, et virginitas ampliata est potius quam fugata. In angusti corporis
membri sustinent quidquid sustinent cœli. Plena sunt viscera, et nullum novit
contagium Virginis conscientia. Cum esset gravida, salubri levitate plaudebat:
lumen enim quod intra se habebat, pondus habere non poterat.
Facta est Maria fenestra cœli, quia per ipsam Deus verum fudit sæculis
lumen; facta est Maria scala cœlestis, quia per ipsam Deus descendit ad terras,
ut per ipsam homines ascendere mereantur ad cœlos: ipsis enim licebit ascendere
illuc, qui Deum crediderint ad terras per Virginem Mariam descendisse. Facta
est Maria restauratio feminarum, quia per ipsam a ruina primæ maledictionis
probantur esse subtractæ. Tria denique mala Evæ a tribus bonis Mariæ probantur
exclusa. Nam Evæ dictum est: In doloribus et in tristitia paries, et ad
virum conversio tua, et ipse dominabitur tui (Gen. iii, 16). Tribus ergo
his malis se subjiciant feminæ quæ Mariam non sequuntur, dolori, tristitiæ,
servituti.
Maria autem e contrario quam præclarissimis tribus bonis sublimetur
ausculta, salutationis angelicæ, benedictionis divinæ et plenitudinis gratiæ.
Sic enim eam legitur angelus salutasse: Ave, Maria, gratia plena: benedicta
tu inter mulieres (Luc. i, 28). Cum dixit: Ave, salutationem illi
cœlestem exhibuit; cum dixit: Gratia plena, ostendit ex integro iram
exclusam primæ sententiæ et plenam benedictionis gratiam restitutam; cum dixit:
Benedicta tu inter mulieres, virginitatis ejus benedictum fructum
expressit, ut ex eo benedicta dicatur inter mulieres quæcumque perseveraverit
virgo. Benedicta tu inter mulieres: maledicta enim Eva fuerat, quam nunc
credimus per Mariam ad benedictionem gloriæ remeasse.
Venite, virgines, ad Virginem, et lætamini; deponite maledictionem
prævaricationis, et benedictionem restaurationis assumite. Projicite dolores
quos Eva per serpentem accepit, et quos per angelum Maria suscepit, honores
assumite. Pellite tristitiam concipientis, gemitus parturientis abjicite, ut
solus vobis iste Virginis filius dominetur. Venite, virgines, ad Virginem;
venite, concipientes, ad concipientem; venite, parientes, ad parientem; venite,
matres, ad matrem; venite, lactantes, ad lactantem; venite, juvenculæ, ad
juvenculam. Ideo omnes istos cursus naturæ virgo Maria in Domino nostro Jesu
Christo suscepit, ut omnibus ad se confugientibus feminis subveniret, et sic
restauraret omne genus feminarum ad se venientium nova Eva servando
virginitatem, sicut omne genus virorum Adam novus recuperat Dominus noster
Jesus Christus, qui cum Patre et Spiritu sancto vivit et regnat Deus, per omnia
sæcula sæculorum. Amen.
SERMON XXXVI.
On the praises of Mary from the birth of the Savior.
The Nativity of our Lord Jesus Christ has today
illumined the whole world with the new light of his coming. Today God descended
from heaven to man, so that he might prepare for man an ascent into heaven.
Today we have received the one born of God, the Son of the Virgin, the Savior
of all believers: God from the Father, man from his mother, God hidden, man
manifest.
And since the devil, speaking through the serpent to
Eve, brought death into the world through Eve's ears, God through the angel
brought the word to Mary and poured forth life for all ages. The angel uttered
the message, and the Virgin conceived Christ.
O union accomplished without defilement, where the
husband is the Word and the wife is the little ear! Through this splendor the
Son of God is conceived; through this purity he is generated. No heaviness
could arise for her who conceived, no sorrow for her who gave birth. For the
one who had come to make the sorrowful world joyful did not make the lodging of
the womb sorrowful.
The Physician from heaven, passing through the Virgin,
caused the Virgin to remain unharmed after his passage. For if, by touching
them, he was able to restore broken members of the body in others, how much
more, in his own mother, could he avoid violating what he found intact by being
born? Indeed, through his birth the integrity of her body increased rather than
diminished, and her virginity was enlarged rather than taken away.
Within the narrow member of the body he sustained
whatever the heavens sustain. Her womb is full, and the conscience of the
Virgin knows no contamination. While she was pregnant, she rejoiced with a
health-giving lightness; for the light which she carried within herself could
not have weight.
Mary became the window of heaven, because through her
God poured forth true light upon the ages. Mary became the heavenly stairway,
because through her God descended to earth, so that through her human beings
might merit to ascend to heaven. For those will be permitted to ascend there
who have believed that God descended to earth through the Virgin Mary.
Mary became the restoration of women, because through
her women are shown to have been rescued from the ruin of the first curse.
Finally, three evils of Eve are shown to have been excluded by the three good
things of Mary. For it was said to Eve: “In pain and in sorrow you shall give
birth, and your turning shall be toward your husband, and he shall rule over
you” (Gen. 3:16).
Therefore women who do not follow Mary subject
themselves to these three evils: pain, sorrow, and servitude.
But listen to how Mary, on the contrary, is exalted by
three most glorious goods: the angelic salutation, divine blessing, and
fullness of grace. For the angel is read to have greeted her in this way:
“Hail, Mary, full of grace; blessed are you among women” (Luke 1:28).
When he said, “Hail,” he bestowed upon her a heavenly
salutation. When he said, “Full of grace,” he showed that the wrath of the
first sentence had been completely removed and the grace of full blessing
restored. When he said, “Blessed are you among women,” he expressed the blessed
fruit of her virginity, so that every woman who perseveres as a virgin might be
called blessed among women.
“Blessed are you among women”: for Eve had been
accursed, but now we believe that through Mary she has returned to the glory of
blessing.
Come, virgins, to the Virgin, and rejoice. Lay aside
the curse of transgression, and take up the blessing of restoration. Cast away
the pains which Eve received through the serpent, and take up the honors which
Mary received through the angel. Drive away the sadness of the woman who
conceives; cast aside the groans of the woman giving birth, so that this
Virgin's Son alone may rule over you.
Come, virgins, to the Virgin; come, you who conceive,
to her who conceived; come, you who give birth, to her who gave birth; come,
mothers, to the Mother; come, nursing women, to her who nurses; come, young
women, to the young woman.
For this reason the Virgin Mary assumed in our Lord
Jesus Christ all these stages of nature, so that she might come to the aid of
all women who flee to her, and thus restore the whole race of women who come to
her, as the new Eve, by preserving her virginity; just as the new Adam, the
Lord Jesus Christ, recovers the whole race of men. He, with the Father and the
Holy Spirit, lives and reigns as God forever and ever. Amen.
