1. Who is she that goeth up by the desert as a pillar of smoke [Cant. iii, 6]? Who is she that cometh forth as the morning rising [Cant. vi, 9]? Who is this that cometh up from the desert, flowing with delights [Cant. viii, 5]? And why do the angels so often ask the name of their Queen? It was so sweet even to the angels to hear it pronounce, that they desired to hear that name in reply.
-Richard of St. Lawrence (+ 1245): De Laud. V.M.
2. And the Virgin's name was Mary [St. Luke i, 27]. These two words, Mary and Virgin, are joined together by the Evangelist, to denote that the name of this most pure Virgin should always be coupled with the virtue of chastity.
-Ibidem supra.
3. Glorious indeed, and admirable, is they name, O Mary; for those who pronounce it at death need not fear all the powers of hell... Men do nat fear a powerful hostile army as the powers of hell fear the name and protection of Mary.
-Saint Bonaventure, O.F.M., Doct. of Church (+ 1274); quoted in Mary, Our Hope, p. 22 (Mary's Book, vol. iv, College of St. Francis, Joliet, 1941).
4. As was melts before fire, so do the devils lose their power against those souls who remember the name of Mary and devoutly invoke it.
-Saint Bonaventure supra, quoted in Fr. Griffith's The Hail Mary (Dublin).
5. Ave Maria! This name was inserted [in the Angelic Salutation] not by the Angel, but by the devotion of the faithful. The blessed Evangelist Luke says significantly, And the name of the Virgin was Mary (St. Luke i, 27). This most holy, sweet and worthy name was eminently fitting to so holy, sweet and worthy a virgin. For Mary means a bitter sea, star of the sea, the illuminated or illuminatrix. Mary is interpreted lady. Mary is a bitter sea to the demons; to men she is the star of the sea; to the angels she is illuminatrix, and to all creatures she is lady ... Let us pray, let us pray most devoutly to Mary and say: O Mary, Bitter Sea, help us, that we may be plunged into the bitter sea of penance! O Mary, Star of the Sea, help us, that we may be guided rightly through the sea of this world! O Mary, Light-giver, help us, that we may be eternally illumined in glory! O Lady Mary, help us by thy government and empire that we may be filially governed. Through Our Lord Jesus Christ. Amen.
-Saint Bonaventure supra: Spec. B.M., ch. iii, pp. 15, 27 (trans Sr. M. Emmanuel, O.S.B., 1932).
6. Mary means star of the sea, for as mariners are guided to port by the ocean star, so Christians attain to glory through Mary's maternal intercession.
-Saint Thomas Aquinas, O.P., Doct. of the Church (+ 1274), as cited in booklet Mysteries of Mary (Clyde, Mo., 1943).
7. There is something so admirable, sweet and sublime in this name of Mary, that when it meets with friendly hearts it breathes into them an odor of delightful sweetness.
-Abbot Francone: De Grat. D., I, 6.
8. O Mary, what must thou thyself be, since thy very name is so loving and gracious?
-Blessed Henry Suso, O.P. (+ 1365): Dial., c. 16.
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