Magnificamus Te, Domina: Visigothic Roots of an Early Marian Prayer

Despite the considerable interest shown in Visigothic devotion to the Virgin Mary, an extended prayer addressed to her found in manuscripts of Ildefonsus of Toledo's De virginitate Sanctae Mariae has suffered neglect, most likely because it has been considered a tenth-century addition to the unique Marian liturgy celebrated in early medieval Iberia. Analysis of the prayer nevertheless reveals its closest textual parallels among the liturgical, theological, and legal materials produced in the Visigothic period. As a result, this study argues that we can best make sense of it as the product of seventh-century Iberian culture, in which the historical situation—including the recent conversion of the ruling classes from Arianism, the forced conversion of Jews, and a general desire for theological consensus—resulted in a special concern with christology. Such considerations may not just have shaped this one prayer, but the very foundation of a new Marian feast, as a way of establishing a clear and unified orthodoxy on the Second Person.