In Praesentatione B. Virginis

This poem is about the presentation of the Virgin Mary in the temple, an apocryphal account about Mary’s childhood. Mary’s parents, Anne and Joachim, had been unable to have children. In thanksgiving for Mary’s birth, her parents brought her to the Jewish temple in Jerusalem as a three-year old. There they consecrated her to God, and she was raised in the temple. This event is remembered yearly as a feast day in the Catholic and Orthodox church.

Tetrastichon.

Sacra Deo quondam, veteres pertaesa figuras,       Dona Palaestini respuit Ara senis. Non placeant Numen templo data munera sola,       Haec placare potest trimula Virgo Deum.