Alberti Magni Opera Omnia, Vol. XXXVII

charity, which is in the passion, through which charity is final in the showing of its perfection: but this was fitting to be done at midday. And thus it is clear that one time was fitting for the passion, another for the annunciation.

QUESTION VIII.

After this it is asked about the place. And the Gospel says that it was in a city¹.

§ I.

Against this it is objected thus:

1. The Lord suffered, was born, was buried, and rose again outside the city²: therefore he also ought to have been conceived [there].

2. Item, A more worthy annunciation ought to have been made in a more worthy place, or at least in an equally worthy one: but the annunciation of the Lord was worthier than the annunciation of John: but that one was in the temple³: therefore also this one.

3. Item, Between local operations and the places in which they are done, a proportion is observed, just as because prayer is more worthy than negotiation, thus it is also done in a more worthy place, because prayer is in the choir, negotiation is done in the forum. Whence Augustine and the blessed Benedict: "In the oratory let no one do anything, etc." It is called an oratory because no one should treat anything there other than what is of God: whence the Lord in the Gospel: My house shall be called a house of prayer⁴. But in this annunciation, the most worthy operation was completed, because [it was] the Lordly Incarnation. Therefore it ought to have been done in the most worthy place: therefore in the temple.

§ II.

Response.

To this we say, in responding, that the Lord in all his principal deeds which he did in the world, showed why he came into the world: he was born among sinners, lay before the ox and the ass, conversed among sinners and ate with them, was crucified among thieves, and appearing while rising again, appeared first to a sinner, showing in all his works that Christ Jesus came into this world to save sinners⁵. Therefore he ought not to have been conceived in the sea, which is the place of fish, nor in the air, which is the place of birds, nor in the field, which is the place of wild animals, but in a city, which is the proper place of men, [he] who for us and our salvation descended from heaven.

¹ Luke 1:26: The angel Gabriel was sent from God into a city of Galilee, etc.
² Cf. Heb. 13:12.
³ Cf. Luke 1:8 et seq.
⁴ Matt. 21:13.
⁵ I Tim. 1:15.