We are not used to thinking of the maiden Myriam as a Maccabean. Yet if it were not for the history of repetition in the liturgical use of the Magnificat, we should all have been impressed that that is precisely what she sounds like: “He has shown strength with his arm, He has scattered the proud in the imagination of their hearts, He has put down the mighty from their thrones, And exalted those of low degree; He has filled
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