Ambrose of Milan : And therefore, in that seemingly contemptible body, you have prevailed, he said, because of the blessings of breasts and womb, the blessings of your father and mother. He called them either breasts or two Testaments, of which one was announced and the other was shown. And breasts are good, because they have nourished us with spiritual milk, and the Son offered himself to God: or he speaks of Mary's breasts, which were truly blessed, by which the holy Virgin gave the people of the Lord the drink of milk. And that woman in the Gospel said: Blessed is the womb that bore you, and the breasts that you nursed! — On the Blessings of the Patriarchs Ambrose of Milan : But why did she say: Blessed is the womb of your father and mother, if we want to understand the womb alone of Mary, the reason will be hidden. For she could have said it concerning the womb of the mother alone. But I think it is more beautiful to understand both the generation of the Lord Jesus according to the spiritual mystery, and according to divinity, and according to the flesh, because he was begotten from the Father before the ages. And the Father says: My heart has uttered a word; because it proceeded from that most intimate and incomprehensible substance of the Father, and it is always in Him. Therefore the evangelist also says: No one has ever seen God, except the only-begotten Son who is in the bosom of the Father, He has declared Him. Just as the spiritual bosom of the Father is understood as a certain inner secret of paternal love and nature, in which the Son is always present, so also the spiritual bosom of the Father is the womb, the secret of the innermost mystery, from which the Son has proceeded as though from a generative womb. Finally, we read in diverse ways, sometimes the womb of the Father, sometimes his heart from which he uttered a word, sometimes his mouth from which justice proceeded, from which wisdom came forth, as he himself says: From the mouth of the Most High, I came forth. Thus, just as we understand that generation from the Father, let us also understand the generation of Mary, the mother, when the womb of the mother is blessed, certainly the virginal womb of Mary, who gave birth to the Lord Jesus for us. Concerning which the Father says through the prophet Jeremiah: Before I formed you in the womb, I knew you; and before you came forth from the womb, I sanctified you. Therefore, the prophet declared the dual substance in Christ, of divinity and flesh: one from the Father, the other from the Virgin; in such a way, however, that he did not lack his divinity when he was born of the Virgin and was in the body. — On the Blessings of the Patriarchs Hippolytus of Rome : By adding and saying "Because of the blessing of the womb of your father and your mother" the prophet proclaims in advance a spiritual mystery. He could have said, "Because of the blessing of the womb of your mother," in order to indicate with this expression Mary, in whose womb the Word was borne for nine months. Well, this is not what he said; on the contrary he said, "Because of the blessing of the womb of your father and your mother." By uniting these two things, he made them one, in order that it might be clearly understood that to this person belongs what is according to spirit and what is according to flesh. The Word took his origin from a father's heart; … rightly the Father said through the prophet, "My heart has uttered a good Word." On the other hand, according to flesh he took his origin in the latter times from a virginal womb after he was borne in it for nine months, so that he might appear to be visible as he was born a second time from a mother's womb. And therefore he himself said through the prophet, "And thus said the Lord that formed me from the womb to be his own servant." And through Jeremiah [the Father] said, "Before I formed you in the womb [of your mother], I knew you, and before you came forth from the womb, I sanctified you." Since the Word was begotten both according to spirit and flesh and was actually both God and man, with good reason the prophet [Jacob] has used the word womb for a father and a mother; and this might seem to be ridiculous to somebody, if it were not understood this way. In fact, the term womb can be suitably referred only to the female nature. But here he has said, "Because of the blessing of the womb of your father and mother," so that you might correctly understand that the Word is begotten from two substances, that of God and that of the Virgin. — ON THE BLESSINGS OF ISAAC AND JACOB 27