Bede : On that day, Noah and Shem and Ham and Japheth, his sons, and his wife, and the three wives of his sons with them entered the ark. They and every animal according to its kind, and so on until it says: and all the birds entered the ark with Noah. Therefore, all the living creatures entered the ark on one and the same day, because Noah did not labor greatly and for a long time to collect and bring them in or drive them into the ark; but by divine guidance, they all came willingly in their respective numbers, following him with his children and wives in order, and each took their own quarters, as if by their own will, under the guidance of the Lord. This is supported by what is said of the birds: they entered the ark with Noah, and above generally, and of all that moved on the earth, two by two they entered the ark with Noah. On that same day, that is, the seventeenth day of the second month, the following happened. — Commentary on Genesis (Hexaemeron) Jerome : [We see that] certain psalms are titled "for the octave." This is the day on which the synagogue comes to an end and the church is born. This is the day in the number of which eight souls were preserved in the ark of Noah, and "its counterpart, the church," says Peter, "now saves you." — HOMILIES 93