Bede : The Lord therefore enriched Anna, etc. The Lord gave to the Church the Spirit of His grace, by which it, being fruitful, bore for Him spiritual offspring, partly to search out or preach the mysteries of the Holy Trinity powerfully, partly with perfect love of God and neighbor despised in its simplicity; because the humility of the incarnation assumed by Christ for a time was held in great esteem by the Father; by whom everyone who humbles himself, will be exalted (Luke XIV). Whence also their sound went out into all the earth, and their words unto the ends of the world (Psalm XVIII). — Commentary on Samuel Gregory the Dialogist : 13. By the three sons are designated all the more perfect members of the holy Church, who are known to have always done mighty deeds for the faith of the Trinity. But if the holy Church were to bring forth only the perfect, our weakness could not attain the rewards of eternal life. Therefore the frailty of the two daughters follows the strength of the sons, because although the holy Church has brought forth strong ones against the proud enemy of the human race, nevertheless even her weak members are led to the joys of the eternal homeland through the two precepts of charity. And because whoever had at that time begun to be trained for the priestly ministry did not always remain in the initial stages of his beginning, there follows: (Verse 21.) And the boy Samuel grew great in the sight of the Lord. 14. In this passage it is very much to be noted that the boy Samuel is said to have been both a boy and magnified. But when he is declared to be magnified, this praise of his virtue is said to have been held not in the sight of men, but in the sight of the Lord. Why then is he called a boy, unless because he had been raised to the height of perfection? Samuel is therefore called both a boy and magnified in the sight of the Lord, because the new order of preachers, even if it has attained to the height of great conduct, has not lost the virtue of its humility. Indeed, to be magnified before God would be of no profit if one ceased to be a boy, because having lost humility, one would be unable to please almighty God by the loftiness of one's conduct. For they had already been magnified who were casting out demons from the possessed in the name of Jesus; but because they had lost the good of their childhood, the Truth rebuked them, saying: "I saw Satan falling like lightning from heaven" (Luke 10:18). Hence again, making a pronouncement, He says: "Unless you are converted and become like little children, you shall not enter into the kingdom of heaven" (Matthew 18:3). Because, therefore, the life of the new preachers is both sublime in merit and lowly through humility, Samuel is fittingly declared to be both magnified and a boy. And because on both accounts they are greatly acceptable to God, he is said to have been magnified not simply, but in the sight of the Lord. There follows: (Verse 22.) Now Eli was very old, and he heard all the things that his sons were doing in all Israel, and how they slept with the women who kept watch at the door of the tabernacle. — Commentary on 1 Kings, Book 2, Chapter 2 Gregory the Dialogist : But since Samuel is first said to have been girded with a linen ephod, and then the mother's fruitfulness in the multitude of children can reasonably be understood as what we observe happening daily—namely, that from the good reputation of a chosen disciple, the gains of converts increase for the master. Hence after the birth of brothers and sisters, Samuel is said to have been magnified before the Lord, because indeed those are already great before the Lord who through the examples of their devout way of life turn the hearts of their neighbors to the service of almighty God. — Commentary on 1 Kings, Book 2, Chapter 3 Jerome : When Hannah had once offered in the tabernacle the son whom she had vowed to God, she never took him back: for she thought it unbecoming that one who was to be a prophet should grow up in the same house with her who still desired to have other sons. Accordingly after she had conceived him and given him birth, she did not venture to come to the temple alone or to appear before the Lord empty but first paid to him what she owed, and then, when she had offered up that great sacrifice, she returned home; and because she had borne her firstborn for God, she was given five children for herself. Do you marvel at the happiness of that holy woman? Imitate her faith. — LETTER 107.13