Fathers

Song of Solomon 1

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The Song of songs, which is Solomon’s. Let him kiss me with the kisses of his mouth; for your love is better than wine. Your oils have a pleasing fragrance. Your name is oil poured out, therefore the virgins love you. Take me away with you. Let’s hurry. The king has brought me into his rooms. We will be glad and rejoice in you. We will praise your love more than wine! They are right to love you. I am dark, but lovely, you daughters of Jerusalem, like Kedar’s tents, like Solomon’s curtains. Don’t stare at me because I am dark, because the sun has scorched me. My mother’s sons were angry with me. They made me keeper of the vineyards. I haven’t kept my own vineyard. Tell me, you whom my soul loves, where you graze your flock, where you rest them at noon; for why should I be as one who is veiled beside the flocks of your companions? If you don’t know, most beautiful among women, follow the tracks of the sheep. Graze your young goats beside the shepherds’ tents. I have compared you, my love, to a steed in Pharaoh’s chariots. Your cheeks are beautiful with earrings, your neck with strings of jewels. We will make you earrings of gold, with studs of silver. While the king sat at his table, my perfume spread its fragrance. My beloved is to me a sachet of myrrh, that lies between my breasts. My beloved is to me a cluster of henna blossoms from the vineyards of En Gedi. Behold, you are beautiful, my love. Behold, you are beautiful. Your eyes are like doves. Behold, you are beautiful, my beloved, yes, pleasant; and our couch is verdant. The beams of our house are cedars. Our rafters are firs.

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What the Fathers say

Song of Solomon 1:10

Western Saints

Bede

Your cheeks are beautiful, etc. It is said to be the nature of the turtle-dove that, if deprived by the loss of its mate, it does not unite with another. This suitably applies to the chastity of the Church, which, although widowed by the death of its Lord and Bridegroom, is so bound by His memory—knowing that He has risen from the dead and now reigns in heaven—that it cannot accept the company of others, content with the love of Him alone, to whom it hopes eventually to reach. …

Commentary on the Song of Songs ↗

Bernard of Clairvaux

"Your cheeks are beautiful as the turtle dove's." The bride's modesty is a delicate thing; and I feel that at the Bridegroom's reproof a warm flush suffused her face, so heightening her beauty that she immediately was greeted with: "Your cheeks are beautiful as the turtle dove's." You must not give an earthbound meaning to this coloring of the corruptible flesh, to this gathering of blood-red liquid that spreads evenly beneath the surface of her pearly skin, quietly mingling with it to enhance her physical beauty by the pink and …

Sermons on the Song of Songs, Sermon 40 ↗

Bonaventure

God's wisdom appears most beautifully in the mysteries of Scripture, even more than in the first manner. For if, so to speak, I wish to praise the bride in that she is pretty and truthful: if I simply say that she is pretty and truthful, my heart is not affected very deeply. But if I say: "Thy cheeks are beautiful as the turtle dove's, thy neck as jewels," I praise her marvelously, if only I understand. I praise her not only as being chaste and good, but as being chaste and loving because of her love for her spouse. …

Collations on the Hexaemeron, Collation 2 ↗