Note to Anon Lil 37VII
[1] vígðiz oss ‘consecrated himself to us’: The poet continues to emphasize Christ’s active and volitional role: cf. 24/7-8, 29/7-8, and 36/7-8. The Baptism of Jesus was traditionally regarded as Christ’s dedication of himself to humanity. Cf. the Meditaciones Vite Christi of Iohannis de Caulibus: Desponsat enim uniuersalem ecclesiam et singulariter omnes animas fideles. Nam in fide baptismatis desponsantur Domino Iesu Christo, dicente propheta in persona ipsius; Desponsabo te mihi in fide ‘He wedded to himself the universal Church and all faithful souls individually. In the faith of Baptism they are espoused to the Lord Jesus Christ, as Hosea said of Christ, “I shall wed you to myself in faith” (Hos. II:20)’ (Stallings-Taney 1997, 82; Taney 2000, 71). In ON vígja ‘to consecrate’ is used in reference to priestly ordination or monastic consecration; later it came to be used also in reference to marriage (see Sigfús Blöndal 1920-4: vígja).