46. The Privileges of the Virgin Mary
With an eye toward her divine motherhood, God granted the Virgin Mary the privilege of being full of grace so that she would be able to perfectly fulfill her unique mission as the Mother of God. We can distinguish two aspects of this privilege:
i) A negative aspect, since her fullness of grace excludes original sin and all actual sins
ii) A positive aspect, since her fullness of grace consists in her eminent holiness: She had been adorned by God with an abundance of graces and supernatural gifts.
Thus, we will study the following privileges of the Blessed Virgin Mary:
· Her Immaculate Conception
· Her immunity from all actual sins and from the very inclination to sin
· Her holiness
5. The Immaculate Conception of the Virgin Mary
Mary was conceived without the stain of original sin (de fide).
On December 8, 1854, Pius IX, in the bull Ineffabilis Deus, declared the Immaculate Conception of Mary a dogma of faith:
We declare, pronounce and define the doctrine that maintains that the Most Blessed Virgin Mary in the first instant of her conception, by a unique grace and privilege of the omnipotent God and in consideration of the merits of Christ Jesus the Savior of the Human Race, was preserved free from all stain of original sin, is a doctrine revealed by God and therefore must be firmly and constantly held by all the faithful.1
This dogmatic definition contains the following three important points, which we will consider in detail:
i) It affirms that the Blessed Virgin Mary had been preserved from all stain of original sin at the moment of her conception, that is, from the moment her soul was created and united to her body.
ii) It also declares this preservation to be a special privilege and a totally singular grace, a fruit of God’s omnipotence.
iii) Finally, it affirms that Mary was preserved from original sin by virtue of the merits of Jesus Christ, the Savior of all mankind.
It was fitting for the Virgin Mary, who had been chosen from all eternity to be the Mother of God, to be the most perfect creature. Consequently, God freed her from all contact with sin and decreed that she should be conceived without original sin. As the theologians explain, “It was fitting for God to free her from sin; he could do so, therefore, he did it.”
Mary was preserved free from original sin by the merits of her Son in view of her future divine motherhood. She was redeemed in the most perfect manner possible, that is, through a preserving redemption that freed her from acquiring the stain of original sin. The Virgin was never subject to this sin.
The redemption that preserved the Virgin from sin is superior to the Redemption that frees from a previously acquired sin, as is the case with the rest of mankind. Obviously, it is better to have been always free from sin than to have been subject to it for a time.
Sacred Scripture shows the privilege of the Immaculate Conception in the words that God addressed to the serpent after Adam’s fall into original sin: “I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your seed and her seed; she shall crush your head, and you shall lie in wait for her heel” (Gn 3:15).2 The Redemption of mankind is announced in this passage of the Old Testament. The passage is called the proto-evangelium, the first announcement of the good news of our Redemption. The Church teaches that Mary and Jesus are prefigured by the woman and her seed, respectively. This statement reveals that Jesus and Mary have “the very same enmity” toward the devil, as Pius IX affirmed in the bull Ineffabilis Deus. If their enmities are exactly the same, then Mary’s enmity should be equally absolute to Christ’s, exclusive of any degree of original friendship with the devil, that is, excluding any state of original sin.
Divine revelation also teaches the doctrine of the Immaculate Conception of Mary through the greeting of the archangel Gabriel: “Hail, full of grace, the Lord is with you” (Lk 1:28). The fullness of grace that the archangel attributes to Mary is incompatible with any sin.
Sacred Tradition is explicit in expressing this privilege of our Lady, particularly after the Council of Ephesus in a.d. 431. Thus, St. Proclus taught that Mary was “formed from the purest clay,”3 and St. John Damascene wrote that Mary “escaped the infected darts of the devil.”4
5a) Immunity from Sin
Mary, by a special privilege of God, was free from all sin, even venial sin, during her entire life (de fide, implicitly defined).
Whenever the Church has stated that all have sinned, she has always been careful not only to exclude the Virgin Mary from this affirmation, but also to define her immunity from sin as a special privilege of God. The Council of Trent defined, “man, once justified, cannot avoid all sins, even venial sins, throughout his entire life without a special privilege of God, as the Church holds in regard to the Blessed Virgin.”5
Sacred Scripture indirectly teaches this truth when it calls Mary “full of grace” (Lk 1:28) because such fullness of grace is incompatible with even the slightest sin.
The Fathers of the Church also taught the total absence of sin in Mary. For example, St. Augustine wrote, “Due to the glory of her Son, who is to redeem the sins of the world, we cannot include Mary when we deal with the topic of sin.”6 The Fathers of the Church even rejected the existence of any voluntary imperfections in Mary and taught that there was no imperfect act of charity or omission whatsoever in her life, for she was always ready to respond promptly to any inspiration from God.
Speculative reason clearly understands how “God prepares and disposes those persons whom he chooses for a particular goal, in such manner that they may find themselves capable of fulfilling the goal for which they were chosen.”7 Mary, one can see, would not have been worthy of being the Mother of God if she had sinned at some time in her life, because, in one way or another, the honor or dishonor of parents always falls upon their children. Consequently, Mary, by a special privilege because she was the Mother of God, was endowed with the gift of moral impeccability, that is, of being confirmed in grace. Thus, she never committed a sin in her life.
The privilege of immunity from sin has, therefore, the following consequences:
· An extremely high degree of habitual grace and charity, which inclines Mary’s soul toward acts of love for God and keeps her away from sin
· The confirmation in grace, which preserved all her faculties from a possible deviation towards evil
Preservation from sin meant that Mary’s will had no inclination at all toward evil. However, this does not mean that she was not free. She kept her full freedom to do good.
5b) Freedom from Concupiscence
Mary was preserved from all inclination to sin (fomes peccati), from the first moment of her conception (sent. certa).
It is logical that the Virgin Mary—conceived without the stain of original sin—could never be subject to concupiscence, understood as disorder of the passions (fomes peccati), which, as the Council of Trent defined, “is from sin and inclines to sin.”8
Like our first parents in the state of original justice before original sin, the Virgin Mary never experienced any disorderly movement in her sensible appetites. They were always subordinated to her intellect and will, which perfectly fulfilled the will of God at every moment of her life.
Mary was not subject to error either, since, by her fullness of grace and total aversion to sin, she was always in the presence of God. In addition to having acquired the knowledge of the Creator through his creatures, she also possessed a profound and simple knowledge of everything that Sacred Scripture taught about the Messiah. All of this knowledge moved her to always adore God and remain with him.
5c) Subjection to Suffering and Pain
The Virgin Mary was subject to pain, and it is uncertain whether or not she was preserved from death (sent. certa).
As in the case of Jesus (but unlike in our case), the sorrows of Mary were certainly not the consequence of original sin. Since she was preserved from all sin, her sufferings were, rather, a consequence of human nature, truly subject in itself to pain and bodily death. Immortality was a special privilege granted to our first parents, and not a quality of human nature itself. Nevertheless, as we will later discuss in the chapter on the Assumption, we are not really certain whether or not Mary died.
There is a great deal of similarity between the pain and death of Jesus and the pain and death of Mary. Jesus was virginally conceived in mortal flesh and voluntarily accepted suffering and death on the cross in order to redeem us. Mary, following Christ’s example, accepted pain voluntarily to unite herself to the suffering and death of her Son. In union with Christ, she atoned for our sins, thus becoming our co-redemptrix.9
Furthermore, the privilege of the Immaculate Conception, far from removing her suffering, increased Mary’s capacity to suffer. It also led her to offer every occasion of pain and suffering for our salvation in union with the sufferings of her Son.
6. The Sanctity of the Mother of God
6a) The Virgin Mary’s Initial Fullness of Grace
Before conceiving our Lord, Mary received the fullness of grace necessary to adequately prepare her for the dignity of divine motherhood.
Divine revelation expresses this truth in the angelic salutation: “Hail, full of grace, the Lord is with you” (Lk 1:28).
The Magisterium of the Church teaches that Mary “was loved by God above all creatures. God was pleased entirely with her and admirably crowned her with all graces, much more grace than that of all the angelic spirits and all the saints.”10
Reason, enlightened by faith, helps us understand that the closer we are to the source of all graces, the more graces we will receive. Since Mary was the closest to the principle of grace—Christ himself—she received from him the fullness of grace from the first instant of her conception. This plenitude of grace surpasses that of all creatures combined.
The initial grace of Mary is even greater than the final state of grace of all mankind and angels put together. Theological reasoning concludes that Mary’s initial fullness of grace is superior to that of all the angels and saints because Mary received it as a preparation for her divine motherhood.
Finally, because of Mary’s initial fullness of grace, she received the supreme fullness of infused virtues and the gifts of the Holy Spirit. The Church teaches that the theological virtues and gifts of the Holy Spirit are infused, together with sanctifying grace, in the soul of the just person. Mary, full of grace, received an equal plenitude of infused virtues and gifts of the Holy Spirit.
6b) Increase in Grace at the Incarnation and During her Life
Through her complete submission to the will of God, the Blessed Virgin, at the moment of conceiving Jesus Christ in her womb, received an increase of grace (sent. comm.).
The Blessed Virgin Mary continuously grew in holiness in the course of her life by freely corresponding to God’s grace at every moment.11 The initial grace of Mary, though full and perfect, was not infinite. It is only logical for her to grow in grace and merit throughout her life.
There is a moment in her life that highlights her loving fulfillment of the will of God: the Incarnation of the Word, which took place as a consequence of her unconditional fiat. It is merely logical for an increase of grace to follow that moment. There are three reasons for such an increase:
i) By the mystery of the Incarnation itself, it was fitting for the Blessed Virgin to receive an increase in grace to directly prepare her for the reception of the Word Incarnate in her womb.
ii) Besides, it is but logical for the Son of God himself, upon being made man in Mary through the Incarnation, to enrich her with more grace because Jesus Christ is the cause of grace.
iii) Lastly, the mutual love between the Son of God and his mother is a motive for an increase of grace. In fact, grace is the fruit of love for God. Since the Word Incarnate loves his mother more than any other creature, he grants her superabundant graces. Further, our Lady’s most perfect correspondence to this grace made her more worthy of it.
6c) Mary’s Final Fullness of Grace
The Virgin Mary enjoys the most perfect bliss in heaven, greater than what any other created person is capable of attaining. Her bodily Assumption into heaven and her universal mediation are manifestations of her eternal and supreme happiness.
7. The Perpetual Virginity of Mary
The term virginity has two aspects: a bodily aspect and a moral aspect. The bodily aspect refers to the physical integrity of the Blessed Virgin before, during, and after giving birth to Jesus Christ. The moral aspect, which Mary equally possessed, refers to the deliberate and virtuous habit of perpetually preserving her virginity.12
7a) The Virginal Conception
Holy Mary conceived her son, Jesus Christ, by the power and grace of the Holy Spirit, all the while maintaining her virginity (de fide).
Mary’s virginity before Christ’s birth—the virginal conception of Jesus Christ—is one of the great truths of our faith. The Creed affirms that Jesus “was conceived by the power of the Holy Spirit, born of the Virgin Mary.”13 Jesus’ virginal conception is a truth firmly maintained and constantly taught by the Church.14
Sacred Scripture reveals that “a young woman [virgin] shall conceive and bear a son” (Is 7:14). The virginal conception is also made manifest in the scene of the annunciation when Mary asks, ‘“How can this be, since I have no husband?’ And the angel said to her: ‘The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you; therefore the child to be born will be called holy, the Son of God’” (Lk 1:34–35). God also revealed it to St. Joseph in a dream: “Joseph, son of David, do not fear to take Mary your wife, for that which is conceived in her is of the Holy Spirit” (Mt 1:20). The Gospels again highlight the virginity of Mary when they refer to Jesus as “being the son (as was supposed) of Joseph” (Lk 3:23).
The Fathers of the Church unanimously taught the virginal conception of Jesus as an essential truth of our faith.
Reason, enlightened by faith, can discover that it was fitting for the only-begotten Son of the Father not to have another father on earth according to the flesh.
7b) The Virgin Birth
Mary’s virginity was preserved while she gave birth to her Son (de fide).
Mary’s virginity during childbirth was defined by the Lateran Council of a.d. 649 when it declared that she gave birth to the divine Word “without any detriment to her virginity, which remained inviolable even after his birth.”15
St. Ambrose, echoing the unanimous teachings of the Fathers of the Church, wrote: “She shall be a Virgin in conception and at childbirth.”16
To better understand this truth, some writers have piously compared the preservation of Mary’s virginity during Christ’s birth to a sunbeam going through glass without modifying it in any way.
7c) Virginity after the Birth of Jesus
Holy Mary remained a virgin after having given birth to Christ (de fide).
The Lateran Council of a.d. 649 taught the doctrine of Mary’s virginity after childbirth, that is, her perpetual virginity after the birth of our Savior.17 Pope Paul IV proclaimed this doctrine anew when he condemned whoever dared to claim that “the Blessed Virgin Mary … did not remain a perfect virgin before, while, and forever after she gave birth.”18
In Sacred Scripture, the words “I have no husband” (Lk 1:34) are understood as meaning that Mary made a firm resolution to maintain her virginity through a deliberate act of her will. This transforms the physical fact of virginity into a virtuous act. When one reads Jesus Christ’s declaration from the cross “Behold, your mother” (Jn 19:27), one can reasonably conclude that Mary was entrusted to John’s care because she had no other children.
Some expressions in Sacred Scripture about Mary seem confusing at first sight. Once the right interpretation is given, however, they are perfectly consistent with the truth of the perpetual virginity of Mary. When we read that Mary “gave birth to her first-born son” (Lk 2:7), this does not mean that Mary had other children, but simply that Jesus was her first child. In a tombstone found in Alexandria from the same period as Mary and Jesus, one reads the following epitaph: “She died when she brought forth her first-born child.” It is obvious that this woman could not have had more children. Her only child was called her first-born child.
Another passage, “but [Joseph] knew her not until she had borne a son” (Mt 1:25), does not imply anything about what happened afterwards, but simply tells us that Joseph did not have sexual relations with her before the moment of childbirth. The same applies to the following passage: “Before they came together she was found to be with child” (Mt 1:18). Likewise, the brothers and sisters of Jesus mentioned in Scriptures (cf. Jn 7:3) were simply his cousins or relatives. Hebrew does not have a separate word for each degree of relationship but groups all of them as “relatives.” It was the way people used to speak. One clear example of this linguistic practice is found in the Old Testament; Abraham sometimes calls Lot his nephew and sometimes his brother (cf. Gn 11–13).
From the fourth century on, the Fathers of the Church very frequently give Mary the title of “ever Virgin.” They wrote extensively about the perpetual virginity of Holy Mary.
Reason, enlightened by faith, explains why the existence of some brothers of Jesus would not quite reconcile with his great dignity. Since he is the only-begotten Son of the Father from all eternity, it was fitting for him to be the only Son of Mary in time. Besides, the loss of her virginity would be an offense to the Holy Spirit, who sanctified her virginal womb forever.
8. Mary’s Assumption into Heaven
Because of her divine motherhood, Mary was intimately related to Jesus Christ. This relationship, which began here on earth, continues in heaven in its fullest degree. Thus, in the same way as the Ascension is the crowning of Jesus’ life on earth, the Assumption into heaven is the culmination of Mary’s earthly life.
We will, thus, study the fact of the Virgin’s Assumption into heaven, leaving aside the manner in which it was done, that is, whether or not she actually died. We will not discuss this second issue because the very papal bull that defined the dogma of the Assumption left the question unanswered. We have already seen that if the Virgin Mary actually died, it would not have been as punishment for original sin (she was born immaculate) or for actual sins (she never committed any), but rather to imitate her Son, who—being sinless—took death upon himself.
The Virgin Mary was assumed, body and soul, into heaven (de fide).
Since the sixth century, the Church—in the East as well as in the West—has celebrated the feast of the Assumption of Mary on August 15. The Assumption of Mary into heaven, believed and taught by the Church, was defined as dogma by Pope Pius XII through the constitution Munificentissimus Deus as follows: “By our own authority, we pronounce, declare, and define it to be a divinely revealed dogma: that the Immaculate Mother of God, the ever Virgin Mary, having completed the course of her earthly life, was assumed body and soul into heavenly glory.”19
The Assumption of the Virgin Mary is implicitly revealed in Sacred Scripture: “And a great portent appeared in heaven, a woman clothed with the sun, with the moon under her feet, and on her head a crown of twelve stars” (Rv 12:1). The Church interprets this passage as a reference to the Virgin Mary, who appears in heaven full of glory.
Reason enlightened by faith helps us understand the dogma of the Virgin’s Assumption into heaven:
· We have already pointed out that the Assumption of Mary is the summit of her life on earth. Being the mother of the Savior, she, like Jesus Christ, finds the fullness of her life in heaven.
· Furthermore, Mary received the fullness of grace and, consequently, was particularly “blessed … among women” (Lk 1:42). This exceptional blessing excludes the divine malediction (cf. Gn 3:16–19). Therefore, we can conclude that the Virgin Mary ought to be preserved from the corruption of the tomb and that her body should not return to the ground. She should be either preserved from death or subject to death but rise again through an anticipated resurrection and be assumed into heaven.
· The Virgin Mary was also closely associated to the full victory of Christ over the devil on Calvary. This victory includes the triumph over sin and death. It is, therefore, fitting for Mary to be associated with the complete victory over death through the Assumption of her body and soul into heaven.
9. Mary’s Glorification: The Queenship of Mary
God crowned the Virgin Mary Queen of heaven and earth. He exalted her above all the angels and saints. She intercedes effectively for all of us through her prayer (de fide eccl.).
“The Mother of Christ is glorified as ‘Queen of the Universe.’”20 “In the glory which she possesses in body and soul in heaven she is the image and beginning of the Church.”21 The queenship of Mary belongs to the spiritual kingdom, which is eternal and universal; its essence is service to her Son’s mission. Her power of mediation is so great that she is called the omnipotent suppliant.
The Church, through her Tradition, liturgy, and the teachings of theologians, attests to the queenship of Mary. In 1954, Pius XII instituted the feast of Mary the Queen, which is celebrated on August 22, for the entire Church: “We do not intend to add a new truth to the faith of the Christian people, because the title itself and the arguments on which the queenly dignity of Mary is based have been actually magnificently explained throughout the ages and are found in the ancient documents of the Church and in the books of Sacred Liturgy.” He collected these documents in his encyclical Ad Coeli Reginam, of October 11, 1954, as authentic and solemn proof of Mary’s queenship.
The Fathers of the Church call Mary “Lady” and “Queen.” The Magisterium of the Church, in using the same expressions, teaches the truth of the queenship of Mary as well. For example, the Second Vatican Council declared that Mary was “exalted by the Lord as Queen over all things, that she might be the more fully conformed to her Son, the Lord of lords and the conqueror of sin and death.”22
The theological reasons used to demonstrate the fittingness of the Virgin Mary’s privilege of being called “queen” are based on her status as Mother of Christ the King:
· Mary engendered the body of Jesus Christ and is, therefore, the Mother of God. Jesus Christ as man is king because his human nature is hypostatically united to the divine Person. Therefore, Mary, as mother of the Lord, participates in the kingship and universal kingdom of Christ.
· Further, Jesus Christ is king of the universe by his fullness of grace and his victory over the devil, sin, and death. Mary, therefore, who takes part in the victorious Redemption of Christ, is also associated with his universal kingship.
· Finally, the Virgin Mary is closely united to God. She is the daughter of God the Father, the mother of God the Son, and the spouse of God the Holy Spirit. Consequently, she is also the queen of the universe.
Some aspects of the queenship of Mary are mentioned in the Litany of Loreto: “Queen of angels,” “Queen of patriarchs,” “Queen of prophets,” “Queen of apostles, “Queen of martyrs,” “Queen of confessors,” “Queen of virgins,” “Queen of all saints,” and “Queen of peace.”
10. The Spiritual Motherhood of the Virgin Mary
In our study of our Lady’s divine motherhood and privileges, so far we have only considered her relationship with God. We will now discuss her relationship with all people through her spiritual motherhood (a consequence of her divine motherhood) and through her mediation and co-redemption (aspects of that spiritual motherhood).
The spiritual motherhood of Mary complements the divine motherhood on which it depends. Mary is the mother of the total Christ: the physical mother of Christ, the head of the Church, and the spiritual mother of the members of his Mystical Body.
The Second Vatican Council explained the doctrine of the Church concerning Mary’s spiritual motherhood of all people.23
In what sense is Mary our mother? The Virgin Mary is not our mother in a natural, physical sense. She is, rather, our spiritual mother since, through her union with Christ the Redeemer, she has transmitted to us the supernatural life of grace. If St. Paul could say of himself, “I became your father in Christ Jesus through the gospel” (1 Cor 4:15), or “My little children, with whom I am again in travail” (Gal 4:19), with greater reason could we speak of the spiritual motherhood of Mary, who gave us her Son, Jesus Christ our Lord, source of eternal life. Even more, Mary, “in a wholly singular way cooperated by her obedience, faith, hope, and burning charity in the work of the Savior in restoring supernatural life to souls. For this reason she is our Mother in the order of grace.”24
When did Mary become our Mother? The Motherhood of Mary to all mankind began with her fiat and reached its fullness on the cross, when our Lord explicitly presented her to us as our mother: “Woman, behold your son! … Behold, your mother!” (Jn 19:26–27). Since St. John represented all of us, as the Church teaches, we can very well say that our Lord has given Holy Mary to each one of us as mother. Thus, Mary became our mother because of her total adherence to the will of God the Father, to the redeeming work of her Son, and to the promptings of the Holy Spirit.
Who has the right to enjoy the benefits of her Motherhood? The Virgin Mary is the mother of all the faithful, of all those who believe in her Son and receive the life of grace through him. Through grace, the Christian is mystically identified with Christ and, consequently, becomes a child of Holy Mary. Therefore, Sacred Scripture says that “those whom he foreknew he has also predestined to become conformed to the image of his Son, in order that he might be the first-born among many brethren” (Rom 8:29).
10a) The Virgin Mary is the Mother of Mercy
Pope John Paul II talks specifically about this topic in his encyclical Dives in Misericordia: “Nobody but Mary has ever experienced divine mercy in such a singular and exceptional manner. In an equally exceptional way, she has been able to show forth her own participation of the divine mercy through the sacrifice of her heart.”25
Mercy is a virtue proper to good and powerful persons who are actually capable of giving help. It is principally a virtue of God. The Virgin Mary participates in God’s mercy and intercedes for all of us to God, who often gives us more than we need, more than we justly deserve, so that mercy may triumph over justice.
She who at the Annunciation called herself the “handmaid of the Lord” remained throughout her earthly life faithful to what this name expresses. In this she confirmed that she was a true “disciple” of Christ, who strongly emphasized that his mission was one of service.…
Christ entered into the glory of his kingdom. Mary, the handmaid of the Lord, has a share in this Kingdom of the Son. The glory of serving does not cease to be her royal exaltation; assumed into heaven, she does not cease her saving service, which expresses her maternal mediation.
Mary’s maternal mediation does not cease to be subordinate to him who is the one Mediator, until the final realization of “the fullness of time,” that is to say until “all things are united in Christ” (cf. Eph 1:10).26
10b) The Virgin Mary is the Mother of the Church
One specific aspect of Mary’s spiritual motherhood is her title “Mother of the Church.” The Second Vatican Council highlights the elements that determine Mary’s motherhood towards the Church:
· The Virgin Mary, as the most excellent and unique member of the Mystical Body, is the type of the Church. The Church reaches her fullness and perfection in Mary. “In the mystery of the Church, which is herself rightly called mother and virgin, the Blessed Virgin stands out in eminent and singular fashion as exemplar both of virgin and mother.”27
· Mary is the spiritual mother of the Church: “For the glory of the Virgin and our consolation, we proclaim most Holy Mary as Mother of the Church. She is the Mother of all the people of God, of both the faithful and the pastors, who call her most loving Mother. From now on we want her to be honored and invoked with this most pleasing title. We are dealing with a title … that is not new to the piety of Christians. In fact, the faithful and the entire Church are used to calling Mary with this name, with preference over any other, justified by her dignity as the Mother of the Word Incarnate.”28
· Mary is the Mother of the Church because she is the Mother of God: “Mary’s divine motherhood … constitutes the fundamental principle of her relationship with the Church … since she is the mother of him who from the very first instant of his Incarnation in her virginal womb, was made head of his Mystical Body, the Church. Mary, therefore, as the mother of Christ, is also mother of the faithful and all the pastors. She is therefore the Mother of the Church.”29
10c) The Virgin Mary is the Mediatrix of All Graces
The Virgin Mary is the mediatrix between God and humanity because she is the Mother of God and the mother of all mankind. This privilege allows her to intercede effectively. In fact, Mary, by her divine motherhood, intercedes before God for all people. By her spiritual motherhood, she brings God’s grace and help to us. The Magisterium of the Church thus honors Mary with titles such as “Mediatrix of all graces,”30 “Mediatrix before her Only-Begotten Son,”31 and “Mediatrix before the Mediator.”32
(1) The universal mediation of Mary Mary is the Mediatrix of all graces for three reasons:
i) She gave the Redeemer to the world (de fide).
ii) She intercedes before God and presents all prayers and good works to him.
iii) God decreed, after Mary’s Assumption into heaven, that no one would receive graces from him except through the special intercession of Mary (de fide eccl.).
The Gospel narrative tells us that the Redemption of Christ, with the participation of Mary, will continue until the end of time. According to the common doctrine of the Church, when the Virgin Mary answered the archangel Gabriel “Let it be to me according to your word” (Lk 1:38), she spoke as the representative of all mankind. This includes those who lived in the past, those who live in the present, and those who are to come. This is why we believe that the Virgin Mary collaborates not only as co-redeemer in the Redemption of Christ, but also as mediatrix in the application of the Redemption to every person through all ages.
The Fathers of the Church also preached Mary’s universal mediation. St. Augustine wrote that Mary “collaborated through her charity in the spiritual birth of all the faithful, who are members of Christ.”33
(2) Mary’s maternal mediation Sacred Scripture teaches us that Mary interceded for people while she was here on earth. In the wedding feast at Cana, for example, she told Jesus that “they have no wine” (Jn 2:3) and she moved Jesus to perform the miracle of the conversion of water into wine. She also prayed steadfastly with the apostles in the upper room (cf. Acts 1:14ff). Consequently, we should believe even more firmly that Mary intercedes for us from heaven after the Ascension.34 “Taken up to heaven she did not lay aside this saving office but by her manifold intercession continues to bring us the gifts of eternal salvation.”35
Reason enlightened by faith helps us understand Holy Mary’s power of intercession. The Virgin, mother of all, knows our needs, and, logically, moved by her great love for us, intercedes efficaciously for all mankind before her Son Jesus Christ, the Redeemer of all mankind. The efficacy of Mary’s prayers is based on their unity with the prayer of Christ, her Son, whose petitions are always granted.
The Church prays repeatedly in the litany of the Holy Rosary, “Holy Mary, pray for us,” and lex orandi, lex credendi.
(3) Can Mary’s universal mediation be defined? The Church teaches the doctrine of the universal mediation of the Virgin Mary: “Of the vast treasure of all grace that the Lord has won … nothing at all is given to us, in accordance with God’s will, except through Mary.”36 In the Holy Rosary, we ask the intercession of Mary for our many needs: “Health of the sick,” “Refuge of sinners,” “Consoler of the afflicted,” “Help of Christians.” Thus, through her, a multitude of graces are granted to man.
The Church could officially define the universal mediation of Mary easily, since the Magisterium of the Church in recent years has been unanimous in this point. Leo XIII says, “She is the Mediatress with the Mediator.”37 St. Pius X calls her “the dispenser of all gifts that Jesus has won for us through his blood.”38 The Second Vatican Council tells us that “the Blessed Virgin is invoked in the Church under the titles of Advocate, Helper, Benefactress, and Mediatrix.”39
10d) The Virgin Mary is Co-Redemptrix
The Virgin Mary is co-redemptrix because she united herself to the work of the Redeemer when she accepted God’s will and became the Mother of God. She freely consented through the initial fiat, by which she accepted the Incarnation of the Word. Her acceptance implicitly includes the Redemption.40
Our Lady was not ignorant of the Messianic prophecies. Furthermore, she repeatedly meditated on the prophecies about her Son, such as that of Simeon: “Behold, this child is set for the fall and rising of many in Israel, and for a sign that is spoken against (and a sword will pierce through your own soul also)” (Lk 2:34–35).
As time passed, Mary came to better understand how the Redemption must take place through the expiatory death of her Son (cf. Is 53:3–6). Through her fiat, the Virgin Mary, the new Eve, united herself to Jesus Christ (the principal and instrumental cause of the redemption of mankind) as a subordinate cause in the work of salvation in a manner analogous to Eve’s participation with Adam in the work of perdition.
Still, the fundamental reason for Mary’s co-redemption is that she engendered our Lord in the body with which he suffered and died for our Redemption. Furthermore, being the mother of the Redeemer, the Virgin Mary united herself to him in perfect conformity with his will, just as the Magisterium of the Church teaches us:
The glory of Mary is not only due to her consent to be Mother of the Only-Begotten Son of God, in order to make the sacrifice destined for the salvation of all men possible; it also consists in her acceptance of the mission to protect and nourish the sacrificial Lamb and to lead him to the altar of immolation, when the precise moment arrived. In this way, the union of the lives and sufferings of Mary and her Son was never interrupted.41
As a result of this union of suffering and willing between Mary and Christ, she “most deservedly merited to be the restorer of the lost world” and therefore the dispenser of all gifts that Jesus has won for us with his death and blood.… Seeing that she is holier than all and more closely united with Christ, and as he has chosen her as his associate for the work of human salvation, she merits for us congruously (de congruo), as they say, what Christ merited in strict justice (de condigno), and she is the principal agent in distributing graces.42
Because of this, the participation of the Virgin Mary in the Redemption is not only more intimate than the participation that the disciples of Jesus could achieve through grace, but is also different from it.
11. The Veneration of the Virgin Mary
11a) The Cult of Hyperdulia
“All generations will call me blessed” (Lk 1:48). The piety of the Church toward the Blessed Virgin is an intrinsic element of the Christian cult.43
Cult, in general, is honor attributed to someone superior to us. The cult given to the servants of God is honor rendered to God himself, who manifests himself and attracts us to himself through them. The Council of Trent defined this to defend the faith against Protestant reformers, who held that the cult of the saints was a mode of superstition.44
The Church teaches us that the cult of hyperdulia or supreme dulia (veneration) should be rendered to the Blessed Virgin Mary because of her eminent dignity as the Mother of God. This kind of veneration is different from the cult of latria (adoration)—proper to God alone—and the simple cult of dulia, which is proper to the other saints.
St. Epiphanius, St. Gregory Nazianzen, and St. Ambrose, to name a few, explicitly talked about the cult that is due to Mary.45 We have received some prayers dedicated to the Virgin from St. Ephrem, who died in a.d. 378. This cult is based on the divine motherhood of Mary and her fullness of grace, which is far superior to the grace attained by the saints.
The history of the Church shows that, since the earliest times, the first Christians rendered the cult of hyperdulia to the Virgin Mary. The first representations of the Most Holy Virgin with the Child Jesus in her arms, for example, are found in Roman catacombs dating from the second to the fourth centuries. The Second Vatican Council teaches:
Mary is rightly honored by a special cult in the Church. From the earliest times the Blessed Virgin is honored under the title of Mother of God, whose protection the faithful take refuge together in prayer in all their perils and needs.… This cult … differs essentially from the cult of adoration, which is offered equally to the Incarnate Word, and to the Father, and to the Holy Spirit, and it is most favorable to it.46
11b) The Fruits of Devotion to the Virgin Mary
Devotion to the Blessed Virgin, which leads us to imitate her virtues, is the surest way to salvation. Mary obtains final perseverance for those who faithfully ask for it, since she is the universal mediatrix of all graces. She looks with special benevolence toward her devout children. “To Jesus we always go, and to him we always return, through Mary.”47 Devotion to Mary is, thus, often counted as one of the signs of predestination.
In a more general way, the veneration rendered to the Virgin Mary reaffirms the foundations of the faith of the Church, since it is based on the faith in the redeeming Incarnation of Jesus Christ. It is, thus, a safeguard against heresies. At the same time, it is a path to holiness, and it glorifies our Lord.
11c) Some Marian Devotions
To honor the Virgin Mary, the Church celebrates different Marian feasts throughout the liturgical year.48 Some are specially important and solemn, for example, the feast of Holy Mary Mother of God, the Annunciation, the Assumption of Our Lady, Mary the Queen, the Sorrows of Our Lady, the Nativity of Our Lady, Our Lady of the Rosary, and the Immaculate Conception. More recently, (in the year 2002) the pope has restored the feast of the Most Sweet Name of Mary to be celebrated on September 12. In this way, the Christian faithful are encouraged to filially venerate the mysteries of the life of Mary, seek her powerful intercession, and imitate her virtues.
The Christian faithful, as good children of Mary, render filial veneration to the Virgin through other devotions, both public and private. Some that have taken stronger roots in Christian tradition are the following:
· Prayers: The Hail Mary,49 the Holy Rosary, the litanies, and the Angelus
· Practices: Marian confraternities and sodalities, May (the month of Mary), pilgrimages, medals,50 Saturdays dedicated to the Virgin, and the scapular—“Wear on your breast the holy scapular of Carmel. There are many excellent Marian devotions, but few are as deep-rooted among the faithful and so richly blessed by the popes. Besides, how motherly is the sabbatine privilege!”51
· Sanctuaries and shrines: those erected specifically to honor the Mother of God52
Among all the Marian devotions, the Holy Rosary is the most important: “The Holy Rosary is a powerful weapon. Use it with confidence and you’ll be amazed at the results.”53 The popes have strongly recommended the praying of the Holy Rosary. Pope Paul VI wrote, “Do not fail to inculcate with all care the recital of the Holy Rosary, the prayer so well-loved by the Virgin and so often recommended by the Supreme Pontiffs, by means of which the faithful could fulfill, in a simple and efficacious manner, the command of the Lord: ask and you shall receive, seek and you shall find, knock and it shall be opened to you.”54 The excellence of the Rosary proceeds from its very nature,55 an excellence further emphasized by the praise it has received from the Roman pontiffs.
12. St. Joseph’s Predestination and Eminent Sanctity
After Mary, St. Joseph is the greatest of all saints.
Christ wanted to be born and grow in the bosom of the Holy Family of Joseph and Mary. The Church, the family of God, has special veneration for St. Joseph.56 No one is greater than him, save the Virgin Mary. The reason for Joseph’s preeminence is the proportionate fullness of grace he received so as to carry out his mission as the foster father of Jesus. He was directly and immediately chosen by God for this unique task in the world.
St. Joseph’s mission surpassed the order of grace itself and approached the hypostatic order, which consists in the very same mystery of the Incarnation.
The whole Church recognizes St. Joseph as a patron and guardian. For centuries many different features of his life have caught the attention of believers. He was a man ever faithful to the mission God gave him. That is why, for many years now, I have liked to address him affectionately as “our father and lord.”57
The virtues of St. Joseph are a splendid model for us. “St. Joseph, our father and lord, is a teacher of the interior life. Put yourself under his patronage and you’ll feel the effect of his power.”58 The Church encourages us, so as to be prepared for the hour of our death, to ask the intercession of the Mother of God and of St. Joseph, who died surrounded by Jesus and Mary.59
Footnotes:
1. Pius IX, Bull Ineffabilis Deus, Dec. 8, 1854: DS 2803; cf. CCC, 490–493.
2. In the Vulgate version. Other versions read “He,” referring to her seed, Christ.
3. St. Proclus, Orat., 4.2.
4. St. John Damascene, Hom., 1.7.
5. DS 1573; cf. CCC, 493.
6. St. Augustine, De Nat. et Gratia, 36.
7. ST, III, q. 27, a. 4.
8. DS 1515.
9. Cf. CCC, 618, 964.
10. Pius IX, Ineffabilis Deus: DS 2800; cf. CCC, 721–726.
11. Cf. CCC, 494.
12. Cf. CCC, 496–507.
13. DS 30.
14. Cf. DS 30, 503, 555; CCC, 437, 496–507, 723.
15. DS 503; cf. CCC, 499.
16. St. Ambrose, Ep. 42.
17. Cf. DS 503.
18. DS 1880; cf. CCC, 500–501, 510.
19. Pius XII, Const. Munificentissimus Deus, 44; cf. CCC, 966.
20. John Paul II, Enc. Redemptoris Mater, 41.
21. LG, 68; cf CCC, 972.
22. LG, 59; cf CCC, 966–968, 970.
23. Cf. LG, 60–63; CCC, 501, 721, 724–726, 967–970.
24. LG, 61.
25. John Paul II, Enc. Dives in Misericordia, 9; cf. CCC, 966, 2677.
26. John Paul II, Enc. Redemptoris Mater, 41.
27. LG, 63; cf. CCC, 507, 963–970, 972.
28. Paul VI, Speech at the closing of the Second Vatican Council, Nov. 21, 1964.
29. Ibid.
30. Pius IX, Enc. Caritate Christi Compulsi; cf. CCC, 967–970, 975.
31. Pius IX, Bull Ineffabilis Deus.
32. Leo XIII, Enc. Fidentem Piumque: DS 3321.
33. St. Augustine, Sancta Virg., 6.6.
34. Cf. CCC, 965–966, 1014, 2673–2679.
35. LG, 62.
36. Leo XIII, Enc. Octobri Mensi: DS 3274.
37. Leo XIII, Enc. Fidentem Piumque: DS 3321.
38. St. Pius X, Enc. Ad Diem Illum: DS 3370.
39. LG, 62; cf. CCC, 969.
40. Cf. CCC, 964, 968–969, 973, 1370.
41. Leo XIII, Enc. Iucunda Semper.
42. St. Pius X, Enc. Ad Diem Illum: DS 3370.
43. Cf. CCC, 971.
44. Cf. DS 1744, 1755, 1821.
45. Cf. St. Epiphanius, Haer., 79; St. Gregory Nazianzen, Orat., 24.11; St. Ambrose, De Inst. Virg., 13.83.
46. LG, 66.
47. St. Josemaría Escrivá, The Way, 495.
48. Cf. CCC, 971.
49. Cf. Ibid., 2676-2677.
50. Cf. Ibid., 1674.
51. St. Josemaría Escrivá, The Way, 500.
52. Cf. CCC, 1674.
53. St. Josemaría Escrivá, The Way, 558; cf. CCC, 2678.
54. Paul VI, Enc. Mense Maio, Apr. 29, 1965.
55. Cf. Paul VI, Ap. Ex. Marialis Cultus, Feb. 4, 1974.
56. Cf. CCC, 437, 534, 1655, 2177.
57. St. Josemaría Escrivá, Christ is Passing By, no. 39.
58. St. Josemaría Escrivá, The Way, 560.
59. Cf. CCC, 1014.
i) A negative aspect, since her fullness of grace excludes original sin and all actual sins
ii) A positive aspect, since her fullness of grace consists in her eminent holiness: She had been adorned by God with an abundance of graces and supernatural gifts.
Thus, we will study the following privileges of the Blessed Virgin Mary:
· Her Immaculate Conception
· Her immunity from all actual sins and from the very inclination to sin
· Her holiness
5. The Immaculate Conception of the Virgin Mary
Mary was conceived without the stain of original sin (de fide).
On December 8, 1854, Pius IX, in the bull Ineffabilis Deus, declared the Immaculate Conception of Mary a dogma of faith:
We declare, pronounce and define the doctrine that maintains that the Most Blessed Virgin Mary in the first instant of her conception, by a unique grace and privilege of the omnipotent God and in consideration of the merits of Christ Jesus the Savior of the Human Race, was preserved free from all stain of original sin, is a doctrine revealed by God and therefore must be firmly and constantly held by all the faithful.1
This dogmatic definition contains the following three important points, which we will consider in detail:
i) It affirms that the Blessed Virgin Mary had been preserved from all stain of original sin at the moment of her conception, that is, from the moment her soul was created and united to her body.
ii) It also declares this preservation to be a special privilege and a totally singular grace, a fruit of God’s omnipotence.
iii) Finally, it affirms that Mary was preserved from original sin by virtue of the merits of Jesus Christ, the Savior of all mankind.
It was fitting for the Virgin Mary, who had been chosen from all eternity to be the Mother of God, to be the most perfect creature. Consequently, God freed her from all contact with sin and decreed that she should be conceived without original sin. As the theologians explain, “It was fitting for God to free her from sin; he could do so, therefore, he did it.”
Mary was preserved free from original sin by the merits of her Son in view of her future divine motherhood. She was redeemed in the most perfect manner possible, that is, through a preserving redemption that freed her from acquiring the stain of original sin. The Virgin was never subject to this sin.
The redemption that preserved the Virgin from sin is superior to the Redemption that frees from a previously acquired sin, as is the case with the rest of mankind. Obviously, it is better to have been always free from sin than to have been subject to it for a time.
Sacred Scripture shows the privilege of the Immaculate Conception in the words that God addressed to the serpent after Adam’s fall into original sin: “I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your seed and her seed; she shall crush your head, and you shall lie in wait for her heel” (Gn 3:15).2 The Redemption of mankind is announced in this passage of the Old Testament. The passage is called the proto-evangelium, the first announcement of the good news of our Redemption. The Church teaches that Mary and Jesus are prefigured by the woman and her seed, respectively. This statement reveals that Jesus and Mary have “the very same enmity” toward the devil, as Pius IX affirmed in the bull Ineffabilis Deus. If their enmities are exactly the same, then Mary’s enmity should be equally absolute to Christ’s, exclusive of any degree of original friendship with the devil, that is, excluding any state of original sin.
Divine revelation also teaches the doctrine of the Immaculate Conception of Mary through the greeting of the archangel Gabriel: “Hail, full of grace, the Lord is with you” (Lk 1:28). The fullness of grace that the archangel attributes to Mary is incompatible with any sin.
Sacred Tradition is explicit in expressing this privilege of our Lady, particularly after the Council of Ephesus in a.d. 431. Thus, St. Proclus taught that Mary was “formed from the purest clay,”3 and St. John Damascene wrote that Mary “escaped the infected darts of the devil.”4
5a) Immunity from Sin
Mary, by a special privilege of God, was free from all sin, even venial sin, during her entire life (de fide, implicitly defined).
Whenever the Church has stated that all have sinned, she has always been careful not only to exclude the Virgin Mary from this affirmation, but also to define her immunity from sin as a special privilege of God. The Council of Trent defined, “man, once justified, cannot avoid all sins, even venial sins, throughout his entire life without a special privilege of God, as the Church holds in regard to the Blessed Virgin.”5
Sacred Scripture indirectly teaches this truth when it calls Mary “full of grace” (Lk 1:28) because such fullness of grace is incompatible with even the slightest sin.
The Fathers of the Church also taught the total absence of sin in Mary. For example, St. Augustine wrote, “Due to the glory of her Son, who is to redeem the sins of the world, we cannot include Mary when we deal with the topic of sin.”6 The Fathers of the Church even rejected the existence of any voluntary imperfections in Mary and taught that there was no imperfect act of charity or omission whatsoever in her life, for she was always ready to respond promptly to any inspiration from God.
Speculative reason clearly understands how “God prepares and disposes those persons whom he chooses for a particular goal, in such manner that they may find themselves capable of fulfilling the goal for which they were chosen.”7 Mary, one can see, would not have been worthy of being the Mother of God if she had sinned at some time in her life, because, in one way or another, the honor or dishonor of parents always falls upon their children. Consequently, Mary, by a special privilege because she was the Mother of God, was endowed with the gift of moral impeccability, that is, of being confirmed in grace. Thus, she never committed a sin in her life.
The privilege of immunity from sin has, therefore, the following consequences:
· An extremely high degree of habitual grace and charity, which inclines Mary’s soul toward acts of love for God and keeps her away from sin
· The confirmation in grace, which preserved all her faculties from a possible deviation towards evil
Preservation from sin meant that Mary’s will had no inclination at all toward evil. However, this does not mean that she was not free. She kept her full freedom to do good.
5b) Freedom from Concupiscence
Mary was preserved from all inclination to sin (fomes peccati), from the first moment of her conception (sent. certa).
It is logical that the Virgin Mary—conceived without the stain of original sin—could never be subject to concupiscence, understood as disorder of the passions (fomes peccati), which, as the Council of Trent defined, “is from sin and inclines to sin.”8
Like our first parents in the state of original justice before original sin, the Virgin Mary never experienced any disorderly movement in her sensible appetites. They were always subordinated to her intellect and will, which perfectly fulfilled the will of God at every moment of her life.
Mary was not subject to error either, since, by her fullness of grace and total aversion to sin, she was always in the presence of God. In addition to having acquired the knowledge of the Creator through his creatures, she also possessed a profound and simple knowledge of everything that Sacred Scripture taught about the Messiah. All of this knowledge moved her to always adore God and remain with him.
5c) Subjection to Suffering and Pain
The Virgin Mary was subject to pain, and it is uncertain whether or not she was preserved from death (sent. certa).
As in the case of Jesus (but unlike in our case), the sorrows of Mary were certainly not the consequence of original sin. Since she was preserved from all sin, her sufferings were, rather, a consequence of human nature, truly subject in itself to pain and bodily death. Immortality was a special privilege granted to our first parents, and not a quality of human nature itself. Nevertheless, as we will later discuss in the chapter on the Assumption, we are not really certain whether or not Mary died.
There is a great deal of similarity between the pain and death of Jesus and the pain and death of Mary. Jesus was virginally conceived in mortal flesh and voluntarily accepted suffering and death on the cross in order to redeem us. Mary, following Christ’s example, accepted pain voluntarily to unite herself to the suffering and death of her Son. In union with Christ, she atoned for our sins, thus becoming our co-redemptrix.9
Furthermore, the privilege of the Immaculate Conception, far from removing her suffering, increased Mary’s capacity to suffer. It also led her to offer every occasion of pain and suffering for our salvation in union with the sufferings of her Son.
6. The Sanctity of the Mother of God
6a) The Virgin Mary’s Initial Fullness of Grace
Before conceiving our Lord, Mary received the fullness of grace necessary to adequately prepare her for the dignity of divine motherhood.
Divine revelation expresses this truth in the angelic salutation: “Hail, full of grace, the Lord is with you” (Lk 1:28).
The Magisterium of the Church teaches that Mary “was loved by God above all creatures. God was pleased entirely with her and admirably crowned her with all graces, much more grace than that of all the angelic spirits and all the saints.”10
Reason, enlightened by faith, helps us understand that the closer we are to the source of all graces, the more graces we will receive. Since Mary was the closest to the principle of grace—Christ himself—she received from him the fullness of grace from the first instant of her conception. This plenitude of grace surpasses that of all creatures combined.
The initial grace of Mary is even greater than the final state of grace of all mankind and angels put together. Theological reasoning concludes that Mary’s initial fullness of grace is superior to that of all the angels and saints because Mary received it as a preparation for her divine motherhood.
Finally, because of Mary’s initial fullness of grace, she received the supreme fullness of infused virtues and the gifts of the Holy Spirit. The Church teaches that the theological virtues and gifts of the Holy Spirit are infused, together with sanctifying grace, in the soul of the just person. Mary, full of grace, received an equal plenitude of infused virtues and gifts of the Holy Spirit.
6b) Increase in Grace at the Incarnation and During her Life
Through her complete submission to the will of God, the Blessed Virgin, at the moment of conceiving Jesus Christ in her womb, received an increase of grace (sent. comm.).
The Blessed Virgin Mary continuously grew in holiness in the course of her life by freely corresponding to God’s grace at every moment.11 The initial grace of Mary, though full and perfect, was not infinite. It is only logical for her to grow in grace and merit throughout her life.
There is a moment in her life that highlights her loving fulfillment of the will of God: the Incarnation of the Word, which took place as a consequence of her unconditional fiat. It is merely logical for an increase of grace to follow that moment. There are three reasons for such an increase:
i) By the mystery of the Incarnation itself, it was fitting for the Blessed Virgin to receive an increase in grace to directly prepare her for the reception of the Word Incarnate in her womb.
ii) Besides, it is but logical for the Son of God himself, upon being made man in Mary through the Incarnation, to enrich her with more grace because Jesus Christ is the cause of grace.
iii) Lastly, the mutual love between the Son of God and his mother is a motive for an increase of grace. In fact, grace is the fruit of love for God. Since the Word Incarnate loves his mother more than any other creature, he grants her superabundant graces. Further, our Lady’s most perfect correspondence to this grace made her more worthy of it.
6c) Mary’s Final Fullness of Grace
The Virgin Mary enjoys the most perfect bliss in heaven, greater than what any other created person is capable of attaining. Her bodily Assumption into heaven and her universal mediation are manifestations of her eternal and supreme happiness.
7. The Perpetual Virginity of Mary
The term virginity has two aspects: a bodily aspect and a moral aspect. The bodily aspect refers to the physical integrity of the Blessed Virgin before, during, and after giving birth to Jesus Christ. The moral aspect, which Mary equally possessed, refers to the deliberate and virtuous habit of perpetually preserving her virginity.12
7a) The Virginal Conception
Holy Mary conceived her son, Jesus Christ, by the power and grace of the Holy Spirit, all the while maintaining her virginity (de fide).
Mary’s virginity before Christ’s birth—the virginal conception of Jesus Christ—is one of the great truths of our faith. The Creed affirms that Jesus “was conceived by the power of the Holy Spirit, born of the Virgin Mary.”13 Jesus’ virginal conception is a truth firmly maintained and constantly taught by the Church.14
Sacred Scripture reveals that “a young woman [virgin] shall conceive and bear a son” (Is 7:14). The virginal conception is also made manifest in the scene of the annunciation when Mary asks, ‘“How can this be, since I have no husband?’ And the angel said to her: ‘The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you; therefore the child to be born will be called holy, the Son of God’” (Lk 1:34–35). God also revealed it to St. Joseph in a dream: “Joseph, son of David, do not fear to take Mary your wife, for that which is conceived in her is of the Holy Spirit” (Mt 1:20). The Gospels again highlight the virginity of Mary when they refer to Jesus as “being the son (as was supposed) of Joseph” (Lk 3:23).
The Fathers of the Church unanimously taught the virginal conception of Jesus as an essential truth of our faith.
Reason, enlightened by faith, can discover that it was fitting for the only-begotten Son of the Father not to have another father on earth according to the flesh.
7b) The Virgin Birth
Mary’s virginity was preserved while she gave birth to her Son (de fide).
Mary’s virginity during childbirth was defined by the Lateran Council of a.d. 649 when it declared that she gave birth to the divine Word “without any detriment to her virginity, which remained inviolable even after his birth.”15
St. Ambrose, echoing the unanimous teachings of the Fathers of the Church, wrote: “She shall be a Virgin in conception and at childbirth.”16
To better understand this truth, some writers have piously compared the preservation of Mary’s virginity during Christ’s birth to a sunbeam going through glass without modifying it in any way.
7c) Virginity after the Birth of Jesus
Holy Mary remained a virgin after having given birth to Christ (de fide).
The Lateran Council of a.d. 649 taught the doctrine of Mary’s virginity after childbirth, that is, her perpetual virginity after the birth of our Savior.17 Pope Paul IV proclaimed this doctrine anew when he condemned whoever dared to claim that “the Blessed Virgin Mary … did not remain a perfect virgin before, while, and forever after she gave birth.”18
In Sacred Scripture, the words “I have no husband” (Lk 1:34) are understood as meaning that Mary made a firm resolution to maintain her virginity through a deliberate act of her will. This transforms the physical fact of virginity into a virtuous act. When one reads Jesus Christ’s declaration from the cross “Behold, your mother” (Jn 19:27), one can reasonably conclude that Mary was entrusted to John’s care because she had no other children.
Some expressions in Sacred Scripture about Mary seem confusing at first sight. Once the right interpretation is given, however, they are perfectly consistent with the truth of the perpetual virginity of Mary. When we read that Mary “gave birth to her first-born son” (Lk 2:7), this does not mean that Mary had other children, but simply that Jesus was her first child. In a tombstone found in Alexandria from the same period as Mary and Jesus, one reads the following epitaph: “She died when she brought forth her first-born child.” It is obvious that this woman could not have had more children. Her only child was called her first-born child.
Another passage, “but [Joseph] knew her not until she had borne a son” (Mt 1:25), does not imply anything about what happened afterwards, but simply tells us that Joseph did not have sexual relations with her before the moment of childbirth. The same applies to the following passage: “Before they came together she was found to be with child” (Mt 1:18). Likewise, the brothers and sisters of Jesus mentioned in Scriptures (cf. Jn 7:3) were simply his cousins or relatives. Hebrew does not have a separate word for each degree of relationship but groups all of them as “relatives.” It was the way people used to speak. One clear example of this linguistic practice is found in the Old Testament; Abraham sometimes calls Lot his nephew and sometimes his brother (cf. Gn 11–13).
From the fourth century on, the Fathers of the Church very frequently give Mary the title of “ever Virgin.” They wrote extensively about the perpetual virginity of Holy Mary.
Reason, enlightened by faith, explains why the existence of some brothers of Jesus would not quite reconcile with his great dignity. Since he is the only-begotten Son of the Father from all eternity, it was fitting for him to be the only Son of Mary in time. Besides, the loss of her virginity would be an offense to the Holy Spirit, who sanctified her virginal womb forever.
8. Mary’s Assumption into Heaven
Because of her divine motherhood, Mary was intimately related to Jesus Christ. This relationship, which began here on earth, continues in heaven in its fullest degree. Thus, in the same way as the Ascension is the crowning of Jesus’ life on earth, the Assumption into heaven is the culmination of Mary’s earthly life.
We will, thus, study the fact of the Virgin’s Assumption into heaven, leaving aside the manner in which it was done, that is, whether or not she actually died. We will not discuss this second issue because the very papal bull that defined the dogma of the Assumption left the question unanswered. We have already seen that if the Virgin Mary actually died, it would not have been as punishment for original sin (she was born immaculate) or for actual sins (she never committed any), but rather to imitate her Son, who—being sinless—took death upon himself.
The Virgin Mary was assumed, body and soul, into heaven (de fide).
Since the sixth century, the Church—in the East as well as in the West—has celebrated the feast of the Assumption of Mary on August 15. The Assumption of Mary into heaven, believed and taught by the Church, was defined as dogma by Pope Pius XII through the constitution Munificentissimus Deus as follows: “By our own authority, we pronounce, declare, and define it to be a divinely revealed dogma: that the Immaculate Mother of God, the ever Virgin Mary, having completed the course of her earthly life, was assumed body and soul into heavenly glory.”19
The Assumption of the Virgin Mary is implicitly revealed in Sacred Scripture: “And a great portent appeared in heaven, a woman clothed with the sun, with the moon under her feet, and on her head a crown of twelve stars” (Rv 12:1). The Church interprets this passage as a reference to the Virgin Mary, who appears in heaven full of glory.
Reason enlightened by faith helps us understand the dogma of the Virgin’s Assumption into heaven:
· We have already pointed out that the Assumption of Mary is the summit of her life on earth. Being the mother of the Savior, she, like Jesus Christ, finds the fullness of her life in heaven.
· Furthermore, Mary received the fullness of grace and, consequently, was particularly “blessed … among women” (Lk 1:42). This exceptional blessing excludes the divine malediction (cf. Gn 3:16–19). Therefore, we can conclude that the Virgin Mary ought to be preserved from the corruption of the tomb and that her body should not return to the ground. She should be either preserved from death or subject to death but rise again through an anticipated resurrection and be assumed into heaven.
· The Virgin Mary was also closely associated to the full victory of Christ over the devil on Calvary. This victory includes the triumph over sin and death. It is, therefore, fitting for Mary to be associated with the complete victory over death through the Assumption of her body and soul into heaven.
9. Mary’s Glorification: The Queenship of Mary
God crowned the Virgin Mary Queen of heaven and earth. He exalted her above all the angels and saints. She intercedes effectively for all of us through her prayer (de fide eccl.).
“The Mother of Christ is glorified as ‘Queen of the Universe.’”20 “In the glory which she possesses in body and soul in heaven she is the image and beginning of the Church.”21 The queenship of Mary belongs to the spiritual kingdom, which is eternal and universal; its essence is service to her Son’s mission. Her power of mediation is so great that she is called the omnipotent suppliant.
The Church, through her Tradition, liturgy, and the teachings of theologians, attests to the queenship of Mary. In 1954, Pius XII instituted the feast of Mary the Queen, which is celebrated on August 22, for the entire Church: “We do not intend to add a new truth to the faith of the Christian people, because the title itself and the arguments on which the queenly dignity of Mary is based have been actually magnificently explained throughout the ages and are found in the ancient documents of the Church and in the books of Sacred Liturgy.” He collected these documents in his encyclical Ad Coeli Reginam, of October 11, 1954, as authentic and solemn proof of Mary’s queenship.
The Fathers of the Church call Mary “Lady” and “Queen.” The Magisterium of the Church, in using the same expressions, teaches the truth of the queenship of Mary as well. For example, the Second Vatican Council declared that Mary was “exalted by the Lord as Queen over all things, that she might be the more fully conformed to her Son, the Lord of lords and the conqueror of sin and death.”22
The theological reasons used to demonstrate the fittingness of the Virgin Mary’s privilege of being called “queen” are based on her status as Mother of Christ the King:
· Mary engendered the body of Jesus Christ and is, therefore, the Mother of God. Jesus Christ as man is king because his human nature is hypostatically united to the divine Person. Therefore, Mary, as mother of the Lord, participates in the kingship and universal kingdom of Christ.
· Further, Jesus Christ is king of the universe by his fullness of grace and his victory over the devil, sin, and death. Mary, therefore, who takes part in the victorious Redemption of Christ, is also associated with his universal kingship.
· Finally, the Virgin Mary is closely united to God. She is the daughter of God the Father, the mother of God the Son, and the spouse of God the Holy Spirit. Consequently, she is also the queen of the universe.
Some aspects of the queenship of Mary are mentioned in the Litany of Loreto: “Queen of angels,” “Queen of patriarchs,” “Queen of prophets,” “Queen of apostles, “Queen of martyrs,” “Queen of confessors,” “Queen of virgins,” “Queen of all saints,” and “Queen of peace.”
10. The Spiritual Motherhood of the Virgin Mary
In our study of our Lady’s divine motherhood and privileges, so far we have only considered her relationship with God. We will now discuss her relationship with all people through her spiritual motherhood (a consequence of her divine motherhood) and through her mediation and co-redemption (aspects of that spiritual motherhood).
The spiritual motherhood of Mary complements the divine motherhood on which it depends. Mary is the mother of the total Christ: the physical mother of Christ, the head of the Church, and the spiritual mother of the members of his Mystical Body.
The Second Vatican Council explained the doctrine of the Church concerning Mary’s spiritual motherhood of all people.23
In what sense is Mary our mother? The Virgin Mary is not our mother in a natural, physical sense. She is, rather, our spiritual mother since, through her union with Christ the Redeemer, she has transmitted to us the supernatural life of grace. If St. Paul could say of himself, “I became your father in Christ Jesus through the gospel” (1 Cor 4:15), or “My little children, with whom I am again in travail” (Gal 4:19), with greater reason could we speak of the spiritual motherhood of Mary, who gave us her Son, Jesus Christ our Lord, source of eternal life. Even more, Mary, “in a wholly singular way cooperated by her obedience, faith, hope, and burning charity in the work of the Savior in restoring supernatural life to souls. For this reason she is our Mother in the order of grace.”24
When did Mary become our Mother? The Motherhood of Mary to all mankind began with her fiat and reached its fullness on the cross, when our Lord explicitly presented her to us as our mother: “Woman, behold your son! … Behold, your mother!” (Jn 19:26–27). Since St. John represented all of us, as the Church teaches, we can very well say that our Lord has given Holy Mary to each one of us as mother. Thus, Mary became our mother because of her total adherence to the will of God the Father, to the redeeming work of her Son, and to the promptings of the Holy Spirit.
Who has the right to enjoy the benefits of her Motherhood? The Virgin Mary is the mother of all the faithful, of all those who believe in her Son and receive the life of grace through him. Through grace, the Christian is mystically identified with Christ and, consequently, becomes a child of Holy Mary. Therefore, Sacred Scripture says that “those whom he foreknew he has also predestined to become conformed to the image of his Son, in order that he might be the first-born among many brethren” (Rom 8:29).
10a) The Virgin Mary is the Mother of Mercy
Pope John Paul II talks specifically about this topic in his encyclical Dives in Misericordia: “Nobody but Mary has ever experienced divine mercy in such a singular and exceptional manner. In an equally exceptional way, she has been able to show forth her own participation of the divine mercy through the sacrifice of her heart.”25
Mercy is a virtue proper to good and powerful persons who are actually capable of giving help. It is principally a virtue of God. The Virgin Mary participates in God’s mercy and intercedes for all of us to God, who often gives us more than we need, more than we justly deserve, so that mercy may triumph over justice.
She who at the Annunciation called herself the “handmaid of the Lord” remained throughout her earthly life faithful to what this name expresses. In this she confirmed that she was a true “disciple” of Christ, who strongly emphasized that his mission was one of service.…
Christ entered into the glory of his kingdom. Mary, the handmaid of the Lord, has a share in this Kingdom of the Son. The glory of serving does not cease to be her royal exaltation; assumed into heaven, she does not cease her saving service, which expresses her maternal mediation.
Mary’s maternal mediation does not cease to be subordinate to him who is the one Mediator, until the final realization of “the fullness of time,” that is to say until “all things are united in Christ” (cf. Eph 1:10).26
10b) The Virgin Mary is the Mother of the Church
One specific aspect of Mary’s spiritual motherhood is her title “Mother of the Church.” The Second Vatican Council highlights the elements that determine Mary’s motherhood towards the Church:
· The Virgin Mary, as the most excellent and unique member of the Mystical Body, is the type of the Church. The Church reaches her fullness and perfection in Mary. “In the mystery of the Church, which is herself rightly called mother and virgin, the Blessed Virgin stands out in eminent and singular fashion as exemplar both of virgin and mother.”27
· Mary is the spiritual mother of the Church: “For the glory of the Virgin and our consolation, we proclaim most Holy Mary as Mother of the Church. She is the Mother of all the people of God, of both the faithful and the pastors, who call her most loving Mother. From now on we want her to be honored and invoked with this most pleasing title. We are dealing with a title … that is not new to the piety of Christians. In fact, the faithful and the entire Church are used to calling Mary with this name, with preference over any other, justified by her dignity as the Mother of the Word Incarnate.”28
· Mary is the Mother of the Church because she is the Mother of God: “Mary’s divine motherhood … constitutes the fundamental principle of her relationship with the Church … since she is the mother of him who from the very first instant of his Incarnation in her virginal womb, was made head of his Mystical Body, the Church. Mary, therefore, as the mother of Christ, is also mother of the faithful and all the pastors. She is therefore the Mother of the Church.”29
10c) The Virgin Mary is the Mediatrix of All Graces
The Virgin Mary is the mediatrix between God and humanity because she is the Mother of God and the mother of all mankind. This privilege allows her to intercede effectively. In fact, Mary, by her divine motherhood, intercedes before God for all people. By her spiritual motherhood, she brings God’s grace and help to us. The Magisterium of the Church thus honors Mary with titles such as “Mediatrix of all graces,”30 “Mediatrix before her Only-Begotten Son,”31 and “Mediatrix before the Mediator.”32
(1) The universal mediation of Mary Mary is the Mediatrix of all graces for three reasons:
i) She gave the Redeemer to the world (de fide).
ii) She intercedes before God and presents all prayers and good works to him.
iii) God decreed, after Mary’s Assumption into heaven, that no one would receive graces from him except through the special intercession of Mary (de fide eccl.).
The Gospel narrative tells us that the Redemption of Christ, with the participation of Mary, will continue until the end of time. According to the common doctrine of the Church, when the Virgin Mary answered the archangel Gabriel “Let it be to me according to your word” (Lk 1:38), she spoke as the representative of all mankind. This includes those who lived in the past, those who live in the present, and those who are to come. This is why we believe that the Virgin Mary collaborates not only as co-redeemer in the Redemption of Christ, but also as mediatrix in the application of the Redemption to every person through all ages.
The Fathers of the Church also preached Mary’s universal mediation. St. Augustine wrote that Mary “collaborated through her charity in the spiritual birth of all the faithful, who are members of Christ.”33
(2) Mary’s maternal mediation Sacred Scripture teaches us that Mary interceded for people while she was here on earth. In the wedding feast at Cana, for example, she told Jesus that “they have no wine” (Jn 2:3) and she moved Jesus to perform the miracle of the conversion of water into wine. She also prayed steadfastly with the apostles in the upper room (cf. Acts 1:14ff). Consequently, we should believe even more firmly that Mary intercedes for us from heaven after the Ascension.34 “Taken up to heaven she did not lay aside this saving office but by her manifold intercession continues to bring us the gifts of eternal salvation.”35
Reason enlightened by faith helps us understand Holy Mary’s power of intercession. The Virgin, mother of all, knows our needs, and, logically, moved by her great love for us, intercedes efficaciously for all mankind before her Son Jesus Christ, the Redeemer of all mankind. The efficacy of Mary’s prayers is based on their unity with the prayer of Christ, her Son, whose petitions are always granted.
The Church prays repeatedly in the litany of the Holy Rosary, “Holy Mary, pray for us,” and lex orandi, lex credendi.
(3) Can Mary’s universal mediation be defined? The Church teaches the doctrine of the universal mediation of the Virgin Mary: “Of the vast treasure of all grace that the Lord has won … nothing at all is given to us, in accordance with God’s will, except through Mary.”36 In the Holy Rosary, we ask the intercession of Mary for our many needs: “Health of the sick,” “Refuge of sinners,” “Consoler of the afflicted,” “Help of Christians.” Thus, through her, a multitude of graces are granted to man.
The Church could officially define the universal mediation of Mary easily, since the Magisterium of the Church in recent years has been unanimous in this point. Leo XIII says, “She is the Mediatress with the Mediator.”37 St. Pius X calls her “the dispenser of all gifts that Jesus has won for us through his blood.”38 The Second Vatican Council tells us that “the Blessed Virgin is invoked in the Church under the titles of Advocate, Helper, Benefactress, and Mediatrix.”39
10d) The Virgin Mary is Co-Redemptrix
The Virgin Mary is co-redemptrix because she united herself to the work of the Redeemer when she accepted God’s will and became the Mother of God. She freely consented through the initial fiat, by which she accepted the Incarnation of the Word. Her acceptance implicitly includes the Redemption.40
Our Lady was not ignorant of the Messianic prophecies. Furthermore, she repeatedly meditated on the prophecies about her Son, such as that of Simeon: “Behold, this child is set for the fall and rising of many in Israel, and for a sign that is spoken against (and a sword will pierce through your own soul also)” (Lk 2:34–35).
As time passed, Mary came to better understand how the Redemption must take place through the expiatory death of her Son (cf. Is 53:3–6). Through her fiat, the Virgin Mary, the new Eve, united herself to Jesus Christ (the principal and instrumental cause of the redemption of mankind) as a subordinate cause in the work of salvation in a manner analogous to Eve’s participation with Adam in the work of perdition.
Still, the fundamental reason for Mary’s co-redemption is that she engendered our Lord in the body with which he suffered and died for our Redemption. Furthermore, being the mother of the Redeemer, the Virgin Mary united herself to him in perfect conformity with his will, just as the Magisterium of the Church teaches us:
The glory of Mary is not only due to her consent to be Mother of the Only-Begotten Son of God, in order to make the sacrifice destined for the salvation of all men possible; it also consists in her acceptance of the mission to protect and nourish the sacrificial Lamb and to lead him to the altar of immolation, when the precise moment arrived. In this way, the union of the lives and sufferings of Mary and her Son was never interrupted.41
As a result of this union of suffering and willing between Mary and Christ, she “most deservedly merited to be the restorer of the lost world” and therefore the dispenser of all gifts that Jesus has won for us with his death and blood.… Seeing that she is holier than all and more closely united with Christ, and as he has chosen her as his associate for the work of human salvation, she merits for us congruously (de congruo), as they say, what Christ merited in strict justice (de condigno), and she is the principal agent in distributing graces.42
Because of this, the participation of the Virgin Mary in the Redemption is not only more intimate than the participation that the disciples of Jesus could achieve through grace, but is also different from it.
11. The Veneration of the Virgin Mary
11a) The Cult of Hyperdulia
“All generations will call me blessed” (Lk 1:48). The piety of the Church toward the Blessed Virgin is an intrinsic element of the Christian cult.43
Cult, in general, is honor attributed to someone superior to us. The cult given to the servants of God is honor rendered to God himself, who manifests himself and attracts us to himself through them. The Council of Trent defined this to defend the faith against Protestant reformers, who held that the cult of the saints was a mode of superstition.44
The Church teaches us that the cult of hyperdulia or supreme dulia (veneration) should be rendered to the Blessed Virgin Mary because of her eminent dignity as the Mother of God. This kind of veneration is different from the cult of latria (adoration)—proper to God alone—and the simple cult of dulia, which is proper to the other saints.
St. Epiphanius, St. Gregory Nazianzen, and St. Ambrose, to name a few, explicitly talked about the cult that is due to Mary.45 We have received some prayers dedicated to the Virgin from St. Ephrem, who died in a.d. 378. This cult is based on the divine motherhood of Mary and her fullness of grace, which is far superior to the grace attained by the saints.
The history of the Church shows that, since the earliest times, the first Christians rendered the cult of hyperdulia to the Virgin Mary. The first representations of the Most Holy Virgin with the Child Jesus in her arms, for example, are found in Roman catacombs dating from the second to the fourth centuries. The Second Vatican Council teaches:
Mary is rightly honored by a special cult in the Church. From the earliest times the Blessed Virgin is honored under the title of Mother of God, whose protection the faithful take refuge together in prayer in all their perils and needs.… This cult … differs essentially from the cult of adoration, which is offered equally to the Incarnate Word, and to the Father, and to the Holy Spirit, and it is most favorable to it.46
11b) The Fruits of Devotion to the Virgin Mary
Devotion to the Blessed Virgin, which leads us to imitate her virtues, is the surest way to salvation. Mary obtains final perseverance for those who faithfully ask for it, since she is the universal mediatrix of all graces. She looks with special benevolence toward her devout children. “To Jesus we always go, and to him we always return, through Mary.”47 Devotion to Mary is, thus, often counted as one of the signs of predestination.
In a more general way, the veneration rendered to the Virgin Mary reaffirms the foundations of the faith of the Church, since it is based on the faith in the redeeming Incarnation of Jesus Christ. It is, thus, a safeguard against heresies. At the same time, it is a path to holiness, and it glorifies our Lord.
11c) Some Marian Devotions
To honor the Virgin Mary, the Church celebrates different Marian feasts throughout the liturgical year.48 Some are specially important and solemn, for example, the feast of Holy Mary Mother of God, the Annunciation, the Assumption of Our Lady, Mary the Queen, the Sorrows of Our Lady, the Nativity of Our Lady, Our Lady of the Rosary, and the Immaculate Conception. More recently, (in the year 2002) the pope has restored the feast of the Most Sweet Name of Mary to be celebrated on September 12. In this way, the Christian faithful are encouraged to filially venerate the mysteries of the life of Mary, seek her powerful intercession, and imitate her virtues.
The Christian faithful, as good children of Mary, render filial veneration to the Virgin through other devotions, both public and private. Some that have taken stronger roots in Christian tradition are the following:
· Prayers: The Hail Mary,49 the Holy Rosary, the litanies, and the Angelus
· Practices: Marian confraternities and sodalities, May (the month of Mary), pilgrimages, medals,50 Saturdays dedicated to the Virgin, and the scapular—“Wear on your breast the holy scapular of Carmel. There are many excellent Marian devotions, but few are as deep-rooted among the faithful and so richly blessed by the popes. Besides, how motherly is the sabbatine privilege!”51
· Sanctuaries and shrines: those erected specifically to honor the Mother of God52
Among all the Marian devotions, the Holy Rosary is the most important: “The Holy Rosary is a powerful weapon. Use it with confidence and you’ll be amazed at the results.”53 The popes have strongly recommended the praying of the Holy Rosary. Pope Paul VI wrote, “Do not fail to inculcate with all care the recital of the Holy Rosary, the prayer so well-loved by the Virgin and so often recommended by the Supreme Pontiffs, by means of which the faithful could fulfill, in a simple and efficacious manner, the command of the Lord: ask and you shall receive, seek and you shall find, knock and it shall be opened to you.”54 The excellence of the Rosary proceeds from its very nature,55 an excellence further emphasized by the praise it has received from the Roman pontiffs.
12. St. Joseph’s Predestination and Eminent Sanctity
After Mary, St. Joseph is the greatest of all saints.
Christ wanted to be born and grow in the bosom of the Holy Family of Joseph and Mary. The Church, the family of God, has special veneration for St. Joseph.56 No one is greater than him, save the Virgin Mary. The reason for Joseph’s preeminence is the proportionate fullness of grace he received so as to carry out his mission as the foster father of Jesus. He was directly and immediately chosen by God for this unique task in the world.
St. Joseph’s mission surpassed the order of grace itself and approached the hypostatic order, which consists in the very same mystery of the Incarnation.
The whole Church recognizes St. Joseph as a patron and guardian. For centuries many different features of his life have caught the attention of believers. He was a man ever faithful to the mission God gave him. That is why, for many years now, I have liked to address him affectionately as “our father and lord.”57
The virtues of St. Joseph are a splendid model for us. “St. Joseph, our father and lord, is a teacher of the interior life. Put yourself under his patronage and you’ll feel the effect of his power.”58 The Church encourages us, so as to be prepared for the hour of our death, to ask the intercession of the Mother of God and of St. Joseph, who died surrounded by Jesus and Mary.59
Footnotes:
1. Pius IX, Bull Ineffabilis Deus, Dec. 8, 1854: DS 2803; cf. CCC, 490–493.
2. In the Vulgate version. Other versions read “He,” referring to her seed, Christ.
3. St. Proclus, Orat., 4.2.
4. St. John Damascene, Hom., 1.7.
5. DS 1573; cf. CCC, 493.
6. St. Augustine, De Nat. et Gratia, 36.
7. ST, III, q. 27, a. 4.
8. DS 1515.
9. Cf. CCC, 618, 964.
10. Pius IX, Ineffabilis Deus: DS 2800; cf. CCC, 721–726.
11. Cf. CCC, 494.
12. Cf. CCC, 496–507.
13. DS 30.
14. Cf. DS 30, 503, 555; CCC, 437, 496–507, 723.
15. DS 503; cf. CCC, 499.
16. St. Ambrose, Ep. 42.
17. Cf. DS 503.
18. DS 1880; cf. CCC, 500–501, 510.
19. Pius XII, Const. Munificentissimus Deus, 44; cf. CCC, 966.
20. John Paul II, Enc. Redemptoris Mater, 41.
21. LG, 68; cf CCC, 972.
22. LG, 59; cf CCC, 966–968, 970.
23. Cf. LG, 60–63; CCC, 501, 721, 724–726, 967–970.
24. LG, 61.
25. John Paul II, Enc. Dives in Misericordia, 9; cf. CCC, 966, 2677.
26. John Paul II, Enc. Redemptoris Mater, 41.
27. LG, 63; cf. CCC, 507, 963–970, 972.
28. Paul VI, Speech at the closing of the Second Vatican Council, Nov. 21, 1964.
29. Ibid.
30. Pius IX, Enc. Caritate Christi Compulsi; cf. CCC, 967–970, 975.
31. Pius IX, Bull Ineffabilis Deus.
32. Leo XIII, Enc. Fidentem Piumque: DS 3321.
33. St. Augustine, Sancta Virg., 6.6.
34. Cf. CCC, 965–966, 1014, 2673–2679.
35. LG, 62.
36. Leo XIII, Enc. Octobri Mensi: DS 3274.
37. Leo XIII, Enc. Fidentem Piumque: DS 3321.
38. St. Pius X, Enc. Ad Diem Illum: DS 3370.
39. LG, 62; cf. CCC, 969.
40. Cf. CCC, 964, 968–969, 973, 1370.
41. Leo XIII, Enc. Iucunda Semper.
42. St. Pius X, Enc. Ad Diem Illum: DS 3370.
43. Cf. CCC, 971.
44. Cf. DS 1744, 1755, 1821.
45. Cf. St. Epiphanius, Haer., 79; St. Gregory Nazianzen, Orat., 24.11; St. Ambrose, De Inst. Virg., 13.83.
46. LG, 66.
47. St. Josemaría Escrivá, The Way, 495.
48. Cf. CCC, 971.
49. Cf. Ibid., 2676-2677.
50. Cf. Ibid., 1674.
51. St. Josemaría Escrivá, The Way, 500.
52. Cf. CCC, 1674.
53. St. Josemaría Escrivá, The Way, 558; cf. CCC, 2678.
54. Paul VI, Enc. Mense Maio, Apr. 29, 1965.
55. Cf. Paul VI, Ap. Ex. Marialis Cultus, Feb. 4, 1974.
56. Cf. CCC, 437, 534, 1655, 2177.
57. St. Josemaría Escrivá, Christ is Passing By, no. 39.
58. St. Josemaría Escrivá, The Way, 560.
59. Cf. CCC, 1014.