The Mother, of God, Mother of Jesus, wife of St. Joseph, and the greatest of all
Christian saints. The Virgin Mother “was, after her Son, exalted by divine
grace above all
angels and men”.
Mary is venerated with a special cult, called by
St. Thomas Aquinas, hyperdulia, as the highest of God’s creatures. The principal events of her
life are celebrated as liturgical feasts of the universal Church. Mary’s
life and role in the history of
salvation is prefigured in the Old Testament, while the events of her
life are recorded in the New Testament. Traditionally, she was declared the daughter of Sts. Joachim and Anne. Born in Jerusalem,
Mary was presented in the
Temple and took a vow of virginity. Living in Nazareth,
Mary was visited by the archangel Gabriel, who announced to her that she would become the Mother of Jesus, by the Holy Spirit. She became betrothed to
St. Joseph and went to visit her cousin, Elizabeth, who was bearing
St. John the Baptist. Acknowledged by
Elizabeth as the Mother of God,
Mary intoned the Magnificat. When Emperor
Augustus declared a
census throughout the vast Roman Empire,
Mary and
St. Joseph went to Bethlehem, his city of lineage, as he belonged to the House of David. There
Mary gave birth to
Jesus and was visited by the Three Kings.
Mary and
Joseph presented
Jesus in the Temple, where St.
Simeon rejoiced and
Mary received word of sorrows to come later. Warned to flee,
St. Joseph and
Mary went to
Egypt to escape the wrath of King Herod. They remained in
Egypt until King
Herod died and then returned to Nazareth. Nothing is known of Mary’s
life during the next years except for a visit to the
Temple of Jerusalem, at which
time Mary and
Joseph sought the young Jesus, who was in the
Temple with the learned elders. The first recorded
miracle of
Jesus was performed at a wedding in Cana, and
Mary was instrumental in calling Christ’s attention to the need.
Mary was present at the Crucifixion in Jerusalem, and there she was given into John’s care. She was also with the disciples in the days before the Pentecost, and it is believed that she was present at the resurrection and Ascension. No scriptural reference concerns Mary’s last years on earth. According to tradition, she went to Ephesus, where she experienced her “dormition.” Another tradition states that she remained in Jerusalem. The
belief that Mary’s body was assumed into
heaven is one of the oldest traditions of the
Catholic Church. Pope Pius XII declared this
belief Catholic dogma in 1950. The feast of the Assumption is celebrated on August 15. The
dogma of the
Immaculate Conception - that Mary, as the Mother of the Second
Person of the Holy Trinity, was free of
original sin at the moment of her conception was proclaimed by Pope Pius IX in 1854 . The feast of the
Immaculate Conception is celebrated on December 8. The birthday of
Mary is an old feast in the Church, celebrated on September 8 since the seventh century. Other feasts that commemorate events in the
life of the Blessed Virgin
Mary are listed in the Appendices. Pope Pius XII dedicated the entire human race to
Mary in 1944. The Church has long taught that
Mary is truly the Mother of
God .
St. Paul observed that “God sent His Son, born of a woman," expressing the union of the human and the divine in Christ. As
Christ possesses two natures, human and divine,
Mary was the Mother of
God in his human nature. This special role of
Mary in
salvation history is clearly depicted in the Gospel in which she is seen constantly at her son’s side during his soteriological mission. Because of this role exemplified by her
acceptance of
Christ into her womb, her offering of him to
God at the Temple, her urging him to perform his first miracle, and her standing at the foot of the Cross at Calvary
Mary was joined fully in the
sacrifice by
Christ of himself. Pope Benedict XV wrote in 1918: “To such an extent did
Mary suffer and almost die with her suffering and dying Son; to such extent did she surrender her maternal rights over her Son for man’s salvation, and immolated him - insofar as she could in order to appease the
justice of God, that we might rightly say she redeemed the human race together with Christ” .
Mary is entitled to the title of Queen because, as Pope Pius XII expressed it in a 1946 radio speech, “Jesus is King throughout all
eternity by
nature and by
right of conquest: through him, with him, and subordinate to him,
Mary is Queen by grace, by divine relationship, by
right of conquest, and by singular election.”
Mary possesses a unique
relationship with all three Persons of the Trinity, thereby giving her a claim to the title of Queenship. She was chosen by
God the Father to be the Mother of his Son;
God the
Holy Spirit chose her to be his virginal spouse for the Incarnation of the Son; and
God the Son chose her to be his mother, the means of incarnating into the world for the purposes of the
redemption of humanity. This Queen is also our Mother. While she is not our Mother in the physical sense, she is called a spiritual mother, for she conceives, gives birth, and nurtures the spiritual lives of
grace for each person. As Mediatrix of All Graces, she is ever present at the side of each person, giving nourishment and hope, from the moment of spiritual birth at
Baptism to the moment of death. The confidence that each
person should have in
Mary was expressed by Pope Pius IX in the
encyclical Ubipriinum : “The
foundation of all our confidence. . . is found in the Blessed Virgin Mary. For
God has committed to
Mary the treasury of all
good things, in order that everyone may know that through her are obtained every hope, every grace, and all salvation. For this is his will, that we obtain everything through Mary.”
