Part II Chapter II §1: Mary's Secondary Mediatorship

Chapter II: The Positive Prerogatives of the Blessed Virgin

§1: Mary’s Secondary Mediatorship

CHAPTER II THE POSITIVE PREROGATIVES OF THE BLESSED VIRGIN In the preceding Chapter we have dealt with what are generally called the negative privileges of the Blessed Virgin Mary. These same privileges may also, in a sense, be conceived as positive, in so far, namely, as they constitute her an ideal human being and consist in a series of special graces; but essentially they are negative, because they denote the absence of some defect (privatio, orcOur Lady’s positive privileges, properly so called, are : (i) secondary mediatorship and (2) hyperdulic venerability.

SECTION i mary’s secondary mediatorship i. State of the Question. — In calling the Blessed Virgin mediatrix we do not mean to deny that Jesus Christ is our sole Mediator.1 The mediation of Mary rests entirely upon that of her Divine Son and would be utterly ineffective without it. a) Christ, who is our sole and natural Mediator, obtained the power of mediation for His Blessed Mother by His death on the Cross. Hence to acknowledge Mary as our mediatrix does not detract from the mediatorship of Jesus, as most Protestants allege, but confirms that dogma and leads to a higher estimation of it. As the fatherhood of God loses nothing through the co-existence with it of an earthly fatherhood, and as the sovereignty of mundane princes does not detract from, but rather emphasizes and confirms the dominion of the almighty Ruler of heaven and earth, so the derived mediatorship of the Blessed Virgin Mary does not derogate from, but adds new lustre to, that of her Divine Son. The former is subordinate to the latter as an instrumental to a principal cause, and it stands to reason that the mediatorial operation of Christ increases in the same measure in which it employs the agency of mediate or instrumental causes and endows these with efficiency. 1 Cfr. Pohle-Preuss, Soteriology, pp. 5 sqq. 121

b) This must be our guiding principle in defining the mediatorship of Mary. Unfortunately, theologians, ascetic writers, and preachers have not always used due caution in this matter. Some have attributed to the Blessed Virgin Mary certain honorary titles which are apt to obscure the dogmatic teaching of the Church in regard to the sole mediatorship of Our Lord. We are perfectly willing to allow for rhetorical exaggeration ; bat zeal for the honor of the Blessed Virgin should not lead theologians to neglect their plain duty of safeguarding the Person and the work of the Redeemer. The following three propositions may serve as guiding principles in this matter : a) Jesus Christ is our sole Mediator per se. P) The mediation of the Blessed Virgin Mary is entirely secondary and subordinate to that of her Divine Son. y) Since, however, Mary is the Mother of God, her mediatorship transcends that of all the angels and saints and consequently constitutes an altogether unique privilege. c) In consonance with these principles Fathers and theologians very properly style our Lady liberatrix, sdvch trix, reparatrix, restcmratrix, reconciliatrix, and coop eratrix or socia Redemptoris. But it would be wrong to call her redemptrix, because this title obscures the important truth that she herself was redeemed through the merits of Jesus Christ by what theologians technically term preredemption.2 Even the title coredemptrix had better be avoided as misleading. The titles redemptrix and coredemptrix were never applied to the Blessed Virgin before the sixteenth century ; they are the invention of 2 V. supra, p. 41.

HER comparatively recent writers (Castelplanio, Faber, P. Minges, O. F. M.,8 and others). There is another class of honorary titles sometimes applied to Mary, which imply the exercise of priestly functions, e. g., sacerdotissa, consacerdotissa, or high priestess. These, too, should be avoided, for the Blessed Virgin was not commissioned to perform sacerdotal functions, nor did she ever claim hierarchic rights. At the most we might call her Deaconess of Christ (diaconissa Christi), because she ministered to our Divine Saviour in the work of Redemption and humbly professed herself “a handmaid of the Lord.” 4 The safest course is to follow the approved usage of the Church (e. g., in the “Salve Regina” and the Litany of Loreto), which agrees With that of the Fathers and all sober-minded Scholastics, and to interpret occasional exaggerations and symbolic appellations in accordance with the dogmatic; teaching of the Church. d) The term which most appropriately and comprehensively describes our Blessed Lady’s part in the Redemption is undoubtedly mediatrix, which is sanctioned by primitive Christian usage and embodies all that can be said on the subject. 2. Dogmatic Proof. — The Blessed Virgin Mary deserves to be called by the ancient traditional title of mediatrix for two reasons. First, because she co-operated in a unique manner in the Redemption, and secondly, because she is our powerful intercessor in Heaven. 8 Compendium Theologiae Dogmaticae Specialis, Vol. I, p. 204, Munich, 190 1. 4 Luke I, 38. 9

I24 MARY’S SPECIAL PREROGATIVES a) By voluntarily assuming the office of Deipara, Mary made possible the Incarnation and consequently our Redemption. The importance of this fact is pointed out by St. Jerome : “After the Virgin conceived in her womb and gave birth to her Son, the curse was wiped out; death [came upon the human race] through Eve, life through Mary.” 5 St. Ambrose teaches that the sanctification of John the Baptist in his mother’s womb was due to the mediatorship of Mary.6 The Blessed Virgin, furthermore, incalculably advanced the salvation of mankind by her virtuous life. As virgin, mother, and wife she furnishes a brilliant example of all virtues. The female sex in particular is indebted to her for its liberation from the contemptible state into which it had fallen. We can form an idea of the moral value of her life if we consider what would probably be the condition of the human family and civil society in general without her. The welfare of both family and State depends on the purity of woman. Millions of men as well as women owe the victory they have gained over the demon 6 * Postquam vero Virgo concepit in utero et peperit Filium, soluta male die Ho est; mors per Evam, vita per Mariam,* (Ep. ad Eustoch., 22.) 6/n Luc, II, 29: ” Non enim sola familiaritas est causa quod diu tnansit, sed etiam tanti vatis profectus. Nam si primo ingressu tantus processus exstitit, ut ad salutation em Mariae exsultaret infans in utero, repleretur Spirit u Sancto mater infantis, quantum putamus usu tanti temporis sanctae Mariae addidisse praesentiamf ” Other texts quoted by Schaefer, Die Gottesmutter in der HI. Schrift, pp. 214 sqq. HER of impurity to the example of her who is the ideal virgin and mother. Lastly, the Blessed Virgin may be said after a fashion to have co-operated in the atonement, because she formed the Divine Victim in her chaste womb, prepared Him for the slaughter, and, standing beneath the Cross, offered Him up for the salvation of mankind. This fact justifies the attribution to her of the honorary title of diacona sacrificii (Owrfripoe) . The spiritual martyrdom which she suffered at the foot of the Cross earned for her the twofold title of “Queen of Martyrs” and “Help of Christians.” This thought deserves to be developed a little more fully. We need but consider Mary’s ardent love for her Divine Son, the excruciating tortures He suffered, and the terrible blasphemies to which she was compelled to listen, to appreciate the agony that pierced her soul during our Lord’s dolorous passion and death. Simeon’s prophecy : “A sword shall pierce thy soul” 7 was so literally fulfilled under the Cross that St. Bernardine of Siena was able to say without exaggeration: “The pain suffered by the Blessed Virgin was so intense that if it were divided among her fellowcreatures, they would all die on the spot. The Blessed Virgin Mary, standing beneath the 7 Luke II, 35. Cross, suffered all this for us, and thus became our mother and was declared to be such by her crucified Son Himself.” 8 It is the teaching of many Scholastics since St. Anselm that our dying Saviour, when He uttered the memorable words : “Woman, behold thy son… . Behold thy mother,” 9 committed His Blessed Mother to the entire human race in the person of St. John, and appointed her the spiritual mother of all His brethren. Bishop Schaefer interprets this touching scene as follows: “Mary … stands at the foot of the Cross not merely as the mother of her dying Son, but as the mother of Him who is the Redeemer of mankind. Hence the Son, speaking in His capacity as Messias, addresses her as ‘Woman/ The time when, according to the prediction of the Protevangelium, the ‘seed’ of the woman (taking the term in the sense of an individual person) was to crush the head of the ‘serpent/ is at hand. But we also observe how at the very same moment the ‘serpent’ crushes the heel of this ‘seed/ in that Christ dies through the very instrumentality of that sacred manhood by which we are redeemed. Beneath the Cross stands, among others, the mother of this one 8 ” Tantus fuit dolor Virginis, ut si in omnes creaturas divideretur, omnes subito perirent: haec omnia B. Virgo Maria stans sub cruce pro nobis passa est, it a ut et mater nostra sit facta et ut talis a crudfixa Filio declarata.” (Serm., 61, art. 3, c. 2.) On the prophecy of Simeon see Schaefer, op^ cit.t pp. 170 sqq. (English ed. pp. 180 sqq.). ©John XIX, 26 sq. HER SECONDARY MEDIATORSHIP 127 ‘seed/ who is Christ — she, the woman whom the Proto-Gospel had already pointed out to humanity both as the mother of Jesus and the new Eve or mother of all those to be endowed with supernatural life… . And henceforth Mary receives her spiritual “seed/ Christ’s words: ‘Behold thy son/ must be interpreted in accordance with this idea. Coming from the Messias, it is a message of salvation for all the faithful who gather under the Cross. Of all the Apostles called by Jesus, … only one, ‘the disciple whom Jesus loved/ followed Him to the Cross, thus representing those that were to be saved and for whom, as a price, the Precious Blood was shed.” 10 We can show by still another argument that Mary’s sublime office of Deipara destined her to be the spiritual mother and consequently the mediatrix of all Christians. As the antithesis of Eve, Mary is the “mother of all the living” in a manner similar to that in which her Divine Son, the “second Adam,” who crushed the serpent’s head, is the spiritual leader of all those whom He has redeemed by His passion and death. Eve was the mother of perdition for all men (ianua mortis) ; Mary must consequently, e contrario, be the mother of salva10 Op. cit,, pp. 238 sq. (English Comment, de B. Virgine Maria, edition, p. 251). Cfr. Bucceroni, pp. 178 sqq. tion for all (ianua vitae). Or, in the words of St. Irenaeus, “As Eve … was through her disobedience the cause of death to herself and the entire human race, so Mary … through her obedience was the source of salvation to herself and the whole human race.” 11 The same writer says elsewhere: “If the former [Eve] was disobedient to God, the latter [Mary] was persuaded to obey Him, in order that the Virgin Mary might be the advocate of the virgin Eve.” 12 Bardenhewer comments on this passage as follows: “Where the Latin translation has advocata, the Greek text most probably had «apAcAj|w. The term means causa salutis and has become memorable by being incorporated into the liturgy of the Church {advocata nostra).99 13 P) St. Paul teaches that we become spiritual brethren of Christ by Baptism.14 If this is true, then those who are baptized are eo ipso also spiritual children of Mary. y) The Redemption was conditioned upon the consent of the Blessed Virgin to become the mother of God. The physical birth of our Saviour meant the moral regeneration of all mankind. Consequently Mary became our spiritual 11 Adv. Haer., Ill, 22, 4. 12 Adv. Haer., V, 19, 1. 13 Geschichte der altkirchlichen Literatur, Vol. I, p. 521, Freiburg 1902. 14 Rom. VIII, 29; Heb. II, 11, 17; cfr. Matth. XXVIII, 10; John XX, 17. HER mother when she consented to become the mother of God. 8) The ideal woman must be conceived as sharing in the Saviour’s affection for all men. Mary is the spiritual mother of mankind also through the love she bears for all.15 b) Our Lady is furthermore the mediator of mankind in Heaven, where she effectively intercedes for the Church as a whole and for each individual Christian in particular. «) This belief dates back to primitive times and is exemplified by many pictures found in the Roman catacombs.16 The “Memorare,” often erroneously ascribed to St. Bernard, is a medieval pendant of the famous ^ .wy°**7iruMfc of the Greek Church.17 To form a correct idea of the nature of Mary’s celestial intercession we must remember that it differs essentially, and not only in degree, from the heavenly interpellatio Christi.18 Our Lord intercedes for us as the royal High Priest, Mary as a loving mother. Their intercession differs both as to nature and power in precisely the same way in which the Godman (OedvOpwros) differs from the Deipara (0€ot6kos). P) The intercession of the Blessed Virgin is naturally far more powerful than that of the other 15 These considerations are de- 16 Cfr. Thos. J. Shahan, The veloped by St. Bernard. Cfr. B. Blessed Virgin in the Catacombs, Haeusler, De Mariae Plenitudine Baltimore 1892. Cratiae secundum S. Bernardum, 17 Cfr. Ballerini, Sylloge, I, 481. Frib. Helv. 1901. 18 Cfr. Pohle-Preuss, Soteriology, PP. 134 sqq. saints, for while they are friends of God, she is His Mother. “She is the mediator between us and Christ,” says St. Bonaventure, “even as Christ is the mediator between us and God.” 19 For this reason, too, her mediation is universal, whereas that of the Angels and Saints is limited in scope. From this point of view there is justification in the probable, though not strictly theological opinion of St. Alphonsus de’ Liguori, so hotly contested by Muratori, that our Divine Saviour bestows His graces on mankind through His Blessed Mother, who may therefore be truly called “dispensatrix omnium gratiarum” It is in this same sense that St. Bernard refers to her as the “uberrimus gratiarum aquaeductus,” and Suarez says : “Therefore the Church prays more frequently and, as it were, in a higher manner to the Blessed Virgin Mary than to the other saints.” 20 St. Bernardine of Siena teaches that “every grace which is communicated to this world has a threefold origin: it flows from God to Christ, from Christ to the Virgin, and from the Virgin to us.21 In the light of this probable teaching, (which cannot, however, be positively 19 * Ista est beata virgo, quae mediatrix est inter nos et Christum, sicut Christus inter nos et Deum.” {Comment, in Quatuor Libros Sent., Ill, dist. 3, p. i, art. i, qu. 2.) 20 De My st. Vitae Christi, disp. 23, sect. 2, n. 5: * Et ideo ecclesia et frequentius et altiori quodam modo orat ad Virginem quam ad reliquos sanctos. 21 ” Omnis gratia, quae huic saeculo communicatur, triplicem habet processum: nam a Deo in Christum, a Christo in Virginem, a Virgine in nos ordinatissime dispensatur.” (Quoted by Leo XIII in his Encyclical Letter of Sept. 8th, 1894.) HER proved from the Fathers),22 we must judge the titles applied to the Blessed Virgin in the Litany of Loreto and also certain rather extravagant eulogies that occur in the writings of the Fathers. It must always be borne in mind ( 1 ) that the dispensation of graces through the agency of our Lady is not a necessary condition of salvation but a free divine ordinance, and (2) that the manner by which she obtains graces for us is simply and solely her maternal intercession, based upon the merits of Jesus Christ. A Catholic may confidently ask Mary for her powerful intercession without ever entertaining the foolish apprehension that there is danger of offending Christ by addressing Him through His Blessed Mother. The dogmatic teaching of the Church is too clear to allow any intelligent Catholic to believe that the Blessed Virgin is able to accomplish anything without her Son. In its last analysis, therefore, every prayer addressed to Our Lady is addressed to Christ, i. e., God. y) In this as in so many other things the Church herself carefully guides the faithful both by word and example. She directs her liturgical prayers sometimes to the tri-une God, sometimes to Jesus Christ, and then again to the Blessed Virgin Mary, but invariably emphasizes her belief in Christ as the sole Mediator by conclud22 Cfr. Petavius, De Incarnatione, XIV, 9, 8. i32 MARY’S SPECIAL PREROGATIVES ing with the words : “through Christ our Lord.” 23 Despite the forbearance with which she tolerates certain excesses and extravagances,24 the Church will never allow an exaggerated cult of the Virgin to obscure the dignity and majesty of Christ. This is plainly apparent from the condemnation of a certain novel representation of the Madonna and Child called “Domina Christi” and the rejection of the new-fangled title “Queen of the Heart of Jesus.” 25 Readings: — P. Ventura, La Madre di Dio Madre degli Uomini, 2d ed., Rome 1885. — *A. Nicolas, La Viirge Marie et le Plan Divin, Nouvelles Etudes Philosophiques sur le Christianistne, 4 vols., Paris 1852-61. — Lapale, Marie Immaculee et la Femme ChrStienne d’aprds le Plan Divin, Paris 1881. — J. Korber, Maria itn System der Heilsokonomie, Ratisbon 1883. — L. W. Wornhart, Maria die wunderbare Mutter Gottes und der Menschen, Innsbruck 1896. — Terrien, S. J., La Mire de Dieu et la Mdre des Hommes d’aprds les Peres et la Theologie, 4 vols., Paris 1900 sqq. — *A1. Schaefer, Die Gottesmutter in der HI. Schrift, 2nd ed., pp. 145 sqq., 209 sqq., Miinster 1900 (English ed., New York 1913, pp. 153 sqq., 220 sqq.). 23 Per Christum Dominum nostrum. 24 On * Catholic Excesses in Devotion to the Blessed Virgin * see the admirable chapter in Cardinal Newman’s Letter addressed to Dr. Pusey on the occasion of his Eirenicon, A. D. 1864 (Certain Difficulties Felt by Anglicans in Catholic Teaching Considered, Vol. II, pp. 89-118, London 1907). 25 Decree of the S. Congr. of the Holy Office, Feb. 28, 1875. The text of this decree may be read in the Irish Ecclesiastical Record for April, 1875. Cfr. Newman, op. cit., II, 169 sq. — On the Rosary of the Blessed Virgin cfr. Thos. Esser, O. P., U. L. Frauen Rosenkrans, Paderborn 1889; De Buscher, Le Rosaire de Marie, Bruges 1901; H. Thurston, S. J., in the Catholic Encyclopedia, Vol. XIII, pp. 184-187, with an extensive bibliography. Certain devotional abuses that have arisen in the South of Europe are severely censured by Bishop Bonomelli of Cremona in his work, // Culto Religioso, Difetti e Abusi, Cremona 1905, recently translated into English under the title, On Religious Worship and Some Defects in Popular Devotions.