MARY
COREDEMPTRIX, MEDIATRIX, ADVOCATE
Dedicated to:
Pope John Paul II
and the Bishops of the Universal Church
MARY
COREDEMPTRIX, MEDIATRIX, ADVOCATE
Mark I. Miravalle, S.T.D.
Foreword by Luigi Cardinal Ciappi, O.P.
iv
MARY: COREDEMPTRIX, MEDIATRIX, ADVOCATE
NIHIL OBSTAT: Father James Dunfee, Censor Librorum
IMPRIMATUR:
Most Reverend Gilbert Sheldon
Bishop of Steubenville
May 6, 1993
Cover design: Art Mancuso
© 1993 Mark I. Miravalle, S.T.D. All rights reserved
Library of Congress Catalog #93-84470
Published by:
Queenship Publishing
P.O. Box 220
Goleta, CA 93116
Phone: (800) 647-9882
Fax (805) 967-5843
ISBN: 1-882972-10-4
Dedication
TO POPE JOHN PAUL II
AND THE BISHOPS OF THE UNIVERSAL CHURCH:
May the Mother of Jesus, who by her prayers implored the descent of
the Holy Spirit upon the first Apostles at Pentecost, intercede today for a
new descent of the Holy Spirit upon the highest shepherds and pastors of
the Church, inspiring and sustaining them in the great challenge of the
guidance of the People of God in our day.
May the Holy Spirit, the Spirit of Truth, strengthen and guide them
to proclaim the whole truth about Mary, who is Daughter of the Father,
Mother of the Son, Spouse of the Spirit, and Mother of the Church.
MARY: COREDEMPTRIX, MEDIATRIX, ADVOCATE
vii
Contents
Foreword .............................................................................................. ix
Author’s Preface ................................................................................... xi
Introduction ......................................................................................... xiii
Chapter One: Mary, Coredemptrix with the Redeemer ..............
1
Gen 3:15 – Old Testament Prophecy of the Coredemptrix .................
Is 7:14 – Mother of the Suffering Servant .....................................
Lk 1:38 – New Testament Beginning of Coredemptrix ......................
Early Church Fathers: Mary, the “New Eve” ............................
Lk 2:35 – Presentation Prophecy of the Coredemptrix ......................
Jn 19:26 – Climax of the Coredemptrix ...........................................
The Work of Redemption ..............................................................
The Coredemptrix in the Work of Redemption ..........................
Papal Teaching on the Coredemptrix at Calvary .........................
John Paul II and Jn 19:26 – “The Coredemptrix” ........................
Summary ..............................................................................................
1
3
3
5
8
10
10
11
12
20
23
Chapter Two: Mary, Mediatrix with the Mediator and the
Sanctifier ......................................................................................... 25
1 Tim 2:5 – Sharing in the One Mediation of Christ ...........................
Mary’s Unique Sharing in the One Mediation of Christ ..............
New Testament Outline of the Mediatrix (Lk 1:38; 1:41; Jn 2:1)........
Lk 1:38 – Mediatrix of Christ: Source of All Graces ...................
Lk 1:41 – Mediatrix in the Visitation of Graces .........................
Jn 2:1 – Mediatrix of the First Miracle
and Public Ministry of Christ ....................................................
Jn 19:26 – The Establishment of the Mediatrix of Graces ...................
The Fathers and the Mediatrix of Graces .....................................
Papal Teachings on Jn 19:26 and the Mediatrix of All Graces ......
John Paul II and the Maternal Mediatrix
of All Graces (Jn 19:26) .............................................................
Acts 1:4 – The Holy Spirit and the Mediatrix of All Graces ...............
The Spirit and the Mediatrix in the Distribution of Graces ...........
Summary ..........................................................................................
25
28
29
29
30
31
34
36
40
47
50
52
56
viii
MARY: COREDEMPTRIX, MEDIATRIX, ADVOCATE
Chapter Three: Mary, Advocate for the People of God ................. 59
Old Testament Role of the Queen Mother
(1 Kings 2, 8, 15; 2 Kings: 11, 24; Prov 31:8, 9) .............................
Rev 12:1 – Advocate and Queen for the People of God ......................
Queen Mother and Advocate in the New Kingdom of Christ
(Lk 1:32; Lk 1:44; Jn 2:3; Jn 19:26; Rev 12:1) ........................
Church Fathers and Mary Advocate
....................................
Papal Teaching on Mary, Advocate for the People of God ..........
Rev 22:17 – The Spirit and the Advocate for the People of God
Today ................................................................................................
Summary ..............................................................................................
60
61
62
64
66
69
72
Conclusion: Co-redeemers in Christ ................................................. 75
Mary Coredemptrix as Contemporary Model for the Church ............. 75
Cf. Col 1:24, 1 Cor 3:6 – “Co-redeemers in Christ” ..................... 76
Final Statement .................................................................................... 78
An Appeal from Vox Populi Mariae Mediatrici .............................. 84
Foreword
Rome
5 May 1993
I read with pleasure and admiration this theological study about
Mary, Coredemptrix, Mediatrix, Advocate.
It is all in conformity with Divine Revelation, in the Holy Scriptures
of the Old and New Testaments, in the Tradition of the Church from the
times of the Apostles, and in the solemn and ordinary Magisterium of the
Church, up to and including Pope John Paul II in his encyclical,
Redemptoris Mater.
I had the great honor to be the professor of Mariology to the Polish
student Karol Wojtyla (Pope John Paul II), when he attended the
Pontifical Athenaeneum International “Angelicum” in Rome, for his
license and doctorate in Theology (1947-1948).
The doctrine of St. Albert the Great (now thought to be PseudoAlbert) and of St. Thomas Aquinas about the maternal participation of
the Virgin Mother in the Redemption as Coredemptrix, Mediatrix, and
Advocate had a great influence in the Church.
I share the hope of Dr. Mark Miravalle: “With the profound
contribution of our present Holy Father, Pope John Paul II, to the
understanding of the mediating mystery of Mary with Christ and the
Church ... there is only one final action that remains in bringing the
Marian roles of Coredemptrix, Mediatrix and Advocate ... into the fullest
acknowledgement and ecclesial life of the People of God: that our Holy
Father, in his office as Vicar of Christ on earth and guided by the Spirit
of Truth, define and proclaim the Marian roles of Coredemptrix,
Mediatrix of all graces, and Advocate for the People of God as Christian
dogma revealed by God, in rightful veneration of the Mother of Jesus,
and for the good of the one, holy, catholic and apostolic Church of
Christ.”
Yours sincerely in Christ and in the Virgin Mary,
Luigi Cardinal Ciappi, O.P.
Papal Theologian Emeritus for Popes
Pius XII, John XXIII, Paul VI, John Paul I and John Paul II
Preface
The following document concerning Mary, Mother of Jesus, contains
little that is fundamentally new. It is rather for the most part a synthesis
of Mary’s exalted roles as Coredemptrix, Mediatrix, and Advocate as
they are already contained in the sources of divine revelation, Sacred
Scripture and Apostolic Tradition, as interpreted by the Magisterium (cf.
Dei Verbum, n. 9, 10), and as it is presently understood and experienced
in the dynamic ecclesial life of the Living, Pondering, and Praying
Church, the People of God.
It is true that in the divine drama of how God makes himself and his
will known to humanity, certain doctrinal truths are only more fully
penetrated after the Church has ages of human history in which to ponder
and reflect upon the divine seeds of these truths which are contained in
the Word of God, both written and handed down. If God has reserved a
greater and more complete understanding of certain revealed seeds of
faith regarding Mary, the Mother of Jesus, until our own recent centuries,
then such a greater understanding granted by the Holy Spirit, the Spirit of
Truth, should not be met with a potentially stagnant incredulity on this
fact alone. Rather, it should evoke a fresh appreciation for the everdynamic designs of God in leading the pilgrim People of God towards
their eternal home, and for the Holy Spirit, who blows where he wills (cf.
Jn 3:8).
I believe such to be the case about the roles of Mary, Mother of
Jesus, as the Coredemptrix, Mediatrix, and Advocate for the People of
God. This in no way infers a new public revelation about the Mother of
Jesus; but rather a new and more developed penetration into the already
revealed truths about Mary and the intimate “union of the mother with
the Son in the work of salvation” (Lumen Gentium, n. 57).
May our minds and hearts be one with the Lord and his words at the
Last Supper, in openness to and trust in the Holy Spirit, the Counselor of
the People of God and Divine Spouse of Mary, in leading us to the
deepest possible understanding about the revelation of God concerning
the Mother of Jesus. May the Holy Spirit lead us to the whole truth about
Mary: “I have yet many things to say to you, but you cannot bear them
xii
MARY: COREDEMPTRIX, MEDIATRIX, ADVOCATE
now. When the Spirit of Truth comes, he will guide you in all truth; for
he will not speak on his own authority, but whatever he hears he will
speak, and he will declare to you the things that are to come” (Jn 16:12).
Mark I. Miravalle, S.T.D.
Associate Professor of Theology and Mariology
Franciscan University of Steubenville
31 May 1993
Introduction
“When the fullness of time had come, God sent his son, born of a
woman...to redeem those who were under the law, so that we might
receive adoption as sons” (Gal 4:4-5). It was the will of the heavenly
Father that his Son, Jesus Christ, be sent into the world for the purpose of
redeeming the human family (cf. Jn 3:16, Phil 2:6-11). It was also the
will of the Father that a woman be intimately involved in this wondrous
plan of human redemption; for as John Paul II tells us, “the Mother of the
Redeemer has a precise place in the plan of salvation.”1
In the rich Tradition of the Church founded by Christ, four divinely
revealed doctrines about Mary, Mother of Jesus, have come forth from
the inspired pages of Sacred Scripture, and through the inspiration of the
Holy Spirit, the Spirit of Truth, these Marian doctrines have been
gradually brought to light by the living Church.2
“The Virgin Mary, who at the message of the angel received the
Word of God in her heart and in her body and gave Life to the world, is
acknowledged and honored as being truly the Mother of God and of the
redeemer.”3 These words of the Second Vatican Council echo the
Council of Ephesus where in 431 A.D. this early ecumenical council
defined the first Marian doctrine which, the Motherhood of God,
“Theotokos,” proclaims that Mary is truly the Mother of God the Son
made man: “the Holy Virgin is the Mother of God since according to the
flesh she brought forth the Word of God made flesh.”4
1
Pope John Paul II, Redemptoris Mater, 25 March 1987, n. 1.
Cf. Vatican Council II, Dei Verbum (Dogmatic Constitution on Divine
Revelation), n. 9-10, as contained in Austin Flannery, O.P., ed., Vatican Council
II: The Conciliar and Post Conciliar Documents, New York, Costello Publishing
Co., 1975 (all later Vatican II Conciliar references will be cited from this source
by the document’s Conciliar name).
3
Vatican Council II, Lumen Gentium (Dogmatic Constitution on the Church), n.
53.
4
Council of Ephesus, 431 A.D., as cited from Henricus Denzinger, Enchiridion
Symbolorum, Definitionum et Declarationum De Rebus Fidel et Morum,
2
xiv
MARY: COREDEMPTRIX, MEDIATRIX, ADVOCATE
A few centuries later, the living and praying Church, pondering the
Scriptural revelation of Mary’s virginity, defined the second Marian
doctrine, the Perpetual Virginity of Mary. At the Lateran Council in 649,
Pope Martin I proclaimed the three-fold nature of the virginity of Mary:
“she conceived without seed, of the Holy Spirit...and without injury
brought him forth...and after his birth preserved her virginity inviolate.”5
The third Marian doctrine came to its most complete illumination by
the Church more than a thousand years later. “The Most Holy Virgin
Mary was, in the first moment of her conception, by a unique gift of
grace and privilege of Almighty God, in view of the merits of Jesus
Christ, the Redeemer of mankind, preserved free from all stain of
original sin.”6 The infallible statement by Pope Pius IX in 1854 which
defined the Immaculate Conception of Mary confirmed centuries of
Christian belief that she who was greeted by the angel as “full of grace”
(Lk 1:28) entered into human existence without the stain of original sin.
In more recent times, the Assumption of Mary was the fourth Marian
doctrine defined to be contained in God’s revelation to humanity. “Mary,
the immaculate perpetually Virgin Mother of God, after the completion
of her earthly life, was assumed body and soul into the glory of
Heaven.”7 The woman who intimately shared in the victory of Christ
over the serpent (cf. Gen 3:15) could not suffer the effects of sin and
death that came from the Evil one and his seed, with whom she was
given complete enmity by Almighty God.
But at the same time we know that the Marian mystery in God’s plan
of salvation does not end with the earthly life of the Virgin of Nazareth
and her departure. The Second Vatican Council reminds us: “Taken up in
Heaven she did not lay aside this saving office, but by her manifold
intercession continues to bring us the gifts of eternal salvation.”8
The Council goes on to say: “Therefore the Blessed Virgin is
invoked in the Church under the titles of Advocate, Helper, Benefactress,
and Mediatrix.”9 These titles of Mary, such as Mediatrix and Advocate,
refer to roles given to Mary by the heavenly Father and sustained by the
Holy Spirit because of her intimate sharing in the redemptive work of
Jesus Christ.
To understand, therefore, the roles of Mary as Mediatrix and
Barcelona, ed., Herder, 1946, n. 113 (all later references from this source will be
entered as “D” followed by the reference number).
5
Pope Martin I, Lateran Council, 649 A.D., D 256.
6
Pope Pius IX, Ineffabilis Deus, 1854, D 1641.
7
Pope Pius XII, Munificentissimus Deus, 1950.
8
Vatican Council II, Lumen Gentium, n. 62.
9
Vatican Council II, Lumen Gentium, n. 62.
MARY: COREDEMPTRIX, MEDIATRIX, ADVOCATE
xv
Advocate which she now exercises with the aid of the Holy Spirit from
her rightful place in Heaven, we must examine the meritorious
foundation for these God-given roles during her earthly life as the
“handmaid of the Lord” (Lk 1:38).
“Thus the daughter of Adam, Mary, consenting to the word of God,
became the Mother of Jesus. Committing herself wholeheartedly and
impeded by no sin to God’s saving will, she devoted herself totally, as a
handmaid of the Lord, to the person and work of her Son, under and with
him, serving the work of redemption....”10 Mary’s intimate cooperation
with the Redeemer began at the Annunciation, where she freely
participated in the work of man’s salvation through faith and obedience
(cf. Lk 1:28).
But the cooperation of the Mother of the Redeemer in the work of
redemption did not cease with her fiat to the angel. “The Blessed Virgin
advanced in her pilgrimage of faith and faithfully persevered in her union
with her Son unto the cross, where she stood, in keeping with the divine
plan, enduring with her only begotten Son the intensity of his suffering,
associated herself with his sacrifice in her mother’s heart, and lovingly
consenting to the immolation of this victim which was born of her.”11
These profound words of the Second Vatican Council describe the
spiritual sufferings and intimate cooperation Mary experienced with the
Redeemer at the foot of the cross (cf. Jn 19:26) in perfect maternal
obedience to God’s plan of salvation.
It is in light of Mary’s unique and intimate cooperation with the
Redeemer, both at the Incarnation (cf. Lk 1:28) and at the work of
Redemption at Calvary (cf. Jn 19:26), that the Church has invoked Mary
under the title, “Coredemptrix.”12
The prefix “co” does not mean equal, but comes from the Latin
word, “cum,” which means “with”. The title of Coredemptrix applied to
10
Vatican Council II, Lumen Gentium, n. 56.
Vatican Council II, Lumen Gentium, n. 58.
12
For example, see Pope Pius XI, Radio message to Lourdes, 28 April 1935,
L’Osservatore Romano: “O Mother of piety and mercy, who as Coredemptrix
stood by your most sweet Son suffering with Him when He consummated the
redemption of the human race on the altar of the cross...(emphasis added).” For
other appearances of the Marian title “Coredemptrix” in official Church
documents, see Sacred Congregation of Rites, 13 May 1908, Acta Apostolicae
Sedis (in later references “AAS”) 41, 1908, p. 408; Holy Office, Decree of 26
June 1913, AAS, 5, 1913, p. 364; Holy Office, Decree of 22 January 1914, AAS,
6, 1914, p. 108; Pope Pius XI, L’Osservatore Romano, 1 December 1933,
L’Osservatore Romano, 25 March 1934. Cf. P. Gabriele M. Roschini O.S.M.,
Maria Santissima Nella Storia Delia Salvezza, Isola de Liri, Italy, Editrice m.
Pisani, 1969, p. 126.
11
xvi
MARY: COREDEMPTRIX, MEDIATRIX, ADVOCATE
the Mother of Jesus never places Mary on a level of equality with Jesus
Christy the divine Lord of all, in the saving process of humanity’s
redemption. Rather, it denotes Mary’s singular and unique sharing with
her Son in the saving work of redemption for the human family. The
Mother of Jesus participates in the redemptive work of her Saviour Son,
who alone could reconcile humanity with the Father in his glorious
divinity and humanity. Jesus Christ, true God and true man, redeems the
human family, as the God-man. Mary, who is completely subordinate
and dependent to her redeeming Son even for her own human
redemption,13 participates in the redemptive act of her Son as his exalted
human mother.
Because of her intimate and unparalleled sharing in the mysterious
work with the divine Redeemer, Mary, human Mother of the Redeemer,
has merited the Church title, “Coredemptrix” which literally means,
“with the Redeemer.”
Mary’s other roles in the Church as Mediatrix14 and Advocate15 are in
fact a flowing over of her role as Coredemptrix. Pope John Paul II tells
us, “Mary’s role as Coredemptrix did not cease with the glorification of
her Son.”16
There remains one final doctrinal pillar of the Marian mystery
revealed by God that seems to call for the proclamation of clarity and
truth that only the Church can provide in its crucial task of “giving an
authentic interpretation of the Word of God.”17 It is the Christian
revelation of Mary as Coredemptrix with the Redeemer, as well as the
resulting roles of Mediatrix and Advocate for the People of God. For the
People of God, as the Council tells us, “still journey on earth surrounded
by dangers and difficulties, until they are led into their blessed home.”18
Let us proceed to examine these Marian roles of Coredemptrix,
Mediatrix, and Advocate, as they manifest themselves in the rich
revelation of the Word of God entrusted to the Church.19 Let us in a
special way invoke the guidance of the Holy Spirit, the Spirit of Truth,
13
Mary herself is redeemed by the saving merits of Jesus Christ at Calvary
through an application of the graces of redemption at the moment of her
conception by God who is out of time, cf. Pope Pius IX, Ineffabilis Deus, 1854.
14
Cf. Vatican Council II, Lumen Gentium, n. 62.
15
Cf. Vatican Council II, Lumen Gentium, n. 62.
16
Pope John Paul II, Papal Address at the Sanctuary of Our Lady of Alborada in
Guayaquil, 31 January 1985, L’Osservatore Romano, 11 March 1985.
17
Vatican Council II, Dei Verbum (Dogmatic Constitution on Divine
Revelation), n. 10.
18
Vatican Council II, Lumen Gentium, n. 62.
19
Cf. Vatican Council II, Dei Verbum, n. 10.
MARY: COREDEMPTRIX, MEDIATRIX, ADVOCATE
xvii
for “the Holy Spirit, through whom the living voice of the Gospel rings
out in the Church – and through her to the world – leads believers to the
full truth, and makes the Word of Christ dwell in them in all its richness”
(cf. Col 3:16).20 Hence the Christian faithful will be able to listen
attentively to what “the Spirit” is “saying to the Churches” today about
the “Handmaid of the Lord” (cf. Rev 2:7, 11, 17; Lk 1:38).21
20
21
Vatican Council II, Dei Verbum, n. 8.
Cf. Pope John Paul II, Encyclical Letter, Redemptoris Mater, n. 30.
Chapter One
MARY COREDEMPTRIX WITH THE REDEEMER
Gen 3:15 – Old Testament Prophecy of the Coredemptrix
The first revelation of Mary’s intimate cooperation with the
Redeemer is contained in the first great prophecy of the redemption
found in the “First Gospel” (Protoevangelium), the book of Genesis.
The Second Vatican Council tells us: “The books of the Old
Testament describe the history of salvation, by which the coming of
Christ into the world was slowly prepared. The earliest documents, as
they are read in the Church and are understood in light of a further and
full revelation, bring the figure of a woman, Mother of the Redeemer,
into a gradually clearer light. Considered in this light, she is already
prophetically foreshadowed in the promise of victory over the serpent
which was given to our first parents after their fall into sin” (cf. Gen
3:15).22 The Mother of the Redeemer and her providential role in
redemption is prophetically foreshadowed in the promise of the future
Saviour revealed in the inspired book of Genesis.
Following the sin committed by our first parents in the garden, God
addresses the serpent: “I will put enmity between you and the woman,
and between your seed and her seed; he shall crush your head and you
shall lie in wait for his heel” (Gen 3:15). The sacred text reveals a crucial
struggle, singular and absolute, between the tempter Satan and the future
redeemer, Jesus Christ. This revealed struggle will end in triumph for the
“seed of the woman.”23
The “woman” foreshadows the mother of the redeemer, who
intimately shares in the same struggle and same victory as the future
redeemer against the serpent of evil. For it was God’s manifest will that
the Woman share in the same “enmity” between herself and the serpent
as does her redeeming seed (cf. Gen 3:15). This struggle and victory
22
Second Vatican Council, Lumen Gentium, no. 55.
Pope Pius IX, Apostolic Letter, Ineffabilis Deus, 8 December 1854; cf. John
Paul II, Encyclical Letter, Redemptor Hominis, 1979, n. 8.
23
2
MARY: COREDEMPTRIX, MEDIATRIX, ADVOCATE
over the serpent foreshadows the great work of redemption effected by
the Saviour of the world, as well as the Mother of the Redeemer’s
intimate cooperation in this saving act. Mary is indeed “prophetically
foreshadowed in the promise of victory over the serpent which was given
to our first parents after their fall into sin.”24
Pope Pius IX explained Mary’s “intimate and indissoluble” union
with Jesus Christ in his redemptive triumph over Satan which was
prophesied in Genesis 3:15 in the apostolic letter which infallibly defined
the Immaculate Conception: “By this divine prophecy [Gen 3:15], the
merciful Redeemer of mankind, Jesus Christ, the only begotten Son of
God, was clearly foretold; that His most blessed Mother, the Virgin
Mary, was prophetically indicated; and, at the same time, the very enmity
of both against the Evil One was significantly expressed. Hence, just as
Christ, the Mediator between God and man, assumed human nature,
blotted out the handwriting of the decree that stood against us, fastened it
triumphantly to the cross, so the most holy Virgin, united with Him by a
most intimate and indissoluble bond, was, with Him and through Him,
eternally at enmity with the evil Serpent, and most completely triumphed
over him....”25 Mary was eternally in complete and absolute opposition to
Satan, for with and through her Son the Redeemer, the Woman was to
intimately share in the complete redemptive triumph over Satan.
The early Church Fathers gave immediate confirmation to this
scriptural prophecy of Mary’s true sharing in the work of redemption by
modeling the Mother of Jesus as the “New Eve.” 26 In the mind of the
early Fathers, Mary was the New Eve who intimately participated with
the “New Adam,” Jesus Christ, in restoring the supernatural life of grace
lost by Adam and Eve. Pius XII refers to this Patristic designation of
Mary as New Eve and her intimate sharing in the redemptive victory of
her Son (based on the Genesis passage) in his apostolic constitution
infallibly defining the Assumption of Mary: “Since the second century,
the Virgin Mary has been designated by the holy Fathers as the New Eve,
who, although subject to the New Adam, is most intimately associated
with Him in that struggle against the eternal foe, which, as foretold in the
protoevangelium, finally resulted in that most complete victory over sin
and death....”27
24
Vatican Council II, Lumen Gentium, n. 55.
Pope Pius IX, Ineffabilis Deus, 8 December 1854.
26
Cf. St. Justin Martyr, Dialogus cum Tryphone, ch. 100; Migne, Patrologia
Graeca (subsequent references, “PG”), 6, 109-112; St. Irenaeus, Adversus
Haereses, III, c. 32, 1, PG, 7, 958-959; V, c. 19, 1, PG 7, 1175-1176.
27
Pope Pius XII, Apostolic Constitution Munificentissimus Deus, 1 November
1950.
25
MARY: COREDEMPTRIX, MEDIATRIX, ADVOCATE
3
The intimate and unique coredemptive role of Mary, the Woman of
the seed (cf. Gen 3:15) with the Redeemer, the seed of victory over the
serpent, is already prophetically revealed in the first inspired text of
Sacred Scripture.
Isaiah 7:14 – Mother of the Suffering Servant
Another great Old Testament prophecy that foretells the coming of
the saving messiah is the prophecy of Isaiah 7:14. The Lord reveals to
Ahaz a sign of salvation for the people of Israel: “Therefore, the Lord
Himself will give you a sign. Behold, a virgin shall conceive and bear a
son, and his name shall be called Emmanuel” (Is 7:14). Through this
virgin-mother (the later Virgin Mother of Nazareth28) the Emmanuel, the
“God with us,” will enter the world to effect its salvation.29
But what would be the price this messiah would have to pay to
ransom the world (cf. Mt 10:45)? The same prophetic book of Isaiah
describes the redeeming price that would be paid by the messiah, the
“suffering servant” of God: “He was despised and dejected by men; a
man of sorrows, and acquainted with grief; and as one from whom men
hide their faces...he was wounded for our transgressions, he was bruised
for our iniquities; upon him was the chastisement that made us whole,
and with his stripes we are healed” (Is 53:3-5).
The Virgin Mother prophesied by Isaiah would indeed bring us the
redeeming Messiah, the God-with-us. But since her Child was destined
to buy back the world “at a price” (1 Cor 6:20), the Mother of the
Suffering Servant was also, by nature of her maternal relation, destined
to suffer. The future Mother of the Redeemer was predestined to suffer
with her redeeming Son.
Lk 1:38 – New Testament Beginning of Coredemptrix
“The Redeemer of man, Jesus Christ, is the center of the universe
and human history.”30 It was the will of the Father that in the fullness of
time (cf. Gal 4:4), the Son came into the world as the Redeemer of
humanity, to perform the work of the redemption on the Cross (cf. Jn
19:25). But the eternal plan of the Heavenly Father to send his Son for
the salvation of the world also included the predestined role of a woman.
The Second Vatican Council tells us: “The Father of mercies willed that
28
Vatican Council II, Lumen Gentium, n. 55.
Cf. John Paul II, Redemptoris Mater, n. 7.
30
John Paul II, Encyclical Letter, Redemptor Hominis, n. l.
29
4
MARY: COREDEMPTRIX, MEDIATRIX, ADVOCATE
the Incarnation should be preceded by assent on the part of the
predestined mother, so that just as a woman had a share in bringing about
death, so also a woman should contribute to life. This is pre-eminently
true of the Mother of Jesus, who gave to the world the Life that renews
all things, and who was enriched by God with gifts appropriate for such a
role.”31
When the Father elected Mary32 from among all women (cf. Lk 1:41)
to be the Mother of the Redeemer, it was by virtue of this choice by God
and the consent of the Handmaid that Mary began her coredemptive role
of cooperation with the Redeemer.
“Hail, full of grace, the Lord is with you” (Lk 1:28). The angel
greets the Virgin of Nazareth under a new title, “full of grace”, in the
place of her earthly name, “Miriam” or Mary. 33 The Greek word for this
new title, “kecharitomene” is the perfect participle of the verb, which
tells us that this profound event of grace ascribed to Mary is an action
that has been completed in the past, before the announcement of the
Angel,34 and, thus, describes the present state, “full of grace.”
It was Mary’s Immaculate Conception that properly prepared her and
made her worthy for the intimate and unique cooperation she was to have
with the Redeemer made man in the work of salvation. Pope John Paul II
states: “We must above all note that Mary was created immaculate in
order to be better able to act on our behalf. The fullness of grace allowed
her to fulfill perfectly her mission of collaboration with the work of
salvation: it gave the maximum value to her cooperation in the
sacrifice.”35
The sanctifying action Mary received at the first instant of her
conception was enacted by the power of the Holy Spirit, the Divine
Sanctifier, for Mary is the “only one who has become the dwelling place
of all the graces of the Holy Spirit.”36 Here too at the Annunciation, it
will be by the power of the Holy Spirit that Mary will become the
31
Vatican Council II, Lumen Gentium, n. 56.
For “Predestination of Mary”, cf. St. John Damascene, Hom., in Nativitatem,
7; 10: Sources Chretiennes, Lyons, (later S. Ch.) 80, 65; 73; Hom., in
Dormitionem I, 3: S. Ch. 80, 85.
33
Cf. John Paul II, Redemptoris Mater, n. 8.
34
For an extended contemporary commentary on kecharitôménê, cf. Ignace de la
Potterie, S.J., Mary in the Mystery of the Covenant, translated into English from
the original Flemish work, Het Mariamysterie in het Nieuwe Testament (1985)
by Bertrand Buby, SM, New York, Alba House, 1992.
35
Pope John Paul II, Mary Immaculate the First Marvel of Redemption, Papal
Address at General Audience, 7 December 1983, L’Osservatore Romano, Issue
n, 50, 1983, p. 1.
36
Pope Pius IX, Ineffabilis Deus, 1854.
32
MARY: COREDEMPTRIX, MEDIATRIX, ADVOCATE
5
Mother of the Redeemer (cf. Lk 1:35). It is the Holy Spirit, the Divine
Spouse of Mary, who prepares and sustains Mary at each stage of her
coredemptive role.
After Mary receives the word from the heavenly messenger that she
in her virginity would be overshadowed by the Holy Spirit to become the
Mother of the Son of God (cf. Lk 1:34-35), this Daughter of Zion 37 gives
her free response to the invitation sent by Yahweh, the Father: “Behold I
am the handmaid of the Lord; let it be done to me according to your
word” (Lk 1:38). It is the providential union of the creative
overshadowing of the Holy Spirit (cf. Lk 1:35) and the consenting
cooperation of Mary (cf. Lk 1:38) by which “the Word became flesh” (Jn
1:14) in the redemptive Incarnation.
With the freely given “yes” of Mary to the new plan of salvation
offered by the Father, Mary willfully and physically enters into the heart
of the new covenant established for the redemption of the human family.
The Council confirms: “After a long period of waiting the times are
fulfilled in her, the exalted Daughter of Zion, and the new plan of
salvation is established, when the Son of God has taken human nature
from her, that he might in the mysteries of his flesh free man from sin.”38
At the Annunciation, Mary begins her role as the Coredemptrix with
the Redeemer. Her fiat mihi to the angel is a free “let it be done to me” to
an intimate sharing in God’s new plan of salvation revealed by the angel
(cf. Lk 1:31-33). It is a free “let it be done to me” to the giving of a
human body to the Redeemer, who would fulfill the saving messianic
role referred to in Mary’s own magnificat (Lk 1:46-55), which “rejoices
in God my Saviour” (Lk 1:47). It is a free “let it be done to me” in
cooperating with the Redeemer so intimately that Mary Coredemptrix
gave to the Saviour the very instrument of Redemption – his human body
– for “we have been sanctified through the offering of the body of Jesus
Christ once for all” (Heb 10:10).
Early Church Fathers: Mary, the “New Eve”
Possibly the most ancient doctrinal image of Mary in the Early
Church is that of the “New Eve.” The early Fathers saw Mary (cf. Gen
3:15; Lk 1:28) as having a free and uniquely integral role with Jesus
Christ, the “New Adam” (cf. Rom 5:12; 1 Cor 15:21), in the redemption
of the human family, through the restoration of the supernatural life of
grace.39 As the virgin Eve, through her disobedience to the Father,
37
Cf. Vatican Council II, Lumen Gentium, n. 55.
Vatican Council II, Lumen Gentium, n. 55.
39
Cf. St. Justin Martyr, Dialogus cum Tryphone, C. 100; PG 6, 709-712; St.
38
6
MARY: COREDEMPTRIX, MEDIATRIX, ADVOCATE
interiorly cooperated with Adam in the sin that lost the saving life of
grace for the human family (cf. Gen 3:6), the Virgin Mary, in her
obedience to the Father (cf. Lk 1:38), interiorly cooperated with Jesus
Christ, the New Adam, in the salvation of the human family through his
redemption.
St. Irenaeus exemplifies the early Patristic understanding of Eve’s
secondary though instrumental sharing in the “death” of the supernatural
life for the world and Mary’s parallel (though antithetical), intimate
sharing in the salvation of the human race: “...the Virgin Mary was found
obedient, saying ‘Behold Thy handmaid, O Lord, be it done unto me
according to Thy word.’ Eve, however, was disobedient; for, while yet a
virgin, she did not obey. Just as she … became disobedient and became
the cause of death to herself and the whole human race, so Mary... being
obedient became for herself and the whole human race the cause of
salvation.”40
Mary’s unequaled participation in the redemption of the human race
as the New Eve was the universal Christian teaching in the Early
Church.41 The Second Vatican Council notes the unquestionable
acknowledgment by the Fathers of the Church of Mary’s unique and free
cooperation with the Redeemer in the work of man’s salvation: “Rightly,
therefore, the Fathers see Mary not merely as passively engaged by God,
but as freely cooperating in the work of man’s salvation through faith
and obedience... Not a few of the early Fathers gladly assert with him
[St. Irenaeus] in their preaching: ‘the knot of Eve’s disobedience was
untied by Mary’s obedience: what the virgin Eve bound by her disbelief,
Mary loosened by her faith.’ Comparing Mary with Eve, they call her
Irenaeus, Adversus Haereses III, c.22, n. 4: PG 7, 959; V, c. 19, n. 1, PG 7,
1175; St. Epiphanius, Haer. 78, 18; PG 42, 728; St. Jerome, Epist. 22, 21:
Migne, Patrologia Latina (later as “PL”) 22, 408; cf. St. Augustine, Serm. 57, 2,
3: PG 38, 335; St. Cyril of Jerusalem, Catech. 12, 15: PG 33, 741; St. John
Chrysostom, In Ps. 44, 7: PG 55, 193; Later Fathers (amidst many others from
both East and West) include St. John Damascene, Hom. 2 in dorm. B.V.M., 3:
PG 96, 728. For more comprehensive Patristic references, see J. Bittremieux,
De Meditatione universali B. M. Virginis quoad gratias, Brugis, 1926, p. 107; J.
B. Carol, O.F.M., De Corredemptione Beatae Virginis Mariae, Typis Polyglottis
Vaticanis, 1950, p. 125; G. Roschini, O.S.M., Maria Santissima Nella Storia
Della Salvezza, 1969, v. II, p. 171.
40
St. Irenaeus, Adversus Haereses, I, 3, c. 22, n. 4; PG 7, 958-959.
41
Cf. Footnote 15 for general Patristic references as well as theological
references for a more comprehensive documentation. The great nineteenth
century Patristic scholar, John Henry Newman, is quoted to have said regarding
the unquestionable New Eve model that “by the time of St. Jerome (331-420),
the contrast between Eve and Mary had almost passed into a proverb” (cf. J.
Bittremieux, De Meditatione universali B. M. Virginis quoad gratias, p. 107).
MARY: COREDEMPTRIX, MEDIATRIX, ADVOCATE
7
“Mother of the Living,” and frequently claim: “death through Eve, life
through Mary.”42
We can summarize the profound wisdom of the Fathers by saying
that just as Eve had an active sharing with Adam in the loss of salvation
for the human family (although a role secondary and subordinate to that
of Adam), so Mary had an active sharing with Jesus Christ in the
redemption of the human family (although a role completely secondary
and subordinate to that of Jesus Christ).43
For the Fathers, the Incarnation of Jesus Christ into the world was
the beginning of one unified divine act of redemption that saw its
merciful climax in the passion and death of the Redeemer on the Cross.44
The Incarnation is the Redemption begun and anticipated,45 and Mary’s
moral and physical cooperation in the Redemptive Incarnation alone
merits her Patristic titles of being, in her rightful subordinate manner, the
“cause of our salvation,”46 “the price of the redemption of captives,”47
and she who “brought forth redemption for the human race.”48
Following then this Patristic parallel between Eve and Mary, Eve
could rightly be seen as the Co-peccatrix (“with the Sinner”). For it was
Eve who freely gave the “instrument” of the Fall, the “forbidden fruit,”
(cf. Gen 3:6) to Adam, the Peccator (“the Sinner”) whose sin as father of
the human race led to loss of grace for the human race.49 It is through the
instrumentality of the Co-peccatrix that the Peccator effected the death of
the human race.50
Mary then can rightly be seen as the Coredemptrix (with the
42
Vatican Council II, Lumen Gentium, n. 56.
For a more developed treatment of this theological conclusion, cf. G.
Roschini, O.S.M., Mariologia, v. 3, Rome, 1947, p. 300.
44
Cf. J. Lebon, Comment je conçois, j’ établis et je defends la doctrine de la
Mediation mariale, Ephemerides Theologicae Louvanienses, vol. 16, 1939, p.
600; as cited in L. Riley, Historical Conspectus of the Doctrine of Mary’s
CoRedemption, Marian Studies, 1951, p. 41; Bover, Deiparae Virginis
consensus corredemptionis ac meditationis fundamentum, as cited in Charles
Balic, O.F.M., The Council Speaks of Mary, The Marian Era, v. 6, 1965., p. 85.
45
“Incarnatio redemptiva redemptio inchoativa” (“the redemptive Incarnation is
the Redemption begun”), cf. Ch. II, Footnote 151.
46
St. Irenaeus, Adversus Haereses, I, c. 22, n. 4; PG 7, 958-959.
47
St. Ephraem, Assemani, ed., Opera Omnia, vol. 3, Rome, 1832, p. 528.
48
St. Ambrose, De Mysteriis, c. 3, n. 13; PL 16, 410.
49
Cf. St. Thomas Aquinas, Summa Theologia, I-II, Q. 81, a. 5. Adam’s sin as
Father of the human race is the formal cause for the loss of grace for the human
race. Had Adam not sinned, we would not suffer the effects of Original Sin.
50
Cf. Alfons Maria Cardinal Stickler, Maria: Mitterloserin, Salzburg, 12.9.90,
Informationsblatt der Priesterbruderschaft St. Petrus, n. 12, Wigratzbad,
Jahrgang, 1991.
43
8
MARY: COREDEMPTRIX, MEDIATRIX, ADVOCATE
Redeemer). For it is Mary who freely gave the instrument of the
Redemption, the human body, to Jesus Christ. The Father no longer
desired the sacrifices of the Old Law but prepared for his Saviour Son a
body as the New Law instrument of Redemption: “When Christ came
into the world, he said, “Sacrifices and offerings thou hast not desired,
but a body has thou prepared for me” (Heb 10:5).
“We have been sanctified through the offering of the body of Jesus
Christ (Heb 10:10).” This body, the God-designated instrument of
Redemption, was freely given to the Redeemer at the Incarnation by
Mary, the Coredemptrix.
Truly can it be said that Eve was the Co-peccatrix with the Peccator;
Mary, the Coredemptrix with the Redeemer.
Summary
The Father elected Mary from among all women to be the
Coredemptrix with the Redeemer. Mary’s physical and moral gift of
humanity to the Redeemer constitutes an inner participation in the work
of Redemption that no other creature in heaven or on earth could ever
reach. By giving flesh to the “Word made flesh” for our salvation, this
act alone rightfully and exclusively merits for the Handmaid of the Lord
the title and honor of Coredemptrix.
But Mary’s cooperation at the Annunciation is only the beginning of
her faithful role as Coredemptrix. “This union of the mother with the Son
in the work of salvation is made manifest from the time of Christ’s
virginal conception up to his death...”51 The Blessed Virgin advanced in
her pilgrimage of faith, and faithfully persevered in union with her Son
unto the cross.”52 The Son came into the world as the Redeemer of all
nations, and the work of Redemption was climaxed at the Cross.
Calvary, therefore, was also the event to which the coredeeming Mother
was destined to go with her Redeeming Son.
Lk 2:35 – Presentation Prophecy of Coredemptrix
The New Testament prophecy of the climax of Mary’s role as
Coredemptrix comes from the inspired words of Simeon at the
presentation of the infant Lord to the Temple (cf. Lk 2:25-37).
It is again by the power and sustenance of the Holy Spirit (cf. Lk
2:26-27) that Mary receives the prophetic message of Simeon foretelling
the climactic sharing by the Mother of Jesus in the price of Redemption.
51
52
Vatican Council II, Lumen Gentium, n. 57.
Vatican Council II, Lumen Gentium, n. 58.
MARY: COREDEMPTRIX, MEDIATRIX, ADVOCATE
9
“Inspired by the Spirit” (Lk 2:27), Simeon came into the temple and
took the infant Redeemer in his arms, proclaiming, “Lord, now let your
servant depart in peace, according to your word; for my eyes have seen
the salvation which you have prepared in the presence of all the peoples”
(Lk 2:29-31). Simeon’s inspired words about the future Redeemer
correspond to the meaning of the name given to him by the angel,
“Jesus”, which means “God is salvation.”53 The redemptive mission of
the child Jesus was also made known to the temple prophetess Anna,
who “gave thanks to God and spoke of him to all who were looking for
the redemption of Jerusalem” (Lk 2:38).
The elderly prophet then addressed the Mother of the Redeemer.
“Simeon blessed them and said to Mary his mother, ‘Behold, this child is
set for the fall and rising of many in Israel, and for a sign that will be
contradicted’ (Lk 2:34).” And with particular attention to Mary, Simeon
prophetically states: “and a sword will pierce through your own heart,
too” (Lk 2:35).
This sorrowful annunciation to the Mother of the Saviour confirms
that her intimate sharing in the redemptive work of her Son will be at the
price of profound suffering, and will lead her in the obedience of faith to
the side of the suffering Redeemer. John Paul II tells us: “Simeon’s
words seem like a second Annunciation to Mary, for they tell her of the
actual historical situation in which the Son is to accomplish his mission,
namely, in misunderstanding and sorrow. While this announcement, on
the one hand, confirms her faith in the accomplishment of the divine
promises of salvation, on the other hand, it also reveals to her that she
will have to live her obedience of faith in suffering, at the side of the
suffering Saviour, and that her motherhood will be mysterious and
sorrowful.”54
Just as Mary anticipated her Son’s stainless entry into the human
family by her Immaculate Conception, so too did the Mother go before
her Son in the order of suffering that would lead to the climax of
Redemption on the Cross. The coredeeming Mother of the Saviour was
eternally predestined55 to sacrifice and suffering in her election by the
Heavenly Father. And from the time of her joyful and sorrowful
announcements (cf. Lk 1:28, Lk 2:35), Mary anticipated her Son’s
redemptive suffering at Calvary in her motherly heart. “Where Mary is,
53
Cf. John Paul II, Redemptoris Mater, n. 16.
John Paul II, Redemptoris Mater, n. 16. Note: Certainly Mary’s knowledge of
the Suffering Servant of Is. 53, coupled with the words of the angel and Simeon
regarding her messiah-son and his mission, made the Mother of Jesus keenly
aware of her joint call with her Son in a salvific effort that would be immersed
in profound suffering.
55
Cf. John Paul II, Redemptoris Mater, n. 3.
54
10
MARY: COREDEMPTRIX, MEDIATRIX, ADVOCATE
Jesus will soon appear,”56 and for the Child destined to suffer, the Mother
must also precede. The Mother always went before the Son in the order
of suffering.
Jn 19:26 – Climax of the Coredemptrix
The Work of Redemption
Jesus Christ, Son of God and Son of Mary, is the Redeemer of all
peoples and nations through his passion, death, and resurrection on the
cross. Through the sacrifice at Calvary, the Son of Man reconciled
humanity with the Father and ransomed us from the true burden of sin.
“In him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of our
sins” (Eph 1:7). It is in the sacrifice of Calvary that “Christ has bought us
back from the curse of the law” (Gal 3:13). “The Son of Man came ...to
give his life as a ransom for many” (Mt 20:28); and it is upon the cross
that “a death has occurred which redeems them from the transgressions
under the first covenant” (Heb 9:15).
The Old Testament understanding of a “redeemer” (Hebrew,
“go’el”) often included the idea of a family member, kinsman, or close
relative who was responsible for “ransoming back from bondage”
another family member(cf. Lev 25:48; Jer 32:7).57 Redemption also
included the idea of a covenant relationship, where God would act as a
“redeemer” in ransoming back Israel his “people” from Egypt because of
his covenant with them: “I am the Lord, and I will bring you out from
under the burden of the Egyptians, and I will deliver you from their
bondage, and I will redeem you with an outstretched arm” (Ex 6:6).
The Old Testament foreshadows a redeemer of men who would be a
“family redeemer”, being the Son of Yahweh, and also a redeemer
bringing forth a “new covenant of my blood” (Lk 22:19) through “a
death” that “has occurred which redeems them from the transgressions
under the first covenant” (Heb 9:15).
But here too we see the wisdom of God in having Mary, Mother of
the Saviour and Daughter of Zion, intimately involved in the family and
covenant act of Redemption.
56
John Paul II, Papal address at the Sanctuary of Our Lady of Alborada,
Guayaquil, Ecuador, 31 January 1985, L’Osservatore Romano, 11 March 1985,
p. 6.
57
For extended commentary on “redeemer” (g’l, go’el) in the Old Testament,
Cf. Ringgren, Theological Dictionary of the Old Testament, v. 2, Eerdman,
Grand Rapids, p. 351; cf. Kittel, Theological Dictionary of the New Testament,
Abridged Volume, Michigan, 1985, p. 328.
MARY: COREDEMPTRIX, MEDIATRIX, ADVOCATE
11
As Mother of the Saviour and spiritual “Mother of the Living,” 58
Mary rightly has, by maternal relation, an intimate sharing in the familial
“ransoming back” of her human family with her Son, the Redeemer. As
Daughter of Zion, Mary is the faithful and obedient Daughter of Israel
who profoundly participates in the new and everlasting covenant
between the Father and the new People of God. In both the familial and
covenantal aspects of Redemption foreshadowed in the Old Testament,
Mary as Mother of the Saviour and spiritual Mother of the Living, as
well as the faithful Daughter of Zion, rightly participates in the heart of
the New Covenant act of Redemption.
The Coredemptrix in the Work of Redemption
“Standing by the cross of Jesus were his mother, and his mother’s
sister, Mary, the wife of Clopas, and Mary Magdalene. When Jesus saw
his mother, and the disciple whom he loved standing near, he said to his
mother, ‘Woman, behold, your son!’ Then he said to the disciple, ‘Son,
Behold, your mother!’ And from that hour, the disciple took her to his
own home. After this, knowing that all was now finished...he said, ‘It is
finished’; and he bowed his head and gave up his spirit” (Jn 19:26-28,
30).
The term, “Woman” unites the Mother of the Saviour at the foot of
the cross with the “Woman” of the seed of redemption in Genesis (cf.
Gen: 3:15), who will work with the Redeemer in the triumph over Satan
and his seed of sin and death. Mary, who previously was the Handmaid
of the Lord at the Annunciation, becomes through the bitter suffering of
Calvary the Woman with the Man of Redemption, the Mother with the
Son of Salvation, the Lady (Domino) with the Lord (Dominus) of all
peoples.
“Thus the Blessed Virgin advanced in her pilgrimage of faith, and
faithfully persevered in her union with her Son unto the cross, where she
stood, in keeping with the divine command, enduring with her only
begotten Son the intensity of his suffering, associated herself with his
sacrifice in her mother’s heart, and lovingly consenting to the
immolation of this victim which was born of her.”59 These sublime
words of the Council Fathers summarize the rich fruits of the Church’s
prayerful pondering over nearly two millennia on the scriptural passage
of Jn 19:26 and its inspired revelation of Mary’s intimate coredemptive
role with the Redeemer.
58
59
Vatican Council II, Lumen Gentium, n. 56.
Vatican Council II, Lumen Gentium, n. 58.
12
MARY: COREDEMPTRIX, MEDIATRIX, ADVOCATE
Papal Teaching on the Coredemptrix at Calvary
“The task of giving an authentic interpretation of the Word of God,
whether in its written form or in its oral form of Tradition, has been
entrusted to the living teaching office of the Church alone.” 60 And with
the profound Johannine passage, Jn 19:26, of the written word of God,
the teaching office (Magisterium) of the Church has provided a rich and
inspired interpretation which manifests the Marian mystery of
Coredemptrix.
This deeper and fuller understanding of the inspired text of John
19:26 regarding Mary’s role as Coredemptrix as taught by the Church is
the rich fruit of a greater penetration into the Patristic understanding of
Mary as the New Eve; as well by the contributions of Church Fathers,
Doctors, Mystics, and Saints, including St. Bernard of Clairvaux,61 St.
Bonaventure,62 St. Albert the Great,63 and John Tauler.64 These and
60
Vatican Council II, Dogmatic Constitution, Dei Verbum, n. 10.
Cf. St. Bernard of Clairvaux (d. 1153), Hom. II super Missus est; PL 183, 62;
Sermo III de Purificatione Beatae Mariae; PL 183, 370; Sermo II in Festo
Pentecostes; PL 183, 328. Note: Although St. Bernard’s commentary was not
specifically directed to the Jn 19:26 passage, his contribution regarding Mary’s
“offering of the Victim to the Father” rightly includes St. Bernard in the
development of the understanding of Mary’s coredemptive role at the cross.
62
Cf. St. Bonaventure (d. 1274), Collatio 6 de donis Spiritus Sancti, n. 5, n. 15,
n. 16, n. 17; Opera Omnia, (Ad Claras Aquas), v. 5, p. 486; Sermo 3 de
Assumptione, Opera Omnia, v. 9, p. 695; III Sent., dist. 4, a. 3, qu. 3, concl.;
Opera Omnia, v. 3, p. 115. For example: “Just as they [Adam and Eve] were the
destroyers of the human race, so these [Jesus and Mary] were its repairers...
(Sermo 3): “She [Mary] also merited reconciliation for the entire human race ...
(III Sent); “She paid the price [of Redemption] as a woman brave and loving –
namely, when Christ suffered on the cross to pay that price in order to purge and
wash and redeem us, the Blessed Virgin was present, accepting and agreeing
with the divine will” (n. 16).
63
Cf. St. Albert the Great (d. 1280), Comment, in Matth., I, 18; Opera Omnia,
ed., Borgnet, Vol. 20, Paris, 1898, p. 36; St. Albert or “Pseudo-Albert”, Mariale,
Q. 42, Opera Omnia, v. 37, p. 81; Q. 150, p. 219; Q. 51, p. 97. For example: “To
her [Mary] alone was given this privilege, namely, a communication in the
Passion; to her the Son willed to communicate the merit of the Passion, in order
that He could give her the reward; and in order to make her a sharer in the
benefit of Redemption, He willed that she be a sharer in the penalty of the
Passion, in so far as she might become the Mother of all through re-creation
even as she was the adjutrix of the Redemption by her co-passion. And just as
the whole world is bound to God by His supreme Passion, so also it is bound to
the Lady of all by her co- passion”(Q. 150).
64
Cf. John Tauler (d. 1361), Sermo pro festo Purificationis Beatae Mariae
61
MARY: COREDEMPTRIX, MEDIATRIX, ADVOCATE
13
numerous other Church writers, leading through the Middle Ages and up
to the Modern period,65 represent aids to the teaching Church, which “at
the divine command and with the help of the Holy Spirit...faithfully
expounds”66 the Word of God. All these ecclesial sources have
contributed in their own way and collectively to a greater unraveling of
Mary’s role as the “Coredemptrix”67 as taught by the Church.
The modern papal commentary on Jn 19:26 with regard to Mary’s
intimate cooperation with the Redeemer at Calvary in the work of
Redemption provides a treasure of authoritative and theological insight
in grasping the fullest meaning of this inspired text of Sacred Scripture.
The fruitful combination of authoritative consistency, as well as
individual theological contribution in development, make this series of
papal statements a wellspring of the “authentic interpretation of the Word
of God”68 concerning Mary’s coredemptive role at the foot of the cross.
In the Papal teaching of Leo XIII (1878-1903),69 we see that Mary
Virginis; Oeuvres completes, vol. 6, Paris, 1911, ed., E. P. Noel, p. 253,-255; p.
256, p. 259. For example: “God accepted her oblation [on Calvary] as a pleasing
sacrifice for the utility and salvation of the whole human race...” (p. 253); “He
foretold to thee [Mary] all thy passion whereby He would make thee a sharer of
all of His merits and afflictions, and thou would co-operate with Him in the
restoration of men to salvation...” (p. 256).
65
For a more comprehensive treatment of Mary’s Coredemptive role at Calvary
from the post-Patristic period through the Middle Ages and up to the Modern
Period, see Roschini, Maria Santissima Nella Storia Delia Salvezza, p. 179; J. B.
Carol, De Corredemptione Beatae Virginis Mariae, p. 151.
66
Vatican Council II, Dei Verbum, n. 10.
67
Apart from the numerous references to Mary’s Coredemptive role with Christ
before this time (see Footnotes 40 and 41), the first recorded use of the title,
“Coredemptrix” appears to date back to the fourteenth century, for example, in
the liturgical book found in St. Peter’s in Salzburg, with the verses:
‘Pia, dulcis et benigna
Loving, sweet, and kind,
Nullo prorsus luctu digna
Wholly undeserving of any sorrow,
Si fletum hinc eligeres
If henceforth you chose weeping,
Ut compassa Redemptori,
As one suffering with the Redeemer,
Captivato transgressori
For the captive sinner,
Tu Corredemptrix fieres.
Coredemptrix would you be.
Cf. Oratione of St. Peter’s in Salzburg, in Dreves-Blume, Analecta hymnica
medii aevi, v. 46, n. 79, p. 126; cf. PLanctus oratius … ad B. Virginem Filium
de cruce depositum sinu tenentem, in R. Laurentin, Le tître de Coredemptrice,
Etude historique in Marianum, 13, 1951, p. 429.
68
Cf. Vatican Council II, Dei Verbum, n. 10.
69
Note: Pope Pius IX more generally begins the papal references to Mary’s
Coredemptive role in Ineffabilis Deus (1854), when he refers to Mary as the
“parentum Reparatricem” (“Reparatrix [secondary restorer] of parents”) in refer
14
MARY: COREDEMPTRIX, MEDIATRIX, ADVOCATE
freely offered her dying Son in obedience to the justice of the Father,
beginning at the temple and climaxing at the cross, where she intimately
shared with the Redeemer by “dying with Him in her heart” in painfully
atoning for the sins of humanity: “When Mary offered herself completely
to God together with her Son in the temple, she was already sharing with
Him the painful atonement on behalf of the human race. It is certain,
therefore, that she suffered in the very depths of her soul with His most
bitter sufferings and with His torments. Finally, it was before the eyes of
Mary that the Divine Sacrifice for which she had borne and nurtured the
victim, was to be finished...we see that there stood by the Cross of Jesus
His Mother, who in a miracle of charity, so that she might receive us as
her sons, willingly offered Him up to divine justice, dying with Him in
her heart, pierced by the sword of sorrow.”70
Pope Leo XIII further teaches the Christian faithful that Mary was
the “cooperatrix” (the female cooperator or “co-worker” with Christ) in
the Redemption of humanity, and therefore would likewise be the
intimate cooperator in the distribution of the graces of Redemption:
“...she who had been the cooperatrix in the sacrament of man’s
Redemption, would be likewise the cooperatrix in the dispensation of
graces deriving from it.”71 In this statement, Leo XIII establishes Mary’s
coredemptive role in the act of acquiring the graces of Redemption, as
well as a consequential role with the Redeemer in the future conveying
of these graces to the human family.
Pope St. Pius X (1903-1914) confirms the doctrine of Mary’s
coredemptive role, as well as adding greater specificity in regards to the
merit of the Mother of the Redeemer for her cooperation in the
redemption. “Owing to the union of suffering and purpose existing
between Christ and Mary, she merited to become most worthily the
reparatrix of the lost world, and for this reason, the dispenser of all the
favors which Jesus acquired for us by His death and His blood.
Nevertheless, because she surpasses all in holiness and in union with
Christ, and because she was chosen by Christ to be His partner in the
work of human salvation, she merits for us de congruo, as they say, that
which Christ merits for us de condigno, and she is the principal dispenser
of the graces to be distributed.”72
ence to Adam and Eve in the teachings of the Church Fathers.
70
Pope Leo XIII, Enyclical Letter, Jucunda Semper, 1894, Acta Sanctae Sedis
(ASS) v. 27, p. 178.
71
Pope Leo XIII, Encyclical Letter, Adjutricem populi, 1895, ASS. v. 28, p. 130.
72
Pope St. Pius X, Encyclical Letter, Ad diem illum, 1904, ASS., v. 36,
1903-1904, p. 453.
MARY: COREDEMPTRIX, MEDIATRIX, ADVOCATE
15
Apart from the papal references to the distribution of graces by Mary
(which will be discussed in the following chapter), St. Pius X designates
Mary as the chosen partner of Christ in the work of redemption, and due
to her unified suffering and purpose with the Redeemer, Mary became
the “reparatrix,” the female restorer with Christ, of the world lost by sin.
St. Pius X further establishes that due to Mary’s unique union with
Christ in suffering and the redemptive purpose, this chosen partner of
Christ in the work of redemption merits graces for the human family in
the order of what is fitting or appropriate (de congruo) that which our
Lord merits for us in the order of justice (de condigno).
The human family is “justified by his grace as a gift, through the
redemption which is in Christ Jesus”(Rom 3:24).The God-man alone
merits the graces necessary for the redemption of the world in strict
justice, with an equality between his meritorious sacrifice on the cross
and the reward of the graces of salvation.73 But it is also fitting or
appropriate that the Father in his generosity of grace should reward the
chosen Mother of the Saviour who cooperated and suffered with the
Redeemer in the work of salvation.74 “For he will render to every man
according to his works” (Rom 2:6), and St. Pius X75 rightfully teaches
that the work of the Woman with her redeeming Son merited graces for
73
Meritum de condigno (condign merit) ex toto rigore justitiae (equality
between the meritorious action and its reward, as well as between the persons
giving and receiving the reward) is a type of merit (“a right to a reward”) that
can be obtained only by Jesus Christ in light of his divine nature. The
redemptive act by Jesus Christ on the cross was both satisfactory (removing the
relationship of guilt between the human race and God) and meritorious
(establishing a right to a reward from Almighty God, which is always at the
same time presupposing a gift of grace from God). Cf. Council of Trent, D 799,
D 809, 810; J. B. Carol, O.F.M., “Our Lady’s Coredemption” in Mariology,
Bruce Pub., 1957, v. 2, p. 410.
74
Meritum de congruo (congruous merit) is a right to a reward based on its
appropriateness or fittingness, along with the generosity of the person granting
the reward. In light of Mary’s unique participation with Christ in Redemption
and the graciousness of the Father, such de congruo merit is rightfully attributed
by St. Pius X to Mary.
75
For Church references to the title “Coredemptrix” under the pontificate of St.
Pius X, see Sacred Congregation of Rites, 13 May 1908, AAS 41, 1908, p. 408;
Holy Office, Decree of 26 June 1913, AAS 5, 1913, p. 364; Holy Office, Decree
of 22 January 1914, AAS 6, 1914, p. 108.
16
MARY: COREDEMPTRIX, MEDIATRIX, ADVOCATE
her exiled children at least in the order of fittingness 76 in light of the
graciousness of the Father, who is “rich in mercy” (Eph 2:4).
Pope Benedict XV (1914-1922) not only confirms the doctrine of
Mary’s Coredemption as taught by the modern popes, but articulates this
Marian truth with even greater clarity. “...The fact that she was with her
Son crucified and dying, was in accord with the divine plan. To such
extent did she [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 may rightly say she redeemed the
human race together with Christ.”77
Mary intensely shared the price of ransom (cf. Mt 20:28) with the
Redeemer, almost to the point of her own death. This is the chosen
vocation of the coredeeming Mother of the Saviour in light of her
motherly relation and union with the “Sacrifice” offered for our
salvation. For “...taking not the blood of goats and calves but his own
blood, thus securing an eternal redemption” (Heb 9:12), Christ was the
new covenant sacrifice offered for our salvation. And Mary, as Mother of
the Victim, obediently offered her sublime motherly rights of nature and
grace in relation to her Son to the heavenly Father in performing her
subordinate role with Christ in appeasing the infinite justice of the Father
(cf. 1 Cor 1:30). Mary freely and obediently offered Jesus as Mother78 to
the heavenly Father for the salvation of her spiritual sons and daughters
(cf. Jn 19:26).
76
The Magisterial statement by Pope St. Pius X regarding Mary’s merit de
congruo should serve as an authoritative aurea media in veritate (golden mean
in truth) in the debates over the nature and degree of Mary’s merit as
Coredemptrix. Without saying the last word on whether or not Mary also
merited de digno, de supercongruo, or de condigno ex mera condignitate, (just
as the dogma of the Assumption did not say the last word concerning the debate
over the “Death” of Mary), St. Pius X’s statement should serve as an
authoritative confirmation that Mary at least merited de congruo as Christ
merited de condigno, and as such represents a unified doctrinal statement
regarding the question of Mary’s coredemptive merit.
77
Pope Benedict XV, Apostolic Letter, Inter Sodalicia, 1918, AAS 10, 1918, p.
182.
78
Mary’s offering of Jesus at the foot of the cross should be understood
fundamentally as an offering in virtue of her singularly graced motherhood, and
in virtue of her priesthood of the laity which is shared by all those baptized in
faith and grace. The reference here to Mary’s offering should not be construed to
refer to Mary’s individual offering of sacrifice in a true and proper sense as
understood in the reality of ordained priesthood.
MARY: COREDEMPTRIX, MEDIATRIX, ADVOCATE
17
Pope Pius XI (1922-1939) continues the rich teaching of the
Magisterium on the doctrine of Mary’s Coredemption. Pius XI
repeatedly referred to Mary under the title of “Coredemptrix,” and here
invokes the Coredemptrix who suffered with the Redeemer to preserve in
us the spiritual fruits of the Lord’s redemption and Mary’s compassion
(“suffering with”): “O Mother of love and mercy who, when thy sweetest
Son was consummating the Redemption of the human race on the altar of
the cross, did stand next to Him, suffering with Him as a
Coredemptrix...,preserve in us, we beseech thee, and increase day by day
the precious fruit of His redemption and the compassion of His
Mother.”79
Again, Pius XI states: “She brought forth Jesus the Redeemer, fed
Him, offered Him as a victim at the cross, by her hidden union with
Christ, and an altogether singular grace from Him, was likewise the
Reparatrix....”80 Pius XI’s papal repetition manifests the coredeeming
Mother’s meritorious offering of her Son the “victim” as the price for our
redemption (cf. 1 Cor 6:20). But Pius XI also refers to the “altogether
singular grace” Mary received from the Redeemer to be the female
restorer at the side of the New Adam. The Coredemptrix received the
altogether singular grace to cooperate uniquely with the Redeemer from
the Redeemer, to whom the Coredemptrix was always subordinate to and
dependent upon.81
Pope Pius XI clearly establishes the just invocation of Mary under
the title of Coredemptrix for her coredeeming role with her Saviour Son:
“From the nature of His work the Redeemer ought to have associated His
Mother with His work. For this reason we invoke her under the title of
Coredemptrix. She gave us the Savior, she accompanied Him in the work
of Redemption as far as the Cross itself, sharing with Him the sorrows of
the agony and of the death in which Jesus consummated the Redemption
of mankind. And immediately beneath the Cross, at the last moments of
His life, she was proclaimed by the Redeemer as our Mother, the Mother
of the whole universe.”82
79
Pope Pius XI, Prayer of the Solemn Closing of the Redemption Jubilee, April
28, 1935, L’Osservatore Romano, 29-30 April 1935, p. 1. For other papal
statements in relation to the doctrine of Coredemptrix by Pius XI, see
L’Osservatore Romano, 1 November 1933; AAS, v. 15, 1923, p. 105; v. 20,
1928, p. 178; Papal Address to Pilgrims from Vicenza, 30 Nov. 1933,
L’Osservatore Romano, 1 Dec. 1933.
80
Pope Pius XI, Encyclical Letter, Miserentissimus Redemptor, AAS 20, 1928, p.
178.
81
Cf. Vatican Council II, Lumen Gentium, n. 62.
82
Pope Pius XI, Papal Allocution to Pilgrims of Vicenza, 30 November 1933,
18
MARY: COREDEMPTRIX, MEDIATRIX, ADVOCATE
Pius XII (1939-1958) generously continues the papal teaching on the
doctrine of Mary’s Coredemptive role at Calvary in several teachings of
the Church’s Magisterium. Pius XII profoundly integrates the Patristic
understanding of Mary as the New Eve with her climaxing Coredemptive
role at the foot of the cross. “It was she [Mary] who, always most
intimately united with her Son, like a New Eve, offered Him on Golgotha
to the Eternal Father, together with the sacrifice of her maternal rights
and love, on behalf of all the children of Adam, stained by the latter’s
shameful fall.”83
The New Eve intimately shared and suffered with the New Adam in
the saving sacrifice of Calvary, which constitutes the climax of the work
of redemption on behalf of us, the “children of Adam.” The New Eve of
the Fathers reaches her fullness as the Coredemptrix at Calvary, suffers
with the Redeemer in her motherly heart, and offers her Son’s bitter
passion along with her own maternal compassion, becoming “the cause
of salvation for herself and for the whole human race.”84 “Death through
Eve, life through Mary.”85
Pius XII continues at another place: “Are not Jesus and Mary the two
sublime loves of the Christian people? Are they not the new Adam and
the new Eve whom the tree of the cross unites in sorrow and in love in
order to make satisfaction for the guilt of our first parents in Eden?”86
Pius XII specifies the role of Mary, the New Eve at the “tree of the
cross” (cf. Jn 19:26) for the purpose of making “satisfaction” for the guilt
of humanity. The sublime association between the Coredemptrix and the
Redeemer in the mystery of Redemption is attested to by Pius XII in
these words: “For having been associated with the King of Martyrs in the
ineffable work of human redemption, as Mother and cooperatrix, she
remains forever associated with Him, with an almost unlimited power, in
the distribution of graces which flow from the Redemption.”87
The Second Vatican Council, under the pontificates of John XXIII
(1958-1962) and Paul VI (1963-1978) gave conciliar strength and
confirmation to the consistent ordinary Magisterial teachings of the
modern popes regarding the Coredemptive role of Mary. “She devoted
herself totally, as handmaid of the Lord, to the person and work of her
L’Osservatore Romano, 1 Dec. 1933.
83
Pope Pius XII, Encyclical Letter, Mystici Corporis, 1943, AAS 35, 1943, p.
247.
84
St. Irenaeus, Adversus Haereses, III, 22, 4; PG 7, 959.
85
St. Jerome, Epist. 22, 21; PL 22, p. 408.
86
Pope Pius XII, L’Osservatore Romano, 22 April 1940.
87
Pope Pius XII, Radio Broadcast to Pilgrims at Fatima, 13 May 1946, AAS 38,
1946, p. 266.
MARY: COREDEMPTRIX, MEDIATRIX, ADVOCATE
19
Son, under him and with him, serving the mystery of redemption, by the
grace of almighty God....This union of the mother with the Son in the
work of salvation is made manifest from the time of Christ’s virginal
conception up to his death.”88
In clear confirmation of the Jn 19:26 interpretation of the modern
papal predecessors (as manifested both in text and footnotes89), the
Second Vatican Council teaches Mary’s Coredemptive suffering and
offering with the Redeemer at the foot of the cross in section 58 of
Lumen Gentium (Dogmatic Constitution on the Church). Mary
“faithfully persevered in union with her Son unto the cross, where she
stood, in keeping with the divine plan.”90 Mary’s Coredemptive
cooperation at Calvary was in obedience to the will of God, who desired
a New Eve along side of the New Adam.
The Council further teaches in section 58 that it was Mary who was
“enduring with her only begotten Son the intensity of his suffering.” The
Coredemptrix suffered with the Redeemer, enduring with her Son almost
to the point of death91 the intensity of the price of ransom (cf. Mt 10:45).
She “associated herself with his sacrifice in her mother’s heart, and
lovingly consenting to the immolation of this victim which was born of
her.” This conciliar teaching echoes the papal teaching of Benedict XV92
and Pius XII93 in ascribing to Mary at Calvary a profound sharing in the
redemptive sacrifice in her motherly heart. And as Mother, Mary offered
her Son as saving victim to the Father to satisfy God’s infinite justice.
“Finally, she was given by the same Christ Jesus dying on the cross
as a mother to his disciple, with these words: ‘Woman, behold your son’
(Jn 19:26-27).” The last words of the dying Christ to the Woman
announces the near end of her coredemptive suffering on Calvary, as
well as the fruit of this climax of her association with the Redeemer. The
Coredemptrix who “shared in her Son’s sufferings as he died on the
cross...” and who in a wholly singular way “cooperated by her
obedience, faith, hope, and burning charity in the work of the Saviour in
restoring supernatural life to souls,” was rightfully rewarded by the
Redeemer before leaving the cross and returning to the Father as the
88
Vatican Council II, Lumen Gentium, n. 56, n. 57.
The footnote to n. 58 of the Lumen Gentium, the “Coredemptive” paragraph
of the document, refers to the Pius XII exposition of Mary’s Coredemptive role
as previously cited in this work from Mystici Corporis, 1943.
90
Vatican Council II, Lumen Gentium, n. 58. All other conciliar quotes
contained in this paragraph are from the same n. 58.
91
Cf. Pope Benedict XV, Inter Sodalicia, 1918.
92
Cf. Pope Benedict XV, Inter Sodalicia, 1918.
93
Cf. Pope Pius XII, Mystici Corporis, 1943.
89
20
MARY: COREDEMPTRIX, MEDIATRIX, ADVOCATE
“mother to us in the order of grace.”94
John Paul II and Jn 19:26 – “The Coredemptrix”
Pope John Paul II has made contemporary in certain and generous
fashion the consistent Magisterial teaching on the role and doctrine of the
“Coredemptrix.”95
“In her [Mary], the many and intense sufferings were amassed in
such an interconnected way that they were not only a proof of her
unshakable faith, but also a contribution to the Redemption of all.... It
was on Calvary that Mary’s suffering, beside the suffering of Jesus,
reached an intensity which can hardly be imagined from a human point
of view, but which was mysteriously and supernaturally fruitful for the
Redemption of the world. Her ascent of Calvary and her standing at the
foot of the cross together with the beloved disciple were a special sort of
sharing in the redeeming death of her Son.”96
The Holy Father points out that the suffering of Mary at Calvary,
which “reached an intensity which can hardly be imagined from a human
point of view” was truly efficacious and grace-giving for our
Redemption. The Coredemptrix participated in a “special sort of sharing
in the redeeming death” of the Redeemer.
John Paul II teaches in another place: “As a witness to her Son’s
passion by her presence, and as a sharer in it by her compassion, Mary
offered a unique contribution to the Gospel of suffering, by embodying
in anticipation, the expression of St. Paul, … she truly has a special title
to be able to claim that she “completes in her flesh” – as already in her
heart – “what is lacking in the suffering of Christ.” 97
We have in these words of John Paul II a monumental exposition of
Jn 19:26 and the ineffable sharing of the Coredemptrix in the suffering
of Calvary. By Mary’s witness to Christ’s passion and by her own
compassion (cumpassio, “suffering with”), the Coredemptrix suffered
not only in her motherly heart, but also in her body with the Redeemer.
By “embodying in anticipation,” the expression of St. Paul, the
Coredemptrix “truly has a special title to be able to claim that she
“completes in her flesh” – as already in her heart – “what is lacking in
the sufferings of Christ”(cf. Col 1:24). In the sufferings of Calvary, both
spiritually and bodily, the Lady (Domina) shared with the Lord
94
Cf. Vatican Council II, Lumen Gentium, n. 61.
Pope John Paul II, Papal Address at the Sanctuary of Our Lady of Alborada in
Guayaquil, 31 January 1985, L’Osservatore Romano, 11 March 1985.
96
Pope John Paul II, Apostolic Letter, Salvifici Doloris, n. 25.
97
Pope John Paul II, Apostolic Letter, Salvifici Doloris, n. 25.
95
MARY: COREDEMPTRIX, MEDIATRIX, ADVOCATE
21
(Dominus) of Redemption.
The Holy Father further specifies Mary’s complete coredemptive
abandonment at Calvary: “On that wood of the Cross her Son hangs in
agony as one condemned …. How great, how heroic then is the
obedience of faith shown by Mary in the face of God’s ‘unsearchable
judgements’! How completely she ‘abandons herself to God’ without
reserve, ‘offering the full assent of her intellect and will’ to him whose
‘ways are inscrutable’ (cf. Rom 11:33)! And how powerful too is the
action of grace in her soul, how all-pervading is the influence of the Holy
Spirit and his light and power!”98
In the above quoted passage from his Marian encyclical entitled,
“Mother of the Redeemer” (Redemptoris Mater), John Paul II also
properly acknowledged the role of the Holy Spirit, the Divine Spouse of
Mary, whose grace and power have sustained Mary throughout her
coredemptive function with the Redeemer. It is by the power and grace
of the Holy Spirit that Mary was conceived immaculate (cf. Gen 3:15, Lk
1:28) so as to give the Redeemer a selfsame immaculate nature; that she
was made fruitful in conceiving the Redeemer in her womb by the
overshadowing of her Heavenly Spouse (cf. Lk 1:35); and that she was
foretold of the climax of her role as Coredemptrix with the sword
piercing her own heart (cf. Lk 2:35) by the prophetic power of the Spirit
of Truth (cf. Lk 2:26-27).
So too at the foot of the Cross, it is the “influence of the Holy Spirit
in his light and power” that is “all-pervading” in the soul of Mary that
sustains and fills the Sorrowful Virgin with the grace to follow the divine
plan for her as the Coredemptrix with the Redeemer.
John Paul also incorporates the Canticle of Kenosis (Phil 2:5-11) in
describing the self-emptying at Calvary for the Mother of Jesus as
“perhaps the deepest ‘kenosis’ of faith in human history”: “Through this
faith Mary is perfectly united with Christ in his self-emptying. For ‘Christ
Jesus, who, though he was in the form of God, did not count equality
with God a thing to be grasped, but emptied himself, taking the form of a
servant, being born in the likeness of men’: precisely on Golgotha
‘humbled himself and became obedient unto death, even death on a
cross’ (cf. Phil 2:5-8). At the foot of the Cross, Mary shares through faith
in the shocking mystery of this self-emptying. This is perhaps the deepest
‘kenosis’ of faith in human history. Through faith the Mother shares in
the death of her Son, in his redeeming death.”99
Moreover, John Paul refers to the “spiritual crucifixion” of Mary in
her coredemptive role at Calvary: “Crucified spiritually with her
98
99
Pope John Paul II, Encyclical Letter, Redemptoris Mater, n. 18.
Pope John Paul II, Encyclical Letter, Redemptoris Mater, n. 18.
22
MARY: COREDEMPTRIX, MEDIATRIX, ADVOCATE
crucified Son (cf. Gal 2:20), she contemplated with heroic love the death
of her God, she ‘lovingly consented to the immolation of this Victim
which she herself had brought forth’ (Lumen Gentium, 58). She fulfills
the will of the Father on our behalf and accepts all of us as her children,
in virtue of the testament of Christ: ‘Woman, there is your son’ (Jn
19:26).”100
It was indeed a “spiritual crucifixion” for the Woman at the foot of
the cross. It is right, therefore, that in light of this most intimate suffering
with the Redeemer at Calvary, that the Coredemptrix would also be
rewarded with the full gift of spiritual motherhood to the People of God
whom she “redeemed together with Christ.”101
It is in fact the profound continuation after Calvary of the role of
Mary Coredemptrix as “Mediatrix”102 and “Advocate” 103 for the People
of God that Pope John Paul II refers to when he declares that “Mary’s
role as Coredemptrix did not cease with the glorification of her Son.”104
Summary
Mary, the humble handmaid of the Lord was chosen by the Father
and sustained by the Holy Spirit in fulfilling her God-elected task with
her redeeming Son as the Coredemptrix (“co” not meaning “equal to”,
but rather “with”). She was foreshadowed as the Coredemptrix in the Old
Testament (cf. Gen 3:15; Is 7:14) and became the Coredemptrix with her
obedient and free consent at the Annunciation (cf. Lk 1:28). The climax
of her role as Coredemptrix with the Redeemer was prophesied to her by
the power of the Holy Spirit at the Temple (cf. Lk 2:35). And she who
began as Mary, Virgin of Nazareth, became the Coredemptrix in its
fullest expression through her intimate cooperation and intense suffering
with the Redeemer at the foot of the cross (cf. Jn 19:26).
As gift to the Coredemptrix for her sharing with the Redeemer in the
redemption of the human family, Mary also becomes Mediatrix and
Advocate for her children in the order of grace. Pope John Paul II
concludes, “Mary’s role as Coredemptrix did not cease with the
glorification of her Son.”105
100
Pope John Paul II, Papal Address at the Sanctuary of Our Lady of Alborada
in Guayaquil, 31 January 1985, L’Osservatore Romano, 11 March 1985.
101
Pope Benedict XV, Inter Sodalicia, 1918.
102
Vatican Council II, Lumen Gentium, n. 62.
103
Vatican Council II, Lumen Gentium, n. 62.
104
Pope John Paul II, Papal Address at the Sanctuary of Our Lady of Alborada
in Guayaquil, 31 January 1985, L’Osservatore Romano, 11 March 1985.
105
Pope John Paul II, Papal Address at the Sanctuary of Our Lady of Alborada
MARY: COREDEMPTRIX, MEDIATRIX, ADVOCATE
23
We end with a fourteenth century liturgical hymn to Mary
Coredemptrix:
Loving, sweet, and kind,
Wholly undeserving of any sorrow,
If henceforth you chose weeping,
As one suffering with the Redeemer,
For the captive sinner,
Coredemptrix would you be.106
in Guayaquil, 31 January 1985, L’Osservatore Romano, 11 March 1985.
106
Orationale of St. Peter’s in Salzburg, in Dreves-Blume, Analecta hymnica
medii aevi, v. 46, n. 79, p. 126.; cf. Planctus oratius … ad B. Virginem Filium
de cruce depositum sinu tenentem, in R. Laurentin, Le tître de Coredemptrice,
Etude historique in Marianum, 13, 1951, p. 429. For original Latin, cf. footnote
67.
Chapter Two
MARY MEDIATRIX WITH THE MEDIATOR AND
THE SANCTIFIER
Because of her role as Coredemptrix with the Redeemer at the foot
of the cross (cf. Jn 19:26), Mary was given by her Son the precious gift
of being the Mediatrix107 for the People of God. For the People of God
are the “brethren of her Son, who still journey on earth surrounded by
dangers and difficulties, until they are led into their blessed home.” 108
And the Second Vatican Council teaches that after the Woman at the foot
of the Cross was taken up into Heaven, “she did not lay aside this saving
office, but by her manifold intercession continues to bring us the gifts of
eternal salvation.”109
1 Tim 2:5 – Sharing in the one Mediation of Christ
The Church of Christ clearly proclaims with St. Paul that “there is
one God, and there is one mediator between God and man, the man
Christ Jesus, who gave himself as a ransom for all” (l Tim 2:5-6). 110
Jesus Christ, true God and true man, is the one mediator between God
and the human family.
The scriptural understanding of a mediator, (Gk., mesites) constitutes
a person who seeks to intervene between two parties with the purpose of
reconciliation and union of the two parties.111 And in Sacred Scripture,
107
Cf. Vatican Council II, Lumen Gentium, n. 62.
Vatican Council II, Lumen Gentium, n. 62.
109
Vatican Council II, Lumen Gentium, n. 62.
110
Cf. Vatican Council II, Lumen Gentium, n. 60; Pope John Paul II,
Redemptoris Mater, n. 38.
111
For more commentary on the scriptural understanding of “mediator”, cf.
Gerhard Kittel and Gerhard Friedrich, Theological Dictionary of the New
Testament: Abridged Volume, Michigan, 1985, p. 585-586; Hastings, Dictionary
of the Bible, v.3, New York, p. 311; Becker, New International Dictionary of the
108
26
MARY: COREDEMPTRIX, MEDIATRIX, ADVOCATE
mediators are chosen and utilized for the purpose of uniting and
reconciling God and the human family, who is not always faithful to
God’s covenant of love.
The Old Testament provides several examples of people who are
chosen by God to serve as mediators, as instruments of union, between
Yahweh and the people of Israel. The patriarchs were chosen by God to
begin a relationship between Yahweh and his chosen nation, starting
with Abraham (cf. Gen 12:2; 15:18). Moses was perhaps the greatest Old
Testament mediator, who acted as the chosen “intermediary” (Gal 3:19)
to unite Yahweh and the Israelites in the great covenant of Exodus (cf.
Ex 3-40; Ex 24:8). The prophets were chosen by God and granted divine
illumination by the Spirit of Truth to be mediators of communication
between Yahweh and the people of Israel, who were oftentimes
unfaithful to the covenant (cf. Is 1, Jer 2, Ezek 2), And the angels fill the
pages of both Old and New Testaments in their role as heavenly
mediators between God and his people of faith; they are created spiritual
beings who act as the messengers of the Almighty to his people (cf. Gen
3:24; Lk 1:26; Gal 3:19).
“In many and various ways God spoke of old to our fathers...but in
these last days he has spoken to us by a Son, whom he appointed the heir
of all things … (Heb 1:1-2). In the New Testament of love between God
and the human family, Jesus Christ is “the mediator of a new covenant,
so that those who are called may receive the promised eternal
inheritance, since a death has occurred which redeems them from the
transgressions under the first covenant” (Heb 9:15). Jesus Christ is the
one mediator between God and humanity in the new and everlasting
covenant of his blood (cf. Lk 22:20).
But the unique mediation of Jesus Christ, precisely in its divine and
human perfection, allows for others to participate and share in this one
source of mediation to the Father.112 As the Second Vatican Council
teaches: “No creature could ever be counted along with the Incarnate
Word and Redeemer; but just as the priesthood of Christ is shared in
New Testament Theology, 1972, Michigan, p. 372.
112
The Greek word used for “one” in the Pauline text of l Tim 2:5 is “heis”
which means “one,” “first,” or “primary.” There is another Greek word that St.
Paul could have used if he wanted to refer to Christ’s mediation as completely
exclusive, namely “monos,” which means “sole”, “only”, or “exclusive one”. As
O’Carroll, C.S.Sp, notes, “The practice of addressing Mary as Mediatrix was not
and need not be impeded by the Pauline text. The use of ‘one’ (heis not monos)
emphasizes Christ’s transcendence as a mediator, through the unique value of
his redemptive death,” cf. Theotokos, A Theological Encyclopedia of the
Blessed Virgin Mary, Dublin, 1982, p. 238.
MARY: COREDEMPTRIX, MEDIATRIX, ADVOCATE
27
various ways both by his ministers and the faithful, and as the one
goodness of God is radiated in different ways among his creatures, so
also the unique mediation of the Redeemer does not exclude but rather
gives rise to a manifold cooperation which is but a sharing in this one
source.”113
As the Council points out, the unique mediation of Jesus Christ is
shared, for example, in the dimension of his priesthood (in different
ways by ordained ministers and laity). This not only takes nothing away
from the one mediation of Christ, the great “high priest” (cf. Heb 3:1;
4:14; 5:10) but rather it manifests the power and glory of the one High
Priest. For all the praise and merit gained by secondary priesthood in its
varied forms returns to the one Priestly Source, upon which all other
manifestations of Christian priesthood is completely and entirely
dependent.114 The same is true of the “one goodness of God,” which is
not diminished but rather exalted anew as it is diversely manifested
among the many creatures of God, giving all the more reason for creation
to praise the Creator, the divine source of all goodness.115
A further example of how God has called each person to share in the
one mediation of Christ is the life of grace as “sons of God” (1 Jn 3:1) in
the one and only begotten Son. “If anyone is in Christ, he is a new
creation” (2 Cor 5:17). It is precisely by sharing in the one Sonship of
Christ, that we become sharers in the life of grace as children of God.
“See what love the Father has given us, that we should be called children
of God” (1 Jn 3:1), and we become children of God through the power of
the only begotten Son in faith: “But to all who received him, who
believed in his name, he gave power to become children of God” (Jn
1:12).
The Christian life of grace is a true participation in the one Christ
and in his divine nature. “It is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives
in me” (Gal 2:20), and to share in the life of the one Mediator is to
become “partakers of the divine nature” (2 Pet 1:4) by participation. 116
Our humble sharing in the life of Christ the one Mediator, certainly does
not diminish his divine nature nor his Sonship with the Father, but rather
manifests its power and glory throughout creation, for we become living
113
Vatican Council II, Lumen Gentium, n. 62.
Cf. Council of Ephesus, 431, D 122; Council of Trent, D 938; Vatican
Council II, Lumen Gentium, n. 10.
115
Cf. Vatican Council II, Lumen Gentium, n. 62.
116
The Patristic understanding of being “partakers in the divine nature” (2 Pet:
1:4) is to share in the divine nature, but only by participating in it. Hence the
Fathers spoke of being “divinized”: “The Word became man, so that we might
become God”, cf. St. Athanasius, Or. de Incarn. Verbi, 54.
114
28
MARY: COREDEMPTRIX, MEDIATRIX, ADVOCATE
witnesses that “Christ is all and in all” (Col 3:11).
Mary’s Unique Sharing in the One Mediation of Christ
It is in light of this privileged sharing in the one mediation of Christ
granted by the Father (cf. 1 Jn 3:1) that the Church can speak about
Mary, Coredemptrix and Mother of the Mediator, and her unique and
unparalleled sharing in the one mediation of Jesus Christ.117 Pope John
Paul II, in quoting the teaching of the Second Vatican Council, refers to
Mary’s special and extraordinary sharing in the one mediation of Christ:
‘The teaching of the Second Vatican Council presents the truth of Mary’s
mediation as ‘a sharing in the one unique source that is the mediation of
Christ himself.’ Thus we read: ‘The Church does not hesitate to profess
this subordinate role of Mary. She experiences it continuously and
commends it to the hearts of the faithful, so that, encouraged by this
maternal help, they may more closely adhere to the Mediator and
Redeemer.’ This role is at the same time special and extraordinary.”118
The Council also points out that Mary’s unique motherly sharing in
the one mediation of Christ, a sharing completely dependent on her Son,
manifests the power of Christ and leads the faithful to immediate union
with him: “In the words of the apostle there is but one mediator...But
Mary’s function as mother of men in no way obscures or diminishes this
unique mediation of Christ, but rather shows its power...It flows forth
from the superabundance of the merits of Christ, rests on his mediation,
depends entirely upon it and draws all its power from it. It does not
hinder in any way the immediate union of the faithful with Christ but on
the contrary fosters it.”119
The sharing of the Mother of Jesus in the one mediation of Christ
differs from the shared mediation of any other creature, for Mary’s share
in the mediation of Christ is uniquely maternal. John Paul II further
explains: “In effect, Mary’s mediation is intimately linked with her
motherhood. It possesses a specifically maternal character, which
distinguishes it from the mediation of the other creatures who in various
and always subordinate ways share in the one mediation of Christ,
although her own mediation is also a shared mediation.”120 The Mother,
who shared in the Redemptive work of her Son like no other creature,
rightly shares, as Mother, in the one mediation of her Son like no other
creature. “Mary entered, in a way all her own, into the one mediation
117
Cf. Pope John Paul II, Redemptoris Mater, n. 38.
Pope John Paul II, Redemptoris Mater, n. 38.
119
Vatican Council II, Lumen Gentium, n. 60.
120
Pope John Paul II, Redemptoris Mater, n. 38.
118
MARY: COREDEMPTRIX, MEDIATRIX, ADVOCATE
29
‘between God and men’ which is the mediation of the man Christ
Jesus”121
“Christ alone is the perfect mediator between God and man... but
there is nothing to prevent others in a certain way from being called
mediators between God and man in so far as they, by preparing or
serving, cooperate in uniting men to God.”122 These words of St. Thomas
Aquinas explain the possibility of “others in a certain way being called
mediators” through cooperating with the perfect mediation of Jesus
Christ. It is for this reason that the Church invokes Mary (for example, in
the teachings of the Second Vatican Council) under the title,
“Mediatrix.”123 For Mary is the Coredemptrix who uniquely shares in the
one mediation of Christ in accomplishing the redemption of the world
and thereby, Mary uniquely shares in the one mediation of Christ in
distributing to the People of God the “gifts of eternal salvation” obtained
from the cross (cf. Jn 19:26).124 Because Mary is Coredemptrix with the
Redeemer, she is also Mediatrix of Graces with the Mediator.
New Testament Outline of the Mediatrix
(Lk 1:38; Lk 1:41; Jn 2:1)
Mary’s role as Mediatrix with the Mediator in distributing the
precious gifts of salvation125 merited on the Cross is a gift given to the
“Woman” at Calvary (cf. Jn 19:26). But her role as the Mediatrix of the
graces of redemption is outlined and manifested in a gradual way in
earlier passages of Sacred Scripture, where the Mother of Jesus acts as
Mother and Intercessor in the Gospel mission of her Son, the Mediator
of all grace and salvation.
Lk 1:38- Mediatrix of Christ: Source of All Graces
To the angelic invitation of divine motherhood which will provide
the world its Mediator, Mary responds, “Behold, I am the handmaid of
the Lord; let it be done to me according to your word” (Lk 1:38). As
Pope John Paul II explains, “The first moment of submission to the one
mediation “between God and man” – the mediation of Jesus Christ – is
the Virgin of Nazareth’s acceptance of motherhood....Mary’s
121
Pope John Paul II, Redemptoris Mater, n. 39.
St. Thomas Aquinas, Summa Theologiae, III, Q. 26, a.1.
123
Vatican Council II, Lumen Gentium, n. 62.
124
Vatican Council II, Lumen Gentium, n. 62.
125
Cf. Vatican Council II, Lumen Gentium, n. 62.
122
30
MARY: COREDEMPTRIX, MEDIATRIX, ADVOCATE
motherhood, completely pervaded by her spousal attitude as “handmaid
of the Lord,” constitutes the first and fundamental dimension of that
mediation which the Church confesses and proclaims in her regard and
‘continually commends to the hearts of the faithful....’“126
We see the beginning of Mary’s unique sharing in the salvific
mediation of Christ at the Annunciation, where the free consent of the
Virgin to be the Theotokos, the “God-bearer,”127 mediates to the world
Jesus Christ, Saviour and Author of all grace.
It is in virtue of Mary’s yes that He who is the source and mediation
of all the graces of redemption came to the human family. “And the
Word became flesh and dwelt among us, full of grace and truth....And
from his fullness have we all received, grace upon grace” (Jn 1:14, 16).
Mary’s moral and physical mediation of Christ as Mother brought into
the world the Uncreated Grace from which flows every grace received in
his Body, which constitutes the People of God. The Church confirms:
“From Him flows out into the body of the Church all light through which
the faithful receive supernatural enlightenment, and every grace, through
which they become holy, as He himself is holy....”128
The maternal mediation129 of Mary in bringing to the lost world its
Saviour was already prophesied in the ancient prophecy (cf. Gen 3:15),
where the Woman would bring to the world as Mother the seed of victory
over Satan. It is Mary, the New Eve, who by freely and physically
mediating the New Adam, source of our salvation in grace, becomes “for
the whole human race,” as St. Irenaeus tells us, “the cause of our
salvation.”130
Lk 1:41 – Mediatrix in the Visitation of Graces
The sacred Word of God tells us that after the event of the
Annunciation, “Mary arose and went with haste into the hill country, to a
city of Judah, and she entered the house of Zechariah and greeted
Elizabeth” (Lk 1:39-40). While bearing the Source of all grace in her
womb (cf. Lk 1:35, 38), the humble handmaid of the Lord went to serve
her cousin Elizabeth, who was in her sixth month of pregnancy with John
the Baptist (cf. Lk 1:36; 3:2).
As soon as the physical presence of Mary, the God-bearer, was made
126
Pope John Paul II, Redemptoris Mater, n. 38.
Cf. Council of Ephesus, 431, D 113.
128
Pope Pius XII, Encyclical Letter, Mystici Corporis, 1943.
129
Cf. Pope John Paul II, Redemptoris Mater, Ch. Ill, entitled “Maternal
Mediation.”
130
Cf. St. Irenaeus, Adversus Haereses 1, 3, c.22, n. 4; PG 7, p. 958-959.
127
MARY: COREDEMPTRIX, MEDIATRIX, ADVOCATE
31
known by her greeting to Elizabeth, “the babe leapt in her womb, and
Elizabeth was filled with the Holy Spirit” (Lk 1:41). We see that Mary’s
physical presence, the living Tabernacle of the preborn Saviour, is a
mediating cause of special events of graces, both for the preborn Baptist
who “leapt for joy” (Lk 1:44) in the womb of his mother, and for
Elizabeth who was immediately “filled with the Holy Spirit” (Lk 1:41).
The blessed “leap” by the Baptist in the womb of Elizabeth also
bespeaks the sanctifying presence of the Mediatrix with the unborn
Mediator. For the Church sees in this scriptural reference to the joyful
leap of the unborn John a more profound revelation of a sanctifying
action through the presence of Mary, who physically mediates the
presence of the unborn Christ. The Church professes that “John the
Baptist was... holy, just, and filled with the Holy Spirit in the womb of
his mother.”131 The presanctification of St. John the Baptist in the womb
by the power of the Holy Spirit came through the mediating presence of
the fruitful Handmaid of the Lord.
For both Elizabeth and her unborn child who “will be called prophet
of the Most High” (Lk 1:76), the physical presence of the Mediatrix with
the unborn Mediator at the Visitation was a profoundly graced event that
called forth the sanctifying action of the Holy Spirit (cf. Lk 1:41). It is by
the divine inspiration of the same Holy Spirit that both the Mediatrix and
the Mediator are rightfully praised: “Blessed are you among women, and
blessed is the fruit of your womb” (Lk 1:42).
Jn 2:1 – Mediatrix of the First Miracle
and Public Ministry of Christ
At the Wedding of Cana (cf. Jn 2:1-11), Jesus Christ performed the
“first of his signs”, which “manifested his glory” (Jn 2:11) and thereby
commences the public ministry of the one Mediator. But this first public
manifestation of the glory of the Mediator in his adult mission of
salvation was in turn mediated by his Mother.
The Gospel of John tells us that “there was a marriage at Cana in
Galilee, and the mother of Jesus was there; Jesus was also invited to the
marriage with his disciples” (Jn 2:1-2). The text seems to suggest that
Jesus and his disciples were invited because of their relationship to Mary
and her presence at the wedding. Pope John Paul II comments, “the Son
seems to have been invited because of his mother.”132 It appears that the
131
Pope Innocent XIII, Profession of Faith of Durandus of Osca, 1208, D 421:
“loannemque Baptismam ab eo missum esse sanctum et iustum et in utero
matris suae Spiritu Sancto repletum.”
132
Pope John Paul II, Redemptoris Mater, n. 21.
32
MARY: COREDEMPTRIX, MEDIATRIX, ADVOCATE
presence of Mary was itself a mediating factor for the presence of the
Saviour at this wedding occasion for his first miracle.
We read further, “When the wine gave out, the Mother of Jesus said
to him, They have no wine.’ And Jesus said to her, “O woman, what
have you to do with me? 133 My hour has not yet come. His mother said to
the servants, ‘Do whatever he tells you’” (Jn 2:3-5). Jesus responds to
this intercessory effort of his mother by miraculously changing the water
into the best wine (cf. Jn 2:10).
In calling his Mother, “Woman”, Jesus identifies Mary as the
Woman who was prophesied as mediating to the world the seed of
victory over Satan (cf. Gen 3:15), as well as designates his Mother as the
Mediatrix who will be the Woman at the foot of the Cross (cf. Jn 19:26).
Mary will also experience the gift of bodily Assumption,134 which will
lead to her heavenly glory as the “‘Woman clothed with the sun, with the
moon under her feet, and on her head a crown of twelve stars” (Rev
12:1). And “taken up into heaven, she did not lay aside this saving
office,” but continues to “bring us the gifts of eternal salvation” as our
“Mediatrix.”135
Pope John Paul II has provided a particularly rich magisterial
teaching on the significance of Mary’s role as a motherly “Mediatrix” at
Cana.136 John Paul explains: “the description of the Cana event outlines
what is actually manifested as a new kind of motherhood according to
the spirit and not just according to the flesh, that is to say, Mary’s
solicitude for human beings, her coming to them in a wide variety of
their wants and needs. At Cana in Galilee there is shown only one
concrete aspect of human need, apparently a small one of little
importance (“They have no wine”). But it has symbolic value: this
coming to the aid of human needs means, at the same time, bringing
those needs within the radius of Christ’s messianic mission and salvific
133
Note: In the New Vulgate, this passage is “Quid mihi et tibi, mulier”
(Woman, what [is this] to me and to you?, which does not possess the possibility
of seeing the response of Jesus as a rebuke or a rebuttal. And yet in many other
scholarly translations, the exchange does include the sense of challenge. But we
see several instances in Scripture of this type of exchange initiated by God to
evoke from humanity a proper response in the midst of the darkness of faith, for
example with Abraham in regards to Isaac, cf. Gen 22:7-14. The fact of Jesus’
favor with Mary’s actions is clear in any case by Christ’s positive response in
giving the desired assistance sought by Mary’s words. Cf. Bibliorum Sacrorum
Nova Vulgata Editio, Libreria Editrice Vaticana, 1986, p. 2007.
134
Cf. Pope Pius XII, Munificentissimus Deus, 1950.
135
Cf. Vatican Council II, Lumen Gentium, n. 62.
136
Cf. Pope John Paul II, Redemptoris Mater, nn. 21-22.
MARY: COREDEMPTRIX, MEDIATRIX, ADVOCATE
33
power.”137
It is at Cana that we see the first public manifestation of both the
messianic power of Christ, the one Mediator, and also of Mary’s
extended motherhood of the spirit, her motherly intercession for the
needs of her spiritual children. Mary’s new motherhood of the spirit
includes in its full extension and capacity the entire human family. 138
And the goal of this new motherly intercession for the human family by
Mary is to bring the needs (great and small) of the human family into
communion with the salvific mission and power of Christ, the one
Mediator.
For this reason, John Paul II professes Mary as the “mediatrix,” who
in her position as Mother has the right to intercede for mankind: “Thus
there is a mediation: Mary places herself between her Son and mankind
in the reality of its wants, needs and sufferings. She puts herself ‘in the
middle,’ that is to say, she acts as a mediatrix not as an outsider, but in
her position as mother. She knows that, as such, she can point out to her
Son the needs of mankind and in fact, she “has the right” to do so. Her
mediation is thus in the nature of intercession: Mary ‘intercedes’ for
mankind.”139
But Mary’s role as Mediatrix at Cana is also directed to her Son, the
Mediator, and his salvific mission: “As a mother she also wishes the
messianic power of her Son to be manifested, that salvific power of his
which is meant to help man in his misfortunes, to free him from the evil
which in various forms and degrees weighs heavily upon his life.”140 All
the actions of the Mediatrix are first and foremost Christological, for she
knows that she can only fulfill her God-elected role as Maternal
Mediatrix for humanity by mediating to her earthly family the saving
power of Christ, Mary’s words, “Do whatever he tells you” (Jn 2:5)
reveal that “The Mother of Christ presents herself as the spokeswoman of
her Sons will, pointing out those things which must be done so that the
137
Pope John Paul II, Redemptoris Mater, n. 21.
Although Mary obviously has a special relationship of spiritual motherhood
with those baptized into the life and faith of Jesus Christ, in a more general way,
Mary is spiritual mother of all humanity, since the redemptive efforts of Christ
and her own coredemptive participation were for the salvation of all in the
human family. In complementary fashion, Pope Leo XIII identifies John at the
foot of the cross as representing all humanity in general and, in special fashion,
those joined to Christ by faith: “Now in John, according to the constant mind of
the Church, Christ designated the whole human race, particularly those who
were joined with him in faith,” Encyclical Letter, Adjutricem populi, 1895.
139
Pope John Paul II, Redemptoris Mater, n. 21.
140
Pope John Paul II, Redemptoris Mater, n. 21.
138
34
MARY: COREDEMPTRIX, MEDIATRIX, ADVOCATE
salvific power of the Messiah may be manifested. At Cana, thanks to
Mary...Jesus begins ‘his hour.’“141
In mediating the first public miracle and the public ministry of her
Son (cf. Jn 2:11), the Woman of Cana also begins the public revelation of
her own role as Mediatrix. The intercession of the Mother of Jesus at
Cana constitutes “a sort of first announcement of Mary’s mediation,
wholly oriented towards Christ and tending to the revelation of his
salvific power.”142
The role of Mary as the Mediatrix with the Mediator as revealed in
the pages of the New Testament is outlined in a developmental way,
from her hidden mediation of the Source of all grace at the Annunciation
(cf. Lk 1:38); to her physical mediation of the unborn Saviour to
Elizabeth and the unborn Baptist in the distant hill country at the
Visitation (cf. Lk 1:41); to her public mediation of the Messiah at Cana
(cf. Jn 2:1). In the words of the great German theologian, M. J.
Scheeben: “Not only Mary’s whole position as Mediatrix, but also her
preceding mediatorial functions are entirely designed for a universal
mediation of grace, and condition the communication of all grace
without exception. For all Mary’s functions as mediatrix form mutually
one organic whole, in which the later ones are based on the preceding
and make their influence felt....”143
But if Mary’s role as maternal Mediatrix is “outlined” in these earlier
passages of the Word of God, it is “clearly stated and established” 144 at
the foot of the cross.
Jn 19:26 – The Establishment of the Mediatrix of Graces
“Woman, behold your son....son, behold your mother” (Jn 19:26-27).
These words of the dying Saviour to the Woman at the foot of the cross
bring forth the establishment of Mary as the motherly Mediatrix of
graces for the human family.
Leo XIII tells us: “Now in John, according to the constant mind of
the Church, Christ designated the whole human race, particularly those
who were joined with him in faith.”145 And at Calvary, the whole human
race receives the one who is appointed by the Mediator to be the spiritual
“mother to us in the order of grace”146 in definitively becoming for us the
141
Pope John Paul II, Redemptoris Mater, n. 21.
Pope John Paul II, Redemptoris Mater, n. 22.
143
M. J. Scheeben, tr. by T. Geukers, Mariology, v. II, St. Louis, 1947, p. 265.
144
Cf. Pope John Paul II, Redemptoris Mater, n. 23.
145
Pope Leo XIII, Adjutricem populi, 1895.
146
Vatican Council II, Lumen Gentium, n. 61.
142
MARY: COREDEMPTRIX, MEDIATRIX, ADVOCATE
35
“Mediatrix of Graces.”147
At the very moment when the redemptive sacrifice for all humanity
was being completed (cf. Jn 19:26-28), Jesus speaks these words to the
Woman who once was known only as Mary of Nazareth: “Woman,
behold, your son” (Jn 19:26). And then to the beloved disciple, who
represents all who seek to be beloved disciples of the Lord,148 Jesus says,
“Behold, your mother” (Jn 19:27).
When Jesus gives John to Mary, and Mary to John, the Mother of
Jesus is now established as the new spiritual and universal mediatrix in
the order of grace. Christ’s gift of the role of mediatrix of graces is at
once a gift of sublime dignity to his coredeeming Mother (“Woman,
behold you son”) and at the same time is a sanctifying gift for the fallen
human family (“son, behold your mother”). John Paul II confirms: “With
the redeeming death, the maternal mediation of the handmaid of the Lord
took on a universal dimension, for the work of redemption embraces all
of humanity. Thus there is manifested in a singular way the efficacy of
the one and universal mediation of Christ ‘between God and man.’“149.
She who was once known only as Mary is now publicly established
by the dying Saviour as the Woman, the Mother, and the Mediatrix of the
graces of redemption. The Mediator granted his Mother the gift of
Mediatrix of graces as a fruit of his dying sacrifice for humanity and of
her coredemptive participation. Again, she is the Mediatrix of graces
because she was first the Coredemptrix.150
147
The consistent papal teaching on Mary as Mediatrix of graces will follow
shortly in the text. For a more recent papal usage of the term, see Pope John Paul
II, Christ is our Way, Mary our Sure Guide, Papal Address at Orte, Italy,
September 17, 1989, L’Osservatore Romano, October 2, 1989, p. 3.
148
Cf. Pope John Paul II, Redemptoris Mater, n. 45.
149
Pope John Paul II, Redemptoris Mater, n. 40.
150
The Coredemptrix-Mediatrix relation of sequence is consistently taught by
the Magisterium; for example, Pope Leo XIII: “she who had been the
cooperatrix in the sacrament of man’s Redemption, would be likewise the
cooperatrix in the distribution of graces deriving from it” (ASS 28, 1895-6, p.
130). More on this relationship of Coredemptrix-Mediatrix roles will be
discussed in the treatment of papal statements on Mediatrix of Graces to follow
shortly.
36
MARY: COREDEMPTRIX, MEDIATRIX, ADVOCATE
The Fathers151 and the Mediatrix of Graces
Beyond its implicit presence in the Patristic understanding of the
New Eve as the “cause of salvation for herself and the whole human
race,”152 Mary’s role as Mediatrix of the graces of redemption gradually
comes to a fuller light in the mind of the Fathers of the living Church.153
At the Council of Ephesus (431 A.D.), St. Cyril of Alexandria
manifests a profound understanding of Mary’s function as Mediatrix
“through whom” the works of salvation are accomplished, in one of the
greatest Marian sermons of antiquity: “Hail Mary Theotokos, venerable
treasure of the whole world...it is you through whom the Holy Trinity is
glorified and adored, ...through whom the tempter, the devil is cast down
from heaven, through whom the fallen creature is raised up to heaven,
through whom that all creation, once imprisoned by idolatry, has reached
knowledge of the truth, through whom holy baptism has come to
believers...through whom nations are brought to repentance....”154
Another Father of the Council of Ephesus, Antipater of Bostra, addressed
Mary as the Mediatrix who intercedes for the human family: “Hail you
151
The Patristic treatment of Mediatrix of graces will be discussed here, but
without the conclusion that all Patristic uses of the term “Mediatrix” necessarily
refer to a commentary on Jn 19:26. Many Patristic texts are either unspecified or
unclear by context as to whether they immediately refer to Calvary (Jn 19:26) or
to the Annunciation (Lk 1:26-38). Later Fathers are oftentimes more specific in
their references to Mary as the mediatrix of the graces of redemption at Calvary,
rather than more generally the mediatrix of the Author of graces at the
Annunciation. Nonetheless, one must remember that the Fathers avoided a
complete distinction between the Incarnation at the Annunciation and the
Redemption at Calvary, but saw rather the Incarnation as the “Redemption
anticipated and begun” in the unified act of salvation performed by the Incarnate
Saviour. This could also effect a more singular and unified idea concerning the
role of the Mediatrix.
152
Cf. St. Irenaeus, Adversus Haereses III, c. 22, n. 4: PG 7, 959; V, C. 19, n. 1:
PG 7, 1175; St. Epiphanius, Haer. 78, 18: PG 42, 728; St. Jerome, Epist. 22, 21:
Migne, PL 22, 408; cf. St. Augustine, Serm. 51, 2, 3: PG 38, 335; St. Cyril of
Jerusalem, Catech. 12, 15: PG 33, 741; St. John Chryostom, In Ps. 44, 7: PG 55,
193.
153
For a more comprehensive treatment of the gradual understanding of
Mediatrix of graces in Patristic thought, cf. J. Bittremieux, De meditatione
universali B. M. Virginis quoad gratias, Brugis, 1926, p. 194; A. Robichaud,
S.M., “Mary, Dispensatrix of All Graces,” Mariology, v. 2, p. 442; M.
O’Carroll, C.S.Sp., “Mediation,” Theotokos, p. 239; G. Roshini, S.M., Maria
Santissima Nella Storia Delia Salvezza, v. II, p. 208.
154
St. Cyril of Alexandria, Hom., in Deiparam, PG 65, p. 681.
MARY: COREDEMPTRIX, MEDIATRIX, ADVOCATE
37
who acceptably intercede as a Mediatrix for mankind.”155 Ancient
Marian prayers also manifested a confidence in Mary’s power of
maternal intercession in difficult times for her spiritual children in
faith.156
The Eastern Fathers excelled in their more explicit understanding of
the role of Mary Mediatrix. St. Andrew of Crete referred to Mary as the
“Mediatrix of the law and grace,” and also stated, “She is the mediation
between the sublimity of God and the abjection of the flesh.” 157 St. John
Damascene spoke of Mary’s fulfilling of the “office of Mediatrix.”158 St.
Germain of Constantinople profoundly expressed Mary’s function as
universal Mediatrix of salvation and mercy: “No one is saved except
through you, O Theotokos; no one secured a gift of mercy, save through
you...in you all peoples of the earth have obtained a blessing....”159 The
Mother of Jesus was rightly understood by the early Eastern Fathers as
“truly a good Mediatrix of all sinners,”160 and “the Mediatrix of all who
are under Heaven.”161
In the West, St. Peter Damian offers the principle of Mary’s
mediation as a mediating action that begins with Christ and should be
155
Antipater of Bostra, In S. Joannem Bapt...., PG 85, 1772 C.
One of the most ancient Marian prayers, the Sub Tuum (c. 250-300),
manifests this confidence of the Early Church in the power of maternal
intercession granted by Christ to his Mother for humanity: “We fly to your
patronage, O holy Mother of God, despise not our petitions in our necessities,
but deliver us from all danger, O ever glorious and blessed Virgin” (common
Latin translation); cf. Vatican Council II, Lumen Gentium, n. 66.
157
St. Andrew of Crete (d. 740), In Nativ. Mariae, Serm I. and Serm. IV, PG 97,
808, 865. The role of Mary’s mediation is also found in the writings of St.
Ephraem (d. 373) or the school of St. Ephraem, S. Ephraem, Syri opera graeca
et latine, ed., Assemani, v. 3, Romae, pp. 525, 528-9, 532.
158
St. John Damascene, Hom. S. Mariae in Zonam, PG 98, 377.
159
St. Germanus of Constantinople, Hom. in S. Mariae in Zonam, MG 98, 377.
160
St. Germanus or Pseudo-Germanus, Oratio V in Ann. SS. Deiparae, PG 93,
322 BC.
161
St. Tarasius of Constantinople (d. 806), In SS. Deiparae Praesentationem, PG
98, 1499. Also cf. St. Modestus of Jerusalem (d. 634) or Pseudo-Modestus: “The
human race has been saved in you [Mary], and through you it has received
favors and everlasting blessings from Him,” PG 86, 3306; and “[Mary]...through
whom we have been mystically recreated and made the Temple of the Holy
Spirit. ..through which we have received forgiveness of all our sins,” PG 86bis,
3293; and later, the great contribution of Theophanes of Nicaea (d. 1381): “It
cannot happen that anyone, of angels or men, can come otherwise, in any way
whatsoever, to participation in the divine gifts flowing from what has been
divinely assumed, from the Son of God, save through his Mother,” S. in SS.
Deiparam, ed. M. Jugie, A.A., Lateranum, Nova Series, Rome, 1935, 1, 51.
156
38
MARY: COREDEMPTRIX, MEDIATRIX, ADVOCATE
imitated by humanity: “As the Son of God has designed to descend to us
through you [Mary], so we also must come to him through you.”162 “In
your hands”, St. Peter Damian says of the Mother of Jesus, “are the
treasures of the mercies of God.”163
With St. Bernard of Clairvaux, the great Marian Father of the
Church, we have a rich and explicit understanding of Mary’s role as the
Mediatrix of the graces of redemption. St. Bernard tells us: “God has
willed that we should have nothing which would not pass through the
hands of Mary;”164 and also: “This is the will of Him who wanted us to
have everything through Mary.”165 These classical expressions of Mary’s
role as universal mediatrix of all graces by St. Bernard have been used by
several twentieth century popes in the official Marian teachings of the
Magisterium.166
St. Bernard further explains that any grace, hope, or salvation found
in the human family has flowed through Mary, whom God has given
every good: “God has placed in Mary the plenitude of every good, in
order to have us understand that if there is any trace of hope in us, any
trace of grace, any trace of salvation, it flows from her.” 167 The teachings
of St. Bernard can be recapitulated in the expression, “It is the will of
God that we obtain all favors through Mary.”168
St. Bernardine of Siena sums up the wisdom of the Fathers with the
following explanation of the distribution of graces and Mary’s role as
Mediatrix: “This is the process of divine graces: from God they flow to
Christ, from Christ to his Mother, and from her to the Church....! do not
hesitate to say that she has received a certain jurisdiction over all
graces....They are administered through her hands....”169
The exposition of Mary as universal mediatrix of all graces of
redemption continued in voluminous fashion by numerous Church
162
St. Peter Damian (d. 1072), Serm. 46, PL 144, 761B.
St. Peter Damian, Serm. 44, PL 144, 740.
164
St. Bernard of Clairvaux (d. 1153), Hom. III in vig. nativit., n. 10, PL 183,
100.
165
St. Bernard of Clairvaux, Hom., in nativit. B.V.M., n. 7, PL 183, 441.
166
For example, cf. Pope Pius XII, Superiore anno, AAS 32, 1940, p. 145; and
Mediator Dei, 1947. These will be treated more explicitly in the following
section on the papal commentary of Jn 19:26 and Mediatrix of graces.
167
St. Bernard of Clairvaux, Hom. in nativitat. B.V.M., n. 6, PL 183, 441.
168
Cf. Pope Pius XII, Superiore anno, AAS 32, 1940, p. 145.
169
St. Bernadine of Siena (d. 1440), Sermon V de nativiate B.M.V., cap. 8; op.
omn., v. 4,(Lugduni, 1650), p. 96. See also St. Bonventure (d. 1214), sermo VI
de maternitate B.M. Virginis, op. omn., V. 9 (Quaracchi, 1901), pp. 720-1; and
St. Albert or Pseudo-Albert, Mariale, q. 164; op. omn., ed. Borgnet, v. 37,
Parisiis, 1898, p. 241.
163
MARY: COREDEMPTRIX, MEDIATRIX, ADVOCATE
39
doctors, mystics, saints, and writers throughout the Middle Ages up to
the Modern Period.170 Particular mention should be made of the
outstanding contribution of St. Louis Marie Grignion de Montfort in his
classic work, True Devotion to Mary, which has received numerous
papal endorsements and indulgences by twentieth century pontiffs.171
St. Louis Marie echoes the teachings of St. Bernard regarding
Mary’s role as the channel or aqueduct of the graces of redemption, but
with an even greater clarity: “God the Son has communicated to his
Mother all that he acquired by his life and his death, his infinite merits
and his admirable virtues; and He has made Her the treasurer of all that
His Father gave Him for his inheritance. It is by her that He applies His
merits to his members, and that He communicates his virtues and
distributes his graces. She is his mysterious canal; she is his aqueduct,
through which He makes his mercies flow gently and abundantly.”172 For
St. Louis Marie, Mary’s role as Mediatrix of all graces was the
theological foundation for the personal act of total consecration to Jesus
through Mary, in which the Christian gives the Mediatrix full
intercessory power to help him to be true to his baptismal promises.173
Also deserving special mention is the later contribution of St.
Alphonsus Liguori, Marian Doctor of the Church. St. Alphonsus
succinctly sums up the universal character of the distribution of all
graces by Mary: “God, who gave us Jesus Christ, wills that all graces
that have been, that are, and will be dispensed to men to the end of the
world through the merits of Jesus Christ, should be dispensed by the
hands and through the intercession of Mary.”174
170
For more comprehensive treatments of the great volume of writings on Mary
as Mediatrix of all graces throughout the Medieval up to the modern period, cf.
J. Bittremieux, De meditatione universali B. M. Virginis quoad gratias, Brugis,
1926, p. 201; A.Robichaud, S.M., Mary, “Dispensatrix of All Graces,”
Mariology, v. 2, p. 445; M. O’Carroll, C.S.Sp., “Mediation,” Theotokos, p. 241;
G. Roschini, S.M., Maria Santissima Nella Storia Delia Salvezza, v. II, p. 224;
J. B. Carol, De Corredemptione Beatae Virginis Mariae, p. 152.
171
For example, cf. Pope St. Pius X, AAS 2, 1910, p. 185; AAS 5, 1913, p. 485;
Pope Benedict XV, AAS 8, 1916, p. 172; Pope Pius XII, AAS 37, 1945, p. 328;
AAS 39, 1947, p. 331; AAS 39, 1947, pp. 410-411; John Paul II, Redemptoris
Mater, n. 48.
172
St. Louis Marie Grignion de Montfort (d.1716), True Devotion to Mary, n.
24.
173
Cf. St. Louis Marie Grignion de Montfort, True Devotion to Mary, nn. 83-86,
120-123; Pope John Paul II, Redemptoris Mater, n. 48.
174
St. Alphonsus Liguori (d. 1787), The Glories of Mary, Ch. 5.
40
MARY: COREDEMPTRIX, MEDIATRIX, ADVOCATE
Papal Teachings on Jn 19:26 and the Mediatrix of All Graces
The modern Vicars of Christ have continued and authoritatively
confirmed with a dynamic consistency the rich and full understanding of
the role of the Mother of Jesus as the universal mediatrix of all the graces
of Redemption. The popes have made the revealed truth of Mary,
Mediatrix of all graces, part of the authoritative teachings of the ordinary
Magisterium, with particular emphasis on the universal nature of Mary’s
mediating participation with the one Mediator concerning all graces
flowing from the Redemption.175
As we shall see, the Magisterium repeatedly teaches that since Mary
uniquely participated with the Redeemer in the acquisition of every grace
of the Redemption as Coredemptrix, for this reason, Mary has rightly
been assigned by God to participate uniquely with the Mediator in the
distribution of every grace that flows from the Redemption as
Mediatrix.176
All graces come from the Cross (cf. Rom 3:24; Col 1:20), and
Mary’s unique participation in the distribution of all the graces of
Redemption to her spiritual children (cf. Jn 19:26) does not hinder but,
rather, fosters an awareness of and receptivity to the universality of grace
that comes to the human family from the one Redeemer and Mediator. 177
The explicit papal teaching of Mary as Mediatrix of all graces, which
represents an authentic interpretation of the Word of God both written
and handed down,178 is manifested in three centuries of Papal teaching
and is repeated with an indisputable consistency and ever greater clarity.
Pope Benedict XIV describes the Mother of Jesus as being “like a
celestial stream through which the flow of all graces and gifts reach the
soul of all wretched mortals.”179 Pope Pius VII, pontiff at the beginning
of the nineteenth century, summarized her role as universal mediatrix of
graces in the expression, “Dispensatrix of all graces.”180
175
For example, cf. Pope Benedict XIV (1740-1758), Op. Omnia, V. 16, ed.
Prati, 1846, p. 428; Pope Pius IX, Ubi primum, 1849; Pope Leo XIII, Octobri
mense, 1891, Pope St. Pius X, Ad diem illum, etc. The pertinent texts of these
and several other Magisterial teachings on the universal nature of Mary’s
mediation of all graces will immediately be given in the main body of the text.
176
For example, cf. Pope St. Pius X, Ad diem illum, 1904; Pope Benedict XV,
Inter Sodalicia, 1918; Pope Pius XII, AAS 38, 1946, p. 266; John Paul II,
L’Osservatore Romano, Issue n. 20, 1983.
177
Cf. Vatican Council II, Lumen Gentium, n. 60.
178
Cf. Vatican Council II, Dei Verbum, n. 9, 10.
179
Pope Benedict XIV (1740-1758), Op. Omnia, v. 16, ed., Prati, 1846, p. 428.
180
Pope Pius VII (1800-1823), Ampliatio privilegiorum ecclesiae B.M. Virginis
MARY: COREDEMPTRIX, MEDIATRIX, ADVOCATE
41
Pope Pius IX contributes significantly more development in the
papal teaching of Mediatrix of all graces. Pius IX specifies that God has
committed to Mary the treasury of all graces for distribution to the
human family, which includes every grace and all salvation, so that
humanity may know that all graces come through 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.”181 He further refers to the Virgin Mother as;”... with her onlybegotten Son, the most powerful Mediatrix and Reconciler of the
world....”182
Pope Leo XIII provides a true abundance of Papal pronouncements 183
in official Magisterial documents concerning the doctrine of Mary,
Mediatrix of all graces. For example, this pontiff refers to Mary as the
“treasurer of our peace with God and dispensatrix of heavenly graces,”184
as well as the one “through whom He has chosen to be the dispenser of
all heavenly graces.”185
In his encyclical letter, Octobri mense, Leo XIII establishes Mary as
the mediatrix of every grace which our Lord acquired for humanity in the
mystery of the Cross as the revealed design of Almighty God: “It is right
to say that nothing at all of the immense treasury of every grace which
the Lord accumulated – for ‘grace and truth come from Jesus Christ’ (Jn
1:17) – nothing is imparted to us except through Mary.... How great are
the goodness and the mercy revealed in this design of God....Mary is our
glorious intermediary; she is the powerful Mother of the omnipotent
God....”186
Pope Leo XIII also officially quotes the formula for the transmission
of grace and Mary’s mediatorial role as given by St. Bernadine of Siena:
“Thus is confirmed that law of merciful mediation of which we have
ab angelo salutatae in coenobio Fratrum Ordinis Servorum B.M.V. Florentiae,
A.D., 1806; in J. Bourasse, Summa aurea..., v. 7, Paris, 1862, col. 546.
181
Pope Pius IX (1846-1878), Encyclical Letter, Ubi Primum, 1849.
182
Pope Pius IX, Ineffabilis Deus, 1854.
183
Cf. Pope Leo XIII (1878-1903) in the following encyclical letters: Supremi
Apostolatus officio, 1883, ASS 16, 1113; Superiore Anno, 1884, ASS 17, 49;
Jucunda Semper, 1894, ASS 27, 179; Octobri mense, 1891, ASS 24, 196,
Adjutricem populi, 1895, ASS 28, 130; Diuturni temporis spatium, 1898, ASS 31,
146; Apostolic Letter, Parta humano generi, 1901, ASS 34, 195. The
immediately following citations from these documents by Leo XIII will be cited
by only the magisterial document title and date.
184
Pope Leo XIII, Supremi apostolatus, 1883.
185
Pope Leo XIII, Superiore anno, 1884.
186
Pope Leo XIII, Octobri mense, 1891.
42
MARY: COREDEMPTRIX, MEDIATRIX, ADVOCATE
spoken, and which St. Bernadine of Siena thus expresses: ‘Every grace
granted to man has three degrees in order: for by God it is communicated
to Christ, from Christ it passes to the Virgin, and from the Virgin it
descends to us.”187
Pope St. Pius X provides a profound and developed Church teaching
of Jn 19:26 and Mary’s universal mediation of grace in the monumental
encyclical letter, Ad diem ilium. St. Pius X spoke of the “ever united life
and labors of the Son and the Mother” in the work of Redemption; the
Mother who was “entirely participating in his passion,” and who
consequently became the “dispensatrix of all the gifts” acquired by the
death of the Redeemer.188 St. Pius further tells us: “When the supreme
hour of the Son came, beside the Cross of Jesus there stood Mary, his
Mother....From the community of will and suffering between Christ and
Mary ‘she became most worthily the reparatrix of the lost world’ and
dispensatrix of all the gifts that our Saviour purchased for us by his death
and his blood.”189
St. Pius X moreover explains that the strict right of the distribution of
grace resides with Jesus Christ alone, but that due to her intimate union
of suffering with the Redeemer, the task of the distribution of grace has
been given to Mary, Mediatrix: “It cannot, of course, be denied that the
dispensing of these gifts belongs by strict and proper right to Christ, for
they are the exclusive fruit of his death, who by his nature is Mediator
between God and man. Nevertheless, by this union in sorrow and
suffering, as we have said, which existed between the Mother and the
Son, it has been allowed to the august Virgin ‘to be the most powerful
mediatrix and advocate of the whole world with her divine Son.’ This
source, then, is Jesus Christ....But Mary, as St. Bernard justly remarks, is
the “channel,” or, if you will, the neck by which the Body is joined to the
Head and by which the Head sends power and strength through to the
Body: ‘For she is the neck of our Head by which He communicates to his
Mystical Body all spiritual gifts.”190
Pope St. Pius X once again clarifies that God alone is the source of
all grace, and that Mary’s role in this regard is limited to that of being the
“principal minister” in distributing the graces of Redemption: “We are
187
Pope Leo XIII, Jucunda Semper, 1894; cf. St. Bernardine of Siena, Serm. in
Nativit. B.V.M., n. 6.
188
Pope St. Pius X, Ad diem illum, AAS 36, 1904, p. 453.
189
Pope St. Pius X, Ad diem illum, 1904; cf., Eadmer, De Excellentia Virginis
Mariae, c. 9.
190
Pope St. Pius X, Ad diem illum, 190 4; cf., St. Bernard of Clairvaux, Serm.
De temp., in Nativ. B.V. de Aquaeductu, n. 4; St. Bernadine of Siena, Quadrag.
de Evangelio aeterno, Serm. X, a. 3, c.3.
MARY: COREDEMPTRIX, MEDIATRIX, ADVOCATE
43
thus, it will be seen, very far from declaring the Mother of God to be the
authoress of supernatural grace. Grace comes from God alone. But since
she surpassed all in holiness and union with Christ, and has been
associated with Christ in the work of redemption, she...is the principal
minister in the distribution of grace.”191
Pope BenedictXV confirms that the reason Mary is the Mediatrix of
all graces in distributing the fruits of redemption is because she was first
the Coredemptrix in the acquisition of the heavenly gifts of grace at
Calvary. “For with her suffering and dying Son, Mary endured suffering
and almost death....One can truly affirm that together with Christ she has
redeemed the human race....For this reason, every kind of grace we
receive from the treasury of the redemption is ministered as it were
through the hands of the same sorrowful Virgin....”192
Benedict XV further granted to the ordinaries of the world who
petitioned for it, along with Belgium, permission to celebrate the
Liturgical Office and Mass of Mary, Mediatrix of All Graces.193 “Let us
come and adore Christ the Redeemer who has willed that we should have
all good things through Mary,” reads the invitatory prayer. But long
before the Western liturgical feast of the Mediatrix of all graces, the
liturgical celebrations of the East have possessed numerous references to
Mary’s universal mediation of grace. Mary is the “fountain of mercy,” 194
and “every help comes to the faithful through Mary;” 195 she is “Mediatrix
191
Pope St. Pius X, Ad diem illum, 1904. For further reference of Pope St. Pius
X on the Mediatrix of all graces, cf. Litterae Apostolicae, AAS 2, 27 August
1910, 901.
192
Pope Benedict XV (1914-1922), Apostolic Letter, Inter Sodalicia, AAS 10,
1918, p. 182. For other papal references to Mediatrix of all graces by Benedict
XV, cf. Encyclical Letter, Fausto appetente die, AAS 13, 1921, p. 334; Letter to
Cardinal Gasparri, AAS 10, 27 April 1917, p. 182; Allocution at Decree Reading
for Canonization of Joan of Arc, Actes de Benoit XV, v. 2, 1926, p. 22; Letter to
American Hierarchy concerning the Shrine of the Immaculate Conception, AAS
11. 1919, p. 173.
193
Cf. La Vie Diocesaine, v. 10, 1921, pp. 96-106, Rescript of the Sacred
Congregation of Rites, 12 January 1921. Based on the Mass and Office of
Mediatrix of all Graces of 1921, the Congregation for Divine Worship approved
a Mass of the Blessed Virgin Mary, Mother and Mediatrix of Grace in 1971, cf.,
Collection of Masses of the Blessed Virgin Mary, v. 1, Sacramentary, Catholic
Book Co., New York, 1992. The new liturgy refers to Mary as the “treasurehouse of all graces”, Entrance antiphon, p. 223.
194
Byzantine Liturgy, cf. S. Salaville, Marie dans la liturgie byzantine ou grecslav, in Maria, Etudes sur la Sainte Vierge, ed. H. Du Manoir, S.J., v. 1, Paris,
1949, p. 303.
195
Coptic Liturgy, cf. Kitab al ebsallyati wa al Turwhat, Cairo, 1913, p. 131.
44
MARY: COREDEMPTRIX, MEDIATRIX, ADVOCATE
of law and grace,”196 and the “dispensatrix of his treasures and the
universal Queen.”197 It is good to remember here that the Liturgy of the
Church constitutes a certain incarnational doctrine embodied in ecclesial
prayer, which presupposes the existence of a given doctrine before
incorporating it into liturgical prayer. For “as we pray, so do we
believe.”198
Pope Pius XI continues the rich papal tradition of Mediatrix by
recalling this universal mediatorial function of Mary with the Mediator in
numerous Church teachings. “We have nothing more at heart than to
promote more and more the devotion of the Christian people towards the
Virgin who is treasurer of all graces with God....” 199 Moreover, Pius XI
refers to the, “...confiding in her intercession with Jesus, ‘the one
Mediator between God and man’ (1 Tim 2:5), who wished to associate
his own Mother with himself as the advocate of sinners, as dispenser and
mediatrix of grace....”200 In sum, Pius XI tells us that all that God gives to
us is imparted through the mediation of Mary: “...We know that all
things are imparted to us from God, the greatest and best, through the
hands of the Mother of God.”201
Pope Pius XII made his own, and the Church’s, the classic
expression of St. Bernard: “And since, as St. Bernard declares, ‘it is the
will of God that we obtain all favors through Mary,’ let everyone hasten
to have recourse to Mary.” 202 He re-affirms in another encyclical, “She
teaches us all virtues; she gives us her Son and with him all the help we
196
Armenian Liturgy, cf., V. Tekeyan, La Mere de Dieu dans la liturgie
armenienne, in Maria. Etudes sur la Sainte Vierge, ed. H. du Manoir, S.J., v. 1,
Paris, 1949, p. 359.
197
Chaldean Liturgy, cf. A.M. Massonat, O.P, Marie dans la liturgie
chaldeenne, in Maria. Etudes sur la Sainte Vierge, ed., H. du Manoir, S.J., v. 1,
Paris, 1949, p. 348.
198
Cf. Pope Pius XII, Mediator Dei, AAS 39, 1947; cf., C. Gumbinger,
O.F.M.Cap., “Mary in the Eastern Liturgies,” Mariology, v. I, p 185; cf. A.
Robichaud, S.M., “Mary, Dispensatrix of All Graces,” Mariology, v. II, p. 436;
“Lex orandi, lex credendi.”
199
Pope Pius XI (1922-1939), Apostolic Letter, Cognitum sane, AAS 18, p. 213.
200
Pope Pius XI, Encyclical Letter, Miserentissimus Redemptor, AAS 20, 1928,
p. 178.
201
Pope Pius XI, Encyclical Letter, Ingravescentibus malls, AAS 29, 1937, p.
380. For other references by Pius XI to Mediatrix of graces, cf., Apostolic
Letter, Galliam Ecclesiae filiam, AAS 14, 1922, p. 186; Apostolic Letter, Exstat
in civitate, AAS 16, 1924, p. 152.
202
Pope Pius XII (1939-1957), Superiore anno, AAS 32, 1940, p. 145. For usage
of same expression by Pius XII, cf., AAS 45, 1953, p. 382.
MARY: COREDEMPTRIX, MEDIATRIX, ADVOCATE
45
need, for ‘God wished us to have everything through Mary.’“203
From Pope Pius XII, we once again see another expression in this
consistent line of papal teachings on Calvary (cf. Jn 19:26) that Mary’s
universal mediation of graces comes from her Coredemptive role with
the Redeemer: “Having been associated, as Mother and Minister, with
the King of Martyrs in the ineffable work of human Redemption, she
remains always associated with him, with an almost measureless power,
in the distribution of graces flowing from the Redemption.”204
The Second Vatican Council gives the Church a great contribution in
its explanation of Mary’s mediation: a unique maternal participation in
the salvific role of Jesus Christ the one Mediator (cf. 1 Tim 2:5) by
dispensing to us the “gifts of eternal salvation.”205 “Mary’s function as
mother of men in no way obscures or diminishes this unique mediation
of Christ, but rather shows its power. But the Blessed Virgin’s salutary
influence on men originates not in any inner necessity but in the
disposition of God. It flows forth from the superabundance of the merits
of Christ, rests on his mediation, depends entirely on it and draws all its
power from it. It does not hinder in any way the immediate union of the
faithful with Christ but on the contrary fosters it.”206
For this reason, the Council tells us, “The Church does not hesitate to
profess this subordinate role of Mary, which it constantly experiences
and recommends to the heartfelt attention of the faithful, so that
encouraged by this maternal help, they may the more closely adhere to
the Mediator and Redeemer.”207
Vatican II states that the Mother of Jesus is a mother to us in the
order of grace because she uniquely cooperated in the saving work of the
Redeemer: “[Mary] shared her Son’s sufferings as he died on the cross.
203
Pope Pius XII, Mediator Dei, 1947.
Pope Pius XII, Radio message to Fatima, 13 May 1946, AAS 38, p. 266. For
other references to Mediatrix of graces by Pius XII, cf., Mystici Corporis, AAS
35, 1943, p. 248; L’Osservatore Romano, April 22-3, 1940, p. 1; Decree of
Sacred Congregation of Rites on Canonization of Louis M. de Montfort, AAS 34,
1942, p. 44. In this last reference, Pius XII recognizes the miracles for the
canonization of de Montfort, and the decree reads: “Gathering together the
Tradition of the Fathers, the Doctor Mellifluus [St. Bernard of Clairvaux]
teaches that God wants us to have everything through Mary. This pious and
salutary doctrine all theologians at the present time hold in common accord.”
This 1942 decree confirms the presence of the doctrine of Mediatrix of all
graces both in the Tradition of the Church, as well as in the common consensus
of theologians.
205
Cf. Vatican Council II, Lumen Gentium, n. 62.
206
Vatican Council II, Lumen Gentium, n. 60.
207
Vatican Council II, Lumen Gentium, n. 62.
204
46
MARY: COREDEMPTRIX, MEDIATRIX, ADVOCATE
Thus, in a wholly singular way she cooperated by her obedience, faith,
hope and burning charity in the work of the Saviour in restoring
supernatural life to souls. For this reason she is mother to us in the order
of grace.”208 The Mediatrix is the Coredemptrix continuing in the work
of salvation by the distribution of the gifts of eternal life merited at
Calvary.209
The Council continues to say about Mary’s maternal mediation:
“This motherhood of Mary in the order of grace continues
uninterruptedly from the consent which she loyally gave at the
Annunciation and which she sustained without wavering beneath the
cross, until the eternal fulfillment of all the elect. 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. By her maternal
charity she cares for the brethren of her Son, who still journey on earth
surrounded by dangers and difficulties, until they are led into their
blessed home.”210
The gifts of eternal salvation can only come from Calvary and the
redeeming work of the Saviour and Mediator (cf. Jn 19:26). Mary has
been granted the task by Almighty God of “bringing us the gifts of
eternal salvation”, and is thereby rightly “invoked by the Church” as the
“Mediatrix.”211 The footnote to the term, “Mediatrix” in the Council
document Lumen Gentium refers to the several official teachings of the
Magisterium of Mary’s role as Mediatrix of all graces as previously
taught by Pope Leo XIII,212 Pope St. Pius X,213 Pope Pius XI,214 and Pope
Pius XII.215 The Council does not diminish, but rather assumes and
confirms the rich and repeated papal tradition of the ordinary
Magisterium about the Mediatrix of graces that has preceded it.
John Paul II and the Maternal Mediatrix
of All Graces (Jn 19:26)
With particular eloquence and as a unique contribution, John Paul II
teaches the doctrine of the universal motherhood of Mary in the order of
208
Vatican Council II, Lumen Gentium, n. 61.
Cf. Vatican Council II, Lumen Gentium, n. 62.
210
Vatican Council II, Lumen Gentium, n. 62.
211
Cf. Vatican Council II, Lumen Gentium, n. 62.
212
Pope Leo XIII, Adjutricem populi, 1895.
213
Pope St. Pius X, Ad diem illum, 1904.
214
Pope Pius XI, Miserentissimus, 1928.
215
Pope Pius XII, Radio message, 13 May 1946, AAS 38, p. 268.
209
MARY: COREDEMPTRIX, MEDIATRIX, ADVOCATE
47
grace,216 the “Mediatrix of graces.”217
John Paul describes Mary’s new universal motherhood as Mediatrix
in the order of grace as the final gift given by the Savior to all humanity
from Calvary: “The gift of his mother was the final gift that he was
giving mankind as the fruit of his sacrifice. It is a question then of a
gesture intended to crown his redemptive work. Asking Mary to treat the
beloved disciple as her son, Jesus invites her to accept the sacrifice of his
death and, as the price of this acceptance, he invites her to take on a new
motherhood. As the Saviour of all mankind, he wants to give Mary’s
motherhood the greatest range. He therefore chooses John as the symbol
of all the disciples whom he loves, and he makes it understood that the
gift of his mother is the sign of a special intention of love, with which he
embraces all who want to follow him as disciples, that is, all Christians
and all men....This universal motherhood in the spiritual order was the
final consequence of Mary’s cooperation in the work of her divine Son, a
cooperation begun in the fearful joy of the Annunciation and carried
through right to the boundless sorrow of Calvary.”218
In another place, John Paul refers to the gift of a universal and
spiritual mother conferred by the dying Saviour at Calvary as a means of
receiving fresh life by the power of the cross, while also specifying the
wish of our Redeemer to penetrate the suffering souls of the faithful
through the heart of his Mother: “The divine Redeemer wishes to
penetrate the soul of every sufferer through the heart of his most holy
Mother, the first and the most exalted of the redeemed. As though by a
continuation of that motherhood which, by the power of the Holy Spirit
had given Him life, the dying Christ conferred upon the ever Virgin
Mary a new kind of motherhood -spiritual and universal- towards all
human beings, so that each individual, during the pilgrimage of faith,
might remain, together with her, closely united with Him unto the cross,
and so that every form of suffering, given fresh life by the power of the
cross, should become no longer the weakness of man but the power of
God.”219
This maternal mediation of Mary is universal, for it is a participation
in the universal Redemption of the Mediator, and the distribution of the
216
Cf. Pope John Paul II, Redemptoris Mater, nn. 21 -24; Ch. III, Maternal
Mediation, nn. 38-45.
217
Pope John Paul II, Christ is our Way, Mary our Sure Guide, Papal Address at
Orte, Italy, 17 September 1989, L’Osservatore Romano, 2 October 1989, p. 3.
218
Pope John Paul II, Mary’s Motherhood acquired at the Foot of the Cross,
Papal Address at General Audience, 11 May 1983, L’Osservatore Romano,
Issue n. 20, 1983, p. 1.
219
Pope John Paul II, Salvifici Doloris, n. 26.
48
MARY: COREDEMPTRIX, MEDIATRIX, ADVOCATE
graces of Calvary which are likewise universal. As John Paul tells us, her
motherly mediation “emerges” from the definitive accomplishment of
the Redeemer’s Paschal Mystery. The Mother of Christ, who stands at
the very center of this mystery – a mystery which embraces each
individual and all humanity – is given as mother to every single
individual and all mankind....And so this “new motherhood of Mary”
generated by faith, is the fruit of the “new” love which came to definitive
maturity at the foot of the Cross, through her sharing in the redemptive
love of her Son.”220
Mary’s maternal mediation is based on her profound respect for the
dignity of each human person as a transcendent being created in the very
image of God. A mother sees and loves each child individually, not only
collectively as a family. In the same way, the motherly Mediatrix sees
and loves each human person as a child who is in need of the spiritual
milk of sanctifying grace.
Although Mary’s mediation is as universal as the graces of
Redemption merited by the Saviour, as well as the humanity for which
the Redeemer died, John Paul II reminds us that this gift of Mary’s
motherhood in the order of grace remains a personal gift that Christ
makes to each individual: “The Redeemer entrusts his mother to the
disciple, and at the same time he gives her to him as his mother. Mary’s
motherhood, which remains man’s inheritance, is a gift: a gift which
Christ himself makes personally to each individual.”221
Pope John Paul II does not hesitate to teach as part of ordinary
teachings of the Magisterium that the Mother of Jesus, in obedience to
the Mediator’s will, “puts herself ‘in the middle,’that is to say, she acts
as a mediatrix not as an outsider, but in her position as mother” 222 that
Mary “also has that specifically maternal role of mediatrix of mercy at
his final coming’“223 and that Mary is rightfully invoked as the
“Mediatrix of graces.”224
In summary, we see the papal teachings regarding Jn 19:26 in
reference to the Mother of Jesus as a repeated and confirmed
pronouncement of Mary’s election by Almighty God as the Mediatrix
with the Mediator, distributing all the graces victoriously merited by the
Redeemer on Calvary.
220
Pope John Paul II, Redemptoris Mater, n. 23.
Pope John Paul II, Redemptoris Mater, n. 45.
222
Pope John Paul II, Redemptoris Mater, n. 21.
223
Pope John Paul II, Redemptoris Mater, n. 41.
224
Pope John Paul II, Christ is our Way, Mary our Sure Guide, Papal Address at
Orte, Italy, 17 September 1989, L’Osservatore Romano, 2 October 1989, p. 3.
221
MARY: COREDEMPTRIX, MEDIATRIX, ADVOCATE
49
In God’s mysterious application of the graces of redemption to all
humanity at various times,225 part of this mystery includes in a central
way the mediating role of Mary, Mother of the Redeemer and the New
Eve.226 For all the graces of Redemption, regardless of the mysterious
time of their distribution, came from the victory of Christ on the Cross.
And it was Mary who uniquely participated with the Redeemer in the
victorious conquest of salvation over the Serpent and sin227 and, as
maternal mediatrix, distributes the gifts of eternal life to the human
family, restoring supernatural life to souls.228 Mary’s universal role in
God’s mysterious distribution of graces takes nothing away from the
primacy of Jesus Christ, the one Mediator. Rather, the Mediatrix of all
graces manifests the power and dignity of the one Mediator and Author
of all graces, upon whom Mary’s universal mediation entirely
depends.229
By the victory of the Cross, Jesus takes his places as Lord (Dominus)
and King of all nations and peoples. But because of Mary’s participation
in the victory of her Son, Jesus also makes his Mother, the Coredemptrix
and Mediatrix, the Lady (Domino) and Queen of all peoples and
nations.230 For Mary is the true Lady and Mother of the King, and the
victory of Jesus the King embraces all humanity231 and beyond to the
glories of heaven.
225
When we say that all graces are distributed through the mediation of Mary,
we must still distinguish her modes of mediation. Mary’s willed distribution of
graces to humanity (we are not here including the angelic realm) definitively
begins after her glorious Assumption into heaven. Before her Assumption, we
talk of Mary’s distribution of graces in a more general manner, that is, that, due
to her participation in the obtaining of the graces of redemption as
Coredemptrix, Mary indeed mediates in regards to all graces, since all the graces
of redemption come from the Cross. Therefore, regarding both graces distributed
before Mary’s Assumption and the graces immediately conferred in the
sacraments, Mary can still be said to have a mediating role in each and every
grace of redemption through her role as Coredemptrix, participating in the
acquisition of all the graces of Calvary, as what may be called a final cause.
226
Cf. St. Irenaeus, Adversus Haereses, 1, 3, c. 22, n. 4; PG 7, p. 958-959.
227
Cf. Pope Pius IX, Ineffabilis Deus, 1854.
228
Vatican Council II, Lumen Gentium, nn. 61, 62.
229
Cf. Vatican Council II, Lumen Gentium, n. 60.
230
Cf. Pope Pius XII, Encyclical Letter, Ad Reginam caeli, AAS 46, 1954, pp.
633-636.
231
Cf. Pope John Paul II, Mary’s Motherhood acquired at the Foot of the Cross,
Papal Address at General Audience, 11 May 1983, L’Osservatore Romano,
Issue n. 20, 1983, p. 1.
50
MARY: COREDEMPTRIX, MEDIATRIX, ADVOCATE
Acts 1:4 – The Holy Spirit and the Mediatrix of all Graces
After humanity received its universal mother and mediatrix at the
foot of the cross, Mary continued her maternal role with the early
disciples of the Resurrected Lord. As our Holy Father explains, Mary
was also “...left by her Son as Mother of the infant Church: ‘Behold your
mother’. Thus there began to develop a special bond between this mother
and the Church. For the infant Church was the fruit of the Cross and
Resurrection of her Son. Mary, who from the beginning had given
herself without reserve to the person and work of her Son, could not but
pour out upon the Church, from the very beginning, her maternal selfgiving. After her Son’s departure, her motherhood remains in the Church
as maternal mediation: interceding for all her children, the Mother
cooperates in the saving work of her Son, the Redeemer of the world.”232
The motherly Mediatrix was present with the infant Church in the
Upper Room, which was to receive the promised gift of the Holy Spirit,
the Counselor and Sanctifier (cf. Jn 14:26; 16:12; 1 Pet 1:2). But beyond
being one among the rest, the presence and prayers of Mary Mediatrix
had a singularly efficacious effect in interceding for the descent of the
Holy Spirit at Pentecost. The Second Vatican Council tells us: “We see
the apostles before the day of Pentecost ‘persevering with one mind in
prayer with the women, and Mary the Mother of Jesus, and with his
brethren (Acts 1:14), and we also see Mary by her prayers imploring the
gift of the Spirit, who had already overshadowed her at the
Annunciation.”233
The words of the Council refer to this ever profound union of the
Third person of the Holy Trinity with the Mother of Jesus, both of whom
from the beginning of the work of the Redeemer and Mediator have
experienced an intimate communion and spousal relationship. The
Council refers to the “Blessed Virgin Mary who under the guidance of
the Holy Spirit made a total dedication of herself for the mystery of the
redemption of men.”234
From the moment of Mary’s immaculate entry into human existence,
she was in profound union with the sanctifying power of the Holy Spirit,
from which her fullness of grace flowed.235 It was the Holy Spirit, who
mysteriously overshadowed the obedient Virgin in his providential
232
Pope John Paul II, Redemptoris Mater, n. 40.
Vatican Council II, Lumen Gentium, n. 59.
234
Vatican Council II, Presbyterorum Ordinis (Decree on the Ministry and Life
of Priests), 1965, n. 18.
235
Cf. Pope Pius IX, Ineffabilis Deus, 1854; Pope Paul VI, Apostolic
Exhortation, Marialis Cultus, 1974, n. 26.
233
MARY: COREDEMPTRIX, MEDIATRIX, ADVOCATE
51
mission at the Annunciation that immediately led to the Word becoming
flesh for our redemption (cf. Lk 1:35, 38; Mt 1:18; Gal 4:4-5). The
Virgin “was found to be with child through the Holy Spirit....That which
is conceived in her is of the Holy Spirit” (Mt 1:18, 20).
When Mary’s visitation to Elizabeth effected the sanctification of the
unborn Baptist, the presence of the Holy Spirit was immediately
manifested for “...Elizabeth was filled with the Holy Spirit and she
exclaimed with a loud cry, ‘Blessed are you among women, and blessed
is the fruit of your womb!’“ (Lk 1:41-42). It was the Holy Spirit who
inspired Elizabeth to pay proper recognition to the Mediatrix and the
fruit of her womb.
This intimate union of the Spirit and the Bride (cf. Rev 22:17) is
again manifested at the Presentation of the infant Lord in the temple,
where the Holy Spirit inspired Simeon to enter the temple and inform the
Virgin Coredemptrix that, “a sword will pierce your own heart, too” (Lk
2:25, 27, 35). This communio of Spirit and human Spouse must
ultimately lead to the cross, for their union is unconditionally dedicated
to the salvific mission of the Redeemer and Mediator. John Paul II refers
to Mary’s self-abandonment at Calvary through the all-pervading
presence and power of the Holy Spirit: “How completely she ‘abandons
herself to God’ without reserve, ‘offering the full assent of the intellect
and the will’ to him whose ‘ways are inscrutable’ (cf. Rom 11:33)! And
how powerful too is the action of grace in her soul, how all-pervading is
the influence of the Holy Spirit and of his light and power!”236
So too, after the price of Redemption had been paid and its fruits still
to be dispensed, the sanctifying action of the Holy Spirit and the
maternal mediation of Mary rightly continues in intimate union. The
spousal work of the Spirit and the Mediatrix in distributing the graces of
redemption must continue “until the eternal fulfillment of all the
elect.”237 For it is the Holy Spirit, the Sanctifier, and Mary, the
Mediatrix, who began the New Covenant work of salvation by bringing
the world its redeemer at the Annunciation; and it will be the Spirit and
the Mediatrix who will jointly accomplish the full aspect of the
redemption of humanity in distributing the graces of eternal life to the
People of God, a salvific task of mediating God’s grace and mercy that
will end only at the final and glorious coming of the victorious Lord and
“King of the nations” (Rev 15:3).238
236
Pope John Paul II, Redemptoris Mater, n. 18.
Cf. Vatican Council II, Lumen Gentium, n. 62.
238
Cf. Pope John Paul II, Redemptoris Mater, n. 41.
237
52
MARY: COREDEMPTRIX, MEDIATRIX, ADVOCATE
The Spirit and the Mediatrix in the Distribution of Graces
From the East, Theophanes of Nicaea recognized the sublime union
of the Holy Spirit and the Mother of Jesus in the distribution of the
graces of redemption: “She receives wholly the hidden grace of the Spirit
and amply distributes it and shares it with others, thus manifesting
it....The Mother [Mary] ...is the dispenser and distributor of all the
wondrous uncreated gifts of the divine Spirit, which makes us Christ’s
brothers and coheirs, not only because she is granting the gifts of her
natural Son to his brothers in grace, but because she is bestowing them
on these as her own true sons, though not by ties of nature but of
grace.”239
Later in the West, St. Louis Marie Grignion de Montfort expounds
on the cooperation between the Spirit and the Mediatrix in the
distribution of all graces. The Holy Spirit has communicated to Mary, his
human spouse, all his heavenly gifts intended for humanity, and the Holy
Spirit has willed to distribute the graces of redemption only through the
virginal hands of Mary: “To Mary, his faithful spouse, God the Holy
Ghost has communicated His unspeakable gifts; and He has chosen her
to be the dispenser of all He possesses, in such wise that she distributes
to whom she wills, as much as she wills, as she wills and when she wills,
all His gifts and graces. The Holy Ghost gives no heavenly gift to men
which He does not have pass through her virginal hands. Such has been
the will of God, who has willed that we should have everything through
Mary.”240
God the Holy Spirit is the divine trinitarian member with specific
mission of the Father to “sanctify the Church forever” (cf. Jn 20:22; Rom
15:16; 1 Pet 1:2).241 But the Holy Spirit has chosen to perform his divine
act of sanctification, which flows from the cross of Christ,242 only
through the mediation of his human but glorified spouse, Mary, through
whom the Author of all graces was first mediated to the world by the
power of the same Holy Spirit (cf. Lk 1:35; Mt 1:18, 20). The Holy
Spirit, as a divine person, and Mary, as an exalted human person, were
239
Theophanes of Nicaea (d. 1381), Serm. in SS Deiparam, ed. M. Jugie, A.A.,
Lateranum, Nova Series, Rome, 1935, 1, 51; cf. M. O’Carroll, C.S. Sp.,
Theotokos: A Theological Encyclopedia of the Blessed Virgin Mary, Delaware,
1982, p. 340-1. For a Patristic summary of the relationship between the Holy
Spirit and Mary, cf. Pope Paul VI, Marialis Cultus, n. 26.
240
St. Louis Marie Grignion de Montfort (1673-1716), True Devotion to Mary,
n. 25.
241
Cf. Pope John Paul II, Encyclical Letter, Dominum et Vivificantem, n. 25.
242
Cf. Pope John Paul II, Dominum et Vivificantem, nn. 3, 11, 14.
MARY: COREDEMPTRIX, MEDIATRIX, ADVOCATE
53
given one unified mission from the Father after Calvary: both were sent
to take the ineffable graces from the sacrifice of the Redeemer and to
sanctify and transform the face of the earth by generously dispensing the
gifts of eternal life to the human family.
The eminent nineteenth century theologian M. J. Scheeben offers a
most valuable contribution in explaining this most intimate cooperation
between the Spirit and the Mediatrix in this work of personal
sanctification. Scheeben compares the intimate working of Mary with the
Holy Spirit as analogous to the way the humanity of Christ is an
instrument of his sacred divinity: “The distinguishing mark of her person
[Mary] as bride of Christ is conceived fully in her capacity of bearer and
temple of the Holy Spirit. Likewise, the foundation for this special power
and dignity of her activity must be traced to this capacity of her
person....Mary is the organ of the Holy Spirit, who works in her in the
same way that Christ’s humanity is the instrument of the Logos. And this
in a more complete and distinctive sense than can be the case in other
created beings.”243 Scheeben thereby refers to the Mother of Jesus as the
“dynamic and authoritative organ of the Holy Spirit.”244 The sanctifying
activity of the Mediatrix must rightly be traced to her mission as the
human instrument of the Holy Spirit in their one, unified mission of
sanctification given by the Father. This understanding and model of
Mary as the human instrument of the Holy Spirit in the distribution of
graces, comparable to the humanity of Christ as human instrument of the
Word, is a monumental breakthrough in understanding the mysterious
distribution of graces by the Spirit and the Mediatrix.
In recent times, the contribution of St. Maximilian Kolbe offers the
Church the more complete pneumatology and mariology necessary for a
solid understanding of the sublime unity and role of the Holy Spirit and
Mary in the mysterious distribution of the graces of redemption.245
243
M.J. Scheeben, Mariology, tr. T. Geukers, St. Louis, Herder, 1946, v. II, p.
185.
244
M.J. Scheeben, Mariology, v. II, p. 186.
245
St. Maximilian Kolbe’s Theology of the Holy Spirit and Mary is contained in
letters, lectures, and diaries, much of which is still unpublished at this time. The
heart of his Marian contribution can be found in H. M. Manteau-Bonamy, O.P.,
Immaculate Conception and the Holy Spirit, tr. by Richard Arnandez, F.S.C.,
from the French original, La Doctrine mariale du Pere Kolbe, Esprit-Saint et
Conception Immaculee, Liberty ville, II, Franciscan Marytown Press, 1977; cf.
S. Ragazzini, O.F.M. Conv., L’Immacolata e lo Spirito Santo, La spiritualita e I
‘apostolato mariano del Servo di Dio P. Massimiliano M. Kolbe deifrati Minori
Conventuali in Ephemerides Mariologicae, Madrid, 10, 1960, pp. 223-255; Aim
Higher: Marian Thoughts of St. Maximilian Kolbe, O.F.M. Conv., Ndola,
Zambia, Mission Press, 1976; Stronger Than Hatred: A Collection of Spiritual
54
MARY: COREDEMPTRIX, MEDIATRIX, ADVOCATE
St. Maximilian also uses the example of the inseparable union
between the divine nature and human nature in the one divine person of
Jesus Christ to express the ineffable union between the Holy Spirit and
Mary. This union is the theological basis of why, as St. Maximilian
states, the Holy Spirit has chosen to act only through the mediation of
Mary: “The Holy Spirit is in Mary after the fashion, one might say, in
which the Second Person of the Blessed Trinity, the Word, is in his
humanity. There is, of course, this difference: in Jesus there are two
natures, divine and human, but one single person who is God. Mary’s
nature and person are totally distinct from the nature and person of the
Holy Spirit. Still, their union is so inexpressible, and so perfect that the
Holy Spirit acts only by the Immaculata, his spouse....”246
With the true distinction between the natures and persons of the Holy
Spirit and Mary, St. Maximilian does not hesitate to say that Mary is in a
certain sense the ‘‘incarnation” of the Holy Spirit. This is an effort to
convey theologically this most sublime union of the Spirit and the
Mediatrix. “The third Person of the Blessed Trinity never took flesh;
still, our human word “spouse” is far too weak to express the reality of
the relationship between the Immaculata and the Holy Spirit. We can
affirm that she is, in a certain sense, the ‘incarnation’ of the Holy
Spirit.”247 Just as the Second Vatican Council refers to Mary as the
“sanctuary of the Holy Spirit,”248 a concrete human vessel where the
Sanctifer uniquely and profoundly dwells, so, too, the words of St.
Maximilian describing Mary as in a certain sense the incarnation of the
Holy Spirit bespeak the total dwelling, spiritually and bodily, of that
Spirit who never actually took on flesh, but who filled and sustained the
Virgin from the moment of her Immaculate Conception.249
The Holy Spirit is the divine sanctifier and the distributor of the
graces of the redemption. As St. Maximilian explains, “By the power of
the redemption wrought by Christ, the Holy Spirit transforms the souls of
men into temples of God; he makes us adoptive children of God and
heirs of the heavenly kingdom, as St. Paul declares: ‘But you are
Writings, New York, New York City Press, 1988; Piacentini, Ernesto, O.F.M.
Conv., Immaculate Conception: Panorama of the Marian Doctrine of Blessed
Maximilian Kolbe, tr., Donald Kos, O.F.M. Conv., Kenosha, WI, Franciscan
Marytown Press, 1975.
246
St. Maximilian Kolbe, Letter to Fr. Salezy Mikolajczyk, 28 July 1935, as
found in Manteau-Bonamy, Immaculate Conception and the Holy Spirit, p. 41.
247
St. Maximilian Kolbe, Conference 5 February 1941, as found in ManteauBonamy, Immaculate Conception and the Holy Spirit, p. 50.
248
Vatican Council II, Lumen Gentium, n. 53.
249
Cf. Manteau-Bonamy, Immaculate Conception and the Holy Spirit, p. 50 52.
MARY: COREDEMPTRIX, MEDIATRIX, ADVOCATE
55
sanctified, you are justified in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ and the
Spirit of our God’ (1 Cor 6:11)....Similarly, in the First Epistle to the
Corinthians we read that the distribution of graces depends on the will of
the Holy Spirit … (1 Cor 12:7-11).”250
And the divine Sanctifer, sent by the Father at the price of the
redemption by the Son, fulfills his mission of earthly sanctification only
through the spousal mediation of Mary Mediatrix of all graces, a
supernatural activity which is based on their ineffable and providential
union. As St. Maximilian confirms, “The union between the Immaculata
and the Holy Spirit is so inexpressible, yet so perfect, that the Holy Spirit
acts only by the Most Blessed Virgin, his Spouse. This is why she is the
mediatrix of all graces given by the Holy Spirit. And since every grace is
a gift of God the Father through the Son and by the Holy Spirit, it
follows that there is no grace which Mary cannot dispose of as her own,
which is not given to her for this purpose.”251
It is because of such monumental insights into the mystery of the
Mother of Jesus that St. Maximilian Kolbe is designated by Pope John
Paul II as “the Apostle of a New Marian Era:” “He has appeared in our
times as a prophet and an apostle of a new ‘Marian era’....This mission...
‘classified him’, as Paul VI stated in his homily at his beatification,
‘among the great saints and clairvoyant minds that have understood,
venerated and sung the mystery of Mary.’“252
The Holy Spirit is inexpressibly united to Mary, who is the spouse
and human instrument of the Holy Spirit in their one, unified mission of
sanctification. Since all the graces of redemption come through the Holy
Spirit, and the Holy Spirit acts only through the Mediatrix, then Mary is
again rightly seen as the mediatrix of all the graces of redemption given
to the human family.
Summary
The Mother of Jesus, through her obedient fiat at the message of the
angel, mediated to the world the Author and Source of all graces (cf. Lk
1:26-38). Mary’s role as motherly Mediatrix of the graces of redemption
was outlined at the Visitation to Elizabeth, which led to the sanctification
250
St. Maximilian Kolbe, Miles Immaculatae, I, 1938, Manteau-Bonamy,
Immaculate Conception and the Holy Spirit, p. 90.
251
St. Maximilian Kolbe, Letter to Father Mikolajczyk, 28 July 1935, ManteauBonamy, Immaculate Conception and the Holy Spirit, p. 99.
252
Pope John Paul II, Mary’s Sanctity in the Order of Salvation, Immaculate
Conception Homily at St. Mary Major’s Basilica, 8 December 1982,
L’Osservatore Romano, Issue n. 50, 1982, p. 1, 4.
56
MARY: COREDEMPTRIX, MEDIATRIX, ADVOCATE
of the unborn Baptist (cf. Lk 1:39-45); and at the wedding of Cana,
where the Mediatrix interceded for the first miracle and the public
ministry of the Mediator (cf. Jn 2:1-11).
The role of universal Mother and Mediatrix of graces for humanity
was fully established at the Cross with the words of the dying Saviour in
giving to humanity his own mother as the final gift of his redemptive
sacrifice (cf. Jn 19:25-27). Here Mary is granted the role of Mediatrix of
all graces, to distribute all the graces of the redemption, which
definitively begins after her glorious Assumption into heaven.253
The task of the Mediatrix in distributing all the graces of redemption
is performed in intimate union with the Holy Spirit, the divine Sanctifier
(cf. Lk 1:35; 2:25, 27; Acts 1:4; Rev 22:17). Mary is the human
instrument of the Holy Spirit in the mission of sanctification, and the
Spirit wills to distribute all his heavenly gifts of grace, which were
merited by the Redeemer on the Cross, only through the Mediatrix, his
exalted human spouse.
We see then that the doctrine of Mary as Mediatrix of all graces is
present in the Word of God, written and handed down, as well as
consistently taught by the Church’s Magisterium and experienced in the
prayer and liturgical life of the People of God. The Church has already
recognized in her rich ecclesial life that the Mother of Jesus is the
Mediatrix of all graces, and she rightly teaches that “it is the will of God
that we obtain all favors through Mary.”254
253
For a brief explanation of the modes of Mary’s distribution of the graces of
redemption, cf. footnote 118 in this same chapter. Cf. also section of papal
commentary on how absolutely all the graces of redemption are dispensed
through the mediation of Mary, as it appears earlier in this chapter.
254
Cf. Pope Pius XII, Superiore anno, MS 32, 1940, p. 145; Mediator Dei, 1947.
Chapter Three
MARY ADVOCATE FOR THE PEOPLE OF GOD
“We fly to your protection, O Holy Mother of God,
despise not our petitions in our necessities,
but deliver us from all danger,
O ever glorious and blessed Virgin”
In this most ancient prayer to the Mother of God dating back
approximately to the third century,255 the early Church of Christ
manifested its heartfelt belief in the intercessory power of Mary to whom
it called for help and protection in the midst of its dangers and trials. The
Second Vatican Council tells us that from the earliest times, the Church
honored Mary, “whose protection the faithful take refuge together in
prayer in all their perils and needs.”256 The Council also continues the
Church’s ancient practice of invoking Mary under the title that bespeaks
Mary’s role as intercessory helper for the People of God in times of peril:
“Therefore, the Blessed Virgin is invoked in the Church under the title(s)
of Advocate....”257
The Coredemptrix, who uniquely participated with the Redeemer in
obtaining the graces of redemption, continues her salvific role in
distributing the graces of redemption with the Mediator and the
Sanctifier. Part of this mediating role of Mary in God’s dynamic drama
of salvation includes the providential task of being the Advocate for the
People of God. Along with mediating the graces of redemption from God
to the human family, Mary also acts as the intercessory advocate for the
People of God in their return to God. Mary not only mediates the graces
of God to humanity as Mediatrix, but she also mediates the petitions of
the human family back to God, in humble service of both. Mary
255
Sub Tuum Praesidium, cf. Vatican Council II, Lumen Gentium, n. 66 and
footnote 21; for dating and more original reconstructions other than the common
Latin translation cited, cf. “Sub Tuum” in O’Carroll, Theotokos, 1982, p. 336.
256
Vatican Council II, Lumen Gentium, n. 66.
257
Vatican Council II, Lumen Gentium, n. 62.
60
MARY: COREDEMPTRIX, MEDIATRIX, ADVOCATE
intercedes to God the Father through the Son and by the Holy Spirit on
behalf of humanity as our Advocate, especially in times of danger and
difficulties.
Old Testament Role of the Queen Mother
(1 Kings 2, 8, 15; 2 Kings 11, 24; Prov 31:8, 9)
We can see an authentic foreshadowing of the role of the Mother of
Jesus as Advocate for the People of God in the Old Testament role of the
Queen Mother,258 the role and office held by the mothers of the great
Davidic kings of Israel.
In the Kingdom of Israel, the mother of the king (Heb., Gebirah,
literally, “great lady” 259) held the exalted office of the Queen Mother.
Because the kings of Israel normally had numerous wives, the mother of
the king was chosen to be the queen of the kingdom, due to her singular
familial relationship with the king. The Gebirah or “Lady” of the
kingdom assisted the king in the ruling of the kingdom in her noble
office as the queen mother (cf. 2 Kings 11:3; 1 Kings 2:19; 1 Kings
15:9-13; Jer 13:18, 20).
The office and authority of the queen mother in her close relationship
to the king made her the strongest advocate to the king for the people of
the kingdom. The Old Testament understanding of an advocate is a
person who is called in to intercede for another in need and particularly
at court,260 and no one had more intercessory power to the king than the
queen mother, who at times sat enthroned at the right side of the king (cf.
1 Kings 2:19-20). The queen mother also had the function of counselor
258
For a more comprehensive treatment of the Queen Mother Tradition in the
Old Testament, as well as its Marian fulfillment in the New Testament, cf.
Barnabas Ahern, The Mother of the Messiah, Marian Studies, Dayton, 12, 1961,
p. 28; H. Donner, Art und Herkunft des Amtes der Koningsmutter im Alien
Testament, Festschrift J. Friederich, Heidelberg, 1959,p. 101; H. Gazelles, La
mère du Roi-Messie dans l’Ancien Testament, Maria et Ecclesia, 5, 1959, p. 51;
George Montague, S.M., Our Father, Our Mother, Franciscan University Press,
Steubenville, 1990, p. 92; George Kirwin, The Nature of the Queenship of Mary,
Catholic University of America, 1973, p. 297.
259
Cf. Roland de Vaux, Ancient Israel, New York, 1961, p. 117; G. Kirwin, The
Nature of the Queenship of Mary, Catholic University of America, 1973, p. 297.
260
Cf. G. Kittel and G. Friedrich, Theological Dictionary of the New Testament,
Abr. v., Grand Rapids, 1990, p. 782-3.
MARY: COREDEMPTRIX, MEDIATRIX, ADVOCATE
61
to the king in regards to matters of the kingdom (cf. Prov 31:8-9; 2
Chron 22:2-4).261
The recognized role of advocate of the queen mother with the king
for members of the kingdom is manifested in the immediate response of
King Solomon to his mother, Bathsheba, in this queen mother’s petition
for a member of the kingdom: “And the king rose to meet her, and
bowed down to her; then he sat on his throne, and had a seat brought for
the king’s mother; and she sat on his right. Then she said, ‘I have one
small request to make of you; do not refuse me.’ And the king said to
her, ‘Make your request, my mother; for I will not refuse you” (1 Kings
2:19-20).262
The Old Testament image and role of the queen mother, the “great
Lady,” as advocate to the king for the people of the kingdom
prophetically foreshadows the role of the great Queen Mother and Lady
of the New Testament. For it is Mary of Nazareth who becomes the
Queen and Mother in the Kingdom of God, as the Mother of Christ, King
of all Nations.263 The Woman at the foot of the Cross (cf. Jn 19:26)
becomes the Great Lady (Domino) with the Lord and King, and thereby
will be the Advocate and Queen for the People of God from heaven,
where she is the “woman clothed with the sun...and on her head a crown
of twelve stars” (Rev 12:1).
Rev 12:1 – Advocate and Queen for the People of God
The role of the Mother of Jesus, the Great Woman and Lady of the
Lord of Lords (Rev 19:16) spans the whole of the written Word of God,
from Genesis to Revelation, in her intimate union with Christ and the
Church: “...Thus the Mother of God, through the Church, remains in that
mystery [of Christ] as ‘the woman’ spoken of her by the Book of
Genesis (3:15) at the beginning, and by the Apocalypse (12:1) at the end
of the history of salvation.”264 And Mary’s providential office as Queen
Mother and Advocate in the Kingdom of Christ, which is the Church, can
be seen in the pages of the New Testament.
261
Cf. Kirwin, The Nature of the Queenship of Mary, Catholic University of
America, p. 310.
262
The clear manifestation of the advocating role of the Queen Mother
Bathsheba is not lessened because of Solomon’s killing of Adonijah, as the
possession of the king’s concubine was an indication of the usurpation of the
throne (cf. 2 Sam 16:20-23).
263
Cf. Pope Pius XII, Ad Caeli Reginam, 1954.
264
Pope John Paul II, Redemptoris Mater, n. 24.
62
MARY: COREDEMPTRIX, MEDIATRIX, ADVOCATE
Queen Mother and Advocate in the New Kingdom of Christ
(Lk 1:32; Lk 1:44; Jn 2:3; Jn 19:26; Rev 12:1)
In the encyclical that teaches Mary’s universal Queenship,265 Pope
Pius XII tells us: “...the first one who with heavenly voice announced
Mary’s royal office was Gabriel the Archangel himself.”266
It is the angelic messenger of God that first refers to the office of the
new Queen Mother and Advocate, in announcing to Mary, a young virgin
from the house of David, that she will conceive a child that will receive
the throne of David, and the kingdom of this new king will last forever:
“He will be great, and will be called the Son of the Most High; and the
Lord God will give to him the throne of his father David, and he will
reign over the house of Jacob forever; and of his kingdom there will be
no end” (Lk 1:32-33).
The Queen Mother and Advocate of Christ, the New King, is
acknowledged again in the words of her cousin Elizabeth to Mary: “And
why is this granted me, that the mother of my Lord should come to me?”
(Lk 1:44). The title, “Mother of my Lord” in the court language of the
ancient Israel referred to the mother of the reigning king, who was
addressed as “My Lord.”267 Elizabeth, as a good Israelite and daughter of
Abraham, refers to Mary’s new office as Queen and Advocate through
the inspiration and power of the Holy Spirit (cf. Lk 1:41-42). Mary is
acknowledged by the power of the Spirit as the new Lady of the new
Lord.
The Queen Mother of the Lord manifests her role as Advocate for the
people to the King at the wedding of Cana (cf. Jn 2:1-11). At the specific
need of the hosts and people of the wedding, the Lady intercedes to the
Lord for the people (with a confidence beyond that of Queen Mother
Bathsheba to King Solomon): “When the wine failed, the mother of Jesus
said to him, ‘They have no wine.’ And Jesus said to her, ‘O woman, what
have you to do with me? My hour has not yet come.’ His mother said to
his servants, ‘Do whatever he tells you” (Jn 2:3-5). Again, Mary is
referred to as the Woman in her part in the redemptive mission of her
Son, and the Advocate succeeds in obtaining from her Kingly Son the
needs of the people (cf. Jn 2:8-10). Mary is the “spokeswoman of her
265
Cf. Pope Pius XII, Ad Caeli Reginam, 1954.
Pope Pius XII, Ad Caeli Reginam, 1954, AAS 46, p. 633.
267
Cf. Barnabas Ahern, The Mother of the Messiah, Marian Studies, 12, 1961, p.
28; Kirwin, The Nature of the Queenship of Mary, Catholic University of
America, p. 28; cf. also references of footnote 4.
266
MARY: COREDEMPTRIX, MEDIATRIX, ADVOCATE
63
Son’s will,”268 and “She knows...she can point out to her Son the needs
of mankind, and in fact, she has the ‘right’ to do so”269 as Advocate.
The revelation of Mary as the Queen and Advocate for the People of
God is brought to a scriptural crowning in the last book of the written
Word of God. “And a great sign appeared in heaven, a woman clothed
with the sun, with the moon under her feet, and on her head a crown of
twelve stars” (Rev 12:1).
Mary is the only Woman who will bring forth Christ the King, “who
is to rule all nations with an iron rod” (Rev 12:5). She is the Woman
foreshadowed in Genesis who will battle the dragon-serpent in her
mission with the Saviour Son (cf. Gen 3:15, Rev 12:3-7). As the child
(cf. Rev 12:5) refers to the person of Jesus, so too, the woman who
brought forth a child (cf. Rev 12:5) refers to the person of Mary.270 Pope
Paul VI states at the beginning of his Marian Apostolic Letter entitled, A
Great Sign: “The great sign which the Apostle John saw in heaven, ‘a
woman clothed by the sun’ is interpreted by the sacred Liturgy, not
without foundation, as referring to the most blessed Mary, the mother of
all men by the grace of Christ the Redeemer.”271
Mary, Queen Mother and Advocate, is crowned with the twelve stars
(cf. Rev 12:1) which symbolize both the twelve tribes of Israel and the
twelve apostles of the new kingdom. The Woman of Revelation is both
Mary and the Church,272 which bespeaks the intimate and organic union
268
Cf. Pope John Paul II, Redemptoris Mater, n. 21.
Cf. Pope John Paul II, Redemptoris Mater, n. 21.
270
Cf. St. Epiphanius, Ad. Haer. 78, 11, PG 42, 716C; Quodvultdeus, De
Symbolo 3, PL 40, 661; John Henry Newman, Letter to Pusey, London, 1866;
M.J. Scheeben, Mariology, tr. Geukers, 1946; v. 1, Ch. 1, p. 15; A. Schaefer,
The Mother of Jesus in Holy Scripture, tr. F. Brossart, V.C., New York, 1913; B.
le Frois, S.V.D., The Woman Clothed With the Sun, (Apoc 12); Individual or
Collective?, Rome, 1954; and The Woman Clothed With the Sun, American
Ecclesiastical Review, 126, 1952, p. 161; St. Pius X, Ad diem illum, 1904:
“Everyone knows that this woman signified the Blessed Virgin Mary, the
stainless one who brought forth the Saviour”; Pope Pius XII, Munificentissimus
Deus, 1950, AAS 42, p. 763. Note: This is not to diminish the rich ecclesial
meaning of the Rev 12:1 passage, cf. Newman: “Of course I do not deny that
under the image of the woman, the Church is signified; but what I would
maintain is this, that the holy Apostle would not have spoken of the Church
under this particular image, unless there had existed a blessed Virgin Mary...,”
Letter to Pusey, Difficulties of Angelicans, London, 1866.
271
Pope Paul VI, Apostolic Letter, Signum Magnum, 13 May 1967, p. 1; cf.
Epistle of Mass for the feast of the Apparition of Mary Immaculate, Feb. 11.
272
Cf. B. le Frois, S.V.D., The Woman Clothed With the Sun, (Apoc 12);
Individual or Collective?, Rome, 1954; and The Woman Clothed With the Sun,
269
64
MARY: COREDEMPTRIX, MEDIATRIX, ADVOCATE
in type between the Daughter Zion and the new Israel. As Scheeben
remarks: “Accordingly the heavenly glory of the woman, expressed in
this great sign, must in the first place be traced to Mary, who is
prophesied by Isaiah as the divine sign (cf. Is 7:14)...The features of the
vision are borrowed from Mary; Mary is not taken merely as an ordinary
example or even as a prototype of the Church, but as a prototype that is
organically united to the Church and radically concerns and represents it,
and also works both in it and through it.”273
And at the end of her earthly life and following her glorious
Assumption into heaven, the Daughter of Zion is crowned as the Queen
in the Kingdom of God, in virtue of the her participation in the conquest
of the kingdom with the Redeeming Saviour at the foot of the Cross (cf.
Jn 19:26). The Second Vatican Council tells us: “The Immaculate Virgin
preserved from all stain of original sin was taken up body and soul into
heavenly glory, when her earthly life was over, and exalted by the Lord
as Queen over all things, that she might be the more fully conformed to
her Son, The Lord of Lords (cf. Rev 19:16), and conqueror of sin and
death.”274 As Christ is the rightful King and Lord of all nations (cf. Rev
5:9, 10; Rev 15:4; Rev 19:6), Mary, Mother of the King and
Coredemptrix in the conquest of the Redeemer, becomes the Queen
Mother, the Gebirah, the great Mother and Lady of all nations.
But Mary’s role as universal Advocate for the People of God does
not cease after Mary’s glorious Assumption and crowning as Queen, but
rather, it definitively begins. The Council states: “By her maternal
charity, she cares for the brethren of her Son, who still journey on earth
surrounded by dangers and difficulties, until they are led into their
blessed home.”275
Church Fathers and Mary Advocate
The Early Church was quick to confirm and utilize Mary’s role as
Advocate in God’s drama of human salvation. By the second century, St.
Irenaeus referred to Mary’s advocacy to God for Eve, the first mother of
the living, who through disobedience was in need of the helping
intercession of another: “And whereas Eve had disobeyed God, Mary
was persuaded to obey God, that the Virgin Mary might become
advocate (advocato) of the virgin Eve.”276 St. Ephraem called Mary the
American Ecclesiastical Review, 126, 1952, p. 161.
273
M.J. Scheeben, Mariology, v. 1, p. 15.
274
Vatican Council II, Lumen Gentium, n. 59.
275
Vatican Council II, Lumen Gentium, n. 62.
276
St. Irenaeus, Adversus Haereses V, c. 19, 1; Harvey, ed., Cantabrigiae, 1857,
MARY: COREDEMPTRIX, MEDIATRIX, ADVOCATE
65
“friendly advocate of sinners.”277
St. Germanus of Constantinople describes the role of Mary Advocate
as the greatest intercessory defender and protector of sinners after Christ:
“And who, after your Jesus, is as tenderly solicitous for our welfare as
you [Mary] are? Who defends us in the temptations with which we are
afflicted as you defend us? Who, like you, undertakes to protect sinners,
fighting, as it were, on their behalf?”278 The sixth century Saint Romanos
pictures the Mother of Jesus addressing our first parents as advocate to
Christ on their behalf: “Cease your lamentations, I shall be your advocate
with my son.”279
St. Bernard of Clairvaux makes plain Mary’s role as advocate to
Christ for humanity by saying, “You wish to have an advocate with him
[Christ]...Have recourse to Mary;” and also “Our Lady, our Mediatrix,
our Advocate, reconcile us to your Son, commend us to your Son,
represent us to your Son.”280 It is the Advocate who represents us before
the Son, interceding for the human family and obtaining for us the graces
of salvation, as alluded to in the great twelfth century liturgical antiphon,
the Salve Regina: “...To you do we cry out, poor banished children of
Eve; to you do we send up our sighs, mourning and weeping in this
valley of tears; turn, then, O most gracious Advocate, your eyes of mercy
toward us, and after this our exile, show unto us the blessed fruit of your
womb Jesus, O clement, O loving, O sweet Virgin Mary.”281
2, 375-376; PG 7, 1175-6; cf. G. Jouassard, Etudes Mariales, Bulletin de la
Société, française d’Etudes Mariales, Paris, 16, 1959, p. 57.
277
St. Ephraem, S. Ephraem Syri testim. de B.V.M. mediatione, Ephemerides
Theologicae Lovanienses, IV, fasc. 2, 1927.
278
St. Germanus of Constantinople, Hom. in S. Mariae zonam, PG 98, 3306.
279
St. Romanos the Singer, Hymn on the Nativity, II, Sources Chrétiennes,
Lyons, 110, 100. For a more comprehensive treatment of Patristic and historical
references to Mary as Advocate, including St. John Damascene, St. Modestus of
Jerusalem, Theoteknos of Livia, etc., cf. E. Eustriades, The Theotokos in
Hymnography, Paris, 1930, 64; O’Carroll, “Advocate,” Theotokos, 1982,
Dublin, p. 6; G. Alastuary, Tratado de la Virgen Santisima, Editorial Catolica,
Madrid, 1952, tr. M.J. LaGiglia, The Blessed Virgin Mary, St. Louis, Herder,
1964, v. II, ch. 4, p. 159.
280
St. Bernard of Clairvaux, De Aqueductu 7, ed. Leclerq. V, 279; PL 183, 43C.
281
Antiphon of the Divine Office, Roman Liturgy of the Hours.
66
MARY: COREDEMPTRIX, MEDIATRIX, ADVOCATE
Papal Teaching on Mary, Advocate for the People of God
The authoritative teachings of the Papal Magisterium continue the
historical recognition and development of Mary’s doctrinal role as
Advocate for the People of God. From the sixteenth century onwards, the
Mother of God has been repeatedly referred to by the popes as “our
Advocate”282 with Christ on behalf of the faithful.
The papal teachings of the last two centuries have most fully
recognized and officially taught this scriptural and patristic role of
Advocate by the Mother of Jesus for the People of God.
Pope Pius VII, at the turn of the nineteenth century, teaches Mary’s
unique maternal role to be advocate to her Son in the order of
intercession for humanity : “...While the prayers of those in heaven have,
it is true, some claim on God’s watchful eye, Mary’s prayers place their
assurance in a mother’s right. For that reason, when she approaches her
divine Son’s throne, as Advocate she begs, as Handmaid she prays, but
as Mother she commands.”283 The advocacy of the Queen Mother with
her Son the King truly exceeds that of all other saints.
Pope St. Pius X strongly affirms Mary’s role as Queen and Advocate
to the throne of God on behalf of the People of God in a papal prayer he
composed for the fiftieth anniversary of the papal definition of the
Immaculate Conception: “O Blessed Mother, our Queen and
Advocate...gather together our prayers and we beseech you (our hearts
one with yours) present them before God’s throne...that we may reach
the portal of salvation.”284
Pope Pius XI speaks of Mary’s roles as Mediatrix of grace and
Advocate for sinners as complementary tasks given to Mary by her Son:
“...trusting in her intercession with Christ our Lord, who though sole
Mediator between God and man, wished however to make His Mother
advocate for sinners and the dispenser and mediatrix of grace....”285 Her
282
Pope Leo X, Papal Bull, Pastoris Aeterni, 6 October 1520, cf. Documentos
Marianos, Madrid, 76; cf. also Pope Sixtus V, Papal Bull, Gloriosae 8 June
1587; Pope Clement IX, Sincera Nostra, 21 October 1667; Pope Clement XI,
Papal Bull, Commissi Nobis, 8 December 1708; cf. Documentos Marianos, 93,
115, 124.
283
Pope Pius VII, Apostolic Constitution, Tanto studio, 19 February 1805, Aur
7, 511.
284
Pope St. Pius X, Virgine sanctissima, Papal Prayer on the Fiftieth
Anniversary of the definition of the Immaculate Conception, 8 September 1903;
A.A. 7, p. 97.
285
Pope Pius XI, Encyclical Letter, Miserentissimus Redemptor, 8 May 1928,
AAS 20. 185.
MARY: COREDEMPTRIX, MEDIATRIX, ADVOCATE
67
functions as Mediatrix of all graces and Advocate for the faithful are
closely bound since, as Pius XI tells us, they are both essentially linked
to her relation to us as Mother: “God alone gives grace according to the
measure which, in His infinite wisdom, He foresees. But, though that
grace comes from God, it is given through Mary, our advocate and
mediatrix, since motherly affection on the one hand finds response in
filial devotion on the other. With the renowned poet, we may say of
Mary, ‘He who desires grace and fails to have recourse to thee is like one
trying to fly without wings.’ God gives grace; Mary obtains and
distributes it.”286
Pius XI further encourages the youth, surrounded by many dangers
and obstacles to God, to make Mary our true Advocate before God unto
and at the hour of death: “We must of necessity wish that the youth of
today, exposed as they are to many dangers, should make devotion to
Mary the predominant thought of their whole life. By persevering prayer
let us make Mary our daily Mediatrix, our true Advocate. In this way we
may hope that she herself, assumed into heavenly glory, will be our
advocate before divine goodness and mercy at the hour of our
passing.”287
Pius XII explains the task of Mary, Advocate with her Son, in her
intercessory and conciliatory role on behalf of sinners: “Our Advocate,
placed between God and the sinner, takes it upon herself to invoke
clemency of the Judge so as to temper His justice, touch the heart of the
sinner and overcome his obstinacy.”288 For Pius XII, Mary is profoundly
our “Queen and our most loving Advocate, Mediatrix of His graces,
dispenser of His treasures!”289
The Second Vatican Council confirms the Church’s rich Tradition by
professing the rightful invocation of Mary under the title, “Advocate.”290
The Council also invokes Mary’s powerful intercessory power with her
Son at the end of the Dogmatic Constitution on the Church for the vital
and necessary goal of authentic Ecumenism and the unity of all peoples
into the one People of God : “The entire body of the faithful pours forth
286
Pope Pius XI, Papal Allocution to French Pilgrims present for reading of
decree “de tuto” (Canonization of Blessed Antida Thouret, 15 August 1933,
L’Osservatore Romano, 16 August 1933; cf. Dante, Paradiso, Canto 33, 14, 15.
287
Pope Pius XI, Papal Allocution to French Pilgrims present for reading of
“de tuto” (Canonization of Blessed Antida Thouret, 15 August 1933,
L’Osservatore Romano, 15 August 1933.
288
Pope Pius XII, Papal Allocution at the Canonization of Blessed Louis Marie
Grignion de Montfort, 21 July 1947, AAS 39, 408.
289
Pope Pius XII, Radio Message to Fatima, 13 May 1946, AAS 38, 264.
290
Vatican Council II, Lumen Gentium, n. 62.
68
MARY: COREDEMPTRIX, MEDIATRIX, ADVOCATE
urgent supplications to the Mother of God and of men that she, who
aided the beginnings of the Church by her prayers, may now, exalted as
she is above the angels and the saints, intercede before her Son in the
fellowship of all the saints, until all families of people, whether they are
honored with the title of Christian or whether they still do not know the
Savior, may be happily gathered together in peace and harmony into the
one People of God, for the glory of the Most Holy and Undivided
Trinity.”291
Pope John Paul II, along with papal confirmation of Mary’s title and
role of Advocate,292 builds upon the conciliar example to recognize
Mary’s unique intercessory power to God on behalf of the grave
contemporary need for unity of all Christians and all peoples into the one
People of God. Mary’s unique ability to intercede for Christian unity
comes from her coredemptive role of having suffered for the Church at
Calvary, as well as the intrinsic desire of a mother to unite all her
children: “Having suffered for the Church, Mary deserved to become the
mother of all her Son’s disciples, the mother of their unity....The Church
recognizes in her a mother who keeps watch over its development and
does not cease to intercede with her Son to obtain for Christians more
profound dispositions of faith, of hope, of love. Mary seeks to promote
the greatest possible unity of Christians, because a mother strives to
ensure accord among her children. There is no more ecumenical heart
greater or more ardent than Mary’s heart. It is to this perfect mother that
the Church has recourse in all its difficulties.”293
Truly it is only through the powerful advocacy of Mary, whom John
Paul II invokes all Christians to recognize as “our common Mother’’ that
we can hope for an authentic unity of God’s children into the one Church
of Christ: “Therefore, why should we not all together look to her as our
common Mother, who prays for the unity of God’s family and who
“precedes” us all at the head of the long line of witnesses of faith in the
one Lord, the Son of God, who was conceived in her virginal womb by
the power of the Holy Spirit?”294 It will only be through the power of the
Holy Spirit, implored by the Advocate, that authentic Christian unity will
be established, when all children of God can, in one voice, invoke Mary
as our common Mother.
291
Vatican Council II, Lumen Gentium, n. 69.
Cf. Pope John Paul II, Redemptoris Mater, n. 40.
293
Pope John Paul II, Papal Address, Mary’s Motherhood Acquired at the Foot
of the Cross, General Audience, 11 May 1983, L’Osservatore Romano, 16 May
1983, p. 1.
294
Pope John Paul II, Redemptoris Mater, n. 30.
292
MARY: COREDEMPTRIX, MEDIATRIX, ADVOCATE
69
Rev 22:17 – The Spirit and the Advocate
for the People of God Today
“The Spirit and the Bride say, ‘Come’” (Rev 22:17). These inspired
words from the last sentences of Sacred Scripture should enkindle a
hopeful confidence in the People of God concerning the ongoing salvific
work of the Holy Spirit and Mary, his Immaculate Spouse, in their
contemporary mission of advocacy for the Church today.
It is noteworthy that the scriptural use of the term, advocate (Gk.,
parakletos, literally “called in to help”),295 as used by Jesus at the Last
Supper, refers to the coming aid of the Holy Spirit for the future Church
(cf. Jn 15:26). The later use of the same term for Mary’s intercessory
help to God for humanity as treated by the Church Fathers296 further
bespeaks the intimate association of the Spirit and the Advocate in the
mission of heavenly intercession as inferred by the Early Church Fathers.
As Scheeben remarks, the title of Advocate “is used almost exclusively
for Mary, and not for the saints. Because of its broad import and because
it is a name of Sacred Scriptures proper to the Holy Spirit, it contains
also a special consecration. In this respect it is particularly appropriate to
Mary, the more so since, by reason of her special relationship to Him, the
Holy Spirit unites Himself to Mary’s petition with inutterable sighs.”297
The intimate union of the Holy Spirit and Mary can be seen in terms
of Mary’s role as Advocate, interceding from humanity back to God, just
as it was evidenced in Mary’s role as Mediatrix, interceding from God to
humanity.298 The contribution of St. Maximilian Kolbe provides a
theological foundation for Mary’s role as Advocate in interceding back
to God on behalf of humanity in inseparable association with the Holy
Spirit.
St. Maximilan Kolbe explains Mary’s role in the action of God and
its reaction by humanity in this way: “Every action has a reaction in
view. The reaction is the fruit of the action. God the Father is the primary
Principle and the Last End. The Immaculata is full of grace; nothing in
the way of grace is lacking to her. The path of grace is always the same:
295
Cf. Gerhard Kittel and Gerhard Friedrich, Theological Dictionary of the New
Testament, Abridged Volume, Michigan, 1985, p. 782-3; cf. Scheeben,
Mariology, v. II, p. 262.
296
Cf. St. Irenaeus in J.H. Newman, Letter to Pusey, Anglican Difficulties,
London, 1866, p. 37; St. John Damascene, Serm. Dorm. II, PG 96, 733D; cf.
O’Carroll, “Advocate,” Theotokos, p. 6.
297
M.J. Scheeben, tr. Geukers, Mariology, v. II, p. 262.
298
Cf. Chapter II of this work, section, The Holy Spirit and the Mediatrix of All
Graces.
70
MARY: COREDEMPTRIX, MEDIATRIX, ADVOCATE
action: from the Father through the Son and by the Holy Spirit [and
through] the Immaculata; then the inverse reaction: from creatures
through the Immaculata [by] the Holy Spirit and [to]Christ back to the
Father.”299
Mary, therefore, is at the end of the sanctifying action of God (as
Mediatrix of all graces), and at the beginning of the reaction of the
human family back to God (as Advocate for the People of God).Mary is
neither the end nor the starting point of God’s action to humanity, but has
an instrumental presence at both points because of her intimate union
with the Holy Spirit.300
We see this unified mission of advocacy between the Spirit and the
Bride at the scriptural event of Pentecost. It is the task of Mary,
Advocate for the People of God, to implore the descent of the Holy
Spirit, the Paraclete, at times of particular need for the Church. She
performs the task of aiding intercession in imploring the Spirit to
descend upon the early disciples of the Lord, and will continue this
advocating role with the Spirit for the Church. As John Paul II points out,
quoting the words of the Council: ‘“We see Mary (Acts 1:4) prayerfully
imploring the gift of the Spirit, who had already overshadowed her in the
Annunciation.’ And so, in the redemptive economy of grace, brought
about through the action of the Holy Spirit, there is a unique
correspondence between the moment of the Incarnation of the Word and
the moment of the birth of the Church. The person who links these two
moments is Mary: Mary at Nazareth and Mary in the Upper Room at
Jerusalem. In both cases her discreet yet essential presence indicates the
path of ‘birth from the Holy Spirit.’ Thus she who is present in the
mystery of Christ as Mother becomes – by the will of the Son and the
power of the Holy Spirit -present in the mystery of the Church. In the
Church too she continues to be a maternal presence, as is shown by the
words spoken from the Cross: ‘Woman, behold your son!’; ‘Behold, your
mother.’“301
Mary’s role as Advocate, imploring the aid of the Holy Spirit for the
Church in times of need, will continue for the Church until the second
coming of Christ, the time of which “only the Father knows” (cf. Mk:
13:32). St. Louis Marie Grignion de Montfort, singled out by John Paul
299
St. Maximilian Kolbe, Notes, 1938, ed. Manteau-Bonamy, tr. Arnandez, The
Immaculate Conception and the Holy Spirit, Marian Writings of Fr. Kolbe,
1977, Franciscan Marytown Press, p. 39.
300
Cf. Manteau-Bonamy, The Immaculate Conception and the Holy Spirit,
Marian Writings of St. Maximilian Kolbe, 1977, p. 39-40.
301
Pope John Paul II, Redemptoris Mater, n. 24; cf. Vatican Council II, Lumen
Gentium, n. 59.
MARY: COREDEMPTRIX, MEDIATRIX, ADVOCATE
71
II among the many witnesses and teachers for his exceptional
contribution to “authentic Marian spirituality,”302 eloquently describes
the ongoing fruit of the Holy Spirit and Mary in the members of the
Body of Christ, an intercessory and sanctifying action that will only
cease with the end of the world: “God the Holy Spirit...has become
fruitful by Mary, whom He has espoused. It was with her, in her, and of
her that He has produced His greatest masterpiece, which is God made
man, and that He goes on producing daily, to the end of the world, the
predestined and members of the Body of that adorable Head. This is the
reason why He, the Holy Spirit, the more He finds Mary His dear and
inseparable spouse in any soul, the more active and mighty He becomes
in producing Jesus Christ in that soul and that soul in Jesus Christ....Mary
has produced, together with the Holy Spirit, the greatest thing which has
been or ever will be – a God-man; and she will consequently produce the
greatest saints that there will be in the end of time. The formation and the
education of great saints who shall come at the end of the world are
reserved for her.”303
John Paul II confirms Mary’s vital role in the preparation of the
People of God for Christ’s second coming through her special
intercession, and as the “mediatrix of mercy:” “If as Virgin and Mother
she was singularly united with him in his first coming, so through her
continued collaboration with him she will also be united with him in
expectation of the second...she also has that specifically maternal role of
mediatrix of mercy at his final coming, when all those who belong to
Christ ‘shall be made alive’“ (1 Cor 15:26).304 And since Mary’s role as
Advocate is inseparable from the divine action of the Spirit, it will be the
Spirit and the Bride who will jointly prepare the world for the glorious
return of Christ the King (cf. Mt 16:27; Mk 13:26; 1 Thess 4:15-17) and
again say, “Come” (Rev 22:17).
But indeed not only at Christ’s second coming, but whenever the
Church faces difficult times, the Spirit and the Advocate are called in to
help the People of God. Clearly in our own age, the Church and the
world are not without their significant dangers and trials. John Paul II has
repeatedly referred to the anxious times of the contemporary Church and
world, and the new threats which face contemporary humanity.305
302
Cf. Pope John Paul II, Redemptoris Mater, n. 48.
St. Louis Marie Grignion de Montfort, tr., F. Faber, True Devotion to Mary,
us. 20, 35; cf. also nn. 21, 25.
304
Pope John Paul II, Redemptoris Mater, n. 41.
305
For example, cf. Pope John Paul II, Redemptor Hominis, 1978, nn. 15-17;
Encyclical Letter, Dives in Misericordia, 1980, n. 15; Apostolic Exhortation,
Christifideles Laici, nn. 3-7.
303
72
MARY: COREDEMPTRIX, MEDIATRIX, ADVOCATE
The present Holy Father specifies such grave concerns for the
contemporary world in his encyclical On the Mercy of God: “Let us
appeal to the love which has maternal characteristics and which, like a
mother, follows each of her children, each lost sheep, even if they should
number millions, even if in the world evil should prevail over goodness,
even if contemporary humanity should deserve a new ‘flood’ on account
of its sins....[A]nd if any of our contemporaries do not share the faith and
hope which lead me, as servant of Christ and steward of the mysteries of
God, to implore God’s mercy for humanity in this hour of history, let
them at least try to understand the reason for my concern. It is dictated
by love for man, for all that is human and which, according to the
intuitions of many of our contemporaries, is threatened by an immense
danger.”306
Our own age, therefore, is certainly not exempt from the need to
recognize and call upon Mary as our Advocate today, so that she can
once again implore the renewed descent of the Holy Spirit for the
spiritual revitalization of the People of God in the modern world.
Summary
Mary, in her role as Advocate for the People of God, brings to God
the petitioned needs of the human family, particularly in times of dangers
and difficulties. This role of helping intercession for God’s People is
scripturally foreshadowed in the role of the Queen Mother, who was the
pre-eminent advocate at court for the needs of the people of Israel before
her son the king (cf. 1 Kings 2:19).
This Old Testament role as Queen and Advocate is fulfilled in the
New Testament by Mary, the Mother of Christ the King and the rightful
Queen and Advocate in the new Kingdom of God for the new Israel (cf.
Lk 1:32; Lk 1:44; Jn 2:1-11). The Great Lady of the New Testament
intimately participates with the Lord in the reconquest of the Kingdom at
the price of the Cross (Jn 19:26) and is, thereby, crowned as Queen of
heaven and earth after her glorious Assumption into heaven (cf. Rev
12:1). As the victorious Christ is King of all nations (cf. Rev 15:3; 19:16;
1 Tim 1:17; Rev 12:5), Mary is Queen and Mother of all nations (cf. Is
66:7-14; 1 Kings 2:19; Ps 87:1-5; Lk 1:32; Rev 12:1).
Far from ceasing her role as Queen and Advocate for the People of
God after her glorious Assumption, Mary definitely begins her role as
Advocate in heaven, interceding at the heavenly throne of her Son for the
needs and wants of humanity. Mary’s role as Advocate is inseparably
linked to the Holy Spirit, the promised Paraclete of the Saviour (cf. Jn
306
Pope John Paul II, Dives in Misericordia, 1980, n. 15.
MARY: COREDEMPTRIX, MEDIATRIX, ADVOCATE
73
15:26), to whom the Advocate interceded on behalf of the early disciples
of the Lord at Pentecost (cf. Acts 1:4).
The united intercession of the Spirit and the Advocate (cf. Rev
22:17) for the Church will continue until the second coming of Christ the
King (cf. Mk 13:7) and is particularly needed in our own critical hour of
human history which, according to Pope John Paul II, is in fact
surrounded by dangers and difficulties.
Let us join our present Holy Father in invoking the aiding
intercession of Mary, Advocate for the People of God, through what
might be considered a type of modern Sub Tuum, to implore the Holy
Spirit for a “renewed outpouring” upon the faithful and the world today:
O Most Blessed Virgin Mary,
Mother of Christ and of the Church....
Open our hearts
to the great anticipation
of the Kingdom of God
and the proclamation of the Gospel
to the whole of creation.
Your mother’s heart
is ever mindful of the many dangers
and evils which threaten
to overpower men and women
in our time....
O Virgin full of courage,
may your spiritual strength
and trust in God inspire us,
so that we might know
how to overcome all the obstacles
that we encounter
in accomplishing our mission
Teach us to treat the affairs
of the world
with a real sense of Christian responsibility
and a joyful hope
of the coming of God’s Kingdom, and
of a “new heavens and a new earth.”
You who were gathered in prayer
with the Apostles in the Cenacle,
awaiting the coming
of the Spirit at Pentecost,
implore his renewed outpouring
74
MARY: COREDEMPTRIX, MEDIATRIX, ADVOCATE
on all the faithful, men and women alike,
so that they might more fully respond
to their vocation and mission....
O Virgin Mother,
guide and sustain us
so that we might always live
as true sons and daughters
of the Church of your Son.
Enable us to do our part
in helping to establish on earth
the civilization of truth and love,
as God wills it,
for his glory.
Amen.307
307
Pope John Paul II, Apostolic Exhortation, Christifideles Laici, 1988, n. 64.
Conclusion
CO-REDEEMERS IN CHRIST
Mary Coredemptrix as Contemporary Model for the Church
Every revealed truth about Mary, Mother of Jesus, bears profound
meaning for the salvific journey of the Pilgrim Church. The Second
Vatican Council tells us: “By reason of the gift and role of her divine
motherhood, by which she is united with her Son, the Redeemer, and
with her unique graces and functions, the Blessed Virgin is also
intimately united to the Church.”308 Mary is the pre-eminent model of the
Church, and as virgin and mother, the Mother of Jesus embodies an
immaculate and perfect example that the People of God seek to imitate in
their quest “to conquer sin and increase in holiness.”309
Thereby, we can see that the doctrinal revelation of Mary as
Coredemptrix with the Redeemer, along with her consequential roles as
Mediatrix of all graces and Advocate for the People of God, manifests an
important ecclesial model for the Church, which is seeking to become
more like Mary, her “lofty type.”310
Concerning the relation between Mary and the Church, the Council
states: “But while in the Blessed Virgin the Church has already reached
that perfection whereby she exists without spot or wrinkle (cf. Eph 5:27),
the faithful still strive to conquer sin and increase in holiness.”311 A
similar distinction holds true regarding Mary’s coredemptive role with
Christ in relation to the Church. No other creature can claim to have
intimately participated in the acquisition of the graces of redemption by
having “faithfully persevered in her union with her Son unto the cross,
where she stood, in keeping with the divine plan, enduring with her only
begotten Son the intensity of his suffering, associated herself with his
308
Vatican Council II, Lumen Gentium, n. 63.
Vatican Council II, Lumen Gentium, nn. 63, 64; cf. St. Ambrose, Expos. Lc.
II, 7; PL 15, 1555.
310
Vatican Council II, Lumen Gentium, n. 65.
311
Vatican Council II, Lumen Gentium, n. 65.
309
76
MARY: COREDEMPTRIX, MEDIATRIX, ADVOCATE
sacrifice in her mother’s heart, and lovingly consenting to the
immolation of this victim which was born of her.”312 In this sense, there
is only one Coredemptrix with the Redeemer in the reconquest of the
graces of Redemption (cf. Lk 1:38; Jn 19:26).
But as model and type, the Coredemptrix holds out a profoundly rich
example to the People of God in their continual “seeking after the glory
of Christ” and the ongoing pursuit of progressing in “faith, hope, and
charity, seeking and doing the will of God in all things.”313
Cf. Col 1:24, 1 Cor 3:6 – “Co-redeemers in Christ”
The Marian model of Coredemptrix offers a particular richness to the
People of God with regard to the Christian call and mission to become
“co-workers,” or co-redeemers in Christ (cf. 1 Cor 3:6) This constitutes
God’s sublime invitation to the faithful through St. Paul to “make up
what is lacking in the sufferings of Christ, for the sake of the body, that
is, the Church” (Col 1:24).
Mary’s life as Coredemptrix, in imitation of her Redeemer Son, is
the dynamic personal statement and proof that in the Christian life
suffering is redemptive.
More than all the faithful, it is Mary
Coredemptrix who answers by anticipation the Christian call to make
up what is lacking in the sufferings of Christ for the sake of his Body, the
Church. Pope Pius XII says of Mary’s coredemptive life in his encyclical
on the Mystical Body: “It was she, the second Eve, who, free from all
sin, original and personal, and always most intimately united with her
Son, offered Him on Golgotha to the Eternal Father for all the children of
Adam, sin-stained by his unhappy fall, and her mother’s rights and her
mother’s love was included in the holocaust. Thus she who, according to
the flesh, was the mother of our Head, through the added title of pain and
glory became, according to the Spirit, the mother of all His members.
She it was who through her powerful prayers obtained that Spirit of our
Divine Redeemer, already given at the Cross, should be bestowed,
accompanied by miraculous gifts, on the newly founded Church at
Pentecost; and finally, bearing with courage and confidence the
tremendous burden of her sorrows and desolation, she, truly the Queen of
Martyrs, more than all the faithful “filled up those things that are lacking
in the sufferings of Christ...for His Body, which is the Church.”314
John Paul II confirms that Mary has the right to claim a special title
because of her unique contribution to the Gospel of suffering for the
312
Vatican Council II, Lumen Gentium, n. 58.
Vatican Council II, Lumen Gentium, n. 65.
314
Pope Pius XII, Encyclical Letter, Mystici Corporis, 1943, n. 110.
313
MARY: COREDEMPTRIX, MEDIATRIX, ADVOCATE
77
good of the Church: “As a witness to her Son’s passion by her presence,
and as a sharer in it by her compassion, Mary offered a unique
contribution to the Gospel of suffering, by embodying in anticipation the
expression of St. Paul...She truly has a special title to be able to claim
that she ‘completes in her flesh’ – as already in her heart – ‘what is
lacking in Christ’s afflictions.’“315
But the People of God also, in following the meritorious example of
Mary Coredemptrix, are called upon to participate generously in and
contribute to “making up what is lacking in the sufferings of Christ for
the good of Christ’s mystical Body” (Col 1:24).
“Christ did not conceal from his listeners the need for suffering”316
John Paul II tells us, and “Those who share in the sufferings of Christ
preserve in their own sufferings a very special particle of the infinite
treasure of the world’s Redemption and can share this treasure with
others”317
In the great mysteries of the Redemption and the Mystical Body of
Christ, we find an authentic redemptive meaning and merit for the
Church through an appropriate Christian response to human suffering.
John Paul further explains: “For, whoever suffers in union with Christ
...not only receives from Christ that strength already referred to but also
‘completes’ by his suffering ‘what is lacking in Christ’s afflictions.’ This
evangelical outlook especially highlights the truth concerning the
creative character of suffering. The sufferings of Christ created the good
of the world’s Redemption. This good in itself is inexhaustible and
infinite. No man can add anything to it. But at the same time, in the
mystery of the Church as His Body, Christ has in a sense opened His
own redemptive suffering to all human suffering. Insofar as man
becomes a sharer in Christ’s sufferings-in any part of the world and at
any time in history – to that extent he in his own way completes the
suffering through which Christ accomplished the Redemption of the
world. Does this mean that the Redemption achieved by Christ is not
complete? No. It only means that the Redemption, accomplished through
satisfactory love, remains always open to all love expressed in human
suffering”318
This is part of the sublime Christian call to be co-redeemers in
Christ in following the meritorious example of the Coredemptrix. Pope
Pius XII exhorts the faithful to do our part (as co-redeemers with the one
315
Pope John Paul II, Apostolic Letter, Salvifici Doloris, 11 February 1984, n.
25.
316
Pope John Paul II, Salvifici Doloris, n. 25.
317
Pope John Paul II, Salvifici Doloris, n. 27.
318
Pope John Paul II, Salvific Doloris, n. 24.
78
MARY: COREDEMPTRIX, MEDIATRIX, ADVOCATE
Redeemer), in releasing the graces of Redemption to the human family:
“Our zealous love for the Church demands it, as does our brotherly love
for the souls she brings forth in Christ. For although our Saviour’s cruel
passion and death merited for His Church an infinite treasure of graces,
God’s inscrutable providence has decreed that these graces should not be
granted to us all at once; but their greater or lesser abundance will
depend in no small part on our good works, which draw down on the
souls of men a rain of heavenly gifts freely bestowed by God.”319
Although the faithful cannot participate in the acquisition of the
graces of Redemption as did the Redeemer and the Coredemptrix, our
God has given us the sublime invitation and privilege of becoming coredeemers in Christ by participating, through our meritorious sufferings,
good Christian works, and acts of charity, in the application of these
heavenly graces to the People of God and to the world, which is
presently in such grave need of the generous graces of redemption.
Mary Coredemptrix constitutes for the People of God a rich model of
the redemptive value of Christian suffering and good works, and a
personal motherly invitation in the name of her Redeeming Son to
answer the exalted invitation to become a co-redeemer in Christ for the
sake of the Church today. Especially in an era in which the Church could
experience significant trial and suffering,320 the revealed truth of Mary
Coredemptrix offers the Church a lofty type for reminding the People of
God that all human suffering and acts of Christian charity can be
redemptive, and that the Cross of the Redeemer must again be implanted
in the midst of the world and carried by the faithful for the world’s
salvation and sanctification.
Final Statement
The exalted roles of Mary, Mother of Jesus, as Coredemptrix with
the Redeemer, Mediatrix of all graces with the Mediator and
Sanctifier, and Advocate for the People of God, are providential roles
performed by the Immaculate Mother of God and are firmly present in
Sacred Scripture and Apostolic Tradition, as authoritatively and
consistently taught by the Church’s Magisterium.
In the Introduction to the Second Vatican Council’s treatment on the
Blessed Virgin Mary,321 the Council Fathers place the following selfexpressed limitation to their chapter on our Lady: “It [this sacred synod]
319
Pope Pius XII, Mystici Corporis, 1943, n. 106.
Cf. John Paul II, Dives in Misericordia, n. 15; Christifideles Laici, nn. 3-7;
Redemptor Hominis, n. 15-17.
321
Vatican Council II, Lumen Gentium, n. 54.
320
MARY: COREDEMPTRIX, MEDIATRIX, ADVOCATE
79
does not, however, intend to give a complete doctrine on Mary, nor does
it wish to decide those questions which the work of theologians has not
yet fully clarified. Those opinions therefore may be lawfully retained
which are propounded in Catholic schools concerning her, who occupies
a place in the Church which is highest after Christ and also closest to
us.”322 Not only were the Marian roles of Coredemptrix, Mediatrix, and
Advocate taught and propounded throughout the world in Catholic
universities and seminaries during the time preceding the Council,323 but
the Council Fathers further refer to a greater doctrinal completion
concerning the nature and role of the Mother of Jesus in her providential
role in God’s drama of human salvation.
With the profound contribution of our present Holy Father, Pope
John Paul II, to the understanding of the mediating mystery of Mary with
Christ and the Church; with the added clarity offered by theologians,
such as St. Maximilian Kolbe, to the crucial role of the Holy Spirit in the
person and role of Mary in the Church; with a renewed gaze into the firm
scriptural and patristic bases for these Marian roles as inspired by the
Second Vatican Council; and in light of the repeated and consistent
teachings of the Church’s Magisterium on these Marian roles, there is
only one final action that remains in bringing the Marian roles of
Coredemptrix, Mediatrix, and Advocate, providential roles obediently
fulfilled and wondrously ordained by the perfect will of God, into the
fullest acknowledgment and ecclesial life of the People of God: that our
Holy Father, in his office as Vicar of Christ on earth and guided by
the Spirit of Truth, define and proclaim the Marian roles of
Coredemptrix, Mediatrix of all graces, and Advocate for the People
322
Vatican Council II, Lumen Gentium, n. 54.
For evidence of the universal and ubiquitous teachings, writings, conferences,
etc. on the Marian roles of Coredemptrix, Mediatrix, and Advocate in the
decades preceding and leading up to the Council by theologians in Catholic
schools, cf. the voluminous entries during the 1940’s, 1950’s, and early 1960’s
on these Marian roles in the internationally known Marian publications of the
Rome-based, Marianum; the Madrid-based, Ephemerides Mariologicae, the
Paris-based Etudes Mariales, Bulletin de la Société française d’Etudes Mariales,
the Dayton, Ohio-based Marian Studies. For international episcopal approval of
Coredemptrix in this time, cf. Carol, De Corredemptione Beatae Virginis
Mariae, Civitas Vaticana, 1950, p. 608; and for Magisterial acknowledgement of
the universal theological acceptance of Mediatrix of all graces, cf. Sacred
Congregation of Rites under Pius XII, Miracles for the Canonization of Louis
M. Grignion de Montfort, AAS 34, 1942, p. 44: “Gathering together the tradition
of the Fathers, the Doctor Mellifluus [St. Bernard] teaches that God wants us to
have everything through Mary. This pious and salutary doctrine all theologians
at the present time hold in common accord [emphasis author’s].”
323
80
MARY: COREDEMPTRIX, MEDIATRIX, ADVOCATE
of God, which in truth constitutes one fundamental coredemptive
role with the Redeemer and Sanctifier under its various aspects, as
Christian dogma revealed by God, in rightful veneration of the
Mother of Jesus, and for the good of the one, holy, catholic, and
apostolic Church of Christ. Then, and only then, will the Church
have courageously and definitively proclaimed the whole truth about
Mary, Mother of Christ and of the Church. Such a papal definition
of Mary as Coredemptrix, Mediatrix, and Advocate, if it be God’s
will, would be an ecclesial fulfillment of Mary’s own self-prophecy,
given by the power of the Holy Spirit: “For behold, henceforth all
generations will call me blessed” (Lk 1:48).
Let us conclude with the inspired Old Testament prayer from the
Book of Tobit which prophesies of the glories of the new Jerusalem. As
Mary is always the pre-eminent example and model of the Church,324 this
Old Testament canticle can be applied in the fullest extent to the Mother
of Jesus, who is the first member of the new Jerusalem, the great
Tabernacle of the Lord, the exalted Daughter of Zion, the chosen
Coredemptrix, Mediatrix, and Advocate for the People of God:
A bright light shall shine
to all the ends of the earth.
Many nations from afar shall come to you,
from all the ends of the earth,
to dwell close to the holy name of the Lord God,
with gifts in their hands for the King of heaven.
Within you, generation after generation
shall proclaim their joy,
and the name of her who is Elect shall endure
through the generations to come.
Cursed be any who speak harshly to you,
cursed be any who destroy you,
who throw down your walls,
who overthrow your towers
who burn your houses!
Blessed forever all who build you up!
Then you will exult and rejoice
over the sons of the upright,
for they will have been gathered in
and will bless the Lord of the ages.
324
Cf. Vatican Council II, Lumen Gentium, nn. 63, 65.
MARY: COREDEMPTRIX, MEDIATRIX, ADVOCATE
Happy are those who love you!
Happy those who rejoice over your peace!
Happy those who have mourned over all your afflictions!
For they will rejoice within you,
witnessing all your blessedness in the days to come.
(Tob 13:11-14)
81
An Appeal
from VOX POPULI MARIAE MEDIATRICI
Dear Reader:
Vox Populi Marie Mediatrici, Voice of the People fro Mary
Mediatrix, is a lay organization seeking the papal definition of the
Blessed Virgin Mary as Coredemptrix, Mediatrix of all graces and
Advocate for the People of God.
We invite you to serve Our Lady in this effort to honor her under a
title that all Marian dogmas and phenomena presuppose and point
toward. Truly, this is the greatest of all Marian dogmas, one which will
bring to final and complete fulfillment the prophecy, “All generations
shall call me blessed.”
If you feel called to unite yourself to this movement, we would like
to propose the following blueprint of action:
1. Read Mary: Coredemptrix, Mediatrix, Advocate, Dr Miravalle’s
treatise on the basis in Scripture and Tradition for the doctrine that Mary
is Coredemptrix, Mediatrix, and Advocate.
2. Sign the attached petition postcard and mail it to Vox Populi [The
address is on the card]
3. Distribute copies of Mary: Coredemptrix, Mediatrix, Advocate to
friends, fellow parishioners, Marian devotees, your pastor and others.
4. Secure additional petitions from all like-minded Catholics and
send these also to Vox Populi.
Queenship Publishing Company is making copies of Mary:
Coredemptrix, Mediatrix, Advocate available at cost as follows:
25 books:
100 books:
200 books:
1000 and up:
Requested donation:
Requested donation:
Requested donation:
Requested donation:
$12.50
$45.00
$85.00
$0.40 ea
The requested donation includes sales tax where required, shipping and
handling. 100 or more books may be charged to you on VISA or Master
84
MARY: COREDEMPTRIX, MEDIATRIX, ADVOCATE
Card and ordered by calling (800) 647-9882. A hard bound copy will be
included with each shipment of 200 or more books. Checks for mail
orders should be made to Queenship Publishing and mailed to:
Queenship Publishing Company
P.O. Box 220
Goleta, CA 93116
Mary: Coredemptrix, Mediatrix, Advocate is available in Spanish,
Italian, Polish and German.