Mother of the Church
Mother of the Church (in Latin: Mater Ecclesiae) is a title given to Mary in the Catholic Church, as officially declared by Pope Paul VI in 1964. The title first appeared in the 4th century writings of Saint Ambrose of Milan, as rediscovered by Hugo Rahner. It was also used by Pope Benedict XIV in 1748 and then by Pope Leo XIII in 1885. Pope John Paul II placed it in the Catechism of the Catholic Church and Pope Francis inserted a memorial by this title into the Roman Calendar, celebrated annually on Whit Monday, the day after Pentecost.
Quotes
[edit]- Mary is called Mother. And when is Mary not a mother? "The gathering together of the waters he called seas (maria)" (Gen. 1:10). Was it not she who conceived in her single womb the people going out from Egypt, that it might come forth a heavenly progeny reborn to a new creation, according to the words of the Apostle: "Our fathers were all under the cloud, and all passed through the sea. And all in Moses were baptised, in the cloud, and in the sea" (Exod. 15:20-21)? That Mary might always leaad the way in man's salvation, in her own right, she went with a canticle before that same people, whom the generating waters had brought forth to light...This is a name [Mary] that is kin to prophecy, salutary to the reborn, the hallmark of virginity, the adornment of modesty, the sign of chastity, a sacrifice to God, the virtue of hospitality, fellowship in holiness. With reason, then, is this maternal name that of Christ's Mother. We have said why the Mother is a bride, why Joseph is a spouse, why Mary has the maternal name, to show that everything about the birth of Christ has a mystical significance.
- Saint Peter Chrysologus, Sermon 146, On the Generation of Christ (PL, 52, 593; Ed. Migne; Paris 1857 ff.). As reported in Father Paul Palmer, SJ, Mary in the Documents of the Church, pp. 39-40 (of 129), Lowe and Brydone (printers) Ltd, London L.W. 10, for Burns Oates and Washbourne Ltd, 28 Ashley Place, London, S.W.I. (with nihil obstat by E.A Cerny, S.S, D.D., and imprimatur by Franciscus P. Keough, D.D., Archbishop of Baltimore, given on 23 November 1951). OCLC 3286267.
- God the Father arranged the nuptials for God His Son, when in the womb of the Virgin, He united Him to human nature, when He willed that He who was God before all the ages should at the end of the ages become Man. However, a nuptial union is usually formed by two persons...but we shun as utterly impious the belief that He is composed of two persons. Therefore, with greater freedom and assurance, we may say that these are the nuptials that the Father arranged for His royal Son: through the mystery of the Incarnation. He united the holy Church to Him. Now the bridal chamber of this Bridgeroom was the womb of the Virgin Mother. That is why the Psalmist says: "He hath set his tabernacle in the sun: and he, as a bridgeroom coming out of his bridal chamber" (Ps. 18:6). And it was a bridgeroom in fact that he came forth from His bridal chamber, because to unite the Church to Himself the Incarnate God went forth from the inviolate womb of the Virgin.
- Saint Gregory the Great, Homilies on the Gospels, 2, 38, 3 (PL,76, 1283; Ed. Migne; Paris 1857 ff.). As reported in Father Paul Palmer, SJ, Mary in the Documents of the Church, p. 5 (of 129), Lowe and Brydone (printers) Ltd, London L.W. 10, for Burns Oates and Washbourne Ltd, 28 Ashley Place, London, S.W.I. (with nihil obstat by E.A Cerny, S.S, D.D., and imprimatur by Franciscus P. Keough, D.D., Archbishop of Baltimore, given on 23 November 1951). OCLC 3286267.
- [T]he conciliar debate on Marian devotion influenced the postconcilar debate on celibacy. Devoid of all connotations of sexuality, Mary had long served a twofold purpose in maintaining the discipline of celibacy. First, she provided a justification for a celibate priesthood. The medieval monk Petrus Damiani argued that because Jesus was born of a virgin, he could be touched only by virgin hands, thereby establishing a connection between sexual purity and the Eucharist celebration. Second, she served as a chaste role model and mother figure for priests. Mary, Pius XII wrote, provided the priest solace in his daily struggles against the temptations of the flesh: “When you meet very serious difficulties in the path of holiness and the exercise of your ministry, turn your eyes and your mind trustfully to she who is the Mother of the Eternal Priest and therefore the loving Mother of all Catholic priests.”
Many bishops and theologians wanted the council to expand Marian doctrinal some supported conferring on Mary a new title, “Mother of the Church.” However, not all council fathers shared this view. Some preferred that piety be more centered on the Bible and the liturgy and less on devotional practices, including Marian worship. They felt that Marian devotion often diverged from the message found in scripture and in the liturgy. They also feared that any elaboration of Marian devotion would undermine the ecumenical movement. Thus, the seemingly innocent question of where to locate a statement on Mary had far-reaching theological and political ramifications. On August 29, by a margin of only forty votes, the council fathers decided in favor of incorporating a statement on Marian piety into ‘’Lumen Gentium’’.
Although Paul VI later preempted the decision of the council fathers and bestowed upon Mary the title they had denied her, “Mother of the Church,” the popularity of Marian devotion continued to decline in Western-Europe.- Kimba Allie Tichenor (2016). “Religious Crisis and Civic Transformation”. ‘’Brandeis University Press’’. ISBN 9781611689709, pp.44-45, Woman’s Place in the Church.
- (About the Attempted assassination of Pope John Paul II) Interviewer: Was he really convinced that he had been saved by Our Lady? Cardinal Re: Of course. The Governorate of the Vatican posed the question of how to commemorate in St. Peter's Square that dramatic event that took place there. The Pope's answer was immediate: an image of Our Lady was to be placed in memory of the attack. He was convinced that the Blessed Virgin Mary had been present on 13 May to guide the bullet, so that the Pope would survive. Thus, since 8 December 1981, anyone arriving at St. Peter's Square has seen a mosaic of Our Lady holding the Child Jesus in her arms, and at her feet the title Mater Ecclesiae and the coat of arms of John Paul II, with the motto Totus tuus, dominating from a ledge of the Apostolic Palace.
- Interviewer: Did the Pope actually say that Our Lady had "guided the bullet"? Cardinal Re: Yes. The bullet went through him without hitting any vital parts. I can add a detail: two days after the assassination attempt, it was realised that the index finger of the Pope's left hand had suffered a blow, so much so that one phalanx was paralysed. One hypothesis that came to mind was that the bullet had grazed, by superior intervention, the finger of the Pope's hand, as he was waving with open arms. That grazing of the finger deflected downwards the trajectory of the bullet, which passed through the intestine without hitting vital parts and exited, falling and remaining in the jeep. Now that bullet is embedded in Our Lady's crown at Fatima.
- From an interview of Aldo Cazzullo to Cardinal Giovanni Battista Re, «La mia vita con Giovanni Paolo II. Ecco perché, malato, non si dimise», Il Corriere della Sera (May 17, 2020)
