The Catholic Teaching on Mary

A Scriptural and Patristic Analysis

The opening lines of St. Luke’s gospel gives us a clear insight to the Catholic position on the Blessed Virgin Mary. St. Luke states (Lk 1:26) that God sent the angel Gabriel to a city of Galilee named Nazareth, to a virgin betrothed to a man whose name was Joseph, of the house of David; and the virgin’s name was Mary. And he came to her and said, “Hail, full of grace, the Lord is with you!” But she was greatly troubled at the saying, and considered in her mind what sort of greeting this might be. And the angel said to her, “Do not be afraid, Mary, for you have found favor with God. And behold, you will conceive in your womb and bear a son, and you shall call his name Jesus.”

Mary was greeted as being full of grace, this was even before she conceived of the Holy Ghost to give birth to Christ, because God had preserved her in Holiness in order to fulfil His Holy Will.

Now, if you who are an imperfect being and who have not the most delicate conception of all that is fine in life would have wished for the loveliest of mothers, do you think that our Blessed Lord, who not only pre-existed His own mother, but who had an infinite power to make her just what He chose, would in virtue of all the infinite delicacy of His spirit make her any less pure and loving and beautiful than you would have made your own mother? If you who hate selfishness would have made her selfless, and you who hate ugliness would have made her beautiful, do you not think that the Son of God who hates sin would have made His own mother sinless, and He who hates moral ugliness would have made her immaculately beautiful?

Eternal Honor

Luke 1:39 — And when Elizabeth heard the greeting of Mary, the babe leaped in her womb; and 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! And why is this granted me, that the mother of my Lord should come to me? For behold, when the voice of your greeting came to my ears, the babe in my womb leaped for joy. And blessed is she who believed that there would be a fulfillment of what was spoken to her from the Lord.” And Mary said, “My soul magnifies the Lord, and my spirit rejoices in God my Savior, for he has regarded the low estate of his handmaiden. For behold, henceforth all generations will call me blessed.”

For anyone to be obedient to the words of the Gospel, Mary here makes it quite clear that henceforth all those who live in future time will proclaim her as blessed!

As the obedient, infinitely Holy Son of God, the Lord Jesus was a very firm believer in the commandment to honor one’s father and mother. In Hebrew it literally reads, “Glorify your father and mother.” This means that, since Christ took God’s commandments very seriously, He would glorify His mother Mary. For us to speak of His mother in an irreverent manner is to deny the glory which Christ Himself has given her.

The Church distinguishes emphatically between cultus dulia, which translates as “the homage of veneration,” and cultus latria, which signifies “the worship of adoration.” Veneration is paid to the Saints; a higher form of it, called hyperdulia, is given to the Mother of God; but adoration is given to no one but God.

We never think of Mary without Mary thinking of God for us. One never praises or honours Mary without Mary praising and honouring God with us. Mary is altogether relative to God. If you say “Mary”, she says “God.” St. Elizabeth praised Mary, and called her blessed, because she had believed. Mary, the faithful echo of God, at once intoned: “My soul doth magnify the Lord.” (Luke 1:46).

If Mary is the Mother of Christ, she has also become by that very fact the mother of all Christians. If she is the Mother of Our Head, Our Lord Jesus Christ, she is also our Mother since we are members of that same Head. For this reason Our Lord could say to St. John the Evangelist while on the cross, “Behold thy Mother” (John 19:27).

Mary’s Intercession

Mary’s intercession is most powerful before the Throne of God. Was it not through Mary’s intercession that Jesus produced His first miracle? He was obedient to His Mother and acted according to Her wish, even though it was not yet His time to begin His public ministry.

JOHN 2:5 — “His Mother saith to the waiters: ‘Whatsoever He shall say to you, do ye’.”

This passage illustrates Our Lady’s powerful intercession with her Son: at her word He performs a miracle when his “hour had not yet come.” Notice that the miracle fulfilled no more dire a need than saving a young couple from embarrassment on their wedding day. As a mother, Mary is attentive to these small details of our lives, and asks Jesus to help us.

Would God Himself go against His own Commandments, “Honor thy Father and thy Mother” (Exodus 20:12)? If Jesus, Who is God (John 1:1, 14), disobeyed His Mother, would He not then have gone against His own Commandments? Jesus honours the intercession of His Mother.

The Immaculate Conception

“For this will be a glorious monument for thy name, when he shall fall by the hand of a woman.” — Judith 9:15

After the Blessed Trinity and Christ’s human nature, Mary holds the highest degree of purity (sanctity). Mary was preserved from the stain of Original Sin.

LUKE 1:28 — “And the Angel being come in, said unto Her: ‘Hail, full of Grace, the Lord is with Thee: Blessed art thou among women’.”

Can God who is ineffably Holy allow Himself to be made of a sinner (Gal 4:4)? Can Jesus save His people from their sins being born of sin? God is pure sanctity. To say that Mary was born with Original Sin is to say that Jesus also was made of contaminated flesh, being flesh from her flesh. It was her uncontaminated blood which circulated in His uncontaminated Body for nine months. Mary’s womb was a Living Tabernacle, a Temple prepared by God for His Son to come into this world to save us from sin. Mary was born immaculate.

LUKE 1:47 — “And my spirit hath rejoiced in God my Savior.”

Many outside the Catholic Church point to these words as proof that Mary needed salvation. But to save men from their sins is a great Mercy of God — to save Mary from ever sinning was a greater Mercy, for God designed her full of grace.

LUKE 1:48 — “Because He hath regarded the humility of His Handmaid; for behold from henceforth all generations shall call me blessed.”

The Church Fathers have been the most illustrious defenders of the Immaculate Conception, unhesitatingly declaring with St. Augustine that nothing must be said to link Our Lady’s name with sin.

St. Hippolytus: “He was the ark formed of incorruptible wood. For by this is signified that His tabernacle was exempt from putridity and corruption.” (ante A.D. 235)

Origen (+253 A.D.): “She was neither deceived by the serpent, nor even tainted with his breath… the sinless mother worthy of the sinless Holy God.”

St. Ephrem of Edessa (+373 A.D.): “Most holy Lady, Mother of God, alone most pure in soul and body, alone exceeding all perfection of purity… all-pure, all-immaculate, all-stainless, all-undefiled, all-incorrupt, all-inviolate.”

St. Basil the Great (+379 A.D.): “The Virgin was not subject to the law of purification… without human generation she became Emmanuel’s Mother pure and holy and undefiled; and, having become Mother, remained still a Virgin.”

St. Ambrose of Milan (+397 A.D.): “Receive me not from Sarah, but from Mary; that it may be an uncorrupted Virgin, a Virgin free by grace from every stain of sin.”

St. Augustine of Hippo (+430 A.D.): “With the exception therefore of the Holy Virgin Mary, with regard to whom, when sin is in question, I cannot, out of respect of Our Lord, permit of any discussion.”

St. Epiphanius (+440 A.D.): “God alone excepted, she was superior to all… Hail full of grace, who satisfiest the thirsty with the sweetness of the eternal fountain. Hail most holy Mother Immaculate, who didst bring forth Jesus.”

Ever Virgin

Mary was a Virgin from the time She gave birth to Jesus, and remained a pure Virgin until She was assumed into Heaven (Rev 12:1).

MARK 6:3 — “Is not this carpenter, the Son of Mary, the brother of James, Joseph and Jude, and Simon? Are not also His sisters here with us?”

In the days of Jesus Christ, all relatives and cousins, even close friends, were regarded as brothers and sisters. There was no specific word in Aramaic describing cousins or nephews distinctly — all fell under the broad term of brotherhood. In the Old Testament, Abraham referred to his nephew Lot as “brother” (Gen 14:14).

When Jesus was on the Cross, He gave Mary into the care of His disciple John. This would have been unnatural if Jesus had other brothers and sisters who could care for her.

The Holy Spirit reveals who those “brethren” were:

MATT 27:56 — “Among whom was Mary Magdalen and Mary the mother of James and Joseph and the mother of the sons of Zebedee.”

MARK 15:40-41 — “And there were also women looking on afar off: among whom was Mary Magdalen and Mary the mother of James the Less and of Joseph and Salome (Zebedee’s wife).”

Here we have a different Mary — the mother of James and Joseph — nowhere implying they are the children of Mary the Mother of Jesus.

LUKE 6:15 — “James the son of Alphaeus.”

JUDE 1:1 — “Jude the servant of Jesus Christ and brother of James.”

Notice the inspired word of God states that Jude is the servant and not the brother of Jesus Christ, as also with his brother James.

The early Church sang openly the praises of Mary ever Virgin (aeiparthenos). The tradition of Mary’s perpetual virginity could hardly have arisen if she had had children who occupied important positions in the Church. Even the Protestant Reformers — Luther, Calvin, and Zwingli — held to Mary’s perpetual virginity.

Church Fathers on Mary’s Perpetual Virginity:

St. Irenaeus (180-199 A.D.): “Mary the Virgin is found to be obedient, saying: ‘Behold, O Lord, your handmaid; be it done to me according to your word.’ Eve, however, was disobedient… Just as she, who was still a virgin, having become disobedient, was made the cause of death for herself and for the whole human race; so also Mary, betrothed to a man but nevertheless still a virgin, being obedient, was made the cause of salvation for herself and for the whole human race.”

St. Cyril of Jerusalem (+386 A.D.): “Of Him Who is God and Man are you the Mother, Virgin before His birth, Virgin in birth, and Virgin after birth.”

St. Augustine of Hippo (+430 A.D.): “What means this closed gate in the house of the Lord (Ezekiel 44:2), except that Mary is to be ever inviolate? What does it mean that ‘no man shall pass through it,’ save that Joseph shall not know her?”

Mary’s Purity

In understanding Mary’s purity we compare her with all of creation. Mary is told by St. Gabriel the Angel that she is “full of grace” and “blessed amongst women.” The Holy prophet Daniel, when the Angel Gabriel appeared to him, fainted away and fell with his face flat on the ground (Daniel 8:16-18). When this same angel appeared to Zachary the father of John the Baptist, “fear fell upon him” (Luke 1:12). Yet Mary, though troubled at his words out of humility, was able to bear the sight of the holy Angel and conversed with him with prudence and firmness of heart — showing how holy Mary truly is.