October

October is Mary’s month.  Devotions to Mary throughout the month first appeared in conjunction with the feast of Our Lady of the Rosary, observed on October 7.

On that date in 1571, the navies of Christian nations defeated the Ottoman navy at the Battle of Lepanto.  In the scope of history, it was a minor victory, but a loss by Christian nations to Muslim forces could have altered the religious and political landscape of Europe considerably.

That day happened to be the first Sunday of the month, the day that confraternities promoted praying the rosary.  Christians attributed the victory to the intercession of Mary, under the title Our Lady of the Rosary or Our Lady of Victory.  Devotion began the following year in Barcelona, thanks to a Spaniard who had fought in the battle, and it spread with papal approval throughout the Christian world.

In 1883 Pope Leo XIII granted an indulgence to all who attended October devotions to pray for peace between the Vatican and the Kingdom of Italy.  The Lateran Pacts were signed in 1929, eliminating the intention for these prayers, but October had become Mary’s month, and it remains so today.

Mary in the Bible

Mary, honored in many popular devotions like these, appears first in the bible as the mother of Jesus.  The earliest reference to her is in Paul’s Letter to the Galatians (4:4).  Paul simply acknowledges that Jesus was “born of a woman,” without mentioning her name.  She plays a very incidental role in her first appearance in the scriptures.

Important moments in Mary’s life are recorded in the gospels.  Among the first of these are episodes not entirely complimentary to Jesus’ family.  In Mark, probably the first of the gospels to be written, Jesus’ family appears on the scene early in his career.  Members try to restrain him because people were saying, “He has gone out of his mind” (3:21).  A few verses later the family returns, and this time Jesus’ mother is explicitly included in their number – though her name is not given.  They send word up the crowd that they’d like to see him, and Jesus’ response at once seems to spurn his family and affirm his disciples: “Who are my mother and my brothers?  Here are my mother and my brothers!  Whoever does the will of God is my brother and sister and mother” (3:33-34).

A little later in Mark’s gospel, Jesus returns to his home town and preaches so effectively that people were astounded.  They could not believe it was the same Jesus who grew up there.  “Is not this the carpenter, the son of Mary?” (6:3).  Here, Mary’s name appears in Christian scripture for the first time.  She is regarded as such an ordinary mother, that the people who knew her could not believe she had such an extraordinary son.

Matthew and Luke probably wrote their gospels a little after Mark.  They borrowed much of what Mark had written and included some material of their own.  Both repeat Mark’s story of the mother of Jesus coming with the family and asking to see him (Matthew 12:46-50; Luke 8:19-21).  Faithful to Mark’s version, neither of these stories mentions Mary by name.

Luke tells another story, which may be a different version of the same one.  Someone from the crowd says, “Blessed is the womb that bore you and the breasts that nursed you!”  Jesus, instead, blesses those who hear the word of God and obey it (11:27-28).  The speaker paid a compliment to Jesus’ mother, but he dwelled instead on the blessedness of discipleship.

Matthew repeats the story about Jesus returning to his astonished home town, where Mary is mentioned by name.  The crowd, after hearing him preach so effectively, asks with incredulity, “Is not his mother called Mary?” (13:55).

These episodes from the ministry of Jesus place his mother on the periphery.  They indicate that the first disciples saw Mary’s role in the shadows of her amazing son.

However, both Matthew and Luke introduced other stories about Mary into their gospels.  The famous accounts of the infancy of Jesus were probably written a little later than the stories mentioned above.  They might indicate the realization of the first Christians that more about Mary needed to be told.  In the popular imagination, believers often meld these two infancy stories together, but they are different in significant ways.  It is important to remember that Matthew and Luke probably wrote their accounts of the birth of Jesus without knowing what the other was writing.

Matthew introduces Mary in the first chapter of his gospel (18-25).  She is already pregnant and engaged to Joseph, who is not the father.  When Joseph takes action to end the relationship, an angel appears to him with incredible news about Mary: “the child conceived in her is from the Holy Spirit.”  Matthew says this took place to fulfill the prophecy of Isaiah: “the virgin shall conceive and bear a son, and they shall name him Emmanuel.”  Mary is not the central figure in this story.  Matthew tells nothing of her personality, her joy or her distress.  God is acting, Mary is practically a cipher, and the events swirl around her.  Even the birth of Jesus is told more from Joseph’s perspective, who “had no marital relations with [Mary] until she had borne a son, and he named him Jesus.”

Matthew mentions Mary again when the magi visit, but he tells us nothing more about her.  He simply says the magi “saw the child with Mary his mother” (2:11).

The flight into Egypt is also reported from Joseph’s perspective.  “Joseph got up, took the child and his mother by night, and went to Egypt” (2:14).  When safety was assured, the family returned.  “Joseph got up, took the child and his mother, and went to the land of Israel” (2:21).  Matthew tells us nothing about Mary’s feelings or actions throughout this sudden journey.

Luke is different.  The infancy narrative of Luke centers on Mary, and in his version her personality emerges.  In the magnificent story of the annunciation (1:26-38), the angel Gabriel greets Mary in Nazareth with a salutation Catholics use at the opening of the Hail Mary: “The Lord is with you.”  Immediately Luke tells us about Mary: “But she was much perplexed by his words and pondered what sort of greeting this might be.”  The angel commands her not to be afraid, for she has found favor with God and will bear a son who will be called Jesus, the Son of the Most High, and the inheritor of the throne of David.  Mary the virgin questions how all this could be possible.  The angel announces, “The Holy Spirit will come upon you.”  Mary famously responds, “Here am I, the servant of the Lord; let it be with me according to your word.”  This one story tells more about Mary than all the other previous accounts written for the New Testament.  She is filled with faith, questions, fear, wonderment and obedience.

Luke does not stop there.  He tells of Mary visiting Elizabeth, an elder relative, pregnant with another miracle child (1:39-45).  Elizabeth greets Mary with a second verse used in the Hail Mary: “Blessed are you among women, and blessed is the fruit of your womb.”  Mary sings a song of praise, the Magnificat (46-56), an astonishing proclamation of God’s intervention in the world, dethroning the powerful and lifting up the lowly.

In the story of the birth of Jesus, Mary is the protagonist (2:1-7).  “She gave birth to her firstborn son and wrapped him in bands of cloth, and laid him in a manger.”  She is there when the shepherds arrive (16); when they leave, Luke tells something else about Mary: she “treasured all these words and pondered them in her heart” (19).

Luke continues.  Mary and Joseph bring the child to the temple in Jerusalem, where Simeon predicts that Jesus will be “a sign that will be opposed” and that “a sword will pierce [Mary’s] own soul too” (2:33-35).  When Jesus turned 12, Mary and Joseph brought him to Jerusalem for Passover, but lost track of him.  Finding him at last, Mary admonished him, “Child, why have you treated us like this?”  She did not understand his reply: “Did you not know that I must be in my Father’s house?”  Still, when they returned to Nazareth, Mary “treasured all these things in her heart” (41-51).

Luke includes Mary in the sequel to his gospel, the Acts of the Apostles.  She is at prayer with the disciples in the upper room after the ascension of Jesus (1:14).  Luke, who frequently mentions that Jesus prayed, holds Mary up also as an example of meditation.

John probably wrote his gospel after the other three.  He adapts a story told in all the other gospels about the people in Jesus’ hometown.  In his version, they ask, “Is not this Jesus, the son of Joseph, whose father and mother we know?” (6:41).  The other two references to Jesus’ mother in John’s gospel appear nowhere else.  At a wedding in Cana, the mother of Jesus prods him to work his first miracle and accompanies him and the disciples to Capernaum afterward (2:1-12).  At the end of his life, Jesus entrusts the beloved disciple to his mother and his mother to the beloved disciple (19:25-27).  Throughout John’s gospel, the evangelist never tells the name of Jesus’ mother.  She is known as Mary only in the other three.

The New Testament was probably written over a period of about 60 years, and the interpretation of Mary’s role changed as the writing progressed.  She began as a figure on the border of Jesus’ ministry.  She advanced to a central role in his birth, and she ends with John’s gospel as the mother of the beloved disciple, a symbol of motherhood for the church.

Devotions to Mary

Throughout the remainder of church history, devotions to Mary underwent a similar progression.  By the second century, Mary’s image appeared in the catacombs as a subject of early Christian art.  In baptismal creeds new disciples were asked, “Do you believe in Jesus who was born of the Holy Spirit and of the virgin Mary?”  By the 4^th century her name appeared in a eucharistic prayer, and Ambrose extolled her in a series of writings as the model of Christian virginity.

At the Council of Ephesus (431), the church acknowledged Mary as “Mother of God,” a title that provoked no small debate.  How could God have a mother and still be God?  Her title reflects the dual nature of Jesus – fully divine and fully human.  She is the human mother of the human Jesus, who was also the divine Son of God.  Her title, “Mother of God,” confessed beliefs about Jesus and his mother.  This important title inspired the rebuilding of St. Mary Major Church in Rome, a basilica dedicated to Mary under this new title, which is inscribed in bronze on its front doors.

Before long the liturgy of the church began to celebrate events in Mary’s life.  By the 6^th century in some parts of the Christian world the birth of Mary was celebrated on September 8 and the annunciation on March 25.  By the 7^th century there is evidence for the assumption on August 15.  The conception of Mary and the presentation in the temple were celebrated by the 8^th century.  So the early devotional practices to Mary were rooted exclusively in the public worship of the church.  They used the scriptures as their primary source, though they filled in a few other key events (her conception, birth and end of life) not explicitly mentioned in the bible, but logically a part of Mary’s story.

In the Middle Ages, devotion to Mary took a more pietistic turn.  Relics allegedly associated with Mary’s life turned up around the Christian world.  Because of the belief in the assumption of Mary, no relics of her bones were taken seriously.  But several churches claimed to have samples of her milk and her hair, her garments, comb, wedding ring, and portraits of her painted by St. Luke.  None of these could possibly be verified today, but belief in them was so strong in the Middle Ages that entire churches were constructed to enshrine items regarded as precious relics.

During this period several devotional prayers arose.  The Hail Mary, the rosary, the angelus and the Litany of Loreto all gained popularity.

During the Protestant Reformation, these devotions were criticized.  Protestants questioned the practice of calling on the saints in prayer to intercede.  They believed these habits obscured the unique role of Christ, the one mediator.  Catholics maintained a strong belief in a lively communion of saints, and devotional practices to Mary and the saints continued to proliferate.

By the 19^th century, perhaps in sincerity, perhaps as consolation amid the disquieting scientific observations of the Enlightenment, pilgrimages to Marian shrines increased.  The Catholic Church has acknowledged the appearances of Mary at places like Tepeyac in Mexico, Lourdes and LaSalette in France, and Knock in Ireland.  In the 20^th century pilgrimages to Fatima flourished after children testified to visions of Mary there.  Prayers pertaining to Our Lady of Fatima, whose feast is May 13, turned May into a month of Marian devotions, like October.

Others have claimed to see visions of Mary, but the church has exercised caution with private revelations and has even forbidden public devotions at certain shrines, like those in Necedah, Wisconsin, and in Bayside, New York.

The Second Vatican Council

As part of the renewal of the church, the Second Vatican Council (1962-1965) examined Marian devotions and reconnected them to the scriptures, the sacraments and the church.

Significantly, the council did not compose a separate document about Mary, but included her within the context of its Dogmatic Constitution on the Church, Lumen gentium.  Contrary to the expectations of those awaiting a document that slalomed down the mountainous hierarchy of the church, Lumen gentium opened with a chapter on the mystery of the church and then plunged into a description of the entire people of God.  Only in that context did the council describe the hierarchy, noting its place within the entire people.  Chapters on the laity, the call to holiness, religious, and the pilgrim church followed.  Then, at the very end, in chapter 8, the council concluded its document on the church with its tribute to Our Lady.  The Catechism of the Catholic Church relies heavily on this chapter for its presentation of Mary (964-975).

Chapter 8 of Lumen gentium is rooted in the bible.  It describes Mary’s role in the plan of salvation, revealed in the New Testament and foreshadowed in the Old.  Only then does the constitution look at Mary’s relationship to the church today and the devotional practices that believers so highly prize.  She exemplifies the church the constitution describes.

Lumen gentium concludes by requesting Mary’s intercession “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 one People of God, for the glory of the Most Holy and Undivided Trinity.”

Mary for a new millennium

The new millennium has begun with threats that terrorize the world.  The United States refuses to characterize the attack of September 11, 2001, and its aftermath as a battle between the Christian and Muslim religions, but these events show the high cost paid when people of different nations and beliefs live in isolation, greed and envy, rather than the altruism that seeks a common good at personal sacrifice.

In 1571, Christians interpreted their bloody victory over Muslim forces as proof that Mary had intervened.  Today Christians seek other models for recognizing Mary as Queen of Victory.  In the scriptures, she is a complex person: quiet in the events leading up to the birth of Christ, yet active in her questioning; accepting of her role in salvation history, yet aware that God had put down the mighty and lifted the lowly; concerned about the image of Jesus during his ministry, yet prodding him to turn water into wine; called full of grace and blessed among women as an individual, yet entrusted with the care of the church at the cross.  In the bible, Mary chose the path of nonviolent evangelization, even as she shouldered the hard work of prayer and service.

Devotions to Mary are essential to Catholic piety.  To outsiders, Catholics observing these practices sometimes appear martial, superstitious and blind to the advances of scientific inquiry.  To Catholics, devotion to Mary derives from our belief in the communion of the saints, and it recognizes most profoundly Mary’s special role as Mother of God, mother of the church and model of the Christian life.

Healthy devotions affirm the kind of person Mary is in the bible, a symbol of God’s justice, a woman devoted to her vocation, a woman of prayer, yet a woman of unparalleled service as mother and disciple.  Devotions work best when they are balanced between prayer and service.  Those who pray without serving and those who serve without praying have missed the path of discipleship.

Good devotions are rooted in the bible, supported by the liturgy and oriented to service.  Then they will truly honor the mother of divine grace, the mother of chaste love, the mother of good counsel, the virgin most wise, the virgin most powerful, the virgin gentle in mercy, the mirror of justice, the throne of wisdom, the cause of our joy, the glory of Israel, the vessel of selfless devotion, the gate of heaven, the morning star, the health of the sick, the refuge of sinners, the comfort of the troubled, the help of Christians, the queen of the angels, the queen of patriarchs and prophets, the queen of apostles and martyrs, the queen of confessors and virgins, the queen of the rosary and the queen of peace.  Her name is Mary.

For additional reading, see Second Vatican Council, Lumen gentium, 1964; Catholic Household Blessings and Prayers (Washington: National Conference of Catholic Bishops, 1988); Michael Walsh, Dictionary of Catholic Devotions (New York: HarperCollins, 1993); “Mary, Blessed Virgin, I (In the Bible)” and “Mary, Blessed Virgin, Devotion to,” New Catholic Encyclopedia, 2^nd ed (Washington: Thompson-Gale, 2002).  And, of course, the bible.

This article first appeared in The Catholic Key in two parts: “Few Details Emerge from the Bible on Mary’s Life, Thoughts” 36/33 (October 8, 2004):12-13; and “Devotion to Mary Flourished in Middle Ages, Continues Today” 36/34 (October 15, 2004):15, 21

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