1

WHO IS MARY
The subject which has been assigned to me is : « Who is Mary ? » I
feel very honoured that Mr. Vogel has invited me to speak on this topic,
but at the same time I feel a little bit of a victim. The Fathers of the
Church tell us that the angels themselves, on seeing this divine creature,
this « woman clothed with the sun » as St. John describes her in the
Apocalypse, turn to each other and say : « Quae est ista ? Who is this ? »
The angels themselves don't know who she is and Mr. Vogel invites me
to speak for an hour in front of hundreds of people about precisely
that : « Who is Mary ? » The answer is very simple and it isn't long :
« We have no idea ».
By the way, that is something interesting to think about : the angels (and the

saints too) in heaven don't know everything there is to know about everything. True,

they see God face to face and this vision beatifies them perfectly, but there are still

things they don't know, mysteries that are hidden from them and that are revealed

to them from time to time, surprises that God has for them. Far from being an

imperfection in their beatitude it is one of the lovely things about heaven : there is

always something new and there always remains more to learn, especially about
God Himself because even the highest angels, even Our Lady, even the soul of Our

Lord Himself don't comprehend God. On the contrary, St. John of the Cross says

that in heaven the more one of the blessed sees God, the more clearly he sees all that

remains to be seen and that he doesn't see and that he will never see.
Our Lady is one of these mysteries that the blessed will never understand. St.

Maximilian Kolbe sums up very clearly in a little phrase the reason for
this :
2

The cause of the Immaculate, he says, is a mystery in the

proper sense of the term, because She is the Mother of God and
God is infinite, while our intelligence is limited 1.

This is why the angels ask : « Who is this ? » : because Mary's divine
maternity puts her on another level completely. Thus St. Thomas, in his
question in the Summa on the omnipotence of God, comments on the
antiphon for the feast of the Assumption which sings of Our Lady
exalted « supra chorus angelorum » and explains that, in a certain sense,
God exhausted His omnipotence in creating Mary :

The Blessed Virgin, by the fact that she is the Mother of God,
has a certain infinite dignity because of the infinite good which is
God. And from this point of view she is one of the things than
which nothing better can be made, just as nothing can be better
than God 2.

We have, then, already the answer to our question : « Who is

Mary ? » Mary is the Mother of God : that is her identity, she was
predestined to that from all eternity, by the very same decree by which
God decreed the Incarnation of His Son. Thus all the theologians say
that the Divine Maternity is the root of all the privileges of Our Lady
and the heart of her mystery.
However, that doesn't take us very far, because, as Fr. Kolbe says
again, in another place :

1
— SK 1286, inedited notes written in 1937.
2
— I, q. 25, a. 6 ad 4 Humanitas Christi ex hoc quod est unita Deo, et beatitudo creata ex hoc quod est
fruitio Dei, et beata virgo ex hoc quod est mater Dei, habent quandam dignitatem infinitam, ex bono
infinito quod est Deus. Et ex hac parte non potest aliquid fieri melius eis, sicut non potest aliquid melius
esse Deo.
3

Here we are speaking of the Mother of God. We know well

what the term "mother" means, but the notion "of God" contains
in itself infinity, while our intelligence is limited (…) (SK 1210)

Yes, Mary is the Mother of God, that is who she is : but we don't
know God — and so we can't know Mary. If we begin with this, with
her divine maternity, we can't even get started.

But since we have to try at least to give some kind of an answer to

this question, let us start with something easy, something that is
absolutely certain and completely comprehensible to us, namely that
Mary, the Mother of God, is a woman. We may not know what "God"
means, but, as Fr. Kolbe says, we do know what a Mother is and we
know, therefore, that the Mother of God, who is truly a Mother, is also
truly a woman. As St. Paul says :

God sent His Son, made of a woman : factum ex muliere.

(Gl IV : 4)

So let us start there, then, with something we can understand : Mary

is a woman. But there again we run into problems because what a
woman is is already a mystery, especially for a man. Some years ago a
French writer, Marcel Clement, gave two conferences related to this
subject. The first one was entitled : "What women don't understand
about men" ; and the second one was : "What men don't understand
about women". And he says in these conferences that once you explain
to women what they don't understand about men, they can understand,
they can get it : but even after you explain to men what they don't
4

understand about women, they still don't understand, and they never
will. Women always remain a mystery to men, and even to themselves,
that is just the way it is. There is something incomprehensible about them, a bit
like "prime matter" in philosophy, this mysterious principle which is at the bottom

of all substantial change in physical bodies but is in itself unintelligible.

Mary, then, by the simple fact that she is a woman, is already
mysterious. And she is not just "a" woman : she is "the" woman. A
priest back in our diocese in Canada used to say, speaking about nuns :

Once a Sister, twice a woman.

It's very true and it's a thousand times more true about Mary : she is
not just "a" woman, she is femininity itself, she is "the" woman. And
that is where we are going to find the key to understanding "Who she
is", at least as far as it is possible in a human way, and in a practical
way too, for, as we are going to see, this question of who Mary is, is
eminently practical, it has a very great practical importance for us all.
It is Our Lord Himself who reveals this mysterious identity of Mary
as "the woman", when He addresses her very solemnly by this title two
separate times at two crucial moments : first at Cana, at the public
inauguration of His ministry, which takes place at her initiative, and
then at Calvary, where she assists at His sacrifice which takes away the
sins of the world. When we read the Gospel accounts of these two
moments — which are both in the Gospel according to St. John — we
are immediately struck by this strange manner of address that Our
Lord uses with His Mother :
5

« Woman, what is that to me and to thee ? My hour is not yet

come » (Jn II : 4). « Woman, behold thy son » (Jn XIX : 26).

It is true that this way of speaking is not — as it can appear to us in

our modern languages — a sort of insult, as it would be for us if we
addressed someone, especially if it were our own mother, by calling her
« Woman ! » On the contrary, at the time it was a very polite form of
address, which we could translate into English by something like :
« Madam ». Our Lord Himself uses this form of address when speaking
to the Samaritan woman at the well, for example, when He says to her :

Woman, believe me, that the hour cometh when you shall
neither on this mountain, nor in Jerusalem adore the Father.
(Jn IV : 21)

St. Peter uses it as well when he responds to the maidservant at the

high priest's house who accuses him of having been seen with Jesus :

Woman, I know him not. (Lk XXII, 57)

Nevertheless, even though it isn't an insult, this very polite form of

address is still a very strange way to speak to one's mother. One does
not normally call one's mother : « Madam » ! Our Lord's use of this
form of address to His mother, then, constitutes, not an insult, of course,
but has nevertheless a strange sort of coldness that is almost as painful
for a mother's heart as an insult would be. In these two instances Our
Lord is obviously not speaking to Our Lady simply as a son speaks to
his mother : there is something deeper going on.
The Benedictine exegete, Dom de Monléon, in his book on the
6

marriage at Cana, explains the deeper meaning of this title « Woman »

by referring it back to the words addressed by God to the serpent in the
Garden of Eden :

I will put enmities between thee and the woman, and thy seed
and her seed : she shall crush thy head, and thou shalt lie in
wait for her heel. (Gn III : 15)

"The woman" in this text is traditionally interpreted as referring to

Our Lady, and Pius IX confirms this interpretation in his encyclical
Ineffabilis Deus, in which he defines the dogma of the Immaculate
Conception. Dom de Monléon draws attention to the fact that in the
Offertory of the Mass of the Assumption, where this text is quoted, the
word "Mulier (Woman)" is written with a capital letter.

The Church, he writes, wished (in this way) to underline the

fact that she recognizes in Mary the WOMAN par excellence,
She who dominates all of Holy Scripture, from the first chapters
of Genesis, where we see her crush the head of the serpent, all
the way to the Apocalypse, where she is shown to us clothed
with the Sun of Justice, her head crowned with twelve stars and
the moon under her feet. (…)
Mary is "the New Eve", conceived like the first without sin, and
associated to Christ in His mission of Redeemer as the other
had been to Adam in his function as father of the human race.
She is the ideal Woman, she who realized fully the design God
7

had in mind when He decided to provide man with a

companion 3.

Here we have then a title that can give us an answer to our question :
« Who is Mary ? ». Mary is "the Woman", she is "the New Eve" or,
more precisely, "the Second Eve" that corresponds to "the Second
Adam", as St. Paul calls Our Lord in his first epistle to the
Corinthians 4. And it is a very solid answer because this title of "the
Second Eve" is the most traditional of all her titles, as Fr. Garrigou-
Lagrange explains in his book The Mother of the Saviour :

The doctrine of Mary as the second Eve, he says, was

universally accepted in the second century. The Fathers who
taught it then did not regard it as the fruit of personal speculation
but as the traditional doctrine of the Church supported by the
words of St. Paul which describe Jesus as the second Adam
and oppose Him to the first as the Author of salvation to the
author of the fall. (…) It is necessary therefore to regard the
doctrine of Mary as the second Eve, associated with the
redemptive work of her Son, as a divino-apostolic tradition 5.

St. Albert the Great helps us to understand better the deep meaning
of this title in a passage of the Mariale, his famous commentary on the
Gospel of the Annunciation, where he asks if the fact that Our Lady was
proclaimed "full of grace" by the Angel means that she had received as

3
— Dom Jean de Monléon, O.S.B., Les noces de Cana, Éditions, Scivias, Québec, 1999, p. 40.
4
— I Co XV : 45-47. He also calls Christ here "the last Adam" as opposed to the "first" who was his
« figure » (cf Rm V : 14).
5
— Garrigou-Lagrange, O.P., Fr. Reginald, The Mother of the Saviour and Our Interior Life, trans.
Bernard J. Kelly, C.S.Sp., St. Louis, Herder, 1949, p. 184. There follows here a long list of references to
different Fathers on this subject.
8

well the grace of the priesthood. His answer, obviously, is no, but the
reason he gives is what is interesting, for he finds it in the beginning of
the book of Genesis and Our Lady's mysterious role of being the Second
Eve. He says that her not being a priest, far from being a diminution of
her dignity, was rather a sign of it, because priests are merely ministers
of the Redemption, while she participated in Redemption itself.

All Orders in the Church, he writes, are ministries (…) The

Blessed Virgin, however, was not called by Our Lord to be a
minister but an associate and a help, as it is written : "Let us
make him a help like unto himself : Faciamus ei adjutorium
simile sibi"(Gn II, 18). But if this is the case, she had not to
receive Holy Orders : for the summit of Order in the Church is
the Pope, who is the Vicar of Jesus Christ. The Blessed Virgin,
however, is not His vicar, but His co-helper and associate,
participating in His reign just as she participated in His sufferings
for the human race when all His ministers and disciples fled and
she alone remained, standing under the cross and received in
her heart the same wounds that Christ received in His body and
a sword pierced her soul 6. (…)
Thus it is evident that ecclesiastical dignities were constituted
as a service and a ministry, while the Most Blessed Virgin was
6
— Q. XLII. Quare mulieres ad sacros ordines non promoveantur ? nº 5. Omnes ordines Ecclesiae
sunt in ministerium : unde etiam pastores nominantur, quibus per Prophetam dicitur : Constitui te hodie
super gentes et regna (Jr ., 10). Beata autem Virgo non est assumpta in ministerium a Domino, sed in
consortium et adjutorium, juxta illud : Faciamus ei adjutorium simile sibi (Gn II, 18). Sed si hoc est, non
debuit aliquem habere ordinem : summus enim in ordine Ecclesiae Papa est, qui est vicarius Jesu Christi.
Beata autem Virgo non est vicaria, sed coadjutrix et socia, particeps in regno quae fuit particeps passionum
pro genere humano, quando omnibus ministris fugientibus et discipulis, sola sub cruce perstitit, et vulnera
quae Christus corpore, ipsa corde suscepit :unde et gladius tunc ipsius animam pertransivit. (Mariale sive
Quaestiones super Evangelium Missus est, Borgnet, Parisiis, 1898,T. 37, p. 81)
9

called (by Our Lord) to be a help in the work of salvation and an

associate in His reign : for she alone suffered with Him while all
the ministers fled. Thus she alone obtained a share in His reign
who alone was a helper in the work, according as it is written :
"Let us make him a help like unto himself : Faciamus ei
adjutorium simile sibi" 7.

This is the great dignity of Our Lady, then, and the key to her
identity : she is the New Eve, associated with Christ in our salvation just
as Eve was associated with Adam in our downfall. This was altogether
fitting as many of the Fathers and Doctors of the Church explain. St.
Irenaeus, at the end of the second century, links it with an idea of which
he speaks very often, which he takes from St. Paul, namely, what he
calls « recapitulation ». For St. Paul says that God's plan is « to re-
establish all things in Christ : omnia instaurare in Christo » (Ep I, 10),
words that are familiar to us because they were chosen by St. Pius X as
his motto. In the original Greek text the word « instaurare » means,
literally, « re-capitulate », that is, reorganize everything under a new
head (« caput »), but also with the nuance, as in the English
« recapitulate », of repeating the same thing again. St. Irenaeus — and
many others as well in a tradition that is seen also in the liturgy —
explains this as meaning that God willed to save men by « redoing » as it
were, everything over again in Christ, but this time doing it right and
undoing all that went wrong the first time.
St. Irenaeus applies this idea to Our Lady as the New Eve. He

7
— Ex his et similibus patet, quod dignitates Ecclesiae introductae sunt in servitium et ministerium.
Beatissima autem Virgo assumpta est in salutis auxilium, et in regni consortium : ipsa enim sola ministeris
fugientibus compassa fuit. Unde et sola regni consotrim obtinuit, quae laboris adjutrix fuit, juxta illud :
Faciamus ei adjutorium simile sibi. (Ibid., Q. XLIII. §II, p. 85)
10

writes :

Our Lord recapitulated the wood of disobedience by His

obedience on the wood and He resolved the seduction by which
the Virgin Eve, already betrothed to a man, was wickedly
seduced, when the Virgin Mary, already betrothed to a man, was
salutarily instructed in the truth by the angel. For as Eve,
seduced by the word of an angel so that she banish God, had
transgressed His commandment, Mary was taught by the word
of an angel so that she might bear God by obeying His word.
And as the human race had been bound to death by a Virgin, it
is saved by a Virgin, virginal disobedience having been equitably
redressed by virginal obedience 8.

And he explains :

The Virgin Mary was found obedient, saying : « Behold the

handmaid of the Lord, may it be done unto me according to thy
word ». Eve was disobedient (…) and became for herself and for
the whole human race the cause of death while Mary, (…)
obeying, became the cause of salvation for herself and for the
whole human race. (…) For what is tied is not loosed unless the

8
— Manifeste itaque in sua propria venientem Dominum, et sua propria eum bajulante conditione, quae
bajulatur ab ipso, et recapitulationem ejus, quae in ligno fuit inobedientiae, per eam quae in ligno est
obedientiam, facientem, et seductionem illam solutam, qua seducta est male illa, quae jam viro destinata
erat virgo Eva, per veritatem evangelizata est bene ab angelo jam sub viro Virgo Maria. Quemadmodum
enim illa per angeli sermonem seducta est, ut effugeret Deum, praevaricata verbum ejus ; ita et haec per
angelicum sermonem evangelizata est, ut portaret Deum, obediens ejus verbo. Et si ea inobedierat Deo ; sed
haec suasa est obedire Deo, uti virginis Evae Virgo Maria fieret advocata. Et quemadmodum astrictum est
morti genus humanum per Virginem, salvatur per Virginem : aequa lance disposita, virginalis inobedientia,
per virginalem obedientiam. Adhuc enim protoplasti peccatum per correptionem primogeniti
emendationem accipiens, et serpentis prudentia devicta in columbae simplicitate, vinculis autem illis
resolutis per quae alligati eramus morti. (Adversus Haereses V, C. XIX, nº 1, PL 7, 1175)
11

knots be undone by a contrary motion (…) Thus the knot of

Eve's disobedience was undone by Mary's obedience. For what
the virgin Eve tied by her incredulity, the virgin Mary undid by
her faith 9.

We see then that Mary is the New Eve because she does just the
opposite of what Eve did and so unties the knot that Eve tied : since our
ruin started with a woman our redemption had to start with a woman
so that the order of "recapitulation" would be maintained.
Many of the Fathers and Doctors of the Church speak of this
recapitulation 10. Let us just quote one of them, St. Bernard :

Truly, dear brethren, one man and one woman harmed us ;

but, thanks be to God, by the same token by one man and by
one woman all is restored, and not without a great gain of grace.
For not as the offence so also the gift, but the greatness of the
benefit exceeds the value of the loss. Thus our most wise and
most clement Maker did not destroy what had been damaged
9
— 4. Consequenter autem et Maria virgo obediens invenitur, dicens : « Ecce ancilla tua, Domine, fiat
mihi secundum verbum tuum. » Eva vero inobediens : non obedivit enim, adhuc cum esset virgo.
Quemadmodum illa virum quidem habens Adam, virgo tamen adhuc exsistens (« erant enim utrique nudi »
in paradiso, « et non confundebantur, » quoniam paulo ante facti, non intellectum habebant filiorum
generationis ; oportebat enim illos primo adolescere dehinc sic multiplicari) inobediens facta, et sibi, et
universo generi humano causa facta est mortis : sic et Maria habens praedestinatum virum, et tamen virgo,
obediens, et sibi, et universo generi humano causa facta est salutis. Et propter hoc lex eam, quae desponsata
erat viro, licet virgo sit adhuc, uxorem ejus, qui desponsaverat, vocat ; eam quae est a Maria in Evam
recirculationem significans : quia non aliter quod colligatum est solveretur, nisi ipsae compagines
alligationis reflectantur retrorsus : ut primae conjunctiones solvantur per secundas, secundae rursus liberent
primas. Et evenit primam quidem compaginem a secunda colligatione solvere, secundam vero
colligationem primae solutionis habere locum. Et propter hoc Dominus dicebat, primos quidem novissimos
futuros, et novissimos primos. (…) Sic autem et Evae inobedientiae nodus solutionem accepit per
obedientiam Mariae. Quod enim alligavit virgo Eva per incredulitatem, hoc virgo Maria solvit per fidem ?.
(Adv. Haereses III, C. XXII, n. 4, PL 7 958-960)
10
— Pius XII also repeats this traditional doctrine in his encyclical Ad caeli reginam (October 11, 1954) :
"Dans l'œuvre du salut spirituel, Marie fut, par la volonté de Dieu, associée au Christ jésus, principe de
salut, et cela d'une manière semblable à celle dont Eve fut associée à Adam, principe de mort, si bien que
l'on peut dire de notre Rédemption qu'elle s'effectua selon une certaine « Recapitulation » en vertu de
laquelle le genre hmain, assujetii à la mort par une vierge, se sauve aussi par l'intermédiaire d'une vierge."
12

but remade it so that it was altogether better than before, when

he formed the new Adam out of the old and transformed Eve
into Mary. And certainly Christ could have sufficed and even
now all our sufficiency is from Him, but it was not good for us for
man to be alone. It was more fitting that both sexes take part in
our reparation in whose corruption neither had been absent 11.

And he adds in another place another reason for this fittingness :

Rejoice, Father Adam, but even more you, O Mother Eve (…) over this
daughter, and such a daughter — (may she rejoice) especially, she through
whom the evil first came, whose shame has passed on to all women.

This is really true, St. Paul says it very clearly, even brutally, in one of his

epistles to Timothy :

Let the woman learn in silence, with all subjection. But I suffer not a
woman to teach, nor to use authority over the man : but to be in silence.
For Adam was first formed; then Eve. And Adam was not seduced ; but the
woman being seduced, was in the transgression. (I Tim II : 11-14)

This is pretty tough : St. Paul says to women, basically : "You got us into all this

trouble : just shut up and obey !" Since Eve's sin woman is like a child who has been

bad and is told to stand in the corner. But all that is going to change now, as St.

Bernard goes on to explain :

11
— 1. Vehementer quidem nobis, dilectissimi, vir unus et mulier una nocuere: sed, gratias Deo, per unum
nihilominus virum, et mulierem unam omnia restaurantur; nec sine magno fenore (profit, gain, advantage)
gratiarum. Neque enim sicut delictum, ita et donum; sed excedit damni aestimationem beneficii magnitudo.
Sic nimirum prudentissimus et clementissimus artifex, quod quassatum fuerat, non confregit, sed utilius
omnino refecit, ut videlicet nobis novum formaret Adam ex veteri, et Evam transfunderet in Mariam. Et
quidem sufficere poterat Christus; siquidem et nunc omnis sufficientia nostra ex eo est; sed nobis bonum
non erat esse hominem solum. Congruum magis, ut adesset nostrae reparationi sexus uterque, quorum
corruptioni neuter defuisset. (Sermo Dominica infra Octavam Assumptionis, PL 183, 0429-38)
13

For the time has come when the shame will be taken away and man will
no longer have reason to make complaints against the woman, as when he
so thoughtlessly tried to excuse himself, not hesitating to accuse her
cruelly, saying : "The woman, whom thou gavest me to be my companion,
gave me of the tree, and I did eat". Run, then, Eve, to Mary, run, mother, to
your daughter, may the daughter reply for the mother and thus take away
her shame and make satisfaction to the father for the mother's fault. For
behold : if man fell by a woman he will now not be raised up again except
by a woman 12.

Adam's complaint was "thoughtless" indeed, because if we listen carefully we

hear that Adam is not even just accusing Eve for his sin, even worse, much worse, he

is accusing God : "The woman, whom thou gavest me to be my companion, gave me

of the tree, and I did eat". That is why St. Bernard goes on to say :

What are you saying, O Adam ? (…) These are words of malice by which
you augment your fault rather than excuse it. But Wisdom conquers malice
(…) One woman is given in exchange for another, instead of a foolish one
a wise one, instead of a proud one a humble one, one who instead of
giving you the wood of death will offer you to taste life and instead of that
poisonous food of bitterness will bring forth the sweetness of eternal fruit 13.
12
— 3. Laetare, pater Adam, sed magis tu, o Eva mater, exsulta, qui, sicut omnium parentes, ita omnium
fuistis peremptores; et, quod infelicius est, prius peremptores, quam parentes. Ambo, inquam, consolamini
[Col. 0062C] super filia, et tali filia; sed illa amplius, de qua malum ortum est prius, cujus opprobrium in
omnes pertransiit mulieres. Instat namque tempus, quo jam tollatur opprobrium, nec habeat vir quid
causetur adversus feminam: qui utique dum se imprudenter excusare conaretur, crudeliter illam accusare
non cunctatus est, dicens, Mulier quam dedisti mihi, dedit mihi de ligno, et comedi (Gen. III, 12). Propterea
curre, Eva, ad Mariam; curre, mater, ad filiam; filia pro matre respondeat, ipsa [alias, ita] matris
opprobrium auferat, ipsa patri pro matre satisfaciat: quia ecce si vir cecidit per feminam, jam non erigitur
nisi per feminam. (Missus est, Sermo II, PL 183, 0062)
13
— Quid dicebas, o Adam? Mulier quam dedisti mihi, dedit mihi de ligno, et comedi. Verba malitiae sunt
haec, quibus magis [Col. 0062D] augeas quam deleas culpam. Verumtamen Sapientia vicit malitiam, cum
occasionem veniae, quam a te Deus interrogando elicere tentavit, sed non potuit, in thesauro indeficientis
suae pietatis invenit. Redditur nempe femina pro femina, prudens pro fatua, humilis pro superba; quae pro
ligno mortis gustum tibi porrigat vitae, et pro venenoso cibo illo amaritudinis dulcedinem pariat fructus
aeterni. Muta ergo iniquae excusationis verbum in vocem gratiarum actionis, et dic: Domine, mulier, quam
dedisti mihi, dedit mihi de ligno vitae, et comedi; et dulce factum est super mel ori meo, quia in ipso
14

All of this helps us to understand better the title of "the Woman".

Mary truly is, as St. Albert says, the "adiutorium", the "helpmate" as
the King James version translates, that God gave to mankind to make
up for what the first "helpmate" did 14. Women, it is true, have the
lower place, below men, but in some mysterious way (which is part of
the mystery of woman) precisely because she is lower and more volatile,
she is decisive. Men think they run the world and it appears that they
do, but in fact, in practice, it is often women who play the decisive role,
for good or for bad.
You can see this in different cultures. In France, for example, when
something goes terribly wrong, they say : "Cherchez la femme ! : Look
for the woman !" But it works the other way too. It is said that in Japan,
when a man was decorated for some great deed of bravery or other
service to his country, his wife was decorated as well, for they realized,
as we say in English : "Behind every great man there is a great
woman".
Shakespeare, with his usual psychological insight, understood this
point very well and he expresses it masterfully, with regard to evil, in
his portrayal of Lady Macbeth. Macbeth doesn't really want to kill
Duncan but she knows that it is the only way for him to become king, so
she pushes him until he does it. Now the economy of salvation does not
destroy the order of nature but follows it and restores it and so the
woman plays in salvation the same part she plays in nature, reversing,

vivificasti [Col. 0063A] me. Ecce enim ad hoc missus est angelus ad Virginem, O admirandam et omni
honore dignissimam Virginem! o feminam singulariter venerandam, super omnes feminas admirabilem,
parentum reparatricem, posterorum vivificatricem!
14
— Cf also St. Albert in Bittremieux, p. 96-97 on "mutans Evae nomen".
15

however what is wrong in nature. Instead of Lady Macbeth telling her

husband : "Screw your courage to the sticking place and we shall not
fail" we have Our Lady at Cana saying to Our Lord : "They have no
wine". Our Lord didn't seem to want to get on just yet with the work of
our redemption either, but Our Lady is there, urging Him on to save us,
just as Eve had urged Adam to damn us.

When we say that Mary is "the Woman", then, the New Eve, we
mean that she cooperates in the work of our redemption as Eve
cooperated in the work of our damnation. To understand more deeply
then who Mary is, we must look more closely at what this cooperation
entails exactly. Fr. Garrigou-Lagrange summarizes the doctrine of the
Fathers on this subject saying :

What, according to Tradition, is the sense in which Mary, the

New Eve, was associated with the work of redemption ?
It was not merely by having conceived the Redeemer
physically, by having given Him birth and nourished Him, but
rather was her association moral, through her free, salutary, and
meritorious acts. Eve contributed morally to the fall by yielding to
the temptation of the devil, by disobedience, and by leading up
to Adam's sin ; Mary, on the contrary, cooperated morally in our
redemption by her faith in Gabriel's words, and by her free
consent to the mystery of the redemptive Incarnation and to all
the sufferings it entailed for her Son and for herself 15.

This is what Our Lord meant when He replied to the woman who
15
— Op. cit. p. 185-186.
16

said : "Blessed is the womb that bore thee" by saying : "Yea, rather,
blessed are they who hear the word of God and keep it" (Lk 11 : 27-28).
True, Our Lady's fundamental privilege is that she is the Mother of
God, however not just in the sense that she physically bore Him in her
womb, but rather because she freely cooperated in God's plan for
salvation by becoming the Mother of God.
We can just stop and note that"freely" here doesn't mean she could take it or

leave it : she wasn't asked if she would accept to be Mother of God, she was told that

she would be Mother of God : "Behold thou shalt conceive in thy womb and bear a

son and thou shalt call His name Jesus". It was a command and Our Lady's

acceptance of it was an act of obedience as it had to be in order to undo Eve's

disobedience. She was "free" to accept it in the sense that she had free will and

could disobey if she wanted to, but she wasn't "free" in the sense that she wasn't

obliged to obey 16.

In this sense, by her very maternity Our Lady truly plays the role of
Mediatrix, she makes the bridge between God and man. As Fr. Kolbe
puts it :

The Immaculate is a ship across infinity 17.

St. Bernard beautifully explains this in his famous sermon : "The

Aqueduct" where he compares Our Lady's role in redemption to an
aqueduct that brings down to earth the water of salvation by her divine
motherhood.

16
— This is the same confusion that took place at the Council about religious liberty, the confusion
between psychological liberty and moral liberty : men are psychologically free to accept the true religion or
not but they are not morally free. It is a command, the very first command Our Lord gave when He first
started His public ministry : "Repent and believe the Gospel" (Mk I, 15)
17
— SK 1291 (OMK 1168).
17

Who is the fountain of life,he writes, if it isn't Christ the Lord ?

(…) That celestial stream came down (to us) by an aqueduct
(…) that received from the heart of the Father the plenitude of
this fountain and brought it forth for us, if not as it is in itself, at
least as we are capable of receiving it. You know her to whom it
was said : "Hail full of grace". We marvel however that such a
great aqueduct could be found whose summit could, like Jacob's
ladder, touch heaven, nay, which could even transcend heaven
and attain this overflowing fountain of life which is above
heaven. Salomon also marvelled and, as one desperate, cried
out : "Who shall find a valiant woman ? : Mulierem fortem quis
inveniet ?" Indeed, the waters of grace were lacking to the
human race for such a long time because this so longed for
aqueduct of which we speak had not yet come to make the
bridge. (…) But how did this aqueduct of ours attain that so
sublime fountain ? How do you think, if it wasn't by the
vehemence of desire, by the fervor of devotion, by the purity of
prayer ? As it is written : "The prayer of the just shall penetrate
the heavens". And who is just if not the just Mary, out of whom
the sun of justice has risen upon us ? How, then, did she attain
that inaccessible majesty if it wasn't by knocking, by asking, by
seeking ? And finally she found what she sought, she to whom it
was said : "Thou hast found grace with God" 18.
18
3. (…) Quis vero fons vitae, nisi Christus Dominus? (…) Descendit per aquaeductum vena illa coelestis
(…) 4. (…) qui plenitudinem fontis ipsius de corde Patris excipiens, nobis edidit illum, si non prout est,
saltem prout capere poteramus. Nostis enim cui dictum sit: Ave, gratia plena. An vero inveniri potuisse
miramur, unde talis ac tantus fieret aquaeductus, cujus nimirum [Col. 0440B] summitas, instar profecto
scalae illius quam vidit patriarcha Jacob, coelos tangeret (Gen. XXVIII, 12), imo et transcenderet coelos, et
vividissimum istum aquarum, quae super coelos sunt, posset attingere fontem? Mirabatur et Salomon, et
velut desperanti similis aiebat: Mulierem fortem quis inveniet? (Prov. XXXI, 10.) Nimirum propterea tanto
18

It is truly thanks to Mary, then, this "valiant woman" that had to be

found that was capable of becoming the Mother of God, that the Son of
God became incarnate. That doesn't mean that she merited the
Incarnation — that is impossible, because the Incarnation is the
principle of all merit and also it infinitely surpasses anything a mere
human being could merit — but it does mean, says St. Thomas, that

"she merited, by the grace that was given her, that degree of
purity and sanctity by which she could fittingly become the
Mother of God" 19.

The popes as well speak of the Divine Maternity as being a

participation in the work of Redemption, as, for example Benedict XV,
who writes :

(Mary) was chosen to be the Mother of Christ so that she

would become His associate in the redemption of the human
race 20.

They add that this association of Our Lady in Redemption was not
limited to her maternity but included her whole life and especially her
Compassion in the sufferings of her Son at the foot of the cross. The
tempore humano generi fluenta gratiae defuerunt, quod necdum intercederet is, de quo loquimur, tam
desiderabilis aquaeductus. (…) 5. Sed quomodo noster hic aquaeductus fontem [Col. 0440C] illum attigit
tam sublimem? Quomodo putas, nisi vehementia desiderii, nisi fervore devotionis, nisi puritate orationis?
sicut scriptum est: Oratio justi penetrat coelos (Eccli. XXXV, 21). Et quis justus, si non Maria justa, de qua
sol justitiae ortus est nobis? Quomodo ergo illa inaccessam attigit majestatem, nisi pulsando, petendo,
quaerendo? Denique et quod quaerebat invenit, cui dictum est: Invenisti gratiam apud Deum (Luc. I, 30).
19
— III,q. 2, a. 11, ad 3. "Beata Virgo dicitur meruisse portare Dominum omnium, non quia meruit ipsum
incarnari, sed quia meruit ex gratia sibi data illum pruitatis et sanctitatis gradum, ut congrue posset esse
mater Dei." Also : "Non meruit incarnationem (nec divinam maternitatem) sed praesupposita incarnatione,
meruit quod per eam fieret… merito condigni, in quantum decebat quod mater Dei esset purissima et
perfectissima."
20
— "Ideo Christi Mater delecta est, ut redimendi generis humani consors efficeretur." Auspicatus, 28 Ian.
1923.
19

same Benedict XV insists on this point saying :

The doctors of the Church remind us generally that the

Blessed Virgin, who was almost absent during the public life of
Christ, was present at the crucifixion and death of Jesus, not
without a special plan of divine Providence. She has so suffered
and almost died with Christ suffering and dying, she has to such
an extent given up her motherly rights on the life of her Son and,
in order to appease the divine justice, immolated, in so far as it
belonged to her, her Son, that one can truly affirm that she has
redeemed the human race together with Christ 21.

Pius XI continues this same teaching in his encyclical Miserentissimus

Redemptor, speaking of both the Divine Maternity and the Compassion
of Our Lady :

Since she gave birth to the Redeemer and offered Him as a

victim on the cross, by a mysterious union with Christ and by an
entirely singular grace on His part, she also was and piously is
called Redemptrix 22.

But that is not all : the popes also teach that this cooperation in the
work of Redemption necessarily leads to a cooperation in the
distribution of its fruits. Thus Benedict XV, immediately after his
21
— "Enimvero tradunt communiter Ecclesiae Doctores, B. Mariam Virginem, quae a vita Iesu Christi
publica veluiti abesse visa est, si Ipsi mortem oppetenti et Cruci suffixo adfuit, non sine divino consilio
adfuisse. Scilicet ita cum Filio patiente et moriente passa est et pene commortua, sic materna in Filium iura
pro hominum salute abdicavit, placandaeque iustitiae quantum ad se pertinebat Filium immolavit, ut dici
merito queat ipsam cum Christo humanum genus redemisse." Litterae Apostolicae, Inter Sodalicia, March
22, 1918, AAS 10, 1918, 182.
22
— "(Maria) cum Iesum nobis Redemptorem ediderit, abierit, apud crucem hostiam obtulerit, per
arcanam cum Christo coniunctionem eiusdemque gratiam omnino singularem, Reparatrix item exstitit
pieque appellatur." (Miserentissimus Redemptor, 8 Maii 1928, AAS 20, 178)
20

affirmation of Mary's cooperation in Redemption adds :

For this reason (that is, because of her cooperation in

Redemption) it is clear that every kind of grace we receive from
the treasury of Redemption is administered, as it were, through
the hands of the same Most Sorrowful Virgin 23.

Pope Leo XIII refers to this also when he writes :

(After her Assumption into heaven), by a divine plan, (the

Blessed Virgin) so began to watch over the Church, to be so
present to us and to aid us as a Mother, that she who had been
the minister of the mystery of human redemption, became
equally the minister of the graces that were to flow from it for all
time, practically immeasurable power being given to her 24.

The Dominican theologian, Fr. Merklebach, explains precisely what

this means in his book on Mariology saying that there are, in fact, two
aspects to Our Lady's mediation, that is, her role as "helpmate" to
Christ as the Second Eve. The first aspect, and the fundamental one, is
her cooperation in the work of Redemption, which, as we have just seen,
consists especially in her Divine Maternity and her Compassion, which
are profoundly united because already by accepting to become the
Mother of the Incarnate Word, Our Lady accepted in advance all the
sufferings she knew would be involved in that office, since she knew,

23
— "Hac plane de causa, quas e Redemptionis thesauro gratias omne genus percipimus eæ ipsius
perdolentis Virginis veluti e manibus administrantur." Op. cit.
24
— "Nam inde, divino consilio, sic illa coepit advigilare Ecclesiae, sic nobis adesse et favere mater, ut
quæ sacramenti redemptionis administra fuerat, eadem gratiæ ex illo derivandæ esset pariter administra,
permissa ei pene immensa potestate." (Adiutricem populi, 5 Sept. 1895, ASS 28, 1895, 130)
21

from the prophecies of the Old Testament, all that the Messias would
have to suffer.
The second aspect, which is a consequence of the first, is her
distribution of all graces. Since she cooperated in the Redemption itself
it is fitting that she cooperate also in the application of the fruits of that
redemption to all men. Thus Fr. Merklebach writes :

The Blessed Virgin is mediatrix, not only by her special

cooperation in the work of Redemption, but also by her powerful
intercession, because by the very fact that the Mother of God
the Redeemer and our mother exercised together with Christ, in
a certain veritable way, a mediation in redeeming mankind and
in acquiring universally for all the helps necessary for salvation,
she has also the title and the office of cooperating, by her
continual intercession with Christ, in the application of the fruits
of Redemption and the dispensation of all the helps of salvation
that must be made to individual souls. (Pars III, Q. 2, art. 3)

Thus we see that Our Lady's mediation has two faces, as it were : a
mediation of merit and a mediation of distribution, the two being like
two sides of the same coin, or better, like the two sides of the Miraculous
Medal where we see these two mediations clearly depicted, as if Our
Lady herself wanted precisely to teach us this truth by this medal. On
the front there is the mediation of distribution : Our Lady pouring out
graces on the world, and on the back the source of this mediation of
distribution, the mediation of merit, her Coredemption : the "M" in
which the cross of Jesus is planted and the Immaculate Heart pierced
22

with a sword beside the Sacred Heart pierced with thorns.

In the Old Testament this same truth is expressed in two figures of
Our Lady. On the one hand there is Judith, who cuts off the head of
Holofernes, chief of the enemies of the people of God, just as Our Lady
(together with Our Lord) crushes the head of the serpent, and thus she
is a figure of Our Lady's cooperation in redemption and her mediation
of merit. On the other hand there is Esther, who obtains from the King
Assuerus the salvation of her people, just as Our Lady, by her
intercession, obtains the salvation of all the elect, and so she represents
Our Lady's mediation of distribution of grace.
We could multiply quotes of different popes who repeat this idea that
Mary is Mediatrix of all graces because she cooperated in the
redemption of the world 25 but to conclude — because time is running
out — let us just look at one last text to help us zone in on this point,
which is crucial, for it reveals who Our Lady is from a practical point of
view. This text is in the encyclical of St. Pius X on Our Lady, Ad diem
illum, where he writes :

Now by this common sharing of will and suffering between

Christ and Mary, she "merited to become most worthily the

25
— For example, Leo XIII who writes : « May the most powerful Virgin Mother, who once "cooperated
in love that the faithful might be born in the Church", be now the means and treasurer of our salvation : Sic
potentissima Virgo Mater, quae olim 'cooperata est caritate ut Fideles in Ecclesia nascerentur' sit etam nunc
nostrae salutis media et sequestra." (Parta humano generi, Apostolic Letter, Sept. 8, 1901, ASS 34, 1901,
195) In the same document the pope says that Mary "redemptionis humanae facta est particeps" (Ibid.,
194).
Also Pius XII, in his radiomessage to Fatima on May 13, 1946, says : "Having been associated, as Mother
and Helper, with the King of martyrs in the ineffable work of human Redemption, she is always associated,
with a practically measureless power, in the distribution of the graces that derive from the Redemption :
(…) porque associada, como Mae e Ministrar ao Rei dos mártires na obra inefável da humana Redençâo,
lhe é para sempre associada, com um poder quasi imenso, na distribuiçâo das graças que da Redençâo
derivara." Bendito seia, May 13, 1946, AAS 38, 1946, 266.
23

Reparatrix of the lost world 26" and therefore Dispensatrix of all

the gifts which Jesus gained for us by His Death and by His
Blood. (Thus) it was given to this august Virgin to be for "the
entire world the most powerful mediatrix and reconciler with her
only-begotten Son" 27. (…)

And he goes on to explain more precisely in what way exactly Our

Lady "merited to become Reparatrix of the lost world" for obviously it
isn't in exactly the same way that Our Lord merited to be the Redeemer
of the world.

Since (Mary) has been associated by (Christ) with the work of

salvation, she has merited for us de congruo, as it is termed, all
that Christ merited for us de condigno, and is the principal
minister in the distribution of graces 28.

De condigno merit, (which we will translate as "strict merit") is that

which belongs to an act that is truly worthy of reward in justice : thus,
for example, a soul in the state of grace merits by strict merit eternal life.
De congruo merit (which we will translate as "congruent merit" — as in
"congruent triangles" which have a similar shape) is that which belongs
to an act that doesn't merit a reward strictly in justice, but which has a
certain title to it because of the friendship of charity : thus someone in
26
— Eadmer, De Excellentia Virginis Mariae, 9.
27
— Pius IX in the Bull Ineffabilis Deus.
28
— "Ex hac autem Mariam inter et Christum communione dolorum ac voluntatis, promeruit illa ut
reparatrice perditi orbis dignissime fieret, atque ideo universorum munerum dispensatrix quae nobis Iesus
nece et sanguine comparavit. (...Unde) hoc Virgini augustae datum est, ut sit totius terrarum orbis
potentissima apud unigenitum Filium suum mediatrix et conciliatrix. (…) Patet itaque abesse profecto
plurimum ut nos Deiparae supernaturalis gratiae efficiendae vim tribuamus, quae Dei unius est. Ea tamen,
quoniam universis sanctitate praestat coniunctioneque cum Christo, atque a Christo ascita in humanae
salutis opus, de congruo, ut aiunt, promeret nobis quae Christus de condigno promeruit, estque princeps
largiendarum gratiarum ministra." Ad diem illum, Feb. 2, 1904, AAS 36, 1904, 453-54.
24

the state of grace, because of the friendship that they enjoy with God,
can obtain graces from Him for someone else by this congruent merit
(thus St. Monica, for example, merited by this congruent merit, the
conversion of her son Augustine). No one but Christ, not even Our
Lady, can merit grace by strict merit for someone else : Christ can,
because He is head of the Mystical Body and so His merits can be
applied to His members as if they were the acts of the members
themselves 29. But someone in the state of grace can merit grace for
others by congruent merit (as St. Monica did), and St. Pius X,
confirming a doctrine commonly held for centuries already by
theologians 30, says that Our Lady merited grace in this way, for
everyone. She was St. Monica for all of us.
St. Thomas expresses the same idea already in his commentary on
the Angelic Salutation when he says, with regard to the angel's words :
"Hail, full of grace" :

The Blessed Virgin is full of grace (also…) in so far as grace

overflows from her upon all men. For it is a great thing in any
saint when they have so much grace that it suffices for the
salvation of many ; but if they had enough for the salvation of all
the men in the world this would be the maximum, and this is the
31
fullness of grace that is in Christ and in the Blessed Virgin .

29
— Cf Garrigou-Lagrange (op. cit. p. 207-212).
30
— Garrigou-Lagrange (op. cit. p. 210) says that this doctrine was already taught by Suarez in the
sixteenth century and had become the common teaching of theologians.
31
— Sic ergo plena est gratia beata virgo (…) quantum ad refusionem in omnes homines. Magnum enim
est in quolibet sancto, quando habet tantum de gratia quod sufficit ad salutem multorum; sed quando
haberet tantum quod sufficeret ad salutem omnium hominum de mundo, hoc esset maximum: et hoc est in
Christo, et in beata virgine. (Expositio salutationis angelicae, a. 1)
25

This teaching renders more intelligible some of the sayings of the

saints about Our Lady's mediation of all graces that might seem, at first
sight, exaggerated, for example this famous phrase of St. Bernardine of
Siena which St. Louis de Montfort quotes in his book True Devotion to
Mary :

All gifts, virtues and graces of the Holy Ghost are given
through Mary's hands to whom she wills, when she wills, how
she wills and to the extent that she wills 32.

The theologians — whose teaching here, as we have seen, has been

approved by the magisterium of the popes — express this by saying that
Our Lady has a right to dispose of the graces of Redemption because she
helped to acquire them by her merit, just as Christ has a right to dispose
of these graces because He acquired them through His merit. Now
obviously this right is not the same in both cases, because the merit is
not the same : but the right exists, analogically, in Mary, just as it does
in Christ.
Fr. Bittremieux, in his important book on the mediation of Our
Lady, explains this saying :

(This follows — that is, the right of Our Lady to dispose of

grace) from the intrinsic link that exists between merit, even if it
is only congruent merit and the right to dispose of what has

32
— Et quia talis est mater Filii Dei, qui producit Spiritum Sanctum, ideo omnia dona, virtutes et gratiae
ipsius Spiritus Sancti, quibus vult, quando vult, quomodo vult et quantum vult, per manus ipsius
adminstrantur. Sermo LXI, De superadmirabili gratia et gloria Matris Dei, Opera omnia, T. II, p. 379. Cf
also Vraie Dévotion, n. 44 : « (…) le Très-Haut l'a faite l'unique trésorière de ses trésors et l'unique
dispensatrice de ses grâces, pour anoblir, élever et enrichir qui elle veut,pour faire entrer qui elle veut dans
la voie étroite du ciel, pour faire passer, malgré tout, qui elle veut par la porte étroite de la vie, et pour
donner le trône, le sceptre et la couronne de roi à qui elle veut. »
26

been acquired by merit. It also follows indirectly by the parallel

that exists (between her and Christ). Theology unhesitatingly
concludes from the fact that Christ merited all graces strictly that
He dispenses these graces that He has merited ; similarly, then,
from the fact that Mary has merited these same graces by
congruent merit one must conclude that she has a certain role to
play in their distribution.

And he goes on to answer a possible objection, namely, that only

strict merit can confer the right to dispose of what has been merited.

[ OR : Fr. Bittremieux, in his important book on the mediation of

Our Lady, answers a possible objection, namely, that only strict merit
can confer the right to dispose of what has been merited.]

This objection is vain, he says, because from the fact that the
merit of the Blessed Virgin was only congruent merit, and not
strict merit, it only follows that her title to intervene in the
distribution of graces is not as strong, not as valid as the title
Christ has, because He merited them strictly, and not that she
has no title at all. By the very fact that the Blessed Virgin merited
these graces, even though it be only by congruent merit, they
must be considered to be in some sense hers and she must be
said to have acquired a right, at least of fittingness, to dispose
by her intervention of these graces that she merited 33.
33
— Vana, dicimus, apparet haec objectio. Etenim, quamvis B. Virginis meritum fuerit de congruo
tantum, non de condigno, inde sequitur tantum ipsius titulum interveniendi in gratiarum distributione non
esse tam fortem, tam validum quam titulus qui Christo, utpote qui de condigno promeruit, competit, sed
non sequitur titulum talem nullum esse. Eo enim ipso quod B. Virgo, etiamsi de congruo tantum, merita sit
ipsas gratias, hae in quodam sensu ut suae sunt habendae, et jus quoddam, saltem congruitatis, acquisivisse
27

This power to dispose of graces then really belongs to Our Lady

because these graces are really hers because she has merited them : and
so she isn't a simple minister of them, as the angels are, she is not just a
"postman", as Fr. Kolbe says somewhere. That doesn't mean, obviously,
that she does with the graces whatever she pleases, taking no account of
God's will : but she applies these graces "to whom she wills" in the
sense that they really belong to her and she really applies them to souls
freely.
The same theologian then explains how Our Lady exercises this right
to "dispose" of graces, namely by her intercession, but by an
intercession that is not like that of the saints, who simply ask God for
graces which perhaps He will refuse. Precisely because she has this
"right" to dispose of graces, because of her having merited them, her
intercession for them is infallibly heard, "they are accounted as
commandments before the divine majesty", as St. Louis de Montfort
says 34. In this, again, Our Lady is parallel and subordinate to Our
Lord, as Fr. Bittremieux explains.

Whoever truly and properly speaking dispenses, can truly

dispose, and if he truly disposes, he determines and decides by
an act of will what and to whom something will be given. (…
Thus) the intercession of Mary is similar in some way to the
intercession of Christ Himself (…) because she is associated

dicenda est ut de gratiis sic promeritis interventu suo disponat. BITTREMIEUX, J, De Mediatione
universali B. M. Virginis quoad gratias, Car. Beyaert, Editor, Brugis, 1926, p. 166.
34
— True Devotion to Mary, n. 27.
28

with Christ not only in the acquisition of the treasure of graces,

but also in the disposition of it 35.

Of course there remains a great distance between these two

intercessions, precisely the same distance that exists between the two
merits upon which they are based : but since Our Lady truly merits all
graces, by her cooperation in Redemption itself, she truly disposes of
them by her intercession. As another pope, Pius XI, puts it :

God grants the graces, Mary obtains them and distributes

them 36.

She is, as the saints say : "Omnipotentia supplex : suppliant

omnipotence".

Please excuse the rather technical language of this last section, but it
helps us to see more clearly, more precisely, who Mary is because it
helps us see that our Second Eve literally is, as the First Eve was,
"mother of all the living" : God has given her the power, together with
the Second Adam, to give life to all the fallen children of Eve. The
35
— Quicumque enim vere et proprie loquendo dispensat, vere disponere potest, et si vere disponit, per
verum actum voluntatis determinat atque decernit quid et cui aliquid donabitur. (…) Ulterius nunc
considerandum quemadmodum in tali expressione voluntatis apte reponetur ipsa B. Virginis intercessio. Ad
hoc enim invitat prius ipsum principium consortii cum Christo, quod principium plenius sane perfectiusque
splendebit, ex eo quod Mariae intercessio aliquid participat de ipsius Christi interpellatione. Hoc autem
nonnisi ut naturale apparere potest, ex eo quod B. Virgo, ad maternitatem divinam evecta, tangit, ut aiunt
theologi, ipsum ordinem unionis hypostaticae, ex eo etiam quod ita ut associata apparet Christo non tantum
in acquisitione thesauri gratiarum, sed et in dispositione de eo. Manent aliunde distantia et subordinatio
necessario inter utramque interpellationem, tum Christi tum Mariae, servandae. Illa nempe est oratio
suppositi divini, haec oratio Matris suppositi divini ; illa est expressio voluntatis Redemptoris, haec
coredemptricis ; illa est ex titulo meriti de condigno, haec ex titulo meriti de congruo, quae omnes
differentiae, supra jam expositae, essentialiter utramque voluntatis expressionem distinguunt. Difficultatem
forsan movebit quis ex eo quod B. Virgo est pura creatura, et quod intercessio purae creaturae non potest
esse expressio voluntatis , ast responderi poterit intercessioni tali nihil obstare si ipse Deus, suo quo totam
redemptionis ac salutis nostrae oeconomiam statuit, decreto huic creaturae, Mariae, talem intercessionis
modum peculiarem libere conferre voluit. (Op. cit., p. 295-296)
36
— De Tuto, Blessed Jeanne Autide Tournet, 15 August, 1933.
29

Church has always known this and expressed it over the ages,
sometimes very splendidly, as in this prayer to Our Lady of St. John
Damescene in the eighth century :

As the sun, endowed with great splendor and perpetual

radiance, has a fountain which perpetually gushes forth its light,
or rather is itself an unfailing fountain of light, as it has been
constituted by God its creator ; so you as well, O Mary, are a
fountain of the true light and an inexhaustible treasure of life
itself, a most fruitful torrent of benediction that has obtained for
us and has given to us all good… : you pour out for us pure and
unending waves of immense light and immortal life and true
happiness, rivers of graces, fountains of healing and eternal
benediction 37.

Our Lord Himself, according to Sister Lucy of Fatima, speaks in

exactly the same way. In a letter written in 1943 to a bishop she
communicates the following words of Our Lord :

"I ardently desire the propagation of the cult of the devotion to

the Immaculate Heart of Mary, because this Heart is the magnet
that attracts souls to Me, the hearth that radiates upon the earth
the rays of my light and my love, the inexhaustible fountain that
pours out on the earth the living water of my mercy 38."
37
— Quemadmodum enim sol iste splendidissime perennique luce praeditus (…) sui luminis fontem
perpetuo scaturientem habet, quinimo ipse luminis fons est indeficiens, velut ab ejus conditore Deo
constitutum fuit : sic tu quoque (Maria) fons veri luminis, et inexhaustus ipsiusmet vitae thesaurus,
uberrimaque benedictionis scaturigo, quae cuncta nobis bona conciliasti et attulisti… immensi luminis,
immortalisque vitae, ac verae felicitatis puros et inexhaustos latices, gratiae flumina, sanationum fontes,
perennemque benedictionem fundis. PG 96, 715-716 (cité par Bittremieux, p. 207).
38
—"Je désire très ardemment la propagation du culte et de la dévotion au Cœur Immaculé de Marie, parce
que ce Cœur est l'aimant qui attire les âmes à moi, le foyer qui irradie sur la terre les rayons de ma lumière
30

This is why the faithful have always turned to her as their most
powerful help, as Saint John Damascene expresses in another
magnificent prayer :

Hail full of grace, hail common salvation of all the ends of the
earth, the protection of all Christians.
Hail, full of grace, hail to thee who alone assist those who are
without assistance, who alone art the strength of those who
have no strength.
Hail, full of grace, hail to thee who alone lift up the lowly, who
alone restore the needy, who art the sole mother of orphans,
paupers and widows.
Hail, full of grace, hail sole comforter of the weary, sole shelter
for those who have no shelter.
Hail, full of grace, hail sole redemption of captives, sole hope
of return for those who have been exiled and cast out.
Hail, full of grace, hail to thee who alone visit those who are ill,
who alone heal the infirm, who art the salvation of those
tormented by the devil.
Hail, full of grace, hail to thee who alone guide those who are
at sea, who alone art the companion and fellow of those who are
on the road, who make their way through the night.
Hail, full of grace, hail, for the eyes of us all place their hope in
thee who alone art pure and they look to thee always 39.
et de mon amour, la source intarissable qui fait jaillir sur la terre l'eau vive de ma miséricorde Lettre à
l'évêque titulaire de Gurza, 27 juin 1943.
39
— Ave gratia plena, ave, omnium simul finium terrae communis salus, omnium Christianorum
praesidium. Ave, gratia plena, ave quae sola illis auxilio ades, qui auxilio carent, solaque maxima virtus es
31

Here, then, is the answer to our question : Who is Mary ? She is,
quite simply, "our life, our sweetness and our hope". It is necessary,
obviously, to go back and read the Fathers of the Church and the
documents of the popes, because that is where we find the sure rule of
our faith, but even before doing that, all Catholics, at least all real
Catholics, know who Mary is, they know it by the prayers they say
every day, they know it by their liturgy, they know it by experience 40.
Mary is, as Archbishop Lefebvre often called her, "notre bonne mère
du ciel", she is our good heavenly mother. As Eve brought death upon
us all, she gives life to all, if only they will receive it. She has her place,
then, and a necessary place, by the will of God, beside Christ, as "a help
like unto himself". As Fr. Calmel, the French Dominican, writes :

It would be as silly as not wanting that there be a mother for

the education of children to want that there be no Mary for our
spiritual education. It would be the same failure to recognize a
fundamental given — no humanity if Eve hadn't been there at
Adam's side ; no supernatural regeneration of humanity if the
New Eve had not pronounced the Fiat, had not accepted the

illis, qui nullis viribus valent. Ave, gratia plena, ave, sola humilium celsitudo, et inopum sola recuperatio,
solaque orphanorum mater, pauperumque ac viduarum. Ave, gratia plena, ave, sola fatiscentium
refocillatio, solumque tegmine carentium tegmen. Ave, gratia plena, ave sola captivorum redemptio,
solaque exsulantium pulsorumque revocatio. Ave, gratia plena, ave, sola aegrotantium visitatio, solaque
infirmorum curatio, et eorum qui a daemone vexantur, salus. Ave, gratia plena, ave sola navigantium
gubernatio, solaque eorum qui noctu iter agunt, viae comes, et sodalis. Ave, gratia plena, ave, quia nostrum
omnium oculi in te quae sola pura es, spem collocant, et te semper contuentur. PG 96, 659 (cité par
Bittremieux, p. 207-208)."
40
— Cf True Devotion, n. 8. "Toute la terre est pleine de sa gloire (…) Plusieurs cathédrales consacrées à
Dieu sous son nom. point d'église sans autel en son honneur (…) Il n'y a pas un petit enfant qui, en
bégayant l'Ave Maria, ne la loue ; il n'y a guère de pécheurs qui, en leur endurcissement même, n'aient en
elle quelque étincelle de confiance."
32

Stabat, did not continue always her intercession in heaven in

virtue of the Annunciation and the Compassion.
So let us take the mystery of the redemptive Incarnation as it
is ; it supposes the ineffable union of the holy Mother of God
with Jesus our Saviour. Let us accept, as much as it is possible
for us, not just by a fugitive act of faith that costs nothing, but by
a prolonged prayer and an habitual disposition of our heart, the
unique place Mary has in the redemptive Incarnation, the place
of the feminine creature, who has thus been so wonderfully
magnified ; Mary is the holy Mother of God, the Virgin of virgins,
the New Eve 41.

To conclude, then, let us all sing together to our heavenly mother this
beautiful prayer of us "poor banished children of Eve", the Salve
Regina, that expresses so much better who Mary is, than anything I
could ever say.

41
— Il serait également inepte de ne pas vouloir que la mère existe pour l'éducation de l'enfant et de ne pas
vouloir que Marie existe dans notre éducation spirituelle. Ce serait toujours la méconnaissance d'une
donnée première — pas d'humanité si Eve n'eût pas été à côté d'Adam ; pas de régénération surnaturelle de
l'humainité si la nouvelle Eve n'avait prononcé le Fiat, n'avait accepté le Stabat, ne continuait à jamais son
intercession au Paradis en vertu de l'Annonciation et de la Compassion. Ainsi prenons comme il est le
mystère de l'Incarnation rédemptrice ; il suppose l'union ineffable de la sainte mère de Dieu à Jésus notre
Sauveur. Acceptons, autant qu'il est en nous, non seulement par un acte de foi fugitif et qui ne tire guère à
conséquence, mais dans la prière prolongée et la disposition habituelle de notre cœur, la part unique de
Marie dans l'Incarnation rédemptrice, la part de la créature féminine extraordinairement magnifiée ; Marie
est la sainte Mère de Dieu, la Vierge des vierges, la nouvelle Eve. « Marie, nouvelle Eve ». Itinéraires,
nº 77, novembre 1963, p. 109.