Mariology

"In Lourdes, in the climate of faith - full of peace and joy - which is typical of it and without pseudo-mystical exaltation, the disease ceases to scare both those who are well and those who are sick."

"In Lourdes Mary never puts herself in the foreground."

"Yes, it has been a long and painful journey. I went to Lourdes in January and felt great straight after for a long time. It's an incredible place. (Cristiano De André)"

"All those who were physically healed in Lourdes have died or will die, even if for evils other than those for which they turned to Mary's intercession. [...] It is an obvious reflection, perhaps apparently banal. Yet, it allows us to clarify the Catholic's perspective in the face of the impressive dossier of "physical" healings which, at the foot of the Pyrenees, have not ceased to occur since 1858. The believer, that is, knows that what is promised by the Gospel - what 'everyone' is promised - it is indeed the radical and definitive "healing" of the body too; but only when this is resurrected to eternal life. (Vittorio Messori)"

"Immaculate Conception"

"That cave is the place where what Catholic Mariology is is most evident: a bubo of authentic Christology. (Karl Barth)"

"For Mariam ad Iesum. This is the meaning of the Lourdes apparitions. (Pope John XXIII)"

"I don't think our therapeutic successes can compete with those of Lourdes; the people who believe in the miracles of the Holy Virgin are much more numerous than those who believe in the existence of the unconscious. (Sigmund Freud)"

"Lourdes – if believers are right – is a glimpse suddenly opened onto an Other World; it is the truth entrusted not to professors and experts, but to the illiterate; it is Heaven itself that ratifies the dogmas of a Pope, moreover "obscurantist" and "reactionary" like Pius IX: it is the mocked Catholic Mariology that has full confirmation; it is the blind who regains his sight, the cancerous person who heals, the paralytic who walks. Lourdes is – and cannot help but be – the scandal, the division, the denial of the common sense imposed by the new conformism. It has therefore not ceased its provocative role; nor, for that matter, will it ever be able to cease it. (Vittorio Messori)"

"Until three o'clock I prefer Lourdes water! It's more pious. (Thérèse of Lisieux)"

"I must say that there, in front of the cave, you can feel something that I don't know how to define, something great, mysterious, indescribable. (Gianni Morandi)"

"We delude ourselves that we will obtain a miracle in Lourdes, even though in one hundred and fifty years Our Lady has officially granted only sixty-five, to one hundred million pilgrims. An average, less than one in a million, far lower than the percentage of spontaneous remissions of tumors, which is of the order of one in ten thousand. Not to mention that, as Émile Zola observed, among the votive offerings you can see many crutches but no wooden legs. (Piergiorgio Odifreddi)"

"Through the apparitions of Lourdes, Our Lady wanted to restore in us the love of the poor and poverty, an ingenious and liberating love. (René Laurentin)"

"What lay behind the reformers' uneasiness about the place of the Virgin was not an upsurge of entirely new views. As Beattie comments, they believed indignantly that "the ancient goddesses and their female devotees still whisper[ed] and beckon[ed] in the cult of Mary," and saw their attacks as a return to the principles of the early Church."

""Iconoclasm was the central sacrament of the reform," states Eamon Duffy. It is an assertion that is more provocative than strictly accurate, especially in its dismissive use of the term "sacrament" in association with the Anglican Church, but many historians have persuasively presented iconoclastic extremism as a defining factor in the English Reformation. The long struggle over "images" had broad and deep connections with the transformation of English society and the ideologies of selfhood, identity, gender, and sexuality that governed, or as Louis Althusser puts it, "interpleted", men and women into the grand narrative of their culture. Today, some may say the picture of the world advanced by the reformers was maybe no less false, the idolatry of the Word no less pernicious than the idolatry of the Image."

"Quite apart from the question of the truth of the diverging traditions of Christianity, the Protestant view of Mary, argues Beattie, "easily lends itself to the denigration of the female body," not only "its sexual and maternal functions," but also as the basis for both individual and relational being. That dual claim that the reformers were, in effect, empirically correct about the medieval sexualization of Christianity but at some deeper level mistaken about human sexuality - will be a major suggestion of this study."

"The reformers believed that medieval theology and devotion had sexualized the Virgin by excessive idolatrous attention to her body, and by venerating the material details, however trivial or aprocryphal, of events in Mariological history As Donna Ellington puts it, "Marys bodily human nature was the cornerstone of the entire medieval edifice of the virgin's cult." At a further level of idolatry, the veneration of bodily and material objects associated with Mary's body - a term that might appear as a modern anachronism but which was, in fact, already becoming current among Protestant polemists to deride what they saw as superstitious religious practices of pagans and catholics alike."

"English writers from the later Middle Ages to the mid seventeenth century both venerated and denigrated a body, probably a historical certainly a mythologized, body, multiple "images" of which were burnt, in the summer or the autumn of 1538, publicly or privately, certainly at the order and possibly at the house of Thomas Cromwell, in London. That seemingly definitive act, however, remains ambiguous, and did not by any means end the presence of the Virgin in the life and feelings of England. Catholic historians and theologians have argued that Cromwell, Latimer, and their generation of reformers created a huge and perhaps unhealable wound in the collective psyche of early modern England, creating a "disembodied and defeminized Culture.""

"Beattie comments that is odd that Christianity and psychoanalysis have not come together more frequently to pose the questions of being since they both claim humanity is "marked by originating experience of catastrophic loss that gives rise to an insatiable yearning for restoration and wholeness.""

"A century before, 1520s, the German Protestant Andres von Karlstadt had likewise become more vehement a destroyer of idols when he noted his own fear before the images: "a harmful fear," he records, "has been bred into me" from which he would be delivered, "but cannot." Those sentiments haunt the century of iconoclasm and epitomize the "traces" and "fades" of the virgin in England."

"The reformers perceived the necessity of wholesale cultural revolution and (if possible) the rooting out not just the "structures," but the "feelings" attached to them, to use Raymond Williams's distinction. Their goal was to destroy the images and idols within people's minds. Getting it out of their heads, not just destroying buildings and sending tens of thousands of monks and nuns out into the community, was therefore crucial to the revolution. But the "fantassie of idolatrie" might be so deeply rooted, the reformers feared, that "idolatrie will neaver be left till the said images be taken awaie." Cromwell instructed his agents to remove popular "idols" as discreetly as possible but to highlight what could be presented as obvious fakes, the "certain engines and old wire with rotten sticks," which could be used for propagandist purposes. Reformers jeered that the destruction of some of the more dubious relics and images - the Blood of Hailes and the images of Our Lady of Walingham and her sisters among them - did not provoke the once revered objects to respond, retaliate, or miraculously escape: "Throw them down thrice, they cannot rise, not once to help themselves." With some successes in exposing "idols" and "false reliques," it became easier to make the case that all relics and images were fakes and needed, in the words of a 1535 Proclamation, "utterly to be abolished, eradicated and erased out.""

"As Lyndal Roper states, the body of the Virgin was a "litmus test of the separation of the divine and the human" for Catholics and Protestants and what became their "radically different theologies of the body." All sides of the Reformation struggles agreed that deep and mysterious powers had been attributed to the Virgin and to relics and places especially associated with her. For Catholics such attributions were, with the exception of some marginal and pardonable exaggerations and a little corruption, truthful and reflected God's purposes; for Protestants such claims were false and demonic, slippages into paganism and evidence of the irredeemable corruption of the Roman Church. Reformers generally acknowledged Mary as God's chosen instrument, but rejected what Latimer saw as the foolish opinion and the doctrine of the papists, which would have us to worship a creature before the Creator.""

"The Rosary is my favourite prayer. A marvellous prayer! Marvellous in its simplicity and in its depth. … In fact, against the background of the words "Ave Maria" there pass before the eyes of the soul the main episodes in the life of Jesus Christ. They are composed altogether of the joyful, sorrowful and glorious mysteries, and they put us in living communion with Jesus through—we could say—his Mother's heart. At the same time our heart can enclose in these decades of the Rosary all the facts that make up the life of the individual, the family, the nation, the Church and mankind. Personal matters and those of one's neighbour, and particularly of those who are closest to us, who are dearest to us. Thus the simple prayer of the Rosary beats the rhythm of human life."

"His Golden lockes, Time hath to Silver turn’d, O Time too swift, O Swiftnesse never ceasing: His Youth gainst Time and Age hath ever spurn’d But spurn’d in vain, Youth waineth by increasing. Beauty Strength, Youth, are flowers, but fading seen, Duty, Faith, Love are roots, and ever greene.His Helmet now, shall make a hive for Bees, And Lovers Sonets, turn’d to holy Psalmes: A man at Armes must now serve on his knees, And feede on praiers, which are Age his almes. But though from Court to Cottage he depart, His Saint is sure of his unspotted heart.And when he saddest sits in homely Cell, He’ll teach his Swaines this Carroll for a Song, Blest be the heartes that wish my Soveraigne well, Curst be the soules that thinke her any wrong. Goddesse, allow this agèd man his right, To be your Beads-man now, that was your Knight."

"There is this one very little miracle that I attribute to the Rosary. ... I was passing this other tractor on the road, and it was a very narrow road, and I got over too far, and the box and tractor slipped into the ditch. ... So later on, after we had finished with the chopping in the evening, we went to roll the box back up. ... I went over to my dad, and I asked him, you know, "how's the box doing?" And he said there was not a single dent or scratch on the box. Well actually first he looked at me and asked "did you pray the Rosary?" And I was like "yeah" ... And that's when he told me that the box was completely okay. ... I prayed the Rosary asking Mary to protect me and the box, and she answered my prayer!"

"The hours I spent with thee, dear heart, Are as a string of pearls to me; I count them over, every one apart, My rosary.Each hour a pearl, each pearl a prayer, To still a heart in absence wrung; I tell each bead unto the end and there A cross is hung.Oh memories that bless—and burn! Oh barren gain—and bitter loss! I kiss each bead, and strive at last to learn To kiss the cross, Sweetheart, To kiss the cross."

"Make not your rosary of yew-berries,"

"The Beadsman, after thousand aves told, For aye unsought for slept among his ashes cold."

"Numb were the Beadsman’s fingers, while he told His rosary, and while his frosted breath, Like pious incense from a censor old, Seem’d taking flight for heaven, without a death, Past the sweet Virgin’s picture, while his prayer he saith."

"No Rosary this Vot’ress needs, Her very Syllables are Beads."

"I have a Mistresse for perfections rare In every eye, but in my thoughts most faire. Like Tapers on the Altar shine her eyes; Her breath is the perfume of Sacrifice. And where soe’re my fancy would begin, Still her perfection lets religion in. I touch her like my Beads with devout care; And come unto my Courtship as my Praier."

"The ruddy rosary"

"The Rosary, though clearly Marian in character, is at heart a Christocentric prayer. In the sobriety of its elements, it has all the depth of the Gospel message in its entirety, of which it can be said to be a compendium. It is an echo of the prayer of Mary, her perennial Magnificat for the work of the redemptive Incarnation which began in her virginal womb. With the Rosary, the Christian people sits at the school of Mary and is led to contemplate the beauty on the face of Christ and to experience the depths of his love."

"There has also been felt with greater urgency the need to point out once more the importance of a further essential element in the Rosary, in addition to the value of the elements of praise and petition, namely the element of contemplation. Without this the Rosary is a body without a soul, and its recitation is in danger of becoming a mechanical repetition of formulas and of going counter to the warning of Christ: "And in praying do not heap up empty phrases as the Gentiles do; for they think that they will be heard for their many words" (Mt. 6:7). By its nature the recitation of the Rosary calls for a quiet rhythm and a lingering pace, helping the individual to meditate on the mysteries of the Lord's life as seen through the eyes of her who was closest to the Lord. In this way the unfathomable riches of these mysteries are unfolded."

"(About the Attempted assassination of Pope John Paul II) Interviewer: Was he really convinced that he had been saved by Our Lady? Cardinal Re: Of course. The Governorate of the Vatican posed the question of how to commemorate in St. Peter's Square that dramatic event that took place there. The Pope's answer was immediate: an image of Our Lady was to be placed in memory of the attack. He was convinced that the Blessed Virgin Mary had been present on 13 May to guide the bullet, so that the Pope would survive. Thus, since 8 December 1981, anyone arriving at St. Peter's Square has seen a mosaic of Our Lady holding the Child Jesus in her arms, and at her feet the title Mater Ecclesiae and the coat of arms of John Paul II, with the motto Totus tuus, dominating from a ledge of the Apostolic Palace."

"‘'Fatima, Portugal, July 13, 1917’' Lucia raised her wide eyes to the sky and saw the Lady descending. The apparition came from the east, as on the two previous occasions: a bright dot emerging from the depths of a cloud-covered sky. It approached quickly, gliding without fluctuation, and its figure shone with light as soon as it settled on the holm oak, a couple of meters above the ground. The Lady stood, her crystallized image enveloped in a glow that seemed to shine brighter than the sun. Faced with such blinding beauty, Lucia lowered her gaze."

"Although there are cases in which not only “images” of Hell were shown (which, in my opinion, is the case with the vision of Hell by the children of Fatima), but certain chosen ones had the subjective certainty that a number of men are already lost, nevertheless in them (and this is the purpose of the Revelation) the desire to oppose what has been shown to them, to annul it, far prevails over the idea that, in the face of what has been contemplated as lost, there is nothing more to be done."

"Interviewer: Why did a great Mariologist like Renè Laurentin never deal with Fatima? Because he considered it difficult. Lourdes was a straightforward apparition, while Fatima had several parts and, above all, a disclosure of secrets much later in the years. So he decided not to be called upon to investigate that event. He said this with great cultural independence even to the president of the Portuguese Episcopal Conference, sent directly by the Portuguese patriarch, who would have made everything possible available to him to study the phenomenon. And then too many political passions had been unleashed on Fatima, which in his opinion would have hindered his work... [Laurentin was] a good and easy-going man, always available, and he was not only a Mariologist and the greatest expert on Lourdes."

"Mary is everywhere: Marigolds are named for her. Hail Mary passes save football games. The image in Mexico of Our Lady of Guadalupe is one of the most reproduced female likenesses ever. Mary draws millions each year to shrines such as Fátima, in Portugal, and Knock, in Ireland, sustaining religious tourism estimated to be worth billions of dollars a year and providing thousands of jobs. She inspired the creation of many great works of art and architecture (Michelangelo’s “Pietà,” Notre Dame Cathedral), as well as poetry, liturgy, and music (Monteverdi’s Vespers for the Blessed Virgin). And she is the spiritual confidante of billions of people, no matter how isolated or forgotten. Muslims as well as Christians consider her to be holy above all women, and her name “Maryam” appears more often in the Koran than “Mary” does in the Bible. In the New Testament Mary speaks only four times, beginning with the Annunciation, when, according to Luke’s Gospel, the angel Gabriel appears to her and says she will bear “the Son of the Most High.” Mary answers, “Here am I, the servant of the Lord.” Her only extended speech, also in Luke, is the lyrical Magnificat, uttered in early pregnancy: “My soul magnifies the Lord, and my spirit rejoices in God my Savior, for he has looked with favor on the lowliness of his servant. Surely, from now on all generations will call me blessed.” Indeed they have."

"Union with God, the great aim of all prayer and all worship finds its clearest expression in the Magnificat at the end of the day office. All the joy of liturgical prayer leads to oneness with God, and flows out of him again: ‘And my spirit rejoiced in God my Saviour'."

"And Mary said, My soul doth magnify the Lord,"

"My soul magnifies the Lord,"

"The Magnificat shows us how carefully the Mother keeps all God's words in her heart. She says only what her mission requires, remaining silent about everything else. However, her words reveal that she knows much more. Her silence is not forgetfulness, but memory. She includes everything in her prayer and now, since her Son is in her womb, her prayer has become more indivisible than ever from that of her Son."

"The Magnificat that Mary recites to Elizabeth contains the interpretation of her personal mission, a mission that almost disappears in the greatness of God who conferred it upon her. She begins by exalting God and puts all the joy of her soul into this praise. She has always prayed in silence and will continue to do so as long as she lives. However, it is part of her mission to pray once before witnesses, in public. At this moment, God needs her as a follower who must respond to what Elizabeth perceives in her; this response is suggested to her by the Father himself and contains her entire message to Elizabeth and, through her, to humanity."

"Mary knows that within her a child is gestating. For she thereupon composed a song. It is the greatest song in history. This "Magnificat" is the battle-hymn of democracy. Sensing a child within her, Mary feels herself equal to the Roman Empire; and she announces that the days of despotism are numbered. Caesar on his seven-hilled throne may sacrilegiously style himself Augustus, "the divine one." But Mary as confidently disallows him that title. Heaven is not on the side of privilege and oppression, she affirms, but is rather on the side of the trodden. Rome is great, but Galilee with God is greater. In this song three classes of people are objects of Our Lady's invective — " the proud," "the mighty," and "the rich." And she passes upon them a threefold sentence: they are to be "scattered," "put down from their seats," and "sent empty away.""

"Why, asked Luther, was Mary venerated when her role was at best an example of obedience and essentially that of providing Jesus with a womb for nine months? Or, as it was put more disparagingly by Latimer and others, when she was but a pudding sack or a "bag of saffron...when the spice was out," a slur that was sufficiently au courant in 1536 to be specifically named and banned as heretical."

"Richard Marks points to the "massive expansion" of representations of the Virgin in fourteenth- and fifteenth-century parish churches. But Madonnas, he points out, "not only multiplied," they also "diversified." Sir Thomas More pointed out to reformers such as Dyndale that the various ladies - such as those of Walingham, Ipswich, and, nearer to his home in Chelsea at Willesden, to which he made a pilgrimage just before he was imprisoned - were "but the images of our Lady herself.""

"[W]hat are the stories which we have projected upon the elusive figure of the Virgin? And to what extent were there alternate stories that might have been more liberatory than repressive? One on which Kristeva focuses is the "censorship of Mary's sexuality" which, she asserts, has been the most devastating erasure of human pleasure and fulfillment in our history. Another powerful story of which the Virgin has been the center and by which our history has been haunted, is the fantasy that we can overcome "the unthinkable of death by postulating maternal love in its place," and so move beyond the rule of the father."

"Kristeva asserts that although the image and associated stories of Mary constructed by the Church may have been a primary means by which it has tried to keep potential power of the female under paternal control, and so helped to "infantalize half the human race by hampering their sexual and intellectual expression," we should nevertheless consider that the stories embodying such religious beliefs are projections of fantasies which reveal the primal bedrock of our identities, and therefore should be listened to with care. Quoting Philippe Sollers, Kristeva puns that the hole" of the Virgin, both the genital gap and the "empty space left for Mary" around which "the members of the Christian Trinity revolve," is the center of the most profound of human fantasies. That (w)hole represents where we come from and where we will return."

"In his biblical commentaries, Latimer attacks Mary for what he sees as pride, bad manners, arrogance, and - in an extraordinarily revealing remark given the history of Christianity and its emphasis on motherhood - for reprimanding Jesus "like a mother." As MacCulloch comments,the very phrase forms "a clue to Latimer's unconscious feelings," especially his need to neutralize or destroy specifically female or motherly power."