“Thou hast not spared thy life, by reason of the distress and tribulation of thy people, but hast prevented our ruin in the presence of our God.” (Judith 13:25)
MARY AS CO-REDEMPTRIX
“In the decree of the S. C. of the Holy Office (section on Indulgences), “Sunt quos amor,” June 26, 1913 (AAS 5 [1913] 364), he [Benedict XV] praises the custom of adding to the name of Jesus the name of ‘His Mother, our coredemptor, the blessed Mary’; cf. also the prayer enriched by the Holy Office with an indulgence, in which the Blessed Virgin Mary is called ‘coredemptress of the human race’ (Jan. 22, 1914; AAS 6 [1914] 108).” (The Sources of Catholic Dogma, Denzinger, 1978a, footnote 2)
O blessed Virgin, Mother of God, look down in mercy from Heaven, where thou art enthroned as Queen, upon me, a miserable sinner, thine unworthy servant. Although I know full well my own unworthiness, yet in order to atone for the offenses that are done to thee by impious and blasphemous tongues, from the depths of my heart I praise and extol thee as the purest, the fairest, the holiest creature of all God's handiwork. I bless thy holy name, I praise thine exalted privilege of being truly Mother of God, ever virgin, conceived without stain of sin, Co-Redemptrix of the human race. I bless the Eternal Father who chose thee in an especial way for His daughter; I bless the Word Incarnate who took upon Himself our nature in thy bosom and so made thee His Mother; I bless the Holy Spirit who took thee as His bride. All honor, praise and thanksgiving to the ever-blessed Trinity, who predestined thee and loved thee so exceedingly from all eternity as to exalt thee above all creatures to the most sublime heights. O Virgin, holy and merciful, obtain for all who offend thee the grace of repentance, and graciously accept this poor act of homage from me thy servant, obtaining likewise for me from thy divine Son the pardon and remission of all my sins. Amen.
An indulgence of 500 days (Holy Office, Jan. 22, 1914; S. P. Ap., Dec. 4, 1934).
(Raccolta, ed. 1957)
O Mary, most sorrowful Virgin, I compassionate thee in thy woe. Thou shouldst never have known suffering, thou the most innocent of creatures, had it not been that, like Jesus, thou wouldst bear the punishment of our sins. Obtain for me of thy Son, I beg thee, the grace to hate sin with all my heart, as the sole cause of thy sufferings and of the passion of Jesus Christ. Amen.
O Mary, Mother of Our Redeemer, Immaculate Virgin, temple of God, and sanctuary of the Holy Ghost, thou art the sole creature who in such a manner wast pleasing to Jesus Christ, that He associated thee in the work of our ransom. Grant me, I beseech thee, to flee sin, and never to seek anything but the good pleasure of God. Amen.
O Mary, inseparable companion of Jesus in the work of our redemption, interpose, I pray thee, thy powerful mediation with thy Son, that the immense sufferings which He endured for me may not be wasted: but that I may find in His sacred wounds all my consolation in this life, and eternal salvation in the hour of my death. Amen.
Praises to Mary Most Holy
Praised be Mary,
Daughter of the Eternal Father;
May Mary be ever praised.
Praised be Mary,
Mother of the Word Incarnate;
May Mary be ever praised.
Praised be Mary,
Spouse of the Divine Spirit;
May Mary be ever praised.
Praised be Mary,
Co-redemptress of the world;
May Mary be ever praised.
Praised be Mary,
Immaculate Queen;
May Mary be ever praised.
Praised be Mary,
Full of grace;
May Mary be ever praised.
Praised be Mary,
Refuge of sinners;
May Mary be ever praised.
Praised be Mary,
Mother most merciful;
May Mary be ever praised.
Praised be Mary,
Consoler of the sorrowful;
May Mary be ever praised.
Praised be Mary,
Refuge of the afflicted;
May Mary be ever praised.
Praised be Mary,
Star of promise in the midst of evil;
May Mary be ever praised.
Praised be Mary,
Safe harbour for travellers;
May Mary be ever praised.
Praised be Mary,
Our comfort in life;
May Mary be ever praised.
Praised be Mary,
Our hope in death;
May Mary be ever praised.
THE SUFFERINGS OF MARY AS
CO-REDEMPTRIX
(Apocalypse 12:1-2) “And a great sign appeared in heaven: A woman clothed with the sun, and the moon under her feet, and on her head a crown of twelve stars: And being with child, she cried travailing in birth, and was in pain to be delivered.”
“Everyone knows that this woman signified the Virgin Mary, the stainless one who brought forth our Head. ... What birth was it? Surely it was the birth of us who, still in exile, are yet to be generated to the perfect charity of God, and to eternal happiness.” (St. Pius X, Encyclical, Ad diem illum, 1904)
“Beneath the cross of her divine Son, she has reborne us to life with great pain, just as Eve our first mother has borne us under the tree of forbidden fruit unto death.” (St. Antoninus)
“... as Jesus Christ really formed his Church on Calvary, it is plain that the holy Virgin really co-operated with him, in a peculiar and excellent manner, in its formation. And for the same reason it may be said, that if she brought forth Jesus Christ, the head of the Church, without pain, she did not bring forth the body of this head without pain. Hence she commenced on Calvary to be, in a particular manner, mother of the whole Church.” (St. Alphonsus Liguori, The Glories of Mary, p. 14)
“Moreover, we are children extremely dear to Mary, because we cost her so much suffering. Those children are much dearer to a mother whose lives she has preserved;—we are those children, for whom, that we may have the life of grace, Mary suffered the pain of sacrificing the dear life of her Jesus; submitting, for our sake, to see him die before her eyes in cruel torments. By this great offering of Mary we were then born to the life of divine grace. So, then, we are children very dear to her, because we were redeemed at such a cost of suffering.” (Ibid., p. 54)
“Already the most holy Virgin, as St. Jerome says, had been enlightened through the divine Scriptures to know the sufferings which the Redeemer was to endure in his life, and still more at the time of his death. ... but in the words of St. Simeon: ‘And thy own soul a sword shall pierce,’ as the Lord revealed to St. Theresa, all the minute circumstances of the external as well as internal sufferings which her Jesus was to endure in his passion, were made known to her. She consented to all with a firmness which made the angels wonder, and pronounced the sentence that her Son should die, and die by a death so ignominious and painful, in these words: Eternal Father, since thou dost will it, not my will, but thine be done: ‘Non mea voluntas, sed tua fiat;’ I unite mine to thy holy will, and sacrifice to thee this my Son; I am satisfied that he should lose his life for thy glory, and for the salvation of the world. And I also sacrifice to thee my heart; let grief pierce it as much as pleases thee; it suffices to me that thou, oh my God, art glorified and satisfied; not my will, but thine be done. ... And hence Mary, in the passion of Jesus, was silent when he was unjustly accused; she said nothing to Pilate, who was inclined to liberate him, for he had already known his innocence; but she only appeared in public to be present at the great sacrifice, which was to be offered on Calvary. She accompanied him to the place of punishment; she was with him from the first moment he was placed upon the cross: There stood by the cross of Jesus his mother: ‘Stabat juxta crucem Jesu mater ejus;’ until she saw him expire, and the sacrifice was consummated. And all this to complete the offering which she had already made of him to God in the temple.” (Ibid., pp. 461, 463-464)
“Mary not only offered her Son to death in the temple, but was offering him up at every moment of her life; for she revealed to St. Bridget, that this grief which St. Simeon announced to her, never left her heart till she was assumed into heaven. Hence St. Anselm says: Oh Lady, I cannot believe, that with such a sorrow thou wouldst have been able to live one moment, if God himself, who gives life, had not strengthened thee by his divine power. And St. Bernard affirms, speaking of the great sorrow that Mary endured on this day, that henceforth she suffered a living death, bearing a grief more cruel than death. She lived, dying at every moment, because grief for the death of her beloved Jesus, which was more cruel than any death, was at every moment assailing her. The divine mother then, on account of the great merit she acquired in this great sacrifice, which she made to God for the salvation of the world, was justly called by St. Augustine: The restorer of the human race: ‘Reparatrix generis humani.’ By St. Epiphanius: The redeemer of captives: ‘Redemptrix captivorum.’ By St. Ildephonsus: The restorer of the ruined world: ‘Reparatrix perditi orbis.’ By St. Germanus: The consolation of our miseries: ‘Restauratio calamitatum nostrarum.’ By St. Ambrose: The mother of all believers: ‘Mater omnium credentium.’ By St. Augustine: The mother of the living: ‘Mater viventium.’ By St. Andrew of Crete: The mother of life: ‘Mater vitæ.’ For, as St. Arnold Carnotensis says: In the death of Jesus, Mary united her will to that of her Son in such a manner, that both offered the same sacrifice; and therefore the holy abbot says, that thus the Son and the mother effected the human redemption, obtaining salvation for men. Jesus by satisfying for our sins, Mary by obtaining for us that this satisfaction should be applied to us. And hence blessed Denis the Carthusian likewise affirms, that the divine mother may be called the salvation of the world, since by the pain she endured in commiserating her Son (voluntarily sacrificed by her to divine justice), she merited that the merits of the Redeemer should be communicated to men.” (Ibid., pp. 467-469)
“But if the lips of Mary were silent, her heart was not so; for she did not cease offering to divine justice the life of her Son for our salvation. Therefore we know that by the merits of her dolors she co-operated with Christ in bringing us forth to the life of grace, and therefore we are children of her sorrows.” (Ibid., p. 574)
“And she herself revealed to St. Bridget, that as Adam and Eve sold the world for one apple, so her Son and herself with one heart redeemed the world.” (Ibid., pp. 185-186)
“The Virgin participated with Jesus Christ in the very painful act of redemption.” (Pius XI, Apostolic Letter, Explorata res, 1923)
“So did she suffer with her suffering and dying son, and almost die; so did she abdicate her maternal rights over her Son for the salvation of men, and to placate God's justice, insofar as was fitting for her, so did she sacrifice her Son, that it can properly be said that she with Christ redeemed the human race.” (Benedict XV, Apostolic Letter, Inter sodalicia, 1918)
MEDIATRIX OF ALL GRACES
“Mary, then, having been made the mother of all the redeemed, by the merit of her sufferings, and of the offering of her Son; it is just to believe that only by her hand may be given them the milk of those divine graces, which are the fruits of the merits of Jesus Christ, and the means to obtain life eternal. And it is to this that St. Bernard alludes, when he says that God has placed in the hands of Mary the whole price of our redemption. By which the saint gives us to understand, that by means of the intercession of the blessed Virgin, the merits of the Redeemer are applied to souls, as by her hand these graces are dispensed, which are precisely the price of the merits of Jesus Christ.” (The Glories of Mary, p. 469)
“St. Bonaventure, speaking of the field of the Gospel where the treasure is hidden which should be bought at any great price, as Jesus Christ hath said: ‘The kingdom of heaven is like unto a treasure hidden in a field, which, when a man hath found, he hideth, and for joy thereof goeth and selleth all that he hath, and buyeth that field’ (Matt. xiii. 44), remarks that this field is our Queen Mary, in whom is the treasure of God, that is, Jesus Christ, and with Jesus Christ the source and fountain of all graces. St. Bernard also affirms that the Lord has placed in the hands of Mary all the graces that he wishes to dispense to us, that we may know that whatever of good we receive, we receive it all from her hands. And of this Mary herself assures us, when she says: In me is all grace of the way and of the truth: ‘In me gratia omnis viæ et veritatis’ (Eccli. xxiv. 25).” (Ibid., pp. 440-441)
“... as no line proceeds from the centre of a circle which does not pass through its circumference; thus no grace comes to us from Jesus, who is the centre of every good, that does not pass through Mary, who encompassed him after she had received him in her womb. Hence, says St. Bernardine, all gifts, all virtues, and all graces, are dispensed by Mary to whom she will, when she will, and in the manner she will. Richard of St. Laurence likewise says, that God wishes all the good he bestows on creatures to pass through the hands of Mary.” (Ibid., p. 179)
“And as Mary was the beginning of our joy, so is she also the completion of it; for St. Bernard says that Jesus Christ has placed the whole treasure of his merits in the hands of his mother, so that every good we receive we may receive through Mary.” (Ibid., p. 738)
“In vain, says St. Bernard, would one pray to the other saints for a desired favor, if Mary did not intercede to obtain it for them. Thus also a certain author explains, in this connection, that passage of David: ‘All the rich among the people, shall entreat thy countenance’ (Ps. xliv. 13). The rich of that great people of God are the saints, who, when they wish to obtain a favor for one of their clients, all recommend themselves to Mary, that she may obtain it for them. Justly, then, says Father Suarez, we implore the saints to be our intercessors with Mary, who is their lady and queen.” (Ibid., pp. 192-193)
“The Lord, speaking to the spouse of the Canticles, by whom is understood Mary, says: ‘Thou that dwellest in the gardens, the friends hearken: make me hear thy voice’ (Cant. viii. 13). The friends are the saints, who, when they ask any favor for their clients, wait until their queen prays to God for it and obtains it; for, as was said before, no favor is dispensed except by the intercession of Mary. And how does Mary obtain favors? It is enough that her Son hears her voice: ‘Make me hear thy voice.’ ” (Ibid., pp. 207-208)
“This grace, as We have had occasion to write (Cf. Letter to Cardinal E. Pacelli, Osservatore Romano, September 5, 1937), We attribute to the special intercession of the virgin of Lisieux, St. Therese of the Child Jesus. But We know, though, that everything comes to us from Almighty God through the hands of Our Lady.” (Pius XI, Encyclical, Ingravescentibus Malis, 1937)
“And from this community of will and suffering between Christ and Mary she merited to become most worthily the Reparatrix of the lost world (Eadmeri Mon. De Excellentia Virg. Mariae, c. 9) and Dispensatrix of all the gifts that Our Savior purchased for us by His Death and by His Blood. ... Mary, as St. Bernard justly remarks, is the channel (Serm. de temp on the Nativ. B. V. De Aquaeductu n. 4); or, if you will, the connecting portion, the function of which is to join the body to the head and to transmit to the body the influences and volitions of the head—We mean the neck. Yes, says St. Bernardine of Sienna, ‘she is the neck of Our Head, by which He communicates to His mystical body all spiritual gifts’ (Quadrag. de Evangel. aetern. Serm. x., a. 3, c. iii.). We are then, it will be seen, very far from attributing to the Mother of God a productive power of grace, a power which belongs to God alone. Yet, since Mary carries it over all in holiness and union with Jesus Christ, and has been associated by Jesus Christ in the work of redemption, she merits for us de congruo, in the language of theologians, what Jesus Christ merits for us de condigno, and she is the supreme Minister of the distribution of graces.” (St. Pius X, Encyclical, Ad diem illum, 1904)
“Therefore, no less truly and properly may it be affirmed that nothing at all of the very great treasure of every grace, which the Lord confers, since ‘grace and truth came by Jesus Christ’ (Jn 1, 17), nothing is imparted to us except through Mary” (Leo XIII, Encyclical, Octobri mense, 1891)
ADVOCATE OF SINNERS
“Mary was also destined to be the advocate of sinners; and for this reason also it was meet that God should preserve her from sin, that she might not appear guilty of the very sin of those for whom she was to intercede.” (The Glories of Mary, p. 761)
“She herself declared to the venerable sister Mary Villani, saying: ‘Next to the title of mother of God, I glory most in being named the advocate of sinners.’ ” (Ibid., p. 218)
“And to increase our confidence, St. Anselm adds, that when we have recourse to this divine mother, we may not only be sure of her protection, but that sometimes we shall be sooner heard and saved by invoking her holy name than that of Jesus our Saviour. And he gives this reason: Because it belongs to Christ, as our judge, to punish, but to Mary, as our advocate, to pity.” (Ibid., p. 149)