Mary and the Saints
By Michael Putney
The renewal of the Church by the Second Vatican Council can be compared to the renovation of a large and beautiful house with too many rooms to count and far too much furniture for the rooms, much of it from a previous period. It had all served the occupants of the house well for a long time. Then, Pope John XXIII correctly decided that it was time for the windows of the house to be opened to allow the renewing wind of the Holy Spirit to blow through. He wanted to preserve the beautiful house but saw the need to change the furniture and do some internal restructuring for the sake of those who lived there.
Gradually, most people have become very happy with the new living space but in some rooms people occasionally still feel a sense of nostalgia. One such room may be that which contained their devotion to Mary and the saints.
Mary and the saints are an integral and important part of the Catholic tradition which it has treasured since the first centuries of the Church’s life and which it would lose or diminish at great loss to itself. Today there is no longer any danger of turning devotion into superstition, or of replacing Christ at the centre of our Christian life by Mary or one of the saints. Nor is there a danger of replacing the eucharist at the centre of our worship by devotional practices, whether communal or private.
However, there is a danger that we will neglect this integral dimension of our tradition. If we do so, we might cease to wonder at God’s achievement in the human through the grace of Christ. We might lose sight of the richness, diversity and sheer beauty of the communion of saints to which we belong; and we may well miss the insights into how one is to live as a disciple of Christ through the example of those who were claimed by God precisely to show us the way.
VENERATE, IMITATE, INVOKE
In the Catholic tradition we venerate, imitate and invoke the intercession of the saints.
We venerate them because we see in them not incredible examples of humanity but incredible examples of human beings transformed by the grace of God given to us in Christ, through the working of the Holy Spirit. To celebrate a feast of a saint is to give glory to the God who has done such a marvellous thing in the life of one of us, and to recognise that the same God can do similar extraordinary things in our lives if we would but let it happen.
We imitate the saints because we realise that they have been transformed by God precisely to offer us examples of how to be disciples of Christ in our time and our situation. Not all saints have relevance to our situation. Some are examples for a particular age or culture. That is one of the reasons why the calendar of saints needed to be pruned. Many of those remaining in the general calendar are there because their model of discipleship still has relevance for the Church of this age and in many places. However this role is only well served when we move beyond the too succinct “she was renowned for her penitential life” to a more robust account of the real life of the saint. Then we can see how she or he actually dealt with issues like those confronting us today.
We invoke the intercession of the saints in the sense that, in Christ the one mediator, we ask their prayers just as we would those of our family or friends.
The litany of the saints in our initiation and ordination liturgies is a good example of this.
The renewal of the Church by the Second Vatican Council can be compared to the renovation of a large and beautiful house with too many rooms to count and far too much furniture for the rooms, much of it from a previous period. It had all served the occupants of the house well for a long time. Then, Pope John XXIII correctly decided that it was time for the windows of the house to be opened to allow the renewing wind of the Holy Spirit to blow through. He wanted to preserve the beautiful house but saw the need to change the furniture and do some internal restructuring for the sake of those who lived there.
Gradually, most people have become very happy with the new living space but in some rooms people occasionally still feel a sense of nostalgia. One such room may be that which contained their devotion to Mary and the saints.
Mary and the saints are an integral and important part of the Catholic tradition which it has treasured since the first centuries of the Church’s life and which it would lose or diminish at great loss to itself. Today there is no longer any danger of turning devotion into superstition, or of replacing Christ at the centre of our Christian life by Mary or one of the saints. Nor is there a danger of replacing the eucharist at the centre of our worship by devotional practices, whether communal or private.
However, there is a danger that we will neglect this integral dimension of our tradition. If we do so, we might cease to wonder at God’s achievement in the human through the grace of Christ. We might lose sight of the richness, diversity and sheer beauty of the communion of saints to which we belong; and we may well miss the insights into how one is to live as a disciple of Christ through the example of those who were claimed by God precisely to show us the way.
VENERATE, IMITATE, INVOKE
In the Catholic tradition we venerate, imitate and invoke the intercession of the saints.
We venerate them because we see in them not incredible examples of humanity but incredible examples of human beings transformed by the grace of God given to us in Christ, through the working of the Holy Spirit. To celebrate a feast of a saint is to give glory to the God who has done such a marvellous thing in the life of one of us, and to recognise that the same God can do similar extraordinary things in our lives if we would but let it happen.
We imitate the saints because we realise that they have been transformed by God precisely to offer us examples of how to be disciples of Christ in our time and our situation. Not all saints have relevance to our situation. Some are examples for a particular age or culture. That is one of the reasons why the calendar of saints needed to be pruned. Many of those remaining in the general calendar are there because their model of discipleship still has relevance for the Church of this age and in many places. However this role is only well served when we move beyond the too succinct “she was renowned for her penitential life” to a more robust account of the real life of the saint. Then we can see how she or he actually dealt with issues like those confronting us today.
We invoke the intercession of the saints in the sense that, in Christ the one mediator, we ask their prayers just as we would those of our family or friends.
The litany of the saints in our initiation and ordination liturgies is a good example of this.
LITURGICAL SPIRITUALITY : SAINTS
Too many people are uncertain how to go about reclaiming this dimension of our tradition. As always it is the liturgy which shows us the way. When the calendar was pruned after the Council, it was not so that we might sideline the saints and even Mary from our liturgical and devotional life. Rather it was that we might integrate them in a way consistent with the renewal taking place in every aspect of Church life.
In a typical month one finds solemnities, feasts, memorials and optional memorials of Mary or the saints.
Solemnities must be celebrated and even take precedence over the Sunday celebration. Feasts too are celebrated with their own readings. While there is a tradition in Catholic spirituality of daily Mass there is also a liturgical tradition which differentiates between days according to what is being celebrated. Not every weekday is the same: feasts are days of special celebration. It is a pity if they pass unacknowledged.
Memorials are celebrated normally without disturbing the continuous reading of the word of God for the week in question. Nonetheless they have the potential to draw us into the mystery of the communion of the Church and the communion of saints in its fullest sense. They offer us examples of the working of God’s grace from many different ages and many different places. These can inspire us to similar discipleship in our own time and place.
VIRGIN MARY – WOMAN OF FAITH
Feasts of Mary belong to a category all of their own because of the special place she has in the Catholic tradition. The history of devotion to Mary is as varied as any other aspect of the tradition but like so much else it was reshaped by the Second Vatican Council to meet the needs of the contemporary Church. That Mary was included in the Dogmatic Constitution on the Church and not in a special document gives the clue to the new shape of marian devotion and celebration of marian feasts.
Pope John Paul II in his encyclical, Redemptoris Mater (1987), situates Mary in the Church as a woman of faith sharing in the pilgrimage of the other members of the people of God while at the same time unique among them as the mother of God (Theotokos):
Too many people are uncertain how to go about reclaiming this dimension of our tradition. As always it is the liturgy which shows us the way. When the calendar was pruned after the Council, it was not so that we might sideline the saints and even Mary from our liturgical and devotional life. Rather it was that we might integrate them in a way consistent with the renewal taking place in every aspect of Church life.
In a typical month one finds solemnities, feasts, memorials and optional memorials of Mary or the saints.
Solemnities must be celebrated and even take precedence over the Sunday celebration. Feasts too are celebrated with their own readings. While there is a tradition in Catholic spirituality of daily Mass there is also a liturgical tradition which differentiates between days according to what is being celebrated. Not every weekday is the same: feasts are days of special celebration. It is a pity if they pass unacknowledged.
Memorials are celebrated normally without disturbing the continuous reading of the word of God for the week in question. Nonetheless they have the potential to draw us into the mystery of the communion of the Church and the communion of saints in its fullest sense. They offer us examples of the working of God’s grace from many different ages and many different places. These can inspire us to similar discipleship in our own time and place.
VIRGIN MARY – WOMAN OF FAITH
Feasts of Mary belong to a category all of their own because of the special place she has in the Catholic tradition. The history of devotion to Mary is as varied as any other aspect of the tradition but like so much else it was reshaped by the Second Vatican Council to meet the needs of the contemporary Church. That Mary was included in the Dogmatic Constitution on the Church and not in a special document gives the clue to the new shape of marian devotion and celebration of marian feasts.
Pope John Paul II in his encyclical, Redemptoris Mater (1987), situates Mary in the Church as a woman of faith sharing in the pilgrimage of the other members of the people of God while at the same time unique among them as the mother of God (Theotokos):
For knowledge of the mystery of Christ leads us to bless his mother, in the form of special veneration for the Theotokos. But this veneration always includes a blessing of her faith, for the Virgin of Nazareth became blessed above all through this faith.
In an apostolic exhortation Marialis Cultus (1974) precisely on “the right ordering and development of devotion to the blessed Virgin Mary”, Pope Paul VI had this to say:
The Virgin Mary has always been proposed to the faithful by the Church as an example to be imitated not precisely in the type of life she led, and much less for the socio-cultural background in which she lived and which today scarcely exists anywhere. She is held up as an example to the faithful rather for the way in which, in her own particular life, she heard the word of God and acted on it and because charity and a spirit of service were the driving force of her actions. She is worthy of imitation because she was the first and most perfect of Christ’s disciples.
MARY IN THE LITURGY
The Solemnity of the Assumption of Mary is an occasion for worshipping the Father who has done great things in Mary, the Spirit who came upon her at the conception of Jesus and, above all, for recognising her participation in the resurrection of Christ himself who died that all might rise again. She becomes, as the one assumed into heaven, “the beginning and the pattern of the Church in its perfection and a sign of hope and comfort for God’s people on the pilgrim way” (Preface).
The Solemnity of Mary, Mother of God is the oldest Roman feast of Mary and honours her under her most important title. This day honours the mother of Christ, a week after we celebrate the birth of Christ thus making the Virgin Mary part of the Christmas celebration of the incarnation and relating her very much to the Son she bore. It is a pity that this, perhaps the greatest marian feast, is overshadowed by New Year’s Day. At the same time the Feast of the Holy Family, a recent feast (1921), has the privilege of being celebrated on the Sunday after Christmas. If, instead, the Solemnity of Mary, Mother of God were celebrated on that day, we would have a permanent Sunday celebration of Mary in our calendar.
The Solemnity of the Immaculate Conception of Mary is also related to Christmas and appropriately occurs during Advent. "Full of grace, Mary was to be a worthy mother of God's Son, God's sign of favour to the Church at its beginning, and the promise of its perfection as the bride of Christ, radiant in beauty" (Preface). Her freedom from sin, or her "gracing" as it is sometimes called in German, was because she was to be the mother of Christ. So "graced" Mary is an example of what God desires for all Christians and the supreme example of how the offer of God's grace surrounds us too from the first moment of our conception, achieving sacramental expression in our baptism. She is a sign of hope for the Church and a model for all other disciples, as they too experience the gift of the grace of Christ freeing them from sin.
In Australia, Mary, Help of Christians is celebrated as a solemnity. When I was a child this feast became an occasion for wonderful but un-nuanced stories of the victory of Christian forces at the battle of Lepanto. This ought not be the focus today. The opening prayer for this feast of the patroness of Australia reads: Lord, you place deep in our hearts the love of Mary, Help of Christians. Through her prayers grant wisdom to our leaders and integrity to our citizens. Under her protection may Australia be granted harmony, justice and peace. On this day we reflect on our own country and especially those places where harmony or justice may be lacking. It is a day on which we seek Mary's intercession for Australia and on which we hold up Mary as an example for authentic Christian life in Australia today.
In the first of two feasts of Mary in our calendar, the Visitation, we need to ponder the symbolic significance of Luke's account of Jesus' infancy: not just the encounter between Mary and Elizabeth but also between Jesus and John. Mary is proclaimed
"blessed among women ... blessed is she who believed that there would be fulfilment of what was spoken to her by the Lord". Mary is the woman who believed and obediently accepted the will of God and that grace enabled her to play a most significant role in the saving work of the one who was "fruit of her womb". In turn Mary proclaims her own song of praise, the Magnificat, which praises God and sings of the liberation that Christ will bring. As Pope Paul VI said of her in Marialis Cultus: "far from being a timidly submissive woman ... she was a woman who did not hesitate to proclaim that God vindicates the humble and the oppressed, and removes the powerful people of this world from their positions of privilege". This feast offers ample opportunity to rediscover Mary as a model of our age.
The Solemnity of the Assumption of Mary is an occasion for worshipping the Father who has done great things in Mary, the Spirit who came upon her at the conception of Jesus and, above all, for recognising her participation in the resurrection of Christ himself who died that all might rise again. She becomes, as the one assumed into heaven, “the beginning and the pattern of the Church in its perfection and a sign of hope and comfort for God’s people on the pilgrim way” (Preface).
The Solemnity of Mary, Mother of God is the oldest Roman feast of Mary and honours her under her most important title. This day honours the mother of Christ, a week after we celebrate the birth of Christ thus making the Virgin Mary part of the Christmas celebration of the incarnation and relating her very much to the Son she bore. It is a pity that this, perhaps the greatest marian feast, is overshadowed by New Year’s Day. At the same time the Feast of the Holy Family, a recent feast (1921), has the privilege of being celebrated on the Sunday after Christmas. If, instead, the Solemnity of Mary, Mother of God were celebrated on that day, we would have a permanent Sunday celebration of Mary in our calendar.
The Solemnity of the Immaculate Conception of Mary is also related to Christmas and appropriately occurs during Advent. "Full of grace, Mary was to be a worthy mother of God's Son, God's sign of favour to the Church at its beginning, and the promise of its perfection as the bride of Christ, radiant in beauty" (Preface). Her freedom from sin, or her "gracing" as it is sometimes called in German, was because she was to be the mother of Christ. So "graced" Mary is an example of what God desires for all Christians and the supreme example of how the offer of God's grace surrounds us too from the first moment of our conception, achieving sacramental expression in our baptism. She is a sign of hope for the Church and a model for all other disciples, as they too experience the gift of the grace of Christ freeing them from sin.
In Australia, Mary, Help of Christians is celebrated as a solemnity. When I was a child this feast became an occasion for wonderful but un-nuanced stories of the victory of Christian forces at the battle of Lepanto. This ought not be the focus today. The opening prayer for this feast of the patroness of Australia reads: Lord, you place deep in our hearts the love of Mary, Help of Christians. Through her prayers grant wisdom to our leaders and integrity to our citizens. Under her protection may Australia be granted harmony, justice and peace. On this day we reflect on our own country and especially those places where harmony or justice may be lacking. It is a day on which we seek Mary's intercession for Australia and on which we hold up Mary as an example for authentic Christian life in Australia today.
In the first of two feasts of Mary in our calendar, the Visitation, we need to ponder the symbolic significance of Luke's account of Jesus' infancy: not just the encounter between Mary and Elizabeth but also between Jesus and John. Mary is proclaimed
"blessed among women ... blessed is she who believed that there would be fulfilment of what was spoken to her by the Lord". Mary is the woman who believed and obediently accepted the will of God and that grace enabled her to play a most significant role in the saving work of the one who was "fruit of her womb". In turn Mary proclaims her own song of praise, the Magnificat, which praises God and sings of the liberation that Christ will bring. As Pope Paul VI said of her in Marialis Cultus: "far from being a timidly submissive woman ... she was a woman who did not hesitate to proclaim that God vindicates the humble and the oppressed, and removes the powerful people of this world from their positions of privilege". This feast offers ample opportunity to rediscover Mary as a model of our age.
The Birth of the Virgin Mary was introduced into the Roman calendar in the seventh century (though its origins are earlier) and its date established the date for the feast of the Immaculate Conception nine months before. As the prayers for the liturgy of the feast indicate, Mary's birth is celebrated because she was to become the mother of our saviour.
Of the four memorials of Mary in the calendar (Queenship of Mary, Our Lady of Sorrows, Our Lady of the Rosary and Presentation of Mary), the first is a prolongation of the celebration of the solemnity of the Assumption and focuses on Mary's intercessory role in heaven. The second follows the feast of the Triumph of the Cross and describes Mary as the mother "who stood by him, sharing his sufferings", and prays that the Church too might be united in Christ's sufferings and death. Again Mary emerges as a model of discipleship and a compassionate mother who intercedes for us. The Mass of Our Lady of the Rosary focuses in all its prayers on the mysteries of Christ's birth, death and resurrection meditated on in the rosary. The Presentation of Mary - one of the great marian feasts of the Eastern Church, acknowledged by Pope Paul VI to be based on legend - has become today a celebration of the holiness of Mary through the grace of God and again an occasion for seeking her intercession.
To take solemnities, feasts and memorials of Mary and the saints seriously as part of our liturgical year serves many ends. It enables us to praise God whose grace transforms our humanity and makes us into saints. It deepens our experience of the Church as a communion encompassing all ages and all places. It offers us models for discipleship in our own diverse situations. Finally it encourages us to seek the intercession of those who have gone before us and who are now gathered around Christ as that great "cloud of witnesses" (Hebrews 12:l ).
Fr Michael Putney S.T.D. is vice-rector at Pius XII Seminary, Banyo, and lectures in the theology of Church and sacraments.
This article reprinted from Liturgy News Vol 23(2) 1993
Of the four memorials of Mary in the calendar (Queenship of Mary, Our Lady of Sorrows, Our Lady of the Rosary and Presentation of Mary), the first is a prolongation of the celebration of the solemnity of the Assumption and focuses on Mary's intercessory role in heaven. The second follows the feast of the Triumph of the Cross and describes Mary as the mother "who stood by him, sharing his sufferings", and prays that the Church too might be united in Christ's sufferings and death. Again Mary emerges as a model of discipleship and a compassionate mother who intercedes for us. The Mass of Our Lady of the Rosary focuses in all its prayers on the mysteries of Christ's birth, death and resurrection meditated on in the rosary. The Presentation of Mary - one of the great marian feasts of the Eastern Church, acknowledged by Pope Paul VI to be based on legend - has become today a celebration of the holiness of Mary through the grace of God and again an occasion for seeking her intercession.
To take solemnities, feasts and memorials of Mary and the saints seriously as part of our liturgical year serves many ends. It enables us to praise God whose grace transforms our humanity and makes us into saints. It deepens our experience of the Church as a communion encompassing all ages and all places. It offers us models for discipleship in our own diverse situations. Finally it encourages us to seek the intercession of those who have gone before us and who are now gathered around Christ as that great "cloud of witnesses" (Hebrews 12:l ).
Fr Michael Putney S.T.D. is vice-rector at Pius XII Seminary, Banyo, and lectures in the theology of Church and sacraments.
This article reprinted from Liturgy News Vol 23(2) 1993
MARY IN THE LITURGICAL CALENDAR
Four Solemnities
• Mary Mother of God, 1 January
• Our Lady, Help of Christians, 24 May (Australian calendar)
• Assumption of Mary, 15 August (Holy day of obligation in Australia)
• Immaculate Conception of Mary, 8 December
Two Feasts
• Visitation, 31 May
• Nativity of Virgin Mary, 8 September
Four Memorials
• Queenship of Mary, 22 August
• Our Lady of Sorrows, 15 September
• Our Lady of the Rosary, 7 October
• Presentation of Mary, 21 November
Four Optional Memorials
• Our Lady of Lourdes, 11 February
• Immaculate Heart of Mary, Saturday after Sacred Heart
• Our Lady of Mount Carmel, 16 July
• Dedication of St Mary Major, 5 August
In addition, Mary's role figures prominently in two feasts of the Lord:
• The Presentation of the Lord, 2 February
• The Annunciation of the Lord, 25 March
and during the latter part of Advent and the Christmas season.
Four Solemnities
• Mary Mother of God, 1 January
• Our Lady, Help of Christians, 24 May (Australian calendar)
• Assumption of Mary, 15 August (Holy day of obligation in Australia)
• Immaculate Conception of Mary, 8 December
Two Feasts
• Visitation, 31 May
• Nativity of Virgin Mary, 8 September
Four Memorials
• Queenship of Mary, 22 August
• Our Lady of Sorrows, 15 September
• Our Lady of the Rosary, 7 October
• Presentation of Mary, 21 November
Four Optional Memorials
• Our Lady of Lourdes, 11 February
• Immaculate Heart of Mary, Saturday after Sacred Heart
• Our Lady of Mount Carmel, 16 July
• Dedication of St Mary Major, 5 August
In addition, Mary's role figures prominently in two feasts of the Lord:
• The Presentation of the Lord, 2 February
• The Annunciation of the Lord, 25 March
and during the latter part of Advent and the Christmas season.
The Presentation of the Lord