No, Catholics Don’t Worship Mary
Through the ages, more poems, hymns, statues (see Figure 17-1), icons, paintings, treatises, and sermons have been produced on this one woman than any other in all human history. Yet Catholics’ devotion to Mary, known as Marian devotion, has been criticized by non-Catholics as unbiblical or even idolatry. In this section, we explain that Catholics definitely don’t worship Mary, starting with some important facts about her life.
Born of two saintly parents — St. Joachim and St. Anne — Mary is mentioned in the Bible 47 times. Regarding Mary, the Bible says that
- She was engaged (Matthew 1:18 and Luke 1:27) to a carpenter (Matthew 13:55) named Joseph, whose ancestor was King David (Matthew 1:6–16).
- She came from Nazareth (Luke 1:26), and it was in Nazareth that the Archangel Gabriel appeared to her and announced, hence the term Annunciation, that she was to have a son and name Him Jesus (Luke 1:31).
It is this second role, Mary as the mother of Jesus, that makes Catholics so devoted to Mary. People of other faiths are sometimes baffled by the attention Catholics pay to Mary. To understand why Catholics are so affectionate and attached to her, think about the most primal of all emotions: the strong, penetrating bond between a mother and her child. Nine months in the womb is just one part of it.
Mary was not just an incubator in which baby Jesus developed from embryo to infant. Like all mothers, she was a full and true mom in every sense of the word. Motherhood is not just having a baby in your womb for nine months — a mother also shares her DNA with her child. Motherhood is emotional and intellectual as well as biological. A mother is intimately bonded and connected with her child; and in this case, the child was Jesus Christ.
Catholic theology teaches that Jesus Christ was human and divine — not 50/50, but true God and true Man. In other words, He was one divine person with two natures — human and divine. And His humanity wasn’t overwhelmed or smothered by His divinity. So whatever He did or was in His human nature was as real and as much a part of Him as whatever He did or was in His divine nature. Whether He was performing miracles from His divinity or feeling and expressing emotions from His humanity, He was still one and the same person. That said, what can be more human than having strong feelings of affection and love for your own mother? So Catholics identify their own feelings for Mary with the feelings Jesus had for His mom, a logical extension of a child’s personal affection for His mother. This feeling is nothing but devotion, without the slightest hint of worship or adoration in it. It would deny His humanity if we denied His love for his human mother.
Some people say that the word Blessed in the title Blessed Virgin Mary is idolatry (or Mariolatry, as some call it). But the term and concept is biblical. Mary tells her cousin Elizabeth, “All generations will call me blessed” (Luke 1:48). In the Bible’s original Greek, the word for blessed is markariousin. For nearly 2,000 years, the adjective blessed has been used, and it has never taken away from the ultimate holiness of God — just as when Jesus Himself used the word in His Sermon on the Mount (Matthew 5:3–12): “Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.” Blessed isn’t a word that’s restricted to divinity, so using it with Mary is okay.
Another argument for discouraging devotion to Mary is the claim that Jesus Himself apparently rebuked His own mother and called Her woman rather than mom. This argument claims that if Jesus Himself had to put Mary in her place, Catholics shouldn’t think so highly of her. Proponents of this opinion point to the Bible story of the wedding of Cana, when the guests ran out of wine and Mary told Jesus about it. In John 2:4 in the King James Bible, Jesus responds, “Woman, what have I to do with thee?” The International Standard Version reads, “How does that concern us, woman?” The Catholic response? Proper and accurate Scripture interpretation requires that we never take the text out of context, and that readers consider the original text. Indeed, in the King James version, Jesus says, “Woman, what have I to do with thee?” But the original Greek reads Ti emoi kai soi gynai, which literally translates to “What [is it] to me and you, woman?” This is exactly the same translation in Latin: Quid mihi et tibi est mulier.
Instead of a rebuke, Jesus’s words can be interpreted as, “If you’re concerned about it, then I am, too.” In other words, if the fact that they ran out of wine is a concern to Mary, then it is a concern of Jesus, her son. This interpretation makes more sense than one of rebuke when we see what happens next. As soon as Jesus uttered the phrase, He changed the water into wine, performing His first public miracle at His mother’s request. Had it been a rebuke, He probably would have ignored Mary’s request altogether. By granting His mother’s plea for help, He showed that He listened to her as a son, and as God He performed the miracle.
Calling His mother woman must also be seen in context with the whole of Scripture. For example, at the cross, as Jesus was dying, some of his last words were to Mary and then to John, His beloved disciple: “Woman, behold your son” and “Behold, your mother.” (John 19:26-27) Using the term woman (gynai in Greek) was actually a compliment because Eve, the wife of Adam, is referred to as the woman (Genesis 2:23). There is a famous line between God and the serpent — “I will put enmity between you and the woman, between your seed and her seed” (Genesis 3:15) — that is considered a prophecy about Mary. We also see Mary associated with the word gynai in the last book of the Bible, Revelation (or Apocalypse) 12:1: “And a great portent appeared in heaven, a woman clothed with the sun, with the moon under her feet, and on her head a crown of twelve stars.” In this passage — as in Genesis 3:15 — Catholics consider the woman referred to as being Mary, the mother of Jesus, because Revelation 12:2 says she was pregnant, and 12:5 says her son will rule all the nations.
In fact, Mary is the new Eve because her offspring was Jesus, the new Adam, and He conquered the devil by His death and Resurrection. So when seen in this light, the supposed insult turns out to be a term of endearment.
What Catholics Believe about Mary
Official Catholic doctrine on Mary is called Mariology, just as doctrine on God is called Theology (from the Greek word theos for God.) In this section, you get a peek at some significant aspects of Mariology. Much of Mariology is rooted in the many different titles the Church has given Mary over the centuries, so we explain some of her major titles to you here, as well as other facts Catholics believe about her life.
She’s the Mother of God
Most titles for Mary are by way of metaphor (saying one thing to mean another, like, “It’s raining cats and dogs”). But the title Mother of God is considered an analogy, which is a comparison considered deeper and more complex than a metaphor. Analogies imply that if two things are alike in one way, they are alike in others. Mary gave birth to the divine Jesus, so analogously, she is the Mother of God. Even though Mary isn’t the mother of divinity, she did give birth to a divine person. Mary’s son (Jesus) is the son of God, hence we can call her the Mother of God without making her a goddess, either.
The title Mother of God goes back to the year A.d. 431, when the Ecumenical Council of Ephesus determined that Mary could be called the Mother of God (Theotokos in Greek) instead of just the Mother of Christ (Christotokos) as the theologian and Archbishop of Constantinople Nestorius contended. (Nestorius was condemned by the Council of Ephesus for this heretical idea. For more on the Church councils, see Chapter 6.)
The thinking went like this: Granted, as a human being, Mary can’t be the origin of a divine person. But Mary is the Mother of Jesus. He wasn’t born in parts, like building blocks, needing to be put together after His birth. One divine person lived in Mary’s womb for nine months, and one divine person came forth and was born. Even though Mary didn’t give Jesus His divine nature and she was a creature and not the Creator, because she gave birth to the Son of God and because she is the Mother of the Son of God, she can be called analogously the Mother of God.
The Bible verifies this logic: Mary, pregnant with Jesus for only a few days, visited her cousin Elizabeth, who was six months pregnant with John the Baptist. Elizabeth greeted Mary, “And why is this granted me, that the mother of my Lord should come to me?” (Luke 1:43). Elizabeth used the word Lord (Kyrios in Greek and Adonai in Hebrew), which was also used to refer to God — the Lord God — Adonai Elohim in Hebrew. Elizabeth called Mary the Mother of the Lord, and the Lord is God. Mary is the Mother of God because she’s the mother of the Lord. This title doesn’t mean that Mary was divine or that she was a goddess or had any divine attributes.
Looking at your own mother is another way to see the concept: Your mother didn’t give you your immortal soul. That came from God. She gave you 50 percent of your genetic makeup, but she needed your dad to give you the other half, and they needed God to give you a soul. However, on Mother’s Day, do you send her a card titled, “To the woman who gave me half of my genetic code?” Or would you tell her that she didn’t give you a soul — that she only gave you a body — so she’s only half your mother? Of course not (that is, unless you want the wooden spoon across your hand). In your mind and your mother’s mind, she may have only given you 50 percent of your DNA, but she gave birth to you. A whole and complete person was born — not two pieces. The body and soul were united at conception. A person grew and lived in the womb, and a whole and intact person was born from it.
She’s the Mother of the Church
The title Mother of the Church is properly understood as a metaphor. Because the Church is called the “body of Christ” by Saint Paul (in his epistles to the Romans and to the Corinthians) and Mary is the mother of Christ, then one can say Mary is the mother of the Church. From the Catholic perspective, Mary becomes the Mother of the Church by adoption. This concept doesn’t detract, diminish, or dilute the singular mediation of Christ because He’s still the one mediator between God and humans. The only way that Christians can call themselves brothers and sisters in Christ is by way of adoption. In other words, Jesus is, was, and always will be the Eternal Son of the Father. Christians, however, are children of God and brothers and sisters in Christ by adoption (which takes place at Baptism). As brothers and sisters of Jesus by adoption, they also inherit the same mother. Mary is the Mother of Christ by nature, and she is the mother of Christians by adoption.
In another way, Mary is the Mother of the Church because she was at the foot of the cross on Calvary. The Bible says that as He was dying on the cross, Jesus turned toward his mother and said, “Woman, behold, your son.” He then turned to the apostle John and said, “Behold, your mother” (John 19:26–27). The bestowal of Mary to John is symbolic insofar as John represents all disciples and all men and women.
Mary’s presence at Pentecost, ten days after the Ascension of Christ into heaven and 50 days after his Resurrection, also establishes her role as Mother of the Church. Acts 1:14-2:4 says that Mary was with the apostles in the Upper Room — or probably, more accurately, they were with her. Until the Holy Spirit gave them strength and courage, they received encouragement from the Mother of Jesus as she and John were the only ones who did not abandon Christ while He died on the cross.
She’s the Mother of the Mystical Body of Christ
Mary is the Mother of Christ. The Church is the Mystical Body of Christ. (Several passages from the Bible — I Corinthians 12:12–27, Romans 12:4–5, and Colossians 1:18 — refer to Christ’s followers as His “body.”) Hence, by extension, Mary can also be called the Mother of the Mystical Body of Christ because she is also called the Mother of the Church.
Catholics believe that Christ gave the Church the responsibility to safeguard and protect Revelation by authentically interpreting the biblical texts. The Church is a necessary and organic community, which St. Paul called the Body of Christ (Colossians 1:24) and Pope Pius XII later called the Mystical Body of Christ in his encyclical letter Mystici Corporis (1943).
This phrase — Mystical Body of Christ — means that the Church is more than an external organization, structure, and institution; it’s a union of all the members forming one body. The human body has many parts, which are different and have different functions. Everybody has one head, and the Church has one visible head on earth: the pope. But a head with no body isn’t alive. The Church is also a body made up of many members: laity and clergy. These individual members have different functions, just as your heart, lungs, kidneys, arms, legs, eyes, and ears have their respective functions, but they all work in harmony for the good of the whole body. Pope Pius added the adjective mystical just to accentuate the idea that the Church isn’t a physical body with organs and limbs; it’s mysteriously and spiritually organic.
She was conceived through Immaculate Conception
The Immaculate Conception is one of the most mysterious and most misunderstood Catholic dogmas. The Immaculate Conception (celebrated every year on December 8) is not the conceiving of Jesus within the womb of Mary — even though the Gospel reading at Mass on that day is the account of the Annunciation, when the Archangel Gabriel told Mary that she was to be the Mother of Jesus. At that moment, the Holy Spirit overshadowed her and she conceived of Christ. The feast and the dogma of the Immaculate Conception, however, is about the conception of Mary in her mother’s womb. Long before the Annunciation took place, the parents of Mary (Saints Joachim and Anne) first brought their daughter into the world. Later, she grew up to become the mother of Jesus.
Catholics use the term Incarnation to refer to the conception of Jesus in His mother’s (Mary’s) womb. Catholics use the phrase Immaculate Conception to refer to the conception of Mary in her mother’s womb.
In the eyes of the Church, Adam and Eve’s sin, called original sin (see Chapter 8), is transmitted to every subsequent generation. So just as you inherit the color of your eyes and hair from your parents, you also spiritually inherit original sin from them. Yet, thanks to the grace of God, Mary didn’t inherit original sin. You got that right … Mary was totally human, but she was not conceived nor was she born in sin like the rest of humanity.
Anyone can be baptized (see Chapter 8) and have their sins washed away and replaced with sanctifying grace. But God gave Mary the singular grace and privilege of the Immaculate Conception to prevent original sin from being transmitted to Jesus, so she was literally full of grace. A glass full of water has no room for anything else, and a soul full of grace has no room for sin.
When the Archangel Gabriel addressed Mary in the first chapter of Luke’s Gospel, he said, “Hail Mary, full of grace” (kecharitomene in Greek, from the root word charis, meaning grace; gratia plena in Latin). She was full of grace because of the Immaculate Conception, a divine gift to her from God. She didn’t earn or merit it. He freely gave it to her, so she could provide a worthy, spotless, and pure human nature for Jesus.
Because Jesus had no human father, His only human parent was Mary. She gave him His human nature, whereas He — as God — always possessed His divine nature. In order to give Jesus a completely untainted, spotless, and immaculate human nature so that He could be the Spotless Lamb of Sacrifice (Catholics have many titles for Jesus, too), Mary had to be kept free from original sin. She couldn’t do so on her own because she was a mere mortal. She needed a Savior and Messiah like everyone else. But God isn’t limited to time and space. Mary enjoyed an effect of salvation before Jesus actually did the work of salvation. She was given the gift of being preserved from original sin well before her son Jesus was born, let alone before He suffered and died, achieving salvation for the entire human race. Jesus, being divine and being God, retroactively applied the fruits of His salvific suffering and death from Mary’s future to her past. He extended the benefits backward in time just as you who live now can have the same fruits of redemption applied to you from the past into your present. If what Jesus did 2,000 years ago can be applied to a newly baptized person today, then what He did can go in the other direction and be applied to His mother as she was being conceived.
It’s like getting into a time travel machine (okay, we admit it — we’re Doctor Who fans), going into the future, and finding that your son wants to become a physician but can’t because neither you nor your son has the money for medical school. So you go back in time and leave a few hundred dollars in a bank account in your child’s name, so when you return to the present, you can withdraw it and all the accumulated interest to send Junior to med school.
In all 2,000 years of Church history, only two papal ex cathedra statements have been made. When the pope, exercising his authority as Supreme Teacher, makes an ex cathedra statement, he’s infallible — the Holy Spirit prevents him from teaching error. In 1854, Pope Pius IX made the first ex cathedra statement — the Immaculate Conception. The other ex cathedra statement was made in 1950; Pope Pius XII defined the dogma of the Assumption of Mary, body and soul, into heaven. (See the next section for details. See Chapter 6 for details about ex cathedra statements and the pope’s infallibility.)
She went to heaven, body and soul
The Church professes that when Mary’s time on earth came to an end, her body didn’t decay on earth. Instead, her son, Jesus Christ, assumed her into heaven, body and soul.
We want to make something clear. Only God can rise from the dead of His own divine power, and only God can ascend into heaven of His own divine power. So Jesus Himself, being God, rose from the dead, but Lazarus was raised by Jesus. Likewise, Jesus Himself ascended into heaven, but He also assumed His mother (she didn’t just up and go on her own).
So why would He do such a thing? For many reasons.
One is that having affection for your mom is as human as it gets. In His humanity, Jesus had all the emotions that any man or woman would have. If you were Jesus, wouldn’t you want to prevent any decay from touching the body of your mother? Wouldn’t you want her to be with you in heaven as soon as possible? To portray Jesus as an emotionless man (like some sort of Vulcan) who had no filial love for His mom is to deny His true humanity.
Also, the Immaculate Conception preserved Mary from original sin, so Mary would have also been free from the consequences of sin as well — namely, physical death, the separation of body and soul. That being the case, the Eastern Church uses the term dormition (falling asleep) rather than death to describe what happened to her before the Assumption. But because she voluntarily joined with her son’s suffering on the cross, Pope John Paul II said that the logical conclusion is that she also willingly followed Him through her own death as well.
The more fundamental reason, however, that Jesus assumed His mother, body and soul, into heaven was to give people on earth encouragement. Sacred Tradition teaches that the Assumption was meant to give humans hope and consolation that Jesus will do for humanity at the end of time what He did for His mother in reward for her being a faithful disciple throughout her life. At his Second Coming, Jesus will raise the dead and take the righteous to heaven, and the reprobate will go to hell. So, in other words, Mary’s Assumption was like a preview of coming attractions: She was the first human — but won’t be the last — to be assumed by God into heaven. Someone had to be first, and why not the Mother of Christ?
Her never-ending virginity
Mary’s virginity before the birth of Christ is a matter of Catholic dogma: No human father was associated with Jesus because He was the Son of God as well as the son of Mary. Having a human mother gave Him His humanity; having no human father but by the power of the Holy Spirit being conceived in His mother’s womb gave Him His divinity.
But what about after the birth of Christ? Did Mary have other children besides Jesus? Some people say that she did because the New Testament speaks of the brothers and sisters of Jesus. Although it certainly wasn’t necessary that Mary and Joseph not have any children of their own, Sacred Tradition says that they didn’t. The way that Catholicism sees it, the doctrine of the Perpetual Virginity of Mary is no harder to believe than the miracle of the Virgin Birth, which most Christians accept. If Mary could remain a virgin before and during the birth of Christ her son, then it isn’t any more difficult to believe that she could remain a virgin after His birth. (To find out more, see Chapter 4.)
Some people ask the Church to explain the reference to James as the brother of Jesus in the Bible (Matthew 13:55). But the word used to mean brother in the Bible’s original Greek was adelphos, which can also mean relative, cousin, or kinsman as well as sibling. In the Bible, referencing the father indicates close relations. Jesus is referred to as the son of Joseph and the son of Mary, but no one else in the Bible is ever called the son or daughter of Joseph or Mary. So many possible scenarios exist for understanding the term brother of Jesus but only one for understanding son or daughter. Why doesn’t the Bible call James the brother of Jesus and the son of Mary or just the son of Mary? The reason is that Mary had only one son. She was a virgin before, during, and after the birth of Jesus.
Mark 15:40 mentions Mary the mother of James, but the belief is that this reference is to another Mary — not the Mary who was the Mother of Jesus. The mother of James was in the distance looking on, while the Mother of Jesus was at the foot of the cross. (See Chapter 4 for more on the possibility that Jesus had siblings.)
Up Close and Personal with Mary
Devotions are traditional forms of prayer that aren’t part of the Mass. They can be public or private, and they express love for God and for neighbor, as personified in Mary and the saints. This section discusses devotions to Mary. While we talk about the Rosary in this section, we don’t get specific about how to say the Rosary. Don’t get us wrong — we think it’s a great devotion. It’s just that we cover the Rosary in Chapter 16. No need to repeat ourselves, eh?
We must reiterate that Catholic Christians (and Eastern Orthodox Christians, too) do not worship Mary. The First Commandment forbids adoring anyone other than God. But the Fourth Commandment also commands us to honor our father and mother. Because Catholics regard Mary as their adopted mother, it only makes sense to give her proper honor and respect.
Devotion to Mary is not idolatry; it merely shows affection and respect to someone you honor and love. This next section deals with types of Marian devotion that help the faithful get close and personal with the Mother of Jesus and the Mother of the Church.
May crowning
May is the month of Mother’s Day, and for Catholics it’s the month for honoring two moms — their earthly one, who gave birth to them, and their spiritual mother, Mary.
Traditionally, Catholic parishes pick one day in May to host a devotion called a May Crowning. After the Ecumenical Council of Nicea II in 787, the public veneration of icons and images of Jesus, Mary, and the saints was no longer persecuted by some in the Church as though it were a form of idolatry. Consequently, the tradition of crowning a statue of Mary arose in recognition of her heavenly position as Queen of Heaven and Earth. This concept came from Revelation (Apocalypse) 12:1, where Mary is portrayed as the woman wearing a crown.
Mary’s queenship comes from her relationship to her son, who is King. Jesus is the King of Kings, and Mary is His mother. Because her son is King, she is, de facto, Queen Mother. You can think of it like this: The Queen Mother of England was given the title, honor, and respect of queen because she’s the mother of Queen Elizabeth II. So, too, the mother of the King of Kings is given the title and honor of being called queen.
Often for the occasion of the May crowning, roses and flowers galore adorn the Church. Typically, a young girl is chosen to place a crown of roses on a statue of Mary, which is sometimes carried in a procession, a dignified religious parade, around the inside or outside of the church or perhaps around the neighborhood. People march reverently to symbolize that they’re fellow pilgrims — travelers who walk with the Lord and the saints, hopefully on the path to Heaven. All those in attendance sing hymns and pray the Rosary.
First Saturdays
Traditionally, Catholics honor Mary on the first Saturday of every month. Why that particular day? Well, the first Friday of the month is when Catholics give honor to Jesus with the Sacred Heart of Jesus devotion. Because Mary is secondary to Christ, the Church deemed that He would come first and then close by would be His mother with the Immaculate Heart of Mary devotion.
The focus on the heart is merely a romantic and metaphorical way of describing the love of Jesus and the love of Mary. It’s just like sending hearts to loved ones on St. Valentine’s Day even though you know that, biologically, the brain does the thinking and the heart merely does the pumping. Even in the 21st century, you hear the words “heartache” and winning someone’s “heart,” so the devotion to the Immaculate Heart of Mary is merely a recognition of her motherly heart because she loves her spiritual children.
The First Saturday devotion is relatively new compared with the First Friday devotion to the Sacred Heart of Jesus. The devotion came about because of the belief that Mary appeared to mere children, Lucia, Jacinta, and Francisco, in Fatima, Portugal, in 1917 (see Chapter 22) and then again to Sister Lucia in 1925, asking for the faithful to honor her on the first Saturday of the month. Saturday is also special; it was on the first Holy Saturday that Mary didn’t lose faith, even though she’d just buried her son, Jesus. Her love and faith in Him got her through to His Resurrection on the next day.
Catholics believe that during her appearance in Fatima, Mary specifically asked that Catholics honor her Immaculate Heart on the five first Saturdays of five consecutive months by going to confession, receiving Holy Communion, praying five decades of the Rosary, and meditating for 15 minutes on the mysteries of the Rosary in reparation for sins. If done, she promised her maternal intercession and prayers at the hour of death when the devil has his last chance to get the soul.
Marian shrines and apparitions
Catholics believe that a shrine is a holy place, usually where an apparition or other miracle took place or where a saint lived, worked, or died. Shrines are often connected to or located inside of a chapel or church so the faithful can pray and worship God, especially through the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass, as a devotion. As another form of Marian devotion, Catholics can visit a holy place where an apparition of Mary has occurred.
An apparition is an appearance of Jesus, Mary, or one of the saints. It’s not a physical presence of the holy person but an appearance — an image being imprinted on the senses. This is the reason that not everyone sees or hears the apparitions or locutions (speeches). Those who do are called visionaries. Catholics aren’t obligated to believe in any particular apparition because apparitions aren’t part of public revelation. The Church does, however, carefully investigate claims of alleged apparitions and then makes one of the following determinations:
- It’s a hoax. Someone is pretending to see apparitions when, in reality, they’re lies or staged illusions.
- Natural causes can explain it. Evidence of a supernatural occurrence is nonexistent. The visionaries may be prayerful and holy people without any intent to deceive, but upon investigation, evidence of a miraculous apparition can’t be found. For example, maybe tears rolled down the cheeks of a statue of Mary, but when you look more closely, you see that some old steamy water pipes near the ceiling are slowly dripping right onto the statue’s face.
- The phenomenon can’t be explained one way or the other. Any evidence of a supernatural occurrence is inconclusive — too many unanswered questions exist and not enough, if any, evidence.
- The devil is at work. It’s a supernatural event all right, but not of heavenly origin. Rather, it’s an attempt by the devil to ridicule and mock the faith.
- It’s a supernatural event of heavenly origin. The apparition or locution is credible and worthy of faithful pilgrims.
The Church condemns any and all hoaxes as well as any trick of the devil and repudiates any apparitions of natural explanation. It endorses only authentic apparitions of supernatural and heavenly origin. If the evidence that surrounds a particular apparition is inconclusive either way, then pilgrims are neither discouraged nor encouraged.
Even if the Church determines that an apparition is worthy of belief, Catholics aren’t obligated to believe it as they’re obligated to believe the words of the Apostles’ Creed (see Chapter 2) or Sacred Tradition. Catholics are free to believe or disbelieve apparitions because they aren’t considered revealed truth. But many saints and recent popes have given full support to all apparition places and shrines deemed legitimate and authentic.
Most accounts of apparitions are appearances of Mary to children and simple, humble people of faith. She asks them to pray to her son, pray for sinners, do penance, pray the Rosary daily for world peace, and live holy lives in obedience to God.
Anytime weird messages or secrets are supposedly released, particularly if someone claims to know when the world will end, the Church says you can be assured that it’s not authentic. The reason, according to the Church, is that Jesus said, “But of that day and hour no one knows, not even the angels of heaven, nor the Son, but the Father only” (Matthew 24:36). So why would His mom know and why would she blab and spill the beans?
See the following listing of some famous Marian shrines and/or apparition sites that the Church has sanctioned:
- Our Lady of the Snows, Rome, Italy: In A.d. 352, several prayerful folks had the same dream: Mary told them that she would indicate the site on which to build a church in her honor by a miraculous snowfall. Now known as St. Mary Major (Santa Maria Maggiore in Italian), it’s one of the churches where the pope says Mass.
- Our Lady of Walsingham, England: In gratitude for a favor received through the intercession of Our Lady, a wealthy woman built a small chapel to honor her in 1061. It inspired many pilgrims, the weak and the powerful, the poor and the wealthy, until Henry VIII outlawed the pilgrimages to this shrine.
- The Black Madonna of Czestochowa, Poland: Catholics popularly believe that St. Luke painted Mary’s portrait, which eventually made its way to Czestochowa, Poland, where it has been enshrined since 1382. (See Chapter 22 for more on this icon.)
- Our Lady of Guadalupe, Mexico: Our Lady appeared to St. Juan Diego in 1531, leaving her image on his cloak. Today, a famous basilica in Mexico City now hosts her picture. (See Chapters 1 and 22 to find out more about this apparition.) The image is often depicted as shown in Figure 17-2.
- Our Lady of La Vang, Vietnam: In 1798, a fierce persecution aimed at Catholics forced some to take refuge in the forest. Clustered together, praying the Rosary nightly, these Vietnamese faithful saw a consoling apparition of the Mother of God. A church was later built on the spot.
- Our Lady of the Miraculous Medal, Paris, France: Our Lady appeared to St. Catherine Laboure, a member of the order called the Sisters of Charity, in 1830. Communicating the exact design, Our Lady asked St. Catherine that a medal be struck in her honor.
- Our Lady of La Salette, France: In 1846, while tending their cows in a pasture, a young girl named Melanie and a young boy named Maximin, both born into poverty, saw a tall lady who never stopped weeping. Our Lady told them, in a nutshell, that folks needed to straighten up their acts and start praying or else. A beautiful Alpine shrine now marks the spot.
- Our Lady of Lourdes, France: In 1858, asking that a chapel be built and identifying herself as the Immaculate Conception, Our Lady appeared to another poverty-stricken child of God, St. Bernadette, on 18 different occasions. Today’s pilgrims bring containers to fill with miraculous Lourdes water. In 1943, 20th Century Fox produced Hollywood’s version of the event; The Song of Bernadette won four Academy Awards. (See Chapter 22 for more on Lourdes, and Chapter 18 for more on St. Bernadette.)
- Our Lady of Knock, Ireland: Our Lady, St. Joseph, and St. John the Evangelist appeared to 15 humble, hardworking Catholics of various ages in 1879. Many pilgrims experienced healings, and a shrine was built.
- Our Lady of Fatima, Portugal: In 1917, asking everybody to pray the Rosary daily for world peace, a beautiful lady clothed in white appeared to three young children. (For more on Fatima, see Chapter 22.)
Honoring (but not worshipping) Mary
