MARIAN QUIZBEE

Protoevangelium of James

Mentions the fact that there is evidence that Mary remained a perpetual virgin.

Immaculate Conception

The first dogma wherein Mary herself was born without original sin. Mary was not weighed down by concupiscence & was free to choose to remain faithful. Its definition was promulgated by Pope Pius IX in the 1854 papal bull Ineffabilis Deus.

Divine Motherhood

The second dogma stated that Mary is the mother of both Jesus’ humanity and divinity. She did not give birth to mere flesh but to the Word made flesh; she was given the title Theotokos, “Birthgiver of God”, at the Council of Ephesus in 431, further explained in the Council of Chalcedon in 451.

Perpetual Virginity

The third dogma stated that "Mary, without any detriment to her virginity, which remained inviolate even after his birth.” Signified she was a virgin even once Jesus was born. Vatican II’s Lumen Gentium reiterates her status as the ever-virgin.

Assumption

The fourth dogma as defined by Pope Pius XII in the 1950 encyclical Munificentissimus Deus, “Mary, Immaculate Mother of God, ever Virgin, after finishing the course of her life on earth, was taken up in body and soul to heavenly glory.” It is defined as divinely revealed, indicating that truth is found implicitly in scripture.

Mariology

It is the theological study of Mary, the mother of Jesus. Mary is seen as having a singular dignity above the saints. It is based on Scripture, tradition, and the faith of the people. Scripture and tradition are the twofold sources of this.

Martin Luther

“The honor given to the mother of God has been rooted so deeply into the hearts of men that no one wants to hear any opposition to this celebration.”

John Wycliffe

Pre-Lutheran reformer who stated in one of his earlier sermons that: It seems to me impossible that we should obtain the reward of Heaven without the help of Mary. There is no sex or age, no rank or position, of anyone in the whole human race, which has no need to call for the help of the Holy Virgin.

Mother of God

The designation Theotokos or “Bearer of God” emerged in the Church of Alexandria and was later adopted by the patristic-era universal Church at the Council of Ephesus in 431.

Mariolatry

Refers the Catholic, Anglo-Catholic, and Eastern Orthodox practices of Marian veneration and devotion. In their view, the attention paid to Mary is extreme and borders on idolatry.

Catholics worship Mary

One of the myths about Mariology which is an accusation made by Protestants. In reality, Catholics believe that Mary is just a human, a fellow Christian, and saved by the grace of Jesus like the rest of us.

Catholics think Mary didn’t need a Savior

A myth wherein Catholics believe that Mary was saved by the grace of Jesus, like everyone else. Protestants who think otherwise are confused about the Church’s dogma of the Immaculate Conception.

Catholic Mariology contradicts the Bible

A myth debunked by the truth that the Catholics believe that the Bible does not contradict Catholic Mariology, but it supports it.

Mariology is a late medieval corruption of the faith

Another myth debunked by the truth that the earliest Christians were intensely interested in Mary’s unique role in salvation history.

Mary obscures Jesus

A myth debunked by the truth that Mary’s entire life points to and honors Jesus. In scripture, after Elizabeth, filled with the Holy Spirit, venerates Mary upon seeing here, “Blessed are you among women, and blessed is the fruit of your womb. Lk 1:42”

First phase of Mariology

The Church and Gospel views Mary as one figure in Luke’s infancy narratives & John’s Gospel reference to the mother of Jesus as ‘woman’.

Second phase of Mariology

Development of Christology & ecclesiology where Mary played an important elucidating and clarifying role, through which Mary is declared Theotokos and described as the type of the Church.

Third phase of Mariology

In St. Bernard of Clairvaux’s writings, Mary is considered as a stand-alone person distinct from the Church, facilitating the development of Marian piety, culminating in the dogmas of the immaculate conception & bodily assumption.

Fourth phase of Mariology

Constituted in the Enlightenment era. Created a hostile environment for thought on Mary.

Fifth phase of Mariology

The modern period consisted of 3 aspects: Relates to the Lumen Gentium (1), Ecumenical dialogue & movements in relation to Mary, which reflects on the desire to seek common ground on Mary (2), and feminist theology, which is ambiguous towards Mary, seeing her as a negative for the situation of women in Christian society (3).

Mary is the bridge between the Old and New Covenants

The place of Mary in Scripture involved 3 dimensions.

Mary was seen as the meeting point of the Old & New Testaments

Mary embodies both the People of Israel (Daughter of Zion) and the new-born Church.

Mary was seen in relation to the divine plan of salvation

The New Eve working with the New Adam

Mary was understood against the bg of the seven splendors

Seen in the references of Genesis, Isaiah, Micah, the Gospels, the Acts of the Apostles, Galatians, and Revelation.

Titles of Mary

-The New Eve
-The embodiment of all the qualities prefigured in the heroines of the OT
-The people of Israel, the Daughter of Zion
-The Ark of the Covenant
-The exalted Mother of Jesus
-The Mother of all the Faithful
-Spouse, Mother, and Daughter

Moral Preparation

One of the ways Mary is seen to be envisaged in the OT. God untangles a line of faith & holiness at the end of which his Son will be able to be born into the human race without the contamination of sin. Mary explicitly places herself in the group of “the poor of Israel” in the Magnificat.

Typological Preparation

God’s plan for the world works toward accomplishment according to the slow cadence of human duration, slowed down the more by the inertia of sin. God does not bring perfection to be all at once, but gradually.

Prophetic Preparation

Mary was prefigured not only by realities corresponding to her in nature/function, but also by words that announced her in advance.

Daughter of Zion

Most striking & obvious Marian image in Scripture. The joy announced by the angel is messianic joy, the eschatological joy expressed by Zephanaiah

Ark of the Covenant

From Luke’s initial characterization of Mary as the Daughter of Zion, we are led to his grand vision of Mary, a vision that is continued in both the Gospel of John and the book of Revelation. In the account of the Visitation, the image of the ____ is worked into the person of Mary, and it is possible to see that the Lord whose mother she is, is no other than the Lord who resided in the Ark.

St. Irenaeus of Lyon

Great defender of Christian orthodoxy and arguably the first true Mariologist, established Mary as the New Eve who participates with Jesus Christ in the work of salvation, becoming through her obedience the cause of salvation for herself and the whole human race.

St. Ambrose

Continued developing the New Eve understanding, referring to Mary as the Mother of Salvation. It was through a man and a woman that flesh was cast from paradise; it was through a virgin that flesh was linked to God. Eve is called the mother of the human race, but Mary, the Mother of salvation.

St. Jerome

Summarized the entire patristic understanding of the New Eve in the pithy expression: “Death through Eve, life through Mary.”

Sub Tuum

A prayer that tells us that the early Christian community went to their motherly advocate, especially in times of trial and danger. The acknowledgement of Our Lady’s special intercession, especially for the Church in times of danger, and continues to our present day.

Ebionism

A heresy that teaches that Joseph is the natural father of Jesus and that Mary and Joseph conceived Jesus in the way that all parents conceive children. It was an early Jewish Christian movement that taught that Jesus was merely a mortal man who reached the highest state of human sanctity and received the honorific title of “son of God”.

Helvidianism

A heresy that taught that Mary was a virgin at Christ’s birth, but after the birth of Christ, she and Saint Joseph engaged in marital relations and conceived a number of children.

Valentinianism

A heresy that taught that the Holy Spirit deposited the Christ Child in her womb and that Mary was the surrogate mother, but not truly Christ’s genetic mother. The Son of God passed through Mary like water through a straw. The Apostle Paul refutes this when he writes, God sent His Son, made of a woman.

Collyridianism

The heresy that holds that mary is a divine goddess worthy of worship and adoration. Was popular in pre-Islamic Arabia, and it is likely the reason that the Arabic Quran wrongly assumes that the Christian Trinity is God, Jesus, and Mary.

Nestorianism

A heresy that teachers that Jesus is two persons. The archbishop Nestorius denied that Mary was the “Theotokos” by saying that she was the mother only of the human Jesus and not the divine Jesus. On the contrary, the Catholic Church teaches that Christ is one person with two natures: divine and human.

Iconoclasm

A heresy which teaches that images are idolatrous. It condemns images of Christ, Mary, and the saints.

External aids to interior devotion

Rosary, Brown Scapular, Medals, The Little Office of the Blessed Virgin Mary, The Litany of Loreto, The Angelus, The Scapular, Consecration to Jesus through Mary, The Seven Sorrows of Mary

Solemnity of Mary, Mother of God

January 1

Our Lady of Prompt Succor

January 8

Presentation of the Lord

February 2

Our Lady of Lourdes

February 11

Annunciation

March 25

Our Lady of Fatima

May 13

The Visitation

May 31

Our Mother of Perpetual Help

June 27

Assumption (Holy Day of Obligation)

August 15

Queenship of Mary

August 22

Birth of Mary

September 8

The Most Holy Name of Mary

September 12

Our Lady of Sorrows

September 15

Our Lady of the Most Holy Rosary

October 7

Presentation of the Blessed Virgin Mary

November 21

Immaculate Conception

December 8

Our Lady of Guadalupe

December 12

May

Month of Mary

October

Month of the Rosary

Feast of the Immaculate Heart

Saturday following the Second Sunday after Pentecost