Chosen from all eternity
The Mother of the Redeemer has a precise place in the plan of salvation. […] She is present even “before the creation of the world,” as the one whom the Father “has chosen” as Mother of His Son in the Incarnation. And, what is more, together with the Father, the Son has chosen her, entrusting her eternally to the Spirit of holiness. In an entirely special and exceptional way Mary is united to Christ, and similarly She is eternally loved in this “beloved Son”.
ST. JOHN PAUL II.
Redemptoris Mater,
25/3/1987
Foretold by symbols and prophecies
Foretold long beforehand by so many symbols, by so many visions and predictions of the prophets, and so long awaited by the holy patriarchs, and finally appearing, adorned with the radiance of virtues and every kind of grace, [Mary] delivered us from bondage through her saving fruitfulness; having crushed the head of the Serpent, She, clothed with the sun, with the moon beneath her feet, victorious and triumphant, deserved to be crowned with a crown of twelve stars and, exalted above the choirs of Angels, to be called Queen of Heaven and earth.
PAUL V. Immensæ
bonitatis, 27/10/1615
Greater sanctity cannot be imagined
Therefore, far above all the Angels and all the saints, so wondrously did God endow her with the abundance of all heavenly gifts poured from the treasury of His divinity that this Mother, ever absolutely free of all stain of sin, all fair and perfect, would possess that fullness of holy innocence and sanctity which, under God, one cannot even imagine anything greater, and which, outside of God, no mind can succeed in comprehending fully.
BLESSED PIUS IX.
Ineffabilis Deus,
8/12/1854: DH 2800
“Full of grace”: the name of Mary
“Full of grace” (Lk 1: 28), the most beautiful name that God Himself has called You from eternity. “Full of grace” are You, Mary, full of divine love from the very first moment of your existence, providentially predestined to be Mother of the Redeemer and intimately connected to Him in the mystery of salvation.
BENEDICT XVI.
Speech, 8/12/2006
Treasurer of Grace, supplicant omnipotence
By what name shall I call You, O pure white dove of peace? By what titles shall I invoke the One whom the Holy Doctors have called mistress of creation, gate of life, temple of God, fortress of light, glory of Heaven, Saint among Saints, miracle of miracles, paradise of the Most High?
You are the treasurer of graces, supplicant omnipotence, or rather, the very mercy of God which descends upon the wretched.
PIUS XI. Apostolic
Brief, 20/7/1925
Co-participant in divine power
This is the most beautiful Esther, whom the supreme King of kings so loved that He seems to have made her a co-participant, not only in half of His kingdom, but, in a certain sense, in all of His entire empire and all of His power. This is that valiant Judith, to whom God granted victory over all the enemies of the earth. […]
This is that mystical Ark of the Covenant, in which the mysteries of our redemption were fulfilled, so that, upon seeing it, God may remember His covenant and not forget His mercies. She is like a heavenly channel through which the torrents of divine graces descend into the hearts of mortals. She is the golden gate of Heaven, through which we trust to enter one day into the rest of eternal bliss.
BENEDICT XIV.
Gloriosæ Dominæ, 27/9/1748
The highest among creatures
The Holy Mother of God, the smallest and highest among the creatures, sees things with God’s gaze. […] The Mother of Jesus is the Woman with whom God, in the fullness of time, wrote the Word that reveals the mystery. He did not impose it on her: He first proposed it to her heart and, having received her “yes”, He wrote it with ineffable love in her flesh. Thus, God’s hope was intertwined with the hope of Mary.
LEO XIV.
Homily, 31/12/2025
A certain infinite dignity
From this dogma of the Divine Maternity, as from the outpouring of a hidden spring, flow forth the singular grace of Mary and her dignity, which is the highest after God. Nay more, as Aquinas says admirably: “The Blessed Virgin, from this that She is the Mother of God, has a certain infinite dignity, from the infinite good which is God.” (Summa Theologiæ. I, q.25, a.6).
PIUS XI.
Lux veritatis, 25/12/1931
An associate in the work of the Redeemer
What deep understanding existed between Jesus and His Mother? How can we probe the mystery of their intimate spiritual union? […] Because She was, by the design of divine Providence, the Mother who nourished the divine Redeemer, Mary became “an associate of unique nobility, and the Lord’s humble handmaid.”
ST. JOHN PAUL II.
Redemptoris Mater, 25/3/1987
Mother of men in the order of grace
She conceived, brought forth and nourished Christ. She presented Him to the Father in the Temple, and was united with Him by compassion as He died on the Cross. In this singular way She cooperated by her obedience, faith, hope and burning charity in the work of the Saviour in giving back supernatural life to souls.
Wherefore She is our Mother in the order of grace.
ST. PAUL VI. Lumen gentium,
Second Vatican Council, 21/11/1964
All the baptized share in Mary’s faith
At the basis of what the Church has been from the beginning, and of what she must continually become from generation to generation, in the midst of all the nations of the earth, we find the One “who believed that there would be a fulfilment of what was spoken to her from the Lord” (Lk 1:45). […]
All those who from generation to generation accept the apostolic witness of the Church share in that mysterious inheritance, and in a sense share in Mary’s faith.
ST. JOHN PAUL II.
Redemptoris Mater, 25/3/1987
Pre-eminent member of the Church
Wherefore She [the Virgin Mary] is hailed as a pre-eminent and singular member of the Church, and as its type and excellent exemplar in faith and charity. The Catholic Church, taught by the Holy Spirit, honours her with filial affection and piety as a most beloved Mother.
ST. PAUL VI. Lumen gentium,
Second Vatican Council, 21/11/1964
It is not enough to admire; it is necessary to glorify!
Before such splendour of virtue, the first duty of all those who recognize in the Mother of Christ the model of the Church, is to unite themselves to her in giving thanks to the Most High for working great things in Mary for the benefit of all mankind.
But this is not enough. It is also the duty of all the faithful to pay as tribute to the most faithful handmaid of the Lord, a veneration of praise, of gratitude and of love because, by a wise and mild divine provision, her free consent and her generous cooperation in the designs of God had, and still have, a great influence in the attainment of human salvation.
ST. PAUL VI.
Signum magnum, 13/5/1967
