The meaning of the feast of Mother of the Church

# From Pope Paul VI’s Address, Conclusion of the Third Session of Vatican II Council (November 21, 1964)

## On the Title “Mother of the Church”

Dear Brothers, this title [Mother of the Church] is certainly not unfamiliar to Christian piety. Rather, the faithful and the whole Church are fond of invoking Mary by this name above all else. This appellation truly reflects genuine devotion to Mary, as it rests firmly on the dignity bestowed upon her as Mother of the Word of God incarnate.

Indeed, just as divine motherhood confers a unique relationship between Mary and Christ, making her present in the work of human salvation achieved by Christ, so too does it sustain the relationships that exist between Mary and the Church. For Mary is the Mother of Christ, who, upon assuming human nature in her virgin womb, united it as Head to His mystical Body, which is the Church. Therefore, Mary, as Mother of Christ, must also be considered the Mother of all the faithful and Pastors, that is, the Church.

This is why, despite our unworthiness and weakness, we raise our eyes to her with a confident soul, inflamed by filial love. She who one day gave us Jesus, source of supernatural grace, cannot fail to direct Her maternal care towards the Church, especially in this time when the Bride of Christ seeks to fulfill more zealously Her salutary mission.

To nurture and further strengthen this confidence, we are guided by the close bonds that exist between our heavenly Mother and humanity. Although she has been enriched by God with very generous and wonderful gifts to make her a worthy Mother of the Word Encarnate, Mary is near to us. Like us, she is also a child of Adam, our sister in common human nature. By the merits of Christ, she was immune from original sin, but she added personally to the divine gifts she received an example of perfect faith, meriting the evangelical praise: “Blessed are you who believe.”

In this mortal life, she embodied the perfect form of a disciple of Christ, reflecting fully in her attitude those beatitudes proclaimed by Jesus, so that the whole Church can receive from the Virgin Mother of God the example according to which Christ must be perfectly imitated.

After these words of Paul VI, we can add that the Immaculate Conception presents Mary as the *source* of the Church. As Mother of Christ and Mother of the Church, she is already incorporated in Christ with the fullness of grace from her conception. At the moment of her motherhood, Mary enters into a more vivid contact with the source from which she was secretly nourished. The Church, already constituted limitably and invisibly with the Immaculate Conception, finds at this point a more living foundation. Jesus and Mary are not merely a mother-and-son society, but a society of God the Savior and redeemed humanity. It is divine will that all men be called to this incorporation. As Mother of Christ, head of the Mystical Body, Mary acquires a special relationship with all members of this Body. She becomes their Mother radically.

The ever-Virgin Mary, whom we venerate as Mother of Christ and Mother of the Church, is a new title in relation to the documents of the Magisterium. The VIII chapter of Lumen Gentium intentionally avoided this title. Clearly, it was about specifying the exact perspective according to which to attribute this title to Mary, since it is also a figurative use. If we consider the Church as a whole, the image is correct. On the other hand, if we consider the Church as a community that preexists individuals, then the Church is Mother. Mary is merely a figure of this.

A title solemnly proclaimed by Paul VI on December 21, 1964, in his closing speech at the third session of the Second Vatican Council: *Mary, as the Mother of Christ, is also the Mother of the faithful and of all shepherds, that is, of the Church*. On December 8, 1975, the tenth anniversary of the conclusion of the Council, he reaffirmed: *If Mary is indeed the Mother of Christ according to the flesh, and Christ is the Head of the Church, his Mystical Body, Mary spiritually is the Mother of this Body, to which she herself belongs eminently as daughter and sister*.

Paul VI started from the consideration of the organic unity of Christ’s Mystical Body: Mary, generating the Head, in a certain way also generates all members, a doctrine already present in the preaching of the Fathers.

Saint Augustine expresses it thus: *She is truly Mother of the members (of Christ), because she cooperated with charity in the birth of faithfuls from the Church, who are the members of that Body* (De Sancta Virginitate, PL 40, 339).

St. Leo expresses the same doctrine: *The birth of Christ is the origin of the Christian people; the birth of the Head is also the birth of the Body*.

In the document *Lumen Gentium*, while not directly bestowing the title upon Mary, it indirectly confirms her role through its discussion of her motherhood in relation to grace: “By conceiving Christ, giving birth to Him, nourishing Him, she cooperated in restoring the supernatural life of souls. Hence she is Mother for us in the order of grace.”

This Marian perspective is reflected in *”Filha de Sião”*, where Jerusalem, the spiritual capital of all who believe, symbolizes the Church. Mary, as the image and principle of the Church, is prefigured by this city. Each person can say to Jerusalem, looking towards it: “All my springs are within you.” And of each individual, it can be said: “This man was born there.” Similarly, every faithful can affirm their relationship with Mary, just as they do with Jerusalem, the historical center of God’s works.

Another aspect of the connection between Mary and the Church is her intercession, through which we receive the Source of Life. The Second Vatican Council also states: “This motherhood of Mary in the economy of grace continues without interruption from her consent at the Annunciation, which she steadfastly maintained on the Cross, to the eternal consummation of all the elect. Indeed, after her assumption into heaven, she did not abandon this salvific mission but, through her diverse forms of intercession, continues to obtain for us the gifts of eternal salvation.” (Lumen Gentium 62).

Every prayer of the Church, when invoking Mary, appeals to her motherhood, achieved by giving birth to “the Author of Life.” Each prayer seeks her continuous maternal help. There exists within the Church’s tradition a hymn that contains a particularly insightful phrase that may illuminate our understanding of Mary as Mother of the Church: *”Ave Maris Stella,”* which proclaims: “Show thyself, Mother,” reminding all that each person can journey to become “*sister and mother*” of Her Son.

Let us read: