Mary and the Church, member, type, mother, and model

The relationship between Mary and the Church is one of the richest themes of contemporary Mariology. The Second Vatican Council, by integrating the treatise on Mary into chapter VIII of Lumen Gentium, expressed in a lapidary formula that Mary must be contemplated “in the mystery of Christ and of the Church”. These two poles are inseparable: christotypical Mariology (centered on Mary’s relationship with Christ) and ecclesiotypical Mariology (centered on the Mary-Church parallel) are not opposed to each other, but complement each other in a synthesis that post-conciliar theology was able to articulate.

The conciliar synthesis: christotypical and ecclesiotypical

The Marian-Mariological Congress of Lourdes (1958) brought to the surface the tension between two tendencies of Mariology: the christotypical, which organizes Mariology around the divine motherhood and Mary’s association with Christ, and the ecclesiotypical, which grounds the treatise on Mary in the parallel with the Church. The Second Vatican Council overcomes this tension by placing the study of Mary “in the mystery of Christ and of the Church” (LG, proemium of ch. VIII). The copulative “and” is fundamental: there is neither disjunction nor opposition, but integration and harmony. Mary “precedes” all creation and the Church herself in the possession of grace. Yet she also remains in solidarity with the whole lineage of Adam and with all who are in need of salvation. For this reason she occupies in the Church, “after Christ, the highest place and the one closest to us” (LG 54).

Mary, eminent member of the Church

Mary is genuinely a member of the Church. Saint Bernard placed her “between Christ and the Church” (Inter Christum et Ecclesiam constituta). Rupert of Deutz described her excellence with the words: portio maxima, portio optima, portio praecipua, portio electissima. The Second Vatican Council declares Mary “a member of the Church, supereminent and altogether singular” (LG 53). This belonging has two foundations: the surpassing grace with which she was endowed (Lk 1:28), which makes her the most perfect realization of the Church, and her solidarity with the stock of Adam, which aligns her with all those who need salvation. The First Vatican Council already implicitly included her among the redeemed “in view of the merits of Jesus Christ”.

Mary, type and archetype of the Church

Mary is more than a simple “type” of the Church: she is its archetype. In the Old Testament type, the figure is always less important than the antitype it prefigures. In the Mary-Church relationship, however, the reverse is the case: Mary is the perfect realization of what the Church is called to be. The “Woman clothed with the sun” of Revelation (Rev 12) has been identified by the best contemporary exegesis with Mary as archetype of the Church: she is the mother of the incarnate Word and at the same time the archetype of the motherhood of the Church. LG 63 defines Mary as “figure of the Church” on the basis of the prerogatives common to both: virginity, motherhood, holiness, and full union with Christ. Saint Ambrose and Saint Peter Damian give this doctrine its patristic foundation.

Mary, mother of the Church

On November 21, 1964, Paul VI proclaimed Mary “Mother of the Church, that is, of the whole people of God, of the faithful as well as of the pastors”. The title is not new in substance. The Second Vatican Council already implied it in saying that the Church “honors Mary with the affection of filial piety as a most loving mother” (LG 53) and in declaring that Mary was “for us a mother in the order of grace” (LG 61). The spiritual motherhood of Mary is founded on her assent at the Annunciation, on her co-offering beneath the Cross, and on her unceasing intercession: “by her maternal charity she cares for the brethren of her Son who are still journeying… until they are led into the heavenly homeland” (LG 62). Saint Pius X expressed it lapidarily: Gestando Christum gestavit et nos (in bearing Christ in her womb, she bore us also).

Mary, model of the Church

Mary is the model of the Church by her exemplary causality: what God accomplished in her is that to which the whole Church is called. Saint Ambrose taught that “the life of Mary is a mirror for everyone”. As woman, virgin, bride, and mother, as one redeemed in a sublime manner, as a sharer in the saving work of her Son, Mary reflects the divine splendors just as the moon reflects the light of the sun. The Church learns from Mary what fruitful virginity, spiritual motherhood, and holiness are. The Second Vatican Council formulates this exemplarity in saying that Mary “shines forth before the pilgrim people of God as a sign of sure hope and of consolation” (LG 68). Mary is what the Church is destined to be: already glorified in the Assumption, she anticipates the eschatological destiny of the whole People of God.

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Magisterium of the Church

Maria, ut in ordine gratiae Mater Christi, ita Mater Ecclesiae est, quia in mysterio Christi et Ecclesiae adest.

Paulus VI, Allocutio ad Concilium (21 novembris 1964)

📚 Literal translation: Mary, who in the order of grace is the Mother of Christ, is also the Mother of the Church, because she is present in the mystery of Christ and of the Church.

Ipsa est in Ecclesia “typus” et “figura” excellentissima.

Second Vatican Council, Dogmatic Const. Lumen Gentium, no. 63

📚 Literal translation: She is in the Church the most excellent “type” and “figure”.