Spe salvi – Encyclical of Benedict XVI – Mary, Star of Hope (Full text)

Spe Salvi is the second Encyclical Letter of Pope Benedict XVI, published on November 30, 2007, the Feast of Saint Andrew the Apostle. It is a profound biblical, philosophical, and theological meditation on Christian hope, with a concluding chapter devoted to Mary as “Star of Hope,” one of the most beautiful Mariological pages of the contemporary Magisterium.

Historical context

Benedict XVI is one of the greatest Mariologists of the post-conciliar Magisterium. As Prefect of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, he took part decisively in the drafting of Redemptoris Mater. In Spe Salvi, in closing an extensive reflection on hope, from Paul, through Augustine, Thomas, and modern philosophy, to death and judgment, the Pope devotes the final chapter (nn. 49-50) to Mary as “Star of Hope,” one of the great images of traditional Mariology.

Original Latin text, chapter “Maria, stella spei” (nn. 49-50)

BENEDICTUS PP. XVI

Maria, Virgo et Mater, nobis ostendit quid spes sit, et quid vivere ex spe significet. Ipsa tenuit «verbum» quod ei per angelum nunciatum est, et in corde suo meditata est. Credendo in adventurum Deum, credendo in incarnationem Verbi, quam voce et corde accepit, novae spei portam aperuit, quam omnia saecula praecesserant.

Ipsa stellam spei, ut Bernardus scribit, vocamus: stellam maris. «Respice stellam, voca Mariam». In stella tenebris maris gubernare possumus, in Maria, stella spei, viam fidei et spei sequimur in tenebris huius saeculi, donec ad portum salutis aeternae perveniamus.

Haec spes simul personalis est et communitaria: non solitaria, sed corporis Christi, Ecclesiae, spes, quam Maria typus et exemplar est praeclarissimum. Quia Maria plenissime Deo credidit, quia verbum eius tenuit et in corde meditata est, quia per fidem Mater Dei facta est, ipsa nobis ostendit iter spei: audire, credere, portare.

«Ave Maria, plena gratia, Dominus tecum». In hac salutatione angelica mysterium spei totum continetur: gratia Dei, praesentia Domini, plena est Maria. Et ideo spes nostra, haec sola non confundit, in ea radicem habet et fundamentum: quia in ea Deus praesens est, quia in ea Verbum caro factum est, quia in ea spes nostra caro facta est.

English translation, chapter “Mary, Star of Hope” (nn. 49-50)

BENEDICT PP. XVI

Mary, Virgin and Mother, shows us what hope is and what it means to live from hope. She kept the “word” that was announced to her by the angel, and pondered it in her heart. Believing in the God who was to come, believing in the Incarnation of the Word, which she received with voice and heart, she opened the door of a new hope, which all the preceding centuries had awaited.

We call her “star of hope,” as Bernard writes, star of the sea. “Look to the star, call upon Mary.” In the star we can steer amid the darkness of the sea; in Mary, star of hope, we follow the way of faith and of hope amid the darkness of this age, until we reach the harbor of eternal salvation.

This hope is at once personal and communal: it is not solitary, but is the hope of the Body of Christ, of the Church, of which Mary is the type and the most excellent example. Because Mary believed fully in God, because she kept His word and pondered it in her heart, because through faith she became the Mother of God, she shows us the way of hope: to hear, to believe, to bear.

“Hail Mary, full of grace, the Lord is with you.” In this angelic salutation the whole mystery of hope is contained: Mary is full of the grace of God, of the presence of the Lord. And therefore our hope, the hope that does not disappoint, has in her its root and its foundation: because in her God is present, because in her the Word became flesh, because in her our hope became flesh.

“Stella maris,” the patristic image

The image of Mary as Stella Maris (Star of the Sea) goes back to Saint Jerome and Saint Isidore of Seville, who interpreted the name “Miriam” as “drop of the sea” or “star of the sea.” The image became classic in Saint Bernard of Clairvaux (twelfth century), who devoted a beautiful sermon to it: “Look to the star, call upon Mary. In dangers, in distress, in doubt, think of Mary, call upon Mary.” Spe Salvi takes up this image again and gives it theological depth: Mary is not merely a poetic guide, but the historical reality in which Christian hope has its ontological foundation.

Theological significance

The Mariology of Benedict XVI is essentially a Mariology of faith: Mary is “blessed because she believed” (Lk 1:45). The Pope takes up and deepens this category of John Paul II (cf. Redemptoris Mater, n. 14) and adds to it the dimension of hope: Mary not only believed, but hoped; she hoped in the obscurity of faith, beneath the cross, on Holy Saturday, and she was confirmed in the Resurrection. She is the model of the hope that “does not disappoint” (Rom 5:5), because it is founded not on human promises, but on the Word of God made flesh.

Further reading

Deepen your studies: explore Mariology, Marian Dogmas, Redemptoris Mater, Lumen Gentium ch. VIII, and the Postgraduate Program in Mariology.

Learn more about the Immaculate Conception.