Veneration of Mary

ON THE VENERATION OF THE BLESSED MOTHER

This Madona and Child Icon is a Traditional Coptic

Icon called King and Queen. To learn More click on Picture

Principal Feasts of the Virgin Mary

March 25, Feast of the Annunciation

May 31, Feast of the Visitation of the Blessed Virgin Mary to Saint Elizabeth

August 15, Feast of the Assumption of Mary into Heaven

The Season of Advent

(Background and in cover article, a rendered Lilly of Valley,

the traditional flower of

the Virgin Mary)

( Advent's Date runs between late November to December 24, based on the date

of the Feast of Saint Andrew the Apostle which begins the Christian Year. )

Advent is a time for preparation for "Coming of the Lord,"

in which we are admonished for our sins.

Click on the animation to

go to the Scripture Readings

for her Principal Feast on August 15

By John Chase

Webmaster

ther than Jesus Christ, no other figure in Christian history is more venerated or written about than the Virgin Mary. The Internet is no exception. Using only “Virgin Mary” as a search term on All the Web All the Time, results came back showing more than 800,000 websites devoted to the Mother of God. The links in the table at bottom of this page will give you a thorough history and profile how various Christian sects worship the Virgin Mary. We will leave this permanently on the website so you can study it at your leisure.

As a long-time Anglo-Catholic Episcopalian, the August 15th Feast represents one of the most important and holiest in the Church year. It has been celebrated on this date since the early 4th century. In most Apostolic churches, it is the principal feast day for Mary. Her other is the Feast of the Annunciation on March 25. The Orthodox, using the Julian calendar, celebrate it on August 23. My personal brand of Anglo-Catholicism takes the Roman Catholic view of this day and celebrates it as Mary’s Assumption into heaven. The arguments over scriptural basis for the Assumption and other views are dealt with in-depth on the other web pages in the table. With the exception of core beliefs of the Nicene Creed, one of the joys of being an Anglican is the freedom to add or subtract whatever Christian belief fits your own spiritual need.

Assumption of Mary, 16th Century

Illustrated Manuscript Vatican Library

A question that is often raised about Mary, Does she deserve the all the devotional hoopla that has surrounded her for centuries? After all Mary hardly influenced the Lord’s three-year ministry. Even Roman Catholics acknowledge this. A.J. Maas, in his writings for the Catholic Encyclopedia said, “During the apostolic life of Jesus, Mary effaced herself almost completely. Not being called to aid her Son directly in His ministry, she did not wish to interfere with His work by her untimely presence. In Nazareth she was regarded as a common Jewish mother.” Many churches in the relatively new fundamentalist movement have often criticized the devotion to the Virgin Mary as almost pagan.

Despite her absence from Christ’s ministry, her combination of piety and strength, especially at the foot of the cross, answers this question of devotion in the affirmative. Our Anglican scholars seem to able to defend our devotion to Mary most succinctly when placing her in the frame of Christ’s ministry. Oxford teacher and writer Eric Mascall said rather brusquely in “The Dogmatic Theology of the Mother of God,” “The relation of Mary to the Church is (as the modern logicians would say) the relative product of two more fundamental relations. The first of these is Mary's relation to her Son; he is still man and she is still his mother. The second is his relation to us and to the Church; we are his members and the Church is his body. Therefore Mary is our mother and we are her children by adoption into her Son. This is not an exuberance of devotion but a fact of theology.”

Author and Anglican theologian John MacQuarrie said in his definitive work, “Mary For All Christians,” “A genuinely personal and biblical view [sees each human being] as made in the image of God and destined for God, a being still capable of responding to God and of serving God in the work of building up the creation. This hopeful view of the human race is personified and enshrined in Mary.”

Distinguished Yale University Marian theologian, Jaroslav Pelikan, in his book “Mary, Through the Centuries” (entire first chapter in table below) calls her, “The Woman for All Seasons. Rosters of this kind would, of course, be a part, but only a small part, of all those who through the centuries have found in the Virgin Mary an object of devotion and a model of the godly life, for they shall occupy the balance of this book. As she was represented as predicting, ‘For, behold, from henceforth all generations shall call me blessed.’ is was one of relatively few passages in the New Testament that seemed to envision a long period of many generations to come, along with the prophecy of Christ that ‘his gospel shall be preached in the whole world.’ The content with which those successive generations would invest

Mary Enthroned in Heaven

with Child, Pietro, Tempura on Wood

the title ‘blessed’ would vary greatly through the centuries, but the striking quality would be the success with which, in all seasons, Mary's blessedness would be seen as relevant to men and woman in an equal variety of situations. And that has truly made her the Woman for All Seasons.”

Some, even among our own very belief tolerant church, have often questioned the over devotion to Mary by Roman Catholics and others because they see this as sublimating central role of our Lord. There are 43 feast days devoted to various spiritual aspects of her in the Roman Calendar. Pope John Paul II, an enthusiastic devotee to the cult of the Virgin Mary, has added to this controversy by making her the “co-redeemer” with Christ. He said, “Mary intensely and mysteriously unites her life with Christ's sorrowful mission: she was to become her Son's faithful co-worker for the salvation of the human race.”

If you read Simeon’s prophecy (Luke 2:28-35) in the temple all of these views of Mary can find merit.

²⁸Simeon took him in his arms and praised God, saying, ²⁹ “Master, now you are dismissing your servant in peace, according to your word; ³⁰for my eyes have seen your salvation,
31which you have prepared in the presence of all peoples, ³² a light for revelation to the Gentiles
and for glory to your people Israel.”

³³And the child’s father and mother were amazed at what was being said about him. ³⁴Then Simeon blessed them and said to his mother Mary, “This child is destined for the falling and the rising of many in Israel, and to be a sign that will be opposed ³⁵so that the inner thoughts of many will be revealed—and a sword will pierce your own soul too.”

How you place the Blessed Mother of God in your spiritual life should be a deeply personal and private devotion. I believe she can help us find some of the answers for both the blessings and troubles of our lives. All Saints' Episcopal Church celebrates the three principal feasts on their appointed date with a Mass. Advent is celebrated as appointed and begins the Church Year.

The table below offers links (left column) to other extensive writing on the Virgin Mary. There is brief explanation in the table as to what each document represents. Please note that some of these documents are very long so if you wish to print them have plenty of paper.

Table of Links for Additional Study on

The Blessed Virgin Mary

WRITINGS ON THE VIRGIN MARY	BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THOSE ARTICLES
Assumption of Mary into Heaven	Three Essays profiling the history of the Roman Catholic belief that Mary ascended into heaven.
Assumption of Mary Wikipedia	A Brief historic summary of the theological concept of her Assumption into Heaven.
Meditations and Information on the Assumption of Mary into Heaven, University of Dayton.	Although Roman Catholic, this website from the Jesuit University of Dayton offers the most complete source of the historical and contemporary beliefs concerning the Assumption of the Blessed Mother.
Three Views on Mary from Pope John Paul II	Three homilies on various spiritual aspects of Mary delivered at Papal audiences in 1996 & 1997 including the famous "co-redeemer" address.
An Anglican View of the Virgin Mary	Mary Who? Written by Rev. Cannon James Rosenthal, Communications Director of Anglican Communion, including words by our Presiding Bishop, Frank Griswold.
Scriptural History of the Virgin Mary	This massive article from New Advent's on-line reprint of the Catholic Encyclopedia gives a complete history of the worship of the Virgin Mary including how scripture in both the New and Old Testament foretold her coming and the events of her life. Be Advised, if you wish to print it, it is more than 30 pages long.
Protestants On the Virgin Mary	Although this article is by a Catholic scholar, it gives an excellent brief summary of Protestant thoughts on the Virgin Mary from Anglicans, Methodists, evangelicals etc. to luminaries such as Martin Luther.
An Orthodox View of the Virgin Mary	Short article demonstrating that Roman Catholics and Orthodox have the same theological underpinnings when it comes to the Blessed Mother.
Mary Through the Centuries	This is the first chapter of distinguished Marian and Yale scholar Jaroslav Pelikan's seminal book on Mary. There are links here to order it from Yale University Press.
A Virgin Conceived	This article is a feminist view on the conception of the Lord by the Virgin Mary. This requires the free download of the Adobe PDF Reader. Click on this link.¹ Adobe Acrobat Reader - Download
Prayers to the Virgin Mary	A sampling of several famous prayers to the Virgin Mary.
Infancy Gospel of James	Christian apocrypha (150ce) and the only known text to deal with the birth and early life of the Virgin Mary. Page starts with an introduction and history of the gospel followed by the scholars translation from the original Greek.
We are Drawn To Her Because She is Accessible By The Reverend Mother Judith Dunlop.	This Sermon was Delivered by The Reverend Judith Dunlop on August 25, 2004 at All Saints Church as part of the celebration of the Feast of the Blessed Mother.
The Strength of Women: The Strength of Mary by Elizabeth Welch All Saints' Stewardship Officer and Hospital Chaplain	This sermon was given on December 18th, 2005 to celebrate 4th Advent or Marian/Rose Sunday.

Click on Shield to Return to All Saints' Home Page

Note on the Background for all Virgin Mary Pages: It is rendered version of the Lily of Valley

The Flower of the Virgin Mary.

1. For people not familiar with the Adobe Acrobat Reader, it is an essential Internet tool because it is the standard electronic document format for the U.S. Government and others. The software is free and has an automatic updating notice built it. Current version is 6.0. (September 2003)