In this new monthly series, “Mary’s Immaculate Heart,” we will learn about the history behind devotion to Mary, the special appeal to her Immaculate Heart, and how we can practice this prayer in our own lives, especially on First Saturdays.
By Dr. Veronica Szczygiel
After Jesus’ Ascension into Heaven, his disciples continued the mission and ministry that Christ had called them to follow: building the foundation of the Church and the kingdom of God on earth. Mary played an instrumental part in this newfound community:
… as they were looking on, he was lifted up, and a cloud took him from their sight. … . Then they returned to Jerusalem from the mount called Olivet, which is near Jerusalem, a sabbath day’s journey away. When they entered the city they went to the upper room where they were staying, Peter and John and James and Andrew, Philip and Thomas, Bartholomew and Matthew, James son of Alphaeus, Simon the Zealot, and Judas son of James. All these devoted themselves with one accord to prayer, together with some women, and Mary the mother of Jesus … (Acts 1:9, 12-14).
Seeing Mary’s active partnership with the disciples, early Church figures, dating back to the first centuries A.D., recognized Mary’s critical role in establishing the Catholic Church and in the spiritual life. The power of her pure and gentle Heart was originally made known in the Gospels, cementing her essential purpose in our salvation.
Mother and model
Mary set forth an example for how we should conduct ourselves as followers of Christ, essentially becoming an embodiment of the living Church. Saint Justin Martyr (100-165 A.D.) and St. Irenaeus (130-202), for instance, wrote on how Mary’s obedience to God effectively undid the disobedience of Eve.
During Mary’s fiat, when she trusted the Lord and said yes to His will for her to bear His son, the angel Gabriel said Mary was “full of grace” (Lk 1:28). Mary was conceived without sin, and so, in opposition to her fallen predecessor Eve, became the perfect ark and immaculate vessel to carry the New Covenant in Jesus.
To underscore Mary’s importance as God-bearing mother, St. Athanasius (296-373) promoted the title “Mary the Theotokos” (Mary the Mother or Bearer of God), which St. Cyril of Alexandria (376-444) staunchly defended. Having carried God Himself in her womb, Mary had a unique connection with Jesus.
The devout and righteous man Simeon recognized this special relationship when Mary and Joseph presented their Son at the Temple after His birth. He told Our Lady, “This child is destined for the falling and rising of many in Israel … and a sword will pierce your own soul too” (Lk 2:24-35).
Mary suffered greatly during Jesus’s Crucifixion. We can appeal to her broken Heart to help us grow closer to her Son, our God.
From the Cross
During His persecution at Calvary, Jesus Himself invited us to form a devotion to His mother. As He was hanging on the Cross, Jesus said to his mother, ‘Woman, behold, your son.’ Then he said to the disciple, ‘Behold, your mother’” (Jn 19:26-27). By entrusting Mary to His Beloved Disciple, Jesus gives her to all of us.
Saint Augustine (354-430) noted that Mary is “mother of the members of Christ” — meaning us. It is through Jesus Himself that devotion to Mary first originated. Saint Ephrem the Syrian (306-373) said we each “belong to Mary.” And St. John Damascene (675-749) even wrote a consecration prayer: “We are present before you, O Lady … binding our souls to our hope in you … to you we consecrate … our very selves.”
Centuries later, St. Bernard of Clairvaux (1090-1153), a Cistercian abbot, helped spread devotion to Our Lady. The death of his biological mother when he was 16 had affected him profoundly, and he wrote and preached fervently about Mary as our Mother and a model of prayer for us. Saint Bernard recognized that we can emulate Mary’s habit of contemplation.
Our Lady reflects
Twice in the Gospels, we see Mary reflecting upon all the things that she had experienced, first after she gave birth to Jesus — “Mary treasured all these words and pondered them in her heart” (Lk 2:19) — and later when she found her 12-year-old son preaching in the Temple: “Then he went down with them and came to Nazareth, and was obedient to them. His mother treasured all these things in her heart” (Lk 2:51).
Saint Bernard of Clairvaux viewed Mary as our compass in our prayer life. He called her the “Star of the Sea” to show us that Mary is a wonderful guide for our own spiritual journeys. His well-known homily Missus Est spoke about Mary beautifully:
Let Mary be ever on your lips and in your heart … If you follow her, you will not go astray; if you pray to her, you will not lose hope … . Supported by her, you will not fail; protected by her, you will not fear; guided by her, you will not grow weary; with her favour, you will reach your goal!
Holy Hearts
Devotion to Mary continued ardently with St. John Eudes (1601-1680, right) in 17th-century France. Having studied with Jesuits and ordained as a priest in the Oratorian order, St. John began his own religious community in 1643. Now known as the Eudists, it was founded as the Congregation of Jesus and Mary. This reflected his devotion to both of their holy Hearts, with Jesus as the source of all holiness and Mary as the model for our Christian lives.
In 1648, St. John celebrated the first Mass dedicated to the Heart of Mary and, in 1652, built the chapel of his seminary, the first church under the Heart of Mary’s patronage.
Saint John Eudes was such a proponent of devotion to the two holy Hearts that, during his process of canonization, Pope St. Pius X announced him as “the father, doctor, and apostle of liturgical devotion to the hearts of Jesus and Mary.”
The foundation for the devotion to Mary’s Immaculate Heart began with the Gospels, developed within the early and medieval Church, and still unfolds to this day. We are invited to join in this spectacular devotion!
Missed Part 1 of the series? Read here.
