John Heard lauds ‘the Marian Model.’
By John Heard
This year, the Feast of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary falls on a Saturday (August 15) – this Saturday. The Assumption is a holy day of obligation.
How Catholics speak about Mary tells other people much about our faith.
There is, first, her simple name.
In Catholic homes, “Mary” – regularly referred to just like that, simply as Mary – is a familiar and beloved member of the family.
She is remembered amid all the accumulated joys and sorrows of daily life.
She is one of us.
Indeed, Catholics frequently refer to “Our Lady”. This brings out, too, the next layer of meaning in how Catholics speak.
Our Lady is revered and respected. She is given a place of honour in Catholic chapels and homes. An image of Our Lady, some icon or statue, usually features in Catholic spaces, and many people will have seen a Catholic mother for instance, while dusting, lift such an image and quietly apologise – “Sorry Mary” (that familiarity) – before returning the image to its place, sometimes with a reverential kiss (the respect).
Then there are the titles Catholics employ to call on Mary. The beautiful Litany of Loreto lists many of these.
Catholics call on Mary, for instance, as the Mirror of Justice (speculum iustitiae), the Seat of Wisdom (sedes sapientiae), the Mystical Rose (rosa mystica), the Gate of Heaven (janua caeli), and the Queen of Peace (regina pacis).
Here, some of the more complex theological meanings associated with the person of Mary are expressed. Jews, in particular, will notice the Scriptural associations – Mary is the Ark of the Covenant (foederis arca), the Queen of Prophets (regina prophetarum), and the Tower of David (turris Davidica).
In the East, Mary has always been known as the Theotokos – the God-bearer, an ancient and much revered title.
More recently, she has also been called the Mother Thrice Admirable, a conflation of Mary’s attributes as the Mother of God, the Mother of the Redeemer, and the Mother of all men.
In speaking of Mary in this way, by stressing her maternity, Catholics refer to the link between Mary and Heaven.
These titles express Mary’s unique role in the salvation of mankind, and her singular position of honour.
Mary is the “singular vessel of devotion” in the Litany. She is the Christian par excellence.
This draws out another layer of meaning. Catholics often refer to Mary as “spotless”.
She is “stainless” in other formulas, “immaculate” and “pure”.
On the Miraculous Medal, which many Catholics wear or carry, Mary is implored in this way: “O Mary, conceived without sin, pray for us who have recourse to Thee”.
Catholics also directly refer to Mary as the “Immaculate Conception”, which – alongside these other epithets – expresses a dogmatic truth (infallibly defined by Pope Pius IX in 1854) about Mary’s birth. She was conceived without sin.
Beyond these modes, there is the depiction of Mary in Christian art.
There is no space here to parse all the famous examples, so let us consider one compelling painting.
Titian’s Assumption of the Virgin (1516 – 1518) shows the dramatic moment of Mary’s bodily assumption into Heaven.
She is arrayed in splendour, supported by dancing cherubim, and ascending to God, Who gazes down on the scene with paternal benevolence. Underneath the clouds, however, all is chaos.
The apostles stand transfixed in a moment of uproar. Most of them have their hands in the air, and Titian has given them expressions of shock and wonder.
Most interesting for our purposes is the figure in red, his back to the viewer, that Titian uses to tie the earthly section to the Heavenly segment. His whole body is stretched upward, and his hands grasp for where Mary’s feet must have been just moments before. The apostle, for all the commotion, is intent. In his tense, extended form and the wonderful expressiveness Titian has given to his details – the taut calf, the raised heel, the splayed fingers and the thrust back head – we have a picture of the Catholic attitude to Mary.
We strive, with our titles, with our ways of speaking about Mary to bring her back down to us, to make her one of us, to have her stay in our homes and hearts. But we also want to piggyback on her glory. Catholics implore Mary, after all, because she has clean hands. It is better that our petitions should reach God via His most favoured creation.
While we are implicated in the still churning dust of earth, the chaos depicted so movingly in Titian’s masterpiece, we need Mary’s intercession. Same sex attracted Catholics, in particular, sometimes feel rooted to the earth, as though we might never make it to sanctity.
Mary was obedient, she was pure, and her life was marked by sorrow. She sailed on up. On Assumption, and always, Catholics reach for her blessed feet – and strain every nerve – to follow after her.
John Heard is a Melbourne writer.
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