By Daniel C. Peterson and William J. Hamblin
For hundreds of millions of Christians around the world, the adoration of the Blessed Virgin Mary forms a fundamental part of their religious life. In the New Testament, Mary plays a crucial role as the virgin mother of Jesus, the Son of God. By the second century, some Christians began to describe Mary as a second Eve: Death came from Adam who was tempted of Eve, while life came from Jesus who was born of Mary.
The fifth century saw crucial developments in ideas about Mary. The New Testament concept of the virgin birth was expanded to include her perpetual virginity. Thus, the brothers of Jesus mentioned in the New Testament were understood to be his half-brothers: sons of Joseph by an earlier wife, not by Mary. At the ecumenical Council of Ephesus in 431, Mary was declared to be theotokos, the mother of God, not just the mother of Jesus’ mortal body and human nature. At the time, many Christians rejected this idea as an innovation and heresy. One, Nestorius, was excommunicated and banished from the Roman Empire. His followers in exile, the Nestorians, became the major Christian denomination of medieval Persia, India and Central Asia. Nestorian missionaries were preaching in China by the seventh century.
Although often confused by Protestants with the Virgin Birth, belief in the Immaculate Conception affirms that Mary was born untainted by original sin and thus was an appropriately pure vessel to bear the Son of God. This doctrine developed in the later Middle Ages, and was disputed among Catholics for centuries. It was formalized by the Catholic Church only in 1854, and is rejected by Eastern Orthodoxy and Protestantism.
Mary’s bodily assumption into Heaven was widely accepted as orthodox by the sixth century. According to this doctrine, Mary-like Enoch and Elijah-did not actually die but merely “fell asleep.” Although she was buried in the Tomb of the Virgin in the Kidron valley near Jerusalem, her body was taken into Heaven where she now dwells with Christ and the saints. She is therefore considered superior to all saints and angels, able to intercede with Christ and God on behalf of those who pray to her.
Such prayers are recorded as early as the fourth century. Adoration of the Virgin is one of the leading forms of popular piety in both Roman Catholicism and Eastern Orthodoxy. Icons and statues of the Virgin and Child adorn most churches, where the faithful can often be seen in fervent prayer. After the “Our Father,” the most widespread Christian prayer is the “Hail Mary,” often recited with the rosary.
Pilgrimages to holy sites associated with the life of Mary are popular, with literally millions of worshipers visiting sites of visions of the Virgin at Lourdes in France, Fatima in Portugal, Guadalupe in Mexico and Medjogorje in Yugoslavia, among many others. There are also a number of important formal feast days celebrating Mary, such as the Assumption of the Virgin (15 August), the Immaculate Conception (8 December) and the Annunciation (25 March).
Today, the role of Mary remains controversial and continues to be debated as it has for centuries. Some Protestants believe that the adoration of Mary has passed beyond appropriate honor for the mother of Christ and accuse Catholics and Eastern Orthodox Christians of Mariolatry, of ascribing divine honors to Mary and worshiping her. Secularized historians often see the historical development of many of the attributes of Mary as the Christianization and amalgamation of beliefs and practices related to the pagan Great Mother goddess in late antiquity.
Although her place of honor is secure among Catholics, the precise role of Mary remains a source of contention. In part under the influence of new feminist beliefs about the feminine “aspects” of God, some Catholics encourage an expanded understanding of the role of Mary, including new titles like “Mediatrix of all the Graces” and “Co-Redemptrix” with Christ. While many Catholics reject this as a fundamental redefinition, others see merely a culmination of their ever-expanding understanding of the true role of Mary and her relationship with God and Christ. However understood, Mary remains a most fascinating figure in the history of religion.
Jaroslav Pelikan, Mary Through the Centuries: Her Place in the History of Culture, (Yale, 1998)
Melissa R. Katz, Divine Mirrors: The Virgin Mary in the Visual Arts, (Oxford, 2001)
