Mediatrix C7

[Priamo Gregory]

Mediatrixis a title given to Mary, mother of Jesus in Catholicism. It refers to the intercessory role of the Blessed Virgin Mary as a mediator in the salvific redemption by her son Jesus Christ and that he bestows graces through her. Mediatrix is an ancient title that has been used by many saints since at least the 5th century. Its use grew during the Middle Ages and reached its height in the writings of saints Louis de Montfort and Alphonsus Liguori in the 18th century.[1]

A general role of intercession is attributed to Mary in Catholicism, Eastern Orthodoxy, and Oriental Orthodoxy,[2] and the term "Mediatrix" was applied to her in the dogmatic constitution Lumen gentium of the Second Vatican Council. "This, however, is to be so understood that it neither takes away from nor adds anything to the dignity and efficaciousness of Christ the one Mediator."[3]

The use of the title Mediatrix and the doctrine of Mary having a higher level of saintly intercession (owing to her special relationship with her son Jesus) is distinct from the theological issues involved in the establishment of Mediatrix of all graces as a dogma.

Mediatrix is an ancient title.[1] A prayer attributed to Ephrem the Syrian in the 4th century calls her "after the mediator, you (Mary) are the mediatrix of the whole world."[4] The title was also used in the 5th century by Basil of Seleucia. By the 8th century, the title Mediatrix found common use and Andrew of Crete and saint John of Damascus used it.[1]

These early notions place Mary's mediation on a higher level than that of other forms of the intercession of saints. Her position as the mother of Jesus Christ the redeemer and source of grace makes her preeminent among others who might be called mediators.[4]

In the 13th century, Saint Thomas Aquinas noted that only Jesus Christ can be the perfect mediator between God and humankind. However, this does not hinder that others may be called mediators, in some respect, between God and man, because they assist and prepare union between God and man.[5]

The same notion was stated in the 16th century by the Council of Trent, which declared "that the saints, who reign together with Christ, offer up their own prayers to God for men; that it is good and useful suppliantly to invoke them, and to have recourse to their prayers, aid, (and) help for obtaining benefits from God, through His Son, Jesus Christ our Lord, who is our alone Redeemer and Saviour; but that they think impiously, who deny that the saints, who enjoy eternal happiness in heaven, are to be invocated; or who assert either that they do not pray for men; or, that the invocation of them to pray for each of us even in particular, is idolatry; or, that it is repugnant to the word of God; and is opposed to the honour of the one mediator of God and men, Christ Jesus; or, that it is foolish to supplicate, vocally, or mentally, those who reign in heaven".[6]

In his book Treatise on Prayer, Alphonsus Liguori reviewed the writings of Thomas Aquinas and Bernard of Clairvaux on the intercession of saints and Mary's role as Mediatrix and strongly supported the title.[9][10]

Several popes have used the title Mediatrix. Leo XIII used it in 1896 and Pius X in 1904. This continued in the 20th century with Benedict XV and Pius XI.[1] However, Pius XII avoided the use of the title, although he urged reliance on the intercession of Mary.[1]

In September 2012, during the Feast of the Nativity of Mary, claimant visionnaire Emma de Guzman stated that the Virgin Mary revealed her maternal role as "Mediatrix before the Mediator," a special Marian title associated by many Filipino Catholics in reference to Our Lady Mediatrix of All Graces.[12]

Among Catholic theologians, it is undisputed that Jesus Christ is the only mediator between God and the human race, especially in the salvific role of redemption as exhibited by the crucifixion on Mount Calvary.[13] Accordingly, the word "mediator" in the strict sense fits Jesus alone in relation to God, but in a subordinate sense, Christians exercise a mediation "that is effective through, with, and in Christ. The subordinate mediator never stands alone, but is always dependent on Jesus."[14]

With special reference to Mary, the Catechism of the Catholic Church, quoting the Second Vatican Council, which in its document Lumen gentium referred to Mary as "'Advocate, Auxiliatrix, Adjutrix and Mediatrix," says:

Taken up to heaven she did not lay aside this saving office but by her manifold intercession continues to bring us the gifts of eternal salvation. ...Therefore the Blessed Virgin is invoked in the Church under the titles of Advocate, Helper, Benefactress, and Mediatrix [Lumen gentium, 62]. Mary's function as mother of men in no way obscures or diminishes this unique mediation of Christ, but rather shows its power. But the Blessed Virgin's salutary influence on men ... flows forth from the superabundance of the merits of Christ, rests on his mediation, depends entirely on it, and draws all its power from it [Lumen gentium, 60]. No creature could ever be counted along with the Incarnate Word and Redeemer; but just as the priesthood of Christ is shared in various ways both by his ministers and the faithful, and as the one goodness of God is radiated in different ways among his creatures, so also the unique mediation of the Redeemer does not exclude but rather gives rise to a manifold cooperation which is but a sharing in this one source [Lumen gentium, 62].[15]

At a Mariological Congress held at Czestochowa in August 1996, a commission was established in response to a request, by the Holy See, which had asked to know the opinion of the scholars present at the Congress on the possibility of defining a new dogma of faith regarding Mary as Coredemptrix, Mediatrix and Advocate. (In recent years, the Pope and various dicasteries of the Holy See had received petitions requesting such a definition.) The response of the commission, deliberately brief, was unanimous and precise: It found that the titles, as proposed, were ambiguous, as they can be understood in very different ways.[16] It also held that it was not opportune to abandon the path marked out by the Second Vatican Council and proceed to the definition of a new dogma.[17]

Going further than expressing belief in Mary as Mediatrix, proposals have been made to declare that Mary is the Mediatrix of all graces. Pope Benedict XV allowed the dioceses of Belgium to celebrate the feast of Mary Mediatrix of all graces on May 31 each year.[18] In printings of the Roman Missal from that date until 1961, the Mass of Mary Mediatrix of All Graces was found in the appendix Missae pro aliquibus locis (Masses for Some Places), but not in the general calendar for use wherever the Roman Rite is celebrated.[19] Other Masses authorized for celebration in different places on the same day were those of the Blessed Virgin Mary Queen of All Saints and Mother of Fair Love and Our Lady of the Sacred Heart of Jesus. The Belgian celebration has now been replaced by an optional memorial on 31 August of the Virgin Mary Mediatrix.[20]

Now a mediator ought to have communion with both parties, between whom he is to mediate. For this is the property of a mediator, to be in close communion with each of those whose mediator he is. For he would be no longer a mediator, if he were connected with one but separated from the other. If therefore he partakes not of the nature of the Father, he is not a mediator, but is separated. For as he partakes of the nature of men, because he came to men, so he is partaker of the nature of God, because he came from God. Because he was to mediate between two natures, he must approximate to the two natures; for as the place situated between two others is joined to each place, so must that between natures be joined to either nature. As therefore he became man, so was he also God. A man could not have become a mediator, because he must also plead with God. God could not have been mediator, since those could not receive him, toward those he should have mediated. (Hom. in 1 Tim. 7; also Hom. in Phil. 7)

What we see here in Chrysostom is that Christ is the mediator between God and man because he unites the two natures to one another in his person in the Incarnation. Clearly this can be said of no one but Christ, and none of the Eastern fathers, nor Eastern Orthodox hymnody, nor its prayers contradict the point.

This question came to me from an Orthodox convert, who has reached out to me before. \u201CMargot\u201D had noticed a reference in the Orthodox liturgy to Mary, the Theotokos, as \u201Cmediatrix.\u201D1 This title struck \u201CMargot\u201D as strange, and she had been told, by a seemingly trustworthy individual, that there is no Greek equivalent for \u201Cmediatrix,\u201D making the term all the more troubling. The following is my effort to illuminate the term and its meaning. Please subscribe and support my work.

In answer to your question, I haven\u2019t spent much time on the \u201Cmediatrix\u201D verbiage in the prayers or the hymnody. Without hearing more of the particulars about what concerns you about this language, I cannot address specifics. Nonetheless, I\u2019ll offer some general thoughts.

Simply guessing, I anticipate that there are some protestant presumptions sitting in the background of your uneasiness. For example, Christ is the only \u201Cmediator\u201D between God and man (1 Tim 2:5), so the application of the term \u201Cmediatrix\u201D to the Theotokos is contrary to Scripture. I\u2019m also guessing that there are other protestant presumptions about the gospel and what was accomplished by Christ on the cross; hence, the mediator language here applied to Christ is read through a lens of penal substitutionary atonement, which makes the term all the more problematic when applied to the Theotokos.

If I\u2019m right about this, I would first correct these faulty presumptions. Penal substitution is not espoused by the Eastern fathers. As for how the Eastern fathers understand Christ\u2019s unique role as mediator (mesit\u0113s), to which Paul refers in his first epistle to Timothy, they tie it to the Incarnation. That is to say, Christ is the one who joins humanity with divinity in order that we might partake of the divine nature.2 A quote from Chrysostom should suffice:

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