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| On Calvary Mary was a
priest, who offered Jesus. |
“ She stood! I see Mary standing upright on the
sacred mountain as each sacrificing priest should be at the altar.....
She
stood! I see her upright at the foot of the cross where she represents the
Church, where, as the only one to understand the mystery unfolding itself, she
held in her heart the faith of both the old and the new covenant; where,
faithful to this sacred tradition, she reaffirmed her faith by the same
spectacle that upset, confused, scandalised the apostles, since she partook in
some sort in the chalice and eternal priesthood of her Son, offering herself as
she did as holocaust . . . .
She stood! What a priest she was, what
sacrifice!” Révue mensuelle du culte de Marie, 8
(1891) p. 77. |
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| At the foot of the
cross Mary was priestess. |
“Yes, she stood upright at the foot of the cross,
and that was so that she could make a public and voluntary sacrifice of all
that is dear to her heart for the sake of lost humanity . . . .
So she
becomes, in as far as it is possible, cooperator with God in his grand work:
she became priestess, she who was authorised to perform on the part of
humanity, the holocaust of a beloved child.” Sermons on our
Lord Jesus Christ and his Blessed Mother, New York 1866, p. 364.
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| On Calvary Mary was
linked to Jesus’ priesthood. |
“I place the workings of this assembly . . .
under the patronage of the co-redemptrix on Calvary who was associated to the
priesthood and sacrifice of the Lamb.” Pastoral Instruction to the
Clergy, on the occasion of the 4th Synod of the province of Bordeaux, 25 August
1859.
“Mary is involved in redemption. She stands upright at the
foot of the cross, upright in the posture of a sacrificer [=sacrificial
priest].” L.E. Pie, La Vierge Marie, Paris 1881, p.
303. |
| Mary is Virgin
Priest. |
“I have rejoiced to see this glorious title
of Virgo Sacerdos [=Virgin Priest] vindicated, a title which the
growing devotion of the last centuries has built up on a text of ecclesiastical
antiquity, then hallowed by the authority of our great Pope Pius IX! It will
give a new impulse to the devotion to the priestly Virgin, to Mary Mother of
the clergy and Mother of priests.” Letter to Fr. van den Berghe,
in 1875. |
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| Mary did not receive
the sacramental character of the priesthood, but was Virgin Priest. |
“[Theologians . . . ] have interpreted with
knowledge and piety the thoughts of the Doctors of the Church relating to the
mystical priesthood of Mary, and these thoughts are like a concert of praise to
our majestic Queen. Without having been invested with the priestly character,
Mary was so closely associated with the sacrifice of the eternal Priest that
the Fathers of the Church called her Virgo Sacerdos [Virgin Priest] and
the Brief of our great Pope Pius IX accepts and hallows that glorious title. I
too salute this divine Queen of the Priesthood.” L. Laplace, La
Mère Marie de Jésus Deluil-Martiny, Lyon 1906, pp.
407-408. |
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[about a painting of Mary in priestly vestments]
“Yes, this is truly the Virgin Priest . . . ! She is the Virgin who has
cooperated in the great work of Redemption, associate in the divine sacrifice,
offering her divine Son for the salvation of the world!” Les
fêtes mariales et le congrès marial. Juillet 1904, Namur 1905,
pp. 356-361. |
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“Oh Immaculate Virgin, who has been called
‘Virgin Priest’ because, as St. Antoninus the Bishop of Florence
testifies, you are filled with all dignity and grace found in the priesthood .
. . .
Oh Immaculate Virgin, whom the most holy Doctors celebrate as the
Mother of our High Priest Jesus Christ, as Priest and altar at once, since you
yourself provided the table, you have given us the heavenly bread which is
Jesus Christ . . . . ” Les fêtes mariales et le congrès
marial. Juillet 1904, Namur 1905, pp. 412. |
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| Mary was on Calvary as
a priest at the altar. |
“During the hour when her Son is in mortan
agony, she is there, as mother at the foot of the gibbet on which her Son hangs
crucified. She stands upright as a priest at the altar . . . . While offering
her Son, there is also something of herself that she sacrifices to God . . . .
She is co-redemptrix.” Cardinal D.J.Mercier, La médiation
universelle de la tout Sainte Vierge, Louvain 1925, p. 11. |
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| On Calvary Mary acted
as priest. |
“Mary on Calvary stood erect, as a
sacrificer, as a priest at the altar, Virgo Sacerdos, offering in her
heart the Victim of the world.” Cardinal C.L.Laplace, Marie,
mère des graces, Rennes 1884, p. 13. |
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| Mary is a pure, holy,
immaculate priest. |
“Mary is not emotionally upset . . . She does
not weep because she is performing a ministry. She joins in offering to God the
sacrifice which will bring salvation to people. That is why the Fathers give
her the title of co-redemptrix . . . . That is why they call her, with St.
Epiphanius, the ‘priestess of justice’. Yet, Mary’s sacrificial
act presupposes her Immaculate Conception, the latter being the necessary
condition of the former: the priest must be pure, holy, immaculate.”
C.Gennari, L‘Immacolata concepimento di Maria, Roma 1903, p.
122. |
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| Mary was the first
priest who consecrated, sacrificed, and dispensed holy communion. |
“Mary is no stranger in anything that belongs
to the Eucharist. She was the first priest to call down the Word from heaven to
earth and to bring forth Jesus Christ in this world through an act of her will.
Therefore she has been called Virgin Priest, Virgo Sacerdos . . . .
Just as she has been the first priest to bring forth Jesus Christ, she will be
the first priest to offer him. She was the first sacrificer as she had been the
first consecrator . . . .
On top of the holy mount of Calvary, she stays
upright in the posture of a sacrificer standing before the altar, that is: the
cross, where the first Mass is celebrated and where are redemption was
accomplished . . . .
The Virgin Priest who has given us the Eucharist, the
Virgin Sacrificer who has validated Mass for us, is also the Virgin of holy
communion.” ‘Lettre de Mgr l‘évèque de
Saint-Brieuc au clergé’, in Troisième congrès
marial breton, Saint-Brieuc 1911, pp. xiv-xvi. |
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| Mary is a priest of
the new covenant. |
“Mary is also something greater than temples
or tabernacles, . . . she is priest. What do we mean with a priest of the new
covenant? A priest has the power to mystically produce the body of the Lord
giving that body its sacramental form . . . . I allow myself to say that Mary
is to first to say Mass, by agreeing to the Incarnation and so preparing the
victim . . .
Mary fulfils in advance the sacrifice of the cross by
preparing what is required for it . . . . More than any priest she can point at
her cruficied Son and say: ‘This is my body!’ Mary is therefore not a
priest who does not share in the sacrifice, but a priest who puts herself into
the victim who is the heavenly bread.” Actes du 25e congrès
eucharistique international, Lourdes 1914, pp. 9-10. |
