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1608 - 1657 AD
Note. Olier knew St. Francis of Sales and St. Vincent de Paul
personnaly. He himself exercised a great influence on his contemporaries as
founder of the Seminary and priestly Society of St.Sulpice in 1641 AD. The
seminary not only sent apostolic priests into all parts of France, but became
the model according to which seminaries were founded throughout the country and
abroad. Its rules, approved by the General Assembly of the Clergy in 1651, were
adopted in many new diocesan seminaries.
Texts quoted in French by Réné Laurentin (in Maria,
Ecclesia, Sacerdotium, Nouvelles Éditions Latines, Paris 1952, pp.
278-282; 360-377) and translated into English by John Wijngaards.
- Mary fulfilled the functions of the
priesthood
- Mary acted as confirming bishop at the
Visitation
- Mary acted as a priest at the Presentation in the
Temple
- Mary offered Christ on Calvary
- Deacons and priests find a model in Mary
- Mary is a priest ‘in Jesus
Christ’
- Mary is the Queen of priests
- Mary possessed the spirit of the priesthood, even
though she lacked the sacramental character
- Though lacking the visible priesthood, Mary
possessed its spirit
- Though lacking the external deputation of
priestly ordination, Mary was a priest internally
- Mary occupies the highest hierarchical rank in the
priesthood
Mary fulfilled the functions of the
priesthood
“Mary as a child of three [in the temple of Jerusalem] renewed her
vows of victim and servant with an even greater love . . . than she had done in
the sacred temple of Anne’s womb . . .
“ In the temple of
Jerusalem she assisted at the sacrifices of the Old Covenant and, more
enlightened than the priests . . . saw, adored and contemplated Jesus Christ
under all these symbols since she was already without knowing it performing the
holy functions of the priesthood which she would have to exercise on
Calvary.
For there the Father associated her with Jesus Christ, priest of
the exalted sacrifice which she must offer with him on Calvary. . . and
communicated to her the priestly spirit in an eminent manner”. Vie
intérieure de la très sainte Vierge, 1650 (?), ed. Migne
1856, c. 3,1-3.
Mary acted as confirming bishop at the
Visitation
“At this feast, the Blessed Virgin performed two principal
functions of Jesus’ apostles: she carries knowledge of Jesus Christ to St.
Elizabeth and sanctifies the soul of St. John [the Baptist]. ‘Teach all
nations and baptise them’, Jesus Christ ordered his apostles. ‘Teach
them’. It indicates the faith and the light which they have to carry
everywhere. ‘Baptise them’. This signifies the sanctification of
souls. It is true that the Blessed Virgin’s words had the effect in John
of the sacramental words of baptism, sanctifying him and doing even more, . . .
namely what confirmation brings about in the hearts of Christians who,
illuminated by reason, receive the fulness of the gifts of the Holy Spirit who
illumines them and takes possession of them, who guides them and consumes them
in perfection and fulness of holy love.
The Blessed Virgin, as Bishop in
the Church, sanctified the son of the highpriest Zachariah. She sanctified St.
John and through the imposition of her power, using her right as Mother of God
and spouse of the Father, she imprinted the Holy Spirit on St. John . . .
” Recueil, manuscript in Saint Sulpice, Paris, Rue du Regard, p.
64.
Mary acted as a priest at the
Presentation in the Temple
“Simeon predicted something which she had not learnt of so far,
namely that the pains and the sufferings which had been foretold by the
prophets would affect herself, and that the saim suffering that had to kill
this victim [=Jesus Christ] would also kill the priest who presented him that
day in the Temple, namely herself.” Recueil, manuscript in Saint
Sulpice, Paris, Rue du Regard, p.80.
Mary offered Christ on
Calvary
“Mary was destined to form with her divine Son but one victim of
expiation and one same sacrifice of praise . . . ” (c. 9,5)
“In
her quality of the New Eve, while the universal sacrifice is offered on the
Cross in the person of Jesus Christ, the most holy Virgin on her part offered
this divine victim for people, and felt herself too charged with their sins and
obliged to make satisfaction for their sins.” (c. 12,3) Vie
intérieure de la très sainte Vierge.
Deacons and priests find a model in
Mary
“Deacons who offer the sacrifice with the priests, should
contemplate the Blessed Virgin on Calvary offering with Jesus the victim of
redemption.
Priests will emulate the Blessed Virgin who herself offered her
Son to God through her hands, in the Temple at the mystery of the
Purification.” Recueil, manuscript in Saint Sulpice, Paris, Rue
du Regard, p.101.
Mary is a priest ‘in Jesus
Christ’
[Instructions regarding a painting of the Presentation scene in the
seminary chapel.] “ . . . One should write the followings words on it:
‘Christ who is priest in the Virgin offers himself as a victim to God the
Father through her hands. May the life of the most Blessed Virgin, priest in
Jesus Christ, reign in this house until when, during all eternity, we shall be
consumed in her while offering in her and with her the Son of God to the Father
. . . .’
One could put these words over the entrance to the chapel:
‘Dedicated to the priesthood of the Blessed Virgin’.”
Mémoires pour servir à la vie de Monsieur Olier,
manuscript of Saint Sulpice, Rue du Regard, vol 4, p. 348.
Mary is the Queen of priests
“One should honour the Blessed Virgin as the Queen of the clergy, a
quality acquired by birth through her primary grandeur as spouse of the eternal
Father. Mary manfiests all the zeal which a spouse should have for the glory of
her husband. Therefore the eternal Father has given her the clergy as her
members and subjects, as persons who should be consumed continually in works of
zeal for his glory.” Journée chrétienne, Paris,
vol. 2, col. 233.
Mary possessed the spirit of the
priesthood, even though she lacked the sacramental character
“This divine Mother, though filled with the fulness of the spirit
of the priesthood, did not possess its [sacramental] character and thus could
not by herself exercise the priestly functions.” Extrait VII,
Oeuvres, Paris, Migne col, 1106.
Though lacking the visible priesthood,
Mary possessed its spirit
“God has willed that, though the his mother was not present at the
last supper to offer the sacrifice and to be visibly made a priest according to
the order of Melchisedech, she was in the room of the last supper [at
Pentecost] to receive there the spirit and grace of the apostolic ministry, to
teach the Church that she will never be renewed except through association with
and participation in Mary’s spirit, a spirit which she received in fulness
. . . ” Recueil, manuscript in Saint Sulpice, Paris, Rue du
Regard, p. 104.
Though lacking the external
deputation of priestly ordination, Mary was a priest interiorly
“Her superior quality and her gender did not allow God to call the
Blessed Virgin to a mystery which only men could offer externally and to which
only men could be deputed by the Church. Although she was a woman, the Blessed
Virgin carried all the invisible grace of the apostles and priests in herself.
She had already been anointed with the fulness of grace. She had already
publicly fulfilled the function of a priest in Jerusalem when she offered him
in human form and not as sacrament, and when she offered him later on Calvary,
since the sacrifice needed to reflect her own property. And if she was absent
at the last supper and did not offer the mystery under the sacramental signs as
the apostles and priests according to the order of Melchisedech do, she offered
it interiorly through the universal spirit and fulness of grace with which
Jesus Christ had filled her.” Recueil, manuscript in Saint
Sulpice, Paris, Rue du Regard, p. 230.
Mary occupies the highest hierarchical
rank in the priesthood
“It is a general rule which God observes, that even the top rank in
any hierarchical order is always united to and dependent on the higher order.
As we see among the angels where nature and grace are always linked and various
[hierarchical] orders are related to each other, in the same way Our Lord
linked the clergy as a lower hierarchical order to the most Holy Virgin who is
the only one to belong to a higher order, using both nature and grace. He made
her to be born, in nature from the tribe of Levi, the family of priests, and he
made her enter soon almost immediately at birth into the ministry of the
priesthood . . . .
There is no status or hierarchical order among the
clergy that does not see the Blessed Virgin exercising its own ministry and she
does nothing externally for which she did not possess the interior grace in
abundance . . . .” Recueil, manuscript in Saint Sulpice, Paris,
Rue du Regard, pp. 100-101.
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