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1684 - 1759 AD
Francesco Pepe taught philosophy and theology. He was a contemporary
of St. Alphonsus de Liguori. Both were Neapolitans and, as friends and
colleagues, they shared many ideas. Both wrote their books on Mary at about the
same time. Pepe’s Delle Grandezze di Gesù Cristo e della gran
Madre Maria santissima [= ‘The Grandeurs of Jesus Christ and his most
holy Mother’] appeared in 1747, Alphonsus’ Glorie di Maria [=
‘Mary’s Glories’] in 1750.
- Mary was not a sacramentally ordained priest because
she was a woman
- Mary possessed the highest degree of the priesthood,
equivalently
- Mary is a priest, in union with Christ
- Mary was a divine priestess
Mary was not a sacramentally ordained
priest because she was a woman
“Certain people might think that Mary enjoyed priestly power to
consecrate the Body and Blood of her Son as priests of the law of grace do. And
what might create a doubt is that Mary [through her Fiat] caused the
divine Word to descend from the womb of the Father into her own, clothed it
with her flesh, and gave it a human form, all this in a manner much more
perfect than priests do. In spite of this, it is a sure and infallible truth
that Mary did not receive the sacrament of Holy Orders or the [sacramental]
priestly character and, consequently, that she did not have the power to
consecrate [the Eucharist] as priests do, since the feminine sex has always
been excluded from the dignity of Holy Orders . . . .”
Mary possessed the highest degree of the
priesthood, equivalently
“Mary did not receive, and because she was a woman could not
receive , the [sacramental] character of the priesthood; but she was elevated
by her Son to the supreme dignity of the priesthood in a more noble fashion. As
blessed Albert the Great says in Mariale c. 71, ‘She was not given
the character of Holy Orders, but absorbed the offices [of Holy Orders] in a
more sublime way so that she possessed the priesthood eminently that is: the
highest degree of the priesthood.’ This eminence of power could not be
extended to consecrate [the Eucharist], but to offering her divine Son, the
immaculate and saintly victim, on the altar of her heart.” Delle
Grandezze etc., Naples 1749, vol. 3b, Lesson 133, p.
279.
See the relevant text in St. Albert the
Great.
Mary is a priest, in union with
Christ
“In three places Jesus Christ was both victim and priest: on the
cross, on the altar, and in the Temple . . . and in all three Mary is priest
and victim together with her Son. She is a victim and priest in the Eucharist,
as proclaimed by St. Epiphanius . . . She is a victim and priest on Calvary . .
. . She is a priest in the Temple [= at the Presentation] . . . . This
sacrifice [at the presentation in the Temple] was in some ways superior to that
of the Eucharist or the cross.” Delle Grandezze etc., Naples
1749, vol. 3b, Lesson 128, pp. 221-222.
Read Epiphanius’
statement and Luke 2,22-35 on the Presentation
in the Temple.
Mary was a divine priestess
“The most divine and beloved Mother sacrificed to the Father . .
. , and together with her Son offered to the Father, the same sacrifice of her
Son, herself having become with immense love and endurance a divine
priestess.” Delle Grandezze etc., Naples 1749, vol. 4, Lesson
177, p. 184.
“Mary did not lack in some way the priestly vestments
as the psalmist had foretold: ‘All the glory of the king’s daughter
is within in golden borders, clothed round about with various apparel’ (Ps
44,14-15; free according to the Vulgate]. This brocaded dress which women wore
. . . bore some resemblance to priestly vestments . . . Our divine priestess
was immensely gracious in God’s eyes.” Delle Grandezze
etc., Naples 1749, vol. 3b, Lesson 133, p. 280.
See images of Mary in priestly
vestments!
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