Page:A Dictionary of Saintly Women Volume 2.djvu/50

38 88 ST. MARY Lady of the Snow, Sept. 8 her nativity, Sept. 12 her name, Sept. 24 Onr Lady of Mercede for the Eodemption of Captives, Not. 21 Presentation of the Blessed Virgin in the temple in ber cbildbood ; tbis feast, originally observed Feb. 14, is the oldest festival in ber bononr, Dec. 8 the Immaculate Conception, Oct. 7 Our Lady of Victory, instituted by Pius V. in bononr of the victory of the Cbristians over the Turks at Lepanto; tbis victory was ascribed to ber. All tbese days and a few more are marked in the B.M, ^Many otbers are set apart by different Cburcbes and Orders in honour of certain events and relics con- nected witb the Mother of the Lord. The month of May is the month of Mary. By the Seven Dolours of the Blessed Virgin, March 7, are generally meant (1) the agony of grief that Mary felt when Simeon prophesied that tbis Child should be for the fall and rising again of many, and that a sword should pierce through ber own soul ; (2) when the angel told Joseph to flee into Egypt because Herod would seek the Child's life, and she saw from tbis bow ill Ho would be received on earth ; (3) when He stayed behind at Jerusalem with the doctors and she lost Him ; (4) when she met Him carrying His cross ; (5) when she saw Him crucified; (6) when He was taken down from the cross and she took Him in ber arms; (7) when they took Him from ber arms to bury Him. St. Mary has many aliases, amongst otbers, The Blessed Virgin Mary, the Virgin, our Lady, the Mother of God ; tbe Madonna; the Queen of Heaven and Hell ; the Star of the Sea ; the Gate of Heaven; the Mother of Mercy; the Bef uge of the Lost ; the Mediatrix ; the Protector from Divine justice and from tbe devil ; the Ladder of Paradise ; the Door; the Ark ; Theotokos, Deipara, Deigenitrix, Boo^oroditza. la, Mariamne, Merg, Miriam, Mury, are identical witb Mary. She is patron of women named Annunciata, Candelaria, Concopcion, Dolores, etc. Cabier gives a long list of places, communities and industries of which she is patron. Among the coun- tries aro England, Franco, and Portugal ; among the towns, Lincoln, Salisbury, Paris, Hampstead, and Montreal which was founded by the Sulpicians under tbe name of Villemarie. Among the re- ligious orders are the Cistercians and the Order of Mercede for tho Eedemption of Captives. Tho newspaper-carriers of Paris and ribbon-makers are under tbe patronage of the Annunciation ; the flsb-sellers of Paris specially honour ber Assumption. Tbe Conception is tbe patron of Spain and the Spanish Indies; the Nativity, of many places in Paris, of restaurants, cooks, fish« women, makers and sellers of ribbons, fringes, gold and silver cloth. As Our LcLdy of the SnoWy she is patron of embroiderers, lace-makers, bleachers of linen and spinners of thread for lace; tbis is probably on account of the perfect whiteness aimed at in tbese arts. If the genealogy of our Lord given by St. Luke, is that of His mother, ber father's name was Heli, which is a variant of Joachim, and the tradition that ber mother's name was Anna is of great antiquity, and very likely to bo true. All that we know of St. Mary from contemporary history is the little that is told in the Bible, but that little was soon amplified and gradually grew to a story of considerable length, most of which is to be found in the apocryphal gospels. According to the traditions, Mary was the daughter of SS. Joachim and Anna. For the story of their long childlessness and the wonderful circumstances of the birth of Mary, see Anna (3). When Mary was nine months old, Anna set ber on the ground to see whether she could walk, and she walked nine steps. By another account, she was first set down at three months and walked three steps. Her mother caught ber up and said, ''As the Lord livctb thou walkest no more on tbis earth until I bring thee into the temple of the Lord." So she made her chamber a holy place and suffered nothing common or unclean to come near ber, but invited certain well- reputed daughters of Israel to keep ber company. When she was a year old, Joachim mado a great feast and invited all tbe