Page:Catholic Encyclopedia, volume 15.djvu/529

 VIRGIN

467

VIRGIN

plained the mystery of the Incarnation to her, and that she showed some vainglory at the marriage feast in Cana and on visiting her Son during His public hfe together with the brothers of the Lord (hom. IV, in Matt., P. G., LVII, 45; hom. XLIV, in Matt. P. G., XLVII, 464 sq.; hom. XXI, in Jo., P. G., LIX, 130); St. Cyril of Alex, (in Jo., P. G., LXXIV, 661-664) speaks of Mary's doubt and discouragement at the foot of the cross. But these Greek writers cannot be said to express an Apostolic tradition, when they ex- press their private and singular opinions. Scripture and tradition agree in ascribing to Mary the greatest personal sanctity: She is conceived without the stain of original sin; she shows the greatest humility and patience in her daily life (Luke, i, 38, 48) ; she exhibits an heroic patience under the most trying circum- stances (Luke, ii, 7, 35, 48; John, xix, 25-27). When there is question of sin, Mary must always be excepted (St. Ambrose, in Luc. II, 16-22; P. L., XV, 1558-1.560; de virgin. I, 15; ep. LXIII, 110; de obit. Val.,39, P. L., XVI, 210, 1218, 1371; St. Augustin, de nat. et grat., XXXVI, 42, P. L., XLIV,267; St. Bede, in Luc. II, 35, P. L., XCII, 346; St. Thomas, Summa theol., III. Q. XXVII, a. 4; Terrien, La mere de Dieu et la mere des hommes, Paris, 1902, I, 3-14; II, 67-84; Turmel, Histoire de la theologie positive, Paris, 1904, 72-77; Newman, Anglican Difficulties, II, 128-152, London, 1885). Mary's complete exemption from actual sin is confirmed by the Council of Trent (sess. VI., can. 23) : " If any one say that man once justified can during his whole life avoid all sins, even venial ones, as the Church holds that the Blessed Virgin did by special privilege of God, let him be anathema." Theologians assert that Mary was impeccable, not by the essential perfection of her nature, but by a special Divine privilege. Moreover, the Fathers, at lea.st since the fifth century, almost unanimously maintain that the Blessed Virgin never experienced the motions of concupiscence.

(3) Mary during the Pubhc Life of Jesus Christ. — The evangelists connect Mary's name with three different events in Our Lord's pubhc life: with the miracle in Cana, with His preaching, and with His passion. The first of these incidents is related in John, ii, 1-10. "There was a marriage feast in Cana of Galilee . . . and the mother of Jesus was there. And Jesus also was invited, and his disciples, to the marriage. And the wine failing, the mother of Jesus saith to him: They have no wine. And Jesus saith to her: Woman, what is that to me and to thee? my hour is not yet come". One naturally supposes that one of the contracting parties was related to Mary, and that Jesus had been invited on account of his mother's relationship. The couple must have been rather poor, since the wine was actually failing. Mary wishes to save her friends from the shame of not being able to provide properly for the guests, and has recourse to her Divine Son. She merely states their need, without adding any further petition. In addressing women, Jesus uniformly employs the word "woman" (Matt, xv, 28; Luke, xiii, 12; John, iv, 21; viii, 10; xix, 26; xx, 15), an expression used bv classical wTiters as a respectful and honorable address (cf. Iliad, III, 2(M; Xenoph., Cyrop., V, I, 6; Dio Ca.ssius, Hist., LI, 12; etc.). The above cited passages show that in the language of Jesus the ad- dress "woman" has a most respectful meaning. The clause "what is that to me and to thee" renders the Greek t( f^ol Kal aol, which in its turn corresponds to the Hebrew phrase mah If walakh. This latter occurs in Judges, xi, 12; II Kings, xvi, 10; xix, 23; III Kings, xvii, 18; IV Kings, iii, 13; ix, 18; II Par., xxxv, 21. The New Testament shows equivalent expressions in Matt., viii, 29; Mark, i, 24; Luke, iv, 34; viii, 2H; Matt., xxvii, 10. The meaning of the phrase varies according to the char.acter of the speakers, ranging from a most pronounced opposition

to a courteous compUance. Such a variable meaning makes it hard for the translator to find an equally variable equivalent "What have I to do with thee", "this is neither your nor my business", "why art thou troublesome to me", "allow nie to attend to this", are some of the renderings suggested. In general, the words seem to refer to well or ill-meant importunity which they endeavour to remove. The la.st part of Our Lord's answer presents less difficulty to the inter- preter: "my hour is not yet come", cannot refer to the precise moment at which the need of wine will require the miraculous intervention of Jesus; for in the language of St. John "my hour" or "the hovir" denotes the time preordained for some important event (John, iv, 21, 23; v, 25, 28; vii, 30; viii, 20; .xii, 23; xiii, 1; xvi, 21; xvii, 1). Hence the mean- ing of Our Lord's answer is: "Why are you troubling me by asking me for such an intervention? The divinely appointed time for such a manifestation has not yet come"; or, "why are you worrying? has not the time of manifesting my power come?" The former of these meanings implies that on account of the intercession of Mary Jesus anticipated the time set for the manifestation of His miraculous power (cf . St. Irena;us, c. ha;r.. Ill, xvi, 7, P. G.,VII, 926); the second meaning is obtained by understanding the last part of our Lord's words as a question, as was done by St. Gregory of Nyssa (P. G., XLIV, 1308) and by the Arabic version of Tat ian's "Diatessaron" (Rome, 1888). See Knabenbauer, Evang. sec. Joan., Paris, 1898, pp. 118-122; Hoberg, Jesus Christus. Vortriige, Freiburg, 1908, 31, Anm. 2; Theologie und Glaube, 1909, 564," 808. Mary understood her Son's words in their proper sense; she merely warned the waiters, "Whatsoever he shall say to you, do ye" (John, ii, 5). There can be no question of explaining Jesus's answer in the sense of a refusal.

During the apostolic hfe of Jesus, Mary effaced herself almost completely. Not being called to aid her Son directly in His ministry, she did not wish to interfere with His work by her untimely presence. In Nazareth she was regarded as a common Jewish mother; St. Matthew (xiii, 55-56; cf. Mark, vi, 3) introduces the people of the town as saying: "Is not this the carpenter's son? Is not his mother called Mary, and his brethren James, and Joseph, and Simon, and Jude: and his sisters, are they not all with us?" Since the people wish to lower Our Lord's esteem by their language, we must infer that Mary belonged to the lower social order of townspeople. The parallel passage of St. Mark reads, "Is not this the carpenter?" instead of, "Is not this the carpenter's son?" Since both evangelists omit the name of St. Joseph, we may infer that he had died before this episode took place.

At first sight, it seems that Jesus Himself depre- ciated the dignity of His Blessed Mother. When He was told: "Behold thy mother and thy brethren stand without, seeking thee", He answered: "Who is my mother, and who are my brethren? And stretch- ing forth his hand towards his disciples, he said: Be- hold my mother and my brethren. For whosoever shall do the will of my Father, that is in heaven, he is my brother, and mv sister, and my mother" (Matt. xil, 47-.50; cf. Mark, iii, 31-35; Luke, viii, 19-21). On another occasion, "a certain woman from the crowd, lifting up her voice, said to him: Rle.s.sed is the womb that bore thee, and the p.aps th.at gave thee suck. But he said: Yea rather, blessed are they who hear the word of God, and keep it" (Luke, xi, 27-28). In reality, Jesus in both these passages places the bond that unites the soul with God above the natural bond of parentage which unites the Mother of God with her Divine Son. This latter dignity is not be- littled; as men naturally appreciate it more easily, it is employed by Our Lord .as a means to make known the real value of holiness. Jesus, therefore, really