Praying to Mary is not worshiping her: it is asking the mother of Jesus to pray for us. A Catholic who prays the rosary does not ask Mary to save him: the formula of the Hail Mary says “Holy Mary, Mother of God, pray for us sinners”. The formula is a request for intercession, not an act of worship. Just as one asks a friend, a priest, or one’s own mother to pray for oneself, the Catholic asks Mary — the first believer, the one who bore the Savior — to carry his prayer to God.
One question remains that this obvious fact does not resolve: why her? Why do Catholics turn to Mary far more than to any other saint — to the point that one of the most recited prayers in all Christendom, the Hail Mary, is addressed to her? Why has the Church, from the earliest centuries, addressed prayers of intercession to the Virgin, even though it has never claimed she was God? This article answers that precise question: not “is it allowed?” — other articles address the charge of idolatry — but “why this particular recourse to Mary, and on what is it based?”
The answer rests on four interrelated reasons: Mary is our mother, given by Christ himself at the foot of the Cross; Scripture itself proclaims her blessed and places the words of the Hail Mary on our lips; her intercession is uniquely powerful, as shown at Cana; and the faithful have invoked her since the earliest times, as attested by the Sub tuum praesidium, the Council of Ephesus, and Vatican II itself[1]. Each of these reasons leads back to Christ, never far from him — for, as Vatican II states, Marian prayer “does not obscure or diminish in any way” the unique mediation of Christ, “but rather manifests its power”[2].
For related questions, see the dedicated articles rather than repeating them here: how a creature can hear our prayers is treated in Does Mary hear our prayers?; the accusation of worship in Do Catholics worship Mary?; the technical distinction of worship in worship and veneration and dulia, hyperdulia, and latria; the title Mother of God in Why is Mary called Mother of God?; and the rosary prayer in Why do Catholics pray the rosary?.
What does “praying to Mary” mean?
Before explaining why, we must clear up the misunderstanding that poisons the whole debate. The word pray does not denote a single reality, and most accusations of idolatry come from attributing to it a single meaning — worship — which it does not have.
“To pray” primarily means to ask
In classical French, prier quelqu’un means to make a heartfelt request: “I beg you”, “please close the door”, “ask a friend to come”. The word comes from the Latin precari, “to ask, to request”. When a Catholic prays to Mary, he uses this meaning: he asks her to pray for him. The grammatical structure of the Hail Mary makes this clear — “pray for us sinners” —: one does not ask Mary to save, but to intercede with the one who saves.
This is exactly the gesture made when asking a living Christian brother: “pray for me”. Saint Paul does this constantly — “Brothers, pray for us also” (1 Th 5:25). Asking for prayer has never been an act of worship; it is the beating heart of Christian communion. The only thing Marian prayer adds is the addressee: one asks Mary, because she is alive in God (see Does Mary hear our prayers?) and holds, in salvation history, a place no one else shares.
Worshiping God, venerating Mary: two orders that must not be confused
Catholic theology distinguishes three degrees — a distinction inherited from the Greek Fathers: Saint John Damascene treats of the honor due to the saints in his Exposition of the Orthodox Faith (Book IV, ch. 15), and Saint Thomas Aquinas fixes it in the Summa Theologiae (IIa-IIae, q. 103, a. 3; IIIa, q. 25, a. 5)[3]: latria (worship due to God alone), dulia (veneration of the saints), and hyperdulia (the higher honor given to the Virgin Mary alone, because of her divine motherhood). Praying to Mary belongs to hyperdulia: she is honored and her prayer sought above all saints, but she is never worshiped. Vatican II reaffirmed this with clarity that leaves no room for misunderstanding:
“Mary is rightly honored by the Church with a special devotion. […] This devotion, as it has always existed in the Church, has an absolutely unique character; it is nevertheless essentially different from the worship of adoration given to the incarnate Word as well as to the Father and the Holy Spirit […].”
— Vatican II, Lumen gentium, no. 66[4]
This article does not develop this distinction — it is treated in detail in Dulia, hyperdulia, latria. It assumes it is understood in order to address its real question: why this special devotion, this unique honor in prayer? The following sections answer with four converging reasons.
First Reason: Because She Is Our Mother
The deepest reason is not primarily a logical argument: it is a gift. On the Cross, the dying Jesus gave His mother to His disciples. To pray to Mary, for a Catholic, is simply to behave as a child toward the mother whom Christ expressly entrusted to him.
“Woman, behold your son”: the Testament of the Cross
At the moment of His death, the Gospel of John recounts a brief and solemn scene, which tradition reads as Christ’s spiritual testament:
“Jesus, seeing His mother and the disciple whom He loved standing nearby, said to His mother, ‘Woman, behold your son.’ Then He said to the disciple, ‘Behold your mother.’ From that hour the disciple took her into his home.” (John 19:26-27)[5]
The Fathers have read this saying on several levels: Saint Augustine sees in it the dying Master giving His disciples the example of the care due to parents[6]. But the Church’s constant reading does not stop at this domestic arrangement: the disciple is unnamed — he is “the disciple whom He loved,” a figure of every disciple. As early as the 3rd century, Origen understands that Jesus, in saying “Woman, behold your son,” gives Mary as mother to every disciple in whom Christ lives[7]. By giving Mary to John as mother, and John to Mary as son, Christ institutes a spiritual motherhood that goes beyond John alone. The Catechism expresses it this way:
“Beginning with the consent she gave in faith at the Annunciation, which she maintained in firmness under the Cross, this motherhood of Mary in the economy of grace continues without interruption until the definitive consummation of all the elect.”
— Catechism of the Catholic Church, § 969[8]
And the Catechism makes explicit the link with the saying of the Cross: Mary was “given as his Mother to the disciple by these words: ‘Woman, behold your son’” (Jn 19:26-27)[9].
A Mother to Whom We Speak
If Mary is truly our mother, then praying to her is no longer a theological oddity: it is the reflex of a child. One does not prove that one should speak to one’s mother; one simply speaks to her. That is why Marian prayer naturally has the tone of filial trust—“Holy Mary, Mother of God, pray for us”—and not that of a distant worship. The Catechism precisely places prayer to Mary within this family communion:
“We can pray with her and to her. The prayer of the Church is sustained by the prayer of Mary.”
— Catechism of the Catholic Church, § 2679[10]
Vatican II adds that this motherhood does not distance us from Christ but draws us closer: “her maternal love makes her attentive to the brothers of her Son whose pilgrimage is not ended”[11] — like a mother who, far from holding her children back for herself, leads them to their Father. This is the first and most intimate reason: we pray to Mary because she is our mother, and a child speaks to his mother.
Second Reason: Because Scripture Itself Calls Her Blessed
It is sometimes objected that praying to Mary is “not biblical.” It is quite the opposite: Marian prayer repeats word for word verses from the Gospel, and Mary herself announces in Scripture that she will be prayed to by all generations.
“All generations will call me blessed” (Lk 1:48)
In the Magnificat, Mary prophesies her own place in the prayer of the Church:
“From now on all generations will call me blessed. [...] The Mighty One has done great things for me; holy is His name!” (Luke 1:48-49)[12]
This verse is decisive. Honoring Mary, calling her “blessed” from generation to generation, is not a late addition to the Gospel: it is the fulfillment of an inspired word contained within the Gospel. A Christianity that never called Mary blessed—never prayed to her—would leave this prophecy unfulfilled. The Catechism notes:
“‘All generations will call me blessed’ (Lk 1:48): ‘The piety of the Church toward the Holy Virgin is intrinsic to Christian worship.’”
— Catechism of the Catholic Church, § 971[13]
The Hail Mary Is a Biblical Cento
The quintessential Marian prayer, the Hail Mary, is not a pious invention: its first half is a collage of two passages from the Gospel of Luke. The opening words are those of the angel Gabriel at the Annunciation:
“Hail, full of grace, the Lord is with you.” (Luke 1:28)[14]
The next part repeats Elizabeth’s greeting, filled with the Holy Spirit, at the Visitation:
“Blessed are you among women, and blessed is the fruit of your womb.” (Luke 1:42)[15]
In other words: when a Catholic recites the Hail Mary, he begins by repeating the words that God Himself, through His angel and a prophetess filled with the Spirit, addressed to Mary. To pray to Mary in this way is to continue a dialogue opened by Scripture. The last part — “Holy Mary, Mother of God, pray for us sinners, now and at the hour of our death” — took shape gradually in the piety of the Church at the end of the Middle Ages and received its official formulation in the 16th century[16]: a simple request for intercession grafted onto the words of the Gospel. The Catechism comments on this passage from you are blessed to pray for us:
“By entrusting ourselves to her prayer we abandon ourselves with her to the will of God: ‘Thy will be done.’”
— Catechism of the Catholic Church, § 2677[17]
The First Miracle Comes from a Request by Mary
Finally, Scripture does not merely call her blessed: it shows her acting through her prayer. This is the subject of the third reason.
Third Reason: Because Her Intercession Is Powerful — The Wedding at Cana
If we pray to Mary more than to any other saint, it is also because the Gospel attests to the singular effectiveness of her intercession. The scene at Cana (John 2) is the model: it is Mary who notices the need, Mary who intercedes, and Christ who acts — all culminating in His first miracle.
"They have no wine": Intercessory prayer in miniature
At the wedding at Cana, it is Mary, not the bride and groom or the disciples, who perceives the distress and turns to her Son:
“When the wine ran out, the mother of Jesus said to him, ‘They have no wine.’ […] His mother said to the servants, ‘Do whatever he tells you.’” (John 2:3-5)[18]
The entire logic of Marian prayer is here, condensed. Mary does not command; she points out a need — “They have no wine” — with the delicacy of a discreet intercession. Then she completely steps back behind her Son: her last recorded words in the entire Gospel, “Do whatever he tells you,” refer solely to Christ. This is exactly what Marian prayer does: it brings our needs to Mary so that she may bring them to Jesus, and Mary always directs us back to obedience to Christ. Praying to Mary does not divert us from Jesus: it leads us to Him.
"He revealed his glory": Mary hastens the hour
The decisive detail is that this miracle is Jesus’ first, and it arises from His mother’s intercession:
“This, the first of his signs, Jesus did at Cana in Galilee, and revealed his glory; and his disciples believed in him.” (John 2:11)[19]
Tradition has seen in this the proof that Mary’s prayer carries a special weight with her Son: by a simple request, she obtains that Christ “reveal his glory.” Saint Alphonsus Liguori, in The Glories of Mary — the great compendium of Marian devotion — makes this the foundation of the sinner’s confidence:
“A law of mercy issues from her lips, says the Sage; each of her prayers is like a law immediately ratified by the Lord, guaranteeing a decree of mercy for all those for whom she intercedes.”
— Saint Alphonsus Liguori, The Glories of Mary (1750)[20]
This power is never presented as a power of her own, as if Mary forced God. It is a power of asking, not commanding: she obtains everything because she asks nothing against her Son’s will, but everything within that will. This is the difference between Catholic trust and superstition: Mary does not wrest anything from God; she unites her maternal prayer with ours.
Fourth Reason: Because the Whole Church Has Always Prayed to Her
Finally, it is objected that Marian prayer is a medieval superstition, foreign to the early Church. This is false, and Christian archaeological evidence proves it: Christians were already praying to Mary, already calling her “Mother of God,” several centuries before the Middle Ages.
The Sub tuum praesidium: the oldest known Marian prayer
The oldest known text of a prayer addressed to Mary is a fragment of Greek papyrus preserved at the John Rylands Library in Manchester (Rylands Papyrus 470). It contains the prayer still recited in the liturgy today:
“Under your mercy we take refuge, holy Mother of God; do not despise our petitions in time of trouble, but deliver us from all danger, O glorious and blessed Virgin.”
— Sub tuum praesidium, ancient Coptic/Greek prayer[21]
Two facts are crucial. First, the dating: it is disputed. Editor Colin H. Roberts, following papyrologist Edgar Lobel, attributed the papyrus to the 3rd–4th century (1938 edition); more recent palaeographical studies place it much later, in the 6th–8th centuries (H. Förster, Th. de Bruyn, A. Effenberger). The evidence does not allow a decision here: in any case, it is an ancient witness to Marian invocation, several centuries earlier than the late Middle Ages. Second, the content: this prayer already calls Mary “Mother of God” (Greek Theotokos) and asks for her protection — it is therefore a genuine Marian intercessory prayer, attested well before anyone thought to see it as a medieval invention. Marian prayer did not wait for cathedrals: it is attested several centuries before the late Middle Ages.
Ephesus (431): The Church confirms the title the prayer already used
When, at the Council of Ephesus (431), the Church solemnly proclaims Mary Theotokos, “Mother of God”[22], she does not create a novelty: she ratifies a title that the piety of the faithful already bore — the Sub tuum praesidium, which calls Mary Theotokos, is its most famous witness, even though the exact dating of the papyrus remains debated (see note). The dogmatic definition thus gathers an already living invocation, instead of inventing it. On this title, see Why is Mary called Mother of God?.
The great spiritual masters
From century to century, the most reliable saints have made Marian prayer a pillar of Christian life. In the 12th century, Saint Bernard summed up in a famous phrase why the Christian must invoke Mary in trial:
“In dangers, in doubts, in difficulties, think of Mary, call upon Mary. […] If you follow her, you will not go astray; if you pray to her, you will not despair; if you think of her, you will not err. If she holds you, you will not fall; if she protects you, you have nothing to fear.”
— Saint Bernard of Clairvaux, Homily II on the “Missus est” (circa 1120)[23]
In the 18th century, Saint Louis-Marie Grignion de Montfort, in his Treatise on True Devotion to the Blessed Virgin, gave this prayer its great formula: “to Jesus through Mary.” Praying to Mary is not an end in itself; it is the surest way to Christ, because it is the way God Himself chose by coming into the world through her[24]. The same conviction animates all Marian devotion, from Saint Alphonsus to Saint John Paul II, whose episcopal motto — Totus tuus, “totally yours” — was a consecration to Mary.
- circa 30-33‘Behold your mother’ (John 19)
On the Cross, Jesus gives Mary as mother to the disciple He loved — a figure of every believer.
- 1st centuryThe Magnificat
Mary prophesies: “All generations will call me blessed” (Luke 1:48).
- dating debated (3rd–8th c.)Sub tuum praesidium
Oldest known text of a Marian prayer: “Under your mercy… holy Mother of God.”
- 431Council of Ephesus
The Church proclaims Mary Theotokos, “Mother of God,” confirming the prayer of the people.
- circa 1120Saint Bernard
“In dangers, think of Mary, call upon Mary.” (Homily on the Missus est.)
- circa 1712Saint Louis-Marie de Montfort
Writing of the Treatise on True Devotion: “to Jesus through Mary” (Montfort died in 1716; manuscript found in 1842, published in 1843).
- 1750Saint Alphonsus Liguori
The Glories of Mary: synthesis of trust in Marian intercession.
- 1964Vatican II, Lumen gentium VIII
The council confirms Marian devotion: real, but “essentially different” from worship.
Praying to Mary: Does it Take Away from Christ?
This is the fundamental objection inherited from the Reformation: if Christ is “the only mediator” (1 Tim 2:5), why pray to Mary? Doesn’t this give her a place that belongs to God alone? This question deserves a genuine answer — and that answer lies at the heart of Catholic Marian theology.
“One Mediator”: What the Verse Really Says
The verse cited is clear, but the argument overreaches:
“[...] there is only one God; there is also only one mediator between God and men: a man, Christ Jesus” (1 Timothy 2:5)[25]
Yet, four verses earlier in the same chapter, Paul asks for “petitions, prayers, intercessions [...] for all men” (1 Tim 2:1). If there were an intercessory mediation that nullified Christ’s mediation, Paul would contradict himself on the same page. The classical solution is this: there is one redemptive mediation — that of Christ, unique and incommunicable, who redeemed the world on the Cross — and there are multiple participated mediations of intercession, through which members of the Body pray for one another through Christ and in him. Mary’s intercession does not compete with Christ’s; it depends on and flows from it. (This objection is treated in detail in Should We Pray to the Saints?.)
Mary’s Mediation Reveals Christ’s Mediation
Vatican II responds directly by giving Mary the traditional titles of intercession while firmly affirming the unique mediation of Christ in the same sentence:
“That is why the Blessed Virgin is invoked in the Church under the titles of Advocate, Auxiliatrix, Helper, Mediatrix, all this however understood in such a way that no derogation, no addition results as regards the dignity and efficacy of the one Mediator, Christ.”
— Second Vatican Council, Lumen gentium, no. 62[26]
And the council explains, in the preceding paragraph, that Mary’s motherhood “does not obscure or diminish the unique mediation of Christ, but rather manifests its power”[27]. The traditional image is that of the moon: it lights up the night, but all its light is the reflection of the sun. Mary has nothing that does not come from Christ; to pray to Mary is to place oneself in the light of Christ, which she perfectly reflects.
“To Jesus through Mary”: Marian Prayer Is Christocentric
That is why the best-understood Marian prayer never stops at Mary: it passes through her to reach Christ. The Catechism says this about the most Marian prayer of all, the Magnificat, which is a prayer to God rising from Mary’s heart[28]; and it defines Mary as “the perfect Orans”[29] — not the end of prayer, but its purest model. To pray to Mary is to learn from her how to pray to God and to ask her to carry us to him, just as she carried Christ into the world. Montfort’s formula — “to Jesus through Mary” — does not reverse the order: it respects it, because it is the order God chose first by coming to us through Mary.
How Catholics Pray to Mary
The practical question remains: in what forms does this Marian prayer concretely express itself in the life of the Church? All, without exception, are prayers of petition and praise, never of adoration.
The Hail Mary, the Angelus, and the Rosary
The most common Marian prayer is the Hail Mary, recited alone or in the rosary, where it punctuates meditation on the mysteries of Christ’s life. The Angelus, rung morning, noon, and evening, recalls the Annunciation and the Incarnation. The rosary — one hundred and fifty Hail Marys structured around the great mysteries of Christ — is the great popular school of Marian contemplation: here we look at Jesus with Mary’s eyes. For more on this prayer, see Why Do Catholics Recite the Rosary?.
Major Prayers and Hymns
Over the centuries, the Church has composed a treasury of Marian prayers: the Salve Regina (“Hail, holy Queen, Mother of mercy”), the Sub tuum praesidium already mentioned, the Regina Caeli of the Easter season, the Memorare (“Remember, O most gracious Virgin Mary…”), the Litany of Loreto. All follow the same structure: praise for what God has done in Mary, followed by a petition for intercession — “pray for us.”
Consecration to Mary
Some faithful go further by making a consecration to Mary, following the Totus tuus of Saint Louis-Marie de Montfort: entrusting themselves entirely to Mary so that she may lead them more surely to Christ. Again, the movement is Christocentric: one gives oneself to Mary in order to belong more fully to Jesus, never instead of him. This sums up all Catholic Marian prayer: not in place of Christ, not beside Christ, but with Mary toward Christ.
In the end, the question “Why do Catholics pray to Mary?” finds a simple answer in its four aspects. We pray to her because she is our mother, given to us by Christ on the Cross; because Scripture calls her blessed and puts its own words on our lips; because her intercession is powerful and always directed toward her Son; and because the whole Church, from the first papyrus to today, has prayed to her without interruption. None of this takes anything away from Christ: “but rather manifests its power”[30]. To pray to Mary is to ask the mother of Jesus to lead us to Jesus.
For Further Reading
- Does Mary hear our prayers? — the mechanism: how a creature can hear millions of prayers.
- Do Catholics adore Mary? — the response to the accusation of Marian idolatry.
- Dulia, hyperdulia, latria — the three degrees of worship and Mary’s unique place.
- Why is Mary called Mother of God? — the title Theotokos and the Council of Ephesus.
- Why do Catholics pray the rosary? — the great Marian prayer and its mysteries.
- Should we pray to the saints? — the intercession of the saints and the response to the objection of the unique Mediator.
- Adoration and veneration — the distinction that dissolves the accusation of idolatry.
Notes and References
Second Vatican Council, Lumen gentium, no. 66 (official French text, vatican.va): “Mary [...] is rightly honored by the Church with a special devotion. [...] This devotion, as it has always existed in the Church, has an absolutely unique character; it is nevertheless essentially different from the worship of adoration given to the incarnate Word as well as to the Father and the Holy Spirit; it is eminently apt to serve it.”
1 4Second Vatican Council, dogmatic constitution Lumen gentium (21 November 1964), no. 60: “Mary’s maternal role toward men in no way obscures or diminishes the unique mediation of Christ; rather, it manifests its power.” The same paragraph recalls that all of Mary’s saving influence “flows from the superabundance of Christ’s merits; it rests on his mediation, on which it depends in all things and from which it draws all its power.”
2 27 30Saint John Damascene, Exposition of the Orthodox Faith, Book IV, ch. 15 (“On the honor due to the saints and their remains”). Saint Thomas Aquinas, Summa Theologiae, IIa-IIae, q. 103, a. 3 (“Is dulia a special virtue distinct from latria?”) and IIIa, q. 25, a. 5: latria is due to no mere creature, but to the Virgin is due dulia in the highest degree — hyperdulia (verified from the text: “the worship of "latria" is not due to her, but only that of "dulia" [...] hyperdulia”).
3Gospel according to Saint John, 19:26-27, official liturgical translation (AELF): “Jesus said to his mother, ‘Woman, behold your son.’ Then he said to the disciple, ‘Behold your mother.’ And from that hour the disciple took her into his home.”
5Saint Augustine, In Evangelium Ioannis Tractatus CXIX, § 2 (Latin text: PL 35; English trans. NPNF, newadvent.org/fathers/1701119.htm). Text: « Moralis igitur insinuatur locus. Facit quod faciendum admonet, et exemplo suo suos instruxit praeceptor bonus, ut a filiis piis impendatur cura parentibus […] non ut famulae Deus […] sed ut matri homo […] alterum pro se quodammodo filium providebat » — faithful paraphrase: at the moment of dying, Christ — not as God, but as man — provides his mother with another son in his place, himself giving the example of the care due to parents (cf. 1 Tm 5:8).
6Origen, Commentary on the Gospel of John, Book I, ch. 6 (Greek text; English trans. ANF, newadvent.org/fathers/101501.htm). Text: “No one can apprehend the meaning of it except he have lain on Jesus' breast and received from Jesus Mary to be his mother also. Such an one must he become who is to be another John” — faithful paraphrase: no one grasps this Gospel unless he has leaned on Jesus’ breast and received from Jesus Mary as mother; such must become he who would be another John, in every disciple in whom Christ lives (cf. Jn 19:26; Ga 2:20).
7Catechism of the Catholic Church, § 969, Mame/Plon, 1992 (official French text, vatican.va), quoting Lumen gentium, no. 62: “Beginning with the consent she gave in faith on the day of the Annunciation, which she maintained in firmness under the Cross, this motherhood of Mary in the economy of grace continues without interruption until the definitive consummation of all the elect.”
8Catechism of the Catholic Church, § 964 (official French text, vatican.va), quoting Lumen gentium, no. 58: “[...] to be finally, by the same Christ Jesus dying on the Cross, given as his Mother to the disciple by these words: ‘Woman, behold your son’ (Jn 19:26-27)”.
9Catechism of the Catholic Church, § 2679 (official French text, vatican.va): “Mary is the perfect Orans, figure of the Church. When we pray to her, we join with her in the Father’s plan [...]. We can pray with her and to her. The prayer of the Church is as if carried by the prayer of Mary.”
10 29Second Vatican Council, Lumen gentium, no. 62 (official French text, vatican.va): Mary, by her motherhood in the order of grace, “by her manifold intercession, [...] continues to obtain for us the gifts that ensure our eternal salvation. Her maternal love makes her attentive to the brothers of her Son whose pilgrimage is not ended [...]”.
11Gospel according to Saint Luke, 1:48-49, official liturgical translation (AELF), Magnificat: “He has looked upon his lowly servant; henceforth all generations will call me blessed. The Mighty One has done great things for me; holy is his name!”
12Catechism of the Catholic Church, § 971 (official French text, vatican.va), quoting Lk 1:48 and Marialis cultus of Paul VI: “‘All generations will call me blessed’ (Lk 1:48): ‘The piety of the Church toward the Holy Virgin is intrinsic to Christian worship.’ [...] This cult [...] although having an absolutely unique character [...]”
13Gospel according to Saint Luke, 1:28, official liturgical French translation (AELF): “The angel entered and said to her, ‘Hail, full of grace, the Lord is with you.’” The Greek kecharitōménē (“full of grace”) forms the basis of the second phrase of the Hail Mary.
14Gospel according to Saint Luke, 1:42, official liturgical translation (AELF): Elizabeth, “filled with the Holy Spirit” (v. 41), exclaims: “Blessed are you among women, and blessed is the fruit of your womb.”
15The second part of the Hail Mary (“Sancta Maria, Mater Dei, ora pro nobis… nunc et in hora mortis nostrae”) is attested in various forms from the 13th–15th centuries (Servites, local breviaries, German dioceses); its present form became widespread in the 16th century and received its official sanction in the reformed Roman Breviary promulgated by Saint Pius V in 1568 (see also the Catechism of the Council of Trent, 1566, which already gives the complete formula).
16Catechism of the Catholic Church, § 2677 (official French text, vatican.va), on the second part of the Hail Mary: “‘Holy Mary, Mother of God, pray for us...’ [...] By entrusting ourselves to her prayer we abandon ourselves with her to the will of God: ‘Thy will be done.’”
17Gospel according to Saint John, 2:3-5 and 2:11, official liturgical translation (AELF), Wedding at Cana: “The mother of Jesus said to him, ‘They have no wine.’ [...] His mother said to the servants, ‘Do whatever he tells you.’”; v. 11: “This, the first of his signs, Jesus did at Cana in Galilee, and manifested his glory; and his disciples believed in him.”
18 19Saint Alphonsus Liguori, The Glories of Mary (Le Glorie di Maria, 1750), Part I (paraphrase of the Salve Regina), ch. I, § I (“How great our confidence in Mary should be, because she is Queen of Mercy”), gloss on Prv 31:26 (“lex clementiae in lingua eius,” hence “says the Sage”). Passage verified from the full text (English trans. Grimm, The Glories of Mary, ch. 1: “The law of clemency is on her tongue (Prv. 31:26). Every prayer of hers is like an established law for our Lord, obliging Him to be merciful to everyone for whom she intercedes”).
20Sub tuum praesidium (Greek Hypo tēn sēn eusplanchnian), the oldest known text of a prayer addressed to Mary. Greek text on papyrus Rylands 470 (John Rylands Library, Manchester), published by C. H. Roberts, Catalogue of the Greek and Latin Papyri in the John Rylands Library, vol. III, 1938. Dating disputed: 3rd–4th century according to Roberts (following E. Lobel); 6th–8th century according to recent palaeographical studies (H. Förster; Th. de Bruyn: 6th–7th c., or even later; A. Effenberger). The prayer calls Mary Theotokos.
21Council of Ephesus (431), Third Ecumenical Council: at the 1st session (22 June 431), approval of the 2nd letter of Cyril of Alexandria to Nestorius (DH 250-251) and proclamation of Mary Theotokos (“God-bearer,” Mother of God) against Nestorius — see the 1st anathema (DH 252). To be distinguished from the formula of union of spring 433 between Cyril and John of Antioch (letter Laetentur caeli, DH 271 in the French edition), a distinct and later text. The title affirms the unity of the person of Christ, true God and true man, more than it primarily concerns Mary.
22Saint Bernard of Clairvaux, Homiliae super “Missus est” (Praises of the Virgin Mother), homily II, no. 17 (circa 1120–1125). Latin text in Patrologia Latina, vol. 183, and Sources chrétiennes no. 390. Famous passage: “In dangers, in difficulties, in doubtful matters, think of Mary, invoke Mary [...]. Following her you will not stray, asking her you will not despair [...]. With her holding you, you will not fall; with her protecting you, you will not fear.”
23Saint Louis-Marie Grignion de Montfort (1673-1716), Treatise on True Devotion to the Blessed Virgin (written around 1712; manuscript found in 1842, published in 1843), nos. 1 ff. and 61 ff. Montfort establishes the formula “to Jesus through Mary”: God having chosen to come to men through Mary, men more surely go to God by the same path. The motto Totus tuus of Saint John Paul II is directly inspired by this.
24First Letter to Timothy, 2:1 and 2:5, official liturgical translation (AELF). Verse 1: “I urge, first of all, that petitions, prayers, intercessions [...] be made for all men”; verse 5: “[...] there is only one God; there is also only one mediator between God and men: a man, Christ Jesus.”
25Second Vatican Council, Lumen gentium, no. 62 (official French text, vatican.va): “That is why the Blessed Virgin is invoked in the Church under the titles of Advocate, Auxiliatrix, Helper, Mediatrix, all this however understood in such a way that no derogation, no addition results as regards the dignity and efficacy of the one Mediator, Christ.”
26Catechism of the Catholic Church, § 2675: From Mary’s singular cooperation with the action of the Holy Spirit, the Churches have developed prayer to the holy Mother of God, “centering it on the Person of Christ revealed in his mysteries.”
28