The Importance of Marian Devotion

As we are reminded during the Advent and Christmas seasons, “Jesus is the reason for the season.” 

Simply put, without Jesus we have no New Testament, no Christian Church, no Christian faith. Understanding this, then what is the proper place of Marian devotion and piety in the Church? Why is it important and how can it strengthen our faith? 

Pope John Paul II, in the introduction to the Vatican’s 2001 Directory on Popular Piety and the Liturgy: Principles and Guidelines, explains that “Popular piety is an expression of faith which avails of certain cultural elements proper to a specific environment… Genuine forms of popular piety, expressed in a multitude of different ways, derives from the faith and, therefore, must be valued and promoted. Such authentic expressions of popular piety… predispose the people for the celebration of the Sacred Mysteries.” Indeed, popular piety is seen as “a true treasure of the People of God” (Directory, #59).

The Directory, in chapter five, discusses extensively “the veneration of the Holy Mother of God, which occupies a singular position both in the Liturgy and popular devotion”. Let us take a brief glance at the history of Marian devotion over the centuries in order to better understand what Pope John Paul II has stated.

The Roots of Marian Devotion

Icon of Mary, the new Eve

The Scriptures show Mary’s role in the mystery of Christ’s life, death and resurrection. She is involved intimately in the most important events of Christ’s life. She is blessed in her maternity, as shown in the Annunciation and Nativity. In the Gospel of John she is the model of the believing Church. John also shows her at the foot of the cross where Jesus gives Mary to the Church as mother of all believers (Jn. 19:26).

As the Church’s understanding of Jesus deepened, appreciation of Mary’s importance place also grew. The Fathers of the Church wrote about Mary as the “new Eve,” associated with Christ the “new Adam” (Sts. Justin and Irenaeus). She is referred to as “mother of the living,” and, finally, at the Council of Ephesus (431 AD), she is spoken of dogmatically as the “God-bearer,” mother of Jesus-both-human-and-divine. After this most significant event, Marian feast days proliferated in both the East and the West.

During the Middle Ages, Marian devotion celebrated her role as heavenly queen, spiritual mother and all-powerful intercessor. The prayer, Hail Mary, attained its current form only in the 15th Century, in connection with the Psalter of Mary or the rosary.

Consecration to Jesus Christ through Mary was in practice by the 18th Century. Many missionary orders founded during the past two centuries gave prominence to Mary’s role in their apostolate. This is evident in the names of many of the communities. During the same period, Marian devotion flowered due to the great apparitions: La Salette (1846) and Lourdes (1858), both in France; Knock (1879) in Ireland; and Fatima (1917) in Portugal.

The Popes of the 20th Century have consistently encouraged devotion to Mary and defined the dogmas of her Immaculate Conception and her Assumption. Pius XII in his encyclical on the Sacred Liturgy, Mediator Dei (1947) declared that Marian devotion should respect the central place of liturgical prayer and Eucharistic celebrations. This was reiterated in the concluding chapter of the Dogmatic Constitution on the Church from Vatican Council II in 1964, placing Mary within the fabric of the mystery of Christ and the Church.

Pope Paul VI’s Apostolic Exhortation, Devotion to the Blessed Virgin Mary (Marialis Cultus), insured that Church renewal would continue to encourage new or renewed ways of expressing devotion to Mary. His words are straightforward. Mary is “a teacher of the spiritual life for individual Christians” (MC #20), and always holds “the highest place and the closest to us after Christ” (MC #28).

The proclamation of the Marian Year (1988–1989) by Pope John Paul II expressed his desire “to promote a new and more careful reading of what the Council said about the Blessed Virgin Mary, Mother of God, in the mystery of Christ and of the Church.” His emphasis on the proper place of “authentic ‘Marian spirituality,’ seen in the light of Tradition” came from his own deep devotion to Mary, the Mother of God (Redemptoris Mater, 48).

Mary – A Woman Immersed in Daily Life

This rich heritage has deepened our appreciation of the role of Mary in our life as believers. We have come to know her as a woman fully immersed in the concerns of daily life and who met the challenges presented there with a deep and lively faith.

She is both the mother of our Savior and an altogether human woman who was painfully misunderstood by the man she loved; who was confused by her child’s behavior; who was not afraid to speak her mind or voice her questions; who stood by courageously while her Son was executed; who was present at the outpouring of the Holy Spirit on the new Church; and who, indeed, had a role of leadership in that Church.

Renewal of Popular Piety

In continuing to foster devotion to Mary, certain principles should be kept in mind. Number 12 of the Directory on Popular Piety and the Liturgy states:

“Popular piety should be permeated by: a biblical spirit, since it is impossible to imagine a Christian prayer without direct or indirect reference to Sacred Scripture; a liturgical spirit if it is to dispose properly for or echo the mysteries celebrated in the liturgical actions; an ecumenical spirit, in consideration of the sensibilities and traditions of other Christians without, however, being restricted by inappropriate inhibitions; an anthropological spirit which both conserves symbols and expressions of importance or significance for a given nation while eschewing senseless archaicisms, and which strives to dialogue in terms redolent with contemporary sensibility. To be successful, such a renewal must be imbued with a pedagogical awareness and realized gradually, always taking into consideration time and particular circumstances” (#12).

Mary and La Salette Devotion

As was most evident in the La Salette Apparition, Mary is seen as a woman concerned about “her children.” When she spoke to Maximin about his father’s concern expressed in the field of Coin for decaying wheat, she empathized with his father’s fear that he might not be able to feed his family in the coming winter. She reminds us that she prays for us unceasingly.

The Assumption statue of Our Lady of La Salette on the Holy Mountain in France

As beloved disciples of Jesus, we take Mary into our care by following her example of faith. She has taken us into her care by her constant intercession on our behalf. Nourished by this relationship, we express our faith in prayerful devotions based on her message at La Salette. These devotions can enliven our faith and help us become more committed followers of her Son, servants of the Word and ambassadors of reconciliation.

In our recently published La Salette Prayer Book – available in paperback and ebook (digital) editions – we have collected various devotions based on the spirituality of the Apparition of La Salette. As with the apparition itself, each of these devotions is properly scripture-based and leads us back to the center of our faith, Mary’s Son, Jesus.

Power to Her People

As we are reminded in Mary’s Magnificat, “(God) has thrown down the rulers from their thrones but lifted up the lowly. The hungry he has filled with good things; the rich he has sent away empty” (Luke 1:52-53). God takes care of his own people. Mary at La Salette expressed this same sentiment when she repeatedly referred to members of the church as “my people.”

Mary also identifies with the faith, struggles, and concerns of her people. And they easily identify with her humble faith. The American spiritual writer, Sidney Callahan reflects on one possible source of vibrant devotion to Mary from ordinary, work-a-day Christians.

“… as at the beginning of the devotion of Mary and in the first developments of understanding of her, perhaps it has been something more subtle which has fired this devotion. Perhaps it has been the realization in Marian cultic practice of the importance of the lowly and humble and outcast and oppressed who will triumph in the end. If Mary, the young unmarried pregnant girl, can believe in the incredible happening that she is a part of, if she can trust herself and believe in her role in the great story, then the most ordinary people can believe in their parts in the drama. Her exaltation is their exaltation” (The Magnificat, 1975, Seabury Press).

Over the centuries of Christendom, Mary has become for countless Christians a source of inspiration, a true model of daily living, devotion to family and Christ-like faith. Mary and devotion to her is “a true treasure of the People of God.”