“The Virgin In Prayer”.
Artist:
Date: 1640 - 1650.
Collection: National Gallery.
Source/Photographer: Web Gallery of Art:
(Wikimedia Commons)
The Feast of The Most Holy Name of The Blessed Virgin Mary is an Optional Memorial Celebrated in the Liturgical Calendar of The Catholic Church on 12 September.
It has been a universal Roman Rite Feast since 1684, when Pope Innocent XI included it in the General Roman Calendar to Commemorate the victory at the Battle of Vienna in 1683.[1]
It was removed from the Church Calendar in the Liturgical reform following Vatican II, but restored by Pope Saint John Paul II in 2002, along with The Feast Of The Holy Name of Jesus.
[Editor: It is surely beyond comprehension and Liturgical competency how the so-called “experts” during Vatican II decided in “their so-called wisdom” to eradicate the Feast of The Most Holy Name Of Mary. By their actions will they be known.]
The Text for this Article was taken from “The Liturgical Year”, by Abbot Guéranger, O.S.B., written circa 1875, when this Feast was on the Sunday within the Octave of the Nativity of Our Blessed Lady.
Subsequently, after being restored by Pope Saint John Paul II, this Feast was moved to 12 September. Readers can now see other Articles on this wonderful Feast of Our Lady on that date on this Blog.
Text from “The Liturgical Year”.
By: Abbot Guéranger, O.S.B.
Volume 14.
Time After Pentecost.
Book V.
By: Abbot Guéranger, O.S.B.
Volume 14.
Time After Pentecost.
Book V.
And the Virgin’s name was Mary. [Saint Luke, i. 27.]
Let us speak a little about this name, which signifies Star of the Sea, and which so well befits the Virgin Mother.
Rightly is she likened to a Star: For, as a Star emits its ray without being dimmed, so the Virgin brought forth her Son without receiving any injury; the ray takes nought from the brightness of the Star, nor the Son from His Mother’s integrity.
This is the noble Star risen out of Jacob, whose ray illumines the whole World, whose splendour shines in the Heavens, penetrates the abyss, and, traversing the whole Earth, gives warmth rather to Souls than to bodies, cherishing virtues, withering vices.
Mary, I say, is that bright and incomparable Star, whom we need to see raised above this vast sea, shining by her merits, and giving us light by her example.
Oh !, whosoever thou art that seest thyself, amid the tides of this World, tossed about by storms and tempests rather than walking on the land, turn not thine eyes away from the shining of this Star if thou wouldst not be overwhelmed by the hurricane.
If squalls of temptations arise, or thou fall upon the rocks of tribulation, look to the Star, call upon Mary.
If thou are tossed by the waves of pride or ambition, detraction or envy, look to the Star, call upon Mary.
If anger or avarice or the desires of the flesh dash against the ship of thy Soul, turn thine eyes towards Mary.
If, troubled by the enormity of thy crimes, ashamed of thy guilty conscience, terrified by dread of the judgement, thou beginnest to sink into the gulf of sadness or the abyss of despair, think of Mary.
In dangers, in anguish, in doubt, think of Mary, call upon Mary.
Let her be ever upon thy lips, every in thy heart; and the better to obtain the help of her Prayers, imitate the example of her life.
Following her, thou strayest not; invoking her, thou despairest not; thinking of her, thou wanderest not; upheld by her, thou fallest not; shielded by her, thou fearest not; guided by her, thou growest not weary; favoured by her, thou reachest the goal.
And thus dost thou experience in thyself how good is that saying: “And the Virgin’s name was Mary.”
Thus speaks the devout Saint Bernard, in the name of The Church. But his pious explanation does not exhaust the meanings of this Blessed name of Mary.
Saint Peter Chrysologus adds in this same Night Office: “Mary, in Hebrew, signifies Lady, or, Sovereign: And truly the authority of her Son, Who is the Lord of the World, constituted her Queen, both in fact and in name, from her very birth.”
OUR LADY: Such is the Title which befits her in every way, as that of OUR LORD beseems her Son; it is the doctrinal basis of that Worship of Hyperdulia which belongs to her alone [Editor: Hyperdulia means Veneration of the Virgin Mary as the Holiest of Creatures].
She is below her Son, whom she Adores as we do; but above all God’s servants, both Angels and men, inasmuch as she is His Mother.
At the name of Jesus, every knee is bent; at the name of Mary, every head is bowed.
And, although the former is the only name whereby we may be saved; yet, as the Son can never be separated from His Mother, Heaven unites their two names in its Hymns of praise, Earth in its confidence, Hell in its fear and hatred.
It was therefore in the order of Divine Providence that devotion to the Most Holy Name of Mary should spread simultaneously with the cultus of the adorable name of Jesus, of which Saint Bernadin of Siena was the apostle in the 15th-Century.
In 1513, the Church of Cuenca, in Spain, was the first to Celebrate, with the approbriation of the Holy See, a special Feast in honour of the Name of Mary, while the Franciscan Order had not yet succeeded in obtaining a like privilege for the adorable Name of Jesus.
The reason of this is that the memory of that Sacred Name included in the Feast of the Circumcision, seemed to the prudence of the Pontiffs to suffice.
From the same motive we find the Feast of the Most Holy Name of Mary extended to the Universal Church in the year 1638, and that of the Most Holy Name of Jesus not until 1721,
Our Lady justifies her beautiful Title by partaking in the warlike exploits of the King of Kings, her Son. The City of Vienna having been delivered by her, contrary to all hope, from the power of the Crescent, the Venerable Innocent XI made this Feast the Memorial of Universal Gratitude to the Liberatrix of The West.
But we shall speak more explicitly of this glorious deliverance on 12 September, the day on which it occurred.
The Name of Mary, which is the joy of Angels and the terror of demons, protects man against countless evils, and supports him on his way to Heaven.
May The Church’s Collect in the Mass, today, obtain for us the Grace to profit fully of so great a help.
The Archangel Gabriel appeared to Mary and said to her: “Hail, full of Grace, the Lord is with thee; Blessed art thou among women”.
This is the most Solemn embassy ever recorded in the history of Angels or of men; it shows us how Mary is what her name signifies: Mistress of the World.
The highest interests of the human race, past, present, and to come, of the Heavenly hierarchy, and of God Himself, are here at stake; and the transaction is carried on between The Most High and The Virgin of Nazareth, alone, as having exclusive right, the One to propose, the other to accept, both to conclude.
The Angel is but a messenger; man, too, stands in waiting; Mary enters into a contract with the Creator, in the name of Angels and of men, as in her own name; in the name of the entire World, which she represents, and over which she reigns supreme.
Hail, then, to Our Queen on her birthday !
All hail to Mary !
May she herself, in the Holy Sacrifice, present our offerings to God for her people.
