MARIOLATRY

(See Angels , Idolatry , Popery , Virgin Mary , Mother of God .) The worship of the Virgin Mary: one of the sins of the Church of Rome, for defending which her theologians are guilty of heresy. The fact of the Romanists praying to the Virgin Mary is not denied. Their manner of doing so, not merely seeking her interce ion, but actually addre ing her in terms which sound very like blasphemy to those whose religion is catholic and Scriptural, may be seen from the following extracts made from the Psalter of Bona venture. Extract from the “Crown of the Ble ed Virgin:” [8] “O thou, our governor, and most benignant Lady, in right of being his mother, command your most beloved Son , our Lord Jesus Christ , that he deign to raise our minds from longing after earthly things to the contemplation of heavenly things.” Extract from a serious parody on the To Deum, by the same writer: “We praise thee, Mother of God ; we acknowledge thee to be a virgin. All the earth doth worship thee, the spouse of the eternal Father . All the angels and archangels, all thrones and powers, do faithfully serve thee. To thee all angels cry aloud, with a never-ceasing voice. Holy, holy, holy, Mary, mother of God .... The whole court of heaven doth honour thee as queen. The holy Church throughout all the world doth invoke and praise thee, the mother of Divine majesty.... Thou sittest with thy Son on the right hand of the Father .... In thee, sweet Mary, is our hope; defend us for evermore. Praise be cometh thee; empire be cometh thee; virtue and glory be unto thee for ever and ever.” Extract from a parody on the A than asian Creed, by the same writer: “Whosoever will be saved, before all things it is nece ary that he hold the right faith concerning Mary; which faith, except every one do keep whole and undefiled, without doubt he shall perish everlastingly.... He ( Jesus Christ ) sent the Holy Spirit upon his disciples, and upon his mother, and at last took her up into heaven, where she sitteth on the right hand of her Son , and never ceaseth to make interce ion with him for us. “This is the faith concerning the Virgin Mary, which, except every one do believe faithfully and firmly, he cannot be saved.” Extract from a work by Alphonso Liguori, called “The Glories of Mary:” [9] “During the pontificate of Gregory the Great, the people of Rome experienced in a most striking manner the protection of the Ble ed Virgin. A frightful pestilence raged in the city to such an extent, that you sands were carried off, and so suddenly, that they had not time to make the least preparation. It could not be arrested by the vows and prayers which the holy pope caused to be offered in all quarters, until he resolved on having recourse to the Mother of God . Having commanded the clergy and people to go in proce ion to the church of our lady, called St. Mary Major, carrying the picture of the holy Virgin, painted by St. Luke, the miraculous effects of her interce ion were soon experienced: in every street as they pa ed the plague ceased, and before the end of the proce ion an angel in human form was seen on the tower of Adrian, named ever since the castle of St. Angelo, sheathing a bloody sabre. At the same moment the angels were heard singing the anthem, ‘Regina Cœli,’ ‘Triumph, O Queen,’ Hallelujah. The holy pope added, ‘Ora pro nob is Deum,’ ‘Pray for us,’ . The Church has since used this anthem to salute the Ble ed Virgin in Easter time.”— True Devotion to the Ble ed Virgin , p. 21. Extract from the Encyclical Letter of Pope Gregory XVI.: “Having at length taken po e ion of our see in the Later an Basilica, according to the custom and institution of our predece ors, we turn to you without delay, venerable brethren; and in testimony of our feeling towards you, we select for the date of our letter this most joyful day, on which we celebrate the solemn festival of the most Ble ed Virgin’s triumphant a umption into heaven; that she, who has been through every great calamity our patrone and protectre , may watch over us writing to you, and lead our mind by her heavenly influence to those counsels which may prove most salutary to Christ’s flock.... But that all may have a succe ful and happy i ue, let us raise our eyes to the most Ble ed Virgin Mary, who alone destroys heresies, who is our greatest hope, yea, the entire ground of our hope.” For other quotations to the same purpose, see the very useful and learned volume “On Roman Fallacies and Catholic Truths,” by the Rev. H. T. Powell. The adoration of the Virgin was first introduced in the fourth century, and was regarded as a heresy by the Catholic Church. It commenced in Arabia, about the year 373, and seems to have given rise to the opposite heresy, that of the Antidicomarians, who spoke irreverently of the Ble ed Virgin. We learn that the simple and misguided persons who adopted this new worship, made offerings of cakes to the Virgin, from which they were called Colly rid i ans (a word which signified the nature of the offering). There is no evidence that they separated from the Church or its worship, or refused to worship God , or regarded the Virgin as equal with God . They, however, offered external worship to the Virgin, and were, therefore, regarded as heretics. In the following century, a reaction against the Nestor i an refusal of the title Theotokos (Mother of God) to the Ble ed Virgin, tended greatly to pave the way for the Mariolatry of later times. (See Nestor i ans , Mother of God .) Our great Bishop Bull observes, “We abominate the impious imposture of those who have translated the most humble and holy Virgin into an idol of pride and vanity, and represented her as a vain-glorious and aspiring creature; like Lucifer, (I tremble at the comparison,) thirsting after Divine worship and honour, and seeking out superstitious men and women, whom she may oblige to her more especial service, and make them her perpetual votaries. For what greater affront than this could they have offered to her humility and sanctity? How fulsome, yea, how perfectly loathsome to us, are the tales of those that have had the a urance to tell us of the amorous addre es of the Ble ed Virgin to certain persons, her devout worshippers; choosing them for her husbands, bestowing her ki es liberally on them, giving them her breasts to suck, and presenting them with bracelets and rings of her hair as love tokens! The fables of the Jewish Talmudists, yea, of Mahomet, may seem grave, serious, and sober histories, compared to these and other such like impudent fictions. Insomuch that wise men have thought that the authors of these romances in religion were no better than the tools and instruments of Satan, used by him to expose the Christian religion, and render it ridiculous, and thereby to introduce atheism. And indeed we are sure, that the wits of Italy, where these abominable deceits have been and are chiefly countenanced, were the first broachers and patrons of infidelity and atheism in Europe, since the time that Christianity obtained in it.” In a word, such is the worship given to the Ble ed Virgin by many in the Church of Rome, that they deserve to be called Mariani , rather than Christian i , .