What better way to explain the role of Mary, The Virgin Mother of God than St. Thomas Aquinas's own words from a condensed version of Aquinas's Summa Theologica? Herein presented are most useful definitions of the Blessed Virgin Mary herself from Aquinas.

Mary: The Virgin Mother of God

• Mary's Place in God's World • The Immaculate Conception • The Sinlessness of Mary • The Fullness of Mary's Grace • The Virginity of Mary • The Marriage of Mary and Joseph • Mary: The Mother of God • Jesus: The Child of Mary • Mary: The Mediatrix of Grace

 

The wisdom of God reaches from end to end mightily and it arranges all things sweetly. Everything has its place in the pattern of divine providence. God fits everything and everyone to its place in His plan for the world. When God the Father resolved to send His only-begotten Son into this world to be born of a woman, He chose and fashioned a woman to be the worthy mother of so great a Son. When we meet a very good child, we are quite likely to say, "He must have a very good mother." We explain the child's goodness by the goodness of his mother. We believe that it is the mother's goodness, which has made the child good. But in the mystery of the Incarnation, it is the contrary, which is true. Mary of Nazareth is the perfect Mother of God because her Son, Who is God, has made her so. Because the Son of God is all holy and all perfect, Mary, His Mother in the flesh, must be as holy and perfect as she can be. God did not cast His eye over all the women in the world, seeking to discover which one was best fitted to be the mother of His Son. Mary was not chosen by God because He found her to be the most perfect of women. Rather, He made her the perfect woman because He had chosen her to be the Mother of His Son.

As God, Christ is the essence of holiness. Even as man Christ is absolutely sinless. His human nature was never stained either with original sin or with actual sin. Nor did He experience that disordered concupiscence which is the result in man of original sin. Surely, then, it was fitting that the Mother of a Son so holy should also be sinless. Because she was to be the Mother of His Son, God preserved Mary from both original and actual sin.

The Blessed Virgin Mary was a human being descended from Adam by way of carnal generation. She had a human father and a human mother. If she had not, therefore, been chosen to be the Mother of God, she would, like every other descendant of Adam, have contracted original sin at the moment of her conception in the womb of her mother. But because she was to be the Mother of His Son, God preserved her soul from the stain of original sin from the very instant of her conception in the womb of her mother. God did this by infusing divine grace into the soul of Mary at the very instant He created her and united it to her body. He did it in virtue of the merits of Christ. No descendant of Adam receives the grace of God except through the merits of Christ. The Mother of Christ was no exception to this law of grace. Like every other human being who is descended by carnal generation from Adam, the Blessed Virgin Mary needed to be redeemed by the Blood of Christ. But whereas every other human being needs to be cleansed from the stain of original sin-which he has contracted by way of carnal generation from Adam-the Virgin Mary did not need to be cleansed from original sin. She never contracted this stain of sin. Through the grace of Christ, she was preserved from the stain of sin from the first moment of her conception in the womb of her mother. This is the doctrine of the Immaculate Conception of the Mother of God. Because of the widespread misunderstanding of the meaning of this doctrine, it might be well to mention here that the doctrine of the Immaculate Conception of the Virgin Mary is a different doctrine from the doctrine of the Virgin Birth of Christ. The doctrine of the Immaculate Conception means that Mary was preserved from the stain of original sin from the first moment of her conception in the womb of her mother. The doctrine of the Virgin Birth of Christ means that Christ was conceived in the womb of Mary by the Holy Spirit without the agency of any human father.

Obviously, since God preserved Mary from the stain of original sin because she was to be the Mother of His Son, it follows that He will also have preserved Mary from the stain of any actual sin. As the goodness of the parents brings honor to their children, so, too, does the sinfulness of the parents bring shame to their children. But it is not fitting that the Mother of God should bring shame to her divine Son. Therefore, God preserved Mary from any personal sin, whether mortal or venial. Through the grace of God, which was infused into her soul at the moment of her conception, Mary was absolutely sinless. She was never stained with original sin, nor did she ever commit any personal sin, not even the least venial sin.

The sinlessness of Mary is due chiefly to the fullness of grace, which God gave her. Christ is the source of grace to all men. But Mary is closer to Christ than any other human being, because He took His flesh from her and dwelt in her womb, and lived intimately with her for approximately thirty years. The closer one is to Christ, the source of all grace, the greater the degree of grace one receives from Christ. Mary, therefore, received from Christ a fullness of grace not granted to any other creature. Her Immaculate Conception made her worthy to be the Mother of God. When the Son of God became incarnate in her womb, and while He dwelt with her until the time of His public ministry to men, the constant presence of the source of all grace confirmed Mary in the state of grace. Finally, after her death and Assumption into heaven, Mary enjoys in heaven the fullness of grace and glory.

One of the most astounding privileges of Mary is the fact that she is not only the Mother of God, but the Virgin Mother of God. Mary conceived Christ as a virgin. She gave birth to Christ while remaining a virgin. And she remained a virgin throughout her life. We are confronted her with two miracles of nature, and, if we use the term miracle in the wide sense, with one miracle of grace. In the first place, Mary conceived a Child in her womb without the agency of any human father. Normally, in so doing, the woman loses her virginity. Normally, conception does not take place without the male seed of the human race. But in the conception of Christ, there was no human father and no male seed. Instead, God Himself, the Holy Spirit, miraculously conceived Christ in the womb of Mary. Hence she remained a virgin in the conception of Christ. Again, even if we imagine that a woman has retained her physical virginity in conceiving a child, normally she will lose this physical virginity in giving birth to the child. But Mary gave birth to Christ miraculously, that is, Christ came forth from the womb of Mary without destroying her virginity. Lastly, though Joseph and Mary were really married, through the superabundant grace of God, they kept a vow of virginity throughout their married lives. They never had conjugal relations with one another. In this way Mary remained always a virgin. The perpetual virginity of Mary is both a testimonial to God's power and holiness, and to the loving obedience of Mary to the will of God.

The perpetual virginity of Mary is not so surprising when we reflect that Mary is the Mother of God. Christ is the true and natural Son of God. It is not fitting that He should have any other natural father. It was not fitting that God should share His parenthood with a man. Christ is also the Word of God. As the Word of God, He proceeds from His Father without corruption. It was fitting that He should proceed from His Mother without corrupting her virginity. He came to take away the sins of men. But if He had been conceived of Mary by a human father, He Himself would have been subject to original sin. It was not fitting that He should be subject to the sin, which He came to destroy. He came so that men might be reborn spiritually of the Holy Spirit. It was, therefore, fitting that He Himself should be conceived by the Holy Spirit. He came to restore the integrity of human nature. It was not fitting that He should destroy the physical integrity of His Mother. Lastly, it is He Who has commanded us to honor our fathers and mothers. It was fitting that He should not lessen the honor due to His Mother by destroying her virginity in His birth.

In order that her virginity might be perfect, Mary consecrated it to God by a vow. Since the Old Law made the generation of children a matter of obligation for God's Chosen People, Mary did not make an absolute vow of virginity until, through the Angel Gabriel, she knew she was to be the Mother of Christ. Then, she took this vow in conjunction with St. Joseph, her husband.

In spite of her perpetual virginity, Mary was really married to St. Joseph. In justice to her Son, to herself, and to society, it was necessary that she be married. If she had not been married, men would have said that her Son was an illegitimate child, the fruit of some sinful union. Christ needed the name, the protection and the care of a human father. If Mary had not been married, the Jews might have considered her an adulteress, and so might have stoned her to death or ruined her reputation. Again, because Joseph was the husband of Mary, he is a witness to the miraculous conception and birth of Christ. He confirms Mary's story about the conception and birth of her divine Child.

The marriage of Mary and Joseph was a real marriage. They were united to one another by the bond of mutual love, a love of the spirit. They gave to each other those conjugal rights, which are of the essence of marriage, although, by their vow of virginity, they agreed never to use those rights. And their marriage was blessed with a Child to Whom they gave parental love, care and upbringing.

Mary became the Mother of God at the moment of the Incarnation. It was a moment for which God had richly prepared her. Through the fullness of grace, which He gave her, Mary had lived a life of obedience to the will of God. Her every thought and action had been formed in the burning crucible of charity or the love of God. She had even conceived the resolution to devote herself to the service of god by a vow of virginity. At the moment chosen by God, the Archangel Gabriel appeared to her in bodily form and announced to her the great purpose for which God had chosen her. "Hail, full of grace," he said, and his words signified her worthiness to fulfill the role for which she was destined. "The Lord is with thee," he continued, and in these words he announced the conception that was to take place. When Mary gave the full consent of her loving, obedient heart in the words, "Be it done unto me according to thy word," the marriage between God and human nature was complete. God had become man, and in the consent of Mary all mankind consented to its own ennoblement in the God-man, Christ. Eve had seduced Adam to the destruction of the human race. Mary conceived Christ for the salvation of the human race.

The Son of God, Jesus Christ, was conceived of the flesh of Mary, the Virgin of Nazareth. He was, therefore, a man like other men. He was of the race of Adam. He was also, as had been foretold by the prophets, of the family of David, a member of the royal house of Israel. But the active principle of His conception in the womb of Mary was the Holy Spirit, God Himself. Of course, it is true that it was God, all three Persons of the Trinity, Who conceived Christ in the womb of Mary. But God Himself attributes this action to the Third Person, the Holy Spirit, because it is a work of divine love, and in God the Holy Spirit is the love of the Father and the Son. This does not mean that the Holy Spirit is the father of Christ. To be a father, a person must beget a child who is similar to himself in nature. God the Father begets in God a Son Who is like to Him in the divine nature, Who is, in fact, identical with Him in the divine nature. A human father begets a child who is like to himself in human nature. But the Holy Spirit, when He conceives Christ in the womb of Mary, does not beget a child similar to Himself in the divine nature. As God, the Son of God is already divine, begotten only of God the Father. The action of the Holy Spirit forms in Mary the human nature of the Son of God. Hence, the Holy Spirit is not the father of the Son of God in Mary.

The Child conceived in Mary is the most perfect Child the world has ever known. Because the active principle in the generation of Christ was God Himself, the body of Christ was perfectly formed from the first instant of its existence. It has a rational soul. The Son of God assumed this body at the very moment of the infusion of the rational soul. In this way, Mary is the Mother of God from the first instant of conception of Christ in her womb. In fact, if it were otherwise, Mary would not be the Mother of God, but the Mother of a human being who was later assumed by the Son of God.

In addition, Christ was, as we have already seen, spiritually perfect. He possessed, from the first moment of His existence, the absolute fullness of God's grace. His soul was united to God in the glory of the beatific vision of God. He possessed infused knowledge, and hence was capable of free acts of His will. Hence, too, He was capable of meriting grace and redemption for men from the very beginning of His existence as man.

Mary is truly the Mother of God. When we consider the absolutely infinite perfection of God, the obvious humanity of Mary and the no less obvious humanity of her Son, Christ, this might seem a startling statement. But it is none the less true. When any mother gives birth to a child, she gives birth not only to a human nature but also to the person who exists in that human nature. We do not say that Mrs. Smith is the mother of a human nature. We say that she is the mother of John Smith, or of Richard Smith, or of Helen Smith. In other words, we say that she is the mother of the persons to whom she gave human nature. So, also, in the Incarnation we do not say simply that Mary is the Mother of the human nature of Christ. We say, and rightly, that she is the Mother of the Person Who exists in that human nature, of the Person to Whom she gave that human nature. Since that Person is God, the Son of God, we rightly say that Mary is the Mother of God. This Divine Maternity is the greatest of Mary's privileges and the source of all her other divinely given privileges.

As is the case with every mother, her life is closely interwoven with the life of her Divine Son. She bore Him in her womb. She gave birth to Him at Bethlehem, in fulfillment of the ancient prophecy. She fled with Him to Egypt to escape the murderous wrath of Herod. She lived with Him for years in the obscurity of Nazareth. She asked Him to perform His first miracle in His public ministry. She was with Him on Calvary. On Calvary, in obedience to the will of God, she renounced her maternal rights to the life of her Son, her rights to His continued filial love and care in this world. She offered her own maternal agony to God for the salvation of men. In union with Christ, she offered the life of her Son for the redemption of man. In this way, she merited the right to dispense all God's graces to men to the end of time. After her own death, her Divine Son, because of His filial love for her, raised her body from death and she was assumed body and soul into heaven. In heaven she reigns as the Queen of angels and men.

When we consider the unique position given by God to Mary, when we reflect on the great privileges God has granted Mary, then we are not surprised at the great devotion of Catholics to Mary. If God has so honored Mary, can we do less? Since all her privileges, all her great dignity are due to the perfection and dignity of her Son, then the honor which we give to Mary does not detract from the honor we give Christ. Rather, it is a fitting tribute to the Son Who could fashion for Himself so great a Mother.

Summa Theologica pgs 474-484.

© 1952 Confraternity of the Precious Blood Used with permission.

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"Mother of God" courtesy of The Basilica of Our Lady of Guadalupe