The Maternity of the Blessed Virgin Mary

In 1931, in commemoration of the fifteenth centenary of the Council of Ephesus, Pope Pius XI decreed that henceforth in the entire Church a Feast in honor of the Motherhood of Mary should be established on the eleventh of October. The history behind the Feast is of interest. In 431, in Ephesus, a great council of the Bishops met in the Church of Mary, the Mother of God, to assert the Catholic faith in the Person Jesus Christ, true God and true man. This was done to offset and denounce the false teaching of Nestorius, who asserted that Christ was a mere man but united to God. This was done to offset and denounce the false teaching of Nestorius, who asserted that Christ was a mere man but united to God. He taught that Jesus of Nazareth and the Word of God are two distinct persons. As a consequence of this teaching, it was held that Mary was only the mother of the human person, Christ. Of course, the Council of Ephesus gave out the true teaching as we find it today, for example in the Athanasian Creed “This is true faith, to believe and confess that Our Lord Jesus Christ is God and man. Although at the same time God and man yet He is one and the same Person.” It follows from this, that Mary, in becoming the human mother of the Person Christ is the Mother of God. Pius XI commended Mary and the Holy Family of Nazareth as models of the dignity and holiness of chaste wedlock, and as patterns of the holy education of youth.

Reflection. — Two of the most common prayers to the Mother of God, the Hail Mary and the Hail Holy Queen, if said frequently and with devotion will enable us to live daily under the protection of Mary.

Lives Of The Saints By Alban Butler, Benziger Bros. Edition www.globalgrey.co.uk

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