CHAPTER V — To You We Cry, Sighing and Weeping in This Valley of Tears

Section 1 — The necessity we have of the intercession of Mary for our salvation

That to invoke and pray to the saints, and especially to the Queen of the Saints, Mary Most Holy, that they may obtain for us the divine grace, is not only lawful but also useful and holy, is a matter of faith and has been established by the Councils against the heretics who condemn it as an injury to Jesus Christ, who is our only mediator. But if a Jeremiah after his death prays for Jerusalem (2 Macc. 15:14); if the elders of the Apocalypse present to God the prayers of the saints; if a St. Peter promises his disciples to remember them after his death; if a St. Stephen prays for his persecutors; if a St. Paul prays for his companions; if, in short, the saints can pray for us, why can we not implore the saints to intercede for us? St. Paul commends himself to the prayers of his disciples: Orate pro nobis (1 Thess. 5:25); St. James exhorts that we pray for one another: Orate pro invicem, ut salvemini (Jas. 5:16). We, then, can also do so.

That Jesus Christ is the only mediator of justice, who by his merits has obtained for us reconciliation with God — who denies it? But on the other hand, it is impious to deny that God is pleased to grant graces through the intercession of the saints, and especially of Mary his Mother, whom Jesus so greatly desires to see loved and honored by us. Who does not know that the honor given to mothers redounds to the glory of their children? Gloria filiorum parentes eorum (Prov. 17:6). Hence St. Bernard says: Let no one think to obscure the glory of the Son by praising the Mother much; for the more the Mother is honored, the more the Son is praised: Non est dubium, quidquid in laudibus matris proferimus, ad filium pertinere. And St. Ildephonsus says that all the honor given to the Mother and Queen is rendered to the Son and King: Refunditur in filium quod impenditur matri. Transfunditur honor in regem quod defertur in famulatum reginae. For there is no doubt that through the merits of Jesus such great authority has been granted to Mary as to be the mediatress of our salvation — not indeed a mediatress of justice, but of grace and intercession, as St. Bonaventure calls her: Maria fidelissima mediatrix nostrae salutis. And St. Lawrence Justinian says: Quomodo non est plena gratia, quae effecta est paradisi scala, caeli ianua, Dei atque hominum verissima mediatrix?

Hence St. Anselm well observes that when we pray to the Blessed Virgin to obtain graces for us, it is not that we distrust the divine mercy, but rather that we distrust our own unworthiness; and we commend ourselves to Mary so that her dignity may supply our misery: Ut dignitas intercessoris suppleat inopiam nostram. Unde Virginem interpellare non est de divina misericordia diffidere, sed de propria indignitate formidare.

That to have recourse to the intercession of Mary is, then, a most useful and holy thing cannot be doubted except by those who lack faith. But the point we intend to prove here is that the intercession of Mary is also necessary for our salvation — necessary, we say, not absolutely but morally, to speak as we ought. And we say that this necessity arises from the very will of God, who wills that all the graces he dispenses to us should pass through the hands of Mary, according to the opinion of St. Bernard, which today may well be asserted as common among theologians and doctors.

It is followed by Vega, Mendoza, Paciuchelli, Segneri, Poiré, Crasset, and innumerable other learned authors. Even Father Natalis Alexander, an author otherwise so reserved in his propositions, also says that it is the will of God that we should await all good things through the intercession of Mary: Qui vult, these are his words, ut omnia bona ab ipso exspectemus, potentissima Virginis Matris intercessione impetranda; cum eam, ut par est, invocamus; citing in confirmation the celebrated passage of St. Bernard: Sic est voluntas eius qui totum nos habere voluit per Mariam. The same is held by Father Contenson, who, explaining the words spoken by Jesus Christ on the cross to St. John — Ecce mater tua — adds: Quasi diceret: Nullus sanguinis mei particeps erit, nisi intercessione Matris meae. Vulnera gratiarum fontes sunt: sed ad nullos derivabuntur rivi, nisi per Mariae canalem. Ioannes discipule, tantum a me amaberis, quantum eam amaveris.

This proposition — namely, that whatever good we receive from the Lord comes to us all through Mary — does not greatly please a certain modern author who, although he writes with much piety and learning about true and false devotion, has nevertheless shown himself very sparing in granting to the divine Mother this glory, which a St. Germanus, a St. Anselm, a St. John Damascene, a St. Bonaventure, a St. Antoninus, a St. Bernardine of Siena, the Venerable Abbot of Celles, and so many other doctors had no scruple in giving her, nor any difficulty in saying that for the aforesaid reason the intercession of Mary is not only useful but also necessary. The said author says that such a proposition — that God grants no grace except through Mary — is a hyperbole and an exaggeration that has fallen from the lips of certain saints in their fervor, which, properly understood, means only that from Mary we received Jesus Christ, through whose merits we then receive all graces. Otherwise, he says, it would be an error to believe that God could not grant us graces without the intercession of Mary, since the Apostle says that we acknowledge but one God and one mediator between God and men, Jesus Christ (1 Tim. 2:5). So says the said author.

But with all due respect, as he himself teaches in his book, one thing is the mediation of justice by way of merit, another the mediation of grace by way of prayer. Likewise, one thing is to say that God cannot, another that God does not will to grant graces without the intercession of Mary. We readily confess that God is the source of every good and the absolute master of all graces, and that Mary is but a pure creature who receives everything gratuitously from God. But who can deny that it is very reasonable and fitting to assert that God, in order to exalt this great creature who honored and loved him in her life more than all other creatures; and that God, having chosen Mary to be the Mother of his Son and the common Redeemer, wills that all graces to be granted to redeemed souls should pass through her hands and be dispensed by her? We readily confess that Jesus Christ is the only mediator of justice, as we have already distinguished above, who by his merits obtains for us graces and salvation; but we say that Mary is the mediatress of grace, and that although all she obtains, she obtains through the merits of Jesus Christ and because she prays and asks in the name of Jesus Christ, nevertheless all the graces we seek are given us through her intercession.

In this there is certainly nothing contrary to the sacred dogmas; indeed, all is in conformity with the sentiments of the Church, which in the ordinary prayers approved by her teaches us to have continual recourse to this divine Mother and to invoke her: Salus infirmorum, refugium peccatorum, auxilium Christianorum, vita, spes nostra. The same holy Church, in the Office prescribed to be recited on the feasts of Mary, applying to her the words of Wisdom, gives us to understand that in Mary we shall find all hope: In me omnis spes vitae et virtutis. In Mary every grace: In me omnis gratia viae et veritatis. In Mary, in short, we shall find life and eternal salvation: Qui me invenerit, inveniet vitam, et hauriet salutem a Domino. And in another place: Qui operantur in me, non peccabunt. Qui elucidant me, vitam aeternam habebunt. All of which signifies the necessity we have of the intercession of Mary.

And this is the sentiment in which so many theologians and holy Fathers confirm us; of whom it is not right to say, as the aforesaid author does, that in order to exalt Mary they have spoken in hyperboles and let fall exaggerated expressions. To exaggerate and utter hyperboles is to exceed the limits of truth — which it is not fitting to attribute to saints who spoke with the Spirit of God, who is the Spirit of truth.

And here let me be allowed a brief digression, to state a sentiment of my own: namely, that when an opinion is in some way honorable to the Blessed Virgin and has some foundation, and is repugnant neither to faith, nor to the decrees of the Church, nor to the truth, then not to hold it and to contradict it — on the grounds that the opposite opinion may also be true — betokens little devotion to the Mother of God. Among those of little devotion I do not wish to be, nor would I wish to see my reader, but rather in the number of those who fully and firmly believe whatever can without error be believed of the greatness of Mary, as Abbot Rupert says, who among the tributes most pleasing to this Mother includes this: Eius magnalia firmiter credere. If there were nothing else, it should suffice to remove our fear of excess in praising Mary that St. Augustine says that all we say in praise of Mary is still little compared to what she deserves for her dignity as Mother of God; together with the holy Church, which has us read in the Mass of the Blessed Virgin: Felix namque es, sacra Virgo Maria, et omni laude dignissima.

But let us return to the point and see what the saints say about the proposed opinion. St. Bernard says that God has filled Mary with all graces so that men, through Mary as through a channel, might receive whatever good comes to them: Plenus aquaeductus, ut accipiant ceteri de eius plenitudine. The saint makes moreover a great reflection and says that therefore in the world, before the Blessed Virgin was born, there did not exist for everyone this current of grace, because that longed-for aqueduct did not yet exist: Ideo tanto tempore defuerunt omnibus fluenta gratiarum, quia nondum intercesserat hic aquaeductus. But then he adds that Mary was given to the world for this purpose: that through this channel the divine graces might continually descend upon us: Ad hoc enim data est ipsa mundo, quasi aquaeductus, ut per ipsam a Deo ad homines dona caelestia iugiter descenderent.

Hence, just as Holofernes, to conquer the city of Bethulia, ordered the aqueducts to be cut off, so the devil endeavors as much as he can to make souls lose their devotion to the Mother of God; for once this channel of graces is closed, he easily succeeds in capturing them. Therefore the same holy Father resumes and says: Intuemini quanto devotionis affectu a nobis eam voluit honorari, qui totius boni plenitudinem posuit in Maria: ut proinde si quid spei nobis est, si quid gratiae, si quid salutis, ab ea noverimus redundare. See, then, he says, O souls, with what affection and devotion the Lord wills that we honor this our Queen, by always having recourse to and trusting in her protection; for in her he has placed the fullness of every good, so that henceforth whatever we have of hope, of grace, and of salvation, we may recognize as coming to us from the hands of Mary. The same says St. Antoninus: Per eam de caelis exivit quidquid gratiae venit in mundum. All the mercies that have ever been dispensed to men have come through Mary.

Therefore she is called the moon: Quia, says St. Bonaventure, sicut luna inter corpora caelestia et terrena est media, et quod ab illis accipit ad inferiora refundit: sic et Virgo regia inter nos et Deum est media, et gratiam ipsa nobis refundit. As the moon stands midway between the sun and the earth, and what it receives from the sun it pours down upon the earth, so Mary receives the heavenly influences of grace from the divine Sun and pours them down upon us on this earth.

Therefore likewise she is called the Gate of Heaven by the holy Church: Felix caeli porta; for, as the same St. Bernard reflects, just as every rescript of grace sent by the king passes through the gate of his palace, so: Nulla gratia venit de caelo ad terram, nisi transeat per manus Mariae. St. Bonaventure says further that Mary is called the Gate of Heaven because no one can enter heaven unless he passes through Mary, who is the gate: Nullus potest caelum intrare, nisi per Mariam transeat tamquam per portam.

In the same opinion we are confirmed by St. Jerome — or, as others hold, another ancient author of the sermon on the Assumption that is found among the works of St. Jerome — who says that in Jesus Christ there was the fullness of grace as in the Head, from which all the vital spirits — that is, the divine helps for attaining eternal salvation — flow into his members, which are we; but in Mary there was the same fullness as in the neck, through which the said vital spirits pass to the members: In Christo fuit plenitudo gratiae sicut in capite influente, in Maria sicut in collo transfundente. The same is confirmed by St. Bernardine of Siena, who explained this thought more clearly, saying that through Mary all the graces of the spiritual life are transmitted to the faithful, who are the mystical body of Jesus Christ, descending from Jesus their Head: Per Virginem a capite Christi vitales gratiae in eius corpus mysticum transfunduntur.

And St. Bonaventure seeks to assign the reason for this, saying: Cum tota natura divina intra Virginis uterum exstiterit, non timeo dicere quod in omnes gratiarum effluxus quamdam iurisdictionem habuerit haec Virgo, de cuius utero quasi de quodam divinitatis oceano flumina emanabant omnium gratiarum. Since God was pleased to dwell in the womb of this holy Virgin, the saint says she has acquired, in a certain manner, a jurisdiction over all graces; for from her most sacred womb, as Jesus Christ came forth, so too there came forth from her, as from a celestial ocean, all the rivers of divine gifts. The same is said in still clearer terms by St. Bernardine of Siena: From the time this Virgin Mother conceived the divine Word in her womb, she acquired, so to speak, a special right over the gifts that proceed to us from the Holy Spirit, so that no creature has since received any grace from God except through the mediation and hand of Mary. Here are his fine words: A tempore quo Virgo Mater concepit in utero Verbum Dei, quamdam, ut sic dicam, iurisdictionem obtinuit in omni Spiritus Sancti processione temporali; ita ut nulla creatura aliquam a Deo obtinuerit gratiam, nisi secundum ipsius piae Matris dispensationem.

And thus is explained by an author that passage of Jeremiah where, speaking of the Incarnation of the Word and of Mary his Mother, the prophet says that a woman was to encompass this God-Man: Femina circumdabit virum (Jer. 31:22). The said author explains: Just as from the center of a circle no line goes out without first passing through the circumference that surrounds it, so from Jesus, who is the center of every good, no grace passes to us except through Mary, who encompassed him after she received him in her womb.

Hence St. Bernardine says that therefore all gifts, all virtues, and all graces are dispensed by the hand of Mary to whomever she wills, at the time she wills, and in the manner she wills: Ideo omnia dona, virtutes et gratiae, quibus vult, quando vult et quomodo vult, per ipsius manus dispensantur. Richard likewise says that God wills that whatever good he gives to his creatures should pass through the hand of Mary: Deus quidquid boni dat creaturis suis, per manus Matris Virginis vult transire. Hence the Venerable Abbot of Celles exhorts everyone to have recourse to this treasurer of graces, as he calls her — Thesauraria gratiarum — since through her alone the world and all mankind must receive whatever good they can hope for: Accede ad Virginem, quia per ipsam mundus habiturus est omne bonum.

From all this it is clearly seen that the cited saints and authors, in saying that all graces come to us through Mary, did not intend to say merely that from Mary we received Jesus Christ, who is the source of every good, as the author mentioned above would understand; but they also assure us that God, after having given us Jesus Christ, wills that all the graces that have ever been dispensed, are being dispensed, and shall be dispensed to mankind until the end of the world through the merits of Jesus, should all be dispensed by the hand and through the intercession of Mary.

Thus Father Suarez concludes that it is today the universal sentiment of the Church that the intercession of Mary is not only useful to us but also necessary: Sentit Ecclesia intercessionem B. Virginis esse sibi utilem et necessariam. Necessary, as we have said, not with an absolute necessity, since only the mediation of Jesus Christ is absolutely necessary to us; but with a moral necessity, since the Church holds with St. Bernard that God has determined that no grace be dispensed to us except through the hand of Mary: Nihil Deus habere nos voluit, quod per manus Mariae non transiret. And before St. Bernard, St. Ildephonsus affirmed it, saying to the Virgin: O Mary, the Lord has decreed to commit to your hands all the goods he has determined to bestow upon men, and therefore he has entrusted to you all the treasures and riches of graces: Omnia bona, quae illis summa Maiestas decrevit facere, tuis manibus decrevit commendare; commissi quippe sunt thesauri et ornamenta gratiarum. And therefore St. Peter Damian says that God did not will to become man without the consent of Mary — first, so that we should all remain supremely indebted to her; and second, so that we might understand that the salvation of all is committed to the will of this Virgin.

Hence St. Bonaventure, considering the words of Isaiah in chapter 11, where the prophet says that from the stock of Jesse a rod was to spring forth — that is, Mary — and from that rod the flower — that is, the incarnate Word — Egredietur virga de radice Iesse, et flos de radice eius ascendet; et requiescet super eum Spiritus Domini — says these beautiful words: Quicumque Spiritus Sancti gratiam adipisci desiderat, florem in virga quaerat; per virgam enim ad florem, per florem ad spiritum pervenimus. Whoever desires to acquire the grace of the Holy Spirit, let him seek the flower on the rod — that is, Jesus in Mary — for through the rod we find the flower, and through the flower we find God. And then he adds: Si hunc florem habere desideras, virgam floris precibus flectas. If you desire this flower, strive by your prayers to bend in your favor the rod of the flower, and you will obtain it. Otherwise — says the seraphic Father — Jesus will never be found except with Mary and through Mary: Numquam invenitur Christus, nisi cum Maria, nisi per Mariam. And he concludes that he seeks Jesus in vain who does not seek to find him together with Mary: Frustra igitur quaerit qui cum Maria invenire non quaerit. Hence St. Ildephonsus said: Ut sim servus filii, servitutem appeto genitricis. I wish to be a servant of the Son, and because no one shall ever be a servant of the Son who is not a servant of the Mother, therefore I desire the service of Mary.

Example

It is related by the Bellovacensian and by Caesarius that a young nobleman, having been reduced by his vices from the riches his father had left him to such poverty that he was forced to beg for his living, left his homeland to go live with less shame in a distant country where he was not known. On this journey he met one day a certain former servant of his father, who, seeing him so afflicted by the poverty into which he had fallen, told him to be of good cheer, for he wished to bring him to a prince so generous that he would provide him with everything.

This scoundrel was a wicked sorcerer. And behold, one day he took the poor youth with him and led him through a wood near a lake, where he began to speak with a person who could not be seen; so the youth asked him with whom he was speaking. He answered: With the devil; and seeing the youth frightened, he encouraged him not to fear. And continuing to speak with the devil: My lord, he said, this young man has been reduced to extreme need and would like to return to his former condition. If he is willing to obey me, answered the enemy, I will make him richer than before; but first he must renounce God. At this the youth was horrified; but, urged by that accursed sorcerer, he did it and renounced God. But that is not enough, replied the devil; he must also renounce Mary; for she is the one to whom we owe our greatest losses. Oh, how many she snatches from our hands and leads back to God and saves! Oh no, answered the youth, that I should renounce my Mother — she is my whole hope. I would rather go begging all my life. And with that the youth departed from that place.

On his return he happened to pass by a church of Mary; the afflicted youth enters and, kneeling before her image, begins to weep and to pray to the Most Holy Virgin to obtain for him the pardon of his sins. Behold, Mary immediately begins to pray to her Son for that wretch. Jesus at first said: But this ungrateful one, my Mother, has renounced me. But seeing that the Mother did not cease to pray, at last he said: O Mother, I have never denied you anything; let him be forgiven, since you ask it of me.

All this was secretly observed by a citizen who had purchased the possessions of that spendthrift. He, having seen the compassion Mary showed toward that sinner, and having an only daughter, gave her to him for a wife and made him heir to all his goods. And thus that young man recovered through Mary the grace of God and also temporal blessings.

Prayer

O my soul, see what a beautiful hope of salvation and eternal life the Lord gives you in having granted you, through his mercy, confidence in the patronage of his Mother, after you have so many times deserved his displeasure and hell through your sins. Thank, then, your God, and thank your protectress Mary, who has deigned already to take you under her mantle, as the many graces you have received through her attest.

Yes, I thank you, my loving Mother, for all the good you have done for me, a wretch deserving of hell. O Queen, from how many dangers have you freed me! How many lights and how many mercies have you obtained for me from God! And what great good or great honor have you received from me, that you should have so committed yourself to doing me good?

It was your goodness alone that moved you. Ah, even if I were to give my blood and my life for you, it would still be little compared to what I owe you, since you have freed me from eternal death; you have made me recover, as I hope, divine grace; in short, I owe to you all my happiness. My most lovable Lady, I, a wretch, can render you nothing but praise and love. Ah, do not disdain to accept the affection of a poor sinner who has fallen in love with your goodness. If my heart is unworthy to love you, because it is sullied and full of earthly attachments, it is for you to change it — change it yourself.

Ah, bind me then to my God, and bind me so tightly that I may never again be separated from his love. This is what you ask of me — that I love your God — and this is what I ask of you: obtain for me to love him, to love him always, and I desire nothing more. Amen.

Section 2 — The same subject continued

St. Bernard says that just as a man and a woman cooperated in our ruin, so it was fitting that another man and another woman should cooperate in our restoration; and these were Jesus and his Mother Mary. There is no doubt, says the saint, that Jesus Christ alone was more than sufficient to redeem us, but congruum magis fuit, ut adesset nostrae reparationi sexus uterque, quorum corruptioni neuter defuisset. Hence Blessed Albert the Great calls Mary Adiutrix Redemptionis, the cooperatrix of the Redemption. And she herself revealed to St. Bridget that just as Adam and Eve sold the world for an apple, so she and her Son ransomed the world with one heart: Adam et Heva vendiderunt mundum pro uno pomo; Filius meus et ego redemimus mundum uno corde. God could indeed, confirms St. Anselm, have created the world from nothing; but when the world was lost through sin, God did not will to restore it without the cooperation of Mary: Qui potuit omnia de nihilo facere, noluit ea violata sine Maria reficere.

In three ways, explains Father Suarez, the divine Mother cooperated in our salvation: first, by having merited with a merit of fitness the Incarnation of the Word; second, by having greatly devoted herself to praying for us while she lived on this earth; third, by having willingly sacrificed to God the life of her Son for our salvation. And therefore the Lord has justly established that since Mary cooperated with such love toward mankind and with such divine glory in the salvation of all, all should then obtain salvation through her intercession.

Mary is called the cooperatrix of our justification, because God has committed to her all the graces to be dispensed to us: Auxiliatrix nostrae iustificationis, quia Deus omnes gratias faciendas Mariae commisit. For this reason St. Bernard affirms that all men, past, present, and future, ought to look upon Mary as the means and the instrument of the salvation of all ages: Ad illam sicut ad medium, sicut ad negotium omnium saeculorum respiciant, et qui praecesserunt, et nos qui sumus, et qui sequentur.

Jesus Christ said that no one could find him unless the Eternal Father first drew him with his divine grace: Nemo venit ad me, nisi Pater meus traxerit eum (Jn. 6:44). So also, according to Richard, Jesus says of his Mother: Nemo venit ad me, nisi mater mea suis precibus traxerit eum. No one comes to me unless my Mother has first drawn him with her prayers. Jesus was the fruit of Mary, as St. Elizabeth said to her: Benedicta tu inter mulieres et benedictus fructus ventris tui (Lk. 1:42). Whoever desires the fruit, then, must go to the tree. Whoever desires Jesus, then, must go to Mary; and whoever finds Mary, certainly finds Jesus as well. St. Elizabeth, when she saw the Most Holy Virgin come to visit her in her house, not knowing how to thank her, exclaimed in all humility: Et unde hoc mihi, ut veniat mater Domini mei ad me? (Lk. 1:43). And where did I deserve that the Mother of my God should come to find me? But how? we ask. Did not St. Elizabeth already know that not only Mary but also Jesus had come to her house? And why, then, did she call herself unworthy of receiving the Mother and not rather of seeing the Son come to visit her? Ah, the saint well understood that when Mary comes, she brings Jesus too; and therefore it sufficed to thank the Mother without naming the Son.

Facta est quasi navis institoris de longe portans panem suum (Prov. 31:14). Mary was indeed this happy ship that from heaven brought us Jesus Christ, the living bread who came from heaven to give us eternal life, as he himself said: Ego sum panis vivus, qui de caelo descendi; si quis manducaverit ex hoc pane, vivet in aeternum (Jn. 6:51-52). Hence Richard of St. Lawrence says that in the sea of this world all will be lost who are not received into this ship — that is, not protected by Mary: In mare mundi submergentur omnes illi quos non suscipit navis ista. Ideo quoties videmus insurgentes fluctus huius maris, clamare debemus ad Mariam: Domina, salva nos, perimus. Whenever we see ourselves in danger of being lost through the temptations or passions of this present life, we must have recourse to Mary, crying: Lady, help us quickly; save us, if you do not wish to see us lost!

Jesus said that no one could find him unless the Eternal Father first drew him; thus it is also with Mary. The glorious St. Cajetan said that we can ask for graces, but we shall never be able to obtain them without the intercession of Mary. And St. Antoninus confirmed it, saying with a fine expression: Qui petit sine ipsa, sine alis tentat volare. Whoever asks for graces and wishes to obtain them without the intercession of Mary, says the saint, is trying to fly without wings; for just as Pharaoh said to Joseph: Terra Aegypti in manu tua est; and just as all who came to him for aid he sent to Joseph — Ite ad Ioseph — so God, when we ask him for graces, sends us to Mary: Ite ad Mariam. For he has decreed, says St. Bernard, to grant no grace except through the hand of Mary: Decrevit nihil dare nisi per Mariam. Hence Richard of St. Lawrence says: Salus nostra in manu Mariae est, ut ei dicere multo melius valeamus nos Christiani, quam Aegyptii dixerunt Ioseph: Salus nostra in manu illius est. The same says the Venerable Idiota: Salus nostra in manu illius est. The same asserts Cassian, but still more forcefully: Tota salus mundi consistit in multitudine favoris Mariae. He says absolutely that the salvation of all consists in being favored and protected by Mary. Whoever is protected by Mary is saved; whoever is not protected is lost. St. Bernardine of Siena says to her: Tu dispensatrix omnium gratiarum: salus nostra in manu tua est. Lady, since you are the dispenser of all graces, and the grace of salvation must come to us only through your hand, our salvation depends on you.

Hence Richard had good reason to say that just as a stone falls as soon as the earth that supports it is removed, so a soul, deprived of the help of Mary, will fall first into sin and then into hell: Sicut lapis, subtracta terra, delabitur in profundum, ita, subtracto Mariae adiutorio, homo delabitur in peccatum et inde in infernum.

St. Bonaventure adds that God will not save us without the intercession of Mary: Ipse sine ea non salvabit. And he goes on to say that as an infant, deprived of the nurse who sustains it, cannot live, so everyone, deprived of Mary's protection, cannot be saved: Quemadmodum infans sine nutrice non potest vivere; ita sine Domina nostra non potes habere salutem. Hence he exhorts: Sitiat ergo anima tua ad ipsam: tene nec dimitte, donec benedixerit tibi. Let your soul thirst for devotion to Mary; hold fast to her and do not let her go until you attain in heaven her maternal blessing. And who, says St. Germanus, would know God if it were not for you, O Mary Most Holy? Who would be saved? Who would be free from dangers? Who would receive any grace, if it were not for you, O Mother of God, O Virgin Mother, O full of grace? Here are his fine words: Nemo est, o Sanctissima, qui ad Dei notitiam venit, nisi per te: nemo qui salvus fiet, nisi per te, Dei parens: nemo liber a periculis, nisi per te, Virgo mater: nemo donum Dei suscipit, nisi per te, gratia plena. And elsewhere he says to her: Nisi enim tu iter aperires, nemo spiritualis evaderet. If you did not open the way, no one would be freed from the attacks of the flesh and of sin.

Just as we have no access to the Eternal Father except through Jesus Christ, so, says St. Bernard, we have no access to Jesus Christ except through Mary: Per te accessum habemus ad Filium, o inventrix gratiae, mater salutis, ut per te nos suscipiat, qui per te datus est nobis. And here is the beautiful reason why, says St. Bernard, the Lord has determined that all should be saved through the intercession of Mary: so that through Mary we may be received by that Savior who was given to us through Mary; and therefore the saint calls her the mother of grace and of our salvation. Then, resumes St. Germanus, what will become of us? What hope will remain for us of being saved, if you abandon us, O Mary, you who are the life of Christians? Si nos deserueris, quid erit de nobis, o vita Christianorum?

But the modern author mentioned above replies: If all graces pass through Mary, then when we implore the intercession of the saints, do they have to have recourse to Mary's mediation to obtain graces for us? But this, he says, no one believes and no one has ever dreamed. As for believing it, I answer that in this there can be no error or inconvenience. What inconvenience would it be to say that God, in order to honor his Mother — having made her Queen of the saints and wishing all graces to be dispensed through her hands — should also will that the saints have recourse to her to obtain graces for their devotees? As for saying that no one has ever dreamed of this, I find that it has been expressly asserted by St. Bernard, St. Anselm, St. Bonaventure, and with them Father Suarez and others. Frustra, says St. Bernard, alios sanctos oraret, quem ista non adiuvaret. In vain would anyone pray to the other saints for a grace he seeks if Mary did not interpose herself to obtain it.

Thus also is explained that passage of David: Vultum tuum deprecabuntur omnes divites plebis (Ps. 44:13). The rich of that great people of God are the saints, who, when they wish to obtain some grace for one of their devotees, all commend themselves to Mary to obtain it. Hence Father Suarez rightly says that we pray to the saints to be our intercessors with Mary, as their Lady and Queen: Inter sanctos non solemus uti uno tamquam intercessore ad alium, cum omnes sint eiusdem ordinis. Ad Virginem autem tamquam ad dominam ac reginam alii sancti adhibentur intercessores.

And this is precisely what St. Benedict promised St. Frances of Rome, as we read in Father Marchese. One day the said saint appeared to her and, taking her under his protection, promised to be her advocate with the divine Mother. St. Anselm adds, in confirmation of this, speaking to the Virgin: Quod possunt omnes isti tecum, tu sola potes sine illis omnibus. Lady, what all these saints together with you can obtain by their intercession, your intercession alone can obtain without their help. Quare hoc potes? the saint continues: But why do you have such power? Because you alone are the Mother of our common Savior, you the Spouse of God, you the universal Queen of heaven and earth: Quia mater es Salvatoris nostri, sponsa Dei, regina caeli et terrae. If you do not speak for us, no saint will pray for us or help us: Te tacente, nullus iuvabit, nullus orabit. But if you are moved to pray for us: Te Domina orante, omnes iuvabunt et orabunt. All the saints will engage themselves to supplicate for us and to help us. Thus Father Segneri, in his book The Devout of Mary, applying with the holy Church to Mary those words of Wisdom — Gyrum caeli circuivi sola (Ecclus. 24:8) — says that just as the first sphere by its motion causes all the other spheres to move, so when Mary moves to pray for a soul, all paradise joins in praying with her. Indeed, says St. Bonaventure, she then commands, as the Queen she is, all the angels and saints to accompany her and unite their prayers with hers: Quando Virgo sanctissima procedit ad Deum pro nobis deprecandum, imperat angelis et sanctis, ut eam comitentur, et simul cum ipsa Altissimum pro nobis exorent.

And so at last we understand the reason why the holy Church imposes upon us to invoke and salute the divine Mother by the great name of our hope: Spes nostra, salve. The impious Luther said he could not bear that the Church of Rome should call Mary, a creature, our hope: Ferre nequeo, he exclaimed, ut Maria dicatur spes et vita mea. For he said that God alone and Jesus Christ, as our mediator, are our hope, and that God curses whoever places his hope in a creature, as it says in Jeremiah: Maledictus homo qui confidit in homine (Jer. 17:5). But the Church teaches us to invoke Mary everywhere and to call her our hope: Spes nostra, salve.

Whoever places his hope in a creature independently of God is certainly cursed by God, since God is the only source and dispenser of every good, and the creature without God has nothing and can give nothing. But if the Lord has disposed, as we have proved, that all graces pass through Mary as through a channel of mercy, we may and indeed must assert that Mary is our hope, through whom we receive the divine graces. And therefore St. Bernard called her the whole reason of his hope: Filioli, haec maxima mea fiducia, haec tota ratio spei meae. The same asserted St. John Damascene, who, speaking to the Blessed Virgin, said to her: In te spem meam collocavi ex animo, et intentis oculis abs te pendeo. Lady, in you I have placed all my hope, and from you I attentively await my salvation. St. Thomas says that Mary is the whole hope of our salvation: Omnis spes vitae. St. Ephrem declares: Nobis non est alia quam a te fiducia, o Virgo sincerissima. Sub alis tuae pietatis protege et custodi nos. Most Holy Virgin, he says to her, receive us under your protection if you wish to see us saved, for we have no other hope of salvation except through you.

Let us conclude, then, with St. Bernard: Totis medullis cordium hanc Mariam veneremur, quia sic est voluntas eius qui totum nos habere voluit per Mariam. Let us endeavor to venerate this divine Mother Mary with all the affections of our hearts, for this is the will of that Lord who has willed that all good should come to us through her hands. And therefore the saint exhorts us that whenever we desire and ask for any grace, we should commend ourselves to Mary and trust to obtain it through her: Quaeramus gratiam, et per Mariam quaeramus. For, says the saint, if you do not merit from God the grace you seek, Mary will merit to obtain it, since she will ask it on your behalf: Quia indignus eras, cui donaretur, datum est Mariae, ut per illam acciperes quidquid haberes. Hence the same St. Bernard advises each one that whatever we offer to God, whether works or prayers, we should commend all to Mary, if we wish the Lord to accept it: Quidquid Deo offerre potes, Mariae commendare memento, si non vis sustinere repulsam.

Example

Famous is the story of Theophilus, written by Eutychian, Patriarch of Constantinople, who was an eyewitness of the event here narrated, and it is confirmed by St. Peter Damian, St. Bernard, St. Bonaventure, St. Antoninus, and others.

Theophilus was archdeacon of the church of Adana, a city in Cilicia, and was held in such esteem that the people wanted him for their bishop, but he refused out of humility. But afterward, certain enemies having accused him and he having been deposed from his office, he conceived such grief that, blinded by passion, he went to consult a Jewish sorcerer, who brought him into conversation with Satan, that the devil might help him in his disgrace. The devil answered that if he wished his help, he must renounce Jesus and Mary his Mother and deliver to him the act of renunciation written in his own hand; and Theophilus did indeed make the abominable document.

The next day, the bishop, having recognized the injustice done to him, asked his pardon and restored him to his office. Then Theophilus, feeling himself torn by the remorse of conscience for the enormous sin he had committed, did nothing but weep. What did he do? He went to a church, and there at the feet of an image of Mary he threw himself down weeping, and said: O Mother of God, I will not despair, for I have you who are so compassionate, and you can help me. He remained thus weeping and praying to the Blessed Virgin for forty days.

Behold, the Mother of Mercy appeared to him one night and said to him: O Theophilus, what have you done? You have renounced my friendship and that of my Son — and to whom? To your enemy and mine. Lady, answered Theophilus, it is for you to think of pardoning me and of obtaining my pardon from your Son. Then Mary, seeing his confidence, said: Be of good cheer, for I will pray to God for you. Theophilus, encouraged by this, increased his tears, his penances, and his prayers, not departing from before that image. And behold, Mary appeared to him again, with a joyful countenance, and said: Theophilus, be glad; I have presented your tears and prayers to God, and he has received them and has already forgiven you. But from this day forward be grateful and faithful to him. Lady, replied Theophilus, even this is not enough to make me fully consoled; the enemy still holds in his hand that impious document in which I then renounced you and your Son; you can have it restored to me. Behold, after three days Theophilus awoke in the night and found the document upon his breast.

The following day, while the bishop was in church in the presence of a great multitude, Theophilus went and cast himself at his feet, narrated the whole story to him with bitter tears, and delivered to him the infamous document, which the bishop immediately had burned before all the people, who did nothing but weep for joy, extolling the goodness of God and the mercy of Mary shown to that wretched sinner; who, returning to the church of the Virgin, died there within three days, full of contentment, giving thanks to Jesus and his holy Mother.

Prayer

O Queen and Mother of Mercy, who dispense graces to all who have recourse to you, with such generosity because you are a Queen, and with such love because you are our most loving Mother — to you I commend myself today, I who am so poor in merits and virtues, and so laden with debts to divine justice. O Mary, you hold the key of all the divine mercies; do not forget my miseries, and do not leave me in such poverty. You who are so generous with all, accustomed to giving more than is asked of you, be the same with me. Lady, protect me, and this is all I ask. If you protect me, I fear nothing. I do not fear the demons, for you are more powerful than all hell. Nor my sins, for you can obtain for me a full pardon with a single word to God. Nor do I even fear God's anger, if I have your favor, because at one prayer of yours he is immediately appeased. In short, if you protect me, I hope for everything, because you can do everything.

O Mother of Mercy, I know that you take pleasure and glory in helping the most wretched — whom, not finding obstinate, you can help. I am a sinner, but I am not obstinate; I wish to change my life. You can, then, help me: help me and save me. Today I place myself entirely in your hands. Tell me what I must do to please God, and I will do it; and I hope to do it with your help, O Mary, Mary — Mother, light, consolation, refuge, and hope of mine. Amen, amen, amen.

REPLY TO AN ANONYMOUS AUTHOR who has censured what was written in the preceding Chapter V.

There having come into my hands a book published last year, 1755, entitled Lamindi Pritanii redivivi epistola paraenetica ad P. Bened. Plazza, I found toward the end an appendix in which the author, who is anonymous, also criticizes what I wrote in the cited passage of this little work regarding the pious opinion that I, together with Father Piazza, have maintained — namely, that all graces come to us through the divine Mother — against what the celebrated Ludovico Muratori wrote in his book Della regolata Divozione, under the aforementioned name of Pritanio.

The said anonymous author says first that I erred in asserting that Pritanio wrote that such an opinion is a hyperbole and exaggeration that has fallen from the lips of the fervor of certain saints. Therefore I, fearing to have been mistaken, reread his book and found that although Pritanio does not unite the aforesaid words precisely at the place where he expresses the mentioned opinion, nevertheless from the context of his discourse it is clear that he refers them also to the saints who have spoken on this point.

But even if Pritanio, now deceased, had not said it or had not intended to say it, Pritanio Redivivus says it at no. 545 of his book, where among other things he warns that the saints sometimes in praising the Blessed Virgin have spoken in hyperboles and tropes. To him, then, I now respond, and I say that there is no doubt that tropes, such as hyperbole, are not charged with falsehood when from the context of the discourse the excess of the truth is perceived of itself. But this does not apply to assertive propositions, where hyperbole constitutes a genuine deception that others cannot detect.

But let us come to the main point of the controverted opinion. I do not extend myself to prove the intrinsic reasons that can sustain it; it suffices me merely to indicate here those I have adduced in my book — namely, because God thus wills to honor this his beloved one who so honored him in her life. St. Thomas says that the saints, in proportion to the merit by which they have gained grace, can save many others; but that the Redeemer and his Mother have merited so much grace that they can save all men: Magnum enim est in quolibet sancto, quando habet tantum de gratia quod sufficit ad salutem multorum; sed quando haberet tantum quod sufficeret ad salutem omnium, hoc esset maximum; et hoc est in Christo et B. Virgine.

Moreover, because she is the universal advocate of all mankind, it is fitting that all who are saved should obtain salvation through her. Furthermore — and this reason seems to me the most cogent — because just as Mary cooperated with her charity, as St. Augustine says, in the spiritual birth of the faithful, so God wills that she cooperate with her intercession in helping them attain the life of grace on this earth and the life of glory in eternity. Here are the words of St. Augustine: Mater quidem spiritu non capitis nostri, quod est ipse Salvator, ex quo magis illa spiritualiter nata est, sed plane mater membrorum eius, quae nos sumus, quia cooperata est caritate, ut fideles in Ecclesia nascerentur. And therefore the holy Church has us call Mary, in indefinite terms, our life and our hope. But what has most convinced me and still convinces me of this opinion is to see it sustained not only by so many learned authors but also by saints.

The anonymous author believes he has demonstrated that St. Bernard never intended to assert that all graces come to us through the hand of Mary, but only that through her we received Jesus Christ, who is the source and the fullness of all graces. But I believe, on the contrary, that I can show clearly the opposite by what I now add.

St. Bernard says that Mary received the fullness of God. He then explains what this fullness is; principally, he says, Mary received the fullness because she received in herself Jesus Christ, the source of all graces; but then he says that the Blessed Virgin consequently received another fullness, which is the fullness of graces, to dispense them with her own hand to all men, as their mediatress before God.

I add to this what strongly moves me, and it is to see that commonly the faithful, for all the graces they desire, always have recourse to the intercession of this divine Mother; so that it seems the aforesaid pious opinion is almost a common sentiment of the Church. I will always be content to have held and preached this opinion — if for no other reason, at least because it inflames me to devotion toward Mary, while the opposite opinion would cool it: which does not seem a slight loss.