Solemnity of Mother Mary

 Jan 1st - Solemnity of Mother Mary, Mother of God and Queen of Peace



The Solemnity of Mary, Mother of God falls on 1st January, exactly one week after Christmas, the end of the Octave (8 days) of Christmastide. 


Solemnities in the Catholic Church are the highest rank of liturgical celebration, higher than feast days or memorials. 


By celebrating a solemnity dedicated to Mary’s motherhood, the Church highlights the significance of her unique role in the life of Jesus.


It is fitting to honour Mary as the Mother of Jesus because we are not only honouring Mary, who was chosen among all women throughout history to bear the Incarnate word of God, but we also honour her son as our Lord and Redeemer, who is fully God and fully human (like us in all things except sin).


Council of Ephesus

Jesus’ unique nature as human and divine, both simultaneously and equally, is something we take as a given. 


Back in the early days of the church, in 431 A.D., this dogma of our faith was hotly debated during the Council of Ephesus convened by Emperor Theodosius II (c. 401–450 AD, r. 408-450 AD), when the title of “Mary, Mother of God,” in Greek “Theotokos,” was defended and defined against the heresy of Nestorius, Patriarch of Constantinople (r. 428-431 AD), who refuted the dogma claiming that these two natures were not fully united but loosely conjoined in one person, and therefore, Mary was only the mother of the human part of Him.


Catholic theologians in Ephesus especially St Cyril, Patriarch of Alexandria (r. 412-444 AD) flatly rejected this claim. They upheld the doctrine of the hypostatic union that defined Christ with two simultaneous and equal natures, a divine nature and a human nature united inseparably in one person.


Mary the Theotokos

Since Christ’s two natures form one single person, Mary is the mother of the whole Person of Christ, making her the Theotokos ("God-bearer" or "Mother of God"), not in the sense that she came before God or is the source of God, but in the sense that the child that she bore in her womb is indeed true God and true man.


Mary the Queen of Peace

Calling Mary "mother of God" is the highest honour we can give Mary. Just as Christmas honours Jesus as the "Prince of Peace," the Solemnity of Mary Mother of God honours Mary as the "Queen of Peace."


On February 2, 1974, Pope Paul VI encouraged the restoration of the Solemnity of Mary, the Holy Mother of God, in his apostolic exhortation Marialis Cultus: “In the revised ordering of the Christmas period, it seems to us that the attention of all should be directed towards the restored Solemnity of Mary the holy Mother of God. This celebration, placed on January 1 in conformity with the ancient indication of the liturgy of the City of Rome, is meant to commemorate the part played by Mary in this mystery of salvation." 


He called the Solemnity of Mary, "A fitting occasion for renewing adoration of the newborn Prince of Peace, for listening once more to the glad tidings of the angels [Luke 2:14], and for imploring from God, through the Queen of Peace, the supreme gift of peace.”


Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI, had this to say on the Solemnity of Mary, Mother of God 2012, "Jesus is a way that can be travelled, open to everyone. He is the path of peace. Today the Virgin Mary points him out to us, she shows us the Way: let us walk in it! And you, Holy Mother of God, accompany us with your protection. Amen."


Pope Francis said this during Holy Mass on the Solemnity in 2022, “At the beginning of the New Year, then, let us place ourselves under the protection of this woman, the Mother of God, who is also our mother. May she help us to keep and ponder all things, unafraid of trials and with the joyful certainty that the Lord is faithful and can transform every cross into a resurrection? Today too, let us call upon her as did the People of God at Ephesus. Let us stand and, facing Our Lady as did the people of God in Ephesus, let us together repeat three times her title of Mother of God: ‘Holy Mother of God, Holy Mother of God, Holy Mother of God!’ Amen.”


References

Von Dohlen, C. (2024, September 17). The Solemnity of Mary, Mother of God 2025 – Church teaching, Mass readings, prayers. Hallow. Retrieved January 1, 2025, from https://hallow.com/blog/solemnity-of-mary-mother-of-god/

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Comments

  1. Sandra SimonJanuary 1, 2025 at 3:12 PM

    Thanks for this blog and all the others looking forward to more

    ReplyDelete

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