A listener wonders why Mary has dozens of different names, and who gave them to her. Hear the full Ask Sister episode AS231 at aNunsLife.org. Hosts: Sister Maxine and Sister Shannon.
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Sister Maxine
This Random Nun Clip is brought to you by one of our sponsors, the Adrian Dominican Sisters. I'm Sister Maxine here with Sister Shannon Schrein. It's great to see you again, Shannon.
Sister Shannon
It is always a delight to come here. I really enjoy our time together.
Sister Maxine
For folks who may be new to the show, Sister Shannon is a theologian and is in leadership for her congregation, the Sisters of St. Francis of Sylvania, Ohio. Our first question comes in from Laurie in Georgia. And she asks, "Why is Mary the mother of God called by so many different names? Like Queen of Heaven, Our Lady of Sorrows, Our Lady of Guadalupe?" And I would add Our Lady of Grace. Laurie goes on to say, "Who decided that she should have all these names, and which names?" Well, good question, Laurie, thank you so much. You know, Mary does have a considerable number of names. And I think, I think, Sister Shannon, you found a few.
Sister Shannon
I looked at the Litany to Mary, just listen for a few. Holy Virgin of Virgins, Mother of Christ, Mother of Divine Grace, Singular Vessel of Devotion, Tower of David, House of Gold, Morningstar, Refuge of Sinners, Queen of Angels, Queen of Patriarchs, Queen of Virgins, Queen Assumed into Heaven, Queen of the Most Holy Rosary.
Sister Maxine
And the list goes on. How many did you find?
Sister Shannon
I think there are about 80 on these two pages.
Sister Maxine
That is a lot of names. We should probably talk about the whole idea of Mary. There's a theological field of study called Mariology. Indeed. And I think it probably touches on some of the things about names. For Laurie here, she might want to take a look at Elizabeth Johnson's book, which I think came out in 2003: Truly Our Sister. But back to all these various names.
Sister Shannon
Let me just put in one little plug. The University of Dayton here in Ohio, which is sponsored by the Marianist Brothers and Priests, has the largest Marion library in the world. And people go there to pursue studies in Mariology.
Sister Maxine
So probably as soon as COVID is a little more under control, Laurie, that might be a road trip you want to take from Georgia, up to Dayton, Ohio.
Sister Shannon
Let's talk a little bit about how Mary gets these titles or names. Let me distinguish for a minute. First of all, many of the titles purposely affirm her gifts, the things that God has granted her: her spirituality, her goodness, her kindness, her generosity. Some of the titles relate directly to her actions. And they give tribute to the role that she played in salvation as Mother of the Savior. And others relate to miraculous events that took place, apparitions where Mary herself appears. And so there's a variety of categories for the different titles that are associated with Mary.
Sister Maxine
When you speak of the apparitions: I have the miraculous medal, which Catherine Laboure had a vision of Mary. So people might look around and see things that Mary is associated with in their everyday Catholic life, too.
Sister Shannon
Our Lady of Guadalupe is one of those feasts that's celebrated, particularly by our Latino American friends, because Mary appeared to Juan Diego was his name--but her image appeared on his cloak afterwards miraculously, and so there is a kind of painting of her that depicts that apparition.
Sister Maxine
Popes have also given names for Mary. Benedict, I want to say the 15th, gave her the name Queen of Peace.
Sister Shannon
Pope Francis came out with the memorial of the Blessed Virgin Mary, Mother of the Church, and that feast is to be celebrated the day after Pentecost. I think that's kind of an interesting name. Because what happens at Pentecost: Mary is present with the apostles, and they all receive the power of the Holy Spirit, the tongues of fire appear over their heads, and they suddenly can speak in a variety of tongues and it's a representation of really the birth of the church. And Mary is then understood to be the mother of the church. So immediately after Pentecost, we celebrate this great feast.
Sister Maxine
And for recognition of feasts by Popes, it makes it a celebration of the Church year.
Sister Shannon
Goes on the Roman calendar.
Sister Maxine
That's it. That's right. And then we all celebrate that role of Mary.
Sister Shannon
So you know that we celebrate the Immaculate Conception on December the eighth, and that's our national shrine in Washington DC. We celebrate Our Lady of Lourdes on February 11. We celebrate the Annunciation on March the 25th. We celebrate the Purification on January the first. So we have many, many feasts that we attribute to the role that Mary played.
This transcript has been lightly edited for readability.
