Mater Admirabilis

During the month of May, I plan to publish a series of posts based on notes made by John Henry Newman (1801-1890)  for his meditations on Mary in the Litany of Loreto. For the Latin and English texts of this Litany, please follow the link to Thesaurus Precum Latinarum.

Totus tuus ego sum et omnia mea tua sunt.

Tecum tutus semper sum.

Ad Jesum per Mariam

[  ] References in the text to numbered footnotes are not hyperlinked but may be found at the end of the relevant extract.

Mary is the "Mater Admirabilis," the Wonderful Mother

When Mary, the Virgo Prædicanda, the Virgin who is to be proclaimed aloud, is called by the title of Admirabilis, it is thereby suggested to us what the effect is of the preaching of her as Immaculate in her Conception. The Holy Church proclaims, preaches her, as conceived without original sin; and those who hear, the children of Holy Church, wonder, marvel, are astonished and overcome by the preaching. It is so great a prerogative.

Even created excellence is fearful to think of when it is so high as Mary's. As to the great Creator, when Moses desired to see His glory, He Himself says about Himself, "Thou canst not see My face, for man shall not see Me and live;"[1] and St. Paul says, "Our God is a consuming fire."[2] And when St. John, holy as he was, saw only the Human Nature of our Lord, as He is in Heaven, "he fell at His feet as dead."[3] And so as regards the appearance of angels. The holy Daniel, when St. Gabriel appeared to him, "fainted away, and lay in a consternation, with his face close to the ground."[4] When this great archangel came to Zacharias, the father of St. John the Baptist, he too "was troubled, and fear fell upon him."[5] But it was otherwise with Mary when the same St. Gabriel came to her. She was overcome indeed, and troubled at his words, because, humble as she was in her own opinion of herself, he addressed her as "Full of grace," and "Blessed among women;" but she was able to bear the sight of him.

Hence we learn two things: first, how great a holiness was Mary's, seeing she could endure the presence of an angel, whose brightness smote the holy prophet Daniel even to fainting and almost to death; and secondly, since she is so much holier than that angel, and we so much less holy than Daniel, what great reason we have to call her the Virgo Admirabilis, the Wonderful, the Awful Virgin, when we think of her ineffable purity!

Our Lady of Victory. Wolfgang Sauber. CC BY-SA 3.0

There are those who are so thoughtless, so blind, so grovelling as to think that Mary is not as much shocked at wilful sin as her Divine Son is, and that we can make her our friend and advocate, though we go to her without contrition at heart, without even the wish for true repentance and resolution to amend. As if Mary could hate sin less, and love sinners more, than our Lord does! No: she feels a sympathy for those only who wish to leave their sins; else, how should she be without sin herself?

No: if even to the best of us she is, in the words of Scripture, "fair as the moon, bright as the sun, and terrible as an army set in array,"[7] what is she to the impenitent sinner?



Portal of the monastery church ( 1654 ) by Johann Spaz d.J.



[1] [20] And again he said: Thou canst not see my face: for man shall not see me and live.
Rursumque ait : Non poteris videre faciem meam : non enim videbit me homo et vivet. [Exodus 33]
[2] [29] For our God is a consuming fire. Etenim Deus noster ignis consumens est. [Heb 12]
[3] [17] And when I had seen him, I fell at his feet as dead. And he laid his right hand upon me, saying: Fear not. I am the First and the Last,
Et cum vidissem eum, cecidi ad pedes ejus tamquam mortuus. Et posuit dexteram suam super me, dicens : Noli timere : ego sum primus, et novissimus, [Apoc 1]
[4][17] And he came and stood near where I stood: and when he was come, I fell on my face trembling, and he said to me: Understand, O son of man, for in the time of the end the vision shall be fulfilled. Et venit, et stetit juxta ubi ego stabam : cumque venisset, pavens corrui in faciem meam : et ait ad me : Intellige, fili hominis, quoniam in tempore finis complebitur visio. [18] And when he spoke to me I fell flat on the ground: and he touched me, and set me upright,
Cumque loqueretur ad me, collapsus sum pronus in terram : et tetigit me, et statuit me in gradu meo, [Daniel 8]
[5] [11] And there appeared to him an angel of the Lord, standing on the right side of the altar of incense.
Apparuit autem illi angelus Domini, stans a dextris altaris incensi.[12] And Zachary seeing him, was troubled, and fear fell upon him. Et Zacharias turbatus est videns, et timor irruit super eum. [Luke 1]
[6] [9] Who is she that cometh forth as the morning rising, fair as the moon, bright as the sun, terrible as an army set in array?
Quae est ista quae progreditur quasi aurora consurgens, pulchra ut luna, electa ut sol, terribilis ut castrorum acies ordinata? [Sol 6] 

Totus tuus ego sum et omnia mea tua sunt.

Tecum tutus semper sum.

Ad Jesum per Mariam