Volume IV, Issue 19, September 8, 2007

The following is an account of the audience of His Eminence, Telesphore P. Cardinal Toppo, with Pope Benedict XVI, during which Cardinal Toppo presented the Acta of the 2005 Fatima Symposium on Marian Coredemption, May 3-7, 2005, to the Holy Father. – Ed.

On June 3, 2006, First Saturday of the month of the Sacred Heart of Jesus and the Eve of the solemnity of Pentecost, I was privileged to have a private audience with His Holiness, Pope Benedict XVI. My primary purpose in requesting the audience was to present to the Holy Father the Acta of theological presentations from the 2005 Fatima Symposium on Marian Coredemption, as well as the Votum, written in Latin and signed by a significant number of cardinals, archbishops, and bishops, which requests the solemn papal definition of Our Lady as the spiritual Mother of All Peoples, Co-redemptrix, Mediatrix of all graces and Advocate.

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The Mother Co-Redemptrix and the New Evangelization by Luis Cardinal Aponte Martínez

Pope John Paul II has prophetically summoned the Church to undertake with the greatest possible diligence and comprehensibility a new global promulgation of the Good News of Jesus Christ, a worldwide "New Evangelization" of the Word of God.

As we contemplate the imperative for the New Evangelization, particularly in light of Pope John Paul’s 2001 Apostolic Letter, Novo Millennio Ineunte, which promulgates the ecclesial call for this New Evangelization, the question must be posed: who was the first to "hear the word of God and keep it" (cf. Lk 11:28)?  It was the Mother of the Lord, who so completely accepted the Word and kept it that she literally "gave flesh" to the Word (cf. Lk 1:38, Jn 1: 14).

Who was the first to "meet Christ" (Lk 1:38, NMI, 4)? It was the Mother. Who was the first to "see Jesus" (Jn 12:21) and to "contemplate his face" (Lk 2:7, NMI, 16)?  It was the Mother. Who was the first to "witness to the Gospel," to live the "life of faith," to participate intrinsically and uniquely in the "depth of the mystery" of the hypostatic union (NMI, 17, 19, 21)?  It was the Mother.

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Blessed Virgin Mary: Unique Cooperator in the Redemption by Varkey Cardinal Vithayathil, C.ss.r.

God's redemptive love of self-gift in Jesus Christ through the power of the Holy Spirit and humanity's response to this unconditional love is the core of salvation history. In this redemptive schema, human persons at different historical stages have responded either creatively by their life and mission or destructively by their selfishness and pride. Jesus Christ, being the God-Man, is the perfect response to God's love-gift. Blessed Mary, being the Mother of God and Mother of humanity has, of course, played a unique role in salvation history. That is why Karl Rahner rightly stated: "Christianity is the only religion that needs a Mother." To highlight her unique cooperation in redemptive history, the title "Mary as Coredemptrix" has been used in Christian theology for many years. The title as such is highly controversial, yet Mary's unique place in salvation history is central to any understanding of the role of humanity, and in particular that of the Church, especially that of the Syro-Malabar Church. Such understanding would help us to continue Christ's redemptive act in today's world of suffering and exploitation. Our focus therefore is to further explore this mystery of Mary's cooperation in the Redemption, explaining its meaning and modality with a special reference to the life and mission of the Syro-Malabar Church.

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Why We Need the Fifth Marian Dogma Now by Fr. Peter Damian Fehlner, F.I.

This exceptional presentation by Fr. Peter Damian Fehlner, of the Franciscan Friars of the Immaculate, on the solution to the great crises facing the Church and the world today: the need to re-Marianize the Church by recognizing the Blessed Mother's universal mediation through the solemn definition of her roles as Co-redemptrix, Mediatrix of all graces and Advocate, was given at the Mary, "Unique Cooperator in the Redemption" Symposium held at Fatima on May 3-7, 2005. – Ed.

I have chosen to entitle this final, concluding conference of our symposium, the "Cause of Mary, Advocate." Etymologically, cause is a legal term. If its use to summarize our discussion of the mystery of Mary Immaculate and of her unique place in the divine counsels governing the economy of salvation retains a legal scent, that is quite intentional. For the cause of Mary in the economy of salvation, the place she occupies from eternity in the divine counsels of salvation and the crucial role she fulfils so perfectly in bringing these counsels to pass at the Incarnation, on Calvary and in the Church, as well as the recognition of the part she plays by the Church and by every soul redeemed and delivered from sin by her Savior-Son, namely, by those whose salvation in fact hinges upon the successful prosecution of that cause, are very much today a matter of intense dispute. Those who would promote her cause and those who, either violently oppose it or who just as adamantly want to hear nothing of it, are locked in battle.

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The Proposed Marian Dogma: The "What" and the "Why" by Msgr. Arthur B. Calkins

In simple, yet poetic and profound language the third chapter of the Book of Genesis narrates the story of the fall of man. Three creatures play the major roles in this momentous drama: the serpent, the woman and the man. The serpent beguiles. The woman who was given to the man as his helpmate lets herself be beguiled and the man follows suit. The story seems deceptively simple, but it has monumental implications. The man, Adam, is the progenitor and head of the human family. The woman, Eve, is his companion. As partners they are equal, but they have different roles. He is the head of his wife and the head of the human family. "The whole human race is in Adam 'as one body of one man.' By this 'unity of the human race' all men are implicated in Adam's sin" (1).

At the same time it must be noted that the role of the woman given to the man as his helpmate was far from negligible. Let us note how it is described by the Venerable Cardinal John Henry Newman:

Eve had a definite, essential position in the First Covenant. The fate of the human race lay with Adam; he it was who represented us. It was in Adam that we fell; though Eve had fallen, still, if Adam had stood, we should not have lost those supernatural privileges which were bestowed upon him as our first father. ...but further, as she thus had her own general relation to the human race, so again had she her own special place as regards its trial and its fall in Adam. In those primeval events, Eve had an integral share. ... She co-operated, not as an irresponsible instrument, but intimately and personally in the sin; she brought it about. As the history stands, she was a sine-qua-non, a positive, active, cause of it. And she had her share in its punishment; in the sentence pronounced on her, she was recognized as a real agent in the temptation and its issue, and she suffered accordingly (2).

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Our Lady of Sorrows and Her Ongoing Significance an interview with Mark Miravalle

The following is a re-print of a Sept. 13, 2003, interview conducted by Zenit Catholic News Service with Dr. Miravalle regarding the Feast of Our Lady of Sorrows.
– Asst. Ed.

Seubenville, Ohio--The liturgical feast of Our Lady of Sorrows is a day with as much relevance as ever, says a noted Mariologist.

Mark Miravalle, professor of theology and Mariology at the Franciscan University of Steubenville, is author of a new book entitled, "With Jesus: The Story of Mary Co-redemptrix" (Queenship Publishing).

Miravalle: In the memorial of Our Lady of Sorrows, we commemorate the unparalleled human sufferings experienced by the Virgin Mary in her unique role with Jesus in the mission of redemption.

In Salvifici Doloris, No. 25, John Paul II describes these shared sufferings by Christ's Mother, particularly during their climactic moments at the foot of the cross, as reaching an "intensity which can hardly be imagined from a human point of view, but which was mysteriously and supernaturally fruitful for the redemption of the world."

Historically, this feast can be traced to the fifteenth century and was fostered by popular devotion to the seven dolors, or sorrows, of Mary, particularly among the Flemish faithful and through its promulgation by the Servites of Mary.

Until 1960, two feasts of the Sorrows of Mary were liturgically celebrated each year, the first on the Friday before Palm Sunday, which emphasized the "cumpassio" or "co-suffering" of Mary at Calvary; the second on September 15, which commemorates her entire life of co-redemptive suffering, which is highlighted in seven key scriptural events.

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The Co-Redemptrix's Role in the Passion in Her Own Words by Our Mother of Sorrows

The following is the Our Mother of Sorrows’ detailed description of the Crucifixion as given to St. Bridget of Sweden.
—Asst. Ed.

When I came with him to the place of the Passion, I saw there all the instruments prepared for His death.

He was ordered to take off His robe, and He immediately did so. And after He had undressed Himself the soldiers said to one another: "These clothes belong to us, because He who is condemned to death will not use them again."

Now upon being ordered to do so, He lay down on His back on the Cross and stretched out first His right arm. Then His cruel executioners seized Him. First they attached His right hand to the beam, in which a nail hole had been prepared, and they drove the nail through His hand in the part where the bone was firmest.

Then they pulled His other hand in the opposite direction with a rope, as it did not reach the other nail hole, and they nailed it down in the same way. Next they nailed His right foot, and over it the left, so that all the nerves and veins were torn apart and broken.

Then they replaced on His holy head the crown of thorns which caused such deep wounds that His blood streamed down, filling His eyes and His ears and matting His whole beard.

When the first nail was driven into Him, through the shock of that first blow I lost consciousness and fell down as though dead. Everything turned black before my eyes. My hands began to tremble. And my anguish was so bitter that I could not look up again until He was completely attached to the Cross.

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Fatima and Our Lady Co-Redemptrix by Edouard Cardinal Gagnon, P.s.s.

At the core of our Christian Faith lies a mystery which at once manifests the extraordinary generosity of Christ the Redeemer, and at the same time calls all of his disciples to a profound supernatural mission alongside their Redeemer. This mystery is referred to in the words of St. Paul to the Colossians, in which he calls all followers of the Crucified to "complete what is lacking in the sufferings of Christ, for the sake of his body which is the Church" (Col. 1:24).

Jesus Christ is the only Redeemer because He alone is the divine and human Mediator between God and men (cf. 1 Tim. 2:5). He has, however, willed to bring into partnership in his work of redemption all those who have been redeemed by him, in order that the glory and mercy of his work may shine forth in the heavens and on earth in a greater and more wondrous manner. Thus, redeemed humanity can cooperate with the Redeemer in virtue of our mystical union with Jesus, a union so sublime that we, the People of God, form his very Body. We not only receive but should also participate in the distribution of the infinite graces merited by the Redeemer once for all at Calvary. In light of this partnership desired by the Savior for all his faithful, John Paul II rightly designates the People of God as "co-redeemers" (1).

Our Lady is the perfect model for the Christian's mission to participate in the redemptive work of Jesus Christ. In virtue of her Immaculate Conception, she is prepared by the Eternal Father to cooperate without compromise, in union with the Redeemer, in buying backing humanity from the bondage of the Evil One (cf. Gen. 3:15). In light of her divine maternity, she possesses the greatest conceivable union of body and spirit with Jesus, the Incarnate Savior. Her presence at Calvary, prophesied by Simeon (cf. Lk. 2:35), speaks through action of the Redeemer's desire that his Mother share entirely in all of his sufferings of passion and death in order to ransom the lost children of the first Adam and Eve (cf. Jn. 19:25-27).

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Padre Pio and the Mother Co-Redemptrix by Fr. Stefano Maria Manelli, F.I.

It has been written, and rightly so, that "if there is an aspect of the mystery of Mary especially fitting to the life and work of Padre Pio of Pietrelcina, it is certainly the coredemptive aspect of the person and mission of the Immaculate in God’s salvific plan of love" (1).

The mystery of Mary Coredemptrix is present in the life and writings of St. Pio of Pietrelcina at the highest levels of mystical experience which he lived out in body and soul, and of the theologia cordis transmitted by him to his spiritual children in the language of that wisdom transcending by far a language limited to the solely notional and conceptual (2).

St. Pio of Pietrelcina in the first place lived the mystery of Marian Coredemption in his exceptional mystical experience of the Passion of Christ Crucified, of which he bore the living and bleeding stigmata in his body for fifty entire years, from 1918 to 1968. He became an "imprinted reproduction of the wounds of the Lord," according to the happy expression of Pope Paul VI (3). In this exceptional mystical experience he co-immolated himself with Christ, assimilating himself in a most extensive and profound manner to the Mother Coredemptrix who immolates herself with the Son on the Cross in order to bring to pass the universal Redemption (4). It has been written that, "Padre Pio penetrated the sorrows of Mary and participated in them, mirrored them, relived them; as his soul had been a partaker in the sorrows of the Passion, so too he had the gift of participating in the sorrows of Mary" (5).

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The Marian Theology of Hans Urs Von Balthasar and the Proposed Definition of Mary Co-Redemptrix by Sr. Thomas Mary McBride, O.P.

It has been predicted in theological circles that the Swiss theologian, Hans Urs von Balthasar (1905-1988) will emerge as the most important theologian of the twentieth century (1). A striking characteristic of Balthasar's massive output is its contemplative orientation which he himself has described as "theology on one's knees" (2). Indeed, his own theological vocation was perceived and understood in prayer, in a precise moment of grace during a retreat in the Black Forest near Basle; a grace which he would later recount with precision (3).

The receptive prayerful attitude that one perceives in von Balthasar's work can be best understood by means of the Marian fiat indicating that theology begins in the response of the creature to God's self-manifestation. According to von Balthasar, Mary made to God, through the gift of grace, the perfect nuptial response of faith, and thus the Marian fiat has become the archetype, principle and exemplar of the faith response of the entire Church (4). This article, therefore, will attempt to present a limited summary of von Balthasar's Marian theology developed around the leitmotiv of the nuptial fiat, which explicitly or implicitly, penetrates his entire theological corpus.

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The Lady of All Nations Asks for the Dogma by the Lady of All Nations

In these four messages of the early 1950s from the Lady of All Nations (ecclesiastical approval, May 31, 2002, see "Church Approves Apparitions of the Lady of All Nations" article), Our Lady explains and calls for a fifth Marian dogma. The message of April 29, 1951, speaks of how the Lady shared the bodily and spiritual sufferings of her Son. Several months later, on July 2, she explains that she became Co-redemptrix by giving her Son the flesh and blood with which he was to redeem man. That year, on the feast of the Assumption, she told visionary Ida Peerdeman that the final dogma would be the greatest one. Then, on October 5, 1952, she spoke of how the three thoughts of Co-redemptrix, Mediatrix, and Advocate form the one whole of the dogma that will be "the keystone of Marian history." – Asst. Ed.

Message of April 29, 1951

I see a bright light; the Lady slowly comes forth from it. Now I see her standing before me clearly, and she says,

"I stand here as the Coredemptrix and Advocate. Every thought should be directed at that. Repeat this after me: the new dogma shall be the dogma of the Coredemptrix. 'Co'—this I stress especially. I have said: much controversy will arise over that. Once again I tell you: the Church, Rome, will carry through with it and fight for it. The Church, Rome, will incur opposition and stand firm. The Church, Rome, will grow stronger and more powerful insofar as she stands firm in the fight. My intention and my instruction for you is none other than to urge the Church, the theologians, onward to this fight. For the Father, the Son, the Spirit wants to bring the Lady, chosen to bring the Redeemer, into this world as Coredemptrix and Advocate."

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- Mary Co-redemptrix: A Dogmatic Crowning for the Queen? by Mark Miravalle

What do St. Padre Pio, St. Francis Xavier Cabrini, St. Gemma Galgani, St. Maximilian Kolbe, St. Leopold Mandic, St. Teresa Benedicta of the Cross, St. Jose Maria Escriva, Blessed Teresa of Calcutta, Servant of God, John Paul II, and Sr. Lucia of Fatima all have in common (beyond their eminent sanctity as witnessed by the twentieth century)? They all repeatedly invoked Our Lady as the "Co-redemptrix" and taught the doctrine of Marian coredemption concerning Mary’s unparalleled role with and under Jesus Christ in the Redemption of the human family.

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