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The importance of the Virgin Mary in intellectual and spiritual formation

Edited by Prof. Daniela del Gaudio

After years of Mariological obscurity, attention to Mariology was reawakened by Saint John Paul II, especially with the Encyclical Redemptoris Mater and the celebration of the Marian Year in 1988. Precisely at the conclusion of this year dedicated to the Virgin Mary, the Congregation for Catholic Education issued a Letter addressed to theological faculties, seminaries, and other centers of ecclesiastical studies to offer some reflections on the Mother of God and, above all, to emphasize the importance of her person in the intellectual and spiritual formation of seminarians, consecrated persons, and those, including lay people, who dedicate themselves to theological studies.

The document, entitled The Virgin Mary in Intellectual and Spiritual Formation, begins with an analysis of the eighth chapter of Lumen gentium, explaining how the Council places the person and role of Mary within the mystery of Christ and the Church from a historical-salvific perspective, echoing the vision of the Church Fathers.

In relation to Christ, the Virgin Mary, called to become his mother, does not have a marginal role in the realm of faith and in the panorama of theology, since she, through her intimate participation in the history of salvation, “in some way unites and reflects the greatest truths of the faith” (nn. 5-8).

In relation to the Church, she is the mother of believers, since she is “Mother of him who, from the first instant of the Incarnation in her virginal womb, united to himself as Head his mystical Body, which is the Church” (Paul VI). Therefore, she follows with maternal care every faithful person, of whom she is model, helper, and mediatrix. Finally, the Virgin-Mother is the very figure of the Church, which looks to her for the integrity of its faith and the fruitfulness of charity.

Consequently, in the field of dogmatic theology, Mariology has contributed, in the post-conciliar debate, to a more suitable illustration of dogmas: it has, in fact, been called upon in discussions on original sin (dogma of the Immaculate Conception), on the incarnation of the Word (dogma of the virginal conception of Christ, dogma of divine motherhood), on grace and freedom (doctrine of Mary’s cooperation in the work of salvation), on the ultimate destiny of man (dogma of the Assumption) (n. 12).  

Therefore, the Congregation for Catholic Education, “considering the importance of the figure of the Virgin in the history of salvation and in the life of the people of God, and after the indications of Vatican II and the Supreme Pontiffs,” believes that “it would be unthinkable today for the teaching of Mariology to be neglected in seminaries and theological faculties” (n. 27). This teaching must be organic, complete, and responsive to the various types of institution (centers of religious culture, seminaries, theological faculties…) and to the level of the students: future priests and teachers of Mariology, animators of Marian piety in dioceses, formators of religious life, catechists, lecturers, and those who are eager to deepen Marian knowledge (n. 28).  

On a spiritual level, the document finally exhorts us to consider the beauty and richness of Marian spirituality in the formation of seminarians, consecrated persons, and lay people who study theology, so that their life and their pastoral ministry may be inspired by the Virgin Mary, rightly invoked with the title of Queen of the Apostles for her role in the nascent Church, precisely in relation to evangelization, with her maternal care and the strength of her faith.

This is why “the study of Mariology tends, as its ultimate goal, to the acquisition of a solid Marian spirituality, an essential aspect of Christian spirituality. In his journey towards the attainment of the fullness of Christ (cf. Eph 4:13), the disciple of the Lord, aware of the mission that God has entrusted to the Virgin in the history of salvation and in the life of the Church, assumes her as mother and teacher of spiritual life: with her and like her, in the light of the Incarnation and Easter, he gives his own existence a decisive orientation towards God through Christ in the Spirit, to live in the Church the radical proposal of the Good News and, in particular, the commandment of love (cf. Jn 15:12)” (n. 36).

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