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of the mind of the contemporary Church on what she considers to
be her rights. Now, the Canon in question asserts that the religious
instruction of (Catholic) youth in all schools whatsoever (public,
therefore, as well as Catholic), is subject to the authority of and
supervision by the Church (section 1) ; that the local Ordinaries
have the right and duty of vigilance over all schools in their terri­
tory, lest anything be taught or done in these schools contrary to
faith or morals (section 2) ; that the same Ordinaries have the
right to approve the teachers and text-books of religion, and to
demand, in the interests of religion and morality, that teachers and
text-books be removed (section 3).
As I see it, Canon 1381, section 3, amounts to the assertion by
\ the Church of her right to call upon the civil authorities, who con·,. trol the public schools, to inhibit the spread of heresy. Moreover,
the Church has called upon various states to acknowledge this her
right, as could readily be shown from various modern Concordats.
Now, since the Church may neither demand nor claim the right to
demand, that civil authority do something illicit, it should follow
that civil authority, the government of a state, has, even in thesi,
the right, and, when called upon to exercise it, the duty of “re­
pressing heresy.”
That said, I conclude this attempt to indicate some of the reasons
why I have found it difficult to subscribe to Fr. Murray’s views.
I have, of course, too great respect for the complexities of the
problem, “What is the veritable ‘Catholic thesis’?” and too great
a respect for Fr. Murray’s superior grasp of those complexities, to
suppose that the difficulties I have suggested are altogether in­
capable of solution. But, meanwhile, they remain very real diffi­
culties for me, and they move me to say that a recent description of
the “old thesis” as “somewhat obsolescent”*
39 is somewhat pre­
mature.
George W. Shea
Immaculate Conception Seminary
Darlingion, N. J.
2. Ordinariis locorum ius et officium est vigilandi ne in quibusvis scholis
sui territorii quidquam contra fidem vel bonos mores tradatur aut fiat
3. Eisdem similiter ius est approbandi religionis magistros et libros;
itemque, religionis morumque causa, exigendi ut tum magistri tum libri
removeantur.
39 Çf. the review of Hervé, op. cit., by Sheedy, C.S.C., in Speculum,

THE MARIAN CHARACTER OF THE REDEMPTION
(I) Mary’s consent to the Incarnation by itselj would assure a
Marian note to the Redemption.
“God sent the angel Gabriel to a city of Galilee called Nazareth,
where a virgin dwelt, betrothed to a man of David’s lineage; his
name was Joseph, and the virgin’s name was Mary. Into her pres­
ence the angel came and said . . . Mary, do not be afraid, thou hast
found favour in the sight of God. And behold, thou shalt conceive
in thy womb, and shalt bear a son, and shalt call him Jesus. He
shall be great, and men will know him for the Son of the most
High. . . . The Holy Spirit will come upon thee, and the power
of the most High will overshadow thee. Thus this holy offspring
of thine shall be known for the Son of God. . . . And Alary said,
Behold the handmaid of the Lord ; let it be unto me according to
thy word/'1
Was Mary unaware of the contents and of the scope of this
celestial message? Could we dare pretend this without wronging
God? Can we assert the same without dishonoring His Mother?
Would not the Incarnation cease to be a mystery of wisdom and
of love if it had had to be accomplished by offending man’s liberty
and by diminishing his responsibility?
Unquestionably, the young Virgin did not as yet know, for the
moment, all the events which must encompass the existence of
her Son ; but she knows exactly the consequences of her acceptance.
She had read, in the Holy Scriptures, the divine promises, in
particular the prophecies of Daniel (6:13-14) and those of Isaias
(53:1-12) concerning the Servant of God, His sufferings, His
ignominious death. Often had she meditated upon the afflictions
and torments of the future Redeemer, foreseen by the Prophet
of the Passion. “But he was wounded for our iniquities : he was
bruised for our sins. The chastisement of our peace was upon him :
and by his bruises we are healed.”2
In the eyes of Mary, to conceive and bear the Messiah did not
mean to engender a future victor who would cover himself with
glory; on the contrary, it meant to become the mother of one
despised, scoffed at, enveloped in opprobrium, and crowned with
2 Isaias 53:5.

1 Luke 1:26-38.
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thorns. The angel Gabriel asked her if she was willing to be
the mother of a martyr who would be the Saviour of His people
by the complete shedding of His blood. And Alary, drawing an
invincible courage from her love for God and men, answered:
“Ecce ancilla Domini; behold the handmaid of the Lord. It will
cost me everything God exacts, all the blood of my Son and all
my motherly tears to lead Him from the cradle to the cross. Here
I am ; I accept : Ecce ancilla Domini ; behold the handmaid of the
Lord.”
Freely and lovingly Mary consented to become the Mother of
the Saviour of men; she united herself to Him in the purest of all
loves in order to effect under Him and with Him the Redemption
of mankind, by martyrdom and by blood.
Our Lady adhered to the redemptive Incarnation, and to all the
sorrows, sufferings, and labors it would involve. By her acceptance
of the divine offer, she already began to play her rôle of co-operator
in this, the mystery of the amorous restoration of a decaying
humanity. Our Redemption, therefore, from the very instant of
the Incarnation, takes on a truly Marian character; it will always
bear the characteristic sign of Mary.
But there is more. The consent of the Virgin of Nazareth was
indispensable to the redeeming Incarnation.3 Had not God Him­
self decreed that the atonement for sin would be the work of His
Son made man in the womb of a Virgin ?
Could we not apply to Mary, by modifying them a little, the
words by which the Church, on Easter-eve, extols the grandeur
of Christ? 0 certe necessarium Adae peccatum. ... O felix culpa!
Let us sing the same sentiments of gratitude and of admiration:
0 certe necessarius Mariae consensus, qui talem ac tantum meruit
habere Redemptorem!
If Jesus is the Son of her womb, He is first of all the fruit of
her love and of her consent. If our Redemption proceeds essen­
tially and principally from the Redeemer, Christ, it is also depen­
dent, although secondarily, upon Mary and her adherence to the
word of the angel Gabriel. For, in truth, without Mary, no Incar­
nation, no Redemption, no salvation. We rely upon Mary for those
graces which are offered to us at every instant and which we
need to conquer heaven. Without Mary’s influence, would we have
3Cf. Sum. theol., Ill, q. 30, a. 1.

THE MARIAN CHARACTER OF THE REDEMPTION

177

received the grace of Baptism or those of the other sacraments?
Deprived of this Marian assistance, would we be capable of living
Christianly and of expending ourselves for our fellow-man? Our
personal sanctification, our self-sacrifice, our priestly zeal for souls
or our apostolate in Catholic Action depend upon Mary! But for
Adam’s sin, no Incarnation, but also no Mary, no Christ, no
reparation, no grace ! In the face of such a noble kindness, in the
presence of such a benefactress we can give voice to the joy of
our hearts: “O felix culpa! Oh! Blissful trespass which procured
for us such a sublime co-Redeemer.”
(II) On Calvary, the union of Mary to the immolation of her
Son procures for the Redemption a Marian character.
Jesus, as we sing it in the Credo of the Mass, was born for the
cross; He lived for the cross ; He died on the cross. That supreme
objective, which He contemplated unceasingly and continuously
pursued during the thirty-three years of His terrestrial life, at­
tracted the first transports of His heart. He scarcely received the
blood, which Mary so lovingly gave Him, before he wanted to shed
it for us. At the dawn of His life, He offered Himself to His
Father: “No sacrifice, no offering was thy demand; thou hast
endowed me, instead, with a body. ... I said, See, my God, I am
coming to do thy will.” In accordance with this divine will, St.
Paul notes, we have been sanctified by an offering made once for
all, the body of Jesus Christ.4
And all of the Saviour’s life on earth was to be inspired by
that initial abandonment, by that thirst for martyrdom, by that
need of shedding His blood on the cross. “There is a baotism I
must needs be baptized with,” He said to His Apostles,
impatient am I for its accomplishment!” Only the immo
Calvary was to have the power of quenching that burni
and enable Him to make known to men the sentiment:
heart and the purpose of His advent among them. Consu
est! All is achieved ! God is glorified, man is redeemed.
Those sacrificial dispositions of the God-Man, constant
and manifested with so much heroism on Golgotha, were
the intimate sentiments of Mary.
By her consent she became the Mother of Jesus, future
tory victim : she lived in order to nourish and prepare tl
4Cf.H^., 10:5-8, 10.

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of sacrifice; she immolated It finally on Calvary. One sole love
animated the Son and the Mother, the Redeemer and the co­
redeemer ; one motive activated them ; to suffer and to die for
the glory of God and the redemption of the world. One thought,
one desire, one heart impelled both of them towards the redemp­
tive cross. If we count here two persons, we cannot distinguish
a duality of objectives or of sentiments ; on the contrary, we can
discern but one end and one sole charity. With Jesus, the flesh
of her flesh, the blood of her blood, Mary could say while contem­
plating the cross of salvation : “There is a baptism I must needs
be baptized with, and how impatient am I for its accomplishment.’’5
From the moment of the Incarnation, and particularly after the
Presentation of the Child Jesus in the Temple, having heard
Simeon tell her that a sword of grief would pierce her soul, Mary
knew that in her Son she was preparing the Host of the redemptive
sacrifice. What is more, like Jesus, she never took her eyes off
the bloody cross of Golgotha. Came the hour for the holocaust;
and her love, stronger than her anguish, led her to the very foot
of the cross. Standing like a priest at the altar, partaking of
those sacerdotal and sacrificial dispositions of Christ, united to
and as if identified with Him, so great was her desire, as His, to
accomplish the divine will, a Mother—Mary—immolated her Son,
she offered Him to God for us. And, as He yielded up His spirit,
with Him, she said: “Consummatum est; all is achieved!” How
can we help but cry out in the face of such grandeur and generosity
and heroism? Mary loved the world to such a degree that she
gave us her only Son. Our salvation, then, is the fruit of one
love; it is the common labor of Jesus and Mary, of the Son and
His Mother, who has become our Mother.
The Redemption is certainly marked with the sign of Mary;
it carries within itself a maternal note, a Marian character. Such
were the designs of God. And that Marian character teaches us
that we cannot attain Christ, the Redeemer, without the inter­
vention of the coredeemer; we cannot come near to the cross if
we do not partake of the salutary sorrows of Mary.
This doctrine, so firmly based on Holy Scripture, reproduces
the most authentic teachings of the Sovereign Pontiffs, especially
since Leo XIII and Pius X.
5 Luke 12:50.

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■ THE MARIAN CHARACTER OF THE REDEMPTION

179

Associated with Jesus from the very moment of the Incarnation
for the Redemption of mankind, Mary, at every instant of her
existence and by all of her actions, co-operated in this work of
salvation. But the martyrdom of her compassion on Calvary
marked the apex, the culminating point of her contribution. “It
is not only to the glory of the Virgin,” writes Pius X, “that she
furnished the substance of her flesh for God’s only Son . . . and
by so doing prepared a victim for the salvation of men ; but, what
is more, her mission was to guard this victim, to nourish it and
to present it at the altar on the appointed day.”6
; Benedict XV speaks to us in a like manner : “By uniting her­
self to the Passion and death of her Sou, [Mary] suffered almost
Unto death ... in order to appease divine justice; as much as
she could, she immolated her Son, in such a way that we can say
she redeemed mankind with Him.”7
According to Pius XI, the Virgin “. . . was chosen as the
Mother of Christ so that she might be made to participate in the
Redemption of mankind.”8
“It was Mary,” Pius XII teaches, “who, always so narrowly
united to her Son, presented Him to the Eternal Father on Gol­
gotha for all of Adam’s sons who carry the blemish of the original
sin.”9.
Since we are redeemed by Christ under the sign of Mary, our
Mother, for us to establish our spiritual life outside of the Virgin’s
influence would be in vain. God’s decrees and the dispositions
of Divine Providence will always conserve their Marian exigen­
cies. Mary’s redeeming mission does not end with the death of
her Son but it must be prolonged until the very last chosen one is
crowned. So that our personal lives may reach new summits, and
our apostolate gain its maximum spiritual yield, we must act under
our heavenly Mother’s protection, we must march under her ban­
ner and guidance. Our Redemption carries the seal of Mary. May
our daily lives always reflect her image and one day be transformed
into glory—and for all eternity !
.
e c
V 7 ,
f ,,
Auguste Ferland, S.S.
ine Grand Seminary of Montreal
Montreal, Canada
6 Encyclical Ad diem ilium (Feb. 2, 1904).
7 Apostolic Letter, Inter sodalicia (March 22, 1918).
sOsservatore romano, April 29, 1935.
9 Encyclical, Mystici Corporis (June 22, 1943).