Mary in the Medieval Period - Introduction

In the eighth century, Germanus had expressed the idea that Mary holds back the wrath of God . This idea became one of the most popular expressions of medieval Marian piety and devotion. By now Western theology had become divorced from the Bible. A rational, deductive kind of reasoning prevailed. The most common rational argument was known as the argument from convenience. The structure of the argument was simple: God could do something; it was fitting that God should; therefore, God did. This theological principle would play a large role in the development of medieval Marian theology and was aided by the rise of medieval thought.

One of the most influential medieval theologians was Bernard of Clairvaux. Bernard held that Mary had an intimate role in the redemption. Bernard was the first to argue that God willed us to have "everything through Mary", a saying that became a principle of Marian theology, to be repeated again and again by Popes, theologians, and spiritual writers over the centuries. He wrote a series of sermons on the allegorical interpretation of the biblical Song of Songs and explained that the Bridegroom and Bride in that Old Testament book of erotic love poetry were actually allegorical figures representing:

*Christ (the groom) and his Church (the bride). "Ecclesia," Latin for Church, was depicted in art as a crowned female figure resembling a queen; note that ecclesia is, grammatically speaking, a feminine noun.
*God (the groom) and the Soul of the Christian who is saved (the bride--whether the Christian in question was male or female). Anima, the Latin word for "soul," is a grammatically feminine noun.
*Christ, King of Heaven (the groom) and his mother, Mary, Queen of Heaven (the bride).

Starting in the mid-12th century, Mary was depicted in artwork as a crowned woman, seated on a throne next to her son Christ, who was depicted as a crowned King. (Some of you may know the Catholic hymn in praise of Mary: "Regina Caeli," or "Queen of Heaven.")

For all Bernard's marianist thought, he did not deny that Christ was the one true mediator, but felt that humans might be afraid of him because he is also God and judge. Hence, according to Bernard, humans need Mary to act as a mediator with Christ the mediator.

Despite his intense devotion to Mary, Bernard was a strong opponent of the doctrine of the Immaculate Conception, and when the feast began making headway in the West, Bernard addressed himself to the issue. Bernard called the belief a " suspicion". Bernard had enough influence to keep the doctrine from being recognized in the Western Church until the beginning of the 14th century, when two English Franciscans opened a wedge in the opposition.

One of the Franciscans, William of Ware, insisted that he would rather error by giving Mary too much rather than too little. To that end he employed the medieval argument of convenience: "Decuit, potuit, ergo fecit", was the catchcry for Mary's Immaculate conception. It meant that  it was becoming that the Mother of the Redeemer should have been free from the power of sin and from the first moment of her existence; God could give her this privilege, therefore He gave it to her.  The other Franciscan, Duns Scotus, was more sophisticated. Christ, he said, was a redeemer. Christ came to redeem us not only from sin, but also from original sin. As our redeemer, Christ would have exercised his power to overcome original sin at least once, in the case of his mother. Scotus' approach silenced critics who objected that the immaculate conception left Mary without any indebtedness to Christ. Following Scotus' argument, Mary owed Christ more than any other creature because Christ preserved her alone from sin. " He also argued that "the perfect Mediator must, in some one case, have done the work of mediation most perfectly, which would not be unless there was some one person at least, in whose regard the wrath of God was anticipated and not merely appeased."
St. Thomas Aquinas firmly opposed this line of reasoning. Thomas based his opposition to the immaculate conception on the grounds that it would detract from the universal nature of Christ's redemption work. As Thomas saw it, Mary was sanctified in the womb and was the greatest of all the Saints of history. Furthermore, Thomas argued that Mary's dignity is infinite because God took flesh from her. On the other hand, Thomas limited Mary's mediating roll to the fact that she gave birth to Christ, the author of grace. Thomas did not agree with theologians who argued that Mary had a role in the redemptive work on the cross.

A contemporary of Thomas, Bonaventure, also opposed the doctrine of the Immaculate Conception, but did give Mary a role in the redemptive act of the cross, when she consented to the sacrifice of Christ and paid the price of her compassion. From this argument the belief in Mary as co-redemptrix of the human race eventually arose, even though Bonaventure insisted on the uniqueness of Christ's redemptive act.

With this growing reliance on Mary's protection, Marian devotions proliferated. Through the  Collationes de beata virgine of Nicola da Milano ( a cycle of short sermons (`collations') presented to the lay members of a Marian confraternity in Italy in the late thirteenth century) evidence is given of a growing devotion to Mary through confraternities. Nicola was a Dominican friar, active in northern Italy in the 1270s and 1280s, who made a specialty of working with the laity in the context of confraternities. His Collationes represent the preaching he did between June 1286 and the spring of 1287 while serving as spiritual director to the Congregation of the Blessed Virgin Mary, attached to his order's church in Imola. The Collationes also stand as the sole extant cycle of preaching that can be identified definitively as emanating from a Marian confraternity in the medieval period, thus affording a look inside one of the most important institutional manifestations of the religious life and devotional practices of the laity in the Middle Ages. In content, the collations echo a clear and historically interesting doctrinal perspective, born of Dominican anti-Cathar preaching that took the Virgin Mary as a symbol of orthodox belief. There is little of the exemplum or of the legend in these short sermons; instead there is a marked preference for tropological exegesis that, through a series of similitudes, represents again and again the special prerogatives of Mary, as Mother of God, as Mediatrix, and as Assumpta. Mary is also portrayed as the special advocate of the Dominican order, which returns a special devotion to her and instils the same devotion in those who join the order's confraternities.

Growing Marian devotions also impacted on the liturgical life of the church. Saturday was dedicated to Mary, as Sunday was to Christ. Marian songs, devotional liturgies, and litanies became common. The beginnings of the Angelus also appeared -  the recitation of Hail Mary's and prayers to Mary three times a day, at the ringing of the Angelus bells. The devotion became especially popular when the Turks invaded in the later part of the 15th century and common people sought recourse to the protection of Mary.  A feast honouring the Visitation of Mary with Elizabeth was officially instituted by Urban VI. in 1389, and dated by the 43rd canon of the Council of Basle (A.D. 1441) on 2 July.  The eleventh canon of a council held in Cologne, in 1423, instituted against the Hussites the feast of the Dolours of Our Blessed Lady, placing it on the Friday following the third Sunday after Easter (in 1725 Benedict XIV extended the feast to the whole Church, and placed it on the Friday in Passion Week).

In popular culture and within the more homely piety, the crusades also helped develop marian devotion. Flower gardens reflected the marian themes. St. Bernard's words in praise of Mary in the 12th century as "The rose of charity, the lily of chastity, the violet of humility. . . and the golden gillyflower of heaven" are illustrative of the medieval discernment of particular flowers as representing specific virtues and excellences of Mary. The first record we have found of a flower actually named for Mary is that of "seint mary gouldes" (St. Mary's Gold or Marygold) for the Pot Marigold or Calendula, in a 1373 English recipe for a potion to ward off the plague. The first reference in a horticultural work is to "Our Lady's Slipper" in the herbal of Vitus Auslasser published in Germany in 1479. The first mention known to us of an actual Mary Garden by name is in a 15th Century monastic accounting record of the purchase of plants "for S. Mary's garden" by the sacristan of Norwich Priory, in England. Wild flowers were given her name, such as, "winking Mary buds."

In the wake of the Crusades, great pilgrimages to the Virgin's shrines travelled across the lands. Many churches, besides her own, provided Lady Chapels. Her miracles were known by every person and were illustrated in in numerous images and were recorded in manuscripts and books. The Herolt collection is the most famous of these. Her miracles also provided the main themes for many miracle plays.
Marian visions also increased and became more elaborate during this period. Images of Mary were commonly thought to have miraculous powers, and in the 14th century a number of private apparitions were reported, all of which involved Mary confirming the doctrine of the immaculate conception.
On the eve of the reformation, Mary was depicted as having influence throughout the entire universe: earth, purgatory, heaven, and even hell. The central and unique role of Christ in our redemption had become, at least in the religious imagination of common people, obscured.