Hello brother. First off, you write that “Catholics say they worship Mary”. That is not correct. No Catholic I know says that. Did you mean to say “Catholics say they
don’t worship Mary?” That seems to make more sense and leads into the portion of Fulgens Corona you pasted.
Like so many other misunderstandings of Catholic theology by our protestant brothers and sisters, these things seem like a “slam dunk” when you cut and paste them, but fall apart when you understand. Let’s unpack this one together.
Fulgens corona is an encyclical by Pope Pius XII, written in 1953, on the Feast of the Nativity of the Blessed Virgin Mary, and proclaims a Marian year for 1954, to commemorate the centenary of the definition of the dogma of the Immaculate Conception of the Virgin Mary. The part you bolded, however, which includes the part about nothing being “more dearer than to worship…the Mother of God” is not from Fulgens Corona, it is from Ineffabilis Deus.
Ineffabilis Deus ia a
Papal bull by
Pope Pius IX. that defined the dogma of the
Immaculate Conception of the
Blessed Virgin Mary and was
promulgated in 1854. Yes, Pius IX did write that, but did he mean to put Mary on the same level as Jesus? To us in 2008, when we say “worship” it is commonly understood as showing devotion to a diety above all else. Remember though, that the word “worship” comes from the Old English word worthship, which denotes the worthiness of the one receiving a special honor or devotion. The audience of Pius IX in 1854 would understand that there are two forms of worship: The formal reverence and honor due only to God, and the devotion and love due to all other holy people. (You can still see vestiges of this today in the system of English Law where judges are referred to as “Your Worship”.
So you see, Pius IX is calling us to give honor and devotion to Mary but that is in no way even close to the reverence and glory we are to give to Jesus. You are reading an 1854 document with a 2008 vocabulary. To understand this more fully, pull up Ineffabilis Deus and read the whole Papal Bull.
Now, to finish up, let’s go back to Pius XII in 1953. Does he think we need to worship Mary the same as Jesus? Hardly. All you have to do is scroll up a couple of lines to section 15 of Fulgens Corona: 15. Non-Catholics and reformers are therefore mistaken when because of this pretext they find fault with, or disapprove of, our devotion to the Virgin Mother of God, as if it took something from the worship due to God alone and to Jesus Christ. The contrary is true because any honor and veneration which we may give to our Heavenly Mother undoubtedly redounds to the glory of her Divine Son, not only because all graces and all gifts, even the highest, flow from Him as from their primary source, but also because “The glory of children are their fathers” (
Book of Proverbs, XVII 6).
I fail to see the FULGENS CORONA as using ARCHAIC English.
Because the word WORSHIP is a MODERN TRANSLATION (and therefore, the translators know the modern implications UNLIKE what you say) of the LATIN WORD FOR WORSHIP. Since the ENCYCLICAL was written in latin.
- Ao completar-se, pois, um século desde que o pontífice máximo, Pio IX, de imortal memória, definiu solenemente esse singular privilégio da virgem Mãe de Deus, apraz-nos resumir e concluir toda a questão com estas palavras do mesmo pontífice, quando afirmou que esta doutrina, segundo o juízo dos Padres, foi consignada na Sagrada Escritura, por eles mesmos transmitida, expressa por tantos e tão graves testemunhos e celebrada por tantos monumentos célebres da veneranda antigüidade e finalmente proposta pelo mais alto e autorizado juízo da Igreja, (9) de forma que nada é mais doce e mais querido para os sagrados pastores e para os féis do “que honrar, venerar, invocar e pregar, por toda a parte, com o mais fervoroso ardor, a virgem Mãe de Deus concebida sem pecado original”. (10)
I see here something amiss. They could have translated the word “QUE HONRAR, VENERAR …” as to honor and venerate, BUT they chose to translate the word HONRAR as WORSHIP.
If you see a document encouraging you to HONOR MARY, would you translate it to “WORSHIP MARY” ?
As to LUKE 14 Simple my friend. Note the context.
This is the LORD’S rendition of SOLOMON’S PROVERB
Prov 25:6-7
6 Put not forth thyself in the presence of the king, and stand not in the place of great men:
7 For better it is that it be said unto thee, Come up hither; than that thou shouldest be put lower in the presence of the prince whom thine eyes have seen.
The word WORSHIP there in the KJV has a clear meaning, it means HONOR. It is not WORSHIP followed by the words, filial DEVOTION, reverence, pray to, ask for the intercession, of the ONE WHO sat humbly and was promoted.
Why do you think people BOTH CATHOLICS and NON CATHOLICS have the mistaken notion that WORSHIP in the FULGENS CORONA really means worship in the true divine sense of the word?
Couldn’t it be because when you use the word MARIAN WORSHIP, it is followed by the words, FILIAL DEVOTION, asking others to pray to, AND praise, and hold her up as the queen of heaven, etc ??
THEN, the people really do, praise her, and fall down on her statue, and have novenas devoted to her, and offer to her their lives, and love her with all their might, soul, strength,
AND THE ONLY THING that really prevents people from calling it divine worship, is the absence of an edict which says every CATHOLIC is encouraged to WORSHIP MARY AS another GOD OR as the 4th member of the GODHEAD.
But all the works, words, and admonitions to WORSHIP her is there.
May the LORD GOD OPEN YOUR EYES.
Besides, MARIAN WORSHIP in RCC lingo is not limited to the MIDDLE AGES, it is prevalent even now:
SOURCE: VATICAN INFORMATION SERVICE (VIS)
MAY 7, 1997
vatican.va/news_services/vis/englinde.htm#start - VIS Home Page (Link no longer active)
vatican.va/news_services/vis/dinamiche/d0_en.htm - This Article On VIS (Link no longer active)
GENERAL AUDIENCE: MARY, MOTHER OF ALL THE REDEEMED
VATICAN CITY, MAY 7, 1997 (VIS) - The Holy Father dedicated today’s general audience to the Virgin Mary, and commented on the words that Jesus spoke from the Cross to St. John: “‘Behold your mother’, … with which he reveals to the Blessed Virgin the pinnacle of her motherhood.”
John Paul II expressed his wish that all might discover in these words of Jesus “the invitation to accept Mary as their mother, responding as true children to her motherly love.”
At the moment that Jesus entrusts his mother to St. John, “it is possible to understand the authentic meaning of Marian worship in the ecclesial community … which furthermore is based on the will of Christ.”
“The words ‘Behold your mother’,” continued the Holy Father, “express Jesus’s intention to awaken in his disciples an attitude of love and trust toward Mary, leading them to recognize in her their mother, the mother of all believers. In the Blessed Virgin’s school, the disciples learn, as John does, to know the Lord deeply” and to love him.
John Paul II underlined that “the history of Christian piety teaches that Mary is the path that leads to Christ, and that filial devotion to her does not at all diminish intimacy with Jesus, but rather, it increases it and leads it to very high levels of perfection.”
The Pope remarked that when the Gospel says that St. John welcomed Mary into his house, this “seems to show his initiative, full of respect and love, … to live the spiritual life in communion with her.”
He concluded by asking all Christians “to make room (for Mary) in their daily lives, acknowledging her providential role in the path of salvation.”
In his greetings in different languages at the end of the audience, the Holy Father reminded the Slovak pilgrims that tomorrow is the liturgical solemnity of the Ascension of the Lord: “The eternal Son of God, who lived for 33 years on Earth to be our Master and Redeemer, went up to heaven to prepare a place for us.”
AG/MARY/… VIS 970507 (350)
