Mary, Spouse of the Holy Spirit

[BroomWagon]

Interestingly, it is obvious in the “Hail Mary” to say “Holy Mary, Mother of God” and that is clearly true as She is the Mother of our Savior, Jesus Christ.

The concept is not as easy to say “Mary, Spouse of the Holy Spirit” as St. Louis De Montfort writes in the Little Crown of Mary. I wonder about in Church history, who first coined “Mary, Spouse of the Holy Spirit”? This seems as true as saying “Holy Mary, Mother of God” or even “Mary, the Mother of the Church”? We certainly don’t say it as often, when we envision the Immaculate Conception, in ways, I picture this as being more of a contemporary event versus Mary being the Mother of Jesus, God for all time. Spouse of the Holy Spirit to me seems much more abstract.

Of course, this is easily researched.

Also, note this:

On the Holy Spirit, Psalm 104:30.

"Thou shalt send forth thy spirit, and they shall be created: and thou shalt renew the face of the earth.

"

And now, compare the opneing lines of Sirach 24

Wisdom shall praise herself, and shall glory in the midst of her people.
In the congregation of the most High shall she open her mouth, and triumph before his power.
I came out of the mouth of the most High, and covered the earth as a cloud.

It’s rather interesting and we don’t hear about this enough.

---

I also wonder a bit about the “Unpardonable Sin” (Matthew 12:31-32) towards the Holy Spirit in relation to Holy Mary as well.

 

[robwar]

St. Louis de Monfort was not the only saint to use this term. St. Maximillan Kolbe called Mary the Immaculata or spouse of the Holy Spirit. She would be called spouse of the Holy Spirit because the Holy Spirit overshadowed her and she conceived by the Holy Spirit. Immaculate Conception is about Mary being conceived without original sin, not be confused with the incarnation.

 

[Michael_Mayo]

But she was the actual spouse of Joseph.
Why complicate things with tenuous metaphor?

 

[midori]

Maria de Agreda (d. 1665) uses the term of “spouse”, even when discussing the Presentation of Mary when she’s three years old. I thought that was rather interesting.

 

[BroomWagon]

But she was the actual spouse of Joseph.
Why complicate things with tenuous metaphor?

St. Louis De Montfort is a Doctor of the Church. So I am not sure of the description of “complicating things with a tenuous metaphor”. It may be a “Syllogism”. However, at the same time, you bring up a good point and why I reflect on this, Mary is the wife of Joseph and too, when we think of someone being a Spouse per se, we might think of a courtship or because this was 2000 years ago, there existed some arranged marriages as well.

I know too, there are prayers where Mary is attributed a number of descriptions:

campus.udayton.edu/mary/prayers/loreto.html

(Excerpt)

…
Mystical rose,
Tower of David,
Tower of ivory,
House of gold,
Ark of the covenant,
Gate of heaven,
Morning star,
Health of the sick,
Refuge of sinners,
Comforter of the afflicted,

 

[BroomWagon]

St. Louis de Monfort was not the only saint to use this term. St. Maximillan Kolbe called Mary the Immaculata or spouse of the Holy Spirit. She would be called spouse of the Holy Spirit because the Holy Spirit overshadowed her and she conceived by the Holy Spirit. Immaculate Conception is about Mary being conceived without original sin, not be confused with the incarnation.

Yes, you caught me there on the Immaculate Conception. Thank you.

 

[ByzCathCantor]

But she was the actual spouse of Joseph.
Why complicate things with tenuous metaphor?

It may be more accurate to refer to her as the betrothed of Joseph (and to St. Joseph as the betrothed of Mary).

 

[TimothyH]

But she was the actual spouse of Joseph.
Why complicate things with tenuous metaphor?

It is not a tenuous metaphor. It is as real as it gets.

Joseph took her into his home and cared for her, but her spouse - the one by whom she was with child - was the Holy Spirit.

God protected Mary - the Tree of Life - from the beginning of creation with firey revolving sword weilded by a Cherubim. No one was to touch Mary except God. The ark of the covenant forshadows Mary, and when Uzza reached out his hand to touch the ark, he was struck dead immediately. No one was to touch Mary. Joseph was going to take Mary for his wife but decided to divorce her. The angel told him expicitly that the child was of the Holy Spirit, took her into his home anyway and had no relations with her.

Mary’s union with the Holy Spirit is more real than any possible relationship between humans.

-Tim-

 

[robwar]

Yes, you caught me there on the Immaculate Conception. Thank you.

so easy to do!
peace!

 

[Dorothy]

But she was the actual spouse of Joseph.
Why complicate things with tenuous metaphor?

She is truly the spouse of the Holy Spirit, as she was sinless and therefore one with God.

I don’t see that complicating things.

 

[Dorothy]

“broomwagon”,

Just to clarify…

St. Louis Marie de Montfort is not yet a Doctor of the Church. Perhaps he will be in the future.

 

[BroomWagon]

“broomwagon”,

Just to clarify…

St. Louis Marie de Montfort is not yet a Doctor of the Church. Perhaps he will be in the future.

Thank you for that. And thanks to all for responses.

Sorry for the misunderstanding about the Doctor terminology but now going back to the term and mentioning the Immaculate Conception earlier, perhaps the Franciscans or St. Francis may have used this term in earlier times.

Kolbe cites the usage of St Francis: Mary is “Spouse of the Holy Spirit” in order to describe their intimate union. Moreover, the Holy Spirit is “uncreated Advocate” and Mary is “created Advocate.”

cantuar.blogspot.com/2010/12/is-mary-spouse-of-holy-spirit-st.html

 

[maltmom]

This topic was one of the things I met with my Priest about last week. I had seen Mary called the Holy Spirit’s wife here on the forum. I’ve never heard her called that before. It is a concept that as a recent convert gave me great pause b/c I’ve always believed that Mary had one spouse and that was Joseph. He told me that she did. Joseph was her only spouse and that she became pregnant by the Holy Spirit. The Saint’s are not infallible in their writings. I am free to not call her the spouse of the Holy Spirit. That doesn’t take anyway any of the love, respect and honor I give Mary as the Mother of God.

From the Catechism:
437: From the beginning he was “the one whom the Father consecrated and sent into the world”, conceived as “holy” in Mary’s virginal womb.33 God called Joseph to “take Mary as your wife, for that which is conceived in her is of the Holy Spirit”, so that Jesus, “who is called Christ”, should be born of Joseph’s spouse into the messianic lineage of David.34

I you can please show me in the catechism where it says that Mary is the spouse of the Holy Spirit I’ll accept it and believe that she is.

 

[ByzCathCantor]

I you can please show me in the catechism where it says that Mary is the spouse of the Holy Spirit I’ll accept it and believe that she is.

Your reservation is understandable, yet I hope you appreciate that the CCC is not a complete codification of Catholic belief.

I will also confess that despite the prominent use of these terms in the Eastern Churches, I still struggle with the Bridegroom analogy when in comes to Christ and His Holy Church. In comparison, the reference to the Theotokos as the spouse of the Holy Spirit make much more sense.

The affirmation of this concept is found in the Creed itself:

For us men and for our salvation he came down from heaven,
and by the Holy Spirit was incarnate of the Virgin Mary, and became man. [Nicene Creed]

and in Jesus Christ, his only Son, our Lord,
who was conceived by the Holy Spirit, born of the Virgin Mary [Apostles’ Creed]

We are directed to bow at this point in the Creed, affirming the great significance of this belief and event in Salvation History.

 

[BroomWagon]

It may be more accurate to refer to her as the betrothed of Joseph (and to St. Joseph as the betrothed of Mary).

This seems true yet at the same time, we know the Divine Praises likewise says “Blessed be Saint Joseph, her most chaste spouse.”

catholic-forum.com/saints/pray0284.htm

 

[maltmom]

Your reservation is understandable, yet I hope you appreciate that the CCC is not a complete codification of Catholic belief.

I will also confess that despite the prominent use of these terms in the Eastern Churches, I still struggle with the Bridegroom analogy when in comes to Christ and His Holy Church. In comparison, the reference to the Theotokos as the spouse of the Holy Spirit make much more sense.

The affirmation of this concept is found in the Creed itself:

We are directed to bow at this point in the Creed, affirming the great significance of this belief and event in Salvation History.

Thank you for your response. Your 2 quotes from the Creed didn’t copy. I believe what is in the Creeds. I just don’t see spouse there. I guess it’s the terminology that is getting me. It’s the word spouse. If another word was used I wouldn’t have a problem.

 

[Michael_Mayo]

She is truly the spouse of the Holy Spirit, as she was sinless and therefore one with God.

I don’t see that complicating things.

Doesn’t spouse imply some equality? Like between any other two married couples?
And what of Joseph? She lived with a man who was not her spouse?
I just don’t see the need to tack on more literal titles.

 

[BroomWagon]

For the record, St. Lawrence of Brindisi en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lawrence_of_Brindisi ,

He was beatified in 1783 by Pope Pius VI, canonized in 1881 by Pope Leo XIII,** and declared a doctor of the Church by Pope John XXIII in 1959**

So, a Doctor of the Church apparently used this term as well:

Nothing under God can be more glorious than Mary. She is Queen of Heaven, Queen of Angels, Empress of Paradise, Daughter of the Heavenly Father, Mother of the Only-begotten Son of God, Spouse of the Holy Spirit. In her dwells the fullness of the Godhead bodily. (Col.2: 9) Brindisi

doctorsofthecatholicchurch.com/TDAM.html

And Augustine calls Her “Spouse of God” on that same page and there seem to be a number of similar or like references.

 

[BroomWagon]

So, in ways and I have seen this before, Mary is a Daughter of God the Father, Mary is the Mother of Jesus, God the Son and the Spouse of the Holy Spirit, God.

Of course, though I see this as a constant truth, undoubtedly, different ages had different views as I was reading She is called the “Queen of Angels” too if I am not mistaken.

 

[ByzCathCantor]

This seems true yet at the same time, we know the Divine Praises likewise says “Blessed be Saint Joseph, her most chaste spouse.”

Yes, admittedly usage varies, in this and other instances. In Eastern tradition, we sing of the Theotokos as the “Unwedded Bride”. I suppose context matters, as well.