Mary, "the All-Holy One" according to the CCC

[nkelly]

Greetings brothers and sisters in Christ.

In a debate I’m having with a protestant (which is very frustrating to say the least), the subject of “Mary worship” came up.

The following is paragraph 2677 from the CCC:

Pray for us sinners, now and at the hour of our death: By asking Mary to pray for us, we acknowledge ourselves to be poor sinners and we address ourselves to the “Mother of Mercy,” the All-Holy One. We give ourselves over to her now, in the Today of our lives. And our trust broadens further, already at the present moment, to surrender “the hour of our death” wholly to her care. May she be there as she was at her son’s death on the cross. May she welcome us as our mother at the hour of our passing38 to lead us to her son, Jesus, in paradise.

Isn’t it going a bit too far to call Mary “the All-Holy One”? Sounds like a term that should be reserved for God alone.

Any thoughts please?

God bless,
Noel.

 

[PhilVaz]

All-Holy One is an eastern (Greek) term the Fathers used for Mary – Panagia. It means she is completely holy or sinless.

Mary is the all-holy one (Panagia), the all-blessed one (Luke 1:42,48), the all-graced one (Luke 1:28).

“If Mary is honored as Theotokos, so too, she is honored because she is Panagia All-Holy. She is the supreme example of the cooperation between God and Man; for God, Who always respects human freedom, did not become incarnate without her free consent which, as Holy Scripture tells us, was freely given…” (cited from These Truths We Hold – The Holy Orthodox Church: Her Life and Teachings, in the Wikipedia article)

BTW, this is an Orthodox source. They accept Mary is all-holy (sinless) like Catholics, even though they might not accept the full Immaculate Conception (sinless from conception, free from original sin) dogma of Catholics.

Phil P

 

[VociMike]

This is a very old term from the Eastern tradition. In what way do you think Mary is not the all-holy one?

Mary is indeed all-holy (without original or personal sin). She is also the only one whom God has revealed to us to have been so blessed.

So what’s the problem, other than that it creeps out your Protestant friend, who doesn’t believe it anyway?

edit - I was about to include the wiki entry for panagia, but I see PhilVaz has beat me to it.

 

[Joel_Tunnah]

Mary was addressed by the angel as “full of grace”. The greek word for that was used as her name.

(Douay-Rheims) Luke 1:28
And the angel being come in, said unto her: Hail, full of grace, the Lord is with thee: blessed art thou among women.

“All Holy” is just another way of saying that, it seems to me.

 

[Mannyfit75]

Greetings brothers and sisters in Christ.

In a debate I’m having with a protestant (which is very frustrating to say the least), the subject of “Mary worship” came up.

The following is paragraph 2677 from the CCC:

Isn’t it going a bit too far to call Mary “the All-Holy One”? Sounds like a term that should be reserved for God alone.

Any thoughts please?

God bless,
Noel.

I don’t think so. Did you not know that whatever God wants us to be holy just as the Father in heaven is Holy. Besides, God has a distaste for things that are unholy. That is why nothing impure comes into heaven.

Mary throughout her life has remain obedient to God’s Will. With her FIAT the Word who is God, became Flesh.

 

[ArAnMike]

A lot of times people misunderstand the meanings of certain words. In the English language there are a lot of meanings for one type of word, such as love. Here is what Webster’s Dictionary has for the definition of the word holy:
webster.com/cgi-bin/dictionary?sourceid=Mozilla-search&va=holy

Function: adjective
Inflected Form(s): ho·li·er; -est
Etymology: Middle English, from Old English hAlig; akin to Old English hAl whole – more at WHOLE
1 : exalted or worthy of complete devotion as one perfect in goodness and righteousness
2 : DIVINE <for the Lord our God is holy – Psalms 99:9(Authorized Version)>
3 : devoted entirely to the deity or the work of the deity
4 a : having a divine quality b : venerated as or as if sacred
5 – used as an intensive <he was a holy terror when he drank – Thomas Wolfe> – often used in combination as a mild oath

• ho·li·ly /-l&-lE/ adverb

Ask the person what holy means to him. Also Manny has a very good point.

 

[Todd_Easton]

Any saint in heaven is an all-holy one; saint = “holy one.” As the first among the saints, the Blessed Virgin Mary is rightly called the all-holy one.

 

[nkelly]

I want to thank you all for your replies. You’ve been very helpful.

God bless,
Noel.