Mary the Spouse of God?

[Methodology]

Some of the quotes that I was given state that Mary is the Spouse of The Trinity. I would like your insight on this, if you do not mind?

“Mary was the only one who merited to be called the Mother as Spouse of God.” St. Augustine of Hippo, in Sermons #208 (quoted by St. Alphonsus de Liguori in The Glories of Mary, p 304 (New York: Redemptorist, 1931).

 "...St Godfrey of Admont wrote that each person of the Godhead is Mary's lover." See the book by Michael O'Carroll, titled "'Spouse of God', Theotokos: A Theological Encyclopedia of the Blessed Virgin Mary", p 158 (Wilmington, DE: Glazier, 1982).

"…the mother of the Son of God can also be called in a special manner ‘bride of the Father.’ For, as mother she has received the Son of the Father through donation from His side as her Son; she possesses Him conjointly with the Father and is therefore connected with the Father by His Son as being hers also. (Fr. Matthias Joseph Scheeben, in Mariology, vol. 1, p 174-175 (“nihil obstat” by Innocentius Swoboda, O. F. M. Censor Librorum, “imprimatur” by Josephus E. Ritter, S.T.D., Archiepiscopus).

 "Thus St. John Damascene, an outstanding herald of this traditional truth, spoke out with powerful eloquence when he compared the bodily Assumption of the loving Mother of God with her other prerogatives and privileges....'It was fitting that she (Mary), who had carried the Creator as a child at her breast, should dwell in the divine tabernacles.  It was fitting that the spouse, whom the Father had taken to himself, should live in the divine mansions.'" Pope Pius XII, in Munificentissimus Deus (Defining the Dogma of the Assumption), Encyclical promulgated on November 1, 1950, #21.

 

[Methodology]

“Saint Ephrem the Syrian was probably the first early Christian to refer to Mary as the Bride of Christ…He was followed by the likes of Saint Peter Chrysologus, Rupert of Deutz, and Godfrey of Admont.” See the book by Michael O’Carroll, titled “‘Spouse of God’, Theotokos: A Theological Encyclopedia of the Blessed Virgin Mary”, p 333 (Wilmington, DE: Glazier, 1982).

 “...(Mary is) the unique bridal, permanent helpmate and associate of Christ, who is the Head of the whole Church and world, in the entire work of redemption...” Fr. J. Kentenich, in Der Marianische Priester, p 38 (1941).

 "The relation of the mother to her divine Son must be traced not alone to the mother's natural activity, but primarily to the activity of her divine Son Himself, who makes and accepts her as His mother, and gives Himself to her as her Son....Consequently the relation of the mother to the divine Son appears as a marriage with His divine person. Here now the Bridegroom gives Himself to the bride as her Son and dwells in her in virtue of this gift." (Fr. Matthias Joseph Scheeben, in Mariology, vol. 1, p 162-163 ("nihil obstat" by Innocentius Swoboda, O. F. M. Censor Librorum, "imprimatur" by Josephus E. Ritter, S.T.D., Archiepiscopus).

 "(The Divine Being) Who is so singularly with Mary is the Lord Whose most beautiful spouse Mary is." St. Bonaventure, quoted in "Virgin Wholly Marvelous: Praises of Our Lady by the Popes, Councils, Saints and Doctors of the Church", Editor is David Supple (Still River, MA: Ravengate, 1981): p 37.

 "Mary, as united with the Logos, is taken into complete possession by him; the Logos, as infused and implanted in her, gives himself to her and takes her to himself as partner and helper, in the closest, strictest, and most lasting community of life." (Fr. Matthias Joseph Scheeben, in Mariology, vol. 1, p 189 ("nihil obstat" by Innocentius Swoboda, O. F. M. Censor Librorum, "imprimatur" by Josephus E. Ritter, S.T.D., Archiepiscopus).

 "As the new 'daughter of Zion' Mary in fact is particularly suited to entering into the spousal Covenant with God.  More and better than any member of the Chosen People, she can offer the Lord the true heart of a Bride." Pope John Paul II, in Mary Responds to God with Spousal Love, General Audience in May 1, 1996, #5.

“Through her divine maternity, Mary in a certain way entered the divine family as a spouse who enters a royal home. With regard to the Father she became the first born daughter: I came out of the mouth of the Most High, the first-born before all creatures (Ecclus 24:5). With regard to the Son, she was a mother; with regard to the Holy Spirit, she was a bride.” Saint Alphonsus Liguori, in The Glories and Virtues of Mary, p. 43.

 "...Unite, then, Venerable Brethren, your prayers with Ours, and at your exhortation let all Christian peoples add their prayers also, invoking the powerful and ever-acceptable intercession of the Blessed Virgin. You know well the intimate and wonderful relations existing between her and the Holy Spirit, so that she is justly called His Spouse. Her intercession was of great avail both in the mystery of the Incarnation and in the coming of the Holy Spirit upon the Apostles." Pope Leo XIII, in Divinum illud Munus, Encyclical promulgated on May 9,1897, #14.

“She (Mary) is a virgin who ‘keeps whole and pure the fidelity she has pledged to her Spouse’…The Holy Spirit had already come down upon her, and she became his faithful spouse at the Annunciation.” Pope John Paul II, in Redemptoris Mater (On the Blessed Virgin Mary in the Life of the Pilgrim Church), Encyclical promulgated on March 25, 1987, #5, 26).

“Let us turn our gaze to Mary, Christ’s first disciple, Spouse of the Holy Spirit and Mother of the Church, who was with the Apostles at the first Pentecost, so that she will help us to learn from her fiat docility to the voice of the Spirit.” Pope John Paul II, in his speech to the “World Congress of Ecclesial Movements and New Communities,” on May 27, 1998.

Let us praise and thank the Holy Spirit, Who took her for His spouse.
“R. Amen. Say an ‘Our Father’.” St. Joseph Calasanctius, Found in the Raccolta, quoted in “Mary:The Crown of Twelve Stars”.

 

[VociMike]

Whether that term has any theological insight depends on what the person who uses it is trying to claim. What about the term would you find objectionable? Note that we will all be, as members of the Church, the spouse of God.

As an aside, I’ve noticed that Protestants who get so worked up about Mary this and Mary that don’t ever get upset by the fact that Mary, as a Christian, will apparently be the spouse of Her own Son. Selective upsetitude?

 

[Methodology]

Whether that term has any theological insight depends on what the person who uses it is trying to claim. What about the term would you find objectionable? Note that we will all be, as members of the Church, the spouse of God.

So, it is simply that Mary is part of the Church which is the bride of Christ.

 

[Liberian]

Methodology,

I don’t think it’s in the Catechism, but I have seen Mary referred to as “Spouse of the Holy Spirit.” And they did have a baby together, after all.

• Liberian