My dear parishioners,
Peace! On the feast of Our Lady of the Rosary, 7 October, 2019, Pope Francis established the feast of Our Lady of Loreto, to be observed each year on the 10th of December. At the same time Pope Francis proclaimed a Lauretan Jubilee Holy Year to run from 8 December, 2019 through 10 December, 2020. There are fifty-one invocations in the Litany of Loreto. The following is a reflection on the eleventh invocation: Mother most admirable, pray for us.
To better appreciate how Saint Mary, the Blessed Virgin, is our Mother most admirable we need to know a little about admiration. The Latin etymology of “admire” shows us the compound ad + mirari meaning to wonder. To admire is to regard with wonder and delight, to be highly prized. The Blessed Mother of God is a wonder of God’s creation and redemption. Consider the wonders of her Immaculate Conception conceived without sin, her sinlessness throughout life, her Assumption, her Queenship. She delights human hearts of those who love her Son and the very Heart of God in her Son. How can we not treasure her as a prize so beloved of God? When Saint Paul, inspired by the Holy Spirit directs us to think about “whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable” he may have had Our Lady in mind (cf. Philippians 4:8). Our Lady is truly and admirably the Mother of God. It is admirable for us to honor our spiritual Mother Mary.
Mater Admirabilis (Mother most admirable) is a title of Our Lady very dear to me and my family. The Religious of the Sacred Heart (RSCJ) have taught my mother in Illinois, my aunts in Cuba, my sister and cousins in Florida. In my youth I was tutored after school by Mother Smith and later taught by Sister Ann in the seminary. Saint Rose Philippine Duchesne (+1852) who brought the Madames of the Sacred Heart to the United States is buried in Saint Charles, Missouri, just outside Saint Louis. The Madonna venerated by these religious and their students is Mater Admirabilis. The original image of Mater Admirabilis was painted in Rome, atop the Spanish Steps in the convent at Trinita dei Monti by Pauline Perdrau. Bl. Pius IX was overwhelmed by the beauty of the image during a visit in the Fall of 1846. Saint Madeleine Sophie Barat (+1865) who founded the community and sent Mother Duchesne to America recognized in the young face of Mater Admirabilis the youth to whom she had vowed her life to serve. The liturgical feast Saint Mary, Mother most admirable is 20 October. In Ireland and Scotland the RSCJ’s even pray a complementary litany in honor of Mater Admirabilis highlighting Our Lady’s humility and gentleness, knowing the secrets of the tabernacle, giving courage to the faint-hearted. May our devotion to Our Lady, Mother most admirable, be a source of consolation to us always.
Father John Arthur Orr