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 seventeenth invocation: Virgin most prudent, pray for us.
What does it mean to call Saint Mary “Virgin most prudent”? First we consider Our Lady’s virginity. Holy Mother Church venerates Saint Mary, ever virgin, in her prayers and in her Saints. The Confetior (I confess…) of the Mass we “ask Mary, ever Virgin…” to pray for us. Saint Athanasius (+373) in his Discourses Against the Arians (2:70; 360) asserts the perpetual virginity of Saint Mary. Saint Jerome (+420) asserts the perpetual virginity of Saint Mary in his Against Helvidius: The Perpetual Virginity of Mary (19; 383). Saint Augustine (+430) asserts the perpetual virginity of Saint Mary in his Sermon 186:1 (411) saying that she was “A Virgin conceiving, a Virgin bearing, a Virgin pregnant, a Virgin bringing forth, a Virgin perpetual.” Pope Saint Leo I (+461) asserts Saint Mary’s perpetual virginity in Sermon 22:2 (450).
Prudence is one of the Cardinal Virtues (with Temperance, Fortitude and Justice). Saint Mary, the Blessed Virgin, live all of the virtues, including prudence, doing the right thing at the right time in the right way for the right reason(s). The prudence of Our Lady as regards her perpetual virginity allows for consideration of one of her virtues. When we look both ways before crossing the street it is prudent, so as not to get run over. Our Lady is no less prudent. In her manner of dress she was prudent. In the company she kept she was prudent. In the activities she undertook she was prudent. Saint Thomas Aquinas, OP (+1274) addresses the virtue of prudence in his Summa Theologiae II-II Q. 47-56. St Thomas even identifies various parts of prudence, including: memory, understanding, docility, shrewdness, reason, foresight, circumspection, and caution (ST II-II Q.49, a. 1-8). Citing Proverbs 21:20, St Thomas identifies imprudence as a sin (ST II-II Q. 53, a. 1).
Our age, like that of pagan Rome and that of the barbarians, does not seem to much value chastity or moral prudence. As devotees of Our Lady and followers of her Son, however, we know where our nature comes from (God) and the rewards. When we honor Our Lady under her title “Virgin Most Prudent” we are asking her to help us grow in both chastity and prudence. A supernatural prudence even takes into consideration the judgment of God upon our souls. When presented with the will of God for her life and our salvation (cf. Luke 1:26-38), Saint Mary, the perpetual prudent virgin accepted God’s plan and agreed to become the Mother of God.
Father John Arthur Orr