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 eighteenth invocation: Virgin most venerable, pray for us.
What does it mean to call Saint Mary “Virgin most venerable”? Our friends at Merriam-Webster remind us that to be “venerable” is to call forth respect through age, character, and attainments; while our friends at Cambridge highlight “age, high position, religious or historical importance” when considering the respect due to the “venerable.” In the process of canonization, declaring someone a saint, to be “venerable” is between “servant of God” (first stage) and “Blessed” (third stage). The Blessed normally have one verifiable miracle attributed to them, while the Saints normally have two or more verifiable miracles worked through their intercession with God.
The formal study of Mary is called “Mariology.” We call her “blessed” not because she is not a Saint (we also call her Saint Mary). Just at Lourdes alone, Saint Mary, the Blessed Virgin has worked so many miracles over the years… (definitely “more than two”). The love, honor, devotion, respect and veneration we show to God alone is termed latria (adoration). That which we show to the Saints and Blessed is termed dulia (veneration). But, because Our Lady is the Queen of all the Saints, Mother of God and Mother of the Church, under God she receives the most veneration, termed hyperdulia (worship).
Signs of respect, honor, veneration include bowing of the head or body toward that which is being honored, in this case an image of Our Lady. The lighting of candles or offering of flowers are further signs of the veneration we may use to show our devotion to Our Lady or any other saint or Holy Angel. The journey or trip to a shrine of Our Lady or another Saint (or Blessed), termed pilgrimage, is yet a further example of veneration. Pilgrims may visit the shrines of Saints Peter or Paul in Rome (among others) and there practice the veneration of dulia. When the same pilgrims visit Saint Mary Major across town or venerate the Pieta in the Basilica of Saint Peter they may exercise hyperdulia. When the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass is offered in any of those places, or even in our parish (Saint Mary), even on a Marian Feast (1 January – Mother of God, 15 August – Assumption, 8 December – Immaculate Conception…) the Sacrifice of the Mass is offered to God alone in an act of latria. All of the Saints and Blessed are Venerable. Saint Mary is no less venerable. As the Immaculate ever Virgin Mother of God Mary is Most Venerable among all the Saints.
Father John Arthur Orr