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 thirty-first invocation: Tower of Ivory, pray for us.
What does it mean to say that Saint Mary, the Blessed Virgin Mother of God is a “Tower of Ivory”? A “tower of Ivory” is mentioned in Song of Songs 7:4. Throughout Sacred Scripture “ivory” is depicted variously as something precious (cf. Amos 3:15); 6:4 (adornment); Song of Songs 5:14 (polished, bright); 1 Kings 10:18 (covering of the King’s great throne), 22 (precious cargo like gold and silver); 22:39 (adornment for a palace); 2 Chronicles 9:17 (covering of the King’s great throne), 21 (precious cargo like gold and silver); Ezekiel 27:6 (adornment for a ship’s deck), 15 (payment); Lamentations 4:7 (ruddy); Esther 1:6 (; Psalm 45:8 (adornment for a palace); Revelation 18:12 (precious cargo like silver, precious stones and pearls). Our Lady, Tower of Ivory is precious not only to the Lord but to His faithful no less. The brightness of Our Lady’s heavenly glory is second only to her Son. Our Lady is not only Seat of Wisdom as we have considered earlier but the precious, priceless, beautiful and great throne of Christ, King of the Universe. For His first nine months the Lord Jesus was the precious cargo of Our Lady’s immaculate womb. The many graces bestowed upon Our Lady, Tower of Ivory, may be likened to adornments for a palace or a ship. Our Lady, Tower of Ivory, is a treasure more precious than silver, gold, precious stones or pearls, for the Lord who gave His life for her and us (cf. Matthew 6:21; 1 Peter 1:7).
In our modern day usage the expression “ivory tower” is used as a pejorative, against academia (e.g. “you and your ivory tower”) as if there is no connection between the life of the mind and “real life.” There are “ivory towers” at King’s College London, and the Universities of Oxford, Cambridge, Princeton, among others. Saint John Henry Cardinal Newman (+1890) who was very familiar with the English academia (undergraduate Trinity College 1816-1822; Honorary Fellow 1877; Fellow of Oriel College 1822-1845; Chaplain 1826-1831), was no less familiar, let alone devoted to Our Lady, Tower of Ivory, exalting her “brightness, purity and exquisiteness” as well as her transcendent loveliness and gentleness (Meditations and Devotions). Newman contrasts Our Lady, Tower of Ivory, with “huge, rough, heavy, obtrusive, graceless” towers so often used in war and battles. Invocation of Our Lady, Saint Mary the Virgin Mother of God, as Tower of Ivory, is not an endorsement of elephant poaching or any sort of irresponsible use of natural resources.
Father John Arthur Orr