Queenship of Mary -- Queen-Mother George F
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Marian Library Studies Volume 28 Article 6 1-1-2007 Queenship of Mary -- Queen-Mother George F. Kirwin Follow this and additional works at: http://ecommons.udayton.edu/ml_studies Part of the Religion Commons Recommended Citation Kirwin, George F. (2007) "Queenship of Mary -- Queen-Mother," Marian Library Studies: Vol. 28, Article 6, Pages 37-320. Available at: http://ecommons.udayton.edu/ml_studies/vol28/iss1/6 This Article is brought to you for free and open access by the Marian Library Publications at eCommons. It has been accepted for inclusion in Marian Library Studies by an authorized administrator of eCommons. For more information, please contact [email protected]. George F. Kirwin, O.M.I. QUEENS HIP OF MARY - QUEEN -MOTHER TABLE OF CONTENTS FOREWORD 5 L.J .C. ET M.l. 7 CHAPTER I HISTORY AND DEVELOPMENT 11 Scripture 14 Tradition And Theology 33 L~~y ~ Art M Church Teaching 61 "Ad Caeli Reginam" 78 CHAPTER II THE NATURE OF MARY's QuEENSHIP 105 Two ScHOOLS OF THOUGHT 105 De Gruyter: Mary, A Queen with Royal Power 106 M.J. Nicolas: Mary, Queen Precisely as Woman 117 Variations on a Theme 133 CHAPTER III vATICAN II: A CHANGE OF PERSPECTIVE 141 Vatican II and Mariology 141 Mary, Daughter of Sion 149 Mary and the Church 162 CHAPTER IV MARY: QuEEN-MOTHER IN SALVATION HISTORY 181 Salvation History and the Kingdo 182 The Gebirah 205 The Nature of Mary's Queenship in Light of the Queen-Mother Tradition 218 Conclusion 248 Mary as the Archetype of the Church in the History of Salvation 248 BIBLIOGRAPHY 249 Books 249 Select Marian Resources 259 International Mariological-Marian Congresses 259 Proceedings of Mariological Societies 259 National Marian Congresses 260 Specialized Marian Research/Reference Publications 260 Articles 260 Papal Documents Referenced in this Study 283 QUEENSHIP OF MARY- QUEEN-MOTHER 39 28 (2007-2008) MARIAN LIBRARY STUDIES 37-284 FOREWORD This book is the result of the collaboration of many individuals and groups who provided me with the support and encouragement I needed to bring the project to a successful conclusion. My doctoral thesis, written under the direction of Father Eamon R. Carroll, O.Carm., at the Catholic University of America, was completed in 1973. At the time, Father Carroll encouraged me to publish articles which would expand some of the themes touched upon in the thesis. This proved to be impossible because of time constraints and other duties. In 2003, Father Johann Roten, then S.M., Director of The Marian Library/ International Marian Research Institute at the University of Dayton, invited me to begin a revision of the thesis for publication as a book in the series Marian Library Studies. With the assistance of the library staff at Christ the King Seminary in East Aurora, New York, I was able to continue my research on Mary's Queenship. Many excellent studies published by members of the faculty of the Marianum in Rome have aided me in developing my original work. I have come to believe that it is within the context of salvation history and more specifically within the category of the theology of the kingdom that a comprehensive grasp of Mary's significant role can be better understood. One of the main advantages of this approach is the fact that it is biblical and as such it avoids a deductive approach which we have frequently used in reflecting upon Mary in the past. In addition to the help I have received from scholars, I owe a debt of gratitude to Father Roten, S.M., and the Marian Library staff, especially Sr. Jean Frisk and Cecilia Mushenheim. Thanks, too, to my Oblate community whose members have encouraged me to give the time to this effort and to Margie Alsop of Annunciation Parish who assisted in the final editing. Without their help this would not have seen the light of day. This book is dedicated to the memory of Father Leo Deschatelets, O.M.I., Superior General of the Oblates of Mary Immaculate who assigned me to work in the field of Marian studies. Father George F. Kirwin, O.M.I. QUEENSHIP OF MARY- QUEEN-MOTHER 41 L.J.C. ET M.I. One of the greatest challenges we face in our theology is that of understanding and expressing our faith in terms which will be meaningful to those whom we address. That might seem like a banal statement but all too often it seems that we presume that the terms we use are understood by others in the same way we ourselves grasp them when, in fact, they are not. A good example might be the use of the term substance to express our Eucharistic theology, a word which has different meanings for theologians and for scientists or even the common unsophisticated person. \Ve face this challenge in mariology when we speak of Mary as coredemptix or mediatrix. The terms might be clear to us but often they are problematic for others. This does not mean that we should not use them but it challenges us to be alert in using them. The same issue is raised when it comes to the use of the title Queen when it is used to describe Mary. In his article on Mary as Queen in the New Dictionary of Mary/ Aristide Serra points out that today, after the so-called crisis in Marian devotion, there are some who question the use of the term queen because it is a reflection of a period in history which has disappeared. It reflects political and cultural realities which are unfamiliar to most modern-day people. In fact, in today's world the term will probably provoke a negative reaction. The term, they say, is rooted in what is called a "privilege-based mariology," something which seems to be contrary to the biblical portrayal of Mary. This very objection was posed at a talk I gave on the queenship of Mary by some non-Catholic theologians who, by the way, are very devoted to Mary and to Marian theology. They believe the term has little or no meaning today and that using it would fail to draw us closer to Mary. It is a term which has become irrelevant in today's world. At the very least these questions force us to reconsider our use of that title. One of the basic conclusions of my original study, although not expressed as clearly as I would express it today, is that the biblical presentation of Mary as queen avoids these pitfalls, especially when it is understood in the context of salvation history. Thirty years ago I was not as aware of the problem as I am today. And even though, in my opinion, the key chapter in my thesis is 1 Nuouo dizionario di mariologia, ed. Stefano De Fiores and Salvatore Meo (Milano: Edizioni Paoline, 1985): col. 1187-1190. QUEENSHIP OF MARY - QUEEN-MOTHER 43 [8] Chapter III, entitled "Vatican II: A Change in Perspective," I believe I was still somewhat caught up in the deductive method which tends to rely upon human reasoning to work out the implications of our beliefs. At times this method fails to pay sufficient attention to all the data of revelation, especially those which flow from the context of salvation history. The emphasis is upon concepts which have been clearly defined. Fr. Bernard Lonergan once said in class that we lacked a good theological treatise on the Church because we had left behind (abstracted from) the biblical elements which were essential to a coherent synthesis. Our approach to that treatise from the biblical perspective was apologetical; we constructed some theses on the Church either from documents issued by the magisterium or by relying upon our powers of reason to clarify the nature of the Church. That situation has been remedied to a great extent by the work done at Vatican II and thereafter. Mariology has also benefited tremendously from the studies done in recent years both in regard to the biblical picture of Mary and patristic, liturgical studies which have helped us to acquire a better understanding of the historical basis for our Marian theology and devotion. It is my intention now to present my thesis on the nature of Mary's queenship as I developed it in the years 1963-1971, together with further reflections upon the context in which we must seek to understand anew the meaning of Mary within salvation history. It is my view that developments which have occurred since 1973 (when I completed my thesis) are very helpful for a more comprehensive understanding of her queenly role in salvation history. At the same time they can be seen as explicitations of themes which I developed in the thesis itself. My conclusion is that, understood in the biblical salvation history context, Mary's queenship is a reality which can bring us to a deeper appreciation of her as the All-Holy One, Mother of God and our Mother. It is essential to consider the mystery of Mary within the context of the mystery of Jesus.2 The word "mystery" understood in its Pauline sense is not a mystery alongside that of Christ; rather it is an integral part of his mystery.3 2 In his encyclical on the Eucharist, "Ecclesia de Eucharistia," Pope John Paul writes: "To contemplate the face of Christ and to contemplate it with Mary is the 'program' which I have set before the Church at the dawn of the third millennium, summoning her to put out into the deep on the sea of history with the enthusiasm of the new evangelization." Origins 32.