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The Witness of the Early Fathers

By Dr. Robert Stackpole, STD

lessed tells us that Christian writers in B the early Church never ceased to wonder at this mystery: that the divine Son came down from Heaven and humbled Himself to be born of a . While the reader may not recognize the names of Ninth in all the and early a series that Newman mentions, the “The Word of God,” says [St.] Hippolytus, “was carried sheer number of them and the fact that they in that Virgin frame.” “The Maker of all,” says Amphilo- come from all over the ancient Christian world is certainly a chius, “is born of a Virgin” … “God dwelt in the womb,” sign that this consensus among the greatest teachers of early says [St.] Proclus … . “He is made in thee,” says [St.] was a work of the . He wrote: Augustine, “who made thee” (John Henry Newman, The were accustomed from the first to call the Mystical Rose. Princeton: Scepter, 1996 edition, pp. 98, Blessed Virgin “the Mother of God,” because they saw and 25-27). that it was impossible to deny her this title without deny- In fact, the early Christians believed that this title for Mary, ing St. John’s words, “The Word” (that is, ) “Mother of God,” was a summary of the whole mystery of the “was made flesh.” [see Jn 1:14] … . As a result, they defined it as a doctrine of the The title [Greek, meaning “God-bearer”], as faith at the of , which declared ascribed to the Blessed Virgin Mary, begins with ecclesi- the Blessed Virgin Mary to be Theotokos, ratifying the teach- astical writers of a date hardly later than that at which we ings of St. Cyril, the of at the time, who read of her as the Second . It first occurs in the works had written: “Emmanuel [ ] in truth is God, and of (185-254), but he, witnessing for and Pal- on this account the Holy Virgin is the Mother of God in as estine, witnesses also that it was in use before his time. … much as she gave birth to the Word of God made flesh.” In the fourth [century, St.] Athanasius … uses it many Mary’s official ecclesiastical title of “Mother of God” is times with emphasis, [as does St.] Cyril of Palestine, [St.] more than just a helpful way to sum up the mystery of the Gregory of and [St.] Gregory Nazianzen of Cappa- Incarnation. It also tells us something very important about docia. … The emperor Constantine, in his speech before Mary herself; it tells us of her unique relationship with God. the assembled of Nicea [in 325 A.D.], uses the In short, the divine Son of God on earth was her own son. still more explicit title of the “Virgin Mother of God;” She gave life to Him in her own womb, gave birth to Him, which is also used by [St.] Vincent … in the south of and nourished Him from her own breast. She cared for Him France, and then by [] St. Leo. in His time of weakness and littleness, and knew His tears v So much for the term; it would be tedious to produce the and smiles better than anyone else ever could. passages of authors who, using or not using [the title], Robert Stackpole, STD, is director of the John Paul II Institute convey the idea. “Our God was carried in the womb of of Divine Mercy, an apostolate of the Marian Fathers of the Mary,” says St. Ignatius, who was martyred in A.D. 106. . Visit TheDivineMercy.org/JPII.

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