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<<  The Catechism of the Catholic Church Today! 

The Catechism of the Catholic Church Today on the title of Mary, Mother of God.

 

  • The Catechism Today
  • All the Church Fathers
  • From The Scriptures

 

 

This is what the Catechism of the Catholic Church states on this issue.

 

Because what we believe about Mary is bound totally to what we believe about Jesus, it's very important to go over what we believe about Our Lord, Jesus, True God and True Man.

 

III. True God And True Man

 

464 The unique and altogether singular event of the Incarnation of the Son of God does not mean that Jesus Christ is part God and part man, nor does it imply that he is the result of a confused mixture of the divine and the human. He became truly man while remaining truly God. Jesus Christ is true God and true man.

 

During the first centuries, the Church had to defend and clarify this truth of faith against the heresies that falsified it.

 

465 The first heresies denied not so much Christ's divinity as his true humanity (Gnostic Docetism). From apostolic times the Christian faith has insisted on the true incarnation of God's Son "come in the flesh". (cf. 1 John 4:2-3; 2 John 7) But already in the third century, the Church in a council at Antioch had to affirm against Paul of Samosata that Jesus Christ is Son of God by nature and not by adoption. The first ecumenical council of Nicaea in 325 confessed in its Creed that the Son of God is "begotten, not made, of the same substance (homoousios) as the Father", and condemned Arius, who had affirmed that the Son of God "came to be from things that were not" and that he was "from another substance" than that of the Father. (Council of Nicaea I (325): DS 130, 126)

 

466 The Nestorian heresy regarded Christ as a human person joined to the divine person of God's Son. Opposing this heresy, St. Cyril of Alexandria and the third ecumenical council, at Ephesus in 431, confessed "that the Word, uniting to himself in his person the flesh animated by a rational soul, became man." (Council of Ephesus (431): DS 250) Christ's humanity has no other subject than the divine person of the Son of God, who assumed it and made it his own, from his conception. For this reason the Council of Ephesus proclaimed in 431 that Mary truly became the Mother of God by the human conception of the Son of God in her womb: "Mother of God, not that the nature of the Word or his divinity received the beginning of its existence from the holy Virgin, but that, since the holy body, animated by a rational soul, which the Word of God united to himself according to the hypostasis, was born from her, the Word is said to be born according to the flesh." (Council of Ephesus: DS 251)

 

467 The Monophysites affirmed that the human nature had ceased to exist as such in Christ when the divine person of God's Son assumed it. Faced with this heresy, the fourth ecumenical council, at Chalcedon in 451, confessed:

Following the holy Fathers, we unanimously teach and confess one and the same Son, our Lord Jesus Christ: the same perfect in divinity and perfect in humanity, the same truly God and truly man, composed of rational soul and body; consubstantial with the Father as to his divinity and consubstantial with us as to his humanity; "like us in all things but sin". He was begotten from the Father before all ages as to his divinity and in these last days, for us and for our salvation, was born as to his humanity of the virgin Mary, the Mother of God.

 

Council of Chalcedon (451): DS 301; cf. Hebrews 4:15

 

We confess that one and the same Christ, Lord, and only-begotten Son, is to be acknowledged in two natures without confusion, change, division or separation. The distinction between the natures was never abolished by their union, but rather the character proper to each of the two natures was preserved as they came together in one person (prosopon) and one hypostasis.

 

Council of Chalcedon: DS 302

468 After the Council of Chalcedon, some made of Christ's human nature a kind of personal subject. Against them, the fifth ecumenical council, at Constantinople in 553, confessed that "there is but one hypostasis [or person], which is our Lord Jesus Christ, one of the Trinity." (Council of Constantinople II (553): DS 424) Thus everything in Christ's human nature is to be attributed to his divine person as its proper subject, not only his miracles but also his sufferings and even his death: "He who was crucified in the flesh, our Lord Jesus Christ, is true God, Lord of glory, and one of the Holy Trinity." (Council of Constantinople II (553): DS 432; cf. DS 424; Council of Ephesus, DS 255)

 

469 The Church thus confesses that Jesus is inseparably true God and true man. He is truly the Son of God who, without ceasing to be God and Lord, became a man and our brother:

"What he was, he remained and what he was not, he assumed", sings the Roman Liturgy. (Liturgy of the Hours, 1 January, Antiphon for Morning Prayer; cf. St. Leo the Great, Sermo in nat. Dom. 1, 2; PL 54, 191-192) And the liturgy of St. John Chrysostom proclaims and sings:

"O only-begotten Son and Word of God, immortal being, you who deigned for our salvation to become incarnate of the holy Mother of God and ever-virgin Mary, you who without change became man and were crucified, O Christ our God, you who by your death have crushed death, you who are one of the Holy Trinity, glorified with the Father and the Holy Spirit, save us!"

 

Liturgy of St. John Chrysostom, Troparion "O monogenes."

IV. How Is The Son Of God Man?

 

470 Because "human nature was assumed, not absorbed", (Vatican II, Gaudium et spes 22 § 2)
in the mysterious union of the Incarnation, the Church was led over the course of centuries to confess the full reality of Christ's human soul, with its operations of intellect and will, and of his human body. In parallel fashion, she had to recall on each occasion that Christ's human nature belongs, as his own, to the divine person of the Son of God, who assumed it. Everything that Christ is and does in this nature derives from "one of the Trinity". The Son of God therefore communicates to his humanity his own personal mode of existence in the Trinity. In his soul as in his body, Christ thus expresses humanly the divine ways of the Trinity: (cf. John 14:9-10)

The Son of God. . . worked with human hands; he thought with a human mind. He acted with a human will, and with a human heart he loved. Born of the Virgin Mary, he has truly been made one of us, like to us in all things except sin.

 

(Vatican II, Gaudium et spes 22 § 2)

In Brief

 

479 At the time appointed by God, the only Son of the Father, the eternal Word, that is, the Word and substantial Image of the Father, became incarnate; without losing his divine nature he has assumed human nature.

 

480 Jesus Christ is true God and true man, in the unity of his divine person; for this reason he is the one and only mediator between God and men.

 

481 Jesus Christ possesses two natures, one divine and the other human, not confused, but united in the one person of God's Son.

 

482 Christ, being true God and true man, has a human intellect and will, perfectly attuned and subject to his divine intellect and divine will, which he has in common with the Father and the Holy Spirit.

 

483 The Incarnation is therefore the mystery of the wonderful union of the divine and human natures in the one person of the Word.


 

 

[And Mary said:] "Let it be done to me according to your word. . ."

 

494 At the announcement that she would give birth to "the Son of the Most High" without knowing man, by the power of the Holy Spirit, Mary responded with the obedience of faith, certain that "with God nothing will be impossible": "Behold, I am the handmaid of the Lord; let it be [done] to me according to your word." (Luke 1:28-38; cf. Romans 1:5) Thus, giving her consent to God's word, Mary becomes the mother of Jesus. Espousing the divine will for salvation wholeheartedly, without a single sin to restrain her, she gave herself entirely to the person and to the work of her Son; she did so in order to serve the mystery of redemption with him and dependent on him, by God's grace: (cf. Vatican II, Lumen Gentium 56)

As St. Irenæus says, "Being obedient she became the cause of salvation for herself and for the whole human race."

 

(St. Irenæus, Adv. Hæres. 3, 22, 4: PG 7/1, 959A)

 

Hence not a few of the early Fathers gladly assert. . .: "The knot of Eve's disobedience was untied by Mary's obedience: what the virgin Eve bound through her disbelief, Mary loosened by her faith."

 

(St. Irenæus, Adv. Hæres. 3, 22, 4: PG 7/1, 959A)

 

Comparing her with Eve, they call Mary "the Mother of the living" and frequently claim: "Death through Eve, life through Mary."

 

(Vatican II, Lumen Gentium 56; Epiphanius, Haer. 78, 18: PG 42, 728CD-729AB; St. Jerome, Ep. 22, 21: PL 22, 408)

Mary's divine motherhood

 

495 Called in the Gospels "the mother of Jesus", Mary is acclaimed by Elizabeth, at the prompting of the Spirit and even before the birth of her son, as "the mother of my Lord". (Luke 1:43; John 2:1; 19:25; cf. Matthew 13:55; et al.) In fact, the One whom she conceived as man by the Holy Spirit, who truly became her Son according to the flesh, was none other than the Father's eternal Son, the second person of the Holy Trinity. Hence the Church confesses that Mary is truly "Mother of God" (Theotokos). (Council of Ephesus (431): DS 251)

 

In Brief

 

508 From among the descendants of Eve, God chose the Virgin Mary to be the mother of his Son. "Full of grace", Mary is "the most excellent fruit of redemption" (Vatican II, Sacrosanctum Concilium 103): from the first instant of her conception, she was totally preserved from the stain of original sin and she remained pure from all personal sin throughout her life.

 

509 Mary is truly "Mother of God" since she is the mother of the eternal Son of God made man, who is God himself.

Web Administrator's Note: There is a misperception that some Protestants have that claim we believe Mary is truly "Mother of God" since she is the mother of the God, the Father. We don't believe this.

 

Mother's can only give birth to incarnate persons. Mary is a human woman, who was always a virgin, who miraculously gave birth to the Divine Person of Jesus, True God and True Man. Therefore as CCC 495 states, she is referred to as (Theotokos).

 

 

  1. Tatian the Assyrian, (the Syrian), (A.D. c.120-180)
    St. Irenæus of Lyons, (A.D. 125-202)
    St. Hippolytus of Rome, (A.D. 170-236)
    St. Cyprian of Carthage, (A.D. 200-258)
    St. Methodius of Olympus, (A.D. 250-311)
    St. Gregory of Nazianzen, (A.D. 318-389)
    Ammianus (Marcellinus), (A.D. c.325-post 391)
    St. Epiphanius of Salamis, (A.D. 332-403)
    St. Gregory of Nyssa, (A.D. c.335 - c.394)
    St. Ambrose of Milan, (A.D. 340-396)
    St. Jerome, (A.D. 342-420)
    St. Theodore of Mopsuestia, (A.D. 350-428)
    St. Augustine of Hippo, (A.D. 354-428)
    St. John Cassian, (A.D. c.360 - 433)
    St. Cyril of Alexandria, (A.D. 376-444)
    Theodoret of Cyrus or Cyrrhus, (A.D. 393-458)

Tatian the Assyrian, (the Syrian), (A.D. c.120-180), Assyrian; was an early Christian writer and theologian. A disciple of St. Justin. Tatian's most influential work is the Diatessaron, a Biblical paraphrase, or "harmony", of the four gospels that became the standard text of the four gospels in the Syriac-speaking churches until the 5th century.

The Virgin Mary, being obedient to his word, received from an angel the glad tidings that she would bear God.

Against Heresies, 5:19:1 [A.D. 189]

St. Irenæus of Lyons, (A.D. 125-202), Asia Minor; bishop, missionary, theologian, defender of orthodoxy. Though by birth a Greek, he was Bishop of Lyons in the second century. He tells us that, in his early youth, he learned the rudiments of religion from St. Polycarp, the disciple of St. John the Apostle. He wrote several works, of which only a few fragments are now known, with the exception of his Treatise against Heretics which we have in five books.

The Virgin Mary, being obedient to his word, received from an angel the glad tidings that she would bear God.

Against Heresies, 5:19:1 [A.D. 189]

St. Hippolytus of Rome, (A.D. 170-236), Roman; bishop and martyr, probably a scholar of St. Irenæus of Lyons.

[T]o all generations they [the prophets] have pictured forth the grandest subjects for contemplation and for action. Thus, too, they preached of the advent of God in the flesh to the world, his advent by the spotless and God-bearing (theotokos) Mary in the way of birth and growth, and the manner of his life and conversation with men, and his manifestation by baptism, and the new birth that was to be to all men, and the regeneration by the laver [of baptism]

Discourse on the End of the World 1 [A.D. 217]

St. Cyprian of Carthage, (A.D. 200-258), North African; bishop; biblical scholar, martyr.

[T]o all generations they [the prophets] have pictured forth the grandest subjects for contemplation and for action. Thus, too, they preached of the advent of God in the flesh to the world, his advent by the spotless and God-bearing (theotokos) Mary in the way of birth and growth, and the manner of his life and conversation with men, and his manifestation by baptism, and the new birth that was to be to all men, and the regeneration by the laver [of baptism]

Discourse on the End of the World 1 [A.D. 217]

St. Methodius of Olympus, (A.D. 250-311), Asia Minor; bishop, ecclesiastical writer, martyr.

Hail to you forever, you virgin Mother of God, our unceasing joy, for unto you do I again return. . . . Hail, you fount of the Son's love for man. . . . Wherefore, we pray you, the most excellent among women, who boast in the confidence of your maternal honors, that you would unceasingly keep us in remembrance. O holy Mother of God, remember us, I say, who make our boast in you, and who in august hymns celebrate your memory, which will ever live, and never fade away.

Oration on Simeon and Anna 7 [A.D. 305]

St. Gregory of Nazianzen, (A.D. 318-389), Cappadocian; archbishop, theologian, Doctor of the Church.

If anyone does not agree that holy Mary is Mother of God, he is at odds with the Godhead.

Letter to Cledonius the Priest 101 [A.D. 382]

Ammianus (Marcellinus), (A.D. c.325-post 391) was a fourth-century Roman historian. He wrote the penultimate major historical account surviving from Antiquity, His work chronicled in Latin the history of Rome from A.D. 96 to 378, although only the sections covering the period: A.D. 353-378, are extant.

The Word begotten of the Father from on high, inexpressibly, inexplicably, incomprehensibly, and eternally, is he that is born in time here below of the Virgin Mary, the Mother of God

The Incarnation of the Word of God 8 [A.D. 365]

St. Epiphanius of Salamis, (A.D. 332-403), Palestinian; bishop, abbot, scholar.

Being perfect at the side of the Father and incarnate among us, not in appearance but in truth, he [the Son] reshaped man to perfection in himself from Mary the Mother of God through the Holy Spirit

The Man Well-Anchored 75 [A.D. 374]

St. Gregory of Nyssa, (A.D. c.335 - c.394), bishop of Nyssa in A.D. 371, an erudite theologian who made significant contributions to the doctrine of the Trinity and the Nicene creed. Gregory's philosophical writings were influenced by Origen. He was the brother of the great St. Basil.

For Luke, in the inspired Gospel narratives, delivers a testimony not to Joseph only, but also to Mary, the Mother of God, and gives this account with reference to the very family and house of David

Four Homilies 1 [A.D. 262]

It is our duty to present to God, like sacrifices, all the festivals and hymnal celebrations; and first of all, [the feast of] the Annunciation to the holy Mother of God, to wit, the salutation made to her by the angel, "Hail, full of grace!"

Four Homilies, 2

St. Ambrose of Milan, (A.D. 340-396), German; reluctantly made bishop in the A.D. 374., Doctor of the Church. He closed a great and glorious career in A.D. 396. We have his life by Paulinus.

They came to the church of the most blessed Mother of God, and ever-virgin Mary, which, as we began to say, he had constructed in the western quarter, in a suburb, for a cemetery of the martyrs.

The Genuine Acts of Peter of Alexandria [A.D. 305]

The first thing which kindles ardor in learning is the greatness of the teacher. What is greater than the Mother of God? What more glorious than she whom Glory Itself chose?

The Virgins 2:2 [7] [A.D. 377]

St. Jerome, (A.D. 342-420), Dalmatian; born in Strido; priest, hermit, abbot, biblical scholar, translator and Doctor of the Church. In an age distinguished by men of the greatest eloquence and learning, St. Jerome, especially in all matters connected with the Sacred Scriptures, was then preeminent, and has probably never since been equalled.

Hail to you forever, you virgin Mother of God, our unceasing joy, for unto you do I again return. . . . Hail, you fount of the Son's love for man. . . . Wherefore, we pray you, the most excellent among women, who boast in the confidence of your maternal honors, that you would unceasingly keep us in remembrance. O holy Mother of God, remember us, I say, who make our boast in you, and who in august hymns celebrate your memory, which will ever live, and never fade away

Oration on Simeon and Anna 7 [A.D. 305]

As to how a virgin became the Mother of God, he [Rufinus] has full knowledge; as to how he himself was born, he knows nothing.

Against Rufinus 2:10 [A.D. 401]

Theodore of Mopsuestia, (A.D. 350-428), bishop of Mopsuestia in Cilicia and ecclesiastical writer. A friend of St. Pachomius.

When, therefore, they ask, "Is Mary mother of man or Mother of God?" we answer, "Both!" The one by the very nature of what was done and the other by relation.

The Incarnation 15 [A.D. 405]

St. Augustine of Hippo, (A.D. 354-428), North African; born in Tagaste in A.D. 354, baptized in Milan in A.D. 387, ordained a priest in A.D. 391 and appointed bishop of Hippo in A.D. 395, Augustine is one of our greatest theologians. His numerous works display genius of the highest order, and have ever had great weight in the Christian churches. He is also a Doctor of the Church.

Though still a virgin she carried a child in her womb, and the handmaid and work of his wisdom became the Mother of God.

Songs of Praise 1:20 [A.D. 351]

St. John Cassian, (A.D. c.360 - 433), ordained a deacon by St. John Chrysostom and a priest in Marseilles, a Christian theologian celebrated in both the Western and Eastern Churches for his mystical writings. He is known both as one of the "Scythian monks" and as one of the "Desert Fathers". His opinions on grace being in opposition somewhat to those of St. Augustine and the Church, caused him to be opposed by St. Prosper.

The Father bears witness from Heaven to his Son. The Holy Spirit bears witness, coming down bodily in the form of a dove. The archangel Gabriel bears witness, bringing the good tidings to Mary. The Virgin Mother of God bears witness

Catechetical Lectures 10:19 [A.D. 350]

"I am filled with wonder that certain persons doubt whether the blessed Virgin ought to be called mother of God, or not. . . . This faith the divine disciples have handed down to us, although they may not indeed make mention of the word, so to think have we been taught by the holy fathers."

T. v. P. 2, Epist. i. ad Monachos, p. 3.
The Faith of Catholics, Volume 1, page 437

You cannot then help admitting that the grace comes from God. It is God, then, who has given it. But it has been given by our Lord Jesus Christ. Therefore the Lord Jesus Christ is God. But if he is God, as he certainly is, then she who bore God is the Mother of God

On the Incarnation of Christ Against Nestorius 2:2 [A.D. 429]

St. Cyril of Alexandria, (A.D. 376-444), Egyptian; bishop, theologian and Doctor of the Church. He succeeded Theophilus in the patriarchal see of Alexandria, in A.D. 412, and was the great champion of orthodoxy against Nestorius, against whom the general council of Ephesus was called, in A.D. 431 and in which St. Cyril presided.

I have been amazed that some are utterly in doubt as to whether or not the holy Virgin is able to be called the Mother of God. For if our Lord Jesus Christ is God, how should the holy Virgin who bore him not be the Mother of God?

Letter to the Monks of Egypt 1 [A.D. 427]

Theodoret of Cyrus or Cyrrhus, (A.D. 393-458), Greek; an influential author, theologian, and Christian bishop of Cyrrhus, Syria (A.D. 423-457). He played a pivotal role in many early Byzantine church controversies that led to various ecumenical acts and schisms. His friendship for Nestorius embroiled him, for a time, with his great contemporary, St. Cyril of Alexandria.

"His (Nestorius) first attempt at innovation was, that the holy Virgin, who bore the Word of God, who took flesh of her, ought not to be confessed to be the mother of God, but only the mother of Christ; though of old, yea from the first, the preachers of the orthodox faith taught, agreeably to the apostolic tradition, that the mother of the Lord is to be denominated, and believed to be, the mother of God. And now let me produce his blasphemous artifice and observation unknown to any one before him."

[He repeats the same thing and speaks of Nestorius as "repudiating the words of the holy fathers who, from the time that the Gospel was preached, presided over (or led) the faith of the orthodox."]

T. iv. Lib. Haeret. Fabul. c. xii. p. 371.
The Faith of Catholics, Volume 1, page 441

 

 

Mary's title being, the Mother of God, is a teaching and reflection on "Who Jesus Christ is", then on who Mary is.

 

The Early Church Fathers had no problem referring to Mary as the Mother of God. They saw it as a natural consequence of the Incarnation. It was not an affirmation that Mary was the originator of God the Father, but that she bore the God-Man, her Divine Son, Jesus, in her womb and as Revelation would show, would become incarnate for the sake of our salvation. As a consequence, Jesus is a Divine person, not a human person like many heretics were saying.

 

 

The Church's Scriptures that support Mary being the Mother of God [the God-bearer of Jesus]:

 

Even those in the community where Jesus lived recognized Mary as His mother

55 Is not this the carpenter's son? Is not his mother called Mary?


Matthew 13:55

Mary's cousin Elizabeth also testifies that Mary is the Mother of [my Lord] God.

41 And when Elizabeth heard the greeting of Mary, the babe leaped in her womb; and Elizabeth was filled with the Holy Spirit 42 and she exclaimed with a loud cry, "Blessed are you among women, and blessed is the fruit of your womb! 43 And why is this granted me, that the mother of my Lord should come to me?


Luke 1:41-43

John acknowledges that Mary, the mother of Jesus, was at the marriage at Cana

1 On the third day there was a marriage at Cana in Galilee, and the mother of Jesus was there.


John 2:1

John acknowledges, for a second time, that Mary, the mother of Jesus, was at the foot of the Cross

25 So the soldiers did this. But standing by the cross of Jesus were his mother, and his mother's sister, Mary the wife of Clopas, and Mary Magdalene.


John 19:25

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