Mary, Our Blessed Mother

Early Church Fathers on Mary

Clicking on the Early Church Father's name or on the work will take you to The Catholic Encyclopedia at NewAdvent.org
St. Augustine
Thus Christ by being born of a virgin, who, before she knew Who was to be born of her, had determined to continue a virgin, chose rather to approve, than to command, holy virginity. And thus, even in the female form of a servant, He willed that virginity to be free.
On Holy Virginity, Chapter 4:4
St. Jerome
We believe that God was born of the Virgin, because we read it. That Mary was married after she brought forth, we do not believe, because we do not read it. Nor do we say this to condemn marriage…for virginity itself is the fruit of marriage…You say that Mary did not continue a virgin: I claim still more, that Joseph himself on account of Mary was a virgin, so that from a virgin wedlock a virgin son was born.
The Perpetual Virginity of Blessed Mary, Chapter 21
St. John Cassian
And so you say, O heretic, whoever you may be, who deny that God was born of the Virgin, that Mary the Mother of our Lord Jesus Christ ought not to be called Theotókos, i.e., Mother of God, but Christotókos, i.e., only the Mother of Christ, not of God. For no one, you say, brings forth what is anterior in time. And of this utterly foolish argument whereby you think that the birth of God can be understood by carnal minds, and fancy that the mystery of His Majesty can be accounted for by human reasoning, we will, if God permits, say something later on. In the meanwhile we will now prove by Divine testimonies that Christ is God, and that Mary is the Mother of God.
Seven Books on the Incarnation of the Lord, Against Nestorius, Book 2:2

St. John of Damascus
But just as He who was conceived kept her who conceived still virgin, in like manner also He who was born preserved her virginity intact, only passing through her and keeping her closed…For it was not impossible for Him to have come by this gate, without injuring her seal in any way. The ever-virgin One thus remains even after birth still virgin, having never at any time up till death consorted with a man.
Exposition of the Orthodox Faith, Book 4, Chapter 14
St. Leo the Great
And by a new nativity [Christ] was begotten, conceived by a Virgin, born of a Virgin, without paternal desire, without injury to the mother’s chastity…The origin is different but the nature like: not by intercourse with man but by the power of God was it brought about: for a Virgin conceived, a Virgin bare and a Virgin she remained.
Sermons, No. 22:2
St. Vincent of Lérins
This unity of Person, then, in Christ was not effected after His birth of the Virgin, but was compacted and perfected in her very womb…From this unity of Person it follows, by reason of a like mystery, that, since the flesh of the Word was born of an undefiled mother, God the Word Himself is most catholicly believed, most impiously denied to have been born of the Virgin; which being the case, God forbid that any one should seek to defraud Holy Mary of her prerogative of divine grace and her special glory. For by the singular gift of Him who is our Lord and God, and withal, her own son, she is to be confessed most truly and most blessedly—the mother of God ‘Theotókos,’ but not in the sense in which it is imagined by a certain impious heresy which maintains, that she is to he called the Mother of God for no other reason than because she gave birth to that man who afterwards became God, just as we speak of a woman as the mother of a priest, because in her sacred womb was wrought that most sacred mystery whereby, on account of the singular and unique unity of Person, as the Word in flesh is flesh, so Man in God is God.
Commonitory, Chapter 15
St. John of Damascus
Moreover we proclaim the holy Virgin to be in strict truth the Mother of God. For inasmuch as He who was born of her was true God, she who bare the true God incarnate is the true Mother of God. For we hold that God was born of her, not implying that the divinity of the Word received form her the beginning of its being, but meaning that God the Word Himself, Who was begotten of the Father timelessly before the ages, and was with the Father and the Spirit without beginning and through eternity, took up His abode in these last days for the sake of our salvation in the Virgin’s womb, and was without change made flesh and born of her. For the holy Virgin did not bear mere man but true God: and not mere God but God incarnate, Who did not bring down His body from Heaven, not simply passed through the Virgin as channel, but received from her flesh of the like essence to our own and subsisting in Himself. For if the body had come down from heaven and had not partaken of our nature what would have been the use of His becoming man? For the purpose of God the Word becoming man was that the very same nature, which had sinned and fallen and become corrupted, should triumph over the deceiving tyrant and so be feed from corruption.
Exposition of the Orthodox Faith, Book 3, Chapter 12

Mary in Scripture

Luke 1:28-30
And upon entering, the Angel said to her: “Hail, full of grace. The Lord is with you. Blessed are you among women.” And when she had heard this, she was disturbed by his words, and she considered what kind of greeting this might be. And the Angel said to her: “Do not be afraid, Mary, for you have found grace with God.
Luke 1:48
For he has looked with favor on the humility of his handmaid. For behold, from this time, all generations shall call me blessed.
Matthew 1:23
“Behold, a virgin shall conceive in her womb, and she shall give birth to a son. And they shall call his name Emmanuel, which means: God is with us.”
Luke 1:35
And in response, the Angel said to her: “The Holy Spirit will pass over you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you. And because of this also, the Holy One who will be born of you shall be called the Son of God.
Luke 1:43
And how does this concern me, so that the mother of my Lord would come to me?
Galatians 4:4-5
But when the fullness of time arrived, God sent his Son, formed from a woman, formed under the law, so that he might redeem those who were under the law, in order that we might receive the adoption of sons.
Hebrews 11:5-6
By faith, Enoch was transferred, so that he would not see death, and he was not found because God had transferred him. For before he was transferred, he had testimony that he pleased God. But without faith, it is impossible to please God. For whoever approaches God must believe that he exists, and that he rewards those who seek him.
2 Kings 2:11
And as they continued on, they were conversing while walking. And behold, a fiery chariot with fiery horses divided the two. And Elijah ascended by a whirlwind into heaven.
Matthew 27:52
And the tombs were opened. And many bodies of the saints, which had been sleeping, arose.
1 Corinthians 15:52
in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet. For the trumpet will sound, and the dead will rise up, incorruptible. And we shall be transformed.
Revelation 12:1
And a great sign appeared in heaven: a woman clothed with the sun, and the moon was under her feet, and on her head was a crown of twelve stars.
1 Thessalonians 4:17
Next, we who are alive, who are remaining, shall be taken up quickly together with them into the clouds to meet Christ in the air. And in this way, we shall be with the Lord always.

The Immaculate Conception

Genesis 3:15
I will put enmities between you and the woman, between your offspring and her offspring. She will crush your head, and you will lie in wait for her heel.”
Luke 1:26-28
Then, in the sixth month, the Angel Gabriel was sent by God, to a city of Galilee named Nazareth, to a virgin betrothed to a man whose name was Joseph, of the house of David; and the name of the virgin was Mary. And upon entering, the Angel said to her: “Hail, full of grace. The Lord is with you. Blessed are you among women.”
Luke 1:30-35
And the Angel said to her: “Do not be afraid, Mary, for you have found grace with God. Behold, you shall conceive in your womb, and you shall bear a son, and you shall call his name: JESUS. He will be great, and he will be called the Son of the Most High, and the Lord God will give him the throne of David his father. And he will reign in the house of Jacob for eternity. And his kingdom shall have no end.” Then Mary said to the Angel, “How shall this be done, since I do not know man?” And in response, the Angel said to her: “The Holy Spirit will pass over you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you. And because of this also, the Holy One who will be born of you shall be called the Son of God.

Our Blessed Mother's Perpetual Virginity (Mary had no other children)

Exodus 13:2
“Sanctify to me every firstborn which opens the womb among the sons of Israel, as much of men as of cattle. For they are all mine.”
Numbers 3:12
“I have taken the Levites from the sons of Israel. For the Levites, and all the firstborn who open the womb among the sons of Israel, shall be mine.
Matthew 1:23
“Behold, a virgin shall conceive in her womb, and she shall give birth to a son. And they shall call his name Emmanuel, which means: God is with us.”
Matthew 13:55-56
Is this not the son of a workman? Is not his mother called Mary, and his brothers, James, and Joseph, and Simon, and Jude? And his sisters, are they not all with us? Therefore, from where has this one obtained all these things?”
Matthew 27:56
Among these were Mary Magdalene and Mary the mother of James and Joseph, and the mother of the sons of Zebedee.
Mark 6:3
“Is this not the carpenter, the son of Mary, the brother of James, and Joseph, and Jude, and Simon? Are not his sisters also here with us?” And they took great offense at him.
John 7:3-4
And his brothers said to him: “Move away from here and go into Judea, so that your disciples there may also see your works that you do. Of course, no one does anything in secret, but he himself seeks to be in the public view. Since you do these things, manifest yourself to the world.”
John 19:26
Therefore, when Jesus had seen his mother and the disciple whom he loved standing near, he said to his mother, “Woman, behold your son.”

Catholic
​Encyclopedia

The Blessed Virgin Mary

Devotion to the Heart of Mary

Devotion to the Blessed Virgin Mary

The Communion of Saints

Dulia

Immaculate Conception

Assumption of Mary

Annunciation