Mary is a Mother, like the Church

Unique among women, Mary “is both mother and virgin, not only in the spirit but in the flesh as well. Mary is a mother in spirit, but it cannot be said that she is the mother in spirit of our Head, which is the Savior Himself, for she herself was born of him, like all who believe in him. And all who believe in him are rightly called the children of the Bridegroom. But Mary is indeed our Mother in spirit, we who are his members, for she brought about, through her charity, that faithful ones should be born in the Church, who are members of That Head.

In the flesh, she is the mother of the Head itself. It was necessary that, by a distinct miracle, our Head should be born, according to the flesh, of a virgin, to indicate that his members would be born, according to the Spirit, of the virgin Church. Thus Mary is, in spirit and flesh, mother and virgin: both the mother of Christ and a virgin of Christ.”

St Augustine did not have a perfectly clear notion of the divine maternity. But the meaning of this passage is correct: Mary needed, like all human beings, to be redeemed and begotten to grace by her Son.

The privilege of her immaculate conception was an anticipated effect of the Cross. She is twice "daughter of her Son," as a creature and as an immaculate soul. 

Excerpts from De sancta virginitate, Saint Augustine (354-430), VI. P.L., 40, col. 399.

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