Mary places maternal love at the heart of the mysteries of salvation

The daughter of Israel, the Virgin Mother, the Immaculate Conception is a central figure in the early history that gave rise to Western civilization. Hundreds of cathedrals (nearly 70 in France, starting with the one in Paris), thousands of churches and monasteries are placed under her patronage, all over Europe. This is not by chance, but rather because of the centrality of Mary's person in the culture we have inherited and owe a great deal to. 

In primitive religions, the woman was generally associated with fertility and the earth, and represented as a pregnant, often multi breasted goddess. In Greco-Roman paganism, she was either Aphrodite or Hera (Venus and Juno). One, the dangerous beauty, the temptress, associated with free love or prostitution; the other, a surly matron, guardian of the sanctity of marriage. In the background, there were nymphs, Muses and Graces, whose beauty was always depicted as sensual. On either side stood two indomitable and formidable virgins: Athena, feared for her sharp intelligence, and Artemis, feared for her savagery and her implacable cruelty.

With Mary, everything changes, because she is the full heir of the Jewish heritage of the Old Testament, gathering in her person the virtues of Sarah, Judith and Esther. She is characterized by her purity, poverty, humility, gentleness, magnanimity, perseverance, piety, strength, and mercy. Virgin and Mother at the same time, she exalts an unblemished beauty that is deaf to the desires of the senses, placing maternal love at the heart of the mysteries of salvation.

Michel De Jaeghere, journalist  

Excerpted from an article published in the French newspaper Le Figaro (January 2022)

Le Figaro : « Marie, celle qui a dit oui»