Cardinal Journet: Mary is the prototype of the Church

When we say that Mary is the prototype of the Church, we mean that Mary is, in the Church, more Mother than the Church, more Spouse than the Church, and, because she is exempt from original sin, more Virgin than the Church.

We mean that Mary is Mother, that she is Spouse, that she is Virgin, before the Church and for the Church; that it is above all in her and through her that the Church is Mother, is Spouse, is Virgin.

It is by a mysterious impulse that comes from Mary, it is by a mysterious excellence that emanates from Mary, that the Church can be, in turn, so truly Mother, so truly Spouse, so truly Virgin.

In the order of the greatness of holiness, which is the supreme greatness, Mary is, around Christ, like the first wave of the Church, the generator of all the others, until the end of time.

When we say that the Church is Marian, we mean that Mary is interiorized in the Church, to whom she communicates her spirit.

Cardinal Journet, L'Église du Verbe Incarné, Essai de Théologie spéculative, Vol. II, Paris, Desclée de Brouwer, 1951