Devotion to Mary growing among Protestants in England

Catholic News Agency ^ | November 10, 2005

[NYer]

London, Nov. 10, 2005 (CNA) - Devotion to Mary is growing among Anglicans, Fr. Noel Wynn told the New York Times. Fr. Wynn is the director of the Roman Catholic Marian shrine in Walsingham, known as “England’s Nazareth.”

Walsingham is home to two Marian shrines—one Catholic and the other Anglican—located at opposite sides of the town.

Tradition says the first shrine was founded in 1061, when Richeldis de Faverches, a Saxon noblewoman, had a vision of the Virgin Mary, who showed her the house in Nazareth where the Angel Gabriel announced the birth of Jesus. Mary then instructed the lady to build a replica.
 
Since then, Walsingham has been an important pilgrimage site in England, whose emphasis is not healing but on one’s lifelong Christian journey.

In 1538, what is now the Protestant shrine was destroyed as part of the Reformation under King Henry VIII. It was rebuilt in 1931, with accommodations for 218 people.

The Catholic shrine is built around the Slipper Chapel, so named because historically it was there that people removed their shoes and walked the Holy Mile, the last mile of the pilgrimage. Some still walk it, reported the New York Times. This shrine has accommodations for 120.

According to the New York Times, the number of Protestant pilgrims visiting the Marian shrine and staying overnight has risen since 1999, from 10,000 to 12,000.

Protestant worshipers in Walsingham often belong to the Anglo-Catholic tradition, which accords greater reverence to the Virgin Mary than other Protestant sects, and uses the bells and incense like in the Roman Catholic liturgy.

The shrines also appeal to other Christians, and the Orthodox and Methodist churches in the town are indicative of this.

[eastsider]

In 1538, what is now the Protestant shrine was destroyed as part of the Reformation under King Henry VIII.

I'm genuinely interested in what you make of this sentence from the article.

[Clemenza]

An honest question, with no malice: Isn't it true that devotion to Mary is emblematic of the "feminization of Christianity" that started in the 1300s? I've always heard that Marianism was not part of the early Church tradition and that, as the Church became more female in terms of its regular attendents, Mary was invoked on an increasing basis.

[Campion]

In 1538, what is now the Protestant shrine was destroyed as part of the Reformation under King Henry VIII.

The King himself was a good bit more Catholic than some of the people actually running the show under him. The English Reformation was much more about taking the wealth of the church and giving it to the merchants and nobles than about anything else, so plenty of shrines were looted.

[little jeremiah]

later read.

[Convert from ECUSA]

Hmmmm, interesting; I've heard similar things over the past few years. As a former Anglican who started praying the Rosary when still Anglican, I certainly won't complain about this trend! :)

[Claud]

Isn't it true that devotion to Mary is emblematic of the "feminization of Christianity" that started in the 1300s? I've always heard that Marianism was not part of the early Church tradition and that, as the Church became more female in terms of its regular attendents, Mary was invoked on an increasing basis.

By no means. I'm sure other people here will deluge you with quotes to the contrary from the early church, but if the claim above was true--that Marian devotion really took off in the 1300s (I presume you mean in the West), it doesn't explain why the Eastern Orthodox--with whom Roman Catholics have been in schism since at least 1054--have a Marian devotion that is in *no* way any less than anything we have (Kolo would even say more ;)

In fact, the Marian devotion of both Catholicism and Orthodoxy is a common survival of the period pre-Schism. This article on Devotion to the Blessed Mary might prove helpful.

[eastsider]

Henri Cardinal DeLubac was a theologian and patristics scholar who served at Vatican II in the official capacity of an expert advisor to the Council. In Motherhood of the Church (Ignatius Press, San Francisco 1982), DeLubac traces the development of the Church's maternal virginity, from which "the parallel mystique of the Virgin Mary is introduced," to the NT. Following is a series of excerpts from his book that traces the historical roots of the "mystique of the Virgin Mary."

Finally, other texts, equally numerous, specify that the Church is at once virgin and mother, as Saint Paul had already insinuated, and in this way the parallel mystique of the Virgin Mary is introduced.:

"The motherhood of the Church", wrote Scheeben, "is not an empty title; it is not a weak analogy of natural motherhood.... This motherhood is as real as the presence of Christ is real in the Eucharist, or as real as the supernatural life that exists in the children of God." * * * [T]he idea of the motherhood of the Church derives from the whole of New Testament teaching.... Jesus' exclamation, reported by Saint Matthew [Mt23:37], comes to mind: "Jerusalem, Jerusalem, you that kill the prophets and stone those who are sent to you, how often have I longed to gather your children, as a hen gathers her chicks under her wing!" Here, still in the form of a simple comparison, is the idea of a double motherhood, of one motherhood which is going to take the place of another, of a double Jerusalem, as Saint Paul explains it in his Letter to the Galatians. Jesus compares himself to a mother, and the old Jerusalem, the mother-city of the Israelite people, is going to become, in the transformation effected by the passage from the Old Covenant to the New, "the Jerusalem above, our mother" [Gal4:26]. In other words, the Church will be heir of the "Synagogue" ... * * * According to Paul, the Church, which is the Spouse of Christ, both virgin and fruitful at the same time, is the mother of all those who are born (reborn) in the Spirit and for whom she proclaims and maintains the pure and authentic doctrine of Christ. [Fn: Eph5, Gal4:2, Cor11:2-4.] * * * And in the Second Letter of Saint John, moreover, we find the motherhood of the Church -- of each particular church -- evoked directly: "I, the Elder, to the chosen Lady and to her children, whom I love in truth...." Thus begins the Letter. Who could the "chosen Lady" be if not the Church John is addressing? Clement of Alexandria and Tertullian, among others, have understood it in this way. [Fn: Clement Adumbratio in 2Jn1 (PG, 9:737-38) ...] John continues: "I greatly rejoiced to meet some of your children ..." Then, at the very end, in the name of the community of Ephesus: "The children of your sister Chosen One send greetings to you." [2Jn1:4,13.] * * * As will be seen, the Fathers, in all their developments of their doctrine, do no more than bring out the inherent value of this "kernel". By making it bear fruit, they prove themselves faithful stewards. * * * In the Pastor of Hermas, the Church, personified, addresses the Christians of Rome in these terms: "Listen to me, my children!" [Note from eastsider: The Pastor of Hermas is the work of Papias of Hieropolis. According to Irenaeus [Adv. Haer.], Papias was "a hearer" of John the Apostle, making him an apostolic father.] * * * Three analogies are yet to be pointed out, analogies which make explicit the maternal traits of the Church, which in turn comes to be identified with the Woman of the Apocalypse, with Eve and with the Virgin Mary. * * * Finally, other texts, equally numerous, specify that the Church is at once virgin and mother, as Saint Paul had already insinuated, and in this way the parallel mystique of the Virgin Mary is introduced. The first completely explicit reference to the maternal virginity of the Church is read in the celebrated Letter of the Churches of Vienne and Lyons.... [Fn: Eusebius, Hist. eccles., I,5,c.1,n.45-46 ... Cf. Augustine (PL, 38-768; 40:397 and 399).] * * * This maternal virginity, or this virginal maternity, which the Second Vatican Council was to bring to mind again [Lumen gentium, 63], is affirmed in many ways, notably in the works of Origen, Ambrose and Augustine. * * * This theme [of virginal maternity], which was developed by way of contrast with the first Eve, is renewed and enriched by a parallel between the Church and the Virgin Mary. [Fn: There are numerous documents on the subject in Etudes mariales....] * * * I would like to quote here just two examples from this abundant literature. The first is taken from a sermon by Saint Augustine:

Who has given birth to you? I hear the voice of your heart: It is the Mother Church, this holy, honored Church who, like Mary, gives birth and is virgin. [Sermo Denis 25, c8 (misc. Agost., I:163)....]

The second example is taken from the ancient liturgy of the Spanish Church called the Mozarabic Rite:

The one [Mary] gave salvation to the nations, the other [the Church] gives the nations to the Savior. The one carried Life in her womb, the other carries it in the sacramental font. What was once accorded to Mary in the carnal order is now accorded spiritually to the Church. She conceives the Word in her unfailing faith, she gives birth to it in a spirit freed from all corruption, she holds it in a soul covered with the Virtue of the Most High.

[Mercat]

I've been saying the rosary now every morning for about three months. I listen to the chanted rosary on the internet. While I listen, I move between about four other sites which have images of the various mysteries. I also read about the mysteries. I wasn't even aware that JPII had started another set of mysteries, the Luminous so I enjoy learning those. When you include the mysteries, the rosary becomes even more Biblical. It takes about 30 minutes. Usually by the time I'm done (about 30 minutes), I've entered what I call a "zone" much like people (including me) do when they have been exercising. It's a very satisfying way to begin the day.

I was in a Christian Book Store the other day and was surprised and pleased to see rosaries for sale.

[Pyro7480]

The oldest Marian prayer dates from the 3rd century: before the end of the Roman persecutions, and before the Council of Ephesus, which formally declared the dogma, which all true Catholics and Eastern Orthodox hold, that Mary is the Theotokos (Mother of God in English). The English translation of this prayer goes:

We fly to thy patronage, O Holy Mother of God. Despise not our petitions in our necessities, but ever deliver us from all dangers, O glorious and blessed Virgin.

[Pyro7480]

I visited the Catholic, Anglican, and Orthodox churches in Walsingham in September 2004. The original Slipper Chapel is wonderful, but the new chapel at the Roman Catholic shrine is too modern for my tastes. The Anglican church could pass for Catholic.

[NYer]

I've always heard that Marianism was not part of the early Church tradition and that, as the Church became more female in terms of its regular attendents, Mary was invoked on an increasing basis.

Well now you have a response to bring back to those who told you that nonsense.

The catacomb drawing is an early holy image of Mary.

An inscription at the Church of the Annunciation in Nazareth, dating back to 200 A.D., says "Hail Mary!".  This is very early evidence of prayer to Mary.

The Sub Tuum Praesidium is another early prayer to her:

We fly to your patronage, O holy Mother of God.
Despise not our petitions in our necessities,
But deliver us from all dangers,
O ever-glorious and Blessed Virgin! (circa 300 A.D.)

[SkyPilot]

It's all about the "protesters" and "reformers" --against the Catholic Church.

No. It is all about Jesus Christ, and His gift of salvation.

[Between the Lines]

Mary ol' England?

[NYer]

It is all about Jesus Christ, and His gift of salvation.

No catholic considers Mary their savior. The ALL recognize that Jesus Christ is our Savior.

All devotions to Mary and the saints ultimately glorify their Creator, who made them what they are.  Could we possibly praise the Mona Lisa without praising Leonardo DaVinci?  That masterpiece certainly did not paint itself!  Even so, Mary is God's great masterpiece, and all praise given to her is praise of Her Maker.

When Elizabeth praises Mary, saying "Blessed art thou amongst women", Mary immediately replies "My soul doth magnify the Lord..." (Luke 1:42; 46).  All the devotion which we offer her redounds to God's praise and glory.

[Knitting A Conundrum]

Some people act like Mary was just a box to hold Jesus in for nine months. I have often wondered how Jesus feels about people who insult his mother. After all, you would think that the God who created the law Honor your Father and Mother certainly ought to be the one who upholds it best of all....

[Kolokotronis]

"Isn't it true that devotion to Mary is emblematic of the "feminization of Christianity" that started in the 1300s? I've always heard that Marianism was not part of the early Church tradition and that, as the Church became more female in terms of its regular attendents, Mary was invoked on an increasing basis."

Here's an excerpt from a letter of +Ignatius of Antioch (he was the bishop there, a successor to +Peter) to the God Bearing Apostle John written in the 1st century about the Theotokos. It appears that Marian devotion was prominent even before she died:

"There are also many of our women here, who are desirous to see Mary [the mother] of Jesus, and wish day by day to run off from us to you, that they may meet with her, and touch those breasts of hers which nourished the Lord Jesus, and may inquire of her respecting some rather secret matters. But Salome also, [the daughter of Anna, ] whom thou lovest, who stayed with her five months at Jerusalem, and some other well-known persons, relate that she is full of all graces and all virtues, after the manner of a virgin, fruitful in virtue and grace. And, as they report, she is cheerful in persecutions and afflictions, free from murmuring in the midst of penury and want, grateful to those that injure her, and rejoices when exposed to troubles: she sympathizes with the wretched and the afflicted as sharing in their afflictions, and is not slow to come to their assistance. Moreover, she shines forth gloriously as contending in the fight of faith against the pernicious conflicts of vicious principles or conduct. She is the lady of our new religion and repentance, and the handmaid among the faithful of all works of piety. She is indeed devoted to the humble, and she humbles herself more devotedly than the devoted, and is wonderfully magnified by all, while at the same time she suffers detraction from the Scribes and Pharisees. Besides these points, many relate to us numerous other things regarding her. We do not, however, go so far as to believe all in every particular; nor do we mention such to thee. But, as we are informed by those who are worthy of credit, there is in Mary the mother of Jesus an angelic purity of nature allied with the nature of humanity. And such reports as these have greatly excited our emotions, and urge us eagerly to desire a sight of this (if it be lawful so to speak) heavenly prodigy and most sacred marvel. But do thou in haste comply with this our desire; and fare thou well. Amen."

[starfish923]

No. It is all about Jesus Christ, and His gift of salvation.

If THAT were true, there would have been no other Christian denominations, just the one Roman Catholic Church.
So it ISN'T just about Jesus and His gift of salvation. It SHOULD be....but look at the list below. It's about people starting THEIR VERY OWN version of what Jesus established in the year 34 anno dominum with Peter, the Rock, as His designated shepherd for us after He died on the Cross.

Other Christian denominations. This list doesn't even include the Orthodox churches which split from Rome in the 4th century.

African Methodist Episcopal African Methodist Episcopal Zion African Orthodox Church American Baptist Churches USA Amish ( Anabaptist Armenian Evangelical Church Assemblies of God Associated Gospel Churches of Canada Association of Vineyard Churches Baptist Baptist Bible Fellowship Branch Davidian Brethren in Christ Bruderhof Communities Calvary Chapel Calvinist Cell Church Charismatic Episcopal Church Children of God Christadelphian Christian Churches of God Christian Identity Christian Reformed Church Christian Science Church of God (Anderson) Church of God (Cleveland) Church of God (Seventh Day) Church of God in Christ Church of God of Prophecy Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints Church of Scotland Church of South India Church of the Brethren Church of the Lutheran Brethren of America Church of the Nazarene Church of the New Jerusalem Church of the United Brethren in Christ Church Universal and Triumphant Churches of Christ Churches of God General Conference Congregational Christian Churches Cumberland Presbyterian Church Disciples of Christ Episcopal Ethiopian Orthodox Tewahedo Church Evangelical Congregational Church Evangelical Covenant Church Evangelical Formosan Church Evangelical Free Church Evangelical Lutheran Church Evangelical Methodist Church Evangelical Presbyterian Fellowship of Christian Assemblies Fellowship of Grace Brethren Fellowship of Independent Evangelical Churches Free Church of Scotland Free Methodist Free Presbyterian Free Will Baptist Gnostic Hutterian Brethren International Church of the Foursquare Gospel International Churches of Christ Jehovah's Witnesses Living Church of God Local Church Lutheran Lutheran Church - Missouri Synod Mar Thoma Syrian Church Mennonite Messianic Judaism Methodist Moravian Church Nation of Yahweh New Frontiers International Orthodox Presbyterian Pentecostal Plymouth Brethren Presbyterian Presbyterian Church in America Primitive Baptist Protestant Reformed Church Reformed Reformed Baptist Reformed Episcopal Reformed Presbyterian Church Reorganized Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints Revival Centres International Rosicrucian Seventh Day Baptist Seventh-Day Adventist Shaker Society of Friends Southern Baptist Convention Spiritist True and Living Church of Jesus Christ of Saints of the Last Days Unification Church Unitarian-Universalism United Church of Christ United Church of God United Free Church of Scotland@ United Methodist Church United Reformed Church Unity Church Unity Fellowship Church Universal Fellowship of Metropolitan Community Churches Waldensian Church Wesleyan Wesleyan Methodist Worldwide Church of God

[starfish923]

No catholic considers Mary their savior. The ALL recognize that Jesus Christ is our Savior.
All devotions to Mary and the saints ultimately glorify their Creator, who made them what they are. Could we possibly praise the Mona Lisa without praising Leonardo DaVinci? That masterpiece certainly did not paint itself! Even so, Mary is God's great masterpiece, and all praise given to her is praise of Her Maker.
When Elizabeth praises Mary, saying "Blessed art thou amongst women", Mary immediately replies "My soul doth magnify the Lord..." (Luke 1:42; 46). All the devotion which we offer her redounds to God's praise and glory.

Yep.
You are preaching to the choir.
The devotion of Mary is not the adoration of her. I learned that in the first grade.

Our pastor told the story of an old Jesuit who used to go to the Church late at night.
He would walk right up to the tabernacle and knock on the little door: "Jesus, it's me and I'm here with your mother."
He made it very personal, but he knew how much Jesus loved His mother, so ... when he went to pray he knew that Mary was a, er, "gangbuster" intermediary to Jesus.

[AlaninSA]

I've entered what I call a "zone" much like people (including me) do when they have been exercising. It's a very satisfying way to begin the day.

Hey, I've been there, too! I know about this "zone!"

I cannot tell you how many times I've been at Adoration and felt that "zone" come on. It's the strangest, coolest thing I've experienced in my faith life. Add to it the fact that praying the Rosary - or even just a few of its prayers - is such a calming, centering thing and you have a wonderful tool for your life.

I carry my Rosary with me everwhere I go. It got me through my grandmother's (a Baptist) funeral. I was the "reader" at the funeral and having my Rosary in my left hand while reading was a great comfort to me (and a great discomfort to the Baptist preacher leading the service).

[Knitting A Conundrum]

I got my hubby to start saying the rosary every now and then by getting him a scriptural rosary book. I've gotten to where I buy low end rosaries from Autom in the 50 count, and give them away, keep them at hand so I am never without one, and use them in my CCE class. Even when I reenact, I reenact a late 18th century woman moving from Pennsylvania to Kentucky where Father Stephen Badin will be coming shortly to be a missionary priest, because there is a growing number of Catholics in the area. And my character keeps her rosary attached to her apron string so she can always get to it.