‘We delight to call Mary our Mother’
CHARLOTTE — Diocesan officials are planning to ask the Vatican to formally approve “Mary, Mother of God” as the patroness of the Diocese of Charlotte.
The move is part of the diocese’s official 50th anniversary celebration in 2022.
During historical research in preparing for the 50th anniversary, officials discovered that over the years, bishops have invoked various Marian titles, but no title has ever been made official. They brought the matter to the attention of Bishop Peter Jugis, who decided to formalize Mary’s patronage of the diocese.
The process entails making a written request to the Vatican’s Congregation for Divine Worship and Discipline of the Sacraments for approval of the official designation.
Bishop Jugis said that when he became bishop in 2003, Mary, Mother of God had already been listed for some years as the principal patroness of the diocese in the annual Ordo: The Order of Prayer in the Liturgy of the Hours and Celebration of the Eucharist. Because the title “Mother of God” was already in use in the diocese, it seemed reasonable to continue with that title for Mary as the patroness of the diocese. Bishop Jugis said this particular title of Mary honors the motherly relationship between her and the People of God in western North Carolina.
This title “implies a loving family bond of a mother to her child,” he explained. “We delight to call her our mother,” he said, because she “is very much present in our prayer and our spiritual life.”
We invoke the name of “Holy Mary, Mother of God” at least 54 times when we pray the rosary, and we unite ourselves in prayer as the priest invokes her name in the Eucharistic Prayer at every Mass, he noted.
In addition to the rosary and the Eucharistic Prayer at Mass, the title also appears in the Litany of Loreto and in the closing prayer of the Mass for the Solemnity of Mary, Mother of God every New Year’s Day.
The phrase “Mother of God” goes back to the third or fourth century, but the Greek term “Theotokos” (“The God-bearer”) was officially consecrated as Catholic doctrine at the Council of Ephesus in 431, thus becoming the first Marian dogma. At the end of the Council of Ephesus, crowds of people marched through the streets shouting: “Praised be the Theotokos!”
This Catholic doctrine is based on the doctrine of the Incarnation, as expressed by St. Paul: “God sent His Son, born of a woman, born under the law” (Galatians 4:4).
In its chapter on Mary’s role in the Church, the Second Vatican Council’s Dogmatic Constitution “Lumen Gentium” (“Light of the People”) calls Mary “Mother of God” 12 times.
In artwork and statues depicting Mary, Mother of God, she is usually depicted holding the Infant Jesus.
“Seeing the Infant Jesus with His mother reminds us of our own loving dedication to the spiritual and faith formation of our children and youth,” Bishop Jugis noted.
“The Child with His mother also recalls for us in the Diocese of Charlotte our five decades of work for the right to life of the unborn and our commitment to ongoing pro-life work in the future.”
“The entire Church rejoices to proclaim Mary as Mother of God and Mother of the Church,” he said, “and we in the Diocese of Charlotte delight in the special privilege to proclaim many times over in our daily prayer our own special loving bond with her as our mother and patroness of our diocese.”
— SueAnn Howell, senior reporter