The Valley Virginian. [volume] (Staunton, Va.) 1865-1895, 1891-10-22
THE BLESSED VIRGIN MARY.

l Dovo1iouS RAID der by the Catholic
Church-Two Phases of this Ado
ration and the Reason Therefor.
On Sunday last, the twenty-first Sun
day after Pentecost, the Rev Father Nc
Bride, OF Wytheville, visited Pulaski
and said mass at o'clock in the hall
over the store of Calfee & Phelps.
In the instruction given after the Mass
the reverend gentleman spoke on the
subject OF the devotions paid by the
Catholics to the Blessed Virgin Mary,
who, the Church teaches, rises infinitely
in dignity above all other saints. The
other saints of previous rages were all
like us, pilgrims seeking the eternal
kingdom. They, like us, came into the
world stained with original sin; but she
was conceived without sin.
She was the cause of our redemption;
for we could not have been redeemed
had she not willingly taken upon her.
self her part in the plan of redemption.
10 the angel sent to her in Nazareth,
| and who foretold that she should give
birth to the Son of God, Mary said: BE
hold the handmade of the Lord; be it
unto me according to thy word" Thus
she was the cause of our redemption,
and the church pays her alteration for
several reasons;
First, because of the veneration we
owe her as the cause of redemption.
Secondly, because what praise is given
her becomes the praise of her divine son.
Thirdly, because of gratitude.
In the history of the Church the devo-
tions paid the Virgin Mary have occu-
pied two phases, that of the first four
centuries and that since about the year
A. D. 400, In the first four centuries of
the Christian era the Church paid the
Virgin Mary honors indirectly through
the honors paid to her divine son. And
this was necessary because the apostles
and early preachers of Christianity had
to preach to Jews and pagans, both of
whom rejected Christ as the Savior of
the world. 1t was necessary for the first
teachers of Christianity to explain who
the Christian God Massachusetts, nature.
They used the name mother, as applied
to the Virgin Mary to prove his human
ity. This they had to explain to world
unwilling to believe or incapable of un>
derstanding.
After the fourth century this doctrine
was accepted and the world became
Christian, and there was general belief
in Christ as God who was one person in
two natures Then it was that the
Church began to give honor to the
mother for the sake of her divine son.
1t is by reason of forgetting this fact
that men are won't to think there is a
difference in the belief of the Church in
dignity of Christ had first to be estab-
lished, and then it was possible that that
of his mother should be.
The Virgin Mary is seldom mentioned
in the Christian scriptures. This is be-
cause the praise of her son is her praise.
and also because she was a model of
modesty and silence to women. We do
not in the scriptures read that he appear
ed to his mother after his resurrection
from the grave; but had his appearance
to her been related it would have placed
her on the level with all the other saints.
He had foretold to his disciples before
his death that he would rise from the
dead, but it had made so little impression
upon their memories that they had for
gotten all about it and Thomas doubted
altogether that he had risen. The Vir-
gin Mary who had felt all the pains of a
faithful mother as she stood by his cross,
had never doubted that he would arise
praise therefore centers in her son, who
was the son of man under condition of
being the son of Mary.
AS she is mentioned so seldom in the
New Testament we find she we'll bears
the position of the Eve. AS man fell in
the garden Of Eden, God determined
that he should rise again in redemption;
and as both sexes were joined in the
original fall, so it was proper that with
the new man, the second Adam, a second
Eve should be associated in the work of
redemption; and this was the case as re-
CARDS the Virgin Mary. This was preach
ed to us by Paul, when he wrote to the
Corinthians that las in Adam all die,
even so in Christ shall all be made alive"
And as in the first fall so in the second
there was need that there should be
second Eve. The first Eve brought evil
to the world, the second Eve brought
joy and redemption.
In the case of our Savior, who was
the master of life and death, it was un>
becoming that he should partake of
corruption. David declared of him:
''Thou wilt not leave my soul in hell
neither wilt thou suffer thine Holy One
to see corruption" 1t was necessary
that the Virgin Mary should die, but it
was unbecoming, as in the case of her
son, that her body should see corruption
and the church teaches us through ira
dition, as st. John Damascene tells us,
that it did not She lived after the cru
cifixion and ascension with ST. John the
disciple at Epbesus to extreme old age
and died at Jerusalem st. Thomas
went thther to see her grave, but found
it vacant Her body had been assumed
into heaven the Church teaches.
According to her own prophecy all
generations have called her blessed, and
as such we venerate her today and pay
her homage on account of her divine
son.
After the sermon the small congrega
ton present united in the devotion of
the Rosary.
The indianapolis Journal tell this
annecdote of General Dan" Macauley
when he was Mayor of Indianapolis:
''His mother, who was very spry old
woman and very fond of horses, one day