page_title: Consecration and entrustment to Mary
section_title: History and development
hierarchical_section_title: Consecration and entrustment to Mary / History and development
caption_attribution_description: Deutsch: Maria mit dem Schutzmantel angeblich vom Hochaltarretabel der der Liebfrauenkirche Ravensburg (Ravensburger Schutzmantelmadonna), um 1480, Lindenholz, ursprüngliche Fassung teilweise übermalt. Skulpturensammlung (Inv. 421, erworben 1850), Bode-Museum, Berlin. English: Virgin of Mercy, reportedly from the high altar altarpiece of the Church of our Lady in Ravensburg, Upper Swabia, c. 1480, limewood, original colours with some overpainting. Skulpturensammlung (Inv. 421, purchased in 1850), Bode-Museum, Berlin.
context_page_description: For centuries, Marian devotions among Roman Catholics have included many examples of personal or collective acts of consecration and entrustment to the Virgin Mary, with the Latin terms oblatio, servitus, commendatio and dedicatio having been used in this context. Consecration is an act by which a person is dedicated to a sacred service, or an act which separates an object, location or region from a common and profane mode to one for sacred use. The Congregation for Divine Worship and the Discipline of the Sacraments clarifies that in this context, "It should be recalled, however, that the term "consecration" is used here in a broad and non-technical sense: the expression is use of 'consecrating children to Our Lady', by which is intended placing children under her protection and asking her maternal blessing for them".
  Consecration to the Virgin Mary by Roman Catholics has taken place from three perspectives: personal, societal and regional, and under a number of different titles: the Immaculate Conception, to the Immaculate Heart of Mary, or more recently to Mary, Mother of the Church.
context_section_description: The beginnings of the notion of "belonging to Mary" can be seen in the writings of Saint Ephrem the Syrian in the 4th century, and a form of personal consecration to Mary dates back to the 5th century, where its practitioners were called "servants of Mary" and the practice was sometimes referred to as "holy servitude". However, the first consistent and repeated use of the concept of consecration to Mary was perhaps by Saint Ildephonsus of Toledo in the 7th century, and Pope John VII also referred to it in the 8th century.
  The notion that consecration to Mary is linked with consecration to Christ and has an ultimate Christocentric goal was already present in the 7th century writings of Ildephonsus, when he wrote: "What is delivered up to the Mother rebounds to the Son; thus passes to the King the honor that is rendered in the service of the Queen."
  In the 8th century, Saint John Damascene continued the theme of consecration to Mary, and when he wrote "to you we consecrate (anathemenoi) our minds, our souls and our bodies, in a word our very selves" he used the Greek term anathemenoi which indicates "the setting aside for sacred use". By the 9th century, being a "servant of Mary" was practiced in Ireland.
  The act of consecration of cities and regions dates back at least to the 9th century, when Abbo Cernuus of Saint-Germain-des-Prés composed a poem in which he attributed the failure of the Vikings in the Siege of Paris (885–886) to the consecration of the city to the Virgin Mary, and her protection over it. During the Medieval period, abbeys, towns and cities began to consecrate themselves to the Virgin Mary to seek her protection. In the 12th century Cîteaux Abbey in France used the motif of the protective mantle of the Virgin Mary which shielded the kneeling abbots and abbesses. In the 13th century Caesarius of Heisterbach was also aware of this motif, which eventually led to the iconography of the Virgin of Mercy.
  Although previous saints had discussed the notion of consecration, it was only in 11th century France that Saint Odilo at the Cluny Abbey began to spread the formal practice of personal consecration to Mary. In the 12th century, the Cistercian orders began consecrating themselves to Mary, first individually and then as a group, and this practice then spread to the Benedictines and the Carmelites.
  The 17th century also saw the adoption of the custom of consecrating the month of May to the Blessed Virgin. During the 18th and 19th centuries the traditions of Marian consecration grew and by 1860 first communion in France included an act of consecration to the Virgin Mary. By this time Marian consecrations had spread beyond continental Europe and in England Father Frederick Faber had composed a hymn of consecration to the Virgin Mary which included a petition to her motherly role.
  Since the 19th century, devotions and consecrations to the Immaculate Heart of Mary have been encouraged by several popes including Pius IX, Pius XII and John Paul II.
caption: The consecrated being sheltered under the protective mantle of the Virgin, Ravensburg, c. 1480. Attributed to Michel Erhart
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