Our Lady of Grace

Mary, the mother of Jesus can be identified by quite a number of titles which includes Our Lady, Madonna, Blessed Mother and Virgin, Star of the Sea, Cause of Our Joy, Queen of Heaven, Motehr of Mercy, Theotokos, Panagia, Mother of Mercy, our Lady of Guadalupe and Our Lady of Loreto, Our Lady of Guadalupe. These are just to name but a few, the identities for Mary are quite many.

Preview of Mary, the Holy mother

These titles are used by various denominations and holy books including the new testament of the Bible and the holy Quran to mean one person, who is Mary, the Holy mother of Jesus Christ. Some of the denominations who use the titles are the members of the Roman Catholic Church, the members of the Eastern Orthodox, a number of the Anglicans and the Oriental Orthodox. We should be careful enough to distinguish the other Mary’s’ in the New Testament from the Holy Mary, mother of Jesus.

Requesting petitions for the following:

• Protection from anger.
• Help for finding love.
• Special requests.
• Feast:  21-Jan
• Day: Friday
• Candle/ Emblem: Blue
• Matters concerning: Calming anger, fidelity in marriage, finding love, and special requests. Calming anger in another person.

There are quite a number of the titles for Mary that are quite dogmatic, however, a large number of the titles are created allegorically or in much simpler terms, poetically with a minute or no canonical status and have gained acceptance in a large percentage of the clergy. Note that, a majority of the titles are a mere reference to Mary in history.

The role of Mary in our lives today

One may then be wondering why all the titles have been given to Mary, we have many theories that explain the high number of titles that have been used when referring Mary. There has been argument that quite a large number of the titles were given due to the diversity in cultural practices as well as the geographical gap between the various worshipers in the world, in simple terms, as a result of veneration of certain icons. However, there are some that were associated to the Marian apparitions.

 As a result of the diversity in the human need among all of us, all the believers generally seek Mary’s help for all either of them, this is what led to her naming with general titles such as the good counsel, care for the sick among several others. In addition to that the devotions and meditations on the various aspects of the role of the Virgin Mary in Jesus life gave her the titles such as Lady of Our sorrows. However, there are some titles that were founded on dogmatism and devotion grounds and they include the Immaculate Conception and queen of Heavens.

The devotional cult for Mary, which was founded in the year 431 “Mary's cultus” or "devotional cult" consolidated in the year 431 when, Ephesus council better known as "Nestorianism", was challenged for identifying Mary as the mother of God and consequently the Title of Mary as a bearer of God was dogmatized. 

This reformation spread from the Far East to Northern Europe therefore reducing the numerous roles of Mary in the lives of the believers in Northern Europe, this happened in the 16th and 17th centuries. This resulted in the Westward transfer of the Marian devotion. Mary was used to evangelize in the Africans, Asians and the American in which several Mexicans were converted to Christianity.

This reformation resulted in widespread publications on Mary, for instance, in the 17th century alone, there was an estimated more that 500 publications on Mary. In the period of enlightenment, there was an emphasis on developments in the science world as well as the call for rationalism in the new world. This gave more room for the spread of both Mariology and Catholicism during the 18th century. Various publications that embraced Mariology were published. In the 20th century, there was a high level of domination by Mariology’s   in the high rankings of the Catholic Church; this is the century in which there was a high formation of the Marian societies and movements.