> [[jpii-rma-03|← Previous]] | [[redemptoris-mater-toc|TOC]] # Notes **1**. Cf. Second Vatican Ecumenical Council, Dogmatic Constitution on the Church Lumen Gentium, 52 and the whole of Chapter VIII, entitled "The Role of the Blessed Virgin Mary, Mother of God, in the Mystery of Christ and the Church." **2**. The expression "fullness of time" (pleroma tou chronou) is parallel with similar expressions of Judaism, both Biblical (cf. Gen. 29:21; 1 Sam. 7:12; Tob. 14:5) and extra-Biblical, and especially of the New Testament (cf. Mk. 1:15; Lk. 21:24; Jn. 7:8; Eph. 1:10). From the point of view of form, it means not only the conclusion of a chronological process but also and especially the coming to maturity or completion of a particularly important period, one directed towards the fulfillment of an expectation, a coming to completion which thus takes on an eschatological dimension. According to Gal. 4:4 and its context, it is the coming of the Son of God that reveals that time has, so to speak, reached its limit. That is to say, the period marked by the promise made to Abraham and by the Law mediated by Moses has now reached its climax, in the sense that Christ fulfills the divine promise and supersedes the old law. **3**. Cf. Roman Missal, Preface of 8 December, Immaculate Conception of the Blessed Virgin Mary; Saint Ambrose, De Institutione Virginis, XV, 93-94: PL 16, 342; Second Vatican Ecumenical Council, Dogmatic Constitution on the Church Lumen Gentium, 68. **4**. Second Vatican Ecumenical Council, Dogmatic Constitution on the Church Lumen Gentium, 58. **5**. Pope Paul VI, Encyclical Epistle Christi Matri (15 September 1966): AAS 58 (1966) 745-749, Apostolic Exhortation Signum Magnum (13 May 1967): AAS 59 (1967) 465:475; Apostolic Exhortation Marialis Cultus (2 February 1974): AAS 66 (1974) 113-168. **6**. The Old Testament foretold in many different ways the mystery of Mary: cf. Saint John Damascene, Hom. in Dormitionem 1, 8-9: S. Ch. 80, 103-107. **7**. Cf. Insegnamenti di Giovanni Paolo II, VI/2 (1983) 225f.; Pope Pius IX, Apostolic Letter Ineffabilis Deus (8 December 1854): Pii IX P. M. Acta, pars I, 597-599. **8**. Cf. Pastoral Constitution on the Church in the Modern World Gaudium et Spes, 22. **9**. Ecumenical Council of Ephesus, in Conciliorum Oecumenicorum Decreta, Bologna 1973, 41-44; 59-61: DS 250-264; cf. Ecumenical Council of Chalcedon, o. c. 84-87: DS 300-303. **10**. Second Vatican Ecumenical Council, Pastoral Constitution on the Church in the Modern World Gaudium et Spes, 22. **11**. Dogmatic Constitution on the Church Lumen Gentium, 52. **12**. Cf. ibid., 58. **13**. Ibid., 63, cf. Saint Ambrose, Expos. Evang. sec. Lucam, II, 7: CSEL 32/4, 45; De Institutione Virginis, XIV, 88-89: PL 16, 341. **14**. Cf. Dogmatic Constitution on the Church Lumen Gentium, 64. **15**. Ibid., 65. **16**. "Take away this star of the sun which illuminates the world: where does the day go? Take away Mary, this star of the sea, of the great and boundless sea: what is left but a vast obscurity and the shadow of death and deepest darkness?": Saint Bernard, In Navitate B. Mariae Sermo-De aquaeductu, 6: S. Bernardi Opera, V, 1968, 279; cf. In laudibus Virginis Matris Homilia II, 17: ed. cit., IV, 1966, 34f. **17**. Dogmatic Constitution on the Church Lumen Gentium, 63. **18**. Ibid., 63. **19**. Concerning the predestination of Mary, cf. Saint John Damascene, Hom. in Nativitatem, 7, 10: S. Ch. 80, 65; 73; Hom. in Dormitionem 1, 3: S. Ch. 80, 85: "For it is she, who, chosen from the ancient generations, by virtue of the predestination and benevolence of the God and Father who generated you (the Word of God) outside time without coming out of himself or suffering change, it is she who gave you birth, nourished of her flesh, in the last time...." **20**. Dogmatic Constitution on the Church Lumen Gentium, 55. **21**. In Patristic tradition there is a wide and varied interpretation of this expression: cf. Origen, In Lucam homiliae, VI, 7: S. Ch. 87, 148; Severianus of Gabala, In mundi creationem, Oratio VI, 10: PG 56, 497f.; Saint John Chrysostom (Pseudo), In Annunhationem Deiparae et contra Arium impium, PG 62, 765f.; Basil of Seleucia, Oratio 39, In Sanctissimae Deiparae Annuntiationem, 5: PG 85, 441-46; Antipater of Bosra, Hom. II, In Sanctissimae DeiparaeAnnuntiationem, 3-11: PG 85, 1777-1783; Saint Sophronius of Jerusalem, Oratio 11, In Sanctissimae Deiparae Annuntiationem, 17-19: PG 87/3, 3235-3240; Saint John Damascene Hom. in Dormitionem, 1, 70: S. Ch. 80, 96-101; Saint Jerome, Epistola 65, 9: PL 22, 628, Saint Ambrose, Expos. Evang. sec. Lucam, II, 9: CSEL 32/4, 45f.; Saint Augustine, Sermo 291, 4-6: PL 38, 131 8f.; Enchiridion, 36, 11: PL 40, 250; Saint Peter Chrysologus, Sermo 142: PL 52, 579f.; Sermo 143: PL 52, 583; Saint Fulgentius of Ruspe, Epistola 17, VI 12: PL 65 458; Saint Bernard, In laudibus Virginis Matris, Homilia III, 2-3: S. Bernardi Opera, IV, 1966, 36-38. **22**. Dogmatic Constitution on the Church Lumen Gentium, 55. **23**. Ibid., 53. **24**. Cf. Pope Pius XI, Apostolic Letter Ineffabilis Deus (8 December 1854): Pii IX P.M. Acta, pars I, 616; Second Vatican Ecumenical Council, Dogmatic Constitution on the Church Lumen Gentium, 53. **25**. Cf. Saint Germanus of Constantinople, In Annuntiationem SS. Deiparae Hom.: PG 98, 327f.; Saint Andrew of Crete, Canon in B. Mariae Natalem, 4. PG 97, 1321f., In Nativitatem B. Mariae, I: PG 97, 81 1f. Hom. in Dormitionem S. Mariae I: PG 97, 1067f. **26**. Liturgy of the Hours of 15 August, Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary, Hymn at First and Second Vespers; Saint Peter Damian, Carmina et preces, XLVII: PL 145, 934. **27**. Divina Commedia, Paradiso, XXXIII, 1; cf. Liturgy of the Hours, Memomial of the Blessed Virgin Mary on Saturday, Hymn II in the Office of Readings. **28**. Cf. Saint Augustine, De Sancta Virginitate, III, 3: PL 40, 398; Sermo 25, 7: PL 46, **29**. Dogmatic Constitution on Divine Revelation Dei Verbum, 5 **30**. This is a classic theme, already expounded by Saint Irenaeus: "And, as by the action of the disobedient virgin, man was afflicted and, being cast down, died, so also by the action of the Virgin who obeyed the word of God, man being regenerated received, through life, life.... For it was meet and Just...that Eve should be "recapitulated" in Mary, so that the Virgin, becoming the advocate of the virgin, should dissolve and destroy the virginal disobedience by means of virginal obedience": Expositio doctrinae apostolicae, 33: S.Ch. 62, 83-86; cf. also Adversus Haereses, V, 19, 1: 5. Ch. 153, 248-250. **31**. Second Vatican Ecumenical Council, Dogmatic Constitution on Divine Revelation Dei Verbum, 5. **32**. Ibid., 5, cf. Dogmatic Constitution on the Church Lumen Gentium, 56. **33**. Second Vatican Ecumenical Council, Dogmatic Constitution on the Church Lumen Gentium, 56. **34**. Ibid., 56. **35**. Cf. ibid., 53; Saint Augustine, De Sancta Virginitate, III, 3: PL 40, 398; Sermo 215, 4; PL 38, 1074; Sermo 196, I: PL 38, 1019; De peccatorum meritis et remissione, I, 29, 57: PL 44, 142; Sermo 25, 7: PL 46, 937-938; Saint Leo the Great, Tractatus 21, de natale Domini, I: CCL 138, 86. **36**. Ascent of Mount Carmel, 1. II, Ch. 3, 4-6. **37**. Cf. Dogmatic Constitution on the Church Lumen Gentium, 58. **38**. Ibid., 58. **39**. Cf. Second Vatican Ecumenical Council, Dogmatic Constitution on Divine Revelation Dei Verbum, 5. **40**. Concerning Mary's participation or "compassion" in the death of Christ, cf. Saint Bernard, In Dominica infra octavam Assumptionis Sermo, 14: S. Bernardi Opera, V, 1968, 273. **41**. Saint Irenaeus, Adversus Haereses III, 22, 4: S. Ch. 211, 438-444; cf. Dogmatic Constitution on the Church Lumen Gentium, 56, Note 6. **42**. Cf. Dogmatic Constitution on the Church Lumen Gentium, 56, and the Fathers quoted there in Notes 8 and 9. **43**. "Christ is truth, Christ is flesh: Christ truth in the mind of Mary, Christ flesh in the womb of Mary": Saint Augustine, Sermo 25 (Sermones inediti), 7: PL 46, 938. **44**. Dogmatic Constitution on the Church Lumen Gentium, 60. **45**. Ibid., 61. **46**. Ibid., 62. **47**. There is a well-known passage of Origen on the presence of Mary and John on Calvary: "The Gospels are the first fruits of all Scripture and the Gospel of John is the first of the Gospels: no one can grasp its meaning without having leaned his head on Jesus' breast and having received from Jesus Mary as Mother": Comm. in loan., I, 6: PG 14, 31; cf. Saint Ambrose, Expos. Evang. sec. Lucam, X, 129-131: CSEL 32/4, 504f. **48**. Dogmatic Constitution on the Church Lumen Gentium, 54 and 53; the latter text quotes Saint Augustine, De Sancta Virginitate, VI, 6: PL 40, 399. **49**. Dogmatic Constitution on the Church Lumen Gentium, 55. **50**. Cf. Saint Leo the Great, Tractatus 26, de natale Domini, 2: CCL 138, 126. **51**. Dogmatic Constitution on the Church Lumen Gentium, 59. **52**. Saint Augustine, De civitate Dei, XVIII, 51: CCL 48, 650. **53**. Second Vatican Ecumenical Council, Dogmatic Constitution on the Church Lumen Gentium, 8. **54**. Ibid., 9. **55**. Ibid., 9. **56**. Ibid., 8. **57**. Ibid., 9. **58**. Ibid., 65. **59**. Ibid., 59. **60**. Cf. Second Vatican Ecumenical Council, Dogmatic Constitution on Divine Revelation Dei Verbum, 5. **61**. Cf. Second Vatican Ecumenical Council, Dogmatic Constitution on the Church Lumen Gentium, 63. **62**. Cf. ibid., 9. **63**. Cf. ibid., 65. **64**. Ibid., 65. **65**. Ibid., 65. **66**. Cf. ibid., 13. **67**. Cf. ibid., 13. **68**. Cf. ibid., 13. **69**. Cf. Roman Missal, formula of the Consecration of the Chalice in the Eucharistic Prayers. **70**. Second Vatican Ecumenical Council, Dogmatic Constitution on the Church Lumen Gentium, 1. **71**. Ibid., 13. **72**. Ibid., 15. **73**. Cf. Second Vatican Ecumenical Council, Decree on Ecumenism Unitatis Redintegratio, 1. **74**. Dogmatic Constitution on the Church Lumen Gentium, 68, 69. On Mary Most Holy, promoter of Christian unity, and on the cult of Mary in the East, cf. Leo XIII, Encyclical Epistle Adiutricem Populi (5 September 1985): Acta Leonis XV, 300-312. **75**. Cf. Second Vatican Ecumenical Council, Decree on Ecumenism Unitatis Redintegratio, 20. **76**. Cf. ibid., 19. **77**. Ibid., 14. **78**. Ibid., 15. **79**. Second Vatican Ecumenical Council, Dogmatic Constitution on the Church Lumen Gentium, 66. **80**. Ecumenical Council of Chalcedon, Definition fidei: Conciliorum Oecumenicorum Decreta, Bologna 1973, 86 (DS 301). **81**. Cf. The Weddase Maryam (Praises of Mary), which follows the Ethiopian Psalter and contains hymns and prayers to Mary for each day of the week. Cf. also the Matshafa Kidana Mehrat (Book of the Pact of Mercy); the importance given to Mary in the Ethiopian hymnology and liturgy deserves to be emphasized. **82**. Cf. Saint Ephrem, Hymn. de Nativitate: Scriptores Syri, 82, CSCO, 186. **83**. Cf. Saint Gregory of Narek, Le livre de prieres: S. Ch. 78, 160-163; 428-432. **84**. Second Ecumenical Council of Nicaea: Conciliorurn Oecumenicorum Decreta, Bologna 19733, 135-138 (DS 600-609). **85**. Cf. Second Vatican Ecumenical Council, Dogmatic Constitution on the Church Lumen Gentium, 59. **86**. Cf. Second Vatican Ecumenical Council, Decree on Ecumenism Unitatis Redintegratio, 19. **87**. Second Vatican Ecumenical Council, Dogmatic Constitution on the Church Lumen Gentium, 8. **88**. Ibid., 9. **89**. As is well-known, the words of the Magnificat contain or echo numerous passages of the Old Testament. **90**. Second Vatican Ecumenical Council, Dogmatic Constitution on Divine Revelation Dei Verbum, 2. **91**. Cf. for example Saint Justin, Dialogus cum Tryphone ludaeo, 100: Otto II, 358; Saint Irenaeus, Adversus Haereses III, 22, 4: S. Ch. 211, 439-445; Tertullian, De carne Christi, 17, 4-6: CCL 2, 904f. **92**. Cf. Saint Epiphanius, Panarion, III, 2; Haer. 78, 18: PG 42, 727-730. **93**. Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, Instruction on Christian Freedom and Liberation (22 March 1986), 97. **94**. Second Vatican Ecumenical Council, Dogmatic Constitution on the Church Lumen Gentium, 60. **95**. Ibid., 60. **96**. Cf. The formula of mediatrix "ad Mediatorem" of Saint Bernard, In Dominica infra oct. Assumptionis Sermo, 2: S. Bernardi Opera, V, 1968, 263. Mary as a pure mirror sends back to her Son all the glory and honor which she receives: Id., In Nativitate B. Mariae Sermo-De Aquaeductu, 12: ed. cit., 283. **97**. Second Vatican Ecumenical Council, Dogmatic Constitution on the Church Lumen Gentium, 62. **98**. Ibid., 62. **99**. Ibid., 61. **100**. Ibid., 62. **101**. Ibid., 61. **102**. Ibid., 61. **103**. Ibid., 62. **104**. Ibid., 62. **105**. Ibid., 62; in her prayer too the Church recognizes and celebrates Mary's "maternal role": it is a role "of intercession and forgiveness, petition and grace, reconciliation and peace" (cf. Preface of the Mass of the Blessed Virgin Mary, Mother and Mediatrix of Grace, in Collectio Missarum de Beata Maria Virgine, ed. typ. 1987, I, 120). **106**. Ibid., 62. **107**. Ibid., 62; cf. Saint John Damascene, Hom. in Dormitionem, I, 11; II, 2, 14; III, 2: S. Ch. 80, 111f.; 127-131; 157-161; 181-185; Saint Bernard, In Assumptione Beatae Mariae Sermo, 1-2: S. Bernardi Opera, V, 1968, 228-238. **108**. Dogmatic Constitution on the Church Lumen Gentium, 59; cf. Pope Pius XII, Apostolic Constitution Munificentissimus Deus (1 November 1950): AAS 42 (1950) 769-771; Saint Bernard presents Mary immersed in the splendor of the Son's glory: In Dominica infra oct. Assumptionis Sermo, 3; S. Bernardi Opera, V, 1968, 263f. **109**. Dogmatic Constitution on the Church Lumen Gentium, 53. **110**. On this particular aspect of Mary's mediation as implorer of clemency from the "Son as Judge," cf. Saint Bernard, In Dominica infra oct. Assumptionis Sermo, 1-2: S. Bernardi Opera, V, 1968, 262f; Pope Leo XIII, Encyclical Epistle Octobri Mense (22 September 1891): Acta Leonis, XI, 299-315. **111**. Second Vatican Ecumenical Council, Dogmatic Constitution on the Church Lumen Gentium, 55. **112**. Ibid., 59. **113**. Ibid., 36. **114**. Ibid., 36. **115**. With regard to Mary as Queen, cf. Saint John Damascene, Hom. in Nativitatem, 6; 12; Hom. in Dormitionem, 1, 2, 12, 14; II, 11;III, 4: S. Ch. 80, 59f.; 77f.; 83f.; 113f.; 117; 151f.; 189-193. **116**. Second Vatican Ecumenical Council. Dogmatic Constitution on the Church Lumen Gentium, 62. **117**. Ibid., 63. **118**. Ibid., 63. **119**. Ibid., 66. **120**. Cf. Saint Ambrose, De Institutione Virginis, XIV, 88-89: PL 16, 341, Saint Augustine, Sermo 215, 4: PL 38, 1074; De Sancta Virginitate, II, 2; V, 5; VI, 6: PL 40, 397-398f.; 399; Sermo 191, II, 3: PL 38, 1010f. **121**. Cf. Second Vatican Ecumenical Council, Dogmatic Constitution on the Church Lumen Centium, 63. **122**. Ibid., 64. **123**. Ibid., 64. **124**. Ibid., 64. **125**. Ibid., 64. **126**. Cf. Second Vatican Ecumenical Council, Dogmatic Constitution on Divine Revelation Dei Verbum, 8; Saint Bonaventure, Comment. in Evang. Lucae, Ad Claras Aquas, VII, 53, No. 40, 68, No. 109. **127**. Second Vatican Ecumenical Council, Dogmatic Constitution on the Church Lumen Gentium, 64. **128**. Ibid., 63. **129**. Cf. ibid., 63. **130**. Clearly, in the Greek text the expression "eis ta idia" goes beyond the mere acceptance of Mary by the disciple in the sense of material lodging and hospitality in his house; it indicates rather a communion of life established between the two as a result of the words of the dying Christ: cf. Saint Augustine, In loan. Evang. tract. 119, 3: CCL 36, 659: "He took her to himself, not into his own property, for he possessed nothing of his own, but among his own duties, which he attended to with dedication." **131**. Second Vatican Ecumenical Council, Dogmatic Constitution on the Church Lumen Gentium, 62. **132**. Ibid., 63. **133**. Second Vatican Ecumenical Council, Pastoral Constitution on the Church in the Modern World Gaudium et Spes, 22. **134**. Cf. Pope Paul VI, Discourse of 21 November 1964: AAS 56 (1964) 1015. **135**. Pope Paul VI, Solemn Profession of Faith (30 June 1968), 15: AAS 60 (1968) 438f. **136**. Pope Paul VI, Discourse of 21 November 1964: AAS 56 (1964) 1015. **137**. Ibid., 1016. **138**. Cf. Second Vatican Ecumenical Council, Pastoral Constitution on the Church in the Modern World Gaudium et Spes, 37. **139**. Cf. Saint Bernard, In Dominica infra oct. Assumptionis Sermo: S. Bernardi Opera V, 1968, 262-274. **140**. Second Vatican Ecumenical Council, Dogmatic Constitution on the Church Lumen Gentium, 65. **141**. Cf. Encyclical Letter Fulgens Corona (8 September 1953): AAS 45 (1953) 577-592. Pius X with his Encyclical Letter Ad Diem Illum (2 February 1904), on the occasion of the 50th anniversary of the dogmatic definition of the Immaculate Conception of the Blessed Virgin Mary, had proclaimed an Extraordinary jubilee of a few months; Pii X P. M. Acta, I, 147-166. **142**. Cf. Dogmatic Constitution on the Church Lumen Gentium, 66-67. **143**. Saint Louis Marie Grignion de Montfort, Traite de la varie devotion a la sainte Vierge. This saint can rightly be linked with the figure of Saint Alfonso Maria de' Liguori, the second centenary of whose death occurs this year; cf. among his works Le glorie di Maria. **144**. Dogmatic Constitution on the Church Lumen Gentium, 69. **145**. Homily on 1 January 1987. **146**. Dogmatic Constitution on the Church Lumen Gentium, 69. **147**. Cf. Second Vatican Ecumenical Council, Dogmatic Constitution on Divine Revelation Dei Verbum, 2: "Through this revelation...the invisible God...out of the abundance of his love speaks to men as friends...and lives among them..., so that he may invite and take them into fellowship with himself." --- ![[maps/bibliography#^biblio-jpii-rma]] --- > [[jpii-rma-03|← Previous]] | [[redemptoris-mater-toc|TOC]]