Journey with Mary, Path to Jesus

Mary in Scripture

Annunciation — Sandro Botticelli, c. 1490

Every line of Catholic Marian devotion has its root in Sacred Scripture, and every line of Sacred Scripture has been read, prayed, and unfolded across two thousand years by the saints, the Fathers, the Councils, and the Catechism of the Catholic Church. Here is where Mary stands — in the Bible, in the Tradition, and in the official teaching of the Church.

Mary in the Old Testament

The Old Testament prepares us for Mary in figures and prophecies. The early Church Fathers read these passages as foreshadowings of the Mother of God.

  • Genesis 3:15 — the Protoevangelium, the first promise of a Redeemer through a woman whose offspring will crush the serpent. Read by the Church as the first hint of Mary and her Son.
  • Isaiah 7:14 — “Behold, the virgin shall conceive and bear a son, and his name shall be called Emmanuel.” Quoted directly by Saint Matthew (1:23) in the infancy narrative.
  • 2 Samuel 6 / 1 Chronicles 15 — the Ark of the Covenant. The Church Fathers and Dr. Brant Pitre have shown how Luke’s account of the Visitation deliberately echoes the Ark coming to the house of Obed-edom: Mary as the New Ark who carries the New Covenant in her womb.
  • 1 Kings 2:13–20 — the queen mother (Bathsheba) interceding with King Solomon. The Davidic queen mother is the pattern of Mary as Regina: she does not rule, she intercedes.
  • Song of Songs — read in the Church’s tradition as a poetic image of God’s love for his Bride, who is sometimes Israel, sometimes the Church, and sometimes Mary.
  • Proverbs 8:22–31 — Wisdom personified. The Church’s liturgy applies this passage to Mary on her feast days.
  • Judith 13:18 and 15:9 — “Most blessed are you, daughter, by the Most High God, above all the women on earth.” The Church has applied these words of praise to Mary.
  • Sirach 24 — Wisdom dwelling in Israel. Read as a foreshadowing of Mary as the temple of the Word.

Mary in the New Testament

The Gospels show Mary present at every decisive moment in the life of her Son.

  • Luke 1:26–38 — The Annunciation. Gabriel greets her: “Hail, full of grace.” Mary’s Fiat: “Let it be to me according to your word.”
  • Luke 1:39–56 — The Visitation and Magnificat. Mary visits Elizabeth; John leaps in the womb; Mary sings the Magnificat — the longest passage spoken by any woman in the New Testament.
  • Luke 2:1–20 — The Nativity. Mary gives birth in Bethlehem and “kept all these things, pondering them in her heart.”
  • Matthew 1:18–25 — Joseph’s dream. The angel confirms to Joseph that “what is conceived in her is from the Holy Spirit.”
  • Matthew 2:1–23 — The Magi and the Flight into Egypt. Mary protects the Christ child as Herod seeks his life.
  • Luke 2:21–40 — The Presentation in the Temple. Simeon’s prophecy: “A sword will pierce your own soul also.”
  • Luke 2:41–52 — The Finding in the Temple. Mary and Joseph find the twelve-year-old Jesus among the doctors of the Law.
  • John 2:1–11 — The Wedding at Cana. Mary’s only words to a stranger in any of the four Gospels: “Do whatever he tells you.”
  • John 19:25–27 — At the Foot of the Cross. Jesus gives Mary as Mother to the beloved disciple, and through him to all the Church.
  • Acts 1:14 — In the Upper Room. Mary is among the apostles in prayer, awaiting the Holy Spirit at Pentecost.
  • Galatians 4:4 — “God sent forth his Son, born of a woman.” Saint Paul’s brief but central reference to Mary.
  • Revelation 12:1 — The Woman Clothed with the Sun. “And a great sign appeared in heaven: a woman clothed with the sun, with the moon under her feet, and on her head a crown of twelve stars.” Read by the Catholic Church as Mary, glorified in heaven.

The Early Church Fathers on Mary

From the second century onward, the Christian people have spoken of Mary as Mother, as Virgin, as the New Eve, and — already in 250 A.D. — as Theotokos, the Mother of God.

  • Sub Tuum Praesidium (c. 250 A.D.) — the oldest known prayer to Mary, found on a Greek papyrus in Egypt. The Christian people are already calling her Theotokos.
  • Saint Justin Martyr († c. 165) — first patristic witness to Mary as the New Eve: “Eve disobeyed; Mary obeyed.”
  • Saint Irenaeus of Lyons († c. 202) — develops the New Eve teaching: “What the virgin Eve had bound by her unbelief, the Virgin Mary loosed by her faith.” (Adversus Haereses III, 22)
  • Origen of Alexandria († c. 254) — first surviving use of the Greek title Theotokos (“God-bearer”) in his commentary on Romans.
  • Saint Athanasius the Great († 373) — defender of Christ’s full divinity at Nicaea, and of Mary’s perpetual virginity.
  • Saint Ephrem the Syrian († 373) — the deacon-poet of Edessa, whose Hymns on the Nativity sing Mary as the burning bush, the unhewn mountain, the chariot of God.
  • Saint Ambrose of Milan († 397) — Mary as type of the Church; the saint who baptized Augustine.
  • Saint Augustine († 430) — sermons on the Annunciation and Mary’s role in the economy of salvation. “Holy Mary conceived first in her heart, and then in her womb.” (Sermon 25, 7)
  • Saint Cyril of Alexandria († 444) — defender of the title Theotokos against Nestorius at the Council of Ephesus (431).
  • Saint John of Damascus († 749) — the great Eastern Doctor on the Dormition and Assumption.

Mary in the Catholic Magisterium

Where the bishops of the Catholic Church, gathered in council with the Pope, have spoken about Mary.

  • Council of Ephesus (431 A.D.) — defined Mary as Theotokos, “Mother of God,” to safeguard the truth that Jesus is one Person, both fully God and fully man.
  • Council of Chalcedon (451 A.D.) — confirmed Mary’s role as Theotokos and the doctrine of the two natures of Christ.
  • Lateran Council (649 A.D.) — solemnly affirmed Mary’s perpetual virginity: “before, in, and after” the birth of Christ.
  • Council of Trent (1545–1563) — affirmed Marian devotion and the veneration of holy images, against Protestant objections.
  • Ineffabilis Deus (1854) — Pope Pius IX defines the dogma of the Immaculate Conception.
  • Munificentissimus Deus (1950) — Pope Pius XII defines the dogma of the Assumption.
  • Second Vatican Council (1962–1965) — devotes the entire eighth chapter of Lumen Gentium to “The Blessed Virgin Mary, Mother of God, in the Mystery of Christ and of the Church.”
  • Marialis Cultus (1974) — Pope Saint Paul VI on the right ordering of Marian devotion, in continuity with the Council.
  • Redemptoris Mater (1987) — Pope Saint John Paul II on Mary in the life of the pilgrim Church.
  • Rosarium Virginis Mariae (2002) — Pope Saint John Paul II on the Rosary, introducing the Luminous Mysteries.

Mary in the Catechism of the Catholic Church

The Catechism (1992) gathers the Catholic Church’s teaching on Mary in two main places.

  • Paragraphs 484–511 — “Mary’s Predestination” and “The Immaculate Conception”; “Conceived by the Power of the Holy Spirit”; “Born of the Virgin Mary”; the four Marian dogmas seen together.
  • Paragraphs 963–975 — “Mary, Mother of Christ, Mother of the Church”; “Mary’s Spiritual Motherhood”; “Devotion to the Blessed Virgin”; the Assumption and Mary’s eschatological role.
  • Paragraphs 2673–2682 — “In Communion with the Holy Mother of God.” How and why the Christian people pray with Mary.
  • Paragraph 273 — Mary’s Fiat as the supreme example of faith in God’s omnipotence: “For with God nothing will be impossible” (Luke 1:37).

The Four Marian Dogmas

The Catholic Church has solemnly defined four truths about Mary as binding for the faith of every Catholic. Each has its own deeper page on this site.

“All Scripture is inspired by God and is useful for teaching, for refutation, for correction, and for training in righteousness.”

— 2 Timothy 3:16