A listener named Michael asks Father Dave about ways we honor the Blessed Virgin Mary. Michael says, “I had a friend ask me, ‘How many Marys do Catholics believe in?’ They were referring to the many titles: Our Lady of Fatima, Our Lady of Lourdes, etc. The list is long. How can I explain the many manifestations of Mother Mary?”
Father Dave begins, “There are two questions there; we’ll start with the easiest question to answer: How many Marys do we believe in? While there are certainly different people that are named Mary in the Bible and in our tradition among the saints, I’m pretty sure we’re talking about Mary who is the mother of Jesus. So how many Marys do we believe in? Just one, we believe it is one person.”
He unpacks why the Church has so many different ways to refer to Mary. “There’s two broad categories I would say in answer to that question. First is, traditionally in the Church, we refer to Mary in different ways that are more like nicknames that describe aspects of her virtues, or, theologically, what she represents,” Father Dave says. “Examples of those would be ‘Mother of God,’ ‘Mother of the Church,’ and ‘Blessed Virgin Mary.’”
LISTEN: Why Do We Call Mary ‘The Mother of God’?
“That is a description of her, but that’s also a theological assertion that she was the virgin who gave birth to the Lord, and that was miraculous. It was the Holy Spirit that was responsible for that; not because she had sexual relations with Joseph or anyone else,” he continues. “All Christians would concur that Mary was a virgin when she gave birth to Jesus, but there is a difference of belief [between Christian denominations] as to whether or not Mary was ‘Ever Virgin,’ and that is one of the titles that Catholics use for Mary in our prayers.”
He compares these titles for Mary to our modern understanding of names. “It would somewhat be analogous to celebrities, people in history, or sports figures that have nicknames,” Father Dave says. “For instance, Muhammad Ali, which wasn’t even his name at birth; His name was Cassius Clay, and he took on [the name] Muhammad Ali. He was called ‘The Greatest,’ ‘The Champ,’ and a lot of different nicknames that emphasized different aspects of him.”
“If you look at people from history, Abraham Lincoln was called ‘The Liberator,’ ‘Honest Abe,’ ‘The Great Emancipator’ — all those were genuine nicknames. If you said if you said ‘Honest Abe,’ most people would know who you’re talking about,” Father Dave adds.
The other main category of names for Mary refers to sites of Marian apparitions throughout history. “Really somewhat uniquely to Mary in Catholic tradition, we believe that over the 2000 years since she has been assumed into heaven, she has appeared or made herself manifest in different ways or different forms to living people on Earth,” Father Dave says. “Most of those come in the form of an apparition, meaning appearing visually and oftentimes accompanied by being able to hear her.”
He continues, “She has appeared in some supernatural way to people on Earth at different times in different places, usually very geographically localized. Of those apparitions, there are 17 that are officially approved by the Roman Catholic Church, by the Vatican.” Some of these titles include ‘Our Lady of Fatima,’ ‘Our Lady of Guadalupe,’ and ‘Our Lady of Lourdes.’
Father Dave notes devotion to these apparitions is not required in the Church, but can help different communities connect to Mary. He says, “All of the approved Marian devotions, apparitions, and titles ultimately point us to our savior Jesus Christ, who is her Son. The Church says that no elements of these stories or this devotion take people away from the Church or away from Jesus, so we can allow them it to flourish.”
