Mariolatry Refuted.
Quotations made from various publications, some that are in the Public Domain.
Mariolatry is the excessive devotion and worship of Mary this article examines the claims that the Roman Catholic Church makes on the subject. Rome has no scriptural basis for placing Mary (or Joseph for that matter) as being equal with Jesus making no distinction between them as intercessors. Colossians 1:18 refutes this. Mary cannot dominate the Church nor can she lead anyone to Christ for one this is the work of the Holy Spirit alone (John 16:13). Mary and Joseph cannot make intercession for us. When Catholics speak to Joseph and Mary, by prayer or other means, they are attempting to communicate with the dead, such communication is forbidden, this is a sin in the eyes of God, even if they are the Saints in heaven.
There is nothing from scripture that instructs us to, supports or even suggests that any dead saint or even Mary (for that matter) has any power over us. This is simply because it is God alone who has the power to answer prayer through Christ’s interceding on our behalf. He is the only and one true God and no other god’s, goddesses or any other spirit can intervene by any means on our behalf.
The bible defines this as Spiritualism or the practices of a Medium or one who calls up the dead. In Deuteronomy 18:19 God calls this practice an abomination, and other references to having any form of communication with the dead, or attempting such, are mentioned in the following Scriptures.
“Give no regard to mediums and familiar spirits; do not seek after them, to be defiled by them: I am the Lord your God.” (Leviticus 19:31)
“And the person who turns after mediums and familiar spirits, to prostitute himself with them, I will set My face against that person and cut him off from his people.” (Leviticus 20:6)
“So Saul died for his unfaithfulness which he had committed against the Lord, because he did not keep the word of the Lord, and also because he consulted a medium for guidance.” (1 Chronicles 10:13)
Calling up the Dead can be through a prayer as it is believed that these saints, or Mary, can hear us from heaven and can intercede directly with God on our behalf, or even appear directly to us through the various apparitions (especially Marian) seen in many parts of the world, such practice is never condoned in scripture.
Catholic Apologists have a defence for this by saying:
“Seeking the dead on behalf of the living” and “calling up the dead” is necromancy, and we engage in nothing of the sort when we pray to the saints.
First of all, the saints aren’t dead. As disembodied spirits in heaven, they are in fact very much alive: “Have you not read what was said to you by God, ‘I am the God of Abraham, and the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob’? He is not God of the dead, but of the living” (Mt 22:31-32). Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, they died a long time ago, yet Jesus refers to them as the living ones of whom He is God. By His grace, the saints have conquered death, and I dare say are now more alive than you and I are!
http://phatcatholic.blogspot.co.uk/2011/07/facebook-apologetics-praying-to-saints_08.html
This explanation from a Roman Catholic apologist is flawed. He points out, “First of all, the saints aren’t dead. As disembodied spirits in heaven, they are in fact very much alive:” “Have you not read what was said to you by God, ‘I am the God of Abraham, and the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob’? He is not God of the dead, but of the living” (Mt 22:31-32).”
Whist in one sense it is true that those in Heaven are very much alive (Revelation 6:9-10) however the quote from Mt 22:31-32 was not in context. When death occurs physically the body is dead but they are very much alive as the soul lives on whether in heaven or in hell. This does not give us consent to communicate or to pray to those who are alive in the Kingdom of Heaven. Matthew 22:31-32 was recording the words of our Lord when Jesus was clearly giving reference to his own bodily resurrection. Physical death does not bring an end to the soul, it lives on. The bible teaches us that the soul exists for all eternity either in the Lake of Fire spoken of in Mark 9.45-46, 2nd Peter 2.17 and Jude 13 or in the Kingdom of Heaven spoken of in John 10:28.
The RCC does not see that praying to Mary or St Joseph as necromancy, but what is quoted here is a misuse and a misapplication of such practices.
Roman Catholics believe that they are not committing the same sin as Saul in 1 Sa 28:20-25 but then again as the prophet Samuel appeared to Saul through witch of Endor who was nothing more than a conjurer, so Mary appears to the Roman Catholics not through the witch of Endor but another medium, the Vatican. It is my belief that calling upon Mary to make intercession has resulted in the so-called Marian apparitions, even to the point that these apparitions are giving messages to the RCC, which the ecclesiastical authority receives so often without question; this is when it becomes necromancy because these apparitions are from a woman who died bodily. There are no scriptural references to Mary’s assumption in the Bible; this teaching is based on Oral tradition.
Book: Our Case against Rome [P125] Gerson quoted by Cardinal Manning.
The Roman Divines distinguish between three kinds of devotion or worship. The first is douleia, which is the veneration due to the saints; the second is Hyperdouleia, or higher veneration, due only to God Himself. Thus they deny that latreia is ever paid to the Virgin, and consequently they repudiate the term Mariolatry,’ which means the offering of the latreia to Mary.
Doubtless in the early ages of the Roman Church this distinction was maintained, but in modern times, since the Tridentine decrees, such extravagant Language has been used that it is impossible to make the smallest distinction between the prayers offered even to Mary, and we may add even to Joseph. The term ‘Mariolatry’ is therefore, no whit too strong to describe the present-day worship paid to the Virgin. The three persons of ‘the Earthly Trinity’ Jesus, Mary, Joseph are placed exactly on an equality.
[P126] Thus pages might be filled with Divine or quasi-Divine titles, which have been given by Roman Catholic Writers to the Virgin, and since all their books have received the Non obstat and Imprimatur, if the authorities, the Church itself is committed to them. These are a few of the expressions used : ‘Queen of Heaven and Earth’ (Pope Pius IX), ‘Co-redeemer of the Human Race,’ ‘Mediatrix,’ ‘Spouse of the Holy Spirit,(Hebdoma Mariana.)’ ‘Mistress of the World,(Little Office of the Immaculate Conception)’ ‘Queen of Angels and Hope of Men,(St. Liguori)’ ‘Spouse of the Eternal, (St. Bonaventura)’ ‘Our Refuge, Help, and Asylum, (St. Liguori)’ ‘Lady and Mistress of the Universe, (Raccolta)’ ‘Advocate ; Refuge of Sinners,’ ‘Our Mighty and Kind Mother.(Leo XIII.)’ ‘In a word Mary participates by grace in all the titles which Jesus enjoys by Nature.(Devotion of the Sacred Heart. Dublin 1840)
The Titles given in veneration to Mary seem to be worshipful yet the RCC rejects the idea that she is being worshiped, stating that Mary is given honour and recognition in reverence to her title Mother of God. However nothing could be further from the Truth, The Glories of Mary is a classic book in the field of Roman Catholic Mariology, written during the 18th century by Saint Alphonsus Liguori, a Doctor of the Church. [P566], quote: “At the command of Mary all obey, even God.” Here we have a clear example where Rome´s devotion to Mary places her above even God Himself! The popes, and those who the Church of Rome hold in High regard, have condoned this act of worship and veneration given to Mary and the saints
This is reduces the importance of Christ in an attempt to take the focus away from our only Saviour Christ.
“God has entrusted the keys and treasures of heaven to Mary.” Thomas Aquinas.
“Holy Scripture was written to Mary, about Mary, and on account of Mary.” St. Bernard
“Who can worthily thank thee and adequately praise thee, oh Blessed Virgin, who by thy fiat has saved a lost world.” St. Augustine
“The foundation of all our confidence is found in the Blessed Virgin Mary. God has committed to her the treasury of all good things, in order that everyone may know that through her are obtained every hope, every grace, and all salvation. For this is His will: That we obtain everything through Mary.” Pope Pius IX
“Sinners receive pardon by the intercession of Mary alone.” St. John Chrysostom
“No one ever finds Christ but with and through Mary. Whoever seeks Christ apart from Mary seeks Him in vain.” St. Bonaventure
“All those who seek Mary’s protection will be saved for all eternity.” Pope Benedict XV
“What will it cost you, oh Mary, to hear our prayer? What will it cost you to save us? Has not Jesus placed in your hands all the treasures of His grace and mercy? You sit crowned Queen at the right hand of your son: your dominion reaches as far as the heavens and to you are subject the earth and all creatures dwelling thereon. Your dominion reaches even down into the abyss of hell, and you alone, oh Mary, save us from the hands of Satan.” Pope Pius Xl
“Mary, not one of thy devout servants has ever perished: may I, too, Be saved!” Pope Benedict XV
This places Mary in a position where she has divinity. We read the words of Peter (whom the RCC declares to be the first Pope of the Church) in Acts 4:12 refuting these claims. Thus Rome makes herself an enemy of the cross.
“The Rome of the Early Church” by A.G. MACKINNON published 1933
[P159] This introduces us to a controversial question: On these mural records of the Early Church is there the faintest shadow of the worship of the Virgin Mary? If a direct answer is demanded, I would say not before the fourth century. Perhaps the picture which betrays the first hint of this new cult is one in the very catacomb we are visiting. Here is a fresco of Mary and the Child, and we note embellishments which suggest veneration if not worship. The date cannot be earlier than towards the end of the fourth century.
Most of what the books speaks of on this subject can be seen through paintings it describes as clear indications.
(“Modern Romanism Examined” by Rev. H.W. DEARDEN Published 1927):-
[P221] Mariolatry is “The religious system which it really involves is so serious and extended that it needs special consideration.
In order to give a particular honour to the Virgin Mary, Rome has invented the term (hyperdoulia) to signify veneration and worship due to her, which is above that (Doulia)due to the saints and inferior to the highest degree of worship (Latreia) which is due to God. Such an artificial distinction falls in practice, as it necessarily must do when the same visible acts are rendered to one as to the other-kneeling, bowing, prostration; when similar services are provided with special indulgencies, and when books of devotion inculcate prayer, intercession, and direct requests to Mary which are suitable only to God and Christ. This cult, or worship, of the Virgin Mary has recently advanced by leaps and bounds. In the ancient service books, such as the Missal and the Breviary, the prayers usually only plead the merits and intercession of Mary – an unscriptural and unauthorised practice, yet far removed from modern invocations. Thus in the service of the Mass, second Sunday after Easter, there occurs this plea “Having received, O Lord, these helps of our salvation, grant, we beseech Thee that we may be everywhere protected by the patronage of the Blessed Mary, ever Virgin, in veneration of whom we have made these offerings to thy Majesty.”
In the Breviary there is a distinct advance. The prayers are offered to the Virgin herself, yet still asking only her intercession – “Blessed Mother Virgin undefiled, glorious Queen of Heaven, intercede for us with the Lord.” So a prayer to Mary at the celebration of the Mass – “O mother of pity and mercy, most blessed Virgin Mary, I, a miserable and unworthy sinner, flee to thee with my whole heart and affection, and I pray thy sweet pity, that as thou didst stand by thy sweetest Son upon the cross, so thou wouldest vouchsafe of thy clemency to stand by me, a miserable priest, and by all priests who here and in all the holy churches offer Him this day, that, aided by thy grace, we may be enabled to offer a worthy and acceptable VICTIM in the sight of the most high and undivided Trinity.”
Then in the Roman Ritual Prayers are directed to the Virgin for benefits as her own gifts, without any reference to her intercession – “Under thy protection we take refuge, Holy Mother of God: despise not our supplications in our necessities, but from all dangers do thou deliver us, O glorious and blessed Virgin.”
This describes a form of worship by the RCC, this shows the Catholic Church’s relationship to the “Queen of Heaven worthy of praise and worship”! This is contrary to Holy Scripture as seen in Psalm 18:3 and Acts 14:8-18. God alone is to be worshiped Matthew 4:10.
[P225] “We praise thee, O Mary, as the Mother of God, we acknowledge thee to be the Virgin, All the earth doth worship thee, the Spouse of the Eternal. All angels and archangels, thrones and principalities, serve thee.
The angels in heaven sing “Holy, Holy, Holy” to God not to Mary in Revelations 4:8 and Isaiah 6:3. Rome states “To thy glory the angels forever sing – Holy, Holy, Holy Mary, Mother of God : Both a mother and a virgin. The Glorious company of the apostles praise thee, the Mother of the Creator. O lady, save thy people, that we may partake of the inheritance of thy Son, and govern us and guard us for ever without sin.”
(See Vatican Edition of Bonaventura’s works: Similar perversions by the Jesuit Raynaud of Lyons).
The following shows how children from their formative years are indoctrinated into Marian Worship dogmatically [P228.]
The following passages are taken from a “Little Catechism of the blessed Virgin,” by the Marist Brothers. Twelve principle privileges are assigned to Mary : a miraculous and painless delivery; her resurrection three days after her death, and her Assumption, body and soul, into heaven her coronation as Queen of Heaven and earth, and her appointment by Jesus [P229] Christ to be “the dispenser of all His graces.” To the question “How far should we honour the blessed Virgin?” the answer is, “By placing her below God, but above all else.” Question “What is meant by continual confidence?” Answer – “It means that we ought to have recourse to Mary at all times and in all places, every day and every hour; because our wants are continual, and God takes pleasure in granting us His graces on all occasions through His Holy Mother.” The catechism also contains instructions as to the feasts of the blessed Virgin, the use of the Holy Scapular (“a small livery worn in the honour of the Virgin”) and the Holy Rosary (“a set of prayers in the Honour of the blessed Virgin”), and closes with prayers to the Virgin, amongst which is the following – “Remember, O most Holy Virgin Mary, that no one ever had recourse to thy protection, implored they help, or sought thy mediation without obtaining relief. Confiding therefore in thy goodness, behold me a penitent sinner, sighing out my sins before thee, beseeching thee to adopt me for thy child, and to take upon thee the care of my eternal salvation. Despise not, O Mother of Jesus, the petition of thy humble client, but hear and grant my prayer. Amen”
Such is the extravagance to which this novel doctrine is being carried that a Roman Writer maintains “a presence of Mary in the Eucharist,” and that “the blood of the Lord and the flesh of His Virgin Mother are both present in the sacrament. We are much inclined to believe an essential co-presence of Mary in her whole person, with the Body and soul, under the sacred species.” Another writer affirms – “As often as we eat the flesh of Christ in the Eucharist, so often do we in it really eat the flesh of the Blessed Virgin . . . As then we daily hunger after the flesh of Christ, so too we hunger after the flesh of the Blessed Virgin that we may drink her endowments and ways and incorporate them in ourselves.” So another very popular author (Faber) writes – “There is some portion of the precious blood which once was Mary’s own blood and which remains still in our Blessed Lord . . . At this moment in heaven He retains something which was once His Mother’s, and which is possibly visible, as such, to the saints and angels, He vouchsafed at mass to show to St. Ignatius the very part of the host which had once belonged to the substance of Mary.
Ref: Oswald “Dogmat. Mariology,” p. 177
Cornelius à Lapide on Ecclus xxiv. 29, quoted by Dr. Pusey in his “Eirenicon,” p. 170
[P231]…..Surely visions, ecstasies, and superstition have at last reached their extreme limit: it seems impossible for imagination and invention to proceed further. No wonder that men become unbelievers where such perversions of Christianity are taught.
It is a little less than the invention of “another gospel,” revealed neither by apostles nor by an angel from heaven, but an awful superstitious endeavour to represent the life and rand of the Virgin Mary as corresponding and equivalent to the life and rand of our adorable Redeemer, Deity alone excepted. By placing the teaching of scripture with regard to our Lord and the unfounded claims for the Virgin Mary in parallel with be immediately apparent.
It will be seen at once that every title and office, with many circumstances in personal history, belonging to Christ exclusively, are attributed to Mary, so that she appears as an equal or rival in the work of man’s salvation.
Examples:~
| Jesus Christ: Tempted in all points as we are yet without sin. (Hebrews 4:15) Forseeing, he spoke of the resurrection of Christ; for neither was He left in hell (Hades), neither did His flesh see corruption (Acts 2:31) [P232] “The third day He rose from the dead, He ascended into heaven” Apt Creed
“King of Kings and Lord of Lords” (1 Tim 6:15) “Far above principality and power….and dominion”
“That all men may honour the Son, as they honour the Father” (John 5:23) |
Virgin Mary: Immaculate, “preserved free from all stain of original sin.” Papal Decree, Dec 8, 1854.Body of Mary in the grave only three days, and saw no corruption.- A legend of the 4th century cent. first declared by Rome to be heretical and accepted in 6th cent.
“Queen of Heaven and Earth” “Exalted above things visible and invisible.”- 2nd Council of Nicaea)- “Above all the orders of angels and saints,” – Enclucl. Of Pius IX. “Jesus Christ . . . has given her by grace, relatively to His Majesty, all the same rights and privileges which He possesses by nature.” – DeMontfort. |
So far we see Rome investigating Mary with circumstances of dignity and honour which pertain only to the incarnate Son of God. The following extracts, which claim for Mary a co-equal share with our Blessed Lord in the salvation of mankind, can only be read with mingled feelings of sorrow and indignation.
| Jesus Christ: [P233]“God so loved the world as to give His only begotten Son” (John 3:16) “Nor is there salvation in any other. For there is no other name under heaven given to men whereby we must be saved.” (Acts 4:12) “Looking on Jesus, the AUTHOR and Finisher of faith” (Heb. 12:2) “Christ hath redeemed us from the curse of the law, being made a curse for us: for it is written, Cursed is every one that hangeth on a tree:” (Gal 3:13) |
Virgin Mary: “So Mary loved the world that she gave her only-begotten Son.” – Dr. Salazar
“If there is any hope in us if any grace, if any SALVATION, it rebounds to us from HER, because such is His will, who hath willed that we should have everything through Mary.” – Pope “AUTHORESS of everlasting salvation.” Bp. Of Alghero.
|
[P234] It is worthy of special notice that in all the assertions with regard with regard to the dignity of Mary and her participation in the work of salvation, no appeal is made to Holy Scripture. The opinions quoted are those of men, not of God.
[235] The late Pope Pius IX. Called the Virgin Mary “Queen of Heaven and Earth” and wrote: Let all the sons of the Catholic Church hear these our words, and, with a yet more ardent zeal of piety, religion, and love, continue to worship, invoke, and Pray to the most blessed Mother of God, the Virgin Mary, and to flee unto her in all perils, distresses, necessities, and doubtful circumstances.” The Late Pope Leo XIII., was never weary of extolling the power of Mary. Each Encyclical urged her worship with increasing zeal.
In 1897 he wrote: “ We can address Mary with almost the same prayer as God-‘Have mercy upon us sinners’. For such is the greatness of Mary he wrote: “We can address Mary with almost the same prayer as God- ‘Have mercy upon sinners.’ For such is the greatness of Mary, so vast the favour wherewith she avails with God, that to one in need of help, not to have recourse to her is to wish to fly without wings.” How different from the words of the true peter, “Lord, to whom shall we go? Thou hast the words of eternal life” (John 6:69)
Note Rome observes twenty-two festivals in honour of Christ, and forty-two in honour of Mary, that of the Assumption being the greatest and grandest. The month of May is given up to her worship in prayers, masses, indulgencies, &c., and also the month of October. Every Saturday is also assigned to her when not preoccupied.
(“HANDBOOK TO THE CONTROVERSY WITH ROME,” by KARL VON HASE. Pub. 1906)
Church Father [P104] St. Irenaeus had said : ‘The human race became subject to death by means of a young woman ; by means of a young woman it is delivered.’ As it has become the fashion to consider Mary as the ideal of the female sex, accordingly in an age and church where virginity was held in the highest estimation as a bodily virtue, it was necessarily maintained in an unqualified manner with regard to her, contrary to every law of nature. Thus the belief that even through the Divine Birth any change in her condition took place, or that our Lord afterwards had brothers and sisters, was impugned as foolish and heretical which must happen where undue weight is laid upon matter connected with our nature.
[P105] When in the fierce conflicts of the fourth century the Church came to be conscious what it meant by Divine nature alongside of the human one in Saviour, it became customary without much consideration, and in language which carried with it the yet fresh recollection of the Mother of the Gods belonging to Mount Ida, to term Mary ‘ her who bare God’. Nestorius, Patriarch of Constantinople, set himself against this. ‘Has God,’ said he, ‘a mother? Then is paganism to be pardoned for introducing a mother of the gods, and St. Paul is a liar, who said in speaking of Christ’s Godhead that it was without father or mother or decent. Let us cease to call Mary her who bare God, that we be not tempted to make her a goddess, and so become pagans.’ At this point the sermon was interrupted by the shout, ‘That is atheism!’
Since that time the just conception of the relation of the two natures of Christ appeared to be affected by the Glorification of Mary.
Ref: Cybele or Rhea, in Greek Mythology the wife of the Cronos (Saturnus). Ida, a mountain range in Phrygia, was a chef seat of her worship.
Patriarch 428-31, When he was deposed by the general Council of Ephesus. The Nestorian heresy consisted in holding that Christ possessed two distinct personalities. See Heb 7:3
[P106] In Constantinople, Proclus the presbyter preached to this effect against his Patriarch: The Holy Mother of God and virgin had summoned us together here; she, the unsullied robe of virginity, the spiritual Paradise of the second Adam, the workshop for the fitting together of the two Natures, the bridal chamber where the Logos affianced himself to the flesh, the living bush (reminding us of the literal one of old) unconsumed by the burning pangs of Divine Birth, the light cloud bearing Him Who is above the Cherubim, Maiden and Mother, Virgin and yet heaven itself, the sole bridge connecting God with men, the awesome loom which yielded the Incarnation, upon which the robe of the union of Natures was woven in unspeakable fashion, where the Holy Spirit was the weaver ,the power overshadowing from above the spinner, Adam’s original substance the wool, the flesh of the unsullied Virgin the woof, the immeasurable grace of the body that bare the burden the weaving frame, and the saying which found a passage through the ear the artificer. Who has seen or heard a thing such as this, that God, through infinite, dwelt in a human Mother; that the body of a Virgin was not too narrow for Him Whom the heaven cannot contain?
[P107] But not till the Middle Ages did she become, owing to the old German chivalrous feeling of veneration for woman, completely the Queen of Heaven and of men’s hearts, the spotless lily, the rose without thorns. Men attached themselves more readily to her womanly gentleness, at times too to her feminine weaknesses, than to the stern Divine Father Whose justice, even where He desired to pardon, has demanded the blood of His only Son to atone for the guilt of mankind; more readily also than to the gravity of God the Son, Who offered the enormous sacrifice that consisted in a dying God, Who demands we should take His Cross upon ourselves, and Who one day as judge of the world will condemn a part of mankind to endless torments.
[P115] The Roman Catechism was the first document to direct again, through with pious prudence of expression, that prayers should be offered to the most Holy Virgin that she may reconcile us sinners with God, and by virtue of her conspicuous merits obtain from God the good things which are needed for this as well as for the future life.
[P120] Liguori affirms that God hearkens to Mary’s prayers as though they were commands, that she has even the power to rescue souls from hell. He relates with conviction that a companion of St. Frances saw in a vision two ladders. At the top of the re one Christ stood, on the white of Mary. Those who had attempted to climb up the first always fell back again, until a voice warned them to mount the second. This was successful, for Mary held out her hand to them, and they entered paradise. The moral was that it is difficult to be saved through Christ , and easy through Mary. Gregory XVI canonized Liguori.
(Alphonso Maria de’ Liguori was an Italian theologian, founder of the order of the Redemptionists in 1732)
There is no mention in the Bible of Mary ever rescuing souls from hell, nor does Mary have the ability to save souls! Marian devotion is just another form of idolatry! Acts 4:12; John 14:6 clearly stipulate that salvation is through Christ alone. We do not find any teaching of this nature concerning Mary anywhere in the Bible!
The Bible teaches us to go directly to God through Jesus Christ alone, we do not need Mary as, “through him we both have access by one Spirit unto the Father” (Ephesians 2:18).
Ephesians 3:12 In him and through faith in him we may approach God with freedom and confidence.
God bless.
Miguel Hayworth
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