Mary Is the Real and True Mother of God

19. The truth of this dogma is a necessary consequence of what we have already said on the subject of the two Natures; for if Christ as man is true God, and if Mary be truly the Mother of Christ as man, it necessarily follows that she must be also truly the Mother of God. We will explain it even more clearly by Scripture and tradition. In the first place the Scripture assures us that a Virgin (that is the Virgin Mary) has conceived and brought forth God, as we see in Isaias (vii, 14): " Behold a Virgin shall conceive and shall bring forth a Son, and his name shall be called Emmanuel, which is interpreted (says St. Matthew), God with us." St. Luke, relating what the angel said to Mary, proves the same truth: " Behold thou shalt conceive in the womb, and shalt bring forth a Son, and thou shalt call his name Jesus. He shall be great, and shall be called the Son of the Most High, and the Holy which shall be born of thee shall be called the Son of God" (Luke, i, 31 35.) Mark the words: " shall be called the Son of the Most High," " shall be called the Son of God," that is, shall be celebrated and recognized by the whole world as the Son of God. (2) Vide Tournelly, Comp. Theol. t. 4, p. 2, Incarn. c. 3, ar. 1, p. 800, signanter, p. 817, vers. ter.  

20. St. Paul proves the same truth when he says: " Which he had promised before by his prophets in the Holy Scriptures. Concerning the Son who was made to him in the seed of David, according to the flesh" (Rom. i, 2, 3); and, writing to the Galatians, he says: " When the fulness of time was come God sent his Son made of a woman made under the law" (Gal. iv, 4). This Son, promised by God through the Prophets, and sent in the fulness of time, is God equal to the Father, as has been already proved, and this same God, sprang from the seed of David, according to the flesh, was born of Mary; she is, therefore, the true Mother of this God.

21. Besides, St. Elizabeth, filled with the Holy Ghost, called Mary the Mother of her Lord: " And whence is this to me that the Mother of my Lord should come to me?" (Luke, i, 43). Who was the Lord of St. Elizabeth, unless God? Jesus Christ himself, also, as often as he called Mary his Mother, called himself the Son of Man, and still the Scriptures attest that without the operation of man he was born of a Virgin. He once asked his disciples: " Whence do men say that the Son of Man is?" (Matt, xvi, 13), and St. Peter answered: " Thou art Christ, the Son of the living God;" and our Saviour answered: " Blessed art thou, Simon Barjona, because flesh and blood hath not revealed it to thee, but my Father who is in heaven." Therefore, the Son of Man is the true Son of God, and, consequently, Mary is the Mother of God.  

22. In the second place this truth is proved from tradition. The Symbols or Creeds already quoted against Nestorius, proving that Jesus Christ is true God, also prove that Mary is the true Mother of God, since they teach, " That he was conceived of the Holy Ghost from the Virgin Mary, and was made man." The decree of the Second Council of Nice (Act. VII.) even declares, if possible, more clearly, that Mary is the true Mother of God: " Confitemur autem et Dominam nostram sanctam Mariam proprio et veraciter (properly and truly) Dei Genitricem, quoniam peperit carne unum ex S. Trinitate Christum Deum nostrum; secundum quod et Ephesinum prius dogmatizavit Concilium, quod impium Nestorium cum Collegis suis tanquam personalem dualitatem introducentes ab Ecclesia pepulit."  

23. Mary has been called the Mother of God by all the Fathers. I will merely quote from a few who wrote in the early ages previous to Nestorius. St. Ignatius the Martyr (1) says: " Deus noster Jesus Christus ex Maria genitus est." St. Justin (2): " Verbum formatum est, et homo factus est ex Virgine;" and again: " Ex Virginali utero Primogenitum omnium rerum conditarum carne factum vere puerum nasci, id præoecupans per Spiritum Sanctum." St. Iræneus (3) says: " Verbum existens ex Maria, quæ adhuc erat virgo, recte accipiebat generationem Adæ recapitulationis." St. Dionisius of Alexandria writes (4): " Quomodo ais tu, hominem esse eximium Christum, et non revera Deum, et ab omni creatura cum Patre, et Spiritu Sancto adorandum, incarnatum ex Virgine Deipara Maria?" And he adds: " Una sola Virgo filia vitæ genuit Verbum vivens, et per se subsistens increatum, et Creatorem." St. Athanasius (5) says: " Hunc scopum, et characterem sanctæ Scripturæ esse, nempe ut duo de Salvatore demonstret: ilium scilicet Deum semper fuisse, et Filium esse ipsumque postea propter nos, carne ex Virgine Deipara Maria assumpta, hominem factum esse." St. Gregory of Nazianzen (6) says: " Si quis sanctam Mariam Deiparam non credit, extra Divinitatem est." St. John Chrysostom says (7): " Admodum stupendum est audire Deum ineffabilem, inenarrabilem, incomprehensibilem, Patri æqualem per Virgineam venisse vulvam, et ex muliere nasci dignatum esse." Among the Latin Fathers we will quote a few. Tertullian says (8): " Ante omnia commendanda erit ratio quæ præfuit, ut Dei Filius de Virgine nasceretur." St. Ambrose says(9): "Filium coæternum Patri suscepisse carnem, natum de Spiritu Sancto ex Virgine Maria." (1) St. Ignat. Ep. ad Ephe. a. 14. (2) St. Justin, Apol. & Dialog, cum Triphon. n. 44. (3) Iræn. l. 3, c. 21, al. 31, n. 10. (4) St. Dionis. Ep. ad Paul, Samos. (5) St. Athan. Orat, 3, a. 4, con. Arian. (6) St. Greg. Nazian. Orat 51. (7) St. Chrysos. Horn. 2, in Matth. n. 2. (8) Tertul. l. de Cor. Chris, c. 17. (9) St. Ambr. Ep. 63.  St. Jerome says (10): " Natum Deum ex Virgine credimus, quia legimus." St. Augustine (11) says: " Invenisse apud Deum gratiam dicitur (Mariæ ut Domini sui, imo omnium Domini Mater esset."  

24. I omit other authorities, and will confine myself to only one, that of John, Bishop of Antioch, who wrote to Nestorius in the name of Theodoret, and several other friends of his, on the name of the Mother of God: " Nomen quod a multis sæpe Patribus usurpatum, ac pronunciatum est, adjungere ne graveris; neque vocabulum, quod piam rectamque notionem animi exprimit, refutare pergas; etenim nomen hoc Theotocos nullus unquam Ecclesiasticorum Doctorum repudiavit. Qui enim illo usi sunt, et multi reperiuntur, et apprime celebres; qui vero illud non usurparunt, nunquam erroris alicujus eos insimularunt, qui illo usi sunt Etenim si id quod nominis significatione offertur, non recipimus, restat ut in gravissimum errorem prolabamur, iino vero ut inexplicabilem illam unigeniti Filii Dei œconomiam abnegemus. Quandoquidem nomine hoc sublato vel hujus potius nominis notione repudiata, sequitur mox ilium non esse Deum, qui admirabilem illam dispensationem nostræ salutis causa suscepit, turn Dei Verbum neque sese exinanivisse," &c. We may as well mention that St. Cyril wrote to Pope St. Celestine, informing him, that so deeply implanted was this belief in the hearts of the people of Constantinople, that when they heard Dorotheus, by order of Nestorius, pronounce an anathema against those who asserted that she was the Mother of God, they all rose up as one man, refused to hold any more communication with Nestorius, and from that out would not go to the church, a clear proof of what the universal belief of the Church was in those days.  

25. The Fathers adduced several reasons to convince Nestorius. I will only state two: First It cannot be denied that she is the Mother of God, who conceived and brought forth a Son, who, at the time of his conception, was God. But both Scripture and Tradition prove that our Blessed Lady brought forth this Son of God; she is, therefore, truly the Mother of God. " Si Deus est," says St. Cyril, " Dominus noster Jesus Christus, quomodo Dei Genetrix non est, quaa ilium genuit, Sancta Virgo" (12)? (10) St. Hier. l. con.,Elvid. (11) St. Aug. in Enchir. cap. 36. (12) St. Cyril, Ep. 1 ad Success.  Here is the second reason: If Mary be not the Mother of God, then the son whom she brought forth is not God, and, consequently, the Son of God and the son of Mary are not the same. Now Jesus Christ, as we have already seen, has proclaimed himself the Son of God, and he is the son of Mary; therefore, the Nestorians must admit, either that Jesus Christ is not the son of Mary, or that Mary, being the Mother of Jesus Christ, is truly the Mother of God.  

THE OBJECTIONS OF THE NESTORIANS ANSWERED.  

26. First, they object that the word Deipara, or Mother of God, is not used either in the Scriptures or in the Symbols of the Councils; but we answer, that neither in Scripture or Symbols do we find the word Christotocos, Mother of Christ; therefore, according to that argument, she should not be called the Mother of Christ, as Nestorius himself calls her. But we will give even a more direct answer. It is just the same thing to say that Mary is the Mother of God, as to say that she conceived and brought forth God; but both Scripture and Councils say that she brought forth a God, they, therefore, proclaim her, in equivalent terms, the Mother of God. Besides, the Fathers of the first centuries, as we have quoted, constantly called her the Mother of God, and the Scripture itself calls her Mother of our Lord, as Elizabeth, when filled with the Holy Ghost, said: " Whence is this to me, that the Mother of my Lord should come to me?"  

27. They object, secondly, that Mary did not generate the Divinity, and, consequently, she cannot be called the Mother of God. We answer, that she should be called the Mother of God, because she was the mother of a man, who was at the same time true God and true man, just as we say that a woman is the mother of a man composed both of soul and body, though she only produces the body, and not the soul, which is created by God alone. Therefore, as Mary, though she has not generated the Divinity, still, as she brought forth a man, according to the flesh, who was, at the same time, God and man, she should be called the Mother of God.  

28. They object, thirdly, that the Mother ought to be consubstantial to the Son; but the Virgin is not consubstantial to God, therefore, she ought not to be called the Mother of God. We answer, that Mary is not consubstantial to Christ as to the Divinity, but merely in humanity alone, and because her son is both man and God, she is called the Mother of God. They say, besides, that if we persist in calling her the Mother of God, we may induce the simple to believe that she is a Goddess herself; but we answer, that the simple are taught by us that she is only a mere creature, but that she brought forth Christ, God and man. Besides, if Nestorius was so scrupulous about calling her the Mother of God, lest the simple might be led to believe that she was a Goddess, he ought to have a greater scruple in denying her that title, lest the simple might be led to believe, that as she was not the Mother of God, consequently Christ was not God.