Lives Of The Saints
September 12
The Holy Name of Mary
The Holy Name of Mary is a brief prayer of love and confidence. Christians speak it in temptation and danger, trusting the Mother of God to lead them always to her Son.
The Holy Name of Mary, Cristóbal de Villalpando (c. 1690-1700)
Brief life
The Church honors the Holy Name of Mary because the Mother herself is loved. Her name is spoken with reverence, gratitude, and confidence: a brief prayer in temptation, a cry for maternal help in danger, and a remembrance of the woman who always leads the faithful to her Son.
Devotion to Mary's name spread widely in the West, and the feast received renewed public force after the relief of Vienna in 1683, when Christians gave thanks for deliverance through Our Lady's intercession. The exact derivation and meaning of Mary's Hebrew name cannot be settled with certainty, but the devotion does not depend upon an uncertain translation. Mary's name is dear because her person is dear, and Christians invoke it with hope because God has given them so loving a Mother.
Historical note
The devotion rests on love for Mary herself; no single proposed derivation of her Hebrew name is presented as certain.
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