The feast of the Name of Mary was first introduced by the devotion of the faithful, and afterwards, in the year 1513. was approved of by the Apostolic See, for the city and diocese of Cuenca, Spain. Pope Innocent XI. extended it to the whole Christian world, in grateful remembrance of the victory which the Christian army, through the intercession of Mary, gained over the Turks at Vienna. This feast is celebrated annually on the Sunday within the Octave of the Nativity of the Blessed Virgin, for the reason that among the Jews the custom prevailed of giving children their names a few days after their birth. The name of Mary is venerable because it is the name of her who is the Mother of God. She is the purest, the brightest, and the most perfect of all the daughters of Eve; she is the Queen of heaven and earth. I shall speak to-day of the veneration due to the holy name of Mary, and shall answer the two following questions:

According to the holy Fathers, and the interpreters of the Sacred Scriptures, the word Mary means lady, star, or sea. In this threefold meaning the Blessed Virgin justly bears the name of Mary, and this her name justly deserves our highest veneration. Mary means,

1. Lady.

(a) This name is due to her, for royal blood flowed in her veins; she is a descendant of the royal house of David. But she deserves still more to be called lady because she is the Mother of God. She is a noble lady; noble, not through man, but through God. Jesus Christ, whom she conceived and brought forth, is the Son of God, King of heaven and earth. Where is there a mother who brought forth such a son? Therefore she justly claims the highest nobility, She is a mother; she therefore possesses the right of mothers, who can command their children. She is the Mother of Jesus; to her belongs the right to give commands to Jesus; she is the Mother of God; by divine ordinance she can command God to obey; He obeys her every call, anticipates her every wish, for of Him it is said: "He went down with them, and came to Nazareth, and was subject to them."--Luke, 2: 51. This maternal relation of Mary to Jesus exists even now in heaven. Mary remains forever the Mother of Jesus, and Jesus forever the Son of Mary. When she turns to her Son in order to obtain any grace of him for us, she does so, not, like the Angels and Saints, as a servant, but as the Mother of God, and her word avails much more than that of any angel or saint. "Thou (Blessed Mother of God) approachest the golden tribunal of divine justice, not as a petitioner, but as a commander, not as a servant, but as a mother."--St. Peter Damian. How great is the dignity of Mary! how truly is she called lady!

(b) Mary is not a haughty, severe lady and mother, but a lady full of mildness and goodness, wherefore we call her "our dear lady." She most tenderly loves us, and her hands are ever open to give us active proofs of her love. St. Bernard says: "All in Mary is full of grace and mercy, for as mother of mercy she has become all to all; because of her great love she has become a debtor to the just and to sinners ; to all she opens the bosom of mercy, that all may share her fulness." Who therefore would not venerate the name of Mary, since this name gives such eloquent testimony of her dignity and goodness?



2. Star. Mary has also the name of star, wherefore in the Litany of Loretto she is saluted as "the morning star," and in a hymn "the star of the sea."

(a) Mary resembles that star which we call the morning and evening star; morning star, because it disappears in the morning at the rising of the sun; evening star, because it appears again immediately after the setting of the sun, and looks down benignly upon us. A night of four thousand years had settled upon the earth; the people were sitting in darkness and in the shadow of death; they were sunk in idolatry and were scarcely able to distinguish between virtue and vice. At length Jesus Christ appears, the long night gives place to day, for he leads men again to the true knowledge and worship of God. Jesus is the light of the world, the Sun of Justice. But as the morning star precedes the sun and announces the approach of day, so Mary preceded Jesus Christ, the Sun of Justice, and announced the day of salvation.

(b) The morning-star disappears when the sun rises, but becomes visible again soon after the sun sets, and it is then called the eveningstar. Thus also Mary retires and leads a hidden life during the public life of Jesus, who shone by word and deed like the sun; and it was only when the Sun of Justice began to set, that Mary shows herself as the evening-star, for we see her on Calvary, standing under the cross of her Son. And now, that Jesus has ascended into heaven, Mary shines in the Church as a friendly star, and her gentle light will never be obscured till the end of time.

(c) The morning-star surpasses all others in splendor, but it belongs to those planets which derive their light, not from themselves, but from the sun. Herein also Mary resembles the morning-star, for she surpasses all the Angels and Saints in the splendor of her dignity and sanctity; but she derives her dignity, her fulness of grace, her favor, her exemption from original sin, not from herself, but from and through the blood of her Son. All that she has, and is, she derives from Christ, her Son, and she must confess with the Apostle: "By the grace of God I am what I am."--1. Cor: 15: 10.

(d) But as the morning-star shows itself susceptible of the light which it receives from the sun, and then makes it radiate from itself, so Mary received the graces which flowed abundantly to her from God, with all readiness, and made use of them with the greatest fidelity. She can say with greater justice than St. Paul: "The grace of God in me hath not been void; but I have labored more abundantly than all they."-- 1. Cor. 15: i0.

(e) The morning-star is to mariners the star of the sea, for it is the first star that they see in the evening, and the last that they see in the morning. When this star looks down in its friendly light upon them, there is no danger for them; the ship glides upon the bosom of the ocean; but when dark clouds veil the heavens and obscure the star, there is danger ahead; violent storms may be then brewing which cause shipwreck and loss of life. Mary is the star of the sea; she looks down upon us with maternal solicitude and love, and guides the ship of our souls upon the treacherous ocean of the world, that it may not suffer shipwreck unto eternal perdition.



3. Sea. Albert the Great says: "Mary must in truth be called a sea, i. e., a sea of graces which she has received from God, and which God again, through her, distributes to others.

(a) The sea contains a far greater quantity of water than a spring, a brook, a river, or a lake. Thus Mary also possesses more graces than any other creature, whether angel or man. The renowned divine, Suarez, says: "Mary received more prerogatives, graces and favors in the first moment of her conception, than all the souls of the Saints--nay, even more than all the choirs of the Angels, because God loved her more than all the Saints and heavenly spirits."

(b) The sea continually receives a new influx of water by a number of streams which empty into it. Mary also increased continually in graces. God, who at the moment of her conception had imparted to her more graces than to all Angels and men, never ceased during all her days to pour out upon her the treasures of His gifts and graces: to this was added that incomparable increase of graces which corresponded to her unceasing and perfectly faithful co-operation with the gifts granted to her by God and whereby she increased every moment the measure of graces which had been imparted to her.

(c) The sea does not retain the water for itself, but forces it through the crevices of the earth even to tree tops of the highest mountains. Such a sea is Mary; "she is," as a spiritual writer says, "an overflowing sea, which in a thousand channels waters the whole surface of the holy Church, flows over the souls of the faithful in abundance, and fructifies them unto every good. Upon the whole earth there is no land, no place, where Mary's stream of graces does not flow; no man is so little or so miserable that no graces flow to him through Mary."

Mary's name, therefore, is exceedingly venerable and holy, because it represents to us her whole greatness and dignity, all her favors and graces, and all her mother's love. After the name of God, there is no name, either in heaven or upon earth, to which so great an honor and veneration are due as to the name of Mary. The question now is: How must we venerate the name of Mary?





1. We must have a great reverence for the name of Mary.

(a) The Church has had the greatest veneration for this name from the beginning, and therefore she prescribes to her priests to pronounce it with an inclination of the head, even in the celebration of the Mass, as well as in all other functions. In former times the name of Mary was so highly revered in some countries, that the female sex was forbidden to bear that name. When King Casimir I., of Poland, married the daughter of the Grand Duke of Russia, she changed her name of Mary, which she had received at her baptism, into another, because it was forbidden in Poland for any woman to have the name of Mary.

(b) All good and fervent Christians have in all times showed great honor and respect for the name of Mary. St. Stephen, King of Hungary, renowned for his Christian piety, as well as for his virtues as king, had so great a veneration for the name of Mary that he did not even dare to pronounce it. He used to call her "the great lady." All his subjects according to his example gave her the same title, and if it happened that in their presence the name of Mary was mentioned they at once fell on their knees and prostrated themselves to the very ground, to manifest the veneration they had for so sublime a name.



2. Put our whole confidence in her. In the year 1683 the Turks laid siege to Vienna. 'Their army was so numerous and so favored by fortune that all hope for the unfortunate city seemed to be lost, and the Emperor Leopold I. fled. In this necessity the people had recourse to Mary and with confidence invoked her name. On the day of her Nativity they prayed with special fervor. And behold, their prayer was heard, for flying banners were suddenly seen on distant hills. The pious Polish hero Sobieski, at the head of his brave Poles, came marching on to rescue Vienna. Under the invocation of the holy name of Mary he achieved with his little band of soldiers a glorious victory over the Turks. The defeat of the enemy was complete, and so great that the whole battlefield was covered with corpses. Whoever could not save himself by flight, found his death in the Danube. Sobieski entered Vienna in triumph and the first thing he did was to go to a church to return thanks to God for this signal victory. In order to establish a perpetual memorial of gratitude for this benefit, Innocent XI. ordered that in the whole Christian world the feast of the glorious name of Mary should be celebrated on the first Sunday after her Nativity. Since that time the Church celebrates the feast of the Name of Mary.

(b) Rescue to sinners. If sinners invoke the name of Mary with confidence and an earnest desire of amendment, they may hope with certainty that they will obtain the grace of repentance; for Mary is the mother of mercy, and the refuge of sinners, and, as the pious Blosius says: "There is no sinner, no matter how wicked or deeply sunk in vices he may be, that Mary would detest and reject." If such a one seek help from her, she certainly will reconcile him with Jesus and obtain pardon for him.

(c) Protection to the just, against all the attacks of hell. After the name of Jesus, there is no other name which the devil fears more than the name of Mary, for he knows Mary to be the very woman that crushed his head, therefore he desists from temptation and departs with terror as soon as we devoutly invoke the name of Mary. As men fall to the ground with consternation when lightning strikes close to them, so the evil spirits fall down with anguish when they hear the name of Mary.

(d) Consolation to the dying. St. Bonaventure says: "Blessed is the man that loves thy name, O holy Mother of God; thy name is so glorious and wonderful that all who omit not to invoke it in their dying hour, need not fear the attacks of their enemies." St. Camillus of Lellis admonishes his brothers in religion, that they should often remind the dying to invoke the names of Jesus and Mary, as he himself used to do with all the dying to whom he was called.



3. We must strive as much as possible to become all that it signifies. The name of Mary means, as we have heard, (a) Lady, mistress. That we may become what this name signifies, we must make our soul lady and mistress; it must rule over the body and its sensual motions and lusts. This dominion is justly due to the soul, because the soul is the superior part of man. It would invert all order to subject the soul to the body; it would be equivalent to making the lady the servant, and the servant the lady. Let the soul be Mary, i, e., lady, mistress. Let us follow the admonition of the Apostle. "Let not sin reign therefore in your mortal body so as to obey the lusts thereof. Neither yield ye your members as instruments of iniquity unto sin; but present yourselves to God as those that are alive from the dead; and your members as instruments of justice unto God."--Rom. 6: 12, 13.

(b) Star, star of the sea. Mary, like the morning and evening star, looks down with friendly eyes upon us and shows us the way through the perils of the ocean of the world, guiding and leading us that we may safely enter the haven of eternal salvation. Such a star we ought to be to our fellow-men; we must love them sincerely and conduct them, as far as is in our power, into the path of salvation. To this the Apostle admonishes us with the words: "By charity of the spirit serve one another."--Gal. 5: 13. Endeavor, therefore, to save souls, which Christ has redeemed with His precious blood. Instruct and correct them; show them a good example and recommend them in prayer to the grace of God.

(c) Sea, sea of graces. We also have been highly favored by God, for He has sanctified us in Baptism and introduced us into the holy Catholic Church, in which we receive numberless graces for our salvation. It is our duty diligently to avail ourselves of these graces for our sanctification, that we may become better and more virtuous from day to day, according to the admonition of the Apostle: "Increase in grace, and in the knowledge of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ."-- II. Pet. 3: 18. The more zealously we avail ourselves of the proffered graces, the more we shall advance in Christian perfection, and the greater will be the reward we may expect hereafter; for "he who soweth in blessings, shall also reap of blessings."--II. Cor. 9: 6.


Now you know why and how you are to venerate the name of Mary. This name is holy; have reverence for it, and always pronounce it devoutly and reverently. This name is very powerful and salutary; therefore put great confidence in it, and never omit, in all perils of body and soul, in every temptation, and especially on your death-bed, to pronounce it often and with confidence. This name is, as it were, a mirror of justice; for it signifies her who is the truest likeness of God, and in whom there is found neither spot nor wrinkle, nor the least imperfection. Take her for your pattern, and endeavor to do what her name signifies. Blessed are all those who venerate the holy name of Mary with true devotion, for this name will bring them grace in life, consolation in the hour of death, and salvation in eternity. Amen.

The Church, in its public ritual, links the feast of the Holy Name of Mary with that of her Nativity, celebrating it within the octave of the Nativity. We may therefore reflect a moment on some thoughts suggested by the name of Mary. It is: 1st. A name of Power. The name Mary in Syriac means mistress, lady, sovereign, because Mary is the Sovereign Queen of Heaven and Earth. Hence, St. Bernard says that the Mother of God could not have received a name that better expresses her excellence, her greatness, and her dignity. 2nd. It is a name of Protection. For it also signifies "Star of the Sea." St. Mary Magdalen of Pazzi had a vision once, in which she saw a stormy sea with many vessels on it. Some were tossed hither and thither absolutely at the mercy of the waves, till finally they sank below the surface. Others struggled on with the utmost difficulty against the storm, expecting every moment to go down. One alone rode triumphant and uninjured through the stormy waves. At the helm stood an august Lady of commanding presence, who with one hand ruled the boisterous waters, and with the other guided the vessel safely and tranquilly amid the waves. And St. Mary Magdalen of Pazzi understood that this vessel represented the company of Mary's devout children whom she herself directs to the harbor of eternal salvation.

Application.--Let us, then voyagers as we are over the stormy sea of life, keep our eyes ever fixed on Mary, the Star of the Sea. She is the star of Power; when our enemies encompass us for our destruction, respice stellam, voca Mariam, "look on the star, call upon Mary." She is the Star of Hope: when discouragement takes possession of us at the sight of our own sins and weakness and utter infidelity to God, respice stellam, voca Mariam. She is the Star of Protection: When the soul is, so to speak, submerged in the floods of temptation or trial or sorrow, respice stellam, voca Mariam. She is the Star of Joy and Consolation: When sadness embitters the heart, respice stellam, voca Mariam.

Resolution.--In times of storm and stress to call upon the name of Mary.

The most holy name of Mary, joined to that of Jesus, possesses a hidden power which puts to flight the demon, and fills the soul of him who utters it in loving faith, with consolation and hope. It is a certain fact that God has attached a beneficent power of sanctification and life to the devout uttering of these two names by the faithful, and this precisely because Jesus and Mary are the dearest objects of His love.

It is, then, the duty of every good Christian frequently to pronounce these two holy names with faith, hope and reverence. We should call upon them in our needs, and do all in our power to prevent their unworthy usage by the lips of the profane. Alas! why is it that names so great, so holy and at the same time so dear to our hearts, are oftentimes made the butt of scorn and raillery!

O my God, may Thy great and awful name be ever hallowed in those of Jesus my Saviour, and Mary, His blessed Mother! In them, we find our life and our salvation!