The language of Mary's mediation grew out of the Fathers' reading of her consent at the Annunciation and her presence at Calvary, and was carried into medieval and modern devotion, especially by the great Marian preachers and by movements that petitioned for a dogmatic definition in the early twentieth century. The Second Vatican Council did not define such a dogma. Lumen Gentium 62 records instead that the Blessed Virgin is invoked in the Church under the titles of Advocate, Helper, Benefactress and Mediatrix, and adds at once that this is to be understood so that it neither takes away from nor adds anything to the dignity and efficacy of Christ the one Mediator. The Church has never defined Mary as Mediatrix of all graces, and this entry does not treat the title as defined.

Scripture is unambiguous that there is one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus (1 Timothy 2:5). Whatever is said of Mary's mediation is said within that one mediation and never beside it: as Lumen Gentium puts it, her saving influence flows from the superabundance of Christ's merits, rests on his mediation, depends entirely on it and draws all its power from it. Understood this way the title guards a real truth — that God freely wills to give his gifts through the communion of the saints and above all through the Mother he chose — while the Council's qualification guards against any suggestion that grace must be prised from Christ through her.

Universal Church

• Mediatrix
• Mary Mediatrix

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• memorare

• sub-tuum-praesidium

• litany-of-the-blessed-virgin-mary