The substance of the title is patristic and medieval, and it was solemnly given to Mary by Pope St. Paul VI on 21 November 1964, at the close of the third session of the Second Vatican Council, on the day he promulgated the Dogmatic Constitution Lumen Gentium with its eighth chapter on the Blessed Virgin in the mystery of Christ and the Church. The invocation Mater Ecclesiae was afterwards added to the Litany of Loreto, and in 2018 the memorial of the Blessed Virgin Mary, Mother of the Church, was inscribed in the General Roman Calendar, to be kept each year on the Monday after Pentecost — a movable day, so no fixed date is given here.

Lumen Gentium teaches that Mary's motherhood in the order of grace did not end at Nazareth or Calvary but continues until the eternal fulfilment of all the elect. Because the Church is the Body of Christ, the mother of the Head is truly mother of the members. The title therefore says something about the Church as much as about Mary: the Church is born of the same consent and the same Cross, and she learns from Mary what it is to receive the Word in faith and bear Christ into the world.

Universal Church

Two scenes carry the title. The first is John 19:25-27, Mary and the beloved disciple standing beneath the Cross as Jesus gives them to each other. The second is Pentecost, Mary seated among the apostles in the Upper Room with the tongues of fire descending. A large mosaic of Mater Ecclesiae looks down on St. Peter's Square from the Apostolic Palace, keeping the title before the pilgrims who gather there.

• Mater Ecclesiae
• Mother of the Church

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