« MEDIATOR DEI ». — Words with which the encyclical of Pius XII, dated 20 Nov. 1947 (AAS, 39 [1947], pp. 521–95), on the sacred liturgy begins. It may be regarded as a complement to the encyclical Mystici corporis (v.), since the Supreme Pontiff responds to the further requests (reported by Msgr. Gröber as early as 1943, V. BIBLICA.) of the modern liturgical movement, intimately connected with the revival of ecclesiological studies. The response is given indirectly, through carefully considered insertions conceived as parts of the broad doctrinal development, which is conducted with rigorous logic and supported by extensive and clear documentation.
The encyclical begins with the concept of the liturgy as the public worship of the Church, whose origin and homogeneous development it describes, constantly directed by hierarchical authority (part 1); it then considers the Holy Mass as the centre of the liturgy, illustrating its essence (sacramental immolation), the participation of the faithful, its integration into the Eucharistic banquet and into the worship of adoration (part 2); it subsequently studies the continuation of Eucharistic worship in the laus perennis of the Divine Office, whose intimate meaning it explains in the light of the concentric cycles of Christ, the Virgin and the saints (part 3). The substantial document concludes with an exhortation concerning individual piety (the complement of public worship) and the liturgical spirit and apostolate (part 4).
The great encyclical (it is the longest of all those issued thus far) is studded with weighty dogmatic-liturgical affirmations, for example, concerning the nature of the liturgy, the essence of the Mass, the participation of the faithful in the Eucharistic Sacrifice, the harmony of the opus operatum (objective piety) and the opus operantis (subjective piety), individual piety, the essential distinction between the hierarchical priesthood of priests and the mystical priesthood of the faithful (regale sacerdotium), the unfounded distinction between the historical Christ and the pneumatic Christ, the exaggerations of certain liturgical centres, the progressive development of liturgical forms, the relations between the Cross and the Altar, and the presence of Jesus Christ in the just soul.
A direct response to the memorandum of Msgr. Gröber, the encyclical is a solemn pronouncement of the Apostolic See within the now century-old liturgical movement. It does not halt its beneficial course, but corrects its deviations and disciplines its tendencies. It is a continuation of the pontifical teaching begun with the encyclical Mystici corporis: the two together form two striking panels of the same diptych.
#### MEDIAZIONE DI CRISTO : V. REDENZIONE.
MEDIAZIONE DI MARIA S.ma. — For someone to be a mediator, two conditions are required: 1° that he be middle between two extremes, from which he is distinct, while having something in common with them; 2° that he join the two extremes, communicating to one what belongs to the other (Sum. Theol., 3°, q. 26, a. 2, ad 3). When the first condition is verified, there is ontological mediation; when the second is verified, there is moral mediation.
According to St Paul, there is only one mediator between God and human beings, Christ (I Tim. 2:5): “For there is one God, and there is also one Mediator between God and human beings, the man Christ Jesus.” Thus, together with the Fathers, the Magisterium of the Church teaches (cf. Conc. Trident., sess. V; Denz-U, n. 790). In Christ alone, in fact, are the two conditions required for mediation perfectly fulfilled.
But this principal and perfect mediation of Christ does not exclude a secondary and subordinate mediation, such as that which God willed to grant to Mary, indissolubly united to the Mediator throughout the whole mediatory work. She was in fact the instrument used by the Incarnate Word to make Himself the universal Mediator. This occurred through the redemptive Incarnation, which took place only as a result of the free consent given by the Virgin. Mary was thus intimately linked, as secondary and subordinate Mediatrix, to the principal and perfect Mediator throughout the whole mediatory work. In the Virgin, therefore, all the conditions required of a mediator are likewise found, in a secondary and subordinate manner: first of all, the character of a “middle” between the two extremes (between the Creator and creatures), since, as a mere creature, she is infinitely distant from the Creator and approaches creatures; and, as the true Mother of the Creator, she may be said to be infinitely distant (in the moral sense) from creatures and to approach the Creator, insofar as she enters into the Order of the Hypostatic Union. In her there is also found the office of joining the two extremes, that is, the Creator with creatures, since she presented to the Creator the merits and satisfactions of creatures and distributes to creatures the gifts—that is, all the graces—of the Creator.
Given this intimate and indissoluble union of Maria Mediatrix with Christ the Mediator throughout the entire mediatory work, it follows that the m. of M. S.ma extends as far as the m. of Christ extends. Now, the m. of Christ, according to St Paul, embraces two distinct phases: the Redemption (the earthly m.) and intercession (the heavenly m.), that is, the distribution of each and every grace and fruit of the Redemption (cf. I. Bover, Pauli doctrina de Christi mediatione Mariae mediationi applicata, in Marianum, 4 [1942], pp. 81–89). The m. of M. S.ma therefore likewise embraces, in a secondary and subordinate manner, two phases: cooperation in the Redemption (v. CORREDENTRICE) and cooperation in the distribution of all graces, the fruit of the Redemption. This second phase is based upon the first. For whoever cooperates in acquiring a treasure ought also to cooperate in disposing of II. That the Madonna is the universal mediatrix, that is, that she cooperates in the distribution of each grace to each particular individual, in the sense that God grants no grace to anyone without the intervention of Maria, is a doctrine repeatedly taught by the ordinary Magisterium of the Church, especially by the most recent Supreme Pontiffs, and commonly admitted by theologians. The very feast of Maria Mediatrix of all graces, instituted in 1921
by Benedict XV at the request of Cardinal D. Mercier, for the dioceses of Belgium and for all those that should submit a regular request, to be celebrated on 31 May, provides practical confirmation of the moral certainty of this singular Marian prerogative. Pius XI, confirming the doctrine and the feast of the m. of M., calls the Virgin: « gratiarum omnium apud Deum sequestram » (letter Cognitum sane, 14 January 1926: AAS, 18 [1926], p. 213). Pius XII relates the m. of M. not only to her co-redemptive merit, but also to the fact of her glorious Assumption and her queenship (encyclical Miserentissimus, 8 May 1928: AAS, 20 [1928], p. 178; Mystici corporis Christi, 29 June 1943: ibid., 35 [1943], pp. 247 ff.).
Besides the Protoevangelium (Gen. 3:15), in which Maria appears associated with Christ in the entire work of salvation, and therefore not only in the acquisition but also in the distribution of all graces, some eloquent indications of this divine design can be found in the New Testament. All graces, in fact, are either of a spiritual or of a material order. Now all the graces of both orders were granted by Jesus Christ through Maria. The first spiritual grace (the sanctification of the Baptist) was given, as Elisabeth testified, through Maria (Lc. 1:41–45). The first grace of a material order (the conversion of water into wine at the wedding feast of Cana) was granted through the intercession of Maria (Io. 2:1–11). These two graces seem to indicate a general law of Providence in the distribution of every grace, the law so well enunciated by St Bernard and repeated by the Church. Christian tradition, moreover, began early to express this truth in practice. It is enough to recall the Egyptian papyrus recently discovered and judged by experts to belong to the third century, in which the well-known prayer « Sub tuum praesidium » is contained. It expresses lively confidence in the universal intercession of Maria: « Do not disdain our supplications, but deliver us from dangers ». It seems an anticipatory echo of the hymn Ave Maris stella, from the beginning of the ninth century, in which one asks: « Keep our evils far from us, obtain for us every good ». This universal m. of M. S.ma in the distribution of all graces has been expressed by the Fathers and writers through the metaphors of aqueduct, neck, life, gate, etc. (cf. I. Bover, De universali B. Mariae V. Mediatione metaphorica testimonia, in Marianum, 3 [1941], pp. 201–37). It is debated whether, in Marian m., in addition to moral causality (that of intercession), instrumental physical causality should also be admitted.
Given the solidity of the foundation upon which the universal m. of M. S.ma in the distribution of all graces has rested for approximately thirty years, especially through the work of Cardinal D. Mercier, a strong movement in favor of its solemn definition by the Roman Pontiff has arisen.