MEDIAZIONE DI CRISTO : v. REDENZIONE (GR. ἈΠΟΛΎΤΡΩΣΙΣ).
MEDIAZIONE DI MARIA S.ma. - For one to be a mediator it is required: 1st that he be a mean between two extremes, from which he is distinguished, while yet having something in common with them; 2nd that he join the two extremes, communicating to the one the things of the other (Sum. Theol., 3rd, 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.One alone, according to St. Paul, is the mediator between God and men, Christ (I Tim. 2, 5): « For there is one God, and one mediator of God and men, the man Christ Jesus ». Thus the Magisterium of the Church teaches together with the Fathers (cf. Conc. Trident., sess. V; Denz-U, n. 790). In Christ alone, in fact, are the two conditions required for mediation perfectly verified.
But this principal mediation, perfect as it is in Christ, does not exclude a secondary and subordinate mediation, such as that which God willed to grant to Mary, indissolubly united to the Mediator in the whole work of mediation. She was in fact the instrument used by the Incarnate Word to make himself universal Mediator. This came about through the Incarnation, to redeem which did not occur except in consequence of the free consent given by the Virgin. Mary was thus intimately bound, as secondary and subordinate Mediatrix, to the principal and perfect Mediator, in the whole work of mediation. In the Virgin, therefore, there are likewise found, in a secondary and subordinate manner, all the conditions required for a mediator: first of all the character of a « mean » between the two extremes (between the Creator and creatures), since as a simple creature she is infinitely distant from the Creator and draws near to creatures; and as true Mother of the Creator she may be said to be infinitely distant (in a moral sense) from creatures and to draw near to the Creator, inasmuch as she enters into the Order of the Hypostatic Union. There is found in her, moreover, 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 Mary Mediatrix with Christ the Mediator in the whole work of mediation, it follows that the mediation of Mary Most Holy extends as far as the mediation of Christ extends. Now, the mediation of Christ, according to St. Paul, embraces two distinct phases: the Redemption (the earthly mediation) and the intercession (the heavenly mediation), 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 mediation of Mary Most Holy therefore also 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 on the first. For whoever cooperates in acquiring a treasure, it is just that he also cooperate in disposing of it. That the Madonna is universal mediatrix, that is, cooperates in the distribution of each grace to each particular individual in the sense that God grants no grace whatsoever to anyone without the intervention of Mary, is a doctrine taught repeatedly by the ordinary Magisterium of the Church, especially by the recent Supreme Pontiffs, and commonly admitted by theologians. The very feast of Mary Mediatrix of all graces, instituted in 1921
by Benedict XV at the request of Card. D. Mercier, for the dioceses of Belgium and for all those that would have made a regular request for it, to be celebrated on May 31, comes practically to prove the moral certainty of this singular Marian prerogative. Pius XI, confirming the doctrine and the feast of the mediation of Mary, calls the Virgin: « gratiarum omnium apud Deum sequestram » (lett. Cognitum sane, 14 Jan. 1926: AAS, 18 [1926], p. 213). Pius XII links the mediation of Mary no longer only to her corredemptive merit, but also to the fact of her glorious Assumption, of her royalty (encycl. Miserentissimus, 8 May 1928: AAS, 20 [1928], p. 178; Mystici corporis Christi, 29 June 1943: ibid., 35 [1943], p. 247 ff.).
Besides the Protoevangelium (Gen. 3, 15) in which Mary appears associated with Christ in the whole work of salvation, and therefore not only in the acquiring but also in the distribution of all graces, some eloquent indications of this divine design can be found in the New Testament. For all graces are either of the spiritual order or of the material order. Now all the graces of the two orders were granted by Jesus Christ through Mary. The first spiritual grace (the sanctification of the Baptist) was given, as Elizabeth attested, through Mary (Lk. 1, 41-45). The first grace of the material order (the conversion of water into wine at the wedding of Cana) was granted through the intercession of Mary (Jn. 2, 1-11). These two graces seem to indicate a general law of Providence in the distribution of every grace, that law so well enunciated by St. Bernard and repeated by the Church. Christian tradition, moreover, began early to express this truth practically. It suffices to recall the Egyptian papyrus recently discovered and held by experts to be of the 3rd century, in which is contained the well-known prayer « Sub tuum praesidium ». In it is expressed living trust in the universal intercession of Mary: « Do not disdain our supplications, but deliver us from dangers ». It seems an anticipated echo of the hymn Ave Maris stella, of the beginning of the 9th century, in which is asked: « Keep far from us our ills, obtain for us all good things ». This universal mediation of Mary Most Holy in the distribution of all graces has been expressed by the Fathers and writers with 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 disputed whether in Marian mediation, besides moral causality (that of intercession), instrumental physical causality is also to be admitted.
Given the solidity of the basis on which rests the universal mediation of Mary Most Holy in the distribution of all graces, for about thirty years, through the work especially of Card. D. Mercier, a strong movement has arisen in favor of solemn definition by the Roman Pontiff.
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