Marian worship existed nowhere in the church抯 origins or in the teachings of the apostles. There was no Immaculate Conception, Annunciation, or Assumption into heaven. She was not the mother of the faithful, the interceder with Christ. The Gospels themselves never described what she looked like and never mentioned where she lived. No ages were listed. She played no part in Christ抯 ministry and no role in establishing Christianity. Yet she became the second Eve, bestowed by popes with divine power though she herself was not divine. Protestants generally rejected Marian devotion. For them, Christianity was all about one person. Sure, there were supporting players, but nothing ranked with the Son of God.
Even more puzzling was what happened to Mary after the crucifixion.
She was not present when Christ抯 empty tomb was discovered. Nor was she there at his Ascension into heaven or at Pentecost when the Holy Ghost divinely inspired the apostles. She was never visited by the risen Christ, though he did appear to the disciples and Mary Magdalene. There was but one reference in the Gospels.
John 19:25?7.
Near the cross of Jesus stood his mother, his mother抯 sister, Mary the wife of Clopas, and Mary Magdalene. When Jesus saw his mother there, and the disciple whom he loved standing nearby, he said to her, 揥oman, here is your son,?and to the disciple, 揌ere is your mother.?From that time on, this disciple took her into his home.
The disciple whom he loved.
A cryptic reference that appeared two other times in John抯 Gospel. That mysterious man was mentioned with the same five words as being at the Last Supper, his head resting on Christ抯 chest. Then again when the risen Christ appeared to the disciples on the shores of Lake Galilee. Who was this person? No one knows.
But he supposedly cared for Mary the rest of her life.
Eventually, Ephesus, in Turkey, became the center of her worship. Supposedly the disciple whom he loved took Mary there. By the fifth century a basilica had been erected there in her honor. Centuries later a house was recognized as belonging to her and venerated.
But no mention of her grave appeared.
And though relics of saints flooded churches, other than a garment and a few supposed drops of her milk, nothing of her was ever found.
揧ou speak strangely of the Blessed Virgin,?Vilamur said to Cardinal Fuentes.
揑 speak honestly. Catholicism wanted Mary to be a woman who never sinned. Never did a thing wrong in her life. Birthed children, but was still a virgin. They went to those extremes for good reason. They needed a goddess, and the worship of her proved quite lucrative.?
He realized that everything associated with Mary had been manufactured early on, seizing on the wants and desires of the faithful since the adoration of pagan goddesses had been so prevalent. Christianity was then a male-dominated religion. Mary added a new dimension, one that quickly gained traction. She aided with the recruitment of new followers and opened the purses of the existing faithful. She acquired her own prayer, the Ave Maria, along with a rosary. Eventually, she established an autonomy梟ot a god, but more than a saint梑lessed the term appended to her. She became the voice of heaven and even appeared on earth from time to time. At Guadalupe in Mexico. Czestochowa in Poland. Lourdes and La Salette in France. Fatima in Portugal. Beauraing and Banneux in Belgium. Medjugorje in Bosnia. And many other places, some recognized by the church, most not. Always to the poor or the downtrodden, leaving cryptic messages to decipher. Hundreds of churches, cathedrals, and basilicas around the globe were still, to this day, dedicated to her. A myth that became a reality. One that was never widely debated, or ever challenged.
Just adored.
揥hy are you telling me this??he asked Fuentes.
They still lingered in the square before the basilica, under one of the overhead lamps, the hour approaching 10:00 p.m. Fewer people were now moving about in the darkness, nobody paying them any attention.
揥hat do you know of the Virgin抯 grave??Fuentes asked.
Quite a bit actually.
Eastern Christianity taught that Mary died a natural death, like any human being. Then her soul was received by Christ and her body resurrected on the third day into heaven. The Roman Church went a step further, teaching that Mary ascended into heaven in full bodily form. But had she died first? That point was never resolved until 1997 when John Paul II decreed that Mary had in fact died before ascending. But how would the pope have known that? Easy. It was all a matter of faith. Aided by the fact that no one knew where Mary抯 tomb lay. Some said in Gethsemane, others in the Valley of Jehoshaphat, and still more thought she was laid to rest in Ephesus.
He told Fuentes what he knew.
揂n old account said Mary was buried somewhere in the valley of Jehoshaphat and, lo and behold, a tomb was found there in the sixth century. After the crusades, in the twelfth century, so many pilgrims flocked to that tomb that the Church of the Assumption was built to take advantage of their presence. But after Pius XII declared her Assumption we abandoned the site to the Orthodox churches.?