Do you know the first recorded Marian prayer? Or the first Marian apparition? Read these 5 incredible facts about the Blessed Mother.
1
Mary was the only person present at both
the birth and death of Jesus.
Seldom considered is that Mary was the only one present at both the birth and death of our Lord. Joseph and some shepherds, and the Magi some time later, were the only ones who took witness to Jesus’s first moments on earth. With Joseph passing some time during the life of Christ and with Scripture giving no indication that those same shepherds or Wise Men were there on Calvary, Mary remained, thus further solidifying her life’s story as inextricable and unexplainable from the life of Christ and the mysteries of his entire life.
2
According to the prophecies of Isaiah and teachings of the
Church Fathers, Mary experienced no pain during childbirth.
When Old Testament prophets envisioned what the Messiah’s reign would look like, they believed that the ancient curse of Eve’s pain in childbirth would be undone, the new promise being: “Before she was in labor, she gave birth; before her pain came upon her, she was delivered of a son” (Is 66:7). Many of the early Church Fathers saw this as a prediction that Mary the Mother of God would give birth to Jesus miraculously without pain or corruption of her body: “Only Jesus came to light through a new way of being born. . . . In fact, his birth alone occurred without labor pains, and he alone began to exist without sexual relations” (Gregory of Nyssa, On the Song of Songs §13).
3
The Wedding at Cana shows Mary’s ultimate role and mission.
Jesus’s first recorded miracle was accomplished at his mother’s intercession: “They have no wine” (Jn 2:3). Her final words in Scripture summarize all of Marian theology: “Do whatever he tells you” (Jn 2:5). The wedding at Cana (Jn 2:2–12) thus represents how the wills of Jesus and Mary are in perfect communion, her only mission being to bring others to God: “At Cana, the Mother of Christ presents herself as the spokeswoman of her Son’s will, pointing out those things which must be done so that the salvific power of the Messiah may be manifested. . . . Her faith evokes his first ‘sign’ and helps to kindle the faith of the disciples” (St. John Paul II, Mater Redemptoris §22).
4
The first Marian apparition is said to have
occurred before her Assumption.
The first apparition in Church history occurred in the year 40. In order to bolster his hope in converting the pagans, the Virgin Mary appeared to St. James the Great in Zaragoza, Spain. The vision gave rise to a new title and devotion, Our Lady of the Pillar, because Our Lady appeared to James standing on a pillar of jasper held aloft by two angels. It is the only reported Marian apparition reported before her assumption into heaven.
5
The oldest recorded Marian prayer is the Sub Tuum Praesidium.
The oldest known Marian prayer is the Sub Tuum Praesidium:
Beneath your compassion, We take refuge, O Mother of God: do not despise our petitions in time of trouble: but rescue us from dangers, only pure, only blessed one.
We possess one little scrap of the Rylands Papyrus, dating back to c. 250, on which we can still read a version of Sub Tuum, where Theotokos, a term which sparked the Council of Ephesus in 431, first appears.
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This article is taken from a chapter in 101 Surprising Facts About Mary by Fr. David Vincent Meconi, SJ which is available from TAN Books.
