Hail, Mary! Trivia Quiz

Answer:

The Archangel Gabriel addressed Mary as "Full of Grace" or "Gratia Plena" and called her blessed among women in the Gospel according to Luke (1:26-28 DRA). She is "Mater Dei" or "Mother of God" for she is mother of Jesus, who is both fully human and fully divine, God Incarnate. In the Trinity, the Father is God, the Son is God, and the Holy Spirit is God.

Catholics further believe that Mary was conceived without original sin in the womb of St. Anne, so she is the Immaculate Conception. Rosa Mystica, or the Mystic Rose, is a poetic way of describing Mary's purity and her association with the mysteries of faith (which Catholics are supposed to ponder as they pray with the Rosary). It is dogma that Mary is Semper Virgo, or the Ever-Virgin, before, during, and after the birth of Jesus. She is Nova Eva, or the New Eve, in that she is the spiritual mother of humanity, and she is the mother of the Christ, the source of all eternal life and the one who fulfills the Old Testament. Her obedience to God at the Annunciation counters Eve's disobedience in the Garden of Eden.


In Catholicism, Mary is Queen of Heaven and Queen of Peace in the sense that she is the mother of the King and Savior and the Prince of Peace, and she is therefore exalted above other mortals, though she is not divine. She is believed to have a unique place in the distribution of salvation. As Mediatrix she intercedes on our behalf. With profound empathy she shared in the sufferings of her son and is Our Lady or Mother of Sorrows.

Some titles have been formalized only in modern times. Our Lady of Perpetual Help, also called Our Mother of Perpetual Succor, is the name of a Byzantine icon of the 14th-15th centuries, but it was not formalized as a Marian title until the 19th century, by Pope Pius IX. The title Mother of the Church, which recognizes that Mary gave birth to the Head of Church (Jesus Christ), first appeared in 4th-century writings by Ambrose Bierce, but not until 1964 was it approved by the Vatican (under Pope Paul VI). In 2018, Pope Francis established a memorial day, though not a holy day of obligation, for the Mother of the Church on Whit Monday (the Monday after Pentecost).


Now let's get to what Mary is not. The Virgin Mary is not part of the Trinity (or "Quadrinity" since she would make a fourth "Person") and does not sit in judgement, nor is she the Word (Logos), who is her Son (John 1:1-18). Mary is not a "creatrix" or "co-creator" but a "creature" like the rest of us, nor is she an angel but a human being. Mary is unique, however, in that she is the only mortal about whom there is Catholic dogma. Mary Magdalene or Mary of Magdala is a distinct person from Mary of Nazareth. Eve remains "mother of all the living" (Genesis 3:20 NABRE).

The notion of Mary as God the Father's celestial consort is a Mormon concept. The Baha'i believe in the Maiden Spirit or the Maid of Heaven, which is a female personification of the Holy Spirit, and regard her identical with the dove at Jesus's baptism, the Burning Bush, and even the Archangel Gabriel. Tripura Sundari is the Governess of the Universe in Shaktism, a Hindu sect who hold that the Supreme Being is female. And it's not nice to fool Mother Nature, nor to conflate this personification of nature with the Blessed Virgin Mary.