Mary, Queen of All Hearts (Concl)

The history of the Association of Mary, Queen of All Hearts is inextricably tied to the life and papacy of Pope Pius X.  While the original Confraternity of Mary, Queen of All Hearts was established 1899, Pope Pius X raised the association to the level of “Archconfraternity”, which meant that the entire Roman Church could participate in its graces and rites.  The papal motto of Pope Pius X was “to restore all things in Christ”, a goal shared by the Association.

Pope St. Pius X, who reigned a little more than 11 years from 1903 to 1914, was a reforming pontiff, taking the motto Instaurare Omnia in Christo, or “to restore all things in Christ” to guide his papacy. Like Pope St. Pius V, he lived simply, stating that he had been born poor, had lived poor and wanted to die poor. He shared Pius V’s devotion to the Blessed Virgin Mary, writing an encyclical on the 50th anniversary of the proclamation of the doctrine of the Immaculate Conception. Also, like Pius V—and his immediate predecessor Pope Leo XIII—he promoted the method and works of St. Thomas Aquinas.

In his encyclical, Ad diem illum laetissimum, he views Mary in the context of "restoring everything in Christ". Spiritually we all are her children and she is our mother. Therefore, she must be venerated like a mother. Christ is the Word made Flesh and the Savior of mankind. He had a physical body like every other man: and as Savior of the human family, he had a spiritual and mystical body, the Church. This, the Pope argues, has consequences for our view of the Blessed Virgin.

She "did not conceive the Eternal Son of God merely in order that He might be made man taking His human nature from her, but also by giving him her human nature, that He might be the Redeemer of men. Mary, carrying the Savior within her, also carried all those whose life was contained in the life of the Savior. Therefore, all the faithful united to Christ are members of His body, of His flesh, and of His bones from the womb of Mary like a body united to its head. In a spiritual and mystical fashion, all are children of Mary, and she is their Mother. Mother, spiritually, but truly Mother of the members of Christ".

Pope Pius X first championed the title “co-Redemptrix”.  The title “Co-redemptrix” first received Papal sanction under Pope St. Pius X, by his approval of its use in a decree of the Congregation of Rites concerning the Feast of the Seven Dolors (A.A.S., Vol. 41, 1908, p. 409). Centuries of tradition also affirm the Blessed Virgin Mary’s role as Co-redemptrix (i.e., working with the Redeemer) to bring about the world’s salvation.

Pope St. Pius X explains: “[F]rom this common sharing of sufferings and will, She merited to become most worthily the reparatrix of the lost world, and so the dispensatrix of all the gifts which were gained for us by the death and blood of Jesus. … since She was ahead of all in holiness and union with Christ, and was taken up by Christ into the work of human salvation, She merited congruously, as they say, what Christ merited condignly, and is the chief minister of the dispensation of graces” (Ad diem illum, Feb. 2, 1904).

The title, “co-redemptrix” has caused consternation among Catholics, fearing that Mary is encroaching on a Divine status, which constitutes blasphemy.  Mary is among the highest of CREATED  beings, she never aspired to Divinity. The Catechism of the church approaches this issue;

“This union of the mother with the Son in the work of salvation is made manifest from the time of Christ’s virginal conception up to his death”.  (Catechism of the Catholic Church, Part 1, Section 2, Chapter 3, Article 9, Para 6, 964).

“Taken up to heaven she did not lay aside this saving office but by her manifold intercession continues to bring us the gifts of eternal salvation …. Therefore, the Blessed Virgin is invoked in the Church under the titles of Advocate, Helper, Benefactress, and Mediatrix.” ( Catechism of the Catholic Church, Part 1, Section 2, Chapter 3, Article 9, Para 6, 969).

Therefore, Mary is involved in the process of Salvation by virtue of the Virgin Birth fulfilling prophecy and being the mortal vessel for the Incarnation.  Perhaps, the following daily prayer of consecration to Mary sums up, precisely, her multi-faceted role in our Salvation.

Blessed virgin, Queen of all hearts, I offer and give my prayers, sacrifices, good works, time, talent, and treasure to your Immaculate Heart, to do with as you please, for the greater glory of God.

I thank God the Father, for choosing you to be my heavenly Mother.  I thank God the Son, for giving you to me as He was dying for my sins and those of the whole world on the Cross. I thank God the Holy Spirit, for the graces He gives me through you.

Help me by your prayers to be faithful to the vows of my Baptism. Help me by your prayers to accomplish all that God has planned for me in advance to do. Amen.

Thanks to the groundbreaking work of Pope Pius X and the Association of Mary, Queen of All Hearts continuing the teachings of St. Louis de Montfort we can see Mary as Our Mother in the fullest sense of the appellation. With the saints and popes, we can, in confidence, say,

“Totus Tuus ego sum, et omnia mea tua sunt”

(I am totally yours and all that I have is yours)