PART I: Article 3 of 3

(3) WHY Our Lady Mediatrix of All of God’s Graces, exquisitely portrayed in The Miraculous Icon®, IS MARY’S MOST EFFICACIOUS AND MOST POWERFUL ROLE.

(This point is further detailed later.) According to Webster’s Dictionary “Mediatrix” means “a woman who is a mediator”. In Catholic Book Publishing Company’s Dictionary of Mary (J.B. Carol, editor) under the section “Mediatrix” written by J.B. Carol, the world renowned Marian theologian, he states: “A ‘Mediator’ is one who stands between two persons or groups of persons to facilitate an exchange of favors or, more often, to reconcile parties at variance. As applied to Mary, the title ‘Mediatrix’ dates back to the 6th century in the East, and to the 9th century in the West. Since the 17th century it has been widely used by Catholics everywhere.”

“….As Mediatrix of All Graces she distributes the graces that God bestows on His children. .…All favors and blessings granted by God are granted in virtue of and because of her intervention.”

AS “OUR LADY MEDIATRIX OF ALL GRACES” SACRED MIRACULOUS ICON SO PERFECTLY SHOWS US: Jesus hears our petitions and pleas and humbly, lovingly gives all of His blessings directly to Our most loving Mother who knows all our needs and wants to help us through our prayers to her. As the Icon shows, our dearest mother looks deep into our souls and sees all of our goodnesses and failings, desires and wants, and issues all the graces according to our needs, and according to our merits, and our future merits.

She is always looking out for us, continuously mediating and granting Graces, Blessings, Healings, Gifts and Favors for us, and showering them on us according to our needs through her most powerful role as “Mediatrix of All Graces”. All of God’s graces flow through Mary Mediatrix of All Graces which she lovingly and abundantly showers on us in great cascading “waterfall of graces, blessings, and favors” pouring down to us from her throne in heaven. Through our prayers, this streams down to us as shown in Our Lady Mediatrix of All Graces Icon by Mary’s ever-flowing ocean blue mantle behind Jesus’ outstretched hand in blessings. (click on the Icon of Our Lady Mediatrix of All Graces at left to enlarge the picture).

“It is not necessary that we explicitly implore her intercession in our prayers. But whether we mention her or not, it is through her (as Mediatrix) that we receive whatever we receive. Since she is our loving Mother in the supernatural realm, she knows our needs and wishes to help us in all of them; and since she is the Mother of God, her prayers on our behalf cannot but be MOST POWERFUL AND EFFICACIOUS”.

MOST IMPORTANT TO ALL: since all of God’s Graces come to us through Mary’s powerful role as “Mediatrix of All Graces”, it is much more effective to humbly pray for her help and her most powerful intercession as “Our Lady Mediatrix of All Graces” for her to plead for, mediate and grant our petitions, instead of our pleading for them by ourselves alone – before the Throne of God.

“The early Fathers and ecclesiastical writers taught the doctrine of Mary’s mediation only implicitly… In the Middle Ages, it was mainly through the influence of Saint Bernard of Clairvaux (d.1153) that our doctrine became familiar to an ever-widening sector in the Catholic Church. His words are clear and to the point: ‘God has willed that we should have nothing that did not pass through the hands of Mary’. Later on, the Franciscan Saint Bernardine of Siena (d.1444) was just as unequivocal: ‘I do not hesitate to say that she [Mary Mediatrix of All Graces] has received a certain jurisdiction over all graces…. They are administered through her hands to whom she pleases, when she pleases, as she pleases, and as much as she pleases.’… At present, the doctrine ["Our Lady Mediatrix of All Graces"] is universally accepted, and Catholic theologians, with relatively few exceptions, deem it definable by the Magisterium as a dogma of faith.”

“Our Lady’s prerogative as Mediatrix and dispenser of all graces is abundantly attested to in the liturgical books of the Eastern Catholic Church, e.g., in the Byzantine Liturgy, Coptic Liturgy, Syriac Liturgy, Armenian Liturgy, and the Chaldean Liturgy. In the Latin [Roman Catholic] Church we have the Office and Mass of Mary Mediatrix of All Graces,… approved by Pope Benedict XV in 1921 and originally celebrated by numerous dioceses and Religious Orders on May 31.” (In 1971, The Congregation for Divine Worship also approved another Mass of The Blessed Virgin Mary, Mother and Mediatrix of Grace which is found in The Collection of Masses of The Blessed Virgin Mary. The Liturgy refers to Mary as “the treasure-house of all graces.”)

“Papal documents have frequently portrayed Mary as Mediatrix of all graces. Worthy of specific mention is the trenchant statement of Pope Leo XIII in his Encyclical Octobri Mense (On the Rosary, Sept. 22, 1891): ‘It may be affirmed with…truth and precision that, by the will of God, absolutely no part of that immense treasure of every grace that the Lord amasses…is bestowed on us except through Mary (as Mediatrix of All Graces)’. All subsequent Popes have substantially echoed the same refrain, some more explicitly than others.”

Pope Benedict XV declared: “…on one hand Mary is all powerful with her divine Son who grants all graces to mankind through her, on the other hand she is by nature so good and so merciful that, inclined to aid spontaneously those who suffer, she is absolutely incapable of refusing her help to those who invoke her.” (From his Encyclical Letter Fausto appetente die; June 29, 1921.)

Pope Pius XI wrote: “In fact, the Mother of God, minister of heavenly graces, was placed at the zenith of power and glory in heaven to give the help of her patronage….” (From Sollemne semper August 15, 1932.)

Pope Leo XIII described Our Lady Mediatrix of All Graces as: “…The minister to us of heavenly grace, who is placed on the highest summit of power and glory in heaven, in order that she may bestow the help of her patronage on men.” (From his Encyclical Supremi Apostolatus; September 1, 1883.)

Saint Pope Pius X declared: “It has been allowed to the august Virgin to be the most powerful mediatrix and advocate of the whole world with her divine Son.” (Encyclical Ad diem illum, February 2, 1904.)

From Our Lady of Fatima to Father Gobbi, Marian Movement of Priests: “Beloved children, I am the Mediatrix of Graces…. I am truly the Mediatrix of Grace between you and my son Jesus. My task is that of distributing to my little children that grace which flows out from the bosom of the Father, is merited for you by the Son and is given to you by the Holy Spirit. My task is that of distributing it to all my children, according to the particular needs of each one, which the mother is very good at knowing. I am ever carrying out this duty of mine. However I can carry it out fully only in the case of those children who entrust themselves to me with perfect abandonment…. Entrust yourselves to me with confidence … because I will be able to carry out fully my work as Mediatrix of Graces…. This is my great work…. Under my powerful action as Mediatrix of Graces, you are ever more transformed into Christ, that you may become fit for the task which awaits you.” (From Our Lady of Fatima through Father Gobbi’s inner locutions from Our Lady. Our Lady’s Message number 204, July 16, 1980, The Feast Day of Our Lady of Mount Carmel.)

From Our Lady of Fatima to Father Gobbi, Marian Movement of Priests: “And so there has been entrusted to me the key with which it is possible to open and shut the door of the abyss….Jesus consigns this key, which represents His divine power, into my hand because, as His Mother, Mediatrix between you and my Son, there is entrusted to me the task of conquering Satan and all his powerful army of evil. It is with this key that I am able to open and shut the door to the abyss….” (From Our Lady of Fatima through Father Gobbi’s inner locutions from her. Our Lady’s Message number 479, October 7, 1992, The Feast Day of Our Lady of Fatima, The Feast Day of Our Lady of the Rosary.)

Blessed Pope Pius IX proclaimed: “…In her who, with her only begotten Son, is the most powerful Mediatrix and conciliatrix in the whole world.” (From his Apostolic Constitution, Ineffabilis Deus, December 8, 1854.)

Blessed Pope Pius IX also proclaimed, “With Her only-begotten Son, the most powerful Mediatrix and Reconciler of the world….” (From his Apostolic Constitution, Ineffabilis Deus, December 8, 1854.)

Pope Pius XII proclaimed in his encyclical: “Pope Leo XIII proclaimed that almost unlimited power was given to the Blessed Virgin Mary in distributing Graces and Saint Pius X added that Mary undertakes this office as by a mother’s right.” (from the Encyclical, Ad coeli Reginam, October 11, 1954, of Pope Pius XII.)

Pope Pius XII proclaimed: “The ‘fiat’ of the Incarnation, her collaboration in the work of her Son, the intensity of the suffering endured during the passion, and the death of the soul which she experienced on Calvary, has opened the heart of Mary to the universal love of humanity, and the decision of her divine Son impressed the seal of omnipotence of her motherhood of grace.” (From his Papal Address of July 17, 1954.)

Pope Pius XII proclaimed: “When Mary interposes her powerful protection, the gates of hell cannot prevail. She, in fact, is the most loving and most powerful Mother of God, and of us all, and never was it heard that anyone has had suppliant recourse to her and has not experienced her most efficacious protection.” (from his Apostolic Letter, Sacro vergente anno, July 7, 1952.)

In the year 180 Saint Irenaeus, Bishop of Lyons and the first great theologian and Apostolic Father of the Church was the first to imply Mary’s role as “Our Lady Mediatrix of All Graces” with his declaration: “(Mary) being obedient, became the cause of salvation for herself and for the whole human race.” (From Saint Irenaeus, Adversus Omnes Haereses III, c 22, n4: PG 7, 959; and Vatican II Lumen Gentium, n. 56.)

In the year 373 AD Saint Ephraem, one of the great early Eastern Doctors of the Church, in his Marian Sermons proclaimed, “with the Mediator, you are the Mediatrix of the entire world.”

In the year 431, Saint Antipater of Bostra, one of the Great Fathers of the Ecumenical Council of Ephesus, in his Address wrote, “Hail you who acceptably intercede as Mediatrix for mankind.” (From S. Joannem Bapt…, PG 85, 1772 C.)

At the Council of Ephesus in the year 431, Saint Cyril of Alexandria gave us a profound understanding of Mary’s most powerful role as Mediatrix of All Graces.

Saint Epiphanius, Saint Cyril of Jerusalem (d. 386), Saint John Chrysostom (d. 407), Saint Jerome (d. 420), Saint Augustine of Hippo (d. 430) all gave implied gradual subtle statements about Mary’s role as Mediatrix. Modestus of Jerusalem (who died in the year 634), Saint Germanus of Constantinople (d. 732), Saint Andrew of Crete (d. 740), Saint John Damascene (d. 749), Saint Tarasius of Constantinople (d. 806), Saint Peter Damian (d. 1072), Saint Theophanes of Nicaea (d. 1381) all wrote explicitly about Mary as Mediatrix of All Graces or of Marian Mediation. Such citations become ever more frequent by numerous Doctors of the Church, mystics, saints and writers throughout the Middle Ages up to the Modern Era.

Pope Paul VI, The Second Vatican Council, Vatican II states “[Mary] shared her Son’s sufferings as He died on the cross. Thus, in a wholly singular way she cooperated by her obedience, faith, hope and burning charity in the work of the Saviour in restoring supernatural life to souls. For this reason she is mother to us in the order of grace….

….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. By her maternal charity she cares for the brethren of her Son, who still journey on earth surrounded by dangers and difficulties, until they are led into their blessed home…. Therefore the Blessed Virgin Mary is invoked by the Church under the titles Advocate, Auxiliatrix, Adjutrix, and Mediatrix.” The Vatican Council, itself, added a note on the above passage regarding Mary’s title, “Mediatrix”. In the Vatican II’s document, Lumen Gentium, refers to Mary’s role as “Mediatrix of All Graces” taught by Pope Leo XIII, Pope Saint Pius X, Pope Pius XI, and Pope Pius XII. (From the Vatican II Council, Chapter 8, Lumen Gentium Number 61 and 62.)

Pope Gregory XVI in the year 1845 wrote: “Do not cease to beg insistently this most beloved Mother of grace, Mary, to help and support by her powerful intercession with her Son our weakness, weighted down as we are by the very heavy solicitude….” (From Pope Gregory XVI’s Apostolic Letter April 23, 1845.)

Pope Pius VII in the year 1806 at the beginning of the nineteenth century proclaimed: “Mary is the Dispensatrix of All Graces” (From J. Bourasse, Summa aurea…, Volumn 7, Paris, 1862, column 546.)

Pope Pius XI declared: “Trusting in her intercession with Christ our Lord, who though sole Mediator between God and Man (1 Tim. 2:5), wished however to make His Mother the advocate for sinners and the dispenser and Mediatrix of His grace….” (From his encyclical Miserentissimus Redemptor of May 8, 1928.)

Pope John Paul II “The Great” explained how Mary in her vital role as “Mediatrix of All Graces” intervenesbetween us and God to unite us, to reconcile our variances, to facilitate, and to distribute all of God’s Graces to us. The Sacred Icon Our Lady Mediatrix of All Graces® – which was very greatly honored in a historic private audience with Pope John Paul II in the Vatican – perfectly portrays this. His Holiness profoundly wrote: “Mary places herself between her Son and mankind in the reality of their wants, needs, and sufferings. She puts herself ‘in the middle’, that is to say she acts as a Mediatrix not as an outsider, but in her position as mother. She knows that as such she can point out to her Son the needs of mankind… Her mediation is thus in the nature of intercession: Mary ‘intercedes’ for mankind. The Mother of Christ presents herself as the spokeswoman of her Son’s will.” (From Pope John Paul II’s most important Marian Encyclical Redemptoris Mater, Mother of the Redeemer no.21.) click on the photo at left to enlarge the picture of Pope John Paul II at the conclusion of the private audience.

Pope John Paul II “The Great” proclaimed “As maternal Mediatrix, Mary presents our desires and petitions to Christ, and transmits the divine gifts to us, interceding continually on our behalf.” (From in his “General Audience” Papal Address: in L’Osservatore Romano September 24,1997 International Edition.)

Pope John Paul “The Great” proclaimed “Mary’s mediation is essentially defined by her divine motherhood. Recognition of her role as Mediatrix is moreover implicit in the expression ‘our Mother’, which presents the doctrine on Marian mediation.” (From Holy Father’s October 1, 1997 “General Audience” Papal Address, found in L’Osserevatore Romano International Edition)

Saint Louis de Montfort (1673-1716) – the most Marian of all Saints, and the mentor of Pope John Paul II, accurately foretold the creation and the coming of the unique Sacred Icon “Our Lady Mediatrix of All Graces®” on the Feast Day of John the Baptist. Very profoundly: for Saint Louis de Montfort, Mary’s Role as “Mediatrix of All Graces” was The Theological Foundation for his vitally important Total Consecration to Jesus through Mary as explained in his masterpiece, “True Devotion to Mary”, of which 8 pope’s have written glowing accounts and which implicitly and explicity refers to “Our Lady Mediatrix of All Graces.” (for example, Pope John Paul II declared, “The reading of this book was a decisive turning-point in my life”) As Saint Louis wrote: “To Mary, His faithful spouse, God the Holy Spirit has communicated His unspeakable gifts; and He has chosen her to be the dispenser of all He possesses, in such wise that she distributes to whom she wills, as much as she wills, as she wills, and when she wills, all His gifts and graces. The Holy Spirit gives no heavenly gift to men which He does not have pass through her virginal hands. Such has been the will of God, who willed that we should have everything through Mary.” (From Saint Louis de Montfort’s True Devotion to Mary, n. 25.)

Saint Louis-Marie de Montfort (1673-1716) – accurately foretold the creation and coming of the unique Sacred Icon “Our Lady Mediatrix of All Graces®” on the Feast Day of John the Baptist. Profoundly, Mary’s role as Mediatrix of All Graces is the theological foundation of Saint Louis’ spiritual way to Jesus through His Mother, and his masterpiece True Devotion to Mary “which is considered to be the greatest single book on the Blessed Virgin Mary ever written”. Saint Louis profoundly wrote: “Jesus has communicated to His Mother all that He acquired by His life and His death, His infinite merits and His admirable virtues; and He has made her the treasurer of all that His Father gave Him for His inheritance. It is by her (as Mediatrix of All Graces) that He applies His merits to His Members, and that He communicates His virtues, and distributes His graces. She is His mysterious canal; she is His aqueduct, through which He makes His mercies flow gently and abundantly” (as exquisitely depicted in The Miraculous Icon® “Our Lady Mediatrix of All Graces” great cascading, ever-flowing ocean blue mantle of graces behind Jesus’ outstretched hand in blessings). (From Saint Louis de Montfort’s True Devotion to Mary, n. 24.)

Saint Bonaventure, (1221-1274) – Doctor of the Church wrote, as Saint Louis de Montfort reported: “She (Our Lady Mediatrix of All Graces) is so powerful that none of her petitions has ever been refused. She has but to show herself before her Son to pray to Him, and straightaway He grants her desires, straightaway He receives her prayers. He is always lovingly vanquished by the prayers of His dearest Mother, who bore Him and nourished Him…. We have three steps to mount to go to God: the first, which is nearest to us and the most suited to our capacity, is Mary; the second is Jesus Christ; and the third is God the Father. To go to Jesus, we must go to Mary; she is our Mediatrix of intercession.” (From Saint Bonaventure’s Speculum B.M.V., lectio XI, and Saint Louis de Montfort’s True Devotion to Mary, n. 86, 87)

Saint Alphonsus Liguori (1696-1787) – one of “The Four Marian Doctors of The Church”, succinctly summed up the universal character of the distribution of all graces by Mary: “God, who gave us Jesus Christ, wills that all graces that have been, that are, and will be dispensed to men to the end of the world through the merits of Jesus Christ, should be dispensed by the hands, and through the intercession of Mary.” (The Glories of Mary, chapter 5)

Saint Maxmilian Kolbe(1894-1941) – in 1940, profoundly wrote about the union between Mary Mediatrix and the Holy Spirit which is portrayed in Our Lady Mediatrix of All Graces® Icon: “The Holy Spirit grants no grace, The Father does not send down His own supernatural life through The Holy Spirit into the souls, except through the Mediatrix of All Graces, with her cooperation and by her consent. She receives all the treasures of grace as her own, and distributes them to whom and in the measure in which she wills. …And only through her does the love of creatures reach Jesus, and through Him the Father. We do not always realize this, but this is how it always happens.” (From Anselm W. Romb, OFM (Ed.), The Kolbe Reader, 1987, pg.192)

Saint Maxmilian Kolbe (1894-1941) – in 1940, wrote “The Holy Spirit acts only by the Most Blessed Virgin, His Spouse. This is why she is the Mediatrix of All Graces given by the Holy Spirit. And since every grace is a gift of God the Father through the Son and by the Holy Spirit, it follows that there is no grace which Mary cannot dispose of as her own, which is not given to her for this purpose.” (From Saint Maxmilian’s Letter, found in Manteau-Bonamy, Immaculate Conception and the Holy Spirit, Page 99.)

Pope Leo XIII teaches us that not only do all graces come through Mary – in her very powerful role “Mediatrix of All Graces”, but that we go to Jesus through Mary: “It may be said that of the great treasury of all graces given us by our Lord, nothing comes to us except through Mary’s Mediation, for such is God’s will. Thus, as no man goes to the Father but by the Son, so no one goes to Christ except through His Mother.” (From Pope Leo XIII’s Encyclical Octobri Mense On the Rosary, Sept. 22, 1891.)

Pope Benedict XIV, in the year 1748, proclaimed: “Mary is that heavenly stream which brings to the hearts of wretched mortals all God’s gifts and graces.” (From his Apostolic Constitution, Gloriosae Dominae, September 27, 1748.)

Pope Benedict XIV, in the year 1747, described Mary as being: “Like a celestial stream through which the flow of all graces and gifts reach the soul of all wretched mortals.” As perfectly represented in the Sacred Icon Our Lady Mediatrix of All Graces® Ocean Blue Mantle which depicts the continual stream of graces flowing to us from Heaven. (From Pope Benedict XIV’s Op. Omnia, in v. 16, ed., Prati 1846, p. 428.)

Pope Benedict XIV In another Encyclical he proclaimed: “Mary is like a heavenly stream on whose waves all graces and gifts for us unhappy mortals are born.” As explicitly depicted in Our Lady Mediatrix of All Graces® Icon, and especially in our “Mary’s Waves of Graces Picture Frame”© – which is also an Icon. (From Pope Benedict XIV’s 1748 Apostolic Letter, Gloriosae Dominae Genetricis Mariae.)

“Our Lady Mediatrix of All Graces” has been a Doctrine of The Catholic Church for hundreds of years. This Doctrine is summarized here from among thousands of Official Declarations about Mary’s vitally important role as “Our Lady Mediatrix of All Graces”: from 10 Popes of the 27 Popes who defined Mary as “The Mediatrix”, in The Bible (where it was implied 5 times), 10 Fathers and Doctors of The Church, 30 Saints, The Second Vatican Council, etc.

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