In my book-length treatment of Mariology (theology of Mary, the mother of
Jesus), Behold the Mother of My Lord:Towards a Mormon Mariology, I focused mainly on the defined Marian dogmas
(Immaculate Conception; Perpetual Virginity; Bodily Assumption), although I did
have a chapter (Chapter 6: Devotions and Apparitions, pp. 157-75) discussing
various devotions and prayers to Mary.
One popular prayer to Mary is that of the Salve Regina or “Hail Holy Queen.” It used to be one of the prayers
offered at the end of the traditional Mass for the conversion of Russia, and it
still very popular in Catholic piety today. The words of this prayer are:
Hail, holy Queen, Mother of mercy, hail, our
life, our sweetness and our hope. To thee do we cry, poor banished children of
Eve: to thee do we send up our sighs, mourning and weeping in this vale of
tears. Turn then, most gracious Advocate, thine eyes of mercy toward us, and
after this our exile, show unto us the blessed fruit of thy womb, Jesus, O
merciful, O loving, O sweet Virgin Mary! Amen.
Notice the
focus on Mary as the hope of the believer as well as being the advocate who
reveals Jesus (this is similar to Bernard of Clairvaux’s claim that one needed
a mediator [Mary] with the mediator [Jesus]!)
In a
commentary on the prayer, Catholic priest Paul O’Sullivan, O.P., wrote the
following:
“Hail Holy Queen”
Our Blessed Mother is not styled gracious,
glorious or powerful Queen, though she has the right to all these titles. We
say rather “Hail Holy Queen.” She is
the Immaculate Queen of Heaven, high above the Patriarchs and Prophets, above
the cherubs and seraphs who stand before the throne of God.
“She is raised so far above all others,” says
St. Albert the Great, “that she is on a level, a plane of her own, below God
but far above all creatures,” higher, holier, greater than all others put
together.
“Mother of Mercy”
Mary’s great prerogative is mercy. St.
Alphonsus tells us that Jesus Christ has divided His Kingdom with His Blessed
Mother. He made her Queen of Mercy.
Jesus came to us through Mary, so He wishes
that all His mercies, graces and favors come also through her.
St. Bernard says that it was never heard of
in any time, in any place that Mary refused a grace to anyone who called on her
for help, were he even the worst of sinners.
How often has it happened that a poor sinner,
whose life has been one long crime, lies dying without God, without Sacraments,
without friends, abandoned, alone.
The demons stand around his bed, watching his
labored breathing, waiting for his last breath, when he shall be theirs
forever. Weaker and weaker he grows. One moment more than he is irretrievably
lost.
But a long-ago memory, a thought of Mary
flashes through his mind. He sends up one cry, one faint but confiding cry to
his Mother in Heaven She hastens to his side. He is saved.
“Hail to Our Life, Our Sweetness and Our Hope”
What more tender, affectionate, confiding
language could we use?
We tell our Blessed Mother that she is
everything to us, and in truth she is. Tender was her love, vigilant her care
for the Divine Child, Likewise tender and vigilant is she in regard to us. We
are truly her children, given to her by Jesus, saved at the cost of His
Precious Blood.
“To thee do we cry poor banished children of Eve. To thee do we
send up our sighs, mourning and weeping in this valley of tears”
The weakness of our first mother, Eve,
condemned us to banishment in this vale of tears, in this world of sickness,
sorry and care where all is labor and struggle, trial and temptation.
God, in His surpassing goodness, has given us
His own sweet Mother to console us, to help us to wipe away our tears.
What madness not to place all our trust in
Mary?
“Show Unto Us the Fruit of Thy Womb, Jesus”
At the dread hour of death, when dark clouds
gather round us and terror fills our souls; when the demons redouble their
efforts in a last desperate effort to destroy us and the struggle against Hell
is at its fiercest, oh then, dearest Mother, hasten to our help, be with us in
our hour of need and show unto us the fruit of thy womb, Jesus.
“O Clement, O Loving, O Sweet Virgin Mary”
Help me in the life, in my every need, in my
every sorrow, but help me above all, dearest Mother, at the hour of my death.
Let us offer the Hail Holy Queen every time we say it to ask Mary to
obtain or us a holy death. If we do we shall, indeed, have happy deaths (Paul
O’Sullivan, How to Be Happy How to Be
Holy [Rockford, Ill.: TAN Books and Publishers, Inc., 1989], 56-58;
emphasis in original)
In light of
such unhealthy, and, frankly, idolatrous and blasphemous devotions and prayers
focus on the mother of Jesus, all one can say is “thank God for the restoration
of the Gospel” as well as our possessing a knowledge of true Mariology.
