Asa H. Craig, (Asa Hollister), 1847-1934
Few Protestants, if any, understand the true relation that religiously exists between the Catholics and the Virgin Mary. They do not understand why she is so warmly and earnestly loved and honored, or why, in the fullness of devotion to their faith, the Catholics kneel before her image or stand in solemn veneration before her picture. Protestants see these acts of loyalty, of faithful gratitude, and of deep and lasting veneration, but they do not comprehend its meaning. They do not understand the sweet affection, the purity of purpose, and the sublime relation existing between the Blessed Virgin and the Son of God.
Protestants look upon the picture of the Mother of Jesus just as they would upon the likeness of some renowned character. It excites their curiosity, but they are not moved to a feeling of holy piety. Having critically examined it as a work of art, they turn to other curiosities, but not once do they have in their hearts a serious thought of pious love for these representatives of divine existence. Again, as they stand before the image of Christ on the Cross, they think not of the sacrifice of the body, the mortal pain, the redemption of sin, or the salvation of mankind. To them it is an idol representing a historic past, a figure of history, and an emblem of Catholic worship. They do not appreciate the filial affection of the devout Catholic. It was never taught to them in their infancy, and has never been impressed upon their minds as a reverence due to Christ, the Savior of man, and the Son of God. Without these impressions they cannot appreciate the feelings and the motives of the true Catholic. These things are not written from imagination, but from reality. The author knows whereof be speaks, having numerous times stood within the Catholic sanctuary of divine worship, but experienced no feeling of reverence for God. His eyes rested upon the beautiful works erf art, but not upon the beautiful thoughts of divinity. He uncovered his head, because he was in the Church of God, but not because it was a sanctified place of worship. He saw kneeling worshipers, and while he silently respected their solemn meditations, yet the thought of bending the knee before the throne of Grace never entered his mind. It was not veneration, but curiosity, that prompted him to gaze upon the image of Christ and his Sainted Mother. He saw the pictures of the saints, the altar, the sacred vestments, but he could not comprehend the beautiful conceptions that were carried to the hearts of those who knew its meaning. He saw the vessels containing holy water, but he could not realize the sympathetic feelings of divine love and affection. He saw the worshipers make the sign of the cross, but this act of piety was to him but the formal act pertaining to a peculiar ceremonial, and not in remembrance of Him who suffered crucifixion.
Thus, it is regarding Protestant veneration of Catholic worship. They see the image of Christ, or that of the Virgin Mary, but beyond the seeing there is no responsive feeling. To them it is sculptured art representing historic characters. But why, you may ask, is this so? Why are Protestants not responsive with feelings of love and adoration for the loved figures of Catholic faith? Why does the eye see and the heart not feel? Protestants worship Christ, then why do they not venerate his image? They know that the Virgin Mary was the mother of Jesus; then why do they not honor her with all the veneration due this wonderful creation of God? While these questions may seem hard to answer, yet they can be easily explained. It is a lack of teaching, of study, and of thoughtfulness. It is not taught to them in their infancy, in their boyhood, or in their manhood. They were never taught that the eyes should first behold before the heart could conceive the impressions of divine love and faith. The Catholic child is taught that the image of Christ is the counterpart of the original, not an idol of worship, but the representative of that Divine Teacher. He is taught to reverence it, to kneel before it, to kiss the crucifix, to bow the head at Angelus’ bells, to venerate the Virgin Mary, the saints, the martyrs, and all those who were chosen by God to fulfill the plan of salvation. These children are taught to love and revere every character that was associated with Christ, and every person that was near and dear to Him on earth.
As we love to look at the portrait of a dear friend, so, too, are they taught to look upon the face of the Blessed Virgin as the reflection of that dear Mother who gave to the world the Savior of man. We, who are mature in life, love to stand before the picture of our own mother and allow our thoughts to revert to the days of our boyhood, when that mother watched over us with care, when we went to her for consolation, when we begged her to intercede for us and mitigate the stem demands of the father, when she labored for us, prayed for us, and with patient love and motherly affection, would lay down her life for us. Who of us can hold the portrait of a loved one and not feel the spirit of affection that always creeps into the soul as we think of the love that once crowned the joy of our existence? Who can say that such contemplations, such affection that comes to us through the eye, is not real? That it is not love, or reverence, for the dead? This being true of those who have shared our earthly joys and sorrows, why should not the same reverence and affection extend to those who have labored for us through the divine power of God?
We are taught to recognize and revere the Apostles as models of holiness, of purity, and sacred in the history of the Divine purpose. We do this because they were the followers of Jesus, and were selected by Him to preach the doctrine of salvation. But how much more should we love the Being who gave Him birth, whose breast was His pillow, who nursed and clothed Him in infancy, who guided His early steps, who accompanied Him in His exile to Egypt, who abode with Him from infancy to boyhood, from boyhood to manhood, who constantly listened to His words of wisdom, who was the first to embrace Him at His birth, and the last to receive His dying breath on Calvary? If this nearest and dearest earthly association is not entitled to our ‘homage, our deepest veneration, then indeed is Christianity cold and cruel.
The Catholic faith is not a cold and formal exposition of divine truth. It is full to overflowing with veneration, love, and affection. There is not a spot of earth where trod the Son of God, that is not sacred in the memory of this blessed religion. The manger at Bethlehem, the streets of Nazareth, the land of Judea, the mount erf Calvary, are sacred to the memory of Him who gave his life that we might live. Catholics are taught to cherish these historic places as a part of the veneration due that holy period of our world’s existence.
As we honor the memory of Washington, and give expression of it in a thousand ways, so do they honor, or venerate, the memory of Mary, the memory of the Apostle Peter, or the memory of the legion of martyrs who gave their lives in defense of Christian virtue, in defense of the Holy Sepulcher, the Bible, the Church, and the worship of God. While Protestants cannot appreciate this religious veneration, this worship of God through His representatives of Divine love, yet they can understand why the tomb of Washington is sacred to the heart of the true American. Visit this spot of national reverence, and you instinctively feel that you are in the presence of some powerful influence, some venerated association, and some honored dead. As you approach the sepulcher of this renowned chieftain, you bare your head in solemn reverence, you cease your levity, and you bend your knee in fervent prayer. Why this deep respect, this worship of God, before the doors of the dead? Is not this idolatry? Is the grave of Washington more sacred than the grave of Jesus? Is the pile of masonry a more sublime subject of remembrance than the cross of crucifixion? No. But why this love of veneration towards one and its lack towards another? This is made clear by teaching the child. The moment the child comprehends national existence it is taught that Washington was the Father of his country, that he was a devoted patriot, that his wonderful energies made him a conquering hero, that his statesmanship was pure and loyal, and that he stands today consecrated in the history of the American Republic. The child also learns that the 22nd day of February is the day of his birth; that the 4th of July is the birth of Independence, and that Mount Vernon is the resting-place of our cherished dead. Constantly do these remembrances arise in its mind. It hears the eloquence of oratory, sees the display of patriotism, and becomes enthused with this grand demonstration of veneration. Thus, the child grows to manhood, educated to revere Washington’s memory, his work in the cause of independence, and his marvelous achievements under great difficulties.
We thus manifest our admiration for our historic dead, as does the .Catholic Church manifest its veneration for the Mother of Jesus.
“Monuments and statues are erected to her. Thrice each day, at morn, noon, and even, the Angelus bells are rung to recall to our mind the Incarnation of our Lord, and the participation of Mary in this great mystery of love. Her shrines are tastefully adorned by pious hands and visited by devoted children, who wear her relics, or any object that bears her image, or which is associated with her name. Her natal day, and other days of the year sacred to her memory, are appropriately commemorated by processions, by participation in the banquet of the Eucharist, and by sermons enlarging on her virtues and prerogatives.
“As no one was ever suspected of loving his country and her institutions less because of his revering George Washington, so no one can reasonably suppose that our homage to God is diminished by our fostering reverence for Mary. As our object in eulogizing Washington is not so much to honor the man as to indicate those principles of which he was the champion and exponent, and to express our gratitude to God for the blessings bestowed on our country through him, even so our motive in commemorating Mary’s name is not merely to praise her; but still more to keep us in perpetual remembrance of our Lord’s Incarnation, and to show our thankfulness to Him for the blessings wrought through that great mystery in which she was so prominent a figure. Experience sufficiently demonstrates that the better we understand the part which Mary has taken in the work of redemption, the more enlightened becomes our knowledge of our Redeemer Himself; and that the greater our love for her, the deeper and broader is our devotion to Him, while experience also testifies that our Savior’s attributes become more confused and warped in the minds of a people in proportion as they ignore Mary’s relations to Him.
‘‘The defender of a beleaguered citadel concentrates his forces on the outer fortifications and towers, knowing well that the capture of these outworks would endanger the citadel itself, and that their safety involves its security.
“Jesus Christ is the citadel of our faith, the stronghold of our soul’s affection. Mary is called the ‘Tower of David,’ and the gate of Sion which the Lord loveth more than all the tabernacles of Jacob, and which He entered at His Incarnation.
“So intimately is this living gate of Sion connected with Jesus, the Temple of our faith, that no one has ever assailed the former without invading the latter. The Nestorian would have Mary to be only an ordinary mother, because he would have Christ to be a mere man.
“Hence, if we rush to the defense of the gate of Sion, it is because we are more zealous for the city of God. If we stand as sentinels around the tower of David, it is because we are more earnest in protecting Jerusalem from invasion. If we forbid profane hands to touch the ark of the covenant, it is because we are anxious to guard from profanation the Lord of the ark. If we are so solicitous about Mary’s honor, it is because ‘the love of Christ’ presses us. If we will not permit a single wreath to be snatched from her fair brow, it is because we are unwilling that a single feature of Christ’s sacred humanity should be obscured, and because we wish that He should ever shine forth in all the splendor of His glory, and clothed in all the panoply of His perfection.”
The above, showing why Catholics venerate the Virgin Mary, was taken from the “Faith of Our Fathers,” by Cardinal Gibbons, and expresses beautifully the reasons for their love and veneration. By using his words, we are enabled to more clearly set forth that what many Protestants call worship is merely cold formality. They have never studied the strength and cause of this Catholic love and are ignorant of its meaning. They see only outward representations and cannot comprehend the holy love they feel for Christ and his Sainted Mother. Like the Nestorians, they look upon Mary as an ordinary woman but differ as to the divine origin of Christ. While they look upon the Savior as the source of our Christianity, our faith, and our salvation, yet they carelessly pass this Mother by as being a character merely of pleasing remembrance, but not of any special nearness to God. They do not call her blessed, for they were never taught what that means. They even doubt the purity of her life and the name she bears. They say that the birth of Christ, as understood, is inconsistent with nature, that it is not a reasonable conclusion, nor is it at all probable. Here let me say to my Protestant friends: If you doubt that Mary was a virgin of divine origin, that she knew no defilement, no sin, no unholy thought, or action, then you may doubt the divinity of Christ, the miracles of God, and the existence of immortality. Analyze the purposes of God, and you will find that Christ could not exist in sin, with sin, or come from sin. That as He was pure and holy, so, too, must His germ of existence be pure and holy. To be otherwise would be an impossibility, and a contradiction of divine law. As like begets like, as nature is true to nature, and as finite is finite, and infinite is infinite, so too must Christ, who is pure, holy, and Infinite, be conceived by the same elements of purity of which He is, He has been and ever will be. To doubt for a moment this purity of conception, is to cast an element of sin into the existence of God. You believe that Christ came into the world pure and holy. You believe in the miracles He performed, the lessons He taught, the persecution, the betrayal, the crucifixion, and the resurrection. You believe He left the gospel of repentance for all Christianity, and salvation for all men. Then why close the gates to your belief in this most important of all the miracles of God? What was feeding the multitude, relieving the afflicted, or even the raising of the dead, when compared with the divine necessity of a perfect origin? Those testimonies of God’s power on earth are as nothing when compared to the impossible existence of an imperfect Infinity.
It is from this standpoint, therefore, that we must judge the jealous love of the Catholics for their religion. They see the nakedness of suspicion, and the impossible existence of an Infinite Being of finite origin. They see that to love and venerate Mary is but a part of their sublime faith in the everlasting truths of God. As they bless the day that Christ came into the world, 90 do they bless the Mother who gave this God gift to man. The one they worship, the other they love, venerate, and honor. Christ is the hope of immortality, and Mary the blessed origin of the child Jesus.
Protestants seem to imagine that Catholics worship the Virgin Mary; that because of their love and veneration for her, she is the object of their adoration; that because they kneel before her shrine they lose sight of God, and their worship becomes individual, and not that which should be directed to the Divinity. They seem to think that it is a species of idolatry, that God must be displeased, that He is robbed of part of the glory due Him, that it is making of Mary a divine being, an object of worship, and thus we become guilty of a violation of the commandments of God. They seem to feel grieved at this lack of wisdom, this lack of understanding, and think Catholics should be pitied for their ignorance. The truth is, Protestants know nothing of the deep, loving gratitude that every Catholic feels for the Mother of Jesus, and as they kneel in supplication before the Throne of Grace, they can see no higher form of homage, no stronger evidence of filial affection, no more devout form of worship, thaw to pray in the presence of an image, or a picture, of the Sainted Virgin. Are Protestants so blind as to imagine that Catholics cannot distinguish the relationship that exists between the picture of Mary, or the picture of Jesus, and the originals? Can they believe that Catholics pray to these images and not to the God who is behind them?
When individuals say it is mockery, or an act of unholy piety, to venerate Mary, to kiss the lips of her portrait, or to bless her, they are totally ignorant of the thoughts and motives of those who love to worship God, and to testify by their acts their unbounded gratitude to Him. While Protestants may believe that these acts of affection are but regular requirements prescribed by rule, they have no evidence except that which their own coldness and their own teachings furnishes. Because they have no desire to venerate the Mother of Jesus, they can neither see nor feel any affection in the acts of others. As the Atheist says that there is no God, so did the Reformers — and all Protestantism sprang from the Reformation — declare that to venerate Mary is to worship at the displeasure of God. As they were taught this, so have they practiced this cold and inhuman conduct It is not natural to be cold and formal while in the presence of purity and loveliness. No being can deny the beauties of nature and art. We were created to love all things beautiful and we cannot deny it. We may fail to see the grandeur of divine beauties unless taught how to appreciate them. We may not understand that the mind is the camera of our ‘existence, the origin of inspiration, the power of passion, the inclination for evil, or the source of good. But so it is. By it we rise or fall, by it we have faith or distrust, by it we love or hate, and as we receive the instructions of others so do we transmit them to those we love and cherish. Teach your boy that the Blessed Virgin Mary was only a woman, and he will grow to manhood devoid of affection for her; but teach him that she was a Sainted Mother, remind him of this great connection between God and man, and whenever he stands before her image, or her picture, he will renew his affection, his homage, and his veneration.
We visit an art gallery and gaze with delight and admiration on the beautiful works of art. We praise their loveliness, their beauties of conception, their perfection, and wonder how the brush, or chisel, can transform the barren canvas, or the cold marble, into the vision of a seeming reality. In praising these beautiful pictures, do you dishonor the artist who wrought them? Does not all the praise which you bestow belong to the one who fashioned these beauties? If the artist should overhear your exclamations of joy, would he frown with displeasure? But utter a remark of contempt, of unjust criticism, or of ignorant disapproval, and a blaze of indignation bursts from his eyes. While he may not retort with words, yet he scorns your presence and spurns you as he would an adder. It is no longer a pleasure for him to display to you, his treasures. You trampled upon the tender feelings of his affection, and you may never regain his confidence.
Again, you examine some intricate and perfect mechanism, you declare it is a wonderful invention, a blessing to mankind, and the work of a master mind. Do you dishonor the inventor by these words of praise? ‘Are your exclamations of appreciation distressful to him? Is he not grateful for your approval and your interest in him? But belittle the grandeur of his achievements, and what have you done? Tell him you distrust his wisdom when you can see its perfect work, and he will distrust your reason, your power of understanding, and to him you are as nothing — a mere speck of infidelity and ignorance, a being dead to the world of progress. And is he not right? You saw his work. It was perfect. Millions clapped their hands in their appreciation of his victory. You, alone, stand there doubting, and yet you see its work, its marvelous power, and its perfect construction.
Again, you visit a man who is proud of his mother, who loves her, who sees only perfection in her every act, who labors for her, and would protect her in all the storms of life. You say to the man, what a lovely mother you have; she seems so pure, so angelic, so devoted. Would not a blush of happiness suffuse his cheek? Would he not clasp your hand in joy and affection? But instead, you say, I would like to visit with you, but your mother is distasteful to me; will you have her leave the room? Can you imagine the result? As he loves his mother, so will he hate you; and in the passion of an aroused nature he will say, depart from me; you have disgraced my presence by blaspheming against my mother, I will not harbor your presence, and may curses follow your footsteps.
What is your verdict? You all exclaim that the visitor was a poor, ignorant, debased being, and not worthy a place in Christian society. He had lost his manhood by insulting the son in his own home. This is exactly the condition of Protestants in their relations with the Virgin Mary. While they may not ask that she shall be cast aside, yet she is ignored as being specially favored of God. She gave birth to Jesus, but not as a special dispensation of Divine Power. To them there is no stronger connection than the relation of birth. The divinity of Christ had not made sacred the vessel of His conception. His Incarnation had cast no luster over His Sainted Mother. It was Christ and Christ alone, whom they honor, venerate, and worship. Mark the contrast. With Catholics Mary is the beautiful work of art, the perfect mechanism, and the idolized mother. In praising this perfect work of God, and in kneeling in reverence before her, you but receive the blessings of Him who sees it and blesses you for it, and the more you honor her the greater pleasure you find in the sight of God. Mary is his handiwork, his model of perfection, and the means by which Jesus came into the world. To praise and love His work is to praise and honor Him.
You cannot call her too beautiful, too perfect, or too worthy. You cannot honor her too often, nor can you displease God in any of your acts of veneration. She is Jesus’ Mother, and to kneel to her, to invoke her intercession, is but to please Christ in your homage and filial affection. He sees the act of love and gratitude and feels that it is to Him you render praise.
The love of the devout Catholic is so great for Mary that not a temple or chapel, how rude soever it may be, but is adorned with a painting or a statue of the Madonna. There is no house that is not embellished with an image of Mary, and no Catholic child is a stranger to her familiar face.
“The priest and the layman, the scholar and the illiterate, the prince and the peasant, the mother and the maid, acknowledge her benign sway.”
“And if Christianity is so fruitful in comparison with paganism, in conjugal fidelity, in female purity, and in respect paid to womanhood, these blessings are in no small measure due to the force of Mary’s all-pervading influence and example. Ever since the Son of God chose a woman to be His mother, man looks up to woman with a homage akin to veneration.’’
The chief reason given why Protestants are so lukewarm in their praises of the mother of Jesus, is that they were never educated to revere her. But why were they not so educated? Why were they not taught to see her as she was and as she is? Why were they not taught to study her character, the purity of her life, her relationship to God, and the beautiful example she set for us to imitate? These reasons are easily answered, and although Protestants may seek to deny the charge, yet it is true and must be accepted as the only solution of this seeming cold and almost cruel neglect which is charged against them by the Catholics. It is because the practice of veneration is Catholic. The sacrifice of the Mass, and these acts of piety, date from the beginning of Christianity. They have ever honored and venerated the Virgin Mary. For fifteen hundred years the whole Christian world bowed before the Mother of Jesus. As the Catholic cherishes the crucifix as the emblem of martyred faith, so too, does he cherish the remembrance of Mary as the origin of the Incarnation of our Savior. The one represents life and birth, the other faith and death. These two sacred periods of existence receive the strongest veneration known to the Catholic faith. The picture of the Sainted Mother fills the heart with love and affection, while the cross is that deeper feeling which stirs the soul in its adoration of God. Deny these cherished representatives of life and death, and you destroy the beauties of the Catholic worship of God. Deny the cross of crucifixion, and you deny Jesus Christ, who surrendered His life for the salvation of man. Deny the Virgin Mary, and you deny his existence as the Son of God.
Again, I say to my Protestant friends, the practice is Catholic, and you have inherited the antagonistic doctrine of the Reformation. Is it not true that you do not teach your children that the Mother of Jesus was pure, holy, and without sin? Why have you never taught this? Is it not because it is Catholic? Because it is a part of the Catholic faith? Because in the great struggle of Reformation you sought a separate and distinct doctrine of Christianity? Is it not true that it has ever been the aim of Protestantism to go as far from the Catholic practice as possible? You recognize Christ because you could not be Christians if you did not. You believe Him to be the Son of God, the great source of salvation, and the Infinite Man. You believe the Bible is a book of inspirations, that it is the Divine Truth, and the Word of God. As you believe these things, then why do you ignore the study of the character of Mary? You write volumes on the life of Christ, but scarcely mention the name of His Mother, and yet this Blessed Being was almost constantly with him from the cradle to the crucifixion. She consoled him during the agonizing moments on Calvary, and she ran to his sepulcher on the mom of his resurrection. Why then have you cast her aside as only a woman and a mother? Is it nothing to be the earthly mother of such a being as Jesus? Is she not entitled to all the veneration that it is possible for your soul to give? Can you honor her without honoring Him? Can you love Him less by clasping her to your heart? No, these things are impossible. Catholics love the Sainted Mother because she was the chosen instrument of God to bless the world through the birth of Jesus. Now, is it not your duty to honor and love her? She has earned your affections and were you to kneel before her shrine at morn, noon, and even, you could never praise God more sweetly, more fervently, nor more purely. If God blessed her, and through His divine power she became the instrument of salvation by the birth of Jesus, we need have no hesitation in pressing our lips to her brow, in loving her devotion to God, in revering her purity of character, and in praising God for this knowledge of His divine power.
It is not necessary for me to quote any particular passage of Scripture to prove the divine right to love and venerate the Virgin Mary. I will only ask you to read for yourself. You need not search diligently, for if you will but read you will find constantly recurring evidence of this miracle of God. You will find that, besides being a woman and a mother, she was holy and pure, that she was sanctified for the purpose of the Incarnation of our Lord, and as such, she must have been, and is today, the most sainted soul in all the treasures of heaven. How, then, can you say, “I love my Redeemer,” and not in the same breath bless the mother who bore him? As Christ came into the world to teach men how to live, how to worship, and how to die, so, too, was Mary the great exemplar of Christian virtues, and in her sainted life she ever stands as a perfect model for the followers of all mankind.
The Catholic Church ever holds up for the contemplation of her children the beautiful portrait of the Virgin Mary. They are taught to study it, that they may thereby the better admire the original, and by admiring they may love, and loving, they may imitate and thus become more dear to God by being made “conformable to the image of His Son,” of whom Mary is the most perfect mirror.