Co-Redemptrix

The prefix "co-" derives from the Latin term "cum", which means "with" (and not "equal to"). Mary cooperates in a unique and subordinate way with Christ (the only Redeemer) in the redemption of the human race, through her fiat at the Annunciation and the subsequent incarnation of Christ, and by accompanying Jesus to Calvary where she suffered spiritually with Him. Proponents view the title Co-Redemptrix as not implying that Mary participates as equal part in the redemption of the human race, since Christ is the only redeemer. Mary herself needed redemption and was redeemed by Jesus Christ. Being redeemed by Christ, implies that she cannot be his equal part in the redemption process. Similarly, if Mary is described as the mediatrix of all graces, it “is to be so understood that it neither takes away from nor adds anything to the dignity and efficaciousness of Christ the one Mediator”. The words of Luke 1, 38: "Behold the handmaid of the Lord" imply Mary’s mediate, remote co-operation in the Redemption. St. Ambrose expressly teaches: "Christ’s Passion did not require any support". In the power of the grace of Redemption merited by Christ, Mary, by her spiritual entering into the sacrifice of her Divine Son for men, made atonement for the sins of men, and (de congruo) merited the application of the redemptive grace of Christ. In this manner she co-operates in the subjective redemption of mankind. Theologians distinguish between "remote cooperation", by which she consents to the Incarnation and gives birth to the Son of God, and "immediate cooperation", in which she willingly unites herself to her Son's Passion and offers him back to the Father. Philosophers also draw a distinction between merit de condigno (Christ's merit), which is based on justice, and merit proprie de congruo (Mary's merit), founded on the friendship of charity. In his encyclical on the Immaculate Conception, Ad diem illum, Pope Pius X said, "...since Mary carries it over all in holiness and union with Jesus Christ, and has been associated by Jesus Christ in the work of redemption, she merits for us de congruo, in the language of theologians, what Jesus Christ merits for us de condigno." a concept that is in itself in need of clarification. ==History==

Around the year 180 AD, the Church Father Irenaeus, in his work Against Heresies, wrote that "Mary become the cause of salvation, both to herself and the whole human race" given her fiat ("let it be"). The concept was especially common in the late Middle Ages, when it was promoted heavily among the Franciscans, and often resisted by the Dominicans. It is an idea which was the subject of considerable theological debate, reaching a peak in the 15th century. By the early 16th century the hopes of the concept becoming Catholic doctrine had receded, and have never seriously revived. A number of theologians have discussed the concept over the years, from the 19th-century Father Frederick William Faber, to the 20th-century Mariologist Father Gabriel Roschini. In his 1946 publication Compendium Mariologiae, Roschini explained that Mary did not only participate in the birth of the physical Jesus, but, with conception, she entered with him into a spiritual union. The divine salvation plan, being not only material, includes a permanent spiritual unity with Christ. Most Mariologists agree with this position. The term Co-Redemptress was used by Pope Leo XIII in 1894: "For in the Rosary all the part that Mary took as our co-Redemptress comes to us..." In the year of 1914, the Pope Pius X granted an indulgence to those who recited a prayer containing the following passage: I bless thy holy Name, I praise thine exalted privilege of being truly Mother of God, ever Virgin, conceived without stain of sin, Co-Redemptrix of the human race. The prayer is found in the Raccolta of 1950 with Vatican approval. In his encyclical on the Immaculate Conception, Ad diem illum, Pope Pius X said, "...since Mary carries it over all in holiness and union with Jesus Christ, and has been associated by Jesus Christ in the work of redemption, she merits for us de congruo, in the language of theologians, what Jesus Christ merits for us de condigno." The title tends to be most popular among conservative Catholics. :It was God's design that the Blessed Virgin Mary, apparently absent from the public life of Jesus, should assist him when he was dying nailed to the Cross. Mary suffered and, as it were, nearly died with her suffering Son; for the salvation of mankind she renounced her mother's rights and, as far as it depended on Her, offered her Son to placate divine justice; so we may well say that she with Christ redeemed mankind. The first Pope to use the term "Co-redemptrix" was Pius XI in a Brief dated 20 July 1925 about the Queen of the Rosary of Pompeii: "Remember also that at Calvary you became the Co-redemptrix, cooperating with the crucifixion of your heart for the salvation of the world, together with your crucified Son." In an allocution to pilgrims from Vicenza on 30 November 1933 Pius XI said: Finally in a radio message on the occasion of the closing of the Jubilee of the Redemption at Lourdes (28 April 1935) Pius XI stated: "Mother most faithful and most merciful, who as Co-redemptrix and partaker of thy dear Son's sorrows didst assist him as he offered the sacrifice of our Redemption on the altar of the Cross ... preserve in us and increase each day, we beseech thee, the precious fruits of our Redemption and thy compassion." In his encyclical Ad Caeli Reginam relates: In the encyclical Haurietis Aquas Pius XII states: "For, by God's Will, in carrying out the work of human Redemption the Blessed Virgin Mary was inseparably linked with Christ in such a manner that our salvation sprang from the love and the sufferings of Jesus Christ to which the love and sorrows of His Mother were intimately united." Attempts to promote a fifth Marian dogma were undertaken in the 1920s through 1940s, but Pius XII decided not to proceed with the definition of the dogma. the first translation into English of a volume in which the thomist theologian Garrigou-Lagrange explained Virgin Mary's active role in divine Redemption. The concluding chapter of the Second Vatican Council's apostolic constitution Lumen gentium, which many theologians hold to be a comprehensive summary of Roman Catholic Mariology, refers to Mary as "Advocate, Auxiliatrix, Adjutrix, and Mediatrix," but does not use the term "Co-Redemptrix." Some, in particular the adherents of the Amsterdam visions, have petitioned for a dogmatic definition of Co-Redemptrix, along with Mediatrix, but recent high-level comments in the church have not encouraged these hopes. Pope John Paul II referred to Mary as "Co-redemptrix" on at least seven occasions. ==Proposed dogmatic definition==

There have been efforts to propose a formal dogmatization, which has had both popular and ecclesiastical support. The proposal for the dogma is often associated with the alleged apparitions of The Lady of All Nations to Ida Peerdeman, in Amsterdam, Netherlands. The visionary reported that the Lady of the apparition repeatedly instructed her to petition Pope Pius XII to dogmatically define Mary's spiritual motherhood under the threefold title of Coredemptrix, Mediatrix, and Advocate. The apparitions have the approval of the diocesan ordinary, Bishop Jozef Marianus Punt of Haarlem-Amsterdam. This came after the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith had affirmed the earlier finding of Bishop Johannes Huibers, a predecessor, that he "found no evidence of the supernatural nature of the apparitions". The CDF affirmed his position on 13 March 1957 and again on 24 May 1972 and 25 May 1974. Subsequently, "not only did the Council not take the route of a dogmatic pronouncement, but it positively avoided using 'coredemptio'", and popes pointedly did not include such language in their encyclicals. In the early 1990s Mark Miravalle of the Franciscan University of Steubenville and author of the book Mary: Coredemptrix, Mediatrix, Advocate launched a popular petition to urge Pope John Paul II to declare Mary Coredemptrix ex cathedra. Salvatore Perrella of the Pontifical Theological Faculty of the Marianum in Rome thought that this indicated "...a certain 'under-appreciation' of the Council's teaching, which is perhaps believed to be not completely adequate to illustrate comprehensively Mary's co-operation in Christ's work of Redemption." ==Scriptural basis==

The New Testament is commonly cited in favour of this teaching: • : "Now there stood by the cross of Jesus, his mother, and his mother's sister, Mary of Cleophas, and Mary Magdalen. When Jesus therefore had seen his mother and the disciple standing whom he loved, he saith to his mother: Woman, behold thy son. After that, he saith to the disciple: Behold thy mother. And from that hour, the disciple took her to his own." Lumen gentium, the Dogmatic Constitution on the Church, states, "...In this singular way she cooperated by her obedience, faith, hope and burning charity in the work of the Saviour in giving back supernatural life to souls. Wherefore she is our mother in the order of grace." • : "[I, Paul,] now rejoice in my sufferings for you, and fill up those things that are wanting of the sufferings of Christ, in my flesh, for his body, which is the church”. ==Opposing arguments==

Arguments opposed are that such a dogma might subtract from the redemptive role of Jesus Christ. Frederick William Faber says, Faber recognized that the term Co-Redemptrix usually requires some explanation in modern English because so often the prefix co- tends to imply complete equality. He also explains that, "Thus, so far as the literal meaning of the word is concerned, it would appear that the term co-redemptress is not theologically true, or at least does not express the truth it certainly contains with theological accuracy." This concern is shared by Father Salvatore Perrella.The semantic weight of this expression would require a good many other qualifications and clarifications, especially in the case under examination, where she who is wished to be proclaimed co-redeemer is, in the first place, one who is redeemed, albeit in a singular manner, and who participates in Redemption primarily as something she herself receives. Thus we see the inadequacy of the above-mentioned term for expressing a doctrine which requires, even from the lexical standpoint, the proper nuances and distinctions of levels. It was rejected by the Vatican in the past because of serious theological difficulties. In August 1996, a Mariological Congress was held in Częstochowa, Poland, where a commission was established in response to a request of the Holy See. The congress sought the opinion of scholars present there regarding the possibility of proposing a fifth Marian dogma on Mary as Coredemptrix, Mediatrix, and Advocate. The commission unanimously declared that it was not opportune, voting 23–0 against the proposed dogma. The Mariologist Salvatore Perrella stated the petition was "theologically inadequate, historically a mistake, pastorally imprudent and ecumenically unacceptable." When asked in an interview in 2000 whether the Catholic Church would go along with the desire to solemnly define Mary as Co-redemptrix, then-Cardinal Ratzinger (later Pope Benedict XVI) responded that, "...the formula 'Co-redemptrix' departs to too great an extent from the language of Scripture and of the Fathers and therefore gives rise to misunderstandings. ...Everything comes from Him [Christ], as the Letter to the Ephesians and the Letter to the Colossians, in particular, tell us; Mary, too, is everything she is through Him. The word 'Co-redemptrix' would obscure this origin. A correct intention being expressed in the wrong way". On at least three occasions — in December 2019, April 2020 and March 2021 — Pope Francis expressed his clear opposition to using the title "Co-redemptrix". René Laurentin, theologian specializing in Mariology, said “There is no mediation or co-redemption except in Christ. He alone is God.” == Notes ==