Image:The Madonna del Rosario (6th century or earlier), the oldest icon of Mary in Rome.
Medieval tradition held that this icon was painted by Luke the Evangelist.
Pope Leo’s Lumen Gentium Catechesis No 9.
Saint Peter’s Square – Wednesday, 13 May 2026
A cycle of catecheses – Documents of the Second Vatican Council.
Lumen Gentium 9. The Virgin Mary – the model of the Church
Scripture Reading (Acts 1:13-14)
When they came to Jerusalem, they entered into the upper room, and were there: Peter, and John, and James, and Andrew, Philip, and Thomas, Bartholomew, and Matthew, James the son of Alpheus, and Simon the Zealous, and Jude, and James’s brother.
All of them were united in prayer together with the women, with Mary, the Mother of Jesus, and with His brethren.
Pope Leo’s Catechesis
Dear brothers and sisters,
The Second Vatican Council chose to dedicate the final chapter of the Dogmatic Constitution on the Church. (Lumen gentium) to the Virgin Mary
She is hailed as a pre-eminent and singular member of the Church, and as its type and excellent example in faith and charity” (LG, 53).
These words encourage us to recognize that in Mary, who welcomed and brought forth the Son of God made flesh under the action of the Holy Spirit, we can see both a model and the pre-eminent member and mother of the entire ecclesial community.
By allowing herself to be shaped by the work of grace, which was fulfilled in her, and by welcoming the gift of the Most High with her faith and her virginal love,
Mary is the perfect model of what the whole Church is called to be.
She is a vessel of the word of the Lord and a mother to God’s children, conceived through the action of the Holy Spirit.
As the ultimate believer, offering us the perfect example of unconditional openness to the divine mystery within the communion of God’s holy people, Mary is an exemplary member of the ecclesial community.
Finally, as She gives birth to children through the Son, who is loved in the eternal Beloved who came among us, Mary is the mother of the entire Church.
The Church can turn to her with filial confidence, certain that she will hear, protect and love them.
One might encapsulate the sum of these characteristics of the Virgin Mary by referring to her as the icon of the Mystery.
The word ‘woman’ highlights the historical reality of this young Israelite woman, who was granted the extraordinary experience of becoming the mother of the Messiah.
The term ‘icon’ emphasises that in her, the dual movement of descent and ascent is realized: both God’s free choice and her own free acceptance of faith in him are evident in her.
Mary is therefore the icon of the mystery, or the divine plan of salvation, which was once hidden but is now fully revealed in Jesus Christ.
The Second Vatican Council has left us clear teachings on the unique role of the Virgin Mary in the work of Redemption (Lumen gentium, 60-62).
It recalls that the sole Mediator of salvation is Jesus Christ (1 Timothy 2:5-6 – there is one God, and there is one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus, 6 who gave himself as a ransom for all,[a] the testimony to which was borne at the proper time.), and that his Mother Most Holy “in no way impedes, but rather fosters the immediate union of the faithful with Christ.
At the same time, predestined from eternity by that decree of divine providence which determined the incarnation of the Word to be the Mother of God, the Blessed Virgin … in this singular way … by Her obedience, faith, hope and burning charity cooperated in the work of the Saviour in restoring supernatural life to souls.
Therefore She is our mother in the order of grace.
The mystery of the Church is also reflected in the Virgin Mary.
In Her, the people of God find the representation of their origins, a model and a homeland.
The Church contemplates her own mystery in the Mother of the Lord, not only because she finds in her the model of virginal faith, maternal charity, and the spousal covenant to which the Church is called, but also and above all because the Church recognises her own archetype in her: the ideal figure of what the Church is called to be.
As we can see, the reflections on the Virgin Mother in Lumen gentium teach us to love the Church and serve the Church in order to fulfil the coming Kingdom of God in all its glory.
Let us allow ourselves to be guided by Mary’s sublime example as Virgin and Mother.
Let us ask her to help us respond to what she asks of us through her intercession.
Do I participate in the life of the Church with humble and active faith?
Do I recognize the community of the covenant that God has given me in order to respond to His infinite love?
Do I feel that I am an active member of the Church, obeying the pastors appointed by God?
Do I look to Mary as a model and outstanding member of the Church, and ask her to help me be a faithful disciple of her Son?
Sisters and brothers, may the Holy Spirit, who descended upon Mary and whom we humbly and trustingly invoke, grant us the grace to fully embrace these wonderful realities.
Having reflected deeply on the Constitution Lumen Gentium, let us ask the Virgin to grant us this gift: may our love for the Holy Mother Church grow. So be it!
