“Such holy women as Sarah, Rebecca, Rachel, Miriam, Deborah, Hannah, Judith, and Esther kept alive the hope of Israel\u2019s salvation. The purest figure among them is Mary.”<\/p>\n
The Catechism is dogmatic with regard to Mary. She is the purest among them all<\/em>, both men and women.<\/p>\n But should we indeed regard Mary above the other holy women of both the Old and New Testaments?<\/p>\n Undoubtedly, Mary has been venerated from antiquity. The oldest extant Marian devotion, <\/strong>the Sub Tuum Praesidium <\/em>(Latin: Beneath Thy Protection), is a hymn that dates from the third century, and may be even older:<\/p>\n We fly to Thy protection,<\/p>\n O Holy Mother of God;<\/p>\n Do not despise our petitions<\/p>\n in our necessities,<\/p>\n but deliver us always<\/p>\n from all dangers,<\/p>\n O Glorious and Blessed Virgin. Amen<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" “Such holy women as Sarah, Rebecca, Rachel, Miriam, Deborah, Hannah, Judith, and Esther kept alive the hope of Israel\u2019s salvation. The purest figure among them is Mary.” The Catechism is dogmatic with regard to Mary. She is the purest among them all, both men and women. But should we indeed regard Mary above the other … <\/p>\n