Expert: George A. Card,sfo, M.I - 4/7/2008

Question
What are the main ideas presented in Popes Paul VI's Marialis Cultus? What traditions of Marian devotion does it draw upon and what light does it shed upon current practice? Why is this document considered the foundation of a Vatican II Mariology?

Answer
Peace

dear Rich Valles,
     I haven't read Marialis Cultus since about, 1987/1988 so I had to re-read it to better answer your questions. Since it was written after Vatican II, I wouldn't it was the foundation of Vatican Marianology. I would say Vatican II was the basic foundation of it.


Marialis Cultus is not a document about Mary's person and role as such, but about the way the Church celebrates liturgies that commemorate Mary and about Marian devotion.

The document took four years to prepare before its publication in 1974. Marialis Cultus was influenced by the Constitution on the Sacred Liturgy from Vatican II, even though the Constitution has only one reference to Mary in paragraph 103.

Article 103 tells of the love of the Church for Mary and the inseparable bond linking Mary to her son's saving work. These themes occur repeatedly in Marialis Cultus. The second major influence was Lumen Gentium's chapter 8.

Marialis Cultus was a response to 'the Marian crisis' of the time, the question whether Marian devotion would be compatible with the orientations of Vatican II. "Lumen Gentium and Marialis Cultus are significantly the same: they both attempt to retrieve the living memory of Mary." Lumen Gentium concentrates on knowing the memoria; [whereas] Marialis Cultus "concentrates on the memoria itself, that is, on how it can be reached in and through her."

Marialis Cultus' introduction situates the initial Vatican II reforms in a positive light. At the same time, the pope speaks of his "vigilant solicitude" to see that the renewal continues in an orderly way "in spirit and truth (cf. Jn 4:24).


The above is from something I wrote some time ago, perhaps in the early 90's. I could only find part of it, mostly notes. Sorry.



                             your servant but His first
                                     George