mariologydogmati00pohl - Carmel Apologetics

MARY'S FULNESS OF GRACE 35
and D*, sea). 53 On purely linguistic grounds "Mary"
may also be derived from Marjam, i. e., the bitter, or,
figuratively, the sorrowful one (amara, afßicta).
Since the etymological derivation of the name is, and
most likely will always remain doubtful, its typical and
historic interpretation deserves all the more attention.
* Mirjam [i. e., the sister of Moses as a type of the
mother of God] was the Israelite; Mary — as the anti-
thesis between herself and Eve shows — is the Christian.
Mirjam was par excellence ' she who had been healed
[of leprosy] in the Old Testament, an earnest of God's
fidelity in keeping His promises; Mary is preeminently
1
she who has been redeemed,' the token of salvation.
As a member of the human race, a child of Adam, Mary,
like the rest of us, had need of being redeemed. Had
not our Lord in a most unique manner become her
Redeemer, she too would have been overwhelmed by the
bitter flood of original sin. . . . But as the old Testa-
ment Mirjam was preeminently the one who had been
healed, so the New Testament Mary is preeminently the
one who has been endowed with grace. It is for this
reason that the Angel reassured her [Luke I, 30] :
' Fear
not, Mary, for thou hast found grace (x°-P iV ) w *tn
God.'
34
Readings : — *P. Canisius, S. J., De Maria Virgine Incomparabili
et Dei Genitrice, Ingolstadt 1577 (reprinted in Migne,
Summa Aurea de Laudibus B. V. Mariae, Paris 1866).— G. Ventura,
S. J., La Madre di Dio Madre degli Uomini, 2nd ed., Rome
33 The popular title " Stella ther information see Knabenbauer,
maris " (star of the sea) is a cor- Comment, in Matth., Vol. I, pp.
rupted reading of stilla maris. It 43 sqq., Paris 1892; Bucceroni,
goes back to the time of St. Jerome. Commentarii, 4th ed., pp. 80 sqq.;
34 AI. Schaefer, Die Gottesmutter Bardenhewer, Der Name Maria.
in der Hl. Schrift, pp. 142 sqq., Geschichte der Deutung desselben,
2nd ed., Münster 1900. English tr. Freiburg 1895; Minocchi, II Nome
by Brossart, p. 149. For fur- di Maria, Florence 1897.