Gaetano Guida

died in 1876

Guida was parish priest of Santa Catarina in Foro Magno at Naples. He wrote a whole booklet devoted to Mary’s priesthood: Il sacerdozio di Maria, Naples 1873.

Text quoted in French by Réné Laurentin (in Maria, Ecclesia, Sacerdotium, Nouvelles Éditions Latines, Paris 1952, pp. 417-420) and translated into English by John Wijngaards.

• There are people who reject Mary’s priesthood
• Mary possesses an inherent priestly character
• Mary’s priestly character is imprinted on her by her being Mother of God
• Mary was ‘ordained’ a priest in the same way Jesus was ‘ordained’ a priest

There are people who reject Mary’s priesthood

“I regret to know certain preachers who are so little persuaded of the association of Mary to the priesthood of Jesus Christ or her quality of being a true priestess, that they are not afraid even to affirm that priests are superior to Mary . . .
There are others who only dare call Mary a ‘mystical’ priestess, and only recognise in her a ‘mystical’ priesthood,
and again others who agree to Mary being a “priestess in function”, but not “in character”.
I feel these opinions need to be corrected.” Il sacerdozio di Maria, p. 5.

Mary possesses an inherent priestly character

“Mary is priestess by character. In other priests, the character is added on; in Mary, on the other hand, the character is inherent, intrinsic. In other priests it exists on its own; in Mary, on the other hand, it is joint, that is to say: it is there in a better way . . . ” Il sacerdozio di Maria, p. 31.

Mary’s priestly character is imprinted on her by her being Mother of God

” In Mary divine motherhood takes the place of this character, which, through the mediation of sacred ordination, is imprinted on all those who are promoted to the priestly dignity. Mary is all that she is, uniquely through her divine motherhood . . . She would not exist if she were not Mother of God. Her divine motherhood is not an ‘event’ or a ‘quality’; it is her constitution and her very being; she is Mother of God as a human being is human, as an angel is angelic. From that we may conclude that all that follows on her motherhood is indelible in Mary, such as her motherhood is indelible which forms its essence and its nature.” Il sacerdozio di Maria, p. 30.

Mary was ‘ordained’ a priest in the same way Jesus was ‘ordained’ a priest

“The reason of the superiority of Mary’s priesthood consists in the hypostatic union [=the union of the divine and human in Christ] to which Mary belongs through her divine motherhood. In fact, just as Jesus Christ is a priest not by a character that was externally added to him, but in virtue of the hypostatic union through which his human nature was assumed, so the Virgin who belongs to the hypostatic order, shares in the priesthood in the manner in which the priesthood is found in Jesus Christ, not like that which is communicated to other priests.” Il sacerdozio di Maria, p. 31.

Overview of documents in this section

Tradition Mary - why a priest? Theologians and writers Picture gallery Mary and Holy Orders Mary as sacrificial priest Mary, the model of priests

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