Historical Survey

Historical Survey

We offer here a provisional list arranged in chronological order. It brings together names of saints, bishops, theologians and spiritual authors who have written about Mary’s priesthood and whose writings are, to some limited extent, documented on our web site.

Though the persons mentioned do by no means reflect the devotion to Mary Priest in any complete or exhaustive fashion, they do give an idea of the spread of this devotion and its continuity throughout the ages. The increase of testimonies in later centuries does not arise so much from growth in the devotion as from the fact that such testimonies are much more difficult to obtain from earlier times.

approximate date sample quote fuller text
633 - 733 AD ‘spiritual altar of the divine victim’ St. Germanus of Constantinople
660 - 740 AD ‘wove the divine priesthood’ St. Andrew of Crete
690 - 750 AD   John of Damascus
650 - 750 AD ? ‘both priest and altar’ Epiphanius II
826 AD ‘young sacrificial priest’ Theodore the Studite
400 - 1000 AD quotations from more than 30 Fathers The Fathers on Mary’s priestly dignity
1090 - 1153 AD ‘ordained Virgin, offer your son’ St. Bernard of Clairvaux
1200 - 1280 AD ‘Mary possessed the priesthood equivalently and eminently’ St. Albert the Great
1225 AD ‘Mary, the greatest of all priests’ Ubertinus of Casalis
1250 - 1331 AD ‘consecrated above every priestly grace’ Engelbert of Admont
1389 - 1459 AD ‘Mary, the priestess of justice’ St. Antoninus of Florence
died 1501 AD ‘high priest, only second to Christ’ Jan Mombaer
1492 - 1540 AD ‘Mary is a priest’ Francis of Osuna
1486 - 1555 AD ‘priests, learn from her how to offer’ St. Thomas of Villanova
1491 - 1556 AD ‘I saw Mary during Mass’ St. Ignatius of Loyola
died 1610 AD ‘Mary is a high priest, a bishop’ Jacques le Vasseur
1615 AD ‘Mary, this sovereign pirestess’ Juan de Cartagena
died 1628 AD ‘Mary possessed the dignity of the priesthood’ Christopher of Avendaño
died 1637 AD ‘Mary offers the Eucharist’ Charles de Condren
died 1643 AD ‘the eminence of the priesthood resides in Mary’ J. Duvergier de Hauranne
1575 - 1646 AD ‘Mary possessed the highest degree of the priesthood’ Ferdinand Chirino de Salazar
1608 - 1657 AD ‘Mary occupies the highest hierarchical rank in the priesthood’ Jean-Jacques Olier
1585 - 1662 AD ‘Mary possesses the fulness of the priestly spirit’ F. Bourgoing
died 1666 AD ‘Jesus gave his mother a share in his priesthood’ Jacques Biroat
died 1671 AD ‘Mary performed her task as high priest’ Joseph Oudeau
1604 - 1675 AD ‘Mary was ordained a spiritual priest’ Ippolito Marracci
1599 - 1676 AD ‘Mary shares in Christ’s sovereign priesthood’ Jean de Machaut
died 1676 AD ‘Mary was a priestess’ Félix Ceuillens
died 1692 AD ‘Mary became Jesus’ priestess’ Lazare Dassier
died 1694 AD ‘Mary sacrifices her son in the Eucharist’ Nicolas de Dijon
1608 - 1697 AD ‘Mary had the episcopal dignity’ Antonio Vieira
1633 - 1715 AD ‘Mary is the priestess of our religion’ Julien Loriot
died 1754 AD ‘Mary is the Virgin priestess’ Sébastien Dutreuil
1684 - 1759 AD ‘Mary possessed the highest degree of the priesthood, equivalently’ Francesco Pepe
1696 - 1787 AD ‘Mary offered her Son to him in the Temple, sacrificing his precious life to divine justice. Hence St. Epiphanius calls her a priest.’ St. Alphonsus of Liguori
died 1796 AD ‘Mary, priestess and mediatrix’ C.L.Richard
1780 AD ‘Mary, the priestess of the new covenant’ Jean Puy
1790 AD ‘Mary is the priest and the altar’ Pierre Claude Frey de Neuville
1800 - 1823 AD ‘Mary is the Shepherd of Souls’ Pope Pius VII
1806 AD ‘Mary was a deacon’ M.J.Scheeben
1822 AD ‘Mary acted as a sacrificial priest’ C.E.Berseaux
1843 AD ‘Mary is priestess and victim’ F.Ambrosj
1843 AD ‘Mary was a priest on Calvary’ J.M.Raynaud
1850 AD ‘Mary is priestess’ H.Oswald
1850? AD ‘Mary was bishop and sacrificial priest’ P. J. de Clorivière
1852 AD ‘which priest was more worthy than Mary?’ F. Coulin
1857 AD ‘Mary’s priesthood consisted in ministry to Jesus’ F.W.Faber
1858 AD ‘Jesus shared his priestly character with Mary’ Auguste Nicolas
1792 - 1861 AD ‘Mary was a sacrificial priest’ Joachim Ventura
1861 AD ‘Mary received the full heritage of heaven’s priesthood’ Philpin de Rivière
1861 AD ‘Mary shares in Jesus’ character as a priest’ Hubert Lebon
1866 AD ‘Mary is a high priest anointed by the Holy Spirit’ F. Maupied
1866 AD ‘At the foot of the cross, Mary became priestess’ Cardinal Wiseman
1867 AD ‘Mary was priestess jointly with her son’ J.B. Lemarchal
1807 - 1870 AD ‘Mary’s first task was that of being a priest’ St. Antonio María Claret
1846 - 1878 AD ‘The Fathers called Mary Virgin Priest’ Pope Pius IX
1875 AD ‘the priestly virgin, Mother of the clergy and Mother of priests’ Cardinal Pius
1876 AD ‘Mary offered Jesus as a priest offers him at Mass’ H. Perreyve
1876 AD ‘Mary’s priestly dignity is contained in her dignity as Mother of God’ J.B. Petitalot
died 1876 AD ‘Mary possesses an inherent priestly character’ Gaetano Guida
1884 AD ‘Mary is priest, or rather priestess’ J.B. Causette
1884 AD ‘Mary is Virgo Sacerdos’ Sp. Marmien
1884 AD ‘Mary, Virgo Sacerdos, as a priest at the altar’ Cardinal C.L.Place
1884 AD ‘Mary is the high priest of redemption’ J. de Ravignan
1804 - 1891 AD ‘Mary was a priest, as Jesus was’ P. Jeanjaquot
1891 AD ‘Mary stood near the cross. What a priest, what sacrifice!’ Cardinal Maury
1878 - 1903 AD welcomed image of Mary Priest Pope Leo XIII
1903 AD ‘Mary is a pure, holy, immaculate priest’ Cardinal C.Gennari
1904 AD ‘Mary is the Virgin Priest, Queen of the Priesthood’ Cardinal Vannutelli
1905 AD ‘Virgin Priest, Mother of our High Priest’ Cardinal Vivés y Tuto
1911 AD ‘Mary was the first priest’ Bishop J. L. Morelle
1903 - 1914 AD attached indulgence to invocation to Mary Virgin Priest Pope Pius X
1914 AD ‘Mary is priest of the new covenant’ Bishop J. Nazlian
1914 - 1922 AD Holy Office forbids images of Mary Priest Pope Benedict XIV
1925 AD ‘Mary stands upright as a priest at the altar’ Cardinal Mercier
1922 - 1939 AD Holy Office forbids devotion to Mary Virgin Priest Pope Pius XI

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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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