When did the idea of Mary being intercessor, mediatrix, and advocate originate? It appears to have originated in the eighth century from a story written by Paul the Deacon, a monk at Monte Cassino in Italy. The story was titled The Legend of Theophilus. The story is a tad far fetched but Theophilus was a real person.

Our hero was named Bishop of Adana, who lived in what is now the country of Turkey. He declined out of humility and was “unfairly” replaced by another. Mr. Theophilus became angry and contacted the Devil, making a contract to serve him. Theophilus soon wised up and knew that he had made a terrible mistake. He fasted and prayed. He particularly prayed to Mary. She interceded and obtained both the absolution of his sin and the return of the contract he had entered into with the Devil. From this one fictional story from the eighth century comes the teaching that Mary is our mediator.

With that story in mind, you might ask where “Mariology” came from. It is also fiction, pure fiction. Here is some “source” information.

For the facts, themselves, it is necessary, if one wishes to add anything to the gospel narrative, to gather from early Christian literature, evidences of diverse value and not seldom of doubtful value, from which may be adduced, occasionally facts, but more frequently merely conjectures and probabilities. (Page v,Author’s Preface, Saint Mary the Virgin, Rene-Marie de la Broise. Translated by Harold Gidney; Duckworth and Co., London, 1906).

Mr. de la Broise goes on to categorize three aspects of reaching the truth about Mary.

1. The historical account of the events of her life.

• The Gospels and other books of Holy Scripture.
• Accounts handed down by the Fathers and early church historians (subject to embellishments, of course).
• The apocryphal writings (writings that pretend to be Scripture but were rejected as such.They are pure fiction.) Personal revelation from the apparitions of certain saints or persons who have died in the odor of sanctity. (More fiction.)

2. It is necessary to give some idea of the mind of Mary and of her inner life. (de la Broise admits this involves a certain amount of conjecture.) This is pure divination! Of course any Tarot Card reader could do it.

de la Broise states “Yet, he who does not attempt this, neglects an aspect of the subject which is of much greater importance than the question of chronology or of purely material facts.”

“To find this information one must study teachings of theologians, the meditations of the saints, who’s minds in some degree resemble the mind of Mary and are able to realize and approximate idea of her thoughts and affections.”

“The opinion of the Church which, living by the spirit of Jesus, cannot mistake the spirit which animated His mother.”

3. The part assigned to Mary in the divine scheme of the incarnation and redemption must be set forth. As “Mother of God” she is associated with all the “mysteries” of the Incarnate Word.

“If one should be tempted to find exaggeration in all the great things the Fathers of the Church and the saints have said of Mary, it must be called to mind that her motherhood is the source and measure of all her privileges and supremacy.

We can know all of this by the infallible teaching of the Church. (Saint Mary, the Virgin; by de la Broise, p. viii-ix).

Then, in speaking of the parents’ of Mary, here is the source of our information according to Bishop Ullathorne:

A celebrated divine has made the remark that, though some persons wonder that the Evangelists are silent on the parents of the Blessed Virgin, and have left tradition to record what we know respecting them, yet was this arranged with an especial design by the providence of God. (The Immaculate Conception of the Mother of God, by The Right Rev. Bishop Ullathorne; Richardson and Son, London, 1865. p. 105).

Tradition! We can know these things through tradition! One can see why the “divines” at the Council of Trent fought so hard to have Tradition and the Pope’s Words on par with the Scriptures. Without Tradition and the Pope’s word (the infallible teaching of the Church) their whole system folds.