Mary was a vital part of Francis' life. During the darkest years of his life, when he was "exiled" from Argentina to Germany, Francis frequently visited the Baroque painting of Mary in Augsburg. Entitled "Mary, Undoer of Knots," the painting depicts Mary untying a long ribbon of knots, each symbolizing the problems, sins, and struggles of human life. Devotion associated with the painting emphasizes Mary's help in untangling the messes we cannot fix alone. Which was precisely what Francis was needing at that time in this life. Due to Mary's help, Francis returned to Argentina a changed man, becoming the pastor his people called "the priest of the slums."
I bring up Francis' devotion to Mary to make a point so obvious it hardly bears making. In contrast to Catholicism (and Orthodoxy), Protestantism is wholly devoid of feminine imagery. Now, it is true that the priesthood and episcopal structure of Catholicism is "patriarchal." But it's also true that, through its Marian devotion, Catholic spirituality is suffused with the maternal and the feminine. Again, look at pope Francis. Much of his spiritual life was lived in intimate communion with a woman. So much so, Francis wanted to be buried next to her.
And this is a worldwide experience. The spiritual gravity of Mexican Catholicism, for example, orbits a woman--the Lady of Guadalupe. Walk the Hispanic section of any cemetery here in Texas and you'll see just as many, if not more, images of the Lady of Guadalupe as there are of Jesus. Because of Mary, Mexican and Hispanic spirituality has a deeply feminine aspect.
Thanks to Dan Brown and The Da Vinci Code, it can be a bit woo woo to talk about "the divine feminine." Feel free to roll your eyes. But the term is apt for Marian devotion. Perhaps "sacred feminine" is better than "divine." Still, there are doctrines associated with Mary in Catholicism that push her toward a quasi-divine status. For example, Mary was born without sin (called the Immaculate Conception). More, Mary never committed a sin during her life: "By the grace of God Mary remained free of every personal sin her whole life long" (CCC 493). And finally, at the end of her life Mary was assumed into heaven. Some even hold that Mary never died, that her assumption into heaven allowed her to escape death. Add to all this Mary's powerful role in Catholic intercession along with the prominence of the Rosary and the "Hail Mary":
Hail, Mary, full of grace,
the Lord is with thee.
Blessed art thou amongst women
and blessed is the fruit of thy womb, Jesus.
Holy Mary, Mother of God,
pray for us sinners,
now and at the hour of our death.
Amen.
There is, in all this, a divine and sacred feminine aspect to Catholic spirituality. As we see in the "Hail Mary," the words "women," "womb," and "mother" are central to Catholic devotion. Words and images said over and over and over again. It is not uncommon in Catholic devotion to spend more time with the Mother than with the Father. The math of the Rosary makes this clear: 50 "Hail Mary's" to 6 "Our Fathers" are said. You say "Mother" way more than you say "Father."
Again, all this is well known. I'm underlining the point in this series to highlight how, through her connection to Mary as "Mary of the Gaels," St. Brigid gets pulled into the "divine feminine" conversation in Irish spirituality. Due to these associations, Brigid is now regularly, and increasingly, being described as a "goddess." Veneration of Brigid in Ireland has been drifting away from the Christian toward the pagan. And the bridge is the Marian divine feminine link.
