028: Part 2 – The (Very) Ancient Origins of Marian Devotion

I told you it was good.

Part one of my interview with Mike Aquilina about his book Keeping Mary Close: Devotion to Our Lady Through the Ages was awesome.

The conclusion is even better.

You’ve got to hear Mike because he really gets fired up showing how even heretics and atheists understood early Christian devotion to the Mother of God, and mocked them for it. He also discusses how love of Mary is channeled to God using a very sweet example from his own life. Our discussion also gets into how the motif of the family life of God is a key to understanding Mary. At one point, he even invokes the Odd Couple! (You’re not going to hear that on any other podcast!)

Some of the other questions we discuss:

• They may not have had rosaries, but did early Christians have physical ornaments that expressed their devotion to Our Lady?
• Given it’s intensity, was there ever a danger of Mary eclipsing Christ in devotion in the early days? (Ever heard of the Collyridians? Me, neither!)
• Do Muslims really venerate Mary?
• Who were some of the hardcore “Marian” Church Fathers? (Cue Cyril of Alexandria and the heresy of Nestorianism.)

All that and more in this episode of The Art of Catholic. God bless and enjoy!

Matt

P.S. Make Lent count this year! Grab a FREE chapter called “Beer, Chocolate & Value-Added Suffering” from my book “Louder Than Words: The Art of Living as a Catholic”. It will totally explain redemptive suffering and transform how you live every moment of every day!