In 2018, Pope Francis helped the Church return to an ancient devotion to the Blessed Virgin. Every year on the Monday after Pentecost, the Church will honor Mary as Mother of the Church.

St. Augustine saw Mary as a mother to the faithful because she played such a decisive role in bringing Jesus to the world. Through her motherhood, we are reborn in faith through Jesus. And Pope St. Leo the Great said something similar in proclaiming that Mary is both mother of God’s Son, Jesus, and of his mystical body in the world, which is the Church.

The Gospel reading for this feast shows us Mary at the foot of the cross, where she became mother of the Church when Jesus gave her to his beloved disciple, John, who stands for all of us.

Catholics honor Mary as a human who was glorified through her willingness to trust God. Mary’s sorrows and joys, her hopes for her child and spouse, and her quiet endurance ring true to the experience of families today. She is easy to identify with, and through her faithfulness, God changed the world. We call her “Our Lady” and “mother” because she is our mother in faith and our model of holiness.

When we say prayers to Mary, we direct our prayer to God, the source of all things, through Mary. We ask for Mary’s intercession with these prayers—we ask her to carry our requests or offerings of thanksgiving to God—and we are confident that Mary will do so in her care for us as our mother in faith.

Mary is most notably depicted on Notre Dame’s campus in the Golden Dome of the Main Building, of course. The women of nearby St. Mary’s College procured the statue after the Great Fire of 1879 and it is modeled after one that was erected in Rome by the pope. It stands 19 feet high and weighs 4,000 pounds.

Mary’s statue is clothed in gold and stands on a crescent moon, images that come from the Book of Revelation. That Scripture describes a vision of Mary as “a woman in the sky, clothed with the sun, with the moon under her feet.” The school colors for the Fighting Irish athletic teams are blue and gold for this reason: the blue calls to mind the dark sky behind Mary, and gold represents her clothed with the sun.

In the statue atop the dome, Mary also stands with her feet crushing a serpent, another Scriptural reference. In the Book of Genesis, we hear the story of Eve listening to the serpent and disobeying God, which brought sin into the world. Mary is the new Eve who tramples the serpent. Mary listened to God’s invitation to be the mother of Jesus, and her radical obedience brings life to the world through her Son. She enables our victory over sin and death.

The reliquary chapel in the Basilica of the Sacred Heart at Notre Dame contains many relics of Mary, including pieces of her hair and clothes. Learn more about the reliquary chapel here.

Mary, Mother of the Church, pray for us as we seek new life through your Son, Jesus!