On the Feast of the Annunciation in 1945, a secretary from Amsterdam, Holland named Ida Peerdeman was visited with an apparition from heaven. The visits from a woman who would identify herself as Our Lady of All Nations would continue for the next fifteen years for a total of 57 times. It took nearly 50 years, but the apparition was deemed to be “of a supernatural origin” by Bishop Jozef Marianus Punt of Haarlem in 2002. Although still awaiting official Vatican approval, the apparition of Our Lady of All Nations is remarkable for the content of its messages, one of which had a very specific request. On July 2, 1951, the visionary was told “Now, look and listen. What I am going to say is an explanation of the new dogma. … From my Lord and Master, the Redeemer received his divinity. In this way the Lady became Co-Redemptrix by the will of the Father. It was necessary to begin with the dogma of the Assumption. Then the last and greatest would follow. … Tell that to your theologians. I do not come to bring any new doctrine. The doctrine already exists. Say this to your theologians: ‘Already, from the beginning, she was Co-Redemptrix.’” The apparition had requested that the Church declare a fifth Marian dogma, Mary the Co-Redemptrix.
Whether the apparition receives formal approval or not is still to be seen. But it cannot be doubted that it remains controversial because of the request for the formal definition of what has become a highly controverted dogma. At first glance it seems that declaring Mary as the co-Redemptrix takes Marian devotion too far. There is only one Redeemer and it is Christ Himself. His Mother may have assisted in this, but to give her such a lofty title verges on heresy. Admittedly the title, especially in English, does suffer from a linguistical defect. The prefix “co” in its common usage connotes an equality in the parties. But it is meant to be a translation of the Latin term cum which means “with”. So, when we speak of Mary as co-Redemptrix, it is meant to indicate that she is “with the Redeemer” playing an indispensable role in His salvific office. It should not be viewed as competitive but cooperative. Jesus Christ is the sole Redeemer of mankind. If the doctrine of Co-Redemptrix is true, then it must be based on a more nuanced understanding.
Scripture and Co-Redemption
From the outset we must admit that in a certain sense that there are other “co-redeemers” found in Sacred Scripture. God Himself speaks of Abraham as a co-Redeemer when, through his obedient “yes”, God promises to “bless all the nations of the earth” (Gn 22:17-18, c.f. Romans 4:16-25 where the promise is guaranteed to all who share the faith of Abraham). Likewise, St. Paul speaks of laboring so that he might “save some by any means” (1 Cor 9:22). We could cite other examples, but the point is that Scripture is replete with examples of men and women who freely cooperate with God in being instruments of redemption. This cooperation is always a participation in God’s act of redemption. It does not diminish the power of God’s redemptive work, but instead magnifies it. It is one thing to do an activity by your own power, it is quite another, and more praiseworthy, to elevate others to work with you.
Turning to Mary herself, we see her serving as a co-Redemptrix to John the Baptist. It is the presence of the embryonic Christ child, coupled with the sound of His Mother’s voice that sanctifies St. John the Baptist (c.f. Lk 1:39-45) within his mother’s womb. This might lead one to think that she is just like Abraham and St. Paul, except for the promise of Genesis 3:15. When God promises a Redeemer to Adam and Eve, He also promises the “woman” who would be instrumental in crushing the head of the Serpent. The Woman and her seed would be linked in a single mission. The seed would be the New Adam, Christ, and the Woman, would be the New Eve, “a helpmate fitting for Him”, Mary. Summarizing, Pius IX in his Apostolic Constitution declaring the dogma of the Immaculate Conception, said that “God, by one and the same decree, had established the origin of Mary and the Incarnation of Divine Wisdom.” Mary is, as the Second Vatican Council said, “inseparably linked to her Son’s saving work.”
If Abraham and St. Paul are co-redeemers through participation, then likewise is Mary. But with Mary her participation is not just a difference in degree, but in kind. She did not just co-operate with the Redeemer but cooperated in a necessary way. She does not participate in the work of redemption in some remote way, but directly. When God set in motion His plan of redemption He made it so that it depended upon her. She is the only “necessary” co-operator because the body He was to offer, was given to Him by her. Not only at the Annunciation and the Visitation, but throughout the whole course of His redemptive work, He made it depend upon her. It was she who offered Him to the Father in the Presentation where His suffering was linked to hers, but also on Calvary. As Pius XII put it in Mystici Coroporis Christi, “[I]t was she, the second Eve, who, free from all sin, original or personal, and always more intimately united with her Son, offered Him on Golgotha to the Eternal Father for all the children of Adam, sin-stained by his unhappy fall, and her mother’s rights and her mother’s love were included in the holocaust.”
To summarize we would say that the title Mary, co-Redemptrix, is meant to acknowledge that it is through Mary’s continual “yes” that Christ redeemed the world. She did not redeem the world, but participated in an entirely unique and essential manner in Christ redeeming the world. That being said, why does it matter whether we define a fifth Marian dogma or not?
Why it Matters
First, it is a matter of justice, specifically justice towards God in the virtue of religion that we offer fitting honor and praise for the works of God. If God really did elevate a creature to share in such an intimate way in His redemptive work, then we owe it to Him to acknowledge and glorify Him in this work. So too with Our Lady. If she really did play an indispensable role in each of our salvation then the debt of gratitude can be repaid by invoking her under that title.
There is a second, more practical reason as well. This has been pointed out by many others, including theologian Josef Seifert, but it bears repeating here as well. The weeds of Protestantism often creep into the Garden of the Church. Specifically, the Protestant belief in salvation by grace is often professed by many Catholics. We are saved by grace, but not without our cooperation and the cooperation of other members of the Mystical Body. “God will not save us, without us” as Augustine said. We are not saved by our own actions, but those actions initiated in us by grace. We must still cooperate with them. This free cooperation in salvation has as its greatest example in Mary, co-Redemptrix. To define this as dogma would serve to reassert was has become a forgotten belief within the Church.
Before closing, there is one other aspect that merits mention. Some object for ecumenical reasons thinking that the term co-Redemptrix is just too strong and confusing a term. Perhaps they have a point and we need to be wedded specifically to that term (although the apparition did use that term specifically). Provided the term reflects the entirely unique role Mary played and plays in redemption then there might be a more ecumenically sensitive term that could be used. But this is a double-edged sword. In Christian-Jewish relations this term would have some traction because it shows the Jews themselves, through both the Patriarchs and the Jewish girl Mary, as co-Redeemers.