Devotion to Our Lady: why is Mary the Queen of Martyrs?

MARY WAS THE QUEEN OF THE MARTYRS, BECAUSE HER MARTYRS WAS THE LONGEST AND MOST TERRIBLE THAN THAT OF ALL THE MARTYRS.

Who will have such a hard heart that he will not be moved by hearing the cruel event that once happened on earth? He lived a noble and holy mother who had only one son and he was the most lovable one can imagine, he was an innocent virtuous handsome and he loved his mother tenderly to the point that he had never given her the least displeasure; he had always been respectful, obedient and loving, so the mother in her earthly life had placed all her love in this son. When the boy grew up and became a man, out of envy he was falsely accused by his enemies and the judge, although he had recognized and declared his innocence, however, in order not to antagonize his enemies, condemned him to a horrible and defamatory death, precisely that which the envious had requested. The poor mother had to suffer the pain of seeing that adorable and beloved son unjustly condemned in the flower of youth and seeing him subjected to a cruel death, since they made him bleed to death by torture, in public, on an infamous gallows.

What do you say devoted souls? Isn't this a case worthy of compassion? And this poor mother? You have already understood who I am talking about. The son so cruelly executed is our loving Redeemer Jesus, and the mother is the Blessed Virgin Mary, who for our love accepted to see him sacrificed to divine justice by the cruelty of men. Mary, therefore, endured for us this great pain which cost her more than a thousand deaths, and which deserves all our compassion and gratitude. If we cannot reciprocate so much love in any other way, at least let's stop a little to consider the cruelty of this suffering for which Mary became Queen of martyrs, since her martyrdom exceeded that of all martyrs, since it was: the longest martyrdom and the most cruel martyrdom.

As Jesus is called King of sorrows and King of martyrs, because in his life he suffered more than all the other martyrs, so too Mary is rightly called Queen of martyrs, as she deserved this title for having suffered an atrocious martyrdom, the greatest that can to be lived after that of the Son. Riccardo di San Lorenzo rightly calls her: "Martyr of the Martyrs". The words of Isaiah can be considered addressed to her: "YOU WILL CROWN WITH A CROWN OF TRIBULATIONS", (Is 22,18:XNUMX) that is, the crown with which she was declared Queen of the martyrs was Her own suffering that made Her desolate, and this exceeded the punishment of all the other martyrs together. That Mary had been a true martyr is beyond doubt, and it is an undisputed opinion that to be a "martyrdom" a pain that can give death is sufficient, even if this does not happen. St. John the Evangelist is honored among the martyrs, although he did not die in the boiling oil boiler, but "he came out more well than when he entered": Brev.Rom. "TO HAVE THE GLORY OF MARTYRDOM IS SUFFICIENT says St. Thomas THAT THE PERSON COMES TO OFFER HIMSELF UNTIL DEATH". Saint Bernard says that Mary was a martyr "NOT FOR THE SWORD OF THE CARNIVES, BUT FOR THE CRUELOUS PAIN OF THE HEART". If her body was not wounded by the hand of the executioner, however, her blessed Heart was pierced by the pain of the Passion of the Son, pain that was enough to give her not one, but a thousand deaths. We will see that Mary was not only a true martyr, but her martyrdom surpassed all others because it was a longer martyrdom, and so to speak, her whole life was a long death. Saint Bernard says that the Passion of Jesus began from His birth, so also Mary, in all similar to the Son, suffered martyrdom throughout her life. Blessed Albert the Great emphasizes that the name of Mary also means "bitter sea". In fact, the passage of Jeremiah applies to her “YOUR PAIN IS LARGE AS THE SEA” Lam 2,13:XNUMX. As the sea is salty and bitter to taste, so Mary's life was always full of bitterness in view of the Passion of the Redeemer, which was always present to her. We cannot doubt that she, enlightened by the Holy Spirit more than all the prophets, understood better than they the prophecies concerning the Messiah contained in the Holy Scriptures. So the Angel revealed to St Brigid he went on to say that the Virgin had understood how much the Incarnate Word should have suffered for the salvation of men, and since before becoming His mother she was taken with great compassion for the innocent Savior who was to be executed with a death atrocious for crimes not His, and from that moment began to suffer His great martyrdom. This pain increased immeasurably when she became the Savior's Mother. So grieved by all the sufferings that her beloved Son should have suffered, she suffered a long and continuous martyrdom throughout her life. Abbot Roberto says to her: "YOU, ALREADY KNOWING THE SON'S FUTURE PASSION, YOU HAVE BEEN LONGING A MARTYRDOM". This was precisely the meaning of the vision that Santa Brigida had in Rome in the church of Santa Maria Maggiore, where the Blessed Virgin appeared to her together with San Simeone and an Angel who carried a very long sword and dripping blood, that sword meant the harsh and long sorrow from which Mary was pierced for all her life: The aforementioned Roberto attributes to Maria these words: “REDEEMED SOULS AND MY DAUGHTERED DAUGHTERS, DO NOT COMPATITATE ME ONLY FOR THAT HOUR IN WHICH I SAW MY DEAR JESUS ​​DIE , SINCE THE SWORD OF PAIN PREDECTED TO ME BY SIMEONE WAS PUNCHING MY SOUL FOR ALL MY LIFE: WHILE GIVING MILK TO MY CHILD, WHILE HE WARMED IT BETWEEN MY ARMS, I ALREADY SEEN THE BITTER DEATH THAT WAS WAITING FOR IT; CONSIDER WHAT LONG AND SUGGESTED. PAIN I HAD TO SUFFER ". So Mary could really say the verse of David: "MY LIFE PASSED ALL IN PAIN AND Tears", (Ps 30,11) "WHILE MY PAIN, WHICH WAS THE PAYMENT FOR THE CRUDE DEATH OF MY BELOVED SON, I DON'T LEAVED AN INSTANT "(Ps 38,16). "I ALWAYS SEEN ALL THE SUFFERINGS AND DEATH OF JESUS ​​THAT WOULD HAVE A SUFFERED DAY". The same divine Mother revealed to Saint Brigida that even after the death and Ascension of her Son to Heaven, the memory of the Passion was always constant in her tender heart as it just happened, no matter what she did. Taulero wrote that Mary spent her whole life in perpetual pain, since in her heart there was only sadness and suffering. So not even the time that usually mitigates the pain to the suffering benefited Mary, indeed the time increased her sadness, because Jesus grew and more and more revealed to her beautiful and loving on one side, while on the other the moment of his death approaching , the pain of having to lose Him on this earth widened more and more in the Heart of Mary.