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Though this series of articles focuses on Mary as Bride of God, we should also examine a related phenomenon: some monks and priests in past centuries saw Mary as their own heavenly "Bride" or "Wife"!
This view of Our Lady seems to have originated in the "courtly love" songs of twelfth-century France. Originally sung in praise of an unattainable noblewoman, this poetic genre soon became "spiritualized", with Mary, the Queen of Heaven, as the new object of love and praise. Mary's "troubadors" would sing of her as the ideal "Lady" in the heavenly court, all-beautiful with no flaws, and thus the ideal lover/wife 1.
Despite the occasional excesses of this genre, it's presentation of Mary as a heavenly love interest seems to have appealed to certain priests and monks, who may not have felt entirely comfortable with the idea of Christ as their Bridegroom. Thus began the devotion to Mary as Bride/Wife of priests, and the accompanying practice of "mystical marriage" to the Virgin. This provided some male mystics with their own equivalent to mystical marriage to Christ, common among their female counterparts. While Saint Gertrude the Great and other medieval nuns engaged in Theogamy �(marriage to God), many of their male contemporaries sought what we might call "Mariogamy", or mystical marriage to Our Lady.
Saint Robert Abbot, founder of the Cistercian order, is said to have entered into such a mystical marriage with Our Lady. A painting in San Bernardo alle Terme in Rome depicts an apparition of the Madonna and Child to St. Robert, in which Mary places a wedding ring on the saint's finger2. Saint Edmund Rich, the Archbishop of Canterbury (1170-1240), took a vow of perpetual virginity before a statue of Our Lady and placed on the statue's finger a golden ring with the words Ave Maria engraved on it 3.
Legends about men who plighted their troth to the Virgin abounded during the High Middle Ages 4. But as the centuries passed, the practice of Mariogamy gradually faded. By the Late Middle Ages, few engaged in this devotion. One noteable exception is Blessed Alain de la Roche (1428?-1475), promoter of the Rosary and founder of medieval Rosary Confraternities. Like male Marian devotees of the past, Alain wore a ring on his finger to symbolize his "marriage" to Mary 5.
But Mariogamy enjoyed a small comeback in seventeenth century France. Saint John Eudes (1601-1680) had great devotion to Our Lady, whom he considered the spouse of priests 6. On 28 April 1668, he wrote a "Contract of Holy Marriage with the Most Blessed Virgin Mary, the Mother of God", and from then on wore a ring to signify this marriage 7. The contract opens with the following words:
O admirable and most loveable Mary, Mother of God, only Daughter of the eternal Father, Mother of the Son of God, Spouse of the Holy Spirit, Queen of heaven and earth, it is no wonder that thou art willing to be the spouse of the least of all men and greatest of all sinners, who had the boldness to choose thee from his tenderest years to be his most unparalleled spouse, and to consecrate his body, heart and soul wholly to thee. The truth is that thou dost wish to imitate the infinite goodness of thy Son Jesus who is willing to be the spouse of a sinful and wretched soul. May all the angels, saints, creatures and the Creator Himself praise and bless thee eternally for it, and atone for all my countless acts of ingratitude and infidelity toward thee. 8I imagine some readers may have a problem with the idea of a consecrated celibate "marrying" Mary, even in a mystical sense. But it held real appeal for some priests and monks in the past, and perhaps for some present ones (Though I have never heard of any modern priests "marrying" Mary, it would not surprise me if some did). It is more commonly said that priests and bishops are "married to the Church". This is no mere figure of speech either, for each priest is an alter Christus, "another Christ". He represents Jesus the Bridegroom to His Church/Bride on earth. So a priest, in some mysterious manner, actually shares in Christ's espousal to Mother Church.
Now, as stated above, Mary is the Image and Model of the Church; she is Ecclesia's loving Heart and pre-eminent member. In some ways she even "quasi-personifies" Holy Mother Church. So perhaps we could see "Mariogamy" as a symbolic, ritual expression of the alter Christus'� "nuptial" relationship with the New Eve. In this ritual, the New Eve is specifically represented by the Virgin Mary, but not to the exclusion of Mother Ecclesia. Perhaps some may find "Mariogamy" easier to understand in these terms.
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