44. A salutation of the Blessed Virgin Mary

Francis showed that he could think in a new way when he made the crib at Greccio and celebrated Christmas in a way that has captured Christian imagination ever since. He was also original when speaking in praise of the Blessed Virgin Mary. It would be strange if Francis who was marked with the five wounds of Christ did not feel a special reverence for the Lord's Mother. Naturally in the crib at Greccio the Virgin was a centre of attention and devotion. In his Salutation to Mary, Francis coined a new expression when he called her 'the Virgin made Church'. Francis was not attempting to write a new theology. What he meant by the words made Church is clear in the following words of the Salutation when he calls Mary the Lord's Palace, Tabernacle, Dwelling, Robe, Servant and Mother. Mary was the Palace, Tabernacle, Dwelling and Robe of Christ when He lived in her womb and, since Christ is the Head of the Church, Mary was made Church. But as a Servant of Christ she was a member of the Church and the Mother of the Head of the Church. Addressing all the holy virtues present in Mary, Francis prays, asking that all these virtues be 'poured into the hearts of the faithful through the grace and enlightenment of the Holy Spirit'. Francis saw Mary as a model and a person 'in whom there was and is all fullness of grace and every good'.