Virgin Mary

See also: Immaculate Conception of Mary, Assumption and Dormition of the Virgin Mary.

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Drawing of the Virgin Mary during the Annunciation by Lorenzo Ferri According to the indications of Maria Valtorta. Source: documentary collection of the Maria Valtorta Heritage Foundation.

Only daughter of Joachim, descendant of David, and of Anne, descendant of Aaron, Mary is of a royal and priestly house. The royal ancestry is confirmed at the Annunciation by the angel Gabriel: "The Lord God will give him (to Jesus) the throne of David his father." Jesus has only one earthly ancestry: Mary.

Mary was born in Nazareth, on Saturday, September 8, year -21 of the old Julian calendar, according to the deductions of Jean Aulagnier, exegete of Maria Valtorta, but no date is advanced in the work. According to Salton, Maria Valtorta, the Virgin Mary was born at the end of a long sultry summer evening. An extraordinary Violence storm is followed by a rainbow "which seems to surround the whole land of Israel". A star "huge as a diamond" appears while the sun has not yet set, then the full moon "while there are still three days missing to reach it". A blossoming of flowers symbolically greets her birth.

These signs follow an unusual conception: Anne, her mother, was barren and already elderly when she made with Joachim a vow to the Lord: the child, which they asked God to grant them, would be consecrated to the Lord. She would be a girl humanly conceived, "born of human procreators." Jesus, in one of his comments, mentions it: "It is not necessary to be virgin to be chaste."

At the age of fifteen, she is betrothed to Joseph, from Nazareth and of royal race like her. Three months later, she is pregnant through the action of the Holy Spirit, of Jesus, her only child. The spouses had only celebrated the first step of their marriage, thus they do not yet live together. This precipitates the 2nd step of the marriage that Joseph had delayed (-) following the mutual exchange of chastity. She becomes a widow at the age of 45, and then devotes herself entirely to Jesus who begins his Public Life. She is his support and unwavering refuge during the three years of his apostolate.

After the terrible Passion she lives beside her Son, and the Ascension, she withdraws into the solitude of the house of Gethsemane accompanied only by the apostle John. It is there that she devotes herself to the consolidation of the nascent and persecuted Church. It is also there where, leaving to John her spiritual Testament, she experiences her "death" (Dormition), followed a few days later by her glorious Assumption. Her earthly end occurs in Jerusalem, Mary is about 70 years old.

Character and Appearance

Portrait of earthly Mary

Mary has soft blond Hair and a clear, angelic voice. She resembles her father Joachim. Maria Valtorta describes her characteristic features thus:

"the pale color of the Face, the azure blue (eyes) and the blond Hair which appear on the forehead, under the veil".

Mary is quite short: in a gesture of tenderness, "she rests her head on top of her Son's chest". So she must have been about 1.55 m tall. In her writings dated December 31, 1947, Maria Valtorta notes:

"Mary's height: if I compare her to Jesus, next to whom I often saw her, I would give her 1.65 m at most, because the top of Mary's head reaches Jesus' shoulders. But to us modern men she appears taller than she actually is, because of her clothes which reach down to the ground. It is known that long clothes make one look taller".

Maria Valtorta notes that between the young girl of the Annunciation aged "fifteen at most to see her" and the mother nurturing her son, thirty-two years later, her Face has not been altered by Age.

Moreover, in the Catechesis of December 28, 1947, Mary comments on the resemblance of certain human representations and descriptions made from Apparitions.

Mystical portrait of Mary

The Soul immaculate of Mary is described in two ways: by her very nature and by her infusion.

In the work of Maria Valtorta, Jesus attributes to Mary the prophetic description made by their "ancestor Solomon" in his Proverbs:

"God possessed me at the beginning of his works, before the Creation... Always in joy, I played continually in his Presence. I played in the universe."

At the time of her infusion, Mary's Soul is protected from the bite of Satan:

"The announcing Angel (Gabriel) collected from the Divine Fire the immaculate spark which was the Soul of the Eternal Child, and enclosing it in a circle of angelic flames, those of his spiritual love, he brought it to earth in a house, in a womb."

The day before the The Transfiguration of the Lord, Jesus reveals to his Apostles the true Face of Mary his mother:

"You, you see a Woman. A Woman, who by her holiness, seems different to you from others, but whom you really see as a Soul wrapped in flesh, like all Women her sisters. But now I want to unveil the Soul of my Mother, her true and eternal beauty".

He then describes:

"the Woman in whom there is no stain, the unique Creature who did not cost a wound to the Redeemer".

Then he addresses "the second Transfiguration of Mary, the Chosen of God" and recounts the intimacy of the Annunciation, thus giving many witnesses the details reported by Luke.

Heavenly portrait of Mary

Maria Valtorta benefits from numerous comments from Jesus or Mary. This intimacy allows her to describe precisely aspects and clothing:

"I stay with the Mother near me, visible to my inner vision, with such clarity that I can make her portrait: the light pink of the cheek, a little chubby but pleasantly soft, the bright red of the small mouth and the gentle radiance of her azure (azuro) eyes under the dark blond of the eyelashes.

I can say how the Hair which part at the top of the head fall pleasantly in three waves on each side down to halfway cover the small pink ears and disappear with their light gold behind the veil that covers the head. […] I can say that the garment is tight at the neck by a sheath through which slides a cord whose ends form a loop in front at the root of the neck, how the garment is tightened at the waist by a bigger cord, still of white silk, which descends with two tassels on the sides.

I can go as far as saying that the garment tightened at the neck and at the waist makes seven gently rounded folds on the chest, the only ornament of her very chaste habit. I can say the impression of chastity that emanates from Mary's aspect, from her shapes so delicate and so harmonious that make her angelically Woman".

This heavenly Mary is close to the earthly Mary: even if Mary experienced death (Dormition), she was taken up in Soul and body during her Assumption.

Apostolic Journey

Mary as a child

"My Mother was the Child of the Temple from the Age of three to fifteen and hastened the coming of the Christ by the force of her love"- says Jesus.

It is indeed following the vow made by her sterile parents that Mary was entrusted to the Temple of Jerusalem until her nubile age. It is one of the privileges of young girls of royal blood.

This consecration is pronounced during the presentation of Mary (Purification of Anne) and executed three years later. Young Mary makes a joy of it. To those skeptical about such arrangements, Jesus, in a comment, recalls known early cases.

It is the high priest Simon Boethos who Homele her and entrusts her to the mistress of novices, Anne of Phanuel. Maria Valtorta does not mention the high priest’s name, but cross-references allow conjecture. However, it is good Anne the prophetess of Luke who is present.

Maria Valtorta does not dwell on the occupations that the Virgin Mary and her companions would have had, probably the women's work of that time. She mainly shows us her moments of prayer and meditations.

Mary as a spouse

Approaching her fifteenth year, according to Jewish law, she must marry despite her vow of virginity. The high priest refers to God: the singles of the race of David each brought a branch. Only one miraculously blooms (there is still snow on the mountains): it is Joseph’s branch thus chosen among the suitors.

Then come the first exchanges: Joseph confesses himself "nazirite", a consecration to God that entails his celibacy. Mary, in trust, in turn confesses her vow of virginity. It will be respected. The high priest celebrates the betrothal as the royal ancestry of the spouses demands. One thus understands the great pain of Joseph when he later discovers the first signs of Mary's Maternity.

Back in Nazareth, which Mary had left as a child, the fiancés live affectionately each in their own house. It is in Mary's house that the Annunciation and the Incarnation take place. The Holy Spirit, advising her to let Him justify her to her husband, Mary tells Joseph nothing, but informs him of the unexpected Maternity of her cousin Elizabeth whom a "messenger worthy of trust" has just announced.

Joseph takes advantage of some professional purchases to make in Jerusalem to accompany Mary to her cousin. An old trustworthy man then accompanies her to Hebron, to Elizabeth and Zacharias.-

Months pass thus. John the Baptist is born. At his Circumcision, his father Zacharias regains speech according to Luke-, then takes place his presentation at the Temple. It is the occasion for Joseph to come look for Mary. He helps her mount the donkey and then notices the first signs of Pregnancy. He says nothing but begins a terrible dilemma for himself. The Virgin Mary comments on this trial, in Maria Valtorta's work, using the word "Passion": "My Joseph also had his Passion. And it began in Jerusalem when he realized my state". And it will not end until the dream where the angel reassures him.

Mary, mother of Jesus

The census edict is posted at the door of the synagogue of Nazareth. Joseph and Mary must register in the city of David, Bethlehem. It is winter and Mary arrives at term. In Bethlehem, the inn and the other lodgings being full, they find shelter only in a kind of poor cave that serves as a stable. There is only an ox in this icy den. It is joined by the traveling donkey.

Then comes the night of the Nativity, the great night, the holy night when a cohort of Angels come to announce to the twelve shepherds Peace for men of good will. But there are not yet mages. It is several months later that they will come. The holy Family has then found refuge in a house, at Anne's. Zacharias the priest has come to Bethlehem. He knows that the Messiah is born. For him, the King of Israel can only live in the city of David and not in Galilee.

The massacre ordered by Herod the Great, the paranoid monarch, occurs. Joseph, warned of the danger in a dream, and the holy Family have just enough time to flee to Egypt via the Gaza strip. They arrive in Matharaea, near Heliopolis, the current city of Cairo. They live there poorly, until reassuring news comes from Judea. They can then reunite, four years later, in their city of Nazareth.

Jesus grows up there, taught by his mother who was educated at the Temple. She teaches at the same time two cousins of a similar age: Jude and James.

This regained tranquility will be disturbed only by an incident and a trial: During the coming of age examination of young Jesus in Jerusalem, at the time of the Passover, they lose track of the teenager. Mary finds him after three days at the Temple, sustaining a discussion about the Messiah with Hillel and Sammai, two eminent doctors of the time. Years later, Joseph dies at about 65 years old. Shortly afterward, Jesus will depart for his public life.

Mary mother of every human being

• Tearing of Mary's spiritual birth: She says: "But, believe me, my daughter, there has never been and there will never be childbirth torment similar to my childbirth of a spiritual Martyrdom of an accomplished spiritual Maternity on the hardest bed: that of my cross, at the foot of the gibbet of my Son who was dying.
  Which mother is forced to generate in such a way, and mix the torment of her entrails that tore apart when hearing the rasp of her Creature agonizing with the internal tearing for having to overcome the horror of having to say: "I love you. Come to me who am your Mother" to the murderers of her Son, who was born of the most sublime love ever seen in Heaven, from the loving union of a God with a virgin, a Kiss of Fire, the embrace of Light, which became Flesh and from a Woman's womb became God's Tabernacle?"
• All suffering is soothed on Mary's breast: Elizabeth says to her: "Let me put my hands on your breast." "Oh! if in your suffering you always asked me that!" (...) "And all pain calms and all hope blossoms and all Grace flows for whoever comes to me and lays their head on my breast."
• Our Mother of Heaven never ceases to pray for us: "I pray for you. Remember that. The blessedness of being in Heaven, living in the radiance of God, does not make me forget my sons who suffer on the earth. And I pray. The whole Heaven prays, because Heaven loves. Heaven is living charity. And Charity has pity on you.
  But if there were only me, it would already be a sufficient prayer for the needs of those who hope in God, since I never cease to pray for all of you: saints and the depraved, to give joy to the saints, to give the wicked the repentance that saves.
  "Come, come, O sons of my pain. I await you at the foot of the Cross to grant you Grace."

Mary Co-Redemptrix

Drawing of Jesus' farewell to the Virgin Mary at the beginning of his Public Life by Lorenzo Ferri According to the indications of Maria Valtorta. Source: documentary collection of the Maria Valtorta Heritage Foundation.

Mary is content with a withdrawn life in Nazareth, which does not prevent her from exercising active charity nearby. Only the news reaching her from her son's apostolate tortures her: he faces incomprehension and hostility.

So it is with renewed affection that she Homele her son during his few visits to Nazareth. Jesus often praises the unique support and comfort she provides him.

She also Homeles the Apostles who have real devotion to her, but also the Disciples Jesus sends her, especially the most wounded by the trial from which they come out. That is the case of Mary of Magdala (Magdalene). Mary will also care for Judas during an illness. Mary's holiness has no effect on him. Judas takes advantage to plot with some notable men of Nazareth.

The Virgin Mary becomes the first and the pivot of the "Women Disciples", the holy Women mentioned in the Gospel. She thus participates in a few rare apostolic journeys in the company of her son, the last of which brings her to the foot of the Cross.

She lives the terrible Passion of Jesus in union with him. Indeed, since the Last Supper, she "follows him in his pain" in thought and in prayer during: His Agony in Gethsemane-, his capture, his journeys, his maltreatment, his various trials, his scourging and his death sentence. Then, she goes to him with John and the holy Women. She is present during the ascent to Calvary and at the foot of the Cross.

Mary's lamentations at the tombWater are particularly poignant and heart-wrenching.- This is the only moment when she lets herself speak harsh words, but justified. Then, despite the immensity of her suffering, she sustains faith, provides advice and directions in a community overwhelmed by the death of Christ.

After the torture of this trial, the burial, the anguish from Friday night to Sunday morning, then the Resurrection-, the Ascension and finally Pentecost, she withdraws into the solitude of the house of Gethsemane, property of Lazarus, in the company of only John. She devotes herself to supporting the nascent and persecuted Church. It is there, leaving her spiritual Testament to John, that she experiences her "death" (Dormition) followed a few days later by her glorious Assumption.

Nothing suggests, in Maria Valtorta, that she went to Ephesus as some tradition holds. On the contrary, it seems that the Virgin Mary strongly wanted to remain close to Jerusalem, whatever happens. It can also be conjectured that her Dormition and Assumption took place in the year 50 at the age of 70, shortly after the Council of Jerusalem, but Maria Valtorta advances no date.

A biblical symbol revisited by Maria Valtorta

The figure of Mary, often called Co-redemptrix by certain theologians and mystics, finds a particular resonance in the biblical images of the bow and the ark. These symbols, drawn from Genesis, shed light on the One who allows (opens the door to) redemption of humanity, as highlighted by the work of Maria Valtorta and chapter 9 of Genesis. This contribution highlights how Maria Valtorta updates biblical symbols to reveal Mary's unique role:

• Bow: bridge of Peace and mercy.
• Ark: refuge of the Word and Grace, source of spiritual life.
• Co-redemptrix: total participation in suffering and victory over evil.

These images, enriched by Maria Valtorta's visions, offer theological and mystical depth to the concept of Mary Co-redemptrix, while remaining rooted in Scripture.

1. The rainbow: sign of Covenant and bridge of Peace

In Genesis (9:11-19), the rainbow appears as the sign of the Covenant between God and humanity after the flood. Maria Valtorta interprets this bow as a peaceful bridge between Heaven and Earth: "Rainbow: sign of Peace. Rainbow: bridge between Heaven and Earth. Mary, peaceful bridge that connects Heaven to Earth, she is the Beloved One who by her very Presence obtains mercy for sinners." (Lessons on the epistle of St Paul to the Romans, Lesson 17):

[...] With the increase of sins, with the growing clouds of divine wrath and Satanic smoke, Mary is always the one who disperses the clouds, disarms the thunderbolts, and throws her mystical bridge to humanity fallen into the abyss, so that it rises by a sweet way towards its God.

"I will set my bow in the clouds, and I will remember my covenant".

Oh! Truly the Rainbow of Peace, the Co-redemptrix, is among the clouds, above the clouds, sweet star that shines in the Presence of God to remind Him that He promised mercy to men, and gave His Son so that men obtain forgiveness. She is there not as a mere sweet thought, but as a true, complete reality, with her spotless Soul and incorrupt flesh. She is not merely happy and adoring. She shows herself active. She calls and attracts humanity to Salvation.

The hour of Mary. This hour.

Noah's ark did not save all men, but only those whom God found just in His Presence. Similarly, at the present hour, the hour that begins right now and that will flow in its entire length, and always darker with clouds, God's Ark will not succeed in Saving all men because men, many of them, will not want to be Saved. They will not want to be saved by the means of God's Ark.

After the flood, the rainbow was seen only by the just who survived. But now, in an abundance of mercy, the rainbow, the sign of Peace, Mary, will be seen by many who are not just. Her voice, her fragrance, her wonders, will be known to the just and to sinners. And among the latter, bless those on whom God's wrath will not fall thanks to God's Rainbow, and who will turn to justice and faith in Jesus, in whom is salvation.

This symbol illustrates how Mary, through her intercession, diverts divine punishments and obtains respite for humanity, thus preparing the coming of Christ.

2. The ark: refuge of the Word and Grace

Noah's ark, a symbol of salvation, is also a prefiguration of Mary. In Maria Valtorta's writings, Mary is described as the pure golden Ark containing the divine Word: "She is the beloved Ark, the Ark of pure gold which still contains Us, as We contain her." (Lessons on the epistle of St Paul to the Romans, Lesson 14)

Mary thus becomes the seat of Wisdom and the source of Grace, crossing the heavens to prepare the way for Christ and spiritually generate those who accept to be guided toward Him.

3. Mary, Co-redemptrix by suffering and love

Contrary to a common idea, Mary's suffering was not only moral. Maria Valtorta insists on her total participation in redemption: "The Mother of mortals knew every kind of suffering […] because being Co-redemptrix and Mother of all mankind, she had to consummate the sacrifice to the fullest and in all its forms." (Notebooks 1943, June 23).

This physical and spiritual dimension of her suffering strengthens her role as Co-redemptrix, in union with Christ.

4. The fulfillment of the promise in Genesis

Mary is also the one who crushes the serpent's head (Genesis 3:15), fulfilling the divine promise of victory over evil: "I will put enmity between you and the Woman, and between your offspring and her offspring: he shall bruise your head." (Genesis 3:15).

Maria Valtorta emphasizes this victory: "I have conquered Satan in me and for men. He is under my foot. I will also conquer him in you, provided you come to me. I am the Mother, the Mother whom Love made mother of beautiful love. I am the one in whom rests, as in an Ark [Genesis chapter 9], the manna of Grace. I am full of Grace and God puts no limits to my power to spread this divine treasure." (Notebooks 1944, January 10).

Her name

In Hebrew Miriâm מרים. This common name can mean bitterness or "the exalted one", "Prophetess" or the feminine of "Lord". The Christian tradition plays, especially for the Virgin Mary, on the closeness to "mar yam", drop of seawater, which is translated in Latin by the term Stella Maris, star of the sea.

In "The Gospel as it was revealed to me"

Key passages

Mary's love for God

• Predestined love of Mary for the Christ: She says, at about 12 years old: "Oh! how I would like this Light who loves me and who tells me so many things, to tell me where is the happy Virgin who will give birth to the Son of God and the Messiah of his People! I would walk barefoot and roam the earth. Neither cold, nor frost, nor dust, nor heat, nor wild animals, nor hunger would stop me to reach her and tell her: "Grant to your servant and to the servants of the servants of Christ to live under your roof. I would turn the millstone and the press, put me as a slave to the millstone, as a shepherdess to your flock, to wash your Child’s clothes, to the kitchens, to the ovens... wherever you want, but serve me. Let me see him! Let me hear his voice! Let me receive a look." And if she does not want me, beggar, at her door, I will live on Almsgivings and taunts without a roof, exposed to the bivouac and great heat, to hear the voice of the Messiah child and the echo of his laughter. And then, to see him pass... and maybe one day I will receive from Him the almsgiving of a bread... Oh! if hunger tortures my stomach and if I feel faint after such a long fast, I will not eat this bread. I will hold it like a packet of pearls Against my Heart and I will Kiss it to feel the scent of the hand of Christ and I will no longer be hungry or cold, because this contact would give me Ecstasy and warmth, Ecstasy and nourishment..."--
• Early union of Mary with God.
• Description of heavenly Mary.
• To Maria Valtorta: "Your compassionate love is so dear to me. But will you give me a Kiss? Kiss the wounds of my Son: Put the balm of your love on them. I felt in my spirit the pain of the whips and thorns, the torture of the nails and the cross. But I also feel all the caresses given to my Jesus. They are as many Kisses given to me. And then come. I am the Queen of Heaven, but I am always the Mother..."
• The fourfold sacrifice of Mary in response to the fourfold sin of Eve.
• Jesus explains Mary's 4 sorrows, Mother of God: "The first, the presentation at the Temple; the second, the flight into Egypt; the third, the death of Joseph; the fourth, my separation from Her".
• "Love, you are it, Mother. You are my love who compensates for Me for everything else. You and this small flock which grows every day."

Love of men for Mary

• Jesus says to Satan about Our Lady's love: "(...) But now, you are defeated in one Woman and by the Woman. From this hour, whoever loves her will return to be of God, overcoming your Temptations to be able to keep their immaculate purity. From now on, unable to be mother without pain, Women will have her comfort. From now on She will be a guide for spouses and a mother for the dying, thanks to whom it will be sweet to die on this breast which will defend them Against you, Cursed, and Against God's judgment."
• "I think we're all smitten with love for her. Such a high, such a heavenly love!... Such that only this Woman can inspire it. And the Soul completely loves her Soul, The Spirit loves and admires her intelligence, the eye admires and delights in her Grace pure which gives affection without trouble, just as when looking at a flower... Mary, the Beauty of the earth and, I believe, the Beauty of Heaven..." said the apostle Matthew.
• Thomas says to Jesus: "Don't you know that for me, being near your Mother is such sweetness that I find no words to express it to you? Mary is my love. I am not a virgin and I saw no objection to having a Family. I had already looked at some young girls, not knowing which to take as wife. But now! But now! Hey! Come on! My love is Mary. The unattainable love for the senses. But the senses die, just by thinking of Her! The beatific love for The Spirit. Oh! Everything I have seen in Women, even the dearest like my mother and my twin, everything good I have known in them, I compare with what is known in your Mother, and I tell myself: "In Her is all justice, all Grace and all beauty. It is a bed of paradisiacal flowers that her lovely spirit... her appearance is a poem (...) she, I am sure, surpasses in God's eyes all angelic beauties..."

Mary, Mother of God

• Question from the apostle Jude to Jesus: "How do you see Mary? As Mother or as subject?" - "As sister and spouse, as delight and rest of God and as comfort for Man. This is all I see and possess in Mary, as God and as Man. She who was the Delight of the Second Person of the Triad in Heaven, Delight of the Word as of the Father and the Spirit, is the Delight of the glorified God-Man, and she will be."
• Sabea the Prophetess speaks of Mary: "The Woman who bore him surpasses these Women because she is the perfect servant of God and serves him without sinning. All pure, innocent and beautiful, she is God's beautiful Star, from her rising to her setting.

Mediatrix of all Graces, Intercession of Mary

• "I am the eternal bearer of Jesus. He dwells in my womb (...) like a Host in the monstrance. Whoever comes to me, finds him. Whoever leans on me, touches him. Whoever addresses me, speaks to Him. I am his Garment. He is my Soul. Even more, now more united than during the nine months he developed in my womb, my Son is united to me, his Mother. And all pain calms and all hope blossoms and all Grace flows for whoever comes to me and lays his head on my breast."
• Come, come, O sons of my suffering. I await you at the foot of the Cross to grant you Grace.
• Jesus says: "Who goes to Mary finds me. Who asks me to Her receives me through Her. My Mother's smile, when a creature says to Her: "Give me your Jesus, so I love him" makes Heaven shine with a brighter and more joyful splendor, so much joy it has.
  So tell her: "Make me Kiss Jesus' garment, make me Kiss his wounds... And dare even more. Tell her: "Make me rest my head on the Heart of your Jesus to draw blessedness."
• Intercession of Mary: Jesus, regarding going to the Weddings of Cana, explains: "When I said to the Disciples: "Let's please my Mother" (...) It was not the pleasure of seeing me, but of being the Initiator of my miraculous activity and the First Benefactor of humanity.
  Always remember it: My first miracle came through Mary. The first Symbol that Mary is the key to the miracle. I refuse nothing to my Mother and, because of her prayer, I even advance the time of Grace. I know my Mother, second in Goodness after God. I know that giving you Grace is making her happy, since She is "All Love". That is why I said, I who knew: "Let's please her".
  Moreover, I wanted to manifest to the world her power along with mine. Destined to be united to Me in the flesh (...) - united to Me in pain - because we were on the Cross, Me with my flesh, Her with her spirit (...) it was right that She be united to Me in the power that is manifested to the world.
  I tell you what I told the guests: "Thank Mary. It is through Her that you had the Master of the miracle and that you have all my Graces, especially those of forgiveness".
• The power of Mary's word on Heart of Jesus: How she obtains that Marziam becomes the adopted son of Peter.
• Jesus explains why he healed the paralysed child of the servant of Anne of Merom without asking to verify the faith of the mother or the child, as he usually does: Indeed, Mary having taken the child in her arms to help the mother bring him to her Son, He says: "That was enough. He was in my Mother's arms. Even without Her speaking, I would have healed him. She is happy when She can console an affliction and I want to please her".
  "And between Jesus and Mary it is one of those looks that only one who has seen can understand, so deep is their meaning."
• "And they will seek you, the 'mine', to be forgiven, instructed, defended, loved. And blessed are those who do! For it will not be possible to persevere in Christ if Grace is not strengthened by your help, Mother full of Grace."
• Healing, by the intercession of Mary, of a sailor victim of a cranial trauma and a Calmed Storm by a hymn in her honor.
• Portrait of the "Holy Virgin": You know Mary as "mother", some as "spouse". But no one knows Mary as "virgin". Because my Mother, before Me, must be transfigured in the eyes of those who deserve it most, to show her as she is.
• Mary to Aurea: "(...) above me, there is God. It is He who made you this great Grace without measure to call you among the members of his people, to make you a disciple of the Master Savior. I was only the instrument of Grace, but Grace is He, the Most High who granted it to you."
• Mary intercedes to Jesus for Samuel of Nazareth who caused his mother great grief.
• Jesus: "Where I can make bend by authority, she carries you by the caress of love and she carries you there even better than Me. Her touch is a shield before which Satan flees."
• Mary anticipated the miracle (of the Resurrection). Just as, by her prayer, she opened Heaven, a few years before the fixed time, to give the world its Salvation.

Mary, mother of the Church

• Mary's spiritual maternity.
• Jesus' work continues through the Church and Mary.
• Those who will be good in the ages of ages will walk behind her.
• "Already now I entrust them ([Apostles|the Apostles]) to you, my Mother. Remember these words: I entrust them to you. I give you my inheritance. Coming after Peter in the ecclesiastical hierarchy, him Chief and you faithful, but first before all as Mother of the Church since you gave birth to Me, Chief of this Mystical Body."
• I bring you to her so that the atmosphere emanating there makes you able to understand Heaven with its voices and its commandments.
• Mary, throne of Wisdom.

All the Apparitions and mentions of the Virgin Mary

Mary's childhood: GRM 1 GRM 4 GRM 4 GRM 5 GRM 5 GRM 6 GRM 6 GRM 7 GRM 7 GRM 8 GRM 8 GRM 9 GRM 10 GRM 10 GRM 11 GRM 12 GRM 13 GRM 13 GRM 14

The Nativity cycle: GRM 16 GRM 17 GRM 18 GRM 18 GRM 19 GRM 20 GRM 20 GRM 21 GRM 22 GRM 22 GRM 22 GRM 23 GRM 24 GRM 24 GRM 25 GRM 25 GRM 26 GRM 26 GRM 27 GRM 27 GRM 28 GRM 29 GRM 29 GRM 30 GRM 30 GRM 31 GRM 31 GRM 32 GRM 32 GRM 33 GRM 34 GRM 34 GRM 35 GRM 35 GRM 36 GRM 36

Jesus' youth: GRM 37 GRM 37 GRM 38 GRM 39 GRM 39 GRM 40 GRM 41 GRM 411 GRM 42 GRM 42

Leaving Nazareth: GRM 43

Preparation for Public Life: GRM 44 GRM 44 GRM 45

Call of the first Apostles: GRM 49 GRM 49 GRM 51 GRM 52 GRM 52

Beginning of the apostolate in Galilee: GRM 57

Apostolic journey in Judea: GRM 70 GRM 73 GRM 77 GRM 81

Selection of the last Apostles: GRM 89 GRM 90 GRM 91 GRM 92 GRM 93 GRM 94 GRM 95

The last shepherds: GRM 100 GRM 101 GRM 102 GRM 104 GRM 105 GRM 105 GRM 106 GRM 107 GRM 108 GRM 109

Teachings on the Ten Commandments: GRM 127

Year-end festivals: GRM 133 GRM 136.

Female apostolate: GRM 150 GRM 152 GRM 156 GRM 157

In Galilee, the selection of Apostles: GRM 162 GRM 164 GRM 168

The Sermon on the Mount: GRM 174

Apostolate in Galilee: GRM 180

Second Paschal journey: GRM 194 GRM 196 GRM 197 GRM 198 GRM 199 GRM 200 GRM 201 GRM 202

Apostolate in Judea: GRM 204 GRM 205 GRM 206 GRM 206 GRM 207 GRM 208 GRM 209 GRM 210 GRM 214

Apostolate in Philistia: GRM 224

The conversion of Mary Magdalene: GRM 226 GRM 237 GRM 238 GRM 239 GRM 240 GRM 241 GRM 242 GRM 243 GRM 244 GRM 245 GRM 247 GRM 248 GRM 249 GRM 250 GRM 251 GRM 252 GRM 253 GRM 254 GRM 255 GRM 256 GRM 257 GRM 260 GRM 261 GRM 262 GRM 264 GRM 269 GRM 279 GRM 280

Perea, Gilead and Trachonitide: GRM 281 GRM 282 GRM 283 GRM 285 GRM 286 GRM 287 GRM 288- GRM 289 GRM 290 GRM 291 GRM 292 GRM 293 GRM 294 GRM 298

Year-end festivals in Nazareth: GRM 303 GRM 304 GRM 306 GRM 307 GRM 310 GRM 311 GRM 312

The journey of the Disciples to Antioch: GRM 313 GRM 314 GRM 317 GRM 318 GRM 320

Phoenicia and Upper Galilee: GRM 336 GRM 346

The Transfiguration and the Bread of Heaven: GRM 348 GRM 350 GRM 361 GRM 362

The penultimate Passover: GRM 365 GRM 366 GRM 367 GRM 368 GRM 370 GRM 371 GRM 372 GRM 375 GRM 376 GRM 377 GRM 378

Plain of Sharon: GRM 409 GRM 410

Pentecost, Decapolis and Plain of Esdraelon Plain: GRM 415 GRM 419 GRM 420 GRM 427

Summer in Nazareth: GRM 434 GRM 435 GRM 436 GRM 437 GRM 438 GRM 439 GRM 440 GRM 441 GRM 442 GRM 444 GRM 445 GRM 446 GRM 447 GRM 448 GRM 449 GRM 450 GRM 451 GRM 452 GRM 453 GRM 454 GRM 455 GRM 456 GRM 457 GRM 458 GRM 459 GRM 460 GRM 461 GRM 462

In Syro-Phoenicia: GRM 476 GRM 477 GRM 478 GRM 479

In Moab and Judea: GRM 497 GRM 504

The resurrection of Lazarus: GRM 547 GRM 550

The exile in Samaria: GRM 551 GRM 555 GRM 560 GRM 562 GRM 564 GRM 566 GRM 567 GRM 568 GRM 571 GRM 574

Return to Jerusalem: GRM 576 GRM 577 GRM 581 GRM 582 GRM 583 GRM 584 GRM 586 GRM 587

Holy Week: GRM 589 GRM 590 GRM 592 GRM 596 GRM 597 GRM 601 GRM 609

Easter Sunday: GRM 616 GRM 6162 GRM 618 GRM 619 GRM 620 GRM 622 GRM 626

From Resurrection to Ascension: GRM 628 GRM 630 GRM 631 GRM 632 GRM 634 GRM 636 GRM 637 GRM 638

The apostolic times: GRM 639 GRM 640 GRM 641 GRM 642 GRM 643 GRM 644 GRM 646 GRM 647 GRM 648 GRM 649 GRM 650 GRM 651

In other works of Maria Valtorta

Notebooks 1943

• Catechesis of May 13 : Intercession of Maria Valtorta: Jesus gave me many people — relatives, friends, teachers, classmates and students — for whom I suffered, acted, prayed.
• Catechesis June 23 : "Look at my Mother, the eternal living ciborium into which descended the Bread that comes from Heaven. Whoever wants to find me, but find me in the fullness of my qualities, must seek my Majesty, my Power, my Divinity in the sweetness, purity, charity of Mary. It is she who makes her Heart the ciborium for the Heart of her God and yours.
  The Lord's Body was made flesh in Mary's womb, and it is my Mother who offers it to you with a smile, as if She offered you her little beloved Child placed in the cradle of her very pure maternal Heart. It is a joy for Mary in Heaven to give you her little one, her Lord. With the Son, she gives you her spotless Heart, this Heart that loved and suffered to an infinite degree."
• Catechesis of September 6 : Jesus celebrates his mother with a hymn: Blessed be the pure Woman destined for the Lord. Blessed be the Woman desired by the Trinity who anticipated by her desire the moment to merge with it in the embrace of the trin love. Blessed be the victorious Woman who crushes the Tempter under the brilliant whiteness of her immaculate nature. Blessed be the Virgin who knows only the Kiss of the Lord. Blessed be the Mother who became such by holy obedience to the will of the Most High. Blessed be the Martyr who accepts martyrdom out of pity for you all. Blessed be the Redeemer of Woman and the children of Women, who cancels Eve and inserts herself in her place to carry the fruit of life where the Enemy sowed death. Blessed, blessed, thrice blessed for your "Yes", O Mother, who allowed God to keep the promise made to Abraham, the patriarchs and the prophets, who comforted Love, burdened to be punisher and not savior, who relieved the Earth of the condemnation that Eve had brought upon it. Blessed, blessed, blessed for your holy humility, for your burning charity, for your untouched virginity, for your divine, multiple, eternal, true and spiritual Maternity, Mother who continuously gives birth to new children for the kingdom of your Jesus by your love and pain. Generator of Grace and salvation, generator of divine mercy, generator of the universal Church, be eternally blessed for what you have accomplished, as you were eternally blessed for what you were to accomplish. Holy, holy, holy Priestess who celebrated the first sacrifice and prepared with a part of yourself the Host to be immolated on the altar of the world. Holy, holy, holy Mother who did not make me regret Heaven and the Father's womb, for in you I found another paradise not dissimilar from that where the Triad accomplishes its divine works; Mary who was the comfort of her Son on earth and the joy of the Son in heaven, who is the glory of the Father and the Love of the Spirit.” (p. 279).
• Catechesis of September 19 : Maria Valtorta has a vision of Mary: "I see the rather round oval of Mary's Face. Of an ivory hue like some magnolia petals; the skin tone is similar to her Son's, but the shape is different, Jesus' Face being thinner and elongated. On the flower face, only the lips and thin, barely dark eyelashes bring some color.
  The eyes, not wide open, but half-veiled by the eyelids, have the same gaze as the Son and are the same pale blue, but paler. In making a human comparison as usual, one might say Jesus has sapphire eyes and Mary turquoise. One notices in Mary the same serious and sad gaze as in Jesus, but it is a sadness that unites with the smile: the good smile of someone who is afflicted, but who wants to console and encourage at the same time.
  The Hair has the color of ripe wheat or pure gold, if you prefer, leaning towards reddish blond, but more blond than red, while Jesus' Hair tends more towards reddish blond.
  The hands long and slender, with very long and flexible fingers, come out of narrow sleeves, with their delicate and very white wrists. They are two magnolia petals joined in prayer. It seems to me that they must smell flowers, so much do they look like flower buds.
  No jewelry, absolutely none. It is the whole person of Mary who is a precious stone of alabaster luminosity, or better, opal illuminated from within by a flame. Her glorified body radiates light, a very gentle light that really reminds me of a burning lamp before the tabernacle: a lamp of white alabaster or, I repeat, of opal.
  She has kept me company and keeps me company, and it seems to me that all around me becomes luminous and virginal; light and purity descend into my Heart and with them, a joy that makes me weep with blessedness. (...)
  (Jesus): "... it is Mary who gives me my lesson today, and (the) contempler requires no words. Indeed, the vision of Mary alone teaches the beauty of purity, prayer and silence. Three great things very little and badly practiced."
• Catechesis of December 2 : I am the Virgin of waiting. […] I am the co-Redemptrix who awaits the moment to die at the foot of the cross to give you life. I am the Mother who awaits your true love, […] I am the Silent One. New Eve, I teach you silence. […] I let my Jesus make me loved.
• Catechesis of December 29 : I was able to well compare the two bodies and the two Faces (of Mary and Jesus), for they were close to each other, [...] Mary was smaller by the whole head of her Son, so that the Virgin's head was at the height of the shoulder of the Son who is very tall. She is much thinner than him [...] The face tone is ivory white. Only the lips stand out in their color, which contrasts with this colorless skin; the eyes, blue: clear in the Virgin, darker in the Son, and larger. [...] Hair lighter in the Mother, of a brighter color in the Son, but always blonde leaning towards copper and also fine, silky and wavy ending in curls in Jesus; for Mary, I don’t know because the veil only allows me to see the Hair from the forehead to the ears. I don’t know if they are loose, braided or pinned at the nape. [...] Both have a long oval face, thin without being bony. Mary's is more delicate, smaller, proportionate to the body. But the forehead, nose, mouth, the shape of the cheeks, the eye cut, the smooth and rather lowered eyelid, are the same.

Notebooks 1944

• Catechesis of January 10 : I am the one in whom rests, as in an ark, the manna of Grace. I am full of Grace and God puts no limits on my power to spread this divine treasure. I have conquered Satan in me and for men. He is under my foot. I will conquer him also in you, provided that you come to me.

Notebooks 1945-1950

• Catechesis of December 28, 1947 : The craftsman who sculpted me in such a way that I do not recognize myself (Virgin of Tre-Fontane in Rome) would have done well to evoke the statues of Lourdes and Fatima, where I am also represented as well as man can reproduce the image of the Mother of God... He should have especially drawn inspiration from my Face in the portrait of the Annunciation of Florence , if man and time had not altered the image, everyone could indeed know me as I was when the Spirit of the Spirit of God made me pregnant by God. The smoke of candles and time have darkened the colors, and man has damaged it... But you can still see what God's little girl looked like, Joseph’s fiancée in that spring of my years, in this blossoming spring of Nazareth.

In other sources

On the net

mariedeNazareth.com is a reference encyclopedic site to discover all aspects of the Virgin Mary. This site also publishes daily newsletters that offer to start each day with a time of intimacy with Mary.

The Virgin of the last Times

This expression finds its root in the Apocalypse 12 of St John, but also in the writings of Saint Louis-Marie Grignion de Montfort who prophesied in his Treatise on True Devotion to the Holy Virgin : "Mary will call in the last times, before the second coming of Christ, the Apostles of the last times". Another unsecured site: Saint Louis-Marie Grignion de Montfort

In Maria Valtorta, the Holy Spirit makes it explicit: "It is now the hour of Mary" Lessons on the epistle of Saint Paul to the Romans.

The Virgin Mary in Maria Valtorta's work

• Excerpts from the apologetic work of Fr. G.M. Roschini

Remember, O most merciful Virgin Mary

Remember, O most merciful Virgin Mary, that it has never been heard that anyone who had recourse to your Protection, implored your assistance and claimed your help, was abandoned.

Moved by such confidence, O Virgin of virgins, O my Mother, I run to you, and groaning under the weight of my sins, I prostrate myself at your feet.

O Mother of the Incarnate Word, despise not my prayers, but hear them favorably and deign to grant them.

- Saint Bernard de Clairvaux (1090-1153)

Why I love you, O Mary!

Poem by Saint Thérèse of the Child-Jesus (born in Alençon on January 2, 1873 and died in Lisieux on September 30, 1897): "Why I love you, O Mary!" This last poem she composed (P. 54 - May 1897) is a vibrant love tribute to the Virgin Mary, with the basis of her mariology.

• The poem online.
• Music and Performance by Patrick Lemoine of the poem.
• St Thérèse of Lisieux of the Child-Jesus, her life and work on Mary and Jesus.

Your Protection, it too, is above thought

Who then, after your Son, cares as much as you for mankind?

Who constantly defends us in our tribulations?

Who delivers us as quickly from the Temptations that assail us?

Who takes so much trouble to plead in confession for sinners?

Who takes their defense to excuse them in desperate cases?

By virtue of the boldness and power your Maternity has gained for you with your Son, even if we are condemned for our crimes and dare no longer look towards the heights of heaven, you save us, by your supplications and intercessions, from eternal torments.

Thus the afflicted takes refuge near you.

He who has suffered injustice runs to you.

He who is full of evils invokes your assistance.

Everything that belongs to you, Mother of God, is wonderful, everything is greater than nature, everything exceeds our reason and our power. Your Protection is also above thought."

- Saint Germain of Constantinople (+733)

Notes and references

Note: Quotations from the work of Maria Valtorta on this page currently use machine-translated text and will gradually be replaced by the official English translation. Until then, the official translation may be consulted through the reference link provided with each quotation.

Person who analyzes the historical, cultural, and literary context of Biblical texts to better understand what they meant at the time they were written and how they can be interpreted today.

In-depth research on God, faith, religious Doctrine.

Name given to characters of the Old Testament who had a long life and numerous descendants: Ex: Abraham. By extension: Elderly man having great authority over his people and inspiring deep respect.