Saturday, July 18, 2009

The Mater Ter Admirabilis

On 16 July, the Most Rev. Gregor Maria Hanke OSB, Bishop of Eichstätt (whom you might remember as the bishop granting his approval to the new edition of the usus antiquior Breviary) renewed the consecration of the diocese of Eichstätt, Bavaria, to the Blessed Virgin Mary under her invocation of the Mater Ter Admirabilis, the Thrice Admirable Mother. This title of Our Lady, which has become known throughout the world through the Schönstatt movement which adopted this devotion, has its origin in the Colloquium Marianum founded by Fr Jakob Rem in Ingolstadt (diocese of Eichstätt) in 1595 (read more about its origin and history here), and it was in Ingolstadt Minster, where the image of the Mater Ter Admirabilis, originally a copy of the Salus Populi Romani, is venerated, that Bishop Hanke renewed the consecration. On this occasion, he also announced that the Congregation for Divine Worship and the Discipline of the Sacraments, acceding to his petition, has approved a new Mass formulary "B. Mariæ Virg. Matris Ter Admirabilis", and the celebration of an optional memorial of the same title each year on 11 October, for the diocese of Eichstätt.

Here are some images of the celebration. The ornament which the bishop is wearing above the chasuble is the rationale, an episcopal humeral, a counterpart of the pallium, and like it worn over the chasuble. At the present time it is only used by the Bishops of Eichstätt, Paderborn, Toul, and Cracow (read more about it here). This particular rationale shows precisely an image of the Thrice Admirable Mother.



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