{"id":6363,"date":"2026-05-14T01:00:18","date_gmt":"2026-05-13T23:00:18","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.eugenedemazenod.net\/?p=6363"},"modified":"2026-05-11T00:15:18","modified_gmt":"2026-05-10T22:15:18","slug":"we-must-be-careful-not-to-venerate-images-of-mary-if-they-obscure-those-required-by-the-presence-of-jesus-christ-c10","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.eugenedemazenod.net\/?p=6363","title":{"rendered":"WE MUST BE CAREFUL NOT TO VENERATE IMAGES OF MARY IF THEY OBSCURE THOSE REQUIRED BY THE PRESENCE OF JESUS CHRIST (C10)"},"content":{"rendered":"
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In her, we recognize the model of the Church\u2019s faith and of our own. <\/strong><\/em>(Constitution 10)<\/h3>\n<\/div>\n

Bishop Eugene had been horrified when he went to a church on a Marian feast and had seen that the statue of Mary had been so honored that the tabernacle had been used as its pedestal. He resolved to make sure that this abuse never happened again in his diocese. These two extracts from his Pastoral Letters, written 20 years apart, are an example of his teaching:<\/p>\n

Thus it is the Son whom we honour in the person of the Mother and this is why, in our homage to Mary, it is impossible to overstep the limit, provided we consider her a creature, because God then always remains the supreme focus of all this homage.<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n

Bishop Eugene\u2019s Pastoral Letter to the Diocese of Marseille, 8 July 1849.<\/em><\/p>\n

We never give too much honour to the Blessed Virgin, provided devotion to her is understood and practised in the limited sense of what is due to a creature, however great and sublime she may be.<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n

We must be careful however, lest we pay to ordinary images of God\u2019s Mother a veneration whose external signs seem to obscure those required by the presence of Jesus Christ. On the contrary, the devotion which our faith and love addresses to the adorable Eucharist, must, in proportion to our humble means, be far superior to what we generally accommodate and have for Mary Immaculate.<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n

Bishop Eugene\u2019s Pastoral Letter to the Diocese of Marseille, 21\u00a0 December 1859.<\/em><\/p>\n

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\"\"<\/h3>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

In her, we recognize the model of the Church\u2019s faith and of our own. (Constitution 10) Bishop Eugene had been horrified when he went to a church on a Marian feast and had seen that the statue of Mary had … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-6363","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-writings"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.eugenedemazenod.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6363","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.eugenedemazenod.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.eugenedemazenod.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.eugenedemazenod.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.eugenedemazenod.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=6363"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.eugenedemazenod.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6363\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.eugenedemazenod.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=6363"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.eugenedemazenod.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=6363"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.eugenedemazenod.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=6363"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}