From Mary
we learn graciousness and readiness to help,
but we also learn humility and generosity
in accepting God's will.

 
Benedict XVI, 21st Century

Woman! Above all women glorified;
Our tainted nature’s solitary boast.

 
'The Virgin', William Wordsworth

It was only fitting that the Virgin
to whose care God the Father
was pleased to confide his only Son
should shine with a dazzling purity
surpassing all but that of God himself.

 
St. Anselm, 12th century

Mary, you surpass all the gifts
that God’s magnificence ever bestowed
on any human person.

 
St. Sophronius of Jerusalem, 7th century

Cling to his most sweet mother
who carried a Son whom the heavens could not contain;
yet she carried him in the little enclosure of her holy womb
and held him on her virginal lap.

 
St. Clare of Assisi, 13th century

Mary surpasses all creation…
with the splendor and fairness of virtue and grace.

 
St. Thomas of Villanova, 16th century

God could have made a greater world,
but he could not have made a mother more perfect
than the Mother of God.

 
St. Bonaventure, 13th century

By remembering the example of God’s mother,
we are encouraged to lead a life of virtue.

 
St. Bede the Venerable, 8th century