Memory of Mary on Saturdays (I)

The dedication of Saturdays to the Blessed Virgin Mary in the liturgy began during the Carolingian era, with Alcuin (d. 804), Charlemagne’s tutor. We do not know the reason why Alcuin chose Marian intentions for the liturgy on Saturdays, but in the following centuries theologians and liturgists such as for example in the 13th century Humbertus de Romanis, Master General of the Order (Dominican), proposed up to seven reasons for this choice: 1.Saturday is the day God blessed more than the other days; God blessed the seventh day (cf. Gn 2: 3) and Mary is the most blessed of all women (cf. Lk 1:42). 2.Saturday is the day God sanctified. Since Mary is “full of grace” (cf. Lk 1:28), it is right to dedicate the holy day to the holy one. Saturday is the day when God completed the work of nature, just as God completed in Mary the work of grace. 3.Saturday is the day when God rested, after the work of creation (cf. Gn 22) but God’s true “rest” is in Mary to whom liturgy applies Si 24: 8, “Then the Creator of all things instructed me and He who created me fixed a place for my tent” because God rests in a heart that satisfies Him. Humbertus said that, “Saturdays and the Virgin are thus associated: Saturday is the day and Mary is the place where God rests.” 4. Just as Saturday is the door that leads to Sunday, Mary was the door by which Christ entered the world… (…)