Is the Marian title of Co-Redemptrix contained in Revelation? To further explore the biblical basis for this title, a typological analysis to the “woman” in Revelation 12 is essential, for this passage depicts the key events of salvation history (Redemptoris Mater, 11).
In the Church’s Tradition, the “woman” in Revelation 12 has been interpreted in two different ways: as a symbol of an individual, Mary, or as a collective, the Church.[1] Rather than viewing these interpretations as mutually exclusive, fides quaerens intellectum invites us to discover how Revelation’s symbolic language often allows for both individual and collective meanings to coexist within a single image. For instance, the “male child” signifies both “the Messiah” (Rev. 12:10) and His followers (Rev. 12:17), while the “dragon” represents both “the Devil” (Rev. 12:3, 9) and the “kings” who persecute Christ’s disciples (Rev. 17:7–14). Thus, it is fitting to interpret the “woman,” crowned “with twelve stars,” as a symbol of both Mary and the Church, as the Bride of Christ and the new Jerusalem (Rev. 12:1; 19:7-8; 21:1-9).[2]
The dual symbolism of this “woman,” “crying out in… the agony of giving birth” (Rev. 12:2), opens two unique perspectives for Revelation 12 can support the Marian title of Co-Redemptrix.
Individually, this image resonates with Mary’s singular role in cooperating with Christ’s redemptive mission. Mary not only brought Christ into the world but, through her compassionate presence and loving union with Him at the Cross, shared preeminently in His redemptive suffering (RM, 11; Salvifici Doloris, 25). Through her Assumption, Mary is now “clothed with the sun” (Rev. 12:1), a radiant sign of her being fully clothed with the garments of redemption in “an especially sublime manner” by her Son (RM 41). On an ecclesial level, this imagery represents Mary’s ongoing maternal mediation for the Church, affirming her role as Reparatrix and Dispensatrix, chosen by Christ to dispense, “by right of her Motherhood, the treasures of His merits” (Ad Diem Illum Laetissimum, 15).[3] As her children, engaged in the ongoing war with the angry “dragon,” we are called to heed Jesus’ words: “Behold, your mother” (Jn. 19:27), and to invoke her aid, “Sub tuum praesidium confugimus, Sancta Dei Genitrix.”[4]
This dual symbolism invites several questions for further reflection, especially in light of Jesus’ identity as “the bridegroom” (Mark 2:19). First, how does the identification of Mary with the Church as Bride in Revelation 12 illuminate her role as the “woman” at the Wedding Feast of Cana? Second, in what ways does this identification deepen our understanding of her presence and participation as the “woman” at the Crucifixion? Finally, how does the image of Mary’s maternal mediation enhance or complicate her potential title as Co-Redemptrix?
[1] Brant Pitre states, “Although dated, the full-length study of Bernard J. Le Frois, The Woman Clothed with the Sun (Ap. 12): Individual or Collective? An Exegetical Study (Rome: Orbis Catholicus, 1954), remains unsurpassed” (Jesus and the Jewish Roots of Mary, 205). For example, Ephraim the Syrian identifies the woman solely as Mary in Hymns on the Nativity, 4. In contrast, Methodius of Olympus interprets her as representing the Church in The Banquet of the Ten Virgins, 8.5-6 (see Pitre, Jesus and the Jewish Roots of Mary, 206).
[2] See Craig R. Koester, Revelation (Anchor Yale Bible 38A), 543; and David E. Aune, Revelation (3 vols.; Word Biblical Commentary 52–52C), 2:683–84, as cited in Pitre, Jesus and the Jewish Roots of Mary, 32.
[3] Theologians explain that while de condigno merit, based on justice, belongs solely to Christ, de congruo merit—based on fittingness—is attributed to the saints, especially Mary, as a fitting response to their union with God’s will.
[4] These words are the opening lines to the Sub Tuum Praesidium, one of the oldest known prayers to the Blessed Virgin Mary, dating back to at least the 3rd century. This prayer emphasizes Mary’s intercessory role as our Mother.
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