St. Laurence Brindisi: The Most Holy Name of Mary

It seems amazing that Gabriel, the messenger of God, sent to the Virgin as God’s groomsman and best man, did not use her express and proper name when he greeted her. The angel did not say: Hail, Mary, but rather: Hail, full of grace. We do not learn the name of the Virgin from the angel but from the Evangelist who says: The virgin’s name was Mary (Lk 1:27).

The Jewish people do not dare to name God. They believe that it is not permitted to them. Moreover, they believe that it is permitted to no one, except to the high priest, but once a year when he customarily enters the Holy of Holies and blesses the people on the Day of Atonement. Thus Isaiah said that his lips were impure, and he thought himself unworthy to take the divine name in his unclean mouth.

Indeed, God himself holds his own name to be of such great worth that he did not reveal it to the holiest of patriarchs as he said to Moses: I appeared to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob, as God Almighty, but by my name the Lord I did not make myself known to them (Ex 6:3). He did reveal his name to Moses, but first he desired that Moses take off his shoes so that he might hear the name while approaching God with the highest reverence. For priests in a posture of reverence do not enter the sanctuary except with their feet bare and washed…. Thus God wished for Moses to hear the most sacred and most secret name with the greatest reverence….

    Perhaps for this reason, namely for the sake of showing great reverence, the angel dared not speak the most sacred name of Mary. I think that, after the name of Christ, which is above every other name, is the name of Mary, reverenced and adored even by the angels themselves. One must not think that the most glorious name of Mary does not abound in mysteries nor that it was not given to her by divine inspiration as were the names given to Christ and to John the Baptist. For if no mystery were hidden in names, then God would not have changed the name of Abraham, Sarah and Jacob, and Christ would not have called the prince of the Apostles by the new name of Peter.