Taking into account that the Holy Spirit is God (1 John 5:7, Acts 5:3-4), claiming
that it is from the Virgin in us that grace is received makes the Roman goddess
equal with God.
ìAnd I will pray the Father, and he shall give you another
Comforter, that he may abide with you for ever.î John 14:16
ìKnow ye not that ye are the temple of God, and that the Spirit
of God dwelleth in you?î 1 Corinthians 3:16
One of the classic books expounding the Catholic beliefs surrounding the Mother
of God is entitled ìThe Glories of Maryî, written by Alphonsus Mary de Liguori in
- Liguori was a lifelong Catholic that was completely devoted to the Blessed
Virgin. He became a Roman priest at 30 and in 1787 died at the ripe old age of 91.
He was so highly thought of, that even Pope Pius VI (who had excluded him from
his own congregations while Liguori was alive) began petitioning for his sainthood
just 9 years after Liguori died.
After his death, Liguori moved quickly up the ladder of saintly success required
by the Catholic Church. Within 84 years Alphonsus de Liguori was canonized and
declared a ìDoctor of the Churchî by the Roman Institution.
His book, which bears the Official seal of the Roman Catholic Church, has
become the benchmark for Catholic dogma on the subject of veneration, worship,
and devotion to the Blessed Virgin.
The Editorís notice, written by the Roman Catholic priest Eugene Grimm, states
that it is from the spirit of Mother Church that the teachings contained in ìThe
Glories of Maryî emanates.
ìEverything that our saint has written isÖa summary ofÖ
Catholic tradition on the subject (of the Blessed Virgin) it is not
an individual author; it isÖthe Church herself that speaks
to us by her prophets, her apostles, her pontiffs, her saints,
her fathers, her doctors, of all nations and all ages. No other
book appears to be more worthy of recommendation in this
respect than the Glories of Mary.î 8 (emphasis mine)As already noted the Catholic Church sees itself as above the Word of God.ìÖthe church is above the BibleÖî 9Under the Divine inspiration of the Holy Spirit, the Psalmist wrote that the Word
of God is actually above the Name of God.