us back to Mary. She was the first gentle flower to bloom forth in the springtime of the new era — that wondrous plant that bore her fruit in motherhood but still retained the blossom of her virginity. The name " Mary " is interpreted as the " bitterness of the sea," but the bitterness of her life was all her own: to us she became the star of the sea, leading us on to our glorious destination. " All generations," she says, " shall call me blessed." Twice blessed rather, for virginity and fruitful maternity are woman's greatest blessings, and Mary, the virginal Mother of the Man of men, became in the birth of her first-born the spiritual Mother of us all. Such a singular combination of prerogatives simply defies exaggeration. No eulogist of her, however perfect, but can say: " Condescend to hear my praises, O sacred Virgin, and give me strength against thy enemies."
Though Protestants, as such, never will and never can understand this devotion, still it was only the other day one of them said that woman need never hope to achieve her proper position in society until the Christian world unites in honoring Mary as she deserves. For it is a truth proven by human experience since the very beginning of humanity, that in the conduct of this world's affairs, be they social, political, or religious, woman's part must ever be an inferior one, secondary and subordinate to that of man. That such was and is Nature's intent is evidenced in the purely animal kingdom, where the distinctive characteristics of the sexes, their different organisms and duties, all proclaim the preeminence of the sterner
