History of Mariology

The history of Catholic Mariology traces theological developments and views regarding Mary from the early Church to the 21st century. Mariology is a mainly Catholic ecclesiological movement within theology, which centers on the relation of Mary and the Church. Catholic Mariology is the encyclopædic area of theology concerned with Mary, the Mother of God. Theologically, it not only deals with her life, but her veneration in daily life, prayer, art, music, architecture, in modern and ancient Christianity throughout the ages.

Throughout history, Roman Catholics have continued to build churches to honor the Blessed Virgin. Today, a large number of Roman Catholic churches dedicated to the Blessed Virgin exist on all continents, and in a sense, their evolving architecture tells the unfolding story of the development of Roman Catholic Mariology. Throughout Roman Catholic history, the veneration of the Blessed Virgin Mary has led to the creation of numerous items of Roman Catholic Marian art. Today, these items may be viewed from an artistic perspective, but also they are part of the fabric of Roman Catholic Mariology.

"Many centuries were necessary to arrive at the explicit definition of the revealed truths concerning Mary." The importance of Mary and of Marian theology can be seen in the Church from a very early period. The New Testament Gospels, composed during the late 1st century, contain the first references to the life of Mary; the New Testament Epistles, composed earlier, make no mention of her by name. There are, however, references to Mary in the Epistles, most notably in Galatians. In the 2nd century, St. Irenaeus of Lyons called Mary the "second Eve" because through Mary and her willing acceptance of God's choice, God undid the harm that was done through Eve's choice to eat the forbidden fruit. The earliest recorded prayer to Mary is the sub tuum praesidium.

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