Originally published at National Catholic Register
After a solemn concelebrated Mass for the Feast of the Presentation of the Blessed Virgin Mary on Nov. 21, 1964, Pope St. Paul VI promulgated the Dogmatic Constitution on the Church, Lumen Gentium, along with the Council’s Decrees on Eastern Catholics and on Ecumenism.
The approval of these important documents on the Church occurred in a strongly Marian spirit. In addition to the Mass for Our Lady’s feast day, complete with the singing of the Salve Regina, the 24 Council Fathers who concelebrated were from dioceses with prominent Marian shrines. Above all, there was Lumen Gentium’s final chapter dedicated to “The Blessed Virgin Mary, Mother of God in the Mystery of Christ and the Church.”
In his speech on this momentous occasion, Pope Paul described the text as a kind of “culmination and head” of the entire Constitution on the Church, and an “incomparable hymn of praise of the Virgin Mother of God.” He further noted — being “deeply moved,” as he confessed — that this was the first time that an ecumenical council had articulated such a wide body of Catholic teaching regarding the Blessed Virgin Mary’s role in the mystery of Christ and the Church.
