The Glory of Mary surpasses the Glory of all the other Saints combined

September 16, 2021 • 2 min

From The Glories of Mary, page 508
By St. Alphonsus Liguori

The graces of the saints were different in each, as St. Paul said: “There are diversities of graces.” So that each of them corresponding with the grace received, has rendered himself excellent in some virtue; one in saving souls, one in leading a life of penance, one in suffering torments, one in contemplation; hence the holy Church, when celebrating their festivals, says of each: “And there was not found the like to him.”

And as in their merits, so are they in heaven different in glory: “for star differeth from star in glory.” The Apostles differ from the martyrs, confessors from virgins, the innocents from penitents.

The holy Virgin being full of all graces, excelled each saint in every kind of virtue; she was the apostle of the apostles; she was queen of the martyrs, for she suffered more than all of them; she was the standard-bearer of the virgins, the model of spouses; she united in herself a perfect innocence with a perfect mortification; in a word, she united in her heart all the most heroic virtues which any saint has ever practised.

Hence it was said of her: “The queen stood on thy right hand in gilded clothing, surrounded with variety;” for all the graces, privileges, and merits of the other saints were found united in Mary, as the Abbot of Celles says: “The prerogatives of all the saints, oh Virgin, thou hast united in thyself.”

Thus as the splendor of the sun exceeds the splendor of all stars united, so, says St. Basil, the glory of the divine mother exceeds that of all the blessed.