Today is the feast of Our Lady, Help of Christians. St. John Chrysostom was the first person to use this Marian title in year 345 A.D. It is associated with the defense of Christian Europe (Latin and Greek), the north of Africa and the Middle East from non-Christian peoples during the Middle Ages. In 1571, during the expansion of the Islamic Ottoman Empire intended to invade Christian Europe, Pope St. Pius V invoked Christian armies and its victory achieved was consequently attributed to the intercession Our Lady, Help of Christians.
It is interesting to note the affinity this title has with today which is also known as Empire Day. A celebration of the British Empire and its dependencies. Something which I had previously been aware of (2015). I thought it particularly curious to chart my path from a celebration of one to the other. Now we live in a world without the British Empire as such even if it still has a influence on a global level. I am now more concerned with the spiritual battle Christians (and others) face rather than on a rose-tinted view of what this country does. Of course I am still proud of my nation’s heritage but I now longer subscribe to the notion that what the goes on today is anything like a traditional state of affairs.
Additionally there is the move from Britannia – as Athena or Wisdom – to Our Lady as the Divine Sophia. Both appear as figures ready to shelter us from the world behind a shield or or mantle, sub tuum praesidium as it were. The latter is an orientation upwards as opposed to horizontal – the supernatural over the natural – yet a unification of both is necessary, hence the Cross.
It is pertinent to note that this title of Our Lady is venerated by the Chinese Catholics. In May 2007, Pope Benedict XVI designated 24 May her feast for the Roman Catholics in China, who face persecution and restriction from the Chinese Communist Party. Again showing a move from nationalism to a community based on a conscious spiritual affinity.
Here we see that at the very least the people of the Christendom in the Middle Ages, and to a certain extent British Empire, knew who they were and what they stood for – something which we would all benefit from today.
Our Lady, Help of Christians, pray for us!
What Matters Most 