Mary, Our Mother Sctn.:

Mary Vs. Satan

Also See: Blessed Virgin Mary (Topic Page) | Satan / Evil (Topic Page)

"I will put enmities between thee and the woman, and thy seed and her seed: she shall crush thy head, and thou shalt lie in wait for her heel." (Gen 3:15) [Note: Douay Rheims Translation]

"A great sign appeared in the sky, a woman clothed with the sun, with the moon under her feet, and on her head a crown of twelve stars. She was with child and wailed aloud in pain as she labored to give birth. Then another sign appeared in the sky; it was a huge red dragon, with seven heads and ten horns, and on its heads were seven diadems. Its tail swept away a third of the stars in the sky and hurled them down to the earth. Then the dragon stood before the woman about to give birth, to devour her child when she gave birth. She gave birth to a son, a male child, destined to rule all the nations with an iron rod. Her child was caught up to God and his throne. The woman herself fled into the desert where she had a place prepared by God, that there she might be taken care of for twelve hundred and sixty days. Then war broke out in heaven; Michael and his angels battled against the dragon. The dragon and its angels fought back, but they did not prevail and there was no longer any place for them in heaven. The huge dragon, the ancient serpent, who is called the Devil and Satan, who deceived the whole world, was thrown down to earth, and its angels were thrown down with it... When the dragon saw that it had been thrown down to the earth, it pursued the woman who had given birth to the male child. But the woman was given the two wings of the great eagle, so that she could fly to her place in the desert, where, far from the serpent, she was taken care of for a year, two years, and a half-year. The serpent, however, spewed a torrent of water out of his mouth after the woman to sweep her away with the current. But the earth helped the woman and opened its mouth and swallowed the flood that the dragon spewed out of its mouth. Then the dragon became angry with the woman and went off to wage war against the rest of her offspring, those who keep God's commandments and bear witness to Jesus. It took its position on the sand of the sea." (Rv. 12:1-9, 13-18)

"Let us rest assured that an earthly enemy is not so terrified at a great army as are the powers of hell at the names and protection of Jesus and Mary." (Muller)

"If you invoke the Blessed Virgin when you are tempted, she will come at once to your help, and Satan will leave you." (St. John Vianney)

"Great indeed is Our trust in Mary. The resplendent glory of her merits, far exceeding all the choirs of angels, elevates her to the very steps of the throne of God. Her foot has crushed the head of Satan." (Bl. Pope Pius IX, "Ubi Primum", 1849) 

"All those who love the Mother of God, that is to say, all true Catholics, are persuaded that, after God, Mary is our principal support in our conflicts with Satan. This persuasion is not merely a pious conjecture; it rests on constant experience and on dogmatical foundations the most unshaken." (Fr. Delaporte)

"Mary must be terrible as an army raged in battle, principally in these latter times. It is principally of these last and cruel persecutions of the devil, which shall go on increasing daily till the reign of the Antichrist, that we ought to understand that first and celebrated prediction and curse of God, produced in the terrestrial paradise against the serpent: I will put enmities between thee and the woman, and thy seed and her seed." (Liturgical Year)

"By divine decision, the new Eve, mother of the new generation of the living, is the irreducible enemy of Satan and, together with the Savior, has the task of defeating Satan and crushing his head. The pride of the rebellious angel is given a deadly blow, from the moment in which God makes use of a creature, and in particular a woman, to realize the plan of redemption entrusted to His Son. Satan has other and no less important reasons for nourishing a particular hatred against Mary. In this regard, it is interesting to report the testimony of exorcist priests, who agree that when the name of Mary is pronounced, a person possessed or disturbed by a demon manifests the most violent reactions." (Fr. Fanzaga)

"I will put enmities between thee and the woman; she shall crush thy head.' Thus does God avenge Himself on His enemy. The victory won over the woman is made to turn against the proud conqueror, and become his humiliation and his defeat. In his fiendish craft, he had directed his first attack, not against the man, but against the woman. She, by nature, was weaker and more credulous; and if he conquered her, he hoped - too well, alas! - that Adam would be led to turn against his Creator, in order not to displease the creature. All happened as he willed it: but now, see how God uses the woman to foil and punish him. He enkindles in her heart an implacable hatred against His and our enemy. This cruel serpent may raise his proud head, and, here and there, find men that will adore him: the day will come, when a woman's foot shall crush this head, which refused to bend before God. This daughter of Eve, whom all generations are to call blessed, shall be prefigured by other women: by Debbora, Judith, Esther, and others, all celebrated for their victories over the serpent. She shall be followed, until the end of time, by an uninterrupted succession of Christian virgins and matrons, who, with all their weaknesses, shall be powerful in cooperating with God's designs, and, as the apostle says, the unbelieving husband shall be sanctified by the believing wife.' Thus will God punish the serpent's pride." (Gueranger)

"The Fathers and writers of the Church, well versed in the heavenly Scriptures, had nothing more at heart than to vie with one another in preaching and teaching in many wonderful ways the Virgin's supreme sanctity, dignity, and immunity from all stain of sin, and her renowned victory over the most foul enemy of the human race. This they did in the books they wrote to explain the Scriptures, to vindicate the dogmas, and to instruct the faithful. These ecclesiastical writers in quoting the words by which at the beginning of the world God announced his merciful remedies prepared for the regeneration of mankind - words by which he crushed the audacity of the deceitful [Satan] and wondrously raised up the hope of our race, saying, 'I will put enmities between you and the woman, between your seed and her seed' - taught that by this divine prophecy the merciful Redeemer of mankind, Jesus Christ, the only begotten Son of God, was clearly foretold: That his most Blessed Mother, the Virgin Mary, was prophetically indicated; and, at the same time, the very enmity of both against the evil one was significantly expressed. Hence, just as Christ, the Mediator between God and man, assumed human nature, blotted the handwriting of the decree that stood against us, and fastened it triumphantly to the cross, so the most holy Virgin, united with him by a most intimate and indissoluble bond, was, with him and through him, eternally at enmity with the evil serpent [that is, Satan], and most completely triumphed over him, and thus crushed his head with her immaculate foot." (Pope Pius IX, "Ineffabilis Deus", 1854)

Also See: Immaculate Conception / Sinlessness [Pg.] | Original Sin (Catholic Basics/Reflections) | Satan / Evil (Catholic Basics/Reflections) | Catholic Basics Section | Devil / Satan (Topical Scripture)

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