We Fly to Thy Patronage

We Fly . . .

The prayer, “We Fly To Thy Patronage” (if not as a prayer at least in its wording) is, after the Hail Mary, . . .

. . . the most ancient invocation to Mary. We find it in Greek on a third century papyrus discovered in the area of Alexandria, Egypt, which betrays not only its oriental origin but, undoubtedly, its popularity.

The oldest known Latin translation is found in a 9th century manuscript at Compiegne, France. This prayer, however, has been sung in the Office of the Blessed Virgin Mary since the 12th century.

. . . to Thy Patronage

The most important thing about this prayer is its affirmation of Mary’s divine maternity, almost a century before the great Council of Ephesus which proclaimed, in the year 431, that in Christ there is only one Person in two Natures and consequently proclaiming Mary’s divine maternity.

The magic word, Mother of God, which in Greek was Theotokos, in Latin Dei genitrix, was therefore used in prayer by the faithful before it flowed from the pen of the theologians of the Council of Ephesus.

On the other hand, in the Latin translation a Greek word has been changed to the detriment of the more beautiful meaning of the prayer. The original Greek does not say: “We fly to thy protection” but, “to thy mercy,” and this is the word used in the New Testament (cf. Eph. 4, 32) to describe Charity. It is the word Luke uses (Lk. 7:13) to express the sentiments of Christ in the presence of the widow of Naim who had just lost her son. The ancient prayer, therefore, appeals to the maternal goodness of the Virgin more than to her power, which again characterizes the sentiments of child-like tenderness of the Christian towards the Mother of the Reconciler.

COMMENTARY

Fr. Henry Holstein, S. J. had accepted – as he always did when asked to contribute to the CAHIERS MARIALS – t0 comment on the “We Fly To Thy Patronage” prayer.

But the Lord called him to himself on the night of the 28th of March last [1979], before he was able to write his commentary. The editors of CAHIERS MARIALS owe him a debt of gratitude. He has proven his loyalty and attachment for so long and in so many ways. Faithful to the editorial board meetings, he was always ready to accept a writing assignment on this or that article. (If we put all together the articles he wrote for CAHIERS MARIALS, we’d have an impressive number of pages.) Commissioned by the Archdiocese of Paris as the ecclesiastical censor of this magazine, he performed his task with a punctuality and diligence that always elicited my admiration.

This Prayer Gives Witness . . .

The work he did for CAHIERS MARIALS was but a small part in the field of his activities. But I know that he was particularly attached to it, for here he saw the possibility of working to make Mary better known, to promote devotion to her and to give witness to his simple and filial piety towards her.

When the editorial board met to prepare this issue (No. 123), there had been question of finding someone to write about the “We Fly To Thy Patronage” prayer. We had immediately thought of him, because we knew how much he loved this prayer. He had indicated it already in the article, entitled, “Intercession” which he had written for our special issue, “Petit Vocabulaire Marial” (No. 116— Jan. 1979), in which despite the necessary brevity of the article he had given it prominence. Here is an excerpt of what he wrote about this prayer.

. . .  to an Appeal for Help . . .

“Touching simplicity in its naiveté, this prayer gives witness to an appeal for help made to Mary in times of danger. The Mother of God is called upon in the fulness of her maternal solicitude, invoked as the Mother of Jesus Who can refuse her nothing. Near that mother, the troubled child will find a loving security . . .”

Rereading these lines today, I believe I can understand better why Father Holstein was so fond of this prayer.

Its ancient character made it priceless to him. In it he found the solid soil of the great Tradition in which all renewal must plunge its roots. I also believe that he found himself in perfect harmony with what the text of that prayer expresses. The clear vision he had of the ecclesial reality of today’s France did not underestimate the values and the riches of which she is the bearer. But he also made her discover the divisions, the deficiencies, the dangers whence, what in him sometimes appeared to be worry about the future and even a certain pessimism. He has very well described what he felt and the attitude he wanted to take, in an article (No. 80, of CAHIERS MARIALS) entitled: “Mary’s Silence After Pentecost.”

. . . made to Mary in Times of Danger

“It is undoubtedly indiscreet and inappropriate to probe into this silence of Mary after Pentecost. However, I don’t believe that the Virgin Mary will forbid me, at this present time, when I cannot refrain from worrying about the actual crisis in the Church, to ask her to share in her silence. Because these days I also am invited to silence.

At this juncture, may I take sides between those who are angered at a would be “decaying” of the Church, as if the Holy Spirit and the Lord’s promise had abandoned it, and those who refuse to recognize the alarming signs, too numerous and too obvious, of a troublesome and dangerous situation, under the pretext that the aggiornamento proposed by Vatican II requires a sort of break with the past. Dialogue among the deaf, battles in the mist, where impressions, fear or presumptuous hope triumphs! Must I not remain silent, not only so as not to aggravate irritating argumentations, but especially to allow a hope purified by uncertainty to surface in my heart, a confidence forced to rely solely on the fidelity of the Lord . . . without visibility?” (pp. 299-300).

The Simple and Confident . . .

After having described the conflicts and tensions that existed within the early Church and attempted to portray what may have been Mary’s efficiently silent attitude, Father Holstein concluded:

“In these difficult years in which we live, neither will our hope be disappointed, if it knows how to spend itself in Mary’s silent prayer during the last years of her earthly existence. ‘What’s it all going to come to?’ we sincerely ask. And what will the Church of tomorrow be? Mary did not wish to answer these questions – which she must have asked of herself – except through the prayerful and silent certitude that this Church would be the one Jesus had given birth to on Calvary and which was born from His pierced side. The Church of God’s faithfulness. It is good for us to take comfort in her faith and in a prayer to the Virgin of Silence to take courage again” (p. 306).

. . .  Appeal to Mary . . .

Father Holstein felt that for him, on certain grounds at least, the hour of combat had already passed. What was being asked of him was that patient silence of faith and prayer – a patience and a silence that do not come easily to those who are strong and able to fight. But he succeeded in allowing “a hope purified by uncertainty to surface in his heart, a confidence forced to rely solely on the fidelity of the Lord”.

The simple and confident appeal to Mary, who has always assisted the Church and each of her children with her maternal solicitude, was for him a source of strength. How many times did he not make his own “appeal to Mary for help in times of danger?” With what fervor did he not beg Mary to “teach him the faith,” she who had lived it in its fulness? (Cf. his prayer tb Mary: “Teach Me Faith… ” Cahiers Marials, No. 105, “Prayers to Mary II, “ p. 48).

. . . is a Source . . .

I believe that Father Holstein saw in the “We Fly To Thy Patronage” prayer a unique expression of his own personal Marian prayer, in his own particular situation, namely, that of a man of faith, attached with every fiber of his being to the Church, to his Religious Family as well as to God’s poor towards whom he showed such great solicitude. His worry was that of a person who suffers when seeing those he loves exposed to danger. If he cried out to Mary for help it was for himself, but undoubtedly even more for them. In making the “We Fly To Thy Patronage” prayer his own – that appeal to the Mother of God and Mother of men which has come down to us from the most remote centuries – Father Holstein was taking “courage again” and experiencing the calm and the confidence he needed.

. . . of Strength

This is but one aspect of the rich testimony left to us by Father Holstein, truly a man of faith and loyal son of the Church. We can be assured that his fraternal and discreet prayer is continued for us today. In the name of the editorial board of the Cahiers Marials and in my own name, I wish to say thanks for all he has done in the past, right up to the present moment. I would also ask our readers to remember him in their prayers. We surely owe it to him for all he has done for Cahiers Marials.