At our meeting on Saturday, June 21, we discussed the practice of “spiritual motherhood” discussed by the Congregation for Clergy, and shared personal stories and practical benefits of providing priests with this form of support.
Cardinal Cláudio Hummes, prefect of the Congregation for Clergy, explained the practice of spiritual motherhood:
“Regardless of age and marital status, all women can become spiritual mothers for a priest,” he explained. He said the commitment implies praying “for a specific priest and thus accompanying him for life,” usually anonymously.
Cardinal Hummes added, “This, as history tells us, produces great spiritual fruits for priests” who “spend their whole life, even with their limits, for God and for their neighbor […] preaching and cultivating the good, helping people.”
More of Cardinal Hummes’ remarks are available at Zenit.org: Priests need prayers.
In a document published in 2007, the Congregation for Clergy wrote of spiritual motherhood, giving some historical examples:
Independent of age or social status, any woman can become a mother for priests. This type of motherhood is not only for mothers of families, but is just as possible for an unmarried girl, a widow, or for someone who is ill. It is especially pertinent for missionaries and religious sisters who have given their lives entirely to God for the sanctification of others. John Paul II even thanked a child for her motherly help: “I also express my gratitude to Bl. Jacinta for the sacrifices and prayers offered for the Holy Father, whom she saw suffering greatly.”(13 May 2000)
Every priest has a birth mother, and often she is a spiritual mother for her children as well. For example, Giuseppe Sarto, the future Pope Pius X, visited his 70-year-old mother after being ordained a bishop. She kissed her son’s ring and, suddenly pensive, pointed out her own simple silver wedding band saying, “Yes, Giuseppe, you would not be wearing that ring if I had not first worn mine.” Pope St. Pius X rightfully confirms his experience that, “Every vocation to the priesthood comes from the heart of God, but it goes through the heart of a mother!”
One sees this particulary well in the life of St. Monica. Augustine, who lost his faith at the age of 19 while studying in Carthage, later wrote in his famous “Confessions” regarding his mother:“For love of me, she cried more tears than a mother would over the bodily death of her son. Nine years passed in which I wallowed in the slime of that deep pit and the darkness of falsehood. Yet that pious widow desisted not all the hours of her supplications, to bewail my case unto Thee where her prayers entered into Thy presence.”
The full document is available for download at the Congregation for Clergy web site, or at the link below:
Congregation for Clergy: Spiritual Motherhood for Priests (PDF)
At our last meeting of Serra Boston, Fr. Dan noted that there was a groundswell of support for vocations in the archdiocese of Boston. For example, the St. John Vianney Society, a women’s prayer group which meets every 3rd Saturday for Eucharistic Adoration and prayer for vocations at St. Mary’s in Waltham. The society was started spontaneously as a way to gather women to pray for vocations to the priesthood - about a month BEFORE Our Sunday Visitor published an article on spiritual motherhood in their May 25 issue!
Attendees at the meeting shared stories about supporting priests, praying for priestly ministry, and the practical nature of spiritual motherhood. No human being is meant to be alone, and all too often the “human” side of priests is overlooked as people view them as something other than men. It greatly helps when priests can interact with their community and socialize with others.
Here are links to several publications we talked about during the meeting:
- Our Sunday Visitor
- Our Sunday Visitor: Eucharist and Motherhood article (paid subscription required)
- Congregation for Clergy
- The Pilot
Our next meeting will be Saturday, July 19 at 8:30am at St. Mary’s Parish (133 School St, Waltham, MA). We hope to see you there!