Our brother Thomas, one of the greatest lights of the Dominican Order, was profoundly devoted to the Blessed Virgin Mary. His little known Marian thought has been gathered in a volume entitled Meditations by the Dominican, Fr. Mezard, O. P.1 These selections, "taken verbatum from Aquinas" Fr. Mezard tells us, were culled from the Summa, as well as from his Commentaries on the Hail Mary and the Gospel of St. John. They are arranged in the form of short readings to accompany the feasts and seasons of the liturgical year. In the Marian prayer of St. Thomas, which is always God-centered and in relation to Christ, we find an emphasis on petition, as well as emphases on contemplation, and even mysticism. This brief paper will reflect these emphases in the light of Mary, mediatrix of grace, a title and function of Our Lady of current interest in the Church. It is a title and function which St. Thomas made his own and integrated into his life of prayer and study. St. Thomas taught that the Blessed Virgin Mary "must be shown every honor, preached and praised, and invoked by us in our every need."2

According to our Angelic Doctor, the Blessed Virgin Mary "was so full of grace that it overflows on to all mankind" and suffices for the salvation of the world.3 "It is necessary," he says, "that whosoever desires to obtain favors with God, should approach this mediatrix, approach her with a most devout heart because, since she is the Queen of Mercy, possessing everything in the kingdom of God's justice, she cannot refuse your petition."4 Making the thought of St. Bernard his own, St. Thomas reflects that no refusal can exist in the presence of the exceeding charity of her pierced and immaculate heart together with the pierced side and wounds of her Son. For St. Thomas, Mary is the throne of grace of whom "the Apostle speaking to the Hebrews said, 'let us go with confidence to the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy, and find grace in seasonable aid' " (Heb 4: 16).5

In the mystery of the Incarnation the Lord himself entered " into the womb of the Blessed Virgin, for she was the wonderful temple of God. ...[and now] every creature, yes even every malefactor who runs to it with his whole heart, will be saved and every prayer poured forth in it will be heard."6 Whatever our difficulty, Thomas counsels us to pray to Mary, "for in every danger you can obtain salvation from this glorious Virgin [and] in every work of virtue you can have Mary as your helper [for] she truly says of herself, 'I am the Mother of fair love, and of fear , and of knowledge, and of holy hope, in me is all grace of the way; in me is all hope of life and of virtue" (Ecclus 24:24).7

St.Thomas, like the Fathers of the Church, saw numerous typologies of Mary in the Old Testament. Contemplating the text, "There shall come forth a rod out of the root of Jesse, and a flower shall rise up out of this root" (Is 11: 1), St. Thomas saw Mary as the root wielding the true rod of saving grace. In another text, "Lift up the rod, and stretch forth thy hands over the sea, and divide it, so that thy children may go through the midst of the sea on dry ground" (Ez 14:16), St. Thomas says that it is Mary who has divided the sea for us, that is the world, so that we might pass safely through it." She "has brought to us the water of grace from the rock, Christ, so that we may drink freely of this life-saving water."8