In the Spirit of the Commemoratio: Ss. Alexandri I Papæ, Eventii et Theoduli Martyrum, ac Juvenalis Episcopi et Confessoris
As we commemorate the holy Pope Saint Alexander I, with his companions Saints Eventius and Theodulus, martyrs of the early Church, and Saint Juvenal, a confessor bishop of noble sanctity, we are drawn into the mystery of the Church as Mater et Magistra—Mother and Teacher—guarded and nourished by her saints. In this light, today’s reflection draws from Ecclesiasticus (Sirach) 24:14–16 and John 19:25–27, two passages that, read together in the tradition of the Church, unveil the divine motherhood of Mary and her enduring role as the living heart of ecclesial wisdom.
Ecclus 24:14–16 (Douay-Rheims):
“From the beginning, and before the world, was I created, and unto the world to come I shall not cease to be: and in the holy dwelling place I have ministered before him. And so was I established in Sion, and in the holy city likewise I rested, and my power was in Jerusalem. And I took root in an honourable people, and in the portion of my God his inheritance: and my abode is in the full assembly of saints.”
This passage, spoken by Divine Wisdom personified, has long been understood by the Fathers not only as a description of eternal Wisdom—ultimately fulfilled in Christ—but also as mystically prefiguring the Blessed Virgin Mary, Seat of Wisdom (Sedes Sapientiæ), in whom God took His rest in the fullness of time.
Saint Ambrose, in his Expositio Evangelii secundum Lucam, writes:
“Mary is the temple of God, not the Godhead, but of the God of the temple. The Holy Spirit, dwelling in her womb, sanctified her flesh, so that from her flesh the Savior might be born without the corruption of sin.”
Mary’s presence in the holy city, in the “assembly of saints,” is no mere poetic expression. It is a mystical truth: she is both the root of the Incarnate Word and the mother of the Church. In her, wisdom took flesh, and through her, divine knowledge was offered to mankind.
John 19:25–27 (Douay-Rheims):
“Now there stood by the cross of Jesus, his mother, and his mother’s sister, Mary of Cleophas, and Mary Magdalen. When Jesus therefore had seen his mother and the disciple standing whom he loved, he saith to his mother: Woman, behold thy son. After that, he saith to the disciple: Behold thy mother. And from that hour, the disciple took her to his own.”
The crucified Christ, in His final moments, bequeaths not merely filial care, but entrusts the Mother of Wisdom to the Beloved Disciple—representing not only John but the Church herself. Saint John Chrysostom remarks:
“He calls her woman, as if to signify that she is now to be the mother of all the living, not only of Him, but of the Church.” (Homilies on John, 85)
This is no minor moment—it is the birth of Marian motherhood extended to the Church, a truth sealed by the blood of the Cross. The Blessed Virgin, who once gave her fiat in Nazareth, now gives her maternal heart to the Church in Jerusalem.
Saint Irenaeus, too, sees in Mary the New Eve:
“Thus also it was that the knot of Eve’s disobedience was loosed by the obedience of Mary. For what the virgin Eve had bound fast through unbelief, this did the virgin Mary set free through faith.” (Adversus Haereses, III, 22:4)
And what is the fruit of this new motherhood? It is the Church nourished by the blood of martyrs and confessors, such as Saint Alexander I and his companions. These saints, formed by the Mother of the Church in the school of Divine Wisdom, bore witness with their blood and constancy. Their lives declare that true wisdom is not of this world but rooted in the Cross.
In the spirit of today’s Commemoratio, we contemplate these martyrs not only as individual witnesses, but as sons of the Woman who stood by the Cross. Just as Mary took root “in the full assembly of saints,” so too do these saints now dwell in her company, in the heavenly Jerusalem.
Let us then, as faithful disciples, take Mary into our own homes—into the Church, into our souls. Let us abide with her in the dwelling place of wisdom, where saints are formed, and martyrs made.
O Mary, Mother of Wisdom,
Seat of all Saints,
pray for us.