The Insolence of Devotion to Mary the Mother of Jesus

John Calvin stood against the grossly inappropriate titles for Mary the mother of Jesus by the Roman Catholic Church.  This too is not strictly old theology that has been done away with by the more modern Vatican II Roman Catholic Church.  The Catechism states the following:

"971 'All generations will call me blessed': 'The Church's devotion to the Blessed Virgin is intrinsic to Christian worship.'  The church rightly honors 'the Blessed Virgin with special devotion.  From the most ancient times the Blessed Virgin has been honored wiht the title of 'Mother of God,' to whose protection the faithful fly in all their dangers and needs....This very special devotion...differs essentially from the adoration which is given to the incarnate Word and equally to the Father and the Holy Spirit, and greatly fosters this adoration.'  The liturgical feasts dedicated to the Mother of God and Marian prayer, such as the rosary, an 'epitomy of the whole Gospel,' express this devotion to the Virgin Mary."  Catechism of the Catholic Church, Part I, Section II, Chapter III, Article 9.

More disturbing language comes a bit earlier in the Catechism:

"969 This motherhood of Mary in the order of grace continues uninterruptedly from the consent which she loyally gave at the Annunciation and which she sustained without wavering beneath the cross, until the eternal fulfillment of all the elect.  Taken up to heaven she did not lay aside this saving office but by her manifold intercession continues to bring us the gifts of eternal salvation....Therefore the Blessed Virgin is invoked in the Church under the titles of Advocate, Helper, Benefactress, and Mediatrix."  Catechism of the Catholic Church, ibid.

There is an attempt to clean it up with qualifiers in the next section in 970 but it remains blasphemy.  Titles like these for Mary made John Calvin cringe.  He wrote in his commentary on Luke 1:48, which contains Mary's Magnificant the following:

"Now observe, that Mary makes her happiness to consist in nothing else, but in what she acknoledges to have been bestowed upon her by God, and mentions as the gift of his grace.  'I shall be reckoned blessed,' she says, 'through all ages.'  Was it becuase she sought this praise by her own power or exertion?  On the contrary, she makes mention of nothing but of the work of God.  Hence we see how widely the Papists differ from her, who idly adorn her with their empty devices, and reckon almost as nothing the benefits which she received from God.  They heap up an abundance of magnificent and very presumptuous titles, such as, 'Queen of Heaven, Star of Salvation, Gate of Life, Sweetness, Hope and Salvation.'  Nay more, to such a pitch of insolence and fury have they been hurried by Satan, that they give her authority over Christ...None of these modes of expression, it is evident, proceeded from the Lord...If it was her duty to praise the name of God alone, who had done to her wonderful things, no room is left for the pretended titles, which come from another quarter.  Besides, nothing could be more disrespectful to her, than to rob the Son of God of what is his own, to clothe her with the sacrilegious plunder."  Commentary on Matthew, Mark, Luke - Volume 1.