Is It ‘She’ Or ‘He’?

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Look, we don’t really need any titles for Mary to know how powerful she is (do we?).

Christ told us from the Cross: “She is your mother.”

That says as much as we need to know. Mother not just of the faithful but everyone on this planet.

Powerful against evil?

We know, beyond all doubt, that also.

In countless artistic depictions, as well as during certain historic apparitions, the Woman is seen stepping on the head of Satan (the serpent).

The Immaculate Conception, Bartolomé Esteban MURILLO | NGV

Intriguing it is that Latin Vulgate Variant, quoting Genesis 3:15, still says “She shall crush your head.” (“I will put enmity between you and the woman, and your seed and her seed: she shall crush your head, and you shall lie in wait for her heel.”)

This is the famous “ipsa” (Latin for “herself” or “she”) reading linked to Marian interpretation (“she shall crush”), It is Saint Jerome’s version. Catholic tradition, particularly in the Middle Ages, cited the Virgin as that “she,” emphasizing her role in salvation history. Thus, much of the art from the period follows this line of presentation.

The Immaculate Conception (Tiepolo) - Wikipedia

Why is Mary depicted standing on a snake?

Yet that doesn’t come, as many believe, from the most versions of Genesis 3:15—including the New American Standard Bible now used by Catholics. That version says, “And I will put enmity Between you and the woman, and between your seed and her seed; He shall bruise you on the head, And you shall bruise him on the heel.”

Some modern Catholic Bibles have corrected it to “he,” but older Catholic editions preserved the “she” interpretation. The feminine pronoun “she” appears to be a later scribal alteration or interpretive decision, because many believe Jerome himself seems to have intended ipse (“he”). The Hebrew (“hū’ yĕshuphkha tosh“) clearly uses he, not she.

Some early Vulgate manuscripts have ipse, others ipsa. 

Are you confused enough yet?

Likewise, certain Catholic Bibles returned to the Hebrew sense. Versions of the New American Bible, Revised Standard Version–Catholic Edition, New Jerusalem Bible, and Christian Community Bible all say “he shall crush/strike your head,” and nearly all Jewish and Protestant translations follow this. To wit: the King James Version, the English Standard Version, the New International Version, the New Revised Standard Version, and the Jewish Publication Society. The Douay–Rheims Bible, based on the Latin Vulgate, famously says “she shall crush thy head” and in the 1800s and early 1900s, many English Catholic Bibles of this period followed the Vulgate’s “ipsa” (“ipsa conteret caput tuum”).

In the famous image of Guadalupe, which is celebrated this month (December 12), Mary’s right foot rests on a dark crescent moon. In Aztec symbolism, this crescent represented the god of darkness, night, chaos, and the underworld. The moon’s shape resembled the “serpent’s jaw” in Aztec myth. (The moon was not in the original image of Guadalupe, according to scientists, but added to the miraculous “painting” by later artists who embellished it.)

The U.S. bishops’ version says, “I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your offspring and hers; They will strike at your head, while you strike at their heel.”

“They”!

Again, does it really matter?

Mary is presented as stepping on the reptile in the famous Miraculous Medal, which was given in a supernatural vision to Saint Catherine Labouré in 1830. In her vision, Mary instructed Saint Catherine to have the medal struck with a specific design and promised that those who wear it with confidence would receive great graces. (Below original medal.) That’s Heaven speaking.

This may contain: an antique medal with the image of jesus on it's back and words written in spanish

The front of the medal features Mary standing on an earth with rays of light streaming from her hands and feet crushing the head of a snake under her feet, symbolizing, of course, her victory over evil.

The reverse side shows a large “M” topped by a Cross, with the Sacred and Immaculate Hearts of Jesus and Mary beneath it, all surrounded by twelve stars.

We see her close cooperation with her Divine Son in quelling (and in the end vanquishing) the devil.

Christ is King. He is the ultimate source of power against all evil. When demons are cast out, it is in the Name of Jesus.

But Mary has done quite a job rallying her children to deliverance through the wind of centuries, hasn’t (ipsa) she? And how does the Hail Mary end? “Holy Mary, mother of God, pray for us sinners…”

“Mother of God.”

Quite a title, that.