How does one explain the distorted Mary-worship of Spanish Catholics when it appears they worship her as a virtual goddess and have exaggerated her role when such practices are not biblical?

Answer 1

The Spanish, though having several unique Marian devotions of their own, are certainly not alone in their reverence of Mary; most Catholics have an especial devotion to Mary, the Mother of Jesus and reverence her by praying to her, honoring her pictures and statues and calling her by a plethora of titles which include "Mediatrix of All Graces", "Co-Redemptrix" and "The Immaculate Conception".

Marian devotion is commonly seen as distorted if not blatant idolatry by most Protestants. Further, they see no excusable justification from The Bible for such actions. Catholics do have biblical basis for their devotion, but even if they did not, it would matter little since Catholics believe in both the written and verbal Traditions of Christianity. Protestants do not accept the Oral Tradition, though Catholics would defend it by simply pointing out that the written Tradition, i.e. the Bible, was once Oral Tradition until it was written down over a period of nearly 100 years. As well, it took another 300 years during which the Church compiled the Bible, choose its books, edited it and then finally invoked Its divine authority to dogmatically acknowledge and guarantee that the Scriptures therein contained were truly inspired and inerrant. Ironically, the Bible can only be proven to be inspired if one believes in the Oral Tradition and the authority of Christ's Church. This being said, Catholics can point to a few passages that encourage their devotion:

Mary declared that all generations would honor her for being the mother of Christ:

St. Luke 1.48 "Because he hath regarded the humility of his handmaid: for behold from henceforth all generations shall call me blessed."

Catholics believe that Christ, when crucified, invoked Mary as "Woman" instead of mother as He was identifying her with being the second Eve as He was the second Adam. He then gave the Woman to St. John, who represented all faithful Christians by being at the foot of the cross, and so all are here bid to take her as their spiritual mother (here is present also the idea of "Co-Redemptrix"):

St. John 19.26. "When Jesus therefore had seen his mother and the disciple standing whom he loved, he saith to his mother: Woman, behold thy son. 27. After that, he saith to the disciple: Behold thy mother. And from that hour, the disciple took her to his own."

When Christ was dead and buried, the Bible makes a conspicuous omission: only Mary never went to the tomb. Catholics celebrate this since Mary alone understood her Son's mission and His declaration of resurrection. She therefore was the only human being on earth that had the Faith during the time Our Lord was dead, and for this Catholics cannot help but declare her praises of fidelity, wisdom, etc.

On top of this, Catholics point to Marian devotion throughout the centuries as a Christian practice. In the catacombs can be found pictures of Mary on a throne with supplicants approaching. Early Iconography of the Christ Child is rarely ever discovered without Mary holding the Child. In the first Council of Constantinople of 381AD, the Nicene Creed was further elaborated; one of these was to make sure that Mary is identified as the Mother of Christ and that she is a virgin (the original creed merely read that Christ "came down and was incarnate and made man" but it was too open to interpretative heresies, hence the elaborations of 381). In the fifth century, the Council of Ephesus made up of all Christian bishops declared Mary the Theotokos, or Mother of God. Concepts of praying to Mary are so fundamental to Christianity that the Orthodox that separated from Roman control honor her according to these centuries old practices, things that the Protestant Reformers five centuries later would abandon declaring them abuses when, in fact, all of Tradition and even the Orthodox stood as evidence they were legit.

Some Catholics, Spanish included, kiss images and statues of Mary, consecrate their children to her on altars dedicated to her, parade her images through their cities and other such practices that may seem extreme. At no time does any Catholic worship Mary as God. It is their belief that Mary is their spiritual mother as well as being the soul who helped make our salvation possible by agreeing to be the Mother of Jesus. Thus Catholics treat Mary as their own mother, kissing things that remind them of her, asking her protection and special guidance over their loved ones and going on elaborate pilgrimages and parades in order that all the world may acknowledge what great things God has done through His handmaid.