“If the winds of temptation arise; if you are driven upon the rocks of tribulation look to the star, call on Mary.”— Bernard of Clairvaux
I grew up on the water — my hometown is Buckroe Beach, Virginia, on the Chesapeake Bay. We lived less than a mile from the water, and I have many fond memories of childhood and adolescence in a beach community. I vividly remember the closest Catholic school to us — which is odd, given that I didn’t attend that school. But its name caught my attention and fired my imagination: “Saint Mary Star of the Sea School.”
Why did that name appeal to me? I honestly can’t say. But there is something elementally attractive about the juxtaposition of water and starlight. Being raised in a Protestant home I had no sense of who St. Mary was, but that only added to the allure: whoever this person was, as a “star of the sea” I found her interesting indeed.
My own school was Francis Asbury Elementary, named for a Methodist Bishop. I was far less interested in him than in the Star of the Sea!
When I embraced Catholic spirituality as an adult, I learned that the Star of the Sea (in Latin, Stella Maris) is a name that has been associated with Mary, the Mother of Jesus, since medieval times — Bernard of Clairvaux, the great Cistercian mystic, preached a wonderful sermon comparing the life of faith to sailing through stormy waters, with the “star” of Mary being the light that can guide our way.
I also discovered that the epithet Stella Maris (Latin for Star of the Sea) is also associated with the Egyptian Goddess Isis, and perhaps some other maritime goddesses as well. So perhaps Star of the Sea also symbolizes a way we can integrate the mystical spirituality of both Christian and Pagan traditions.
Nowadays, most imagery associated with Mary, Star of the Sea tends to be of the overly sentimental art of pious Catholic devotionalism, more’s the pity. I wish more Catholics (and others) could appreciate a spirituality that trusts a loving feminine presence (whether saint or divine) that guides us over stormy waters, whether real or metaphorical. After all, the matter that makes up our very bodies originated as starlight, many millions of years ago. We can trust the star of the sea because we carry her starlight within us.
Quotation source: St. Benedict of Clairvaux, Homilies in Praise of the Blessed Virgin Mary (Cistercian Fathers Series, v. 18), Cistercian Publications.