Maria mediatrix – mittellos mittel aller súnder

Maria mediatrix represents a paradigm of mediality in the Middle Ages. Mary’s power consists in bridging the gap between the celestial sphere and the world, the Christ and mankind. She is full of grace and conveying grace, participating in humanity and divinity by these characteristics. Her influence is based on having given birth to the Christ, accompanied his life until his death on the cross, having suffered and died in her soul with him in love. She incites the individual to follow her on her paths, to love and suffer as she did, to follow the Christ. Her path - if followed - offers the perspective to reach redemption and salvation. But she is also interceding for the sinners. Ascended to heaven and crowned as queen, she is able to change the severity of judgements of her son into mercy. The present article outlines a "mediologic" approach, presenting some developments from the bible to the Middle Ages and giving examples of different ways of Mary's mediation. The latter are mainly focussed on homilies written by Bernhard de Clairvaux (1090-1153) on the occasion of the feasts of the birth and ascension of Mary and five chapters of the, "Büchlein der Ewigen Weisheit" by Heinrich Seuse (1295-1366)