With roots reaching back to the 13th century, the Pontifical Theological Faculty Marianum is one of world’s leading centers in Mariology — the theological study of Mary.
Entrusted to the Order of the Servants of Mary, the faculty welcomes hundreds of students every year – including priests, religious, and lay scholars from all over the world.
Since receiving formal recognition from the Holy See in 1950, the Marianum has offered specialized academic degrees in Mariology at the highest level. Today, it remains an international reference point for researchers and theologians.
In an interview with EWTN, the president of the faculty, Fr. Denis Kulandaisamy, reflects on the importance of Marian devotion in the life of the Church.
Father Dennis, it’s a pleasure to sit down with you. What does it mean to study Mary and why is it so important for the Church?
Christ is both God and man. So, to speak about the humanity of Jesus, we can’t speak about it without reference to Mary. Mary is also important because she is the Mother of the Church and she is the model of all Christian virtues. She is the first disciple who followed her own son in all the possible ways till the end of her life. So, when we speak about Mary, we cannot consider her as an option, no kind of option, rather: She is not the center of our faith Christ is the center, but Mary is at the center, a person very close to Christ. So, in that sense, she is the one who can bring us to Christ, she is the one who is interceding for us to her son in all of our needs and necessities.
Many popes have also had a great devotion to Mary. How would you say that their Marian devotion has influenced their pontificate?
I would like to start with Pope Paul VI. At the conclusion of the second Vatican Council, on the 21st November 1964, Pope Paul VI announced Mary as the Mother of the Church, it shows that how he was devoted to Mary. Then next to him, John Paul II, we can speak about him even hours and hours, his Marian devotion, and he is called Marian Pope. And Pope John Paul II came to our faculty here in the month of December in 1988 to visit the Mariological faculty here and to encourage us to go ahead with our service to the Church in Marian research and Marian devotion. Then we have Pope Leo. Last year, in 2025, November, we celebrated the general chapter of our order of the Servants of Mary, and we went to meet him. He gave us a private audience, and he highly appreciated the service of Marianum to the Church.
We are this month celebrating Pentecost. It’s a feast in which Mary really plays a central role, she was present at Pentecost, and for this, she is venerated, as you mentioned, as the Mother of the Church. Can you tell us more about Pentecost, Mary’s role in it, and why we venerate her as Mother of the church?
We have two references in the biblical depict about Mary. Number one, Acts of the Apostles, 1:14, as I mentioned earlier, where she is animating the early church, awaiting the coming of the Holy Spirit, praying together. So there we see her figure as someone who is leading the Church, as a mother, loving mother. Secondly, we have also beautiful reference in the Gospel of John, chapter 19, verses 25 to 27, where we read that Mary is standing at the foot of the cross. And Jesus, looking at Mary, says, “Behold thy son”, and then looking at John, his beloved disciple, says, “Behold thy mother”. Here we see the entrustment. Jesus is entrusting John in the hands of Mother Mary as her son. John represents the whole church, so there we can see that the whole Church is entrusted to the care of the mother by Jesus Himself.
Mary has many different titles that we can venerate her with. And one of the most important titles, I dare to say, today is Mary, Queen of Peace. And this is the title I think is very important, especially in these days. We live in a very broken world with conflicts, with wars. How would you say that Mary, in all of this, can help us in bringing peace into our relationships, in our communities, and even to the whole world?
When Jesus was risen, when he appeared to the disciples, always he greeted them, Peace be with you, and in the Gospel, the Gospel of John, we read: Jesus says, “I give you peace, my peace I give you, a peace that this world cannot give you”. So, Jesus is the Prince of Peace. So, whatever titles we give to Jesus Christ can be applied to Mary, in some sense. So, being the mother of the Prince of Peace, Mary can be considered the Queen of Peace, and she is praying to her son for the peace, she is asking us to follow her son, who is the Prince of peace. In the Gospel of Matthew, we read in the chapter 5, we read that “blessed are the peacemakers, because they will be called children of God”. So, when we do this service, peacemaking, when we bring peace to the world, we become sons of God, we become children of God. So, Mary is helping us to become more and more meaningfully the children of God.
