Song Premiere - Hail Mary, Co-Redemptrix

A Marian Protest Song Against the Vatican’s Attempt to Rewrite Our Lady

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Hail Mary, Co-Redemptrix is a simple folk ballad written as a protest and a prayer in the wake of the Vatican’s new document Mater Populi Fidelis, which calls the title “Co-Redemptrix” “always inappropriate.” This song is for Catholics who refuse to forget what the Church has sung for centuries: that the Mother who stood beneath the Cross did more than watch; she cooperated, under and through Christ, in the work of our redemption.

“Co-” does not mean “another Redeemer.” It means “with.” Christ alone redeems by right; Mary shares by grace in His saving work, from her Fiat at Nazareth to her sorrow at Calvary. The same tradition that calls her the New Eve, the Neck of the Mystical Body, and the Mediatrix of all graces is what this song tries to echo in plain language and a worn acoustic guitar.

The title is not an argument so much as an act of defiance and love. If official documents are embarrassed by Our Lady’s older titles, the faithful can still sing them. No committee can erase what generations of saints, popes, and ordinary Catholics have believed and prayed.

Lyrics, concept, and direction by Chris Jackson.¹

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Hail Mary, Co-Redemptrix, pray for us.

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Lyrics

They wrote a note to calm the Protestants,
Paper roses on a plastic Cross.
“Maternal closeness” in the paragraphs,
While your royal titles take the loss.
They bow to “dialogue” and “sensitivity,”
Afraid you might look far too divine,
But Eden’s Woman and the Woman clothed with sunlight
Will not be edited by their timid lines.

They say your name in half a whisper,
Then tack a footnote on your crown.
But love remembers what the cowards
Are trying so hard to water down.

Hail Mary, Co-Redemptrix,
Mother suffering with the Lamb.
Christ alone redeems by right,
You by grace, by His command.
Every nail that pierced His Body
Pierced your heart in union, too.
Hail Mary, Mediatrix,
All His graces pass through you.

They chant “only God gives grace,” as if
Any Catholic ever said He doesn’t.
He chose your “Fiat” as His open door,
Now they file it under “inconvenient.”
“Co” means with, it never meant His equal;
You are handmaid, neck beneath the Head.
But Tucho’s pen and Leo’s smiling prudence
Would rather call you “nice” than Queen instead.

They fear your strength at Calvary’s altar,
So they recast you as a friend.
Yet the Church of saints and martyrs
Knows you labored to the end.

Hail Mary, Co-Redemptrix,
Woman standing by the Tree.
From the Head flows every merit,
Through your hands they come to me.
They can ban the word on paper,
But they cannot stop what’s true:
Hail Mary, Mediatrix,
All His graces pass through you.

Let the memos call you “helper,”
Let the note forbid your name.
He who crowned you Queen of Heaven
Does not revoke what He once gave.

Hail Mary, Co-Redemptrix,
We’ll keep singing what you are.
When Rome trembles before her houseguests,
You still outshine every star.
In the Church they’re busy pruning,
Love will guard what they undo:
Hail Mary, Co-Redemptrix,
All His graces pass through you.

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1. The track is produced with computer-generated studio tools (virtual instruments and virtual session singers), the way someone might use a studio band or session singer for a demo. I’m experimenting with these tools so I can get the songs out without having to hire a band or a studio.