Mary is patroness of library dedicated by Justice Barrett
Benedictine College dedicated a new library on September 26, designed to evoke Independence Hall while placing Mary at its center. The library features statues of Mary, a reproduction of Tiepolo’s Immaculate Conception, and newly commissioned paintings with Marian themes. College president Stephen Minnis recalled the story of Father Henry Lemke’s rescue through the intercession of Mary, Help of Christians, and its connection to the college’s founding. Minnis urged visitors to honor America’s founding while recognizing Christ as King and Mary as Queen; Justice Amy Coney Barrett also quoted Pope Leo XIV on the ongoing work of realizing liberty and justice.
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Benedictine College dedicated its new library on September 26, presenting it as both a tribute to America’s founding and a place centered on Marian devotion. U.S. Supreme Court Justice Amy Coney Barrett spoke at the ceremony, while college president Stephen Minnis emphasized the building’s Catholic identity and its connection to the college’s origins.
Designed to resemble Independence Hall, the library includes a replica of the hall’s Assembly Room, where the Declaration of Independence and U.S. Constitution were signed. Minnis said the building aims to inspire students’ love of country while affirming that “Mary is our Queen and Christ is our King.”
Barrett referred to Pope Leo XIV’s remarks about the continuing effort to realize the Declaration’s ideals of liberty and justice. She said she hoped the library would encourage each generation of Benedictine students to take up that challenge.
A statue of Mary, Help of Christians, stands above the south entrance; another, depicting Mary as Seat of Wisdom, welcomes visitors at the west entrance. The article says both marble statues were sculpted in Florence by Cody Swanson. The library also contains a reproduction of Tiepolo’s Immaculate Conception, two commissioned paintings by James Patrick Reid, and a six-foot mosaic of Our Lady of Guadalupe by artist Ioana Belcea.
Minnis linked the college’s founding to a reported 1856 episode in which Benedictine priest Henry Lemke, lost in a storm on the Kansas frontier, prayed to Mary, Help of Christians. According to Minnis, a light led Lemke to safety, and he founded the college two years later.
Minnis also connected the library’s Guadalupe mosaic to the college’s evangelizing mission. He recalled praying at the Basilica of Our Lady of Guadalupe and said he took guidance from a 1999 document by Pope John Paul II, which named Guadalupe Patroness of the Americas and Star of the New Evangelization.
At the dedication, recent graduate Jeffrey Schremmer urged students to appreciate the library’s art and devotion to Mary, then leave prepared to serve as faithful Catholics and patriotic citizens. Minnis said students are called to a special mission to “Transform Culture in America.”
Marian devotion and Catholic understandings of liberty and justice
Marian devotion and Catholic understandings of liberty and justice meet especially in Mary’s Magnificat. Mary is not presented as a political program or as a replacement for practical efforts for justice. Rather, her faith and song point to liberation from sin and evil, a freedom rooted in God, and a social order in which the lowly and needy are treated with dignity.
In Catholic teaching, freedom is more than being able to do whatever one wants. Mary’s freedom is shown in her faithful dependence on God and her wholehearted orientation toward Christ. Libertatis conscientia describes her as a model of humanity’s liberation: her freedom is not erased by her relationship with God, but appears in her willing cooperation with him.
That gives Marian devotion a distinctive meaning. Honoring Mary is not an end in itself: her life directs attention to her Son. Her “yes” suggests that genuine freedom can include trust, commitment, and service—not merely independence from every claim or obligation.
The Magnificat proclaims God’s concern for the humble and hungry and his opposition to pride and unjust power. John Paul II connects this song with the Church’s work for justice and peace, describing Mary as an inspiration for forming consciences and advancing a life worthy of the human dignity given by God.
This does not mean that devotion to Mary itself accomplishes social justice. It should form people to recognize injustice and act for their neighbors’ good. The Church’s instruction on Christian freedom says that the faith expressed through popular devotion must be translated into life, while warning against redirecting that devotion toward a merely earthly project of liberation that can create new forms of oppression.
So Catholic reflection holds together two points: freedom from material deprivation and unjust power matters, but liberation is incomplete if it ignores the human person’s spiritual calling and freedom from sin. A social cause may promise justice yet fail to deliver it if it relies on violence or treats people as instruments. The instruction explicitly cautions against ideologies that claim violence is necessary.
Marian devotion should therefore lead beyond admiration of Mary toward imitation of her faith and attention to those who are vulnerable. The Church’s instruction calls for a theology of freedom that reflects the Magnificat and warns that popular piety must not be detached from the full meaning of salvation. John Paul II likewise links entrusting the advancement of justice and peace to Mary with the practical spread and practice of the Church’s teaching.
In short, Mary’s example challenges both forms of false liberty: submission to unjust domination, and a supposed freedom that rejects responsibility or God. Her Magnificat joins hope in God’s saving action with a call to work for justice and peace in human life.