Congregation of Jesus Mary Joseph

Fr. Wolff had a special love and devotion to Mary, our Blessed Mother. He venerated her as the Mother of God and the Mother of the Church.

09 Aug 2025 - 31 Aug 2025

Fr. Wolff had a special love and devotion to Mary, our Blessed Mother. He venerated her as

the Mother of God and the Mother of the Church. He followed her example and sought her

guidance at every moment of his life. One expression of his love and devotion to Mary

remains visible to this day in the Church of St. Peter Canisius in Nijmegen, NL. The small

wooden statue of Our Lady of Nijmegen, located in the side chapel of the church, dates back

to the 16th century. This was presented to Fr. Wolff by Mr. Anton Van Veersen in 1836, and

Fr. Wolff placed it in the church, helping people develop devotion to Our Lady of Nijmegen.

The statue miraculously survived the bombings of 1944 and is preserved to this day. As a

sign of his great devotion to the intercession and inspiration of Mary, Fr. Wolff also

instructed the Sisters of JMJ about the virtuous life of Mary and urged them to follow her

example in their daily lives. One of those instructions, written in the form of a meditation on

the ‘humility of the Virgin Mary’, is partially presented below. 1 Fr. Wolff writes,

1) Great was Mary’s humility when the Angel came to her with a message from God. When

the messenger of God exalted Mary above all women and called her full of grace, and greeted

her as the mother of the Saviour of the world, she humbled herself as deeply as possible,

saying: Behold the handmaid of the Lord! Later, she said again: The Lord has looked upon

the lowliness of his handmaid. Thus, the holy rule teaches us to humble ourselves in

everything and to seek constant self-denial in all things. This is also strongly recommended

by St. Ignatius of Loyola when he says that one must walk the path of humility if one wants

to do something great for God.

2) Mary’s humility was great in the house of her cousin Elizabeth. As soon as Mary was

greeted by the angel as full of grace, as the beloved daughter of God the Father, the dear

mother of God the Son, and the chosen bride of God the Holy Spirit, she left her home and,

driven by the spirit of humility, set out across the mountains (to her cousin Elizabeth). She,

who had confessed with her mouth that she was only a servant of the Lord, also wants to

show (in action) that she gladly serves God; for when she came to her cousin, she stayed with

her for a while, not to be served, but to serve. She is already practising what her Son tells us

all: learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart. We see that the greater Mary is

before God, the more humble she is before herself; we should therefore humble ourselves

according to this example, in proportion to our merits.

3) Mary’s humility was great when she placed herself among the other women in the temple

according to the law of purification, and when she dedicated her child to God and redeemed

him with a pair of turtledoves or a pair of young pigeons. She was not obliged to do this; after

all, her Son was the lawgiver Himself, and yet out of humility, she did everything strictly

according to the law; and to humble herself even more, she did not give the offering of the

rich (sheep/goat), but that of the poor (doves/pigeons). Throughout her life, we observe that

she was consistently motivated by the same spirit of humility. It is also our duty, according to

our promises (vows) and good intentions, to humble ourselves and die to ourselves in all

things and at all times, to follow the example of Jesus Christ himself and of his Holy Mother.

Image 1 – The painting depicts the miraculous statue of Our Lady of Nijmegen

Image 2 - The recent visit of the JMJ sisters to the same statue at Nijmegen (May 2025)