Mary’s obedience…

Being obedient she became the cause of salvation for herself and for the whole human race. The knot of Eve’s disobedience was untied by Mary’s obedience: what Eve bound through her disbelief, the Virgin Mary loosened by her faith.
–Saint Irenaeus of Lyons (late 2nd century)

Mother of God…

Is there anything nobler than the Mother of God? Anything more splendid than this woman chosen by Splendor itself? Anything more chaste than the one who conceived the physically untainted body?
–Saint Ambrose of Milan (339-397)