Note 855 — Chapter IX · (continued 2)

The Gnostics, called Collyridians, had transferred from Astoreth their worship to Mary, also Queen of Heaven. They were persecuted and put to death by the orthodox Christians as heretics. But if these Gnostics had established her worship by offering her sacrifices of cakes, cracknels, or fine wafers, it was because they imagined her to have been born of an immaculate virgin, as Christ is alleged to have been born of his mother. And now, the Pope’s infallibility having been recognized and accepted, its first practical manifestation is the revival of the Collyridian belief as an article of faith (See “Apocryphal New Testament;” Hone: “The Gospel of Mary attributed to Matthew”).