This is not a spelling question but a pronunciation one.
When saying the word blessed, when do we pronounce it as spelled and when do we pronounce it
as bles-said, as in the Hail Mary.
Blessed would fit perfectly in the Hail Mary (as one who has been blessed) yet we pronounce it
bles-said.
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I suspect that bless-ed (in lieu of blest) is a more antiquated usage, but also, it has a different connotation.
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We always say, "Bless-ed John" or "John the Bless-ed" when referring to the Apostle and Evangelist, St. John.
We don't say, Blest John, or John the Blest. That sounds too close to John the best.
Or, we say,
e.g., "Bless-ed Pius IX" when referring to a Catholic who has been beatified.
Even after they become canonized, sometimes the appellation "venerable" hangs on because of longstanding tradition,
e.g., Venerable Bede.
I don't think we have to worry about that happening to such figures as JPII "the great" or Paul VI (
"Beatified?" - Fr. Luigi Villa).
There wasn't any time for any traditions to develop before their so-called canonizations.
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There is another word in the Hail Mary that hearkens back hundreds of years: amongst.
Some say, "...among women..." but others consistently say, "Bless-ed art thou amongst women..."
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Then of course, there are the pronouns, thee, thou and thy. I've had friends who use "you... are you... your" (
are you, instead of
art thou).
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The different connotation includes the fact that one can be blest by holy water or by a blessing.
But that's not what we're talking about when we say Our Lady is Bless-ed.
Would that have been the result of the High Priest giving her his blessing?
Is that why she is Bless-ed among women, because she got a priest's blessing?
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No.
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She is Bless-ed among women because
A) She is full of grace, that is full to overabundance, such that she is bursting to overflow with graces.
Never was there, nor never could there be anything nor anyone more full of something like Our Lady is full of grace.
This is why the Protestants cannot stand Luke 1:28 in its traditional form, and why the KJV changed it to "Rejoice favored one."
The Greek
Kecharitomene points without question to the most extreme and supersubstantial state of being full of grace.
B) Our Lady was in the mind of God before He created the universe, as OT Scriptures say, which the Church applies to the Blessed Virgin Mary.
Nobody else in the history of creation holds the place that She does, and so while others might be blest, Our Lady is so much more than that.
C) The only reason the Hail Mary does not say she is bless-ed among all mankind is for one reason alone, and that is Her Son.
Therefore she becomes bless-ed amongst woman-kind because of Our Lord Jesus Christ, who is bless-ed among men.
D) Anyone and everyone that we say is bless-ed, falls in line BEHIND Our Lady because she is the prototype of blessedness.
E) Some people perform sufficient penance in their life to save their own soul, others perform sufficient penance to save the souls of others too.
But there is only one person who performed sufficient penance to save all the souls of all the people who ever lived, and she is Our Lady.
Even so, she takes her place behind Our Lord, Who is the source of that salvation, while Our Lady is the chosen means by which we receive it.