But when they knew that he was a Jew, all with one voice about the space of two hours cried out, Great is Diana of the Ephesians.
Acts 19:34
"Catholic Church acknowledges the pagan origin of many of the shrines and statues of Mary.
A Catholic publication stated the following: “Devotion to Mary began in the earliest years of Christianity, and she is revered in Christian literature as early as A.D. 150…
Throughout the history of
the world, sites associated with any one religion have often been
re-used by its successor.
--To do so reinforces the new religion,
--but may
also result in characteristics of deities of different faiths becoming
intermingled.
Statues of the Virgin…used to be paraded around the fields
to ensure a good harvest. The moon and stars, symbols of Diana,
Greco-Roman goddess of hunting were later associated with the Virgin,
and Mary is frequently referred to as Stella Maria—Star of the Sea.
Festivals, too, were assimilated [from paganism] into the new faith: the
Festival of the Purification of the Blessed Virgin on 2 February was
originally a Roman Festival of purification.
And Christians often took
over the pagan shrines of the ancient 
world’s goddesses and rededicated
them to Mary. A good example is the shrine to Diana at Ephesus, which
was re-established in the fourth century as a shrine to the Virgin.”
Shrines of Our Lady, 6, 7." StepsToLife
