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Feasts and Prayers of

The Blessed Virgin Mary

Our Lady of Walsingham (England)

"The mood of springtime informs the church's interior; nature's
blossoming, the warm air of May evenings, human gladness in
a world that is renewing itself -- all these things enter in.
Veneration of Mary has its place in this very particular
atmosphere, for she, the Virgin, shows us faith under its
youthful aspect, as God's new beginning in a world that has
grown old. In her we see the Christian life set forth as a youth-
fulness of the heart, as beauty and a waiting readiness for
what is to come."
-- Joseph Cardinal Ratzinger, Seek That Which is Above
(Ignatius, 1986), pp. 95-96.

The Month of May is both named for and dedicated to Mary, the Mother of God, and October is dedicated to the Rosary.

This page lists resources available on our web site for celebration and observance of feasts of the Virgin Mary; as well as prayers and favorite Marian devotions.

It contains an alphabetical list of feasts and prayers, a chronological list of Marian feasts during the Church Year (also accessible from the Liturgical Calendar for the month in which a Marian feast occurs). There are also links to articles on this website and links to articles on the Adoremus website.

Note: Permission is granted for individuals or parishes to copy material from this web site for personal or local group use only. Any other use (e.g., reprints in other publications) requires special permission.


Feasts, Prayers, Activities, Resources honoring the Blessed Virgin Mary

Alphabetical list of Prayers, Feasts, articles

Chronological list of Feast Days of Mary

January 1 - Solemnity of Mary
January 8 - Our Lady of Prompt Succor
February 2 - Presentation of the Lord
February 11- Our Lady of Lourdes
March 25 - Annunciation
May 31 - Visitation
June 27 - Our Mother of Perpetual Help
July 16 - Our Lady of Mount Carmel
August 15 - Assumption
August 22 - Queenship of Mary
September 8 - Birth of Mary
September 12 - The Most Holy Name of Mary
September 15 - Our Lady of Sorrows
September 24 - Our Lady of Walsingham, England
October 7 - Our Lady of the Rosary
October 8 - Our Lady of Good Remedy
November 21 - Presentation of the Blessed Virgin Mary
December 8 - Immaculate Conception
December 12 - Our Lady of Guadalupe

-The Month of Mary is May.
-The Month of the Rosary is October.
-Mother's Day is the Second Sunday of May.
-The Feast of the Immaculate Heart is the Saturday following the Second Sunday after Pentecost.
-
The Saturdays are also dedicated to Marian Devotions.


Links to related articles

Why the Immaculate Conception? -- by The Rev. Paul Mankowski, S.J., Winter 1990

Seat of Wisdom, Help of Students - by Allannah Karas, Pentecost 2003

Act of Entrustment to Mary - Eastertide 2005

The Holy Trinity and the Blessed Virgin Mary - by Michael McShurley, Michaelmas 2005

Mary, Our Mother - by Miceala Shocklee, Christmas 2005

Litany to Mary, Mother of Life -- by Kathleen Jones, Michaelmas 2010

Mary, Daughter of Zion and Mother of the Church - by Lawrence Feingold, Pentecost 2011

Links to related articles on the ADOREMUS website
The Angel of the Lord Declared unto Mary
The Rosary and Eucharistic Adoration
The Rosary of Our Lady
The Rosary of Our Lady


Excerpts from the Catechism of the Catholic Church

963 Since the Virgin Mary's role in the mystery of Christ and the Spirit has been treated, it is fitting now to consider her place in the mystery of the Church. "The Virgin Mary . . . is acknowledged and honored as being truly the Mother of God and of the redeemer.... She is 'clearly the mother of the members of Christ' . . . since she has by her charity joined in bringing about the birth of believers in the Church, who are members of its head."500 "Mary, Mother of Christ, Mother of the Church."501

I. MARY'S MOTHERHOOD WITH REGARD TO THE CHURCH

Wholly united with her Son . . .

964 Mary's role in the Church is inseparable from her union with Christ and flows directly from it. "This union of the mother with the Son in the work of salvation is made manifest from the time of Christ's virginal conception up to his death";502 it is made manifest above all at the hour of his Passion:

Thus the Blessed Virgin advanced in her pilgrimage of faith, and faithfully persevered in her union with her Son unto the cross. There she stood, in keeping with the divine plan, enduring with her only begotten Son the intensity of his suffering, joining herself with his sacrifice in her mother's heart, and lovingly consenting to the immolation of this victim, born of her: to be given, by the same Christ Jesus dying on the cross, as a mother to his disciple, with these words: "Woman, behold your son."503

965 After her Son's Ascension, Mary "aided the beginnings of the Church by her prayers."504 In her association with the apostles and several women, "we also see Mary by her prayers imploring the gift of the Spirit, who had already overshadowed her in the Annunciation."505

. . . also in her Assumption

966 "Finally the Immaculate Virgin, preserved free from all stain of original sin, when the course of her earthly life was finished, was taken up body and soul into heavenly glory, and exalted by the Lord as Queen over all things, so that she might be the more fully conformed to her Son, the Lord of lords and conqueror of sin and death."506 The Assumption of the Blessed Virgin is a singular participation in her Son's Resurrection and an anticipation of the resurrection of other Christians:

In giving birth you kept your virginity; in your Dormition you did not leave the world, O Mother of God, but were joined to the source of Life. You conceived the living God and, by your prayers, will deliver our souls from death.507

. . . she is our Mother in the order of grace

967 By her complete adherence to the Father's will, to his Son's redemptive work, and to every prompting of the Holy Spirit, the Virgin Mary is the Church's model of faith and charity. Thus she is a "preeminent and . . . wholly unique member of the Church"; indeed, she is the "exemplary realization" (typus)508 of the Church.
968 Her role in relation to the Church and to all humanity goes still further. "In a wholly singular way she cooperated by her obedience, faith, hope, and burning charity in the Savior's work of restoring supernatural life to souls. For this reason she is a mother to us in the order of grace."509

969 "This motherhood of Mary in the order of grace continues uninterruptedly from the consent which she loyally gave at the Annunciation and which she sustained without wavering beneath the cross, until the eternal fulfillment of all the elect. Taken up to heaven she did not lay aside this saving office but by her manifold intercession continues to bring us the gifts of eternal salvation .... Therefore the Blessed Virgin is invoked in the Church under the titles of Advocate, Helper, Benefactress, and Mediatrix."510

970 "Mary's function as mother of men in no way obscures or diminishes this unique mediation of Christ, but rather shows its power. But the Blessed Virgin's salutary influence on men . . . flows forth from the superabundance of the merits of Christ, rests on his mediation, depends entirely on it, and draws all its power from it."511 "No creature could ever be counted along with the Incarnate Word and Redeemer; but just as the priesthood of Christ is shared in various ways both by his ministers and the faithful, and as the one goodness of God is radiated in different ways among his creatures, so also the unique mediation of the Redeemer does not exclude but rather gives rise to a manifold cooperation which is but a sharing in this one source."512

II. DEVOTION TO THE BLESSED VIRGIN

971 "All generations will call me blessed": "The Church's devotion to the Blessed Virgin is intrinsic to Christian worship."513 The Church rightly honors "the Blessed Virgin with special devotion. From the most ancient times the Blessed Virgin has been honored with the title of 'Mother of God,' to whose protection the faithful fly in all their dangers and needs. . . . This very special devotion . . . differs essentially from the adoration which is given to the incarnate Word and equally to the Father and the Holy Spirit, and greatly fosters this adoration."514 The liturgical feasts dedicated to the Mother of God and Marian prayer, such as the rosary, an "epitome of the whole Gospel," express this devotion to the Virgin Mary.515

III. MARY - ESCHATOLOGICAL ICON OF THE CHURCH

972 After speaking of the Church, her origin, mission, and destiny, we can find no better way to conclude than by looking to Mary. In her we contemplate what the Church already is in her mystery on her own "pilgrimage of faith," and what she will be in the homeland at the end of her journey. There, "in the glory of the Most Holy and Undivided Trinity," "in the communion of all the saints,"516 the Church is awaited by the one she venerates as Mother of her Lord and as her own mother.

In the meantime the Mother of Jesus, in the glory which she possesses in body and soul in heaven, is the image and beginning of the Church as it is to be perfected in the world to come. Likewise she shines forth on earth until the day of the Lord shall come, a sign of certain hope and comfort to the pilgrim People of God.517

IN BRIEF

973 By pronouncing her "fiat" at the Annunciation and giving her consent to the Incarnation, Mary was already collaborating with the whole work her Son was to accomplish. She is mother wherever he is Savior and head of the Mystical Body.

974 The Most Blessed Virgin Mary, when the course of her earthly life was completed, was taken up body and soul into the glory of heaven, where she already shares in the glory of her Son's Resurrection, anticipating the resurrection of all members of his Body.

975 "We believe that the Holy Mother of God, the new Eve, Mother of the Church, continues in heaven to exercise her maternal role on behalf of the members of Christ" (Paul VI, CPG # 15).

***Notes
500 LG 53; cf. St. Augustine, De virg. 6: PL 40,399.
501 Paul VI, Discourse, November 21,1964.
502 LG 57.
503 LG 58; cf. Jn 19:26-27.
504 LG 69.
505 LG 59.
506 LG 59; cf. Pius XII, Munificentissimus Deus (1950): DS 3903; cf. Rev 19:16.
507 Byzantine Liturgy, Troparion, Feast of the Dormition, August 15th.
508 LG 53; 63.
509 LG 61.
510 LG 62.
511 LG 60.
512 LG 62.
513 Lk 1:48; Paul VI, MC 56.
514 LG 66.
515 Cf. Paul VI, MC 42; SC 103.
516 LG 69.
517 LG 68; Cf. 2 Pet 3 10.

On May 22, 2012, the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith released 1978 "Norms" on apparitions, with a new preface by Cardinal Levada: "Norms Regarding the Manner of Proceeding in the Discernemnt of Presumed Apparitions or Revelations" Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith - February 25, 1978 http://www.vatican.va/roman_curia/congregations/cfaith/documents/rc_con_cfaith_doc_19780225_norme-apparizioni_en.html . New Preface from Cardinal William Levada (14 December 2011) http://www.vatican.va/roman_curia/congregations/cfaith/documents/rc_con_cfaith_doc_20111214_prefazione-levada_en.html



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