Blessed Virgin Mary

 Queen of Heaven

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Our Lady of Laus

The Feast of 8 September originated in Jerusalem. In the 7th century, in the Byzantine Rite and at Rome, the Birth of the Blessed Virgin was celebrated this day. The feast is also celebrated on September 8 in the Syriac Rite and on September 7 in the Coptic Rite.

The Feast of Our Lady of Sorrows was originally granted to the Order of the Servants of Mary in 1667; it was introduced into the Roman Calendar in 1814 and assigned to the third Sunday in September. In 1913 the date of the feast was assigned to September 15.

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Virgin Mary, THE BLESSED, is the name of the mother of Jesus Christ, the mother of God.

NAME OF MARY. — The Hebrew form of the name is míryãm, denoting in the Old Testament only the sister of Moses. In I Par,. 17, the Massoretic text applies the same name to a son of Jalon, but, as the Septuagint version transcribes this name as Μαρων, we must infer that the orthography of the Hebrew text has been altered by the transcribers. The same version renders míryãm by Μαριαμ, a form analogous to the Syriac and Aramaic word Maryam. In the New Testament the name of the Virgin Mary is always Μαριαμ, excepting in the Vatican Codex and the Codex Bezæ followed by a few critics who read Μαρια in Luke, ii, 19. Possibly the Exangelists kept the archaic form of the name for the Blessed Virgin, so as to distinguish her from the other women who bore the same name. The Vulgate renders the name by Maria, both in the Old Testament and the New; Josephus (Ant. Jud., II, ix, 4) changes the name to Μαριαμμη.

MARY IN THE OLD TESTAMENT. — In general, the theology and history of Mary the Mother of God follow the chronological order of their respective sources, i.e. the Old Testament, the New Testament, the early Christian and Jewish witnesses. The Old Testament refers to Our Blessed Lady both in its prophecies and its types or figures.

    A. Prophecies. — The first prophecy referring to Mary is found in the very opening chapters of the Book of Genesis (iii, 15): "I will put enmities between thee and the woman, and thy seed and her seed; she shall crush thy head, and thou shalt lie in wait for her heel." This rendering appears to differ in two respects from the original Hebrew text: first, the Hebrew text employs the same verb for the two renderings "she shall crush" and "thou shalt lie in wait"; the Septuagint renders the verb both times by τηρειν, to lie in wait; Aquila, Symmachus, the Syriac and the Samaritan translators, interpret the Hebrew verb by expressions which mean to crush, to bruise; the Itala renders the verb τηοειν employed in the Septuagint by the Latin "servare", to guard; St. Jerome (Quæst. hebr. in Gen., P.L., XXIII, col. 943) maintains that the Hebrew verb has the meaning of "crushing" or "bruising" rather than of "lying in wait", "guarding". Still in his own work, which became the Latin Vulgate, the saint employs the verb "to crush" (conterere) in the first place, and "to lie in wait" (insidiari) in the second. Hence the punishment inflicted on the serpent and the serpent's retaliation are expressed by the same verb: but the wound of the serpent is mortal, since it affects his head, while the wound inflicted by the serpent is not mortal, being inflicted on the heel. The second point of difference between the Hebrew text and our version concerns the agent who is to inflict the mortal wound on the servant: our version agrees with the present Vulgate text in reading "she" (ipsa) which refers to the woman, while the Hebrew text reads hû' (αυτος, ipse) which refers to the seed of the woman. According to our version, and the Vulgate reading, the woman herself will win the victory; according to the Hebrew text, she will be victorious through her seed. In this sense does the Bull "Ineffabilis" ascribe the victory to Our Blessed Lady. The reading "she" (ipsa) is neither an intentional corruption of the original text, nor is it an accidental error; it is rather an explanatory version expressing explicitly the fact of Our Lady's part in the victory over the serpent, which is contained implicitly in the Hebrew original. The strength of the Christian tradition as to Mary's share in this victory may be inferred from the retention of "she" in St. Jerome's version in spite of his acquaintance with the original text and with the reading "he" (ipse) in the old Latin version.

    As it is quite commonly admitted that the Divine judgment is directed not so much against the serpent as against the originator of sin, the seed of the serpent denotes the followers of the serpent, the "brood of vipers", the "generation of vipers", those whose father is the Devil, the children of evil, imitando, non nascendo (Aug.); cf. Wis., ii, 25; Matt., iii, 7; xxiii, 33; John, viii, 44; I, John, iii, 8-12. One may be tempted to understand the seed of the woman in a similar collective sense, embracing all who are born of God. But seed not only may denote a particular person, but has such a meaning usually, if the context allows it. St. Paul (Gal., iii, 16) gives this explanation of the word "seed" as it occurs in the patriarchal promises: "To Abraham were the promises made and to his seed. He saith not, and to his seeds, as of many; but as of one, And to his seed, which is Christ". Finally the expression "the woman" in the clause "I will put enmities between thee and the woman" is a literal version of the Hebrew text. The Hebrew Grammar of Gesenius-Kautzsch (Hebräische Grammatik, 26th edit., 402) establishes the rule: Peculiar to the Hebrew is the use of the article in order to indicate a person or thing, not yet known and not yet to be more clearly described, either as present or as to be taken into account under the contextual conditions. Since our indefinite article serves this purpose, we may translate: "I will put enmities between you and a woman". Hence the prophecy promises a woman, Our Blessed Lady, who will be the enemy of the serpent to a marked degree; besides, the same woman will be victorious over the Devil, at least through her offspring. The completeness of the victory is emphasized by the contextual phrase "earth shalt thou eat", which is according to Winckler (Der alte Orient und die Geschichtsforschung, 30) a common old-oriental expression denoting the deepest humiliation (cf. Jeremias, Das Alte Testament im Lichte des alten Orients, 2nd ed., Leipzig, 1906, 216; Himpel, Messianische Weissagungen im Pentateuch, Tubinger theologische Quartalschrift, 1859; Maas, Christ in Type and Prophecy, I, 199 sqq., New York, 1893; Flunck, Zeitschrift für katholische Theologie, 1904, 641 sqq.; St. Justin, dial. c. Tryph., 100 (P.G., VI, 712); St. Iren., adv. haer., III, 23 (P.G., VII,, 964); St. Cypr., test. c. Jud., II, 9 (P.L., IV, 704); St. Epiph., hær., III, ii, 18 (P.G., XLII, 729)).

    The second prophecy referring to Mary is found in Is., vii, 1-17. Critics have endeavoured to represent this passage as a combination of occurrences and sayings from the life of the prophet written down by an unknown hand (Lagarde, Guthe, Giesebrecht, Cheyne, Wilke). The credibility of the contents is not necessarily affected by this theory, since prophetic traditions may be recorded by any writer without losing their credibility. But even Duhm considers the theory as an apparent attempt on the part of the critics to find out what the readers are willing to bear patiently; he believes it is a real misfortune for criticism itself that it has found a mere compilation in a passage which so graphically describes the birth-hour of faith.

    According to IV Kings, xvi, 1-4, and II Par., xxviii, 1-8, Achaz, who began his reign 736 B.C., openly professed idolatry, so that God gave him into the hands of the kings of Syria and Israel. It appears that an alliance had been concluded between Phacee, King of Israel, and Rasin, King of Damascus, for the purpose of opposing a barrier to the Assyrian aggressions. Achaz, who cherished Assyrian proclivities, did not join the coalition; the allies invaded his territory, intending to substitute for Achaz a more subservient ruler, a certain son of Tabeel. While Rasin was occupied in reconquering the maritime city Elath, Phacee alone proceeded against Juda, "but they could not prevail". After Elath had fallen, Rasin joined his forces with those of Phacee; "Syria hath rested upon Ephraim", whereupon "his (Achaz') heart was moved, and the heart of his people, as the trees of the woods are moved with the wind". Immediate preparations must be made for a protracted siege, and Achaz is busily engaged near the upper pool from which the city received the greater part of its water supply. Hence the Lord says to Isaias: "Go forth to meet Achaz. . .at the end of the conduit of the upper pool". The prophet's commission is of an extremely consoling nature: "See thou be quiet; hear not, and let not thy heart be afraid of the two tails of these firebrands". The scheme of the enemies shall not succeed: "it shall not stand, and this shall not be." What is to be the particular fate of the enemies? a. Syria will gain nothing, it will remain as it has been in the past: "the head of Syria is Damascus, and the head of Damascus is Rasin". b. Ephraim too will remain in the immediate future as it has been hitherto: "the head of Ephraim is Samaria, and the head of Samaria the son of Romelia"; but after sixty-five years it will be destroyed, "within threescore and five years Ephraim shall cease to be a people".

    Achaz had abandoned the Lord for Moloch, and put his trust in an alliance with Assyria; hence the conditional prophecy concerning Juda, "if you will not believe, you shall not continue". The test of belief follows immediately: "ask thee a sign of the Lord thy God, either unto the depth of hell or unto the height above". Achaz hypocritically answers: "I will not ask, and I will not tempt the Lord", thus refusing to express his belief in God, and preferring his Assyrian policy. The king prefers Assyria to God, and Assyria will come: "the Lord shall bring upon thee and upon thy people, and upon the house of thy father, days that have not come since the time of the separation of Ephraim from Juda with the king of the Assyrians." The house of David has been grievous not merely to men, but to God also by its unbelief; hence it "shall not continue", and, by an irony of Divine punishment, it will be destroyed by those very men whom it preferred to God.

    Still, the general Messianic promises made to the house of David cannot be frustrated: "The Lord Himself shall give you a sign. Behold a virgin shall conceive, and bear a son, and his name shall be called Emmanuel. He shall eat butter and honey, that he may know to refuse the evil and to choose the good. For before the child know to refuse the evil, and to choose the good, the land which thou abhorrest shall be forsaken of the face of her two kings." Without answering a number of questions connected with the explanation of the prophecy, we must confine ourselves here to the bare proof that the virgin mentioned by the prophet is Mary the Mother of Christ. The argument is based on the premises that the prophet's virgin is the mother of Emmanuel, and that Emmanuel is Christ. The relation of the virgin to Emmanuel is clearly expressed in the inspired words; the same indicate also the identity of Emmanuel with the Christ.

    The connection of Emmanuel with the extraordinary Divine sign which was to be given to Achaz predisposes one to see in the child more than a common boy. In viii, 8, the prophet ascribes to him the ownership of the land of Juda: "the stretching out of his wings shall fill the breadth of thy land, O Emmanuel". In ix, 6, the government of the house of David is said to be upon his shoulders, and he is described as being endowed with more than human qualities: "a child is born to us, and a son is given to us, and the government is upon his shoulders, and his name shall be called Wonderful, Counsellor, God the Mighty, the Father of the World to Come, and the Prince of Peace". Finally, the prophet calls Emmanuel "a rod out of the root of Jesse" endowed with "the spirit of the Lord. . .the spirit of wisdom and of understanding, the spirit of counsel, and of fortitude, the spirit of knowledge and of godliness"; his advent shall be followed by the general signs of the Messianic era, and the remnant of the chosen people shall be again the people of God (xi, 1-16).

    Whatever obscurity or ambiguity there may be in the prophetic text itself is removed by St. Matthew (i, 18-25). After narrating the doubt of St. Joseph and the angel's assurance, "that which is conceived in her is of the Holy Ghost", the Evangelist proceeds: "now all this was done that it might be fulfilled which the Lord spoke by the prophet, saying: Behold a virgin shall be with child, and bring forth a son, and they shall call his name Emmanuel." We need not repeat the exposition of the passage given by Catholic commentators who answer the exceptions raised against the obvious meaning of the Evangelist. We may infer from all this that Mary is mentioned in the prophecy of Isaias as mother of Jesus Christ; in the light of St. Matthew's reference to the prophecy, we may add that the prophecy predicted also Mary's virginity untarnished by the conception of the Emmanuel (cf. Knabenbauer, Comment. in Isaiam, Paris, 1887; Schegg, Der Prophet Isaias, Munchen, 1850; Rohling, Der Prophet Isaia, Munster, 1872; Neteler, Das Bush Isaias, Munster, 1876; Condamin, Le livre d'Isaie, Paris, 1905; Maas, Christ in Type and Prophecy, New York, 1893, I, 333 sqq.; Lagrange, La Vierge et Emmaneul, in Revue biblique, Paris, 1892, pp. 481-497; Lémann, La Vierge et l'Emmanuel, Paris, 1904; St. Ignat., ad Eph., cc. 7, 19, 19; St. Justin, Dial., P.G., VI, 144, 195; St. Iren., adv. hær., IV, xxxiii, 11).

A third prophecy referring to Our Blessed Lady is contained in Micheas v, 2-3: "And thou, Bethlehem, Ephrata, art a little one among the thousands of Juda: out of thee shall be come forth unto me that is to be the ruler in Israel, and his going forth is from the beginning, from the days of eternity. Therefore will he give them up till the time wherein she that travaileth shall bring forth, and the remnant of his brethren shall be converted to the children of Israel." Though the prophet (about 750-660 B.C.) was a contemporary of Isaias, his prophetic activity began a little later and ended a little earlier than that of Isaias. There can be no doubt that the Jews regarded the foregoing prediction as referring to the Messias. According to St. Matthew (ii, 6) the chief priests and scribes, when asked where the Messias was to be born, answered Herod in the words of the prophecy, "And thou Bethlehem the land of Juda. . ." According to St. John (vii, 42), the Jewish populace gathered at Jerusalem for the celebration of the feast asked the rhetorical question: "Doth not the Scripture say that Christ cometh of the seed of David, and from Bethlehem, the town where David was?" The Chaldee paraphrase of Mich., v, 2, confirms the same view: "Out of thee shall come forth unto me the Messias, that he may exercise dominion in Israel". The very words of the prophecy admit of hardly any other explanation; for "his going forth is from the beginning, from the days of eternity".

    But how does the prophecy refer to the Virgin Mary? Our Blessed Lady is denoted by the phrase, "till the time wherein she that travaileth shall bring forth". It is true that "she that travaileth" has been referred to the Church (St. Jerome, Theodoret), or to the collection of the Gentiles united with Christ (Ribera, Mariana), or again to Babylon (Calmet); but, on the one hand, there is hardly a sufficient connection between any of these events and the promised redeemer, on the other hand, the passage ought to read "till the time wherein she that is barren shall bring forth" if any of these events were referred to by the prophet. Nor can "she that travaileth" be referred to Sion: Sion is spoken of without figure before and after the present passage so that we cannot expect the prophet to lapse suddenly into figurative language. Moreover, the prophecy thus explained would not give a satisfactory sense. The contextual phrases "the ruler in Israel", "his going forth", which in Hebrew implies birth, and "his brethren" denote an individual, not a nation; hence we infer that the bringing forth must refer to the same person. It has been shown that the person of the ruler is the Messias; hence "she that travaileth" must denote the mother of Christ, or Our Blessed Lady. Thus explained the whole passage becomes clear: the Messias must be born in Bethlehem, an insignificant village in Juda: his family must be reduced to poverty and obscurity before the time of his birth; as this cannot happen if the theocracy remains intact, if David's house continues to flourish, "therefore will he give them up till the time wherein she that travaileth shall bring forth" the Messias. (Cf. the principal Catholic commentaries on Micheas; also Maas, "Christ in Type and Prophecy, New York, 1893, I, pp. 271 sqq.)

    A fourth prophecy referring to Mary is found in Jer., xxi, 22; "The Lord has created a new thing upon the earth: A woman shall compass a man". The text of the prophet Jeremias offers no small difficulties for the scientific interpreter; we shall follow the Vulgate version of the Hebrew original. But even this rendering has been explained in several different ways: Rosenmuller and several conservative Protestant interpreters defend the meaning, "a woman shall protect a man"; but such a motive would hardly induce the men of Israel to return to God. The explanation "a woman shall seek a man" hardly agrees with the text; besides, such an inversion of the natural order is presented in Is., iv, 1, as a sign of the greatest calamity. Ewald's rendering, "a woman shall change into a man", is hardly faithful to the original text. Other commentators see in the woman a type of the Synagogue or of the Church, in man the type of God, so that they explain the prophecy as meaning, "God will dwell again in the midst of the Synagogue (of the people of Israel)" or "the Church will protect the earth with its valiant men". But the Hebrew text hardly suggests such a meaning; besides, such an explanation renders the passage tautological: "Israel shall return to its God, for Israel will love its God". Some recent writers render the Hebrew original: "God creates a new thing upon the earth: the woman (wife) returns to the man (her husband)". According to the old law (Deut., xxiv, 1-4; Jer., iii, 1) the husband could not take back the wife once repudiated by him; but the Lord will do something new by allowing the faithless wife, i.e. the guilty nation, to return to the friendship of God. This explanation rests upon a conjectural correction of the text; besides, it does not necessarily bear the Messianic meaning which we expect in the passage.

    The Greek Fathers generally follow the Septuagint version, "The Lord has created salvation in a new plantation, men shall go about in safety"; but St. Athanasius twice (P.G., XXV, col. 205; XXVI, 1276) combines Aquila's version "God has created a new thing in woman" with that of the Septuagint, saying that the new plantation is Jesus Christ, and that the new thing created in woman is the body of the Lord, conceived within the virgin without the co-operation of man. St. Jerome too (In Jer., P.L., XXIV, 880) understands the prophetic text of the virgin conceiving the Messias. This meaning of the passage satisfies the text and the context. As the Word Incarnate possessed from the first moment of His conception all His perfections excepting those connected with His bodily development, His mother is rightly said to "compass a man". No need to point out that such a condition of a newly conceived child is rightly called "a new thing upon earth". The context of the prophecy describes after a short general introduction (xxx, 1-3) Israel's future freedom and restoration in four stanzas: xxx, 4-11, 12-22; xxx, 23; xxxi, 14, 15-26; the first three stanzas end with the hope of the Messianic time. The fourth stanza, too, must be expected to have a similar ending. Moreover, the prophecy of Jeremias, uttered about 589 B.C. and understood in the sense just explained, agrees with the contemporary Messianic expectations based on Is., vii, 14; ix, 6; Mich. v, 3. According to Jeremias, the mother of Christ is to differ from other mothers in this, that her child, even while within her womb, shall possess all those properties which constitute real manhood (cf. Scholz, Kommentar zum Propheten Jeremias, Würzburg, 1880; Knabenbauer, Das Buch Jeremias, des Propheten Klagelieder, und das Buch Baruch, Vienna, 1903; Conamin, Le texte de Jeremie, xxxi, 22, est-il messianique? in Revue biblique, 1897, 393-404; Maas, Christ in Type and Prophecy, New York, 1893, I, 378 sqq.). The Old Testament refers indirectly to Mary in those prophecies which predict the incarnation of the Word of God.

    B. Types and Figures of the Blessed Virgin Mary — In order to be sure of the typical sense, it must be revealed, i.e. it must come down to us through Scripture or tradition. Individual pious writers have developed copious analogies between certain data of the Old Testament and corresponding data of the New; however ingenious these developments may be, they do not prove that God really intended to convey the corresponding truths in the inspired text of the Old Testament. On the other hand, it must be kept in mind that not all truths contained in either Scripture or tradition have been explicitly proposed to the faithful as matters of belief by the explicit definition of the Church. According to the principle "Lex orandi est lex credenti" we must treat at least with reverence the numberless suggestions contained in the official prayers and liturgies of the Church. In this sense we must regard many of the titles bestowed on Our Blessed Lady in her litany and in the "Ave maris stella". The Antiphons and Responses found in the Offices recited on the various feasts of Our Blessed Lady suggest a number of types of Mary that hardly could have been brought so vividly to the notice of the Church's ministers in any other way. The third antiphon of Lauds of the Feast of the Circumcision sees in "the bush that was not burnt" (Exodus 3:2) a figure of Mary conceiving her Son without the loss of her virginity. The second antiphon of Lauds of the same Office sees in Gideon's fleece wet with dew while all the ground beside had remained dry (Judges, vi; 37-38) a type of Mary receiving in her womb the Word Incarnate (cf. St. Ambrose, de Spirit. Sanct., I, 8-9, P.L., XVI, 705; St. Jerome, Epist., cviii, 10; P.L., XXII, 886). The Office of the Blessed Virgin applies to Mary many passages concerning the spouse in the Canticle of Canticles (cf. Gietmann, In Eccles. et Cant. cant., Paris, 1890, 417 sq.) and also concerning Wisdom in the Book of Proverbs, viii, 22-31 (cf. Bull "Ineffabilis", fourth Lesson of the Office for 10 Dec.). The application to Mary of a "garden enclosed, a fountain sealed up" mentioned in Canticles 4:12 is only a particular instance of what has been said above (Response of seventh Nocturn in the Office of the Immaculate Conception). Besides, Sara, Debbora, Judith, and Esther are variously used as figures of Mary; the ark of the Covenant, over which the presence of God manifested itself, is used as the figure of Mary carrying God Incarnate within her womb. But especially Eve, the mother of all the living (Genesis 3:20), is considered as a type of Mary who is the mother of all the living in the order of grace (cf. St. Justin, dial. c. Tryph., 100; P.G., VI, 709-711; St. Iren., adv. haer., III, 22; V, 19; P.G., VII, 958, 1175; Tert., de carne Christi, 17; P.L., II, 782; St. Cyril., catech., XII, 15; P.G., XXXIII, 741; St. Jerome, ep. XXII ad Eustoch., 21; P.L., XXII, 408; St. Augustine, de agone Christi, 22; P.L., XL, 303; Terrien, La Mère de Dien et la mère des hommes, Paris, 1902, I, 120-121; II, 117-118; III, pp. 8-13; Newman, Anglican Difficulties, London, 1885, II, pp. 26 sqq.; Lecanu, Histoire de la Sainte Vierge, Paris, 1860, pp. 51-82).

The Catholic Encyclopedia, Volume XV, p. 464-464E
Nihil Obstat, October 1, 1912. Remy Lafort, S.T.D., Censor
Imprimatur. +John Cardinal Farley, Archbishop of New York

MARY IN THE NEW TESTAMENT. — We shall first consider Mary as portrayed in the Gospels, and then add the references to Our Blessed Lady found in the other books of the New Testament.

    A. Mary in the Gospels. — The reader of the Gospels is at first surprised to find so little about Mary; but this obscurity of Mary in the Gospels has been studied at length by Blessed Peter Canisius (de B. Virg., l. IV, c. 24), Auguste Nicolas (La Vierge Marie d'après l'Evangile et dans l'Eglise), Cardinal Newman (Letter to Dr. Pusey), and Very Rev. J. Spencer Northcote (Mary in the Gospels, London and New York, 1885, Lecture I.). In the commentary on the "Magnificat", published 1518, even Luther expresses the belief that the Gospels praise Mary sufficiently by calling her (eight times) the Mother of Jesus. In the following paragraphs we shall briefly group together what we know of Our Blessed Lady's life before the birth of her Divine Son, during the hidden life of Our Lord, during His public life and after His resurrection.

    (1) Mary before the Birth of Jesus Christ. St. Luke, ii, 4, says that St. Joseph went from Nazareth to Bethlehem to be enrolled, "because he was of the house and Family of David". As if to exclude all doubt concerning the Davidic descent of Mary, the Evangelist (i, 32, 69) states that the child born of Mary without the intervention of man shall be given "the throne of David His father", and that the Lord God has "raised up an horn of salvation to us in the house of David his servant" (cf. Tertul., de carne Christi, 22; P.L., II, 789; St. Aug., de cons. Evang., II, 2, 4; P.L., XXXIV, 1072). St. Paul too testifies that Jesus Christ "was made to him [God] of the seed of David, according to the flesh" (Rom., i, ). If Mary were not of Davidic descent, her Son conceived by the Holy Ghost could not be said to be "of the seed of David". Hence commentators tell us that in the text "in the sixth month the angel Gabriel was sent from God. . .to a virgin espoused to a man whose name was Joseph, of the house of David" (Luke, i, 26-27); the last clause "of the house of David" does not refer to Joseph, but to the virgin who is the principal person in the narrative; thus we have a direct inspired testimony to Mary's Davidic descent. Cf. St. Ignat., ad Ephes, 187; St. Justin, c. Taryph., 100; St. Aug., c. Faust, xxiii, 5-9; Bardenhewer, Mariä Verkündigung, Freiburg, 1896, 74-82; Friedrich, Die Mariologie des hl. Augustinus, Cöln, 1907, 19 sqq.

    While commentators generally agree that the genealogy found at the beginning of the first Gospel is that of St. Joseph, Annius of Viterbo proposes the opinion, already alluded to by St. Augustine, that St. Luke's genealogy gives the pedigree of Mary. The text of the third Gospel (III, 23) may be explained so as to make Heli the father of Mary: "Jesus. . .being the son (as it was supposed of Joseph) of Heli", or "Jesus. . .being the son of Joseph, as it was supposed, the son of Heli" (Lightfoot, Bengel, etc.), or again "Jesus. . .being as it was supposed the son of Joseph, who was [the son-in-law] of Heli" (Jans., Harduin., etc.). In these explanations the name of Mary is not mentioned explicitly, but it is implied; for Jesus is the Son of Heli through Mary. Though few commentators adhere to this view of St. Luke's genealogy, the name of Mary's father, Heli, agrees with the name given to Or Lady's father in a tradition founded upon the report of the Protoevangelium of James, an apocryphal Gospel which dates from the end of the second century. According to this document the parents of Mary are Joachim and Anna. Now, the name Joachim is only a variation of Heli or Eliachim, substituting one Divine name (Yahweh) for the other (Eli, Elohim). The tradition as to the parents of Mary, found in the Gospel of James, is reproduced by St. John Damascene (hom. I. de nativ. B.V., 2, P.G., XCVI, 664), St. Gregory of Nyssa (P.G., XLVII, 1137), St. Germ. of Constantin. (de praesent., 2, P.G., XCVIII, 313), pseudo-Epiphan (de laud. Deipar., P.G., XLIII, 488), pseudo-Hilar (P.L., XCVI, 278), and St. Fulbert of Chartres (in Nativit. Deipar., P.L., CLI, 324). Some of these writers add that the birth of Mary was obtained by the fervent prayers of Joachim and Anna in their advanced age. As Joachim belonged to the royal family of David, so Anna is supposed to have been a descendant of the priestly family of Aaron; thus Christ the Eternal King and Priest sprang from both a royal and priestly family (cf. Aug., Consens. Evang., l. II, c. 2).

    According to Luke,i, 26, Mary lived in Nazareth, a city in Galilee, at the time of the Annunciation. A certain tradition maintains that she was conceived and born in the same house in which the Word became flesh (Schuster and Holzammer, Handbuch zur biblischen Geschichte, Freiburg, 1910, II, 87, note 6). Another tradition based on the Gospel of James regards Sephoris as the earliest home of Joachim and Anna, though they are said to have lived later on in Jerusalem, in a house called by St. Sophronius of Jerusalem (Anacreont., XX, 81-94, P.G., LXXXVII, 3822) Probatica, a name probably derived from the sanctuary's nearness to the pond called Probatica or Bethsaida in John, v, 2. It was here that Mary was born. About a century later, about A.D. 750, St. John Damascene (hom. I in Nativ. B.M.V., 6, II, P.G., CCXVI, 670, 678) repeats the statement that Mary was born in the Probatica. It is said that, as early as in the fifth century, the empress Eudoxia built a church over the place where Mary was born, and where her parents lived in their old age. The present Church of St. Anna stands at a distance of only about 100 feet from the pool Probatica. In 1889, 18 March, was discovered the crypt which encloses the supposed burying-place of St. Anna. Probably this place was originally a garden in which both Joachim and Anna were laid to rest. At their time it was still outside of the city walls, about 400 feet north of the Temple. Another crypt near St. Anna's tomb is the supposed birthplace of the Blessed Virgin; hence it is that in early times the church was called St. Mary of the Nativity (cf. Guérin, Jérusalem, Paris, 1889, pp. 284, 351-357, 430; Socin-Benzinger, Palästina und Syrien, Leipzig, 1891, p. 80; Revue biblique, 1893, pp. 245 sqq.; 1904, pp. 228 sqq.; Gariador, Les Bénédictins, I, Abbaye de Ste-Anne, V, 1908, 49 sq.). In the Cedron Valley, near the road leading to the Church of the Assumption, is a little sanctuary containing two altars which are said to stand over the burying-places of Sts. Joachim and Anna; but these graves belong to the time of the Crusades (cf. de Vogüe, Les églises de la Terre-Sainte, Paris, 1850, p. 310). In Sephoris too the Crusaders replaced by a large church an ancient sanctuary which stood over the legendary house of Sts. Joachim and Anna. After 1788 part of this church was restored by the Franciscan Fathers.

    The Immaculate Conception of our Blessed Lady has been treated in a special article. As to the place of the birth of Our Blessed Lady, there are three different traditions to be considered: First, the event has been placed in Bethlehem. This opinion rests on the authority of the following witnesses: it is expressed in a writing entitled "De nativ. S. Mariæ" (2, 6, P.L., XXX, 298, 301) inserted after the works of St. Jerome; it is more or less vaguely supposed by the Pilgrim of Piacenza, erroneously called Antoninus Martyr, who wrote about A.D. 580 (Itiner., 5, P.L., LXXII, 901); finally the popes Paul II (1471), Julius II (1507), Leo X (1519), Paul III (1535), Pius IV (1565), Sixtus V (1586), and Innocent XII (1698) in their Bulls concerning the Holy House of Loreto say that the Blessed Virgin was born, educated, and greeted by the angel in the Holy House. But these pontiffs hardly wish to decide an historical question; they merely express the opinion of their respective times. A second tradition placed the birth of Our Blessed Lady in Sephoris, about three miles north of Bethlehem, the Roman Diocæsarea, and the residence of Herod Antipas till late in the life of Our Lord. The antiquity of this opinion may be inferred from the fact that under Constantine a church was erected in Sephoris to commemorate the residence of Joachim and Anna in that place (cf. Liévin de Hamme, Guide de la Terre-Sainte, Jerusalem, 1887, III, 183). St. Epiphanius speaks of this sanctuary (hær., XXX, iv, II, P.G., XLI, 410, 426). But this merely shows that Our Blessed Lady may have lived in Sephoris for a time with her parents, without forcing us to believe that she had been born there. The third tradition, that Mary was born in Jerusalem, is the most probable one. We have seen that it rests upon the testimony of St. Sophronius, St. John Damascene, and upon the evidence of the recent finds in the Probatica. The Feast of Our Lady's Nativity was not celebrated in Rome till toward the end of the seventh century; but two sermons found among the writings of St. Andrew of Crete (d. 680) suppose the existence of this feat, and lead one to suspect that it was introduced at an earlier date into some other churches (P.G., XCVII, 806). In 799 the 10th canon of the Synod of Salzburg prescribes four feasts in honor of the Mother of God: the Purification, 2 Febr.; the Annunciation, 25 March; the Assumption, 15 Aug.; the Nativity, 8 Sept.

    According to Ex., xiii, 2, 12, all the Hebrew first-born male children had to be presented in the Temple. Such a law would lead pious Jewish parents to observe the same religious rite with regard to other favourite children. This inclines one to believe that Joachim and Anna presented in the Temple their child, which they had obtained by their long, fervent prayers. As to Mary, St. Luke (i, 34) tells us that she answered the angel announcing the birth of Jesus Christ: "how shall this be done, because I know not man". These words can hardly be understood, unless we assume that Mary had made a vow of virginity; for, when she spoke them, she was betrothed to St. Joseph (cf. Aug., de santa virginit., I, 4, P.L., XL, 398). The most opportune occasion for such a vow was her presentation in the Temple. As some of the Fathers admit that the faculties of St. John the Baptist were prematurely developed by a special intervention of God's power, we may admit a similar grace for the child of Joachim and Anna (cf. Luke, i, 41; Tertullian, de carne Christi, 21, P.L., II, 788; St. Ambr., de fide, IV, 9, 113, P.L., XVI, 639; St. Cyril of Jerus., Catech., III, 6, P.G., XXXIII, 436). But what has been said does not exceed the certainty of antecedently probable pious conjectures. The consideration that Our Lord could not have refused His Blessed Mother any favours which depended merely on His munificence does not exceed the value of an a priori argument. Certainty in this question must depend on external testimony and the teaching of the Church. Now, the Protoevangelium of James, vii-viii, and the writing entitled "De nativit. Mariæ", vii-viii, (Tischendorf, Evangelia apocraphya, 2nd ed., Leipzig, 1876, pp. 14-17, 117-179), state that Joachim and Anna, faithful to a vow they had made, presented the child Mary in the Temple when she was three years old; that the child herself mounted the Temple steps, and that she made her vow of virginity on this occasion. St. Gregory of Nyssa (P.G., XLVII, 1137) and St. Germ. of Constantin. (P.G., XCVIII, 313) adopt this report; it is also followed by pseudo-Gregory of Naz. in his "Christus patiens" (P.G., XXXVIII, 244). Moreover, the Church celebrates the Feast of the Presentation, though it does not specify at what age the child Mary was presented in the Temple, when she made her vow of virginity, and what were the special natural and supernatural gifts with which God endowed her. The feast is mentioned for the first time in a document of Manuel Commenus, in 1166; from Constantinople the feast must have been introduced into the western Church, where we find it at the papal court at Avignon in 1371; about a century later, Pope Sixtus IV introduced the Office of the Presentation, and in 1585 Pope Sixtus V extended the Feast of the Presentation to the whole Church.

    The apocryphal writings to which we referred in the last paragraph state that Mary remained in the Temple after her presentation in order to be educated with other Jewish children. There she enjoyed ecstatic visions and daily visits of the holy angels. When she was fourteen, the high priest wished to send her home for marriage. Mary reminded him of her vow of virginity, and in his embarrassment the high priest consulted the Lord. Then he called all the young men of the family of David, and promised Mary in marriage to him whose rod should sprout and become the resting place of the Holy Ghost in form of a dove. It was Joseph who was privileged in this extraordinary way. We have already seen that St. Gregory of Nyssa, St. Germ. of Constant., and pseudo-Gregory Nazianzen seem to adopt these legends. Besides, the emperor Justinian allowed a basilica to be built on the platform of the former Temple in memory of Our Lady's stay in the sanctuary; the church was called the New St. Mary's so as to distinguish it from the Church of the Nativity. It seems to be the modern mosque el-Aksa (cf. Guérin, Jerusalem, 362; Liévin, Guide de la Terre-Sainte, I, 447). On the other hand, the Church is silent as to Mary's stay in the Temple. St. Ambrose (de virgin., II, ii, 9, 10, P.L., XVI, 209 sq.), describing Mary's life before the Annunciation, supposes expressly that she lived in the house of her parents. All the descriptions of the Jewish Temple which can claim any scientific value leave us in ignorance as to any localities in which young girls might have been educated. Joas's stay in the Temple till the age of seven does not favour the supposition that young girls were educated within the sacred precincts; for Joas was king, and was forced by circumstances to remain in the Temple (cf. IV Kings, xi, 3). What II Mach., iii, 19, says about "the virgins also that were shut up" does not show that any of them were kept in the Temple buildings. If the prophetess Anna is said (Luke, ii, 37) not to have "departed from the temple, by fastings and prayer serving night and day", we do not suppose that she actually lived in one of he temple rooms (cf. Corn. Jans., Tetrateuch. in Evang., Louvain, 1699, p. 484; Knabenbauer, Evang. sec. Luc., Paris, 1896, p. 138). As the house of Joachim and Anna was not far distant from the Temple, we may supposed that the holy child Mary was often allowed to visit the sacred buildings in order to satisfy her devotion.

    Jewish maidens were considered marriageable at the age of twelve years and six months, though the actual age of the bride varied with circumstances. The marriage was preceded by the betrothal, after which the bride legally belonged to the bridegroom, though she did not live with him till about a year later, when the marriage used to be celebrated. All this agrees well with the language of the Evangelists. St. Luke (i, 27) calls Mary "a virgin espoused to a man whose name was Joseph"; St. Matthew (i, 18) says, "when as his mother Mary was espoused to Joseph, before they came together, she was found with child, of the Holy Ghost". As we know of no brother of Mary, we must suppose that she was an heiress, and was obliged by the law of Num., xxxvi, 6, to marry a member of her tribe. The Law itself prohibited marriage within certain degrees of relationship, so that the marriage of even an heiress was left more or less to choice. According to Jewish custom, the union between Joseph and Mary had to be arranged by the parents of St. Joseph. One might ask why Mary consented to her betrothal, though she was bound by her vow of virginity. As she had obeyed God's inspiration in making her vow, so she obeyed God's inspiration in becoming the affianced bride of Joseph. Besides, it would have been singular among the Jews to refuse betrothal or marriage; for all the Jewish maidens aspired after marriage as the accomplishment of a natural duty. Mary trusted the Divine guidance implicitly, and thus was certain that her vow would be kept even in her married state.

    The Annunciation has been treated in a special article. According to Luke, i, 36, the angel Gabriel told Mary at the time of the annunciation, "behold, thy cousin Elizabeth, she also hath conceived a son in her old age, and this is the sixth month with her that is called barren". Without doubting the truth of the angel's words, Mary determined at once to add to the pleasure of her pious relative (cf. St. Ambrose, Expos. Evang. sec. Luc., II, 19, P.L., XV, 1560). Hence the Evangelist continues (i, 39): "And Mary, rising up in those days, went into the hill country with haste into a city of Juda. And she entered into the house of Zachary, and saluted Elizabeth." Though Mary must have told Joseph of her intended visit, it is hard to determine whether he accompanied her; if the time of the journey happened to coincide with one of the festal seasons at which the Israelites had to go to the Temple, there would be little difficulty about companionship. The place of Elizabeth's home has been variously located by different writers: it has been placed in Machærus, over ten miles east of the Dead Sea, or in Hebron, or again in the ancient sacerdotal city of Jutta, about seven miles south of Hebron, or finally in Ain-Karim, the traditional St. John-in-the Mountain, nearly four miles west of Jerusalem (cf. Schick, Der Geburtsort Johannes' des Täufers, Zeitschrift des Deutschen Palästina-Vereins, 1899, 81; Barnabé Meistermann, La patrie de saint Jean-Baptiste, Paris, 1904; Idem, Noveau Guide de Terre-Sainte, Paris, 1907, 294 sqq.). But the first three places possess no traditional memorial of the birth or life of St. John; besides, Machærus was not situated in the mountains of Juda; Hebron and Jutta belonged after the Babylonian captivity to Idumea, while Ain-Karim lies in the "hill country" (cf. Plinius, Histor. natural., V, 14, 70) mentioned in the inspired text of St. Luke. After her journey of about thirty hours, Mary "entered into the house of Zachary, and saluted Elizabeth" (Luke, i, 40). According to tradition, Elizabeth lived at the time of the visitation not in her city home, but in her villa, about ten minutes distant from the city; formerly this place was marked by an upper and lower church. In 1861 the present small Church of the Visitation was erected on the ancient foundations. "And it came to pass that, when Elizabeth heard the salutation of Mary, the infant leaped in her womb." It was at this moment that God fulfilled the promise made by the angel to Zachary (Luke, i, 15), "and he shall be filled with the Holy Ghost, even from his mother's womb"; in other words, the infant in Elizabeth's womb was cleansed from the stain of original sin. The fullness of the Holy Ghost in the infant overflowed, as it were, into the soul of his mother: "and Elizabeth was filled with the Holy Ghost" (Luke, i, 41). Thus both child and mother were sanctified by the presence of Mary and the Word Incarnate (cf. Aug., ep. XLCCCVII, ad Dardan., VII, 23 sq., P.L., XXXIII, 840; Ambr. Expos. Evang. sec. Luc., II, 23, P.L., XV, 1561); filled as she was with the Holy Ghost, Elizabeth "cried out with a loud voice, and said: Blessed art thou among women, and blessed is the fruit of thy womb. And whence is this to me, that the mother of my Lord should come to me? For behold, as soon as the voice of thy salutation sounded in my ears, the infant in my womb leaped for joy. And blessed art thou that hast believed, because those things shall be accomplished that were spoken to thee by the Lord" (Luke, i, 42-45). Leaving to commentators the full explanation of the preceding passage, we draw attention only to two points: first, Elizabeth begins her greeting with the words with which the angel had finished his salutation, thus showing that both spoke in the same Holy Spirit; econdly, Elizabeth is the first to call Mary by her most honourable title "Mother of God". Mary's answer is the canticle of praise commonly called "Magnificat" from the first word of its Latin text. The Evangelist closes his account of the Visitation with the words: "And Mary abode with her about three months; and she returned to her own house" (Luke, i, 56). Many see in this brief statement of the third gospel an implied hint that Mary remained in the house of Zachary till the birth of John the Baptist, while others deny such an implication. As the Feast of the Visitation was placed by the 43d canon of the Council of Basle (A.D. 1441) on 2 July, the day following the Octave of the Feast of St. John Baptist, it has been inferred that Mary may have remained with Elizabeth until after the child's circumcision; but there is no further proof for this supposition. Though the visitation is so accurately described in the third Gospel, its feast does not appear to have been kept till the thirteenth century, when it was introduced through the influence of the Franciscans; in 1389 it was officially instituted by Urban VI.

    After her return from Elizabeth, Mary "was found with child, of the Holy Ghost" (Matt., i, 18). As among the Jews, betrothal was a real marriage, the use of marriage after the time of espousals presented nothing unusual among them. Hence Mary's pregnancy could not astonish anyone except St. Joseph. As he did not know the mystery of the Incarnation, the situation must have been extremely painful both to him and to Mary. The Evangelist says: "Whereupon Joseph her husband being a just man, and not willing publicly to expose her, was minded to put her away privately" (Matt., i, 19). Mary left the solution of the difficulty to God, and God informed the perplexed spouse in His own time of the true condition of Mary. While Joseph "thought on these things, behold the angel of the Lord appeared to him in his sleep, saying: Joseph, son of David, fear not to take unto thee Mary thy wife, for that which is conceived in her is of the Holy Ghost. And she shall bring forth a son, and thou shalt call his name Jesus. For He shall save His people from their sins" (Matt., i, 20-21). Not long after this revelation, Joseph concluded the ritual marriage contract with Mary. The Gospel simply says: "Joseph rising up from sleep did as the angel of the Lord had commanded him, and took unto him his wife" (Matt., i, 124). While it is certain that between the betrothal and the marriage at least three months must have elapsed, during which Mary stayed with Elizabeth, it is impossible to determine the exact length of time between the two ceremonies. We do not know how long after the betrothal the angel announced to Mary the mystery of the Incarnation, nor do we know how long the doubt of Joseph lasted, before he was enlightened by the visit of the angel. From the age at which Hebrew maidens became marriageable, it is possible that Mary gave birth to her Son when she was about thirteen or fourteen years of age. No historical document tells us how old she actually was at the time of the Nativity.

    (2) Mary During the Hidden Life of Our Lord. — St. Luke (ii, 1-5) explains how Joseph and Mary journeyed from Nazareth to Bethlehem in obedience to a decree of Caesar Augustus which prescribed a general enrolment. The questions connected with this decree have been considered in the article BIBLICAL CHRONOLOGY. There are various reasons why Mary should have accompanied Joseph on this journey; she may not wished to lose Joseph's protection during the critical time of her pregnancy, or she may have followed a special Divine inspiration impelling her to go in order to fulfil the prophecies concerning her Divine Son, or again she may have been compelled to go by the civil law either as an heiress or to settle the personal tax payable by women over twelve years of age (cf. Knabenbauer, Evang. sec. Luc., Paris, 1896, 104-114; Schürer, Geschichte des Jüdischen Volkes im Zeitalter Jesu Christi, 4th edit., I, 508 sqq.; Pfaffrath, Theologie und Glaube, 1905, 119). As the enrolment had brought a multitude of strangers to Bethlehem, Mary and Joseph found no room in the caravansary and had to take lodging in a grotto which served as a shelter for animals (cf. St. Justin, dial. c. Tryph., 78, P.G., VI, 657; Orig., c. Cels., I, 51, P.G., XI, 756; Euseb., vita Constant., III, 43; Demonstr. evang., VII, 2, P.G., XX, 1101; St. Jerome, ep. ad Marcell., XLVI [al. XVII]. 12; ad Eustoch., XVCIII [al. XXVII], 10, P.L., XXII, 490, 884). "And it came to pass, that when they were there, her days were accomplished, that she should be delivered" (Luke ii, 6); this language leaves it uncertain whether the birth of Our Lord took place immediately after Joseph and Mary had taken lodging in the grotto, or several days later. What is said about the shepherds "keeping the night watches over their flock" (Luke ii, 8) shows that Christ was born in the night time. After bringing forth her Son, Mary "wrapped Him up in swaddling clothes, and laid Him in a manger" (Luke ii, 7), a sign that she did not suffer from the pain and weakness of childbirth. This inference agrees with the teaching of some of the principal Fathers and theologians: St. Ambrose (in Ps. XLVII, II, P.L., XIV, 1150;), St. Gregory of Nyssa (orat. I, de resurrect., P.G., XLVI, 604;), St. John Damascene (de fide orth., IV, 14, P.G., XLIV, 1160; Fortun., VIII, 7, P.L., LXXXVIII, 282;), the author of "Christus patiens" (63, 64, 70, P.L., XXXVIII, 142;), St. Thomas (Summa theol., III, q. 35, a. 6;), etc. It was not becoming that the mother of God should be subject to the punishment pronounced in Genesis 3:16, against Eve and her sinful daughters. Shortly after the birth of the child, the shepherds, obedient to the angelic invitation, arrived in the grotto, "and they found Mary and Joseph, and the infant lying in the manger" (Luke ii, 16). We may suppose that the shepherds spread the glad tidings they had received during the night among their friends in Bethlehem, and that the Holy Family was received by one of its pious inhabitants into more suitable lodgings. "And after eight days were accomplished, that the child should be circumcised, his name was called Jesus" (Luke 2:21). The rite of circumcision was performed either in the synagogue or in the home of the Child; it is impossible to determine where Our Lord's Circumcision took place. At any rate, His Blessed Mother must have been present at the ceremony.

    According to the law of Lev., xii, 2-8, the Jewish mother of a male child had to present herself forty days after his birth for legal purification; according to Ex., xiii, 2, and Num., xviii, 15, the first born son had to be presented on the same occasion. Whatever reasons Mary and the Infant might have for claiming an exemption, they complied with the law. But, instead of offering a lamb, they presented the sacrifice of the poor, consisting of a pair of turtle-doves or two young pigeons. In II Corinthians 8:9, St. Paul informs the Corinthians that Jesus Christ "being rich. . .became poor, for your sakes, that through his poverty you might be rich". Even more acceptable to God than Mary's poverty was the readiness with which she surrendered her Divine Son to the good pleasure of His Heavenly Father. After the ceremonial rites had been complied with, holy Simeon took the Child in his arms, and thanked God for the fulfilment of his promises; he drew attention to the universality of the salvation that was to come through Messianic redemption "prepared before the face of all peoples: a light to the revelation of the Gentiles, and the glory of thy people Israel" (Luke, ii, 31 sq.). Mary and Joseph now began to know their Divine Child more fully; they "were wondering at those things which were spoken concerning him" (Luke, ii, 33). As if to prepare Our Blessed Mother for the mystery of the cross, holy Simeon said to her: "Behold this child is set for the fall, and for the resurrection of many in Israel, and for a sign which shall be contradicted. And thy own soul a sword shall pierce, that, out of many hearts, thoughts may be revealed" (Luke 2:34-35). Mary had suffered her first great sorrow at the time when Joseph was hesitating about taking her for his wife; she experienced her second great sorrow when she heard the words of holy Simeon. Though the incident of the prophetess Anna had a more general bearing, for she "spoke of him (the Child) to all that looked for the redemption of Israel" (Luke, ii, 38), it must have added greatly to the wonder of Joseph and Mary. The Evangelist's concluding remark, "after they had performed all things according to the law of the Lord, they returned into Galilee, to their city Nazareth" (Luke, ii, 39), has been variously interpreted by commentators; as to the order of events, see the article JESUS CHRIST, B. Relative Chronology.

    After the Presentation, the Holy Family either returned to Bethlehem directly, or went first to Nazareth, and then moved into the city of David. At any rate, after the "wise men form the east" had followed the Divine guidance to Bethlehem, "entering into the house, they found the child with Mary his mother, and falling down they adored him; and opening their treasures, they offered him gifts; gold, frankincense, and myrrh" (Matt., ii, 11). The Evangelist does not mention Joseph; not that he was not present, but because Mary occupies the principal place near the Child. How Mary and Joseph disposed of the presents offered by their wealthy visitors has not been told us by the Evangelists. Soon after the departure of the wise men Joseph received the message from the angel of the Lord to fly into Egypt with the Child and His mother on account of the evil designs of Herod; the holy man's ready obedience is briefly described by the Evangelist in the words: "who arose, and took the child and his mother by night, and retired into Egypt" (Matt., ii, 14). Persecuted Jews had ever sought a refuge in Egypt (cf. III Kings, xi, 40; IV Kings, xxv, 26); about the time of Christ Jewish colonists were especially numerous in the land of the Nile (cf. Joseph., Bell. Jud., II, xviii, 8); according to Philo (In Flaccum, 6, Mangey's edit., II, p. 523) they numbered at least a million. In Leontopolis, in the district of Heliopolis, the Jews had a temple (160 B.C.—A.D. 73) which rivalled in splendour the temple in Jerusalem (cf. Schürer, Geschichte des jüdischen Volkes im Zeitalter Jesu Christi, Leipzig, 1898, III, 19-25, 99). The Holy Family might therefore expect to find in Egypt a certain amount of help and protection. On the other hand, it required a journey of at least ten days from Bethlehem to reach the nearest habitable districts of Egypt. We do not know by what road the Holy Family effected its flight; they may have followed the ordinary road through Hebron; or they may have gone by way of Eleutheropolis and Gaza, or again they may have passed west of Jerusalem towards the great military road of Joppe. There is hardly any historical document which will assist us in determining where the Holy Family lived in Egypt, nor do we know how long the enforced exile lasted (The legends and traditions concerning these points may be found in Jullien's "L'Egypte" (Lille, 1891), pp. 241-251, and in the same author's work entitled "L'arbre de la Vierge à Matariéh", 4th edit. (Cairo, 1904)). When Joseph received from the angel the news of Herod's death and the command to return into the land of Israel, he "arose, and took the child and his mother, and came into the land of Israel" (Matt., ii, 21). The news that Archelaus ruled in Judea prevented Joseph from settling in Bethlehem, as had been his intention; "warned in sleep [by the angel, he] retired into the quarters of Galilee. And coming he dwelt in a city called Nazareth" (Matt., ii, 22-23). In all these details Mary simply followed the guidance of Joseph, who in his turn received the Divine manifestations as head of the Holy Family. There is no need to point out the intense sorrow which Mary suffered on account of the early persecution of her Child.

    The life of the Holy Family in Nazareth was that of the ordinary poor tradesman. According to Matt., xiii, 55, the townsfolk asked "Is not this the carpenter's son?"; the question, as expressed in the second Gospel (Mark 6:3), shows a slight variation, "Is not this the carpenter?" While Joseph gained the livelihood for the Holy Family by his daily work, Mary attended to the various duties of housekeeper. St. Luke (ii, 40) briefly says of Jesus: "And the child grew, and waxed strong, full of wisdom; and the grace of God was in him". The weekly Sabbath and the annual great feasts interrupted the daily routine of life in Nazareth. According to the law of Exod., xxiii, 17, only the men were obliged to visit the Temple on the three solemn feasts of the year; but the women often joined the men to satisfy their devotion. St. Luke (ii, 41) informs us that "his [the child's] parents went every year to Jerusalem, at the solemn day of the pasch". Probably the Child Jesus was left in the home of friends or relatives during the days of Mary's absence. According to the opinion of some writers, the Child did not give any sign of His Divinity during the years of His infancy, so as to increase the merits of Joseph's and Mary's faith based on what they had seen and heard at the time of the Incarnation and the birth of Jesus. Jewish Doctors of the Law maintained that a boy became a son of the law at the age of twelve years and one day; after that he was bound by the legal precepts. The evangelist supplies us here with the information that, "when he was twelve years old, they going up into Jerusalem, according to the custom of the feast, and having fulfilled the days, when they returned, the child Jesus remained in Jerusalem, and his parents knew it not" (Luke, ii, 42-43). Probably it was after the second festal day that Joseph and Mary returned with the other Galilean pilgrims; the law did not require a longer sojourn in the Holy City. On the first day the caravan usually made a four hours' journey, and rested for the night in Beroth on the northern boundary of the former Kingdom of Juda. The crusaders built in this place a beautiful Gothic church to commemorate Our Lady's sorrow when she "sought him [her child] among their kinsfolks and acquaintance, and not finding him,. . .returned into Jerusalem, seeking him" (Luke, ii, 44-45). The Child was not found among the pilgrims who had come to Beroth on their first day's journey; nor was He found on the second day, when Joseph and Mary returned to Jerusalem; it was only on the third day that they "found him [Jesus] in the temple, sitting in the midst of the doctors, hearing them, and asking them questions. . .And seeing him, they wondered. And his mother said to him: Son, why hast thou done so to us? behold thy father and I have sought thee sorrowing" (Luke, ii, 40-48). Mary's faith did not allow her to fear a mere accident for her Divine Son; but she felt that His behaviour had changed entirely from His customary exhibition of docility and subjection. The feeling caused the question, why Jesus had treated His parents in such a way. Jesus simply answered: "How is it that you sought me? did you not know, that I must be about my father's business?" (Luke, ii, 49). Neither Joseph nor Mary understood these words as a rebuke; "they understood not the word that he spoke to them" (Luke, ii, 50). It has been suggested by a recent writer that the last clause may be understood as meaning, "they [i.e., the bystanders] understood not the word he spoke unto them [i.e., to Mary and Joseph]". After this, Jesus "went down with them, and came to Nazareth" where He began a life of work and poverty, eighteen years of which are summed up by the Evangelist in the few words, and he "was subject to them, and. . .advanced in wisdom, and age, and grace with God and men" (Luke, ii, 51-52). The interior life of Mary is briefly indicated by the inspired writer in the expression, "and his mother kept all these words in her heart" (Luke, ii, 51). A similar expression had been used in ii, 19, "Mary kept all these words, pondering them in her heart". Thus Mary observed the daily life of her Divine Son, and grew in His knowledge and love by meditating on what she saw and heard. It has been pointed out by certain writers that the Evangelist here indicates the last source from which he derived the material contained in his first two chapters.

    In connection with the study of Mary during Our Lord's hidden life, we meet the questions of her perpetual virginity, of her Divine motherhood, and of her personal sanctity. The authorities there cited maintain that Mary remained a virgin when she conceived and gave birth to her Divine Son, as well as after the birth of Jesus. Mary's question (Luke, i, 34), the angel's answer (Luke, i, 35, 37), Joseph's way of behaving in his doubt (Matt., i, 19-25), Christ's words addressed to the Jews (John, viii, 19) show that Mary retained her virginity during the conception of her Divine Son (As to Mary's virginity in her childbirth we may consult St. Iren., haer. IV, 33, P.G., VII, 1080; St. Ambr., ep. XLII, 5, P.L., XVI, 1125; St. Aug., ep CXXXVII, 8, P.L., XXXIII, 519; serm. LI, 18, P.L., XXXVIII, 343; Enchir. 34, P.L., XL, 249; St. Leo, serm., XXI, 2, P.L., LIV, 192; St. Fulgent., de fide ad Petr., 17, P.L., XL, 758; Gennad., de eccl. dogm., 36, P.G., XLII, 1219; St. Cyril of Alex., hom. XI, P.G., LXXVII, 1021; St. John Damasc., de fide orthod., IV, 14, P.G., XCIV, 1161; Pasch. Radb., de partu Virg., P.L., CXX, 1367; etc. As to the passing doubts concerning Mary's virginity during her childbirth, see Orig., in Luc., hom. XIV, P.G., XIII, 1834; Tertul., adv. Marc., III, 11, P.L., IV, 21; de carne Christi, 23, P.L., II, 336, 411, 412, 790.). As to Mary's virginity after her childbirth, it is not denied by St. Matthew's expressions "before they came together" (i, 18), "her firstborn son" (i, 25), nor by the fact that the New Testament books repeatedly refer to the "brothers of Jesus" (Matt., xii, 46-47; xiii, 55-56; Mark, iii, 31-32; iii, 3; Luke, viii, 19-20; John, ii, 12; vii, 3, 5, 10; Acts, i, 14; I Cor., ix, 5; Gal., i, 19; Jude, 1). The words "before they came together" mean probably, "before they lived in the same house", referring to the time when they were merely betrothed; but even if the words be understood of marital intercourse, they only state that the Incarnation took place before any such intercourse had intervened, without implying that it did occur after the Incarnation of the Son of God [cf. St. Jerome, in Matt., i, 2 (P.L., XXVI, 24-25)]. The same must be said of the expression, "and he knew her not till she brought forth her firstborn son" (Matt., i, 25); the Evangelist tells us what did not happen before the birth of Jesus, without suggesting that it happened after his birth (cf. St. John Chrys., in Matt., v, 3, P.G., LVII, 58; St. Jerome, de perpetua virgin. B.M., 6, P.L., XXIII, 183-206; St. Ambrose, de institut. virgin., 38, 43, P.L., XVI, 315, 317; St. Thomas, Summa theol., III, q. 28, a. 3; Petav., de incarn., XIC, iii, 11; etc.). The name "firstborn" applies to Jesus whether his mother remained a virgin or gave birth to other children after Jesus; among the Jews it was a legal name [cf. Exod., xxxiv, 19; Num., xciii, 15; St. Epiphan., haer. lxxcviii, 17, P.G., XLII, 728], so that its occurrence in the Gospel cannot astonish us. Finally, the "brothers of Jesus" are neither the sons of Mary, nor the brothers of Our Lord in the proper sense of the word, but they are His cousins or the more or less near relatives (cf. Revue biblique, 1895, pp. 173-183). The Church insists that in His birth the Son of God did not lessen but consecrate the virginal integrity of His mother (Secret in Mass of Purific.). The Fathers express themselves in similar language concerning this privilege of Mary (St. Peter Chrysol., serm., CXLII, in Annunt. B.M. V., P.G., LII, 581; Hesych., hom. V de S. M. Deip., P.G., XCIII, 1461; St. Ildeph., de virgin. perpet. S.M., P.L., XCVI, 95; St. Bernard, de XII praer. B.V.M., 9, P.L., CLXXXIII, 434, etc.).

    Mary's Divine motherhood is based on the teaching of the Gospels, on the writings of the Fathers, and on the express definition of the Church. St. Matthew (i, 25) testifies that Mary "brought forth her first-born son" and that He was called Jesus. According to St. John (i, 15) Jesus is the Word made flesh, the Word Who assumed human nature in the womb of Mary. As Mary was truly the mother of Jesus, and as Jesus was truly God from the first moment of His conception, Mary is truly the mother of God. Even the earliest Fathers did not hesitate to draw this conclusion as may be seen in the writings of St. Ignatius (ad Ephes., 7, P.G., V, 652), St. Irenæus (adv. hær., III, 19, P.G., VIII, 940, 941), and Tertullian (adv. Prax. 27, P.L., II, 190). The contention of Nestorius denying to Mary the title "Mother of God" (Serm. I, 6, 7, P.G., XLVIII, 760-761) was followed by the teaching of the Council of Ephesus proclaiming Mary to be Θεοτοκος in the true sense of the word (Cf. Ambr., in Luc. II, 25, P.L., XV, 1521; St. Cyril of Alex., Apol. pro XII cap.; c. Julian., VIII; ep. ad Acac., 14; P.G., LXXVI, 320, 901; LXXVII, 97; John of Antioch, ep. ad Nestor., 4, P.G., LXXVII, 1456; Theodoret, haer. fab., IV, 2, P.G., LXXXIII, 436; St. Gregory Nazianzen, ep. ad Cledon., I, P.G., XXXVII, 177; Proclus, hom. de Matre Dei, P.G., LXV, 680; etc. Among recent writers must be noticed Terrien, La mère de Dieu et la mere des hommes, Paris, 1902, I, 3-14; Turnel, Histoire de la théologie positive, Paris, 1904, 210-211).

    Some few patristic writers expressed their doubts as to the presence of minor moral defects in Our Blessed Lady (cf. Petav., de incarnat., XIV, i, 3-7). St. Basil, e.g., suggests that Mary yielded to doubt on hearing the words of holy Simeon and on witnessing the crucifixion (ep. CCLX, P.G., XXXII, 965-968); St. John Chrysostom is of opinion that Mary would have felt fear and trouble, unless the angel had explained the mystery of the Incarnation to her, and that she showed some vainglory at the marriage feast in Cana and on visiting her Son during His public life together with the brothers of the Lord (hom. IV, in Matt., P.G., LVII, 45; hom. XLIV, in Matt. P.G., XLVII, 464 sq.; hom. XXI, in Jo., P.G., LIX, 130). St. Cyril of Alexandria (in Jo., P.G., LXXIV, 661-664) speaks of Mary's doubt and discouragement at the foot of the cross. But these Greek writers cannot be said to express an Apostolic tradition, when they express their private and singular opinions. Scripture and tradition agree in ascribing to Mary the greatest personal sanctity; She is conceived without the stain of original sin; she shows the greatest humility and patience in her daily life (Luke, i, 38, 48); she exhibits an heroic patience under the most trying circumstances (Luke, ii, 7, 35, 48; John, xix, 25-27). When there is question of sin, Mary must always be excepted (St. Ambrose, in Luc. II, 16-22; P.L., XV, 1558-1560; de virgin. I, 15; ep. LXIII, 110; de obit. Val., 39, P.L., XVI, 210, 1218, 1371; St. Augustin, de nat. et grat., XXXVI, 42, P.L., XLIV, 267; St. Bede, in Luc. II, 35, P.L., XCII, 346; St. Thomas, Summa theol., III. Q. XXVII, a. 4; Terrien, La mere de Dieu et la mere des hommes, Paris, 1902, I, 3-14; II, 67-84; Turmel, Histoire de la théologie positive, Paris, 1904, 72-77; Newman, Anglican Difficulties, II, 128-152, London, 1885). Mary's complete exemption from actual sin is confirmed by the Council of Trent (Session VI, Canon 23): "If any one say that man once justified can during his whole life avoid all sins, even venial ones, as the Church holds that the Blessed Virgin did by special privilege of God, let him be anathema." Theologians assert that Mary was impeccable, not by the essential perfection of her nature, but by a special Divine privilege. Moreover, the Fathers, at least since the fifth century, almost unanimously maintain that the Blessed Virgin never experienced the motions of concupiscence.

    (3) Mary during the Public Life of Jesus Christ. — The evangelists connect Mary's name with three different events in Our Lord's public life: with the miracle in Cana, with His preaching, and with His passion. The first of these incidents is related in John, ii, 1-10. "There was a marriage feast in Cana of Galilee. . .and the mother of Jesus was there. And Jesus also was invited, and his disciples, to the marriage. And the wine failing, the mother of Jesus saith to him: They have no wine. And Jesus saith to her: Woman, what is that to me and to thee? my hour is not yet come". One naturally supposes that one of the contracting parties was related to Mary, and that Jesus had been invited on account of his mother's relationship. The couple must have been rather poor, since the wine was actually failing. Mary wishes to save her friends from the shame of not being able to provide properly for the guests, and has recourse to her Divine Son. She merely states their need, without adding any further petition. In addressing women, Jesus uniformly employs the word "woman" (Matt., xv. 28; Luke, xiii, 12; John, iv, 21; viii, 10; xix, 26; xx, 15), an expression used by classical writers as a respectful and honorable address (cf. Iliad, III, 204; Xenoph., Cyrop., V, I, 6; Dio Cassius, Hist., LI, 12; etc.). The above cited passages show that in the language of Jesus the address "woman" has a most respectful meaning. The clause "what is that to me and to thee" renders the Greek τι εμοι και σοι, which in its turn corresponds to the Hebrew phrase mah lî walakh. This latter occurs in Judges, xi, 12; II Kings, xvi, 10; xix, 23; III Kings, xvii, 18; IV Kings, iii, 13; ix, 18; II Par., xxxv, 21. The New Testament shows equivalent expressions in Matt., viii, 29; Mark, i, 24; Luke, iv, 34; viii, 28; Matt., xxvii, 19. The meaning of the phrase varies according to the character of the speakers, ranging from a most pronounced opposition to a courteous compliance. Such a variable meaning makes it hard for the translator to find an equally variable equivalent. "What have I to do with thee", "this is neither your nor my business", "why art thou troublesome to me", "allow me to attend to this", are some of the renderings suggested. In general, the words seem to refer to well or ill-meant importunity which they endeavour to remove. The last part of Our Lord's answer presents less difficulty to the interpreter: "my hour is not yet come", cannot refer to the precise moment at which the need of wine will require the miraculous intervention of Jesus; for in the language of St. John "my hour" or "the hour" denotes the time preordained for some important event (John, iv, 21, 23; v, 25, 28; vii, 30; viii, 29; xii, 23; xiii, 1; xvi, 21; xvii, 1). Hence the meaning of Our Lord's answer is: "Why are you troubling me by asking me for such an intervention? The divinely appointed time for such a manifestation has not yet come"; or, "why are you worrying? has not the time of manifesting my power come?" The former of these meanings implies that on account of the intercession of Mary Jesus anticipated the time set for the manifestation of His miraculous power (cf. St. Irenæus, c. hær., III, xvi, 7, P.G., VII, 926); the second meaning is obtained by understanding the last part of Our Lord's words as a question, as was done by St. Gregory of Nyssa (P.G., XLIV, 1308), and by the Arabic version of Tatian's "Diatessaron" (Rome, 1888) (See Knabenbauer, Evang. sec. Joan., Paris, 1898, pp. 118-122; Hoberg, Jesus Christus. Vorträge, Freiburg, 1908, 31, Anm. 2; Theologie und Glaube, 1909, 564, 808). Mary understood her Son's words in their proper sense; she merely warned the waiters, "Whatsoever he shall say to you, do ye" (John, ii, 5). There can be no question of explaining Jesus' answer in the sense of a refusal.

    During the apostolic life of Jesus, Mary effaced herself almost completely. Not being called to aid her Son directly in His ministry, she did not wish to interfere with His work by her untimely presence. In Nazareth she was regarded as a common Jewish mother; St. Matthew (iii, 55-56; cf. Mark, vi, 3) introduces the people of the town as saying: "Is not this the carpenter's son? Is not his mother called Mary, and his brethren James, and Joseph, and Simon, and Jude: and his sisters, are they not all with us?" Since the people wish to lower Our Lord's esteem by their language, we must infer that Mary belonged to the lower social order of townspeople. The parallel passage of St. Mark reads, "Is not this the carpenter?" instead of, "Is not this the carpenter's son?" Since both evangelists omit the name of St. Joseph, we may infer that he had died before this episode took place.

    At first sight, it seems that Jesus Himself depreciated the dignity of His Blessed Mother. When He was told: "Behold thy mother and thy brethren stand without, seeking thee", He answered: "Who is my mother, and who are my brethren? And stretching forth his hand towards his disciples, he said: Behold my mother and my brethren. For whosoever shall do the will of my Father, that is in heaven, he is my brother, and my sister, and my mother" (Matt., xii, 47-50; cf. Mark, iii, 31-35; Luke, viii, 19-21). On another occasion, "a certain woman from the crowd, lifting up her voice, said to him: Blessed is the womb that bore thee, and the paps that gave thee suck. But he said: Yea rather, blessed are they who hear the word of God, and keep it" (Luke, xi, 27-28). In reality, Jesus in both these passages places the bond that unites the soul with God above the natural bond of parentage which unites the Mother of God with her Divine Son. The latter dignity is not belittled; as men naturally appreciate it more easily, it is employed by Our Lord as a means to make known the real value of holiness. Jesus, therefore, really, praises His mother in a most emphatic way; for she excelled the rest of men in holiness not less than in dignity (cf. St. Augustin, de virgin., 3, P.L., XL, 398; pseudo-Justin, quaest. et respons. ad orthod., I, q. 136, P.G., VI, 1389). Most probably, Mary was found also among the holy women who ministered to Jesus and His apostles during their ministry in Galilee (cf. Luke, viii, 2-3); the Evangelists do not mention any other public appearance of Mary during the time of Jesus's journeys through Galilee or Judea. But we must remember that when the sun appears, even the brightest stars become invisible.

    Since the Passion of Jesus Christ occurred during the paschal week, we naturally expect to find Mary at Jerusalem. Simeon's prophecy found its fulfilment principally during the time of Our Lord's suffering. According to a tradition, His Blessed Mother met Jesus as He was carrying His cross to Golgotha. The Itinerarium of the Pilgrim of Bordeaux describes the memorable sites which the writer visited A.D. 333, but it does not mention any locality sacred to this meeting of Mary and her Divine Son (cf. Geyer, Itinera Hiersolymitana saeculi IV-VIII, Vienna, 1898, 1-33; Mommert, Das Jerusalem des Pilgers von Bordeaux, Leipzig, 1907). The same silence prevails in the so-called Peregrinatio Silviæ which used to be assigned to A.D. 385, but has lately been placed in A.D. 533-540 (Meister, Rhein. Mus., 1909, LXIV, 337-392; Bludau, Katholik, 1904, 61 sqq., 81 sqq., 164 sqq.; Revue Bénédictine, 1908, 458; Geyer, l. c.; Cabrol, Etude sur la Peregrinatio Silviae, Paris, 1895). But a plan of Jerusalem, dating from the year 1308, shows a Church of St. John the Baptist with the inscription "Pasm. Vgis.", Spasmus Virginis, the swoon of the Virgin. During the course of the fourteenth century Christians began to locate the spots consecrated by the Passion of Christ, and among these was the place was the place where Mary is said to have fainted at the sight of her suffering Son (cf. de Vogüé, Les Eglises de la Terre-Sainte, Paris, 1869, p. 438; Liévin, Guide de la Terre-Sainte, Jerusalem, 1887, I, 175). Since the fifteenth century one finds always "Sancta Maria de Spasmo" among the Stations of the Way of the Cross, erected in various parts of Europe in imitation of the Via Dolorosa in Jerusalem (cf. Thurston, in The Month for 1900, July-September, pp. 1-12; 153-166; 282-293; Boudinhon in Revue du clergé français, Nov. 1, 1901, 449-463). That Our Blessed Lady should have fainted at the sight of her Son's sufferings, hardly agrees with her heroic behaviour under the cross; still, we may consider her woman and mother in her meeting with her Son on the way to Golgotha, while she is the Mother of God at the foot of the cross.

    While Jesus was hanging on the cross, "there stood by the cross of Jesus, his mother, and his mother's sister, Mary Cleophas, and Mary Magdalen. When Jesus therefore had seen his mother and the disciple standing whom he loved, he saith to his mother: Woman, behold thy son. After that, he saith to the disciple: Behold thy mother. And from that hour, the disciple took her to his own" (John, xix, 25-27). The darkening of the sun and the other extraordinary phenomena in nature must have frightened the enemies of Our Lord sufficiently so as not to interfere with His mother and His few friends standing at the foot of the cross. In the meantime, Jesus had prayed for His enemies, and had promised pardon to the penitent thief; now, He took compassion on His desolate mother, and provided for her future. If St. Joseph had been still alive, or if Mary had been the mother of those who are called Our Lord's brethren or sisters in the gospels, such a provision would not have been necessary. Jesus uses the same respectful title with which he had addressed his mother at the marriage feast in Cana. Then he commits Mary to John as his mother, and wishes Mary to consider John as her son. Among the early writers, Origen is the only one who considers Mary's motherhood of all the faithful in this connection. According to him, Christ lives in his perfect followers, and as Mary is the Mother of Christ, so she is mother of him in whom Christ lives. Hence, according to Origen, man has an indirect right to claim Mary as his mother, in so far as he identifies himself with Jesus by the life of grace (Præf. in Jo., 6, P.G., XIV, 32). In the ninth century, George of Nicomedia (Orat. VIII in Mar. assist. cruci, P.G., C, 1476) explains Our Lord's words on the cross in such a way as to entrust John to Mary, and in John all the disciples, making her the mother and mistress of all John's companions. In the twelfth century Rupert of Deutz explained Our Lord's words as establishing Mary's spiritual motherhood of men, though St. Bernard, Rupert's illustrious contemporary, does not enumerate this privilege among Our Lady's numerous titles (cf. Sermo dom. infr. oct. Assumpt., 15, P.L., XLXXXIII, 438). After this time Rupert's explanation of Our Lord's words on the cross became more and more common, so that in our day it has found its way into practically all books of piety (cf. Terrien, La mère de Dieu et la mere des hommes, Paris, 1902, III, 247-274; Knabenbauer, Evang. sec. Joan., Paris, 1898, 544-547; Bellarmin, de sept. verb. Christi, I, 12, Cologne, 1618, 105-113).

    The doctrine of Mary's spiritual motherhood of men is contained in the fact that she is the antitype of Eve: Eve is our natural mother because she is the origin of our natural life; so Mary is our spiritual mother because she is the origin of our spiritual life. Again, Mary's spiritual motherhood rests on the fact that Christ is our brother, being "the firstborn among many brethren" (Romans 8:29). She became our mother at the moment she consent to the Incarnation of the Word, the Head of the mystical body whose members we are; and she sealed her motherhood by consenting to the bloody sacrifice on the cross which is the source of our supernatural life. Mary and the holy women (Matt., xvii, 56; Mark, xv, 40; Luke, xxiii, 49; John, xix, 25) assisted at the death of Jesus on the cross; she probably remained during the taking down of His sacred body and during His funeral. The following Sabbath was for her a time of grief and hope. The eleventh canon of a council held in Cologne, in 1423, instituted against the Hussites the feast of the Dolours of Our Blessed Lady, placing it on the Friday following the third Sunday after Easter. In 1725 Benedict XIV extended the feast to the whole Church, and placed it on the Friday in Passion Week. "And from that hour, the disciple took her to his own" (John, xix, 27). Whether they lived in the city of Jerusalem or elsewhere, cannot be determined from the Gospels.

    (4) Mary after our Lord's Resurrection. — The inspired record of the incidents connected with Christ's Resurrection do not mention Mary; but neither do they pretend to give a complete account of all that Jesus did or said. The Fathers too are silent as to Mary's share in the joys of her Son's triumph over death. Still, St. Ambrose (de Virginit., III, 14, P.L., XVI, 283) states expressly: "Mary therefore saw the Resurrection of the Lord; she was the first who saw it and believed. Mary Magdalen too saw it, though she still wavered". George of Nicomedia (Or. IX, P.G., C, 1500) infers from Mary's share in Our Lord's sufferings that before all others and more than all she must have shared in the triumph of her Son. In the twelfth century, an apparition of the risen Saviour to His Blessed Mother is admitted by Rupert of Deutz (de div. offic., VII, 25, P.L., CLIX, 306), and also by Eadmer (de excell. V.M., 6, P.L., CLIX, 568), St. Bernardin of Siena (Quadrages. I, in Resurrect., serm. LII, 3), St. Ignatius of Loyola (Exercit. spirit. de resurrect., I apparit.), Suarez (de myster. vit. Christi, XLIX, I), Maldon (In IV Evang., ad XXVIII Matth.), etc. (See Terrien, La mère de Dieu et la mere des hommes, Paris, 1902, I, 322-325). That the risen Christ should have appeared first to His Blessed Mother, agrees at least with our pious expectations. Though the Gospels do not expressly tell us so, we may suppose that Mary was present when Jesus showed himself to a number of disciples in Galilee and at the time of His Ascension (cf. Matthew 28:7, 10, 16; Mark 16:7). Moreover, it is not improbable that Jesus visited His Blessed Mother repeatedly during the forty days after His Resurrection.

    B. Mary in the Other Books of the New Testament. — According to the Book of Acts (i, 14), after Christ's Ascension into Heaven the apostles "went up into an upper room", and: "all these were persevering with one mind in prayer with the women, and Mary the mother of Jesus, and with his brethren". In spite of her exalted dignity it was not Mary, but Peter who acted as head of the assembly (i, 15). Mary behaved in the upper room in Jerusalem as she had behaved in the grotto at Bethlehem; in Bethlehem she had carried for the Infant Jesus, in Jerusalem she nurtured the infant Church. The friends of Jesus remained in the upper room till "the days of the Pentecost", when with "a sound from heaven, as of a mighty wind coming. . .there appeared to them parted tongues as it were of fire, and it sat upon every one of them, and they were all filled with the Holy Ghost" (Acts 2:1-4). Though the Holy Ghost had descended upon Mary in a special way at the time of the Incarnation, He now communicated to her a new degree of grace. Perhaps, this Pentecostal grace gave to Mary the strength of properly fulfilling her duties to the nascent Church and to her spiritual children.

    As to the Epistles, the only direct reference to Mary is found in Gal., iv, 4: "But when the fulness of time was come, God sent his Son, made of a woman, made under the law". Some Greek and Latin manuscripts, followed by several Fathers, read γεννωμενον εκ γυναικος instead of γενομενον εκ γυναικος, "born of a woman" instead of "made of a woman". But this variant reading cannot be accepted. For (1) γεννωμενον is the present participle, and must be rendered, "being born of a woman", so that it does not fit into the context (cf. Photius, ad Amphiloch., q. 228, P.G., CI, 1024). (2) Though the Latin variant rendering "natum" is the perfect participle, and does not imply the inconveniences of its Greek original, St. Bede (in Luc. XI, 27, P.L., XCII, 408) rejects it, on account of its less appropriate sense. (3) In Rom., i, 3, which is to a certain extent a parallel of Gal., iv, 4, St. Paul writes γενομενος εκ σπερματος Δαυειδ κατα σαρκα, i.e. "made of the seed of David, according to the flesh". (4) Tertullian (de carne Christi, 20, P.L., II, 786) points out that the word "made" implies more than the word "born"; for it calls to mind the "Word made flesh", and establishes the reality of the flesh made of the Virgin. Furthermore, the Apostle employs the word "woman" in the phrase under consideration, because he wishes to indicate merely the sex, without any ulterior connotation. In reality, however, the idea of a man made of a woman alone, suggests the virginal conception of the Son of God. St. Paul seems to emphasize the true idea of the Incarnation of the Word; a true understanding of this mystery safeguards both the Divinity and the real humanity of Jesus Christ. (Cf. Tertullian, de virgin. vel., 6, P.L., II, 897; St. Cyril of Jerus., Catech., XII, 31, P.G., XXXIII, 766; St. Jerome, in ep. ad Gal. II, 4, P.L., XXVI, 372.)

    The Apostle St. John never uses the name Mary when speaking of Our Blessed Lady; he always refers to her as Mother of Jesus (John, ii, 1, 3; xix, 25-26). In his last hour, Jesus had established the relation of mother and son between Mary and John, and a child does not usually address his mother by her first name.

    In the Apocalypse (xii, 1-6) occurs a passage singularly applicable to Our Blessed Mother: "And a great sign appeared in heaven: A woman clothed with the sun, and the moon under her feet, and on her head a crown of twelve stars; and being with child, she cried travailing in birth, and was in pain to be delivered. And there was seen another sign in heaven: and behold a great red dragon, having seven heads, and ten horns, and on his heads seven diadems; and his tail drew the third part of the stars of heaven; and cast them to the earth; and the dragon stood before the woman who was ready to be delivered; that when she should be delivered, he might devour her son. And she brought forth a man child, who was to rule all nations with an iron rod; and her son was taken up to God, and to his throne. And the woman fled into the wilderness, where she had a place prepared by God, that there they should feed her a thousand two hundred sixty days". The applicability of this passage to Mary is based on the following considerations: (1) At least part of the verses refer to the mother whose son is to rule all the nations with a rod of iron; according to Ps. ii, 9, this is the Son of God, Jesus Christ, Whose mother is Mary. (2) It was Mary's son that "was taken up to God, and to his throne" at the time of His Ascension into heaven. (3) The dragon, or the devil of the earthly paradise (cf. Apoc., xii, 9; xx, 2), endeavoured to devour Mary's Son from the first moments of His birth, by stirring up the jealousy of Herod and, later on, the enmities of the Jews. (4) Owing to her unspeakable privileges, Mary may well be described as "clothed with the sun, and the moon under her feet, and on her head a crown of twelve stars". (5) It is true that commentators generally understand the whole passage as applying literally to the Church, and that part of the verses is better suited to the Church than to Mary. But it must be kept in mind that Mary is both a figure of the Church, and its most prominent member. What is said of the Church, is in its own way true of Mary. Hence the passage of the Apocalypse (xii, 5-6) does not refer to Mary merely by way of accommodation (cf. Drach, Apcal., Pris, 1873, 114), but applies to her in a truly literal sense which appears to be partly limited to her, and partly extended to the whole Church. Mary's relation to the Church is well summed up in the expression "collum corporis mystici" applied to Our Lady by St. Bernardin of Siena. (Cf. pseudo-Augustin, serm. IV de symbol. ad catechum., I, P.L., XL, 661; pseudo-Ambrose, expos, in Apoc., P.L., XVII, 876; Haymo of Halberstadt, in Apoc. III, 12, P.L., CXVII, 1080; Alcuin, Comment. in Apoc., V, 12, P.L., C, 1152; Casssiodor., Complexion. in Apoc., ad XII, 7, P.L., LXX, 1411; Richard of St. Victor, Explic. in Cant., 39, P.L., VII, 12, P.L., CLXIX, 1039; St. Bernard, serm. de XII praerog. B.V.M., 3, P.L., CLXXXIII, 430; de la Broise, Mulier amicta sole,in Etudes, April-June, 1897; Terrien, La mère de Dieu et la mere des hommes, Paris, 1902, IV, 59-84.)

    Card. Newman (Anglican Difficulties, London, 1885, II, 54 sqq.) considers two difficulties against the foregoing interpretation of the vision of the woman and child: first, it is said to be poorly supported by the Fathers; secondly, it is an anachronism to ascribe such a picture of the Madonna to the apostolic age. As to the first exception, the eminent writer says: "Christians have never gone to Scripture for proof of their doctrines, till there was actual need, from the pressure of controversy; if in those times the Blessed Virgin's dignity was unchallenged on all hands, as a matter of doctrine, Scripture, as far as its argumentative matter was concerned, was likely to remain a sealed book to them". After developing this answer at length, the cardinal continues: "As to the second objection which I have supposed, so far from allowing it, I consider that it is built upon a mere imaginary fact, and that the truth of the matter lies in the very contrary direction. The Virgin and Child is not a mere modern idea; on the contrary, it is represented again and again, as every visitor to Rome is aware, in the paintings of the Catacombs. Mary is there drawn with the Divine Infant in her lap, she with hands extended in prayer, he with his hand in the attitude of blessing".

The Catholic Encyclopedia, Volume XV, p. 464E-470
Nihil Obstat, October 1, 1912. Remy Lafort, S.T.D., Censor
Imprimatur. +John Cardinal Farley, Archbishop of New York

POST-PENTECOSTAL LIFE OF MARY. — On the day of Pentecost, the Holy Ghost had descended on Mary as He came on the Apostles and Disciples gathered together in the upper room at Jerusalem. No doubt, the words of St. John (xix, 27), "and from that hour the disciple took her to his own", refer not merely to the time between Easter and Pentecost, but they extend to the whole of Mary's later life. Still, the care of Mary did not interfere with John's Apostolic ministry. Even the inspired records (Acts, viii, 14-17; Gal., i, 18-19; Acts, xxi, 18) show that the apostle was absent from Jerusalem on several occasions, though he must have taken part in the Council of Jerusalem, A.D. 51 or 52. We may also suppose that in Mary especially were verified the words of Acts, ii, 42: "And they were persevering in the doctrine of the apostles, and in the communication of the breaking of bread, and in prayers". Thus Mary was an example and a source of encouragement to the early Christian community. At the same time, it must be confessed that we do not possess any authentic documents bearing directly on Mary's post-Pentecostal life. As to tradition, there is some testimony for Mary's temporary residence in or near Ephesus, but the evidence for her permanent home in Jerusalem is much stronger.

    Mary's Ephesian residence rests on the following evidence: (1) A passage in the synodal letter of the Council of Ephesus reads (Labbe, Collect. Concilior., III, 573): "Wherefore also Nestorius, the instigator of the impious heresy, when he had come to the city of the Ephesians, where John the Theologian and the Virgin Mother of God St. Mary, estranging himself of his own accord from the gathering of the holy Fathers and Bishops. . ." Since St. John had lived in Ephesus and had been buried there (Eusebius, Hist. Eccl., III, 31; V, 24, P.G., XX, 280, 493), it has been inferred that the ellipsis of the synodal letter means either, "where John. . .and the Virgin. . .Mary lived", or, "where John. . .and the Virgin. . .Mary lived and are buried". (2) Bar-Hebraeus or Abulpharagius, a Jacobite bishop of the thirteenth century, relates that St. John took the Blessed Virgin with him to Patmos, then founded the Church of Ephesus, and buried Mary no one knows where (cf. Assemani, Biblioth. orient., Rome, 1719-1728, III, 318). (3) Benedict XIV (de fest. D.N.J.C., I, vii, 101) states that Mary followed St. John to Ephesus and died there. He intended also to remove from the Breviary those lessons which mention Mary's death in Jerusalem, but died before carrying out his intention (cf. Arnaldi, super transitu B.M.V., Genes 1879, I, c. I). (4) Mary's temporary residence and death in Ephesus are upheld by such writers as Tillemont [116], Calmet (Dict. de la Bible, art. Jean, Marie, Paris, 1846, II, 902; III, 975-976), etc. (5) In Panaghia Kapoli, on a hill about nine or ten miles distant from Ephesus, was discovered a house, or rather its remains, in which Mary is supposed to have lived. The house was found, as it had been sought, according to the indications given by Catharine Emmerich in her life of the Blessed Virgin.

    On closer inspection these arguments for Mary's residence or burial in Ephesus are not unanswerable.

    (1) The ellipsis in the synodal letter of the Council of Ephesus may be filled out in such a way as not to imply the assumption that Our Blessed Lady either lived or died in Ephesus. As there was in the city a double church dedicated to the Virgin Mary and to St. John, the incomplete clause of the synodal letter may be completed so as to read, "where John the Theologian and the Virgin. . .Mary have a sanctuary". This explanation of the ambiguous phrase is one of the two suggested in the margin in Labbe's Collect. Concil. (l.c.) (cf. Le Camus, Les sept Eglises de l'Apocalypse, Paris, 1896, 131-133). (2) The words of Bar-Hebraeus contain two inaccurate statements; for St. John did not found the Church of Ephesus, nor did he take Mary with him to Patmos. St. Paul founded the Ephesian Church, and Mary was dead before John's exile in Patmos. It would not be surprising, therefore, if the writer were wrong in what he says about Mary's burial. Besides, Bar-Hebraeus belongs to the thirteenth century; the earlier writers had been most anxious about the sacred places in Ephesus; they mention the tomb of St. John and of a daughter of Philip (cf. Polycrates, in Eusebius's Hist. Eccl., XIII, 31, P.G., XX, 280), but they say nothing about Mary's burying place. (3) As to Benedict XIV, this great pontiff is not so emphatic about Mary's death and burial in Ephesus, when he speaks about her Assumption in heaven. (4) Neither Benedict XIV nor the other authorities who uphold the Ephesian claims, advance any argument that has not been found inconclusive by other scientific students of this question. (5) The house found in Panaghia-Kapouli is of any weight only in so far as it is connected with the visions of Catherine Emmerich. Its distance from the city of Ephesus creates a presumption against its being the home of the Apostle St. John. The historical value of Catherine's visions is not universally admitted. Mgr. Timoni, Archbishop of Smyrna, writes concerning Panaghia-Kapouli: "Every one is entire free to keep his personal opinion". Finally the agreement of the condition of the ruined house in Panaghia-Kapouli with Catharine's description does not necessarily prove the truth of her statement as to the history of the building (In connection with this controversy, see Le Camus, Les sept Eglises de l'Apocalypse, Paris, 1896, pp. 133-135; Nirschl, Das Grab der hl. Jungfrau, Mainz, 1900; P. Barnabé, Le tombeau de la Sainte Vierge a Jérusalem, Jerusalem, 1903; Gabriélovich, Le tombeau de la Sainte Vierge à Ephése, réponse au P. Barnabé, Paris, 1905)

    Two considerations militate against a permanent residence of Our Lady in Jerusalem: first, it has already been pointed out that St. John did not permanently remain in the Holy City; secondly, the Jewish Christians are said to have left Jerusalem during the periods of Jewish persecution (cf. Acts, viii, 1; xii, 1). But as St. John cannot be supposed to have taken Our Lady with him on his apostolic expeditions, we may suppose that he left her in the care of his friends or relatives during the periods of his absence. And there is little doubt that many of the Christians returned to Jerusalem, after the storms of persecution had abated. Independently of these considerations, we may appeal to the following reasons in favour of Mary's death and burial in Jerusalem: (1) In 451 Juvenal, Bishop of Jerusalem, testified to the presence of Mary's tomb in Jerusalem. It is strange that neither St. Jerome, nor the Pilgrim of Bordeaux, nor again pseudo-Silvia give any evidence of such a sacred place. But when the Emperor Marcion and the Empress Pulcheria asked Juvenal to send the sacred remains of the Virgin Mary from their tomb in Gethsemani to Constantinople, where they intended to dedicate a new church to Our Lady, the bishop cited an ancient tradition saying that the sacred body had been assumed into heaven, and sent to Constantinople only the coffin and the winding sheet. This narrative rests on the authority of a certain Euthymius whose report was inserted into a homily of St. John Damascene (hom. II in dormit. B.V.M., 18 P.G., XCVI, 748) now read in the second Nocturn of the fourth day within the octave of the Assumption. Scheeben (Handb. der Kath. Dogmat., Freiburg, 1875, III, 572) is of opinion that Euthymius's words are a later interpolation: they do not fit into the context; they contain an appeal to pseudo-Dionysius (de divinis Nomin., III, 2, P.G., III, 690) which are not otherwise cited before the sixth century; and they are suspicious in their connection with the name of Bishop Juvenal, who was charged with forging documents by Pope St. Leo (et. XXIX, 4, P.L., LIV, 1044). In his letter the pontiff reminds the bishop of the holy places which he has under his very eyes, but does not mention the tomb of Mary (ep. CXXXIX, 1, 2, P.L., LIV, 1103, 1105). Allowing that this silence is purely incidental, the main question remains, how much historic truth underlies the Euthymian account of the words of Juvenal? (2) Here must be mentioned too the apocryphal "Historia dormitionis et assumptionis B.M.V.", which claims St. John for its author (cf. Assemani, Biblioth. orient., III, 287). Tischendorf believes that the substantial parts of the work go back to the fourth, perhaps even to the second, century (Apoc. apocr., Mariae dormitio, Leipzig, 1856, p. XXXIV). Variations of the original text apeared in Arabic and Syriac, and in other languages; among these must be noted a work called "De transitu Mariae Virg.", which appeared under the name of St. Melito of Sardes (P.G., V, 1231-1240; cf. Le Hir, Etudes bibliques, Paris, 1869, LI, 131-185). Pope Gelasius enumerates this work among the forbidden books (P.L., LIX, 152). The extraordinary incidents which these works connect with the death of Mary do not concern us here; but they place her last moments and her burial in or near Jerusalem. (3) Another witness for the existence of a tradition placing the tomb of Mary in Gethsemani is the basilica erected above the sacred spot, about the end of the fourth or the beginning of the fifth century. The present church was built by the Latins in the same place in which the old edifice had stood (Guerin, Jerusalem, Paris, 1889, 346-350; Socin-Benzinger, Palastina und Syrien, Leipzig, 1891, pp. 90-91; Le Camus, Notre voyage aux pays bibliqes, Paris, 1894, I, 253). (4) In the early part of the seventh century, Modestus, Bishop of Jerusalem, located the passing of Our Lady on Mount Sion, in the house which contained the Cenacle and the upper room of Pentecost (P.G., LXXXVI, 3288-3300). At that time, a single church covered the localities consecrated by these various mysteries. One must wonder at the late evidence for a tradition which became so general since the seventh century. (5) Another tradition is preserved in the "Commemoratorium de Casis Dei" addressed to Charlemagne (Tobler, Itiner, Terr. sanct., Leipzig, 1867, I, 302). It places the death of Mary on Mt. Olivet where a church is said to commemorate this event. Perhaps the writer tried to connect Mary's passing with the Church of the Assumption as the sister tradition connected it with the cenacle. At any rate, we may conclude that about the beginning of the fifth century there existed a fairly general tradition that Mary had died in Jerusalem, and had been buried in Gethsemani. This tradition appears to rest on a more solid basis than the report that Our Lady died and was buried in or near Ephesus. As thus far historical documents are wanting, it would be hard to establish the connection of either tradition with apostolic times. Cf. Zahn, Die Dormitio Sanctae Virginis und das Haus des Johannes Marcus, in Neue Kirchl. Zeitschr., Leipzig, 1898, X, 5; Mommert, Die Dormitio, Leipzig, 1899; Séjourné, Le lieu de la dormition de la T.S. Vierge, in Revue biblique, 1899, pp.141-144; Lagrange, La dormition de la Sainte Vierge et la maison de Jean Marc, ibid., pp. 589, 600.

    It has been seen that we have no absolute certainty as to the place in which Mary lived after the day of Pentecost. Though it is more probable that she remained uninterruptedly in or near Jerusalem, she may have resided for a while in the vicinity of Ephesus, and this may have given rise to the tradition of her Ephesian death and burial. There is still less historical information concerning the particular incidents of her life. St. Epiphanius (hær. LXXVIII, 11, P.G., XL, 716) doubts even the reality of Mary's death; but the universal belief of the Church does not agree with the private opinion of St. Epiphanius. Mary's death was not necessarily the effect of violence; it was undergone neither as an expiation or penalty, nor as the effect of disease from which, like her Divine Son, she was exempt. Since the Middle Ages the view prevails that she died of love, her great desire to be united to her Son either dissolving the ties of body and soul, or prevailing on God to dissolve them. Her passing away is a sacrifice of love completing the dolorous sacrifice of her life. It is the death in the kiss of the Lord (in osculo Domini), of which the just die. There is no certain tradition as to the year of Mary's death. Baronius in his Annals relies on a passage in the Chronicon of Eusebius for his assumption that Mary died A.D. 48. It is now believed that the passage of the Chronicon is a later interpolation (cf. Nirschl, Das Grab der hl. Jungfrau Maria, Mainz, 1896, 48). Nirschl relies on a tradition found in Clement of Alexandria (Stromat. vi, 5) and Apollonius (in Eus., Hist. eccl., I, 21) which refers to a command of Our Lord that the Apostles were to preach twelve years in Jerusalem and Palestine before going among the nations of the world; hence he too arrives at the conclusion that Mary died A.D. 48.

    The Assumption of Our Lady into heaven has been treated in a special article. The reader may consult also an article in the "Zeitschrift für katholische Theologie", 1906, pp. 201 sqq. The feast of the Assumption is most probably the oldest among all the feasts of Mary properly so called; cf. "Zeitschrift fur katholische Theologie", 1878, 213. As to art, the assumption was a favourite subject of the school of Siena which generally represents Mary as being carried to heaven in a mandorla.

The Catholic Encyclopedia, Volume XV, p. 470-471
Nihil Obstat, October 1, 1912. Remy Lafort, S.T.D., Censor
Imprimatur. +John Cardinal Farley, Archbishop of New York

EARLY CHRISTIAN ATTITUDE TO THE MOTHER OF GOD. — No picture has preserved for us the true likeness of Mary. The Byzantine representations, said to be painted by St. Luke, belong only to the sixth century, and reproduce a conventional type. There are twenty-seven copies in existence, ten of which are in Rome (cf. Martigny, Dict. des antiq. chrét., Paris, 1877, p. 792). Even St. Augustine expresses the opinion that the real external appearance of Mary is unknown to us, and that in this regard we know and believe nothing (de Trinit. VIII, 5, P.L., XLII, 952). The earliest picture of Mary is that found in the cemetery of Priscilla; it represents the Virgin as if about to nurse the Infant Jesus, and near her is the image of a prophet, Isaias or perhaps Micheas. The picture belongs to the beginning of the second century, and compares favourably with the works of art found in Pompeii. From the third century we possess pictures of Our Lady present at the adoration of the Magi; they are found in the cemeteries of Domitilla and Calixtus. Pictures belonging to the fourth century are found in the cemetery of Saints Peter and Marcellinus; in one of these she appears with her head uncovered, in another with her arms half extended as if in supplication, and with the Infant standing before her. On the graves of the early Christians, the saints figured as intercessors for their souls, and among these saints Mary always held the place of honour. Besides the paintings on the walls and on the sarcophagi, the Catacombs furnish also pictures of Mary painted on gilt glass disks and sealed up by means of another glass disk welded to the former (cf. Garucci, Vetri ornati di figure in oro, Rome, 1858). Generally these pictures belong to the third or fourth century. Quite frequently the legend MARIA or MARA accompanies these pictures. Towards the end of the fourth century, the name Mary becomes rather frequent among Christians; this serves as another sign of the veneration they had for the Mother of God (cf. Martigny, Dict. das antiq. chret., Paris, 1877, p. 515). No one will suspect the early Christians of idolatry, as if they had paid supreme worship to Mary's pictures or name; but how are we to explain the phenomena enumerated, unless we suppose that the early Christians venerated Mary in a special way (cf. Marucchi, Elem. d'archaeol. chret., Paris and Rome, 1899, I, 321; De Rossi, Imagini scelte della B.V. Maria, tratte dalle Catacombe Romane, Rome, 1863)? Nor can this veneration be said to be a corruption introduced in later times. It has been seen that the earliest picture dates from the beginning of the second century, so that within the first fifty years after the death of St. John the veneration of Mary is proved to have flourished in the Church of Rome.

    For the attitude of the Churches of Asia Minor and of Lyons we may appeal to the words of St. Irenaeus, a pupil of St. John's disciple Polycarp (adv. hær., V, 17, P.G. VIII, 1175); he calls Mary our most eminent advocate. St. Ignatius of Antioch, part of whose life reached back into apostolic times, wrote to the Ephesians (c. 18-19) in such a way as to connect the mysteries of Our Lord's life more closely with those of the Virgin Mary. For instance, the virginity of Mary, and her childbirth, are enumerated with Christ's death, as forming three mysteries unknown to the devil. The sub-apostolic author of the Epistle to Diognetus, writing to a pagan inquirer concerning the Christian mysteries, describes Mary as the great antithesis of Eve, and this idea of Our Lady occurs repeatedly in other writers even before the Council of Ephesus. We have repeatedly appealed to the words of St. Justin and Tertullian, both of whom wrote before the end of the second century. As it is admitted that the praises of Mary grow with the growth of the Christian community, we may conclude in brief that the veneration of and devotion to Mary began even in the time of the Apostles.

The Catholic Encyclopedia, Volume XV, p. 471-472
Nihil Obstat, October 1, 1912. Remy Lafort, S.T.D., Censor
Imprimatur. +John Cardinal Farley, Archbishop of New York

An indulgence of 300 days, A plenary indulgence once a month on the usual conditions for the daily devout repetition of the invocation (1933).

"O Mary, Mother of God and Mother of mercy, pray for us and for all who have died in the embrace of the Lord."

An indulgence of 300 days

An indulgence of 300 days, A plenary indulgence once a month on the usual conditions for the daily devout repetition of the invocation (1933).

"Our Lady of Lourdes (of the Pillar, or under another title approved by ecclesiastical authority), pray for us."-An indulgence of 300 days

"My Mother, deliver me from mortal sin. Hail Mary three times"-An indulgence of 300 days

"O Mary, bless this house where thy Name is always blessed. Praise forever be to Mary Immaculate, the ever-Virgin, blessed amongst women, the Mother of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Queen of Paradise." -An indulgence of 300 days

"O Mary, our hope, have pity on us."-An indulgence of 300 days

"Mother of love, of sorrow and of mercy, pray for us."-An indulgence of 300 days

"Holy Mary, deliver us from the pains of hell." -An indulgence of 300 days

"My Mother, my hope."-An indulgence of 300 days

"O Virgin Mary, Mother of Jesus, make us saints."-An indulgence of 300 days

"Mother of Mercy, pray for us."-An indulgence of 300 days

"O Mary, Virgin Mother of God, pray to Jesus for me."-An indulgence of 300 days

"O Mary, make me live in God, with God, and for God."-An indulgence of 300 days

"O Mary, Mother of grace and Mother of mercy, do thou protect us from our enemy, and receive us at the hour of our death."-

An indulgence of 300 days, A plenary indulgence once a month on the usual conditions for the daily devout repetition of the invocation (1933).

"Remember, O Virgin Mother of God, when thou shalt stand before the face of the Lord, that thou speak favorable things in our behalf and that He may turn away His indignation from us."

An indulgence of 300 days, A plenary indulgence once a month on the usual conditions for the daily devout repetition of the invocation (1934).

"Bless us, Mary Maiden mild, bless us too, her tender Child."-An indulgence of 300 days

"Thou art my Mother, O Virgin Mary: keep me safe lest I ever offend thy dear Son, and obtain for me the grace to please Him always and in all things."-An indulgence of 300 days

Blessed art Thou, O Virgin Mary, by the Lord God most high, above all women upon the earth."-

An indulgence of 300 days, A plenary indulgence once a month on the usual conditions for the daily devout repetition of the invocation (1936).

" Most high Queen of the Universe, Mary ever Virgin, make intercession for our peace and salvation, thou who didst bear Christ the Lord, the Savior of al mankind."

An indulgence of 300 days, A plenary indulgence once a month on the usual conditions for the daily devout repetition of the invocation (1936).

"Draw us after thee, holy Mother."-An indulgence of 300 days

Pray for us, O holy Mother of God, that we may be made worthy of the promises of Christ."

An indulgence of 300 days, A plenary indulgence once a month on the usual conditions for the daily devout repetition of the invocation (1940).

"Holy Mary, Virgin Mother of God, intercede for me."

An indulgence of 300 days, A plenary indulgence once a month on the usual conditions for the daily devout repetition of the invocation (1940).

"Rejoice, O Virgin Mary, thou alone hast put down all heresies in the whole world."-An indulgence of 300 days

"O Mary, may thy children persevere in loving thee!"-An indulgence of 300 days

Canticle of Mary

My soul proclaims your greatness, O my God,
and my spirit has rejoiced in your my Saviour;
For you have regarded me as your holy handmaid;
henceforth all generations shall call me blessed;
For you who are mighty, have done great things for me,
and Holy is your Name;
Your mercy is on those who fear you throughout all generations.
You have showed strength with your arm.
You have scattered the proud in the conceit of their heart.
You have put down the mighty from their seat,
and have lifted up the powerless.
You have filled the hungry with good things,
and have sent the rich away empty.
Remembering your mercy,
You have helped your people Israel -
As you promised Abraham and Sarah.
Mercy to their children forever.

An indulgence of 3 years, An indulgence of 5 years if the canticle is recited on the feast of the Visitation of the Blessed Virgin Mary, or on any Saturday of the year.

A Plenary indulgence once a month on the usual conditions for the daily recitation of this canticle

Ave Maris Stella

O Gloriosa Virginum

O Glorious Virgin, ever blest,

All daughters of mankind above,

Who gavest nurture from thy breast

To God, with pure maternal love.

What man hath lost in hapless Eve,

The Blossom sprung from thee restores;

Thou to the sorrowing here beneath

Hast opened heaven's eternal doors.

O gate, through which hath passed the King

The ransomed nations praise and sing

The Offspring of thy Virgin womb.

All honor, laud and glory be,

 O Jesu, Virgin-born, to Thee:

All glory, as is ever meet,

To Father and to Paraclete. Amen.

An indulgence of 3 years

Alma Redemptoris Mater

An indulgence of 5 years if the canticle is recited on the feast of the Visitation of the Blessed Virgin Mary, or on any Saturday of the year.

A Plenary indulgence once a month on the usual conditions for the daily recitation of this canticle

Ave, Regina Caelorum

An indulgence of 5 years if the canticle is recited on the feast of the Visitation of the Blessed Virgin Mary, or on any Saturday of the year.

A Plenary indulgence once a month on the usual conditions for the daily recitation of this canticle

Act of Reparation for Blasphemies against the B.V.M

Most glorious Virgin Mary, Mother of God and our Mother, turn shine eyes in pity upon us, miserable sinners; we are sore
afflicted by the many evils that surround us in this life, but especially do we feel our hearts break within us upon hearing the dreadful insults and blasphemies uttered against thee, O Virgin Immaculate. O how these impious sayings offend the infinite Majesty of God and of His only-begotten Son, Jesus Christ! How they provoke His indignation and give us cause to fear the terrible effects of His vengeance! Would that the sacrifice of our lives might avail to put an end to such outrages and blasphemies; were it so, how gladly we should make it, for we desire, O most holy Mother, to love thee and to honor thee with all our hearts, since this is the will of God. And just because we love thee, we will do all that is in our power to make thee honored and loved by all men. In the meantime do thou, our merciful Mother, the supreme comforter of the afflicted, accept this our act of reparation which we offer thee for ourselves and for all our families, as well as for all who impiously blaspheme thee, not knowing what they say. Do thou obtain for them from Almighty God the grace of conversion, and thus render more manifest and more glorious thy kindness, thy power and thy great mercy. May they join with us in proclaiming thee blessed among women, the Immaculate Virgin and most compassionate Mother of God. Amen.

Hail Mary three times-An indulgence of 5 years

The Crown of Twelve Stars

The Angelus
During Paschaltide, this prayer, said kneeling, is replaced by the Regina Coeli (see below).

Regina Caeli
This prayer, said standing, is used to replace the Angelus during Paschaltide.

The faithful who at dawn at noon and at eventide, or as soon thereafter as may be, devoutly recite the Angelus, or at Eastertide the Regina caeli, with the appropriate versicles and prayers, or who merely say the Hail Mary five times, may gain: An Indulgence of 10 years each time; A plenary indulgence on the usual conditions if they persevere in this devout practice for a month.

Hail Holy Queen

An Indulgence of 5 years, An indulgence of 7 years, every day in May. A plenary indulgence once a month on the usual conditions for the daily recitation of this prayer. A plenary indulgence at the hour of death to be gained by those who have often recited this prayer during life, and who, after confession and Communion, or at least an act of contrition, shall invoke the holy Name of Jesus with their lips, if possible, or at least in their hearts, and accept death with resignation from the hand of God as the just punishment of sin (1786)

Sub Tuum Praesidium (We Fly to Thy Patronage)

An Indulgence of 5 years,A plenary indulgence once a month on the usual conditions for the daily recitation of this prayer. A plenary indulgence at the hour of death to be gained by those who have often recited this prayer during life, and who, after confession and Communion, or at least an act of contrition, shall invoke the holy Name of Jesus with their lips, if possible, or at least in their hearts, and accept death with resignation from the hand of God as the just punishment of sin (1786)

Prayer to the Immaculate Heart of Mary

Heart of Mary, Mother of God, our Mother, Heart most amiable, on which the Adorable Trinity ever looks with complacency, worthy of all the veneration and tenderness of angels and of men; Heart most like the Heart of Jesus, whose most perfect image thou art; heart full of goodness, ever compassionate towards our miseries, - vouchsafe to thaw our icy hearts, that they may be changed entirely to the likeness of the heart of Jesus. Infuse into them the love of thy virtues, inflame them with that blessed fire with which thou dost ever burn. In thee let the Holy Church find safe shelter; protect it, and be its sweet asylum, its tower of strength, impregnable against every inroad of its enemies. Be thou the road leading to Jesus; be thou the channel whereby we receive all graces needful for our salvation. Be thou our help in need, our comfort in trouble, our strength in temptation, our refuge in persecution, our aid in all dangers; but especially in the last struggle of our life, at the moment of our death, when all hell will be unchained against us to snatch away our souls, -  in that dread moment, that hour so terrible, whereon our eternity depends, and, yes, most tender Virgin, do thou then make us feel how great is the sweetness of thy motherly Heart, and the strength of thy power with the Heart of Jesus, by opening for us a safe refuge in the very fount of mercy itself, whereby we too may one day join with thee in Paradise in praising that same Heart of Jesus for ever and for ever. Amen

The devotion to the Sacred Heart of Jesus having been firmly established in the Catholic world, it seemed fitting that a similar devotion should be established in honour of the Immaculate Heart of Mary. Accordingly Benedict XIV., with a Bull of March 7, 1753, erected in the church of the Most Holy Redeemer, near Ponte Sisto in Rome, the first Confraternity which took its name from the Immaculate Heart of Mary; and Pope Pius VII., whilst approving the devotion, by a decree of the S. Congr. of Rites of Aug. 31, 1805, granted also an office and Mass for the feast of it, to kindle thereby the love of the faithful towards it. 
In the year 1807, in order still more to advance this devotion, he erected in Rome, in the deaconry of St. Eustachius, a "Primary Congregation (Congregazione Primario) of the Sacred Heart of Mary," granting to its members many Indulgences, with power to aggregate other confraternities out of Rome, which should also participate in the Indulgences. Moreover, in order that not only the members of both sexes of the said confraternities and congregations in Rome and elsewhere, but that all the faithful every where, might he moved to honour the Sacred Heart of Mary, the same Pope Pius VII., at the prayer of many bishops and priests, by Rescripts given from the Segretaria of the Memorials, Aug. 18, 1807, Feb. 1, 1816, and Sept. 26, 1817 (all of which are preserved in the Archivium of the Pious Union of the Sacred Heart of Jesus before named), granted -
i. The indulgence of sixty days, once a day, to all who say devoutly the following prayer to the Sacred Heart of Mary, with the act of praise to the SS. Hearts of Jesus and Mary; and -
ii. The plenary indulgence to those who say it every day for a year, on each of the following three feasts of our Lady, viz, the Nativity, Assumption, and her Immaculate Heart provided that, after Confession and Communion, they visit a church or altar dedicated to the Blessed Virgin, and pray there according to the Pope's intention.
Lastly, he granted -
iii. The plenary indulgence at the hour of death to all who in life shall not omit to say this prayer.

Prayers for every day of the week, with 3 Ave Maria's

PRAYER FOR SUNDAY.

Mother of my God, look down upon a poor sinner, who has recourse to thee, and puts his trust in thee. I am not worthy that thon shouldst even cast thine eyes upon me; but I know that thou, beholding Jesus thy Son dying for sinners, dost thyself yearn exceedingly to save them. O Mother of Mercy, look on my miseries and have pity upon me. I hear it said by all that thou art the refuge of the sinner, the hope of the desperate, the aid of the lost; be thou, then, my refuge, hope, and aid. It is thy prayers which must save me. For the love of Jesus Christ be thou my help; reach forth thy hand to the poor fallen sinner who recommends himself to thee. I know that it is thy consolation to aid the sinner when thou canst do so; help me then, thou who canst help. By my sins I have forfeited the grace of God and my own soul. I place myself in thy hands; O, tell me what to do that I may regain the grace of God, and I will do it. My Saviour bids me go to thee for help; He wills that I should look to thy pity; that so, not only the merits of thy Son, but thine own prayers also, may unite to save me. To thee, then, I have recourse: pray thou to Jesus for me; and make me experience how great good thou canst do for one who trusts in thee. Be it done unto me according to my hope. Amen.

Then say three Ave Maria's to the Blessed Virgin Mary in reparation for the blasphemies uttered against her.

PRAYER FOR MONDAY.

Most holy Mary, Queen of heaven, I who was once the slave of the Evil One now dedicate myself to thy service for ever; and I offer myself, to honour and to serve thee as long as I live. Accept me for thy servant, and cast me not away from thee as I deserve. In thee, O my Mother, I place all my hopes. All blessing and thanksgiving be to God, who in His mercy giveth me this trust in thee. It is true that in past time I have fallen miserably into sin; but by the merits of Jesus Christ, and thy prayers, I hope that God has pardoned me. But this is not enough, my Mother. One thought terrifies me; it is, that I may yet lose the grace of God. Danger is ever nigh; the devil sleeps not; fresh temptations assail me. Protect me, then, my Queen; help me against the assaults of my spiritual enemy. Never suffer me to sin again, or to offend Jesus thy Son. Let me not by my sin lose my soul, heaven, and my God. This one grace, Mary, I ask of thee; this is my desire; may thy prayers obtain this for me. Such is my hope. Amen.

The three Ave Maria's as before.

PRAYER FOR TUESDAY.

Most holy Mary, Mother of Goodness, Mother of Mercy; when I reflect upon my sins and upon the moment of my death, I tremble and am confounded. O my sweetest Mother, in the Blood of Jesus, in thy intercession, are my hopes. Comforter of the sad, abandon me not at that hour; fail not to console me in that great affliction. If even now I am so tormented by remorse for the sins I have committed, the uncertainty of my pardon, the danger of a relapse, and the strictness of the judgment, how will it be with me then? O my Mother, before death overtake me, obtain for me great sorrow for my sins, a true amendment, and constant fidelity to God for the remainder of my life. And when at length my hour is come, then do thou, Mary, my hope, be thyself my aid in those great troubles wherewith my soul will be encompassed. Strengthen me, that I may not despair when the enemy sets my sins before my face. Obtain for me at that moment grace to invoke thee often, so that I may breathe forth my spirit with thine own sweet name and that of thy most holy Son upon any lips. This grace thou hast granted to many of thy servants; this, too, is my hope and my desire.

The three Ave Maria's as before.

PRAYER FOR WEDNESDAY.

Mother of God, most holy Mary, how often by my sins have I merited hell! Long ago, perhaps, judgment would have gone forth against my first mortal sin, hadst not thou in thy tender pity delayed the justice of God, and afterwards attracted me by thy sweetness to have confidence in thy prayers. And O, how very often should I have fallen in the dangers which beset my steps, hadst not thou, loving Mother that thou art, preserved me by the graces thou by thy prayers didst obtain for me. But O, my Queen, what will thy pity and thy favours avail me, if after all I perish in the flames of hell? If there was once a time when I loved thee not, yet now, next to God, I love thee before all. Wherefore, henceforth and for ever, suffer me not to turn my back upon thee and upon my God, who through thee has granted me so many mercies. O Lady, most worthy of all love, let it not be that I thy child shall have to hate and to utter maledictions for ever in hell. Thou wilt surely never endure to see thy servant lost who loves thee. O Mary, say not that I ever can be lost! Yet I shall assuredly be lost if I abandon thee. But who could ever have the heart to leave thee? Who can ever forget thy love? No; it is impossible for that man to perish who faithfully recommends himself to thee, and has recourse to thee. Only leave me not, my Mother, in my own hands, or I am lost! Let me but cling to thee! Save me, my Hope! save me from hell; or rather, save me from sin, which alone can condemn me to hell.

The three Ave Maria's as before.

PRAYER FOR THURSDAY.

Queen of Heaven, who sittest enthroned above all the choirs of the angels nighest to God, from this vale of miseries I, a poor sinner, salute thee, praying thee in thy love to turn upon me those gracious eyes of thine. See, Mary, the dangers among which I dwell, and shall ever have to dwell whilst I live upon this earth. I may yet lose my soul, Paradise, and God. In thee, Lady, is my hope. I love thee; and I sigh after the time when I shall see thee and praise thee in Paradise. O Mary, when will that blessed day come that I shall see myself safe at thy feet? When shall I kiss that hand, which has dispensed to me so many graces? Alas, it is too true, O my Mother, that I have ever been very ungrateful during my whole life; but if I go to Heaven, then I will love thee there every moment of a whole eternity, and make thee reparation in some sort for my ingratitude by ever blessing and praising thee. Thanks be to God, for that He hath vouchsafed me this hope through the Precious Blood of Jesus, and through thy powerful intercession. This has been the hope of all thy true lovers; and no one of them has been defrauded of his hope. No: neither shall I be deceived of mine. O Mary, pray to thine own Son Jesus, as I also will pray to Him, by the merits of His Passion, to strengthen and increase this my hope.

The three Ave Maria's as before.

PRAYER FOR FRIDAY.

O Mary, thou art the noblest, highest, purest, fairest creation of Coil, the holiest of all creatures! O, that all men knew thee, loved thee, my Queen, as thou deservest to be loved!  Yet great is my consolation, Mary, that there are blessed souls in the courts of Heaven, and just souls still on earth, whose hearts thou leadest captive with thy beauty and thy goodness. But above all I rejoice in this, that our God himself loves thee alone more than all men and angels together. I too, O Queen most loveable, I, miserable sinner, dare to love thee, though my love is too little; I would I had a greater love, a more tender love: this thou must gain for me, since to love thee is a great mark of predestination, and a grace which God grants to those who shall be saved. Moreover, O my Mother, when I reflect upon the debt I owe thy Son, I see He deserves of me an immeasurable love. Do thou, then, who desirest nothing so much as to see Him loved, pray that I may have this grace - a great love for Jesus Christ. Obtain it, thou who obtainest what thou wilt. I covet not goods of earth, nor honours, nor riches, but I desire that which thine own heart desires most, - to love my God alone. O, can it be that thou wilt not aid me in a desire so acceptable to thee? No: it is impossible! even now I feel thy help, even now thou prayest for me. Pray for me, Mary, pray; nor ever cease to pray, till thou dost see me safe in Paradise, where I shall be certain of possessing and of loving my God and thee, my dearest Mother, for ever and for ever. Amen.

The three Ave Maria's as before.

PRAYER FOR SATURDAY.

Most holy Mary, I know the graces which thou hast obtained for me, and I know the ingratitude which I have shown thee. The ungrateful man is unworthy of favours; and yet for all this I will not distrust thy mercy. O my great Advocate, have pity on me. Thou, Mary, dost dispense the graces which God vouchsafes to give us sinners, and therefore did He make thee so mighty, rich, and kind, that thou mightest succour us. I will that I may be saved: in thy hands I place my eternal salvation, to thee I consign my soul. I will to be associated with those who are thy special servants; reject me not. Thou goest up and down seeking the wretched, to console them. Cast not away, then, a wretched sinner who has recourse to thee. Speak for me, Mary; thy Son grants what thou askest. Take me beneath thy shelter, and it is enough for me; for with thee to guard me I fear no ill; no, not even my sins; because thou wilt obtain God's pardon for them: no, nor yet devils; because thou art far mightier than all hell: no, nor my Judge Jesus Christ; for at thy prayer He will lay aside His wrath. Protect me, then, my Mother; obtain for me pardon of my sins, love of Jesus, holy perseverance, a good death, and Heaven. It is too true, I merit not these graces; yet do thou only ask them of our God, and I shall obtain them. Pray, then, to Jesus for me. O Mary, my Queen, in thee I trust; in this trust I rest, I live; and with this trust I will that I may die. Amen.

The three Ave Maria's as before; then the Litanies, it being Saturday, for which there is the indulgence,.

Pope Pius VII., of holy memory, at the prayer of the Chapter of the Basilica of St. Mary in Cosmedin here in Rome, by a Rescript of the S. Congr. of Indulgences, dated June 21, 1808, kept in the Archivium of the said Basilica, granted -
i. An indulgence or 300 days, once a day, to all the faithful who, with contrite hearts, say the following prayers to our Blessed Lady, extracted from the spiritual works of the holy Bishop Alphonsus Maria de' Liguori, each on that day of the week to which it has been assigned, together with three Ave Maria's, with the intention of making some reparation to her for the many blasphemies which have been, and are daily uttered against her, not only by unbelievers, but even by bad Christians.
ii. A plenary indulgence, once a month, to all who say these prayers, with three Ave Maria's, daily for a whole month, with the intention above named, on any one day when, after Confession and Communion, they shall pray to God for the Holy Church, &c.

Virgin Most Holy

Virgin most holy, Mother of the Word Incarnate, Who dost dispense graces, Refuge of us poor sinners; we fly to thy maternal love with lively faith, and we ask thee to obtain for us grace ever to do the will of God and thine own. Into thy most holy hands we commit the keeping of our hearts; beseeching thee for health of soul amid body, in the certain hope that thou, our most loving Mother, wilt hear our prayer. Wherefore with lively faith we say
Ave Maria three times.

Let us pray.
Defend, O Lord, we beseech Thee, us Thy servants from all infirmity, through the intercession of the Blessed Mary ever-Virgin; and mercifully protect its from the snares of the enemy, who prostrate ourselves before Thee with our whole heart. Through Christ our Lord. Amen.

Pope Leo XII., by a decree of the S. Congr. of Indulgences of Aug. 11, 1824, besides confirming -
i. An indulgence of 100 days already granted in the year 1804 by Pope Pius VII., to all the faithful who say with contrite hearts, in honour of most holy Mary, the following prayer with three Ave Maria's -
Added by a fresh Rescript of the same S. Congr. of May 10, 1828 -
ii. A further indulgence of 100 days to the said devotion.

Prayer to the Blessed Virgin and to Saint Anne

Hail, Mary, full of grace, the Lord is with thee; may thy grace be with me. Blessed art thou amongst women, and blessed is holy Anne thy mother, from whom, O Virgin Mary, thou didst come forth free from all stain of sin; then of thee was born Jesus Christ, Son of the living God. Amen.

Pope Pius VII., by a Rescript of the S. Congr. of Indulgences of Jan. 10, 1815, granted to the faithful -
i. An indulgence of 100 days, every time that, with contrite heart and devotion, they say the following prayer in honour of the most holy Virgin and her mother, St. Anne.
ii. A plenary indulgence to those who shall say this prayer at least ten times every month, on the Feast of St. Anne, July 26, provided that, being truly penitent, they do on that day, alter Confession and Communion, devoutly visit a church and pray according to the intention of the Sovereign Pontiff.

 Ave Augustissima

Hail, thou that art most Venerable, Queen of Peace, most holy Mother of God; through the Sacred Heart of Jesus thy Son, the Prince of Peace, cause His anger to cease from us, that so He may reign over us in peace. Remember, O most gracious Virgin Mary, that never was it known that any one who sought thy prayers was forsaken by God. Inspired with this confidence, I come unto thee. Despise not my petitions, O Mother of the Incarnate Word; but in thy loving kindness hear and answer me, O merciful, O kind, O sweet Virgin Mary.

In order to encourage the faithful to have frequent recourse to the most holy Virgin, imploring her most efficacious aid, our Sovereign Pontiff his Holiness Pope Pius IX., by a decree of the S. Congr. of Indulgences, of Sept. 23, 1846, grants -
i. An indulgence of 300 days to all the faithful, as often as they say the following prayer, with contrite hearts and devotion.
ii. A plenary indulgence to all who say it at least once a day for a month, on any one day in the said month when, after Confession and Communion, they visit some church or public oratory, and pray there according to the mind of the Sovereign Pontiff.

Memorare

From the Raccolta, #339 (S. C. Ind., Dec. 11, 1846; S. P. Ap., Sept. 8, 1935) Encr. Ind. #32. For information about Fr. Claude Bernard, see Claude Bernard, dit "le Pauvre Pretre", Commandeur de Broqua, 12ed, Lethielleux, 1913. De Broqua was the postulator for the cause of Fr. Bernard's canonization.

The same Sovereign Pontiff Pius IX., in order to satisfy the earnest wish of his Eminence Cardinal Louis James Maurice de Bonald, Archbishop of Lyons, by a Rescript of the S. Congr. of Indulgences of July 25, 1846, granted to all the faithful in the kingdom of France -
i. An indulgence or 300 days every time the most efficacious and devout prayer of St. Bernard to the Blessed Virgin, called the "Memorare," is said with contrition.
ii. A plenary indulgence, to all those who have the devout habit of saying this prayer at least once a day every month, on any one day in the month, provided that, after Confession and Communion, they visit a church or public oratory, and pray there according to the mind of the Sovereign Pontiff.
Afterwards his Holiness, at the prayer of several ecclesiastics and persons of consideration in Rome, vouchsafed, by a decree of the S. Congregation of Indulgences of Dec. 11, 1846, to extend these Indulgences to all the faithful in the whole Catholic world for over, under the aforesaid conditions

O Domina Mea!

My Queen! my Mother! I give thee all myself; and to show my devotion to thee, I consecrate to thee this day my eyes, ears, mouth, heart, myself wholly and without reserve. Wherefore, O loving Mother, as I am thine own, keep me, defend me, as thy property and thy own possession.

My Queen! my Mother! remember I am thine own.
Keep me, defend mc, as thy property, thy own possession.

Three Ejaculations, Jesus, Mary, Joseph

Our Sovereign Pontiff Pius IX., at the prayer of the Father- General of the Society of Jesus, granted, by a decree of the S. Congr. of Indulgences, of Aug. 5, 1851 -
i. An indulgence of 100 days, to be gained once a day by saying, morning and evening, with contrite heart, one Ave Maria, with the accompanying Prayer and Ejaculation, O Domina mea! &c., for the purpose of imploring the aid of the most holy Virgin in temptations, especially in those against chastity.
ii. A plenary indulgence, once a month, to all who practise this devotion for a month together, on any one day in the month, provided that, after Confession and Communion, they visit a church or public oratory, and pray there according to the mind of his Holiness, he granted also -
iii. An indulgence of forty days, every time any one, when assaulted by any temptation, shall have recourse to the most holy Virgin with nothing more than the ejaculation, O Domina mea! O Mater mea! Memento, &c.

O Beata Virgo

Mary, Virgin ever-blessed! who can worthily praise thee or give thanks to thee, who, by the assent of thy will alone hast rescued a fallen world? What honours can the weakness of our human nature pay to thee, which by thy intervention alone hath found the way to restoration? Accept, then, such poor thanks as we have here to offer, though they are unequal to thy merits, and receiving our vows, obtain by thy prayers the remission of our offences. Admit thou our prayers into the sanctuary of the heavenly audience, and bring back to us the medicine of our reconciliation. Through thee may that be pardonable which through thee we bring before God; and that be admissible which we ask with faithful heart. Accept what we offer, grant us what we ask, pardon us what we fear; for thou art the sole hope of sinners. Through thee we hope for the forgiveness of our faults; and in thee, most blessed one, is the hope of our reward. Holy Mary, succour the wretched, help the faint-hearted, comfort the sorrowful, pray for the people, shield the clergy, intercede for the devout female sex, let all feel thy help who celebrate thy holy commemoration. Be thou at hand, ready to aid our prayers, when we pray; and bring back to us their desired result. Make it thy care, blessed one, to intercede ever for the people of God - thou who didst deserve to bear the Redeemer of the world, who liveth and reigneth for ever and ever. Amen.

Our Sovereign Pontiff Pius IX., at the prayer of several devout persons, vouchsafed to grant, by a Rescript of the Segretaria of the Memorials, dated May 19, 1854 -
The indulgence of fifty days, every time that, with contrite heart, the following prayer is said to the most holy Virgin, extracted from the eighteenth Sermon of St. Augustine, De Sanctis.

Hail Mary

Stabat Mater Dolorosa

The "venerable" Pope Innocent XI., desirous that all faithful Christians should often call to mind the bitter sorrow endured by most holy Mary whilst she stood beneath the cross of her divine Son Jesus, entreating her through that great sorrow of hers to obtain for them spiritual favours in their life and in their death, - granted, by his Brief, Commissae nobis, of Sept. 1, 1681 -
An indulgence of 100 days to all the faithful every time that, in honour of the sorrow of the B. V. Mary, they devoutly say the sequence or hymn Stabat Mater; a hymn which, * though not composed by St. Gregory the Great or St. Bonaventure, as some suppose, yet acknowledges for its author the learned Pope Innocent III., as attested by many writers of great authority.

* Benedict XIV. on the Feasts of our Lord and B.V.M. Part ii. cap. iv. § 1, at the end.

Stabat Mater speciosa

Prayer to the Most Holy Virgin in her Desolation

Hail Mary, full of sorrows, the Crucified is with thee: tearful art thou amongst women, and tearful is the fruit of thy womb, Jesus. Holy Mary, Mother of the Crucified, grant tears to us crucifiers of thy Son, now and at the hour of our death. Amen.

His Holiness Pope Pius IX., by a decree of the S. Congr. of Indulgences, of Dec. 23, 1847, deigned to grant - An indulgence of 100 days to all the faithful, every time they say with contrite heart the following prayer in honour of the most holy Virgin in her desolation.

O Beata Virgo Maria
O Blessed Virgin Mary

From the Raccolta #341. (Secret Mem., May 19, 1854; S. P. Ap., Feb. 5, 1932)

An indulgence of 3 years. A plenary indulgence on the usual conditions, if this devotion is repeated daily for a month.

O Beatissima
O Most Blessed and Sweet Virgin Mary

O Intemerata

Oratio Sancti Bernardi ad Deiparam Virginem
Prayer of St. Bernard to the Virgin Mother of God

From "My Prayer Book", Fr. Lasance, 1908, pp 554-556. Tota pulchra es, Maria can also be found in the Raccolta #359. (S. C. Ind., Mar. 23, 1904; S. P. Ap., Dec. 19, 1936).

An indulgence of 500 days

The Messenger from God's High Throne

Latin text from the Roman Breviary, translation by Alan G. McDougall (1895-1964).

The Mount of Olives Witnesseth

Latin text from the Roman Breviary, translation by the Rt. Rev. Msgr. Hugh Thomas Henry (1862-1946).

Now Hell is Vanquished

Latin text from the Roman Breviary, translation by Canon Winfred Douglas (1867-1944).

The Gladness of Thy Motherhood

Latin text from the Roman Breviary, translation by Abbot Oswald Hunter-Blair, abbot of Fort Augustus Abbey, Scotland (1853-1939).

Flos Carmeli
Flower of Carmel

O Gloriosa Domina
O Heaven's Glorious Mistress

From the Liturgia Horarum, Common of the Blessed Virgin Mary.

Quem terra, pontus, aethera
The God Whom Earth and Sea and Sky

¹ sidera

Angelus ad Virginem
Gabriel, from Heaven's King

Commemoration of the Blessed Virgin Mary

From the Manual of Prayers, Third Plenary Council of Baltimore, 1888

May We Be Assisted

Latin from the Liturgia Horarum. See also the Raccolta #347. (S. P. Ap., Feb. 6, 1934). An indulgence of 3 years

Grant unto us, Thy servants

From the Raccolta #91. (S. P. Ap., Oct. 7, 1940). An indulgence of 300 days

Invocations to Our Lady of La Salette
for private recitation

Our Lady of La Salette, Mother of God,
pray for us.
Our Lady of La Salette, Queen and Mother of men,
pray for us.
Our Lady of La Salette, Messenger of divine mercy,
pray for us.
Our Lady of La Salette, all - powerful suppliant,
pray for us.
Thou who restrainest the arm of the Lord angered against us,
pray for us.
Thou who sheddest so many tears on account of our sins and misfortunes,
pray for us
Thou who carest so much for us, in spite of all our ingratitude,
pray for us.
Thou who dost so lovingly invite us to have recourse to thee,
pray for us.
Thou who dost reproach us with our violation of Sunday, and with blasphemy,
pray for us.
Thou who dost complain so sorrowfully of the profanation of holy things,
pray for us.
Thou who dost so strongly recommend prayer, and especially morning and evening prayer,
pray for us.
Thou who dost condemn so severely our lusts and the shameful pleasures of the world,
pray for us.
Thou who dost remind us so touchingly of the Passion of Jesus,
pray for us.
Thou whose apparition is a source of salvation for poor sinners,
pray for us.
Thou who dost invite so pressingly the just to redouble their fervor,
pray for us.
Thou whose prophetic menaces have so justly alarmed the world,
pray for us.
Thou who dost promise so many blessings if we become converted,
pray for us.
Thou who didst cause to spring up at thy feet a fountain of miraculous water,
pray for us.
Thou who, after the example of Jesus, dost heal every infirmity,
pray for us.
Thou who dost desire to be honored and invoked throughout the world,
pray for us.
Thou who didst cause to many works of reparation to be undertaken and prosper,
pray for us.
Our Lady of La Salette, living example of charity,
pray for us.
Victim of penance and expiation,
pray for us.
Model of modesty and simplicity,
pray for us.
Standard of obedience and submission,
pray for us.
Source of burning zeal and of the apostleship,
pray for us.
Loving Mother of the poor and of children,
pray for us.
Light of the blind and of the ignorant,
pray for us.
Consolation of the sick and the afflicted,
pray for us.
Hope of the despairing,
pray for us.
Help of the Church Militant,
pray for us.
Advocate of the Church Suffering,
pray for us.
Glory of the Church Triumphant,
pray for us.
By thy bitter complaints of men's sinfulness, render us docile to the law of thy divine Son,
O Mary.
By thy abundant tears, obtain for us the grace to weep over our sins,
O Mary.
By thy maternal sufferings, obtain for us resignation in all our trials,
O Mary.
By thy apparitions and thy miracles, revive the faith of thy people,
O Mary.
By thy mysterious looks towards Rome, make us more and more devoted to the Holy See,
O Mary.
By thy incomparable tenderness, make us love thee more and more,
O Mary.
By thy ravishing beauty, make us sigh after heaven,
O Mary.
By thy new assumption, draw us after thee,
O Mary.

V. Our Lady of La Salette, reconciler of sinners,
R. Pray without ceasing for us who have recourse to thee.

Let us pray.

Lord Jesus Christ, Who, in Thy infinite mercy, didst send to us on the mountain of La Salette thy ever glorious Mother in order to remind us of our Christian duties, grant that, moved by her tears and docile to her warnings, we may appease, in this life, thy just anger by a sincere repentance, and that we may merit by our good works the grace to enjoy thee eternally in heaven. Thou Who livest and reignest world without end. Amen.

Memorare

Remember , Our Lady of La Salette , true Mother of Sorrows, the tears which thou didst shed for me on Calvary. Remember also the care thou didst always take of me, in order to shield me from the justice of God. After having done so much for thy child, thou wilt not now abandon him. Animated by this consoling thought, I come to cast myself at thy feet, in spite of my infidelities and my ingratitude. Do not reject my prayer, O Merciful Virgin, but convert me, obtain for me the grace to love Jesus above all things and to console thee by a holy life, that I may, one day, be able to see thee in heaven. Amen.

(An indulgence of 500 days (S.P.Ap., Nov 7, 1927 and Dec. 12, 1933)

Litany of Our Lady of La Salette

Lord, have mercy on us. Christ, have mercy on us
Lord, have mercy on us, Jesus hear us. Jesus, grant our petitions
God the Father of Heaven, have mercy on us.
God the Son, Redeemer of the world, have mercy on us.
God the Holy Ghost, have mercy on us.
Holy, Trinity, one God, have mercy on us.

Our Lady of La Salette, reconciler of sinners, Pray for us. *

Our Lady of La Salette, help of the just, *

Our Lady of La Salette, healer of the ill, *

Our Lady of La Salette, consoler of the afflicted, *

Our Lady of La Salette, who appeared to some poor children of the Alps to give us grave warnings, *

Our Lady of La Salette, who wept tears on thinking of man's sins, *

Our Lady of La Salette, who gave us the Lord's warnings so that we be converted, *

Our Lady of La Salette, who by Thy supplications holds back the arm of the Lord, who is angry with us, *

Our Lady of La Salette, who said: "If my people will not submit, I shall be forced to let go the arm of my Son", *

Our Lady of La Salette, who prays continually to Thy Divine Son that He be merciful to us, *

Our Lady of La Salette, who feels such great sorrow because of our sins, *

Our Lady of La Salette, who deserves all our gratitude, *

Our Lady of La Salette, who, after giving Thy warnings to the children of the mountain, said: "Well, my children, you will pass it on to all my people.", *

Mary, thou who have announced to men terrible punishments if they are not converted, *

Mary, thou who announces to them mercy and pardon, if they return to God, *

Mary, thou who promises abundant graces if we do penance, *

Mary, thou whose miraculous apparition has echoed throughout both worlds, *

Mary, thou whose miracles extend to all countries, *

Mary, thou whose cult grows each day, *

Mary, thou whose good works delight all thy children, *

Mary, thou who are not invoked in vain, *

Mary, thou who made a miraculous spring flow forth at thy feet, *

Mary, thou who, following the example of Jesus, gives sight to the blind, movement to the paralyzed, health to the ill, *

Mary, thou who consoles all the unfortunate, *

Mary, thou who appeared resplendent with light, *

Mary, thou who wore on thy breast the Crucifix and the instruments of the Passion, *

Mary, thou who has warned us to sanctify the Lord's Day if we are to avoid the terrible punishments, *

Mary, thou who said that work on Sundays and blasphemy especially excite the anger of God, *

Mary, thou who has reproached us for not keeping the fasts and abstinences of the Church, *

Mary, thou who has announced to us the plagues of God, if we continue to violate His commandments, *

Mary, thou who has recommended morning and evening prayers, *


By Thy powerful protection, deliver us from the evils which threaten us, O Mary!

Poor sinners that we are, convert us, O Mary!

In the accomplishment of our duty, help us O Mary!

In solid piety, strengthen us O Mary!

In the persevering practice of all the virtues, encourage us O Mary!

In our joys, be with us O Mary!

In all the events of life, obtain for us a perfect submission to the will of God, O Mary!

 

Lamb of God, who takest away the sins of the world,  pardon us, O Lord!
Lamb of God, who takest away the sins of the world,  grant our petitions!
Lamb of God, who takest away the sins of the world,  have mercy on us!

Pray for us, O Holy Mother of God,
that we may be made worthy of the promises of Christ.

Let us pray:

O God, Who does not cease showing us how agreeable to Thee is the devotion to the Most Holy Virgin, by the many miracles which her intercession obtains for us, grant us the grace to be always faithful to the teachings she gives us, that, after having observed Thy holy commandments in this life, we may have the joy of possessing Thee for all eternity. Amen

Indulgence of 40 days
(Monseigneur de Bruillard, 15 January 1852)

 

 

Consecration of the world to the Immaculate Heart of Mary

In 1942, the twenty-fifth anniversary of Fatima, Pope Pius XII consecrated the world to the Immaculate Heart of Mary. That same year, he assigned the feast day to August 22, the octave of the Assumption. On May 4, 1944, he extended the Feast of the Immaculate Heart of Mary to the Universal Church.

Composed by Pope Pius XII in 1942 for his Consecration of the world to the Immaculate Heart of Mary and to be recited annually on the Feast of the Immaculate Heart of Mary, August 22nd.

Queen of the Most Holy Rosary, Help of Christians, Refuge of the human race, conqueror in all God’s battles, we humbly prostrate ourselves before thy throne. We are confident of obtaining mercy, grace, and help in the present calamities, not for our own merits to which we make no claim but only because of the great goodness of thy Maternal Heart.

In this tragic hour of human history we confide, entrust, and consecrate to thy Immaculate Heart the Holy Church, Mystical Body of thy son, Jesus, which bleeds now from so many wounds and is so sorely tried. We consecrate likewise to thy Immaculate Heart the whole world torn as it is by deadly strife, afire with hatred and paying the penalty of its own wickedness.

Be moved to pity by the sight of so much destruction and ruin of souls, by the grief and agony of fathers and mothers, husbands and wives, brothers, sisters, and innocent children. Look with compassion on the lives cut off in the flower of youth, on the bodies mangled in horrible slaughter, on the many torn with anguish, and on all those in danger of being lost forever.

Mother of Mercy, obtain for us peace from God and the grace that is able in an instant to change the heart of man, the grace that brings and fosters peace, and makes it lasting. Queen of Peace, pray for us and give to the warring world that peace for which the nations long, a peace in the truth, in the righteousness, and in the love of Jesus Christ.

Turn their weapons aside and let peace possess their souls so that God’s kingdom may be set up in quiet order. Stretch out a helping hand to the unbeliever and to all who live in the shadow of death. Give them peace and grant that enlightened by the truth they may repeat with us before the one Savior of the world, ‘Glory to God in the highest and on earth peace to men of good will.’

Give peace also to the peoples separated from us by error or strife and in particular to those who have professed a special devotion to thee and in whose homes thine icon was always an object of veneration. It is hidden away now maybe to await the dawn of better days. Bring them back to the one fold of Christ under the one true shepherd. Grant perfect peace and freedom to the holy Church of God. Stem the flood of modern paganism. Let the love of purity increase among the children of God. Make us live as true followers of Christ, as zealous apostles, so that God’s servants may grow in merit and increase in number. And as the whole human race was consecrated to the heart of thy Jesus that through hope in Him He might become for all the sign and pledge of victory and salvation, so we in like manner consecrate ourselves forever to thee and to thy Immaculate Heart, O Mother and Queen of the world. This we do so that thy love and protection may hasten the triumph of God’s kingdom. Thus may all nations at peace with one another and with God proclaim thee blessed, and sing with thee from pole to pole the unending Magnificat of glory, love, and thanksgiving to the Heart of Jesus in which alone they can find truth, life, and peace. Amen.

 

Salutation to the Glory of Mary
By St. John Eudes

This salutation was found in a book belonging to St. Margaret Mary after her death, and was promoted faithfully

by Fr. Paul of Mall, O.S.B., Belgian Priest [1824-1896]

 

Hail Mary!  Daughter of God the Father,
Hail Mary!  Mother of God the Son,
Hail Mary!  Spouse of God the Holy Ghost,
Hail Mary!  Temple of the Most Blessed Trinity,
Hail Mary!  Celestial Rose of the ineffable love of God.
Hail Mary!  Virgin pure and humble, of whom the King of Heaven willed to be born and with thy milk to be nourished.
Hail Mary!  Virgin of virgins,
Hail Mary!  Queen of Martyrs, whose soul a sword transfixed,
Hail Mary!  Lady most Blessed! unto whom all power in Heaven and earth is given,
Hail Mary!  my Queen and my Mother!  my Life, my Sweetness, and my Hope,
Hail Mary!  Mother most Amiable,
Hail Mary!  Mother most Admirable,
Hail Mary!  Mother of Divine Love,
Hail Mary!  Immaculate; Conceived without sin!
Hail Mary!  Full of Grace!  the Lord is with thee!

Hail Mary!  Daughter of God the Father,
Hail Mary!  Mother of God the Son,
Hail Mary!  Spouse of God the Holy Ghost,
Hail Mary!  Temple of the Most Blessed Trinity,
Hail Mary!  Celestial Rose of the ineffable love of God.
Hail Mary!  Virgin pure and humble, of whom the King of Heaven willed to be born and with thy milk to be nourished.
Hail Mary!  Virgin of virgins,
Hail Mary!  Queen of Martyrs, whose soul a sword transfixed,
Hail Mary!  Lady most Blessed! unto whom all power in Heaven and earth is given,
Hail Mary!  my Queen and my Mother!  my Life, my Sweetness, and my Hope,
Hail Mary!  Mother most Amiable,
Hail Mary!  Mother most Admirable,
Hail Mary!  Mother of Divine Love,
Hail Mary!  Immaculate; Conceived without sin!
Hail Mary!  Full of Grace!  the Lord is with thee!
Blessed art thou among women! And blessed is the Fruit of thy womb, Jesus!

Blessed by thy Spouse, St. Joseph,
Blessed by thy Father, St. Joachim,
Blessed by thy Mother, St. Anne,
Blessed by thy Guardian, St. John,
Blessed by thy Holy Angel, St. Gabriel,

Glory be to God the Father, who chose thee,
Glory be to God the Son, who loved thee,
Glory be to God the Holy Ghost, who espoused thee,

Glorious Virgin Mary, may all men love and praise thee,
Holy Mary, Mother of God! pray for us and bless us, now and at death in the Name of Jesus, thy Divine Son!

 

Prayer in honor of

Our Lady of the Blessed Sacrament

O Virgin Mary, Our Lady of the Blessed Sacrament, thou glory of the Christian people, joy of the universal Church, salvation of the whole world, pray for us, and awaken in all believers a lively devotion toward the Most Holy Eucharist, that so they may be made worthy to partake of the same daily. Amen.

An indulgence of 500 days (Pius X, Audience, December 9th, 1906)

 

 

St. John Eudes, great promoter of the Sacred Heart of Jesus and the Immaculate Heart of Mary

 

Readings

Our wish, our object, our chief preoccupation must be to form Jesus in ourselves, to make his spirit, his devotion, his affections, his desires, and his disposition live and reign there. All our religious exercises should be directed to this end. It is the work which God has given us to do unceasingly.

Saint John Eudes

Let us therefore give ourselves to God with a great desire to begin to live thus, and beg Him to destroy in us the life of the world of sin, and to establish His life within us.

Saint John Eudes

Father of mercies and God of all consolation, You gave us the loving Heart of your own beloved Son, because of the boundless love by which You have loved us, which no tongue can describe. May we render You a love that is perfect with hearts made one with His. Grant, we pray, that our hearts may be brought to perfect unity: each heart with the other and all hearts with the Heart of Jesus....and may the rightful yearnings of our hearts find fulfillment through Him: Our Lord Jesus Christ, Your Son, who lives and reigns with You in the unity of the Holy Spirit, one God, forever and ever. Amen.

Collect from Saint John Eudes' Mass, Gaudeamus, 1668

The Christian life is a continuation and completion of the life of Christ in us. We should be so many Christs here on earth, continuing His life and His works, laboring and suffering in a holy and divine manner in the spirit of Jesus.

Saint John Eudes

The air that we breathe, the bread that we eat, the heart which throbs in our bosoms, are not more necessary for man that he may live as a human being, than is prayer for the Christian that he may live as a Christian.

Saint John Eudes

A Christian has a union with Jesus Christ more noble, more intimate and more perfect than the members of a human body have with their head.

Saint John Eudes

The Little Crown of the Blessed Virgin Mary

By St. Louis Mary De Montfort

Preface

St. Louis De Montfort, universally known for his True Devotion to Mary, embellished the Little Crown by adding to each Hail Mary a distinctive invocation in praise of the Blessed Virgin's excellence, power, and goodness, ending with the joyful strain, "Rejoice, O Virgin Mary! Rejoice a thousand times!"

St. De Montfort gave the Little Crown as a morning prayer to both his religious families, the Montfort Fathers and the Daughter of Wisdom. He heartily recommends it to all who embrace the holy and loving slavery to Jesus through Mary. Thus the world over, from the lips of Mary's favorite children the Little Crown rises like fragrant incense to our Blessed Mother's throne in Heaven and returns to earth in showers of Divine benediction. Since the Blessed Virgin is the Spouse of the Holy Ghost, St. Louis prefaces the Little Crown with an invocation to the Holy Ghost.

INTRODUCTORY PRAYER
 

Come Holy Ghost, fill the hearts of Thy faithful and enkindle within them the fire of Thy love!

V. Send forth Thy Spirit and they shall be created.
R. And Thou shalt renew the face of the earth.

Let us pray.

O God, Who by the light of the Holy Spirit dost instruct the hearts of
the faithful, grant us by this same Spirit to relish what is right and
ever to rejoice in His consolation, through Jesus Christ, our Lord. Amen.

 I. CROWN OF EXCELLENCE

[To honor the Divine Maternity of the Blessed Virgin, her ineffable Virginity,
her purity without stain and her innumerable virtues.]

1. Our Father, Hail Mary.
Blessed art thou, O Virgin Mary, who didst bear the
Lord, the Creator of the world; thou didst give birth to Him Who
made thee, and remainest a Virgin forever.
Rejoice, O Virgin Mary; Rejoice a thousand times!

2. Hail Mary.
O holy and immaculate Virgin, I know not with what
praise to extol thee, since thou didst bear in thy womb the very
One Whom the Heavens cannot contain.
Rejoice, O Virgin Mary; Rejoice a thousand times!

3. Hail Mary.
Thou are all fair, O Virgin Mary, and there is no stain in thee.
Rejoice, O Virgin Mary; Rejoice a thousand times!

4. Hail Mary.
Thy virtues, O Virgin, surpass the stars in number.
Rejoice, O Virgin Mary; Rejoice a thousand times!

Glory be to the Father.

II. CROWN OF POWER

[To honor the royalty of the Blessed Virgin, her magnificence, her
universal mediation and the strength of her rule.]

5.  Our Father, Hail Mary.
Glory be to thee, O Empress of the world! Bring us with thee to the joys of Heaven.
Rejoice, O Virgin Mary; Rejoice a thousand times!

6. Hail Mary.
Glory be to thee, O treasure house of the Lord's graces! Grant us a share in thy riches.
Rejoice, O Virgin Mary; Rejoice a thousand times!

7. Hail Mary.
Glory be to thee, O Mediatrix between God and man!Through thee may the Almighty be favorable to us. Rejoice, O Virgin Mary; Rejoice a thousand times!

8. Glory be to thee who destroyest heresies and crushest demons! Be thou our loving guide. Rejoice, O Virgin Mary; Rejoice a thousand times! Glory be to the Father.

III. CROWN OF GOODNESS

[To honor the mercy of the Blessed Virgin toward sinners, the poor,
the just and the dying.]

9.  Our Father, Hail Mary.
Glory be to thee, O refuge of sinners! Intercede for us with God.
Rejoice, O Virgin Mary; Rejoice a thousand times!

10. Hail Mary.
Glory be to thee, O Mother of orphans! Render the Almighty favorable to us.
Rejoice, O Virgin Mary; Rejoice a thousand times!

11. Hail Mary.
Glory be to thee, O joy of the just! Lead us with thee to the joys of Heaven.
Rejoice, O Virgin Mary; Rejoice a thousand times!

12. Hail Mary.
Glory be to thee who are ever ready to assist us in lifeand death! Lead us with thee to the kingdom of Heaven! Rejoice, O Virgin Mary; Rejoice a thousand times!

Glory be to the Father.
 

CONCLUDING PRAYER

Let Us Pray.

Hail, Mary, Daughter of God the Father; Hail, Mary, Mother of God the Son; Hail, Mary, Spouse of the Holy Ghost; Hail, Mary, Temple of the most Holy Trinity; Hail, Mary, my Mistress, my treasure, my joy, Queen of my heart; my Mother, my life, my sweetness, my dearest hope ---- yea, my heart and my soul! I am all thine and all that I have is thine, O Virgin blessed above all things! Let thy soul be in me to magnify the Lord; let thy spirit be in me to rejoice in God. Set thyself, O faithful Virgin, as a seal upon my heart, that in thee and through thee I may be found faithful to God. Receive me, O gracious Virgin, among those whom thou lovest and teachest, whom thou leadest, nourishest and protectest as thy children. Grant that for love of thee I may despise all earthly consolations and ever cling to those of Heaven until, through thee, His faithful spouse, Jesus Christ thy Son be formed in me for the glory of the Father.  Amen.

The Seven Sorrows of the Blessed Virgin Mary Devotion

In 1233, seven young men in Tuscany founded the Servite Order ("Order of the Servants of Mary"). They sought to spread devotion to the Seven Sorrows of Mary. The feast of the Our Lady of Sorrows was eventually instituted by a provincial synod of Cologne in 1413 as a response to the Protestant Hussites (the same Protestant sect that put sword gashes on the face of the Polish Our Lady of Czestochowa) and the seeds of devotion that was initiated by the Servite Order. Pope Saint Pius X placed the feast on September 15 so that it would closely affiliated with the feast of the Exaltation of the Holy Cross on September 14. After the initial propagation of the Servite Order, Our Lady confirmed this devotion again by revealing to Saint Bridget of Sweden (died 1373) that those that pray a Hail Mary while meditating on her Seven Sorrows will receive the following Seven Graces from God:

HERE ARE THE SEVEN GRACES:

1. I will grant peace to their families.

2. They will be enlightened about the divine mysteries.

3. I will console them in their pains and I will accompany
   them in their work.

4. I will give them as much as they ask for as long as it does not oppose the adorable will of my divine Son or the sanctification of their souls.

5. I will defend them in their spiritual battles with the infernal enemy and I will protect them at every instant of their lives.

6. I will visibly help them at the moment of their death; they will see the face of their Mother.

7. I have obtained (this grace) from my divine Son, that those who propagate this devotion to my tears and dolors, will be taken directly from this earthly life to eternal happiness since all their sins will be forgiven and my Son and I will be their eternal consolation and joy.

THE SEVEN SORROWS:

1. The prophecy of Simeon. (St. Luke 2: 34, 35)

2. The flight into Egypt. (St. Matthew 2:13,14)

3. The loss of the Child Jesus in the temple. (St. Luke 2: 43-45)

4. The meeting of Jesus and Mary on the Way of the Cross.

5. The Crucifixion and Death of Jesus.

6. The taking down of the Body of Jesus from the Cross.

7. The burial of Jesus.

(Say one Hail Mary while meditating on each Sorrow)
The Hail Mary: Hail Mary, full of grace, the Lord is with thee: blessed art thou amongst women and blessed is the fruit of thy womb, Jesus. Holy Mary, Mother of God, pray for us sinners now and at the hour of our death. Amen

To Our Lady of Sorrows

O most holy Virgin, Mother of our Lord Jesus Christ: by the overwhelming grief you experienced when you witnessed the martyrdom, the crucifixion, and the death of your divine Son, look upon me with eyes of compassion, and awaken in my heart a tender commiseration for those sufferings, as well as a sincere detestation of my sins, in order that, being disengaged from all undue affection for the passing joys of this earth, I may sigh after the eternal Jerusalem, and that henceforward all my thoughts and all my actions may be directed towards this one most desirable object. Honor, glory, and love to our divine Lord Jesus, and to the holy and immaculate Mother of God. Amen.

(Composed by St. Bonaventure)

 

Fatima Prayers

"to save poor sinners, God wishes to establish in the world devotion to my Immaculate Heart."

 

The Decade Prayer

O my Jesus, forgive us our sins, save us from the fires of Hell, lead all souls to Heaven, especially those in most need of Thy mercy.
Note: This prayer is often added to the Rosary, due to Our Lady's request, right after each "Glory Be" prayer. This practice springs from the instructions of Mary given to the young children at Fatima.

 

The Sacrifice Prayer

O Jesus, it is for the love of You, for the conversion of sinners, and in reparation for the sins committed against the Immaculate Heart of Mary that I pray.

 

The Pardon Prayer

My God, I believe, I adore, I trust and I love Thee! I beg pardon for all those that do not believe, do not adore, do not trust and do not love Thee.

 

The Eucharistic Prayer

Most Holy Trinity, I adore Thee! My God, my God, I love Thee in the Most Blessed Sacrament

Note: Say three times in imitation of the Fatima children

 

The Conversion Prayer

By your pure and Immaculate Conception, O Mary, obtain the conversion of the whole world!

 

The Salvation Prayer

Sweet Heart of Mary, be my salvation

 

The Angel's Prayer

O Most Holy Trinity, Father, Son and Holy Ghost, I adore Thee profoundly. I offer Thee the most precious Body, Blood, Soul and Divinity of Jesus Christ present in tabernacles of the world, in reparation for the outrages, sacrileges and indifferences by which He is offended. By the infinite merits of the Sacred Heart of Jesus and the Immaculate Heart of Mary I beg the conversion of poor sinners and the alleviation and deliverance of the holy souls in Purgatory.