Our Lady of the Pillar

Our Lady of the Pillar

Our Lady of the Pillar (Spanish: Nuestra Señora del Pilar) is the name given to the Blessed Virgin Mary for her miraculous appearance in Zaragoza, Spain at the time of the emergence of Christianity. She is the Patroness of Spain, the Spanish Civil Guard and the Hispanic world. Her shrine is the Basilica of Our Lady of the Pillar situated by the Ebro river.

According to ancient Spanish tradition, on October 12, 40 AD, in the early days of Christianity, James the Greater, one of the original Twelve Apostles of Jesus Christ, was preaching the Gospel in what was then the pagan land of Caesaraugusta (now Zaragoza), in the Roman province of Hispania. He was disheartened with his mission, having made only a few converts. While he was praying by the banks of the Ebro River with some of his disciples, Mary miraculously appeared before him atop a pillar accompanied by angels. Mary assured James that the people would eventually be converted and their faith would be as strong as the pillar she was standing on. She gave him the pillar as a symbol and a wooden image of herself. James was also instructed to build a chapel on the spot where she left the pillar.

It is generally believed that Mary would have appeared to James through bilocation, as she was still living either in Ephesus or Jerusalem at the time of this event. She is believed to have died three to fifteen years after Jesus' death. After establishing the church, James returned to Jerusalem with some of his disciples where he became a martyr, beheaded in 44 AD under Herod Agrippa. His disciples allegedly returned his body to Spain.

The apparition of Our Lady of the Pillar is a widely accepted sacred tradition. Popes from earliest times issued Papal Bulls attesting to the authenticity of the shrine and the appearance of the Virgin Mary. Pope Calixtus III issued a bull in 1456 encouraging pilgrimage to the Lady of the Pillar. It acknowledged the miracle of its foundation and the miracles that had taken place in the Spanish shrine. It was also through this bull that the name Lady of the Pillar was confirmed.

So many contradictions had arisen concerning the miraculous origin of the church that during the reign of Pope Innocent XIII Spain appealed to the Holy See to settle the controversy. After careful investigation, the twelve cardinals, in whose hands the affair rested, adopted the following account, which was approved by the Sacred Congregation of Rites on August 7, 1723, and has since been inserted in the lessons of the office of the feast of our Lady of the Pillar, celebrated on October 12:

"Of all the places that Spain offers for the veneration of the devout, the most illustrious is doubtless the sanctuary consecrated to God under the invocation of the Blessed Virgin, under the title of our Lady of the Pillar, at Saragossa."

"According to ancient and pious tradition, St. James the Greater, led by Providence into Spain, spent some time at Saragossa. He there received a signal favor from the Blessed Virgin. As he was praying with his disciples one night, upon the banks of the Ebro, as the same tradition informs us, the Mother of God, who still lived, appeared to him, and commanded him to erect an oratory in that place. The apostle delayed not to obey this injunction, and with the assistance of his disciples soon constructed a small chapel. In the course of time a larger church was built and dedicated, which, with the dedication of Saint Saviour's, is kept as a festival in the city and Diocese of Saragossa on the 4th of October."

Pope Clement XII allowed the celebration of the feast of Our Lady of the Pillar all over the Spanish Empire in 1730. As the date coincides with the discovery of the Americas, the lady was later named as Patroness of the Hispanic World.

Our Lady of the Pillar with the pillar draped with a special manto (mantle) made with paper origami
A closer look at the manto made of 1,536 paper origami pieces by a group of origami enthusiasts from Zaragoza

The pillar left by the Virgin Mary is presently enshrined in the same but larger Basilica of Our Lady of the Pillar. It is believed to be the same pillar given and promised by Mary, in spite of numerous disasters that beset the church. A fire in 1434 burned down the church that preceded the present basilica.

The image of the Blessed Virgin Mary may or may not be the original. Some reports state that the original wooden image was destroyed when the church burned down in 1434, contradicting other reports that it is still the original statue. The statue of the Blessed Virgin Mary is made of wood and stands 39 centimetres (15 in) tall while the 6 feet (1.8 m) pillar is made of jasper. The statue depicts Mary with the Child Jesus on her left arm, who has a dove sitting on his left palm. Since the 16th century, the pillar is usually draped in a skirt-like cover called manto (in English: mantle). As a whole, it is protected by a bronze case and then another case of silver.[12] The image was canonically crowned in 1905 during the reign of Pope Pius X.

The feast of Our Lady of the Pillar is celebrated on 12 October and she is the Patroness of the Hispanic peoples and the Spanish Civil Guard. A grand nine-day festival known as Fiestas del Pilar is celebrated in Zaragoza every year in her honor. The feast of the Lady of the Pillar is also a national holiday in Spain as it coincides with the Fiesta Nacional de España, which commemorates the arrival of Christopher Columbus in the Americas in 1492. - From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Published:

October 20, 2024, 4:13 AM

October 12, 2015, 6:09 AM

Memorial of Our Lady of the Rosary

The Feast of Our Lady of the Rosary, formerly known as Feast of Our Lady of Victory and Feast of the Holy Rosary is celebrated on 7 October in the General Roman Calendar. 7 October is the anniversary of the decisive victory of the combined fleet of the Holy League of 1571 over the Ottoman navy at the Battle of Lepanto. In the Western Rite Vicariate of the Antiochian Orthodox Church, the feast is celebrated on 7 October, under the title The Holy Rosary of the Blessed Virgin Mary.

According to Dominican tradition, in 1206, Dominic de Guzmán was at the Monastery of Our Lady of Prouille, in France, attempting to convert the Albigensians back to the Catholic faith. The young priest had little success until one day he received a vision of the Blessed Virgin, who gave him the rosary as a tool against heretics. The story of Dominic's vision was recorded by Alanus de Rupe. This traditional origin for the Rosary was generally accepted until the 15th century, when the Bollandists concluded that the account originated with the account recorded by Alanus, two hundred years after Dominic's death.

Mary had been honored in the West under the title "Our Lady of Victory" from at least the thirteenth century. Simon de Montfort, 5th Earl of Leicester built the first shrine dedicated to Our Lady of Victory in thanks for the Catholic victory over the Albigensians at the Battle of Muret on September 12, 1213. In thanksgiving for victory at the Battle of Bouvines in July 1214, Philip Augustus of France founded the Abbey of Notre Dame de la Victoire, between Senlis and Mont l'Evêque.

In the East, the title "Our Lady of Victory" is even older. The feast of Our Lady of Victory, on February 25, commemorates the deliverance of the city of Constantinople "from the siege of the Saracens by the aid of the Blessed Virgin, A.D. 621."

In 1571, Pope Pius V organized a coalition of forces from Spain and smaller Christian kingdoms, republics and military orders, to rescue Christian outposts in Cyprus, particularly the Venetian outpost at Famagusta which, however, surrendered after a long siege on 1 August before the Christian forces set sail. On 7 October 1571, the Holy League, a coalition of southern European Catholic maritime states, sailed from Messina, Sicily, and met a powerful Ottoman fleet in the Battle of Lepanto. Knowing that the Christian forces were at a distinct material disadvantage, Pope Pius V called for all of Europe to pray the Rosary for victory, and led a rosary procession in Rome. Pius V instituted the feast of Our Lady of Victory in order to commemorate the victory at Lepanto, which he attributed to the Blessed Virgin Mary.

After about five hours of fighting on the northern edge of the Gulf of Corinth, off western Greece, the combined navies of the Papal States, Venice and Spain managed to stop the Ottoman navy, slowing the Ottoman advance to the west and denying them access to the Atlantic Ocean and the Americas. If the Ottomans had won, there was a real possibility that an invasion of Italy could have followed so that the Ottoman sultan, already claiming to be emperor of the Romans, would have been in possession of both New and Old Rome. Combined with the Great Siege of Malta (1565) and the unfolding events in Morocco where the Sa'adids successfully spurned the Ottoman advances, it confined Turkish naval power to the eastern Mediterranean. Although the Ottoman Empire was able to build more ships, it never fully recovered from the loss of trained sailors and marines, and was never again the Mediterranean naval power it had become the century before when Constantinople fell.

In 1573, Pope Gregory XIII changed the name of the feast to Feast of the Holy Rosary, to be celebrated on the first Sunday of October. The Dominican friar Juan Lopez in his 1584 book on the rosary states that the feast of the rosary was offered "in memory and in perpetual gratitude of the miraculous victory that the Lord gave to his Christian people that day against the Turkish armada".

In 1671 the observance of this festival was extended by Clement X to the whole of Spain, and somewhat later Clement XI, after the victory over the Turks gained by Prince Eugene in the Battle of Petrovaradin on 5 August 1716 (the feast of Our Lady of the Snows), commanded the feast of the Rosary to be celebrated by the universal church.

Leo XIII raised the feast to the rank of a double of the second class and added to the Litany of Loreto the invocation "Queen of the Most Holy Rosary". On this feast, in every church in which the Rosary confraternity has been duly erected, a plenary indulgence toties quoties is granted upon certain conditions to all who visit therein the Rosary chapel or statue of Our Lady. This has been called the "Portiuncula" of the Rosary.

Pius X in 1913 changed the date to 7 October, as part of his effort to restore celebration of the liturgy of the Sundays. In 1960 under Pope John XXIII it is listed under the title Feast of the Blessed Virgin Mary of the Rosary; and under the 1969 liturgical reforms of Pope Paul VI Our Lady of the Rosary is mentioned as a mandatory memorial. Wikipedia

Published:

October 07, 2024, 3:44 AM

Our Lady of Sorrows (Memorial)

Our Lady of Sorrows

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Our Lady of Sorrows (Latin: Beata Maria Virgo Perdolens), the Sorrowful Mother or Mother of Sorrows (Latin: Mater Dolorosa), and Our Lady of Piety, Our Lady of the Seven Sorrows or Our Lady of the Seven Dolours are names by which the Blessed Virgin Mary is referred to in relation to sorrows in her life. As Mater Dolorosa, it is also a key subject for Marian art in the Catholic Church.

The Seven Sorrows of Mary are a popular Roman Catholic devotion. In common religious Catholic imagery, the Blessed Virgin Mary is portrayed in a sorrowful and lacrimating affect, with seven daggers piercing her heart, often bleeding. Devotional prayers which consist of meditation began to elaborate on her Seven Sorrows based on the prophecy of the Rabbi Simeon. Common examples of piety under this title are Servite rosary, or the Chaplet of the Seven Sorrows of Our Lady and the Seven Joys of Mary and more recently, "Sorrowful and Immaculate Heart of Mary".

Within the Santero culture prevalent among Gay Catholics in Spain and the Philippines, the Blessed Virgin Mary under this title is widely popular. Many homosexual patrons often petition the Blessed Virgin Mary under this title often associated with grief and sorrow. Under the same Marian title, Mary is also popularly invoked as a cultural patroness among abused wives and heartbroken individuals.

The feast of Our Lady of Sorrows is liturgically celebrated each 15 of September, while a feast of Friday of Sorrows was also commemorated before the changes of the Second Vatican Council.

Seven Sorrows
Mary, surrounded by the Seven Sorrows

The Seven Sorrows (or Dolors) are events in the life of the Blessed Virgin Mary which are a popular devotion and are frequently depicted in art. It is a common devotion for Catholics to say daily one Our Father and seven Hail Marys for each. These Seven Sorrows should not be confused with the five Sorrowful Mysteries of the Rosary.

1    The Prophecy of Simeon. (Luke 2:34–35) or the Circumcision of Christ
2   The Flight into Egypt. (Matthew 2:13)
3    The loss of the child Jesus in the Temple. (Luke 2:43–45)
4    Mary meets Jesus on the way to Calvary.
5    Jesus dies on the cross. (John 19:25)
6    The piercing of the side of Jesus, and Mary's receiving the body of Jesus in her arms. (Matthew 27:57–59)
7    The body of Jesus is placed in the tomb. (John 19:40–42)

The feast of the Our Lady of Sorrows was originated by a provincial synod of Cologne in 1423 as a response to the iconoclast Hussites. It was designated for the Friday after the third Sunday after Easter. It had the title: Commemoratio angustiae et doloris B. Mariae V.. Before the 16th century, the feast was celebrated only in parts of northern Europe. Earlier, in 1233, seven youths in Tuscany founded the Servite Order (also known as the "Servite Friars", or the "Order of the Servants of Mary"). Five years later, they took up the sorrows of Mary, standing under the Cross, as the principal devotion of their order. Over the centuries several devotions, and even orders, arose around meditation on Mary's Sorrows in particular. The Servites developed the two most common devotions to Our Lady's Sorrows, namely the Rosary of the Seven Sorrows and the Black Scapular of the Seven Dolours of Mary. The Black Scapular is a symbol of the Confraternity of Our Lady of Sorrows, which is associated with the Servite Order. Most devotional scapulars have requirements regarding ornamentation or design. The devotion of the Black Scapular requires only that it be made of black woollen cloth.

On February 2, the same day as the Great Feast of the Meeting of the Lord, Orthodox Christians and Eastern Catholics commemorate a wonder-working icon of the Theotokos (Mother of God) known as "the Softening of Evil Hearts" or "Simeon's Prophecy". It depicts the Virgin Mary at the moment that Simeon the Righteous says, "Yea, a sword shall pierce through thy own soul also...." (Luke 2:35). She stands with her hands upraised in prayer, and seven swords pierce her heart, indicative of the seven sorrows. This is one of the few Orthodox icons of the Theotokos which do not depict the infant Jesus. The refrain "Rejoice, much-sorrowing Mother of God, turn our sorrows into joy and soften the hearts of evil men!" is also used.

By inserting the feast into the General Roman Calendar in 1814, Pope Pius VII extended the celebration to the whole of the Latin Church. It was assigned to the third Sunday in September. In 1913, Pope Pius X moved the feast to September 15, the day after the Feast of the Cross. It is still observed on that date. Another feast, originating in Germany in the 15th century, spread to several other countries, and was extended to the whole of the Latin Church in 1727 by Pope Benedict XIII, who assigned it the Friday in Passion Week, one week before Good Friday. In 1954, it still held the rank of major double (slightly lower than the rank of the September feast) in the General Roman Calendar. Pope John XXIII's 1960 Code of Rubrics reduced it to the level of a commemoration. In 1969 the celebration was removed from the General Roman Calendar as a duplicate of the feast on 15 September. Each of the two celebrations had been called a feast of "The Seven Sorrows of the Blessed Virgin Mary" (Latin: Septem Dolorum Beatae Mariae Virginis) and included recitation of the Stabat Mater as a sequence. Since then, the 15 September feast that combines and continues both is known as the Feast of "Our Lady of Sorrows" (Latin: Beatae Mariae Virginis Perdolentis), and recitation of the Stabat Mater is optional.

Observance of the calendar as it stood in 1962 is still permitted as an extraordinary form of the Roman Rite, and even where the calendar as revised in 1969 is in use, some countries, such as Malta, have kept it in their national calendars. In every country, the 2002 edition of the Roman Missal provides an alternative collect for this Friday.

Today we celebrate the memorial of Our Lady of Sorrows. This is not meant to lead us into despair because of the suffering caused by our sin, but to remind us that when we embrace suffering in our lives it can become redemptive. Let us never allow despair to enter our hearts. It is imperative that we remain positive in our suffering as Mary does. (Kerygma 2014)
 
Mary is a model of contemplation, pondering the truths of her life in her heart and standing beneath the cross of her Son as He dies for our sins. Let us take a cue from Mary’s life in this regard and never forget to reflect on the meaning of the various experiences of faith we have had and so grow in our faith and trust in God.  (Kerygma 2012)

I sometimes wonder what went through the heart and mind of Mary as she stood at the foot of the cross and gazed upon her Son. We know she did not despair. Did she realize that the cross of her Son was the means of redemption for the world? (Kerygma 2014)

think:

The memorial of Our Lady of Sorrows reminds us that when we embrace suffering in our lives, it can become redemptive.  Let us reflect on the meaning of the various experiences of faith we have had and so grow in our faith and trust in God just like Mary. (Kerygma)

Blessed are you, O Virgin Mary; without dying you won the martyr’s crown beneath the Cross of the Lord.


A SORROWFUL — BUT NOT DEPRESSED — MOTHER
Fr. Rudy Horst, SVD

Parents suffer from anything that could harm or hurt their children. Since Mary surely was a perfect mother, she must have suffered much in bringing up her beloved Son. We can assume that her suffering was even more intense than that of any parent because of her spiritual closeness to her Son. That God had entrusted to her His Son might have even intensified her suffering because of the profound responsibility she had for this great treasure. Mary also might have suffered much from what her Son went through because of her sinless nature, which made her more compassionate and sensitive to other people’s sufferings.

Christian pious tradition identified and reflected on the seven great sorrows in Mary’s life — such as the flight to Egypt, the loss of her 12-yearold boy in Jerusalem, and meeting Jesus carrying the crossbeam towards the place of His execution, among others.

One spiritual writer noticed that today’s feast celebrates the sorrowful Mother of Jesus, not the depressed Mother of Jesus. An interesting thought! John tells us in his Gospel that Mary was standing near the Cross of her Son. Although her suffering must have been close to unbearable, her faith gave her the courage and strength to bear this suffering without breaking down. Here, Mary becomes a great model to look up to when God allows crosses to burden and weigh us down.

And so this feast is not just another memorial of Mary but it invites us to look up to her when sorrows and sufferings become too much to bear.

With her example and her motherly intercession, we can and will be able to follow her footsteps and not break down but remain “standing” even in the darkest moments that may come. These moments then will not crush us but, with Mary’s help, become moments of passage into the light that waits beyond every cross.


OUR LADY OF SORROWS
Fr. Steve Tynan, MGL

Today’s Feast of Our Lady of Sorrows follows the Feast of the Triumph (or Exaltation) of the Cross. I do not believe that this is an accident or coincidence. The Church has deliberately chosen to illustrate one of the aspects in which we are all, not just Our Lady, called to meditate upon and embrace the Cross of Jesus in our lives.

None of us can avoid suffering in life. If Jesus suffered, and He was without sin and not in need of redemption, then how do we think we could avoid suffering? The prosperity gospel — every possible version of it — is a lie. In fact, it is more than lie — it is disrespectful to the passion of Jesus. There is nothing wrong with legitimate avoidance of suffering by making wise and prudent choices, but I am sure that it is obvious to us that a lot of suffering that people endure has nothing to do with the personal choices of the sufferer but a result of the unjust and sinful choices of others. This is the reality of sin and while we may be able to minimize the sin in our own lives, we have very little power to do so in the lives of others. That is their responsibility.

Mary is presented to us as Our Lady of Sorrows because she has embraced the truth that living involves suffering. This is not necessarily an evil thing as long as we approach it with faith in God. The suffering of Jesus on the cross gives God the right to be able to say to us, “Everything will be all right in the end if we place our trust in Him.” Jesus underwent suffering to show us the way to faith in God and to make sense of the cross by giving it redemptive value.

Suffering would be totally evil if there is no redemptive value to it. It adds nothing to human character and experience apart from the Cross of Jesus. This may be a matter of faith, or at least a truth that is strongly enlightened by faith. We must pray for the grace to understand it as such and to act upon it.

Published:

September 15, 2023, 7:27 AM

September 15, 2014, 10:30 AM

Behold, Your Mother

Our Lady of Sorrows

Then He said to the disciple, “Behold, your mother.” 

And from that hour the disciple took her into his home. 

(John 19:27)

How has it happened to me, that the mother of my Lord would come to me? (Lk 1:43)

Who is this coming up from the wilderness leaning on her beloved? Beneath the apple tree I awakened you; There your mother was in labor with you, there she was in labor and gave you birth (Sg 8:5). Your mother was like a vine in your vineyard, planted by the waters; it was fruitful and full of branches because of abundant waters (Ez 19:10). 

Listen to me, O islands, and pay attention, you peoples from afar. The LORD called me from the womb; from the body of my mother, He named me.(Isa 49:1).

The Lord said, "Every one of you shall reverence his mother and his father, and you shall keep My sabbaths; I am the LORD your God" (Lev 19:3).

Honor your father and your mother, as the LORD your God has commanded you, that your days may be prolonged and that it may go well with you on the land which the LORD your God gives you (Ex 20:12, Dt 5:16).

A wise son makes a father glad, but a foolish son is a grief to his mother (Prv 10:1). Let your father and your mother be glad, and let her rejoice who gave birth to you (Prv 23:25). Observe the commandment of your father and do not forsake the teaching of your mother (Prv 6:20). Listen to your father who begot you, and do not despise your mother when she is old (Prv 23:22).

He shall not make himself unclean for his father or for his mother, for his brother or for his sister, when they die, because his separation to God is on his head. (Nu 6:7)

My trust is in You, O Lord; I say, “You are my God”. In your hands is my destiny. (Ps 31:15-16) Into Your hands I commend my spirit; you will redeem me, O Lord, O faithful God. (Ps 31:6)

Published:

September 15, 2024, 6:43 AM

May 20, 2024, 7:41 AM

September 15, 2023, 7:29 AM

THE MOST HOLY NAME OF THE BLESSED VIRGIN MARY

May I take this opportunity to wish you all a Happy Feast of Mary. Today, we are celebrating the Most Holy Name of the Blessed Virgin Mary. Are any of you familiar with the meaning of the Christian name Mary? 

Mary, having a Hebrew origin, means "The Beautiful." Indeed, she is as a beautiful blooming flower of the Lord God who has and continues to manifest endless favours upon her.

The devotion to Jesus through Mary has been progressive throughout the entire history of the Holy Catholic Church. While some members of the Church have written about the Blessed Virgin Mary prior to the fourth century, it was not until then that her name had become rather popular among the Christian community.

Moving ahead in history, in 1683, Vienna was besieged by an army of 550,000 Turkish invaders who had reached the city walls and threatened all of Europe. John Sobieski, the King of Poland, a religious prince, came to the assistance of Vienna with a smaller army on the octave of the Nativity of the Blessed Virgin Mary. After serving the priest during the celebration of the Holy Mass and having received Holy Communion, he rose against the enemy by stating, "Let us march with confidence under the protection of Heaven and with the aid of the Most Holy Virgin!" At the approach of King John and his army, the Turks were struck with a sudden fear and fled in complete disorder.

Following this great victory under the auspice of our heavenly Mother, in the Fall of 1683 A.D., Pope Innocent XI ordered that the feast of the Most Holy Name of Mary be celebrated each year by the universal Church as a perpetual memorial of the victory of King John Sobieski of Poland against the enemy at Vienna, Austria. The purpose of this feast was to remind the faithful to recommend to God on this day, through the intercession of the Blessed Virgin Mary, all the necessities of the Church while giving thanks to God for His gracious protection and numberless mercies.

Since those days, this special Feast of Mary has been celebrated during the octave of the Nativity of Our Lady.

Referring to the powerful intercession of the Blessed Virgin Mary, Richard of St. Laurence stated, "there is not such powerful help in any name, nor is there any other name given to men, after that of Jesus, from which so much salvation is poured forth upon men as from the name of Mary that the devout invocation of this sweet and holy name leads to the acquisition of superabundant graces in this life, and a very high degree of glory in the next."

Today, when we consider the Dogma of the Immaculate Conception that was proclaimed in 1854 by Pope Pius IX, we can now perceive why God had sent His Spirit to guide the Holy Catholic Church towards the granting of great honours to the Most Holy Name of Mary. According to this Dogma, "The most Blessed Virgin Mary was, from the first moment of her conception, by a singular grace and privilege of almighty God and by virtue of the merits of Jesus Christ, Saviour of the human race, preserved immune from all stain of original sin. (Inneffabilis Deus 1854, cited in the Catechism of the Catholic Church # 491)

As the only human being, this excluding Jesus, who was free of all traces of sins and remained so throughout her life, the Blessed Virgin Mary achieved perfection where the first Eve had failed. As the Second Eve, the Blessed Virgin Mary, was elevated by God as the spiritual mother of mankind.

These honours, and the many more that have been bestowed upon the Blessed Virgin Mary leave no doubt in the mind of Catholics that her Most Holy Name, Mary, the Beautiful one, a name that has been elevated higher than all human beings and angels, is the fountain of superabundant graces that shower upon us sinners from the Throne of God.

So powerful is the Most Holy Name of Mary, that it is said that the devils fear the Queen of heaven to such a degree, that only on hearing her great name pronounced, they fly from those who seek her help as from a burning fire."

From the life of St. Bridget, we learn that the Blessed revealed to her "that there is not on earth a sinner, however devoid he may be of the love of God, from whom the devil is not obliged immediately to fly, if he invokes her holy name with a determination to repent." On another occasion, the Blessed Virgin Mary stated, "that all the devils venerate and fear her name to such a degree, that on hearing it, they immediately loosen the claws with which they hold the soul captive."

In view of all these great Marian blessings that have been bestowed from Heaven, let us today honour the Most Holy Name of Mary with great esteem so our loving Mother may continue to be praised in every nation on earth. And may our spiritual devotion not only last one day, but be extended to every day of the year.

The Most Holy Name of the Blessed Virgin Mary is an optional memorial celebrated in the liturgical calendar of the Catholic Church on 12 September. It was removed from the Church calendar by Annibale Bugnini, Secretary to the Commission for Liturgical Reform during Vatican II, but restored by Pope John Paul II in 2002, along with the feast of the Holy Name of Jesus.

It was first celebrated in Spain in 1513. [1] It was associated with the 1683 defeat of the Muslim army outside of Vienna. The Polish king, John Sobieski, arrived at Vienna with his army on the octave of the Nativity of Mary. He entrusted his force to Mary, and the Turks were routed. Pope Innocent XI declared the Most Holy Name of the Blessed Virgin Mary as a celebration for the universal Church as a memorial of the victory.[2]

This feast is a counterpart to the Feast of the Holy Name of Jesus (January 3); both have the possibility of uniting people easily divided on other matters.

The feast of the Most Holy Name of Mary began in Spain in 1513 and in 1671 was extended to all of Spain and the Kingdom of Naples. In 1683, John Sobieski, king of Poland, brought an army to the outskirts of Vienna to stop the advance of Muslim armies loyal to Mohammed IV in Constantinople. After Sobieski entrusted himself to the Blessed Virgin Mary, he and his soldiers thoroughly defeated the Muslims. Pope Innocent XI extended this feast to the entire Church.


Comment:

Mary always points us to God, reminding us of God's infinite goodness. She helps us to open our hearts to God's ways, wherever those may lead us. Honored under the title “Queen of Peace,” Mary encourages us to cooperate with Jesus in building a peace based on justice, a peace that respects the fundamental human rights (including religious rights) of all peoples.

Quote:

“Lord our God, when your Son was dying on the altar of the cross, he gave us as our mother the one he had chosen to be his own mother, the Blessed Virgin Mary; grant that we who call upon the holy name of Mary, our mother, with confidence in her protection may receive strength and comfort in all our needs” (Marian Sacramentary, Mass for the Holy Name of the Blessed Virgin Mary).


WHAT’S IN A NAME?
Fr. Rudy Horst, SVD

“And the Virgin’s name was Mary.” So begins the story of the Annunciation where we meet Mary for the first time in the pages of the Bible.

       When a child is born, the parents, relatives and their friends rejoice in the arrival of a new life. The question is soon asked, or has already been asked when the mother was pregnant: “What name shall we give to this child?” The expectant mother ponders: “Who will this child turn out to be?”

       When the daughter of Joachim and Anne was born, no doubt they asked themselves and pondered over these same questions. Being devout members of God’s Chosen People, we can be confident that they were led by the Holy Spirit when they gave their child the name “Mary.”

       In 1683, Muslim armies loyal to Mohammed IV in Constantinople advanced towards the West to conquer Europe and spread Islam. The Muslim armies had reached the outskirts of Vienna when John Sobieski, king of Poland, brought an army to stop the advance of Muslim armies. After King Sobieski entrusted himself to the Blessed Virgin Mary, he and his soldiers thoroughly defeated the Muslims. Pope Innocent XI extended the feast of the Most Holy Name of Mary in gratitude to the entire Church.

       When my parents named me Rudolf, they did not think so much of a saint, but of the priest who officiated their marriage. I visited this priest often, admired him, listened to him, and his example influenced me a lot on my way to the priesthood.

       Today, parents give their children strange names that when they grow up, they don’t like to be called by that name. It is still a rule to give a child the name of a saint, but often it appears only on the baptismal certificate. Naming a child after a saint gives him a model to look up to.

       If ever the Lord grants you the joy of having another child, don’t forget to give him or her the name of a saint. If the child is a girl, give her the name of Mary, the Mother of Jesus and our Mother, too.


REFLECTION QUESTION: Do you have just a devotion to Mary, or do you try to imitate her?

Lord, thank You for giving us Your Mother Mary as our Mother, too. Make me humble and docile so that I may learn from her how to live a God-pleasing life in this difficult world.


Published:

September 12, 2014, 7:35 AM
September 12, 2011 - 6:50AM

The Nativity of the Blessed Virgin Mary

Behold, the virgin shall be with child and bear a son, 

and they shall name Him Immanuel, 

which means “God is with us.” 

MATTHEW 1 : 23

Therefore the Lord will give them up, until the time when she who is to give birth has borne, and the rest of his brethren shall return to the children of Israel. (Micah 5:2)


Today’s passage from Micah is a prophecy of the coming Messiah. When Mary gave birth to Jesus, this prophecy was fulfilled. By celebrating Mary’s birthday today, the Church reminds us that the Son of God is born of a woman—a woman conceived and born free from all sin. Our celebration of Mary’s birthday shows our faith in the Word who became flesh, fully human, for our sake. (Kerygma 2023)

Mary walked with Jesus through His ministry. 

Today we celebrate the birthday of the Blessed Virgin Mary. Let us take a moment to reflect on Mary as a model for our discipleship. She is humble and obedient to God’s call, and so should we. She is our mother and the Mother of the Church. Let us ask for her powerful intercession.

Mary’s role in the work of salvation is more than just being the Mother of God. Just as Mary walked with Jesus through His ministry, so should we walk with one another and support each other in our journeys. Solidarity in ministry is important — ministry can be a soul-destroying reality when people seem to ignore the Gospel rather than embrace it. Let us persevere and pray that the seeds of faith we have planted will one day sprout and grow into faith. (Kerygma 2015)

Never rule out the possibility that God has an important plan for your life. 

The birthday of Mary is a great time to thank God for the gift she is to us as the Mother of God, the Mother of the Church, and our mother. Hopefully we are able to draw strength and inspiration from the holiness of her life. She was a very simple person, but this did not stop her from having the most significant role in the work of salvation. We should never rule out the possibility that God has an important plan for our lives as well.

Expect the Spirit to be at work in your life every time you respond to God’s will for you. 

We do not have any writings concerning the birth of Mary but we do have the birth of Jesus in the Gospels. It is important to note the role of the Holy Spirit, which gives us an indication that we can expect the Spirit to be at work in our lives every time we respond to God’s will for us. Hopefully we can remember this as it is helpful to know the Spirit is around, especially when following God’s will becomes difficult.  (Kerygma-2014)

Remember that Mary desires to help us through her intercession to grow closer to Jesus and serve the Gospel more fully.

We celebrate the birthday of Mary because of the central role she plays in the mystery of our faith. We do not know a lot about her, but what we do know is enough to inspire us by her example. As we honor her today on her birthday, let us remember that Mary desires to help us through her intercession to grow closer to Jesus and serve the Gospel more fully. (Kerygma-2012)


Lord, thank You for giving us Your Mother Mary as our Mother, too. May she become more and more my inspiration and model. 


HAPPY BIRTHDAY, MOTHER MARY!

Nobody knows when and where the Virgin Mary was born. No birth certificates were issued in her time. Was she born in Nazareth or in nearby Sepphoris, where a church honors her parents Joachim and Anne who are said to have lived there? We don’t know.

September 8 was chosen because in the fifth century, a church in Jerusalem was dedicated on this day, which was said to have been built above the place where Mary was born. Nazareth, Sepphoris, Jerusalem? Nobody knows. And we don’t need to know.

The Church presents us today with the genealogy of Jesus. Matthew mentions four women in this genealogy: Tamar, Rahab, Ruth and Bathsheba. Tamar disguised herself as a temple prostitute to have intercourse with her father-in-law and produced a son. Rahab was a prostitute in Jericho, Ruth was a Moabite, an archenemy of the Israelites, and Bathsheba committed adultery with King David. In these four sinful women, the curse of Eve’s sin becomes visible. Sin begets sin, an endless, ever escalating curse. And then Matthew mentions a fifth woman: Mary. With her, the ancient curse of sin is finally broken and transformed into a chain of blessings. With her sinlessness and obedience to God’s plans, salvation dawns. The Second Vatican Council states that Mary “is inseparably linked with her Son’s saving work.”

Every human birth is a call for joy and new hope. Loving parents have shown hope in a world filled with sorrow, suffering, wars and hopelessness. The newborn child has the potential to become a channel of God’s love in this often dark world. This was especially true when Mary was born. She foreshadows God’s love for mankind that was manifested in her Son Jesus.

On this joyful day, let us try to bring some joy and hope into our world by making somebody happy — somebody who suffers or is lonely, who is weighed down by failure and rejection. Yes, bring “joy to the world” as Mary’s birth did. Fr. Rudy Horst, SVD


REFLECTION QUESTIONS: Who is Mary for you? Do you have just a sentimental attitude towards her, or do you try to imitate her humility and faith?

Nativity of Mary

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

The Nativity of Mary, or Birth of the Virgin Mary refers to the traditional birthday of Saint Mary.

The modern canon of scripture does not record Mary's birth. The earliest known account of Mary's birth is found in the Protoevangelium of James (5:2), an apocryphal text from the late second century, with her parents known as Saint Anne and Saint Joachim.

In the case of saints, the Church commemorates their dies natalis or date of death, with Saint John the Baptist and the Virgin Mary as the few whose birth dates are commemorated. The reason for this is found in the singular mission each had in salvation history, but traditionally also because these alone (besides the prophet Jeremiah, Jer 1:5) were holy in their very birth (for Mary, see Immaculate Conception; John was sanctified in Saint Elizabeth's womb according to the traditional interpretation of Lk 1:15).

The “Protoevangelium of James,” which was probably put into its final written form in the early second century, describes Mary's father Joachim as a wealthy member of one of the Twelve Tribes of Israel. He and his wife Anne were deeply grieved by their childlessness.

Tradition celebrates the event as a liturgical feast in the General Roman Calendar and in most Anglican liturgical calendars on 8 September, nine months after the solemnity of her Immaculate Conception, celebrated on 8 December. The Eastern Orthodox likewise celebrate the Nativity of the Theotokos on 8 September.

This feast, like that of the Assumption of Mary, originated in Jerusalem. It began in the fifth century as the feast of the Basilica Sanctae Mariae ubi nata est, now called the Basilica of Saint Anne. The original church built, in the fifth century, was a Marian basilica erected on the spot known as the shepherd's field and thought to have been the home of Mary's parents. In the seventh century, the feast was celebrated by the Byzantines as the feast of the Birth of the Blessed Virgin Mary.

The feast is also celebrated by Syrian Christians on 8 September and by Coptic and Ethiopian Orthodox Christians on 9 May (1 Bashans, EC 1 Ginbot). At Rome the Feast began to be kept toward the end of the 7th century, brought there by Eastern monks. The feast is also included in the Tridentine Calendar for 8 September.

The winegrowers in France called this feast "Our Lady of the Grape Harvest". The best grapes are brought to the local church to be blessed and then some bunches are attached to hands of the statue of Mary. A festive meal which includes the new grapes is part of this day.

The scene was frequently depicted in art, as part of cycles of the Life of the Virgin. Late medieval depictions are often valuable records of domestic interiors and their fittings - at this period the setting was often in a wealthy household.


Published:

September 08, 2023, 7:19 AM

September 08, 2015, 7:40 AM
September 08, 2014, 7:23AM

The Queenship of the Blessed Virgin Mary (Memorial)

Pius XII established this feast in 1954. But Mary’s queenship has roots in Scripture. At the Annunciation, Gabriel announced that Mary’s Son would receive the throne of David and rule forever. At the Visitation, Elizabeth calls Mary “mother of my Lord.” As in all the mysteries of Mary’s life, Mary is closely associated with Jesus: Her queenship is a share in Jesus’ kingship. We can also recall that in the Old Testament the mother of the king has great influence in court.

In the fourth century St. Ephrem called Mary “Lady” and “Queen.” Later Church fathers and doctors continued to use the title. Hymns of the 11th to 13th centuries address Mary as queen: “Hail, Holy Queen,” “Hail, Queen of Heaven,” “Queen of Heaven.” The Dominican rosary and the Franciscan crown as well as numerous invocations in Mary’s litany celebrate her queenship.

The feast is a logical follow-up to the Assumption and is now celebrated on the octave day of that feast. In his encyclical To the Queen of Heaven, Pius XII points out that Mary deserves the title because she is Mother of God, because she is closely associated as the New Eve with Jesus’ redemptive work, because of her preeminent perfection and because of her intercessory power.


Comment:

As St. Paul suggests in Romans 8:28–30, God has predestined human beings from all eternity to share the image of his Son. All the more was Mary predestined to be the mother of Jesus. As Jesus was to be king of all creation, Mary, in dependence on Jesus, was to be queen. All other titles to queenship derive from this eternal intention of God. As Jesus exercised his kingship on earth by serving his Father and his fellow human beings, so did Mary exercise her queenship. As the glorified Jesus remains with us as our king till the end of time (Matthew 28:20), so does Mary, who was assumed into heaven and crowned queen of heaven and earth.

Quote:

“Let the entire body of the faithful pour forth persevering prayer to the Mother of God and Mother of men. Let them implore that she who aided the beginnings of the Church by her prayers may now, exalted as she is in heaven above all the saints and angels, intercede with her Son in the fellowship of all the saints. May she do so until all the peoples of the human family, whether they are honored with the name of Christian or whether they still do not know their Savior, are happily gathered together in peace and harmony into the one People of God, for the glory of the Most Holy and Undivided Trinity” (Dogmatic Constitution on the Church, 69).

Source: http://www.americancatholic.org/features/saints/saint.aspx?id=1115

Published:

August 22, 2011, 5:54 AM