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The great Auschwitz martyr, St. Maximilian Kolbe (d. 1941), during the 1920’s, translated from the original French into Polish the official depositions given to both state and Church officials by Bernadette Soubirous, the visionary of Lourdes, France. Between the dates of February 11th and July 16th, 1858, 14-year-old Bernadette claimed to have seen, a total of eighteen times, “a lady wearing a lovely white dress with a bright belt” who had on each of her feet “a pale yellow rose, the same color as her rosary beads.” Following strict investigations, these sightings were approved by the Church as apparitions of...

CNA).- Vitorrio Messori, the most popular Italian Catholic writer has slammed so-called “adult” Catholics who want to minimize the role of the Virgin Mary, just days before the presentation of his new book “Hypothesis About Mary” in Spain. The best-selling author of books such as “Crossing the Threshold of Hope,” addresses who Mary is for believers in his new work, the credibility of apparitions in Lourdes and Fatima and Mary’s role in Christian belief.  The new book has yet to be translated into English.Messori confesses that years ago he was asked to write a book about Mary, but the proposal...

A picture of little Lujan Buenos Aires, May 5, 2008 / 02:16 pm (CNA).- The Catholic magazine “Cristo Hoy” in Argentina has published an article on a mother who entrusted her daughter to the intercession of Our Lady of Lujan once she was diagnosed with an incurable disease before she was born. The little girl, Lujan, is now three years-old and living a normal life.Marcela is an eye doctor and mother of three.  During the eighth month of her last pregnancy, doctors found her baby to be suffering from anencephaly, a condition in which the brain does not develop...

Salvatore M. Perrella Rome, May 8, 2008 / 03:33 pm (CNA).- Salvatore M. Perrella, an expert in dogma and Mariology from the Mariunum Pontifical School in Rome, explained this week the criteria used by the Church to determine the legitimacy of Marian apparitions. His explanation comes in the wake of the Church’s approval of the apparitions of Our Lady of Laus in France.In an article for L’Osservatore Romano, Perrella cited Jesuit Father Giandomenico Mucci to explain the difference between a vision and an apparition.  The first is of a spiritual nature, while the second is of a physical one. ...

  As are all flowers, the month of May is dedicated to the Mary, whom we celebrate as Queen of Heaven on the last day of this month. Early in May, a statue of the Virgin at church is crowned with a wreath of roses, and the same are laid at her feet. Little girls and boys dress up in their best, often in blue; one child carries the crown on a cushion to the statue and another child is chosen to crown the statue. The selection process varies -- sometimes a boy is chosen to bear the wreath,...

Should Mary be declared co-redemptrix? One of the items posted by the Roman Catholic Zenit News Agency for Monday 11 February 2008 read as follows – Cardinals Hoping for a 5th Marian Dogma To Declare Mary as Mother of Humanity ROME, FEBRUARY. 11, 2008 (Zenit.org).- Five cardinals have sent a letter inviting prelates worldwide to join them in petitioning Benedict XVI to declare a fifth Marian dogma they said would "proclaim the full Christian truth about Mary."The text, released last week, includes the petition that asks the Pope to proclaim Mary as "the Spiritual Mother of All Humanity, the co-redemptrix...

"Rejoice, unfading rose. Rejoice, the only one who budded forth the unfading apple. Rejoice, birth-giver of the aromatic balm of the King of all. Rejoice, 0 Bride unwedded, the world's salvation." The Akathist Hymn is a profound, devotional poem, which sings the praises of the Holy Mother and Ever-Virgin Mary. It is one of the most beloved services in the Orthodox Church. It was composed in the imperial city of Constantinople, "the city of the Virgin," by St. Romanos the Melodist, who reposed in the year 556. The Akathist Hymn has proven so popular in the liturgical life of...

God has a mother and she was chosen before the beginning of time. This is an amazing belief, one that is sometimes mocked and often misunderstood, and misrepresented, sometimes even by Catholics. Yet this truth is at the heart of Advent and Christmas–as well as at the heart of the entire Christian Faith. This belief is also captured in a short phrase in the Hail Mary: "Holy Mary, Mother of God." They are just five simple words, but words bursting with mystery and meaning. They tell us many things about Mary and about the Triune God and His loving plan...

SANTA FE, N.M. (CNS) -- Little did the Spanish conquistadors and Franciscans who came to what is now New Mexico in 1625 realize that the same wooden statue of Mary they brought with them to help instill the Catholic faith would still be a symbol of love and devotion today. Originally called the Assumption of the Virgin Mary, the statue is little more than 3 feet high, made of wood and hollow in the middle -- so it might fit atop a staff when displayed on horseback -- but it continues to inspire the faithful as La Conquistadora. Her...

The following is the transcript of Scott Hahn's audio and video tape presentation, "Mary: Holy Mother" as it appears in the "Catholic Adult Education on Video Program" with Scott and Kimberly Hahn. As you probably know, this is our third installment in a series of five sessions that we are spending together discussing how to answer common objections, questions regarding key tenets that are distinctive to the Catholic Church. We have focused upon the Pope and yesterday we looked at purgatory. This morning we want to focus on Mary and the Marian doctrines and devotions of the Catholic Church to...

   The Statue of Our Lady of America will be at Ground Zero in Lower Manhattan on Tuesday 9/11 on the 6th annual commemoration of the terrorist attack on the Twin Towers. This is the same statue that was blessed by Archbishop Burke at the November 2006 Bishop’s Meeting of the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB) and was until yesterday enthroned at the Old Cathedral of St. Louis, MO. The crowds attending the devotion to Our Lady of America are expected to be large because for the first time the actual Ground Zero site will be closed...

MARIAZELL, Austria (CNS) -- When Pope Benedict XVI came to the Austrian Marian shrine of Mariazell, he spoke a lot about Jesus Christ and said relatively little about Mary. That was indicative of the “style” of this pope’s Marian devotion, which Vatican officials have described as prudent, thoughtful and very Christocentric. In general, the pope sees attachment to Mary as a wonderful way for the faithful to draw closer to Christ, but has been wary of anything that tends to exaggerate or over-sentimentalize her role in the church. “We rest awhile with the mother of the Lord, and we pray...

Here is a translation of the words of the Holy Father at the Angelus in Castel Gandolfo today: Dear brothers and sisters! We celebrate today the Solemnity of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary. It is an ancient feast, which has its ultimate foundation in Sacred Scripture which shows us the Virgin Mary closely united to her divine Son and always one with him. Mother and Son appear closely associated in the battle against the infernal enemy until full victory is achieved over him. This victory is expressed, particularly, by overcoming sin and death, a victory over those enemies...

Several points of discussion this week. First, the Chinese government to destroy a shrine: Next July 16th pilgrims and faithful from Henan will not be allowed to go on pilgrimage to the sanctuary in Tianjiajing. The government from the province of Henan has in fact decreed that the historic sanctuary dedicated to Our Lady of Mount Carmel will be blown up with dynamite; a complete ban on Catholics organizing their annual pilgrimage; a complete ban on any religious gathering or function being celebrated in the area. A statue of the Virgin, over one hundred years old, is destined to be...

Like England is "Our Lady's Dowry". I think that Lithuania is "Terra Mariana" and Hungary is "Regnum Marianum". So what should the USA be called? Since Our Lady under the title of Immaculate Conception is patroness of the USA what about TERRA IMMACULATA?

Hail Mary, full of grace, the Lord is with you. Luke 1:28 "And coming to her, he said, "Hail, full of grace, the Lord is with you."  The Greek kecharitomene means favored by grace, graced. Its tense suggests a permanent state of being "highly favored," thus full of grace. Charity, the divine love within us, comes from the same root. God is infinite Goodness, infinite Love. Mary is perfect created goodness, filled to the limit of her finite being with grace or charity. Blessed art thou among women Luke 1:41-42a "When Elizabeth heard Mary's greeting, the infant leaped in...

The Early Church Fathers had no problem referring to Mary as the Mother of God. They saw it as a natural consequence of the Incarnation.IrenaeusThe Virgin Mary, being obedient to his word, received from an angel the glad tidings that she would bear God (Against Heresies, 5:19:1 [A.D. 189]). Hippolytus[T]o all generations they [the prophets] have pictured forth the grandest subjects for contemplation and for action. Thus, too, they preached of the advent of God in the flesh to the world, his advent by the spotless and God-bearing (theotokos) Mary in the way of birth and growth, and the manner...

The Early Church Fathers believed that Mary was full of grace and thus sinless. Justin Martyr[Jesus] became man by the Virgin so that the course that was taken by disobedience in the beginning through the agency of the serpent might be also the very course by which it would be put down. Eve, a virgin and undefiled, conceived the word of the serpent and bore disobedience and death. But the Virgin Mary received faith and joy when the angel Gabriel announced to her the glad tidings that the Spirit of the Lord would come upon her and the power of...

08 February 2007, 11:26 Virgin Mary said to appear to an American lover of foul language and bless opposition to ROCOR’s unity with the Church in Russia New York, February 8, Interfax - The anonymous creator of the ROCORNEWS website has stated that the Virgin Mary with a host of saints appeared to him during his night walk with his dog in the Central Park in New York. ‘The vision’ is now given all kinds of interpretation by irreconcilable opponents of unity between the Russian Church Abroad and the Moscow Patriarchate, who see in this statement a sign of heavenly...

The Early Church Fathers believed that Mary remained a virgin her entire life. Origen The Book [the Protoevangelium] of James [records] that the brethren of Jesus were sons of Joseph by a former wife, whom he married before Mary. Now those who say so wish to preserve the honor of Mary in virginity to the end, so that body of hers which was appointed to minister to the Word . . . might not know intercourse with a man after the Holy Spirit came into her and the power from on high overshadowed her. And I think it in harmony...