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Virgin Mary

On February 11, 1858, a 14 year old girl named Bernadette Soubirous had an encounter with a "beautiful lady" when she was gathering firewood on the French side of the Pyrenees, near a town called Lourdes.  Here she tells the story of that encounter with...

A ode to the Blessed Virgin by St. Anselm, read on the Solemnity of the Immaculate Conception of Mary, December 8. The doctrine of the sinlessness of Mary from the moment of her conception was believed and taught in the church long before it...

Writing in the early 8th century, Bede explains why the Magnificat, Mary's prayer on the occasion of her Visitation of Elizabeth, is used daily in the liturgy of the hours (a.k.a the divine office) for evening prayer....

[dropcaps type='normal' font_size='100' color='' background_color='' border_color='']A[/dropcaps]n integral part of the rosary, indeed, the most essential part, is the meditation on the mysteries of the incarnation (joyful mysteries) and the redemption (the sorrowful and glorious mysteries). Yet there are different ways to meditate on the mysteries. One...

Cyril, patriarch of Alexandria, Egypt, presided over the 3rd great Ecumenical Council of the Church which met in 431 AD in Ephesus and which proclaimed Mary as the Theotokos ("God-bearer" or "Mother of God"). Following this proclamation, many churches were dedicated to the Blessed...

Leo the Great on Mary, the Royal Virgin of the house of David, mother of the Messiah and Our Lady of Mount Carmel.   Mount Carmel, overlooking the Mediterranean Sea, was associated with the Virgin Mary since Mary, Joseph and the child Jesus would have crossed...