Walsingham

Today is the feast of Our Lady of Walsingham, the most important shrine of Mary in England.

The original shrine and image of Walsingham were destroyed after the Reformation. However, in the early 20th century the cult was revived and the Norfolk village once again became a place of pilgrimage for both Anglo and Roman Catholics.

Virtual visit

Maria Kirchental

Greetings from Maria Kirchental!

Postcard from Maria Kirchental, a pilgrimage church near Salzburg in Austria.

The pilgrimage to the church is centred around a gothic Madonna from 1400. The baroque building was constructed between 1694 and 1701. It was designed by the Austrian architect Johann Bernhard Fischer von Erlach.

During the season of advent the church of Maria Kirchental upholds the ancient tradition of celebrating Rorate Masses in honour of Mary. The name of this Mass refers to its opening antiphon: “Rorate caeli désuper et nubes pluant justum”. Before the Second Vatican Council the Masses would take place in the early hours of the morning, but now evening celebrations are permitted also.

There is a beautiful symbolism associated with the Rorate Mass. Through the snow and cold and darkness of the early morning the faithful would travel with lanterns in their hands to the candlelit church where the Mass was celebrated. What a beautiful symbol of light concurring darkness.

Maria Kirchental website

Mater Dolorosa

Another image for the feast of Our Lady of Sorrows: the Mater Dolorosa in the church of the Holy Sepulchre in Jerusalem.

Photo

Our Lady of Sorrows

Consolatrix Afflictorum

Today is the feast of Our Lady of Sorrows (or Beatae Mariae Virginis Perdolentis in Latin). Devotion to Mary's sorrows dates back to the high Middle Ages, when popular piety very much focused on the suffering of Christ and his Mother. It is no coincidence that the bubonic plague, or Black Death, was claiming many lives all over Europe at the time. People could easily identify themselves with the suffering endured on Mount Calvary.

Traditionally Mary's sorrows were remembered by the Church on two different occasions during the liturgical year: during Passion Week (one week before Good Friday) and in September. Since 1913 the date for the latter has been set to September 15. In 1969 the Passion Week feast was taken off the calendar of saints, as it was considered a duplication of the September 15 feast.

Photo source

The Holy Name of Mary

Four days after the feast of Mary's birth, the Church celebrates the feast of the Holy Name of Mary.

The feast has its origins in Spain, where it was first celebrated in 1513. In 1683, when the Turkish army was defeated outside Vienna, it was declared a day of commemoration for the universal Church.

According to an old Belgian Missal I have from the 1930s "the Church glorifies the name of the Immaculate Virgin and Mother of God (...) and calls on it with confidence to assure favour and protection".

Photo source

Blessing

Indian Catholics hold up a child to receive a blessing at the shrine of Our Lady of Health at the annual feast of Mary's birth in Hyderabad in India on Wednesday.

The feast of Mary's nativity is a big day for Indian Catholics, as it is celebrated as a harvest festival and at many shrines newborns receive blessings. Just like India's large Hindu population celebrates the births of their many gods, Indian Catholics honour the day the Mother of their God was born.

Source

Nativitas Mariae

Yesterday was the feast of Mary's nativity.

Above you see a 17th copper engraving depicting this event. Mary's parents, St Anne and St Joachim, are seen thanking God for the birth of their daughter.

Mary's name is being glorified in the sky.

Nativity

Behold, this is the feast of the Nativity of the Virgin and of the renewal of the human race! The Virgin is born, She groweth and is raised up and prepareth Herself to be the Mother of God All-Sovereign of the ages.

- St Andrew, Archbishop of Crete

Blessing

Less than two weeks ago we celebrated the greatest of all feasts dedicated to Mary: that of her assumption into heaven. One ancient custom associated with the feast is the blessing of herbs, especially in German speaking lands.

According to the Directory of Popular Piety the custom “represents a clear example of the genuine evangelisation of pre-Christian rites and beliefs: one must turn to God (…) in order to obtain what was formerly obtained by magic rites”.

As early as the 10th century people would bring all kinds of cultivated and wild flowers to church on the day of Mary’s assumption. In some places the custom is continued until this day. The herbs are held by the congregation or placed on the altar while the priest blesses them before Mass.

One of the prayers from the Roman Ritual:

God, who on this day raised up to highest heaven the rod of Jesse, the Mother of your Son, our Lord Jesus Christ, that by her prayers and patronage you might communicate to our mortal nature the fruit of her womb, your very Son;
we humbly implore you to help us use these fruits of the soil for our temporal and everlasting welfare, aided by the power of your Son and the prayers of His glorious Mother; through Christ our Lord.
Amen

Full blessing in Rituale Romanum

Assumption Mass

The altar of Our Lady in the Brompton Oratory in London.

The altar was adorned for the High Mass for the feast of Mary’s assumption yesterday.

Assumption

Assumpta est Maria in caélum!

Mary has been taken up into heaven: the angels rejoice. The angels praise and bless the Lord.

Mediatrix

Tomorrow the Church celebrates the great feast of Mary’s assumption into heaven.

In 1950 the assumption was proclaimed a dogma. At the time psychologist Carl Gustav Jung commented on the religious and psychological significance of this event in his book ‘Answer to Job’:

“One could have known for a long time that there was a deep longing in the masses for an intercessor and mediatrix who would at last take her place alongside the Holy Trinity and be received as the ‘Queen of heaven and Bride at the heavenly court.’
(Mary’s) position satisfies a renewed hope for the fulfillment of that yearning for peace which stirs deep down in the soul, and for a resolution of the threatening tension between opposites.”

The assumption in ‘Answer to Job’