Notre Dame de Rouen. The façade of the Gothic Church in France. Photographer: Hippo1947. Licence: SHUTTERSTOCK.

Friday, 24 May 2013

The Blessed Virgin Mary (Part Nine).


Text and Illustrations from Wikipedia - the free encyclopaedia,
unless otherwise stated.




The "Salve Regina", one of the four Marian Anthems 
that are described as "among the most beautiful creations 
of the Late Middle Ages".
Available on YouTube at


It is difficult to trace the beginning of non-Gregorian Marian Liturgical Music. In 1277, Pope Nicholas III prescribed rules for Liturgy in Roman Churches. In the Graduale Romanum, Kyriale IX and Kyriale X are both used for Marian Feasts. Over the centuries, Marian masterpieces have continued to appear, e.g., Mozart's Coronation Mass.

The list of compositions by Giovanni Pierluigi da Palestrina includes numerous Marian Masses: Salve Regina; Alma Redemptoris; Assumpta est Maria; Regina coeli; de beata Virgine; Ave Regina coelorum; Descendit Angelus Domini; and O Virgo simul et Mater. Joseph Haydn wrote several Marian compositions, including two famous Marian Masses.




The "Alma Redemptoris Mater", 
one of the four Marian Anthems 
that are described as 
"among the most beautiful creations 
of the Late Middle Ages".
Available on YouTube at


Marian Prayers, Poems and Hymns.

Throughout the centuries, the veneration of the Virgin Mary has given rise to a number of poems and Hymns, as well as Prayers. Author, Emily Shapcote, lists 150 Marian poems and Hymns in her book, "Mary the Perfect Woman". Such Prayers and poems go as far back as the 3rd-Century, but enjoyed a rapid growth during the 11th- and 12th-Centuries. Some of the best poetry, written in honour of the Blessed Virgin, comes from this period of the Middle Ages.

The Catechism of the Catholic Church (item 2679) emphasises the importance of Marian Prayers, and states:

Mary is the perfect Prayer, a figure of the Church . . . We can Pray with her, and to her. The Prayer of the Church is sustained by the Prayer of Mary and united with it in hope.

The earliest known Marian Prayer is the Sub tuum praesidium, or, "Beneath Thy Protection", a text for which was rediscovered in 1917 on a papyrus in Egypt, dated to circa 250 A.D. The papyrus contains the Prayer, in Greek, and is the earliest known reference to the title Theotokos (confirmed by the Council of Ephesus in 431 A.D.):

Beneath your compassion, We take refuge, O Mother of God: Do not despise our petitions in time of trouble: But rescue us from dangers, only pure, only Blessed one.

While the Regina Coelorum goes back to the 4th-Century, the Regina Coeli was composed towards the end of the 11th-Century. The first part of the Hail Mary, based on the salutation of the Angel, Gabriel, in the Visitation, was introduced in the 11th-Century, although its current form can be traced to the 16th-Century.

During the 11th-Century, as the number of Monasteries grew, so did Marian Prayers. In this period, the Little Office of the Blessed Virgin Mary was introduced and was modelled after the Divine Office, but was much shorter. It was adopted not only by Monks, but by pious people who could read.

And the growth of the Tertiary Orders helped spread its use. During the First Crusade, Pope Urban II ordered it to be said for the success of the Christians. In this period, Hermannus Contractus (Herman the Cripple), at the Abbey of Reichenau, composed the Alma Redemptoris Mater, and Hymns to Mary became part of daily life at Monasteries, such as the Benedictine Abbey of Cluny, in France.


File:Reichenau PeterPaul.jpg


Saint Peter and Saint Paul Church,
Reichenau Island, Lake Constance, Germany. 
Hermann Contractus was a Monk in this Abbey 
and is credited with creating the Marian Anthems 
of Alma Redemptoris and Ave Regina. 
Photo taken by en:User:Ahoerstemeier (November 2001). 
Date: 2004-03-05 (original upload date).
Source: Transferred from en.wikipedia
Transfer was stated to be made by User:Jalo.
Author: Original uploader was Ahoerstemeier at en.wikipedia.
Permission: GFDL-WITH-DISCLAIMERS; 
Released under the GNU Free Documentation License.
(Wikimedia Commons)

Listen to how the Benedictine Monks 
in Cluny Abbey, France, 
would have sounded in the 11th-Century.
This Virtual Rebuilding of Cluny Abbey 
is available on YouTube at


In the 12th-Century, Bernard of Clairvaux gave Sermons (De duodecim stellis), from which an extract has been taken by the Roman Catholic Church and used in the Offices of the "Compassion" and of the "Seven Dolours". Saint Bernard wrote:

Take away, Mary, this Star of the Sea, the sea truly great and wide: What is left, but enveloping darkness and the shadow of death and the densest blackness ?

Stronger evidences are discernible in the pious meditations on the Ave Maria and the Salve Regina, usually attributed either to Saint Anselm of Lucca (died 1080) or Saint Bernard of Clairvaux; and also in the large book "De laudibus B. Mariae Virginis" (Douai, 1625), by Richard de Saint-Laurent.

Other famous Marian Prayers include the Magnificat, the Angelus and the Litany of the Blessed Virgin MaryMarian Hymns include: O Mary, We Crown Thee With Blossoms Today; Hail, Queen of Heaven, the Regina Coeli, and the Ave Maria.

Marian Devotions.

Catholic devotion is a willingness and desire for pious dedication and service, but is an "external practice", which is not part of the official Liturgy of the Catholic Church. A wide range of Marian devotions are followed by Catholics, ranging from simple Rosary recitations to formalised, multi-day Novenas, to activities which do not involve any Prayers, such the wearing of Scapulars or maintaining a Mary garden.


Click to Play



Listen to a Franciscan Sermon 
on Marian Devotion to Christ.
Available on YouTube at 


Also available on YouTube 
is this Marian Devotional Video and Music,
which has been described as "Awesome".
It is sung in the Malayalam language,
spoken in the State of Kerala, India.
It is available on YouTube at 

Two well-known Marian devotions are the Rosary recitation and the wearing of the Brown Scapular. Following their joint growth in the 18th- and 19th-Centuries, by the early 20th-Century the Rosary and the devotional Scapular had gained such a strong following, among Catholics worldwide, that the Catholic Encyclopedia of 1914 stated: "Like the Rosary, the Brown Scapular has become the Badge of the devout Catholic."

In his Encyclical, Rosarium Virginis Mariae, Pope John Paul II emphasised the importance of the Rosary. The Mariological basis of the Scapular devotion is effectively the same as Marian consecration, as discussed in the Dogmatic constitution, Lumen Gentium, of Pope Paul VI, namely, the role of the Virgin Mary as "the Mother to us in the Order of Grace", which allows her to intercede for "the gift of Eternal Salvation".

Catholic View of Marian Apparitions.

Roman Catholic tradition includes specific Prayers and devotions as Acts of Reparation to the Virgin Mary,  for insults that she suffers. The Raccolta Roman Catholic Prayer Book (approved by a Decree of 1854 and published by the Holy See in 1898) includes a number of such Prayers. These Prayers do not involve a Petition for a living or deceased beneficiary, but aim to repair the sins of others against the Virgin Mary.

The term, Marian apparition, is usually used in cases where visions of the Virgin Mary are reported, either with or without a conversation. There are, however, cases (e.g., Saint Padre Pio or Sister Maria Pierina De Micheli) where visions of Jesus and Mary, and conversations with both, are reported. Well-known apparitions include Our Lady of Lourdes,Our Lady of Guadalupe and Our Lady of Fatima.


PART TEN FOLLOWS.


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