Mary, Our Mother Sctn.:

The Hail Mary

Also See: Blessed Virgin Mary (Topic Page)

"And in the sixth month, the angel Gabriel was sent from God into a city of Galilee, called Nazareth, To a virgin espoused to a man whose name was Joseph, of the house of David; and the virgin's name was Mary. And the angel being come in, said unto her: Hail, full of grace, the Lord is with thee: blessed art thou among women." (Lk. 1:26-28)

"And it came to pass, that when Elizabeth heard the salutation of Mary, the infant leaped in her womb. And Elizabeth was filled with the Holy Ghost: And she cried out with a loud voice, and said: Blessed art thou among women, and blessed is the fruit of thy womb."  (Lk. 1:41-42)

"When I pray 'Hail Mary', the heavens smile, the angels rejoice, the earth is happy" (St. Francis of Assisi)

"It is impossible to say how pleasing and gratifying to her it is when we greet her with the Angelic Salutation, "full of grace"; and in repeating it, fashion these words of praise into ritual crowns for her. For every time we say them, we recall the memory of her exalted dignity and of the Redemption of the human race which God began through her." (Pope Leo XIII, "Magnae Dei Matris", 1892 A.D.)

"I do not know how it is, nor why, but nevertheless I know well that it is true; nor have I any better secret of knowing whether a person is for God than to examine if he likes to say the Hail Mary and the Rosary. I say, if he likes; for it may happen that a person may be under some natural inability to say it, or even a supernatural one; yet, nevertheless, he likes it always, and always inspires the same liking in others." (St. Louis Marie de Montfort)

"The Hail Mary well said - that is, with attention, devotion, and modesty - is, according to the saints, the enemy of the devil which puts him to flight, and the hammer which crushes him. It is the sanctification of the soul, the joy of the angels, the melody of the predestinate, the canticle of the New Testament, the pleasure of Mary, and the glory of the most Holy Trinity. The Hail Mary is a heavenly dew which fertilizes the soul. It is the chaste and loving kiss which we give to Mary. It is a vermilion rose which we present to her; a precious pearl we offer her; a chalice of divine ambrosial nectar which we proffer to her. All these are comparisons of the saints." (St. Louis Marie de Montfort)

"The heavens rejoice, and all the earth ought to stand amazed when I say 'Hail Mary'. Satan and hell tremble when I repeat 'Hail Mary'. Sorrow is banished, and a new joy fills my soul when I say 'Hail Mary'. My languid affection is strengthened in God and my soul is refreshed when I repeat 'Hail Mary'. So great is the sweetness of this blessed salutation that it is not to be expressed in words, but remains deeper in the heart than can be fathomed. Wherefore, again I most humbly bend my knees to you, O most holy Virgin, and say: 'Hail Mary, full of grace.' Oh! That, to satisfy my desire of honoring and saluting you with all the powers of my soul, all my members were converted into tongues and into voices of fire that I might glorify you, O mother of God, without ceasing! And now, prostrate in your presence, invited by sincere devotion of heart, and all inflamed with veneration for your sweet name, I represent to you the joy of that salutation when the Archangel Gabriel, sent by God, entered your secret closet and honored you with a salutation unheard from the beginning of the world, saying: 'Hail, full of grace, the Lord is with thee'; which I desire to repeat, were it possible, with lips pure as gold, and with a burning affection, and I desire that all creatures now say with me, 'Hail'." (Thomas a Kempis)

Also See: Marian Prayers | Marian Devotions | Devotion to Mary / Devotion to Mary is Recommended | Powerful Intercession of Mary | We Should Imitate Mary / Mary is Our Model | Mary's Virtues | The Rosary | Marian Facts | Marian Scriptural References | Some Reasons to Honor the Blessed Virgin Mary | Some Thoughts on the Blessed Virgin Mary

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No Homage to Mary More Agreeable Than Knowledge and Love of Her Son

Also See: Blessed Virgin Mary (Topic Page) | Jesus (Topic Page)

"No homage is more agreeable to her, none is sweeter to her than that we should know and really love Jesus Christ." (Pope St. Pius X, "Ad Diem Illum Laetissimum", 1904 A.D.)

Also See: Mary / Knowledge and Love of Jesus | Jesus & Mary [Pg.] | Devotion to Mary / Devotion to Mary is Recommended

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The Rosary

Also See: Holy Rosary (Topic Page)

"[M]ay the beads of the Rosary be in the hands of all" (Pope Pius XII)

"I have no better way of knowing if a man is for God than if he likes to say the Hail Mary and the Rosary." (St. Louis de Montfort)

 "If you want peace in your heart, in your home, in your country, assemble together every night and say the Rosary." (Pope St. Pius X)

"Love Our Lady and make her loved. Recite the Rosary and recite it always and as much as you can." [St. Pio of Pietrelcina (Padre Pio), two days before his death] 

"Never will anyone who says his Rosary every day be led astray. This is a statement that I would gladly sign with my blood." (St. Louis de Montfort)

"Of all the prayers, the Rosary is the most beautiful and the richest in graces; of all it is the one most pleasing to Mary, the Virgin Most Holy." (Pope St. Pius X)

"Next to the holy sacrifice of the Mass, there is, indeed, nothing more terrifying to [the devil], nor does he bear a more implacable hatred to anything than to the devotion of the Rosary." (Muller)

"I beg of you to beware of thinking of the Rosary as something of little importance - as do ignorant people and even several great but proud scholars. Far from being insignificant, the rosary is a priceless treasure which is inspired by God." (St. Louis de Montfort)

"The rosary is the book of the blind, where souls see and there enact the greatest drama of love the world has ever known; it is the book of the simple, which initiates them into mysteries and knowledge more satisfying than the education of other men; it is the book of the aged, whose eyes close upon the shadow of this world, and open on the substance of the next. The power of the rosary is beyond description." (Archbishop Fulton Sheen)

"[Our Rosaries] acquire yet another title of joy and acceptance in Mary's eyes. For every time we look once more with devotion and remembrance upon these mysteries we give her a sign of the gratitude of our hearts, we prove to her that we cannot often enough call to mind the blessings of her unwearied charity in the work of our salvation. From such meditations, which with the frequency of love we awoke in her presence, who may express, who may ever conceive, whatever new joys overflow her blessed soul and what tender affections of mercy and of a mother's love arise therein?" (Pope Leo XIII)

"Number those, if you can, who, through the devotion of the Rosary, have recovered from sickness; how many captives have been set at liberty; how many have been delivered by Mary who were in danger of perishing by fire, in danger of shipwreck, in danger of war and pestilence. Go to the sanctuaries of Our Blessed Lady, and see there the many votive offerings, ornaments of gold and silver and precious stones, in commemoration of miraculous cures or other extraordinary favors obtained though the devotion of the Rosary; for in these sanctuaries of the Blessed Virgin the blind are restored to sight, the lame walk, the demons are expelled from the bodies of men. These are authentic facts, attested not only by persons of note who have heard them from others, but by thousands of eyewitnesses whose sincerity we cannot doubt; facts so numerous that, if they were all written, it would take years to read them. What favor and blessing is there that cannot be obtained by the devotion of the Rosary?" (Muller)

"As the various mysteries present themselves one after another in the formula of the Rosary, for the meditation and contemplation of men's minds, they also make clear what we owe to Mary for our reconciliation and salvation. No one can fail to be sweetly affected when he considers who appeared in Elizabeth's home as the minister of the divine gifts, who presented her Son to the shepherds, the kings and Simeon. One must remember, too, that Christ's blood shed for our sake and those members in which he offers to his Father the wounds he received as the price of our freedom are no other than the flesh and blood of the Virgin. The flesh of Jesus is the flesh of Mary, and however much it was exalted in the glory of his Resurrection, still the nature of his flesh which he took from Mary remained and still remains the same." (Pope Leo XIII)

"May now the Christian nations, excited by Our exhortations, and inflamed by your appeals, seek the protection of Mary with an ardor growing greater day by day; let them cling more and more to the practice of the Rosary, to that devotion which our ancestors were in the habit of practicing, not only as an ever-ready remedy for their misfortunes, but as a whole badge of Christian piety. The heavenly Patroness of the human race will receive with joy these prayers and supplications, and will easily obtain that the good shall grow in virtue, and that the erring should return to salvation and repent; and that God who is the avenger of crime, moved to mercy and pity may deliver Christendom and civil society from all dangers, and restore to them peace so much desired." (Pope Leo XIII, "Supremi Apostolatus Officio", 1883)

"Moreover, we may well believe that the Queen of Heaven herself has granted an especial efficacy to this mode of supplication, for it was by her command and counsel that the devotion was begun and spread abroad by the holy Patriarch Dominic as a most potent weapon against the enemies of the faith at an epoch not, indeed, unlike our own, of great danger to our holy religion. The heresy of the Albigenses had in effect, one while covertly, another while openly, overrun many countries, and this most vile off spring of the Manicheans, whose deadly errors it reproduced, were the cause in stirring up against the Church the most bitter animosity and a virulent persecution. There seemed to be no human hope of opposing this fanatical and most pernicious sect when timely succor came from on high through the instrument of Mary's Rosary. Thus under the favor of the powerful Virgin, the glorious vanquisher of all heresies, the forces of the wicked were destroyed and dispersed, and faith issued forth unharmed and more shining than before. All manner of similar instances are widely recorded, and both ancient and modern history furnish remarkable proofs of nations saved from perils and winning benedictions therefrom. There is another signal argument in favor of this devotion, inasmuch as from the very moment of its institution it was immediately encouraged and put into most frequent practice by all classes of society. In truth, the piety of the Christian people honors, by many titles and in multiform ways, the Divine Mother, who, alone most admirable among all creatures, shines resplendent in unspeakable glory. But this title of the Rosary, this mode of prayer which seems to contain, as it were, a final pledge of affection, and to sum up in itself the honor due to Our Lady, has always been highly cherished and widely used in private and in public, in homes and in families, in the meetings of confraternities, at the dedication of shrines, and in solemn processions; for there has seemed to be no better means of conducting sacred solemnities, or of obtaining protection and favors." (Pope Leo XIII, "Octobri Mense", 1891)

"[W]hile the mind is dwelling on mysteries of the Rosary the heart is wonderfully enkindled by them to make virtuous resolutions. What an example we have set before us!... It would be utterly impossible for anyone to meditate on and attentively consider these most precious memorials of our loving Redeemer and not have a heart on fire with gratitude to Him. Such is the power of a faith sincerely practiced that, through the light it brings to man's mind and the vigor with which it moves his heart, he will straightway set out in the footsteps of Christ and follow them through every obstacle, making his own a protestation worthy of a St. Paul: 'Who then shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation? or distress? or famine? or nakedness? or danger? or persecution? or the sword?' 'I live, now not I; but Christ liveth in me.'" (Pope Leo XIII, "Magnae Dei Matris", 1892 A.D.)

Also See: Marian Prayers | Marian Devotions | The Holy Rosary (Reflections) | Rosary Section | Devotion to Mary / Devotion to Mary is Recommended | The Hail Mary | Scapular / Rosary | Powerful Intercession of Mary | Classic Encyclicals (Rosary) 

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The Scapular

Also See: Scapulars (Topic Page)

"Let us, then, take pride in wearing the holy Scapular as men take pride in having others wear their livery; but at the same time, let us show to the world, by virtuous lives, that we are 'servants' of Mary." (Muller)

"How many sick have been healed, how many lives have been saved, how many fires have been extinguished, how many tempests stilled, how many remarkable conversions have been wrought, by means of this simple devotion!" (Muller)

"The other devotions to Our Lady last only for a certain time, but he who wears the Scapular honors Our Lady at all times and in all places. The Scapular is, as the Blessed Virgin herself has declared, 'a safeguard in danger'" (Muller)

"He that wears the Scapular declares thereby that he is a servant of Mary, and consequently has a claim to her special protection. One of the most consoling doctrines of the church is that of the Communion of Saints. This doctrine is exemplified especially in the confraternities of the Scapular. Those who wear the Scapular have a share in all the Masses, almsdeeds, penance, and other good works continually offered to God by the various religious orders represented by the Scapular. Their satisfaction for sin becomes ours; their prayers for heavenly blessings belong to us. The holy Scapular is the key to the rich treasure of graces that has been for centuries accumulating in the Church. All the missionary labors, the studies and toils, the prayers and watching, the fasting, and other works of penance of so many holy servants of God, belong to those who wear the Scapular." (Muller)

"From these well authenticated facts we see that the Scapular is a badge of our love and veneration of the Holy Mother of God. It is, at the same time, a sweet pledge of her powerful protection; it is a devotion most ancient and venerable - a devotion descended from heaven. The most learned theologians, among them the renowned Cardinal [St.] Bellarmine, concur in asserting its heavenly origin. The popes have approved of it in various bulls; the holy Catholic Church has instituted a special feast, a Mass, and office to celebrate the devotion of the Scapular. Every nation into which the one saving Church has yet penetrated, every rank and class of men, from the layman to the Pope, all honor and practice the devotion of the Scapular. But, more than this, God himself, who is the living truth, who alone can suspend the laws of nature, has confirmed the heavenly origin of the Scapular by numberless miracles." (Muller)

"The advantages of wearing the holy Scapular are, then innumerable, whilst the obligations are strictly none whatever. We have in the holy Scapular so easy and so powerful a means of securing our salvation that who will hesitate to wear it? Let the welfare of our immortal soul not be the last and least important affair in our eyes. Mary offers us her Scapular; she promises to make us eternally happy if we accept her gift. How can we remain indifferent? To acquire this special protection of the Blessed Virgin will not cost us half the trouble we take to gain the goodwill of some great personage on earth. Mary does not wait until we pray to her. No! She offers us her graces of her own accord. She opens her loving arms to receive us as her children. She seems to consider it a sacred duty to make us forever happy. Let no one reject this loving Mother; let no one repay her affection only by coldness and indifference. Were Mary to require of us all our worldly goods in return for the goods of heaven; were she to require of us all that her most servants have gladly done to honor her; were she to require us to wear, not a Scapular but the rough penitential grab of some religious order, even then we should not hesitate a moment, but receive with joy and press to our lips such a pledge of our salvation. Nay, were Mary to require one of the greatest and most painful sacrifices, even then we should obey promptly; for heaven is worth every sacrifice. Each Christian has but one soul - an immortal soul; if it be lost, all is lost forever; if it be gained, all is gained, and gained for all eternity. And now the Blessed Virgin offers us a pledge of our salvation - her holy Scapular. The Queen of Heaven and Earth invites us to wear it. Our loving Mother, the Mother of God, wishes to make us forever happy, and she requires so little in return. She only asks us to wear her Scapular. She promises us, if we do so, our eternal salvation, and she promises it in language so clear that it cannot be twisted into another meaning. She has attested her promises by the most extraordinary miracles - miracles which are renewed every day to strengthen our confidence" (Muller)

Also See: Scapular / Rosary | Scapulars | Marian Devotions | Marian Prayers | Devotion to Mary / Devotion to Mary is Recommended | The Blessed Virgin's Intercession [Pg.]

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Scapular / Rosary

Also See: Scapulars (Topic Page) | Holy Rosary (Topic Page)

"Our Lady wants all to wear the Scapular. The Scapular and the Rosary are inseparable." (Sr. Lucy of Fatima)

"Ever hold in great esteem the practices and exercises of devotion to the Most Blessed Virgin which have been recommended for centuries by the magisterium of the Church. And among them we judge well to recall especially the Marian Rosary and the religious use of the Scapular of Mount Carmel." (Pope Paul VI)

Also See: The Scapular | The Rosary | Marian Prayers | Marian Devotions | Scapulars | The Holy Rosary (Reflections) | Rosary Section | Devotion to Mary / Devotion to Mary is Recommended | The Hail Mary | Powerful Intercession of Mary | Classic Encyclicals (Rosary) 

Note: Categories are subjective and may overlap. For more items related to this topic, please review all applicable categories. For more 'Reflections' and for Scripture topics, see links below.

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