Marian Devotions

Catechism of the Catholic Church sections # 487-511, 963-975, and 2617-2619 are relevant to these documents.

Background statements written by Msgr. Peter J. Elliott of the Archdiocese of Melbourne and copyrighted by Catholics Committed to Support the Pope are indicated by ©CCSP. All others are written and copyrighted by Martin K.Barrack.

Document

Description

Background

Ubi Primum
EWTN Library

Encyclical of Pope Pius IX on the Immaculate Conception, February 2, 1849

The modern Marian era can be said to begin with the process that culminated in the solemn definition of the dogma that the Blessed Virgin was conceived without original sin. In Ubi Primum Pope Pius IX consults the College of Bishops, and indeed all the faithful, to see whether the time has come to define this truth. There was an enthusiastic positive response to the consultation. The development of this doctrine went back many centuries. St. Augustine would not mention sin when speaking of Mary and this was affirmed by the Council of Trent. Most of the faithful had come to believe in the Immaculate Conception, especially through the preaching of the Franciscans and great Marian apostles such as St. Grignon de Montfort. Moreover, in 1830, the Miraculous Medal had been revealed to St. Catherine Laboure in Paris, bearing the words “Mary conceived without sin...” ©CCSP

Ineffabilis Deus
New Advent Library

Apostolic Constitution of Pope Pius IX, Defining the Dogma of the Immaculate Conception of the Blessed Virgin Mary, December 8, 1854

The solemn definition of the dogma of the Immaculate Conception was made by Pope Pius IX at the Altar of the Chair in St. Peter’s Basilica, on the feast day itself, in 1854. He infallibly taught that, from the first instant of her existence, Mary was free from original sin. The dogmatic formula of the solemn definition is the most important aspect of this document. The problem of how Our Lady could be redeemed at the moment of her creation, that is, before her Son and Redeemer died on the cross, is resolved through the “anticipated merits of Christ.” This means that the power of Christ’s redeeming work is eternal; it moves across all the phases of earthly time. The definition was crowned, as it were, by apparitions at Lourdes in 1858, when Our Lady identified herself to St. Bernadette with the words: “I am the Immaculate Conception.” ©CCSP

Magnae Dei Matris
Vatican Library

Encyclical of Pope Leo XIII on the Rosary, September 8, 1892

Together with Pope St. Pius V, Pope Leo XIII truly merits the title, “the Pope of the Rosary.” Twenty-two of his documents are devoted to the holy rosary of the Blessed Virgin Mary. This was the era when the Pope was the “prisoner of the Vatican” because the dilemma of the Church’s relations with the new nation of Italy had not been resolved. There was much hatred of religion and anti-clericalism, stirred up by freemasons, skeptics and political radicals. But it is in such times of suffering and need that Christ’s faithful turn to the Blessed Mother and seek her help by taking up her beads. In the familiar rhythm of the decades of the rosary, they are drawn deeper into those mysteries of joy, sorrow and glory that make up the great journey of Jesus and Mary. These are the saving mysteries that give meaning to the pilgrimage we are making towards eternity. ©CCSP

Adiutricem
Vatican Library

Encyclical of Pope Leo XIII on the Rosary, September 5, 1895

This is one of the longer encyclicals by Pope Leo XIII on devotion to Mary and her rosary. It is of special significance because, in it, Pope Leo shows the close relationship between Mary and the Church: she is the Mother of the faith and of the faithful. ©CCSP

Ad Diem Illum Laetissimum
Vatican Library

Encyclical of Pope St. Pius X on the Immaculate Conception, February 2, 1904

Pope St. Pius X celebrates the fiftieth anniversary of the definition of the dogma of the Immaculate Conception. He not only draws the faithful to contemplate the mystery of the mediation of the sinless conception of the Mother of God, but he develops the meaning of of the mediation of Mary, through her universal motherhod of all members of the Mystical Body of Christ. Because of her union with Christ crucified, the one Mediator, Mary, an be described as the most powerful “mediatrix” and “advocate” for the whole world. At this time, the factors that led to the great war were emerging and the Church in France suffered persecution at the hands of the masonic Combes government. ©CCSP

Ingravescentibus Malis
Vatican Library

Encyclical of Pope Pius XI on the Rosary, September 29, 1937

Pope Pius XI confronted the totalitarian forces of nazism, fascism and communism as they built up their cruel earthly empires. He could see that war was inevitable. Just two years before World War II broke out, while the civil war raged in Spain, this courageous pontiff calls on the faithful to have recourse to the rosary of the Blessed Virgin Mary. By taking up her beads they found strength, consolidation and hope in years of trial and suffering, in battlefields, bombed out cities and especially in the concentration of camps of slavery and death. How distant seemed the prospect of the triumph of Mary’s Immaculate Heart in those tragic years. ©CCSP

Deiparae Virginis Mariae
Vatican Library

Encyclical of Pope Pius XII on the Possibility of Defining the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary as a Dogma of Faith, May 1, 1946

The Assumption of Our Lady had long been normal Catholic teaching in the east and the west, found in all catechisms, and celebrated on August 15. It was thus clearly taught by the ordinary magisterium of the Church. However, since the definition of the Immaculate Conception in 1854, there had been many petitions for a solemn definition of the Assumption, especially before the First World War. But these requests were not always theologically informed. Now, in the wake of World War II, Pius XII turns to the whole Church, first and foremost to his fellow bishops, to ask whether the time had finally come for a definition. His consultation met with virtual unanimity among the college of bishops and enthusiasm among the faithful in favor of a definition. The hope of bodily resurrection inherent in this dogma spoke to an age which had just witnessed the violent deaths of millions of human beings. ©CCSP

Munificentissimus Deus
Vatican Library

Apostolic Constitution of Pope Pius XII, Defining the Dogma of Faith that Mary, the Virgin Mother of God, has been Assumed into Heaven in Body and Soul, November 1, 1950

On All Saints Day of the holy year 1950, before a vast crowd gathered in St. Peter’s Square, Pius XII solemnly defined the dogma of the Assumption. The dogmatic formula of the solemn definition is the most significant aspect of this great document. The Pope teaches infallibly that, like her divine Son, the Risen Lord, Mary is raised up in her own body and is thus taken body and soul into the glory of heaven. What the ordinary magisterium had already taught all Catholics to believe is now solemnly defined as a dogma of the extraordinary magisterium. Any “spiritual” or merely “symbolic” interpretations are eliminated. Nevertheless, the theological question of whether, or how, Mary died and the historical question where her Assumption happened (Jerusalem or Ephesus) are both left open. ©CCSP

Ingruentium Malorum
Vatican Library

Encyclical of Pope Pius XII on Reciting the Rosary, September 15, 1951

During the “cold war” and the Korean War, when the communists were fiercely persecuting the Church in Eastern Europe and China, Pius XII calls on the faithful to turn to Mary through her holy rosary. In 1917, in the very year of the Russian Revolution, Our Lady of the Rosary had appeared to three children at Fátima, Portugal. She revealed the grave threats to the world that would come from Russia and she called for “prayer and penance,” the spiritual message of the Gospel. In such a threatening phase of the history of salvation, devotion to Our Lady of Fátima spread rapidly throughout the Church, encouraged by the Pope himself. ©CCSP

Fulgens Corona
Vatican Library

Encyclical of Pope Pius XII, Proclaiming a Marian Year to Commemorate the Centenary of the Definition of the Immaculate Conception, September 8, 1953

The Marian Year proclaimed by Pope Pius XII for 1954 proved to be a great success. In spite of the Pope’s failing health, it marked a high point in his pontificate and helped characterize him, together with Pope John Paul II, as a leading Marian pontiff of the twentieth century. This particularly beautiful encyclical, thus also expresses the Pope’s fervent personal devotion to Our Lady. ©CCSP

Ad Caeli Reginam
Vatican Library

Encyclical of Pope Pius XII, Proclaiming the Queenship of Mary, October 11, 1954

The Queenship of Mary is grounded in Scripture (cf. “the Mother of my Lord” in Luke 1:32-33, 43 and the crowned woman in Revelation 12. The Marian title of “Queen” has constantly run through Catholic tradition, in devotion, literature, art and music, in both the east and the west. In the crowning document of the successful Marian Year, Pius XII gives the Church a new feast dayof Mary’s queenship, May 31 (later transferred to August 22). The queenship opens the whole question of the nature of Mary’s mediation for us. This encyclical may also be read in the perspective of the promise and hope of Fátima, that finally the Immaculate Queen will triumph and reign. In the Queenship of Mary, mariology and eschatology converge. In Mary, we see the history of our salvation culminating in the final victory of her Son and His promise of eternal glory. ©CCSP

Grata Recordatio
Vatican Library

Encyclical of Pope John XXIII on the Rosary, Prayer for the Church, Missions, International and Social Problems, September 26, 1959

In Pope John’s spiritual diary, The Journal of a Soul, we find that praying the rosary was an important part of his interior life. This beautiful letter thus expresses what “good Pope John” himself practiced every day. He refers back to the Popes of the rosary, Pope St. Pius V and Pope Leo XIII, and he underlines the value of the rosary devotions that are customary in October. It was in this same year that Pope John summoned the Second Vatican Council that would mark a great development in mariology. ©CCSP

Lumen Gentium
Vatican Library

Dogmatic Constitution on the Church, November 21, 1964

During the Second Vatican Council there was much discussion on how to include Our Lady in the conciliar decrees. A project for a separate document was rejected in favor of a chapter in the major conciliar document, Lumen Gentium, the Dogmatic Constitution on the Church. Vatican II thus gives a solid ecclesial basis to mariology. Mary must not be separated from the Church. Through her faithful relationship with Jesus Christ, Mary is both a member of the Church and the mother of all the baptized. The text avoids exaggerations, based more on emotion than sound doctrine, and shows a sensitivity to ecumenical questions. Initially misinterpreted as “playing down” devotion to Mary, [chapter 8] would later be drawn upon as a rich treasury of scriptural and patristic Marian doctrine. When Lumen Gentium was approved, at the conclusion of the Third Session of the Council, Pope Paul proclaimed Mary to be the “Mother of the Church,” and this title was later added to the Litany of Loreto. ©CCSP

Christi Matri
Vatican Library

Encyclical of Pope Paul VI on Prayers for Peace During October, September 15, 1966

The sixties were marked by further signs of a deteriorating international situation: the Cuban crisis, the break-up of colonial empires. Moreover, forces of political, social and cultural unrest would soon be unleashed. Paul VI thus focuses on the rosary as a prayer for peace. He interprets the reference to popular Marian devotions in Lumen Gentium 67 as above all endorsing the rosary, a form of prayer which some were questioning at this time. In 1969 he returned to the same theme in the apostolic exhortation, Recurrens Mensis October. ©CCSP

Signum Magnum
EWTN Library

Apostolic Exhortation of Pope Paul VI on Venerating and Imitating the Virgin Mary, Mother of the Church and Model of All Virtues, May 13, 1967

Significantly entitled “The Great Sign” (cf. Revelation 12:1), and timed so as to commemorate the 50th anniversary of the first apparition of Our Lady at Fátima, Signum Magnum marked the visit of the first Pope who came as a pilgrim to the shrine in Portugal. This historical visit and the exhortation underline the official favor of the modern Popes for the apparitions and messages of 1917 and their place in salvation history. In a world facing political and social upheavals, in a Church suffering the first waves of dissent, division and confusion, Signum Magnum itself became a timely “sign of contradiction.” ©CCSP

Marialis Cultis
EWTN Library

Apostolic Exhortation of Pope Paul VI on Devotion to Mary, February 2, 1974

In the very years when some were turning away from Our Lady, Paul VI calls Catholics back to a personal devotion to the Blessed Mother. The Pope explains that the true intention of the Second Vatican Council was to deepen devotion to Mary, and he sets out the important place Our Lady enjoys in the recently renewed liturgy. Sound Marian devotion must be linked closely to the Holy Trinity, to Jesus Christ and to the Holy Spirit and the Mystery of the Church. The rosary and the angelus are recommended. Marialis Cultus encouraged the faithful to maintain both personal and public devotion to Mary in a difficult time of doubt and questioning. ©CCSP

Redemptoris Mater
Vatican Library

Encyclical of Pope John Paul II on the Mother of the Redeemer, March 25, 1987

Six years before writing this encyclical, Pope John Paul II had beautifully summarized the role of Mary in salvation history in his March 25, 1981 letter inviting bishops to a conference celebrating the 1600th anniversary of the First Council of Constantinople and the 1,550th anniversary of the Council of Ephesus, both Christological councils. Speaking of the Council of Ephesus, the Pope said that he saw fit to emphasize the unique and unrepeatable dignity of being the Mother of God, the theotokos ... the first cooperator with the power of the Almighty. ©CCSP

Redemptoris Custos
Vatican Library

Apostolic Exhortation of Pope John Paul II on the Person and Mission of St. Joseph in the Life of Christ and the Church, August 15, 1989

This magnificent apostolic exhortation takes its place alongside two other great documents of Pope John Paul II: Redemptor Hominis, on Christ the Redeemer, and Redemptoris Mater, on the Mother of the Redeemer, 1987. Saint Joseph the “just man” thus completes a trilogy envisioned by Pope John Paul II at the beginning of his pontificate. In the papal teaching, Saint Joseph emerges vividly, not only as a great saint for our devotion but as a concrete person whose example of fidelity, purity, and humility is needed by so many men in these times. ©CCSP

Rosarium Virginis Mariae
Vatican Library

Apostolic Letter of Pope John Paul II on the Rosary, October 16, 2002.

The Rosary as we have prayed it for centuries has begun with the five joyful mysteries, which end with the finding of the Child Jesus in the Temple, and then moved to the five sorrowful mysteries, beginning with the Agony in the Garden. The Holy Father has observed that virtually all of the entire public life of Jesus is passed over. He therefore proposes five new mysteries, which he calls the “luminous mysteries,” or the “mysteries of light,” concerning Jesus’ public life: (1) his Baptism in the Jordan, (2) his self-manifestation at the wedding of Cana, (3) his proclamation of the Kingdom of God, with his call to conversion, (4) his Transfiguration, and finally, (5) his institution of the Eucharist, as the sacramental expression of the Paschal Mystery. The Holy Father has not used his full authority to require that all the faithful now include these luminous mysteries in our Rosary prayers. Rather, he uses the word “propose,” and states, “I leave this pastoral proposal to the initiative of each ecclesial community.” We traditionally pray the joyful mysteries on Monday and Thursday, the sorrowful mysteries on Tuesday and Friday, and the glorious mysteries on Wednesday, Saturday and Sunday. How to insert the luminous mysteries? The Holy Father proposes that we pray the joyful mysteries on Monday, the sorrowful mysteries on Tuesday, the glorious mysteries on Wednesday, the luminous mysteries on Thursday, the sorrowful mysteries on Friday, the joyful mysteries on Saturday, and the glorious mysteries on Sunday. He proposes the joyful mysteries for Saturday because “Saturday has always had a special Marian flavour.” The Holy Father also declares that October 2002 to October 2003 will be the Year of the Rosary.

Catechism of the Catholic Church sections # 487-511, 963-975, and 2617-2619 are relevant to these documents.	The story of Church letters	Background statements written by Msgr. Peter J. Elliott of the Archdiocese of Melbourne and copyrighted by Catholics Committed to Support the Pope are indicated by ©CCSP. All others are written and copyrighted by Martin K.Barrack.
Document	Description	Background
Ubi Primum EWTN Library	Encyclical of Pope Pius IX on the Immaculate Conception, February 2, 1849	The modern Marian era can be said to begin with the process that culminated in the solemn definition of the dogma that the Blessed Virgin was conceived without original sin. In Ubi Primum Pope Pius IX consults the College of Bishops, and indeed all the faithful, to see whether the time has come to define this truth. There was an enthusiastic positive response to the consultation. The development of this doctrine went back many centuries. St. Augustine would not mention sin when speaking of Mary and this was affirmed by the Council of Trent. Most of the faithful had come to believe in the Immaculate Conception, especially through the preaching of the Franciscans and great Marian apostles such as St. Grignon de Montfort. Moreover, in 1830, the Miraculous Medal had been revealed to St. Catherine Laboure in Paris, bearing the words “Mary conceived without sin...” ©CCSP
Ineffabilis Deus New Advent Library	Apostolic Constitution of Pope Pius IX, Defining the Dogma of the Immaculate Conception of the Blessed Virgin Mary, December 8, 1854	The solemn definition of the dogma of the Immaculate Conception was made by Pope Pius IX at the Altar of the Chair in St. Peter’s Basilica, on the feast day itself, in 1854. He infallibly taught that, from the first instant of her existence, Mary was free from original sin. The dogmatic formula of the solemn definition is the most important aspect of this document. The problem of how Our Lady could be redeemed at the moment of her creation, that is, before her Son and Redeemer died on the cross, is resolved through the “anticipated merits of Christ.” This means that the power of Christ’s redeeming work is eternal; it moves across all the phases of earthly time. The definition was crowned, as it were, by apparitions at Lourdes in 1858, when Our Lady identified herself to St. Bernadette with the words: “I am the Immaculate Conception.” ©CCSP
Magnae Dei Matris Vatican Library	Encyclical of Pope Leo XIII on the Rosary, September 8, 1892	Together with Pope St. Pius V, Pope Leo XIII truly merits the title, “the Pope of the Rosary.” Twenty-two of his documents are devoted to the holy rosary of the Blessed Virgin Mary. This was the era when the Pope was the “prisoner of the Vatican” because the dilemma of the Church’s relations with the new nation of Italy had not been resolved. There was much hatred of religion and anti-clericalism, stirred up by freemasons, skeptics and political radicals. But it is in such times of suffering and need that Christ’s faithful turn to the Blessed Mother and seek her help by taking up her beads. In the familiar rhythm of the decades of the rosary, they are drawn deeper into those mysteries of joy, sorrow and glory that make up the great journey of Jesus and Mary. These are the saving mysteries that give meaning to the pilgrimage we are making towards eternity. ©CCSP
Adiutricem Vatican Library	Encyclical of Pope Leo XIII on the Rosary, September 5, 1895	This is one of the longer encyclicals by Pope Leo XIII on devotion to Mary and her rosary. It is of special significance because, in it, Pope Leo shows the close relationship between Mary and the Church: she is the Mother of the faith and of the faithful. ©CCSP
Ad Diem Illum Laetissimum Vatican Library	Encyclical of Pope St. Pius X on the Immaculate Conception, February 2, 1904	Pope St. Pius X celebrates the fiftieth anniversary of the definition of the dogma of the Immaculate Conception. He not only draws the faithful to contemplate the mystery of the mediation of the sinless conception of the Mother of God, but he develops the meaning of of the mediation of Mary, through her universal motherhod of all members of the Mystical Body of Christ. Because of her union with Christ crucified, the one Mediator, Mary, an be described as the most powerful “mediatrix” and “advocate” for the whole world. At this time, the factors that led to the great war were emerging and the Church in France suffered persecution at the hands of the masonic Combes government. ©CCSP
Ingravescentibus Malis Vatican Library	Encyclical of Pope Pius XI on the Rosary, September 29, 1937	Pope Pius XI confronted the totalitarian forces of nazism, fascism and communism as they built up their cruel earthly empires. He could see that war was inevitable. Just two years before World War II broke out, while the civil war raged in Spain, this courageous pontiff calls on the faithful to have recourse to the rosary of the Blessed Virgin Mary. By taking up her beads they found strength, consolidation and hope in years of trial and suffering, in battlefields, bombed out cities and especially in the concentration of camps of slavery and death. How distant seemed the prospect of the triumph of Mary’s Immaculate Heart in those tragic years. ©CCSP
Deiparae Virginis Mariae Vatican Library	Encyclical of Pope Pius XII on the Possibility of Defining the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary as a Dogma of Faith, May 1, 1946	The Assumption of Our Lady had long been normal Catholic teaching in the east and the west, found in all catechisms, and celebrated on August 15. It was thus clearly taught by the ordinary magisterium of the Church. However, since the definition of the Immaculate Conception in 1854, there had been many petitions for a solemn definition of the Assumption, especially before the First World War. But these requests were not always theologically informed. Now, in the wake of World War II, Pius XII turns to the whole Church, first and foremost to his fellow bishops, to ask whether the time had finally come for a definition. His consultation met with virtual unanimity among the college of bishops and enthusiasm among the faithful in favor of a definition. The hope of bodily resurrection inherent in this dogma spoke to an age which had just witnessed the violent deaths of millions of human beings. ©CCSP
Munificentissimus Deus Vatican Library	Apostolic Constitution of Pope Pius XII, Defining the Dogma of Faith that Mary, the Virgin Mother of God, has been Assumed into Heaven in Body and Soul, November 1, 1950	On All Saints Day of the holy year 1950, before a vast crowd gathered in St. Peter’s Square, Pius XII solemnly defined the dogma of the Assumption. The dogmatic formula of the solemn definition is the most significant aspect of this great document. The Pope teaches infallibly that, like her divine Son, the Risen Lord, Mary is raised up in her own body and is thus taken body and soul into the glory of heaven. What the ordinary magisterium had already taught all Catholics to believe is now solemnly defined as a dogma of the extraordinary magisterium. Any “spiritual” or merely “symbolic” interpretations are eliminated. Nevertheless, the theological question of whether, or how, Mary died and the historical question where her Assumption happened (Jerusalem or Ephesus) are both left open. ©CCSP
Ingruentium Malorum Vatican Library	Encyclical of Pope Pius XII on Reciting the Rosary, September 15, 1951	During the “cold war” and the Korean War, when the communists were fiercely persecuting the Church in Eastern Europe and China, Pius XII calls on the faithful to turn to Mary through her holy rosary. In 1917, in the very year of the Russian Revolution, Our Lady of the Rosary had appeared to three children at Fátima, Portugal. She revealed the grave threats to the world that would come from Russia and she called for “prayer and penance,” the spiritual message of the Gospel. In such a threatening phase of the history of salvation, devotion to Our Lady of Fátima spread rapidly throughout the Church, encouraged by the Pope himself. ©CCSP
Fulgens Corona Vatican Library	Encyclical of Pope Pius XII, Proclaiming a Marian Year to Commemorate the Centenary of the Definition of the Immaculate Conception, September 8, 1953	The Marian Year proclaimed by Pope Pius XII for 1954 proved to be a great success. In spite of the Pope’s failing health, it marked a high point in his pontificate and helped characterize him, together with Pope John Paul II, as a leading Marian pontiff of the twentieth century. This particularly beautiful encyclical, thus also expresses the Pope’s fervent personal devotion to Our Lady. ©CCSP
Ad Caeli Reginam Vatican Library	Encyclical of Pope Pius XII, Proclaiming the Queenship of Mary, October 11, 1954	The Queenship of Mary is grounded in Scripture (cf. “the Mother of my Lord” in Luke 1:32-33, 43 and the crowned woman in Revelation 12. The Marian title of “Queen” has constantly run through Catholic tradition, in devotion, literature, art and music, in both the east and the west. In the crowning document of the successful Marian Year, Pius XII gives the Church a new feast dayof Mary’s queenship, May 31 (later transferred to August 22). The queenship opens the whole question of the nature of Mary’s mediation for us. This encyclical may also be read in the perspective of the promise and hope of Fátima, that finally the Immaculate Queen will triumph and reign. In the Queenship of Mary, mariology and eschatology converge. In Mary, we see the history of our salvation culminating in the final victory of her Son and His promise of eternal glory. ©CCSP
Grata Recordatio Vatican Library	Encyclical of Pope John XXIII on the Rosary, Prayer for the Church, Missions, International and Social Problems, September 26, 1959	In Pope John’s spiritual diary, The Journal of a Soul, we find that praying the rosary was an important part of his interior life. This beautiful letter thus expresses what “good Pope John” himself practiced every day. He refers back to the Popes of the rosary, Pope St. Pius V and Pope Leo XIII, and he underlines the value of the rosary devotions that are customary in October. It was in this same year that Pope John summoned the Second Vatican Council that would mark a great development in mariology. ©CCSP
Lumen Gentium Vatican Library	Dogmatic Constitution on the Church, November 21, 1964	During the Second Vatican Council there was much discussion on how to include Our Lady in the conciliar decrees. A project for a separate document was rejected in favor of a chapter in the major conciliar document, Lumen Gentium, the Dogmatic Constitution on the Church. Vatican II thus gives a solid ecclesial basis to mariology. Mary must not be separated from the Church. Through her faithful relationship with Jesus Christ, Mary is both a member of the Church and the mother of all the baptized. The text avoids exaggerations, based more on emotion than sound doctrine, and shows a sensitivity to ecumenical questions. Initially misinterpreted as “playing down” devotion to Mary, [chapter 8] would later be drawn upon as a rich treasury of scriptural and patristic Marian doctrine. When Lumen Gentium was approved, at the conclusion of the Third Session of the Council, Pope Paul proclaimed Mary to be the “Mother of the Church,” and this title was later added to the Litany of Loreto. ©CCSP
Christi Matri Vatican Library	Encyclical of Pope Paul VI on Prayers for Peace During October, September 15, 1966	The sixties were marked by further signs of a deteriorating international situation: the Cuban crisis, the break-up of colonial empires. Moreover, forces of political, social and cultural unrest would soon be unleashed. Paul VI thus focuses on the rosary as a prayer for peace. He interprets the reference to popular Marian devotions in Lumen Gentium 67 as above all endorsing the rosary, a form of prayer which some were questioning at this time. In 1969 he returned to the same theme in the apostolic exhortation, Recurrens Mensis October. ©CCSP
Signum Magnum EWTN Library	Apostolic Exhortation of Pope Paul VI on Venerating and Imitating the Virgin Mary, Mother of the Church and Model of All Virtues, May 13, 1967	Significantly entitled “The Great Sign” (cf. Revelation 12:1), and timed so as to commemorate the 50th anniversary of the first apparition of Our Lady at Fátima, Signum Magnum marked the visit of the first Pope who came as a pilgrim to the shrine in Portugal. This historical visit and the exhortation underline the official favor of the modern Popes for the apparitions and messages of 1917 and their place in salvation history. In a world facing political and social upheavals, in a Church suffering the first waves of dissent, division and confusion, Signum Magnum itself became a timely “sign of contradiction.” ©CCSP
Marialis Cultis EWTN Library	Apostolic Exhortation of Pope Paul VI on Devotion to Mary, February 2, 1974	In the very years when some were turning away from Our Lady, Paul VI calls Catholics back to a personal devotion to the Blessed Mother. The Pope explains that the true intention of the Second Vatican Council was to deepen devotion to Mary, and he sets out the important place Our Lady enjoys in the recently renewed liturgy. Sound Marian devotion must be linked closely to the Holy Trinity, to Jesus Christ and to the Holy Spirit and the Mystery of the Church. The rosary and the angelus are recommended. Marialis Cultus encouraged the faithful to maintain both personal and public devotion to Mary in a difficult time of doubt and questioning. ©CCSP
Redemptoris Mater Vatican Library	Encyclical of Pope John Paul II on the Mother of the Redeemer, March 25, 1987	Six years before writing this encyclical, Pope John Paul II had beautifully summarized the role of Mary in salvation history in his March 25, 1981 letter inviting bishops to a conference celebrating the 1600th anniversary of the First Council of Constantinople and the 1,550th anniversary of the Council of Ephesus, both Christological councils. Speaking of the Council of Ephesus, the Pope said that he saw fit to emphasize the unique and unrepeatable dignity of being the Mother of God, the theotokos ... the first cooperator with the power of the Almighty. ©CCSP
Redemptoris Custos Vatican Library	Apostolic Exhortation of Pope John Paul II on the Person and Mission of St. Joseph in the Life of Christ and the Church, August 15, 1989	This magnificent apostolic exhortation takes its place alongside two other great documents of Pope John Paul II: Redemptor Hominis, on Christ the Redeemer, and Redemptoris Mater, on the Mother of the Redeemer, 1987. Saint Joseph the “just man” thus completes a trilogy envisioned by Pope John Paul II at the beginning of his pontificate. In the papal teaching, Saint Joseph emerges vividly, not only as a great saint for our devotion but as a concrete person whose example of fidelity, purity, and humility is needed by so many men in these times. ©CCSP
Rosarium Virginis Mariae Vatican Library	Apostolic Letter of Pope John Paul II on the Rosary, October 16, 2002.	The Rosary as we have prayed it for centuries has begun with the five joyful mysteries, which end with the finding of the Child Jesus in the Temple, and then moved to the five sorrowful mysteries, beginning with the Agony in the Garden. The Holy Father has observed that virtually all of the entire public life of Jesus is passed over. He therefore proposes five new mysteries, which he calls the “luminous mysteries,” or the “mysteries of light,” concerning Jesus’ public life: (1) his Baptism in the Jordan, (2) his self-manifestation at the wedding of Cana, (3) his proclamation of the Kingdom of God, with his call to conversion, (4) his Transfiguration, and finally, (5) his institution of the Eucharist, as the sacramental expression of the Paschal Mystery. The Holy Father has not used his full authority to require that all the faithful now include these luminous mysteries in our Rosary prayers. Rather, he uses the word “propose,” and states, “I leave this pastoral proposal to the initiative of each ecclesial community.” We traditionally pray the joyful mysteries on Monday and Thursday, the sorrowful mysteries on Tuesday and Friday, and the glorious mysteries on Wednesday, Saturday and Sunday. How to insert the luminous mysteries? The Holy Father proposes that we pray the joyful mysteries on Monday, the sorrowful mysteries on Tuesday, the glorious mysteries on Wednesday, the luminous mysteries on Thursday, the sorrowful mysteries on Friday, the joyful mysteries on Saturday, and the glorious mysteries on Sunday. He proposes the joyful mysteries for Saturday because “Saturday has always had a special Marian flavour.” The Holy Father also declares that October 2002 to October 2003 will be the Year of the Rosary.