Mary Through The Liturgical Year

“God, Who made the sun, also made the moon. The moon does not take away from the brilliance of the sun. The moon would be only a burnt-out cinder floating in the immensity of space, were it not for the sun. All its light is reflected from the sun. The Blessed Mother reflects her Divine Son; without Him, she is nothing. With Him, she is the Mother of Men. On dark nights we are grateful for the moon; when we see it shining, we know there must be a sun. So in this dark night of the world when men turn their backs on Him Who is the Light of the World, we look to Mary to guide their feet while we await the sunrise.”-Fulton Sheen, The World’s First Love

Over the years Holy Mother Church has given us feast days, titles and dogmas about Our Blessed Mother Mary.
Over the years this woman is remembered from her mentions in scripture and the prayers that Christians recite daily
to ask for her intercession before her son for our continue need of having God close in our lives.
Over the years she has left her heavenly home to physically visit her children in this realm on earth.

Over the course of the liturgical year we remember her in some way shape or form.

*The Virgin in Prayer*, by Sassoferrato, c. 1650

The Month of Mary is May.
The Month of the Rosary is October.
The First Saturday of each Month is also dedicated to Marian Devotions.

Singing the Four Seasonal Marian Anthems (adoremus.org)

Here are the main ways we as Catholics remember her
and some of the interesting corresponding historical events
both secular and religious that happen
on a particular Marian celebration day.

NOTE: Some descriptions of feast days come from Wikipedia.

January 1: Solemnity of Mary, Mother of God

The world at large begins the year with New Years Day on January 1.
Catholics begin the new year with celebrating the feast the Blessed Virgin Mother Mary being the Mater Dei, Θεοτόκος (Theotokos), “Bearer of God” or simply “Mother of God”. This was defined at the First Council of Ephesus (431) as an assertion of the divinity of Christ.

Other Events that happened on this day include…

404 – Saint Telemachus tries to stop a gladiatorial fight in a Roman amphitheatre, and is stoned to death by the crowd. This act impresses the Christian Emperor Honorius, who issues a historic ban on gladiatorial fights.
1773 – The hymn that became known as “Amazing Grace“, then titled “1 Chronicles 17:16–17, Faith’s Review and Expectation”, is first used to accompany a sermon led by John Newton in the town of Olney, Buckinghamshire, England.
1847 – The world’s first “Mercy” Hospital is founded in Pittsburgh, United States, by a group of Sisters of Mercy from Ireland;^] the name will go on to grace over 30 major hospitals throughout the world.

January 8: Our Lady of Prompt Succor

Our Lady of Prompt Succor is one of the various titles of the Theotokis. Prompt Succor is associated with the Madonna and Child in the form of a wooden devotional image that you can find enshrined in New Orleans, Louisiana, United States of America. The sacred image was given papal approval by Pope Pius IX on June 21, 1894. Prompt Succor is tied to Mother Saint Michel, the Superior of the New Orleans Ursulines.

Other Events that happened on this day include…

1454 – The papal bull Romanus Pontifex awards the Kingdom of Portugal exclusive trade and colonization rights to all of Africa south of Cape Bojador.
1735-John Carroll SJ (January 8, 1735 – December 3, 1815) is born. He was an American prelate of the Catholic Church who served as the first bishop and archbishop in the United States. He served as the ordinary of the first diocese and later Archdiocese of Baltimore, in Maryland, which at first encompassed all of the United States and later after division as the eastern half of the new nation.
1790 – George Washington delivers the first State of the Union address in New York City.

February 2: Presentation of the Lord

(4th Joyful Mystery)

40 days after Christmas on Candlemas we celebrate Jesus being brought to the temple by his mom and dad.
It is also known as the Feast of the Purification of the Virgin, and the Meeting of the Lord.
This has to do with Jewish law concerning a woman who gave birth and the ceremony of ritual purification that accompanies it on this day.

Other Events that happened on this day include…

1585 – The Shakespeare twins Judith Quiney (baptised February 2, 1585 –February 9, 1662), William Shakespeare’s youngest daughter and Hamnet Shakespeare (baptised February 2, 1585 – buried 11 August 11, 1596) William Shakespeare’s only son were born.
1887 – In Punxsutawney, Pennsylvania, the first Groundhog Day is observed.

February 11: Our Lady of Lourdes

1858 – St. Bernadette Soubirous‘s first vision of the Blessed Virgin Mary occurs in Lourdes, France.

The Marian song “Immaculate Mary” is the Lourdes Hymn. The earliest and most popular version of the song was written in 1873 by the French seminary director Fr. Jean Gaignet. He wrote it for pilgrims to what is today Our Lady of Lourdes shrine. It was set to a traditional French tune and contained eight measly verses; but he later expanded it to a whopping 120 verses.

The Song of Bernadette film is released in theaters on December 21, 1943, based on the 1941 novel by Franz Werfel.

Other Events that happened on this day include…

1847 – Thomas Edison, inventor of the light bulb and phonograph (d. 1931) is born.
1990 – Nelson Mandela is released from Victor Verster Prison outside Cape Town, South Africa after 27 years as a political prisoner.
2013 – The Vatican confirmed that Pope Benedict XVI would resign the papacy as a result of his advanced age.

March 25: Annunciation

1st Joyful Mystery

Now the generation of Christ was in this wise. When as his mother Mary was espoused to Joseph, before they came together, she was found with child, of the Holy Ghost. Whereupon Joseph her husband, being a just man, and not willing publicly to expose her, was minded to put her away privately.

But while he thought on these things, behold the angel of the Lord appeared to him in his sleep, saying: Joseph, son of David, fear not to take unto thee Mary thy wife, for that which is conceived in her, is of the Holy Ghost.21 And she shall bring forth a son: and thou shalt call his name JESUS. For he shall save his people from their sins.

Now all this was done that it might be fulfilled which the Lord spoke by the prophet, saying: Behold a virgin shall be with child, and bring forth a son, and they shall call his name Emmanuel, which being interpreted is, God with us.— Matthew 1:18–23

Other Events that happened on this day include…

708 – Pope Constantine becomes the 88th pope. He would be the last pope to visit Constantinople until 1967.
1347 – St. Catherine of Siena, Italian philosopher, theologian, and saint (d. 1380) is born.
1634– The settlement of Maryland is established.

April 22 Our Lady of Akita

Our Lady of Akita (Japanese: 秋田の聖母マリア) is a title of the Blessed Virgin Mary associated with the Marian apparitions reported in 1973 by Sister Agnes Katsuko Sasagawa in the remote area of Yuzawadai, an outskirt of Akita, Japan. Jimmy Akin gives us the lowdown on this apparition in Mysterious World Style.

Other Events that happened on this day include…

1904 – J. Robert Oppenheimer, the father of the Atom Bomb (d. 1967) is born.
2005 – Japan’s Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi apologizes for Japan’s war record.

May 13: Our Lady of Fatima

1917 – Three children report the first apparition of Our Lady of Fátima in Fátima, Portugal.

Fatima – Jimmy Akin’s Mysterious World – YouTube
The Third Secret of Fatima – Jimmy Akin’s Mysterious World – YouTube
The Third Secret of Fatima Theories – Jimmy Akin’s Mysterious World – YouTube

Other Events that happened on this day include…

1373 – Julian of Norwich has visions of Jesus while suffering from a life-threatening illness, visions which are later described and interpreted in her book Revelations of Divine Love.
1981 – Mehmet Ali Ağca attempts to assassinate Pope John Paul II in St. Peter’s Square in Rome. The Pope is rushed to the Agostino Gemelli University Polyclinic to undergo emergency surgery and survives.

May 31 (in some locations July 2):
The Visitation of the Blessed Virgin Mary

2nd Joyful Mystery

In those days Mary set out and went with haste to a Judean town in the hill country, where she entered the house of Zechariah and greeted Elizabeth. When Elizabeth heard Mary’s greeting, the child leaped in her womb. And Elizabeth was filled with the Holy Spirit and exclaimed with a loud cry, “Blessed are you among women, and blessed is the fruit of your womb. And why has this happened to me, that the mother of my Lord comes to me? For as soon as I heard the sound of your greeting, the child in my womb leaped for joy. And blessed is she who believed that there would be[a] a fulfillment of what was spoken to her by the Lord.”— Luke 1:42–45

Other Events that happened on this day include…

May 31–1857 – Pope Pius XI (d. 1939) is born.
1971 – In accordance with the Uniform Monday Holiday Act passed by the U.S. Congress in 1968, observation of Memorial Day occurs on the last Monday in May for the first time, rather than on the traditional Memorial Day of May 30.

July 2–1692 – Bridget Bishop is the first person to be tried for witchcraft in Salem, Massachusetts; she was found guilty and later hanged.
1979 – Pope John Paul II starts his first official visit to his native Poland, becoming the first Pope to visit a Communist country.

Monday after Pentecost:
The Blessed Virgin Mary, Mother of the Church

4th century: MMOTC first appeared in the writings of Saint Ambrose of Milan, as rediscovered by German Jesuit theologian, ecclesiastical historian and the elder brother of the famous theologian Karl Rahner, Hugo Rahner SJ (May 3,1900 – 21 December 21, 1968).
1964: Title is officially declared by St. Pope Paul VI.
1992: St. Pope John Paul II placed it in the Catechism of the Catholic Church.
2018: Pope Francis inserts a official Catholic Marian Feast Day into the liturgical calendar.

Mother of the Church (Latin: Mater Ecclesiae) is a title given to Mary in the Catholic Church, as in 1964. The title first r.^[1] It was also ^[2] and then by Pope Leo XIII in 1885.^[3]^[4] and Pope Francis inserted a feast by this title into the Roman Calendar In 2018.

Our Lady of Emmetsburg

This feast was celebrated on May 28, 1950

Other Events that happened on this day include…

Mary Kingsley, 37, English adventurer and ethnologist who had written two bestsellers about the various peoples of West Africa, died of typhoid fever in South Africa.
Saint Joan of Valois (1464–1505) was canonized as a saint in the Roman Catholic Church.

June 27: Our Mother of Perpetual Help

This particular title of the Blessed Mom is associated with a fifteenth—century Byzantine icon and a reputed Marian apparition. The image has been enshrined in the Church of San Matteo in Via Merulana since March 27, 1499, and is today permanently enshrined in the Church of Saint Alphonse of Liguori, where the official Novena to Our Mother of Perpetual Help text is prayed weekly.

Other Events that happened on this day include…

1556 – The thirteen Stratford Martyrs are burned at the stake near London for their Protestant beliefs.
1844 – Joseph Smith, founder of the Latter Day Saint movement, and his brother Hyrum Smith, are killed by a mob at the Carthage, Illinois jail.

July 16: Our Lady of Mount Carmel

1251 – Celebrated by the Carmelite Order as the day when Saint Simon Stock had a vision of the Virgin Mary regarding the Brown Scapular.

My wife is going to be soon taking her final promises as a lay Carmelite. Our Lady of Mount Carmel is the official title given to the Blessed Virgin Mary as her role as patroness of the Carmelite Order.

Ode to An Imperfect Carmelite | Kristin Wilson (patheos.com)

Other Events that happened on this day include…

1228 – The canonization of Saint Francis of Assisi
1769 – Father Junípero Serra founds California‘s first mission, Mission San Diego de Alcalá. Over the following decades, it evolves into the city of San Diego, California.
1858 – The last apparition of the Blessed Virgin Mary to Bernadette Soubirous in Lourdes, France.

August 5: Saint Mary Major
(Santa Maria Maggiore; also known as Saint Mary of the Snows)

The Basilica of Saint Mary Major is a Major papal basilica as well as one of the Seven Pilgrim Churches of Rome and the largest Catholic Marian church in Rome, Italy. Our Lady of the Snows is a reference to a legendary story about the foundation of the basilica involving the Roman patrician John and his wife who prayed about how to give their possessions to the virgin Mary and they received a sign in the form of snow falling in the summertime.

The story of the miraculous healing of a young Catholic pilgrim on August 5 in Fatima during the World Youth Day festivities has recently been circulating widely in Catholic media. According to several news sources, the young teenaged Spanish pilgrim named Jimena, who lost 95% of her vision two years ago, had her sight miraculously restored while praying in the pews after receiving Holy Communion. Jimena has attributed this healing to Our Lady of the Snows, whose feast day is commemorated on the day she had her sight restored. According to Aleteia, she said that this grace was received after she had just completed a Novena in honor of Our Lady of the Snows. It is interesting that this particular event has been invoked in this instance, because Pope Francis has promoted this Marian devotion since the very beginning of his pontificate.
A Fatima miracle, the Pope, and Our Lady of the Snows – Where Peter Is

Other Events that happened on this day include…

1962 – American actress Marilyn Monroe is found dead at her home from a drug overdose.
1962 – Apartheid: Nelson Mandela is jailed. He would not be released until 1990.

August 15:
The Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary (Solemnity)

The Fourth Glorious Mystery

The Assumption of Mary is one of the four Marian dogmas of the Catholic Church. Pope Pius XII defined it on 1 November 1950 in his apostolic constitution Munificentissimus Deus as follows:

We proclaim and define it to be a dogma revealed by God that the immaculate Mother of God, Mary ever virgin, when the course of her earthly life was finished, was taken up body and soul into the glory of heaven.

The Immaculate Connections AUGUST 15, 2020

While Mary Was Assumed Into Heaven This Also Happened AUGUST 15, 2021

Papal Ponderings of the Assumption AUGUST 15, 2022

Other Events that happened on this day include…

1483 – Pope Sixtus IV consecrates the Sistine Chapel.
1534-Ignatius of Loyola and six classmates take initial vows, leading to the creation of the Society of Jesus in September 1540.
1549-Jesuit priest Francis Xavier comes ashore at Kagoshima (Traditional Japanese date: 22 July 154
1843 – The Cathedral of Our Lady of Peace in Honolulu, Hawaii is dedicated. Now the cathedral of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Honolulu, it is the oldest Roman Catholic cathedral in continuous use in the United States.

August 17: Our Lady of Knock

August 21 – Claimed apparition to local people at Knock, County Mayo, Ireland, of the Blessed Virgin Mary, Saint Joseph, Saint John the Evangelist and Jesus Christ (as the Lamb of God).

Kristin at Knock

Other Events that happened on this day include…

1560 – The Catholic Church is overthrown and Protestantism is established as the national religion in Scotland.
1770 – James Cook formally claims eastern Australia for Great Britain, naming it New South Wales.
1877-Baptitized Outlaw Billy the Kid kills his first man.

August 22: The Queenship of Mary

The Fifth Glorious Mystery

Continuing his Marian feast day celebration creations, the Queenship of Mary was presented to the world by Pope Pius XII on October 11,1954, the encyclical Ad caeli reginam.

1 day after the Solemnity of the Most Sacred Heart of Jesus

The Immaculate Heart of the Blessed Virgin Mary

Pope Pius XII instituted the feast of the Immaculate Heart of Mary in 1944 to be celebrated on August 22. In 1969, Pope Paul VI moved the celebration of the Immaculate Heart of Mary to the Saturday, immediately after the Solemnity of the Sacred Heart of Jesus. This means in practice that it is now held on the third Saturday after Pentecost. The IHOM feast day landed on August 22, 1968 on the future date of the QOM feast.

Other Events that happened on this day include…

1902 – Theodore Roosevelt becomes the first President of the United States to make a public appearance in an automobile.
1949-A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur’s Court, is released starring Catholic singer and legend Bing Crosby and Rhonda Fleming
1968 – Pope Paul VI arrives in Bogotá, Colombia. It is the first visit of a pope to Latin America.

September 8: The Nativity of the Blessed Virgin Mary

Nativity of Mary, Spain, 17th century

Marymas Our Lady of Good Health

Our Lady of Good Health also known as Our Lady of Vailankanni, is yet another title given to Our Lady. It is believed that she has appeared twice in the town of Velankanni, Tamil Nadu, India, in the 16th to 17th centuries.

Other Events that happened on this day include…

1276 – Pope John XXI (c. 1215 – 20 May 1277) is elected Pope (September 1276 to his death on 20 May 20,1277.) This pontiff has been the only Portuguese pope. He is sometimes identified with the logician and herbalist Peter of Spain which would interestingly make him the only pope to have been a physician thereby making him a Doctor of the Church.
1565 – St. Augustine, Florida is founded by Spanish admiral and Florida’s first governor, Pedro Menéndez de Avilés.
2022 – Queen Elizabeth II of the United Kingdom dies at Balmoral Castle in Scotland after reigning for 70 years. Her son Charles, Prince of Wales, ascends the throne upon her death as Charles III.

September 12:
Most Holy Name of the Blessed Virgin Mary

The Feast of the Most Holy Name of the Blessed Virgin Mary has been a universal Roman Rite feast since 1684, when Pope Innocent XI included it in the General Roman Calendar to commemorate the victory at the Battle of Vienna in 1683. It was removed from the Church calendar in the liturgical reform following Vatican II but restored by St. Pope John Paul II in 2002, along with the Feast of the Holy Name of Jesus.

Other Events that happened on this day include…

1953 – U.S. Senator and future President John Fitzgerald Kennedy marries Jacqueline Lee Bouvier at St. Mary’s Church in Newport, Rhode Island.
1962 – President John F. Kennedy delivers his “We choose to go to the Moon” speech at Rice University.
1992 – NASA launches Space Shuttle Endeavour on STS-47 which marked the 50th shuttle mission. On board are Mae Carol Jemison, the first African-American woman in space, Mamoru Mohri, the first Japanese citizen to fly in a US spaceship, and Mark Lee and Jan Davis, the first married couple in space.

September 15: Our Lady of Sorrows

Traditionally, the Seven Sorrows are:

The Prophecy of Simeon in Luke 2;
The Flight into Egypt in Matthew 2;
The Loss of the Child Jesus in the Temple of Jerusalem, also in Luke 2;
Mary meeting Jesus on the Via Dolorosa, the Fourth station of the Cross which is not found in Bible;
The Crucifixion of Jesus on Mount Calvary in Matthew 27, Mark 15, Luke 23, and especially John 19;
Jesus’s Descent from the Cross in Matthew 27, Mark 15, Luke 23, and John 19;
The Burial of Jesus by Joseph of Arimathea^[2] also in Matthew 27, Mark 15, Luke 23, and John 19;

Other Events that happened on this day include…

1954 – Marilyn Monroe‘s iconic skirt scene is shot during filming for The Seven Year Itch.
1963 – Baptist Church bombing: Four children killed in the bombing of an African-American church in Birmingham, Alabama, United States.

September 19 Our Lady of La Salette

1846 – Two French shepherd children, Mélanie Calvat and Maximin Giraud, experience a Marian apparition on a mountaintop near La Salette, France, now known as Our Lady of La Salette.

Other Events that happened on this day include…

1796 – George Washington’s Farewell Address is printed across America as an open letter to the public.
2022 – The state funeral of Queen Elizabeth II of the United Kingdom is held at Westminster Abbey, London.^[

October 7: Our Lady of the Rosary

Sorrowful Mysteries of the Rosary | Christ Cathedral in Anaheim – YouTube

Luminous Mysteries of the Rosary from Rome | Digitally Remastered – YouTube

Glorious Mysteries of the Rosary | Waimanalo Beach, Hawaii – YouTube

Other Events that happened on this day include…

1571 – The Battle of Lepanto is fought, and the Ottoman Navy suffers its first defeat.
1950 – Mother Teresa establishes the Missionaries of Charity.
1959 – The Soviet probe Luna 3 transmits the first-ever photographs of the far side of the Moon.
1963 – President Kennedy signs the ratification of the Partial Nuclear Test Ban Treaty.

November 21: The Presentation of Mary

Baby Mary’s parents and Jesus’s grandparents Sts. Joachim and Anne bring Mary to the temple to consecrate her to God.

Other Events that happened on this day include…

1877 – Thomas Edison announces his invention of the phonograph, a machine that can record and play sound.
1905 – Albert Einstein‘s paper that leads to the mass–energy equivalence formula, E = mc², is published in the journal Annalen der Physik.

November 27
Our Lady of the Miraculous Medal

Our Lady of Graces

The Miraculous Medal (French: Médaille miraculeuse), also known as the Medal of Our Lady of Graces, is a devotional medal, the design of which was originated by Catherine Labouré following her apparitions of the Blessed Virgin Mary in the Chapel of Our Lady of the Miraculous Medal of Paris, France. It was made by goldsmith Adrien Vachette.

According to the teaching of the Catholic Church, the use of sacramentals such as this medal[4] prepares people to receive grace and disposes them to cooperate with it

Other Events that happened on this day include…

1095 – Pope Urban II declares the First Crusade at the Council of Clermont.
2004 – Pope John Paul II returns the relics of Saint John Chrysostom to the Eastern Orthodox Church.

November 28 Our Lady of Kibeho

(157) Our Lady of Kibeho and the Rwandan Genocide – Jimmy Akin’s Mysterious World – YouTube

Other Events that happened on this day include…

1582 – In Stratford-upon-Avon, William Shakespeare and Anne Hathaway pay a £40 (equivalent to £12,261 in 2021) bond in lieu of posting wedding banns, which enables them to marry immediately.
1919 – Lady Astor is elected as a Member of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. She is the first woman to sit in the House of Commons. (Countess Markievicz, the first to be elected, refused to sit.)

December 8:
The Immaculate Conception of the Blessed Virgin Mary

Ineffabilis Deus (Latin for ‘Ineffable God’) is an apostolic constitution by Pope Pius IX. It defines the dogma of the Immaculate Conception of the Blessed Virgin Mary. The document was promulgated on December 8, 1854, the date of the annual Solemnity of the Immaculate Conception, and followed from a positive response to the encyclical Ubi primum.

Mary’s immaculate conception is a pronouncement made ex cathedra and is therefore considered by the Catholic Church to be infallible through the extraordinary magisterium.

Our Lady of Good Help Approval

OLOGH is the only approved apparition of Mary in the United States. This happen to Belgium born Adele Brise in 1859 in Champion, Wisconsin. It was approved on December 8, 2010, by Bishop David L. Ricken,

Other Events that happened on this day include…

1660 – A woman (either Margaret Hughes or Anne Marshall) appears on an English public stage for the first time, in the role of Desdemona in a production of Shakespeare’s play Othello.
1864 – Pope Pius IX promulgates the encyclical Quanta cura and its appendix, the Syllabus of Errors, outlining the authority of the Catholic Church and condemning various liberal ideas.
1980 – John Lennon is murdered by Mark David Chapman in front of The Dakota in New York City.
2013 – Metallica performs a show in Antarctica, making them the first band to perform on all seven continents.

December 10: Our Lady of Loreto

Unlike most other Marian feast days, Our Lady of Loreto doesn’t refer to an apparition or a Marian title. It refers to a building. Specifically, it refers to the humble home in which Mary grew up and the extraordinary measures God took to preserve it.
The Extraordinary Story of Loreto – Ascension Press Media

Full Movie: Loreto: The Mystery of The Holy House – YouTube

Other Events that happened on this day include…

1520 – Martin Luther burns his copy of the papal bull Exsurge Domine outside Wittenberg‘s Elster Gate.
1817 – Mississippi becomes the 20th U.S. state.
1901 – The first Nobel Prize ceremony is held in Stockholm on the fifth anniversary of Alfred Nobel’s death.
1996 – The new Constitution of South Africa is promulgated by Nelson Mandela.

December 12: Our Lady of Guadalupe

Mary, the mother of Jesus, in the guise of Our Lady of Guadalupe, appears imprinted on the tilmàtli of St. Juan Diego Cuauhtlatoatzin, an Aztec convert to Catholicism, in Tepeyac near Mexico City.