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I won’t lie; getting permission from Libreria Editrice Vaticana to gather a dozen papal encyclicals together for a unique Marian study was, well, awesome! Holding the contract in hand, gave me goose bumps. To share my excitement, the contract in part reads: Libreria Editrice Vaticana, located in the Vatican City State, in the person of the its Director and pro tempore legal representative, Prof. Don Giuseppe COSTA, sdb and Bezalel Books, A Catholic Publishing Company and Bookstore, Box 300427 Waterford, MI 48330 , in the person of its President and pro tempore legal representative, Cheryl DICKOW. Libreria Editrice Vaticana grants to Bezalel Books, a non exclusive permission to reproduce , in the work entitled:  MARY EVER VIRGIN FULL OF GRACE. A STUDY OF PAPAL ENCYCLICALS ON MARY, by Cheryl Dickow, the following excerpts: The contract then goes on to list the dozen encyclicals that are in the book which begin with Octobri Menseo the September 22, 1891 encyclical of...

The Church celebrates the Queenship of the Blessed Virgin Mary today, that time after her Assumption when she was crowned Queen of Heaven. I find this memorial to be a beautiful reminder that Mary not only reigns in heaven, but we should allow her to do so in our hearts and lives as well. Her greatest desire is to bring us to Jesus; it is often said she is the shortest and surest way to Him. Mary, if we go to her, will obtain every grace we need. As our Queen and our Mother she looks upon us with the greatest love. I sometimes forget this. As those who follow my Daughter of the King blog know, I sometimes struggle in my relationship with Mary; I find it hard to relate to her, but I still pray to her and ask her to increase my devotion to her. Jesus gave us an invaluable gift when He gave us His own Mother as he was dying on the cross. As Fr. Joseph Homick relates in his book on Mary, A Place Prepared by God , a book I strongly recommend, Mary has protected us from more than we may e...

Today we celebrate the feast of the Immaculate Heart of Mary. Last year I wrote a post for this feast in honor of Our Lady; it is one of my most read posts (well according to Blogger Stats that is) so I thought I would share it here. The Immaculate Heart of Mary Knows The Way The feast of the Immaculate Heart of Mary is always celebrated on the Saturday after the Solemnity of the Sacred Heart of Jesus, and it is done so for good reason~ the Immaculate Heart of Our Lady is inseparably linked to the Sacred Heart of her Son. Five years ago on this feast day, I made the Consecration to Mary through the  Militia Immaculata , the organization founded by St Maximilian Kolbe. I renew my consecration each year on this feast day. My regular readers know that Mary played a subtle (to me anyway), but vital role in my return to her Son and my faith. In a certain way, I sometimes feel like I have lived,and continue to live the Joyful Mysteries in my own life. My Annunciation   came in t...

This popular prayer, a favorite of many Catholics, dates back to the 15th century and takes its name from the first Latin word of the prayer, "memorare," which means "remember." The Memorare is of unknown authorship, although it has been attributed to St. Augustine (354-430), St. John Chrysostom (c. 347-407) and, with more reason, to St. Bernard of Clairvaux (c. 1090-1153). St. Bernard's sermons on Mary were famous, and it was his Cistercian monks in the monastery of Citeaux in the 12th century who popularized the name "Our Lady" for Mary. The Memorare has also been attributed to the French cleric Claude Bernard (1588-1641), known as the "poor priest" of Paris, whose homilies contain passages that echo its words. No matter who wrote this prayer, it was Father Bernard who did much to popularize it, teaching it in hospitals and prisons, where Mary's intercession was effective in working miracles of grace. The first manuscript of the Mem...