4 MARIAN DOGMAS

1) Divine Motherhood

alled in the Gospels "the mother of Jesus," Mary is acclaimed by Elizabeth, at the
prompting of the Spirit and even before the birth of her son, as "the mother of my
Lord." In fact, the One whom she conceived as man by the Holy Spirit, who truly
became her Son according to the flesh, was none other than the Father's eternal Son,
the second person of the Holy Trinity. Hence the Church confesses that Mary is truly
"Mother of God" (Theotokos). (CCC 496)

2) Perpetual Virginity

From the first formulations of her faith, the Church has confessed that Jesus was
conceived solely by the power of the Holy Spirit in the womb of the Virgin Mary,
affirming also the corporeal aspect of this event: Jesus was conceived "by the Holy
Spirit without human seed."

The Gospel accounts understand the virginal conception of Jesus as a divine work that
surpasses all human understanding and possibility: "That which is conceived in her is of
the Holy Spirit," said the angel to Joseph about Mary his fiancee. The Church sees here
the fulfillment of the divine promise given through the prophet Isaiah: "Behold, a virgin
shall conceive and bear a son." (CCC 496-497)

3) Immaculate Conception

To become the mother of the Savior, Mary "was enriched by God with gifts appropriate
to such a role." The angel Gabriel at the moment of the annunciation salutes her as "full
of grace." In fact, in order for Mary to be able to give the free assent of her faith to the
announcement of her vocation, it was necessary that she be wholly borne by God's
grace.

Through the centuries the Church has become ever more aware that Mary, "full of
grace" through God, was redeemed from the moment of her conception. That is what
the dogma of the Immaculate Conception confesses, as Pope Pius IX proclaimed in
1854:

The most Blessed Virgin Mary was, from the first moment of her conception, by a
singular grace and privilege of almighty God and by virtue of the merits of Jesus Christ,
Savior of the human race, preserved immune from all stain of original sin. (CCC 490-
491)

4) The Assumption

"Finally the Immaculate Virgin, preserved free from all stain of original sin, when the
course of her earthly life was finished, was taken up body and soul into heavenly glory,
and exalted by the Lord as Queen over all things, so that she might be the more fully
conformed to her Son, the Lord of lords and conqueror of sin and death."

The Assumption of the Blessed Virgin is a singular participation in her Son's

Resurrection and an anticipation of the resurrection of other Christians:

In giving birth you kept your virginity; in your Dormition you did not leave the world, O
Mother of God, but were joined to the source of Life. You conceived the living God and,
by your prayers, will deliver our souls from death. (CCC 966)

https://aleteia.org/2018/12/08/what-are-the-four-marian-dogmas/
 Marian Devotions

1. The Rosary

An especially great Marian devotion is the Rosary. There is an ancient

tradition that St. Dominic received the Rosary from Our Lady in an
apparition at Prouille in 1206 A.D. as a weapon against the Albigensian
heresy.

2. The Scapular

The scapular devotion, in its postage-stamp-sized variety, is a sort

of symbolic sharing in the mission and prayers of a religious order.
The most famous version is probably the Brown Scapular, which
was given to the Carmelite friar St. Simon Stock.

3. Medals

There are many religious medals that are sacramentals. One of

these is the Scapular medal. It may be used in place of the cloth
scapular, although the cloth is to be preferred. It needs to be
blessed before use, while the cloth Scapulars that replace the
original one blessed in the enrollment need not be blessed.

4. The Angelus

This prayer is named from the first word of the prayer, “The
Angel of the Lord declared unto Mary.” It is a simple and brief
set of prayers, easy to memorize, typically prayed at the
beginning, middle and end of the day.
 5. Consecration to Jesus through Mary

St. Louis de Montfort, a French priest who was a Dominican tertiary, popularized this
project in his book True Devotion to the Blessed Virgin Mary. In a certain sense, this
isn’t a single devotion but the culmination of a fullness of devotion to Mary. As he says,
“we consecrate ourselves at one and the same time to Mary and to Jesus. We give
ourselves to Mary because Jesus chose her as the perfect means to unite himself to us
and unite us to him.” The consecration “is a practical form of recognition of her universal
mediation and a guarantee of her special protection.”

6. The Litany of Loreto

Our names, especially nicknames, express something of who

we are and what we can do. The Litany of Loreto seems like a
compendium of names of Mary. We can contemplate the work
of God in Mary under each of these names which express
different facets of her fullness of grace, and we can also beg for
graces which correspond to these names. As a student and
preacher-to-be pray to the Mary Seat of Wisdom, and think of
how Mary lives her life completely in light of God as the highest cause of all things,
which is true ‘wisdom.’ We might be led to awe in what it means for her to be Mother of
God when we contemplate how God has also placed her as Queen of Angels. Or again,
when we pray to her as Mother of divine grace, think of how her willing and worthy
motherhood of God overflows spiritually to all of us, as Gerard Manley Hopkins wrote
that she “mothers each new grace/ that now does reach our race.” In this sense, this
‘compendium’ is a catechism.

7. The Little Office of the Blessed Virgin Mary

It combines the objective structure of the Church’s prayer with the warmth of Marian
devotion. The “Little Office” is an imitation of the Church’s official prayer, called the
Liturgy of the Hours, and is composed primarily from the Psalms.
Like the divine office, it is divided into different ‘hours’ meant to
sanctify different times of day. It is “little,” because it is greatly
shortened and simplified, and adapted in a devotional mode by
using prayers and antiphons about the Blessed Virgin Mary. The
‘objectivity’ of this structure is great for those of us who recognize
that we don’t always know how or what to pray, because we can
let the words of the Scriptures speak for us.

https://www.ewtn.com/faith/teachings/maryd7.htm

https://www.dominicanajournal.org/5-marian-devotions/