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/