Turn to Favorite Titles for Mary During This Month of the Rosary

Invoking Mother Mary under favored titles can help us increase our Marian devotion, beginning this October, the Month of the Rosary.

L to R:  The Jaminet family makes time with Mother Mary a priority. Our Lady of Fatima is among the  treasured titles of the Blessed Mother; the International Pilgrim Virgin Statue of Fatima made its way to EWTN for the First Saturday after the 40th anniversary of EWTN. The Tierney family enjoys visiting shrines dedicated to Our Lady of Lourdes.
L to R: The Jaminet family makes time with Mother Mary a priority. Our Lady of Fatima is among the treasured titles of the Blessed Mother; the International Pilgrim Virgin Statue of Fatima made its way to EWTN for the First Saturday after the 40th anniversary of EWTN. The Tierney family enjoys visiting shrines dedicated to Our Lady of Lourdes. (photo: Courtesy of the Tierney and Jaminet families; Father John Paul Zeller/EWTN)

Our Lady of the Rosary, Our Lady of Fatima, Our Lady of the Miraculous Medal, Our Lady of Lourdes, Queen of Peace, Mother of Mercy, Mother of Christ, Queen of Angels, Queen of All Saints — title after title graces our Blessed Mother, from litanies to invocations based on her many appearances throughout the centuries. 

Invoking Mother Mary under favored titles can help us increase our Marian devotion, beginning this October, the Month of the Rosary.

“My favorite devotion to Mary is as Our Lady of Fatima,” said Ralph Martin, president of Renewal Ministries, host of EWTN’s series The Choices We Face, author and theology professor. “Her message there is so relevant to the current circumstances of the Church and world.”

“The world is in even graver danger than it was between World War I and World War II,” he explained. “Her plea to repent and turn back to God is even more relevant today. Her request that we pray the Rosary every day for world peace remains urgent. 

“Her moving words that so many people are going to hell because so few people are praying and offering sacrifices for them need to be more widely known. The example of the three children of Fatima in so wholeheartedly responding to Mary’s request to offer prayers and sacrifices for reparation for sin and conversion of sinners needs to be more widely known.” Our Lady identified herself at Fatima on Oct. 13, 1917, as Our Lady of the Rosary. Martin also recommended “that people read Fatima in Lucia’s Own Words as the best first-hand account of this extraordinary heavenly occurrence and the most authoritative account of its message and what is being asked of us today.”

 

Our Lady Helps in Every Title

Kendra Tierney (online at CatholicAllYear.com) shares that she, husband James and their 10 children have a great family devotion to Our Lady of Lourdes. She is the author of The Catholic All Year Compendium: Liturgical Living for Real Life (Ignatius) and O Come, Emmanuel.

Tierney explained, “In 2006, when we were members of a parish dedicated to Our Lady of Lourdes, my husband was diagnosed with stage-3 melanoma. He began a year of treatment as I gestated and gave birth to our fourth child. Along with surgeries and medications, we included a pilgrimage to the Shrine of Our Lady of Lourdes and a dunk in the waters with a baby in tow as part of his treatment plan. Fifteen years later, my husband’s cancer journey continues, as does our devotion to Our Lady of Lourdes. After a lengthy remission (that saw us welcome six more children), he’s now in stage 4. But you wouldn’t know it to look at him. He continues to admirably balance work and family life with his medical treatments and faith.”

Part of the Tierneys’ special devotion includes a yearly trip on the feast of Our Lady of Lourdes, Feb. 11. 

“We do a family pilgrimage and picnic to a local grotto of Our Lady of Lourdes,” she said. “We hope, through her intercession, to have many more to look forward to.”

Father Edward Looney, vice president of the Mariological Society of America and author (A Heart Like Mary’s, A Rosary Litany), shares that he really loves the story of Our Lady of La Leche.” 

This Oct. 10 her statue at the National Shrine of Our Lady of La Leche in St. Augustine, Florida, the oldest Marian shrine in the United States, was canonically crowned. Pope Francis granted the recognition due to the importance and sanctity of the Our Lady of La Leche devotion.

 It is only the fourth such canonical coronation of a statue of Our Lady in the United States.

Father Looney described the statue as portraying “Jesus nursing … the Christ Child receiving his nourishment.” He explained that Mary is also known in this devotion by the title of Our Lady of the Milk, where there is a grotto in the Holy Land by that name, and Our Lady of Good Delivery.

A priest in the Diocese of Green Bay, Wisconsin, Father Looney turns to this devotion in “praying for fertility for couples struggling to conceive,” he said. “I know of a good deal of couples struggling, and I took it upon myself as a personal prayer apostolate to pray to Our Lady of La Leche.” 

His devotion has included two visits to the shrine in Florida. “I tweeted out I was visiting the Shrine of Our Lady of La Leche” to pray for fertility for these husbands and wives. 

“When I did that I would get hundreds of names from people. It’s kind of like this unspoken problem. They don’t share it, and they’re grateful for the prayers.” 

“This past year,” he said, “I added social media. I did nine days of prayer, a novena to Our Lady of La Leche just before Christmas.”

One response he received came from close to home. 

“A couple from my parish had miscarried three or four times. I notified them every time we prayed the Rosary in this novena. Now, she is pregnant and expected to deliver here in (late) October or November. I attribute this to the grace of that novena and to the devotion I have to Our Lady of La Leche.” In addition, Father Looney believes Our Lady of La Leche “really emphasizes the Incarnation” and Christ’s humanity. “Jesus suffered in every way. He underwent everything. He even nursed.”

When it comes to favorite titles for Mary, speaker and author Jeannie Ewing (Parenting With the Beatitudes: Eight Holy Habits for Daily Living in collaboration with husband Ben) has two favorites. One is Our Lady of Consolation “because it appeals to her mercy, which ultimately appeals to the mercy of her Son, Jesus,” she explained. 

“We live in an era where God’s gratuitous mercy is needed — not because any of us deserve it, but because there is so much woundedness and brokenness within us,” 

She added, “Mary’s maternal heart is a perfect bridge to God, in which his justice might otherwise be delivered, but where she can speak on our behalf in favor of his mercy.”

Ewing (JeannieEwing.com) and her husband also seek Mary’s intercession as Our Lady of Sorrows. “Under this title,” she explained, “it is said that we can ask her to reveal what is hidden in our hearts, based on Simeon’s prophecy that is directly attributed to the Seven Sorrows of Mary.

“Again, in order to experience healing, we need to increase our self-knowledge so that we can more humbly and honestly confess our defects in the sacrament of confession.”

 

Special Month

“October is a powerful month for families to recommit to practicing the Catholic culture in their homes through praying to Our Lady,” said Emily Jaminet, Catholic author of Secrets of the Sacred Heart, among other titles, speaker, wife, mother of seven children and executive director of The Sacred Heart Enthronement Network (EmilyJaminet.com)

“I love this month as we go out of our way to grow closer to Mary, the Mother of God.”

Jaminet shared, “The title that means the most to me right now is Our Lady, Queen of Peace, because it gives us hope for peace in our home, in our hearts and peace in the world. She desires to bring us closer to her Son, and, as a result, brings peace to our life. She doesn’t only stop wars, but she facilitates inner peace through distributing the graces of Jesus, especially through the Holy Rosary.”

Jaminet reflects on Marian devotion with her children as they gather for evening prayer. 

The family also visits local Marian shrines, staring in their own community. 

“We go with the children to churches and pray and remind the children about their importance, particularly to Our Blessed Mother during this month.” 

She added, “They see the gift of being able to make that visit.”

Marian devotion is part of their family schedule. 

Each week before her fifth grader’s volleyball game, they visit the local Marian grotto next door. “This past week my kindergartner said, ‘Mom, it is time to go see Mary.’ I didn’t know what she wanted since that’s the name of her sister playing volleyball, but, instead, she clarified and said, ‘It is time to pray to the Mother of God.’  When we make prayer ordinary, it builds a foundation for life,” said Jaminet, “especially empowering the family to see Our Lady is offering us graces.”

On Sunday nights, the Jaminets have been attending a family sunset Rosary gathering at a local school/convent, with the Little Sisters of the Immaculate Conception in Columbus, Ohio. 

Jaminet appreciates “not only an opportunity to expose my children to religious sisters but to reinforce the importance of spiritual gatherings,” she said. 

“This holy month is an opportunity for spiritual graces and setting ‘holy habits.’”

Ewing concurs. “It’s important to note that every title of Mary imparts specific graces to us. God permits us to be granted a portion of her heart when we consecrate ourselves to her under any title.”