AVE MARIA - Catholic Prayers and Devotions to the Blessed Virgin Mary

Devotion to the Blessed Virgin Mary is at the heart of Roman Catholicism. While only God is the legitimate subject of worship, Mary is exalted by the Church above all other creatures, including the angels. “Mary commands in the heavens the Angels and the Blessed,” said Saint Louis-Marie Grignon de Montfort, for “it is by her that Jesus has come into the world, and it is also by her that he has to reign in the world.” In the Church Mary occupies “the highest place and the closest to us after Christ.” (Pope Paul VI, Marialis Cultus, 2 February 1964)

“To us Mary is our Mother and our Queen. Christ has given her to us as among his greatest gifts and it is his wish that we honour her as he honours her and love her even as he loves her. As Mary among all creatures held and will hold forever the first place in the Sacred Heart of Christ, so also Christ wishes that next to our love for him and our worship of the triune God his Blessed Mother should be the principal object of our devotion. To honour Mary is not simply to do Christ's will, for because of the union of Mother and Son, to honour Mary is to honour our Lord Himself. To know, love, and serve Mary is to know, love, and serve Christ.” (John F. Murphy, Mary's Immaculate Heart (1951) viii)

It should be noted that the cult of Mary in the Church,

“differs essentially from the cult of adoration which is offered to the Incarnate Word, as well to the Father and the Holy Spirit, and it is most favourable to it. The various forms of piety toward the Mother of God, which the Church within the limits of sound and orthodox doctrine, according to the conditions of time and place, and the nature and ingenuity of the faithful has approved, bring it about that while the Mother is honoured, the Son, through whom all things have their being and in whom it has pleased the Father that all fullness should dwell, is rightly known, loved and glorified and that all his commands are observed.” (Dogmatic Constitution on the Church, Lumen Gentium, 21 November 1964)

Since the end of the 13th century, the month of May has been set aside by the Church as a time for especially honouring and venerating Mary.

“This is the month during which Christians, in their churches and their homes, offer the Virgin Mother more fervent and loving acts of homage and veneration; and it is the month in which a greater abundance of God's merciful gifts comes down to us from our Mother's throne.” (Pope Paul VI, Mense Maio, 29 April 1965)

According to Saint Louis-Marie, true devotion to the Blessed Virgin Mary consists of both interior and exterior practices.

Interior practices consist of (1) honouring her as the Mother of God, (2) meditating her virtues, privileges and actions, (3) contemplating her grandeurs, (4) making her acts of love, praise and gratitude, (5) invoking her cordially, (6) offering ourselves to her and uniting ourselves with her, (6) doing all our actions with the view of pleasing her, and (7) beginning, continuing and finishing all our actions by her, in her, and with her, in order that we may do them by Jesus, in Jesus, with Jesus and for Jesus.

Exterior practices include alms-giving, fasting and the practice of devotions which include the recitation of the Rosary, chaplets, hymns, canticles and other prayers.

This book contains hundreds of prayers, including common prayers and hymns, prayers for every day of the week, prayers for every Saturday of the year, prayers for every day of the month of May, the Thirty Days Prayer in honour of the Passion for obtaining special graces, short ejaculations and invocations, prayers to Mary under her various titles, the prayers of saints to Mary, acts of consecration and reparation, chaplets, litanies, novenas, and a guide to praying the Rosary.

In addition there is an extensive calendar of fixed and movable Marian feasts.

The book contains an Active Table of Contents with hyperlinks to every prayer in the book for easy navigation.