The growing Marian enrichment of the Church’s calendar

Catholic Herald, 05 December 2019

The principal flourishing of Marian devotion at Holy Mass remains hidden from nearly all Catholics and even from a great number of priests.

The addition of a new feast to the universal calendar – Our Lady of Loreto on December 10 – is a reminder of the growing Marian enrichment of the Roman Missal.

Pope Francis famously began his pontificate with a visit to the Madonna Salus Populi Romani at St Mary Major in Rome, and he visits the icon on the occasion of every papal trip. So that he would honour the “flying” house of Loreto seems both endearing and fitting.

The new calendar after Vatican II moved, subtracted and enhanced some Marian feasts. For example, St John XXIII chose to open the Second Vatican Council on the feast of the divine maternity of Mary (October 11). That no longer exists, but was transferred and given a major upgrade; it’s now Mary, Mother of God, and completes the octave of Christmas on January 1. (October 11, by the way, is now the feast of St John XXIII.)

The third typical edition of the Missal, promulgated by St John Paul II for the Great Jubilee of the Year 2000, restored the Holy Name of Mary (September 12).

Pope Francis introduced last year the feast of Mary, Mother of the Church (Monday after Pentecost), and now adds Loreto.

The calendar gives us a full itinerary throughout the year. There are feasts that mark episodes in the life of the Blessed Virgin: her Immaculate Conception (December 8), nativity (September 8), presentation in the temple (November 21), the Annunciation (March 25), her presence on the Via Dolorosa (September 15), her Assumption (August 15) and her coronation in heaven (August 22).

Then there are the feasts of particular devotions, which demonstrate the accompaniment of the Blessed Mother on the pilgrimage of the Christian faithful throughout history: Loreto (December 10), Guadalupe (December 12); Lourdes (February 11); Fatima (May 13); Mount Carmel (July 16); Our Lady of Snows, associated with the basilica of Mary Major in Rome (August 5); and Our Lady of Victory/Holy Rosary (October 7), associated with the Battle of Lepanto.

And all this enrichment is just in the universal Roman calendar. The principal flourishing of Marian devotion at Holy Mass remains hidden from nearly all Catholics and even from a great number of priests. In 1986, Rome approved 46 Mass formularies, complete with their own proper readings and Gospels, called the Collection of Masses of the Blessed Virgin Mary. It did take rather too long for them to be fully available in English, but they have now been translated for quite some time.

The prayers in the Collection, especially the prefaces, are some of the most biblically rich and devotionally refined texts in our entire liturgy. Their literary quality alone is a step up from much of the Roman Missal.

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