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Missio ImmaculataeThe Saints and Our Lady
While it is true that every saint is a unique and unrepeatable masterpiece of divine grace, it is also true that every saint has certain common characteristics, among which is a fervent devotion to Our Lady, a filial love for the Mother of all Christians and Queen of...
Venerable Father Nelson H. Baker:
Future Marian Saint
Venerable Nelson Baker left the Catholic Church in America a legacy of sanctity and a place of pilgrimage: the Basilica Shrine of Our Lady of Victory, in Lackawanna, in the Diocese of Buffalo, New York. The beauty of this Shrine, comparable to the greatest cathedrals...
Marian Maximalism: Notion, Proof, and Assent
In order to be Christian, one must also be Marian, but how Marian can and should a Christian be? To be Marian only minimally would be inexcusable for anyone who claims to love Christ and all that He loves, most especially His Mother; to be Marian in a moderate way,...
The Virgin Shall Give Birth: The Road to the Dogmatic Definition
The perpetual virginity of Mary is a dogma of the Catholic Faith which is intimately linked to the mystery of Christ’s Incarnation and Birth and which underlines His two natures, human and divine. The preaching and writing of various popes and early Church Fathers...
The Marian Issue in the Church Today According to Peter Damian Fehlner Part 8
In this my final commentary on the brilliant paper that Father Peter Damian Fehlner delivered at Fatima on May 7, 2005,1 I hope to wrap up my analysis of this extraordinary document. I will not have exhausted it, but I hope to have rendered it more accessible to the...
The Marian Issue in the Church Today According to Peter Damian Fehlner Part 7
In this installment of The Marian Issue in the Church Today, Msgr. Calkins continues to unpack the prophetic teachings of the late Fr. Peter Damian Fehlner, this time with a focus on the subtle reasoning present in certain Church circles today purporting the...
Eckbert of Schoenau: The First Prayer
to the “Immaculate Heart of Mary”
To the 12th century Benedictine Abbot, Eckbert of Schoenau, is attributed the first written prayer to the Immaculate Heart of Mary. In it, Our Lady’s Heart is compared to many Old Testament symbols and images: as the “holy of holies,” the “ark of sanctification,” the...
The Marriage of Saint Joseph and the Blessed Virgin Mary, and the Mystery of the Redemptive Incarnation
The Incarnation of the Son of God was made possible through the consent of the Blessed Virgin Mary at the Annunciation, who was already legally espoused to St. Joseph, but prior to their living together. In order to have a correct understanding of the marriage of...
The Marian Issue in the Church Today According to Peter Damian Fehlner, Part 5
According to the penetrating insights of Fr. Peter Damian Fehlner, the crisis in the Church today requires the faithful to live with a faith matching the Fiat of the Virgin, in the spirit of prayer and penance-reparation, that is, in a coredemptive spirit, and in...
Ave Verum Corpus: From Theology to Prayer and Back Again
At Christmas, the Son of God was born of the Virgin Mary. This mystery has an intimate connection with the mystery of the Eucharist, one celebrated in the hymn that begins Ave verum Corpus natum de Maria Virgine: “Hail, true Body, born of the Virgin Mary.” The hymn...