Any
list of Catholic saints begins with the Theotokos, Mary the God-Bearer,
whose acceptance of God's will in her life enabled the Incarnation of the
Son of God. For centuries, meditating on the life of Mary has led Christians
to a closer communion with her son, Jesus Christ.
The primary Marian prayer in the West is, of course, the Rosary. Popularized between the Twelfth and Fifteenth Centuries, it is a meditative vehicle for appreciating the presence of God throughout our world and our lives, and for pondering the humility and trust with which Mary lived her life. A popular legend holds that Mary herself gave the first Rosary to St. Dominic, which he used to convert heretics. If the true origins of the Rosary is less precise, still today the Dominican Order has the responsibility of promoting this devotion throughout the Church.
The great Magnificat, composed by Mary herself, is a centerpiece of the prayer life of the Church. Every evening, Catholics around the world pray this canticle as part of the Divine Office, which with the Mass composes the Church's public prayer and consecration of time to God:
From this day, all generations will call me blessed.
The Almighty has done great things for me,
And holy is His Name.
He has mercy on those who fear him in every generation.
He has shown the strength of his arm.
He has scattered the proud in their conceit.
He has cast down the mighty from their seats,
And has lifted up the lowly.
He has filled the hungry with good things,
And the rich He has sent away empty.
He has come to the help of His servant Israel,
For He has remembered His promise of mercy,
The promise he made to our fathers,
To Abraham and his children forever.
Return to my Patron Saints page.