A few months back, the question of whether it’s okay to wear a rosary around one’s neck engendered a great discussion in the combox. In my article, I shared that I couldn’t find ...

Question: Was Joseph a deadbeat dad? What happened to Joseph after Jesus’ birth? Though the Gospels don’t say much about Joseph in general, there is clear Scriptural evidence that he was very present in Jesus’ ...

When you look at the Annunciation story in the gospel of Luke, you can see that the angel’s message is pretty astonishing. “Do not be afraid, Mary, for you have found favor with God. ...

The Hail, Holy Queen (known as the “Salve Regina” in the original Latin) is one of the most well-known prayers about Mary. It is a prayer of petition, asking Mary for her prayers on ...

The Gospels make no mention of Elizabeth as Mary’s midwife (nor do they mention any other midwife, either). There is a local midwife who appears in the Protoevangelium of James, the apocrphyal text written ...

Even though Mary was the mother of the Son of God, she didn’t get a free pass in the diaper department. The Church teaches that Jesus was human in all things but sin. ...

Obviously, the Bible doesn’t recount every conversation that Mary and Jesus had over the course of their lives. But we know that they do seem to have a difference of opinion at the Wedding ...

The title of Mary as Queen has been a tradition of the Church since at least the fourth century. (Note that Mary is referred to as queen not just of heaven, but also of ...

Though they are a prominent part of Nativity sets and Christmas pageants, the magi only make one appearance in the Gospels, in Matthew 2: 1-12. (Though we commonly call them “kings,” the term magi ...

There’s not a lot of information about this in Scripture. We have the story in Mark 3: 21 where Jesus’ relatives come to seize him, saying, “He is out of his mind,” but it’s ...

Mary was human, not divine, so she did not possess the power to miraculously stop the crucifixion from happening. Like the other witnesses of Jesus’ death, she could only stand by, watch, and ...

At the wedding feast at Cana, when Mary tells Jesus that there is no more wine, Jesus responds, “Woman, how does your concern affect me? My hour is not yet come.” (John 2:4). ...

When Mary became pregnant with Jesus, it was surely a terrible shock to Joseph. Though he and Mary were betrothed, meaning they had given public and binding vows to each other, they had not ...

During the time of Jesus, the Jewish marriage process involved two separate parts, the first of which was betrothal. This was an exchange of consent made between a man and a woman before witnesses. ...

There’s zero obligation for Catholics to go to Marian shrines. The decision to visit them is totally voluntary. Many shrines do attract large numbers of pilgrims; the Marian apparition site at Lourdes, ...

Mary is the English translation of the Hebrew name Miriam. There are different opinions ...

In the last week, two different people have asked me if I have any interest in owning a Kindle. My answer both times was a ...

We don’t know exactly what Jesus called his mother when he was young. The Gospels don’t include any stories where the child Jesus addresses Mary directly, so we can only guess. It seems ...

Many families do wait until Christmas Eve or Christmas Day to put the baby Jesus into the manger scene, for the reason that he has not yet been born, and that an empty manger captures ...

This is a great question, and it touches on so much of what Catholics believe about Mary. I’ll throw out a few different ideas here, and hopefully one or more of them will resonate ...