What Does the Solemnity of Mary Mean?
The Solemnity of Mary, Mother of God is a liturgical celebration observed on January 1. It is a holy day of obligation for Catholics, meaning…
What Does the Title ‘Mary, Help of Christians’ Mean, and Where Does It Come From?
Mary, Help of Christians is one of the numerous names by which Catholics have come to know and love Mary. It refers specifically to the…
Why Does Mary Have So Many Feast Days and Different Names?
Feast days (and solemnities and memorials) are days in the liturgical calendar when the Church highlights and honors an aspect of the Lord, of Mary,…
Why Did Joseph Decide to Divorce Mary Quietly and Then Change His Mind?
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…
Who Were Mary’s parents? What Do We Know About Them?
Mary’s parents are St. Joachim and St. Anne. What we know about them comes from tradition and from apocryphal writings (writings that are in the…
Did Mary Ever Perform a Miracle?
It’s good to clarify that Mary herself does not perform miracles; all miracles are an act of God. That said, Catholics do believe that Mary…
Why Does Mary Visit Her Cousin Elizabeth?
Q: Â Why does Mary visit her cousin Elizabeth? It doesn’t make sense to me for a pregnant woman to take such a long journey. Any…
Did Joseph know that Mary would be the mother of Jesus?
The Gospel of Matthew explains that Joseph did not know in advance that Mary was destined to be the mother of the Savior. In Matthew…
What do we know about Mary’s actual labor and delivery of Jesus?
Q. What do we know about Mary’s actual labor and delivery of Jesus? A. When it comes to the actual technicalities of Mary’s delivery of…
What are the origins of the rosary?
Since the earliest days of the Church, people have used prayer beads or cords with knots in them to help them keep track of their…
