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The world's first ecumenical organization dedicated exclusively to inspiring a Marian Renaissance through cultural experiences.

The Marian Institute is the world’s first ecumenical organization dedicated exclusively to finding and creating authentic cultural connections to the historical and devotional figure of Mary. We are doing so by activating social content and leveraging our expertise in new media channels and content distribution to inspire a movement and encourage evangelists to carry our message and brand out to a global community. We are committed to fueling a Marian Renaissance by focusing on and communicating the universal feminine attributes of Mary (faith, beauty, strength, peacefulness, fidelity, etc.) through high profile, meaningful encounters on the streets of America and abroad.

10/07/2026

Our Lady of the Rosary
October 07
Throughout the centuries our understanding, knowledge and devotion to the Blessed Virgin Mary have been enriched by church fathers, theologians, saints and popes. There is no devotion to the Blessed Virgin Mary that has captivated and catechized as many of the faithful as the Rosary has.

In 1214 Our Lady appeared to St. Dominic and asked him to preach and pray her Rosary. It was the Rosary Our Lady indicated to St. Dominic that the Holy Spirit would use as a weapon to “reform the world”. Pope Leo XIII was so convinced of the power of the Rosary as prayer, that he wrote no less than 13 Encyclicals extolling the power and virtues of the Rosary. In his 1974 Apostolic Exhortation, Marialis Cultus, St. Pope Paul VI recommends the Rosary as pious practice indicating that it is a compendium of the Gospels. In 2002 St. Pope John Paul II in his Apostolic Letter, Rosarium Virginis Mariae, added the Luminous Mysteries to the Rosary. The Luminous Mysteries shine a light on Christ’s ministry, culminating in the 5th mystery, the Institution of the Eucharist.

♥️🙏🏻✝️🌏🌹🛐

10/05/2026

October — Month of the Rosary

“The power of the rosary is beyond description.”
— Venerable Fulton J. Sheen

📸 William Gullo via unsplash.com

09/15/2026

Our Lady of Sorrows
September 15

For most of us, when we hear the mention of Our Lady of Sorrows, we see in our minds an image of the Blessed Virgin Mary at the foot of the Cross. While this image is wholly appropriate, it certainly does not convey the full significance of this particular title of Our Lady. In actual point of fact, we honor Our Lady of Sorrows in seven different sorrows suffered throughout the life and death of her Son, Jesus Christ.

The first such sorrow is experienced shortly after the birth of Our Lord. When Mary and Joseph take the infant Jesus to the temple for his presentation to the Lord, they encounter Simeon who tells Mary, “Behold, this child is destined for the fall and rise of many in Israel, and to be a sign that will be contradicted (and you yourself a sword will pierce) so that the hearts of many may be revealed” (Lk 2:34-5). These words of prophecy spoken by Simeon, which Mary would carry with her throughout the remainder of her life, become her first sorrow.

Mary’s second sorrow follows closely in the wake of the first. King Herod, aware that a new King has been born, orders the slaughter of all young male children. Joseph is warned to take Mary and the Child and flee to Egypt (Mt 2:13-15). This second sorrow is for their time of exile and the martyr of the Holy Innocents.

The third sorrow of Mary comes years later. Jesus is twelve years old and Mary and Joseph take Hm to the Temple for the feast of Passover. Upon their return to Nazareth, they are one day’s journey from Jerusalem, and they discover that Jesus is not with them. They return to Jerusalem in search of the Child, finally finding Him in the temple after three long days of searching (Lk 2:41-47).

The remainder of Mary’s sorrows occur with respect to the Crucifixion. The fourth sorrow is when she encounters Jesus on the road to Calvary, carrying His cross. The fifth sorrow occurs at the foot of the Cross, where her own heart, so joined to the heart of her Son, is pierced by the sword of His death. When Jesus is deposed from the cross and is laid into the arms of His mother Mary, she suffers her sixth sorrow, as she embraces her Son for the last time. The seventh of Mary’s sorrows comes when Jesus is laid in his tomb and the stone is rolled in front to seal it.

As we can clearly see, Our Lady of Sorrows, is a title that Mary has merited through a lifetime of unity with her Son in His salvific mission. Her suffering began when He was but an infant and continued throughout her life, until His death by Crucifixion.

09/12/2026

The Most Holy Name of Mary
September 12

In ancient times, Mary was called the Theotokos, Mother of God. It is because she is the Mother of God that we celebrate her and her most holy name. This particular feast has been celebrated within the Church since the late 1600’s; it was placed on the Church calendar by Pope Innocent XI, in response to a battle victory of the Christian Europeans against the invading Moslem Turks, through the intercession of the Blessed Virgin Mary. We celebrate this feast on September 12, just four days after the celebration of Mary’s birth.

Of course, as Catholics, when we hear the name Mary, we immediately think of the prayer Hail Mary. It is in this prayer, above all others, that we rightly honor Mary for all of the graces that God bestowed upon her and for the fact that she is the Mother of God. Through her most holy name we are able ask for her intersession to pray for us to her most Holy Son, Jesus Christ.

As with various other Marian feast days, there is a corresponding feast day for our Lord. Over 150 years prior to the celebration by the Church of the feast of the Most Holy Name of Mary; the Church celebrated the feast of the Most Holy Name of Jesus, which is celebrated on January 3rd. Both of these feasts had been removed from the liturgical calendar after Vatican II and were restored by Pope John Paul II.

The placement of the feast, within four days after the birth of Our Lady, invokes thoughts of our own baptism and conferral upon ourselves of our name. We too, are graced by God and although our vocations may not be as lofty as Mary, we are all children of God, with Mary as our spiritual mother. Who among us does not honor our mother and feel a special attachment at the mere mention of her name? This above all is what this feast celebrates, the Most Holy Name of Mary, the Mother of God, is also our Mother and we as her dear children also feel this special attachment at the mere mention of her name.

09/08/2026

Nativity of the Blessed Virgin Mary
September 08

The Church knows very little about the birth of the Blessed Virgin Mary. The Gospels do not provide any information on the birth of Mary. When we first meet the Blessed Virgin Mary in the Gospels of St. Matthew and St. Luke, Mary is presented as a virgin who is espoused to a man named Joseph.

The early Church, especially in the East, had a deep devotion to the Blessed Virgin Mary, because she was the Mother of Our Lord. Out of this devotion grew legends of her parents and her early life, including her birth. It is from these early devotions and legends that the Church now acknowledges St’s. Anne and Joachim as Mary’s parents. As often is the case in the Old Testament, our legends tell of Anne and Joachim as being somewhat advanced in age, childless and ardent in their devotion to God. They long for a child and God abundantly answers their prayers through the birth of the Blessed Virgin Mary.
♥️🙏🏻✝️🌏🌹🛐

The feast of the Immaculate Conception of Mary was celebrated, in the East, as early as the 5th century. It is from this feast that we fix the date for the celebration of the Nativity of Mary, which began in the 6th century. The feast of the Immaculate Conception is celebrated on December 12, hence a September 8th date, nine months later, for the feast of the birth of the Blessed Virgin Mary.

We celebrate this feast because Mary’s birth is important to the Church. It is through Mary that we “receive” our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. It is Mary’s birth that sets the stage for the salvation of mankind. Interestingly, the Church only celebrates three births within the liturgical year: the birth of Jesus Christ, our Lord and Savior; the birth of St. John the Baptist, the precursor; and, the birth of Mary, the Mother of God.

08/22/2026

Queenship of the Blessed Virgin Mary
August 22

This week we celebrate another feast of our Blessed Mother instituted by Pope Pius XII, the Queenship of the Blessed Virgin Mary. Just four years after declaring the dogma of the Assumption of Our Lady into heaven, Pope Pius XII, through the papal encyclical entitled Ad Caeli Regnum, instituted a feast to celebrate the Queenship of our Lady. The feast was originally celebrated on May 31st to “crown” the last day of the month of Mary.

Today, due to the rearrangement of some of Our Lady’s feast days by Pope Paul VI, the church celebrates this feast on the octave of the Assumption. It is very fitting that these two feast days of the Blessed Virgin Mary be celebrated in such close proximity, because it was upon her Assumption into heaven that our Lady took her place as the Queen Mother, beside her Son, Jesus Christ. In addition, if one recalls the Glorious Mysteries of the Rosary, you will note that the fourth Glorious Mystery is the Assumption and the fifth Glorious Mystery is the Crowning of Mary. Since Our Lady gave the most holy rosary to the church, through St. Dominic, these two mysteries have been closely associated.

Why do we celebrate Mary as Queen? This is because her Son, Our Lord Jesus Christ, is our King, the Prince of Peace, the Lord of Lords. Since Mary is the mother of Our Lord, she is rightly called Queen. Throughout the history of the church we have never hesitated to proclaim that Mary is Mother of the King, the Queen Mother of our Lord. St. Jerome noted that in the Syrian language, Mary’s name means Lady. Likewise, St. Chrysologus emphasizes that in the Hebrew language, Mary means Lady, Domina in Latin. Our Lord and our Lady; King and Queen. So through, the Pontificate of Pope Pius XII, we have a feast day to celebrate the Blessed Virgin Mary’s Queenship. A day to acknowledge what the Church has always professed, that the Blessed Virgin Mary, as the Mother of God, is the true Queen of heaven and earth.

🎨Art: Coronation of the Virgin 1635 to 1636,

08/14/2026

The Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary

August 15

On November 1, 1950, Pope Pius XII made the following declaration in his Apostolic Constitution, Munificentissimus Deus ,“by the authority of our Lord Jesus Christ, of the Blessed Apostles Peter and Paul, and by our own authority, we pronounce, declare, and define it to be a divinely revealed dogma: that the Immaculate Mother of God, the ever Virgin Mary, having completed the course of her earthly life, was assumed body and soul into heavenly glory.” Thus, proclaiming the fourth dogma of the Blessed Virgin Mary.

What does this mean for us as members of the Body of Christ? It means that we have hope, we have hope that we too will be taken body and soul into heaven to be with our Lord on the judgement day. In the Dogmatic Constitution on the Church, Lumen Gentium, this hope was expressed as follows: “In the interim just as the Mother of Jesus, glorified in body and soul in heaven, is the image and beginning of the Church as it is to be perfected is the world to come, so too does she shine forth on earth, until the day of the Lord shall come,( 2 Pt. 3:10) as a sign of sure hope and solace to the people of God during its sojourn on earth”.

We are a people of hope. We hope in the Word of the Lord. As Jesus told his disciples, before His passion and death on the cross, “and when I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and will take you to myself, that where I am you may be also (Jn 14:3)”. On this day we honor the Blessed Virgin Mary who has received her heavenly glory and resides, body and soul, with her Son, our Lord Jesus Christ in heaven. We pray that one day we too, will be with the Blessed Virgin Mary and our Lord Jesus Christ in heaven, body and soul for eternity.

🎨🖌️: Assumption of the Virgin, 1637,

08/11/2026

Talking to Mary should be very simple. Many have found the way easily. More should try it.

-Servant of God Catherine de Hueck Doherty

Mary, Mother of God, pray for us!

📸: via

07/16/2026

Our Lady of Mount Carmel
July 16

Many people today, while they might be familiar with the title of Our Lady of Mount Carmel, are not as familiar with the devotion of the Brown Scapular that was given by Our Lady of Mount Carmel. The year was 1251, the date was July 16th, and the chosen recipient was St. Simon Stock, the superior-general of the Carmelite Order of the first chapter of Carmelites in England.

As a bit of history, the Carmelite Order traces their origin all the way back to the Old Testament. It began on Mt. Carmel where the prophet Elijah lived as a hermit. At the time, Israel was besieged by a terrible drought and the prophet Elijah was praying to God for salvation from the drought. Each time he cried out to the Lord he would send his servant up the mountain to look for rain. Seven times he cried out and on the seventh petition the servant returned with news of what appeared to be a rain cloud. The heavens opened up and the rain began to fall. The prophet Elijah saw the cloud as a sign of the Virgin, who would bear the long-awaited Messiah that had been foretold by the prophet Isaiah, of course, we know her as the Blessed Virgin Mary. The prophet Elijah and his disciples continued to live on Mt. Carmel and to pray for the Virgin and the coming of the Messiah.

It was from these hermits, disciples of the prophet Elijah dedicated to the Virgin, foretold by the prophet Isaiah, that the Carmelite Order received its heritage. To this day the Carmelites have a special devotion to the Blessed Virgin Mary, in particular as Our Lady of Mt. Carmel. As the Crusades were waged, in the Levant, the Order fled to the west to avoid persecution by the Saracens. At the time of St. Simon Stock, the Carmelites were a small Order fighting for survival. On July 16, 1251 St. Simon Stock knelt in prayer imploring the Blessed Virgin Mary to grant her protection over the Carmelite Order. Our Lady appeared to him holding the Christ Child and the brown scapular. Our Lady of Mt. Carmel promised St. Simon Stock that anyone “dying in the habit” would be saved by her special grace. While the Carmelite Order wears a large scapular as a part of their habit, the small devotional brown scapular may be worn by the lay faithful with the same promise of salvation attached.

The brown scapular devotion may be practiced by anyone as a devotion to Our Lady. In order to practice the devotion, one needs to be enrolled by a priest, and wear the scapular on their person every day. In addition, one must pray a rosary each day and observe chastity according to their state in life. The importance of the daily rosary cannot be overstated. The rosary and the brown scapular go together in signifying true devotion to Our Blessed Lady. When Our Lady appeared at Fatima, during the October 13, 1917 miracle of the sun, Lucia, the eldest seer, saw Our Lady appear as Our Lady of Mt. Carmel, signifying the importance of the two devotions: the rosary and the brown scapular.

07/04/2026

Have a happy and safe Fourth of July!

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