It may be fairly stated that at no time in the history of the Catholic Church have love of Mary and devotion to her been purer or more extensive and intensive than they are at the present day (1919). The Ave Maria is second only to the Lord's Prayer in frequency of use. The Rosary and the Litany of the Blessed Virgin are recited publicly and privately by millions of persons every day. Special hymns composed in her honor, like the marls stella,' the (Stabat Mater,' the 'Alma Redemp toris Mater,' and the English (Daily, daily sing to Mary,' are frequently said or sung. At the end of every low Mass three Ave Marias and the (Salve Regina,> as well as other prayers, are publicly recited in the vernacular by the priest and the congregation. The month of May is dedicated to Mary, and devotions in her honor are publicly conducted every day during that month. Every day in October the Rosary of the Blessed Virgin is publicly recited. Every Saturday in the year is specially dedicated to her. Sodalities established in her honor exist in every land. In all this the Church, follow ing the teaching of the Fathers and the Councils and especially of the Council of Trent (1545 63), always carefully distinguishes between the adoration or supreme homage due to God alone and the reverence that may properly be shown to any of His creatures. Epiphanius long ago laid down the rule: "Let Mary be held in honor. Let the Father, Son, and Holy Ghost be adored, but let no one adore Mary (r0 Mapiav Fultkis frpooxvvetr(r)i> Latria is the name given to the adoration of God; dulia is the name given to the honor shown to the saints or to angels. As Mary is above all saints and angels — "Queen of angels' and "Queen of all saints' she is entitled in her Litany — the degree of veneration shown to her is called hyperdatia, which, while it is greater in degree than dadia, is infinitely below labia and differs in essence from it. Not every Catholic knows those words; but every Catholic, no matter how ignorant otherwise, feels and knows the dis tinction which they connote.
What Christian art owes to Mary it would be well nigh impossible to tell. Painters, sculptors, architects, musicians, and poets have outdone themselves in celebrating her praise. (See MADONNA IN Aar). Shrines in her honor sprang up everywhere. In pre-Reformation England the country was studded with such shrines, the most celebrated being our Lady of Walsingham, in Norfolk. Among modern shrines the famous ones of the Holy House of Loreto in Italy, Einsiedeln in Switzerland, Lourdes in France, and Guadalupe in Mexico may be singled out for special mention.
It is of interest to note that, by decree of the Sixth Provincial Council of Baltimore (1846, confirmed 1847), the Blessed Virgin Mary, conceived without sin, was chosen as the patron of the United States of America.
Bibliography.— The amount of reading matter on this subject is, as might be expected, immense both in quantity and range. The fol lowing books may with advantage be consulted on the points with which they deal: Locnus, augusta Virgo Deipara> (Atrebau 1608) ; Dudinck, Marianus> (Colonise 1644); Riccardi, (Storia de' Santuarii pifi celebn di Maria Santissima sparsi nel mondo cristiano' (4 vols., Milano 1840-44); Newman, of Christian (London 1845) ; Passaglia, (De immaculato Deipane semper Virginis conceptu . . . commentarius> (3 vols., Roma 1854-55); Gousset, Croy ance generale et constante de l'Eglise touchant l'immaculee conception de la bienheureuse Vierge Marie) (Paris 1855); Pusey, (Oxford 1865-69) ; Bourasse, (Summa Aurea de Laudibus Beata Marie Virginis> (13 vols., Paris 1866 et seq.) ; (Hymns to the Virgin and Child' (E. E. T. S., ed. Furnivall, 1867); Northcote, (The Celebrated Sanctuaries of the Madonna) (London 1868); of Our Lady' (E. E. T. S. 1873) ; La Fuente, de la Virgen Maria con la historia de su culto en Espafia> (2 vols., Barcelona 1879) ; Water ton, 'Pietas Mariana Britannica> (London 1879); Jameson, of the Madonna> (Boston 1881) ; Kurz, (Ratisbon 1::1) ; Northcote, 'Mary in the (London 1885) ; Lehner, 'Die Marienvereh rung in den ersten Jahrhunderten' (2d ed., Stuttgart 1886) ; Bridgett, 'Our Lady's (4th ed., London n.d.) ; Schaff, 'Creeds of Christendom' (New York 1890) ; Rudniki, 'Die beriihmtesten Wallsfahrtsorte der Erde> (Paderborn 1891) ; Lee, 'The Sinless Concep tion of the Mother of God: a Theological Es say' (London 1891) ; Hurll, 'The Madonna in Art' (Boston 1897) ; Venturi, 'La Madonna> (Milan 1900) ; Pimentel, 'Historic do culto de Nossa Senhora em Portugal) (Lislx3a 1900) ; Terrien, 'La Mere de Dieu et la mere des hommes d'apres les Peres et la theologie) (4 vols., Paris 1900-02); Ulla thorne, 'The Immaculate Conception of the Mother of (2d ed., London 1904) ; Manresa, 'La Virgen Maria en la litteratura Hispalia) (Rome 1905); Kronenburg, Heerlijkheid in Nederland' (Amsterdam 1905 10); Neubert, 'Marie dans l'Eglise anteni cienne) (Paris 1908) ;.Hartwell Jones, 'Celtic Britain and the Pilgrim Movement' (London 1912); Beissel, (Wallfahrten zu unserer Lieben Frau in Legende and Geschichte' (Freiburg im Bresgau 1913) ; Pohle-Preuss, 'Mariology' (Saint Louis 1916).
The principal apocryphal writings relating to Mary are 'Liber de in fantia Maria et Christi ; nativi tate Maria) ; Ps.— 'Historia Josephi fabri lignarii) ; 'Evangelium Maria' ; liadvvov rov ecoX6yov a6yoc eit I* goiorfortv me Otorkov, (Transitus