When I was a child, our family said the rosary together and I thought the time spent praying it was already too long. So when my mother introduced the litany that is said after the mysteries, the more I dreaded the rosary because it took more time.

Of course, that is no longer my sentiment today. I would like to think that the way I pray the rosary has changed for the better over the years. But some of Our Lady’s titles in the litany continued to trouble me because I didn’t know what they meant. These are titles like “Tower of David”, “Gate of Heaven,” and “Morning Star” to name a few. No one told me what they meant, so it felt a little bit empty and odd saying them without understanding them. It was as if I were just parroting the words.

To remedy this, I looked up the different meanings of the titles over the years. They were mostly pious expressions, and while there is nothing wrong with that, they did not really explain the titles. The internet came to the rescue when it pointed me to a book, written in 1957 by Fr. Lawrence G. Lovasik, entitled Our Lady in Catholic Life. It is a prayer book where I found out that the different titles of our Lady were remembered on each Saturday. More importantly, Fr. Lovasik’s introduction to the titles captured the background and meaning of most of them. The book is no longer in print and can be very difficult to find so I was thrilled to find a second-hand copy through book dealers.

This book will examine and incorporate the older meanings of the titles to understand what it is the Church was ascribing to Mary at the time of the writing. The Litany was not originally in English but in Latin. It also isn’t known when the Litany was translated into English, but a translation must have been done after its approval so it could be circulated to the English-speaking world among others.

The words of some of the English titles in the Litany have lost their meaning as the usage changed through time. What might have meant something in the 16th century might no longer apply today. The word “amiable,” for example, means “friendly” as we use it today. Its use has declined since the 1800’s and originally meant “loveable.” When we apply this to Mater Amabilis, for example, it makes more sense rendered as “Mother Most Loveable” as compared to “Mother Most Friendly.’

Another word that fails to translate the correct meaning of the Latin is Mater Admirabilis (Mother Most Admirable.) Whereas admirable means “delightful” in today's vernacular, the outdated meaning of admirable meant “wonderful.” In fact, the Dillingen copy used “mirabilis” instead of “admirabilis” to indicate someone who possessed remarkable properties.

What the Litany Does

We fall in love with Our Lady. We learn about Mary through her titles because they point to the qualities that we revere in her. By prayerfully reflecting on these titles, we get a better appreciation of what we believe of Mary. As a result, we would like to know her more intimately through prayer and meditation of the mysteries of the rosary.

Mystical Rose

The connection of saints to flowers is strong. There is a wonderful story of a Church in Mentosca d’Agesco in Austria, of a cut lily that was placed in the hand of the statue of Saint Anthony of Padua that remained fragrant and alive for almost a year – only to produce a second bloom that filled the church with its aroma.

This association with flowers even manifests itself in religious art. Saint Dominic, for example, is usually portrayed in paintings with a lily as a symbol of chastity. Saint Catherine of Siena has a lily for her emblem. Saint Agnes and St. Sebastian are commonly depicted with a palm branch. Saint Barnabas is associated with an olive branch; and St. Ursicinus, a fleur-de-lis.

Saints also emit what is called an odor of sanctity. It is alternately used figuratively or literally. In the figurative sense, the odor of sanctity pertains to the “fragrance” of a soul that is in a state of grace. In the literal sense, some saints actually emitted a scent. For example, the blood from Saint Pio’s stigmata smelled of flowers. Saint Teresa of Avila and Saint Maravillas of Jesus emitted a strong flowery bouquet after their death. Saint Therese of Lisieux – also called the Little Flower – produced a strong fragrant aroma of roses after she died.

Sometime in the thirteenth century, a Cistercian monk had a heavenly vision of Mary surrounded by some monks. He felt sad because he didn’t see any monks of his order. So, he asked Our Lady why his order was not with her considering their great devotion to her. She answered: “I love my Cistercians so much that I keep them covered with my arms.” She opened her mantle and he saw under it many Cistercian monks. This story became so popular in Europe that artists drew her mantle wider and wider so that more and more people could fit under it.

Eventually, the only way to fit the entire world under her mantle of protection was to make the sky her mantle. This is why until today her mantle is usually blue, and usually decorated with stars. Churches usually associated with our lady have ceilings painted as a sky full of stars. The Notre Dame Basilica in Ottawa, and St. Mary’s Basilica in Krakow are good examples of this. Even churches or structures that do not bear Our Lady’s name like the Duomo of Siena, the Sainte-Chapelle in Paris, and the Baldacchino in St. John Lateran Basilica also have blue ceilings with stars. It should not come as a surprise that before Michelangelo painted the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel, it was blue bedecked with golden stars.

Saint Bernard said that the Passion of Jesus began with his birth but with Mary, it began during the Annunciation. When Mary gave her fiat, she gave up the simple life she wanted to live. Right away difficulties arose: dealing with Joseph regarding her miraculous conception, riding a donkey all the way to Bethlehem while being nine-months pregnant, giving birth in a stable. When she brought the child Jesus to the temple, it became clear that difficulties would be part of her life when the prophet Simeon told her “your own soul a sword shall pierce.”

Those that study Mary’s life count seven swords or sorrows starting with that of Simeon’s prophecy. The next sorrow is when she had to escape with Joseph to Egypt, fleeing from the assassins of King Herod. The third is when she lost Jesus in the Temple – one can only imagine her worry as a mother. The fourth is when she met Jesus as he carried the cross. Fifth is his crucifixion and death. As if his death were not enough, a soldier had to pierce his side – which is the sixth sorrow. Finally, the last sorrow is the burial of Christ – the definite moment when she had to physically detach herself from the person she dearly loved.