The Seven Glories of the Blessed Virgin Mary
Immaculate Conception
Divine Maternity
Perpetual Virginity
Universal Co-redemption
Spiritual Maternity
Assumption into Heaven both body and soul.
Coronation as Queen of the Universe.
The Rosary of the Seven Glories of Mary consists of Our Father, seven Hail Marys and one Glory for each mystery (similar to the Rosary of the Seven Sorrows of Our Lady.) This is a devotion originating with the Franciscans of the Immaculate.
As mentioned in tonight’s Mary Vitamin, this is a very good prayer in preparation for the Feast of the Assumption because it sums up the patristic tradition explaining Mary's Assumption into heaven. (I have another post coming soon with meditations for children, the way I explained these mysteries to my children.)
Here are some quotes for each meditation:
Immaculate Conception
St. Maximilian Kolbe
“That title contains many more mysteries which, with time, will be discovered. It points to the conclusion that, as it were, to the essence of the Immaculate pertains her Immaculate Conception. This title must be pleasing to her for it signifies her first grace, conferred upon her at the pristine moment of her existence, and the first gift is always the most beloved. This name is confirmed throughout her life for shes was always immaculate and unsullied by sin. Whence, she is full of grace and God is ever with her; to that degree moreover, that she became the Mother of the Son of God.”
Will to Love, (Marytown Press: 1998), 39.
Divine Maternity (Theotokos)
"In no wise, therefore, is it lawful to divide the one Lord Jesus Christ into two Sons.... For the Scripture does not say that the Word associated the person of a man with Himself, but that He was made flesh. But when it is said that the Word was made flesh, that means nothing else but that He partook of flesh and blood, even as we do; wherefore, He made our body His own, and came forth man, born of a woman, at the same time without laying aside His Godhead, or His birth from the Father; for in assuming flesh He still remained what He was."
Pope Pius XI, Lux Veritatis (On the Council of Ephesus),
Encyclical promulgated on 25 December 1931, #28
Perpetual Virginity
Father John A. Hardon, S.J.
“Significantly, however, those who impugned her right to the title Theotokos were often the same who questioned Mary’s inviolate celibacy. Augustine hinted at a reason for this when he said, ‘When God vouchsafed to become Man, it was fitting that he should be born in this way. He who was made of her, had made her what she was: a virgin who conceives, a virgin who gives birth; a virgin with child, a virgin delivered of child—a virgin ever virgin.’
Also St. Jerome
Coredemption
St. Louis de Montfort
“Thou, Lord, art always with Mary, and Mary is always with Thee, and she cannot be without Thee, else she would cease to be what she is. She is so transformed into Thee by grace that she lives no more, she is as though she were not. It is Thou only, my Jesus, who livest and reignest in her more perfectly than in all the angels and the blessed. Ah! If we knew the glory and the love which thou receivest in this admirable creature, we should have very different thoughts both of Thee and her from what we have now. She is so intimately united with Thee that it were easier to separate the light from the sun, the heat from the fire; …”
True Devotion to Mary, #63
Spiritual Maternity
Our Lady is truly our mother
St. Catherine Laboure’s example at the age of nine (Mary Vitamin #14)
“[She] pulled a chair over beneath the shelf, for it was too high for her to reach, even if she stood on tiptoe. Climbing up on the chair, she stretched overhead and took down Our Lady’s image…Throwing her arms about the statue, she hugged it close to her little body, as a child might fondle her favorite doll or teddy bear. But this was no doll. In a sense, it was no longer just a statue of Our Lady. It was Mary herself… ‘Now, dear Blessed Mother’ she said aloud with childlike fervor, ‘now you will be my Mother!’”
Father Joseph Dirvin, Saint Catherine Laboure, (Tan Books: 1981), 15-6
The Assumption
John Paul II
Angelus message August 15, 1996
"We greet you, glorious Virgin, in the mystery of your Assumption into heaven: in you God the Father anticipated what he intends to accomplish at the end of time for all those who die in communion with Jesus Christ, his Son and your Son.
We greet you, Queen of Angels and Saints; you intercede for us from heaven and sustain us on our earthly pilgrimage to the promised land: Keep our faith alive, our hope firm and our love fervent for God and for our brothers and sisters.
In contemplating the mystery of your Assumption O Mary, let us learn to evaluate earthly affairs in the proper light. Help us never to forget that our true and definitive dwelling place is heaven, and support us in our effort to live together here below in ever greater brotherhood and solidarity. Make us workers of justice and peacemakers in the name of Christ, our true peace."
The Coronation of Our Lady Queen of Heaven
(Feast of the Queenship August 22)
St. John Eudes
“But blessed the heaven and the earth which have for their Queen the admirable child Mary. For she possesses more light and wisdom, strength and power, than all the kings and queens who ever were or ever will be. And this little Mary is a great Princess and a most powerful Queen; Queen of men and Angels, Empress of the universe. She was Princess and Queen from the womb of her mother. … Is it not suitable to the glory of the eternal King of Kings, that she who was to be His Mother should bear a royal crown even from her birth?”
The Wondrous Childhood of the Most Holy Mother of God, (PCP: 1998), 237.