✝ Catholic Church Times

The Most Holy Name of Mary

Optional Memorial

Feast Day
September 12

The Optional Memorial of the Most Holy Name of Mary venerates the name given to the Mother of God. The Hebrew Miryam appears in the Gospel of Luke when the angel Gabriel addresses Mary at the Annunciation (Luke 1:27) and again at the Visitation (Luke 1:41).

Devotion to the Holy Name of Mary developed in medieval Spain and was extended to the universal Church in 1684 by Pope Innocent XI in thanksgiving for the lifting of the Turkish siege of Vienna by King John III Sobieski on 12 September 1683. The feast was removed from the General Roman Calendar in the 1969 reform but was restored to it as an Optional Memorial by Pope Saint John Paul II in the 2002 third typical edition of the Roman Missal.

The veneration of Mary's name is inseparable from the Holy Name of Jesus. To call upon Mary is, by the order of grace, to call upon her Son, since her whole identity is referred to him. The memorial is observed in conjunction with the Nativity of Mary on 8 September, of which it is a kind of octave.

Catholic Churches Named After The Most Holy Name of Mary

4 parishes on Catholic Church Times share The Most Holy Name of Mary's name. Find their Mass times, confession schedules, and adoration hours:

Sources