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What is "Catholic Hearth"?Welcome to “Catholic Hearth”, our new webpage devoted to filling the knowledge and experience gap of lived Catholic Culture and Collective Catholic Memory. These are Catholic tidbits and garnishes that are often the expression of one’s “Catholic personality”. Meant to enhance our lived Catholic experience with individual flair, “Catholic Hearth” provides resources to live out in our personal lives what we hold close to our hearts.
The Catholic Church has named a specific devotional focus for each month: May is the month of Mary, June is reserved for the Sacred Heart, July celebrates the Precious Blood, and so on. This page will refresh monthly, highlighting that month’s focus and introducing other pertinent resources according to the feast days, liturgical seasons, and events of Catholic historical significance for each month.
You might follow a link to listen to a hymn often enough to learn it, re-familiarize yourself with a saint, or try a Catholic devotional activity or prayer you’ve never tried before - or haven’t done since you were a kid. Single or married, 19 or 90, these suggestions can be lived by Catholics of all ages and stages of life.
United in Creed, Sacraments, Morality, and Prayer, as Catholics we each also live out our call to holiness in unique, unrepeatable ways. What truths, experiences, people, or practices in our Catholic Faith hold an intimate and important place in your heart? We hope this effort supports you well as you live this out in your own unique way!
Thank you to all those who, through the Faith Formation Survey or personal conversation, expressed a desire for more resources such as these!
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May: Month of the Blessed Virgin Mary
- Art
- Explanation
- Quote
- Celebrations
- Prayers
- Sacramentals
- Hymns
- Book
- Saints
- Media
- Activities
- This Month in Catholic History
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The Visitation, Ghirlandaio, 1491
The Visitation, painted by Italian Renaissance painter Domenico Ghirlandaio, 1491, commissioned by Lorenzo Tornabuoni for the church later known as Santa Maria Maddalena de' Pazzi. It is now in the Louvre Museum, Paris, France. Mary, bending in humility to greet Elizabeth, wears a red brooch symbolic of Jesus’ future passion. Elizabeth kneels in greeting her Lord and His Mother. Her eyes are upturned toward Mary, even as she squarely faces the passion coming to both Jesus and her own son John, as symbolized by the brooch. The frieze behind the women is decorated with pearls and shells, signalling Mary’s purity.
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Quote“Mary is the safest, easiest, shortest and most perfect way of approaching Jesus.”
—St. Louis de Montfort, True Devotion to Mary
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Prayers to Learn and Pray DailyThe Holy Rosary
- Try praying the daily rosary, or family rosary even once a week together.
- Learn the mysteries of the rosary and how to pray the rosary here
- Read about the origins of the rosary here and here.
The MagnificatMary’s exclamatory prayer at the Visitation, Luke 1: 46-55
My soul proclaims the greatness of the Lord,
My spirit rejoices in God my Savior
For He has looked with favor on His lowly servant.
From this day all generations will call me blessed:
The Almighty has done great things for me,
And Holy is His Name.
He has mercy on those who fear Him
In every generation.
He has shown the strength of His arm,
He has scattered the proud in their conceit.
He has cast down the mighty from their thrones,
And has lifted up the lowly.
He has filled the hungry with good things,
And the rich He has sent away empty.
He has come to the help of His servant Israel
For He has remembered His promise of mercy,
The promise He made to our fathers,
Tho Abraham and His children forever. Amen.
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Sacramentals to Use“These are sacred signs which bear a resemblance to the sacraments. They signify effects, particularly of a spiritual nature, which are obtained through the intercession of the Church. By them men are disposed to receive the chief effect of the sacraments, and various occasions in life are rendered holy.” CCC 1667
Sacramentals include prayers such as blessings, consecrations and exorcisms, but are often thought of in popular Catholic piety as “fun Catholic holy stuff”, such as processions and pilgrimages, relics, holy water, holy oils, crucifixes, holy cards, medals and rosaries, to name just a few.Rosary
This month we feature the rosary since May is the month of Mary and is a great time to begin praying the daily rosary. This collection of prayers and meditations on the life of Jesus and Mary is a beautiful way to move our prayer focus onto God’s presence and movement in the real events of salvation history. At Fatima Mary asked that we pray the daily rosary, and many saints made this a part of their spiritual routine and carried one with them everywhere. Not a bad idea! Meditative in nature, the rosary offers a welcome 20-minute reprieve from the hurriedness of our day.
When shopping for a rosary the main question to ask is, “Which one will I carry everywhere and use ?” You may find that an inexpensive wood or cord rosary is just the thing! Some Catholics keep a couple extra on hand to give to people who might not have a rosary. Sold wherever Catholic goods are sold. Various options found here.
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Hymns to Learn and SingRegina Caeli (Queen of Heaven in Latin)—Listen with lyrics here.
Traditionally sung in Eastertide, from Easter through Pentecost, in replacement of the Angelus, and throughout the year as a Marian Antiphon after Night Prayer.
Traditional Latin
Regina Caeli, laetare, Alleluia!
Quia quem meruisti portare, Alleluia!
Resurrexit sicut dixit, Alleluia!
Ora pro nobis Deum, Alleluia!
English translation
Queen of Heaven, rejoice! Alleluia
For He Whom you did merit to bear, Alleluia
Has risen as He said, Alleluia
Pray for us to God, Alleluia
On This Day, O Beautiful Mother—Listen here.
Traditionally sung at May crownings.
On this day, O beautiful Mother,
On this day we give thee our love.
Near thee, Madonna, fondly we hover,
Trusting thy gentle care to prove.
On this day we ask to share,
Dearest Mother, thy sweet care;
Aid us, ere our feet astray
Wander from thy guiding way.
Queen of Angels, deign to hear
Lisping children's humble pray'r;
Young hearts gain, O Virgin pure,
Sweetly to thyself allure.
Fast our days of life we run,
Soon the night of death will come;
Tower of strength in that dread hour,
Come with all thy gentle power.
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Book to Read
Jesus and the Jewish Roots of Mary by Dr. Brant Pitre
"In Jesus and the Jewish Roots of Mary, Dr. Pitre takes readers step-by-step from the Garden of Eden to the Book of Revelation to reveal how deeply biblical Catholic beliefs about Mary really are. Dr. Pitre uses the Old Testament and Ancient Judaism to unlock how the Bible itself teaches that Mary is in fact the new Eve, the Mother of God, the Queen of Heaven and Earth, and the new Ark of the Covenant.”—Catholic MarketAvailable at Catholic brick-and-mortar and online stores, including here.
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A saint to get to knowSt. Isidore the Farmer (May 15)
St. Pius X has a history inextricably linked to farming, so this month we celebrate St. Isidore the Farmer. Read more about him here.
Established as a parish in 1951, the roots of Saint Pius X Church go back to 1870, when Fr. Edward Sorin, C.S.C. founded St. Joseph’s Farm in Granger, Indiana. At the farm, Holy Cross brothers, sisters and priests served the needs of Catholics in the rural farming community, while providing fresh food for the nearby University of Notre Dame. In 1924, the first sacramental records were recorded. In 1936, this unofficial body of Catholics became established as the St. Joseph’s Farm Parish.
To read more about our own parish and history, click here.
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Media to UsePodcast: The Rosary in a Year, with Fr. Mark-Mary Ames, C.F.R.
“In Ascension’s Rosary in a Year podcast, Fr. Mark-Mary Ames, C.F.R., guides listeners in a step-by-step journey that will change the way you pray—no matter where you are in your spiritual life. By starting small and adding on over time, listeners will find themselves falling more in love with this powerful Marian devotion, becoming a source of grace for the whole world.”—Ascension Press
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Activities at home and in the communityActivity for Home: Make a home Mary May altar
Many Catholics create a beautiful prayer space in their home where they sit alone, or gather as a family, for daily prayer during May, especially praying through the intercession of Our Lady. On a table or a bookshelf place a favorite statue or icon of Mary, Bible, crucifix, rosary, a blessed candle and holy water. You may want to include fresh flowers or a flower crown for the statue. Light the candle and use the holy water to bless yourself at the beginning and end of your prayer time
Activity for Community: Visit Area GrottosDid you know we have several Marian Grottos in this area? These are replicas of the apparition of Our Lady to Bernadette at the grotto in Lourdes, France.
The University of Notre Dame has a beautiful grotto, complete with a stone from the grotto where Mary appeared to St. Bernadette at Lourdes, France. (Look for the dark stone under the statue of Mary. Many people stop, touch the stone, and pray there.)
When visiting a grotto, simply ask Mary’s intercession for your intentions, pray a rosary or even just one Hail Mary. Bring flowers, light a candle, or simply ask her to be your spiritual Mama.Check out these area grottos:- Sisters of St. Francis of Perpetual Adoration (1515 W Dragoon Trail, Mishawaka, IN 46544)
At the split in the road, go right. The grotto is at the top of the hill on the right. Please be respectful that this is the Sisters’ home, and only visit during the day. - Marian High School Grotto
On W Dragoon Trail, directly across from the Sisters Convent entrance - St. Hedwig (308 S. Scott Street, South Bend, Indiana, 46601)
The grotto is left of the church, to the left of the building marked “331 S. Scott”. - St. Stanislaus (415 N. Brookfield, South Bend, Indiana, 46628)
The grotto is to the right of the church, to the right of the building with the address “415 N. Brookfield”.
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This Month in Catholic History
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Contact Us
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Lisa Marinolmarinostpius.netAssistant Director, Evangelization
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