Jubilee of Marian Spirituality

The inclusion of the teaching of Vatican Council II on the Virgin Mary as a chapter in the Constitution on the Church, rather than as a separate document in its own right, suggests to us that every aspect of the Church's life has in some way a Marian dimension. In this light, a specific Jubilee dedicated to Marian spirituality, to be marked in the days 11th-12th October 2025, appears either to be unnecessary or to represent a celebration of the Church's life as a whole. 

The invitation to the Jubilee is described as follows:

All members of the movements, confraternities and various Marian prayer groups are particularly invited to this jubilee event.

The orginal statue of Our Lady of Fatima will be present in Rome for the Jubilee, and is a particular focus for the events of the Jubilee. The invitation, and the presence of the Fatima statue, place the focus on that aspect of the Marian life of the Church that might be covered by the term "popular piety". It is worth recalling that, as Pope Francis suggested in Evangelii Gaudium nn.122-126, the various expressions of popular piety should be seen as an inculturation of the Gospel, as a way in which a people embed a presence of their Christian faith in their daily lives and in the daily lives of those among whom they live. Different forms of Marian spirituality can easily be recognised as precisely this way of embedding Christian presence in a culture.

One element of the Marian spirituality being marked by this Jubilee is pilgrimage to Marian shrines. Some shrines, such as Lourdes and Fatima, have gained an international reach. Many countries have a national shrine to the Virgin Mary where devotion might reflect something of the local character of the people or of the place. Not infrequently, such a shrine will reflect a founding grace which gives to the devotion expressed at that shrine a specific character. The National Shrine for England at Walsingham, for example, offers a sense of the house of Nazareth as a distinctive aspect of its spirituality. There are also more local devotions such as the Lancaster diocesan shrine at Ladyewell, which has a particular historical context proper to that part of the country.

A second element is that of prayer groups, often based in meeting to pray the Rosary, with a specifically Marian devotion. Such prayer groups may arise with a certain spontaneity and may not have the specific connection to a place that belongs with a shrine. But nevertheless, for those who take part in them, they represent an embedding of their faith in their everyday lives.

Viewed from the point of view of the Church's liturgical life, these examples of popular Marian piety should both derive from the liturgy and lead back to it. Whilst seen in isolation they may appear to exist in parallel to the wider life of the Church, they are lived authentically when they are inserted into that wider life. The many different formulas contained in the Collection of Masses of the Blessed Virgin Mary and celebrations that occur in the universal and local calendars manifest this relationship between the Liturgy and devotional life.