St. John Damascene, First Homily on the Dormition of the Virgin 14
(inter 725-749 AD)
“We today also remain near you, O Lady. Yes, I repeat, O Lady, Mother of
God and Virgin. We bind our souls to your hope, as to a most firm and
totally unbreakable anchor, consecrating to you mind, soul, body, and all
our being and honoring you, as much as we can, with psalms, hymns, and
spiritual canticles.”
Catechism of the Council of Trent (1566)
9
Pt. IV, Ch. VI: To this sort of prayer belongs the first part of the
Angelic Salutation, when used by us as a prayer: Hail Mary, full of grace,
the Lord is with thee, blessed art thou among women. For in these words
we render to God the highest praise and return Him gracious thanks,
because He has bestowed all His heavenly gifts on the most holy Virgin;
and at the same time we congratulate the Virgin herself on her singular
privileges.
To this form of thanksgiving the Church of God has wisely added prayers
and an invocation addressed to the most holy Mother of God, by which we
piously and humbly fly to her patronage, in order that, by her intercession,
she may reconcile God to us sinners and may obtain for us those blessings
which we stand in need of in this life and in the life to come. We, therefore,
exiled children of Eve, who dwell in this vale of tears, should constantly
beseech the Mother of mercy, the advocate of the faithful, to pray for us
sinners. In this prayer we should earnestly implore her help and assistance;
for that she is most desirous to assist us by her prayers, no one can doubt
without impiety and wickedness.
Catechism of the Catholic Church (1992)
9
The Catechism of the Council of Trent made no particular reference to the Holy
Rosary, but it did refer to the Hail
Mary and highly extolled the value of Marian
prayers.
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