The Marian Institute

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The Marian Institute

The world's first ecumenical organization dedicated exclusively to inspiring a Marian Renaissance through cultural experiences.

The Marian Institute is the world’s first ecumenical organization dedicated exclusively to finding and creating authentic cultural connections to the historical and devotional figure of Mary. We are doing so by activating social content and leveraging our expertise in new media channels and content distribution to inspire a movement and encourage evangelists to carry our message and brand out to a

global community. We are committed to fueling a Marian Renaissance by focusing on and communicating the universal feminine attributes of Mary (faith, beauty, strength, peacefulness, fidelity, etc.) through high profile, meaningful encounters on the streets of America and abroad.

05/31/2026

Visitation of the Blessed Virgin Mary
May 31
♥️✝️🌏🌹🛐

05/29/2026

“The twentieth-century Catholic author J.R.R. Tolkien, in the words of a protagonist in one of his novels, described our responsibility in this way: ‘It is not our part to master all the tides of the world, but to do what is in us for the succour of those years wherein we are set, uprooting the evil in the fields that we know, so that those who live after may have clean earth to till.’” Pope Leo XIV

Mary, we shall till the fields of our hearts and minds and plant
gardens of love in your honor, pray for us!

📸: via

05/13/2026

Our Lady of Fatima

On May 13, 1917, Our Lady of Fatima appeared to three illiterate shepherd children, Lucia, Francisco and Jacinta, in the small village of Fatima, Portugal. The children were tending the sheep and building themselves a playhouse. They saw a flash of light, thinking it was lightening, they decided they better get the flocks and go home. Before they could herd the sheep and depart, Our Lady appeared to them on the top of a small oak tree. Lucia, the oldest of the three, age 10, spoke to Our Lady and asked her where she came from. Our Lady replied that she came from heaven. Lucia then asked what Our Lady wanted of her. Our Lady told the children that she wanted them to come on the 13th of the month for 6 months and she would later tell them who she was and what she wished. Lucia then asked a third question; will I go to heaven? Our lady assured her that she would go to heaven. Will Jacinta and Francisco, her cousins and companions, also go to heaven? Our lady again assured her that yes, they too would go to heaven, but that Francisco would have to say many rosaries before he would gain heaven. Our Lady then taught them the “decade” prayer and asked them to say it after each decade of the rosary. In addition, she asked them to say the rosary every day, for peace in the world and an end to the war. She then departed.

It was during the June 13th appearance that Our Lady again assured the children that they would go to heaven. This time Our Lady said that she would come for Francisco and Jacinta, very soon, but that Lucia would remain for some time longer in order to make known the message of Fatima.

In light of the recent Covid 19 pandemic that we experienced from 2020 to 2023, it is spiritually rewarding to revisit the deaths of the two little shepherd children who saw Our Lady, Francisco and the Jacinta. It was in January 1918, that the Spanish Flu, the most deadly pandemic in recent history, spread throughout the world. Our two littlest seers, Francisco and Jacinta, along with countless others contracted the Spanish Flu. During their illness they maintained the practice of their daily rosaries and offered all of their pain and suffering for the conversion of sinners, just as Our Lady had taught them. Each of them knew that they were not to be spared death in their illness, yet they persisted in their mortifications and prayers, looking forward to their heavenly reward. Sadly, it was from the Spanish Flu that each of them died, Francisco in April of 1919, at the age of 11 and his little sister Jacinta in February of 1920, at the age of 9. True to her word, Our Lady took each of them to heaven, our assurance of this from their Canonization to Sainthood on May 13, 2017, one hundred years after the first Apparition of Our Lady.

05/02/2026

May 1
Month of Mary
St. Joseph the Worker

In addition to honoring Mary during the month of May, the Church also honors her husband, St. Joseph on May 1st, with a memorial feast entitled St. Joseph the Worker. Because we are living in uncertain times, it is particularly important this year that we pause to honor St. Joseph the Worker, who worked tirelessly to provide for Jesus and Mary. Many of our workers have jobs that have been lost or are in jeopardy. Let us invoke this great saint and pray for all workers that they may be under the care and protection of St. Joseph.
♥️✝️🌏🌹🛐

04/28/2026

This month we focus our attention on a great Marian “Apostle”, St. Louis de Montfort. St. Louis de Montfort was born in France in 1673 and ordained as a priest in 1700. He had a great zeal for preaching and a great love of our Lord and our Lady. At this time in France, priests were scarce, and the preaching was less than beneficial to the faithful. Combining his two greatest attributes, St. Louis became a missionary preacher and gave missions in poor parishes throughout France.

St. Louis also had a great love for the rosary. As a third order Dominican St. Louis was tireless in preaching the rosary and forming rosary confraternities. He wrote a book that is still published to this day, called The Secret of the Rosary.

However, it was his very great love for our Lord and Lady that led him to write his most famous book, True Devotion to the Blessed Virgin Mary. The reasoning behind the book was simple for St. Louis, the more we love the Blessed Virgin Mary, the closer she will bring us to her son, Jesus Christ. He devised a thirty-three-day preparation for consecration to Jesus through the Blessed Virgin Mary. While the devotion was popular in his day, his work was lost to the Church for some 100 years.

Upon the discovery of this lost manuscript years after his death, the book was published and has enjoyed continual publication since. The influence of this book has been vast not only for the catholic faithful but for many popes as well. Pope Pius IX praised it as the best form of Marian devotion. Pope Leo XII not only beatified Louis de Montfort, but he indulgenced his book on Mary as well. Pope Pius XI and Pope St. John Paul II acknowledged their practice of this devotion and the profound influence it had on their lives. The influence on the life of Pope St. John Paul II was so dramatic that his motto during his papacy was Totus Tuus, Totally Yours, in reference to this total devotion to the Blessed Virgin Mary.

If you desire a boost in your spiritual life, and want to become closer to our Lord, try reading True Devotion to the Blessed Virgin Mary and making the total consecration to Jesus through Mary. It is guaranteed to be lifechanging!

04/17/2026

“Our Lady has shown her thorough approval of the name “rosary”; she has revealed to several people that each time they say a Hail Mary they are giving her a beautiful rose and that each complete rosary makes her a crown of roses.”

— St. Louis de Montfort

Mary, Mother of God, pray for us!

♥️✝️🌏🌹🛐

📸 by Emily Sandoval on Unsplash

04/04/2026

Easter

"Peace I leave with you, My peace I give to you; not as the world gives do I give to you. Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid." John 14:27

📷: via

03/25/2026

Feast of the Annunciation
March 25

The feast of the Annunciation celebrates when the Blessed Virgin Mary learns that she is to become the Mother of God. At this time, Mary is a young teenage girl, espoused to Joseph. It is in the town of Nazareth that the angel Gabriel appears to her. This we learn from the Gospel of Luke. We also learn that Mary is “troubled” at the sight and greeting of the angel. For what the angel is asking of Mary is astounding and one of the greatest mysteries of our faith. God wishes for Mary to become the mother of Jesus, the long-awaited Messiah. Mary is not troubled at the notion of becoming the mother of Jesus, she is troubled at the particulars of just how she is to become His mother.

Theologians tell us that even though Mary was married to Joseph, she had taken a vow of virginity as a gift of herself to God. Mary’s question to the angel about the manner of conception makes this clear. Gabriel puts Mary’s mind at ease when he tells her that she will be overshadowed by the power of the Holy Spirit and conceive the child. In other words, Mary will conceive this child in a most singular and miraculous manner. After hearing this, Mary takes a moment to consider all that has been said. It is in this moment that the faith of Mary in God shines through. Mary accepts what the angel has told her, she believes with her whole being that God can accomplish such things, and in this moment she believes in her heart through her great faith in God. It is also at this moment that the whole of creation pauses in silence; what will her response be? As we know from St. Luke’s gospel, Mary says yes…” let it be done to me according to your word” (Lk 1:38). As a young teenage girl Mary, utters in all humility the words that literally bring salvation onto the world.

We too can learn from Mary and her experience. Through Mary’s humble and selfless act, we can learn to be open to the will of God in our lives. Let us all pause and listen to God and discern what His will is for us in our lives. Like Mary, let us all respond to God in faith and humility.

03/20/2026

Feast of St. Joseph
March 19

The Church honors St. Joseph as the most chaste spouse of the Blessed Virgin Mary and as the adoptive/legal Father of Our Lord, Jesus Christ. The New Testament is virtually silent on St. Joseph and St. Joseph himself, who never utters a single word that the Gospels record.

This, however, does not mean that we know nothing of this great Saint. Quite the contrary. In Matthew’s gospel we learn that Joseph is a just man. A just man is one who is consistent in the practice of virtue and who faithfully performs the will of God. We see this played out in the Gospel of Matthew when on three separate occasions Joseph is visited in a dream from an Angel of God and given explicit instructions from God; when Joseph awakes, he immediately does as God has instructed.

It is through Joseph’s kingly lineage that Jesus is shown to be a son of David. Joseph is Head of the Holy family and as such both the Blessed Virgin Mary and the Child Jesus, in his humanity, are subject to him.
It is St. Joseph who provides for all of the needs of the Holy Family, through his labors as a Carpenter. In return, it was St. Joseph, who was privileged to live in intimacy with Our Blessed Lady and Our Lord, Jesus Christ. Imagine the graces within this household, imagine St. Joseph carrying the Christ Child on their Journeys to and from Egypt. Imagine the Christ Child tenderly hugging St. Joseph and bestowing kisses on him; just as any child would to their beloved father.

St. Joseph is invoked as the patron of a happy death. One can only wonder at the marvels that Joseph experienced as he lay dying between Our Blessed Lady and Our Lord Jesus Christ. How can such a death be anything but happy.
Finally, we look to the Litany of St. Joseph and leave you with some of this great saints’ titles, under which we invoke him, to contemplate: Renowned offspring of David, Light of Patriarchs, Spouse of the Mother of God, Chaste guardian of the Virgin, Foster-father of the Son of God, Diligent protector of Christ, Head of the Holy Family, Joseph most just, Joseph most chaste, Joseph most prudent, Joseph most strong, Joseph most obedient, Joseph most faithful, Mirror of patience, Lover of poverty, Model of artisans,

Glory of home life, Guardian of virgins, Pillar of families, Solace of the wretched, Hope of the sick, Patron of the dying, Terror of demons, Protector of Holy Church. ♥️🙏🏻✝️🌏🌹🛐

03/09/2026

Noah’s Ark was a true figure of Mary; for as in it all kinds of beasts were saved, so under the mantle of Mary all sinners, who by their vices and sensuality are already like beasts, find refuge. ~~St. Alphonsus Ligouri

Refuge of Sinners, pray for us!

🖌️🎨 The Animals entering Noah’s Ark, Jacopo (Jacopo dal Ponte) Bassano, 1570, oil on canvas, Museo Nacional del Prado

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Lake Forest, IL
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+18479992150

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http://www.themarianinstitute.org/

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