Pope Pius XII's Prayer for the Marian Year

This post contains the text of a beautiful prayer written by Pope Pius XII for the Marian Year proclaimed in his encyclical Fulgens Corona (dated the 8th of September 1953, Feast of the Nativity of the Blessed Virgin Mary). This Marian Year was to begin oficially on the 8th of December 1953 and to end on the same date in 1954.

An early image of the author. 1954.

I note a personal connection as I was born on the 6th of November 1953 and I now esteem it a great blessing to have been a newborn baby in this first Marian Year, completely dependent on my mother...

Totus tuus ego sum et omnia mea tua sunt.

Tecum tutus semper sum.

Ad Jesum per Mariam

[  ] References in the text to numbered footnotes are not hyperlinked but may be found at the end of the relevant text.

 Salus Populi Romani

Salus Populi Romani. SeoulKing [CC BY-SA 4.0]

On April 3, 1899, Father Pacelli (the future Pope Pius XII), who was ordained to the Holy Priesthood the previous day, offered his First Solemn Mass. For the location, he chose the Altar of Salus Populi Romani, ('Health of the Roman People') in the Borghese Chapel of the Basilica of St. Mary Major, which is the most important church  dedicated to Mary in the city of Rome. On that day, he consecrated his priesthood to the Queen of the Clergy. 

He distributed a memorial card to the faithful who participated at the Mass. It read: "Loving Mother of God, upon whose altar, for the first time, I  have offered the Sacrifice to the Immortal God, you who are pleased to be called the Health of the Roman People, assist me." 

Many years after his ordination to the Sacred Priesthood, while at Lourdes in 1935, prior to his election to the papacy, he said "If I  have done anything at all in my priesthood, I owe it all to the Virgin Mary."

(From VENERABLE POPE PIUS XII AND THE 1954 MARIAN YEAR: A STUDY OF HIS WRITINGS WITHIN THE CONTEXT OF THE MARIAN DEVOTION AND MARIOLOGY IN THE 1950s. By the Very Rev. Canon Matthew Rocco Mauriello. 2010: Marian Library/International Marian Research Institute.)




There is a legend that when Mary made her abode with St John in Ephesus,[1] she took with her some belongings, including a table made by her son, Jesus. St Luke used this table as a basis for an icon portraying Mary with her son, Jesus. During the sittings for the portrait, Mary provided details eventually incorporated by Luke in his Gospel.


The icon was originally kept in Byzantium, where St. Helen, the mother of Emperor Constantine, brought it from the Holy Land, but was later brought to Rome by sea and was received by Pope Gregory the Great on the banks of the Tiber. Pope Gregory himself placed the icon in the basilica of St. Mary Major in 590, after a procession to beg for an end to one of the worst plague epidemics ever to strike the city of Rome.The icon is venerated as a protector of Rome in great dangers, but its title, “Salus Populi Romani” applies to the universal Church: Mary holds in her arms the Saviour, the salvation of all.

Salus Populi Romani; Crowned

Pope Pius XII crowned the imageon the 1st of November, 1954 and ordered a public religious procession in Rome.

The image was cleaned and restored by the Vatican Museum in 2018.



[1] [26] When Jesus therefore had seen his mother and the disciple standing whom he loved, he saith to his mother: Woman, behold thy son.
Cum vidisset ergo Jesus matrem, et discipulum stantem, quem diligebat, dicit matri suae : Mulier, ecce filius tuus.
[27] After that, he saith to the disciple: Behold thy mother. And from that hour, the disciple took her to his own.
Deinde dicit discipulo : Ecce mater tua. Et ex illa hora accepit eam discipulus in sua. [John 19]


Ambrosius007 at English Wikipedia [Public domain]

Prayer for the Marian Year 1953-1954 

Composed by Pope Pius XII, this prayer was published on the 21st of November, 1953.

Enraptured by the splendor of thy heavenly beauty, and impelled by the anxieties of the world, we cast ourselves into thine arms, O Immaculate Mother of Jesus and our Mother, Mary, confident of finding in thy most loving heart appeasement of our ardent desires, and a safe harbour from the tempests which beset us on every side.

Though degraded by our faults and overwhelmed by infinite misery, we admire and praise the peerless richness of sublime gifts with which God has filled thee, above every other mere creature, from the first moment of thy conception until the day on which, after thine assumption into Heaven, He crowned thee Queen of the Universe.

O crystal fountain of faith, bathe our minds with the eternal truths! O fragrant Lily of all holiness, captivate our hearts with thy heavenly perfume! O Conqueress of evil and death, inspire in us a deep horror of sin, which makes the soul detestable to God and a slave of Hell!

O well-beloved of God, hear the ardent cry which rises up from every heart. Bend tenderly over our aching wounds. Convert the wicked, dry the tears of the afflicted and oppressed, comfort the poor and humble, quench hatreds, sweeten harshness, safeguard the flower of purity in youth, protect the holy Church, make all men feel the attraction of Christian goodness. In thy name, resounding harmoniously in Heaven, may they recognize that they are brothers, and that the nations are members of one family, upon which may there shine forth the sun of a universal and sincere peace.

Receive, O most sweet Mother, our humble supplications, and above all obtain for us that, one day, happy with thee, we may repeat before thy throne that hymn which today is sung on earth around thine altars: Thou art all-beautiful, O Mary! Thou art the glory, thou art the joy, thou art the honor of our people! Amen.

Totus tuus ego sum et omnia mea tua sunt.

Tecum tutus semper sum.

Ad Jesum per Mariam