Bl. John Duns Scotus

"Allow me to praise you, O Sacred Virgin, give me strength against your enemies."

John Duns Scotus was born in Scotland around the year 1265. He entered the “Order of Friars Minor” around 1280 and was ordained a Priest on of April 17, 1291. After Jesus, the Blessed Virgin occupied the first place in his life, and for this reason the studying of the privileges of Mary became one of his priorities. In a public debate on the Immaculate Conception of Mary, it was John Duns Scotus who spoke out, debating each of the arguments that went against such privilege. He demonstrated with Sacred Scripture and with the writings of the Holy Fathers that this privilege is in line with faith and for the same reason Mary is also called the great Mother of God. “Potuit, decuit, ergo fecit” (He could do, it was good to do, so He did it). Duns Scotus died on November 8, 1308.

St. Bernard

"When she supports you, you will not fall; when she leads you, you will surely come to eternal life, and will find by your own experience that she is justly called Maria: that is, Star of the Sea!"

St. Maximilian Kolbe

"Allow me to praise you, Virgin most holy. Allow me to glorify you by my sacrifice."

Saint Maximillian Kolbe was born in Poland on January 8, 1894. He entered the seminary of the Franciscan Fathers at 13 years of age and was ordained in Rome in 1918. Moved by his love and devotion for the Immaculate, he founded a movement called the "Knights of the Immaculate" (Militia Immaculatae). He began to publish a magazine called "Knight of the Immaculate". In 1929 he founded the first "City of the Immaculate" in the Franciscan convent in Niepokalanów. He went to Japan as a missionary and returned to Poland in 1936. He was held prisoner twice during the Second World War. During his second imprisonment, in 1941, he was led to a prison in Pawiak, and later transferred to the concentration camp of Auschwitz. On the evening of August 3, three prisoners escaped. As a punishment, the camp official ordered ten prisoners to be led to the dreaded bunker, where they would die slowly without food or water. One of the prisoners who was chosen cried out, "My wife! My children!" St. Maximillian volunteered to take his place. While in the bunker, he assisted the other nine men as they died. Ten days later, Maximillian Kolbe was given a lethal injection and died on August 14, 1941. He was beatified by Pope Paul VI in 1973 and canonized as Martyr of Charity by Pope John Paul II in 1982.

Mother Teresa of Calcutta

"We show Mary, Our Mother, that we love her, working for her son Jesus, with Him and through Him."

St. John Paul II

"God speaks to man through this singular Beauty named Mary, Mother of God and Our Mother."

St. Alberto Hurtado, S.J.

"Now is the hour of the triumph of Christ, through Mary."