Catholic Dictionary

Find accurate definitions of over 5,000 Catholic terms and phrases (including abbreviations). Based on Fr. John Hardon's Modern Catholic Dictionary, © Eternal Life. Used with permission.

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LITANY OF OUR LADY

In its present form it was approved and indulgenced by Pope Sixtus V in 1587, and again by pope Clement VIII in 1601. It is a series of invocations of the Blessed Virgin, each with the response, "Pray for us." Successive popes have added new invocations, e.g., "Mother of Good Counsel," by Pope Leo XIII, "Queen of Peace," by Pope Benedict XV, and "Queen Assumed into Heaven," by Pope Pius XII. It is a simplified version of older Litanies of Our Lady that were known already in the twelfth century.