Devotions are the free love-practices of the Catholic family — never obligations, always invitations. Here they are treated two ways: the ones you can pray right now on this site, and the reference pages that tell each devotion's story, promises, and standing in the Church.
The Most Holy Rosary
The Psalter of Mary — the Gospel prayed on a string of beads
One hundred and fifty Hail Marys in decades, each decade held to a mystery of Christ's life — the poor man's Psalter, the family's evening prayer, the weapon of Lepanto, and the most commended devotion in the history of the Church.
The Scapulars
Clothed in Mary's garment — the Brown Scapular of Mount Carmel and its family
Two small squares of wool joined by cords and worn over the shoulders — a miniature religious habit that clothes the wearer in the spiritual family of an order. The Brown Scapular of Our Lady of Mount Carmel is the most beloved sacramental in the Church after the Rosary.
The Divine Mercy
Jesus, I trust in You — the image, the chaplet, the hour, and the feast
The devotion given through St. Faustina Kowalska between 1931 and 1938: the image of the Merciful Christ with its red and pale rays, the chaplet prayed on rosary beads, the Hour of Great Mercy at three o'clock, and the feast the Church now keeps on the Sunday after Easter.
The Sacred Heart of Jesus
Behold this Heart which has so loved men — and the Nine First Fridays
The devotion to the physical Heart of Christ as the sign of His love: given its modern form through St. Margaret Mary Alacoque at Paray-le-Monial between 1673 and 1675, carrying the Twelve Promises, the Nine First Fridays, the June feast, and four papal encyclicals across three centuries.
The Five First Saturdays
Reparation to the Immaculate Heart — what Our Lady asked for at Pontevedra
Confession, Communion, five decades of the Rosary and fifteen minutes' meditation on its mysteries, on the first Saturday of five consecutive months, with the intention of making reparation to the Immaculate Heart of Mary — the request Sister Lúcia received at Pontevedra in 1925, promised at Fátima eight years earlier.
The Angelus
Three times a day, the bell that stops the work — and the Regina Caeli in Eastertide
The oldest daily habit in Western Catholic life: three versicles on the Incarnation with a Hail Mary after each, prayed at dawn, at noon, and at dusk when the bell rings — replaced through Eastertide by the Regina Caeli, sung standing.
Novenas
Nine days of persevering prayer — the pattern the Apostles set in the upper room
Prayer sustained over nine consecutive days for a particular intention: the oldest and most flexible form of Catholic petition, modelled on the nine days the Apostles and Mary spent in prayer between the Ascension and Pentecost.
The Miraculous Medal
O Mary, conceived without sin, pray for us who have recourse to thee
The medal shown to St. Catherine Labouré at the Rue du Bac in Paris in 1830 — Mary standing on the globe with rays streaming from her hands, and on the reverse her monogram, the cross, the two hearts, and twelve stars. The people named it miraculous; the Church never did, and never had to.
The Immaculate Heart of Mary
The devotion Our Lady came to Fátima to establish — and the one the popes answered
Devotion to the heart of Mary — her interior life, wholly given to God — is older than Fátima by centuries, but Fátima made it the Church's answer to the twentieth century: 'God wishes to establish in the world devotion to my Immaculate Heart.' Pius XII consecrated the world to it in 1942 and gave it a feast in 1944.