Capitalization Rules

[jagacal]

I’m working on a Rosary Card project and need help figuring out what gets capitalized and what doesn’t. In trying to make everything correct, I’ve discovered all sorts of variations when it comes to capitalizing, and from various legitimate web sites (EWTN, Wiki, etc).

I’d like to list a few problematic lines from various prayers/mysteries and underline the letters in question. If possible, will you tell me if I have it correct as it is?

1. Hail, holy Queen, Mother of Mercy…
2. …O holy Mother of God…
3. …most holy Rosary of the Blessed Virgin Mary…
4. …O Virgin of virgins, my Mother; to thee do…
5. …O Prince of the Heavenly Host…
6. We are all yours, our Mother, our Queen…
7. …Immaculate Heart of Mary, your well beloved Spouse.
8. …wishes her to become the Mother of His Son.
9. His Mother places Him in a manger.

I sure do appreciate any help I can get on this!!

Love and God bless

 

[lerapt78]

I’ll give it a shot:

1. Holy Queen, Mother of Mercy = these are two separate formal names for Mary, and the adjective “Holy” forms part of the proper name and so should be capitalized
2. Same thing = “Holy”, although an adjective, is also part of the formal title. Think, “Most Holy Trinity”, “Holy Roman Empire”, etc.
3. Capitalize the entire name -Most Holy Rosary. In cases where you are using the superlative “most” as part of an entire name or address, it should be capitalized.
4. O Virgin of Virgins = the second “Virgins” is also part of the entire formal title. I’m a little iffy on whether or not “mother” should be capitalized. I lean toward “yes” because the prayer is being directed *to *her (not *about *her).
5. Correct
6. “We are all Yours, our Mother, our Queen”. Not positive, but I believe the capitalization of the word “Yours” signifies a formal possessive and addresses proper respect given to station. Think, “Your Majesty”, “Your Emminence”, “Forever Yours”.
7. I don’t think “spouse” should be capitalized.
8. I don’t think “mother” and “son” should be capitalized. Should read “wishes her to become the mother of His son”. Can’t tell you why; it just sounds right.
9. I don’t think “mother” should be capitalized here either because it speaks *of *Mary, not *to *Mary, and is not part of a formal name/title.

I’d welcome any corrections to my corrections!!

 

[thistle]

I’m working on a Rosary Card project and need help figuring out what gets capitalized and what doesn’t. In trying to make everything correct, I’ve discovered all sorts of variations when it comes to capitalizing, and from various legitimate web sites (EWTN, Wiki, etc).

I’d like to list a few problematic lines from various prayers/mysteries and underline the letters in question. If possible, will you tell me if I have it correct as it is?

1. Hail, holy Queen, Mother of Mercy…
2. …O holy Mother of God…
3. …most holy Rosary of the Blessed Virgin Mary…
4. …O Virgin of virgins, my Mother; to thee do…
5. …O Prince of the Heavenly Host…
6. We are all yours, our Mother, our Queen…
7. …Immaculate Heart of Mary, your well beloved Spouse.
8. …wishes her to become the Mother of His Son.
9. His Mother places Him in a manger.

I sure do appreciate any help I can get on this!!

Love and God bless

I’m curious as to why it matters. The words are still the same and when you say a prayer there is no lower or higher case coming from your mouth, only words.

 

[jagacal]

Well, I guess for me it’s a form of respect to have it correct. It hasn’t been easy so I think God and the Virgin Mary may appreciate my efforts. I guess you could ask the same thing about me choosing to wear a dress with heals over wearing shorts and flip flops, to church on Sunday. Sure, God doesn’t care what I wear, He really just wants me there… but out of respect I wear the dress with heals

 

[porthos11]

I’m working on a Rosary Card project and need help figuring out what gets capitalized and what doesn’t. In trying to make everything correct, I’ve discovered all sorts of variations when it comes to capitalizing, and from various legitimate web sites (EWTN, Wiki, etc).

I’d like to list a few problematic lines from various prayers/mysteries and underline the letters in question. If possible, will you tell me if I have it correct as it is?

1. Hail, holy Queen, Mother of Mercy…
2. …O holy Mother of God…
3. …most holy Rosary of the Blessed Virgin Mary…
4. …O Virgin of virgins, my Mother; to thee do…
5. …O Prince of the Heavenly Host…
6. We are all yours, our Mother, our Queen…
7. …Immaculate Heart of Mary, your well beloved Spouse.
8. …wishes her to become the Mother of His Son.
9. His Mother places Him in a manger.

I sure do appreciate any help I can get on this!!

Love and God bless

Capitalization rules are not hard and fast when it comes to devotional/religious material. All the examples given above are sufficiently respectful. Generally speaking, unless part of a name or title, adjectives can be generally kept lowercase, but nouns that form part of a title are capitalized, viz:

“The Christian Church has always had a veneration for the holy Mother of God.”
“The three persons of the Trinity are the Father, Son and Holy Spirit”.

I would not capitalize any common noun that does not constitute a title.

“Mary was the spouse of the Holy Spirit.”
“Jesus is the son of Mary.”

but:

“Jesus is both Son of God and Son of Man” where both are titles and not mere descriptions.
“Mary, Mother of mercy and Queen of Heaven.” In this case the words Mother and Queen have come to be regarded as titles, and are therefore suitably capitalized.

And personally, with regards to God or Mary, I never capitalize pronouns (he, him, his; she, her, her) pertaining to them.

 

[CarolNoel]

Well, I guess for me it’s a form of respect to have it correct. It hasn’t been easy so I think God and the Virgin Mary may appreciate my efforts. I guess you could ask the same thing about me choosing to wear a dress with heals over wearing shorts and flip flops, to church on Sunday. Sure, God doesn’t care what I wear, He really just wants me there… but out of respect I wear the dress with heals

I totally agree:thumbsup:

 

[Bergon]

Whilst there’s no capitals or small case letters in speech, you, of course, want to get it correct in print.

1. Hail, holy Queen, Mother of Mercy…
2. …O holy Mother of God…
3. …most holy Rosary of the Blessed Virgin Mary…
4. …O Virgin of virgins, my Mother; to thee do…
5. …O Prince of the Heavenly Host…
6. We are all yours, our Mother, our Queen…
7. …Immaculate Heart of Mary, your well beloved Spouse.
8. …wishes her to become the Mother of His Son.
9. His Mother places Him in a manger.

I’m not an English grammar expert, but this is what I think is correct:

1. Hail, Holy Queen, Mother of Mercy…
2. …O Holy Mother of God…
3. …Most Holy Rosary of the Blessed Virgin Mary…
4. …O Virgin of virgins, my Mother; to thee do…
5. …O Prince of the Heavenly Host…
6. We are all yours, our Mother, our Queen…
7. …Immaculate Heart of Mary, your well beloved spouse.
8. …wishes her to become the Mother of His Son.
9. His Mother places Him in a manger.

 

[Zekariya]

1. …O Virgin of virgins, my Mother; to thee do…
2. We are all yours, our Mother, our Queen…

You should not mix current English with the older English in the same prayer. Thee is singular and you is plural. In this case: “We are all thine”. Here is some info on KJV English:

First person singular: I, me, my, mine.
Second person singular: thou, thee, thy, thine.
Second person plural, ye, you, your, your.

Examples:
I am best. Dost thou lovest me? My house is large. Mine eyes are beautiful.
Thou art best. I lovest thee. Thy house is large. Thine eyes art beautiful.
Ye are the best. I love you. Your house is large. You eyes are beautiful.

“My” and “thy” are used when the next word starts with a consonant.
“Mine” and “thine” are used when the next word starts with a vowel and when it is the last word of the sentence.